Common Denominator with Moshe Popack

What will Miami look like in the next decade?

Kobi Karp joins Moshe Popack on Common Denominator to explore the transformation of Miami's skyline, the future of luxury real estate, and the decisions shaping South Florida's next generation of development. From historic landmarks and iconic projects like the Surf Club to hurricane-resistant skyscrapers, population growth, and the future of transportation, Kobi shares lessons from nearly four decades working in Miami and around the world.

Can Miami keep reinventing itself while preserving what makes it unique?

Timestamps 

05:00 Meet Kobi Karp

06:25 How Kobi Built His Architecture Business

08:55 Miami's Next Decade of Development

09:20 Demolish or Preserve Old Buildings?

10:46 Why Historic Architecture Still Matters

12:48 How Miami Has Changed Since the 1990s

14:05 Why People Are Moving to Florida

17:52 Miami's Infrastructure Challenge

19:22 Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transit

22:22 The Future of Water Taxis

23:27 Can Miami Survive a Major Hurricane?

28:42 How Oceanfront Skyscrapers Stay Standing

30:11 The Engineering Beneath Miami's Towers

34:31 Designing Around the World

35:32 The Business Logic Behind Architecture

36:21 Finding Value in Overlooked Locations

39:22 Why Kobi Looks for Opportunity

41:41 The Surf Club Rooftop Pool Story

43:27 What Makes a Visionary Developer?

46:32 Kobi's Upcoming International Projects

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Rod Khleif built an enormous real estate portfolio, owned hundreds of rental homes and thousands of apartment units, and watched his net worth grow by $17 million in a single year. Then 2008 happened and he says he lost roughly $50 million.

In this episode, I sit down with Rod to talk about what actually went wrong, the mistakes he made managing hundreds of single-family rentals, and the lessons that changed the way he thinks about multifamily real estate, leverage, risk, and failure. Rod shares how he rebuilt after losing nearly everything, why he believes mindset and psychology play such an important role in success, and the steps he used to start moving forward again.

We also talk about today’s real estate market, including higher interest rates, distressed multifamily operators, falling rents in some markets, senior housing opportunities, and why Rod believes investors need to be more conservative with their underwriting. What I appreciated most about this conversation is that Rod doesn’t pretend experienced investors are immune to mistakes. Even after decades in real estate, he shares a current multifamily investment that is struggling and what he’s doing about it.

Timestamps

00:00 Rod Khleif’s Immigrant Story

01:16 How Rod Discovered Real Estate

02:35 Making $100K at 21

03:20 Losing $50 Million in 2008

04:55 Why Your Environment Matters

06:06 Mindset, Goals and Visualization

08:34 Why Focus Is a Competitive Advantage

10:21 Buying His First Rental Properties

12:16 How 800 Houses Helped Wipe Him Out

14:45 Why Rod Chose Multifamily

15:37 Turning Failure Into a “Seminar”

17:16 How He Rebuilt After Losing Everything

21:06 Play to Your Strengths

22:20 Building a Real Estate Education Business

23:47 Dealing With Online Hate

24:20 Why Success Didn’t Make Him Happy

27:00 Achievement vs. Fulfillment

29:15 Rod’s Best Investment

30:27 Why Goal Setting Matters

32:15 Why Rod Prefers Multifamily

33:45 The Senior Housing Opportunity

36:24 Buying Senior Housing Below Replacement Cost

37:29 Why Rod Says Now Is the Time to Buy

37:30 The Multifamily Debt Problem

37:35 Rod’s Struggling 296-Unit Deal

37:50 What to Do When a Deal Goes Wrong

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#RodKhleif #RealEstateInvesting #Multifamily #RealEstate #MultifamilyInvesting #CommercialRealEstate #Investing #MoshePopack #CommonDenominator

Florida insurance has become one of the biggest conversations for property owners, homeowners, developers, and investors and understanding why prices move requires looking deeper than the premium on your policy.

In this episode, I sit down with Brian and Paul Remer of Remer Insurance to talk about what’s happening inside Florida’s insurance market, from recent property insurance pricing changes to the role of carriers, brokers, and reinsurance companies.

We talk about how the insurance supply chain actually works, why reinsurance can have such a significant impact on pricing, how hurricane risk affects the market, and why different types of coverage can move in completely different directions. We also explore emerging insurance risks around industries like cannabis and data centers, where a single failure can create enormous downstream liability.

Beyond insurance, Brian and Paul share what they’ve learned working together as brothers in a family business approaching 50 years, including the values their father instilled in them about relationships, quality control, and never believing a job is beneath you.

If you own real estate, operate a business, or simply want to better understand where your insurance premium actually goes, this conversation provides a look inside an industry most people only think about when something goes wrong.

Timestamps 

00:00 Working With Your Brother

02:24 Joining the Family Business

03:21 Building a Business Across Generations

05:39 Different Skills, One Family Business

06:59 Why Relationships Matter in Insurance

08:43 What’s Happening With Florida Insurance?

09:14 Why Insurance Prices Are Changing

11:11 How the Insurance Supply Chain Works

13:12 Florida’s Insurance Backstop

14:24 Are Florida Property Insurance Prices Coming Down?

16:10 How Reinsurance Affects Pricing

17:15 Insuring the Cannabis Industry

18:31 The Insurance Risk Behind Data Centers

20:10 The Most Unique Risks They Insure

21:17 The Hardest Moment in Their Family Business

22:00 Lessons From Their Father

22:05 How to Connect With Remer Insurance

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#FloridaInsurance #PropertyInsurance #FloridaRealEstate

Florida has experienced extraordinary growth over the last several years. People moved here. Businesses moved here. Capital moved here. But success creates its own challenges.

In this episode, I share my perspective on what Florida needs to think about as it enters its next chapter. The question isn’t simply how we keep growing—it’s how we grow well.

Housing affordability, property insurance, infrastructure, development, and economic growth are all connected. If we want to continue attracting businesses and creating jobs, we also have to ask whether teachers, nurses, police officers, young professionals, and families can actually afford to live in the communities they help support.

I also talk about why housing affordability is more complicated than simply saying rents should be cheaper, how the rising costs of land, construction, insurance, financing, and operations ultimately affect housing, and why infrastructure has to keep pace with development.

I’m incredibly optimistic about Florida. But being optimistic doesn’t mean ignoring the challenges. We spent years asking how to get people and businesses to come here. It worked. Now the question is: how do we make sure they can stay?

Timestamps:

00:10 Florida’s Next Chapter

01:05 How Do We Grow Well?

02:05 The Real Cost of Housing Affordability

03:25 Why Florida Insurance Matters

04:35 Housing Affects Everything

05:40 Growth Needs Infrastructure

06:35 How Florida Should Plan for Growth

07:20 What Happens If Growth Slows?

08:20 Planning for the Downside

09:25 Protecting Florida’s Entrepreneurial Environment

10:20 Growth and Quality of Life Are Connected

11:30 Florida’s Biggest Challenge

12:35 Can Florida Stay Affordable?

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The pandemic fundamentally changed how people work, and some office buildings were hit hard. But in South Florida, we’re seeing a very different story depending on the property, location, quality, and economics of the deal.In this video, I share how I think about office real estate and why I never want a headline to make an investment decision for me. Two office buildings can be just a few miles apart and have completely different occupancy, rents, operating costs, and investment potential.I also talk about the flight to quality happening in commercial real estate, what I look for in properties that may need repositioning, and why contrarian investing doesn’t mean automatically betting against the crowd.Whether you’re evaluating office, multifamily, or another real estate investment, the same principle applies: look at the asset, the market, the price, the debt, and the numbers before you believe the narrative.Timestamps 00:10 Why Everyone Said Office Was Dead00:56 South Florida Is Telling a Different Story01:30 Office Wasn’t Dead, Certain Office Was02:05 Why You Can’t Invest Based on Headlines03:15 The Flight to Quality in Office Real Estate04:10 Finding Opportunity in Imperfect Buildings05:15 What Contrarian Investing Really Means06:15 Why South Florida Has Changed07:10 The Mistake of Assuming Growth Will Continue07:50 A Great Building Can Be a Bad Investment08:35 Look at the Numbers, Not the NarrativeLike this episode? Leave a review here https://ratethispodcast.com/commondenominator Newsletter https://moshepopack.com/newsletter/ Follow Common Denominator Podcasthttps://moshepopack.com/podcast/@mpopackhttps://www.instagram.com/mpopackhttps://www.facebook.com/MoshePopack

If you put a multifamily deal in front of me today, I’m not going to start with the pool, the gym, or the lobby. I want to know who lives there, what they can actually afford, what they’re paying today, what else is being built nearby, and most importantly, what I’m paying for the property. There’s a tremendous amount of multifamily development happening across Miami and South Florida. I’m a big believer in this market, but being bullish on Miami doesn’t mean every apartment deal makes sense.

In this video, I talk about some of the questions I ask when evaluating a multifamily investment, from local supply and tenant affordability to rents, competition, and purchase price. Demand for housing and demand for your specific apartment at your specific rent are two very different things. A great apartment building can be a bad buy, and an imperfect apartment building can be a great buy. The difference is usually in the numbers.

Timestamps 

00:55 How I Evaluate a Multifamily Deal

01:20 Good Building vs. Good Investment

01:35 Miami’s Multifamily Construction Boom

02:00 Why Not Every Miami Deal Makes Sense

02:35 Housing Demand vs. Your Demand

03:20 The $4,000 Rent Test

04:15 Where Good Underwriting Starts

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A few weeks ago, we closed a $30 million refinance on Park Towers, a 210-unit multifamily property in Miami that we’ve owned since 2012. We secured long-term, fixed-rate financing at 6.09% in a lending environment that many people still describe as difficult.

But I think saying “banks aren’t lending” misses the bigger picture. Capital is available. The real questions are who can access it, which deals are getting financed, and whether the debt being used actually makes the investment stronger.

In this video, I talk about how I approach leverage, interest rates, cash flow, refinancing risk, and margin for error when evaluating real estate investments. A great property can still become a bad investment if its capital structure can’t survive when rates rise, occupancy falls, insurance costs increase, or refinancing becomes harder.

I also share my perspective on why investors shouldn’t depend on interest rates falling for a deal to work, how a more difficult financing environment can create better buying opportunities, and what more than a decade of owning and operating Park Towers has taught me about long-term value creation.

The goal isn’t to predict every market cycle correctly. It’s to structure your investments so they can survive when one of your assumptions is wrong.

Timestamps 

00:10 The $30M Park Towers Refinance

01:03 Are Banks Actually Lending?

01:35 How Bad Debt Can Ruin a Good Deal

03:00 Why Leverage Works Both Ways

03:20 Can Your Investment Survive?

04:15 Why Spreadsheets Can Mislead Investors

05:51 Building for a Margin of Error

06:15 Why Easy Money Can Be Dangerous

06:40 How Difficult Markets Create Buying Opportunities

07:50 The Long Game Behind Park Towers

08:40 Why Durability Matters More Than Speed

09:10 Stop Waiting for Interest Rates to Fall

10:15 How to Survive Real Estate Cycles

10:55 Using Debt to Make Good Deals Stronger

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Israeli activist and filmmaker Rudy Rochman joins Moshe Popack on Common Denominator for a wide-ranging conversation about Jewish identity, purpose, faith, communication, and the next chapter of Jewish history. Rudy explains why he prefers the word “activist” over “advocate,” arguing that meaningful change requires more than supporting a cause; it requires becoming an active participant in creating a new reality.

He and Moshe explore how people can discover what they are here to do, why challenges can strengthen rather than derail a mission, and how conviction allows someone to continue even when they face criticism, division, or resistance.

Rudy also shares his vision for reconnecting the dispersed tribes of Israel and explains why he believes the Jewish people cannot fulfill their collective purpose without recovering a shared mission.

Timestamps

2:06 Welcome 

2:10 Activist vs. advocate: what's the real difference

3:23 The individual and collective mission of the Jewish people

5:32 What people get most wrong about him

8:02 Growing up between France, Israel, and Miami

11:39 Meaning, purpose, and the Kabbalah of chosen challenges

13:58 Why people quit their mission, and how to keep going

16:30 The neo-Nazi bus driver story that changed his life

20:09 Reacting vs. observing: Moshe on Viktor Frankl

21:14 How to actually communicate with people who disagree with you

24:38 Kidnapped for three weeks filming the lost tribes of Israel in Nigeria

31:25 Facing captivity and never losing faith he'd make it out

33:53 Moshe on faith, his 11 kids, and Jensen Huang on suffering

35:17 What reuniting the tribes of Israel could look like in 20 years

38:02 Oneness, and Moshe's grandfather's deathbed lesson

41:57 The common denominator of people who achieve great things

44:49 Why the most public people are often the most introverted

45:56 Rapid fire round

46:58 The biggest obstacle to reuniting the tribes of Israel

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AI is everywhere right now, in our news feeds, our workplaces, and increasingly, our investment portfolios. But a real debate has started among investors and analysts, and it's not about whether AI is real. It's about whether the economics behind it are as strong as everyone believes.

In this episode, I break down the circular nature of AI investment, where the same companies funding AI startups are also the ones profiting from their cloud spending, and why that arrangement raises real questions about how much of this growth is coming from genuine customer demand versus investment capital moving through the system. I also look at what history teaches us from the dot-com boom, railroads, and electricity, and why transformational technology doesn't always translate into transformational business value

This episode explores:

 Why the same companies funding AI are also the ones profiting from it

What the dot-com bubble reveals about hype versus real value

The simple framework I use to evaluate any business, in any industry

Why powerful technology doesn't automatically mean a profitable business

What separates companies built to last from companies riding temporary hype

Is AI changing the world? I believe it already is. The real question is which companies are building lasting value, and which ones are just benefiting from the moment.

Timestamp

00:00 - Is the AI Boom Bigger Than We Think?

00:09 - Trillions Are Pouring Into Artificial Intelligence

00:22 - AI Revolution or an Economic Bubble?

00:49 - Why AI Is Everywhere

01:11 - The Debate Investors Can't Ignore

01:20 - The Real Question About AI Economics

01:33 - Big Tech's AI Investment Cycle Explained

02:11 - Why AI Needs Massive Computing Power

02:27 - Real Demand vs. Investment-Driven Growth

02:53 - Why Excitement and Reality Don't Move Together

03:05 - Lessons from the Dot-Com Bubble

03:47 - When Optimism Gets Ahead of Reality

04:01 - Both Sides of the AI Debate Could Be Right

04:32 - Great Technology Doesn't Guarantee Profits

05:05 - Customers, Not Investors, Drive Long-Term Success

05:23 - A Simple Framework for Evaluating Any Business

05:57 - Can AI Really Create Trillions in Value?

06:10 - History's Warning About Revolutionary Technologies

06:35 - Fundamentals Always Outlast Hype

06:43 - Which AI Companies Will Survive?

07:11 - When Fundamentals Take Over

07:30 - Sustainable Success Is Built on Value

08:00 - Thank You for Supporting Common Denominator

08:15 - Subscribe for More Conversations

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#AIInvesting #BusinessMindset #WealthBuilding #Entrepreneur #AIBubble #CommonDenominator

What does it take to turn one of the biggest hidden costs in commercial real estate into your biggest advantage?

In this episode of Common Denominator, I sit down with Jerry Katz, founder of Premier Protection Insurance Services, for a conversation that starts with insurance and expands into scaling, execution, and the future of real estate investing in Florida. Jerry walks us through his path from chasing Wall Street excess, to losing everything in the dot-com crash, to building a captive insurance strategy that's helped him optimize more than $4 billion in commercial real estate portfolios.

We get into why most investors still treat insurance as an unavoidable expense instead of a profit lever, how the Live Local Act is reshaping opportunity for Florida developers, where AI is already changing underwriting, and what really separates founders who scale past seven figures from the ones who stall out.

This is a conversation about execution, hidden leverage, and building wealth that lasts

 Timestamp

0:00 Welcome 

2:50 Why multifamily and commercial real estate have stabilized

5:11 How Dubai's instability is pulling capital into Miami

6:10 The workforce housing gap in Miami-Dade

7:37 The Live Local Act and the edge it gives Florida developers

11:17 Where AI is already disrupting real estate

13:11 AGI and what happens when AI starts teaching AI

13:51 Self-storage, autonomous vehicles, and the next disrupted asset classes

15:52 Sky ports, flying taxis, and Jerry's insurance origin story

21:58 How the insurance industry really works, and who profits from it

24:42 Why banks own the insurance companies too

25:17 Total Asset Optimization: insuring almost $5 billion in Florida

27:50 What sophisticated investors do differently on insurance

30:08 Jerry's worst business mistake: Wall Street and the dot-com bubble

38:01 Why business is a spiritual journey

39:39 Rapid fire round

43:31 What common denominator really means

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#CommonDenominator #MoshePopack #JerryKatz #PremierProtectionInsurance #CommercialRealEstate #FloridaRealEstate #Entrepreneurship #InsuranceStrategy