Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast — Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This might be one of the most important episodes of the entire show. John sits down to walk through his complete buy box — not just what he buys, but how he arrived at it after trying nearly every type of real estate that exists.

The list is long: single family, small multifamily, wholesale, fix and flip, novations, land flipping, hard money lending, mobile homes, mobile home parks, five Airbnbs in four months, industrial warehouses, office buildings, retail, and a storage conversion. Each one taught him something. Most of them also taught him what he didn't want to do.

Today his focus is industrial, retail, and office in the $1M–$5M range — targeting mom and pop sellers who've owned for decades, are under-rented, and are more motivated than any institutional seller ever would be. He calls his strategy "economic value-add" (not value-add, which sends brokers the wrong signal) and keeps his rehab budgets at 10–25% of purchase price. His most recent deal: a $1.6M building he expects to stabilize at $3.2M — purely through lease-up, not renovation.

He covers what he won't buy anymore (multifamily, national triple net, development), what markets he operates in and why, the hardest part of his model (lease-up is everything), and closes with a practical framework for how you can find your own buy box — starting with an honest audit of your skills, capital, and local market.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast — Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This is Part 2 of the Cap Rates series — and it goes way up. Part 1 covered the formula and how to use cap rates practically in your market. This episode explains what's actually behind them at the macro level.

John walks through the relationship between commercial real estate cap rates and the 10-year US Treasury yield — why it exists, why it makes logical sense once you understand it, and what it means for you as a buyer right now. He covers the cap rate spread, explains why absolute triple net buildings trade closest to Treasury yields while Class C products can sit 500 basis points above them, and breaks down why Class C multifamily is currently in freefall while Class A holds steady.

He also shares his own take on the current market: he thinks now is a great time to buy cash-flowing commercial buildings and hold through the current high-rate environment — because when Treasury yields eventually come back down, those buildings will be worth significantly more. He adds an important caveat on the US Treasury's status as the global gold standard, noting that China's holdings are at an 18-year low in 2026, and closes with practical free resources to track cap rates without a CoStar subscription.

Homework: Google the 10-year Treasury yield today, add it to your watchlist, and start tracking what cap rates brokers are advertising in your local market.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to learn more? www.cre-playbook.comFollow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast. Talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

Cap rate is probably the single most referenced metric in commercial real estate. It's also probably the most misunderstood. In this solo episode, John breaks down everything you actually need to know, not just the formula, but how to use it correctly at every stage of a deal.

He starts from scratch with simple math, walks through why the metric exists in the first place, explains who sets cap rates and what moves them, and then shares real cap rate ranges by asset class as of 2026. From there, he gets into the practical stuff: entry cap vs. exit cap, why the cap rate you buy at almost doesn't matter on a value-add deal, and how he bought a building at a 4 cap and turned it into a 12 cap return just by increasing NOI. He also covers NOI itself: what's in it, what's not (your mortgage), and why it's the foundation of how commercial buildings are valued.

He closes with how to stress test a deal against higher exit cap rates, and homework: find a real listing on Loopnet or Crexi, pull the NOI, calculate the cap rate yourself, and ask whether it makes sense at a 30% discount.

Part 2 covers Treasury yields, bonds, and how interest rates actually move cap rates (available next week!)

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This one is John's honest, unfiltered breakdown of the Big 5 commercial real estate asset classes: retail, office, industrial, self-storage, and multifamily. He owns buildings in all five categories, and he has strong opinions about which ones beginners should actually start with.

He walks through each asset class one by one, covering the pros and cons from real experience. Retail isn't dead, community strip centers are busier than ever, and the value-add play of pairing nationally accredited anchor tenants with mom-and-pop local businesses at market rent is one of his favorites. Class A downtown office is dead, but Class B and C office is quietly one of the best buying opportunities in 2026. Industrial is his top pick for beginners: simple buildings, triple net leases, tenants who handle their own repairs, and almost zero maintenance calls. Self-storage sounds passive but is operationally intense, especially small facilities, which John says beginners should avoid entirely. And multifamily scales the best but demands elite operations, and on-market deals in that space are almost never worth buying.

He closes with something most commercial educators won't say: you don't have to pick one asset class and stick with it forever. Explore, buy, learn, and let your experience tell you where you're built to operate.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

Follow us on our socials!Instagram:   / cre.playbook   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB5... Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast... Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram:   / john.w.heisler   Facebook:   / john.heisler.142  

Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast. Talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This is Part 3 of the Raising Capital series, and, as John says, it's the most important one. Parts 1 and 2 gave you the Deal Triangle and the LLC Partnership structure. This episode gives you the actual conversation.

John walks through exactly how to approach capital partners, starting with the people already in your phone. He covers the three investor avatars to look for in your network, the one opening question that starts every conversation without pressure, and why you should never mention a deal address in the first meeting. He breaks down the four things that make someone say yes (trust, clarity, risk mitigation, and access), the three things that make them say no, and how to handle the classic "let me think about it" response without chasing or losing momentum.

He also tackles the question every new operator faces: what do you say if you've never done a deal before? And he closes with the mindset shift that makes all of this easier: you are not asking for money. You are offering access to something they could never do on their own.

Homework: take your phone, go through every contact from A to Z, and write down everyone who might belong in one of the three investor avatars. That list is where your capital raising starts.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to see a real deal pitch deck? Email us at [email protected] and we'll send you one of John's previous examples.Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This is Part 2 of John's Raising Capital series, and it's where things get real. After laying the foundation with the Deal Triangle in Part 1, John gets into the actual nuts and bolts of how he funds commercial deals using what he calls the LLC Partnership Method.

He walks through his very first deal (an $850K office building with a $150K rehab budget) and breaks down how two private capital partners came in to fund the equity layer while the bank covered the senior debt, leaving none of John's own money in the deal at the closing table. From there, he unpacks exactly how each deal gets its own LLC, how ownership is structured between general partners and limited partners, how distributions work quarterly and at exit, and why he limits each deal to just 2-5 capital partners instead of running a large syndication fund.

He also covers the SEC regulations that kick in the moment you sell an equity position, 506B vs. 506C, what accredited investor status actually means, and when you need a securities attorney. And he closes with the principles behind taking other people's money the right way: their return always comes first, and overcommunication is the foundation of every lasting capital partner relationship.

Part 3 covers how to actually go have those conversations. This is the framework that makes those conversations possible.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to learn how to get your first commercial deal? Follow us on our socials!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159

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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504

Follow John Heisler on his socials!

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Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast. Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This one's a solo episode, and it's the foundation of everything. John kicks off a three-part (or more...) series on raising capital for commercial real estate, starting with the two myths that hold most beginners back: that you need a lot of your own money, and that you have to do everything yourself.

The centerpiece of this episode is the Deal Triangle. A framework John borrowed from his friend Paul Sparks that breaks every real estate deal into three components: Sourcing, Operations, and Funding. All three have to happen for a deal to close. But the game-changing insight is that you don't have to be the one doing all three. You only need to be elite at one.

John walks through what each part of the triangle actually involves, breaks down the three types of senior debt (conventional loans, bridge loans, and seller finance), explains the full equity layer of a deal (down payment, closing costs, pursuit costs, rehab budget, reserves, and acquisition fees) and does the math on a real $1M deal to show where $475K actually has to come from beyond the bank.

He closes with homework: figure out which part of the Deal Triangle is already your superpower, and start there.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to learn how to get your first commercial deal? Follow us on our socials!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159

X: https://x.com/cre_playbook

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504

Follow John Heisler on his socials!

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Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, and he's joined by: JOHN KLEISCH. Talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

The seller was getting $7,500 a month on this building. John Kleisch walked in, didn't change the footprint, didn't do a gut renovation, and now it brings in $14,000 a month. That's what a value-add industrial deal actually looks like.

In this episode, John and John break down the full story of John Kleisch's very first commercial deal: a $1.5M industrial building in Phoenix, Arizona, found on Crexi, purchased on seller finance at 5% interest with a 30-year amortization and 8-year balloon. They cover everything from the first broker call (one blew him off, the next one had the deal) to leasing the building to two tenants before they even closed, so the property cash flowed from day one.

Along the way they dig into the due diligence scope ($83K–$143K roof quotes, 6 broken swamp coolers, a cracked block wall that got them $40K off the down payment), how they shopped insurance from $17K down to $5,800, why the seller finance structure saved them $1,500/month compared to a bank loan, and what managing an industrial building actually looks like week to week (almost nothing).

If you've been wondering what a real first deal looks like, number by number, start to finish, this is it.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real students. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to learn how to get your first commercial deal? Comment "CRE" down below!

Follow us on our socials!

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Follow John Heisler on his socials!

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Follow John Kleisch on his socials!

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Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, and he's joined by: BOB SCHNEIDER. Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

This deal fell apart. Twice. The appraisal came in $1.5 million short. The hard money lender backed out two weeks before closing. $75,000 in earnest money was gone, non-refundable. And somehow, it still closed.

Bob Schneider, student, coach, broker, and now owner of a 45-building, 71-unit portfolio, sits down with John to break down exactly how he and John bought this $4.625 million deal together, from the first cold call to a 900-page closing day. They cover negotiating sight-unseen, walking 84 doors in 3 days, discovering 60% of the roofs needed replacing, losing two lenders back to back, and finding a $250,000 math error buried in a 168-page appraisal that flipped the whole deal back in their favor.

This isn't a highlight reel. This is the real, stressful, occasionally infuriating version of buying commercial real estate, and proof that even hard deals can still be good ones.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real students. Real deals. No fluff.

📩 Want to learn how to get your first commercial deal? Follow us on our socials!
Instagram:   / cre.playbook  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...
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Follow John Heisler on his socials!
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Follow Bob Schneider on Social Media!!
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Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, and he's joined by: JOHN KLEISCH. Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building!

Six weeks after joining the CRE Playbook, John is here with us, telling us about how he made his very first call to a commercial broker, heart racing, hands shaking, fully convinced he had no business talking to "sophisticated commercial guys." Today, he has a building under contract, landed through seller financing.

In this episode, John and John break down exactly what those first six weeks looked like: the anxiety before that first dial, how his call volume and confidence changed day by day, the realization that brokers are just regular people, and the exact line he uses to make a lowball offer land professionally. They also walk through the wild story of how his current deal fell out of contract with another buyer and became his deal five days later, why he chose seller finance, and his honest long-term goals — covering his lifestyle with cash flow, then building toward a $15M net worth.

If you've ever felt too nervous to pick up the phone, this episode is proof that the fear fades fast once you just start dialing.

🎙️ New episodes every week. Real students. Real deals. No fluff.