The ROI Masterclass

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Real estate developer Ari Rastegar of Rastegar Capital explains why the cap rate is an antiquated concept, and why zoning is the one edge investors can't buy or borrow.

On this episode of The ROI Masterclass, Ari joins host Liat Siegel to break down how design, people, and math connect. He covers his 318-acre master-planned community in Kyle, Texas, and how he rezoned an uptown Dallas building from 20 feet to 400 feet of height. He also explains why "boring is beautiful" when it comes to fundamentals, and why he thinks the industry's backward-looking metrics need to be reinvented.

Guest: Ari Rastegar

#ROIMasterclass #RealEstateInvesting #DesignForROI

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Most properties don't fail because of a bad market they fail because of bad decisions made at the basis.

In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Liat Siegel sits down with Daniel Lerer, a commercial mortgage broker and deal strategist at GFI Realty who started his career in hedge funds over 20 years ago before moving into debt advisory. Daniel breaks down why he believes the industry is priced backwards the market compensates him more for the introduction to a lender than for the deep underwriting and audit work that actually protects the deal.

He walks through the defeasance strategy that let one Upper West Side hotel owner refinance out of a 7.5% rate roughly 13 months before maturity, netting approximately $400,000 after a $200,000 defeasance cost and locking into 10 years of interest-only a move that likely saved the asset from maturing directly into the 2008 crash. From there, the conversation moves into the value-add bets made in 2021 2022, the rate caps that owners believed hedged them but didn't, and the "latent distress" sitting off-market with equity already wiped.

Daniel also shares live audit work: a property showing 80% occupancy that wasn't actually 80% occupied, a leasing agent writing amortized concessions directly into lease rents, standardized 2.5% renewal increases applied without regard to renovation status, and a spring leasing season where one unit type leased zero units in April. On the design side, he explains why short-term rental owners overinvest by specifying sensitive materials, why regional appropriateness matters more than budget size, and why "wrong investing" is worse than either overinvesting or underinvesting.

Connect with Daniel Lerer: [email protected] | 212-837-4636

#RealEstateInvesting #Multifamily #CommercialRealEstate #RevenueLeak #DesignForROI

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The amenity audit that keeps proving operators wrong about revenue leaks.

Kevin Shtofman, COO of Reba and a 22-year real estate veteran, joins Liat Siegel on The ROI Masterclass to break down where multifamily operators are quietly leaving money on the table — and why the data almost never points where they expect.

He explains why the flashy amenities that win a lease-up are not the ones that drive renewals, why surprise-and-delight moments only land a couple of times in a one-year lease while complaints come from the everyday things residents simply expect to work, and why the most counterintuitive finding in his amenity data was to remove pet fees entirely. He also covers why AI has made a single asking rent number the only number that matters, why value-add deals have stopped penciling since the pandemic, and why deferred maintenance starts a cycle that's very hard to come back from.

Also discussed: the data foundation problem behind every AI initiative, why dynamic pricing is legal and surveillance pricing is not, the scale breaking point where manual operations collapse, and how standardized building design is creating operational efficiency competitors can't match.

#ROIMasterclass #MultifamilyInvesting #RevenueLeak #AmenityStrategy #DesignForROI

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Tracy Taylor has spent his career between two worlds building guest-experience software for IHG Hotels & Resorts by day and running fix and flips by night and he says the same rule protects both: fall in love with the numbers, not the deal.

In this episode, Tracy breaks down how he structures a flip so the downside is protected: get it under contract first, run the numbers, then get a second and third set of eyes on them from a community of 150+ investors before committing. He explains the comparables mistake that sinks beginners (throwing out the highest number instead of chasing it), how equity blends give a deal a written exit if the market turns, and why one out of every five properties in his portfolio is a hold. On the hospitality side, he reveals the single pattern behind nearly every escalation that reached his desk the guest didn't think they were being heard and how hundreds of collected data points turn a one-time booking into a returning guest.

He also covers where AI actually creates leverage for investors, why over 40 real estate strategies means there's always something working in every market, and the $80,000 contractor lesson that changed how he manages projects out of state.

Guest: Tracy Taylor

LinkedIn: Tracy Taylor

#RealEstateInvesting #FixAndFlip #GuestExperience #ROIMasterclass #RevenueLeak

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Most owners obsess over rent and CapEx while the biggest ROI lever sits in their loan documents — and Ira Zlotowitz says the fix starts with how many lenders actually see the deal.

In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Liat Siegel sits down with Ira Zlotowitz — a 25-year veteran of commercial mortgage brokerage, founder of Eastern Union, creator of G-Parency, and the mind behind Avery GPT. Ira breaks down why commercial financing is a story and not a box, why banks don't publish their rates, and why relationships get a lender to listen but don't buy a better number. He also walks through the client who nearly stayed with his existing lender out of loyalty — and the 26 basis points that shopping the market uncovered on an $11 million deal.

Then the conversation turns to what Ira calls the scariest shift he's seen in 29 years: senior brokers who no longer use underwriters, billion-dollar owners asset managing through Claude, and a 31-year-old who broke into real estate six weeks ago and now underwrites ten deals a day with AI as his tutor. Ira explains "AI collateral damage," why he lost sleep for a week, and why he believes outcome-based pricing is short-lived — because smarts get automated and talking stays valuable.

#CommercialRealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #CREFinancing #ROIMasterclass #HadarInteriors #RevenueLeak #AIinRealEstate #Underwriting #BoutiqueHotels #ShortTermRentals #MultifamilyInvesting #DeadMoney #PropertyROI #RealEstatePodcast #DesignForROI

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Self-storage returns of 25% start with a risk most investors never see and it's paid for before a single dollar of investor capital comes in.

Caspe Bahlmann, Managing Partner at Bahlmann Capital Group, joins Liat Siegel to break down how his team repurposes old buildings a former gun manufacturing facility, aging multi-floor manufacturing sites into self-storage and mixed-use developments at roughly two-thirds the time and two-thirds the cost of ground-up construction. He explains why he personally carries the permitting risk of $500K to $750K per Boston project, why his team has started abandoning leverage on some deals, and how a maximum price contract caps construction downside. He also shares the CapEx problem he still can't solve on his own short-term rentals: a $500,000 spend on a pool, added square footage, and a pool house with no reliable way to prove which line item drives the return.

#SelfStorage #RealEstateInvesting #CommercialRealEstate #Repositioning #AdaptiveReuse #CapEx #Underwriting #ShortTermRentals #DesignForROI #DeadMoney #RevenueLeak #ROIMasterclass #HadarInteriors #BahlmannCapitalGroup #MarginOfStupidity

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Hotel revenue strategy has become obsessed with rate — and Chris Baggett of Canyon Creek Lodging argues that obsession is exactly where owners are leaking money.

In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Chris breaks down why inventory management is what he calls a lost art and a hidden opportunity, why length of stay is king but routinely ignored, and why a hotel running 70% at $100 can be healthier than one running 100% at $70. He also explains why AI dominates every conference agenda while owners walk away with strategy built for the chain, not for their specific asset — and why the healthiest question any owner can ask is whether the asset is worth more tomorrow than it is today.

He shares what a seven-year asset lifespan really demands from an owner, why the cheapest booking is still someone walking up or booking direct, and why he believes owners should have the ability to push back instead of opting into everything they're asked to sign up for.

#HotelRevenueManagement #RevenueLeak #HospitalityStrategy #BoutiqueHotels #ROIMasterclass #DeadMoney #PositionBeforeYouPrice #HotelInvesting #AssetManagement #DesignForROI #LengthOfStay #HadarInteriors

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Hotel ROI isn't what most owners think it is and Michael Blank has spent a career proving it.

Michael Blank is a hotel investor and operator based in DC who has worked across operations, hospitality consulting, banking, and ownership at two public companies before starting his own shop with a partner. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, he breaks down why most renovations are avoiding erosion rather than generating return, why RevPAR is the easiest and weakest benchmark to chase, and what he learned touring dirty rooms instead of clean ones.

He explains the operational math behind bunk beds, the mountain bike lockers that captured demand in a cookie-cutter Northwest Arkansas hotel, the Florida economy hotel with no brand and no visibility that runs 80% occupancy on a 4.8 rating, and the four things every hotel has to get right before anything else: a great bed, strong warm water pressure, good Wi-Fi, and a clean room.

Michael also makes the case that hospitality is designing for image instead of function and that guests don't get a voice until it's too late.

Connect with Michael: [email protected] (please confirm spelling before publishing)

#HadarInteriors #ROIMasterclass #HotelInvesting #DesignForROI #RevenueLeak #DeadMoney #HospitalityROI

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A $500 hotel room can land on the bill at $700 — and April Cheng says the service better be worth $700.

In this episode of ROI Masterclass, host Liat Siegel of Hadar Interiors sits down with April Cheng, founder of Travel Chic World, joining from Hawaii. April built her agency on personalized, relationship-driven travel planning after starting at a hotel front desk out of college, moving through account sales at the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and running the convenience store and retail division for the Sullivan Family of Companies in district management and HR.

She breaks down what actually makes a property bookable — cleanliness, layout, furniture, and whether the design matches the guest's personality — and why she only books properties rated three stars or higher with vetted reviews or personal experience. She explains why decor has to meet practicality, from hiding an outlet inside the design to making sure nobody trips over a styling piece. She makes the case that every front-facing employee, down to the valet and bell desk, should be trained on why the property chose its colors, its furniture, and its brand aesthetic — because that knowledge sells rooms.

She also shares the amenity shifts she's tracking: kitchens and condo-style accommodations, free breakfast that can be worth more than $100 a day at a high-end property, resort credits, spa and wellness demand, and balcony requests driven by a post-COVID appetite for fresh air. For anyone building or buying, her advice is to be on the ground — walk the blocks, meet the neighborhood, and design something true to the area.

⏱️ Topics covered: front desk lessons, customer service as differentiation, rebuilding after losing all sales in 2020, hotel design and layout as booking criteria, staff training on brand aesthetics, housekeeping feedback and turnover time, amenity trends, aloha spirit, and milestone-driven client relationships.

#ROIMasterclass #HadarInteriors #HotelDesign #HospitalityBusiness #DesignForROI

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Most operators are still renovating like it's 2021. Steeve Breton says that might be the single biggest mistake you can make in this market.

Steeve Breton, President of Velocity Capital, has invested over $500 million in multifamily assets since launching in 2017 — and he's watched this market get brutally tight in real time.

In this episode, Steeve breaks down exactly how operators are surviving high interest rates, why he paused most CapEx spending across his portfolio, how he's using preferred equity to protect investor capital, and what the $1.5 trillion in upcoming commercial loan maturities means for everyone holding real estate right now.

He also unpacks the opportunity zone strategy that lets investors defer taxes, pull out their original principal, and reset their portfolio — and why networking is the only real edge left in finding off-market deals.

If you own, operate, or invest in real estate, this is required listening before your next capital decision.

Guest: Steeve Breton

Linkedin: Steeve Breton

#RealEstateInvesting #MultifamilyInvesting #CapEx #PreferredEquity #OpportunityZones #RealEstatePodcast #HadarInteriors #VelocityCapital #MarketCycles #WealthBuilding #PassiveIncome #RealEstateSyndication #1031Exchange #PropertyManagement #ValueAdd