In this episode of the A.CRE Audio series, Michael walks Spencer and Sam through the RV park development model used to analyze Michael's current project with Firm Ridge, RV@Olympic, spotlighted in episode 8. Michael also shares additional insights on the overall strategy, supply and demand dynamics, the strategic location, and market positioning of…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio series, Sam, Michael, and Spencer talk about the role that CRE teams play in different real estate strategies. Michael's current work at Firm Ridge lays the foundation for the conversation and allows Michael to share his experience with how a well-assembled team is important. In this conversation, the guys cover t…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, led by Michael, who is working on an RV Park development with Firm Ridge, the guys talk about the burgeoning RV park market. RV parks can serve as a good investment opportunity, as they are flexible, short-term ground lease opportunities with guests bringing their own RVs. Michael's RV Park development str…

In this special intermission episode of the A.CRE Audio series, Sam Carlson, a member of the A.CRE team, takes center stage as he shares insights into his background and the role he plays within the A.CRE. Sam also discusses his approach to strategy, marketing, and persuasion, and offers valuable advice to job seekers and others looking to market t…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Spencer, Sam, and Michael explore the concept of "super forecasting," featured in the book "Superforecasting" by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. The guys discuss the skills of super forecasters, people with a knack for prediction, and how they can be valuable in CRE. Through a practical forecasting exercis…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, the team explores the impact of AI on the world of commercial real estate. While the last episode talked about AI in general, this episode discusses how it applies to CRE. This episode explores how AI is reshaping careers within the industry, and how roles may evolve in the future. From AI-driven screening…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Spencer, Sam, and Michael discuss the evolving landscape of commercial real estate in a world where AI is becoming extremely prominent. They explore the real impact of AI on business and whether all the publicity surrounding it is justified. From AI-powered Excel add-ins to interview preparation coaching, …

Welcome back to season 4 of the A.CRE Audio Series! In this latest podcast episode, Spencer, Sam, and Michael discuss the disruption and evolution that has occurred in real estate and capital markets in the past several years. Specifically, we'll talk about how rising interest rates and the post-COVID world have changed CRE. Listen here to learn ab…

Welcome back to this new season 4 of the Adventures in CRE Audio Series! Join Sam, Michael, and Spencer as they take you on a journey through the future of commercial real estate. This season, they'll dive into AI, evolving CRE trends, and provide an exclusive inside look at a real deal in progress. Listen to this episode to learn about everything …

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio series, Spencer, Michael, and Sam consult Michael Hetchkop about the complicated world of commercial real estate lease audits. Michael Hetchkop, a seasoned professional in the field, shares his expertise on the nuances of lease audits, the complexities of lease terms and expenses, and common issues that can arise …

In the latest episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Spencer, Sam, and Michael delve into the world of real estate investment funds with Matt Burk, CEO of Fairway America. Matt brings a wealth of experience, having transitioned from individual deals to pooled investment funds in the late '90s. This episode explores various facets of real estate fund ma…

In the newest episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, James Nelson, principal and head of Avison Young's Tri-State Investment Sales Group (as well as an active CRE investor himself), shares his insights and expertise on various aspects of real estate investing to help CRE professionals develop an insider's edge with their investments. James and the guys…

By Adventures in CRE

In this episode of the Adventures in CRE podcast, Chad Hagle, CEO of Aventine Development and founding member of the Stanford Professionals in Real Estate (SPIRE), discusses the importance of CRE alumni associations and networking in launching successful careers. Chad shares his experience in forming SPIRE and overcoming initial resistance, highlig…

Real estate case competitions are a great opportunity for real estate students to show what they know and practice skills used in the real estate industry. Winning a competition can be a great achievement and improve a student's future. In this article, we will explore the success story of Monty McClendon and Justin Du from the University of Texas …

In the midst of conflict and uncertainty, chasing a dream can seem like a daunting task. For Dima Nazarenko, who's featured in this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, this was establishing a successful career in commercial real estate. Despite the challenges posed by the ongoing armed conflict in his home country, Dima remains undeterred in…

In today's society, diversity and inclusivity have become important topics across all industries, including commercial real estate. As businesses strive to be more representative of the communities they serve, CRE professionals are also recognizing the benefits of a diverse team. To gain insights on the topic of diversifying CRE, we sat down with A…

In times of economic uncertainty, commercial real estate (CRE) professionals face unique challenges in navigating the market. To gain insights into how to manage these challenges, we sat down with seasoned CRE pro and founder of Patriot Holdings, Jeremiah Boucher, to get his advice. With decades of experience in the industry, Jeremiah has weathered…

In this newest Accelerator in Action episode, Sam talks to Travis Headaphol. Travis, like many young professionals, started his career in commercial real estate as a student. Through dedication, hard work, and a commitment to learning, he went from a novice to a skilled CRE analyst. In this podcast episode, we'll take a closer look at Travis's jour…

In this newest special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Sam and Michael talk with Kyle Keene from Keene Development Group. Kyle transitioned from working for a construction management group into starting his own development group. Listen to this episode to learn about how to bridge the gap from employee to entrepreneur and how to make the transit…

In this newest special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Sam, Michael, and Spencer talk to George Burchlaw and Carol Ann Flint from Re Analytics Business Development. RE Analytics is a service that partners with real estate investment companies to provide efficient, cost-effective back-office asset management and analyst services. Listen to this e…

In this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Sam, Michael, and Spencer talk to Brian Murray, the CEO of Shift Capital. Shift Capital is a B-certified impact real estate group. A B-certification is a designation that certifies that a group focuses on social and environmental returns to society. Founded with the mission of influencing the pover…

In this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we feature Brandt Foster, Director at Northwestern Mutual Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investors in the nation. In this conversation, Spencer and Sam ask Brandt about MHCs, manufactured housing communities, where there are multiple different tiers of property types that sit within th…

In this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we feature Yaakov Zar and Sammy Greenwall, the founders of Lev Capital, a commercial mortgage marketplace for capital market advisors. In this conversation, Spencer, Michael and Sam ask Yaakov and Sammy about what Lev is doing to bring real estate financing into the 21st century. Watch, listen, or …

This episode of the A.CRE Audio Series features Jacob Deva Racusin, a real estate professional and co-founder of New Frameworks. New Frameworks is a worker-owned cooperative focused on environment-friendly construction. An active member of the carbon leadership forum, Jacob is engaged in code and policy development, professional training, and other…

This episode of the A.CRE Audio Series features Aleksandr Gampel, a real estate professional and co-founder of Cuby Technologies. Cuby is a tech company working to change the way we build buildings altogether. If you look into the recent past, you'll see that the construction process overall hasn't changed in decades. With the huge growth of commer…

In this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we talk with a special guest and friend to A.CRE, Oliver Beavers, the founder of Phosphor who is working on a new financial modeling tool. Originally, similar to multiple new professionals in the industry, Oliver entered the finance world needing to learn Excel to map out complex financial deals. A…

In 2018, Michael and I designed and built the A.CRE Accelerator program. We sought to build the preeminent tool for learning and mastering real estate financial modeling. It was intended to provide a clear path to real estate financial modeling mastery, and ultimately give Accelerator Graduates a significant advantage in the industry. Now as we app…

In this fourth special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Sam, Spencer, and Michael discuss how to create a real estate portfolio with special guest, Brandon Taubman. Brandon is a data scientist and financial engineer with 15 years of experience within investment banking, sports analytics, and real estate. With Brandon's experience in a variety of …

In this third special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, Sam and Spencer discuss self-storage data-driven strategies with special guess Drew Dolan. Drew is a Principal & Fund Manager at DXD Capital, a data-driven self-storage development company. Here at A.CRE, we've tried to create a wide array of cre content and one of the more recent areas we've…

In this special episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we feature Scott Choppin, the CEO and founder of The Urban Pacific group of companies, a real estate development company based in Southern California. In this conversation, Spencer, Michael, and Sam consult Scott for his insights into the development side, as well as other things happening from an …

In this first special episode of the 3rd season of the A.CRE Audio Series, we feature Mark Rios, a real estate entrepreneur with a background in media. In addition to being an A.CRE Accelerator Graduate, he is the principal and co-founder of Prosperity CRE. Growing up in Hollywood, Mark planned for a career in the entertainment industry and spent 3…

Welcome to Season Three of the A.CRE Audio Series! In this season, I am joined by the creators of Adventures in CRE, Spencer Burton, and Michael Belasco. This season is the first chance Spencer, Michael and Sam had been able to get together in person since 2019, and so they decided to do something special. As opposed to past seasons, season 3 is fo…

As briefly mentioned in the last episode, before you can start sourcing deals and finding investment opportunities, you need a strategy and you need money. Episode 1 talked about how to develop a strategy. Episodes 4 and 5 talk about how to put together the capital required for closing a deal in real estate. Specifically, this episode addresses equ…

As far as deal-making, and deal doing are concerned. the last three episodes or so have been really focused on the making side. But making deals is great, but if you can't get them closed, they're not worth anything. In this episode, we're beginning to bridge over to the doing side. Episode 5 is the second part of putting together your capital stac…

Now that we've really dug into the details about deal-making in commercial real estate, it's time to get into the weeds concerning deal-doing. This episode talks about how to go about due diligence in CRE at a pro-level. Hear Michael's perspective on the three main things for keys to success in real estate due diligence. We'll talk about the big bu…

Now that we've discussed the strategy and capital behind deal-making, and the due diligence required in conducting deals, let's talk about how to manage your assets. Ultimately, this is the step where quite frankly, the value comes to reality. Both Michael and Spencer have been on the development side of the real estate business and this episode fe…

Welcome to the last regular episode of season 3, Deal Making and Deal Doing, from the A.CRE Audio Series. With both Michael and Spencer, today we talk about disposition. We're talking about bringing the whole thing full circle: realizing your profits and realizing your strategy. It seems like a very simple thing. If we've done everything up to this…

In this second episode of this special season of the A.CRE Audio Series, we're talking about how to create a strategy for deal-making and deal doing, the theme of season 3. Strategy is an important part of deal-making: before you can go out and identify deals, you need to have a strategy, a reason to pursue those deals. The strategy really is the f…

Now that we've talked about the strategy behind deal-making in commercial real estate, it's time to get into the actual deals! This episode of season 3 of the A.CRE Audio Series talks about how to actually source deals and identify investment opportunities and the relationships needed to properly find these real estate investment opportunities. You…

One of our biggest goals here at A.CRE is building a community and engaging with our readers. Recently, you've likely seen our posts on the A.CRE Networking Reboot Cruise. This cruise we're putting together is another effort to bring that community together, give value back to our readers, and allow us to interact in person in a more substantive wa…

This episode of the A.CRE Audio Series features Justin Smith, Senior Vice President at Lee & Associates and the author of Industrial Intelligence: The Executive's Guide for Making Informed Commercial Real Estate Decisions. In this episode, he sits down with Michael, Spencer, and Sam to talk about how to maximize value for tenants. A big thanks to J…

This episode of the A.CRE Audio Series features Caleb Staub, a Real Estate Investor and Construction Project Manager. In this episode, we ask Caleb's advice on how to transition into the commercial real estate field. A big thanks to Caleb for offering his knowledge to our viewers!By Adventures in CRE

In this episode, watch as Spencer, San, and Michael discuss how to maximize your ROI on In-Person CRE Events.By Adventures in CRE

In this episode of Accelerators in Action, we're so happy to feature Samuel Obasi, the current A.CRE Fellow. In this episode we talk about the opportunities that come with a Fellowship as well as internships and so-on. This is our 9th episode in a growing sub-series of interviews with commercial real estate professionals. This Accelerators in Actio…

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we're pleased to be joined by Johannes Peter, the Founder & CEO of TomoDomo Co-Living in Switzerland. TomoDomo provides Co-Living residences in Switzerland. Through Co-Living, TomoDomo's goal is for their residents to consciously share their living space in order to build relationships, think further, aim …

In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we're pleased to be joined by Garland Fuller, a Diversity Recruiting Leader and Inclusion & Equity Strategist at CBRE. For this episode, we consult Garland on the best way to build a diverse team in the CRE profession. We're very grateful for Garland's willingness to share their knowledge with the A.CRE au…

With the events of 2020, networking in CRE has changed. In-place interactions have taken a necessary backseat to virtual connections. We all must adapt in order to advance our careers. In this episode of the A.CRE Audio Series, we’re pleased to be joined by Allison Weiss, Principal and Founder of CRE Recruiting. Allison offers excellent insights in…

Many of our content here at Adventures in CRE recently has been about career help and advice. This isn't accidental. With the current pandemic, we're doing our best to help our readers get through the recession. This episode features Jenn Cook, a Corporate Recruiter and Learning & Development Manager at Crow Holdings, and talks about various career…

One important aspect present in real estate more than any other industry is the need to shoot above your station. Alex Williams, a Financial Analyst at CBRE Capital Markets and our guest today exemplifies this. As just an intern in college, he cold-called and asked to speak with the CEO to close a deal. In this episode, watch as Sam asks Alex about…