Wealth Management professionals typically recommend clients invest 70-80% of their portfolios in traditional vehicles such as stocks, bonds and commodities. Although traditional investments are great long-term wealth-building vehicles, alternatives assets also perform well and serve different purposes. They can generate consistent cash flow as high as 10%, with attractive tax advantages and achieve strong appreciation, all with less volatility than public equities. Jim Pfeifer, one of the founders of Left Field Investors, an alternative investment education platform, recently merged with Bigger Pockets. The merged companies relaunched as Passive Pockets. 

There are no shortcuts to succeeding in business, there’s no way to avoid doing the hard work and putting the time in. The key is to persevere and stay in the game long enough to succeed. The longer you persist, the easier things become as you improve your skills and refine your focus, direction, and niche.  A.J. Lawrence, entrepreneur, investor, and founder of businesses, advises companies across industries on how to grow. A.J. is a digital marketing and sales expert with several seven figure exits on companies he founded. 

It’s impossible to time the market, so it makes sense to buy at the right price relative to current markets. If you don’t stay active, you can miss out on great opportunities. It also makes sense to hold for long periods of time, because five years or less is often not enough time to expect precise execution of a business plan given the vagaries that are entailed. Peter Linneman, Principal of Linneman Associates, is a prolific multi-decade investor and founder of Wharton's Real Estate Department and the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center. Peter Is bullish on Multifamily, despite short term headwinds in many markets.

Many multifamily operators avoid C Class properties built in the 70’s or 60’s in tougher neighborhoods. These properties often have issues with crime and delinquencies, not to mention deferred maintenance. In the past, these properties were priced low enough to justify the risk and the work involved to make them highly profitable. In the past few years, however, newer operators paid too much for these properties and incurred aggressive floating rate debt that will be difficult to refinance.  Many of these operators are now in trouble.  As a result, prices have declined 30% and even more. Matt Faircloth, Owner of the DeRosa Group, has developed a formula for acquiring and managing Class C properties, and is positioned to flourish as prices continue to plummet even further in the next couple years. 

Investing in private credit is growing at a rapid clip as traditional lenders are getting increasingly restrictive in their lending practices and investors are looking for safe havens for their money. One of the most conservative Hard Money lending spaces is against single family homes in non-coastal markets because the home values are relatively predictable without dramatic fluctuations. Will Coleman, CEO and Founder of Urban Gate Capital, has a debt fund that loans money to single family flippers in Nashville with a growing pool of borrowers and investors. Will is currently paying investors 10%.

Buying properties in satellite markets within short driving distance to secondary or even tertiary markets can produce alpha returns, especially when buying them from older owners. Often times, these owners aren’t current on what their properties are worth, and their rents are significantly under market. To make money on these properties, however, you still need to buy them at a discounted price. Farris Gosea, Founder and CEO of Farris Gosea Capital, has amassed an impressive portfolio of multifamily apartment buildings in Northwest Indiana, a market that has become a commuter market of Chicago. Farris has a vertically integrated company that controls all aspects of maintenance, construction, and leasing. 

One of the ways to become successful in Real Estate is through the path of brokerage. There’s almost no barrier to entry and unlimited upside. You can be successful as a broker if you develop a niche, passion, and discipline. Bob Knakal, a modern legend in the NYC brokerage community, leads the Private Capital Group for JLL in New York and has brokered the sale of well over 2000 buildings, more buildings in New York City than any individual broker ever, totaling over $21 billion in sales. In the past several years, Bob has sold mostly Multifamily in Manhattan, with an average transaction price of $40 million.

Investing in Real Estate syndications can be risky, especially if you don’t have the necessary years of experience and the knowledge to effectively vet the operator and the specific opportunity. As a result, many investors have lost money, especially in the last year. One way to mitigate this risk is to invest in a fund that’s run by a fund operator with a lengthy track record of success and diversified holdings within the fund. Paul Moore, Founder of Wellings Capital, is operating his sixth fund for accredited investors to invest across recession resistant asset classes that are positioned to do well over the next several years. In Paul’s latest fund, he’s investing in Pref Equity deals that provide in-place cash flow plus significant potential upside in the form of refinances or sale events.  

Although core gateway markets have the highest appreciation for multifamily over time, secondary markets also offer tremendous growth and stability, and they have smaller barriers to entry. Bobby Larsen, Principal and Founder of Vanamor Investments, has invested successfully in submarkets of Portland, Oregon and Tampa, Florida, plus others.  He’s deployed a very conservative approach to acquisitions and operations that’s minimized risk and produced great returns for investors. Vanamor also utilizes 1031 exchanges, so their investors avoid tax consequences when properties are sold and compound gains over years. With huge distress in the market, and even more to come, Bobby anticipates making great acquisitions in the upcoming year. 

Maintaining high occupancy levels in apartment complexes can be an ongoing challenge, especially in highly competitive markets. This is why affordable, government subsidized housing can be a great option for investors. If the properties are in the right location, occupancy can consistently run at 100%, with waiting lists for new tenants. Not only are these properties full, but delinquencies are a non-issue because most of the rents are paid by the government. Ira Fisher of North Loop Investments owns over 400 units of affordable housing, mostly in Chicago and the surrounding areas. 

One of the hottest asset classes right now is neighborhood retail. Although it was out of favor just a few years ago because people thought ecommerce would replace it, it has proven to be not only resilient, but incredibly stable. There has almost been no new construction for over fifteen years, so existing properties are seeing occupancy levels at way over 90%.  As a result, the competition to acquire these assets has gotten fierce.  Nate Melchior, Principal of Dutton Commercial, vertically manages his own retail portfolio and also third party manages a portfolio of 70 mid-size retail and office properties throughout Colorado.  In addition to pursuing retail properties to buy, Nate is also searching for highly discounted office properties in great submarkets.

Cracks are starting to show in the multifamily space. Several owners have expiring rate caps and are underwater on their properties as they face dramatically increased debt payments. This is starting to force sellers to get realistic and capitulate on price. Great deals are starting to emerge with healthy spreads between interest rates and cap rates. Julian Vogel, 

Fund Manager at Colony Hills Capital, is acquiring recession resilient Class B- to A- properties with 20% return targets in growth markets in the Eastern U.S. 

In the last several years, industrial Real Estate has become a highly visible asset class, mostly because of ecommerce. One growing subset of this category is Industrial Outdoor Storage. It’s a great asset class because there’s very low capital expenditure or management involved. It’s mostly land with a small, sparsely furnished industrial building, and sometimes no building at all. As a result, it can be extremely lucrative. Matt McLennan, Executive Vice President of Kidder Matthews in Seattle, help clients buy, lease, and develop Industrial Outdoor Storage facilities. Matt has also invested in these assets individually. 

For steady, predictable cash flow, few assets perform as well as Flex Industrial. There’s a dearth of supply where tenants can operate their businesses, and the cost of relocating is often prohibitive. There’s also little day-to-day management because the spaces are mostly warehouses with a minor office component. Ian Horowitz, Managing Partner at Equity Warehouse, owns 15 properties in the Southeast that are a combination of Flex Industrial and Self-Storage. He’s gradually selling them off to relocate his portfolio closer to Philadelphia and Baltimore, where he’s located. Ian has grown to recognize that it’s easier to manage properties closer to home.

There can be outsized returns in out-of-favor asset classes when there are still strong underlying fundamentals.  Office, in particular, can still be lucrative. Matt Drouin, Partner at Oak Grove Development, has acquired great legacy office buildings in downtown Rochester that are generating great cash flow. Matt also invests in multifamily, retail, and industrial in Rochester. Tight geographic focus and intimate market knowledge eliminates a lot of risk and results in great returns. Matt only does fixed rate debt and buys for long-term holds.

In the alternative investing space, there are numerous ways to build long-term wealth. Many of these opportunities involve direct investment in Real Estate, but there are other investments that the same or even better returns. Dave Zook, Founder and CEO of The Real Asset Investors, invests in alternative asset classes including ATM machines, Oil and Gas production, Car Washes and Self-Storage facilities. Dave creates partnerships with proven operators who specialize in respective asset classes and has a very strong track record generating outsized returns for investors over a long period of time.  

As we’ve emerged from the pandemic, Americans are now travelling almost as much as they were back in 2109. In certain markets, the hospitality industry is doing as well, if not better than ever, but there are still great opportunities to invest in hotels. Paul Hassebroek, Principal of Six Four Asset management, has been successfully operating hotels in Iowa and Wisconsin and will be raising a new fund to acquire more value-add opportunities within the Marriott chain. Paul will increase profits by implementing corporate sales strategies and improving operational efficiencies. 

A great sector of Real Estate investing that has a low barrier to entry is land flipping. Land flipping requires very little start-up money, and the profits can be incredibly lucrative with very little downside. Mike Deaton, a successful land investor, generates as much passive income from land investing as he and his wife made combined in high corporate salaries. Buying and selling land is easier than selling a house, apartments, or other commercial buildings because it’s just land with no physical structure. After becoming very successful, Mike is now coaching others on how to replicate his success. 

A well refined market niche for real estate entrepreneurs can deliver outsized returns, but it’s easier said than done. It takes a lot to discover a niche in a crowded marketplace, and it requires discipline to stick with it without getting distracted by other shiny objects. Axel Ragnarsson, founder of Aligned Real Estate Partners, buys 10–50-unit value-add apartment buildings in Southern New Hampshire directly from sellers. Axel’s completely vertically integrated and knows the market incredibly well. Southern New Hampshire is a supply constrained, stable market with population and rent growth as residents are moving there from more expensive markets in the Northeast.

Over the last five years, overly exuberant investors vastly overpaid for multifamily properties. Instead of basing their pricing on in-place property performance, they based their pricing on overly aggressive proformas. In many cases, these proformas didn’t materialize because of increased renovation costs and declining rents. Because of these factors plus increased borrowing costs, we’re starting to see distress in the marketplace. Bill Hamm, Co-founder of Broadwell Property Group, was smart enough to sell off his portfolio a couple years ago when the market was incredibly frothy. Bill is now looking to jump back into the market to acquire B Class core properties in great locations in major metro markets with 5 – 7 year holds.

Although there can be gains from physical improvements to a property, the most expedient value-add occurs when you buy well-maintained properties for less than they’re worth. Ben Kogut, founder of Rooster Equity, buys single tenant retail properties, office buildings, shopping centers, and medical office properties from motivated sellers at prices below market. These properties have few improvement needs and are generating impressive cash flow at the onset so investors get solid distributions right away.

With construction costs having increased for value-add properties, and better deals coming online for newer properties, acquiring older properties may make less sense than a few years ago. Older properties also have a lot of maintenance costs and higher unit turn costs. As prices continue to come down for newer properties, these deals pose less risk and greater reward. Mark Weinstein, President of MJW Investments, has acquired over $1,5 Billion of apartments, student housing, commercial buildings, industrial, and self-storage facilities over the last several decades.  More recently, Mark has focused on Multifamily in growing markets that have been less impacted by oversupply.

In the past few months, great deals have materialized across asset classes as the buyer pool has shrunk and sources of capital have dried up. As a result, more deals are generating attractive in-place cash flow.  Cash-on-cash upon close is more important than IRR and Equity Multiple because cash flow is immediate and reduces risk.  IRR and Equity Multiple are speculative and don’t always materialize.  Irwin Boris, Head of Investments at Heritage Capital Group, has decades of experience across most asset classes. Heritage stopped acquiring multifamily five years ago and has been acquiring warehouses and flex industrial and generating in-place cash-on-cash of 9% or higher. 

Prices on most Real Estate assets have come down significantly over the past year. In multifamily, class C properties in particular have gotten crushed and prices on Class A and B properties have also contracted. Too many sponsors paid too much for properties, overleverages, and got floating rate debt. Over the next couple years, great opportunities will present themselves to invest in high quality assets at discounted prices. If interest rates come down during this period, as many predict, and cap rates follow, big profits will be earned. Mark Hamilton, Chairman of Hamilton Zanze, a multifamily operator of 25,000 units, is bullish on the next few years for what multifamily has in store as absorption, occupancy, and rents increase.

Nothing negatively impacts apartment performance metrics like vacancies. That’s why it pays to take great care of tenants, and to have precise systems and processes to replace tenants when prior ones leave. Many apartment operators take up to 60 days to fill a vacancy. Jered Sturm, CEO of SNS Capitol Group, however, has a meticulously refined process that takes three days to fill vacancies from the day a tenant vacates. As a result, Jered has a 98.5% occupancy across his 1400-unit portfolio. Jered started out as a maintenance tech and has built a vertically integrated operation. The SNS portfolio is located in Cincinnati, where Jered lives and has resided his whole life.

Supply-demand imbalance is what drives value in Commercial Real Estate. In this country, we currently have a severe shortage of affordable housing in many markets. In the case of Mobile Home Parks, the ultimate in affordable housing, supply is actually shrinking because municipalities are repurposing the land Mobile Home Parks occupy for other uses. Nathan Jameson, Founder and Managing Director of ARX Capital, has an incredible track record of buying, improving, and operating Mobile Home Parks in Pennsylvania and surrounding states...

When institutions like pension funds or other groups like family offices invest in Real Estate, they’re looking to invest with best-in-class operators with stellar track records to partner with. They have very specific criteria for asset classes, markets, and operators. Jon Siegel, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of RailField Partners, has developed a strong track record in core plus multifamily assets across growth markets, and has attracted capital from large capital partners as he continues to generate consistently excellent returns.

When it comes to doing larger Real Estate deals, the power of partnerships comes into play. It’s helpful to leverage several sources of capital and specific areas of expertise in order to fund deals and execute on business plans. Scott Jacobson, Founder of Onward Equity, started out as a solo operator in smaller apartment buildings and a small office building in Indiana before joining a networking group and scaling his efforts with other members into larger multifamily buildings across several states. 

It’s difficult to create value when you do whatever everyone else is doing, and hard to find opportunities others haven’t discovered. One such asset class in independent hotels is small, popular tourist towns. Many of these hotels are run by ma and pa operators who have antiquated operating processes and lack the resources to update their properties. By making simple adjustments to operations, and updating the physical premises, there’s huge upside to these properties. Jonathan Twombly, Managing Member of Two Bridges Asset Management, is buying and improving independent hotels and achieving great profitability.

When it comes to stable tenants and predictable cash flow, it’s hard to find a better asset class then Medical Office. As the population ages and people live longer, the demand for medical care will continue to flourish. Plus, technology will never replace the human body. Whether its dermatology practices, dentists, dialysis centers, emergency care, eye care, hospitals, veterinary practices, etc., health care is rapidly growing. Ben Reinberg, CEO of Alliance Consolidated Group of Companies, has specialized in Medical Office for the last twenty years and is generating predictable, steady cash flow and strong appreciation for his investors. 

Since mid-2022, Commercial Real Estate prices have been in a freefall. Dramatic increases in Interest rates have pushed prices down, capital has dried up, and the market has come to a standstill. The lending industry, however, is varied and complicated, and no one quite knows what will transpire when loan maturities transpire. Unlike 2008-09, operations on most properties are sound, but unprecedented rate increases will saddle properties with more debt than they’ll be able to service. Brian Burke, President and CEO of Praxis Capital, has been through several cycles, and believes the fallout from this phenomenon will not be as bad as many predict.

In the past few years, great deals for multifamily properties have been few and far between because the prices have simply been too high to make sense. As a result, many inexperienced operators relied on risky financial engineering to make deals pencil and are now paying the price. A lot of these operators are going to lose some, if not all, of their money and take their investors with them. Bruce Fraser, Managing Partner of Elkhorn Capital Partners, has avoided these overpriced assets, and created a smart niche of buying highly distressed properties at deep discounts and turning them around for big profits. Elkhorn Capital oversees over 2000 units across Tulsa and Oklahoma City and plans on further expansion into these markets.

For Real Estate investors who are capitalized enough to acquire properties over the next couple years, a lot of money will be made. Many current operators are over-leveraged and using floating rate debt and are now suffering the consequences. Many of them are losing money and will have to sell at a steep loss. Others are still making money, but not enough to qualify for refinances upon loan maturity, so they will also have to capitulate at a loss. Dan French, 

Managing Director of ATX, sold most of a 15,000-unit multifamily portfolio in 2019 when prices were starting to skyrocket. Now he’s back in the market in search of distressed assets.

The stock market can be great for long-term appreciation, but it’s unpredictable and doesn’t generate as much passive income as alternative investments like Real Estate, Oil and Gas, Commercial Lending, and others. With alternative investments, you can generate greater than 10% returns on your money paid monthly or quarterly and pave a path to a comfortable retirement. Chris Miles, the anti-Financial Advisor and cash flow expert, consults with clients on how to invest their money in order to earn enough passive income to retire from the 9-5 grind.

In the past couple years, there’s been an unprecedented amount of new multifamily developments under construction. With so many construction loans coming due over the next couple years, there will be many opportunities to provide preferred equity to developers who need gap funding in order to stay alive in their deals. With interest rates having more than doubled, and lenders requiring less leverage, borrowers will need to bring more outside money to the table. Darin Davis, Co-founder and Principal of Presario Ventures, is a seasoned Texas multifamily operator, who is providing preferred equity to builders of new multifamily apartments. 

Over 90% of U.S. businesses generate less than $5 million profit per year, yet these businesses are the backbone of our economy and employ the majority of U.S. employees. Whereas the majority of Private Equity investments are in larger companies, many smaller companies are investable and need access to capital and additional expertise to grow. Mason Myers, Founder of Greybull Stewardship, invests in companies with $5 - $25,000,000 million in profit and has a strong track record helping these companies grow and increase their value. He currently has $300 million assets under management.

A sector of Real Estate that remains robust is outparcel developments. The demand for great locations exceeds current supply. Outparcels are attractive because they have great visibility, and they don’t compete with dozens of other tenants. Rents are typically higher, but well warranted based on traffic counts and visibility. Typical tenants are fast food, fitness chains, car washes, and gas stations. Josh Weiner, Principal of KLNB Commercial Real Estate Services, based in Northern Virginia, works with developers, investors, and owners throughout Maryland and Virginia.

For predictable and consistent cash flow, it’s hard to beat small neighborhood retail with national credit tenants. Rents are secured by some of the country’s largest corporations, and there’s very little to do to maintain these properties. Like most asset classes, it’s still highly competitive, but there are great deals in the $1 million to $5 million range that are too big for a lot of small investors, and too small for larger institutions. Loren Ziff, a three-decade, seasoned investor with experience in most asset classes, currently specializes in smaller retail properties with great cash flow. 

The best Real Estate deals often occur when someone sees what others don’t. In any market, there are always great opportunities. In today’s market, for example, there are especially great deals in suburban office. As workers have left downtown offices, they’ve chosen to work closer to home. As a result, many quality suburban office buildings are at 90% occupancy. Ash Patel, a successful Value-Add investor, invests in office buildings, flex Industrial, strip retail, and ground up construction. Ash doubles his money on most deals in three to five years. 

As equity investing in Real Estate has gotten increasingly risky, debt investing has grown rapidly in appeal. One asset class in particular that’s especially lucrative is Specialty Lending against the development of cannabis cultivation facilities. There are currently 27,000 cannabis facilities in the U.S. and the number is growing. Rob Sechrist, Co-Founding President of Pelorus Capital Group, a cannabis-use Private Mortgage REIT, has conducted $500,000,000 in transactions since 2010, which makes him one of the top three lenders in the country. Pelorus provides value-add bridge and stabilized financing to borrowers with first lien positions and has generated excellent returns for retail and institutional investors. 

When selling a home, getting the highest price is not always the number one goal for sellers. Sometimes, a seller will forgo the hassle of fixing up a home plus avoid the process of listing and showing the property. Some sellers will exchange the work involved for the certainty and speed of a close, even at a reduced price. Robbie Faithe, CEO & Founder of Faithe Real Estate Group, is a top 1% agency in Albuquerque. In addition to conducting traditional transactions for home buyers and sellers, Robbie wholesales homes to other investors. In situations when the numbers make sense, Robbie acquires homes for his own investment portfolio, often using seller financing.

Having a tight geographic focus, especially in multifamily, combined with an experienced operator, mitigates a lot of risk. There’s also no substitute for when an operator lives in the market they operate in. Local market knowledge, in addition to in-house property management, are a recipe for healthy returns. David Lamatinna, Principal at Arrowhead Properties, has over 18 years’ experience in acquiring, renovating, and managing C class apartment communities throughout greater Boston, and has generated great returns for his investors. 

One asset class that’s experiencing particularly high growth is cold storage. The increasing demand for perishable goods, the expansion of the cold supply chain, and the focus on food safety and compliance are driving the need for advanced cold storage facilities. Cliff Booth, Founder and Chairman at Westmount Realty Capital, has invested in cold storage for decades and is developing new facilities to fill this rapidly rising demand. Westmount has been a large investor in value-add warehouses and Multifamily for 35 years, mostly in the sunbelt states and upper Midwest. 

In the Multifamily asset class, being vertically integrated is especially important. Managing apartments is very labor intensive with 24-7 residents, so a lot of things can go wrong. With so many people involved, and so moving parts, expense and revenue management is a continuous challenge. Shelley Peterson, President of Kahuna Investments, owner of 3000 apartment units, has migrated from third party management companies to in-house management and is seeing increased effectiveness, significant operational savings, and profitability.

Chasing high yields that never materialize because of unrealistic underwriting is a recipe for major disappointment. The most money in Real Estate is made buying quality assets at the beginning of cycles. Currently, we’re facing an environment where inexperienced operators paid too much for properties with too much leverage, floating rate debt, and unrealistic assumptions. As a result, there will be some form of distress in almost all asset classes. Peter Lewis, Chairman and Founder of Wharton Equity Partners, has 35 years of experience as a real estate owner, developer, and operator. Peter has survived several cycles and predicts great buying opportunities over the next couple years. 

Although most asset classes will experience some forms of distress over the next couple years, one asset class that will be less impacted is Self-Storage. Recent prices paid for Self-Storage were less exuberant than Multifamily and other asset classes, so most operators are doing well enough to not have to sell at a discount. As an industry, Self-Storage is still mostly operated by smaller, less sophisticated operators, so opportunities to implement systems and create efficiencies translate into big potential returns for investors. Cliff Minsley, Cofounder of 10 Federal Storage, is acquiring underperforming facilities with almost no debt, thereby generating significant, risk-adjusted returns for investors. 

Running multifamily properties in tertiary markets can have major challenges, especially finding qualified staff and drawing from a smaller tenant base. Despite these challenges, you can still acquire at a low enough basis where big gains can be made. Many of these properties are inefficiently managed by long-term local owners with little or no debt and rents hundreds of dollars per month below market. Seth Teagle, Principal of The Stream Group, vertically manages properties in tertiary markets, and has been able to create immense value through increasing revenue and net operating income.  

The multifamily sector is facing major headwinds. Not only have interest rates escalated at an unprecedented pace, but operating costs have also soared as well. In certain states, insurance costs alone have increased 100% or even more in the last couple years. With costs rising dramatically and rents plateauing, or even decreasing in some cases, there’s choppy waters that will not end well for many multifamily investors. Chris Grenzig, Owner of Jag Capital Partners, has built a vertically integrated portfolio of smaller properties in Jacksonville, Florida and is successfully navigating this turbulence in the market. Chris has not acquired a new deal in over a year because prices have not yet come down enough to reflect the realities of today’s operating environment. 

In secondary and tertiary markets in the Midwest, Multifamily prices have come down 27%-35% since the March 2022 peak and have a way to go. When distressed operators are forced to sell at a loss, the low prices they sell for create new comps in the marketplace. This is why there will be great deals over the next couple years for patient Multifamily investors. Reid Bennett, National Council Chair of Multifamily Properties for SVN International, is a top .02% Multifamily broker, and is an expert in all things Multifamily. Reid believes sellers are well advised to sell now before the market further contracts. 

It’s hard to find businesses that consistently generate profit margins in excess of 20%. One such asset class most investors don’t think about is laundromats, but they’re everywhere and simple businesses to run. Over the past couple years, Real Estate investors, in addition to others, have entered the laundromat space because of the strong cash flow and the ability to dramatically increase revenue by adding value. For starters, most laundromats lack the simple technological advances that make these facilities way easier to run and way more profitable. Jordan Berry, Owner of Laundromat Resource, has successfully operated numerous laundromats in Southern California and is now creating a fund that investors can passively invest in.