How to Set Yourself Up for Success in Commercial Real Estate [AMA with Steven Kaufman]
Dr. Kaufman is an accomplished investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chief Acceleration Officer of ZeusLending.com, an online provider of real estate financing products including traditional and non-traditional mortgages, hard money and bridge loans, and real estate crowdfunding investment opportunities.
Steven has been interviewed by local and national news organizations like FOX, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Bloomberg on the financial markets, and he is a contributing author at Entrepreneur.com.
Steven graduated with high honors from the University of Houston with a B.S. in accounting and holds a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. He has a Master’s Degree in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. Steven completed the Strategic Marketing Management Program at Harvard Business School, and earned his PhD in psychology, with a thesis on organizational leadership, corporate psychology, and team/group trust, from The Chicago School.
He gave us an insider’s view into the world of commercial real estate investing with tips for both beginners and experts.
We also talked about…
- The effect of the economy on real estate investments
- How to work with hard money and private money lenders
- The importance of networking and setting up partnerships
If you missed our session with Steven, you can still view it here.
Summary of our commercial real estate discussion
Below, we’ve included the main topics Steven discussed during his conversation with us so that you can skip to the parts you’re most interested in learning about…
2:44 Steven’s Profile
5:25 About Zeus Lending (online leader of real estate financing) and introduction of COO Mark
9:00 How Steven and Mark got started in real estate
10:00 Mark’s 30 years of experience
11:10 Steven’s start into real estate networking
12:00 $50million in acquisitions last year
14:45 15 year retirement plan and using real estate as a wealth building strategy
15:40 Overview of the current real estate market
17:10 How copper prices, student loan debt, credit card debt and housing prices predict the market
18:20 Recession and economic growth predictions
20:20 Real estate can be profitable in every part of the economic cycle
20:45 Interest rate predictions for lending
22:10 Adapting your exit strategy to economic conditions
24:00 Why you should hold on to properties rather than sell
25:00 Asset based lending and joint partnerships
26:40 Identifying potential partners
32:00 Refinancing small multifamily properties
35:00 How to purchase retail properties with tenants
37:30 How investors can build credibility with lenders
38:20 The Millionaire Mastermind Program
38:40 Benefits of residential real estate experience in commercial investing
42:45 Developing a system with residential investing
44:20 Motivating yourself to make big moves in investing
45:00 The 3 most important first steps when investing
48:20 How to find private lenders for deals
49:20 Important factors to qualifying for a hard money loan
51:15 How to calculate LTV for a hard money loan
55:00 How to decide equity percentages in a partnership
1:00 Best ways to find off-market commercial deals
1:05 Commercial real estate fix and flips
1:07 How to get in touch with Steve and Mark
1:09 Building wealth with real estate and the 15 year retirement plan
1:10 Multifamily investing with condos
1:14 Final advice for investors
1:21 The importance of drive and focus in investing
