Accessing Capital for Real Estate Development

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human Earners, what's up? Look, building wealth isn't just about making money. It's about knowing where your money is working for you. That's why we partnered with Empower. Empower is all about helping you invest well so you can go out and live a little. Their free Empower personal dashboard gives you a complete view of your financial life in one place. Track your net worth, monitor your budget, analyze your investments, set retirement goals, and more. You've worked hard for your money. Now make sure it's working hard for you. Download the Empower personal dashboard or visit Empower.com.

0:37Not an Empower client paid or sponsored.

1:00and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT. This means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more. Remember FDIC. They don't realize smart people use smartphones, huh? Seeing through BS they thought was gonna slide. Download TextNow because it cuts out clownery. You can literally activate it from your couch. Nationwide 5G with the same towers the other companies use. Pay what you want or not at all. You're in control.

1:38Show these ridiculous carriers we ain't paying for stupid. Because we're way too smart to pay dumb. Free app-based talking. You can text now. App requires Wi-Fi or data connection. Data plans sold separately. 5G where available. When traveling for events or festivals throughout the country, every dollar matters. We compare flights, prices, hotel rates, and restaurant options. So why wouldn't we compare rides? Personally, I always check Lyft before booking a ride. Prices can change throughout the day depending on traffic, weather, and what's happening in the city. If you're headed to a concert, out to dinner, or catching up with your friends on a Friday night, taking a few seconds to check Lyft could leave you with more money to enjoy the experience.

2:18Save money. Check Lyft. So how are you moving into different markets? What are some of the challenges with that? you started where you're from but now you're going to texas and you're going to you said you're moving to atlanta and different things like and then you're doing different different product types as well yeah so talk about navigating that so relationships man it's it's everything i think when i was coming up in milwaukee one of the things that i did was just build those relationships i was networking i was at every event you couldn't miss me i was literally you could not miss me i I was everywhere.

2:52So I took that same model, but now I'm doing it on a national scale. Everything in D.C., real estate-based events, I'm there. I'm not there as much now because I've been, you know, head down, but I'm in those Atlanta-based events. I'm in that Houston-based events. I'm in those, you know, Birmingham-based events. I'm in that. So I look for the macroeconomic trends that I like, population growth. I really like red states and blue cities Because it allows for Flexibility And Getting out tenants that may not pay Right I'm not saying evict folks That's not what I'm here for But at the same time Places like Atlanta Atlanta isn't as bad Atlanta is D.C.

3:38Let's use D.C. for example You said red state and blue cities Yes Those are places like Atlanta I like Like Houston Houston, Atlanta Georgia is now Birmingham, all blue states, red city. I mean, traditionally, Georgia's not a blue state. No, no, no. I mean, blue cities, red states. I may have said it the wrong way. Birmingham would be. Yeah. Birmingham, Houston, Atlanta. Houston. Yeah, for sure. New Orleans. Yes. Stuff like that. Yep, yep, yep. I really like blue cities, red cities. Sorry. Blue cities, red states. Because the higher level laws allow for more flexibility. Like a place like D.C., for example.

4:12there were people that literally dc prior to the pandemic you can go rent an apartment never pay your rent and you don't have to get out for at least seven months because that's how long the process takes like i know people that lived in the building i lived in that literally leased it and didn't pay rent they just lease it out every summer so they can enjoy the rooftop and they just burn up different people's things like okay your name this year we all gonna live there your name this year we all gonna live there are there any are there any major cities that are run by Republicans? I don't think so, right?

4:43Every major city is run by Democrats. Can you really think about it? That's a good question. Chicago, LA, New York, Houston. Miami is a Democrat. The mayor is a Democrat. I don't think there's any major city that... That's interesting. I just thought about that. No major city has Republican control. Very true. Even if it's in a Republican state. LA. Yeah. San Francisco. San Francisco, same. Philly. yeah and you know Pennsylvania goes back and forth but those those cities those states that have those very like stringent laws like a DC for example um I I'm not the most fond of right like during the pandemic there were people that literally lived for over a year just because the system and it's like you're not paying any rent as a landowner that has thousands of units I don't want thousands of units in a place that I can't get people exploiting this system out in Wisconsin.

5:43You get somebody 30 days. All right, boom. You go through the process and land up even quicker than that. And I'm not saying we should exploit it either, but from a business perspective, it doesn't make sense for me to be in a place where X amount of people don't pay rent, especially as I'm rising. Like when I get bigger, of course, maybe I could deal with some of that drop. But right now, no, I'm focused on cities where it makes sense financially. So you moved throughout the cities. I know the HUD is involved in the Birmingham situation. There was$370 million allocated for the developments. Is it a situation where you can now again go back to HUD and do the same type of proposal in a different city?

6:20Absolutely. So I'm a finalist for three cities right now. I knew it, man. I knew it. I'm a finalist for three cities right now. I got a call yesterday about one. We'll talk about the cities offline. Yeah. Yeah. So the strategy in the game plan there is if, let's say once a year, once every other year, I can pick up one of these. Birmingham will be further along. Now I'm starting on that. And if each one is kicking out a thousand plus units, you get three, four cities. I mean, by the time I'm 34 now, by the time I'm 42, 43, I have thousands of units under my belt that I've developed and really just starting to enter my prime.

7:01on your financial map does the percentage change with the amount of units right when you started at the 140 you had your percentage that was put in now you're doing 1100 but you have partners yes how does that change great question yes it did change so each city that you go into their housing authority that you so all of these are public housing redevelopment so think of burning grains, think Marcy Projects, et cetera. We're taking the projects and creating mixed income communities. Because if you think about the projects, they were low density. Earners, what's up? Look, we already know that your housing payment is probably your biggest monthly expense.

7:41But what if it could actually help you build rewards? You've probably heard about Built from letting renters earn points on rent. Now they've taken it even further. As of 2026, homeowners can earn up to 1.25 times points on their mortgage payments. That's possible through Bilt's new lineup of credit cards, the Palladium card, Obsidian card, and Blue card. Whether you rent or own, there's a card designated to fit your lifestyle while helping you earn flexible rewards. Those Bilt points can be redeemed for flights, hotels, Amazon purchases, future housing payments, and more. They've even been recognized as one of the most valuable reward currencies in the industry.

8:20So if you're already making your housing payment every month, why not make it work harder for you? Head over to jointbuilt.com slash leisure. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash leisure. And find the card that's right for you. Make sure you use our link so that they know Earn Your Leisure sent you. Terms and limitations apply. Subject to approval and eligibility. Built cards are issued by Column N.A. Remember FDIC, pursuant to license from MasterCard International Incorporated.

9:15over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more. When traveling for events or festivals throughout the country, every dollar matters. We compare flights, prices, hotel rates, and restaurant options. So why wouldn't we compare rides? Personally, I always check Lyft before booking a ride. Prices can change throughout the day depending on traffic, weather, and what's happening in the city. If you're headed to a concert, out to dinner, or catching up with your friends on a Friday night, taking a few seconds to check lift could leave you with more money to enjoy the experience.

9:53Save money. Check lift.

10:13all you're in control show these ridiculous carriers we ain't paying for stupid because we're way too smart to pay them free app-based talking text you can text now app requires wi-fi or data connection data plan sold separately 5g where available so it's 30 acres of land with 300 units on it that same 30 acres could do 3 000 if you really wanted to right but you don't You don't want to go that dense, but that's just an example of what you are going after. So because the housing authorities typically own those lands, whoever is at the housing authority, they kind of dictate the negotiation of the housing authority and developer in those terms.

10:56The housing authority gets X percentage, and then the developers gets Y percentage. And right now, Integral and I are splitting that percentage. Okay. But it's very favorable. Like it's pretty close to where it should be. And the way we work, they come, I'm driving, but they're there every step of the way in a passenger seat. So I'm able to learn from it in their experience. They've developed, built and managed over 10 ,000 plus units. They've been doing this. They created the model. I'm learning from them, but I'm driving the ship at the same time. So yes, I have to share in the economics, but you know, three, 400 million dollar deals a pop i don't mind sharing we can figure it out so talk about access to capital that's something that you know don people a lot of people have talked about um what is your thoughts on access to capital as far as on the real estate development side and what's your personal experience is trying to get access to capital the money on this commercial real estate side like i said the money is gonna be there if you got a deal to work the money's gonna flow at the end of the day now the terms for the money talked about before that's where it gets a little tricky i'll say in the wake of george floyd there was a 18 month period maybe even a little i mean it's still kind of there but it's scaling back where they were throwing money at black developers who was throwing money like black rock uh no that's a great question so like the paypals of the world when they was giving out all the like oh i want to invest in black communities primarily went to cdfi's community development financial institution that we talked about last time there's some national cdfi's that govern some of those funds and they've been able to kind of distill those funds to us so like enterprise community partners they're my equity investors on the madison deal they have a program called equitable path forward their CEO just took over Fannie Mae so that's the scale of like how big these CDFIs are now um they're one of their presidents Lori Chapman she created this program based upon all of that money that was coming in from the corporations that were trying to give to black dollars and this program is specifically created to be able to they have lines of credit for us from an operational business perspective.

13:16They have pre-development loans. So you can go out, each one of these deals, you need at least a half a million, anywhere from a half a million to a million before you close. You get it all back when you finish, but you need that before you close. And when you talk about like capacity, that's one of the things too. If you have five of these deals going on at one time, you're going to need two and a half to$5 million worth of capital just to deploy to that. Not even talking about your operations and nothing like that. So they have programs that are allowing for developers to be able to tap into those type of money that helps us grow and scale.

13:48But the flip side of it is that's all to, you know, kind of feel good money that's going to flip. But to Don Peoples point, black people don't manage big pension funds at all. Right. He's I've heard him talk about it on y 'all's platform. At the end of the day, we're less than one percent of all of the management. black brown women less than one percent of all assets managed but if in new york for example with black brown and women is over 50 of what's going into that pension fund why is it less than one percent of us managing or having access to manage those funds what is the governance around that to say oh you are not capable enough to do that that's still a really big challenge to be able to even go from someone like myself that's a developer that's established to get into fund management and be able to allocate to either my developments or other developers in the same way that some of these traditional majority firms are doing with no problem.

14:49So that's really a challenge that I think needs to be addressed. And I'm doing, I'm doing my job to do it. So reinvest is a platform that I'm creating now. It's a crowdfunding platform that democratizes commercial real estate investment. My mother can't invest. Your parents can't invest unless they are accredited historically, but you've seen crowdfunding start to grow in the real estate space a little bit. So I'm doing a regulation, a plus we can raise up 75 million. I'm gonna put a portfolio of deals together and have people invest in that and back by the best of the best in the country that are doing it.

15:24So it's secure by those funds. I mean, by those firms and we underwrite the deals. We co-invest in the deals. It's not a, it's not like investing in a company. It's not like investing in a onesie deal. Like we are, you know, putting together sophistication in a way that the marketplace has not seen. So that's one of the ways that I'm addressing the access to capital challenge for emerging developers that are like me and coming up behind me too. Ernest, what's up? Look, building wealth isn't just about making money. It's about knowing where your money is working for you. That's why we partnered with Empower.

15:58Empower is all about helping you invest well so you can go out and live a little. Their free Empower Personal Dashboard gives you a complete view of your financial life in one place. Track your net worth, monitor your budget, analyze your investments, set retirement goals, and more. You've worked hard for your money. Now make sure it's working hard for you. Download the Empower Personal Dashboard or visit Empower.com. Not an Empower client paid or sponsored. Before you sign off, you tuned in for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered context into work they can use.

16:36ChatGPT for Business can help. ChatGPT for Business gives teams a shared workspace with admin controls, permissions, and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT. This means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more. When traveling for events or festivals throughout the country, every dollar matters. We compare flights, prices, hotel rates, and restaurant options. So why wouldn't we compare rides? Personally, I always check Lyft before booking a ride.

17:14Prices can change throughout the day depending on traffic, weather, and what's happening in the city. If you're headed to a concert, out to dinner, or catching up with your friends on a Friday night, taking a few seconds to check lift could leave you with more money to enjoy the experience. Save money. Check lift. Everyone's talking about how AI is transforming work, especially in sales. While the landscape shifts, one thing remains the same. The thrill of closing a deal. Whether it's a gong or a confetti machine, every team has its celebration rituals. Adio is designed for that moment. It's the agentic CRM that turns customer signals into actionable insights, helping you close deals faster with revenue agents and automations working around the clock.

17:54You'll have everything you need to scale your go-to market efforts. Elevate your wins with Adio. Start your free trial at adio.com slash iHeart. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.