The Value Builder Podcast

In Episode 54 of The Value Builder Podcast, Bonaventure founder Dwight Dunton joins Saul Zenkevicius to break down the financing, leverage, and market decisions that determine whether an investor gets to participate in the next recovery—or gets wiped out before it arrives.   Dwight explains why sponsor alignment goes much deeper than simply saying you’re “co-invested,” why HUD may be one of the best multifamily loan programs available, and how a 40-year fixed-rate, non-recourse structure can completely change an investor’s margin for error.   They also dig into one of the hardest decisions in multifamily today: when to start buying again.   Dwight would rather miss the exact bottom and buy once the “green shoots” of rent and occupancy recovery are visible than spend two years being right too early.   And when it comes to rates, his philosophy is even simpler:   You can afford to lock today and watch rates fall.   You may not be able to afford staying exposed if rates go the other direction.   The goal isn’t to perfectly predict the market.   The goal is to stay in the game long enough to win.   Chapters 00:00 The Rule for Getting Old and Rich 00:54 Meet Dwight Dunton of Bonaventure 03:09 What Real Sponsor Alignment Looks Like 05:03 Does Rolling Fees In Really Count as Co-Investment? 06:25 How Much Skin in the Game Is Enough? 07:17 Why HUD Financing Deserves Another Look 08:25 “Difficult Process, Amazing Outcome” 08:45 40-Year Fixed-Rate, Non-Recourse Debt 10:44 The First Rule of Borrowing From HUD 11:34 How Small Can a HUD Deal Be? 13:09 Choosing the Right Debt for the Deal 14:55 The Real Danger of High Leverage 16:18 Don’t Bet Your Business Plan on Market Recovery 17:17 Why Dwight Won’t Try to Pick the Bottom 19:39 Individual Deals vs. Pooled Funds 21:00 From “Cargo Pants” to a Simpler Investment Structure 22:29 What 2008 Can Teach Investors Today 22:58 The Risk You Can’t Afford to Get Wrong 24:18 Connect With Dwight & Bonaventure Connect With Dwight Dunton Bonaventure: https://bonaventure.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwightdunton/   Follow Dwight Dunton and Bonaventure for ongoing multifamily and investment insights.   Bonaventure manages approximately $3 billion in assets and invests alongside its high-net-worth and family-office partners.   Subscribe to The Value Builder Podcast for practical conversations with experienced commercial real estate operators, investors, developers, and capital partners focused on creating durable value.   #MultifamilyInvesting #CommercialRealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #CRE #ValueBuilderPodcast

Commercial real estate investors spend a lot of time thinking about cash flow, depreciation, and the next deal. But what happens when the real goal shifts from simply building wealth to keeping it, protecting it, and making it work harder? In Episode 53 of The Value Builder Podcast, Saul Zenkevicius sits down with Josh Manier and CPA Stewart Cariveau to unpack the financial side of wealth that many operators overlook. They challenge the idea that cash flow should always be the North Star, explain why liquidity creates both protection and opportunity, and discuss how tax planning changes when you start thinking in decades instead of April 15th. The conversation gets into cost segregation, real estate professional status, 1031 exchanges, investment accounts, personal balance sheets, tax documentation, and why aggressive strategies still need to survive scrutiny. And then Stewart takes things to Cabo, where lifestyle, real estate, networking, and financial strategy all start intersecting. From “write off your life” to the “1031 slaughterhouse” to Stewart’s closing philosophy of “Let’s print some money,” this one has plenty of ideas worth challenging. Chapters 00:15 Building Wealth Is Only Half the Job 01:28 What Josh & Stewart Do for Private Families 05:10 Is Liquidity More Important Than Cash Flow? 08:31 Do You Actually Need That Much Life Insurance? 10:05 Where Should Your Money Be Working? 14:25 Cost Segregation, Taxes & CRE 15:06 The Real Estate Professional Rules Investors Miss 21:32 The Tax Strategy Social Media Oversimplified 25:02 1031 Exchange or Cost Segregation? 29:03 The Personal Residence Tax Opportunity 31:09 The Augusta Rule Most Investors Ignore 31:30 Using New Purchases to Offset Property Sales 35:00 How Their CFO & Tax Advisory Model Works 38:15 The Cabo Wealth & Lifestyle Strategy 44:04 How Real Estate Financing Works in Cabo 48:19 Connect With Josh & Stewart 48:58 “Let’s Print Some Money” Connect With Josh Manier & Stewart Cariveau Josh Manier Phone: (952) 345-3445 Email: [email protected] Josh and Stewart describe their practice as private and referral-based rather than publicly marketed. They advise high-net-worth families and closely held businesses across tax strategy, liquidity, investments, cash flow, and personal/business balance-sheet planning. Subscribe to The Value Builder Podcast for practical conversations with commercial real estate operators, investors, advisors, and entrepreneurs focused on creating and protecting value. This conversation is for educational purposes and should not be treated as individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. #CommercialRealEstate #TaxStrategy #RealEstateInvesting #WealthBuilding #ValueBuilderPodcast

Multifamily has taken its hits. Higher rates, compressed values, capital calls, slower rent growth, and painful refinances have forced operators to rethink what actually creates value. Gary Lipsky is buying again. In Episode 52 of The Value Builder Podcast, Gary joins Saul Zenkevicius to explain why he believes the multifamily market is beginning to turn and why today’s lack of competition may be creating one of the better buying windows in years. Gary shares how his team recently acquired another 300-unit property, why he’s seeing some of the highest cap rates he’s seen in more than a decade, and why real value-add today requires much more than simply renovating units and raising rents. They also get into creative NOI growth, market concentration, preferred equity, capital calls, supply coming off the market, and the painful refinance decision Gary wishes he could take back. Chapters 00:00 Why Gary Is Buying Real Estate Now 00:47 Gary Lipsky and Break of Day Capital 03:03 Does Multifamily Value-Add Still Work? 05:12 Creating NOI Without Relying on Rent Growth 09:22 Why Market Concentration Matters 11:49 Gary Is Buying Again 12:47 Are More Multifamily Defaults Coming? 15:07 Why Gary Thinks This Is a Buying Opportunity 15:40 Navigating Cash-In Refinances 17:33 The Refi Decision Gary Wishes He Could Take Back 20:30 Control the Controllables 22:02 Is Multifamily Starting to Turn? 23:03 Connect With Gary Connect with Gary Lipsky: Break of Day Capital: https://breakofdaycapital.com Gary’s books, investor resources, newsletter, social links, and current opportunities are available through the Break of Day Capital website. Subscribe to The Value Builder Podcast for practical conversations with commercial real estate investors and operators building long-term value. New episodes every Wednesday.

Higher rates can hurt valuations, freeze sellers, and create distress. They can also create exactly the kind of buying opportunities value-add investors wait for.   In Episode 51 of The Value Builder Podcast, Saul Zenkevicius sits down with Nikita Zhitov and Rafik Moore to unpack five CRE stories that were getting major attention: AI and office demand, rising foreclosures, retail’s comeback, higher-for-longer rates, and whether industrial is actually overbuilt.   With the Fed decision landing as this episode drops, the rates discussion is especially timely. Rafik explains why “the more distress they cause, the more bullish I get,” while Saul lays out a simpler response to rate uncertainty: stop trying to predict the Fed, underwrite conservatively, and buy deeper. Nikita adds the seller-side reality: many owners still have not adjusted expectations enough for today’s cost of capital.   They also get into why Class A office may separate further from B/C, why retail demand is coming back in new forms, and why small- and mid-bay industrial may still have room even when big-box distribution feels overbuilt.   Chapters 00:15 Five CRE stories everyone is talking about 00:45 Is AI really killing the office? 07:38 Why Class A office may separate from B/C 11:18 Foreclosures up 21%: crack or normalization? 15:30 Why interest rates are driving distress 19:37 Why retail is back 24:45 Experiential retail and value-add opportunity 28:18 Higher rates, deeper discounts 30:56 Stop predicting the Fed. Underwrite for it. 32:50 Is industrial really overbuilt? 36:04 Why small- and mid-bay still look interesting 38:05 Final thoughts on surviving the cycle   Subscribe to The Value Builder Podcast for practical conversations with commercial real estate investors and operators building long-term value. New episodes every Wednesday.

Insurance has become one of the biggest pain points in commercial real estate. What if there were a way to stop simply paying premiums and actually participate in the economics of the insurance company?   In this episode of the Value Builder Podcast, Saul sits down with Nicolas Lares of Insur3Tech to break down captive insurance and how real estate owners can use alternative insurance structures to potentially lower costs, share risk, and participate in returns when the group performs well.   Nicolas explains the difference between traditional insurance, group captives, and independent captives, how reinsurance protects against catastrophic losses, what lenders think about captive coverage, and when a portfolio may be large enough to consider its own captive.   They also discuss how aligning incentives between property owners and the insurer can change the claims process and why Nicolas believes good operators may be subsidizing higher-risk owners in the traditional insurance market. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:15 How Nicolas Got Into Insurance 04:14 The Insurance Crisis That Changed Everything 06:03 Building a Group Captive 08:11 How Captive Insurance Actually Works 10:21 What Happens When Catastrophic Losses Hit? 12:57 Why Insurance Works Like a Casino 13:53 Will Lenders Accept Captive Insurance? 15:30 What Does It Take for a CRE Operator to Get Started? 18:53 Becoming a Co-Owner Instead of Just a Customer 19:56 When Does Your Own Captive Make Sense? 22:49 Why Nicolas Questions Traditional Insurance 25:05 The Potential Economics of Captive Insurance 28:50 Why Saul Exited Southwest Florida 29:13 Rethinking the Insurance Claims Process 31:45 How to Connect with Nicolas Lares Connect with Nicolas Lares Website: insur3tech.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolas-lares-77a328169 Email: [email protected] About Value Builder The Value Builder Podcast features conversations with investors, operators, developers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders focused on creating value through commercial real estate, business ownership, and long-term investing. #CommercialRealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #CaptiveInsurance #CRE #Insurance #ValueBuilderPodcast