Darren Smith is a commercial real estate investor based in the US with years of experience in flipping, wholesaling, and industrial properties, among many other things. He is on the Self Wealth Real Estate podcast today to talk about the commercial space in the US and how building relationships helped him get to where he is today.

 

Listen now to learn more about Darren’s real estate operations in the US, the commercial real estate space, and how you can find success in it like he has!

 

Key Talking Points of the Episode

 

00:00 Introduction

01:33 What is Darren’s background?

04:27 How did Darren get into commercial real estate?

09:37 What kind of commercial deals is Darren focused on doing?

11:44 Why did Darren decide to focus on industrial buildings?

14:32 What is flex industrial real estate?

15:50 Why do investors divide and sell industrial properties per unit?

18:26 How does Darren evaluate industrial properties?

22:21 What are cap rates in real estate investing?

24:40 How are triple net expenses covered for industrial buildings?

28:12 What marketing strategies does Darren use to find industrial properties? 

31:25 How does Darren utilize creative financing strategies for industrial properties?

42:34 What do Darren’s industrial deals typically look like?

49:24 What kind of industrial properties has Darren invested in so far?

50:58 What is Darren’s favorite deal?

58:57 What lessons did Darren learn from his favorite deal?

01:00:05 What was Darren’s worst deal like?

01:03:49 What lessons did Darren learn from his worst deal?

01:05:35 What has changed in Darren’s approach to real estate investing?

01:08:19 What advice would Darren give his younger self?

01:09:35 What is the most overlooked or overhyped investing strategy today?

01:11:48 How can you find out more about Darren?

 

Quotables

 

“With industrial buildings, yes you can have build outs, there are things to repair, but you literally can have a tenant move out, clean it up, and have another tenant move in the next week.”

 

“You’ll have an office in the front and a warehouse in the back, but you will have people that will build out those to be more office space or whatever they want it to be.”

 

“The only difference I would say between residential and commercial on how I do it is I try and make everything just nicer, whereas in the residential space, the whole goal was how cheap can I get this postcard out.”

 

Links

 

Website: Bliss

https://offmarketbliss.ca/

 

Website: Solid Growth Properties

https://solidgrowthproperties.com/