The ROI Masterclass

Adam from PadSplit built a marketplace with over 30,000 co-living units, and discovered that low-income tenants have a lower eviction rate than Class A renters. In this episode, Adam breaks down how PadSplit converts underutilized single-family homes into affordable, income-generating rooms and why the data on who actually makes a reliable tenant runs completely opposite to traditional underwritin...

How Co Living Delivers 25% Cash on Cash Returns When Airbnb Returns Are Collapsing DD Garzon has spent over 20 years in property management, building a 500-door company from the ground up, selling it, and then discovering the most profitable real estate model she's ever seen: co-living. In this episode, DD breaks down exactly why co-living is outperforming every other asset class she's operated, i...

Most NYC developers lose money before they even break ground, and they never know why. Joseph Segal, New York City real estate strategist and pre-development expert at Real New York, reveals the costly planning mistakes that leave buildings sitting vacant for years. Summary: Joseph started in real estate at 20 years old with no formal training, and built a career by going deeper than most on the d...

India's Hospitality Boom What Investors Can Learn From the World's Fastest Growing Market Everyone is looking at the same markets. The same cities. The same trends. The same opportunities. Meanwhile, one of the world's fastest-growing hospitality markets is hiding in plain sight. For more than 35 years, Samir Kuckreja has helped hotels, restaurants, investors, and private equity firms identify opp...

Why $3 5 Trillion of Real Estate Is Still Locked Away From Investors What if commercial real estate could move as fast as the stock market? In this episode, Alex Bell breaks down how AVKI is building the infrastructure behind real estate tokenization — helping institutions access, underwrite, and transact commercial real estate faster, smarter, and with greater liquidity. From AI-powered underwrit...

Inside a $1B Vision The New Blueprint for Housing, Health & Wealth From surviving conflict in East Africa to leading $1B+ in real estate development projects across the U.S., Thomas Hagos shares how purpose, research, and human-centered development are reshaping the future of housing. In this episode, Thomas breaks down: • Why development should prioritize people, not just profits • The future...

From $2B Brokerage to AI Platform How Mike Puma Is Rewiring Real Estate What happens when AI stops replacing people — and starts replacing tasks? In this episode, we sit down with real estate entrepreneur and tech innovator Mike Puma to unpack how AI is transforming real estate from the inside out. From brokerage growth and automation to investor strategy, marketing, and human connection, Mike exp...

28 Years in Real Estate: 3 Mistakes That Cost Investors Millions From corporate executive to real estate entrepreneur — Clifton Norwine reveals the moment he realized the traditional path to success was broken. After losing the security he thought corporate America promised, Clifton rebuilt his life through entrepreneurship, real estate syndications, and strategic investing. In this episode, we ex...

How She Turned a Failing Country Club Into a Profitable Community Growth in hospitality doesn’t come from guessing, it comes from listening, testing, and executing with intention. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Michele Malo breaks down how she transformed a struggling country club into a thriving, revenue-generating community hub, not through guesswork, but through strategy. Key takeaways: •...

The IRS Allows This… But Most Investors Don’t Use It Welcome back to another episode of the ROI Masterclass, where we break down the strategies driving real results in real estate. Today’s guest is Brenten Blakeman, a specialist at the intersection of finance, real estate, and tax strategy, helping investors unlock hidden value through smarter planning. Brenten began his career in gift and estate...

Why South Florida Commercial Real Estate Won’t Slow Down $1,000,000,000+ in closed commercial real estate sales. In this episode, Elon Gerberg, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Vision Real Estate Advisers, shares insights from over a decade in South Florida commercial real estate. He discusses: • Competing with national brokerage firms • Advising serious investors • Navigating tight vacancy and...

He tore his ACL at the University of Cincinnati. What looked like the end of a football career became the beginning of a business one. In this episode, Landon Brazile breaks down how he went from reselling sneakers to scaling short-term rentals on Airbnb — then building Zi-Find to solve the biggest problem in rental arbitrage: finding landlords who actually say yes. But this isn’t just about STR t...

Jay Perry fell in love with hospitality at 15, even lying about his age to get into restaurants. After decades in fine dining, global culinary training, and executive chef roles, he walked away from traditional restaurants, not because he stopped loving food, but because he was burning out managing people. In this episode, Jay reveals why fine dining is losing its elegance, how trendy restaurants...

Chilon Anderson didn’t build her property management company chasing scale, she built it to pay for her daughters’ college. Today, she manages 115 doors, serves 90+ owners, and has never evicted a tenant she placed. In this episode, Chilon breaks down servant leadership, high-touch investor service, tenant screening systems, and why humility beats titles every time. We talk property management ROI...

Homeownership feels impossible for an entire generation. In this episode, finance strategist Mitchell Fowler breaks down why traditional mortgages are failing entrepreneurs and Millennials — and what could replace them. From seller financing and preferred equity to the real risk behind 50-year mortgages, Mitchell explains how alternative structures may reshape real estate investing. We discuss: •...

Why Smart Investors Obsess Over Risk Before Returns Angelo Vitale left Wall Street, rating agencies, and institutional finance to build a real estate investment platform focused on asymmetric returns and capital protection. With experience underwriting billions in transactions, Angelo shares how institutional investors really evaluate risk, why most deals fail before closing, and how today’s capit...

Most restaurants fight razor-thin margins, but they’re ignoring their most powerful profit lever. Ben Potts, hospitality investor and founder of Unfiltered Hospitality, reveals why beverage programs are the real cheat code to restaurant ROI. From quitting investment banking during the 2008 crash to losing everything during the pandemic, Ben explains how design, menu engineering, and staff training...

For decades, developers chased returns, and accidentally designed community out of our cities. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Christopher Woodruff, CEO of Woodruff Brokerage Company and The Cotton Companies, explains how modern development created isolation, urban blight, and disconnected places — and how servant leadership can reverse it. From traveling to South Korea with city leaders, to r...

Most real estate investors chase deals. Institutional investors chase systems and compounding. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Hayato Hori breaks down how he went from buying a single Midwest rental in college to building a multifamily private equity platform focused on 22-unit buildings and long-term value creation. We unpack why holding assets beats flipping, how occupancy quietly drives NOI...

Most construction projects don’t fail because of design, they fail because of poor planning, weak systems, and emotional decision-making. In this episode of the ROI Masterclass, Wendy Ruiz Cofiño, EVP at Falke, breaks down what actually protects ROI in complex real estate and construction projects. From why unrealistic budgets kill deals, to how poor coordination quietly drains millions, to the sy...

The Real Reason Most Brokerages Struggle to Scale And How to Fix It Most real estate brokerages don’t fail, they stall, burn out leadership, and slowly lose margin. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Steven Meadows, COO of a 23-office real estate brokerage, breaks down what actually drives scalable growth. From starting at a front desk to leading nearly 400 agents, now remotely from Spain — Steve...

This One Mistake Destroys Restaurant Valuations Most restaurant owners think great food guarantees success. It doesn’t. In this episode of ROI Masterclass, Eric Gagnon, co-founder and president of We Sell Restaurants, the largest restaurant brokerage firm in the U.S. reveals what actually drives restaurant value, profitability, and successful exits. After helping thousands of owners buy and sell r...

From Paris hotels to Nashville Airbnbs: The luxury STR formula. Luxury short-term rentals don’t fail because of bad locations — they fail because owners invest in the wrong things. In this episode, Melissa Dorange, founder of Humming Host, breaks down how comfort, operations, and guest psychology actually drive revenue in competitive Airbnb and VRBO markets. From why beds matter more than décor, t...

Why Most Real Estate Renovations Destroy Investor Returns Most investors obsess over spreadsheets, but ignore the one decision that quietly drives rent, demand, and retention. In this episode, multifamily investor Eliav Kling reveals how a debated $250,000 repaint transformed leasing traffic, eliminated marketing spend, and allowed rents above comps, without over-renovating. From starting in IT to...

Why Building Authentic Towns Is Illegal in Most Places What if the reason most places feel soulless isn’t bad design, but the system itself? In this episode, visionary developer David Horwath reveals why authentic towns are often illegal to build, how zoning codes and debt structures quietly destroy community, and why speed-driven development kills long-term value. David shares lessons from buildi...