PassivePockets: The Passive Real Estate Investing Show

This Episode Pat Zingarella joins Chris Lopez to share the story behind Invest Clearly, a platform built to bring more transparency to the private real estate investing world. Pat’s journey started like many BiggerPockets listeners: learning through podcasts, buying his first small multifamily property, making painful mistakes, and slowly realizing how hard it can be for LPs to know who they can t...

Get Paul Shannon's Book, Both Sides of the Table: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H4W5D288?spcref=PUBLISHED_PREORDER_LIVE This Episode Paul returns to PassivePockets to discuss his new book, Both Sides of the Table, and the lessons he has learned as an LP, fund manager, and GP. He and Chris unpack the difference between being a “syndication consumer” and a true capital allocator, including why newer i...

Risk Radar: https://netzeroisawin.substack.com/p/introducing-the-risk-radar?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share In this episode, Chris Lopez welcomes Christine Kwasny back to the show to break down the Risk Radar, a visual due diligence tool she built to help LP investors better understand where risk shows up in a private real estate deal. The tool grew out of Christine’s Substa...

In this LP Deal Review, Chris Lopez is joined by Adam Cranmer and Christy Burakovsky to evaluate CL Fund III from Central Lending, a private credit fund focused on short-term residential real estate loans for fix-and-flip, ground-up construction, and small-balance investor projects. Andrew Boccia and Heather Dreves walk through Central Lending’s lending model, portfolio composition, underwriting p...

In this Community Roundtable, Chris Lopez sits down with PassivePockets members Pascal Wagner, Adam Cranmer, and Christy Burakovsky for a candid investor-to-investor conversation on how they’re allocating capital right now and what would make them change course. Pascal frames the dilemma many LPs are feeling: with risk-free rates near 5% and major macro signals flashing red (record debt loads, exp...

Unplanned capital calls are one of the most stressful moments in passive investing, and Chris breaks down exactly how he thinks through the decision to fund or walk away. In this solo episode, Chris shares two real examples from his own portfolio. First: a “diversified fund-of-funds” that raised $10.6M and deployed across 11 deals. After multiple capital calls tied to the same sponsor (including h...

This Episode Gary Lipsky joins the show for a real operator’s view of what it’s actually like to run B-class multifamily in Tucson right now; flat-to-negative rent growth, higher concessions, elevated delinquency, and the daily “whack-a-mole” of competing comps dropping rents to protect occupancy. Chris and Gary unpack how the Tucson market is absorbing new supply, what demand drivers still matter...

This Episode Chris sits down with Dwight Dunton, Founder of Bonaventure (launched in 1999), to talk market cycles, risk resilience, and the real-world tax playbook that helps active landlords transition into passive investing without writing a giant check to the IRS on the way out. Dwight shares the origin story: how a family “mailbox money” apartment investment turned into Bonaventure, and how a...

This Episode The Pulse Check is back with the full crew. Chris Lopez, Jim Pfeifer, and Paul Shannon reconvene just days after the PassivePockets Summit to unpack what they learned, how their theses got challenged (sometimes in real time), and what they’re actually doing with their portfolios right now. They talk through why this conference hits differently: top-tier speakers in a small room where...

Debt funds are having a moment but most LPs still don’t have a clean framework for where private credit fits inside a real estate portfolio, or how to diligence a fund beyond “it’s first lien” and a headline return. In this episode, Chris Lopez sits down with Whitney Elkins-Hutten to break down a simple (but powerful) portfolio exercise Whitney built for herself: categorize every asset by risk and...

Connect with Altruis Capital Partners: https://reports.alturascapitalpartners.com/quarterly-reports/2025-q4  https://alturascapital.com/  This Episode Alturas Capital Partners has built a vertically integrated platform across the Intermountain West—and in this episode, Chris Lopez sits down with Daniel Trevino (Director of Investor Relations) to unpack what that “operators first” philosophy looks...

PassivePockets members have asked for two things over and over: better terms and access to more deal options without writing huge checks. In this special webinar, Chris Lopez breaks down how “community capital” can do exactly that—by pooling investor commitments into an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to unlock lower minimums, stronger economics, and cleaner access to sponsor funds. Chris is joined...

Link to Deal: https://passivepockets.com/directory/deals/aspen-industrial-growth-fund/ This Episode Aspen Funds’ Ben Fraser and Ellis Hammond return to PassivePockets for an exclusive LP Deal Review on their Industrial Growth Fund—an industrial land + development strategy concentrated in Kansas City’s “Golden Triangle” submarket. Chris, along with LP panelists Pascal Wagner and Christy Burakovsky,...

This Episode Michael returns to the show after a standout LP Deal Review Q&A, and Chris digs into the full backstory: how Michael went from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange—trading interest rate derivatives bell-to-bell—to building Origin Investments into a multifamily-focused platform built around downside protection and long-term compounding. They unpack how Michael thinks about “edge” as markets...

Chris Lopez is back with Paul Shannon for this month’s PassivePockets Pulse Check, catching up on why Paul stepped back from co-hosting, what he’s focused on now, and what both of them are actually doing with their own portfolios. They get into the real-life tradeoffs that don’t show up in an OM: liquidity vs. deployment, concentration risk vs. investing where you have an edge, and why relationshi...

Hotel-to-multifamily conversions are one of the most interesting “free market” solutions to the affordable housing crunch, and Alex Cartwright is building his entire business around that niche. In this episode, Chris sits down with Alex to break down how (and when) these conversions actually pencil and why the opportunity exists in the gap between hotel cap rates and multifamily cap rates. They al...

Track Record Assets Deal Page: https://passivepockets.com/directory/deals/morgan-bay-apartments/ A few weeks after an LP Deal Review with Track Record Assets, PassivePockets member Adam Cranmer realized he’d be in Houston, just minutes from the actual property. So he did what most LPs wish they could do: boots-on-the-ground due diligence, in-person operator time, and a full “does this actually fee...

Scott Trench brings a contrarian 2026 office thesis to the table, starting with the idea first, then stress-testing it with three expert investors: Ash Patel, J Scott, and host Chris Lopez. The group debates where office is truly mispriced, what “trophy” means post-COVID, and why “downtown vs. suburbs” might be the wrong framing without understanding tenant demand, floor plates, and lease-up reali...

In this LP Deal Review, Chris Lopez and LP panelist Christy Burakovsky sit down with Michael Episcope, Co-CEO of Origin Investments, for a deep dive into Origin’s Select Asset Fund—an intentionally small, vintage-based multifamily development fund built to deploy in 2026. Michael walks through the macro thesis (supply peaking, concessions stabilizing, and starts slowing), the fund’s structure (tar...

Logan Freeman is back for his 2026 update on the 18.6-year real estate cycle: breaking down where he believes we are right now (still in the “Winner’s Curse,” but with a messy, sector-by-sector twist) and what signals he’s watching to spot a true shift into contraction. We dig into the big contradictions investors are feeling: transaction volumes and pricing stabilization on one hand, and real pai...

Today’s show is part of our Community Spotlight Series, where we feature PassivePockets members who share hard-won lessons to help other LPs invest smarter. Christine Kwasny joins Chris Lopez to walk through a detailed retrospective on her syndication portfolio, what she thought she was buying, what actually happened, and what she’ll do differently going forward. Christine started investing active...

FOR MORE - Debt Fund Due Diligence Hub: www.passivepockets.com/debtdd Next Steps Join the discussion + access links/resources: www.passivepockets.com/debtdd Attend the community Zooms (or watch recordings later) Dates mentioned in the episode: Feb 18, Feb 25, Mar 3 (check the member dashboard for times/updates) Attend the 2026 Summit Conference: https://get.biggerpockets.com/passivepocketssummit20...

Attend the 2026 Summit Conference: https://get.biggerpockets.com/passivepocketssummit2026/ This Episode Hotels for passive investors: what actually matters and how it’s different from multifamily. Chris Lopez digs in with Jay Desai and Suraj Reddy on the underwriting stack (ADR, occupancy, RevPAR and RevPAR penetration), why brand fit and comp sets (STAR reports) drive the thesis, and how operatio...

Attend the 2026 Summit Conference: https://get.biggerpockets.com/passivepocketssummit2026/ It’s our “2026 State of PassivePockets.” Chris Lopez (now lead host, alongside co-hosts Jim Pfeifer and Paul Shannon) shares highlights from the 2025 member survey (96% accredited; 91% already LPs), explains why our Net Promoter Score jumped from -4 (2024) to 44 (2025), and unveils three big initiatives for...

Chris Lopez, Jim Pfeifer, and Paul Shannon run a year-end Pulse Check on what worked in 2025, what did not, and where they are deploying capital in 2026. The hosts compare notes on gold and silver, why hard assets helped, and why many expected more multifamily distress than actually appeared. They dig into operator risk, liquidity as an edge, and the niches they like now, from B-class value add wi...