Real Returns

In this episode, Andrew Reichert interviews Lupei Chou, a Naval officer turned real estate investor. Lupei shares her journey from being a hands-off investor to taking an active role in managing her properties. She stresses the importance of education, finding a community, and taking it slow when getting started in real estate investing. Lupei also discusses how having her son has further motivate...

Get an inside look at company culture at Birgo in this exclusive interview with Head of People, Nicole Shirk. Nicole gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how Birgo creates an environment where employees can thrive professionally and personally. Learn how Birgo turns core values like "rhinocerality" into tangible actions that shape hiring, performance reviews, and recognition. Find out how implemen...

From humble beginnings to managing fortunes, Ali Swart and Samantha Spitzer Sheetz of Waldron Private Wealth join Dan and Andrew to unravel the financial journeys that led them to the pinnacle of wealth management.   Ali and Samantha share their unique financial literacy and stewardship paths, discussing how their personal backgrounds have shaped their professional journeys. They describe how they...

Joshua Pollard, President and CEO of Omicelo, a mission-driven private equity firm investing in real estate, healthcare, and sustainability sectors, joins us to share his story of growing up in a family of steelworkers and veterans and his experience working at Goldman Sachs. He shares two key realizations that led him to pursue his venture: the need for impact and ownership and the importance of...

This season of the Real Returns Podcast has been meaningful, thanks to the diverse set of guests in various industries. To close this season, Andrew recaps the valuable lessons learned and brings back some highlights to give us a taste of these guests' impact.   [00:01 - 08:37] Episode 10 - 13 Recap The importance of focusing on building a team that has diverse skills and focusing on the strengths...

Justin Escajeda is the owner and president of Escajeda Holdings, a company that specializes in identifying and acquiring construction companies.    Listen to Justin's inspiring journey of starting ten years ago with his own masonry business and acquiring roofing, remodeling, and concrete businesses. Hear his process for identifying and underwriting businesses to develop, looking at financials, and...

Andrew and Dan welcome Brad Shepherd, founder and managing partner of Sugar House Investments. They dive deep into real estate investing and discuss how it can be a powerful tool for individuals to achieve their goals, such as financial security, tax benefits, and a flexible lifestyle. Brad explains that Sugar House Investments helps investors access commercial real estate's passive income without...

Andrew Reichert and Dan Croce sit down with Chris Seveney, an experienced investor who buys distressed mortgage notes. Chris shares his unique approach to impact investing - instead of evicting borrowers behind on their payments, he works to keep them in their homes. He buys loans from banks and hedge funds at a discounted rate and uses a servicing company to handle payments and negotiate new paym...

Would you rather have all the wealth and knowledge to yourself, or would you rather have a full table and share it with everybody? Tyler Smith will show us why the latter is the key to success.   In this episode, we sit down with Tyler Smith, CEO of Alpha Capital Funds, to discuss his journey in the real estate investment industry. Tyler got his start in wholesaling and flipping houses before buil...

We sit down with Madeline and Patrick Gergen, co-founders of American Multifamily Alliance Group, a real estate private equity firm based in Dallas. As we chat with the couple, they share their investment strategies for impact and how they run their business. We learn about the importance of a clear separation between work and home life, with the couple even scheduling weekly date nights to priori...

Andrew interviews Kyle Stephenson, who was inspired by Donald Trump's real estate success to invest in property. With limited resources, Kyle was able to 1031 exchange his first purchase - a duplex in Patterson, New Jersey - for a million dollars worth of equity over ten years. Kyle shares his journey of growing his portfolio to managing over 4,000 units across multiple states. He talks about how...

James Brown is the co-founder of Hybrid Real Estate Investing. He is the host of the show "This Month in Real Estate Investing," and is the author of multiple real estate investing books.    [00:01 - 10:13] An Alternative Approach to Real Estate Investing    Real Home Solutions matches up people who can't get financing with investors for win-win deals  They focus on the lease-to-own strategy, whic...

Charles Carillo is the managing partner at Harborside Partners, a real estate syndication firm, where he has been actively investing in multifamily and commercial real estate since 2006. With over $200 million in investment real estate experience, he has become an expert in his field. In addition, Charles is the host of the Global Investors Podcast, where he interviews professionals about investin...

In this episode, Andrew gives a recap of the lessons learnt throughout this season and highlights how the guests interviewed are truly interesting individuals doing unique things inside the investment space.   [00:01 - 07:18] Episode 1 - 4 Recap Profitable properties are not only good for the owners, they're also good for the tenants Seeing the bed and breakfast space as a institutional real estat...

Sumit Koovor is the head of Investor Relations at Reiturn.com & Birgo Capital and in this episode he talks about how he is able to help investors across the world invest in one of the most resilient asset classes, multifamily real estate, in the heartland of America and help them build financial freedom.   [00:01 - 07:54] Diving into the Uniqueness of Real Estate Sumit shares about his background...

Josh is a principal at Birgo and is primarily responsible for all aspects of acquisitions, including prospecting, deal screening, underwriting, negotiations, due diligence, and closing. He has successfully sourced and closed on approximately $275 million of investment real estate. Josh also oversees capital raises for funds, Birgo's commercial real estate portfolio, and all fund marketing campaign...

Sadie McKeown, president of Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), joins us to discuss the unique mission and impact of her organization. She discusses how CPC has been able to access different types of capital, including sustainability bonds, to continue providing financing to underserved communities. Listen as she talks about their focus on affordability across a spectrum of income levels, as...

In this episode, we talk to Ben Erskine, Ben is the founder and managing partner at Callis Capital, a real estate investment firm focused on providing equity capital to values-aligned owners and operators of real estate throughout the United States.     [00:01 - 08:14] Opening Segment Ben talks about Callis Capital  Real estate as a ministry opportunity Investor goals such as capital, encouragemen...

In this episode, we talk to George Cook, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Honeycomb Credit. Honeycomb Credit is a community capital platform where anyone can invest in an independently-owned small businesses have the potential to earn attractive returns and feel good about where they're putting their money to work.     [00:01 - 09:00] Honeycomb Credit Business Model  George tells about his start i...

We all know the importance of financial literacy, but facing financial problems is commonplace. According to studies, money is the top cause of stress. In today's episode, Gene and Jeff discuss how financial education is impactful for today and future generations. Mr. Natali is the CEO of Troutwood, a financial technology company. At Troutwood, Gene builds financial planning and investment educati...

Evan Addams is a technology entrepreneur that has led a diverse portfolio of hospitality and healthcare tech startup companies. In addition to that, he has founded a direct-to-consumer coffee company, invested in various types of real estate, and recently started owning and operating a bed & breakfast group, CarriageWay Bed & Breakfast.    Today's episode features Evan as he discusses how bed and...

JC Castillo is the President & CEO of Velo Residential, a third party property management and renovation company specializing in large scale multifamily properties in Texas and Oklahoma. Velo Residential specializes in third party property management for large scale multi-family properties in the Texas and Oklahoma area. JC has over 15 years of experience in the industry, and says that "owners are...