Guides

Everything you'd ask a broker — if your broker actually answered.

A growing library of commercial real estate explainers written in plain English, with opinions. Start with the 1031 guide if you have a clock running. Otherwise, pick what's on fire.

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13 live
1031 Exchange 14 min read

The 1031 Buyer's Field Guide

Everything you need to survive a 1031 exchange without blowing the timeline, the basis, or the marriage. The 45-day clock, the 180-day close, QIs, boot, and identification — explained by someone who's done this more than your CPA.

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NNN Leases

NNN 101: Triple Net Without the Triple Talk

Triple net leases sound simple until a tenant disputes CAM recs or a Walgreens corporate guarantee turns out to be…less of a guarantee. What NNN actually means, what bondable means, and why "absolute net" is the only one you fully trust.

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Cap Rates

Cap Rates, Decoded

A cap rate is a snapshot, not a truth. How to read them, when they lie, why a 7 isn't always better than a 5, and what happens when rates move 75 bps and your exit cap decides to move with them.

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Multifamily

Multifamily for First-Timers

The asset class everyone thinks is easy and no one actually runs well. Pro forma reality checks, rent-roll reading, cap ex surprises, and the T-12 tricks sellers love most.

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Industrial

Industrial: The Boring One That Keeps Winning

Small-bay, shallow-bay, distribution, cold storage, IOS. Why industrial is the safest bet nobody's excited about, and where the juice still is in 2026.

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DSTs

DSTs Demystified

Delaware Statutory Trusts — the 1031 backup plan, the passive replacement property, the thing your financial advisor keeps bringing up. Who they're right for, who they're wrong for, and what the sponsors don't put in the PPM cover.

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Self-Storage

Self-Storage: Boring. Beautiful. Mostly Concrete.

Storage used to be a sleepy local business. Now it's a $40B institutional asset class. How to evaluate a facility, why REIT-grade metros aren't always the move, and when to be deeply suspicious of a pro forma occupancy ramp.

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Medical Office 10 min read

Medical Office: The Asset Class That Survives Recessions

On-campus MOB trades like a Treasury. Off-campus is real estate. The hospital credit ladder, real cap rate bands, why MOB leases run 120 pages, and what value-add actually means in healthcare CRE.

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Mobile Home Parks 10 min read

Mobile Home Parks: The Asset Class That Embarrasses Everyone

The lot-rent model is the cleanest income stream in CRE. The park-owned home trap kills first-time buyers. Utility recapture, the institutional bid, and why rent control is now a real underwriting input.

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Industrial Outdoor Storage 10 min read

Industrial Outdoor Storage: The Niche That Quietly Got Institutional

IOS was mom-and-pop until 2020. Then PE platforms figured out the entitlement moat and cap rates compressed 200 bps. Tenant types, lease structure, environmental gotchas, and where private buyers can still find deals.

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Cold Storage 10 min read

Cold Storage: The Industrial Subset That Costs $300 a Foot

Same dock doors, same forklifts, three times the build cost and a refrigeration plant that can fail at 2 a.m. on a Saturday. Why replacement cost is the moat, what cap rates really look like, and who actually owns the institutional inventory (hint: Lineage and Americold).

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Data Centers 10 min read

Data Centers: A Power Contract With a Roof

Hyperscale vs colocation, the Loudoun County story, and why a 5-year power interconnect queue is the binding constraint on the entire industry. Plus what AI demand actually did to cap rates and where individual capital realistically fits.

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Senior Housing 10 min read

Senior Housing: Operationally Brutal, Demographically Inevitable

IL, AL, Memory Care, SNF — four very different businesses dressed as one asset class. The COVID hangover, RIDEA structures, the 80+ wave, and why a first-time investor with no operator relationship should never buy this asset class directly.

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