v2.25 - Be the Bank, Not the Landlord (ft. Scott Carson)

v2.27 - No Investor Left Behind: Investor Splits, Waterfalls, and Preferred Returns

The first time you put money into a commercial real estate syndication, the way the profits get divided up can look surprisingly complicated – tiered splits, preferred returns, and something sponsors call a “waterfall.” It’s easy to read this complexity as a sign the sponsor knows what they’re doing. But Dustin and Adam make the opposite case: most of it is marketing, and it tells you almost nothing about whether an operator can actually operate. That doesn’t mean you can ignore it. The structure is how you and the operator split what a deal earns – and it sets the order everyone gets paid in. In this No Investor Left Behind episode, Dustin and Adam walk through how these structures work – straight profit splits like (80/20 or 70/30), tiered waterfalls that shift the split once a deal hits a target return, and preferred returns, where investors collect the first cash flow before any split. Episode Release Notes & Resources: * WIP episode v1.45 – The Complexity Trap in Real Estate Syndications: https://www.wealthindependencepod.com/2432117/episodes/18068846 [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com/2432117/episodes/18068846] * Passive Perspectives PP050 – Preferred Returns: Risks, Benefits, and Common Misconceptions: https://bigspringcap.com/passiveperspectives/preferred-returns-real-estate-syndication [https://bigspringcap.com/passiveperspectives/preferred-returns-real-estate-syndication] * Passive Perspectives newsletter – passiveperspectives.com [http://passiveperspectives.com/] Watch episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8vIEPgDA4I [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8vIEPgDA4I] See all Wealth Independence episodes at https://www.wealthindependencepod.com [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com] Connect with Dustin: * Big Spring Capital [https://bigspringcap.com] * LinkedIn (/in/TheDustinBailey) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedustinbailey/] * Twitter/X (@TheDustinBailey) [https://x.com/TheDustinBailey] Connect with Adam: * Bidwell Capital [https://bidwellcapitalfund.com/] * LinkedIn (/in/AdamJPenn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjpenn/] This show is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. All investments carry risk, and investors should always conduct thorough due diligence and consult with qualified professionals before investing.

v2.26 - Investing in Private Equity for Individual Investors (ft. Sequoya Borgman)

For most individual investors, “private equity” is usually associated with “inaccessible” – something reserved for the Elon Musks and Blackstones of the world. Buying and running established companies has been an institutional game with large minimums and no obvious way in. Sequoya Borgman spent nearly two decades in public accounting before leaving a partner’s seat to buy businesses himself. A decade and 20-plus acquisitions later, he joins Dustin and Adam to walk through how private equity in the lower-middle-market space actually works: buying founder-led companies from owners who need a succession plan, layering bank debt, seller notes, and equity, then paying that debt down with the company’s own cash flow. The tried-and-true leveraged buyout (LBO) model. They get into where this sits on the investment risk scale, why he’ll walk from a deal everyone else loves, and how accredited investors can now reach a space that used to require a Goldman Sachs-sized check. Episode Release Notes & Resources: * Pass the Hat: https://www.passthehat.com [https://www.passthehat.com] * Borgman Capital: https://www.borgmancapital.com/ [https://www.borgmancapital.com/] * Connect with Sequoya on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sequoya-borgman-8a6057a [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sequoya-borgman-8a6057a] Watch episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1aSMxSRdMM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1aSMxSRdMM] See all Wealth Independence episodes at https://www.wealthindependencepod.com [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com] Connect with Dustin: * Big Spring Capital [https://bigspringcap.com] * LinkedIn (/in/TheDustinBailey) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedustinbailey/] * Twitter/X (@TheDustinBailey) [https://x.com/TheDustinBailey] Connect with Adam: * Bidwell Capital [https://bidwellcapitalfund.com/] * LinkedIn (/in/AdamJPenn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjpenn/] This show is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. All investments carry risk, and investors should always conduct thorough due diligence and consult with qualified professionals before investing.

v2.25 - Be the Bank, Not the Landlord (ft. Scott Carson)

Most real estate investing means owning the building – and taking on the tenants, toilets, and trash that come with it. But there’s another way to invest in real estate: owning the debt instead of the property, and collecting the payments as the lender. “The Note Guy” Scott Carson has spent nearly two decades doing exactly that, buying and selling mortgage debt on residential and commercial property. He joins Dustin and Adam to break down his process: buying a delinquent mortgage from a bank at a discount, why picking up a note at half its face value can double your effective yield, and why he aims to “rehab the borrower” not the property. They cover a note’s exit strategies (reselling a reperforming loan, foreclosure, cash-for-keys), Scott’s rule never to buy a note on a property he wouldn’t want to own outright, the surprising tax benefits, and using a self-directed IRA to buy notes. Episode Release Notes & Resources: * We Close Notes: https://weclosenotes.com [https://weclosenotes.com] * Scott’s free note investing training - Note Weekend: https://noteweekend.com [https://noteweekend.com] Watch episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6DGhk2WJNQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6DGhk2WJNQ] See all Wealth Independence episodes at https://www.wealthindependencepod.com [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com] Connect with Dustin: * Big Spring Capital [https://bigspringcap.com] * LinkedIn (/in/TheDustinBailey) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedustinbailey/] * Twitter/X (@TheDustinBailey) [https://x.com/TheDustinBailey] Connect with Adam: * Bidwell Capital [https://bidwellcapitalfund.com/] * LinkedIn (/in/AdamJPenn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjpenn/] This show is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. All investments carry risk, and investors should always conduct thorough due diligence and consult with qualified professionals before investing.

v2.24 - No Investor Left Behind: Commercial Real Estate Debt

The loan on your house is simple: take out a 30-year mortgage, make your payments, own the house at the end. But commercial real estate debt is a different animal, with widely-varying structures that don’t exist in the residential world – and unique terms that directly affect the risk and returns of any deal that carries them. Dustin and Adam break down how it actually works with real-world examples: five-year loans written on 20- or 30-year amortization schedules, the balloon payment that comes due at the end, interest-only periods, and rates that can be fixed, floating, or reset to a benchmark like the five-year Treasury plus a spread. They also get into the terms that quietly move returns: prepayment penalties, extension options, and why the length of the loan should match the business plan. A longer fixed loan isn't automatically the safer one. For a passive investor, knowing how a deal’s debt is structured (and whether the sponsor has a real plan for paying it off) is a basic piece of diligence – not a technicality. Watch episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QVahWdc1Jg [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QVahWdc1Jg] See all Wealth Independence episodes at https://www.wealthindependencepod.com [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com] Connect with Dustin: * Big Spring Capital [https://bigspringcap.com] * LinkedIn (/in/TheDustinBailey) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedustinbailey/] * Twitter/X (@TheDustinBailey) [https://x.com/TheDustinBailey] Connect with Adam: * Bidwell Capital [https://bidwellcapitalfund.com/] * LinkedIn (/in/AdamJPenn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjpenn/] This show is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. All investments carry risk, and investors should always conduct thorough due diligence and consult with qualified professionals before investing.

v2.23 - The Manufactured-Home Niche Hiding in Plain Sight (ft. Brent Bowers)

Most real estate investors chase houses, apartments, or self storage. But Brent Bowers built his business on something almost nobody talks about: buying cheap vacant land and selling it at a profit…often with a brand-new manufactured home placed on it first. A former US Army officer, Brent walks Dustin and Adam through how it all works. He buys land well below market value, then resells it…becoming the bank himself and collecting monthly payments. More recently, he adds a new manufactured home to the land before selling – a version of the deal that can net anywhere from $45K to nearly $100K. Dustin and Adam dig into why this niche stays overlooked, how a 24-year-old closed seven deals in his first nine months of land investing, and why rising home prices are pushing more buyers toward new manufactured homes on their own land. It’s a look at a corner of real estate most investors have never considered, and the simple math behind it. Episode Release Notes & Resources: * The Land Sharks: https://www.thelandsharks.com [https://www.thelandsharks.com] * Subscribe to Brent’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@brentlbowers [https://www.youtube.com/@brentlbowers] * Follow Brent on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentlbowers [https://www.instagram.com/brentlbowers] * Connect with Brent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent1 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent1] Watch episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXf5mLR5U2o [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXf5mLR5U2o] See all Wealth Independence episodes at https://www.wealthindependencepod.com [https://www.wealthindependencepod.com] Connect with Dustin: * Big Spring Capital [https://bigspringcap.com] * LinkedIn (/in/TheDustinBailey) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedustinbailey/] * Twitter/X (@TheDustinBailey) [https://x.com/TheDustinBailey] Connect with Adam: * Bidwell Capital [https://bidwellcapitalfund.com/] * LinkedIn (/in/AdamJPenn) [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjpenn/] This show is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities. All investments carry risk, and investors should always conduct thorough due diligence and consult with qualified professionals before investing.