CRE Playbook Podcast

John Heisler
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Investing
  • Weekly

John Heisler spent years in residential real estate before making the switch to commercial, and it changed everything! Now he's sharing the playbook he wishes he'd had from day one. Solo breakdowns of deals and strategies that actually move the needle. Raw conversations with experienced operators and investors actively in the game, some with decades of wins, some right in the middle of their first deal... No fluff. No theory. Just real conversations about building wealth through Commercial Real Estate. New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!

  1. 2d ago

    You Need $25K–$30K in Cash Before You Ever Close on a Commercial Building

    Everyone asks how much money they need for a $1M building and answers with the down payment. But the down payment is the last cash you need, not the first.In this episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, John Heisler answers the question he gets every single day: how much cash do you actually need to get into commercial real estate? He walks through every dollar you’ll spend between signing the contract and closing, with real numbers from his own deals.Watch the lending episode and Bob’s deal episodes for the full stories behind these numbers. Next episode: seller finance terms.If you’re sitting on some cash and want to know whether it’s enough, book a call with us, and we’ll help you map out how to get your first deal funded: https://link.onedealblueprint.com/widget/bookings/30-minute-discovery-call-for-coaching 🎙️ The CRE Playbook is the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building. New episodes every week. Real deals, real frameworks, no fluff. Follow us on our socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    You Need $25K–$30K in Cash Before You Ever Close on a Commercial Building

  2. Oct 14

    Owning Multifamily Buildings Is Not Passive Income

    Hey folks! John’s back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, and he’s joined by: BOB SCHNEIDER. Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This is Episode 3 of the Bob Schneider series, and it’s where things get real. Episodes 1 and 2 covered the wild saga of buying a 71-unit, 32-property portfolio in Cincinnati. This episode picks up right after closing and covers everything that happened next. Day one of ownership, the old property manager emails all 70 tenants saying “we’re out” and blasts Bob’s personal cell phone to every single one of them. That’s the tone for everything that follows. Bob and John walk through the brutal property management transition, what they found walking through the buildings (almost no working AC, widespread pest issues, 6-8 months of deferred maintenance), how they found and chose Arch Property Management, and why you absolutely cannot set-and-forget with a management company no matter how good they are. They dig into the rent problem they inherited, 50-60% of tenants on month-to-month leases, some without a rent increase in 4-6 years, rents sometimes 50% below market, and walk through exactly how they designed a tiered rent increase strategy that didn’t blow up the portfolio. They cover their Section 8 experiment (a house that sat at $1,200 with no takers went to $1,745 with a Section 8 tenant), the utility bomb that hit their first winter ($9K-$12K a month after Duke Energy raised rates 35-40%), what RUBS are and why it takes years to roll them out, and why their unit turn budgets weren’t nearly high enough. Bob closes with his honest, increasingly biased take: multifamily might not be his long-term vehicle, and every asset class takes work, so you better pick the one that fits your personality. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. Follow us on our socials!Instagram: / cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB5... Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast... Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: / john.w.heisler Facebook: / john.heisler.142 Follow Bob Schneider on Social Media!!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbyvschneider/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.schneider.773

    Owning Multifamily Buildings Is Not Passive Income

  3. Oct 1

    Think Like a Lender Before You Make an Offer

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This is Part 1 of a three-part series on getting your commercial deal financed. Most investors spend all their time finding and underwriting deals for themselves. Almost none of them think about what the lender needs to say yes, until the lender says no. John walks through everything a commercial lender evaluates when you bring them a deal: the property itself (age, condition, environmental history, location), the borrower (credit, net worth, liquidity, experience), the financials (how lenders calculate NOI more conservatively than you do), and the tenant mix (why lease length matters more than most investors realize). He covers the liquidity math beginners miss (on a $1.6M deal at 80% LTV, lenders want to see $480K in accessible cash across all partners) and explains when a deal qualifies for a DSCR loan vs. a bridge product. He also breaks down the single biggest mistake investors make with lenders: sending a basic email instead of a full lending packet. He walks through exactly what that packet should include, covers every type of lender from credit unions to hard money, shares his take on fixed vs. variable rates in the current 6–7% environment, and closes with homework: map your existing banking relationships, run the Google Maps exercise for local lenders, and make two calls this week. Parts 2 and 3 will feature a local regional banker and a debt broker speaking directly. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. Follow us on our socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    Think Like a Lender Before You Make an Offer

  4. Sep 15

    I Tried Every Type of Real Estate at Once and It Cost Me Years

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast — Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This might be one of the most important episodes of the entire show. John sits down to walk through his complete buy box — not just what he buys, but how he arrived at it after trying nearly every type of real estate that exists. The list is long: single family, small multifamily, wholesale, fix and flip, novations, land flipping, hard money lending, mobile homes, mobile home parks, five Airbnbs in four months, industrial warehouses, office buildings, retail, and a storage conversion. Each one taught him something. Most of them also taught him what he didn't want to do. Today his focus is industrial, retail, and office in the $1M–$5M range — targeting mom and pop sellers who've owned for decades, are under-rented, and are more motivated than any institutional seller ever would be. He calls his strategy "economic value-add" (not value-add, which sends brokers the wrong signal) and keeps his rehab budgets at 10–25% of purchase price. His most recent deal: a $1.6M building he expects to stabilize at $3.2M — purely through lease-up, not renovation. He covers what he won't buy anymore (multifamily, national triple net, development), what markets he operates in and why, the hardest part of his model (lease-up is everything), and closes with a practical framework for how you can find your own buy box — starting with an honest audit of your skills, capital, and local market. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    I Tried Every Type of Real Estate at Once and It Cost Me Years

  5. Sep 1

    Are Commercial Real Estate Deals Finally Getting Cheap?

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast — Talking about real deals on the show that takes you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This is Part 2 of the Cap Rates series — and it goes way up. Part 1 covered the formula and how to use cap rates practically in your market. This episode explains what's actually behind them at the macro level. John walks through the relationship between commercial real estate cap rates and the 10-year US Treasury yield — why it exists, why it makes logical sense once you understand it, and what it means for you as a buyer right now. He covers the cap rate spread, explains why absolute triple net buildings trade closest to Treasury yields while Class C products can sit 500 basis points above them, and breaks down why Class C multifamily is currently in freefall while Class A holds steady. He also shares his own take on the current market: he thinks now is a great time to buy cash-flowing commercial buildings and hold through the current high-rate environment — because when Treasury yields eventually come back down, those buildings will be worth significantly more. He adds an important caveat on the US Treasury's status as the global gold standard, noting that China's holdings are at an 18-year low in 2026, and closes with practical free resources to track cap rates without a CoStar subscription. Homework: Google the 10-year Treasury yield today, add it to your watchlist, and start tracking what cap rates brokers are advertising in your local market. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. 📩 Want to learn more? www.cre-playbook.comFollow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    Are Commercial Real Estate Deals Finally Getting Cheap?

  6. Aug 25

    Cap Rate is the First Number Investors Look At And the Last One They Should Rely On

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast. Talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! Cap rate is probably the single most referenced metric in commercial real estate. It's also probably the most misunderstood. In this solo episode, John breaks down everything you actually need to know, not just the formula, but how to use it correctly at every stage of a deal. He starts from scratch with simple math, walks through why the metric exists in the first place, explains who sets cap rates and what moves them, and then shares real cap rate ranges by asset class as of 2026. From there, he gets into the practical stuff: entry cap vs. exit cap, why the cap rate you buy at almost doesn't matter on a value-add deal, and how he bought a building at a 4 cap and turned it into a 12 cap return just by increasing NOI. He also covers NOI itself: what's in it, what's not (your mortgage), and why it's the foundation of how commercial buildings are valued. He closes with how to stress test a deal against higher exit cap rates, and homework: find a real listing on Loopnet or Crexi, pull the NOI, calculate the cap rate yourself, and ask whether it makes sense at a 30% discount. Part 2 covers Treasury yields, bonds, and how interest rates actually move cap rates (available next week!) 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    Cap Rate is the First Number Investors Look At And the Last One They Should Rely On

  7. Aug 6

    A Brutally Honest Breakdown of Every Major Commercial Real Estate Asset Class

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast, talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This one is John's honest, unfiltered breakdown of the Big 5 commercial real estate asset classes: retail, office, industrial, self-storage, and multifamily. He owns buildings in all five categories, and he has strong opinions about which ones beginners should actually start with. He walks through each asset class one by one, covering the pros and cons from real experience. Retail isn't dead, community strip centers are busier than ever, and the value-add play of pairing nationally accredited anchor tenants with mom-and-pop local businesses at market rent is one of his favorites. Class A downtown office is dead, but Class B and C office is quietly one of the best buying opportunities in 2026. Industrial is his top pick for beginners: simple buildings, triple net leases, tenants who handle their own repairs, and almost zero maintenance calls. Self-storage sounds passive but is operationally intense, especially small facilities, which John says beginners should avoid entirely. And multifamily scales the best but demands elite operations, and on-market deals in that space are almost never worth buying. He closes with something most commercial educators won't say: you don't have to pick one asset class and stick with it forever. Explore, buy, learn, and let your experience tell you where you're built to operate. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. Follow us on our socials!Instagram:   / cre.playbook   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB5... Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast... Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram:   / john.w.heisler   Facebook:   / john.heisler.142

    A Brutally Honest Breakdown of Every Major Commercial Real Estate Asset Class

  8. Jul 29

    The Exact Script to Start a Capital Partner Conversation (Without It Feeling Like a Sales Pitch)

    Hey folks! John's back for a brand new episode of the CRE Playbook Podcast. Talking about real deals on the show that take you from zero to one in getting your first commercial building! This is Part 3 of the Raising Capital series, and, as John says, it's the most important one. Parts 1 and 2 gave you the Deal Triangle and the LLC Partnership structure. This episode gives you the actual conversation. John walks through exactly how to approach capital partners, starting with the people already in your phone. He covers the three investor avatars to look for in your network, the one opening question that starts every conversation without pressure, and why you should never mention a deal address in the first meeting. He breaks down the four things that make someone say yes (trust, clarity, risk mitigation, and access), the three things that make them say no, and how to handle the classic "let me think about it" response without chasing or losing momentum. He also tackles the question every new operator faces: what do you say if you've never done a deal before? And he closes with the mindset shift that makes all of this easier: you are not asking for money. You are offering access to something they could never do on their own. Homework: take your phone, go through every contact from A to Z, and write down everyone who might belong in one of the three investor avatars. That list is where your capital raising starts. 🎙️ New episodes every week. Real deals. No fluff. 📩 Want to see a real deal pitch deck? Email us at john@cre-playbook.com and we'll send you one of John's previous examples.Follow us on our socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cre.playbook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572282477159 X: https://x.com/cre_playbook Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033kjB56cEZQ7OJwuUDkaD?si=Z16dre_QSL-LcKeOzqJlfQ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/cre-playbook-podcast/id1896868504 Follow John Heisler on his socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.w.heisler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.heisler.142/

    The Exact Script to Start a Capital Partner Conversation (Without It Feeling Like a Sales Pitch)
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About

John Heisler spent years in residential real estate before making the switch to commercial, and it changed everything! Now he's sharing the playbook he wishes he'd had from day one. Solo breakdowns of deals and strategies that actually move the needle. Raw conversations with experienced operators and investors actively in the game, some with decades of wins, some right in the middle of their first deal... No fluff. No theory. Just real conversations about building wealth through Commercial Real Estate. New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube!

Information

  • Creator
    John Heisler
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © John Heisler
  • Show Website
    CRE Playbook Podcast