Boston’s Foreclosure Market:How Paul Linder Finds Distressed Deals & Creates Repeatable Profits

Paul Linder (00:00)
What’s made the biggest difference is my 30 to 40 years of being a straight shooter, telling people the way it is, whether it’s what they want to hear or not, which is why when I started my foreclosure opportunity fund to raise monies to ⁓ take my business to the next level, it was all on a handshake.

Now I have documentation, have paperwork, but in the beginning people knew Paul Linder, they trusted Paul Linder,

Scott Bursey (02:03)
Hi everyone and welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey and today I’m joined by someone I’ve really been looking forward to chatting with, Paul Linder, who’s been making some serious moves in the real estate space. Paul is an architect behind one of the city’s most respected firms, Prestige Property Solutions. From managing massive portfolios to closing high stakes residential deals, he’s a wealth of knowledge on how to scale without losing the boots on the ground.

integrity. He’s a broker, a mentor, and a straight shooter. Paul, welcome to the show.

Paul Linder (02:37)
Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:39)
I think our audience is really going to take away something from the way you’ve been able to navigate the sheer velocity of the Boston market. Most people talk about scaling, but you’re actually doing it in a city where the margins are tight and the timelines are even tighter. Your perspective on high volume management is exactly what our audience needs to hear. Let’s dive in, shall we?

Paul Linder (03:03)
Thank you.

Scott Bursey (03:04)
So first off, for people who may not be familiar with your world, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days?

Paul Linder (03:11)
Yep, my main focus is buying in the foreclosure arena, which is totally the Wild West.

Scott Bursey (03:19)
Well, that sums it up very nicely. Free for all, if you will. And what markets are you operating in specifically,

Paul Linder (03:29)
Yeah, in the greater Boston area, my office is in Boston and I have a radius of about a 30 to 40 minute drive.

Scott Bursey (03:38)
Love it. Hey, how convenient to have everything right there at your fingertips. What caught my attention about you, was the way you’ve been able to bridge the gap between the high speed rental hustle of Alston, Brighton, and the high stakes world of residential sales. Usually a pro chooses one lane, but you’ve mastered the mechanics of both, proving that you can scale a massive rental engine without losing that.

white glove touch on the sales side. That requires a level of surgical precision that most people just haven’t developed in this shifting economic climate. What’s the unshakable pillar in your system that allows this machine to scale without breaking, even when the market gets volatile?

Paul Linder (04:24)
To be honest with you, I’m a little bit surprised myself that the journey has taken me down the road it’s taking me. To answer your question is I have been able to and I’m successful at bringing a team around me who I could put in place to accomplish my goals. I’ve been doing this for

35 some odd years and although my energy level is still okay There’s nothing that beats the enthusiasm of a 30 year old hungry person who was just Has the world

as sees the world as their oyster.

Scott Bursey (05:50)
absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. And that’s infectious as well. It really can translate into feeding energy into a room of people that can take that energy and escalate things. That’s awesome. And hey, that’s well noted. Now, every operator I know, Paul, has a moment where things got real. You know, maybe a deal went sideways or a time that they had to pivot fast. Do you mind sharing?

One of those moments with us?

Paul Linder (06:20)
Well, to be honest with you, I had that moment 30 years ago. ⁓ And I was young. I had my foot to the gas pedal and the markets changed and I wasn’t prepared for it. Ever since then, I learned those lessons. They were lessons that had to be learned.

I did learn those lessons and ever since then, I’ve been able to navigate things, I’ve been able to see beyond the horizon and anticipate problems and I haven’t, I haven’t had a sleepless night since.

Scott Bursey (06:56)
That’s awesome. Experiencing those bumps in the road sometimes, and it sounds like it has in your case, propels somebody into achieving their goals. That’s the real world grit that usually gets left on the cutting room floor, Most people just want to, you know, give the highlight version of what’s occurred in their career, but you’re giving the actual blueprint to some extent for the trenches. And honestly, that’s the barrier.

to entry for the elite. It’s what separates the weekend hobbyist from the career operators who are still standing in the game 30 years down the road. Thank you for sharing that with us. Let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next, Paul?

Paul Linder (07:40)
Right, ⁓ there’s nothing more fun for me.

That’s more titillating than buying real estate. I bought my first house at 22 and 40 years later I’m still buying property But you did you do need this discipline and not to overpay to me things are overpriced the interest rates Haven’t gone up and have not Prices have not reflected that higher interest rate and the higher cost on carrying property So I’ve decided to take a more short-term overview

⁓ which is buy foreclosed property, buy distressed property, see an unfair advantage, see an edge, capitalize on that unfair advantage and that edge and get in and get out with a profit.

Scott Bursey (08:29)
Point well taken. What’s the next real goal for you now? The bullseye that you could shoot for in your realm.

Paul Linder (08:38)
To be honest with you, I’ve accomplished everything beyond my wildest dreams. Although I am a modest person. I’m not Donald Trump, never said I was. ⁓ But it’s still exciting for me to do what I do. It helps keep me in the game. So I’ve taken this foreclosure opportunity and turned it into a rinse and repeat business, which I do at once.

I execute, I do it again, I do it again, and ⁓ that’s exciting for me. ⁓ But I’m out of the racetrack. It’s gotta be measured, it’s gotta be calculated, it’s gotta be profitable, and that’s what I do on a day-to-day basis.

Scott Bursey (09:23)
And it should be exciting because you’ve taken a winning recipe and repeated it time and time again and execute it. guess the real word is execution. And for that, hey, I’ve got a tip my hat to you. That next move is where the leverage lies. It lives if you will, Paul. It can either perfect your operation or detonate your workflow depending on the strategy that you deploy. You know, I’m sure there’s something that you

may be working to achieve. Interested to know if you were starting over today with, let’s just say, 50K and only 10 years of experience, but zero portfolio, what’s the first lead gen channel you turn to?

Paul Linder (10:42)
Yep, I have an answer for you. I would probably go to more speculative locations, areas that are little unseemly for some other people, because that way I would get my greatest rate of return. And that’s the answer. They wouldn’t be the pretty streets.

They wouldn’t be the tree line streets. They’d be the locations that some people are not interested in trafficking.

Scott Bursey (11:15)
And Paul, that’s a very good answer. That’s a concrete answer. And that’s an honest answer. Thank you. Now I know a lot of our audience is either, you know, earlier in their journey or looking to level up. And I think they benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Paul Linder (11:37)
What’s made the biggest difference is my 30 to 40 years of being a straight shooter, telling people the way it is, whether it’s what they want to hear or not, which is why when I started my foreclosure opportunity fund to raise monies to ⁓ take my business to the next level, it was all on a handshake.

Now I have documentation, have paperwork, but in the beginning people knew Paul Linder, they trusted Paul Linder, and just on that handshake I was able to raise 1.5 million dollars, which includes getting monies for my CPA.

If my CPA, who knows where all the bodies are buried, will lend you money, then that’s a good thing. That’s a testament to myself and I take it very serious and I’m proud of that.

Scott Bursey (12:31)
And you should be, and I’m certainly not going to argue with that winning recipe. What a proven system it’s been for you. You just can’t fake that. At this level of the game, proximity is power. The math is, you know…

It’s only clear to a certain level. It’s the depth of your connections that determines who actually gets to the closing table.

Would you feel that’s ⁓ a fair testament to what you’ve been able to accomplish over your 40 year span, 40 plus year span.

Paul Linder (13:02)
whether it’s real estate or any other business endeavor, it doesn’t change. ⁓ If you’re an honest person, if people look at you and they say that Paul says what he’s gonna do and does what he says he’s gonna do, and sometimes I take the difficult calls. A lot of people I do business with, unfortunately, well, it’s a difficult call, they won’t take it. Write the voicemail.

I pick the phone up and I deal with what’s ever on the end of the phone and as long as you tell people what’s going on, give them the story and if it’s ⁓ a story that’s possible and believable, you’ll be okay.

Scott Bursey (13:43)
Absolutely. Hey, and I’ve got to ask you this one. How do you maintain your edge when things are going well? You know, it’s easy to grind when you’re broke. Let’s be honest. But how do you stay hungry when you’ve reached your magnitude of success?

Paul Linder (13:59)
You know something? I asked myself the same question. ⁓ My father died when I was 11 and I lived my life to make my mother proud of me and it tears me up even now.

and although she’s been gone a long time, but now the ability to push myself, the discipline to push myself, I have that now and I don’t do it for anybody but me. look in the mirror and say, Paul, job well done. But in the beginning, I needed somebody, something to get me up and hit the ground running and it was my mother.

Scott Bursey (14:33)
in.

That’s awesome, and I concur. Paul, job well done. All right, before we wrap, if somebody wanted to reach out and connect with you, what’s the best way for them to collaborate and learn more? And what’s the best way for them to contact you,

Paul Linder (15:36)
Right, so I’d like to say a couple things before we go. And again, part of the reason I’m here today. I’ve started something called the Foreclosure Opportunity Fund. There is about a hundred page disclosure that was put together by professional attorneys of which I’m looking to raise monies not only from friends, but from people who don’t know me, who feel comfortable with me, who are going to learn my story. I’m offering a straight 12 % rate of return.

for a one year time horizon. At that one year you’ll get your rate of return back plus if you want your balance back, your principal, no problem. If you want to roll it over, no problem. I’ll tell you a quick story. I’m in with my eye doctor.

and he’s an entrepreneur and we talk about all kinds of things. He knows I’m in real estate and I’m telling him about the Full Closure Opportunity Fund. He finds it all fascinating and he says, well Paul, what is the minimum I need to invest? I said, $200,000. I’ve got $200,000. I want to give it to you to invest. He says, do you have a disclosure? I said, I have all those things. Send it to me please. Well, by the end of the week, I had a

transfer $200,000 deposited in my foreclosure opportunity fund.

Scott Bursey (16:58)
That’s awesome. Could you?

Paul Linder (16:59)
So that’s what

I’d like to ⁓ put out there to people who, you know, I’m not promising you 30 % rate of returns. I’m talking something that I can live with, something that’s manageable. And to get a hold of me, it’s Paul has APTS, the digit one, kind of like Paul has apartments in one, at aol.com.

or 617-448-8575. And the website is Prestige Property Solutions dot com.

Scott Bursey (17:37)
That is totally awesome. And I find your latest venture to be quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing that with us. We need more.

Paul Linder (17:43)
Do you have time for me

to share one more story? Great.

Scott Bursey (17:46)
Absolutely there is, yes. And

I love, we’d all love to hear it.

Paul Linder (17:51)
Thank you. I’m sitting by the phone as I am today and you know everybody works off their cell phone. Well we have an office phone, I’m looking at it now, it almost never rings. But when it rings, it’s usually a Google spam call. But I feel it’s my responsibility to answer the phone.

So I get a call, hi this is Paul Prestige, Property Solutions, and on the other end of the phone, is this Paul Linder? I go, yes. Well my name is Such and Such from Such and Such Management Company, and we’d like you to represent us on all our foreclosed and troubled assets in Massachusetts. And I literally said, you do?

Never heard of this company. I’m not going to say the name. I Googled them. They’re a billion dollar fund that lends money to developers, contractors, and not everything goes according to plan. And now my team is in charge of right now about $15 million worth of assets that we’re stabilizing and going to liquidate for them.

Scott Bursey (18:58)
All because you picked up the phone. You are the person that takes those calls.

Paul Linder (19:01)
Honest to God.

I don’t know how they found me. They found me somehow. Somebody must have…

said something good about me. might have been God. I don’t know who it was. But somehow my name got out there as being a reputable person. it’s been a great, it’s been about a year and a half now. Just recently we closed on a $1.8 million brand new townhouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And we have multi assets that we’re looking to stabilize, put them on the market and sell. It’s a beautiful thing.

Scott Bursey (19:34)
It is a very beautiful thing and that’s a testimony because a testament rather because you’ve done things right and you continue to do things right. We need more people in this space who are doing it the right way, Paul.

Paul Linder (19:47)
By the way, in closing, if there’s a young person out there who has, here’s this broadcast who lives in the Boston area, that say, how do I hitch my wagon with Paul? I’m taking young kids in all the time and I’m happy to be a mentor. I’m happy to show them something that they never saw before.

If you call that giving back, yeah, then I guess it’s giving back. And where it takes them, I don’t know, but I’m happy to open up my office to them and ⁓ give them an opportunity to see what we do. And maybe like at 19 years old, where I found my career, it may have the same effect on somebody else.

Scott Bursey (20:28)
Thanks for that and thanks for being here, Paul. This has been an honor, a real privilege.

Paul Linder (20:33)
My pleasure.

Thank you very much.

Scott Bursey (20:36)
And for those of you tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Paul, who are out there building real dynamic businesses. We’ll see you in the next episode, everybody.