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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil welcomes Tyler Cauble, a seasoned real estate investor specializing in commercial properties. Tyler shares his journey from starting as a broker in 2013 to establishing his own firm and raising capital for syndicating commercial deals. With a portfolio worth approximately $75 million, he emphasizes the importance of focusing on specific neighborhoods, particularly in Nashville, where he identifies growth potential. Tyler discusses his unique approach to investing, which includes a mix of industrial, retail, and hospitality assets, and highlights the significance of education in commercial real estate.
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Tyler Cauble (00:00)
Yeah, I really love industrial right now. I mean, I think that that’s kind of, you know, beating a drum that everybody else is already beating, right? I don’t think that there’s any sort of secret in that. But I do think that industrial is still under, under tapped, honestly. You know, that could be self storage, it could be flex space, it could be larger distribution facilities. You know, we have about one and a half million square feet of industrial in our portfolio. And I still don’t even feel like we’re utilizing it as much as we can.So we’re looking to continue growing that. I see a lot of opportunity in focusing on value add today. I kind of preach to anybody interested in commercial real estate, like don’t go for the cashflow, especially right now. Like if you’re going for cashflow, it’s gonna be really tough for you to ever find a deal that’s gonna make any sense. If you’re investing for the value add, like the forced appreciation side of things today,
that is a sandbox that you really want to be playing in because, you know, one, you can create more equity doing a forced appreciation play in a shorter amount of time than you could create cashflow from an asset in a long period of time.
Michelle Kesil (02:44)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with, Tyler Cauble, who is a real estate investor focusing on commercial spaces as well as office, retail, industrial, and hotels. excited to have you here today, Tyler.Tyler Cauble (03:06)
Thanks for having me, Michelle. Excited to be diving into this with you.Michelle Kesil (03:09)
Yeah, absolutely, let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your work yet, can you share what your main focus is?Tyler Cauble (03:17)
little bit of everything. So I got started in commercial real estate back in 2013 as a broker, uh left and started my own firm in 2018. And then in 2019 started raising capital, syndicating our own commercial deals. Since then I’ve acquired about $75 million worth of assets, mostly industrial and retail, followed by office. I’m finishing up a 350 unit self-storage facility right now. We’re finishing up a 48 room boutique hotel. I am not an asset.specialist, right? I’m not the multifamily guy. I’m not an office guy. I tend to pick neighborhoods, specialize in those neighborhoods, and then deliver the types of commercial real estate investments that I think would perform best based on that. you know, I’ve got entrepreneurial ADHD. It keeps me entertained getting to work on a variety of assets.
Michelle Kesil (04:09)
Yeah, absolutely. And when you say, like, you pick neighborhoods, are these just like towns all across the US, or can you expand on what that process looks like?Tyler Cauble (04:19)
Yeah, great question. So I’m based in Nashville, Tennessee, ⁓ East Nashville and Madison are two neighborhoods within Nashville that we are hyper focused on at the moment, as well as South Chattanooga. So the overwhelming overwhelming majority of our assets are in those three neighborhoods. But we are also looking at expanding. Typically, what I do is I go in, I analyze the neighborhood. I like the parts of town that are like I would equate East Nashville to like Williamsburg and Brooklyn or maybe Portland. Right. It’sIt’s very entrepreneurial. It’s very artsy. You’ve got some really cool restaurants and bars, a lot of younger people moving there. And that’s where we like to invest because there’s a lot of growth in those markets.
Michelle Kesil (05:00)
Awesome, makes sense. And what would you say are some main keys that you feel have allowed you to grow your business and run it smoothly?Tyler Cauble (05:59)
I think starting off on the brokerage side of things was really what helped me get to where I am today because I had to learn from the very beginning what it was like to go out and find an actual deal, right? Off market for clients. See how all of these different investors look at these opportunities, how they underwrite them, how they finance them, how they look at how they’re going to pull these deals together. And then of course, getting to work with them on the management and leasing side.So essentially I got paid to learn all these different strategies and approaches in commercial real estate before I ever went off to do anything on my own. So just the amount of deals that I saw before I ever started acquiring my own assets, that really gave me an advantage, I think, in getting started faster because I got paid to learn first.
Michelle Kesil (06:54)
Yeah, definitely, that sounds like a crucial step. So how did you kind of move from that phase of your business into deciding to be an investor and scale from there?Tyler Cauble (07:06)
Yeah, so I knew that the investment development side of things was where I always wanted to be. And that brokerage was kind of a step getting towards that. It wasn’t until, I mean, I did my first development in 2015. three, you two years basically into being in the business. I partnered with the company that I was working for to build 42 town homes down in Bellevue. Great project. But it wasn’t until 2019 when I actually started raising capital and syndicating these deals. that all came froma mastermind that I went to down in Texas where I learned how to actually raise capital. You know, when I, when I did my first development, my partners, the company that I worked for, they had all the cash. So I didn’t see what it was like to go through raising capital and, and securing financing. I just assumed, as a broker, I’m going to have to work until I save up enough cash to do my own down payment. But at that mastermind, it totally changed my approach. realized like, yeah, of course you can go raise capital.
from other investors, here’s how you structure it. Here’s how you go about doing that the legal right way, right? And cause you don’t want to mess with the SEC when it comes to taking money from investors. And so that just allowed me to scale so much faster. mean, we bought our first building in February of 2019. And, you know, I think I was 26 years old. I bought three more buildings by the end of that year, office building. So we acquired about four or $5 million worth of assets that first year.
and have been off to the races ever since. But yeah, it was really surrounding myself with the people that were doing exactly what I wanted to be doing that helped kind of spark that journey for me.
Michelle Kesil (08:51)
Yeah, absolutely, I think that the people that you surround yourself with and the minds that you encounter can absolutely change that trajectory for you. What would you suggest to investors that are early in their journey or looking to just start? Like some advice that maybe you wish you had?Tyler Cauble (09:14)
That’s a great question. I the advice that I would give to somebody that’s just getting started is don’t get too greedy on the front end. Right? You know, when I was first going for that first townhome deal, I wanted, you know, 20 or 30 % equity in it, but I wasn’t putting my own cash into it because I didn’t have any. I wasn’t signing on the debt. And if I did, it probably would have hurt us. Right. I didn’t have great credit. was 25, 23, 24. So, uh,you know, they negotiated me down to 10%, which is more than fair. And now looking back on it, like I would take 10 % of a deal where I have to, you know, put in the elbow grease, do that, you know, create the sweat equity, but not have to bring any cash or sign of the debt. I mean, that was a sweetheart deal. So for, those that are just getting started, just getting your first deal, getting the track record, getting the experience that is far more valuable than any money that you’re going to make on that first deal. So
just get the first one done, right? Figure it out. Of course, negotiate as best as you can to get as much of it as you can, but don’t die on that hill. Take your 10 % run.
Michelle Kesil (11:02)
Yeah, definitely. I think that the practice piece is important, like you mentioned.Tyler Cauble (11:09)
That’s right. Yeah, it’s very important. mean, just getting the reps in, right? Because you don’t know what you don’t know. And the nice thing about that first deal, especially, you know, when you’re first getting started, you can tell your partners, hey, I don’t have experience doing this, but I will work my tail off until I figure it out. Right. And so you have a lot more leeway there to maybe make some mistakes or deal with partners that are just more understanding of how that process goes. So get out there and learn as much as you can.Michelle Kesil (11:41)
What are some obstacles that you have encountered that now looking back in hindsight you can see the lesson on?Tyler Cauble (11:53)
Oh yeah, I mean I’ve had partners steal a lot of money from me. You know, I lost $400,000 on a deal with a family member because we didn’t have it in writing. Now we’re still in a lawsuit, so I can’t talk about that too much today. But you know, I trusted an elder family member too much. Fortunately in the state of Tennessee, if anything in writing, even if it’s not a contract, is technically a contract. So we actually have a lot of emails. We have a lot of text messages.that establish our partnership. But when I first got into that deal, you know, again, I was 23, 24, right? Pretty young, didn’t have the cash to set up a proper operating agreement. And that family member who was essentially a mentor to me when I was first getting started said, hey, I’m not gonna do an operating agreement. If you want one, you can go out and hire an attorney and you can pay for it. And I had never done anything like that. So now…
you know, here we are, however, 10 years later, almost in a lawsuit. And it would have been so much easier if I had just had the foresight to get everything in writing and agreed upon in a contract. And so now, I mean, ever since then, I won’t do anything if it’s not in writing and it’s not agreed to ahead of time, because if nothing else, contracts keep an honest man honest. Right. So that’s that’s also a great piece of advice for those that are first getting started, because when you’re
When you’re looking for your first deal, you’re trying to save as much money as you can or not spend as much money as you can. And cutting out those attorney’s fees can be a very easy, well, I’ll just have chat GPT do it or I’ll find a contract online that we can use. you know, maybe that’ll work. I hope it does if that’s the route that you have to take, but there’s a better chance that it’s not going to work out. And then you’re to have to be defending that contract or attacking that contract in court.
And that’s far less fun and more expensive. I can promise you that.
Michelle Kesil (13:54)
Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like it’s good to be covered in all areas and yeah, make sure that you’re set.Tyler Cauble (14:02)
That’s right.Michelle Kesil (14:05)
What are you most focusing on solving or scaling to next in your business?Tyler Cauble (14:12)
Rightnow it’s all about education in commercial real estate. When I first got started back in 2013, there was really not a lot out there. There were a couple of podcasts. I don’t think there were any YouTube channels and there were a few bucks, but when I was first getting started, nobody really wanted to help me because they all kind of saw it as competition. And so I always told myself, as soon as I understand more about how this business works, I’m gonna go teach everybody else how to do it.
And so I got very involved in my local REA chapters and started teaching commercial real estate there, but it wasn’t until 2020 when the pandemic hit, I went from 99 % of my time out of office to 100 % of my time in office by myself with no deals to work on that I actually was able to start a YouTube channel, start teaching people how to invest in commercial real estate. And it’s been amazing what that has grown into since then. Now we’re working on launching this year.
really within the next couple of months. So this spring of 2026, a university like platform with continued education credits, educating you on commercial real estate investing, brokerage, development, really everything within this industry. So that’s what we’re focused on right now. I mean, of course, look, we’re still buying commercial real estate. I’m under contract on an $11 million campus right now.
We’re working on a flex-based development down just outside of Austin, Texas, and of course trying to acquire one more property as well this year, so for a total of three assets. But that’s really how we’re focused on growing and scaling right now.
Michelle Kesil (16:28)
Amazing. Can you expand on the education platform? Like who’s kind of your ideal client for what you’re building it out for?Tyler Cauble (16:36)
Yeah, great. So, you know, it’s really for residential real estate investors that are transitioning into commercial real estate, at least the very start of it is, right? Because we’re, you know, if we’re treating like a true university style curriculum, we have 100 level, 200 level and 300 level classes. So it gets far more advanced into, you know, deal structure and how to creatively finance deals and stuff like that. But it also starts off on the very basic side of things.how to actually get started, how to go out and find deals, how to pitch a lender on doing your deals. And something that was very important for me with this platform was to make it very affordable and approachable. each class is gonna be under $100 starting off. That’s what we’re aiming for. So not only will it be providing some of the most engaging and interactive type of learning,
for commercial real estate that really has ever existed. We’re making it accessible and affordable to everybody. So that hopefully, you know, the me of 2013 today, right, can get started, start winning commercial real estate. And instead of taking, you know, five or six years to buy your first property like it did for me, maybe you can do it in one.
Michelle Kesil (17:54)
Yeah, that’s incredible that you’re able to give people that roadmap to expand them that way.Tyler Cauble (18:00)
Thank you. Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been great getting to work on it. It’s not something that I ever thought that we would be doing, to be honest with you. When I first started the YouTube channel, it was all about, I want to find investors that want to invest in my deals. Let’s go out and do that. But then it became, hey, will you consult on my deal? Do you have any courses where I could learn more about commercial real estate? Do you have a mastermind? Is there anything else where we can ⁓ build community and learn?It’s been fun just kind of seeing how that has evolved to this point today. I now we have over 200 members in our mastermind. We’ve sold hundreds of courses on that. ⁓ we’ll see where the road takes us this year.
Michelle Kesil (18:43)
Yeah, that’s incredible. And as far as like your own investing journey, what are some types of investments that you are looking to expand into or you’re seeing as opportunities for this year?Tyler Cauble (18:58)
Yeah, I really love industrial right now. I mean, I think that that’s kind of, you know, beating a drum that everybody else is already beating, right? I don’t think that there’s any sort of secret in that. But I do think that industrial is still under, under tapped, honestly. You know, that could be self storage, it could be flex space, it could be larger distribution facilities. You know, we have about one and a half million square feet of industrial in our portfolio. And I still don’t even feel like we’re utilizing it as much as we can.So we’re looking to continue growing that. I see a lot of opportunity in focusing on value add today. I kind of preach to anybody interested in commercial real estate, like don’t go for the cashflow, especially right now. Like if you’re going for cashflow, it’s gonna be really tough for you to ever find a deal that’s gonna make any sense. If you’re investing for the value add, like the forced appreciation side of things today,
that is a sandbox that you really want to be playing in because, you know, one, you can create more equity doing a forced appreciation play in a shorter amount of time than you could create cashflow from an asset in a long period of time.
I we’ve had deals where we created as much equity in two or three years as we would have in 12 to 15 years out of holding an asset, right? So yes, we’re not getting cashflow from the assets.
⁓ But what we do is we increase that equity increase the value of the property sell it and then we 1031 exchange into the cash flow asset So for example, I mean one deal that we recently did and this is stuff that we’re always actively looking to do as well was we took a 1.7 acre piece of dirt. It was zoned for 11 units We rezoned it to 63 units took us about a year to do that took us about another year to sell it
We bought it originally for $618,000 and we flipped it in two years for a million 575. Right? So we paid off our debt. We did a 1031 exchange into a self storage facility and that will net us about 30 K a month. So looking at that, my partner and I initially invested $200,000 each, right? There’s no way that we ever could have gotten to a point where we were making 30 K a month net if we were investing that 200 K for cashflow.
But because we took this forced appreciation play, right? Like we put the sweat equity into it first, then we took that equity and 1031 exchanged that into a cash flowing asset, we were able to substantially increase the amount of cash flow that we would get. So that’s the strategy I like utilizing today.
Michelle Kesil (21:37)
Yeah, amazing. Sounds like you guys have really nailed it down and have your process set.Tyler Cauble (21:42)
Yeah, it’s a lot of fun, that’s for sure.Michelle Kesil (21:45)
Awesome. You mentioned earlier that you always find like creative ways to make things work. Could you share an example of that?Tyler Cauble (21:55)
Sure. Yeah, so back in 2021, we released a project called The Wash here in East Nashville. you know, the way that you look at a project really determines what the potential outcome could be. And this is a great example of it. So this was a six bay abandoned car wash, right? Which how many of those have we all driven past in our day-to-day lives?And it was for sale for I think $412,000, which if you run the math on it, as a car wash didn’t make any sense. Again, it was run down, it was abandoned, needed all new ⁓ mechanical systems, needed all new plumbing. The amount of money that you would have to invest into this project to make it make sense, the price point didn’t work. So everybody was looking at it as a car wash and saying, well, the money doesn’t work. We decided to look at it from a different perspective because it was zoned for general commercial uses.
Well, each bay was 380 square feet. Back then, ghost kitchens were all the rave, right? Everybody was talking about ghost kitchens. And so I looked at it I said, well, what if we converted each of those bays into a ghost kitchen, into a micro restaurant with a storefront? And maybe we had some outdoor seating out there and called my architect to see if that could be done. And he said, yeah, absolutely. Let’s get to work on it. And…
that $412,000 price point was all of a sudden a steal, right? Because we were able to build six restaurants instead of one car wash. And so today, I mean, that property has been 100 % occupied the entire time that we’ve had it. We started off with shorter term leases, you one year. And the rates, by the way, are three times market rate for restaurants on a per square foot basis because they’re so much smaller. So.
That’s a great example right there, right? Just looking at something differently from how everybody else is looking at it could unlock a totally different approach where you can make something work that nobody else can.
Michelle Kesil (23:58)
Yeah, absolutely. I love that solution. So cool. Awesome. So before we wrap up here, if somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?Tyler Cauble (24:10)
Yeah, thanks, Michelle. mean, best thing is to just find me on YouTube. It’s just at Tyler Cauble. You jump in there. I live stream, you know, once or twice a week, depending on the weeks. I’m always answering questions, diving in on that. So if you want to get involved in anything that we’re doing or more about commercial real estate, just find me on YouTube.Michelle Kesil (24:29)
Perfect. Appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here. Of course, and from the listeners that are tuning in, if you got value, make sure that you have subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Tyler who are building real businesses, and we’ll see you on the next episode.Tyler Cauble (24:33)
Thank you, Michelle.
