How Yolanda Bouchee De-Risks Development Projects Before Investors Spend Money

Yolanda Bouchee (00:00)
Put together what’s called a development playbook, which is customized to their individual project sites. And not only do we look at the financing end of it, what makes the most sense money-wise, but we also look at what makes us unique is we take a look at the environment of the project, which includes not only environment, is there— have there been any issues there, but it also includes what’s the community sentiment— sentiment. We go back five years with— with meeting information and and the press and all kinds of information on what’s been happening in that community to find out if there are reasons that people might not want that project there or in that area.

Joseph Crooms (02:17)
Hey everyone. Welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Joseph Crooms. Today I’m joined by someone who’s been looking— I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. it’s been a very interesting conversation. She’s an interesting person. My guest’s name is Yolanda. I’m gonna let her tell her first name, last name, and the niches that she’s in. And she’s been making some serious moves in the real estate industry, but a broad spectrum. So I’ll let her talk a little bit more about that. So Yolanda, glad to have you here. Say hello to everyone.

Yolanda Bouchee (02:56)
Hello everyone. How are you?

Joseph Crooms (02:59)
So I think our listeners are going to— to take something away from how you’ve been approaching the real estate industry, and that’s in the middle— middle of your two p— two other two businesses. So let’s dive in. So first of all, for people who may not be familiar with— just can you give us a short but elaborate of each one of them version? What’s your main focus these days, and what markets are you operating in?

Yolanda Bouchee (03:31)
Okay. Well, as you mentioned, I have three companies. The first one is RC Funding, and it is a— a funding company. I’m a broker for real estate, commercial real estate development properties for investors, also for business owners, as well as a strategist working with developers. So and that— that is sort of the big focus is the developers. put together what’s called a development playbook, which is customized to their individual project sites. And not only do we look at the financing end of it, what makes the most sense money-wise, but we also look at what makes us unique is we take a look at the environment of the project, which includes not only environment, is there— have there been any issues there, but it also includes what’s the community sentiment— sentiment. We go back five years with— with meeting information and and the press and all kinds of information on what’s been happening in that community to find out if there are reasons that people might not want that project there or in that area. And we don’t want anybody to get started on a project, spend their money, and then it gets stalled. So we find out about that. We find out about political changes and we also find out about policy concerns that might have happened over the last five years or so. We take that and we do a strategy of how can we meet this upfront before we get started, before we make decisions, how can we work with that community to ensure that this— this project is done in partnership and it— it’s gonna finish on time and profitable. So that’s one— that’s the big thrust of RC Funding. I also have a company called Revitalized Communities, which I’ve had the longest, I’ve had it for about seven years. It sort of comes out of my background. I worked for the federal government for 31 years and I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency for the last 16 of those years. I retired as a brown— brownfields and land develop— land redevelopment chief for the region, Midwest region out of Chicago. so when I retired from that, I went into my own— went into Revitalized Communities, which I mainly work with cities. I work with city planners as well as development directors, and I help them to revitalize areas of the cities that are underutilized. I also work with them to form partnerships with their community, and not just in— in words, not just in, “We have meetings and we update you,” but in ways that you can benefit that community while within this— the framework of this project, whether it’s in the building itself or around the area. We want the— the community to feel like they’re not being told what’s happening. They’re a part of what’s happening. They’re a real seat at the table. So those are things that I focus on with that. And you know, it makes a difference in how communities are taken care of and how they work. Now through that is there’s a process called ALIGN that I have patented and it is my— my idea. It’s called the ALIGN Partnership Framework. And it works to— to work with the commun— help the city and the developer work with the communities. It’s a— a real process, 45 to 90 days, and they do a bit of his agreement with— with the community itself so that they are partners. They need to have at least one economic development benefit to that community and one wealth-building or prosperity-building benefit. If there’s more, that’s great, but at least that. And that leads me to the third, which is a nonprofit called Community Prosperity Institute or CPI. And that nonprofit is an educational nonprofit, and it helps the communities who are getting these benefits have the capacity to manage them, to— to work with the city to keep them going and to actually make them grow. And so that helps to— to keep all— you know, keep the ecosystem going. They all work together in a way between the developers, the cities, and the communities.

Joseph Crooms (08:16)
I was gonna ask you that and you sort of dovetail and said they work together. Can you share with us how you bring all three of your businesses and sharing with them and how you may go, you know, transition into one and show how it overlaps? Can you share some of that experience with us?

Yolanda Bouchee (08:17)
You know, well, the Revitalized Communities, like I said, I— I work with cities. I’ve been working with cities for quite a while, usually on brownfield sites where they’re redeveloping those sites. And if we have communities that are br— that development is coming into, we— as I mentioned, we try to look at in advance if— and this is with developers as well as cities— if there is something that could cause problems. I can give you an example. I am working on a project now in a community that was affected decades ago by urban renewal. It’s a minority community, it’s a low-income community, and through urban renewal a lot of their services and homes were torn down. They were promised more money, they were promised better properties, and none of that happened. So you have this underlying thing of, “We’ve been sitting here with— in— with vacant lots everywhere for decades.” and so there is one place there that— that they are working on redeveloping that’s about 10 acres, and it has been sitting vacant also for decades. They’re— they’re trying to redevelop— they’ve gone through a really good process of working with the community before I ever came on the scene, working with the community to visualize what that redevelopment is going to look like, which is like a town center in that community with mixed develop— mixed-use development, restaurants, shops, houses, apartments, all of that. And just recently someone wrote a book about the urban renewal issues in that community and how it has affected them, and now there is a documentary out. Well, y— probably most of the people that live there now don’t remember urban renewal, probably wasn’t born— born and probably not that concerned. They just know this isn’t the greatest neighborhood. But now they’re aware. Now they’re in this small community— three hundred people came to a documentary pre— premiere. So, you know, and it’s not blaming anybody. The— the sho— premiere and the documentary and the book is interviews with people who are still here that went through that. So the city now is ready to work with them and— and— and try to make sure that their needs are met within the community. But there is a risk there. You know, we’re— we’ve— we’ve been going along this visioning process being, “Okay, wait a minute, you— we did this years ago, nothing happened, you know, we just ended up worse off.” So that is a time where ALIGN makes a difference, where you need to— to— to have time with the community up front. Not only to make sure that what you say you’re gonna do, you do, but also how do we benefit beside this area? What are you going to do to leave us better off and take the risk away that we’re not going to be worse off? And so those are the kinds of things that we should— we need to put together in an agreement. And also through my Community Prosperity Institute, we train people to be on the planning committee for the project. We train them how projects work, how development works, how you— what— what you have to look at for your budget. And they are voting members on the— on the planning team. I’ve done this in a few cities and it worked well. They are and they also become the people who are the community outreach because they know the project. They are making decisions on the project and people know them and listen to them. Instead of me coming out and talking to them and I’m not from the area. So all of that works together. And when you get the developer on board, if he’s on board early to start this process, that’s where, you know, RC Funding is. We’ve already looked at the— the possible risk. We have already looked at how can you— before he probably comes on— how can you make money on this jail— deal? I’ve already kind of paired that city person and that developer together because we’re planning all this, and all three of those things work together. And whatever benefits are— are negotiated, which is between the— you know, those aren’t predetermined, but they also are things that the government has decided they can deliver on. Because if they can’t deliver on it, it’s not worth it. those are all worked out before any decisions are made on— on getting what they’re gonna do, how they’re gonna do it, and when they’re gonna start. So then the community feels like they’re partners.

Joseph Crooms (14:35)
So on the— the on your brokerage end, as you— as a broker, how— and I— I can imagine this must be a— a— a balancing act because you don’t want to sorta use that, but how has this been an advantage to help you in your broker business?

Yolanda Bouchee (14:40)
Mm-hmm. Well, one reason, one way, you know, when I deal with— and I— I haven’t as much as I used to have individual investors in smaller projects, but I still do work with them. I— I have several I’m working with right now. I can give them better insight when they’re choosing between, you know, their three or four-unit buildings in various neighborhoods. What— what they need to look for, you know, not just the bottom-line dollar, but what’s going on there? How are things changing? Is there— is there some political moves underfoot? Or in Chicago, there’s an area that I work with quite a bit that has— has not been treated well for many years. Seems like now they’re actually getting real investment. And so that’s an area to— to— to look at, you know, how much How much— how many jobs are coming into that area? What kind of housing are they gonna need? Where is it? Where is it best located? So a lot of my— my clients not just doesn’t know just come to me for loans. They say, “Hey, can we sit down and talk about this? You know, what w— I’ve got three or four buildings I’m looking at and I’m not sure.” the— here’s the bottom line, which is they’re always good at that. You know, they’ve got their napkin decision-making. But how does that fit in?

Joseph Crooms (16:29)
So when you are bringing these investors to the table, how do you vet them and say this is good? Because yours is a total project. You know, you’re— you’re covering a— a vast and you’re passionate about it, you know, for the community itself. What are some questions that or some signs that say this is a good fit or bad fit?

Yolanda Bouchee (16:58)
Well, right now I’m working with a few large projects and— and I— I work nationally. So it’s not— it’s not like I’m, you know, on a drumbeat to Chicago with Chicago or anywhere in particular. So I do have to get to know the area, get to know the developer, but right now these larger projects need equity partners. And And they really need them to get started because then they’ll know what kind of debt they’re going to have to ask— deal with. So I— I have been, which is is sort of new for me in my business, helping them to vet equity partners, to find equity partners. And this is a— a rough economic climate for that. But so looking at that, I really need to look at again the environment of the site and discuss it with the— with that equity partner so that they understand this is not just about giving me money and this— you know, giving the developer money and this return is it needs to come on through, which it should. But it in that ass— and I talked to the developer about that— in order for it to get— come to a completion, you need to have enough money to be able to work with the— with the people in the area, and not in just giving things out, but in understanding what is needed, what are the issues, what are the concerns. We just opened the Obama Presidential Center here and, you know, it’s on the lakefront. There are always concerns with anything on the lakefront in Chicago. It’s always a mess and it takes years to get through. y— if you come— if you’re a developer from New York or somewhere, you just see it’s a lakefront property and that should do well and— and people want it and, you know, that might make sense. But if you don’t realize, particularly in Chicago, that that— that’s gonna be a fight depending on what you have. And— and Chicago has done very well with maintaining its— its that area of the city. you’re not gonna be able to— to make a sound decision. So I talk to the developer. I— I— I look at the equity partners and I only bring the ones to the table that make sense for the developer. Developers are, you know, get real excited, you know, “Do they have money? Let’s go.” But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna get to the end. Like I told you, that’s the thing, you know, you— when you do that, that doesn’t mean it’s gonna get to the end because the first sign of somebody questioning they— they don’t want to do it anymore.

Joseph Crooms (19:51)
What type of questions, Yolanda, would make them not want to do it? What— what— what would be said that throws a red flag up for them?

Yolanda Bouchee (19:57)
Are you— we— we have people that the— the city is buying for— you know, yeah, “Are you involved in any corruption? Are you involved in any backroom deals that is gonna get you more projects but not get this done?” You know, and— and of course nobody— nobody is— is— if they are doing that, they’re not gonna answer you clearly. But you know, those kinds of things come up a lot. Also, you’re making money out of this, but what— what are we making? And, “We don’t want another casino in our community. We don’t want that sort— this sort of thing in our community because we haven’t received anything from it. We’ve heard that, you know, when you have the lottery, we get breaks on taxes. When you have a casino, we get— schools get money,” and it doesn’t happen. So what are you gonna do different to make it happen?

Joseph Crooms (21:39)
So you’re bringing the real facts. So let me ask you this question. So what caught my attention was one year experience in all the three areas, and especially as an educator. But as— especially, it’s not easily in this climate right now. What’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly?

Yolanda Bouchee (21:52)
Yeah, I didn’t mention it, but yeah. Well, it has times, a lot of times, that it doesn’t run smoothly. But— but the key is that, you know, we— we everything comes from the top. So you have a national agenda, a federal government. And the last couple of— the last couple of presidents and their— their staffs have been— particularly Biden’s administration, that’s the word I was trying to think of, but particularly Biden’s administration— has been very pro— was very pro-community. They gave money that an unpre— unprecedented amount to help communities that were— had environmental justice issues be healthier and work better. And they started all these programs. And then a new administration comes in and they stifle it. these cities, who— most cities’ governments want to do well for their communities. They want their communities to be healthier. They want their communities to thrive. And you know, if money’s gonna go towards that, great, let’s do it, let’s set it up, let’s you know. But then that money is taken away and everyone’s looking at them. Everybody is saying, “Well, you said that.” That is where their money comes from, from the federal government. But what needs to happen is they’re gonna— it’s— it’s creativity has to come into the range. It— it has to be done in a different way. It can’t just be grant-fed because any time, as you— as we see, a pr— an administration can come in and take all of that away. you can get to the point where EPA cannot say environmental justice on their website, you know, all kinds of things like that. so helping cities and developers, as they work with cities, be more creative in how they put projects together, how they build communities. You know, we know you can get tax breaks for low-income housing and affordable housing, and it’s needed. It’s needed badly. But every project cannot be housing because then you put people with not enough resources— you’re putting more people in there to share what little resources you have. So, you know, you have to have more things that are a combination to give— to— to make this community ecosystem work. and so and help them on other levels, as we mentioned before, with the ALIGN program. So t— that’s the sort of thing that hope— you know, reason why I have three c— companies that work like that and hopefully work together. Because developers are there for their money and they’re— you know, so they wanna do well to— good, too, for the community, but they wanna profit, and of course that’s— makes sense. And cities have to guard the— the resources they have. So s— sitting down and having those creative conversations are really helpful.

Joseph Crooms (25:19)
Now every operator that I know has a moment when things just get real. And for you, I can see this all converging together. Something good and then it collapses. maybe a deal that just goes sideways or a time that you have to pivot fast. You mind sharing one of those moments with us?

Yolanda Bouchee (25:43)
Well, what generally happens, and I saw this more from a government perspective in certain communities and areas, particularly working with EPA, because EPA is there to protect the environment. So they go in and, you know, in brownfields or their Superfund sites, they go in to clean the contamination. And that’s their goal. Usually, particularly in Superfund sites— and I was also chief of community involvement with Superfund— they ha— are going in communities where half or more of the membership have cancer. they are going to communities that some company has, you know, dumped things, has, you know, has done things in their workforce that has caused problems because environmental laws weren’t in— in place until the ’70s. And they’re there to clean it up, but everybody feels that there is something against the government or something that the government is doing that has caused this. And so everything just, you know, they’re fighting something that’s— that’s there to help. And I get it because they’ve been hurt all this time. But it can— it can ruin everything, you know, it can ruin the site. also when I— I worked Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, I worked cleanup with that. The things I saw in community meetings about redevelopment and how— how hurt the community members were that they were in such peril to begin with because things weren’t built right. They weren’t done correctly. And now that gets thrown back in the people who are trying to fix its face. So I saw that a lot with EPA. With this, it— it can happen just mainly because of money in my projects now. You know, money is taken away when plans are made. When you’ve done the benefit negotiation and all of that and then the budget is cut or no more money is gonna go out, then what do you do? And then how do you do it? And that’s— it could lead to again your word not being met. So how do we find a way to s— stop that upfront, to follow through if something else doesn’t come in? And that’s very hard, particularly for a municipality to do because they do run a lot on— they do depend a lot on grants and other types of funding.

Joseph Crooms (28:48)
Thank you for sharing that, Yolanda. That’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about enough and— and honestly, it’s what separates the folks who are just dabblers from the ones who stay in the long game. So let me ask you this: what are you focused on solving or scaling next? And it may be all how you gonna, you know, lift all three of them up so they can be balanced. What’s your next real goal for you?

Yolanda Bouchee (29:14)
Well, I— I really want to— in with Revitalized Communities, I really want to have this ALIGN process integrated into developments. I really want cities to say when we develop— when we develop an area, when we put big projects in a area, we are going to ensure that the the community has benefits up front, not just any benefit, not coming there and saying, “We’re going to give you this,” but negotiated, discussed. I mean, with the ALIGN process, we start— our first thing we do is have one-on-one interviews with community members and really find out not just what this building means that they’re putting up, you know, even if it’s something they really want, like a store or something like that, which is great. But what makes this community good? What makes it not so good? What would make you want to be here for generations? What do the people here need to live better here? Now, can you answer all their dreams with this building? No. But what you can do is talk about it— it might just be safety mechanisms, more lighting, better streetscaping. It can go from that to you own— the community has a fund that owns 40% of this property. It could be a solar field that they own, that they benefit utilities, and then they get money to sell it back— sell that proper— energy back. It could be any of those things. We get all that information, we put it together, and we sit down with the city and say what’s feasible. And we try to do it as creatively as possible with the developer, with the city, and with information that I said and talked person to person with, and come up with— it might only be three things or two things, but it’s something that makes a difference. And— and on top of that is that they’re on the project committee. They’re part of voting on the project. Then you know that— that they’re going to be held accountable. So for that to be a standard in development, that would mean the world to me if all communities could be developed in that way.

Joseph Crooms (32:31)
Yeah, and so from talking to you, Yolanda, I realize it— you can’t fake— the relationships are everything in your space. Right before we— all right, before we wrap things up, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what is the best way to reach out to you? And you can share with all three, but I’m gonna ask you to d— to repeat, some people maybe gathering information as— as you explain it.

Yolanda Bouchee (33:03)
Well, I— I answer my email on all three. You better do Revitalized Communities or RC Funding because those are the ones I most directly work with. My email is Yolanda, Y-O-L-A-N-D-A, as it’s up there on the screen, at rc-funding.com ([email protected]). There’s a dash in there. My— but look at my website. You can also go in there and get a Calendly appointment. You can check out our programs. rc-funding.com is for— for the funding company. Revitalized Communities is [email protected], and that’s revitalized past tense, I guess, r-e-v-i-t-a-l-i-z-e-d—

Joseph Crooms (33:56)
So I got—

Yolanda Bouchee (34:03)
Hey, I gotta write it down for a second. It is Revitalized Communities plural: R-E-V-I-T-A-L-I-Z-E-D communities all together, C-O-M-M-U-N-I-T-I-E-S. So you can tell you should write RC Funding. It’s easier. You can write me about any of this at any of those addresses. I will answer and we can set up an appointment. But please take a look at the site. Revitalized Communities has its own site. I also have a LinkedIn page under my name that talks about all three companies, and RC Funding has its own site.

Joseph Crooms (34:48)
You wanna get the LinkedIn page? You can. You have to—

Yolanda Bouchee (34:50)
It’s— it’s Yolanda Bouchee, just as my name is, MBA. Educational. And just go in on the LinkedIn and you’ll find me. Just search.

Joseph Crooms (35:05)
Well listen, Yolanda, it was very educational for me. I love what you’ve done, which— how you take your nonprofit and your experience from EPA and how you’ve grafted into another aspect in education for the community and for the people. And I wanna thank you for that. I appreciate your story, your pers— you know, your— your perspective, but more your s— your— your philosophy, because I think your philosophy has guided you and the substance in you is coming out, and I really— I know you’re gonna be doing a lot of things. We need more people in spaces who are doing the right thing. Thanks again for being here. So what I would like to say, we’re going to take the— the videos, we’re going to edit them and we’re gonna get those to you in different formats so you can use, okay, that will happen for you. As for those of you tuning in, if— I don’t know, I was gonna say if you got value, I know you got some value from this conversation. Make sure you subscribe. We got some more comb— conversations between operators, such as Yolanda Bouchee. Did I say that correct?

Yolanda Bouchee (36:04)
Thank you. Yes, you did. Yeah, right.

Joseph Crooms (36:26)
who— who are building real businesses and— and— and branching off into other things that also connect to a business. We’ll see you on our next episode. Yolanda, say goodbye to everyone.

Yolanda Bouchee (36:39)
Goodbye, everyone.

Joseph Crooms (36:41)
Thank you for joining Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. Thank you. We’ll see you soon.