What happens when you build a real estate fortune… and then lose approximately $50 MILLION?
Welcome back to another episode of Inspired To Invest! This week, Rod Khleif is here for Episode 161
For Rod Khleif, the answer was to rebuild—but this time with some very different rules.
In this episode of Inspired To Invest, I’m joined by longtime real estate investor, entrepreneur, best-selling author, mentor and podcast host Rod Khleif to unpack more than four decades of lessons about real estate investing, multifamily properties, mindset, resilience and building sustainable wealth.
Rod’s story began when his family immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands when he was six.
Money was tight. His mother babysat children to help make ends meet, and Rod remembers drinking powdered milk and wearing second-hand clothing.
Then his mother bought a house.
When she later told 17-year-old Rod she’d made $20,000 while she slept because the property appreciated, something clicked.
Real estate became his path forward.
Rod went on to own thousands of properties and build tremendous wealth. In 2006 alone, he says his net worth increased by approximately $17 million.
Then came 2008.
Rod ultimately lost approximately $50 million.
In this candid conversation, he explains WHY his portfolio collapsed despite having relatively low leverage—and why his apartment properties actually performed considerably better than his single-family portfolio.
We get into:
Why Rod ultimately chose multifamily over single-family real estate
How he lost approximately $50 million during the financial crisis
Why he believes mindset and psychology drive the majority of success
The investment decisions he would never repeat today
Why owning 800 houses created enormous operational challenges
The dangers of cross-collateralizing real estate assets
Why cash reserves and capitalization matter more than many investors realize
How dramatically operating expenses have changed in multifamily
Why adjustable-rate bridge debt created problems for investors as interest rates climbed
Why Rod believes real estate investing is a “team sport”
Why education and proximity to successful investors can shorten your learning curve
Why learning to raise capital can open opportunities far beyond real estate
How distressed multifamily properties may be creating opportunities for today’s investors
Rod also shares some incredible examples of what’s happening in the market—including a 300-unit apartment property that sold for $43 million in 2021 before eventually going back to the bank and returning to market at a dramatically lower valuation.
His message is particularly relevant for investors navigating today’s uncertainty:
Crisis and opportunity can exist at exactly the same time.
The goal isn’t simply to accumulate properties.
It’s to understand debt, operations, risk, people and your own psychology well enough to build something capable of surviving when the market inevitably changes.
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