Blaze Your Own Trail - How to Unlock Wealth in Commercial Real Estate with Cherif Medawar

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

In this episode, Cherif Medawar shares his inspiring journey from hotel management in Switzerland and the US to becoming a successful real estate investor and educator. Discover his proven strategies for building wealth through commercial real estate, networking, and innovative deal-making techniques. Topics: Cherif Medawar's journey from hospitality to real estate The importance of networking and relationship building Strategies for increasing property value and financing deals The DCBA formula for success in real estate Innovative deal-making techniques and deal structuring  Sound bites "He was very wealthy and very honest" "The deal in Martinique changed my life" "Take calculated risks and act quickly" Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Cherif Medawar 00:58 Early Life and Education in Egypt 02:47 Transition to the United States and Hotel Management 04:29 Lessons from the Hospitality Industry 07:26 Cultural Shift: From Switzerland to UCLA 12:03 Working with Edmond Beasari: The Beginning 12:14 Growth and Learning Over Eight Years 16:26 A Life-Changing Deal in Martinique 22:19 Mentorship and the Path to Independence 23:20 The Journey of Self-Education 25:02 Transitioning to Real Estate Success 29:23 The Power of Commercial Real Estate 30:39 Tips for Aspiring Real Estate Investors 43:28 Building a Real Estate Fund and Legacy Connect with Cherif: https://www.cherifmedawar.com/     Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join here: https://byotgroupcoaching.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host. And I've got a very special guest today. His name is Sharif Medawar. And I'm going to have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today. Hey, thank you, Jordan. So my name is Sharif Medawar.

And I focus mainly on two things. One is an education company that I've created 25 years ago. I continue to train people on investing in residential and commercial real estate. mainly commercial. And I have my own investment portfolio, including real estate funds and my own portfolio. Awesome. Awesome. And I'm excited to get into your story and journey. And so my favorite part of the show is we take a rewind. And so where were you born and raised? And we're going to go back to elementary, middle high school years. And then what kind of kid were you? Were you into sports? Were you more into academics? I'd love some context there. Oh, thank you. Well, I was born in

in Cairo, Egypt, and I'm Catholic Egyptians. I went to Jesuit school, which is a Catholic school, intense Catholic school, with priests from around the world, and it was all-boy school. We played a lot of sports. I did gymnastics, boxing, soccer. I was very much into sports, loved it. Had an unbelievable amount of energy, thank God. I was not a great student because I like to play a lot and if the subject matter was not interesting for me, I just studied to pass an exam. But I found so many other fascinating, hitting projects and subjects. And so I would just read a lot on the side. I'd actually hide the Reader's Digest book inside my like geography book or something because it was more interesting to read these articles.

And then I went to a hotel school in Switzerland and I had to take a secondary degree. So I took finance, obviously Switzerland study finance. The combination was the best thing that happened, so sometimes there are coincidences in life. But I just loved hotel business. My father owned the hotel in Cairo and always had fun stories about things happening while he did import, export and other things. He was in so much. Then my dad wanted us to move to the United States because all his family was in Seattle and Los Angeles. And he said, look, there is no future here in Egypt for you. You know, you should consider the U.S. and obviously it, was a minute decision.

He said, okay. Finished Europe. It was an intensive class. It's finished very fast. The four-year degree in 27 months. Then went to UCLA in Los Angeles and started working at a large hotel, Century Plaza Hotel. And there I was working around the clock to learn and be exposed.

I wanted to become a general manager, but big company like Western Hotel. And the Century Plaza Hotel specifically was rated one of the most perfect hotels in the world. It's in Century City. and the presidents of the United States used to stay there. I remember Ronald Reagan would have to come in. It was called the Western White House. So it was fascinating experience because I dealt with a lot of wealthy people

and saw so much movie stars and all that. And then a hotel guest that was very wealthy in the name of Edmond Becerri told me, I mean, we had chatted a few times and he came one day, he said, listen, I'm so impressed with how hard you work, always with a smile and energy. Why don't you come and work for me? And I said, to do what?

He said, I have real estate around the world. I want you to come and speak on my behalf. I'll tell you what to say. I'll tell you what to do because I want to spend more time in South France, say I bought a yacht. And I got scared. I didn't get excited. I said, well, I don't know anything about residential real estate, let alone international commercial real estate. And he said, listen, he held me from my shoulder.

He said, Sharif, you're at the right place at the right time. Just say yes. So having faith in God and myself and in others, I said, okay, yes, let's do it. The rest is history. I worked for him eight years and it launched me to another level completely. Wow. So let's talk a little bit about, you know, going to school to be in the hotel business. So what would, I would assume that customer experience, customer service, you know,

things like that probably had to be some of the top subjects because if you have the highest level of service, then you can command the highest prices and you're going to have the highest level of people there. So I'd love just to get a sense for the audience's sake into what was the actual content that you consumed. And was it actually to your benefit getting it done that quickly and then going to LA, whole different culture, whole different world, like literally, literally, right? So I'd love your insights there. Well, it's a great question because hospitality business teaches anyone humility. If you are in the service industry and somebody's in the restaurant, they drop the napkin,

you run and you pick it up and you change the napkin. They drop it again, you change it and pick it up. Three, four, five times you have no attitude, no comment about it. You take care of the customer. So that not only helped me gain humility as I grew in life, But it also made me think from the perspective of the other person. Is the other person happy? Is the other person satisfied?

Are they good with this? Can we do better? And it's not just service, but it's service and product and an entire attitude of how you set a climate. As a matter of fact, when I left the world of hotel business and started doing investing, I started having plans. You usually have a plan and you want to execute it. But what connects the plan to the execution is how you create a climate for the execution. And that I learned from the hospitality business.

So it was a great experience. The teachers in the hotel school is called Ecole Otelier de Gleon. It's 30 kilometers from Geneva, Switzerland. We had to wake up early, all shaved, dressed nice, sit in our seats right before the class starts. They were more like military style. And then when you finish the full day of school, which is a lot of hands-on stuff, cooking and this, this. I wasn't good at cooking at all. But then at the end of the day, you would go change and then go to the hotel affiliated with the school to start practicing. So you're at the

front desk or you're greeting people when they come in or you're in the dining room. So I realize that you have to have the theory and the practice. But what was missing that I didn't realize early on is you can have so much knowledge and take so much action. But unless you have the third element, you'll never make it big. And the third element was the networking. It's who you know, who knows you, and how you build this long-term relationship by exchanging value in abundance. What can I do to increase my value to attract people so I can exchange value with them and then grow faster for them, for me, and the greater good. So it was a good experience to understand, I got to learn before I do, otherwise I'm going to be wobbly when I'm doing things. It's not going to be right.

I'm not going to know exactly how it should be done. Gotta have the knowledge, but it got to take action and just feeds on itself. And then you attract people because they see you getting results. And so the experience was amazing. That's awesome. And so talk a little bit about the shift

from the cultural side of coming from Switzerland and then being at UCLA, which studies different, the food's different, the people are different, the language is different. I mean, everything literally is kind of like a 360. 60 degree difference. So what was that experience like? And then did that excite you? Did that, you know, did that make you nervous having to come with all those shifts and changes? Love to find out.

So I was taking the classes in UCLA because they recommended certain schools to continue in the business world. Said, well, study business now. So you understand not just the hospitality, but the real estate itself that houses the hospitality business. And they said, if you know both, you'll move up to the corporate structure of Hilton, Marriott, Holiday Ins, etc. So I went search for the best hotels, and I realized Century Plaza Hotel was one of the best. I was looking at Marriott as well. But when I interviewed at the Century Plaza Hotel, I knew one of the workers there who was taking classes with me in UCLA, so he kind of recommended me.

Again, a network, a connection. He said, come over. At this time, I'll tell Alan from Human Resources that I'm recommending you, and he likes my work a lot and he knows me. So I got in, so there was a little push there. And I remember in the interview, they said, well, you studied in a French language. Do you know the name of the vegetables in English?

Yes, my English was good enough, but not at the level it is today. So they said, well, how about we can start you in housekeeping and then we'll see if you're going to be able to work as a supervisor. First, you clean rooms, then a supervisor, then a management trainee, and see how you're doing there before we throw you in as a management trainee right away. So I believed there was a saying in the hotel school, the harder you work, the luckier you will become. So I totally believed in this. And this is exactly

how I did it. I worked so hard that the food and beverage director of food and beverage noticed me. And he said, why don't you come to the food and beverage? You're already moving up in the rooms division and housekeeping. And I see you spending extra time at the front desk. Why don't you come to? So I said, okay, can I come in as a food and beverage management trainee? And he said, yes, of course. So we talked to human resources and I moved up. And when I got to the front of the house, which is in food and beverage, that's when I started meeting the wealthy guests.

And anytime I had a chance to chat with them late at night when the restaurant was open till two in the morning and stuff, if I had the chance, I'd ask them, so what do you do? What did you do to get so wealthy or to make it happen? And they never hesitated to tell me and to talk openly. And to my surprise, a lot of them made their money in real estate, which I believed in because my cousins had made a lot of money in real estate in Seattle. And my dad always told me that the end goal would be real estate. So I continued to work hard.

And that's how the billionaire at Mont Besari noticed me. It was him seeing that I was working around the clock. Anytime he would come in, I'm there. The staff reacted well to me. I was moving up. So he said, come and work for me. I can see you adjusting to Europe, adjusting here, your background is like mine. He was of Lebanese origin and lived in France.

Very, very wealthy. I mean, to tell you how wealthy he was, he had Pininfarina, the designer of the Italian factories of Ferrari, shipped. He had him go from the Italian factories to Rolls-Royce in England to design a special Rolls-Royce for him called the Camargue Rolls-Royce. Then had it approved for California and had it to do. shipped in the hotel in the parking, so any time he comes, he can use it. So he was very wealthy and very intelligent, very honest guy. It was a pleasure working with him. I lost you somewhere there. Yeah, sorry about that. I think something happened and it switched off, so I'd go ahead and you can finish closing out. I don't know if it continued the phrase, but I said he was very intelligent. He was

very honest and really an amazing brain. Actually, Harvard Business School called him the man with two brains. Wow, that's huge. Yeah, it's huge to have, you know, somebody see something in you and then, you know, want to invest in you even though you weren't in the moment, you were like, wait a second, here. I don't know if I want to do this, right? I don't know if I can do this, but I know that you're grateful today that you took the risk and it's really paid off. And so let's talk about, you know, that eight years, you know, that you work with them for for eight years, you know, go from, you know, your first 30 days and then like your last. week there. What was the difference in your knowledge, your network, your skills, and how much do you feel like you grew during that time? With him, you mean? When I was with him in the eight years? Oh, yeah. Well, when I arrived, I was wondering, well, I'm in the early 20s. How would anybody, well, he asked me to go and be based in the resort called Olympia Resort and Spy in Oconomow, Wisconsin, which is 400-acre resort. In the winter, we had downhill skiing, cross-country skiing. We had in the summer golf in the same area, 400 rooms.

We had the timeshare where Marriott hotels came in the early 80s to look at how we ran our time share. We were like so ahead of the game. It used to be a princess resort before. So when I arrived, I was wondering, how would anybody listen to me? I'm in my early 20s. I'm 22 or something like this or 21. And it's like, and he said, they will know because when they will see you with me,

they will see that I call you to do things because he was always traveling. He didn't, I mean, he enjoyed his life. 80% of his time was fun. Traveling, we're going to the Côte d'Azer in France and going to places and stuff. And he said, they will know. But you'll have to work very hard to wrap your head around all this, what's going on in the resorts because we had so many divisions. I mean, we had like seven restaurants and stuff. It was huge.

And a spa. We were a Longcombe spa, which is from Paris. Longcombe. There were only two spas in the whole United States, one in the Bonaventure in Fort Lauderdale and one in the resort. in Olympia Resort. I just learned to really get organized and I became very visual. So I would take a flip chart

and I would write the divisions and all the key people and then I had to create not an organization chart or command chart, what I call it communication chart. Who communicates to whom? And then so I had my like seven people under me

for the separate divisions and then under them people. And so I don't have to walk around and a housekeeper comes to tell me, they don't give me Tuesday off, I need Tuesday off. Yes, I'm the top guy, but, you know, she needs to talk to her supervisor, who talks to the manager,

who talks to the executive housekeeper, etc. But I would listen to them and say, let me make sure the manager knows, go back and talk to her, I will tell her, and then I would talk to them, say, hey, you need to close that communication channel right there and make sure they're happy and that it makes sense for the business, et cetera.

So I learned how to manage a large organization, through the proper, what I call fast flow communication system. So the results got better. The customer surveys and responses got higher and higher, and we did very well with that. And I started getting exposed to more things with him like I wanted to call Merrill Lynch and trade the stock, do this and that. In the beginning, I was lost in the terminology of the trading of the securities market. and then I had to do transactions for him.

He would say, I wanted to go to Paris and talk to these people and tell him this. I spoke French. I speak French. I speak Arabic, French and English, because I'm half Egyptian, I'm French. But he did nothing in Arabic. He did French and English. And so I would go do some days on his behalf, but sometimes I would be lost in the terminology. So I realized that to learn better and execute faster, I should not have any misunderstood word.

that data was so important that it made me control and master so much of what I had to do faster. A couple years into it, I started suggesting things to him. What if we do this trade? What if we do this deal this way instead of that way? And that's when my connection with him got to a higher level and he started sending me to do so many more deals, et cetera. And I was working around the clock. Really, I had no interest in anything else. I didn't go to nightclubs.

I didn't do anything crazy. I just focused on getting results and doing my most. Now, to answer the rest of your question, which is my start, my evolution, and the end, the last deal I did with him, can I tell you the deal and how it changed my life? So he had called me to go do a deal in Martinique. It's a French island in the Caribbean.

He said, this guy wants to sell a lot in front of the ocean, and I'm going to round the numbers. amount he wanted was a million dollars. This back in the 80s. So he said, I want you to get it under option for six months, and as soon as you get the approval, you call me, I'll tell you what to do next. So I fly to Martinique.

Now in my 20s, you know, I don't have time to think, like I'm too young, will they take me seriously? No, I'm representing the billionaire at Mumbai, sorry, and at that time, you could count billionaires on one hand. I land, I go to see the gentleman, As I understand, you want to sell this land. I represent Edmond Bissari. He's a wealthy financier from, he's in New York right now, and if you'd like, I'd give you a cashier

check for $100,000 to have the right to buy the land. It's an option. The right to buy the land for six months. And you want the million? This is 100,000 non-refundable. Just give us six months. And the seller looks at me and he says, well, first of all, why would I wait six months? And I said, because that 100,000 will stay with you any way you put it.

And if we don't buy, you keep it. If we buy, we'll pay you the million on top of it. He said, now you're talking. Maybe that's not true. How can I verify? Well, call Chase Manhattan and New York. At that time, he called Chase. Chase said, yes, we know Sheriff Metawar.

Yes, this is good. You can deposit it in any bank, and it will be cleared within 48. So put the deal under contract. I called in Mon Bezori, and he said, I wanted to go to the government. people go to this office and ask them for tax increment financing, ask them for the TIF, which is tax increment financing. I didn't know what it is. Or the tax credit, what's maximum tax credit on what project they will allow us to have the maximum tax credit. I didn't know what tax credits were. I didn't know what TIF is. I had to call Leventhal and Horwith in Chicago,

our account and say, hey, this is Sharif Medawar. Oh, Mr. Bixarie's account, yes, what can we do for you? Explain to me, what is this? What does this mean? What does that mean? So I had to define the concept and the words to understand the business model I'm trying to do. When I went, offered us 40%, the government there offered us 40% tax credit on the cost of the land and the build out. That means if we build a building for, I don't know, $20 million and we paid for the land $1 million, that will give us on $21 million, a certificate of tax credit, which is literally 20% back, we can sell it to the local banks there and get the money. That's how powerful it is. Why? Because

they wanted to hotel built Oceanfront would bring people in, would bring tax revenue, bring employee people, et cetera. And by the way, till now, we're in 2026 and beyond. The Caribbean still has amazing incentives. As a matter of fact, I am based in Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, because it has a lot of tax benefits. I have two hotel projects had 40% tax credit. So in Old San Juan. So what I did with him back in the 80s that people say, well, that was in the 80s.

He can do that today. You can do it today. Today. When I put it under contract and I went to talk to the government, they gave me 40% tax credit approved. I called him. I said, we did it. I have it.

He said, now I want you to go talk to a holiday inn, Marriott hotels, Hilton, and see who will pay you the most for the land. I said, well, how much do you want? He said, let's see if you can get me $6 million. Now, mind you, we put 100,000 only to control the land. The conversation with the government 48 hours later, they approved it. They were so anxious to move them forward. Government development team, that are all attorneys for the government trying to create

economic improvement. So I flew to Utah. I talked to the Marriott people. I had in a meeting, and I'm presenting to them. And they made me the offer at $6 million right there and then within like an hour of researching and making calls. And I'm sitting in their office in Utah. So I had the guts and the presence of mine to say, no, no, $6 million.

I can go right now. I had a beeper, you know, at the time I said, I'm getting beeped by another company, and I don't want to say their name. And they said, okay, give us a moment. They walk out, they come back, they say $10 million. We'll buy the land with the tax, credit, and all this from you. $10 million is the best we can do, take it or leave it. Remember going out there, going down, calling him in Europe.

He was in France. And I said, it's a $10 million deal. He said, okay, then finish it. I'm like, oh my God, what did I do next? And we had to do what's called double closing. I mean, literally Marriott paid the $10 million. I gave this guy a million, which is 100,000 more than he had expected because he kept 100,000.

And Edmond Bessari walked to him with $9.9 million in profit. Now, his residence was Monaco, which is close to France. You know, the principality of Monaco's tax-free stuff. He took residence there. So he cleared $9.9 million. And mind you, at the time, I had asked for. cash advance and credit cards to a point where I had like 120,000 of accessible cash if I go and do cash advance. So flying back and we were supposed to meet in Wisconsin, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin,

where the resort was, I thought to myself, I could have actually done this deal. I mean, like, I'm 28. That's why I've been like eight years with him. I could have made 9.9. It's time for me to leave. So when we landed, when I landed, I got to the resort. And I remember he was sitting in the restaurant. It was late at night. He was by himself just eating some vegetables. And I walked over. Mr. Bissari, how are you?

I sat down. And he said, good job. Good job. What do you want to eat? So I got a free dinner out of it. But the thing is, I learned. And then I told him, Mr. Bissari, you know, I think I'm ready to branch out. I've been with you 80 years.

And I think I learned so much now. I think I'm ready to move out. Is that okay? How can we time this, that I can continue by myself? And remember, he leaned back. looked at me, said, Sharif, it took you eight years. I said, what do you mean? He said, you see, previously you had labeled yourself as a management trainee and a committed person for Western hotels, and you could have gotten stuck there for life being a hotelier and a hotel man for the rest of

your life. Then you came to work for me and you put in your mind identity. I work for Edmond Bessarie. I'm his right-hand man and I'll do this and this. And for eight years, you could have continued the rest of your life doing this. But you're a free man. And now you're ready to to leave because you have learned and you can do on your own. So go represent yourself. And all I ask you to do is help 10 other people. That moment, I'll never forget because I decided not only will I go do my own deals and continue to grow, but I will teach others.

And I created an education company a few years later and it's been up and running for 25 years. And we have over a thousand video success stories. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, and what a great mentor to have to, again, see you, right? You were visible to him. You saw your work ethic, saw how you did things. And so you were a great representative of yourself to put yourself in that position.

And then that led to eight great years and lots of education. And then now you're helping thousands of other people do it. So it's pretty cool that you... May I... Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, may I say, I mean, he wasn't exactly a coach or a mentor. but he was so demanding and his standards were so high, that just to get there, I had to figure out the way to self-teach myself,

you know, to figure it out. And I created a formula. I call it the DCBA, which I use actually in my trainings, which is first I define the nomenclatures. The nomenclatures are the set of word definitions that come with something. Like if I'm a doctor, there is some Latin words I have to learn about x-rays and about this and the bones and this this. If I'm in real estate, I want to define all the terms that come with real estate, escrow, title company, estoppel, an option, the lease, the option and buy back, like all these things.

And then all of a sudden, the B is for the business model and the A is for the action you'll take that will give you the shortcut to success. Because without understanding the words, you can get to the concept. You can understand the business model. What's the one, two, three, what sequence do I need to use and how can I apply? So I had to figure it out because when I made a mistake, he was living. Like he would be just like, I can't even explain it in words. But it made me dig deep into myself and I became a good mentor and a good guide in my education company. Yeah, I love it.

That's great. And so talk a little bit about, you know, that education company being born and talk a little bit about some of the success that, you know, your students have had. Well, cool. So when I left him, he did one. great thing for me is he called Hilton hotels and he said, I made Mombie. Sorry. He'd known some top people at Hilton and he said, I'm going to give you a gift. I'm going to give you my right-hand man who not only understand the hotel business and ran my resort here in Wisconsin and made a great profit in the last eight years, but he is also a performer who understands real estate.

So when you guys have management contracts, you're going to lose the contracts or you have owners that are difficult, Sharif, would be the guy who will marry the hotel operations that Hilton hotels need with their management contract to what the owners would need in terms of the asset and the real estate. So they took me to open the Delmar Hilton in 1989. I opened it on August, I think 18, 1989, right across the street from the Delmar racetrack, North County, San Diego. So I was based there and I went to do my first deal, which was a duplex, and I bought it at a good price, put it into condos, separated the deeds and sold them separately. I went from $1,500 in the bank, my entire net worth, because I didn't get paid a lot with it,

Monbi, sorry, I got paid very little, but everything was paid for. So it was a great way for him to keep me with him with benefits, but not really salary. But then when I left, all I had was $1,500. I mean, when I went to apply for the loan to buy the duplex, the lady said to me, how are you going to apply for a duplex that's $300,000 in Solana Beach when you got $1,500 in the bank account? And I said, look, I have a salary. with Hilton and I have a bonus. She said, we can calculate a bonus. This is not something we count on.

And you just got the job with Hilton. You just knew. And I said, is there any special programs in the area? And she said, well, we have a 5% down. If you're actually buying in this zip code and this zip code, because it's a local bank here, it was called Home Fed Bank, and you can just put 5% down.

And because it's a duplex, the unit next door, we can add the income of it, which was 900 a month at the time, we can add it to your salary, so the property will help you qualify. But you need to come up with 5% down. Well, 5% down on 300,000 was only 15,000. But I had 1,500, and I had 15,000. And I needed to keep a couple thousand on the side. But the head was called the Nina loan, no income, no asset verification loan.

So I literally got cash advance on my good old credit cards. boom, got a cashier check, deposed it, went to her, filled out some form, and we got the deal, split into two townhouses, a duplex, two separate deeds, sold them, ended up with $156,000 in the bank account less than four months later. I was doing millions of dollars deals for him,

and it was just like smooth sailing, having fun with it, energy, enthusiasm. When I came to do a little $300,000 deal for myself, I was hyperventilating over a $15,000 deposit. It just tells you how the concept of how you perceive money. Other people's money, you have certain energy about it, your own money has a completely different energy. And it was kind of a revelation for me that I need to step out of the problem, get over

myself and my fear, and then keep conquering the fear because you never feel 100% confident. But it just expands your sphere of influence over yourself first, over your own thoughts, emotions, so you can take action. It's almost like a spiritual world over the physical universe. And then I continued growing. Then people started asking me in the hotel business, how are you driving this car? How did you get this other property?

What are you doing? And I said, well, I'm going to start teaching. So I started talking to people one-on-one for relating my thoughts. They ask questions. I answered the questions. And then I started holding events. And then it grew very big, very quickly. And then through the years,

I ended up setting up my real estate fund in 2009. and then after that, you know, grew into becoming the largest owner of historic properties in old San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is where the cruise ships arrive. At one point, I had 41 buildings there that are mixed use, historic buildings with retail downstairs, residential upstairs, and then I sold 15 and now I have like, most of my portfolio almost paid off. It's been a great journey. You talk about the journey, but when you reside the journey, you almost forget the bad event. You almost forget the challenges, the fear, the non, no sleeping nights. And till now, it's never easy. There is still challenges.

Somebody makes an offer like this. Then he plays games. Somebody's trying to do fraud. Somebody's constantly have to be alert, have a great team, and keep watching for yourself and your growth. The minute you stop growing mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, socially, and spiritually is the minute you start collapsing. Yeah.

agree. So one of the things that I would love for you talk about is, you know, there's listeners of all walks of life here. We've got aspiring entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, we've got students, we've got corporates, we've got athletes, authors. There's just a plethora of listeners. And so if any of them were out there and they said, you know what, I think real estate is something I might want to either get into from like a business standpoint or maybe just as an investor, would you share maybe two or three tips to get people started? Sure. So I've found that so many people get into residential and then they get stuck there. Why do I say I get stuck there? Because residential is based on comparable sales. Like if you bought

the property at 400,000 and the market is 450, you're not going to sell it more than 450. You can even maybe 460 if you improved it so nicely, maybe 470 if you made it larger or something. But it's like very, very much comparable sales. What's sold for how much and why should I pay you more type of thing? And the issue with it is it's really limited. Like everybody's trying to find a desperate seller.

I said, how can I, it's like a bloody ocean. I said, how can I find a blue ocean where there's less competition? Well, commercial real estate is a little bit different because in residential you have to find a good deal to sell it at market. In commercial, I can pay. full market value. I've even overpaid on some properties because they didn't want to sell,

but I added so much value that the property went through the roof. And I'm talking millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than it should be. Why? Because it's based on income, not comparable sales, based on what this property produces in revenue, N-O-I, net operating income, and there is a value based on that. It's a cap rate, capitalization rate. So what I did was the best strategy. I mean, I can give you many strategies because we even teach 12 different type of commercial real estate. We help people set up real estate funds. I mean, we have it the next level you can ever imagine. But the most important thing is we have it for people to start, because that's the hardest part. And what we have created here in my company, in the training

company, is how can you get a property under contract, increase its value before you buy it or you don't buy it. And I'll tell you the exact strategy that changed my life. I went from 10 million net worth to 50 million net worth and three years doing this. And people wonder, oh, is it true? Come on. Look at my portfolio. C-R-E-P-R-D-R.com. Commercial readestate, Puerto Rico.com. And you be the judge. There's a hundred million dollar portfolio right there. The debt is less than 20 million, by the way, on that portfolio. So I'm not trying to brag or impress people. I'm trying to impress upon people. You can start and do this. So the way, The way I did it was, I look at a busy street.

So you have a busy street, two cars going in a two-directional traffic, the loan single-tenant building, like an old, I don't know, subway, jack-in-the-box or whatever, vacant. I called the broker. This is not a distressed sale. It's through a broker. This is something you can drive in your backyard and see it. Ask the broker, how much do you want for this? Let's say the broker says, well, used to be occupied by jack-in-the-box and they just left.

There is a drive-through. Okay, but how much do you want? Well, we want $670,000. It's sitting vacant, owner wants to sell, so you take it as is and we can move on. Well, I flinch a little bit. We negotiate. Let's say we put it under contract at $600,000. I showed them proof of fund.

I'm serious. This is what we're going to do. 600,000 under contract, a vacant single tenant building. I start smiling and dialing, and I contact national tenants. There is over 4,500 national tenants that business model is to grow. You have automotive. You have QSR, quick service restaurants. You have clinics and so much out there.

So let's say I get subway to say, yeah, we're interested in that building. Thank you for sending a video for the phone call and the email you sent. Let's get on a call. I get on a call with them. And they say, how much do you want? Let's say, it usually averages like $8,300 a month. But let's say $5,000 a month. They say, we can pay you only $5,000 a month.

The cool thing is that type of tenant that is going to lease that $600,000 building. They're going to lease it, let's say, for 10 years, 15 years. These are tenants, national tenant, that give me a corporate guarantee, that means the lease is guaranteed by the corporation. They give a triple net. That means they pay the lease at $5,000 a month,

which is $60,000 a year. Plus, on top of it, they pay the property tax, property insurance, property maintenance. And there is escalation, 3% per year. We discuss the letter of intent. Sometimes they will ask me for something like, well, you know, to come in, We just need two months free rent and we need $50,000 tenant improvement.

We're going to send somebody to verify the AC units, the refrigeration units, whatever. So a couple days later, they have somebody from the retail division that shows up from another store or something. And then they verify and they say, okay, well, we need 100,000. Let's even exercise you. We need 100,000 tenant improvement. So I say, okay, we sign and now I have in my hand a contract to buy the property for six thousand vacant. And I have a letter of intent from a national tenant, publicly traded company that's going to pay 60,000 a year. What do you think this property value will become?

It's not going to stay at 600,000 like a vacant building. It's actually going to become $1 million, because people will pay a million to get 6% guaranteed return for 10 to 15 years with escalation and they can get easily loans against it, et cetera. So I instantly have a deal that increase in value 400,000. I will kick in 100, so still have 300,000 upside. I literally go to the bank and I say, here is a property I have under contract. Here is the national tenant that is interested. They signed right here, letter of intent. If you're underwriting department, we want to verify with them, here are the people you contact. Now the bank is interested in giving me a loan. Now, it used to be that I could get literally maybe with 5% down or no money down. I could get these deals. But since

Since 2009, they still say now 20 to 30% down payment. So if I put 30% down on 600,000, that's 200,000, 180 would be closed. So I put 200,000 down. I got a $400,000 loan. The tenant comes in, the property becomes worth a million. And I actually put 200,000 down and 100,000 tenant improvement. So I have a 300,000 increase in value. I can go back to the bank.

I say, here is my down payment, and I gave them $100,000 to the tenant. So now can you refinance and cash me out that $300? Yeah, it's worth a million. You will give you the initial loan for $400,000. You put $100,000, and $100,000 was the tenant improvement. We'll tell you what, that $300,000 equity were good with it. We actually will refinance and give you the whole $700,000 out.

Now, that property on the $5,000 a month, and I'm rounding down the rent, would probably give me a cash flow of about 14 to 1,500. It depends on the interest rate and some other terms with the tenant, but about 1,500 a month. But I increased my net worth by $300,000 and all my money's out. I have infinite rate of returns. There's no cash on cash. There is no internal rate of return. There is infinite rate of returns on endless streams of income. And that is what I call economic immortality. And that's how I built a portfolio of almost 100 million. million dollars today after selling 15 buildings through the years and paying off the other

buildings free and clear to get credit line. So when I discovered this and I kept doing it over and over and over, my net worth went like crazy. And then I said, I should share this with my students. So I started telling students. And the students came back and said, okay, well, the broker, when I called, the broker said they want proof of fund. There is no pre-qualification or pre-approval for commerce. And then I didn't know how many tenants I should call, which tenants I should call.

know what would be the ideal property. So I created in my education company a formal training to take individuals who have as little as $5,000. And I say, I'm going to train you, an ideal property. Okay. There are 16 criteria we're looking for. What to tell the broker. I'll give you a script. You're going to use my proof of fund. I have at least two to two and a half million always sitting in cash. You show it to the actual broker. Say, I'm serious. I work with real estate guru Sharif Matawar, real estate fund, and here, and here is the proof of fund. They put their name and or my company. You see, and now there is a letter of intent to purchase, and we have proof of fund,

so the brokers can take them seriously. I give them the national tenant and tell them exactly how to prepare a video, and they send it to me, and I approve it. Then they have the property under contract, they have a video made, and a little email, and they start smiling on the, and dialing on the tenant list that I gave them. all they need is one tenant to call them back, to call them back. And we have 45 days due diligence and 15 days to close. That's very fast for single tenant buildings.

Because most our competitors are like franchisees that need 90 days and another month for approval of loans and whatever. So we're like three times faster than anybody out there. And we get the properties. And that property, to use the same example, if a student of mine does the joint venture agreements called JV partnership, in their market because I'm not in Kansas, I'm not in Miami, I'm not in all over the place, but I can train three, four people per city. And we have done it for now eight years. Successfully, people do the first deal and then the second they do on their own. But they put it under contract for $600,000 with $5,000 earnest money deposit refundable

for 45 days. They show my proof of fund that we would buy it all cash. They start smiling and dialing and when one tenant communicates back, usually by email says, can we get on a call? to discuss the letter of intent to lease. They forward it to me, and we get on a Zoom call. Like we're doing right now, imagine there is a tenant they're talking, and we discuss with them. I do the talking. I say, well, we'll give you 100,000 this,

or we'll give you 50,000 there, we'll give you two months free rent. I make it impossible for them to say no. Why? Because they want location, their business model is based on growing. Subway, we lease to the national company, and they sub-lease to their franchisees. What do I care?

I just want the national company with the corporate guarantee, the triple net, and the escalation. So what happens is when a student and I get on the call and we lock in the deal, I close all cash and I pay them through the escrow. On that upside from the contract price 600 to the value becoming a million is 400,000. We give them $40,000 assignment fee. They could do this from home, literally phone calls, smiling and dialing, communicating directly with me.

I am the one who does the training. I'm the one guiding them through. And if we sign them up on that 400,000 upside, it doesn't matter how much I give tenant improvement. That is a contract price to the value multiplier. $400,000 difference when we signed them for 15 years, which has been happening lately since inflation was crazy a few years ago, 15 year we sign them up, they get 25% of the upside.

They get $100,000. Now, people may think like, oh, my God, why doesn't he do this with brokers? I tried to do it with brokers. Brokers are not interested in calling and smiling and dialing. They want to list the properties. They want to put an advertisement of their name to get more listings. So I even wrote a book called Blue Ocean Opportunities in Commercialist.

I have no capacity. Nobody even teaches this. Nobody wants to do it. Nobody knows how to do it except the few students we train. We have over a thousand video success stories online. I have a lot of on YouTube. You could see. We have people that made over $200,000 a transaction.

the recent one, $81,000 from Mark, this guy did an assignment, because they assigned the contract to me. It's their name and or, Sheriff. If matter what, they assign it to me, they're under no obligation to assign it to me. They can actually go get a hard money loan and then refinance with the bank. Because remember, the lease is corporate guarantee.

So even if a person has bad credit, even the person is bankrupt, they're using my proof of fund. And actually, when the loan comes, is secured by the tenant's corporate guarantee. It's so unbelievably powerful. We're not dealing with strip malls or shopping mall, dealing single tenant buildings.

That is one of many things we do. Of course, when they do the first deal, the second deal, they have the experience and the money, and they still have me to guide them through it, so they do the second deal for themselves. So then they no longer deal with us in that city, so we go and find another person to take over. Sorry, I talk so much.

I get excited, and I want to explain the whole thing. You're amazing to let me finish my thing. past. Yeah, no, I appreciate you sharing that. I think it's helpful context. And I know there's going to be a lot of people interested in getting more information on how they can do this, you know, whether that's on the side or whether this is something that they want to add to their arsenal overall. So I appreciate you sharing that. So where is the best place people can go to get more info about the program? So they can go to C-M-R-E-I.com. It's right here on the screen. if people are looking at the screen.

If not, is C, like Sharif, Medawar, R-E-I, real estate investing. So, Sharif, Metawar, Real Estate Investing. People can also go to YouTube and plug my name, Cherie-M-A-R-L-E-R-L-E-R-L-E-R-E-R-E-R-E-R. And last name, Medawar, M-E-D-A-W-A-R. I'm on social media quite actively. I have a great company that helps us with social media. My vice president has been with me over 23 years, Ashley Jones.

They can email her directly, even. Ashley at C-M-R-E-I-D-com. It's A-S-H-L-E-E at C-M-R-E-I.com. So, yeah, I'm always willing to discuss that with people. We've had people do a couple deals, and then they say, wait a minute, I can actually put $200,000 in the first deal from cash advance on credit cards.

Do you teach us how to increase our credit lines? We include that we teach people how to increase their credit line in no time to like $400,000. Without any gimmicks or all this, It's actually a very methodical thing that you can do. I did that before I did it for friends, students in the past. We teach people that.

Also, once they do, let's say the first deal, they can come to us and we set them up with the real estate fund where they can raise money from investors, put the 200,000 of investors money cash out their 200, go do a second deal, go do a third deal, go to a fourth deal. So the 1,500 positive cash flow coming from each property can pay the investors. I have a structure which is debt fund. It gives them all the upside. The fund manager doesn't share the upside, pays good cash flow. Extremely powerful, it builds a legacy.

I can tell you if I had to do my life over again, what I would do differently is I would have started real estate funds way, way earlier than I did. My first one was 2009. People telling me I was a pioneer on all this. Man, if I actually knew about real estate funds earlier, I started at least 1999, imagine I would have,

I can take somebody who has a plan for 15 years of their life, make it happen in three years with the real estate funds. So they reach out and we're happy to expand with people. Yeah, absolutely. No, I appreciate it. I appreciate you coming on, sharing your story, your journey, some very helpful tips and insights. And I know that people are going to get a lot of value.

So any parting words as we're wrapping up? I think just don't think about the fear as much because once you gain the knowledge, you want to take action. Why? Because your courage increases. It's calculated risk. All good investing starts with the assessment of risk. In the strategy, I just shared with you when you put your $5,000 in escrow as earnest money deposit, and you start smiling and dialing for 40 days, 44 days. If none of the, let's take the worst case scenario, none of the tenants you called on calls you back.

You just cancel the contract. That's by law you have the right. They'll refund you to $5,000 or whatever you put as earnest money, So you either make a huge upside or no downside. That's an asymmetric relationship that doesn't exist in many ways of investing today. So that's what sets me apart is the education fed into my business and my business fed into the education because it's always sharing openly with the greatest degree of what's good for everybody.

The community, the tenants, the workers, the students that I have, my company and my partners love it appreciate you appreciate your time today folks make sure to go connect with Sharif on YouTube make sure to check out the website www.cmr.cmr eI dot com Sharif thank you so much for coming on the Blazorongt podcast. Thank you Jordan my pleasure