Epic Real Estate Investing - 5 American Cities Set to Collapse By 2026 (And 5 Rising Fast) | 1503

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

The episode provides a critical analysis of the current sociopolitical and economic issues plaguing America's largest cities, attributing significant blame to immigration and policy failures. Highlighting stark statistics and trends, Matt discusses the major challenges facing Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with a focus on poverty, crime, budget deficits, and population decline. The narrative then shifts to identify five up-and-coming cities (Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, Columbus, Tampa, and Nashville) where potential investment opportunities exist amidst the urban decline. The episode aims to forewarn listeners about the consequences of unchecked policies while suggesting areas ripe for economic growth. BUT BEFORE THAT, hear the breaking news about the latest housing warning! Useful links: https://getliner.com/search/s/2269348/t/86138916?msg-entry-type=main https://www.notion.so/The-3-Property-Escape-Plan-220315cb4ef9809e9febe64c81d51f71 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Hey, strap in. It's time for the epic real estate investing show. We'll be your guides as we navigate the housing market, the landscape of creative financing strategies, and everything you need to swap that office chair for a beach chair. If you're looking for some one-on-one help, meet us at rei-aise.com. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Let's go. So everyone's screaming buyers' market, right? More homes, more power. Your dream deal is finally here. But here's the dirty truth nobody wants you to know. You're still getting screwed, and I'll prove it with numbers so shocking, you'll never trust another real estate headline again. What I'm about to show you will make you question everything you've been told about this market.

And if you're thinking about buying, this could save you from the biggest financial mistake of your life. Look at this circus. Media agents, lenders, they're all singing the same song. buyer's market, buyers market, but here's what's really happening. Right now there are 490,041 more sellers than buyers. That's the biggest imbalance on record since 2013. Basic economics says prices should be crashing, right? So why aren't they? Because what we're witnessing isn't a market. It's a coordinated deception. And I'm about to pull back the curtain on exactly how they're doing it. See, when you have nearly half a million more sellers than buyers, prices should collapse. That's not opinion, that's math.

But instead of massive price drops, we're seeing barely anything. Home price appreciation is only expected to slow to 2% this year. This isn't an accident. This is coordination. And here's how each player is keeping you trapped. First, the media. They're pushing this buyer's market story because, it gets clicks. But look at what they're not telling you. Yes, national inventory is up 32% from last

year. Sounds great, right? But here's the buried truth. 32 major metro areas. The places people actually want to live still have 50% less inventory than before the pandemic. Meanwhile, that inventory increase? It's mostly in markets nobody wants. The new build sprawl, the overpriced condos in dying towns. And then there's this. This, 42% of industry experts still expect 2025 to remain a seller's market, not a buyer's market. But you won't see that headline, will you? Next up, your friendly neighborhood real estate agent. They're telling you, it's your time, while the best deals never even hit the market.

Here's their dirty secret. 11% of all home sales happen off market. That's over 1 in 10 homes sold in private before you ever get a chance to see them. Who controls those deals? Your agent. Who gets first access? Cash buyers and investors. Who's left fighting over the scraps on Zillow? You. So while you're refreshing Redfin every hour, the real inventory is being traded like a private club. Your agent knows about these deals. The cash buyers know about them. But somehow, you're always the last to know. Then we have the lenders. Rates are coming down, they scream. Get pre-approved now.

But look at reality. Rates dropped from 7% to 6.94%. Wow, big deal. Meanwhile, 18.5% of banks just reported tightening lending standards for commercial loans. That's triple the rate from last quarter. And those special programs they're advertising? Teaser rates that spike after year one, buy downs that cost you more over time? They're not helping you. They're hooking you with bait and switch tactic. The game is simple. Make it look easier while making it actually harder. Classic coordination. And then there's the builders. Huge incentives, free upgrades, rate buy downs. But here's what they don't tell you. Construction costs hit $428,215 per home in 2024, the highest ever. That's 64.4% of the total home price. So those discounts?

You're still paying more than the house is worth. Plus, they force you to use their lender, their title company, their everything. And somehow your discount disappears in junk fees and forced upgrades. Those free appliances, you already paid for them. Twice. The discounted price? It's the real price with the fake markup removed. They're not giving you deals.

They're giving you the illusion of deals while extracting maximum profit. Finally, the biggest deception of all. Wall Street left the housing market, they say. Institutional buyers pulled back 90%. Sure, the headline reads, institutional buyers stepped back. But here's what they're not telling you. Cash buyers still represent 32.6% of all home purchases. That's nearly one in three homes sold to cash. Who do you think those cash buyers really are? Your neighbor in their piggy bank? Wall Street didn't leave.

They got smarter. Now they're buying through LLCs, shell companies, and private networks. While you're stuck qualifying for loans and competing on the MLS, they're writing cash offers on off-market properties. The institutional money is still there. It's just invisible now. So let me ask you this. If there are 490,000 41 more sellers than buyers, the biggest imbalance ever, why are prices expected to appreciate by 2%? Because every single player I just showed you benefits from keeping prices elevated. The media gets clicks from buyers' market stories that keep you engaged. Agents get commissions from any sale at any price. Lenders profit from loans regardless of the rate. Builders move inventory at inflated construction costs. And the cash buyers,

they're cherry-picking the best deals while you fight over what's left. This isn't a market failure. It's a coordinated extraction. And you are the target. Look, I've been in real estate for 20-plus years, and I've seen this playbook before. In 2008, they told us subprime is contained. In 2020, they said this time is different. Now they're saying buyers market. But here's what I learned. The game is rigged, but it's not unwinnable. You just have to stop playing by their rules.

So how do you win in a rigged game? You don't play their game. While everyone's fighting over MLS listings, here's where the real buyer's market exists. Strategy number one, off-market deals. Remember that 11% of sales that happen off-market. That's your gold mine. Direct mail, driving for dollars, networking with wholesalers.

This is where motivated sellers actually live. No competition, no bidding wars, no agent commissions eating into your deal. Strategy number two, seller financing. Forget the banks and their tightening standards. Find sellers who own their homes free and clear, and there are millions of them. Offer them steady monthly income instead of a lump sum. No banks, no qualification games, no junk fees. Strategy number three, creative structures.

lease options, subject to deals, partnerships with other investors. When you stop thinking like a retail buyer and start thinking like an investor, the whole game changes, the whole world opens up to you. You're no longer competing with cash buyers. You're becoming one. So while everyone else is getting screwed by the coordinated deception, you can be profiting from it. The chaos they create, the confusion they spread, that's where the real opportunities hide.

A rising tide lifts all boats. And the tide will continue to rise. Wait until I show you in a couple of days what inflation is actually doing, what the GDP is actually doing, and the actual impact of the tariffs. Subscribe so you don't miss it. But if you ever wondered, okay, cool, but how do I actually find these off-market deals that'll entertain these creative financing strategies? I've got you covered.

No worries, because I'm doing something sort of weird right now. I actually tested 50 different lead generation methods, spent over $100,000 of my own money. and I'm showing you the exact three that made me rich, step by step, nothing held back. Heads up, though, these aren't magic bullets. They take actual work, and honestly, most people will watch it and they'll do nothing. But if you're tired of wondering where the deals are, if you're ready to stop making excuses and start making your phone ring with motivated sellers, check it out. Hope is not a financial strategy.

Let's get back to work. I was born in California in 1969 and fundamentally the state is a slum. It's a Latin American country and immigration did that. Right now, as you're watching this, America's biggest cities are hemorrhaging people so fast it's breaking government budgets. I'm about to show you five cities where the math has stopped working and why Tucker Carlson says what's happening is being deliberately hidden from you. He put it bluntly.

Immigration is what made California into a slum. And there's kind of no way around that. It's a statement that's controversial. But when you see what's actually happening in LA and beyond, you'll see why it's making headlines and why most people are afraid to even say it out loud. But while these places collapse, five other cities are quietly becoming gold mines for anyone smart enough to see what's coming. Stay with me until the end. And look, I know you've heard the doom and gloom before.

But this isn't politics. This is pure math. And the numbers I'm about to show you will change how you think about. where to live, where to invest, and where to run from. Let's start with the worst and work our way down to the shocking truth. Number five, Philadelphia. And I'm starting here because what's happening in Philly is a preview of what could easily be coming everywhere else. I mean, picture this. Nearly three out of 10 kids in Philadelphia live in poverty. Not struggling, actual poverty. The opioid crisis has turned entire neighborhoods into open-air drug markets.

Kensington Avenue looks like a zington. zombie apocalypse movie, and it's been that way for years. But what should terrify you, car thefts jumped 70% in one year. That's not a crime wave. That's societal breakdown. And get this, even though the population went up slightly, it's only because of international arrivals. Over 15,000 Americans said screw this and left. When your own citizens are fleeing faster than you can import new ones, you're not growing, you're replacing. Number four, New York City. They're about to get a very rude awakening. NYC is staring down a $10 billion deficit by 2008. According to New York's Governor David Patterson, the state is literally on the brink.

It is facing an estimated $10 billion deficit as entitlement spending sores and revenue falls. $10 billion. You know what that means? Massive tax hikes are coming, and they're coming fast. But the insane part, they're spending $4 billion a year just housing new arrivals while $146,000 Americans fled the metro area last year. Think about that math. You're taxing the people who are leaving to pay for the people who are arriving.

And if you're middle class in New York, you're getting crushed from both ends. Property taxes that are higher for working families than Manhattan luxury owners. And a cost of living that's pushing everyone who isn't rich or poor straight out of the city. Number three, Chicago. The Windy City is blowing away its own future. 573 murders in 2024. That's still the highest of eight. any major city in America. But the stat that should make your blood run cold, if you're black in

Chicago, your murder rate is 20 times higher than if you're white. Red, Chicago police say that they've cleared nearly half the homicides this year, but that still leaves hundreds of families to grieve the loss of their loved ones without any kind of justice. 20 times. Not 20 percent. 20 times. The police force is 1,600 officers short and burning through $293 million in overtime just to keep the lights on. Car thefts just hit a 23-year high, and carjackings are still double what they were before the pandemic. But the real killer? A billion-dollar budget gap and the highest taxes in the nation. 347,000 people have fled since 2020. And the only reason that number isn't higher is because new immigrants are filling the empty apartments. This is what a death spiral looks like in real time.

Number two, San Francisco, the city where billionaires step over homeless people on their way to work. Get ready for this number. 28.4% commercial office vacancy rate. More than one and four office buildings are sitting empty. Since 2018, 156 corporate headquarters have said, Goodbye San Francisco. If commercial vacancy hits 30%, you're on the edge of a property freefall.

Mark that down. The city has a $14.6 billion annual budget, billion with a B, and they can't keep human feces off the sidewalks. They're facing an $800 million deficit while spending more per homeless person than most Americans make in a year. 8,323 people counted as homeless this year, the highest per capita rate in the country. And just like everywhere else, 45,000 residents have left since 2019,

replaced by international arrivals who don't know what they're walking into yet. Number one, Los Angeles, the American Dream's final resting place. 75,312 homeless people in L.A. County. I didn't misspeak there either. That's more than the entire population of most American cities living in tents, cars, and under bridges. This is what Tucker was talking about, how a combination of mass immigration, unchecked policy failures, and runaway costs turned California's crown jewel into what he calls a slum. It's not about blaming people.

It's about seeing what happens when a system gets stretched past its limits. And nobody in power is willing to admit it. L.A. is the car theft capital of America, 72,000 vehicles stolen last year. That's 197 cars stolen every single day. And 106 corporate headquarters have packed up and left since 2018, taking their jobs and tax revenue with their money. The city just cut 1,700 jobs to balance a billion-dollar deficit while the rich hide-and-gated communities in the middle-class evaporates.

What you're left with is a playground for the wealthy built on the backs of people who can barely survive. Now, Tucker Carlson said something that cuts deeper than politics. We should measure the health of a country by the condition of its cities. And by that measure, our country is collapsing. Think about what he's really saying. Walk through Midtown Manhattan, Penn Station, or 6th Avenue at 49th Street. Then imagine going to Tokyo or Dubai.

The difference will make you angry, angry that we've accepted this as normal. And Tucker puts it bluntly, cleanliness is next to godliness. Your city is a reflection of your city. your self-respect, your patriotism. When you allow graffiti, filth, and chaos to become normal, you're announcing to the world that you've given up on yourself. In mass immigration, it's not about immigration causing crime, it's about a system stretched past its breaking point while we ignore the obvious.

As Tucker says, it's not about the Constitution, it's about litter. So which city shocked you the most? Or did I miss one? When a civilization stops caring about the basics, everything else falls apart. Ten years ago, these were all America's crown jewels. Today, they're cautionary tales. If you're thinking about investing in any of these places, you're not investing. You're gambling, and the house always wins.

But while everyone's focused on the collapse, smart money is quietly moving to five cities that are about to explode. And if you position yourself right, you could ride the biggest wealth transfer in American history. So where is this real opportunity hiding? Dallas, Fort Worth for one. Over 100 corporate headquarters have relocated here since 2018. But by 2032, median income buyers will be priced out of 98% of homes. Get in now or get left out. Then Charlotte, 32% financial job growth since 2016.

But homicide spiked 36% last year. High reward, but you better know which neighborhoods to avoid. Columbus. Intel's dropping $28 billion on new factories. This is the new Silicon Valley. but they need 50,000 affordable housing units they don't have. Supply and demand crisis equals opportunity. And Tampa.

Still growing, but net migration just dropped 70% year over year. Still growing, but it has slowed down. The party's ending, but there's still time to get to the bar. And then Nashville, the fastest gentrifying city in America. But only 9% of neighborhoods are affordable for families making $100,000. The music city is pricing out the musicians. Look, if this feels overwhelming, you're not alone. Most smart people never build real wealth because they're missing the psychological keys that

unlock everything else. If you want to win this game, you can't just outthink the news cycle. You have to outthink your own blind spots. I'll see you soon. And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too? There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind, please share it with them and ask them to click the

subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great care of them. God loves you and so do I. Health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio. Living the dream. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home boy, we got the cash flow. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first, there, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.