MB519: How to Build a Real Estate Private Equity Firm and Raise Capital Across Borders — With August Biniaz
Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing
Michael Blank
4.7 • 577 Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Michael sits down with August Biniaz, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of CPI Capital, to discuss why he believes multifamily is approaching a major recovery—and how investors can position themselves now. August shares his perspective on the current market cycle, the challenges of raising foreign capital into U.S. deals, and why he remains bullish on multifamily despite recent headwinds.
The conversation also explores why U.S. real estate remains so attractive compared to Canada, how to structure cross-border syndications, and why investors must stay disciplined and continue underwriting deals even in a difficult market.
Key Takeaways
- August believes multifamily fundamentals remain strong because new construction has slowed dramatically while population growth continues.
- Today’s biggest challenge is the “bid-ask spread”—sellers still want 2022 pricing while buyers need lower prices to make deals work.
- Finding great deals is still a numbers game: the investors closing deals are underwriting far more properties than everyone else.
- U.S. multifamily remains more attractive than Canadian real estate because of stronger cash flow, fewer regulations, and better long-term yields.
- Cross-border investing requires the right legal and tax structure, especially when bringing Canadian capital into U.S. syndications.
- Multifamily is still one of the best industries for entrepreneurs because even the largest operators control only a tiny share of the market.
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Resources
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For full episode show notes visit: https://themichaelblank.com/podcasts/session519/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, dealmakers, welcome to the show where it's all about financial freedom with real estate. Let's do this. |
| 0:11.0 | Today show of August Binyas, he's a co-founder and chief investment offer at CPI Capital, and he, |
| 0:17.9 | him and his company have involved in closing more than $225 million in |
| 0:22.3 | multifamily and build to rent assets. |
| 0:24.7 | He's also the host of the real estate investing demystified podcast. |
| 0:27.9 | And he's completed the Harvard Business School's private equity and venture capital, |
| 0:31.5 | executive program. |
| 0:33.2 | And we had a really interesting discussion around scaling with multifamily, also navigating |
| 0:38.8 | what's been going on, how to take advantage of that and his outlook on the market here over |
| 0:44.7 | the next 12 plus months, the impact of the crisis with Iran as well, because he's also from |
| 0:49.8 | Iran itself. |
| 0:51.1 | So we had an interesting conversation around that as well. And, yeah, and really what to do |
| 0:56.1 | in this market. And if this is an opportunity, or is it maybe worth waiting a little bit more? |
| 1:00.2 | All this in the show, let's get right into it with August to Bignas. August, welcome to the show today. |
| 1:05.9 | Thanks for having me, Michael. A long time fan. I've been watching your journey for many, many years. |
| 1:16.9 | You've been at this for a long time as a master of underwriting and many other trades. So I'm glad to be here with you. |
| 1:23.2 | That's fantastic. Tell us a little about your firm here and kind of what you're doing right now. And then we'll kind of take it from there a little bit. |
| 1:28.3 | Yeah, of course, I'm the chief investment officer and one of the co-founders of CPI Capital. |
| 1:39.6 | CPA Capital is a real estate private equity firm focused on investing in U.S. real estate, primarily multifamily in Texas and Florida, multifamily value ad. |
| 1:46.9 | We also have another vertical, which is built to rent, where we build, purpose-build rental communities, |
| 1:56.6 | and these deals are syndicated, allowing passive investors to participate both on the acquisition of existing multifamily, |
| 2:01.0 | utilizing value at strategy, and then development, ground on development, |
... |
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