MB522: The Lies Investors Tell Themselves Before Losing Money in Real Estate - With Steeve Breton
Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing
Michael Blank
4.7 • 577 Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In this episode, Michael Blank sits down with seasoned investor and capital raiser Steeve Breton to unpack what it really takes to build—and protect—wealth in today’s multifamily market. With experience as a limited partner, general partner, and fund manager, Steeve brings a rare 360-degree perspective on investing. They dive into the realities of the past few challenging years, from interest rate shocks to overbuilt markets, and share hard-earned lessons on preserving capital, structuring deals, and adapting strategy in uncertain times. The conversation also explores opportunity zones, preferred equity, and how disciplined decision-making can be the difference between surviving and thriving on the path to financial freedom.
Key Takeaways
- A 360° Investor Perspective Is a Competitive Advantage
- Understanding deals as an LP, GP, and capital raiser equips you to make smarter investment decisions and communicate more effectively with investors.
- Market Cycles Expose Weak Assumptions
- Rising interest rates and oversupply have revealed the importance of conservative underwriting and stress-testing deals before investing.
- Preserving Capital Is More Important Than Chasing Returns
- Experienced investors prioritize not losing money—especially in uncertain markets—over aggressive growth strategies.
- Adaptability Is Critical in Tough Markets
- From pausing distributions to restructuring deals and securing new financing, flexibility is essential to navigating downturns.
- Preferred Equity and Opportunity Zones Offer Strategic Advantages
- These lesser-discussed tools can provide downside protection and tax benefits when used correctly.
- Strong Communication Builds Investor Trust
- Transparent, proactive communication during challenging times is key to maintaining long-term investor relationships.
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Resources
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Get the Book, Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing by Michael Blank
For full episode show notes visit: https://themichaelblank.com/podcasts/session522/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, deal makers, welcome to the show where it's all about financial freedom. Let's do this. |
| 0:11.5 | Today in the show, we have Steve Breton, and he's president of Velocity Capital-sponsored |
| 0:16.0 | investments in over 3,500 apartment units. And what's interesting and unique about, Steve, |
| 0:20.4 | is that he has |
| 0:21.7 | experienced both as an LP, as a GP, and then also essentially as a fund manager capital raiser. |
| 0:26.8 | And we talk about each aspect of that. For example, how does he engage with when he does a fund |
| 0:31.9 | managing or he raises for another? How does he engage with people? Also, how has he been faring |
| 0:36.7 | the last two or three years? How has he been |
| 0:38.8 | navigating that? And what is his outlook over the next several years? We talk about that. We also |
| 0:44.1 | talk about Opportunity Zones. You don't hear a lot about it, but they're super, super |
| 0:47.6 | interesting as well. And the need for Pref Equity and why he likes it, both as a sponsor and also |
| 0:53.5 | as an investor. |
| 0:55.0 | And then we just really just chit-chat around about how to not lose money, okay? |
| 0:59.5 | We probably spend a good amount of time of, you know, what are some of the lessons learned |
| 1:02.6 | from the last two or three years, and then what do we do to not repeat those mistakes moving forward? |
| 1:08.3 | And then what is our collective outlook for multifamily? |
| 1:10.6 | So that's all here in the show. |
| 1:11.8 | Let's get into it with Steve Breton. Steve, welcome to show today. Thanks, Michael. Pleasure to be here. You've raised a bunch of money done to a bunch of epic crap. So I want to hear back just a short story a little bit of how you got here and then we're going to get into it. Okay. So I was in IT, which I like half the people |
| 1:29.6 | in this business who started off at IT. And I was very bored. We had been bought by a larger |
| 1:35.5 | company and things were just in turmoil. And so I started looking at other ways to |
| 1:41.7 | diversify my income, get several streams of income. |
| 1:45.8 | And so I bought a duplex in my backyard, which was fine. |
... |
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