June 16, 2025 • 34 mins
The year is 53 BC. In a Parthian tent, molten gold burns down the throat of Rome's richest man. Marcus Crassus - worth $2+ billion in today's money - dies choking on the very metal that made him famous.
But how did a man who lost everything in Rome's civil wars become the ancient world's greatest real estate mogul? And what can his strategies teach modern investors about building generational wealth?
In this episode, I dive deep into Crassus's playbook:
- How he turned political chaos into real estate gold during Sulla's proscriptions
- The legendary fire brigade business model that built his empire
- Why he focused on cash flow over appreciation (sound familiar?)
- The fatal mistake that destroyed everything he'd built
You'll learn timeless principles that still work today: buying from motivated sellers, vertical integration, patient capital, and why staying in your lane matters more than chasing headlines.
This isn't just ancient history - it's a masterclass in real estate investing from the man who owned 1/3 of Rome.
Perfect for real estate investors, entrepreneurs, and anyone who believes that understanding the past is the key to building the future.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Picture this.
The year is 53 BC.
Deep in the deserts ofMesopotamia, Roman legions lie
scattered and broken across thesand.
20,000 of Rome's finest soldiersare dead.
Their golden eagles, the sacredstandards of the legions, are
gone, captured as trophies byParthian horsemen.
(00:23):
And in a Parthian tent, therichest man in the Roman Empire
is about to die in the mostfitting way imaginable.
Marcus Licinius Crassus, worthover$2 billion in today's money,
sits bound before his captors.
The man who spent his lifeaccumulating gold, who built
Rome's greatest real estatefortune through calculated
(00:45):
greed, is about to discover whatgold really feels like.
The Parthian king orders moltengold to be poured down Crassus'
throat.
As the liquid metal burnsthrough his body, legend says
the king mocked him.
Here, satisfy your thirst forgold.
(01:06):
It was the perfect ending to animperfect life.
The man who turned every crisisinto profit, who built an empire
by exploiting others' disasters,finally met a disaster he
couldn't buy his way out of.
But here's what's fascinating.
Crassus died because of greed,yes, but not the kind you'd
think.
(01:26):
He didn't die because he lovedmoney.
He died because he wantedsomething money could not buy
him, military glory.
The one thing that could matchCaesar's conquests and Pompey's
fame.
The irony is perfect.
Rome's greatest real estateinvestor, a man who understood
(01:47):
better than anyone that wealthcomes from patient capital,
strategic positioning, andsteady cash flow, threw it all
away chasing headlines in adesert.
Today, we're going to examinehow Marcus Crassus built the
ancient world's greatestproperty portfolio, what his
methods teach us about modernreal estate investing, and more
(02:09):
importantly, we're going tolearn from his fatal mistake,
why the principles that made himrich are more relevant today
than ever.
Because the truth is, every realestate investor today is playing
Crassus' game of one form oranother.
The question is, are we learningfrom his brilliance or are we
repeating his mistakes?
This is the Timeless InvestorShow.
(02:32):
I'm Ari Van Gemeren, your host,student of history, and real
estate fund manager.
Let's dive into this incrediblestory.
I'm really excited to share it,and I think you guys are going
to find it fascinating.
So let's start with Rome.
(03:09):
In 115 BC, when Crassus wasborn, you've got to understand
what you're looking at here.
And that's the history.
Always have to understand why weare where we are today based on
the past.
The same is with looking at oldhistory, like where do they come
from?
Rome at the time was a city of 1million people, the New York
(03:30):
City of the ancient world.
And most of these people areliving in literal death traps.
They're called insulae.
apartment buildings, six, sevenstories high, built as cheaply
as humanly possible, no buildingcodes, no fire departments, no
insurance.
These things burned downconstantly.
And when they burned, peopledied, lots of people.
(03:53):
It's the perfect storm for whatI call disaster capitalism.
Now, Marcus Crassus is born intothis world, but he's not living
in the insulae.
Now, he's born into privilege.
His father, Publius LiciniusCrassus was consul.
Consul is like, think governor,senator, and Supreme Court
justice all rolled into the one.
(04:15):
The family was wealthy,respected, connected.
Crassus grew up expecting toinherit power and money.
And then in 87 BC, everythingchanged.
Here's what happened.
Rome is in the middle of anabsolutely brutal civil war.
It's Gaius Marius versus LuciusCornelius Sulla.
(04:36):
These two generals are fightingfor control of the entire Roman
world.
And every family, every senator,every wealthy Roman has to pick
a side.
The Crassus family picks Sulla,which is a huge mistake for them
at the time.
Marius wins.
He takes control of Rome, andthen the purges begin.
Picture this.
(04:56):
Crassus' father and youngerbrother are hunted down in the
streets by Marius' supporters.
They either commit suicide toavoid capture, or they're
murdered outright.
Either way, their heads end upon spikes in the Roman Forum as
a warning to anyone elsethinking about opposing the new
regime.
All of their family wealth isconfiscated.
(05:16):
Every property, everyinvestment, every Cistercius.
Gone.
Crassus goes from riches to ragsovernight, and he's now a marked
man with a price on his head.
So what does one do in thissituation?
Well, he does what most of uswould do.
He runs.
He flees to Spain, where hisfather had connections as the
former governor, and he spendsthe next three years in hiding.
(05:39):
Here's the thing, and this iswhere you start to see the
future billionaire prodigalemerge.
Cassius Crassus, isn't justsitting around feeling sorry for
himself.
He's studying, he's learning,he's figuring out how political
chaos creates real estateopportunities.
And in Spain, he recruits 2,500men from his father's old
clients.
(06:00):
He uses this small army toextort money from Spanish
cities.
He forces them to pay for hisprotection.
And what's he learning?
He learns that when governmentsare unstable, when there's
violence in the streets, whenpeople are scared, That's when
property goes for cheap.
That's when you can findmotivated sellers.
Now, it sounds weird to put itin terms, but it's the truth,
(06:20):
right?
And the Roman Republic at thistime was going through an
incredibly tumultuous period.
This was an opportunity indisguise.
Political instability equalsopportunity, something to keep
in mind.
So then in 84 BC, Marius diessuddenly.
And Crassus sees his chance.
Sulla, who survived, is making acomeback.
(06:41):
He's building an army to retakeRome.
And Crassus decides, again, tobet everything on Sulla this
time.
He sails from Spain to joinSulla's forces.
He helps him win the civil warand retake Rome.
And now comes the time forrevenge.
Sulla doesn't want to defeat hisenemies.
He wants to destroy them.
(07:02):
So he creates something calledprescription lists.
Think of it like, Legalizedmurder with a real estate twist.
Sola posts the name of 1,600enemies who can be killed on
sight.
Anyone who kills them gets areward.
But here's the kicker.
They also get to buy theirproperty at public auction.
And these properties are sellingfor$0.85 below market value.
(07:26):
So imagine buying Manhattan realestate for$0.15 on the dollar.
That is what we are talkingabout.
Rome was the Manhattan of itsage.
is the only one, and it would befor hundreds of years.
So Crassus becomes, as a rewardfor his support of Sulla, the
biggest buyer at these bloodauctions.
And he's not just buying randomproperties either.
(07:47):
He's strategic about it.
He focuses on prime Roman realestate in the best
neighborhoods.
Because remember, again, a lotof the people being killed are
the elite who opposed So theirproperties are now for sale at
15 cents on the dollar in thefinest possible neighborhoods.
So he starts with those.
He buys insula that he canrebuild and rent back out.
(08:08):
Agricultural land outside thecity.
Commercial properties alongmajor trade routes.
It's like...
buying foreclosed propertiesafter 2008, but with murder
involved.
And within a few years, Crassushas completely rebuilt his
family fortune 10 times over.
And he's learned that the mostimportant lesson of life is
this.
(08:28):
Crises create opportunities.
And we've seen that time andagain in history.
And it's fitting that our firstgreat example of this would come
from my favorite era of history,the Roman Republic.
So now that Crassus has moneyagain, he needs to figure out
how he wants to grow it.
And this is where he shows someevil genius tendencies.
(08:52):
Remember, Rome burns constantly.
These insular tinderboxes, firesspread through wooden tenements
like wildfire.
Everybody is cooking insidethese no-code, no-restriction
buildings that are made of wood.
And think of a rickety structurewith oil cook fires.
It is a...
It is a certainty that thebuildings are going to light on
(09:14):
fire at some point.
And there is no fire department.
So if your building catches onfire, you are literally on your
own.
So Crassus, and this is a crazyanecdote, totally morally
corrupt and wrong.
And I'm telling this storybefore some people have
expressed, oh, you know, it'sreally bad.
You're glamorizing.
(09:35):
I'm not glamorizing anything,just to be clear.
But this is an era of Romanhistory in which Slaves were
routinely crucified.
Gladiators killed each other inthe arena every day.
People were fed to wild animalsin the arena.
And the Roman Republic wasmercilessly stamping out its
opponents, conquering countries,and sending new slaves back.
(09:57):
So we can't judge the actions ofelites in this time.
It was an amoral period of time.
So Crassus creates...
the first private firedepartment.
He gets 500 trained slaves.
He gets sophisticated equipment,rapid response.
(10:17):
They can get to any fire in Romewithin minutes.
And here's the thing, the twist,the story really interesting is
they don't put out the firesimmediately.
Here's how it works.
You are a hardworking Romanmerchant and you have acquired a
nice property for yourself.
And now your building is onfire.
You're horrified.
What are you going to do?
Your life savings is going up insmoke.
(10:39):
Suddenly, the fire departmentarrives.
It's Crassus' fire department.
And they come, but they're notthere to help you.
He doesn't send them away.
He says, first, let me make youan offer.
Sell me this property right nowwhile it's burning for a
fraction of what it's worth.
Then, only then, will I step in.
(11:00):
So you have two choices.
You can take this lowball offer,or you can watch everything you
own burn to the ground.
So what are you going to do?
Most people sell because...
Otherwise, they're looking at anexpensive rebuild and having to
put this thing back up.
And only after Crassus owns theproperty does he order his fire
brigade to put out the flames.
It's brilliant, it's ruthless,and it's incredibly profitable.
(11:21):
Let me give you what I think isa modern equivalent of this.
Imagine you own a home that'sfacing foreclosure.
The bank is about to seize it.
You're desperate.
Then someone shows up and says,I'll buy your house right now
cash for 50 cents on the dollar,or you can lose it to the bank
for nothing.
What are you going to do?
(11:42):
You're probably going to takethe 50 cents.
And that's exactly what Crassuswas doing, except with literal
fire instead of financial fire.
And here's the thing that makesit even more evil genius-esque.
After he buys these burnt outproperties, he does rebuild
them.
but not as single-family homes,as Insuli, multifamily apartment
buildings that generate steadycash flow.
(12:02):
So he was optimizing.
He was creating this verticallyintegrated operation where he
owns the fire department.
He owns the construction crews.
Remember, he's got 500 trainedslaves who can do everything
from fighting fires to layingbricks.
He owns the building.
He owns the rental income.
It's the ultimate real estatebusiness model, and the numbers
are staggering.
By the time Crassus is at hispeak, he owns over 7,000 1,000
(12:27):
properties across Rome.
7,000.
That's more properties than mostmodern REITs.
Big boy REITs.
We're not talking the littleones, the big REITs.
It's more properties than eventhey own.
And these insulae are generatingsteady rent from tens of
thousands of tenants.
Poor Romans, middle-classRomans, even wealthy Romans who
can't afford their own villas.
(12:47):
Everyone needs a place to live,and Crassus owns a huge chunk of
Rome.
the rental market.
But here's what's really smartabout what Crassus is doing.
He's not just speculating onproperty values.
He's not flipping homes andhoping someone will pay more.
He's building cashflow.
Cashflow is the story.
Equity is just a story.
(13:07):
Cashflow is the thing thatprotects you.
And these in Sly are producingrent every month, year after
year.
Steady, predictable income thatdoesn't depend on market
sentiment, or interest rates, orwhether Caesar conquers Gaul or
not.
And I guarantee you, giveneverything we've talked about
thus far, they didn't have anyof the owner-resident
(13:27):
protections that exist today.
I bet you when someone doesn'tpay rent in this era, they are
out on the street the same day.
It's a little easier to manage.
Again, perhaps morally ambiguousor wrong, but it is the truth.
And it's the same principle thatevery smart real estate investor
uses today.
You do want to buy distressedassets for motivated sellers.
(13:49):
You want to add value torenovation or better management.
You want to hold for cash flow.
You want to scale throughsystems.
You want to do the strategy he'sgone, which is imagine you can
buy a single family home in themiddle of Manhattan, knock it
down and put a huge apartmentbuilding in its place.
That is a form of zoningarbitrage, if you will, right?
And so in the opportunity to dothis as Rome keeps burning, the
(14:12):
motivated sellers keep coming.
Rome keeps having politicalcrises.
Rome keeps producing people whoneed to sell their property
quickly.
Every crisis is anotheropportunity for Crassus to
expand his portfolio.
Think about this in today'sterms.
When COVID hit us or wheninterest rates spiked, when the
economy gets uncertain, whathappens?
(14:33):
Distressed sellers, do come outof the woodwork.
People who had to sell, didn'twant to sell, but circumstances
forced their hand.
Now, during COVID, obviously,multifamily assets performed
actually fairly well.
But I bet you, and I wasn't inthis space at the time, I bet
you that that opportunity was tobuy restaurant space, for
example.
Many restaurants went out ofbusiness.
(14:54):
We knew people in our hometownback in the day when COVID hit
that owned restaurant space.
And I mean, they were likestruggling for what to do.
There are opportunities incrises, and that's when the
smart money moves in.
That's when you find the dealsthat can and will create
generational wealth.
So Crassus built the ancientworld's greatest real estate
fortune by understanding thissimple truth.
(15:17):
Someone else's crisis is youropportunity.
Now, he didn't stop with realestate.
Once he got this cash flowmachine running, he started
diversifying into other incomestreams.
He owns silver mines in Spain.
Remember, he still hasconditions there from his exile.
These mines are generatingsteady income from precious
metals, the ultimate hedgeagainst currency debasement.
(15:38):
He's in the slave tradingbusiness.
And again, before any of you getuncomfortable, understand that
this is literally how the Romaneconomy worked.
There is an argument in economictheory for the Roman Empire and
Republic that the entire purposeof the Roman Empire was to
expand in order to add moreslaves to its economy.
It was a slave, slavery-driveneconomy.
(16:00):
It was the premise, the purpose,the prime function of the Roman
people, in my opinion, and inthe opinion of other historians
who are even more alerted than Iam on this topic.
So he doesn't just...
buy and sell slaves.
Crassus trains them.
He got nearly a thousand skilledslaves who could do carpentry,
(16:22):
masonry, engineering,accounting, and he rents them
out to other wealthy Romans forconstruction projects.
It's kind of like owning aspecialized labor contracting
business.
He's also Rome's most prolificprivate banker.
Wealthy Romans Need loans.
And Crassus has the capital toprovide them.
But he's not just lending moneyrandomly.
He's making strategicinvestments in people he thinks
(16:44):
are going places.
The biggest and most interestingexample, Julius Caesar.
In the 60s BC, Caesar is broke,massively in debt, but he's
politically talented and veryambitious.
Crassus sees the potential andstarts funding Caesar's career.
Loans for political campaigns,bribes for votes, whatever
(17:06):
Caesar needs, Crassus is therefor him.
Why?
Because when Caesar getspowerful, those favors come back
as business opportunities,government contracts, favorable
legislation.
It's like angel investing, butfor politicians.
And if you think about...
Crassus' background, familyfalling out of political favor,
being executed, committing,being suicided, right?
(17:29):
All these things.
It makes a lot of sense that hewould want to plant positive
seeds in the political system toprotect himself, to protect his
family, to make sure they cannever have that happen again.
He recognizes the talent inCaesar and he goes for it.
And it works.
Caesar becomes consul, then thegovernor of Gaul, and then
ultimately dictator.
And throughout his rise, he'staken care of the man who
(17:51):
bankrolled him.
By the 60 BC, Crassus' net worthis 7,100 talents.
That's about$2 to$3 billion intoday's money.
He could fund entire armies fromhis cash flow.
He had more liquid wealth thanthe Roman treasury.
He owned roughly one-third ofall real estate in Rome.
(18:12):
Think about that.
One man owned a third of theproperty in the capital of the
ancient world.
But here's the thing that'sreally important.
Crassus didn't get there bytaking huge risks or speculative
bets.
He got there through patientcapital, steady cash flow, and
buying distressed assets frommotivated sellers.
I want to recant what I justsaid.
(18:34):
He did take one massive bet,which was to bet on Solo the
second time.
But Solo the second time wasprobably a pretty good bet at
that point.
And he probably knew it wasgoing to happen.
There wasn't a lot of strongopposition to Sola taking over
the capital at that point sinceMarius had passed.
So something to keep in mind.
But I think the key thing alwaysis the same principles do work
(18:55):
today.
You don't need, and I say thisall the time, you don't need to
invent some revolutionary newstrategy.
You need to execute the basicsbetter than everyone else.
To buy from motivated sellers,you have to add value.
You have to hold for cash flow.
You have to scale throughsystems.
You have to stay in your lane.
Crassus, was the master of thisplaybook.
(19:17):
So what was his fatal flaw?
How did we end up in the desertsof Parthia with molten gold down
our throat?
The short answer is this.
Crassus wanted to get more thanwhat he had.
He had greed, but he hadsomething else that I think is a
very important lesson for moderninvestors to take away.
(19:40):
By 60 BC, Crassus has joinedforces with Caesar and Pompey to
form what historians call theFirst Triumvirate.
It's an informal alliance tocontrol Roman politics.
Caesar gets Gaul, Pompey getsSpain, and Crassus gets Syria.
Now, if you're thinking aboutthis like a real estate
(20:01):
investor, Syria should beperfect for Crassus.
It's a wealthy province, lots ofcities, lots of trade, Lots of
opportunities to apply hisproven methods.
But Syria doesn't have goldmines.
It doesn't have distressed realestate to buy.
It doesn't have the kind ofopportunities that made Crassus
rich.
What it has is war.
And Crassus wants militarypower.
(20:24):
You see, here's the problem.
Crassus is the richest man inRome, but he's not the most
famous.
Caesar conquered Gaul and becamea legend.
Pompey has military triumphs andparades.
They get the headlines.
They get the respect.
And Crassus is jealous.
He wants what money can't buy,military fame.
(20:46):
He wants to be remembered likeAlexander the Great or Scipio
Africanus.
And let me double click onAlexander the Great really
quickly.
There's a great story aboutJulius Caesar at the age of 25
going to the temple and seeingthe statue of Alexander the
Great.
and collapsing on his knees andcrying because he feels so bad
(21:06):
about himself.
Because by the age of 25,Alexander the Great had already
conquered the known world.
And every good Roman worth theirsalt wants to be like Alexander
the Great.
Hell, maybe even today, peoplewant to be like Alexander the
Great.
It is an incredible, incrediblestory.
But the thing about Rome thatyou have to understand, it is a
(21:31):
militaristic, conquest-drivensociety where being rich is not
enough.
You always have to reach formore.
Political glory is primarilydriven by military talent and
conquest.
It's part of the fatal flaw ofthe Roman Empire in the long
run.
But the generals would comeback, they'd be offered a
triumph where they'd get tomarch into the city in great
(21:53):
glory and everybody would seehow magnificent they were, what
a great conqueror they hadbecome like Alexander the Great.
And so, The man who haseverything looks east and he
sees the Parthian Empire.
Rich, powerful, never conqueredby Rome.
(22:13):
If Crassus could defeat Parthia,he'd be the greatest general in
Roman history.
Nobody has been able to defeatthem.
And this is where he makes hisfatal mistake.
He abandons everything at thispoint that made him successful.
And remember, Alexander theGreat did conquer Parthia, not
(22:35):
known as Parthia at the time.
Parthia is modern-day Iran orPersia.
And Alexander the Great hadconquered it, but the Romans had
been in a long,multi-hundred-year conflict with
the Parthian Empire and hadnever succeeded in conquering
them.
Remember, at this point, Crassusgot rich through patience and
local knowledge, calculatedrisks, and staying in his lane.
(22:59):
He understood Roman real estatebetter than anyone because he'd
been studying it his whole life.
But Parthia, he doesn'tunderstand Parthia.
He doesn't know the terrain, theclimate, the military tactics,
the politics.
He's entering a completelyunfamiliar market.
And he's rushing.
Instead of taking time to studyParthia, to build local
relationships, to understandwhat he's getting into, he just
(23:22):
assumes...
his money in Roman legions willbe enough.
Sound familiar?
It should.
Because many real estateinvestors have made fortunes in
their home markets, then losteverything trying to invest
somewhere they don't understand.
How many people have left theirarea of expertise to chase
something flashier?
It's a critical flaw that blowsa lot of people up.
(23:44):
And in 54 BC, Crassus invadesParthia with 50,000 men and
dreams of conquest.
And he's betting everything onthis one deal.
And it is a disaster.
The Parthians use tactics theRomans have never seen.
Horse archers who can shootwhile retreating, hit and run
(24:05):
attacks, desert warfare.
The Romans are completelyoutmatched.
At the Battle of Karhai,Crassus' army is annihilated.
20,000 Roman soldiers die,10,000 are captured.
The golden eagles, the sacredstandards of the Roman legions
are lost.
And Crassus himself is capturedand ultimately killed in the
(24:27):
method we described.
The man who built the greatestreal estate fortune in ancient
history dies choking on moltengold in a Parthian tent.
The irony is delicious.
He died pursuing the one thinghis money couldn't buy him,
military glory.
And he failed bitterly.
(24:50):
So what can we as timelessinvestors, as modern day
investors, learn from the storyof Marcus Crassus?
What does his story teach usabout building lasting, timeless
wealth?
First, let's talk about what hegot right.
Because most of his playbookstill works today.
Crisis equals opportunity.
Every economic downturn, everymarket crash, every period of
(25:12):
uncertainty creates distressedsellers.
People who have to sell Don'twant to sell, but circumstances
force their hand.
That's when you buildgenerational wealth.
We saw it in 2008.
We saw it during COVID.
We'll see it again in the nextrecession.
The smart money doesn't panicduring these periods.
The smart money gets ready tobuy.
The critical point always,always in this is having the
(25:34):
capital, right?
Crisis had the capital.
You and I may not have thecapital come the next crisis.
So you know, sourcing otherpeople's money, being strategic
about who are your backers,being ready to go when the
crisis hits is a reallyimportant tactic.
Second, and I've been hammeringon this a lot lately, cashflow
over appreciation.
(25:56):
Crasses didn't speculate onproperty values.
He just bought buildings thatproduce steady rent.
Month after month, year afteryear.
That rent paid his expenses,funded his lifestyle, and gave
him the capital to buy more andmore properties.
He wasn't dependent on marketsentiment or exit strategies.
His buildings produced income.
Whether the market was up, themarket was down.
(26:17):
Cashflow does not care what themarket thinks.
It just shows up.
Thirdly, This is maybe a little,you know, I want to say this,
but I think it's a little morecontroversial is he had vertical
integration.
He didn't just own thebuildings.
He owned the fire department,which as we discussed was
critical to his success.
He owned the construction crews,the property management.
He controlled the entire valuechain.
(26:38):
Today, that might mean owningyour own construction company,
having your own GC license,running your own property
management firm, your ownlending operation.
The more you control, the moreprofit you can capture.
Those are critical points.
And also, the more you control,the more loyalty you might have
to yourself and to what you'retrying to do.
We see it all the time withmanagement companies that we
don't control and own.
(27:00):
There's turnover.
We don't have control ofpersonnel decision.
We don't have control ofretention decisions.
And all of these things cancause significant damage.
Fourth, and I think a criticalpoint to think about when you
think about investing of anysort, geographic concentration.
Crafts has dominated one market.
(27:22):
He understood that market.
He knew every neighborhood,every opportunity, every
motivated seller.
Local expertise, in myexperience, creates a huge
competitive advantage.
You're better off being theexpert in one market than the
amateur in another.
(27:42):
10 markets.
And I've seen this.
We invest in Seattle.
I think I've discussed thisbefore.
And I have many good mentors inSeattle.
And I've looked at deals that Ithought were in great
neighborhoods, greatopportunities.
And people that were my closementors would say, oh, you can't
buy on that side of the street.
Oh, interesting.
It's in Capitol Hill.
Capitol Hill is a greatneighborhood.
Yeah, but that side of thestreet's got problems or that
(28:03):
end of the block has problems.
You don't buy there.
Local expertise, niching downinto your market is a massive
advantage.
Fifth, Crassus believed and heldpatient capital.
He held his properties fordecades.
He wasn't trying to flip housesor trying to time the market.
He was building an empire thatwill last for generations.
(28:26):
But he also made mistakes, fatalmistakes.
And these are the lessons thatcould save your financial life
and which I took away from thisstory as well.
A, don't leave your area ofexpertise.
Crassus made his fortune inRoman real estate.
He understood the market, thecustomers, the risks, but then
he left real estate for militaryconquest in a foreign land, and
(28:48):
it killed him.
What did he know about runningan army?
He saw Caesar do it.
He saw Pompey do it.
He got jealous.
He thought, I'm rich.
I'm wealthy.
I'm powerful.
I'm a part of the triumvirate.
I also should have this likethem.
But he didn't know anythingabout it, and he got into it
anyways.
That means to me, stay in yourlane.
(29:10):
If you're good at residentialrental properties, don't
suddenly decide to developshopping malls.
If you don't understand, sorry,if you do understand your local
market, don't start investing inmarkets 3,000 miles away just
because someone told you they'rehot.
Don't chase headlines.
Crassus wanted military glorybecause of all these other
people getting attention and hegot distracted by what other
(29:34):
people were doing instead offocusing on what made him rich
In the first place, our job isnot to be famous.
Our job is to build wealth.
And sometimes those thingsoverlap.
Sometimes they don't.
Don't make emotional decisions.
Crassus invaded Parthia becausehe was jealous and he was
impatient.
He abandoned his proven strategyfor something flashy and risky.
(29:56):
The best real estate investmentsare boring.
They're buying cash flowingproperties from motivated
sellers and holding them fordecades.
That's not going to get you onthe cover of Forbes.
It might.
but it's not going to do itright away, but it will make you
wealthy over time.
We have to keep these things inmind.
And here's what I want you tothink about as you build your
(30:16):
own real estate empire, your ownbusiness, as you invest your
private capital intosyndications, into new
opportunities.
Are you playing Crassus' smartgame or are you playing his
stupid game?
The smart game in investing isboring.
It's buying distressed assetswhen others won't.
It's collecting rent checksmonth after month, year after
year, It's building systems thatare boring and not fun to do,
(30:41):
right?
Deal chasing is fun.
Building systems is not fun.
And staying in your lane isbeing patient when everyone else
is panicking.
The stupid game, by contrast,and I hate to say it like that,
but it's true, is chasingheadlines.
It's diversifying into marketsyou don't understand.
It's getting distracted by shinyobjects.
It's wanting to be famousinstead of wanting to be rich.
(31:05):
There are so many examples ofthis.
in modern real estate investing.
The number of guys that do whatI do and are suddenly pitching
industrial properties orself-storage because multifamily
has been crushing them are many,are many.
But do they know self-storage?
Do they know industrial?
Are they just chasing the nextthing?
Crassus built the greatest realestate fortune in ancient
(31:27):
history by playing the smartgame for 30 years.
He lost everything including hislife by switching to the stupid
game for three years.
The principles that made MarcusCrassus rich haven't changed in
2000 years.
Buy low, create steady cashflow,scale through systems, stay in
(31:50):
your area of expertise.
The temptations that killed himhaven't really changed either.
chasing glory, enteringunfamiliar markets, believing
your own hype, thinking therules just don't apply to you
because you've been sosuccessful.
And look, I get it.
The smart game can be boring.
It's not sexy to talk aboutbuying multifamily properties
(32:11):
and collecting rent for 30years.
It's much more exciting to talkabout flipping houses or
developing mixed use projects orinvesting in emerging markets.
But Marcus Crassus died withmolten gold pour down his throat
because he forgot the mostimportant lesson of wealth
building.
(32:31):
The best investors aren't theones who make the most
spectacular deals.
They are the ones who avoid themost spectacular mistakes.
In real estate, as in life, it'snot about the gold you chase.
It's about the steady cash flowyou build, the patient capital
you deploy, and the disciplineto stick with what works.
(32:53):
Every crisis is an opportunity.
Every opportunity is anopportunity for you to do the
wrong thing.
So always be mindful of like, amI staying on track?
Am I staying with my plan?
And the question is, will you beready to when the opportunity
does strike?
Will you have the capital, theknowledge, and the discipline to
(33:14):
act when others are panicking?
Or will you be like mostinvestors, sitting on the
sideline during the crisis andthen chasing the market when it
becomes apparent that it'scoming back?
Crassus understood somethingthat most investors will never
actually figure out.
You get rich buying when othersare selling, not the other way
around.
(33:34):
So think like Crassus, the realestate mogul, not Crassus, the
failed general, and don't diechoking on your own greed.
This has been the TimelessInvestor Show.
I'm Ari Van Gemeren.
If you enjoyed this episode,subscribe wherever you get your
podcasts and share it withsomeone serious about building
real wealth.
(33:55):
Until next time, remember ourline, act well, think wisely,
and build something timeless.
Thank you.
Have a great week.
Let's conquer together.
Picture this.
The year is 53 BC.
Deep in the deserts ofMesopotamia, Roman legions lie
scattered and broken across thesand.
20,000 of Rome's finest soldiersare dead.
Their golden eagles, the sacredstandards of the legions, are
gone, captured as trophies byParthian horsemen.
(00:23):
And in a Parthian tent, therichest man in the Roman Empire
is about to die in the mostfitting way imaginable.
Marcus Licinius Crassus, worthover$2 billion in today's money,
sits bound before his captors.
The man who spent his lifeaccumulating gold, who built
Rome's greatest real estatefortune through calculated
(00:45):
greed, is about to discover whatgold really feels like.
The Parthian king orders moltengold to be poured down Crassus'
throat.
As the liquid metal burnsthrough his body, legend says
the king mocked him.
Here, satisfy your thirst forgold.
(01:06):
It was the perfect ending to animperfect life.
The man who turned every crisisinto profit, who built an empire
by exploiting others' disasters,finally met a disaster he
couldn't buy his way out of.
But here's what's fascinating.
Crassus died because of greed,yes, but not the kind you'd
think.
(01:26):
He didn't die because he lovedmoney.
He died because he wantedsomething money could not buy
him, military glory.
The one thing that could matchCaesar's conquests and Pompey's
fame.
The irony is perfect.
Rome's greatest real estateinvestor, a man who understood
(01:47):
better than anyone that wealthcomes from patient capital,
strategic positioning, andsteady cash flow, threw it all
away chasing headlines in adesert.
Today, we're going to examinehow Marcus Crassus built the
ancient world's greatestproperty portfolio, what his
methods teach us about modernreal estate investing, and more
(02:09):
importantly, we're going tolearn from his fatal mistake,
why the principles that made himrich are more relevant today
than ever.
Because the truth is, every realestate investor today is playing
Crassus' game of one form oranother.
The question is, are we learningfrom his brilliance or are we
repeating his mistakes?
This is the Timeless InvestorShow.
(02:32):
I'm Ari Van Gemeren, your host,student of history, and real
estate fund manager.
Let's dive into this incrediblestory.
I'm really excited to share it,and I think you guys are going
to find it fascinating.
So let's start with Rome.
(03:09):
In 115 BC, when Crassus wasborn, you've got to understand
what you're looking at here.
And that's the history.
Always have to understand why weare where we are today based on
the past.
The same is with looking at oldhistory, like where do they come
from?
Rome at the time was a city of 1million people, the New York
(03:30):
City of the ancient world.
And most of these people areliving in literal death traps.
They're called insulae.
apartment buildings, six, sevenstories high, built as cheaply
as humanly possible, no buildingcodes, no fire departments, no
insurance.
These things burned downconstantly.
And when they burned, peopledied, lots of people.
(03:53):
It's the perfect storm for whatI call disaster capitalism.
Now, Marcus Crassus is born intothis world, but he's not living
in the insulae.
Now, he's born into privilege.
His father, Publius LiciniusCrassus was consul.
Consul is like, think governor,senator, and Supreme Court
justice all rolled into the one.
(04:15):
The family was wealthy,respected, connected.
Crassus grew up expecting toinherit power and money.
And then in 87 BC, everythingchanged.
Here's what happened.
Rome is in the middle of anabsolutely brutal civil war.
It's Gaius Marius versus LuciusCornelius Sulla.
(04:36):
These two generals are fightingfor control of the entire Roman
world.
And every family, every senator,every wealthy Roman has to pick
a side.
The Crassus family picks Sulla,which is a huge mistake for them
at the time.
Marius wins.
He takes control of Rome, andthen the purges begin.
Picture this.
(04:56):
Crassus' father and youngerbrother are hunted down in the
streets by Marius' supporters.
They either commit suicide toavoid capture, or they're
murdered outright.
Either way, their heads end upon spikes in the Roman Forum as
a warning to anyone elsethinking about opposing the new
regime.
All of their family wealth isconfiscated.
(05:16):
Every property, everyinvestment, every Cistercius.
Gone.
Crassus goes from riches to ragsovernight, and he's now a marked
man with a price on his head.
So what does one do in thissituation?
Well, he does what most of uswould do.
He runs.
He flees to Spain, where hisfather had connections as the
former governor, and he spendsthe next three years in hiding.
(05:39):
Here's the thing, and this iswhere you start to see the
future billionaire prodigalemerge.
Cassius Crassus, isn't justsitting around feeling sorry for
himself.
He's studying, he's learning,he's figuring out how political
chaos creates real estateopportunities.
And in Spain, he recruits 2,500men from his father's old
clients.
(06:00):
He uses this small army toextort money from Spanish
cities.
He forces them to pay for hisprotection.
And what's he learning?
He learns that when governmentsare unstable, when there's
violence in the streets, whenpeople are scared, That's when
property goes for cheap.
That's when you can findmotivated sellers.
Now, it sounds weird to put itin terms, but it's the truth,
(06:20):
right?
And the Roman Republic at thistime was going through an
incredibly tumultuous period.
This was an opportunity indisguise.
Political instability equalsopportunity, something to keep
in mind.
So then in 84 BC, Marius diessuddenly.
And Crassus sees his chance.
Sulla, who survived, is making acomeback.
(06:41):
He's building an army to retakeRome.
And Crassus decides, again, tobet everything on Sulla this
time.
He sails from Spain to joinSulla's forces.
He helps him win the civil warand retake Rome.
And now comes the time forrevenge.
Sulla doesn't want to defeat hisenemies.
He wants to destroy them.
(07:02):
So he creates something calledprescription lists.
Think of it like, Legalizedmurder with a real estate twist.
Sola posts the name of 1,600enemies who can be killed on
sight.
Anyone who kills them gets areward.
But here's the kicker.
They also get to buy theirproperty at public auction.
And these properties are sellingfor$0.85 below market value.
(07:26):
So imagine buying Manhattan realestate for$0.15 on the dollar.
That is what we are talkingabout.
Rome was the Manhattan of itsage.
is the only one, and it would befor hundreds of years.
So Crassus becomes, as a rewardfor his support of Sulla, the
biggest buyer at these bloodauctions.
And he's not just buying randomproperties either.
(07:47):
He's strategic about it.
He focuses on prime Roman realestate in the best
neighborhoods.
Because remember, again, a lotof the people being killed are
the elite who opposed So theirproperties are now for sale at
15 cents on the dollar in thefinest possible neighborhoods.
So he starts with those.
He buys insula that he canrebuild and rent back out.
(08:08):
Agricultural land outside thecity.
Commercial properties alongmajor trade routes.
It's like...
buying foreclosed propertiesafter 2008, but with murder
involved.
And within a few years, Crassushas completely rebuilt his
family fortune 10 times over.
And he's learned that the mostimportant lesson of life is
this.
(08:28):
Crises create opportunities.
And we've seen that time andagain in history.
And it's fitting that our firstgreat example of this would come
from my favorite era of history,the Roman Republic.
So now that Crassus has moneyagain, he needs to figure out
how he wants to grow it.
And this is where he shows someevil genius tendencies.
(08:52):
Remember, Rome burns constantly.
These insular tinderboxes, firesspread through wooden tenements
like wildfire.
Everybody is cooking insidethese no-code, no-restriction
buildings that are made of wood.
And think of a rickety structurewith oil cook fires.
It is a...
It is a certainty that thebuildings are going to light on
(09:14):
fire at some point.
And there is no fire department.
So if your building catches onfire, you are literally on your
own.
So Crassus, and this is a crazyanecdote, totally morally
corrupt and wrong.
And I'm telling this storybefore some people have
expressed, oh, you know, it'sreally bad.
You're glamorizing.
(09:35):
I'm not glamorizing anything,just to be clear.
But this is an era of Romanhistory in which Slaves were
routinely crucified.
Gladiators killed each other inthe arena every day.
People were fed to wild animalsin the arena.
And the Roman Republic wasmercilessly stamping out its
opponents, conquering countries,and sending new slaves back.
(09:57):
So we can't judge the actions ofelites in this time.
It was an amoral period of time.
So Crassus creates...
the first private firedepartment.
He gets 500 trained slaves.
He gets sophisticated equipment,rapid response.
(10:17):
They can get to any fire in Romewithin minutes.
And here's the thing, the twist,the story really interesting is
they don't put out the firesimmediately.
Here's how it works.
You are a hardworking Romanmerchant and you have acquired a
nice property for yourself.
And now your building is onfire.
You're horrified.
What are you going to do?
Your life savings is going up insmoke.
(10:39):
Suddenly, the fire departmentarrives.
It's Crassus' fire department.
And they come, but they're notthere to help you.
He doesn't send them away.
He says, first, let me make youan offer.
Sell me this property right nowwhile it's burning for a
fraction of what it's worth.
Then, only then, will I step in.
(11:00):
So you have two choices.
You can take this lowball offer,or you can watch everything you
own burn to the ground.
So what are you going to do?
Most people sell because...
Otherwise, they're looking at anexpensive rebuild and having to
put this thing back up.
And only after Crassus owns theproperty does he order his fire
brigade to put out the flames.
It's brilliant, it's ruthless,and it's incredibly profitable.
(11:21):
Let me give you what I think isa modern equivalent of this.
Imagine you own a home that'sfacing foreclosure.
The bank is about to seize it.
You're desperate.
Then someone shows up and says,I'll buy your house right now
cash for 50 cents on the dollar,or you can lose it to the bank
for nothing.
What are you going to do?
(11:42):
You're probably going to takethe 50 cents.
And that's exactly what Crassuswas doing, except with literal
fire instead of financial fire.
And here's the thing that makesit even more evil genius-esque.
After he buys these burnt outproperties, he does rebuild
them.
but not as single-family homes,as Insuli, multifamily apartment
buildings that generate steadycash flow.
(12:02):
So he was optimizing.
He was creating this verticallyintegrated operation where he
owns the fire department.
He owns the construction crews.
Remember, he's got 500 trainedslaves who can do everything
from fighting fires to layingbricks.
He owns the building.
He owns the rental income.
It's the ultimate real estatebusiness model, and the numbers
are staggering.
By the time Crassus is at hispeak, he owns over 7,000 1,000
(12:27):
properties across Rome.
7,000.
That's more properties than mostmodern REITs.
Big boy REITs.
We're not talking the littleones, the big REITs.
It's more properties than eventhey own.
And these insulae are generatingsteady rent from tens of
thousands of tenants.
Poor Romans, middle-classRomans, even wealthy Romans who
can't afford their own villas.
(12:47):
Everyone needs a place to live,and Crassus owns a huge chunk of
Rome.
the rental market.
But here's what's really smartabout what Crassus is doing.
He's not just speculating onproperty values.
He's not flipping homes andhoping someone will pay more.
He's building cashflow.
Cashflow is the story.
Equity is just a story.
(13:07):
Cashflow is the thing thatprotects you.
And these in Sly are producingrent every month, year after
year.
Steady, predictable income thatdoesn't depend on market
sentiment, or interest rates, orwhether Caesar conquers Gaul or
not.
And I guarantee you, giveneverything we've talked about
thus far, they didn't have anyof the owner-resident
(13:27):
protections that exist today.
I bet you when someone doesn'tpay rent in this era, they are
out on the street the same day.
It's a little easier to manage.
Again, perhaps morally ambiguousor wrong, but it is the truth.
And it's the same principle thatevery smart real estate investor
uses today.
You do want to buy distressedassets for motivated sellers.
(13:49):
You want to add value torenovation or better management.
You want to hold for cash flow.
You want to scale throughsystems.
You want to do the strategy he'sgone, which is imagine you can
buy a single family home in themiddle of Manhattan, knock it
down and put a huge apartmentbuilding in its place.
That is a form of zoningarbitrage, if you will, right?
And so in the opportunity to dothis as Rome keeps burning, the
(14:12):
motivated sellers keep coming.
Rome keeps having politicalcrises.
Rome keeps producing people whoneed to sell their property
quickly.
Every crisis is anotheropportunity for Crassus to
expand his portfolio.
Think about this in today'sterms.
When COVID hit us or wheninterest rates spiked, when the
economy gets uncertain, whathappens?
(14:33):
Distressed sellers, do come outof the woodwork.
People who had to sell, didn'twant to sell, but circumstances
forced their hand.
Now, during COVID, obviously,multifamily assets performed
actually fairly well.
But I bet you, and I wasn't inthis space at the time, I bet
you that that opportunity was tobuy restaurant space, for
example.
Many restaurants went out ofbusiness.
(14:54):
We knew people in our hometownback in the day when COVID hit
that owned restaurant space.
And I mean, they were likestruggling for what to do.
There are opportunities incrises, and that's when the
smart money moves in.
That's when you find the dealsthat can and will create
generational wealth.
So Crassus built the ancientworld's greatest real estate
fortune by understanding thissimple truth.
(15:17):
Someone else's crisis is youropportunity.
Now, he didn't stop with realestate.
Once he got this cash flowmachine running, he started
diversifying into other incomestreams.
He owns silver mines in Spain.
Remember, he still hasconditions there from his exile.
These mines are generatingsteady income from precious
metals, the ultimate hedgeagainst currency debasement.
(15:38):
He's in the slave tradingbusiness.
And again, before any of you getuncomfortable, understand that
this is literally how the Romaneconomy worked.
There is an argument in economictheory for the Roman Empire and
Republic that the entire purposeof the Roman Empire was to
expand in order to add moreslaves to its economy.
It was a slave, slavery-driveneconomy.
(16:00):
It was the premise, the purpose,the prime function of the Roman
people, in my opinion, and inthe opinion of other historians
who are even more alerted than Iam on this topic.
So he doesn't just...
buy and sell slaves.
Crassus trains them.
He got nearly a thousand skilledslaves who could do carpentry,
(16:22):
masonry, engineering,accounting, and he rents them
out to other wealthy Romans forconstruction projects.
It's kind of like owning aspecialized labor contracting
business.
He's also Rome's most prolificprivate banker.
Wealthy Romans Need loans.
And Crassus has the capital toprovide them.
But he's not just lending moneyrandomly.
He's making strategicinvestments in people he thinks
(16:44):
are going places.
The biggest and most interestingexample, Julius Caesar.
In the 60s BC, Caesar is broke,massively in debt, but he's
politically talented and veryambitious.
Crassus sees the potential andstarts funding Caesar's career.
Loans for political campaigns,bribes for votes, whatever
(17:06):
Caesar needs, Crassus is therefor him.
Why?
Because when Caesar getspowerful, those favors come back
as business opportunities,government contracts, favorable
legislation.
It's like angel investing, butfor politicians.
And if you think about...
Crassus' background, familyfalling out of political favor,
being executed, committing,being suicided, right?
(17:29):
All these things.
It makes a lot of sense that hewould want to plant positive
seeds in the political system toprotect himself, to protect his
family, to make sure they cannever have that happen again.
He recognizes the talent inCaesar and he goes for it.
And it works.
Caesar becomes consul, then thegovernor of Gaul, and then
ultimately dictator.
And throughout his rise, he'staken care of the man who
(17:51):
bankrolled him.
By the 60 BC, Crassus' net worthis 7,100 talents.
That's about$2 to$3 billion intoday's money.
He could fund entire armies fromhis cash flow.
He had more liquid wealth thanthe Roman treasury.
He owned roughly one-third ofall real estate in Rome.
(18:12):
Think about that.
One man owned a third of theproperty in the capital of the
ancient world.
But here's the thing that'sreally important.
Crassus didn't get there bytaking huge risks or speculative
bets.
He got there through patientcapital, steady cash flow, and
buying distressed assets frommotivated sellers.
I want to recant what I justsaid.
(18:34):
He did take one massive bet,which was to bet on Solo the
second time.
But Solo the second time wasprobably a pretty good bet at
that point.
And he probably knew it wasgoing to happen.
There wasn't a lot of strongopposition to Sola taking over
the capital at that point sinceMarius had passed.
So something to keep in mind.
But I think the key thing alwaysis the same principles do work
(18:55):
today.
You don't need, and I say thisall the time, you don't need to
invent some revolutionary newstrategy.
You need to execute the basicsbetter than everyone else.
To buy from motivated sellers,you have to add value.
You have to hold for cash flow.
You have to scale throughsystems.
You have to stay in your lane.
Crassus, was the master of thisplaybook.
(19:17):
So what was his fatal flaw?
How did we end up in the desertsof Parthia with molten gold down
our throat?
The short answer is this.
Crassus wanted to get more thanwhat he had.
He had greed, but he hadsomething else that I think is a
very important lesson for moderninvestors to take away.
(19:40):
By 60 BC, Crassus has joinedforces with Caesar and Pompey to
form what historians call theFirst Triumvirate.
It's an informal alliance tocontrol Roman politics.
Caesar gets Gaul, Pompey getsSpain, and Crassus gets Syria.
Now, if you're thinking aboutthis like a real estate
(20:01):
investor, Syria should beperfect for Crassus.
It's a wealthy province, lots ofcities, lots of trade, Lots of
opportunities to apply hisproven methods.
But Syria doesn't have goldmines.
It doesn't have distressed realestate to buy.
It doesn't have the kind ofopportunities that made Crassus
rich.
What it has is war.
And Crassus wants militarypower.
(20:24):
You see, here's the problem.
Crassus is the richest man inRome, but he's not the most
famous.
Caesar conquered Gaul and becamea legend.
Pompey has military triumphs andparades.
They get the headlines.
They get the respect.
And Crassus is jealous.
He wants what money can't buy,military fame.
(20:46):
He wants to be remembered likeAlexander the Great or Scipio
Africanus.
And let me double click onAlexander the Great really
quickly.
There's a great story aboutJulius Caesar at the age of 25
going to the temple and seeingthe statue of Alexander the
Great.
and collapsing on his knees andcrying because he feels so bad
(21:06):
about himself.
Because by the age of 25,Alexander the Great had already
conquered the known world.
And every good Roman worth theirsalt wants to be like Alexander
the Great.
Hell, maybe even today, peoplewant to be like Alexander the
Great.
It is an incredible, incrediblestory.
But the thing about Rome thatyou have to understand, it is a
(21:31):
militaristic, conquest-drivensociety where being rich is not
enough.
You always have to reach formore.
Political glory is primarilydriven by military talent and
conquest.
It's part of the fatal flaw ofthe Roman Empire in the long
run.
But the generals would comeback, they'd be offered a
triumph where they'd get tomarch into the city in great
(21:53):
glory and everybody would seehow magnificent they were, what
a great conqueror they hadbecome like Alexander the Great.
And so, The man who haseverything looks east and he
sees the Parthian Empire.
Rich, powerful, never conqueredby Rome.
(22:13):
If Crassus could defeat Parthia,he'd be the greatest general in
Roman history.
Nobody has been able to defeatthem.
And this is where he makes hisfatal mistake.
He abandons everything at thispoint that made him successful.
And remember, Alexander theGreat did conquer Parthia, not
(22:35):
known as Parthia at the time.
Parthia is modern-day Iran orPersia.
And Alexander the Great hadconquered it, but the Romans had
been in a long,multi-hundred-year conflict with
the Parthian Empire and hadnever succeeded in conquering
them.
Remember, at this point, Crassusgot rich through patience and
local knowledge, calculatedrisks, and staying in his lane.
(22:59):
He understood Roman real estatebetter than anyone because he'd
been studying it his whole life.
But Parthia, he doesn'tunderstand Parthia.
He doesn't know the terrain, theclimate, the military tactics,
the politics.
He's entering a completelyunfamiliar market.
And he's rushing.
Instead of taking time to studyParthia, to build local
relationships, to understandwhat he's getting into, he just
(23:22):
assumes...
his money in Roman legions willbe enough.
Sound familiar?
It should.
Because many real estateinvestors have made fortunes in
their home markets, then losteverything trying to invest
somewhere they don't understand.
How many people have left theirarea of expertise to chase
something flashier?
It's a critical flaw that blowsa lot of people up.
(23:44):
And in 54 BC, Crassus invadesParthia with 50,000 men and
dreams of conquest.
And he's betting everything onthis one deal.
And it is a disaster.
The Parthians use tactics theRomans have never seen.
Horse archers who can shootwhile retreating, hit and run
(24:05):
attacks, desert warfare.
The Romans are completelyoutmatched.
At the Battle of Karhai,Crassus' army is annihilated.
20,000 Roman soldiers die,10,000 are captured.
The golden eagles, the sacredstandards of the Roman legions
are lost.
And Crassus himself is capturedand ultimately killed in the
(24:27):
method we described.
The man who built the greatestreal estate fortune in ancient
history dies choking on moltengold in a Parthian tent.
The irony is delicious.
He died pursuing the one thinghis money couldn't buy him,
military glory.
And he failed bitterly.
(24:50):
So what can we as timelessinvestors, as modern day
investors, learn from the storyof Marcus Crassus?
What does his story teach usabout building lasting, timeless
wealth?
First, let's talk about what hegot right.
Because most of his playbookstill works today.
Crisis equals opportunity.
Every economic downturn, everymarket crash, every period of
(25:12):
uncertainty creates distressedsellers.
People who have to sell Don'twant to sell, but circumstances
force their hand.
That's when you buildgenerational wealth.
We saw it in 2008.
We saw it during COVID.
We'll see it again in the nextrecession.
The smart money doesn't panicduring these periods.
The smart money gets ready tobuy.
The critical point always,always in this is having the
(25:34):
capital, right?
Crisis had the capital.
You and I may not have thecapital come the next crisis.
So you know, sourcing otherpeople's money, being strategic
about who are your backers,being ready to go when the
crisis hits is a reallyimportant tactic.
Second, and I've been hammeringon this a lot lately, cashflow
over appreciation.
(25:56):
Crasses didn't speculate onproperty values.
He just bought buildings thatproduce steady rent.
Month after month, year afteryear.
That rent paid his expenses,funded his lifestyle, and gave
him the capital to buy more andmore properties.
He wasn't dependent on marketsentiment or exit strategies.
His buildings produced income.
Whether the market was up, themarket was down.
(26:17):
Cashflow does not care what themarket thinks.
It just shows up.
Thirdly, This is maybe a little,you know, I want to say this,
but I think it's a little morecontroversial is he had vertical
integration.
He didn't just own thebuildings.
He owned the fire department,which as we discussed was
critical to his success.
He owned the construction crews,the property management.
He controlled the entire valuechain.
(26:38):
Today, that might mean owningyour own construction company,
having your own GC license,running your own property
management firm, your ownlending operation.
The more you control, the moreprofit you can capture.
Those are critical points.
And also, the more you control,the more loyalty you might have
to yourself and to what you'retrying to do.
We see it all the time withmanagement companies that we
don't control and own.
(27:00):
There's turnover.
We don't have control ofpersonnel decision.
We don't have control ofretention decisions.
And all of these things cancause significant damage.
Fourth, and I think a criticalpoint to think about when you
think about investing of anysort, geographic concentration.
Crafts has dominated one market.
(27:22):
He understood that market.
He knew every neighborhood,every opportunity, every
motivated seller.
Local expertise, in myexperience, creates a huge
competitive advantage.
You're better off being theexpert in one market than the
amateur in another.
(27:42):
10 markets.
And I've seen this.
We invest in Seattle.
I think I've discussed thisbefore.
And I have many good mentors inSeattle.
And I've looked at deals that Ithought were in great
neighborhoods, greatopportunities.
And people that were my closementors would say, oh, you can't
buy on that side of the street.
Oh, interesting.
It's in Capitol Hill.
Capitol Hill is a greatneighborhood.
Yeah, but that side of thestreet's got problems or that
(28:03):
end of the block has problems.
You don't buy there.
Local expertise, niching downinto your market is a massive
advantage.
Fifth, Crassus believed and heldpatient capital.
He held his properties fordecades.
He wasn't trying to flip housesor trying to time the market.
He was building an empire thatwill last for generations.
(28:26):
But he also made mistakes, fatalmistakes.
And these are the lessons thatcould save your financial life
and which I took away from thisstory as well.
A, don't leave your area ofexpertise.
Crassus made his fortune inRoman real estate.
He understood the market, thecustomers, the risks, but then
he left real estate for militaryconquest in a foreign land, and
(28:48):
it killed him.
What did he know about runningan army?
He saw Caesar do it.
He saw Pompey do it.
He got jealous.
He thought, I'm rich.
I'm wealthy.
I'm powerful.
I'm a part of the triumvirate.
I also should have this likethem.
But he didn't know anythingabout it, and he got into it
anyways.
That means to me, stay in yourlane.
(29:10):
If you're good at residentialrental properties, don't
suddenly decide to developshopping malls.
If you don't understand, sorry,if you do understand your local
market, don't start investing inmarkets 3,000 miles away just
because someone told you they'rehot.
Don't chase headlines.
Crassus wanted military glorybecause of all these other
people getting attention and hegot distracted by what other
(29:34):
people were doing instead offocusing on what made him rich
In the first place, our job isnot to be famous.
Our job is to build wealth.
And sometimes those thingsoverlap.
Sometimes they don't.
Don't make emotional decisions.
Crassus invaded Parthia becausehe was jealous and he was
impatient.
He abandoned his proven strategyfor something flashy and risky.
(29:56):
The best real estate investmentsare boring.
They're buying cash flowingproperties from motivated
sellers and holding them fordecades.
That's not going to get you onthe cover of Forbes.
It might.
but it's not going to do itright away, but it will make you
wealthy over time.
We have to keep these things inmind.
And here's what I want you tothink about as you build your
(30:16):
own real estate empire, your ownbusiness, as you invest your
private capital intosyndications, into new
opportunities.
Are you playing Crassus' smartgame or are you playing his
stupid game?
The smart game in investing isboring.
It's buying distressed assetswhen others won't.
It's collecting rent checksmonth after month, year after
year, It's building systems thatare boring and not fun to do,
(30:41):
right?
Deal chasing is fun.
Building systems is not fun.
And staying in your lane isbeing patient when everyone else
is panicking.
The stupid game, by contrast,and I hate to say it like that,
but it's true, is chasingheadlines.
It's diversifying into marketsyou don't understand.
It's getting distracted by shinyobjects.
It's wanting to be famousinstead of wanting to be rich.
(31:05):
There are so many examples ofthis.
in modern real estate investing.
The number of guys that do whatI do and are suddenly pitching
industrial properties orself-storage because multifamily
has been crushing them are many,are many.
But do they know self-storage?
Do they know industrial?
Are they just chasing the nextthing?
Crassus built the greatest realestate fortune in ancient
(31:27):
history by playing the smartgame for 30 years.
He lost everything including hislife by switching to the stupid
game for three years.
The principles that made MarcusCrassus rich haven't changed in
2000 years.
Buy low, create steady cashflow,scale through systems, stay in
(31:50):
your area of expertise.
The temptations that killed himhaven't really changed either.
chasing glory, enteringunfamiliar markets, believing
your own hype, thinking therules just don't apply to you
because you've been sosuccessful.
And look, I get it.
The smart game can be boring.
It's not sexy to talk aboutbuying multifamily properties
(32:11):
and collecting rent for 30years.
It's much more exciting to talkabout flipping houses or
developing mixed use projects orinvesting in emerging markets.
But Marcus Crassus died withmolten gold pour down his throat
because he forgot the mostimportant lesson of wealth
building.
(32:31):
The best investors aren't theones who make the most
spectacular deals.
They are the ones who avoid themost spectacular mistakes.
In real estate, as in life, it'snot about the gold you chase.
It's about the steady cash flowyou build, the patient capital
you deploy, and the disciplineto stick with what works.
(32:53):
Every crisis is an opportunity.
Every opportunity is anopportunity for you to do the
wrong thing.
So always be mindful of like, amI staying on track?
Am I staying with my plan?
And the question is, will you beready to when the opportunity
does strike?
Will you have the capital, theknowledge, and the discipline to
(33:14):
act when others are panicking?
Or will you be like mostinvestors, sitting on the
sideline during the crisis andthen chasing the market when it
becomes apparent that it'scoming back?
Crassus understood somethingthat most investors will never
actually figure out.
You get rich buying when othersare selling, not the other way
around.
(33:34):
So think like Crassus, the realestate mogul, not Crassus, the
failed general, and don't diechoking on your own greed.
This has been the TimelessInvestor Show.
I'm Ari Van Gemeren.
If you enjoyed this episode,subscribe wherever you get your
podcasts and share it withsomeone serious about building
real wealth.
(33:55):
Until next time, remember ourline, act well, think wisely,
and build something timeless.
Thank you.
Have a great week.
Let's conquer together.
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