March 26, 2025 • 26 mins
What does it take to go from rock bottom to managing over $200 million in real estate assets? In this episode of the Super Entrepreneurs Podcast, host Shahid Durrani speaks with Matthew Ricciardella, the founder of Crystal View Capital, a self-made real estate mogul who built his portfolio by investing in recession-resistant assets like self-storage and manufactured housing communities.
Matthew dives deep into the mindset, grit, and strategies that fueled his rise from financial struggles to leading a highly successful investment firm. Learn how he focuses on community impact, builds trust with investors, and secures off-market deals that deliver significant returns.
If you’re an entrepreneur or investor looking for actionable wisdom on creating sustainable wealth and making a meaningful difference, this episode is for you.
Chapter Stamps:
01:35 Early Struggles and Resilience
02:40 The Role of Luck and Relationships
04:45 Embracing Discomfort for Growth
06:53 The Value of Self Storage and Manufactured Housing
08:10 Investing in Recession-Resilient Assets
08:59 Value-Add Strategies in Real Estate
12:43 Off-Market Deals and Relationship Building
15:23 Investor Returns and Fund Performance
16:58 Execution and Hard Work
24:16 Empowering Teams and Decision Making
25:12 Final Thoughts and Legacy
25:53 Closing Remarks
Pullout Quotes:
- "I've been broke before... but deep down, I always knew it was going to work out."
- "Some of our largest enemies is success, because comfort breeds complacency."
- "We solve inefficiencies and create value — that’s our business model in a nutshell."
- "I’ll tell people exactly what we do because no one will outwork us."
- "You have to believe in your product. You have to believe in yourself."
Social:
Website: https://www.crystalviewcapital.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-ricciardella-a9156796/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalviewcapital/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrystalViewCapital/
Disclaimer: Please be aware that the opinions and perspectives conveyed in this podcast are solely those of our guests and do not necessarily represent the views, ideologies, or principles of Super Entrepreneurs Podcast, its associated entities, or any organizations they represent or are affiliated with. We provide a platform for discussion and exploration, and the content of each episode is understood to be independent expressions from our guests, rather than a reflection of the beliefs held by the podcast or its hosts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I don't know if there's any entrepreneurbusiness life that's who, what's where
(00:04):
it's been smooth sailing the whole way.
And mine certainly hasn't beenfor that matter, but that's
what makes us strong as people.
That's what makes us strong asentrepreneurs or whatever we're doing.
If we're not stressed and put in awkward,uncomfortable situations, then you never
really know who you are at the core.
(00:42):
Welcome to Super Entrepreneurs Podcast.
I'm your host, Shahid Durrani.
Today we have with usMatthew Ricciardella.
He's a self made real estate mogulwho started Crystal View Capital.
In the last two decades, he'sbuilt an amazing portfolio.
He's now managing more than 200million in real estate assets.
(01:04):
He focuses on investments thathold up during recessions and
also he's dedicated to helping thecommunities where he actually invests.
That's really interesting.
I want to welcome you,Matthew, to the show.
Yeah, thanks for having me, Shahid.
It's a pleasure to be herewith you this morning.
Yeah, it's an honor.
(01:25):
I love hearing these stories and myinitial thought always, and sometimes I
ask it, sometimes I don't ask it, but wasthere a time where you were rock bottom?
And is your whole life has been smoothsailing or was there something that caused
this massive growth that you experienced?
(01:48):
I don't know if there's any entrepreneurbusiness life that's who, what's where
it's been smooth sailing the whole way.
And mine certainly hasn't been forthat matter, but that's what makes,
that's what makes us strong as people.
That's what makes us strong asentrepreneurs or whatever we're doing.
If we're not stressed and put in awkward,uncomfortable situations, then you never
(02:11):
really know who you are at the core.
I've been broke before, I've been in aposition where, I didn't know where I was
going to get my next meal and But, deepdown inside, you always knew, hey, it's
going to work out at the end of the day.
I don't know why, but it just,I always You had that faith.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
And carried that along and you havebeen very fortunate for people to
(02:36):
say that they've built somethingsubstantial without a little bit of luck.
And a lot of that luck ismeeting the right people.
I think they're just fooling themselvesbecause I've been very lucky and
there's nothing wrong with that.
And I've been in order tomeet some amazing people.
Tremendously in our growthpath here at crystal view.
And we've got some amazing limitedpartners that have trusted us
(03:00):
and put their faith in us andput a lot of their hard, hard
earned capital into crystal view.
And we we don't take that lightly.
And we've worked tirelessly overthe years to deliver for them in
the form of great returns and andtrack record, as speaks for itself.
And We're honored to be in thisposition and moving forward, we want
to continue to grow those relationshipsand that portfolio and those returns
(03:25):
is definitely, what you just said ishits home because that term luck, it's
a word that we created just to explainthe unexplained, but there's, there is a
science that are to it because that faithdoes we're not religious, but I mean it
could be any religion It could be anybelief, but it's just that faith that when
you have in your heart that everythingis going to be okay You are creating
(03:49):
some kind of a connection to your goals.
There's some kind of Some kind of hiddenhand that is helping you when you have
that gratitude and you start creating thatluck, you start meeting the right people
They never showed up before and then theystart coming around people situations
circumstances, so I want to say blessyou, I'm hoping that someone's listening
(04:11):
or watching can hear that, and if they'rein that trouble, if they're focused on
their current results and they're nothappy, you could see, just hear Matthew,
where he was.
He couldn't afford anything, but wherehe is now, that's a quantum leap, and
that can happen if the internal worldhas some sort of alignment to it.
(04:34):
Would you agree?
Absolutely.
Yeah, I would, and that, to, to yourpoint, those people that might be
watching and they're down and they'redepressed and they're feeling like,
hey, they're not hitting their goals.
I'll tell ya, that's the mostbeautiful moment right there.
Because you're not happy withyour current situation, you're not
complacent, and that's when you'rereally willing to do something about it.
(04:55):
I always say the hardest thing, andI know this is counterintuitive,
But some of our largest enemies issuccess, because when people are
successful, they become complacent.
They accept the status quo,they fought and they scraped
and
scratched to get to where they are, andnow they hit this crossroads in life.
Do you want to continue to scrapeand scratch when you're comfortable?
(05:18):
But when you're uncomfortable, you'rewilling to do whatever it takes.
So don't feel bad about that.
That's a beautiful moment.
And I always look back and say, those werethe greatest moments, for me personally.
So you're in a
Unique spot where you couldnow create your destiny.
And,
Yeah, I envy that a little bit for thosethat are in that position and we're
(05:40):
yeah, those are very important lessons toexperience, something wakes up inside of
you when you hit those type of terminalsand you want to be uncomfortable, I
always have some sort of uncomfortablefeeling and maybe this is a little bit
extreme, but for example, I like tokeep myself hungry, I like that feeling.
(06:01):
I know it's weird, but I like being aware.
Of that feeling, a freezing cold showergoing outside standing for five minutes,
without anything in the cold and the snow.
I'll do stuff like that just to feel it.
There's something about it.
A lot of power behind it.
Yeah, you feel alive.
Yeah,
I know exactly what you mean when you'recomfortable and everything is going
(06:25):
that's what we all strive for right?
Yeah,
but the funny thing there's afunny thing that occurs when you're
there You're like this all there is
that's it.
Yeah And really the juice of
that.
Yeah, the juice is in thejourney more so than in the end
Yeah, so true, man.
Self storage, I've beenhearing a lot about it.
(06:46):
I got some guests on here before talkingabout it and manufactured housing.
They're very interesting, everyone's focusis on growing the portfolio by getting
the houses and renting them but there'ssomething very special about self storage
from my research, from the guest I wasblessed enough to interview, they're
(07:07):
saying that because of that credit cardnature of it is that people don't want
to let go of these memories and that theyhave from their parents, grandparents,
they don't want to throw it away.
They just want to keep it there.
It's regular cash flowthat they experience, but.
From your point of view, from yourexperience and your building of this
wealth and portfolio and helping othersdo the same, can you share why you like
(07:35):
these, obviously recession proof butis there anything else that you could
share, why you really focus on selfstorage and manufacture residential units?
Yeah, there, there's several reasons.
I started investing in bothasset classes back in 2007.
So I've been in this gamefor, 17 years now, 18 years,
(07:58):
and
they're fantastic for several reasons.
I think you hit on one of them, Shahid,and that's the recession resilience.
The nature of these twoproblems has been down markets.
People tend to flockto affordable housing.
They tend to be more transient, and theneed and the demand for storage rises.
But a couple other reasons why I like theasset class is they're mostly, for the
(08:21):
most part, mom and pop owned and operated.
They're very fragmented in that sense,where there's not a lot of institutional
Ownership, if you're going to try toget into multifamily or you're trying
to get an industrial that's challenging,there's a lot of institutional ownership.
Those owners typically don't want tosell, the pricing is very efficient here.
(08:42):
There's a lot of mismanagementand under management.
That's where our team comes in.
We solve those inefficiencies.
We call ourselves a value add firm.
So what that means is we identifywhere these properties are non
performing or underperforming and putsimply, we fix those inefficiencies
to make the assets more profitable.
(09:04):
Kind of hold it for the long termmake nice size distributions for
our investors and then five toten years we sell the asset for
Significantly more than what we pay.
Significantly
is the key word.
Yes, very key
yeah, sometimes I'll notice a Selfstorage unit and I'm telling you
Matthew that it's in bad shape, you canuplift and it will amplify that value.
(09:29):
The typical thing that youwant to do in real estate.
You want to increase the valueof the property to refinance it.
Yeah, there's a number ofways you could do that.
There's, we call themlevers you could pull.
You could bring rents to a market level.
You can, invest capital backinto the project, make it more.
Pleasant, more appealing whereresidents want to live there.
(09:49):
You could fill vacant units, in ourmanufactured housing communities.
I think we're in anaffordable housing crisis
in this
country.
A lot of folks are being displacedand they can't find a place to live.
We're positioning ourselvesas a solution for that.
You talk about at the beginning ofyour show, you mentioned we give back
in the communities that we invest
in.
I think that's the bestway we could do it.
(10:10):
We provide a great sourceof affordable housing.
These people could come in, they could buythat home, they've got pride of ownership.
They actually get to own an assetwhere in a rental industry, say they
want to rent an apartment or to buya home, they just can't afford it.
Here we're allowing them the opportunityto actually own their own home,
(10:31):
they're building equity, they'reproud of it, they're proud to call it
home, they raise a family in there.
And our investors do well because wecould sell these homes very easily
because of the ever growing demand.
The rents continue to rise
because of
the demand in these marketplaces.
And it's a win all around.
And we're really blessed andfortunate to be in this industry.
(10:55):
Yeah.
You're not manufacturingthese units yourself,
You're buying them.
Yeah, we buy 'em from a manufacturer.
Okay.
So typically we'll buy a new home andthere's several of them out there.
It depends on the geography, butwe'll go out, we'll buy a home.
When we have a vacant site inour community, we'll transport
the home to that site.
We'll set it up, hook up the utilities,and then market that home for sale.
(11:17):
. And then,
Residents start applying.
We'll bring in a resident,sell them that home.
We help them obtain financing.
And they have an opportunity to owna home where if we weren't doing
these things, they probably wouldn't.
So it's again, it's aunique position to be in.
Yeah.
And the vacant lot is ityour own land or is it those
(11:39):
So think about a mobile home community.
Let's say you've got 100, 200, 300sites and you've got a concrete slab
there, but there's no home there, whichis very common in these communities.
So our job and another lever topull to create value is we buy homes
and we fill those vacant sites.
As that occupancy grows, the value ofthe property grows in direct proportion.
(12:04):
So you've got more rental revenue comingin the value of commercial real estate,
of course being evaluated based on a caprate as we grow that revenue, there's
really not much incremental expense
drops to the bottom line, morecashflow, more value at the asset.
We are, investors are happy.
They're getting largerdistribution, homebuyers happy.
(12:27):
They get to own a homein a great community.
No,
it's a great cause, man.
I love it.
I noticed that you get 92%, 92percent of your deals off market.
Yeah.
How the heck do you do that?
And I don't know if you want to shareit, but yeah, that's obviously great,
but then how do you keep that longtermtrust as well, from getting those leads.
(12:49):
Sure.
Sure.
The way we do that, and this kind ofgoes back in history when I started
my business, the way I did it is justpicking up the phone, networking, building
relationships with owner operators withthe intent of buying their community,
buying their self storage facility.
And that initiative hasn'tchanged at all today.
(13:10):
We've got eight full timesalespeople in our company.
And this comes back to the verticalintegration where we're doing
most things in healthier time.
But these individuals that are workingfor us, they're reaching out to these
owner operators on a daily basis,making 50, 100 contacts a day, meeting
them face to face, having dinner withthem, talking to them about CrystalView
(13:35):
and how we're a great steward.
For their assets and then these folksdon't have to pay a brokerage commission.
They're coming direct to us.
It's a little bit harder work, butwe've procured some proprietary
software and data over the 20years I've been in the business.
I think we have more robust datathan anyone in the self storage
and manufactured housing spacefor information on owners anyway.
(13:59):
And a lot of them know me, frankly,since I've been in this business so long.
I've been talking to some of thesame people for 10 or 15 years
It's just a function ofhey following up again.
I know you didn't sell last yearWe've been talking for 15 years.
Do you want to sell this year?
I'd love to be considered and Thoserelationships going back to luck, like
(14:19):
we talked about at the beginning of ourshow and then our meeting here today,
that's
what it is at the end of the day, it'sbuilding relationships, and that's how
we've been able to source 92 percent off
market.
It's incredible because at the endof the day, what I see is life in
whole is just one big relationship,,it's the relationships that matter,
(14:40):
if you focus on the relationships,those Hey, The transactions happen
because everybody needs something.
Everybody wants to grow, everybody wantsmore life, more money, more success,
more happiness, more fulfillment.
We're always prone as a human being.
When you build a relationship,when there's genuine
relationship, that you start.
Helping each other, and then thetrust starts building as well,
(15:03):
absolutely, your both parties are helping.
So the people that you work withthey're getting a benefit You're getting
everybody's winning the investors arewinning So now if someone has a hundred
thousand dollars, they would put with you.
What kind of return can they expect?
Yeah, it's a great question.
In our first fund you mentioned ourreturns and where we stand out amongst
our peers and competitors because of thereturns that we've historically delivered.
(15:25):
And that's 100 percentaccurate in our first one.
We thought we bought about80 million in assets.
We sold them all off and our funddelivered a 47 percent internal rate
of return Net of fees, about 38 percentto our investors in that first fund.
Right now we're raisingcapital in our fund for.
(15:49):
And, but typically whatinvestors can expect, we pay
an 8 percent preferred return.
So they receive an 8 percent cashon cash return on an annual basis.
And then from an IRR, an internalrate of return basis, typically we're
hitting, we guide to high teens, lowtwenties, but typically it's been 25
(16:10):
percent plus based off our performance.
So we like to underpromise and over deliver.
That's what we have.
And what's the minimum someone could, isit accredited investors only or anyone?
It's accredited investors onlyand the minimum check is 50, 000.
Okay.
All right.
(16:30):
And now when it comes to, taking theseunderperforming proper properties and
turning them around, can you share somestrategies that you follow that could help
someone in a similar business or even intheir own business that they could do?
Yeah, I think it's very, at the end ofthe day, what we do, Shahid, it's actually
(16:52):
very simple with what's not so simple asexecution, because the execution requires
a lot of choreography, working with largeteams, and it requires a lot of hard work.
And as this day and age.
People don't like to work very hardand that's part of our culture.
It's roll up.
It's all mindset.
Yeah.
We outwork everyone else.
(17:13):
And that's really been our secret sauce.
A lot of people on my teamsay, Hey, why do you tell them
exactly how you do these things?
Aren't you worried?
They're going to go out and do it.
I said, I'll tell them exactly whatI do because I know nobody's going to
work like us at the end of the day.
So there is no secret there,but back to your question.
It's having an eye toidentify value, right?
(17:36):
Regardless of what you do.
For us, our business happens to beself storage and manufactured housing.
But that could be, in corporate,private and corporate businesses.
You could identify undervalueif you were a stock picker.
Perhaps you could take a look at a companyand say, Hey, here's the value of the
net asset value that I'm looking at here,and I believe based off the growth and
(18:01):
the management, this company is going tobe worth significantly more over time.
The only difference is we have control.
If you're a stock picker,you don't have any control.
What we could do is we coulddirectly influence value.
And the way we do that is first weidentify where it's non performing or
underperforming, where it's broken,let's say, and then we simply fix
(18:22):
it by pulling different levers.
And again, those levers couldbe filling vacant sites.
It could be bringing rents to a marketlevel, it could be cutting costs, it
could be investing capital back intothe project, which is going to make it
more appealing, putting professionalmarketing in place, or it could
be a various combination thereof.
But we have the expertise to knowwhich of those levers we need to pull
(18:47):
and which cadence, and that comesfrom years and years of doing it.
It's we say more art than science,
Regardless if you're in the selfstorage or mobile home space or what
industry you're in, start looking atdeals, start understanding what makes,
where you could maximize value andwhat you're looking at today, how it's
underperforming, how it could be madebetter and become a master in your craft.
(19:11):
And the way to do that is put in the time,put in the energy, put in the passion.
And over time, if you really believein yourself and what you're doing and
have the passion, you'll get there.
Okay, that's good.
Thank you so much.
Matthew it's just incredible what's outthere, there's so many opportunities
(19:33):
out there, so much help availableEveryone, and sometimes we just don't
take the action or like you mentioned,maybe laziness, or I think it's a purely
mindset, majority of it, but you'rehere, you have this great opportunity
where people could come in to buildtheir wealth and you will do it for them.
(19:55):
They just have to bring the money.
That's right.
They're passive in nature.
And a lot of these folks aresuccessful business people
that have sold their business.
A lot of our investors are formersellers, so we come to them, we buy their
property, we execute our business plan,we make that property more valuable.
And they look and they say, wow,I've owned this for 20 or 30 years.
(20:17):
I didn't see the angles you saw.
You know what I want to do with allthis money I just got from the sale.
I want to invest it back with you.
And allow you to do this timeand time again, and I'll just
sit back and I don't have to dealwith the headaches of property
management or dealing with people.
I'll let you execute on theseproperties and I reap the rewards.
(20:38):
The returns are
good.
Yeah, the returns are fantastic.
No, it's good.
It's a good relationship.
Definitely.
I noticed that you put in a lotof your personal money into it.
I don't know if you still do it, butinitially I guess you might have.
You still do?
Oh, absolutely.
I don't think you could be, I don't thinkyou could be a sponsor or a manager if you
(20:59):
don't put your money where your mouth is.
We say we eat our own cooking, right?
Yeah.
If you claim to be a great chef, thenyou should eat what you cook, right?
And for me There's a problem if
you're not eating it.
That's right.
I'm not going to say I'm a chef andI cook a meal, but then I go down
to Charlie's Hamburger stand and eatthere, that doesn't make much sense.
(21:21):
I don't think, I don't think thecustomers coming in my restaurant
are going to think I really believein my product and the way I, Yeah,
It's so true, Matthew.
And same way with mypassion, for example, mindset
transformation, I have to live it.
I have to be the product of the product.
I have to breathe and live and wakeup and sleep that world for me to be.
(21:45):
Anywhere successful with anybody else,it's impossible because you're not gonna
know how to guide them when they hitthe bump that they'll definitely hit.
You need to be able to tell'em, oh, I've been there.
You know you could help them, right?
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You gotta believe in your product.
You gotta believe in yourself.
And investors, I could tellyou, they appreciate that.
(22:05):
They feel that alignment ofinterest, so that's another reason.
Do we see the
belief?
Yeah, the
conscious.
Yeah.
And I'll tell you, I alsodo it for selfish reasons.
And I'll tell you what those are.
I don't know how to get a betterreturn than what we're doing.
So it's really simple and naturaland logical that as I earn revenue
personally, and as I earn incomepersonally, I just reinvested back
(22:29):
into my funds as a limited partner.
And I don't get any special treatment.
I invest under the sameterms as everybody else.
Good.
That's excellent matthew and
Can you share any Any tips foranybody that deals with investing?
Or even running their businessThat you may have learned in your
(22:52):
experience with the ups and downsHow you remain, confident, positive
and calm In your day to day work.
Yeah it's a great question.
And I think you hit on this alittle bit earlier It's inevitable.
You're gonna hit those bumps, right?
Before you go into business justknow that's gonna happen for sure,
(23:12):
there's just no way around thatand that's okay It's not so much
that the bumps are going to occur.
It's how you're going to deal with thebumps And I think for every person it's
a little different, you know for me.
It's always approaching thingsfrom a rational mindset.
And the way you do that is youalways have to have a clear mind.
If you're going into business and,you're not getting proper sleep, or
(23:36):
going out partying late at night, And
Eating unhealthy and not taking care ofyour body, your mind's not gonna be clear.
And when your mind's not clear, it's verychallenging to make the right decision.
So I think
That's the logical start.
Yeah.
Good.
Take care of your, take care of your body.
Take care of the temple.
Take care of your mind.
So now that's only the beginning.
(23:56):
Then I think it comes back into wheredo you want to guide your company?
What's your belief system?
What type of team do you wantto surround yourself with?
What's the culture?
Within your company and you want to buildupon that and for us we really have a
flat hierarchy So when we hit bumps inthe road, I really want to empower those
on my team to make decisions As theirowners, as the company themselves, we
(24:21):
have this monitoring, think like an owner.
We've got this flat hierarchy and we'repushing decision making rights down.
So I'm not going to say everybody'sequal, but we allow an idea meritocracy
where we want to hear from people on thefield, what's going on at your property.
(24:41):
Yeah.
We want to allow them to make decisions.
And I think when you have thatculture and that philosophy, A lot
of the, when you hit the bumps in theroad, if you come from that common
mindset with the rest of your team,a lot of decisions are made for you,
great Matthew, man.
It was great talking to you, brother.
And I wish you all the success, health.
(25:02):
Yeah.
And the ability to continue helpingothers, the money is going to come and go.
We're not going to take it with us.
So the impact that you make beforethis, journey is going to end, I'm
sorry, I don't want to say that, butI'm saying eventually it's going to end.
What kind of impact, whatkind of life changing.
(25:22):
Work did you do for the other generation?
So I really i'm grateful to be inthis position to help you spread
that message, think about it.
It's so big
Absolutely.
Yes, I think you hit it onyou hit the nail on the head.
What's our legacy?
You're not going to take anythingwith you But what can you give
back, that's the stuff that matters.
Yeah, brother.
(25:43):
All right, my friend Thank you so much.
Keep in touch.
I don't know if there's any entrepreneurbusiness life that's who, what's where
(00:04):
it's been smooth sailing the whole way.
And mine certainly hasn't beenfor that matter, but that's
what makes us strong as people.
That's what makes us strong asentrepreneurs or whatever we're doing.
If we're not stressed and put in awkward,uncomfortable situations, then you never
really know who you are at the core.
(00:42):
Welcome to Super Entrepreneurs Podcast.
I'm your host, Shahid Durrani.
Today we have with usMatthew Ricciardella.
He's a self made real estate mogulwho started Crystal View Capital.
In the last two decades, he'sbuilt an amazing portfolio.
He's now managing more than 200million in real estate assets.
(01:04):
He focuses on investments thathold up during recessions and
also he's dedicated to helping thecommunities where he actually invests.
That's really interesting.
I want to welcome you,Matthew, to the show.
Yeah, thanks for having me, Shahid.
It's a pleasure to be herewith you this morning.
Yeah, it's an honor.
(01:25):
I love hearing these stories and myinitial thought always, and sometimes I
ask it, sometimes I don't ask it, but wasthere a time where you were rock bottom?
And is your whole life has been smoothsailing or was there something that caused
this massive growth that you experienced?
(01:48):
I don't know if there's any entrepreneurbusiness life that's who, what's where
it's been smooth sailing the whole way.
And mine certainly hasn't been forthat matter, but that's what makes,
that's what makes us strong as people.
That's what makes us strong asentrepreneurs or whatever we're doing.
If we're not stressed and put in awkward,uncomfortable situations, then you never
(02:11):
really know who you are at the core.
I've been broke before, I've been in aposition where, I didn't know where I was
going to get my next meal and But, deepdown inside, you always knew, hey, it's
going to work out at the end of the day.
I don't know why, but it just,I always You had that faith.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
And carried that along and you havebeen very fortunate for people to
(02:36):
say that they've built somethingsubstantial without a little bit of luck.
And a lot of that luck ismeeting the right people.
I think they're just fooling themselvesbecause I've been very lucky and
there's nothing wrong with that.
And I've been in order tomeet some amazing people.
Tremendously in our growthpath here at crystal view.
And we've got some amazing limitedpartners that have trusted us
(03:00):
and put their faith in us andput a lot of their hard, hard
earned capital into crystal view.
And we we don't take that lightly.
And we've worked tirelessly overthe years to deliver for them in
the form of great returns and andtrack record, as speaks for itself.
And We're honored to be in thisposition and moving forward, we want
to continue to grow those relationshipsand that portfolio and those returns
(03:25):
is definitely, what you just said ishits home because that term luck, it's
a word that we created just to explainthe unexplained, but there's, there is a
science that are to it because that faithdoes we're not religious, but I mean it
could be any religion It could be anybelief, but it's just that faith that when
you have in your heart that everythingis going to be okay You are creating
(03:49):
some kind of a connection to your goals.
There's some kind of Some kind of hiddenhand that is helping you when you have
that gratitude and you start creating thatluck, you start meeting the right people
They never showed up before and then theystart coming around people situations
circumstances, so I want to say blessyou, I'm hoping that someone's listening
(04:11):
or watching can hear that, and if they'rein that trouble, if they're focused on
their current results and they're nothappy, you could see, just hear Matthew,
where he was.
He couldn't afford anything, but wherehe is now, that's a quantum leap, and
that can happen if the internal worldhas some sort of alignment to it.
(04:34):
Would you agree?
Absolutely.
Yeah, I would, and that, to, to yourpoint, those people that might be
watching and they're down and they'redepressed and they're feeling like,
hey, they're not hitting their goals.
I'll tell ya, that's the mostbeautiful moment right there.
Because you're not happy withyour current situation, you're not
complacent, and that's when you'rereally willing to do something about it.
(04:55):
I always say the hardest thing, andI know this is counterintuitive,
But some of our largest enemies issuccess, because when people are
successful, they become complacent.
They accept the status quo,they fought and they scraped
and
scratched to get to where they are, andnow they hit this crossroads in life.
Do you want to continue to scrapeand scratch when you're comfortable?
(05:18):
But when you're uncomfortable, you'rewilling to do whatever it takes.
So don't feel bad about that.
That's a beautiful moment.
And I always look back and say, those werethe greatest moments, for me personally.
So you're in a
Unique spot where you couldnow create your destiny.
And,
Yeah, I envy that a little bit for thosethat are in that position and we're
(05:40):
yeah, those are very important lessons toexperience, something wakes up inside of
you when you hit those type of terminalsand you want to be uncomfortable, I
always have some sort of uncomfortablefeeling and maybe this is a little bit
extreme, but for example, I like tokeep myself hungry, I like that feeling.
(06:01):
I know it's weird, but I like being aware.
Of that feeling, a freezing cold showergoing outside standing for five minutes,
without anything in the cold and the snow.
I'll do stuff like that just to feel it.
There's something about it.
A lot of power behind it.
Yeah, you feel alive.
Yeah,
I know exactly what you mean when you'recomfortable and everything is going
(06:25):
that's what we all strive for right?
Yeah,
but the funny thing there's afunny thing that occurs when you're
there You're like this all there is
that's it.
Yeah And really the juice of
that.
Yeah, the juice is in thejourney more so than in the end
Yeah, so true, man.
Self storage, I've beenhearing a lot about it.
(06:46):
I got some guests on here before talkingabout it and manufactured housing.
They're very interesting, everyone's focusis on growing the portfolio by getting
the houses and renting them but there'ssomething very special about self storage
from my research, from the guest I wasblessed enough to interview, they're
(07:07):
saying that because of that credit cardnature of it is that people don't want
to let go of these memories and that theyhave from their parents, grandparents,
they don't want to throw it away.
They just want to keep it there.
It's regular cash flowthat they experience, but.
From your point of view, from yourexperience and your building of this
wealth and portfolio and helping othersdo the same, can you share why you like
(07:35):
these, obviously recession proof butis there anything else that you could
share, why you really focus on selfstorage and manufacture residential units?
Yeah, there, there's several reasons.
I started investing in bothasset classes back in 2007.
So I've been in this gamefor, 17 years now, 18 years,
(07:58):
and
they're fantastic for several reasons.
I think you hit on one of them, Shahid,and that's the recession resilience.
The nature of these twoproblems has been down markets.
People tend to flockto affordable housing.
They tend to be more transient, and theneed and the demand for storage rises.
But a couple other reasons why I like theasset class is they're mostly, for the
(08:21):
most part, mom and pop owned and operated.
They're very fragmented in that sense,where there's not a lot of institutional
Ownership, if you're going to try toget into multifamily or you're trying
to get an industrial that's challenging,there's a lot of institutional ownership.
Those owners typically don't want tosell, the pricing is very efficient here.
(08:42):
There's a lot of mismanagementand under management.
That's where our team comes in.
We solve those inefficiencies.
We call ourselves a value add firm.
So what that means is we identifywhere these properties are non
performing or underperforming and putsimply, we fix those inefficiencies
to make the assets more profitable.
(09:04):
Kind of hold it for the long termmake nice size distributions for
our investors and then five toten years we sell the asset for
Significantly more than what we pay.
Significantly
is the key word.
Yes, very key
yeah, sometimes I'll notice a Selfstorage unit and I'm telling you
Matthew that it's in bad shape, you canuplift and it will amplify that value.
(09:29):
The typical thing that youwant to do in real estate.
You want to increase the valueof the property to refinance it.
Yeah, there's a number ofways you could do that.
There's, we call themlevers you could pull.
You could bring rents to a market level.
You can, invest capital backinto the project, make it more.
Pleasant, more appealing whereresidents want to live there.
(09:49):
You could fill vacant units, in ourmanufactured housing communities.
I think we're in anaffordable housing crisis
in this
country.
A lot of folks are being displacedand they can't find a place to live.
We're positioning ourselvesas a solution for that.
You talk about at the beginning ofyour show, you mentioned we give back
in the communities that we invest
in.
I think that's the bestway we could do it.
(10:10):
We provide a great sourceof affordable housing.
These people could come in, they could buythat home, they've got pride of ownership.
They actually get to own an assetwhere in a rental industry, say they
want to rent an apartment or to buya home, they just can't afford it.
Here we're allowing them the opportunityto actually own their own home,
(10:31):
they're building equity, they'reproud of it, they're proud to call it
home, they raise a family in there.
And our investors do well because wecould sell these homes very easily
because of the ever growing demand.
The rents continue to rise
because of
the demand in these marketplaces.
And it's a win all around.
And we're really blessed andfortunate to be in this industry.
(10:55):
Yeah.
You're not manufacturingthese units yourself,
You're buying them.
Yeah, we buy 'em from a manufacturer.
Okay.
So typically we'll buy a new home andthere's several of them out there.
It depends on the geography, butwe'll go out, we'll buy a home.
When we have a vacant site inour community, we'll transport
the home to that site.
We'll set it up, hook up the utilities,and then market that home for sale.
(11:17):
. And then,
Residents start applying.
We'll bring in a resident,sell them that home.
We help them obtain financing.
And they have an opportunity to owna home where if we weren't doing
these things, they probably wouldn't.
So it's again, it's aunique position to be in.
Yeah.
And the vacant lot is ityour own land or is it those
(11:39):
So think about a mobile home community.
Let's say you've got 100, 200, 300sites and you've got a concrete slab
there, but there's no home there, whichis very common in these communities.
So our job and another lever topull to create value is we buy homes
and we fill those vacant sites.
As that occupancy grows, the value ofthe property grows in direct proportion.
(12:04):
So you've got more rental revenue comingin the value of commercial real estate,
of course being evaluated based on a caprate as we grow that revenue, there's
really not much incremental expense
drops to the bottom line, morecashflow, more value at the asset.
We are, investors are happy.
They're getting largerdistribution, homebuyers happy.
(12:27):
They get to own a homein a great community.
No,
it's a great cause, man.
I love it.
I noticed that you get 92%, 92percent of your deals off market.
Yeah.
How the heck do you do that?
And I don't know if you want to shareit, but yeah, that's obviously great,
but then how do you keep that longtermtrust as well, from getting those leads.
(12:49):
Sure.
Sure.
The way we do that, and this kind ofgoes back in history when I started
my business, the way I did it is justpicking up the phone, networking, building
relationships with owner operators withthe intent of buying their community,
buying their self storage facility.
And that initiative hasn'tchanged at all today.
(13:10):
We've got eight full timesalespeople in our company.
And this comes back to the verticalintegration where we're doing
most things in healthier time.
But these individuals that are workingfor us, they're reaching out to these
owner operators on a daily basis,making 50, 100 contacts a day, meeting
them face to face, having dinner withthem, talking to them about CrystalView
(13:35):
and how we're a great steward.
For their assets and then these folksdon't have to pay a brokerage commission.
They're coming direct to us.
It's a little bit harder work, butwe've procured some proprietary
software and data over the 20years I've been in the business.
I think we have more robust datathan anyone in the self storage
and manufactured housing spacefor information on owners anyway.
(13:59):
And a lot of them know me, frankly,since I've been in this business so long.
I've been talking to some of thesame people for 10 or 15 years
It's just a function ofhey following up again.
I know you didn't sell last yearWe've been talking for 15 years.
Do you want to sell this year?
I'd love to be considered and Thoserelationships going back to luck, like
(14:19):
we talked about at the beginning of ourshow and then our meeting here today,
that's
what it is at the end of the day, it'sbuilding relationships, and that's how
we've been able to source 92 percent off
market.
It's incredible because at the endof the day, what I see is life in
whole is just one big relationship,,it's the relationships that matter,
(14:40):
if you focus on the relationships,those Hey, The transactions happen
because everybody needs something.
Everybody wants to grow, everybody wantsmore life, more money, more success,
more happiness, more fulfillment.
We're always prone as a human being.
When you build a relationship,when there's genuine
relationship, that you start.
Helping each other, and then thetrust starts building as well,
(15:03):
absolutely, your both parties are helping.
So the people that you work withthey're getting a benefit You're getting
everybody's winning the investors arewinning So now if someone has a hundred
thousand dollars, they would put with you.
What kind of return can they expect?
Yeah, it's a great question.
In our first fund you mentioned ourreturns and where we stand out amongst
our peers and competitors because of thereturns that we've historically delivered.
(15:25):
And that's 100 percentaccurate in our first one.
We thought we bought about80 million in assets.
We sold them all off and our funddelivered a 47 percent internal rate
of return Net of fees, about 38 percentto our investors in that first fund.
Right now we're raisingcapital in our fund for.
(15:49):
And, but typically whatinvestors can expect, we pay
an 8 percent preferred return.
So they receive an 8 percent cashon cash return on an annual basis.
And then from an IRR, an internalrate of return basis, typically we're
hitting, we guide to high teens, lowtwenties, but typically it's been 25
(16:10):
percent plus based off our performance.
So we like to underpromise and over deliver.
That's what we have.
And what's the minimum someone could, isit accredited investors only or anyone?
It's accredited investors onlyand the minimum check is 50, 000.
Okay.
All right.
(16:30):
And now when it comes to, taking theseunderperforming proper properties and
turning them around, can you share somestrategies that you follow that could help
someone in a similar business or even intheir own business that they could do?
Yeah, I think it's very, at the end ofthe day, what we do, Shahid, it's actually
(16:52):
very simple with what's not so simple asexecution, because the execution requires
a lot of choreography, working with largeteams, and it requires a lot of hard work.
And as this day and age.
People don't like to work very hardand that's part of our culture.
It's roll up.
It's all mindset.
Yeah.
We outwork everyone else.
(17:13):
And that's really been our secret sauce.
A lot of people on my teamsay, Hey, why do you tell them
exactly how you do these things?
Aren't you worried?
They're going to go out and do it.
I said, I'll tell them exactly whatI do because I know nobody's going to
work like us at the end of the day.
So there is no secret there,but back to your question.
It's having an eye toidentify value, right?
(17:36):
Regardless of what you do.
For us, our business happens to beself storage and manufactured housing.
But that could be, in corporate,private and corporate businesses.
You could identify undervalueif you were a stock picker.
Perhaps you could take a look at a companyand say, Hey, here's the value of the
net asset value that I'm looking at here,and I believe based off the growth and
(18:01):
the management, this company is going tobe worth significantly more over time.
The only difference is we have control.
If you're a stock picker,you don't have any control.
What we could do is we coulddirectly influence value.
And the way we do that is first weidentify where it's non performing or
underperforming, where it's broken,let's say, and then we simply fix
(18:22):
it by pulling different levers.
And again, those levers couldbe filling vacant sites.
It could be bringing rents to a marketlevel, it could be cutting costs, it
could be investing capital back intothe project, which is going to make it
more appealing, putting professionalmarketing in place, or it could
be a various combination thereof.
But we have the expertise to knowwhich of those levers we need to pull
(18:47):
and which cadence, and that comesfrom years and years of doing it.
It's we say more art than science,
Regardless if you're in the selfstorage or mobile home space or what
industry you're in, start looking atdeals, start understanding what makes,
where you could maximize value andwhat you're looking at today, how it's
underperforming, how it could be madebetter and become a master in your craft.
(19:11):
And the way to do that is put in the time,put in the energy, put in the passion.
And over time, if you really believein yourself and what you're doing and
have the passion, you'll get there.
Okay, that's good.
Thank you so much.
Matthew it's just incredible what's outthere, there's so many opportunities
(19:33):
out there, so much help availableEveryone, and sometimes we just don't
take the action or like you mentioned,maybe laziness, or I think it's a purely
mindset, majority of it, but you'rehere, you have this great opportunity
where people could come in to buildtheir wealth and you will do it for them.
(19:55):
They just have to bring the money.
That's right.
They're passive in nature.
And a lot of these folks aresuccessful business people
that have sold their business.
A lot of our investors are formersellers, so we come to them, we buy their
property, we execute our business plan,we make that property more valuable.
And they look and they say, wow,I've owned this for 20 or 30 years.
(20:17):
I didn't see the angles you saw.
You know what I want to do with allthis money I just got from the sale.
I want to invest it back with you.
And allow you to do this timeand time again, and I'll just
sit back and I don't have to dealwith the headaches of property
management or dealing with people.
I'll let you execute on theseproperties and I reap the rewards.
(20:38):
The returns are
good.
Yeah, the returns are fantastic.
No, it's good.
It's a good relationship.
Definitely.
I noticed that you put in a lotof your personal money into it.
I don't know if you still do it, butinitially I guess you might have.
You still do?
Oh, absolutely.
I don't think you could be, I don't thinkyou could be a sponsor or a manager if you
(20:59):
don't put your money where your mouth is.
We say we eat our own cooking, right?
Yeah.
If you claim to be a great chef, thenyou should eat what you cook, right?
And for me There's a problem if
you're not eating it.
That's right.
I'm not going to say I'm a chef andI cook a meal, but then I go down
to Charlie's Hamburger stand and eatthere, that doesn't make much sense.
(21:21):
I don't think, I don't think thecustomers coming in my restaurant
are going to think I really believein my product and the way I, Yeah,
It's so true, Matthew.
And same way with mypassion, for example, mindset
transformation, I have to live it.
I have to be the product of the product.
I have to breathe and live and wakeup and sleep that world for me to be.
(21:45):
Anywhere successful with anybody else,it's impossible because you're not gonna
know how to guide them when they hitthe bump that they'll definitely hit.
You need to be able to tell'em, oh, I've been there.
You know you could help them, right?
That's right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You gotta believe in your product.
You gotta believe in yourself.
And investors, I could tellyou, they appreciate that.
(22:05):
They feel that alignment ofinterest, so that's another reason.
Do we see the
belief?
Yeah, the
conscious.
Yeah.
And I'll tell you, I alsodo it for selfish reasons.
And I'll tell you what those are.
I don't know how to get a betterreturn than what we're doing.
So it's really simple and naturaland logical that as I earn revenue
personally, and as I earn incomepersonally, I just reinvested back
(22:29):
into my funds as a limited partner.
And I don't get any special treatment.
I invest under the sameterms as everybody else.
Good.
That's excellent matthew and
Can you share any Any tips foranybody that deals with investing?
Or even running their businessThat you may have learned in your
(22:52):
experience with the ups and downsHow you remain, confident, positive
and calm In your day to day work.
Yeah it's a great question.
And I think you hit on this alittle bit earlier It's inevitable.
You're gonna hit those bumps, right?
Before you go into business justknow that's gonna happen for sure,
(23:12):
there's just no way around thatand that's okay It's not so much
that the bumps are going to occur.
It's how you're going to deal with thebumps And I think for every person it's
a little different, you know for me.
It's always approaching thingsfrom a rational mindset.
And the way you do that is youalways have to have a clear mind.
If you're going into business and,you're not getting proper sleep, or
(23:36):
going out partying late at night, And
Eating unhealthy and not taking care ofyour body, your mind's not gonna be clear.
And when your mind's not clear, it's verychallenging to make the right decision.
So I think
That's the logical start.
Yeah.
Good.
Take care of your, take care of your body.
Take care of the temple.
Take care of your mind.
So now that's only the beginning.
(23:56):
Then I think it comes back into wheredo you want to guide your company?
What's your belief system?
What type of team do you wantto surround yourself with?
What's the culture?
Within your company and you want to buildupon that and for us we really have a
flat hierarchy So when we hit bumps inthe road, I really want to empower those
on my team to make decisions As theirowners, as the company themselves, we
(24:21):
have this monitoring, think like an owner.
We've got this flat hierarchy and we'repushing decision making rights down.
So I'm not going to say everybody'sequal, but we allow an idea meritocracy
where we want to hear from people on thefield, what's going on at your property.
(24:41):
Yeah.
We want to allow them to make decisions.
And I think when you have thatculture and that philosophy, A lot
of the, when you hit the bumps in theroad, if you come from that common
mindset with the rest of your team,a lot of decisions are made for you,
great Matthew, man.
It was great talking to you, brother.
And I wish you all the success, health.
(25:02):
Yeah.
And the ability to continue helpingothers, the money is going to come and go.
We're not going to take it with us.
So the impact that you make beforethis, journey is going to end, I'm
sorry, I don't want to say that, butI'm saying eventually it's going to end.
What kind of impact, whatkind of life changing.
(25:22):
Work did you do for the other generation?
So I really i'm grateful to be inthis position to help you spread
that message, think about it.
It's so big
Absolutely.
Yes, I think you hit it onyou hit the nail on the head.
What's our legacy?
You're not going to take anythingwith you But what can you give
back, that's the stuff that matters.
Yeah, brother.
(25:43):
All right, my friend Thank you so much.
Keep in touch.
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