The Secret to Buying Commercial Real Estate
WITHOUT Cash
Most people think you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to get into commercial real estate. The truth? You don’t.
In this video, I break down exactly how I got into one of my first commercial buildings in East Nashville with zero cash out of pocket. The property was 40% vacant, losing money, and overlooked by most investors. I stepped in with no capital—just leasing expertise, property management systems, and a plan to add value. Within two years, we stabilized the property to nearly 100% occupancy, more than doubled the building’s value, and I walked away with equity… without writing a single check.
You’ll learn:
The 3 principles that let me earn equity from day one (with no money invested)
How to package your skills to solve real problems for owners
How to turn one win into a repeatable flywheel for consistent deals
Get commercial real estate coaching, courses, and community to jumpstart your investment journey over at CRE Central: www.crecentral.com
Key Takeaways:
You can enter commercial real estate without large cash investments by solving specific problems for property owners.
Three core principles for entering commercial real estate:
Define a clear transformation statement
Package your unique value proposition
Know your monetization model from the start
The commercial real estate "flywheel" strategy:
Find a struggling asset
Solve the property's problems
Get compensated through fees or equity
Use the success as a track record for future deals
Types of prospects:
Cold: Unaware of potential ownership opportunities
Warm: Struggling with property management
Hot: Have capital but need operators/deals
Specific strategies to add value:
Improve property marketing
Renovate and upgrade spaces
Reduce operational expenses
Build tenant relationships
Increase rental rates
Entry points can include:
Leasing expertise
Property management
Deal sourcing
Partnership development
About Your Host:
Tyler Cauble, Founder & President of The Cauble Group, is a commercial real estate broker and investor based in East Nashville. He’s the best selling author of Open for Business: The Insider’s Guide to Leasing Commercial Real Estate and has focused his career on serving commercial real estate investors.
Episode Transcript:
Tyler Cauble 0:00
Most people think that you need hundreds of 1000s of dollars to get into commercial real estate, but I got into one of my first commercial buildings, a struggling office property here in East Nashville with zero cash out of my own pocket. When I stepped in, it was 40% occupied and bleeding cash. Today it's nearly 100% leased. The building's value has more than doubled, and I walked away with real equity without writing a single check. This isn't some quick bait story. This is exactly how I broke into commercial real estate by bringing value instead of capital, and it's one of the many strategies that I teach to our members in the CRE accelerator. Mastermind. In this video, I'm going to show you exactly how I did it. You'll learn the three principles that allowed me to earn equity from day one without investing cash, how to package your skills and solve problems for owners, and how to turn one win into a repeatable deal, generating flywheel if you want to shortcut your learning curve. I've also put together a deal analysis toolkit to help you evaluate deals like a pro. That link is in the description, so let's get to it.
Tyler Cauble 1:07
I'm Tyler Cobble, founder and CEO of cre central.com, and I didn't start off as some big time investor. I came up in commercial real estate as a broker and property manager here in Nashville, back in 2019 I got called in on a property that was really struggling, an office building on Dickerson pike. It was sitting at 40% occupancy, tenants returning. The management was messy, and the owner was just kind of stuck. So instead of listing the building or just offering advice, I pitched him something different. Let me handle the leasing and the management. And when I turned this around, iron equity, No cash, no capital investment, just sweat equity for solving a real problem that they had, that apparently no other broker or management company could solve. Fast forward two years, we hit over 92% occupancy, stabilized the income and more than doubled the building's value. This deal changed everything for me and for my partners in the deal. Let's get into principle number one, define your transformation statement before you ever step into a deal, you need to be crystal clear on one thing, who do you help and what specific problem do you solve? Most people come into commercial real estate thinking, I just want to buy buildings, but that's not really a business model. That's just a wish. When I started on Dickerson Pike, I wasn't an owner, but I was a problem solver. My transformation statement was pretty simple. I help landlords struggling with vacancies turn around their properties to maximize their cash flow and equity. That's it. That's what opened the door. I didn't come in with capital. I came in with clarity. I knew how to fill the space, I knew how to manage the operations. I knew how to stabilize the income, and because I could clearly articulate that, I became valuable to these owners before ever being a partner. So if you're watching this, ask yourself, Who do you help? What is the main problem that you solve? What's the transformation that you will deliver? Because in commercial real estate, you don't need money if you can create value. Principle number two, package your value before you own anything. This is the secret to getting into deals with no money down. When I took on the Dickerson pike building, I only owned a couple of other smaller buildings, but what I did have was a package leasing expertise, management systems and the willingness to show up and just put in the work. That's what I brought to the table. If you're just starting out, your package might be leasing agent services, bird dogging, or sourcing deals property management or even connecting capital with opportunities. It doesn't have to be flashy, it just has to be valuable. Because here's the truth, you can start getting paid before you ever own anything if you solve real problems. For real owners, they can compensate you with fees, commissions, even equity in a deal. The mistake that most people make is thinking that they have to wait until they buy something to start earning anything. And that's just not true. And look, if you're not sure what value you can bring or how to frame it to an owner, the deal analysis toolkit will help you. It's not just about underwriting. It shows you how to evaluate what a property needs, so that you can plug yourself in with confidence. You can find that link in the description below your value is your entry point. Package it up. Lead with it, and doors will open. Principle number three, know your money maker from day one. Let me be real with you. You don't just stumble into commercial real estate success. When I took on diggers and pike, I didn't just hope something good would happen. I had a plan for how I would be compensated from day one. I knew that I'd be earning leasing commissions. I'd earn property management fees, and if I executed well, I'd get equity in the deal. That's the part that most beginners skip. They focus on the property, the numbers, the deal, but they never ask, how do I actually bring enough value to get paid from this? And then they wonder why they're spinning their wheels before you step into any opportunity, figure out your monetization model. Are you getting paid commissions? If so, you need to know everything about finding tenants and leasing space in your market. Are you charging for services? If so, just provide the highest quality services possible. Are you working toward equity? If so, what value are you bringing? Bringing to the table to earn that equity without cash. Is this a fee for service or long term partnership? Either way, make sure you negotiate that upfront and get everything in writing. Don't just jump into projects because they sound cool and you just want to get in on one. Get clear on your role, your responsibilities and your revenue streams before you ever make a move. That's how you make money in cre from day one. Now, let's talk about my commercial real estate flywheel, because this is how you turn one opportunity into a repeatable business. Every deal you touch should feed the next. That's what creates momentum. So here's how this flywheel works. Step number one, you find a struggling asset or a motivated owner. Not every property is a deal, but every problem that you come across is an opportunity. Step two, solve that problem that could mean leasing up a vacant building, improving management or restructuring the operations. Step three, you get compensated through fees or equity or both. Ideally, that way, you're not waiting for a big refinance check three years down the line, you're earning value as you create value. And step number four, that win becomes your track record. Now you've got a story, you've got credibility, and guess what, more people will start coming your way with deals, capital opportunities. That's exactly what happened to me after this project, that one turnaround from 40% occupancy to over 92% the value doubled. That became my calling card. It led to more owners trusting me more partners, inviting me in, and more deals hitting my desk. And the best part, I didn't need to start with capital. I started with my own time and effort. So that's the commercial real estate flywheel. Once it starts turning, it gets easier every single time, I promise. Now, let me break down something for you that'll save you a ton of time as you start actually implementing this approach, understanding the difference between cold, warm and hot prospects in commercial real estate, because not every owner or investor is at the same stage, and if you bring the wrong solution to the wrong person, you're probably gonna miss that opportunity completely. So here's how I think about it, cold prospects, these are maybe small business owners, right, who are just leasing space, and they don't even realize that they could own the building that they operate in. They're not actively looking for deals, but they're sitting on a lot of potential. If you can educate them and guide them, you can become their partner in ownership. Warm prospects might be landlords with high vacancies, poor management, operational issues. Maybe they're just busy. They know something's wrong, they just don't know how to fix it. That's where you come in. If you can build a clear package, leasing, management, deal, restructuring, you can walk into a deal with no money and still earn equity. Hot prospects are investors with capital, but no deals, no operators or no systems. They're actively looking for someone like you to bring them projects, run the operations or improve the performance of an asset they already own. Your job is to figure out where someone is in their journey and bring the right solution at the right time. That's how you stop being just another person interested in owning commercial properties and start becoming someone who adds value. Let's break down the full turnaround of the Dickerson pike office building, because this wasn't just about filling space. It was about repositioning a totally forgotten asset into something actually valuable. The challenge was, this building was sitting at 40% occupancy. It doesn't take an expert to know that's not good. Most of the tenants were professional services, therapists, consultants, small firms, and honestly, we didn't change that tenant time much. We just changed the presentation and positioning of the property through our leasing strategy. We improved the marketing through my brokerage the cobble group, upgraded signage, better photos, better online visibility and broker outreach. We also gave the building new life. We renovated the exterior, freshened up all the common areas, and suddenly it started turning heads again. We signed leases through cold calls and online inquiries, broker networks, every channel that we could tap into. We used operationally. We cut expenses hard. We switched to LED lighting, locked down all of the thermostats, tinted all of the windows, small moves that made a big, big impact on our utility costs. Then we raised rents because the building justified it. It looked better, it felt better, and tenants saw the value. And how do we keep those tenants simple? We responded, we built relationships, we stayed in touch, we fixed things fast. That alone is what keeps most of your tenants happy. And we knew we had momentum when the renovations wrapped up and we started signing lease after lease consistently. That's when the flywheel started spinning. The results were that the NOI jumped thanks to higher rents and lower expenses. The lender saw the improved performance and was much more confident in us and the asset. We didn't need a reappraisal to tell us the new value, the new market value, really spoke for itself. And because of how we structured the deal, I earned equity for executing the plan without investing a dime of my own capital. This deal didn't just create cash flow, it created a platform. It proved that with the right skill set and execution you can enter a commercial real estate deal without money. You just need to solve whatever that real problem is and structure your value the right way. So how do you apply all this to yourself? Let me break it down in four simple steps. Step one, pick your way. Are you bringing leasing expertise, property management, deal sourcing, partnerships, you don't need to do it all. You just need to do one strong entry point. Step two, craft. Your transformation statement, get crystal clear. This is your elevator pitch on who you help and what specific problem you solve. Owners don't want theory. They want clarity and results. Step three, know how you'll get paid, whether it's fees, commissions, equity, define your monetization method upfront. That's how you make money from day one, not year five, and make sure everybody's on the same page as you jump into this step four target distressed assets and motivated owners, that's where the doors open for no money down deals. If you bring real value, you won't have to bring cash. You don't need deep pockets to get started in commercial real estate. What you need is a clear offer, a way to execute, and the confidence to lead with value. It's exactly what I did at this building right here. Dickerson Pike, no cash in, equity out and a stabilized building that became the foundation for everything that came from me next. If you want help evaluating deals the way we did on this project and spotting ones worth chasing, download my deal analysis toolkit. It's free. It's in the description, and it'll help you build confidence in every deal that you look at. If this video helped you rethink how to break into commercial real estate.