Evan Mouhalis
@EvanMouhalis
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Retail/Medical focused CRE developer & franchisee of RNR Tire Express. Father of 4 & lucky husband 🙏🏻. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Port St Lucie, FL
Joined April 2022
How I got started as a CRE investor/developer: 2010: Graduated from FSU w/a degree in finance. 3.0 GPA. Partied hard, enjoyed myself, a lot. Probably too much… Definitely too much. 2010-2013: Switch flipped for me after graduation. Worked in finance for FL’s largest private home builder. Learned the development biz from finance perspective. Worked 12 hour days in the beginning & enrolled in UF’s professional MBA program at same time (nights / weekends = fully engaged with work & learning). By early 2012, I had mastered my job (8 hr days) + finished my MBA program. Felt like I could take on a second job. Started buying, renting/flipping houses on the side to fill the newfound time I had, bought REO’s from banks at big discounts (partnered w/my dad for capital). I managed the flips, hired help from Home Depot parking lots and did a lot of the work myself on night/weekends. Started to make decent $$ on the side but nothing crazy. 2014-2015: Kept flipping houses on side. Got job at LNR (CMBS special servicer) as analyst in loan asset management. Great experience, underwrote billions of $ of cre transactions. Promoted to associate quickly, managed a book defaulted loans/negotiated work outs. Learned what not to do in CRE biz. 2015-2016: Kept flipping houses on side. Got promoted, to Starwood’s (owner of LNR) capital markets group in their mortgage REIT, moved to SF. Huge deal volume. Placed ~$3B of capital annually with small team. Felt like I was on top of finance world, but not fulfilled & didn’t like long term prospect of staying the course. 2016: Made ~$90k in 44 days flipping a house in SE FL from SF. Made the decision on a walk around Lake Tahoe one weekend. Quit my job & moved back to SFL w/my wife (recently married). 2017: I “became” a developer. Stopped flipping houses. Waning REO supply & increase demand = lower margins & hard to scale. I was determined to figure out how to start my own CRE development/investment shop so I could apply/combine all of my professional experience to my side hustle, tried a couple of different strategies before one stuck (different partners, a little cre brokerage etc). Found my first cre development deal on the MLS (will write separate post about it - it was an adventure in and of itself!). 0.5 acre site on a lighted intersection across street from a Publix. Hired best consultants in market to guide me through first deal - 4,200 SF build to suit for MD Now urgent care. Got lucky. Made $. Spent a lot of time getting laughed at @ ICSC shows in the beginning - would tell people I was starting a development shop with little development & no construction experience or relationships and had multiple people laugh at me / brush me off / not take me seriously. Kept at it, cold called tenants and land owners - kept the faith! Deals & relationships started flowing after a couple of years. I was persistent as hell. Was pretty low on cash personally for first 3 years (lived off wife’s nursing salary + supplemented with a little cre brokerage on side) - fortunate to have my dad as LP to fund the deals we ended up finding, he has never given me $$, only lent it to me (always have paid him back) and acted as a true LP. 2020-now: Tides have turned, with the help of so many amazing people/tenants/partners/consultants, we have done some amazing deals (over $80MM of deals underway/completed - most after 2020), made amazing $$, & we’re now preferred developers for a handful of national brands. First grocery anchored mixed use development currently under construction. 2021: Hired/partnered with my younger brother (former investment banker) to run construction & development. Kid is an animal and makes my life so much easier. I am very blessed - it has been a wild ride. Tons of risk & sleepless nights. Highs are high & lows are low, but I wouldn’t change a thing!
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@TRUmav Bankers are people who will give you an umbrella when it’s sunny & asks for it back when it starts to rain 😀
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@AaronAZucker 😂 trying to make it happen, we’ll see. Her initial response “do you realize how many children we have!?” lol
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As it becomes clear that @DOGE is working, you will see the long-term Treasury bill yields fall. And all Americans will benefit from lower interest payments on mortgages, small business debt, credit card and other loans.
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@chriswhatch @gas_biz @realEstateTrent @shawngorham @jambazzombie @CoyDavidsonCRE @jandreini1 @TeamHerrold @kylematthewsceo @KCmolzer @TripleNetTyler @TylerAlley_MCR First of many good times to come!
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@chriswhatch @gas_biz @realEstateTrent @shawngorham @jambazzombie @CoyDavidsonCRE @jandreini1 @TeamHerrold @kylematthewsceo @KCmolzer @TripleNetTyler @TylerAlley_MCR 😂 we’ll probably never know
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