Tyler Kastelberg @tylerkastelberg Twitter profile

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Tyler Kastelberg

11 months

For those new to following me - I'm Tyler, and I run a proptech company called Bullpen ( @bullpenre ). Here is my story, how I went about starting Bullpen, and where we are today -- 🧵

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I bought an 8-unit apartment building in June 2016 for $350,000 It lost $50,000 and was my last real estate investment ever Here's the painful story:

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

In 2009, KB Homes built Anavia, 250 condo units in Anaheim, CA But the financial crisis hit, and KB Homes had to sell it Essex Property Trust swooped in and acquired the property They switched it to apartments 12 years later, they sold it for $160M to Chapman University They

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Unpopular opinion for REtwit ... Friends of ours invited us over for a holiday party recently They just bought a $5M+ home in SF Both are W2 employees at FAANG companies A-players in their respective divisions Happily 9-5(ish) Will retire in 10 or so years wildly wealthy

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

Even when entrepreneurship sucks, I still have 100% control over my time. Thats a trade off I’ll stand by any day.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

@moseskagan Faithful servants of our country. Brings me back to Iwo Jima.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

A few months back, I built an online scraper Turns out, it's very useful for real estate professionals Every day, it aggregates the top commercial real estate brokerage reports into one, easy to search database Last week, we added 35 market reports Check it out 👇

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

He paid $60k and leased the property for 10% more than my mortgage I still own the property I came out of pocket to make my investors whole There you have it… My first and last real estate deal as a GP

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I started @bullpenre on a beach in June 2018 for $0 Today, it does ~ $250,000 / month Here's the story 👇

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@bentigg No way - it would have wayyy less land

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

11 months

Massive opportunity to give a boost to the middle class - allow nanny payroll to be fully tax deductible. When families hire a nanny, they have to pay them as a W2 employee, which means the family covers employer-side payroll taxes. The crazy part is that families pay for

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

@KenjiCapital I was scammed out of $10k on Coinbase and they couldn’t/wouldn’t back it. I don’t trust the security.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@CoyDavidsonCRE You have an infant 👶

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

As you know, heat rises Tenants on the top floor had their windows open because it was too hot The tenant on the first floor kept increasing the heat because they were cold Natural gas bill arrives in the mail… $3,400… For one month

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

After an incredible time at @REconveneLA , I’ve decided I want to become more active on ReTwit About Me: -Founded @bullpenre in 2018 - a real estate focused proptech company based in San Francisco -Previously an investment banker - corporate life was NOT a good fit for me

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Instead of my underwritten $800 / month on repairs, we had 3 months straight of $3,000+ in repairs Then winter came…. It gets worse I found out there was one thermostat that controlled the whole house (”minor” oversight when I bought the property)

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

View from the children’s museum this morning. It’s easy to hate on San Francisco, but there’s a reason so many folks (including me) love it here.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Bullpen is THE place to hire freelancers in the real estate industry. To date, we have more than 4,000 professionals in our network and have helped more than 1,000 companies hire. BUT - there is a catch. We don't support small projects ... 10-hour modeling gigs, one pitch deck,

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

The first property was a student rental and it could not have gone better The underwritten returns were being smashed I started to feel like I knew what I was doing! After gaining confidence, I decided to step it up a level

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 years

Excited for tonight's premiere of the new season of #fixerupper @chippergaines @joannagaines @MagnoliaHomesTx

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I don’t care if you like Jamie Dimon or not… This is a 1 minute masterclass on risk management and interest rates 👇

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I was working in investment banking in San Francisco But the job wasn’t for me So in 2016, I decided to acquire a townhouse in Blacksburg, VA

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

A key part of starting a business is not being smart enough to know it's a bad idea

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@aaroncbailey @todayyearsoldig Why do they say break a leg? Always wondered …

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

In 2018, legendary venture capitalist Bill Gurley gave a speech to an MBA class called: “How to succeed and thrive in a career you love” One aspect of that speech… Using Twitter Remarkable he said this in 2018

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Thankfully, winter faded and spring arrived With the winter behind us, the exterior capex project commenced Remember how I mentioned it was a 100-year old property? It was historical - fml… So that capex project - the town told us not so fast! We couldn’t catch a break

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@DallasAptGP Is $100M now considered a billion?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

I’m very bullish on SF office. Spoke with a VC this morning who shared that remote startup teams are performing worse than in-person teams. I’ve heard this confirmed now several times. Companies will need a place to meet - and office supply is capped by regulation in SF. In

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

To raise the equity, I tapped my network in San Francisco Shockingly, that was the easy part We closed, and got started on the business plan Quickly, I realized I had severely underestimated the cost of repairs

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

11 months

@KarinaVlaw Found a link to the document. One troubling component is asking the officers to assess the severity of the crime before deciding to pursue. The police are not the legislative branch and shouldn’t be tasked with determining what is a crime.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

@ndrewcasper You’re welcome - nobody in CRE has a perfect record

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I found an 8-unit in Portsmouth, VA It was a charming 100-year old property, it just needed some exterior work It was previously a home that was transformed into 8 units I ran through that underwriting a thousand times...

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

Shared a beer this afternoon with @shiloebear and was struck by 2 things: 1) She knows BOTH real estate and how to build very high margin services business, and 2) Her knowledge of development in Oakland is unmatched by anyone I’ve ever met Very impressive individual.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

$800 / month on repairs $400 / month for heat (not billed back) $20,000 for exterior capex … You get the point

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

@sweatystartup My bet is on fully autonomous- most fields are managed autonomously already - farmer just manages edge cases

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

If you are in commercial real estate, when @MassimoGroup talks - you should listen This is a next level strategy, if I don’t say so myself 😉

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

Really great time at @REconveneLA this year. Met some great folks, and look forward to reconnecting with them next year.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

2 years

Something I wish I knew when starting out ... If the average annual value of your customer is less than $2k, you can't afford a sales team. If it's >$5k, you can do inbound selling (customers need to come to you) If it's >$30k, you can do outbound sales (cold calling, etc)

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Great to connect with this crew earlier today!

StripMallGuy

@realEstateTrent

8 months

This app is absolutely wild. I few days ago I shared I was going on a walk in San Francisco at 8am today in one of my favorite spots in the world, and asked if anyone wanted to join me. DMs started coming in - what an insane group of folks doing amazing things!

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

@DanJohnsonCRE All of this sounds reasonable - shocking the current regime didn’t prioritize it

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

After a few short years, we decided to sell I found a buyer, but he couldn’t get financing I was desperate to get out So we arranged a master lease with an option to buy in 2024

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@Dan__Lewin Great question- I liked the picture.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

I firmly believe the best side hustle in real estate is @bullpenre : •2 minutes to make an account •Get selected for short term projects •Work with extremely smart people in the industry •Make a LOT more than beer money No bias here, though 😅

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

Had a multibillion AUM family office approach us for help with their CRE portfolio - we furnished 6 VERY qualified consultants in under 48 hours, including an ex-partner at Blackstone … I didn’t even know we could do that - my mind is blown 🤯

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

I think this counts as my first twitter troll? Feeling like I'm officially part of #retwtit now - thank you!!

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

Headed to @REconveneLA . Fun Fact - This is the first conference I’ve been to since starting @bullpenre more than 5 years ago. Hoping to meet some fellow CRE nerds.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

3 years

@MasonFiascone @sweatystartup Agreed! Hard work is essential when starting a business, but it shouldn’t feel like consistent grinding. Anytime I feel like I’m grinding, it’s an indicator that I need to hire/outsource

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

5 months

Top Golf party on me - who wants to come? I recently won a Top Golf party in an office raffle. Our internal team is scattered, so I'd like to take some bay area CRE folks. Who is interested?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

2 years

Problem - There are a lot of small to mid-size sponsors, but I don’t know who to invest with. What’s the best resource for research on firms that take $50-$100k checks?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

Today - 1:30 PM ... heard from a client that they need a land entitlement expert to help with diligence on a deal between Austin and San Antonio ... it's urgent ... they go on-site next week. 2:00 PM ... the team posted the job to our network and started outreach 3:00 PM ...

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Took a fully autonomous @Waymo into work this morning. 3 things I liked about it more than Uber: 1) No awkward smells 2) No awkward conversation 3) Very gentle ride (easy on the gas and brakes) One more reason to be long SF ...

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Something I have come to learn about real estate: If you make a career in commercial real estate, it is VERY rare to have a perfect record Almost everyone has setbacks Its how you learn from those mistakes that yields the savvy investor

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

Hosting a happy hour in downtown SF with some CRE folks this Thursday, 5-7. Reply here and send me a DM if you’d like to join!

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

I was out one evening this week for a business meeting and my son attached himself to my hip over the next few days as a result. It’s really easy to forget the impact your presence has on your kids, but I was reminded how much he notices when i’m not there.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

I think about this Buffett quote often: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked” Friends: cover your eyes, the tide is going out and we are beginning to see naked swimmers

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Wild stat from a client with a big multifamily portfolio (who owns the management company): On average, on-site property management staff turns over every 4 months! Why? Price wars for experienced property managers The supply of talent is very low

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Had a drink with a friend and pitched our new software project WiCRE. I told him that we'd be okay making $20k monthly revenue from it at stabilization and didn't envision it being a big money maker. He encouraged me to design the revenue model to make $50k per month, and be ok

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

Best line from @fortworthchris podcast with Barry Sternlicht … “Every interaction is a branding moment, try to be nice”

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

I have a unique vantage point when it comes to the health of the real estate market: I talk with hundreds of companies a month about hiring (an indicator of economic strength) A few observations you should be aware of:

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Text from my wife this morning: I have a tweet for you. I was telling our CFO about your business and I explained how it pivoted from tech to staffing and how at first you felt like it wasn’t as glamorous. He said “you know what’s glamorous, cash flow.”

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@DonovanBuilds Currently tweeting from the hospital with my 1 day old yelling at me … SLEEP! Stay overnight and take the night shift changing diapers, holding, and bringing the baby to Mom.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

@Sumskillz Haha my nightmare

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

10 months

When you study the BEST real estate investors of this era (Ross / Schwarzman / Zell / Zeckendorf), EVERY one of them mentions one thing that’s helped them build their business: Hire the best talent, and nothing less

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

@recostseg A profitable PM business!? Who is this master jedi?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

5 months

@hitsamty Jake is a great guy - strong character with a big heart for the CRE industry. Definitely worth meeting him. Has been a big help for us at @bullpenre

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Already over 100 professionals signed up - really incredible.

Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Bullpen is THE place to hire freelancers in the real estate industry. To date, we have more than 4,000 professionals in our network and have helped more than 1,000 companies hire. BUT - there is a catch. We don't support small projects ... 10-hour modeling gigs, one pitch deck,

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@SeanODowd15 It's amazing in all the right ways. The story I told myself for so long was that I needed to build a business to be financially successful. So many folks out here have proved me wrong (and they're happy doing it).

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

A hill I will die on: If you join a video meeting, turn your camera on When people see your face, it increases trust When you hide, you lose trust It's human psychology

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

Have an early call today so had to hitch a ride … this costs $19, and an Uber was $39 Way better riding experience too @Waymo for the win

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

In 2021, I was 3 years into building @bullpenre while living in San Francisco and made a critical business decision: To raise Venture Capital Spoiler: I pitched 20 VCs and went 0 / 20 But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise Here’s a fun story:

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

2 years

@abakermont A family office friend told me recently that wealth usually lasts 3 generations - 1st gen earns it (they’re the happiest) 2nd gen enjoys it 3rd gen squanders it

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@DonovanBuilds I did something like this on a commercial property, but I structured the seller financing as a master lease with a purchase option. I was the seller, and it didn’t cause a problem with my debt.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

Was scammed out of ~$10k from my @coinbase account today. They seemed to use information from the breach to target me … and it worked. @brian_armstrong I have their playbook if you want it. Happy to give it to someone on your team …

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Hiring as a small real estate firm should be simple. However, most people think they need: - Goals - Org Chart - Company Values - Employee Manual But in reality, you only need to find one great person and give them agency - the rest takes care of itself

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

One of our clients who we sent to collections for non-payment recently announced a mentorship program for new folks who want to get into real estate development ... On one hand, I really want it to take off b/c we might actually get paid. On the other hand, buyer beware ...

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@iononrecourse If you said on Union street I’d reconsider, but Union Square SF has merged with the Tenderloin. Unless SF takes a hard stance on illegal drug sales and use, it’s gone …

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

@momoneymohit Wouldn’t pass muster with the IRS even if you wanted to do something like that - they have a minimum interest rate you must charge. I unfortunately learned this one the hard way …

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

Despite a challenging macro environment with rising rates and a massive decline in commercial real estate transaction volume, we grew Bullpen's revenue by 10% in 2023. While this is a far cry from the 400%+ we grew in 2022, I'm calling it a win. Big thank you to all our

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Stats on the @bullpenre Talent Network - 100% live + work in the US - 5+ years of avg. work experience - 3,000 + commercial real estate experts - 65% have Master’s degrees Proud of this!

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

11 months

@ShlomoChopp We just filled a role similar to this in Manhattan for a debt shop. You can find real estate analysts between $90 - $130k for in-office roles in Manhattan, but with the experience you need, I'd consider going upstream to Senior Analyst / Associate level. This will move the

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Well, a lot of google and @AdventuresinCRE Youtube videos later, I had a decent sized business on my hands One that became too big for me to service alone, so I began to hire freelancers on Upwork

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Our employer clients who are kind, humble, on-time, and respectful of others time are bar none the most successful companies in our client list. The employers who preach hustle, brag about how hard they work, and have little respect for others time are consistently less

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

When I disliked previous jobs, time felt like it flew by But once I started working on something I loved, time began to slow down 5 years of running @bullpenre has felt like 10 years (in a good way) Am I the only one who has felt that?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

Weekly Warmup | All commercial real estate data in one place

Get one, 5 minute newsletter weekly with a curated list of all actionable research released in the past week.

weekly-warmup.com

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

Figured out the way to get reach on X - mention how you got scammed out of crypto

Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

@KenjiCapital I was scammed out of $10k on Coinbase and they couldn’t/wouldn’t back it. I don’t trust the security.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

6 months

Another massive week of data releases, with 234 new reports added to our database from the usual suspects: Cushman, Savills, Avison Young, and Colliers. The industrial sector was the "flavor of the week" with most reports as of 4Q 2023.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

Bullpen | Experts in Commercial Real Estate Freelance and Full-time Recruiting

From freelance projects to full-time jobs, Bullpen makes it easy to find work and hire commercial real estate experts.

www.bullpenre.com

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

I’m seeing a big increase in demand for investor relations professionals at CRE firms (probably related to the hardest fundraising environment in years). There are 4 types of IR professionals, and their comp varies dramatically …

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

7 months

In early 2023, we launched a database of CRE market reports from big brokerage houses around the world. We added a staggering 5,575 market reports to the database in 2023. We use the reports added in the prior week for a newsletter that we call the Weekly Warmup Lots of CRE

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@realEstateTrent That screams prop 13 Does NY have something similar?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@quinnjmiller Very curious the economics of something like this - 50% margin on food? Fixed $$/month to keep it stocked. 20% ebitda margin leftover? $5k/month revenue, $1k/month ebitda, 10 month payback? Where am I wrong?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@MultifamilyMad “value add opportunity”

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@DallasAptGP One of my family member’s clients used an escrow agent who made a wire mistake (fraudulent wire instruction). They didn’t have cyber insurance, so the client was out the money. A lawsuit later - escrow agent filed bankruptcy and closed shop - client still hasn’t received the

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

My attorney texted me tonight to say anything I put into chatgpt becomes public domain … good to know

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

8 months

@Jack_Prater @HokiesFB @SmithfieldBrand I feel like our record far under represents the skill of the team. I hope this year built a strong foundation for next.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

Question for #retwit ... what is your favorite podcast (or two), and why is it your favorite?

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

11 months

Newsletter caused a bit of drama this week - I wrote that small CRE developers and PE firms need to create fail-proof roles, and part of that is architecting a position so it fits in a 40 hour work week. Fact of life - small firms typically lack the brand and budget to hire

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

1 year

@moseskagan The writing in succession is amazing. It has you cringing enough to be uncomfortable but not enough to make you turn it off.

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Tyler Kastelberg

@tylerkastelberg

9 months

One of the best parts of my day? Waking up to watch @MarkRober videos with my oldest son at breakfast Both educational, sentimental, and so darn cool (especially for an engineering graduate) If you have young ones - here's a fun video to start with 👇

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