Making Real Estate Investing Approachable For The Masses

Summary

Podcast Summary

Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice

Episode: Making Real Estate Investing Approachable For The Masses
Host: Ryan Alford (Radcast Network)
Air Date: November 4, 2025
Guest: Grant Cardone

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Episode Overview

This episode of Right About Now features real estate mogul Grant Cardone in an energetic and unfiltered conversation with host Ryan Alford. Their discussion centers on how Grant is democratizing access to real estate investment, making institutional-grade deals available to “everyday investors.” The episode also covers practical advice for success, critical takes on the investing landscape, and Grant’s bold vision for the future of real estate in America.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Making Real Estate Accessible for the Masses

• Grant’s Mission: Grant explains his drive to open high-quality real estate investment to unaccredited investors, allowing people with as little as $1,000 to participate alongside him in major deals.

  • “We opened up a fund for...unaccredited investors. People with a hundred thousand and less. Starting with a thousand bucks. And now invest alongside me in what are arguably the best real estate in America.” (05:27 - Grant Cardone)

• How the Investment Works:

  • Investors’ money goes directly into the fund, with no middlemen or broker fees.
  • Dividends are paid quarterly or monthly, depending on investment size.
  • Investors share in cash flow, asset appreciation, and possible refinance events.
  • “Your capital is protected. Two, you get cash flow. Three, when we raise rents on 456 units, if I only raise the rents $10 a month, the investors will make 20 million bucks.” (06:47 - Grant Cardone)

• Cardone’s Credibility:

  • Personal skin in the game: Grant puts millions of his own capital into every deal.
  • “I'm the number one investor, so I want to get a check.” (06:47 - Grant Cardone)
  • Extensive experience: $4 billion portfolio, never lost a property, solid cash flow history.

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2. Returns, Asset Protection, and Unique Strategies

• Multi-Faceted Profits:

  • Investors get returns via rental income and shared gains at a sale or refinance.
  • “If you would have been invested in apartments since 1945, you'd be a billionaire today...It's a big play, man. We're going to go to $40 billion.” (07:39 - Grant Cardone)

• Transforming Renters into Investors:

  • Grant aims to offer tenants the opportunity to invest in their own apartment complex.
  • “I'm going to take the 456 people that own that rent for me...offer every one of them to invest with me so the tenant becomes an investor.” (08:22 - Grant Cardone)
  • This strategy creates “456 police on the property”—invested tenants care more for the property, reduce turnover, and uphold value.

• Brand Power:

  • The 10X brand adds premium value and attracts motivated tenants.
  • “The brand you've built is going to increase immediately the position of the property. You're playing chess and some people are playing checkers.” (09:02 - Ryan Alford)

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3. Institutional Bias and Structural Barriers

• The Accredited Investor ‘Scam’:

  • Grant criticizes regulations that limit investment access based on net worth or income.
  • “It's a complete scam. There's no accredited, non accredited to protect people. This isn't about protecting someone. All this was set up to keep me from getting your money.” (10:29 - Grant Cardone)
  • He argues the system favors the rich, preventing those who most need wealth-building opportunities from participating in the best deals.

• Wealth Concentration:

  • Large institutions dominate prime real estate purchasing.
  • “The average American only gets a chance about the crumbs and leftovers of the real estate market.” (11:19 - Grant Cardone)
  • “That's why the wealthy just keep getting wealthier because they get the opportunity to have wealth.” (11:19 - Grant Cardone)

• Cardone Capital’s Solution:

  • Lowering the minimums for non-accredited investors, making high-value real estate approachable.
  • “Our average non accredited is doing almost 25,000 bucks. Taking advantage of this deal...If you're accredited, minimum's 100,000. If you're non accredited you can do any number as low as 1 bucks.” (12:25 - Grant Cardone)

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4. Cardone's Success Formula and Mindset

• Three Tenets for Success:

  • Show Up: “You got to show up. If you don't show up, you can't get lucky.” (13:48 - Grant Cardone)
  • Think Big (10X Rule): “I wake up every day never satisfied where I'm at, because I'm always looking for the 10X.” (14:29 - Grant Cardone)
  • Give Back: “If I'm winning, I'm going to share it with somebody...if I'm failing that day...Let me go see if I can help somebody. Get up.” (15:09 - Grant Cardone)

• Grant’s Relentlessness:

  • “I'm going to get 120,000 units, bro...I'll be like, I could run for president of the United States.” (14:40 - Grant Cardone)
  • Candor about doubts and ambitions: “I don't know that I have enough time. I don't have enough money, but it's cool to think about it.” (14:48 - Grant Cardone)

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5. The Macro View: The Future of U.S. Real Estate

• America as a 'Renter Nation':

  • “This country will become a renter nation. I said that back in 20. We will become Europe. Politics will become Europe.” (15:32 - Grant Cardone)
  • Single-family homes shifting to rental/investment uses, massive growth in investor-owned housing.

• Key Market Forces:

  • Housing shortage, low interest rates aiding investors, not buyers.
  • Barriers to homeownership: High down payments, restricted access to mortgages.
  • “There’s no place to get yield. There's a shortage. Inflation's going to happen to real materials...This is going to be the best bet for the next decade, maybe 20 years.” (16:19 - Grant Cardone)

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6. Closing Notables and Final Advice

• Best Asset Ever:

  • “That's the best piece of real estate I ever bought in my damn career.” (16:52 - Grant Cardone)
  • Grant values community with “10X people”—those with integrity and drive.

• Networking and Personal Growth:

  • “I need targets. I need people around me that are blowing up. I don't need a cold bath...All I got to do is get around the right people.” (16:52 - Grant Cardone)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You got to show up. If you don't show up, you can't get lucky. Nobody's going to come to your home, your sofa, your bedroom and give you anything.”
  — Grant Cardone (13:48)

• “I'm buying real estate that when we sell this, only the richest companies...have to buy real estate. They don't have a choice. When we bought this, three other groups were involved to buy it...I am the chump of the four. But the problem with a chump is chumps can move faster.”
  — Grant Cardone (09:19)

• “It's a complete scam...When we started looking into this, I'm like, why is the number 200 grand a year? Well, because only a small percentage of people make 200 grand a year. Why? If my niece makes 195,000 a year...she can't invest with me? Why would that be, man?”
  — Grant Cardone (10:29)

• “If you would have been invested in apartments since 1945, you'd be a billionaire today.”
  — Grant Cardone (07:39)

• “Every day, I got to be thinking about...not how to get one deal, how do I get 10? Not how do I get 10 people, how do I get a hundred?...Just 10x, to think it's ridiculous anyway.”
  — Grant Cardone (14:40)

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Important Timestamps

• 05:27: How Grant makes investing accessible for small investors
• 06:09: How returns and distributions work
• 08:22: Turning tenants into property investors
• 10:29: Grant’s critique of accredited/non-accredited investor rules
• 12:25: Steps for getting involved with Cardone Capital
• 13:48: Grant’s three rules for success
• 15:32: Why America will become a “renter nation”
• 16:52: The power of Grant’s brand and best investment ever

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Call to Action

• To get involved: cardonecapital.com
• Community & events: 10xgrowthcon.com

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Episode Tone

Dynamic, direct, motivational, and irreverent—both host and guest are unapologetically candid, focusing on real talk, big ambition, and actionable takeaways for everyday businesspeople and aspiring investors. Grant’s signature “10X” philosophy and clear disdain for business-as-usual run through the entire conversation, making it both energizing and educational.

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Transcript

[Ryan Alford]

Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that. And if you're like most people when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people better? AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that. From crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think, to analysis that digs deep, finds patterns and surfaces trends quickly. SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business. Try it [e-mail] Ryan, what's up? And welcome to Right about now, where we're laser focused on growth and covering the gamut of relevant topics that scale your business. Today we're talking money and real estate with the main man himself, Grant Cardone.

[Grant Cardone]

You got to show up. If you don't show up, you can't get lucky. Nobody's going to come to your home, your sofa, your bedroom and give you anything. It's just not going to happen. You got to be available for whatever you're doing, even if you don't want to do it. I do stuff every day. I show up for stuff every day. I'm like, oh, I kind of want to do this, but I show up and then I act like I want to do it. You got to show up, and then you got to be willing to change your mind about it because something super cool might come out of the deal.

[Ryan Alford]

This is Right about Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month, taking the BS out of business for over 6 years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now.

Hey, guys, guys, what's up?

Today we're talking money, talking real estate. We're talking Grant Cardone. What's up, brother?

[Grant Cardone]

Hey, man. Great to be with you. I want to do this. And you got a great audience and people aspiring to be better and do better and do better things with their money. So I appreciate you having me.

[Ryan Alford]

Oh, my pleasure, man. I do want to talk what I think you're doing, which is making investing, especially real estate investing, approachable for the masses that follow you.

[Grant Cardone]

We opened up a fund for not.

[Ryan Alford]

Morning.

[Grant Cardone]

Just let me. You can go whenever you.

[Ryan Alford]

Okay.

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[Grant Cardone]

Unaccredited investors. People with a hundred thousand and less. Starting with a thousand bucks. And now invest alongside me in what are arguably the best real estate in America. Today we have $4 billion worth of real estate. And I want to make sure that the everyday family gets a shot at buying this real estate. Being a partner with me, getting all the benefits and doing so without a broker or a middleman, without Fidelity or Swab with their hand out, getting their little 10% broker fee. Nobody touches your money. The money goes from and your family comes into our fund. I don't touch it. 100% of the money goes into the fund. And you're a partner with me in that deal.

[Ryan Alford]

How does all that work? I gave you 50 grand. How you make money on that if you invest in this, the 50,000.

[Grant Cardone]

We're doing a deal right now. It's behind me. It's $230 million real estate transaction. 456 units, 99% occupied. Cash flows day one. I'm a close on this in four days with my money. I close on my money. So you, Ryan know. Hey, man, this guy must be pretty sure. I'm putting stuff 70 million of my own money. You're going to take 50,000 of my 70 million. Whatever percentage that is, you're going to take that percentage and we're on for the ride. We distribute dividends either quarterly or monthly. If you do under a hundred grand, you're going to get quarterly. My goal is to get a distribution every month. Either way, you're going to get every three months or every one month.

[Ryan Alford]

This is the profit on the rentals, right? That's the yield.

[Grant Cardone]

Whatever cash flow is produced, we distribute that to our investors. I'm the number one investor, so I want to get a check. Number one, your capital is protected. Two, you get cash flow. Three, when we raise rents on 456 units, if I only raise the rents $10 a month, the investors will make 20 million bucks. All I have to do is raise the rents 10 bucks and we get a 28% return on our money. You're treated by the IRS as a passive investor, which is good for you. I make all the decisions. We might be there five years and refinance it. I send your money back and we still own it together. You still have your position. Or number two, somebody can come along and pay too much for it, at which point I would sell it.

[Ryan Alford]

So either way, you're making the yield on the rental income. You're protected by the asset being the property. Any gains that are made on the sale of it, you share in that with you. You've put your money where your mouth is. People are trusting you and you've built that credibility to guide it. Where it needs to go.

[Grant Cardone]

Yeah. We got 12,000 apartments. I've never lost one, never turned one back to the banks. I've never not had cash flowed these properties. If you would have been invested in apartments since 1945, you'd be a billionaire today. I started with $3,000 investment in real estate 28 years ago, and that is $4 billion wor estate. Today we have $2 billion worth of equity. It's a big play, man. We're going to go to $40 billion. I'm completely committed to this space. This is the best money in the world right here because I'm not sweating it out. I get cash flow, I get paid to wait. And if you looked at Greenville, if you'd have bought Greenville, South Carolina seven, eight years ago, you would be into infinite returns because if you would have kept the property and not sold it, you would have all your money back. You would have no money in the asset and the asset would still cash flow. I'm not talking about single family homes, as you know. I'm not talking about one house or two houses. When I bought this, our 10x brand on it, I know the rents are going to go up, number one. Number two, what's going to happen with that property when we start branding it, we start looking for other opportunities within the property. On December 11th, I'm going to take the 456 people that own that rent for me. They pay 2600amonth here and I'm offer every one of them to invest with me so the tenant becomes an investor. Now, now what does that do? That means I got 456police on the property. Now nobody wants, nobody wants their shit torn up. I'm an investor here, man. The likelihood is that those people will now stay on that proper in their stay longer because they're investors in the property.

[Ryan Alford]

That's smart and that, I mean, I love how you build off the brand. That's what people don't get though, like with the 10X brand, like you said, like you're doing all this, but the brand you've built is going to increase immediately the position of the property. You're playing chess and some people are playing checkers. It's just the way it is.

[Grant Cardone]

Well, the other thing is the behind the scenes, I'm buying real estate that when we sell this, only the richest companies, rich people are not buying these properties. These are rich companies. These are wealthy companies, companies that have to buy real estate. They don't have a choice. When we bought this, three other groups were Involved to buy it. I am the chump of the four. They said this is the four musketeers. There's three multi hundred billion dollar companies. There's the chump, I'm the chump. But the problem with a chump is chumps can move faster. They typically hit you first and get out. But these big institutions, because they become so big, because they become public entities, because they have shareholders. I don't have shareholders, I have investors. And when you have shareholders, you have to slow down. And so I can move really fast and I can secure assets from the big giants. The point of that story is this. The groups that miss this deal want to buy it from me 10 years.

[Ryan Alford]

From now at a higher cost.

[Grant Cardone]

And then they have to play this money game. This is how they get their fees.

[Ryan Alford]

For people listening, this accredited versus non accredited retail investing, how do you describe that for people, the novices out there and what that kind of means?

[Grant Cardone]

It's a complete scam. There's no accredited, non accredited to protect people. This isn't about protecting someone. When we started looking into this, I'm like, why is the number 200 grand a year? Well, because only a small percentage of people make 200 grand a year. Why? If my niece makes 195,000 a year and she's known me for 50 years, she can't invest with me? Why would that be, man? Oh, we want to protect your niece. From what? Bro, I'm not some weird uncle. She knows me. She makes 195 grand a year. If she made another 5,000, you guys be like, now she's smart. I know people that make 400 grand a year. They don't know anything about real estate investing. They're giving me money. It's completely on trust. The people that need the investment the most are the guys with 10 grand and 20 grand. That's who needs these investments the most. Not the person that has $2 million sitting in a bank account.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, because they've got unlimited options. If they got 2 million, the 10,000 guy has nothing.

[Grant Cardone]

Yeah, exactly. And then when you start really digging into it, it's crazy, but the average American only gets a chance about the crumbs and leftovers of the real estate market. We never get a chance at the ipo. Goldman Sachs isn't going to call you and say, hey, I got a little something for you, bro. You need 100 million in to ever get that phone call. And you probably need a billion dollars. It's more likely you need a billion dollars. All that money is Kept. That's why the wealthy just keep getting wealthier because they get the opportunity to have wealth. These kinds of assets, only the wealthiest businesses buy these. Not these are insurance companies buying this stuff today. Trillion dollar companies. It's really sad that they set this up like this. The last thing I'll say about it is the bottom line. All this was set up to keep me from getting your money. If you don't give me your money, then you got to give it to them. And the SEC was set up by wall was put together there by who? And by the fda. I love the sec. They've been really good to me. They've done homework on everything I've done. They've been very, very fair with me. They've Approved us for 1718 funds now. But it's not fair to the little guy that needs a shot.

[Ryan Alford]

I love it.

How do people get involved with it?

[Grant Cardone]

Go to cardonecapital.com you can register. You just pick non accredited or accredited. I'm doing this to make it so easy for people. Like if you're accredited you got to do 100, minimum's 100,000. If you're non accredited you can do any number as low as 1 bucks. Our average non accredited is doing almost 25,000 bucks. Taking advantage of this deal. And I would just tell you guys like if you're listening to this and hey, is this a good deal? This piece of real estate behind me is the single best piece of real estate I've ever bought in my entire career. When I do one of these deals, we're under confidentiality agreements. I'm not sure how I got out that I was buying it, but the occupancy was 91% and now it's at 99 just because people know I'm going there. So even during COVID we performed 24 points better than the national apartment deal in the the country on collections because of the kind of people we attract to our buildings, which are 10x people. People that are integrity, they're working. They don't make excuses. They're not victims. They don't want to scam the system. They want to make it the right way. Part of my brand is going to lift all these properties. Hopefully the investors and myself all do extremely well from it.

[Ryan Alford]

I love that whenever I talk to people like you that are driven, that are successful, that have done these things and they all want to know what the success formula is. I know you have the 10x platform. I know you got seven of these and five of these and four of those. But, like, have you boiled it down for both yourself and maybe others what that success formula truly is?

[Grant Cardone]

Well, one is show up. You got to show up. If you don't show up, you can't get lucky. Nobody's going to come to your home, your sofa, your bedroom, and give you anything. It's just not going to happen. You got to be available for whatever you're doing, even if you don't want to do it. I do stuff every day. I show up for stuff every day. I'm like, I don't want to do this, but I show up, and then I act like I want to do it. You got to show up, and then you got to be willing to change your mind about it because something super cool might come out of the deal. And while you're showing up, you got to drop your bad attitude. If you're negative, negative, bad attitude. Stuff's going wrong. You lost your mom, you got Covid. Whatever the hell happened, bro, nobody needs to know about that. You got to show up and be 100. Number two, I would tell everybody I'm always looking for 10x target. Always. I wake up every day never satisfied where I'm at, because I'm always looking for the 10X. I got 4,000 or 12,000 units. I'm gonna get 120,000. 120,000 units, bro. I'll be like, I could run for president of the United States. That'd be a major player on planet Earth. If I can get there. I don't know if I can get there today. I probably doubt that I can get there, to be honest with you. I don't think I can do it. I don't think. I don't know that I have enough time. I don't have enough money, but it's cool to think about it. Number two is you got to think big. Every day, I got to be thinking about not how to get one. Deal. How do I get 10? Not how do I get 10 people, how do I get a hundred? Like, whatever it is, just 10x to think it's ridiculous anyway. And then the third thing is give back, man. Once you start hitting or not hitting, no matter what's going on, man, find somebody you can help today that keeps fuel in my tank. If I'm winning, I'm going to share it with somebody. Hey, man, I tried this little trick, this little thing. I did this little thing, and it worked. If I'm failing that day, I'm down and out. Let me go see if I can help somebody. Get up. Those three things have always been, been there for me.

[Ryan Alford]

I love it, man. And lastly and most importantly is how do we Partner on Greenville, South Carolina and make some money?

[Grant Cardone]

How do I get to 124,000 units?

[Ryan Alford]

Partners?

No, this market's booming. I'd love to see.

[Grant Cardone]

And it's going to keep booming. Six reasons why multifamily apartments. Real estate will not go down in value. Because I think a lot of people think it's overpriced right now. It ain't going anywhere, folks. I promise you with every fiber in my body, this country will become a renter nation. I said that back in 20. We will become Europe. Politics will become Europe. Here. That's happening. You know that shit's happening.

[Ryan Alford]

Oh yeah.

[Grant Cardone]

People. We're going to be four day work weeks. We go in France, baby. People will be renters. Single family homes will become investment properties that are rented to people. That's happening right now. 40% all the housing stock in America is being consumed by investors. That never happened before. We have a shortage of housing in America. We have the lowest interest rates in history. The low interest rates don't help owners, they help investors. That's the other thing people don't understand. They think, oh, people are going to get a mortgage. People cannot get a mortgage today even at 0% interest because it takes 20% down. The down payment's not there. The wealthy are buying real assets. There's no place to get yield. There's a shortage. Inflation's going to happen to real materials. Glass, brick, concrete, labor. This is going to be the best bet for the next decade, maybe 20 years, until everything. Every piece of real estate you're going to look at is going to be where somebody rents.

[Ryan Alford]

I love it. Your town's valuable and I really appreciate it. Let's drop the link to keep up with you and anything else we can mention for everybody.

[Grant Cardone]

When will this drop? They could go to 10x growthcon.com I don't throw best around all the time. That's the best piece of real estate I ever bought in my damn career. I want business contacts, I want strategies. I don't need inspiration and motivation. I need targets. I need people around me that are blowing up. I don't need a cold bath. I don't need a firewalk. I don't need any of that stuff. That's not my deal. I can go from zero to fucking 1,000 miles an hour. All I got to do is get around the right people.

[Ryan Alford]

I love it, brother. Well, I really appreciate your time and I'd love to see you.

[Grant Cardone]

I gotta get to know you better, man. I like you.

[Ryan Alford]

Thank you, brother. I really appreciate you, brother. And I'll drop you a DM on Instagram. We'll make something happen, okay?

[Grant Cardone]

Appreciate you, man.

[Ryan Alford]

All right, man.

Thanks. See ya. Hey, guys, you know where to find us on all the content. Search for Grant Cardone all of today's episode. We'll see you next time.

This has been Right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show, or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

Foreign.

Look, we get it. You can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without hearing about AI this or AI that. And if you're like most people when it comes to AI, you're impressed, but you have a few concerns. But what if AI was used not as a tool to replace people, but as a way to help understand people better? AI from SurveyMonkey is designed to do just that, from crafting the perfect survey, which is harder than you might think to analysis that digs deep, finds patterns and surfaces trends quickly. SurveyMonkey's powerful suite of AI capabilities make it faster and easier than ever before to get insights from real people, helping you make confident decisions for your business. Try it [e-mail] Ryan.