People
Meet investors, operators, brokers, lenders and other CRE professionals. Build relationships with people who may understand a market, asset class or problem better than you do.
Build Commercial Real Estate Wealth With the Right People Around You
Join a private network of commercial real estate investors, operators and dealmakers who learn together, review real opportunities, share experience and build relationships that can lead to better deals.
Training gives you knowledge.
A network gives you people to build with.
12-Month MembershipWeekly Live CallsPrivate Deal RoomCRE Training & ResourcesReal Deal Reviews
Built Around People Who Are Actually Doing Deals
- 440+
- Network members
- $1.2B+
- Combined member portfolios
- Multiple
- Markets represented
- Weekly
- Live deal discussions
Network figures supplied by Value Add Network. Portfolio totals refer to members’ combined reported holdings, not a network-owned portfolio.
CRE Gets Hard When You Try to Figure Everything Out Alone
Finding a property is only one part of commercial real estate.
Instead of learning CRE in isolation, you learn inside an active investment community.
You also need to understand:
- Whether the deal actually makes sense
- How experienced operators would underwrite it
- What risks you may be missing
- How financing could be structured
- How to approach brokers, lenders and investors
- What happens after closing
- When to keep pursuing a deal and when to walk away
Value Add Network puts you around people who have already dealt with these questions in the real world.
What Becomes Possible Inside the Network
People bring context. Context shapes better questions. Better questions change how a deal gets considered.
Knowledge
Learn from real transactions, case studies, underwriting, due diligence and operating experience.
Deals
Bring opportunities into the community, review deals other members are working on and see how experienced operators think.
Feedback
Get questions, assumptions and deal structures challenged before expensive decisions are made.
Opportunities
Members can connect around deals, partnerships and investment opportunities when there is a mutual fit.
Participation in any transaction is subject to separate terms, due diligence and availability. No specific investment, partnership or financing is guaranteed.
From Opportunity to Better Decision-Making
The goal is not to do every deal. The goal is to make better decisions and become a more capable commercial real estate investor over time.
- 01
Find
You discover a property through a broker, seller, referral or your own sourcing.
- 02
Share
Bring the opportunity into the Deal Room or a live deal-review session.
- 03
Analyze
Work through price, rents, expenses, financing, renovation assumptions and potential downside.
- 04
Get feedback
Hear how other operators and the VAN team would think about the opportunity.
- 05
Refine
Adjust your assumptions, structure, offer or strategy.
- 06
Present
Prepared deals can be presented during deal hot seats and monthly pitching opportunities.
- 07
Execute
Move forward with greater context — or decide that the right move is to pass.
Learn From What Members Are Actually Doing
VAN members come from very different starting points.
- Some enter from residential investing.
- Some have capital but little operating experience.
- Some already own commercial assets and want to scale.
- Others come from brokerage, lending or development.
The People Behind the Results
Four members. Four different starting points. Their own accounts of what changed.
Member story 01
From Small Passive Positions to Operating His Own Deals
Daniel Matajira
$100KProfit on one deal
~$200KEquity on another
Where they started
Mostly 2–10% passive ownership positions across approximately 15 properties. Limited experience structuring larger deals independently.
What changed
Daniel says the combination of a technical framework and access to experienced operators gave him the confidence to take larger ownership positions and operate deals directly.
“The community is filled with experienced operators willing to fund deals, collaborate and share insights.”
Member story 02
From Residential Flips to a Reported ~$30M CRE Portfolio
Fred Rappaport
~$30MPortfolio value
$5M–$7MEstimated equity created
13–14Active projects
Where they started
Residential flips and private lending.
What changed
Fred describes moving toward relationship-driven sourcing, direct seller negotiations and creative deal structures.
“The community stood out for its openness — investors actively sharing experience, lessons and capital perspectives.”
Member story 03
Relationships Became a Major Source of Deal Flow
Cory L. McClure
~$3MRealized profits
$100K–$120KAnnual cash flow
~$15MJointly owned CRE portfolio
Where they started
Residential flips and private lending. Limited access to trusted CRE partners and creative deal structures.
What changed
Cory reports building a high-trust partnership and gaining access to relationship-driven opportunities. According to his interview, roughly 90% of his deal flow now comes through Rafik’s relationships.
Member story 04Saul Zenkevicius
From Three Buildings to 12+ Commercial Assets
Saul Zenkevicius$100M+Reported portfolio value
12+Commercial buildings
Where they started
Three commercial buildings, all owned with partners.
What changed
Saul describes plugging into operational infrastructure including property management, construction, leasing execution and capital relationships.
“CRE is a team sport.”
Member results shown are based on individual accounts reported in recorded interviews. Some figures are projected or unrealized. Individual results vary and are not a guarantee of future performance. Commercial real estate involves risk, including possible loss of capital.
Your Network Should Be More Than a Group Chat
Meet members operating across different markets, asset classes and stages of the CRE journey.
Alexandra Haider
Properties in MN, OH and WI
Member since 2020Saul Zenkevicius
Commercial properties
Member since 2019Slava Menn
Commercial investing
Member since 2023Viktor Knyazevich
Commercial properties
Member since 2025Hassan Nurie
Commercial investing
Member since 2022Mark Robinson
Broker and investor
Member since 2020Paul Yousef
Michigan real estate
Member since 2023Alex Shikhlinski
Properties in MN and IL
Member since 2018
Cole Babcock
Commercial properties in IL
Member since 2024
Aleksii Bazhynov
Commercial property in OH
Member since 2024VAN Is Built Around Ongoing Participation
What happens between the first conversation and the next opportunity matters.
Weekly live coaching & deal review
Bring questions, deals and execution challenges to the group.
Deal Room
Stay connected to conversations and opportunities between calls.
Deal hot seats
Work through live opportunities and assumptions.
Monthly deal pitching
Prepared deals can be presented to Rafik and participating investors.
Ongoing Q&A
Ask questions as you move from theory into execution.
Everything You Need to Build Your CRE Foundation
Your membership includes structured CRE education and an evolving library of practical resources.
The material is there when you need it.
The Network gives you context for applying it.
The Network gives you context for applying it.
Training topics
- Commercial Real Estate Fundamentals
- Deal Sourcing
- Market & Property Analysis
- Underwriting
- Due Diligence
- Financing
- Deal Structuring
- Investor Relations
- Broker Relationships
- Value-Add Execution
- Portfolio Growth
Resources
- Due-Diligence Kit
- Case Studies
- Playbooks
- CRE Templates
- Legal Templates
- Financial Templates
Four Skills Show Up Again and Again
Find
Build relationships that expose you to more opportunities.
Structure
Learn how experienced operators think beyond a simple purchase price.
Fund
Understand debt, equity and different ways transactions can be capitalized.
Scale
Improve assets, build equity, recycle capital and apply what you learned to the next opportunity.
Different members follow different paths, but these four capabilities appear repeatedly across their reported deal histories.
Built for People Serious About Commercial Real Estate
Value Add Network may be a fit if you are:
- A residential investor moving into commercial real estate
- A business owner looking to build an investment portfolio
- A passive investor who wants to understand deals more deeply
- A broker who wants to move from commissions toward ownership
- An existing CRE investor looking for stronger relationships and more experienced peers
- An operator who wants to keep learning alongside other operators
Join Value Add Network
$10,000 / year
12 months inside a working commercial real estate community.
Apply to Join Value Add Network30-Day Money-Back GuaranteeReferral program available.
Included with membership
- 12 months of Network access
- 11 core CRE training modules
- Weekly live group coaching and deal reviews
- Private community and Telegram Deal Room
- Ongoing Q&A and execution support
- Up to 4 deal audits
- Due-diligence resources and templates
- Deal hot seats
- Monthly deal-pitching opportunities
- Certificate and recommendation letter upon completion