Built For Wealth

Ep 030 | How Steve Ross Built $200M in Real Estate (From Landscaping to Private Jets)

Josh Swart Season 2 Episode 30

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:01:29

Steve Ross started investing in real estate at 19 years old — and over the last 35+ years, he’s built a $200M real estate portfolio spanning single-family rentals, multifamily, shopping centers, flex space, new construction, and commercial development.

In this episode of the Built for Wealth Podcast, we break down exactly how Steve scaled from flipping his first house to owning 27 shopping centers, building ground-up developments, and leveraging 1031 exchanges to multiply wealth without paying massive tax bills.

If you're interested in commercial real estate investing, 1031 exchanges, shopping center investing, duplex build-to-rent strategies, scaling from residential to commercial, or how to use leverage responsibly — this episode is a masterclass.

We talk about:
- Scaling from 35 rentals to 500+ units
- Why he left an $80K landscaping business for real estate
- How 1031 exchanges compound wealth
- The truth about commercial cap rates
- Red flags in shopping center investing
- Surviving vandalism, arson, and insurance nightmares
- Using HELOCs to break into commercial deals
- Building duplexes to trade up into large assets
- Why leverage is mandatory if you want to scale

This is a no-BS breakdown of how real estate wealth is actually built over decades — not months. If you're serious about financial freedom through real estate investing, this episode is required listening.

Follow along for more content just like this:
https://www.instagram.com/joshswart/
https://www.facebook.com/joshua.swart
https://www.tiktok.com/@joshswart3