# Saul Zenkevicius

> CRE with real numbers and real deals

## Pages
- [Now](https://saulz.com/now/): Saul is actively investing in small-bay industrial and building Industrial IQ, a market analysis platform, as nearly $930B in CRE loans mature in 2026.
- [Contact](https://saulz.com/contact/): Connect with Saul Zenkevicius on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to his newsletter.
- [Start Here](https://saulz.com/about/): Saul Zenkevicius founded Z Equity Group after 20 years in real estate. His track record spans 200 principal deals and 2,000+ brokered transactions.

## Articles
- [Our Commercial Property Rescue Mission](https://saulz.com/commercial-property-rescue/) — 2025-02-06: Saul Zenkevicius details how he and three partners took a half-vacant commercial building to full occupancy, growing NOI from $162K to $855K in 24 months.
- [The Reality of Real Estate](https://saulz.com/reality-of-real-estate/) — 2025-03-06: Saul Zenkevicius addresses the real risks in CRE and shares his approach to avoiding mistakes, learning from others, and recovering from setbacks.
- [Advice to My Younger Self](https://saulz.com/real-estate-advice/) — 2025-02-14: After 15 years in CRE, Saul Zenkevicius shares the hard-earned lessons he would tell his younger self on failure, relationships, and growth.
- [From Communist Dorms to $100M+ CRE Portfolio](https://saulz.com/100m-cre-portfolio/) — 2025-02-06: Saul Zenkevicius grew up in communist-era Lithuania and spent two decades building a $100M+ commercial real estate portfolio. This is his story.
- [Breakdown of 165K Sq Ft Industrial Redevelopment](https://saulz.com/industrial-redevelopment/) — 2024-12-15: Saul Zenkevicius breaks down the acquisition and redevelopment of two Milwaukee industrial properties totaling 165,000 sq ft across 15 acres.
- [Is Self-Storage Losing Its Shine?](https://saulz.com/self-storage/) — 2024-09-08: Saul Zenkevicius shares a breakdown of two Tennessee self-storage acquisitions and what the experience revealed about the asset class.
- [I Feared for 72 Hours: Hurricane Milton](https://saulz.com/hurricane-milton/) — 2024-10-13: Saul Zenkevicius recounts the 72 hours he spent managing storm risk across four Florida properties, roughly $10M in CRE, as Hurricane Milton bore down.
- [Small Bay Industrial is My Favorite Asset Class of All Time](https://saulz.com/small-bay-industrial/) — 2024-12-08: Saul Zenkevicius breaks down a small-bay industrial deal in Tinley Park, IL: $1M net price at $37/sq ft, 4 existing tenants on gross leases.
- [3 Marketing Channels Crushing it for Off-Market Deals Right Now](https://saulz.com/marketing-off-market-deals/) — 2025-01-19: Saul Zenkevicius shares three marketing channels for sourcing off-market deals. The same approaches work for both residential and commercial real estate.
- [5 Years of Proforma Lessons in 1 Email](https://saulz.com/proforma-lessons/) — 2025-02-16: Saul Zenkevicius explains the four levers of a value-add proforma: income, expenses, improvements, and time. All four must align for a deal to work.
- [Transforming an Innovation Center](https://saulz.com/innovation-center/) — 2025-04-10: Saul Zenkevicius paid $4.5M for a Chicago innovation center, then assembled a land-use attorney, architect, and consultants to seek a zoning modification.
- [How We Made $338K Profit on an Unexpected Property Deal](https://saulz.com/338k-profit/) — 2025-04-20: Saul Zenkevicius bought a retail site near Midway Airport from a retiring automotive operator. Local comps confirmed strong auto demand in the area.
- [How We Turned $1.07M into $2.125M with Self-Storage](https://saulz.com/self-storage-deal/) — 2025-04-24: Saul Zenkevicius details the acquisition of two mismanaged self-storage sites in Tennessee, how each was stabilized, and what drove the decision to sell.
- [From Residential to Commercial Real Estate: My Strategy in Chicago](https://saulz.com/residential-to-commercial/) — 2025-04-23: Saul Zenkevicius explains his 2020 pivot from residential to commercial real estate in Chicago and his urban infill strategy in transitional neighborhoods.
- [4 Value-Add Deals That Can Level Up Your Real Estate Game](https://saulz.com/value-add-deals/) — 2025-03-10: Saul Zenkevicius outlines four value-add principles he applies across commercial deals, including max-offer math and vision-setting with the GC.
- [Mountain Adventures: Peak Moments with Saul](https://saulz.com/mountain-adventures/) — 2025-05-19: Saul Zenkevicius shares photos and personal notes from mountain hikes, from Colorado fourteeners to coastal ridges high above the sea.
- [How Sho Kabani Built Wealth Through Small-Bay Industrial Properties](https://saulz.com/how-sho-kabani-built-wealth/) — 2025-05-26: Saul Zenkevicius profiles Sho Kabani, whose path from consulting and e-commerce led him to small-bay industrial real estate as a strategic focus.
- [My Thoughts on the Shifting Office Market](https://saulz.com/the-shifting-office-market/) — 2025-06-03: Saul Zenkevicius shares what he sees in the office market: most downtowns carry high vacancies while New York, Miami, and Tampa show signs of a rebound.
- [20 of the Best Wisdom Nuggets](https://saulz.com/20-of-the-best-wisdom-nuggets/) — 2025-06-09: Saul Zenkevicius attended a three-day mastermind and shared 20 standout lessons on money, investing, and business, drawn directly from his notebook.
- [Our Bootcamp Sold Out Without a "Buy Now" Button](https://saulz.com/bootcamp/) — 2025-06-27: Saul Zenkevicius recaps the first Industrial IQ Bootcamp, which sold out via a newsletter mention alone. All 20 participants rated the event 10 out of 10.
- [Italy 2025](https://saulz.com/italy-2025/) — 2025-07-28: Saul Zenkevicius recaps a three-week family trip to Italy, making the case that entrepreneurs thrive with work-life integration, not work-life balance.
- [Industrial IQ Bootcamp: $20M Oceanfront Masterpiece](https://saulz.com/20m-oceanfront-masterpiece/) — 2025-08-04: Saul and Shea Lewis host the second Industrial IQ Bootcamp Sept 13-14, 2025, in Newport Beach at a $20M oceanfront home, limited to 30 vetted investors.
- [Beyond the Brochure: The Newport Bootcamp Recap](https://saulz.com/newport-bootcamp-recap/) — 2025-09-25: Saul recaps the Newport Beach Bootcamp: 30 vetted investors, two days at a $20 million oceanfront home, and a format designed to drive real collaboration.
- [Fixing Small Bay Investing with Industrial IQ](https://saulz.com/industrial-iq/) — 2025-10-31: Saul Zenkevicius and partner Shea Lewis are building Industrial IQ, a software platform for small bay industrial operators to streamline deal analysis.
- [My 2025 Tech Stack](https://saulz.com/my-2025-tech-stack/) — 2025-12-01: Saul Zenkevicius breaks down his 2025 tech stack: the AI tools replacing old workflows, no-code builders, and CRE-specific apps he relies on in the field.
- [Turning A Year Older](https://saulz.com/turning-a-year-older/) — 2025-12-11: On his birthday, Saul Zenkevicius steps back to acknowledge the mentors who shaped every framework and instinct he has built in real estate.
- [Why You Should Stop Setting Goals and Start Removing Obstacles](https://saulz.com/why-you-should-stop-setting-goals-and-start-removing-obstacles/) — 2026-01-09: Saul Zenkevicius argues that operators have too many commitments, not unclear goals. He shares an annual pruning approach for removing what drains focus.
- [The 20-Year Partnership Test](https://saulz.com/the-20-year-partnership-test/) — 2026-01-29: Saul Zenkevicius shares the filter he uses to evaluate commercial real estate partnerships and separate ones worth pursuing from ones that blow up.
- [What I'd Tell My Younger Self: What I'd Do Differently](https://saulz.com/what-id-tell-my-younger-self-what-id-do-differently/) — 2026-02-04: Saul Zenkevicius looks back on his real estate career and shares four things he would do differently, starting with moving into commercial sooner.
- [The 3-Step Leasing Framework That Actually Works](https://saulz.com/the-3-step-leasing-framework-that-actually-works/) — 2026-02-19: Saul Zenkevicius shares the 3-step leasing framework he built after two property managers failed to deliver results on his first self-storage deal.
- [My 2026 Tech Stack](https://saulz.com/my-2026-tech-stack/) — 2026-03-24: Saul Zenkevicius lists the tools running his CRE operation in 2026, from AI agents that handle his inbox and scheduling to the apps powering deal flow.
- [A Due Diligence Strategy That Closes Deals](https://saulz.com/a-due-diligence-strategy-that-closes-deals/) — 2026-03-29: Saul Zenkevicius shares his due diligence framework for CRE deals, including the mindset shift that keeps negotiations from blowing up at the finish line.
- [The Rising Tide of Defaults: CRE Distress Report 2024 - 2026](https://saulz.com/the-rising-tide-of-defaults-cre-distress-report-2024-2026/) — 2026-04-16: Saul Zenkevicius examines rising CRE delinquency rates, surging defaults, and the $930B loan maturity wall shaping distressed property markets in 2026.
- [From an Hour to 45 Seconds: How I Generate LOIs From My Phone While Driving](https://saulz.com/lois/) — 2026-06-17: A commercial real estate broker shares the Claude workflow that turns a one-hour LOI into a 45-second job done from your phone while driving.
- [Let's Build A House and Give It Away](https://saulz.com/we-build-a-house-and-give-it-away/) — 2026-07-30: Every year - right around Thanksgiving, my team, my family, and I fly into San Diego, board a bus, and cross the border into Ensenada, Mexico. It's not a…
- [Due Diligence Checklist: The Checklist I Run On Every Deal](https://saulz.com/due-diligence-checklist/) — 2026-07-16: Two years ago I wrote about my due diligence checklist. It's had a small update since, but I still run it on every acquisition we do. When you're under…

## Categories
- [Community](https://saulz.com/category/community/): Community posts covering our Industrial IQ Bootcamps, mastermind takeaways, and what happens when you get serious operators in a room together. From the Newport Bootcamp recap to selling out without a buy button, this is the side of my work I enjoy most. "Beyond the Brochure: The Newport Bootcamp Recap" came after we made a bold promise with our Newport Beach Bootcamp: host it in a venue that was a case study in itself. We followed through, and this post documents what happened.
- [General](https://saulz.com/category/general/): The general category. Reader Q&A, personal reflections, tech stacks, and whatever else I am thinking about. Posts range from advice to my younger self to why I stopped setting goals. "What I'd Tell My Younger Self: What I'd Do Differently" started with a reader question from Paul: "If you started all over again, Saul, what would you do differently?" I thought it deserved a real answer, not a motivational poster.
- [Industrial](https://saulz.com/category/industrial/): Industrial real estate is my world, and these posts get into the specifics. Small bay investing, the shifting office market, and profiles of people who have built real wealth in this space. If you are in CRE, this is probably the category you want. "The 20-Year Partnership Test" asks a question I hear every week from readers: what is your biggest challenge in CRE right now? Partnerships come up more than anything else, and after 20 years I have seen the patterns.
- [Investing](https://saulz.com/category/investing/): Investing posts covering deals, strategies, and the stories behind actual transactions. Self-storage, commercial real estate pivots, and the math behind turning properties into real returns. "Turning A Year Older" started with a reader asking, "How do you find deals?" I answered it honestly, including the parts that are not glamorous.
- [Best Posts](https://saulz.com/category/best-posts/): Start here. the essential posts from Saul.