Sitemap

Pages

1. Contact

   Add Saul Zenkevicius on Facebook, Instagram, X or LinkedIn, subscribe to his newsletter, or check his Now page to see what he's up to these days.

2. Start Here

   Saul Zenkevicius has 20+ years in real estate and founded Z Equity Group 13 years ago, with 200 principal deals and 2,000+ brokered transactions.

3. Deals

   Six commercial real estate deals Saul Zenkevicius has written up: small bay industrial, self-storage, a plaza turnaround and more, with what he paid, how each one played out and the full story.

4. 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.

Best Posts

Start here. the essential posts from Saul.

1. The Rising Tide of Defaults: CRE Distress Report 2024 - 2026

   Saul Zenkevicius examines rising CRE delinquency rates, surging defaults, and the $930B loan maturity wall shaping distressed property markets in 2026.

2. What I'd Tell My Younger Self: What I'd Do Differently

   Saul Zenkevicius looks back on his real estate career and shares four things he would do differently, starting with moving into commercial sooner.

3. Italy 2025

   Saul Zenkevicius recaps a three-week family trip to Italy, making the case that entrepreneurs thrive with work-life integration, not work-life balance.

4. Small Bay Industrial is My Favorite Asset Class of All Time

   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.

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.

1. Let's Build A House and Give It Away

   Saul Zenkevicius invites Value Builder readers to join his annual trip to Ensenada, Mexico, to build a house with Homes of Hope and give it away.

2. Beyond the Brochure: The Newport Bootcamp Recap

   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.

3. Industrial IQ Bootcamp: $20M Oceanfront Masterpiece

   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.

4. Our Bootcamp Sold Out Without a "Buy Now" Button

   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.

5. 20 of the Best Wisdom Nuggets

   Saul Zenkevicius attended a three-day mastermind and shared 20 standout lessons on money, investing, and business, drawn directly from his notebook.

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.

1. How I Stopped Retraining AI on Every Deal

   The simple folder setup I use in Claude Cowork to run acquisitions, so every task I teach the AI carries over to the next property.

2. Due Diligence Checklist: The Checklist I Run On Every Deal

   Saul Zenkevicius shares the due diligence checklist he runs on every acquisition, which must pass 100% before he buys, now kept in a Google Sheet.

3. The Rising Tide of Defaults: CRE Distress Report 2024 - 2026

   Saul Zenkevicius examines rising CRE delinquency rates, surging defaults, and the $930B loan maturity wall shaping distressed property markets in 2026.

4. A Due Diligence Strategy That Closes Deals

   Saul Zenkevicius shares his due diligence framework for CRE deals, including the mindset shift that keeps negotiations from blowing up at the finish line.

5. My 2026 Tech Stack

   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.

6. What I'd Tell My Younger Self: What I'd Do Differently

   Saul Zenkevicius looks back on his real estate career and shares four things he would do differently, starting with moving into commercial sooner.

7. The 20-Year Partnership Test

   Saul Zenkevicius shares the filter he uses to evaluate commercial real estate partnerships and separate ones worth pursuing from ones that blow up.

8. Why You Should Stop Setting Goals and Start Removing Obstacles

   Saul Zenkevicius argues that operators have too many commitments, not unclear goals. He shares an annual pruning approach for removing what drains focus.

9. My 2025 Tech Stack

   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.

10. Italy 2025

    Saul Zenkevicius recaps a three-week family trip to Italy, making the case that entrepreneurs thrive with work-life integration, not work-life balance.

11. Mountain Adventures: Peak Moments with Saul

    Saul Zenkevicius shares photos and personal notes from mountain hikes, from Colorado fourteeners to coastal ridges high above the sea.

12. The Reality of Real Estate

    Saul Zenkevicius addresses the real risks in CRE and shares his approach to avoiding mistakes, learning from others, and recovering from setbacks.

13. 5 Years of Proforma Lessons in 1 Email

    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.

14. Advice to My Younger Self

    After 15+ years in real estate, Saul Zenkevicius shares the hard-earned lessons he would tell his younger self on failure, relationships, and growth.

15. I Feared for 72 Hours: Hurricane Milton

    Saul Zenkevicius recounts the 72 hours he spent managing storm risk across four Florida properties, roughly $10M in CRE, as Hurricane Milton bore down.

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.

1. The 3-Step Leasing Framework That Actually Works

   Saul Zenkevicius shares the 3-step leasing framework he built after two property managers failed to deliver results on his first self-storage deal.

2. The 20-Year Partnership Test

   Saul Zenkevicius shares the filter he uses to evaluate commercial real estate partnerships and separate ones worth pursuing from ones that blow up.

3. Fixing Small Bay Investing with Industrial IQ

   Saul Zenkevicius and partner Shea Lewis are building Industrial IQ, a software platform for small bay industrial operators to streamline deal analysis.

4. My Thoughts on the Shifting Office Market

   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.

5. How Sho Kabani Built Wealth Through Small-Bay Industrial Properties

   Saul Zenkevicius profiles Sho Kabani, whose path from consulting and e-commerce led him to small-bay industrial real estate as a strategic focus.

6. Small Bay Industrial is My Favorite Asset Class of All Time

   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.

7. Is Self-Storage Losing Its Shine?

   Saul Zenkevicius shares a breakdown of two Tennessee self-storage acquisitions and what the experience revealed about the asset class.

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.

1. Buying for a Higher-Rate Cycle: What the 1970s Taught Me

   Why I think we're heading into a higher-rate cycle, and the acquisition strategy that held up in the 1970s: higher caps, short leases, long fixed debt.

2. How Many Deals Do You Need to Look At to Get One Accepted Offer?

   My real deal funnel from the last six months: deals screened, LOIs written and offers accepted, and how to work backward from the number of deals you want.

3. How We Doubled a Property's Value Without Touching the Building

   How we closed a Milwaukee outdoor storage property, settled environmental and zoning questions, leased it before closing, and roughly doubled its value.

4. From an Hour to 45 Seconds: How I Generate LOIs From My Phone While Driving

   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.

5. Turning A Year Older

   On his birthday, Saul Zenkevicius steps back to acknowledge the mentors who shaped every framework and instinct he has built in real estate.

6. How We Turned $1.07M into $2.125M with Self-Storage

   Saul Zenkevicius details the acquisition of two mismanaged self-storage sites in Tennessee, how each was stabilized, and what drove the decision to sell.

7. From Residential to Commercial Real Estate: My Strategy in Chicago

   Saul Zenkevicius explains his 2020 pivot from residential to commercial real estate in Chicago and his urban infill strategy in transitional neighborhoods.

8. How We Made $338K Profit on an Unexpected Property Deal

   Saul Zenkevicius bought a retail site near Midway Airport from a retiring automotive operator. Local comps confirmed strong auto demand in the area.

9. Transforming an Innovation Center

   Saul Zenkevicius paid $4.5M for a Chicago innovation center, then assembled a land-use attorney, architect, and consultants to seek a zoning modification.

10. 4 Value-Add Deals That Can Level Up Your Real Estate Game

    Saul Zenkevicius outlines four value-add principles he applies across commercial deals, including max-offer math and vision-setting with the GC.

11. Our Commercial Property Rescue Mission

    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.

12. From Communist Dorms to a 9-Digit CRE Portfolio

    Saul Zenkevicius grew up in communist-era Lithuania and spent two decades building a 9-digit commercial real estate portfolio. This is his story.

13. 3 Marketing Channels Crushing it for Off-Market Deals Right Now

    Saul Zenkevicius shares three marketing channels for sourcing off-market deals. The same approaches work for both residential and commercial real estate.

14. Breakdown of 165K Sq Ft Industrial Redevelopment

    Saul Zenkevicius breaks down the acquisition and redevelopment of two Milwaukee industrial properties totaling 165,000 sq ft across 15 acres.

More Articles

1. 3 years of productivity tech (October 2026 edition)

   Saul cut Manus, ChatGPT, Notion and more for a Mac Mini server connected to Claude, plus his full stack: Instinct, Plaud, Superhuman and Wispr Flow.