Real Estate Addicts

Hosted by Marc Savatsky, Ray Hurteau, Dan Rubin

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Episodes

150

Latest episode

Sep 2026

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About the show

The Real Estate Addicts (REA) podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in real estate development, investment, construction and entrepreneurship. Each episode dives into a wide range of industry topics and features conversations with savvy, successful entrepreneurs who candidly share their career paths, challenges, breakthroughs, and the stories behind the remarkable companies they’ve built. Expect big personalities, thoughtful insights, and conversations that both educate and inspire. Co-hosted by Ray Hurteau, Dan Rubin (Instagram: @rhinvestgroup), and Marc Savatsky (Instagram: @choose_boston) Follow the Real Estate Addicts Podcast on YouTube: @RealEstateAddicts

Listen to episodes

60 recent

September 1, 2026Episode 14953 min

#149 - Shooting the Shit w/ Ricky Beliveau

When a two-and-a-half-acre Weston lot landed in Ricky's inbox at a price he could hardly believe, his first thought wasn't excitement, it was "why am I getting screwed here?" In his fourth appearance he walks through the two-week due diligence sprint that followed, from the zoning attorney and the wetland flags to the 1943 setback rules that determine whether the whole thing pencils, plus what's quietly killing Boston projects and the helical pile surprise that cut one deal's IRR from 70% to 40%.

August 25, 2026Episode 14819 min

#148 - Rents Are Falling While Prices Keep Climbing

Greater Boston's median single-family price just crossed a million dollars, and Marc, Ray, and Dan spend this episode explaining why the math no longer works for anyone hoping to build their way out of it. They dig into why a triple decker now costs seven figures to construct, why Boston's permit numbers have fallen to a fraction of what they should be, and the strange split where rents are softening while sale prices refuse to move.

August 18, 2026Episode 14725 min

#147 - Assessing, Retroactive Tax Bills and When to Record Condo Docs

The guys trade war stories from the least glamorous corner of real estate. The assessor's office. They get into a retroactive Newton tax bill that landed on unsuspecting condo buyers, a phantom drainage easement that appears on the city's GIS map but nowhere in seventy-five years of title records, and the one filing that quietly turns a six-unit building into six far more expensive condominiums. If you own property, are underwriting your next acquisition, or have never once pulled your own property card, this episode will probably pay for itself.

August 11, 2026Episode 14631 min

#146 - Why We'd Rather Overpay Than Hire Employees

A listener wrote in asking how you build a real estate empire when you're spread too thin to hire anyone — and the answer flips conventional penny-pinching on its head. The guys break down why the smartest operators gladly send a $100 Uber SUV to grab drip edge, tip drivers to wait, and befriend neighbors instead of drowning in thousand-cut tasks, all while AI quietly handles the admin. Along the way, they unpack the new realtor.com affordability report cards and why Indiana quietly took the crown, how Massachusetts and New York landed dead last, and what a negative new-construction premium really tells you about where to place your dollars.

August 4, 2026Episode 14524 min

#145 - Tenants Are Now Using AI to Sue Their Landlords w/ Caleb Wursten

When a Massachusetts landlord discovered his tenants were using free legal aid and AI to exploit every loophole in the book, he stopped losing sleep and started building a weapon of his own. In this episode, Goodstander founder Caleb Wursten breaks down how he went from redeveloping Rust Belt towns like North Adams to creating a "landlord operating system" that scans your messages for legal risk before you hit send. From the brutal realities of eviction, security deposit traps, and hostile tenant laws to the ethics of AI giving legal guidance, this conversation is a must-watch for anyone who owns property in a tenant-friendly state.

July 28, 2026Episode 14427 min

#144 - Using AI to Create In House Software and Tools + The Value of a Phone Call

Marc, Ray, and Dan dig into how they've moved past treating AI as a fancy search engine and into agentic, "do-it-for-me" territory — building an in-house property management tool, diagnosing a stalling boat engine from uploaded videos, and turning a LIDAR kitchen scan into shop-drawing-level cabinet plans. They get practical about creating repeatable "skills" for tasks like certificate-of-insurance requests and podcast editing, and make the case for building your own custom apps instead of paying monthly for bloated software that never quite fits. Along the way they flag the real pitfalls: over-using AI until it costs more time than it saves, the etiquette of AI-assisted questions with busy tradespeople, data-security risks in shared skills, and why the human touch of a simple phone call is becoming a competitive advantage again.

July 21, 2026Episode 14320 min

#143 - You Can't Buy Your Way Into Real Estate: The Truth About Gurus, Mentors & Getting Started

The guys discuss whether paid real estate gurus, masterminds, and mentorship programs are actually worth it? Drawing on the pricey course they took early in their careers, they conclude that most of the value was motivational — the "feather in Dumbo's cap" that got them to finally swing the bat — while the mindset fluff, generic templates, and empty promises were largely useless. The crew makes the case that organic networking and reciprocal mentor-mentee relationships beat any nationwide playbook, because real estate is hyperlocal and the only real teacher is hard-won experience you can't shortcut.

July 14, 2026Episode 14221 min

#142 - Massachusetts Rent Control Is DEAD (For Now) + Is College Still Worth It?

Marc, Ray, and Dan open with a multifamily update on the Massachusetts SJC unanimously killing the rent control ballot measure over a religious-exemption technicality, pushing any reintroduction to 2028, before pivoting to the "Silver Tsunami" - the roughly 41% of America's eight million tradespeople expected to retire by 2031 and the massive labor shortage it's creating. From there, the guys dig into whether a traditional college degree still pencils out against trade school, weighing the network effect of elite schools and co-op programs like Northeastern's against six-figure tuition and the real earnings gap. They close on side hustles, teaching kids entrepreneurship, and the coming wave of opportunities to buy aging subcontracting businesses as their owners retire.

July 7, 2026Episode 14127 min

#141 - The Pitfalls of Adaptive Reuse

The guys dissect adaptive reuse through Dan and Ray's 1874 mixed-use Amesbury building — a restaurant, three commercial spaces, and six residential units — unpacking why reviving a 150-year-old structure is far more demanding and unpredictable than new construction. They trade renovation horror stories and hidden surprises: asbestos waterproofing behind all four sides of the brick, three stacked layers of dropped ceiling floating with no structural support, charred-but-intact original timber from a long-ago fire, a basement section that collapsed overnight in the rain, and a facade-ectomy that produced "the most expensive wall in Boston."

June 30, 2026Episode 14043 min

#140 - Selling Out Buildings Without Putting them on the MLS w/ Crystal Chieregatti

Guest Crystal Chieregatti of Choose Boston Brokerage joins for a fiery rent control debate, including Marc's contrarian case that if Massachusetts must adopt rent control it should be strict and immediate rather than a slow creep that scares lenders and equity capital into fleeing to Florida. The heart of the episode is a masterclass in selling new construction during the build. Branding each project like a mini-business, a Domino's-style "pizza tracker" website to keep buyers engaged after P&S, seller-paid rate buy-downs, and using Zillow new construction plus Instagram to put units under agreement without ever touching the MLS.