Real Estate's #1 Rule: Don't Lose Money!

Leyla Kunimoto brings a rare and unfiltered perspective to today’s commercial real estate conversation: that of a full-time individual LP who writes publicly about her investment decisions. She’s not a sponsor, a capital raiser, or a fund manager; she’s an investor allocating her own capital and speaking candidly about what she sees in the market.

 

Through her newsletter Accredited Investor Insights, Leyla connects with hundreds of other LPs and GPs, giving her a uniquely well-informed view of how sentiment is shifting, how sponsors are adapting (or not), and why many individual investors, herself included, are taking a more cautious, capital-preserving stance in the current environment.

 

Track Records Are the New Credentials

Leyla made one thing immediately clear in my conversation with her: experience across market cycles matters more than ever. Sponsors who lived through the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), and made it out intact, view the world differently. “There’s a certain level of conservatism they develop,” she said, that translates into more disciplined underwriting, more thoughtful pacing, and fewer emotionally driven decisions.

 

This stands in sharp contrast to what Leyla observed in 2020, when billboards at Dallas airports advertised real estate masterminds promising to teach people how to raise capital fast. She watched sponsors pile into deals with razor-thin margins, driven more by optimism than fundamentals. Some of those same players are now facing tough questions from investors.

 

Tariffs Are Already Affecting CRE in Two Big Ways

While many LPs focus on interest rates, Leyla highlighted tariffs as a macro driver that’s beginning to affect commercial real estate, particularly in development. First, tariffs are raising costs on imported materials, like lumber, pushing construction budgets higher. Second, she’s watching what tariffs could mean for demand in the industrial sector.

 

“If trade with Mexico declines, what happens to logistics facilities near the border?” she asked. Conversely, if reshoring takes off, we may see demand rise for inland warehouse space. It’s a nuanced picture and one that sponsors in ground-up deals can’t afford to ignore.

 

Equity Is Cautious. Retail Capital Is Now in Play.

Another shift Leyla is tracking is on the capital side. Institutional equity has pulled back in many corners of the market, and some sponsors are turning to retail LPs for the first time. But this isn’t an easy pivot.

 

“Retail investors are expensive to reach,” she said. They also tend to ask more questions – and now, they’re more skeptical. Many LPs are sitting on deals that aren’t performing. As a result, the bar for new allocations is much higher. “There’s a sense of caution,” she noted. “LPs aren’t allocating blindly anymore.”

 

Floating Rate Debt Divides the Market

Leyla sees a bifurcated sponsor landscape: those who are still dealing with the aftermath of floating-rate debt, and those who have the capital and flexibility to transact but can’t find deals that pencil.

 

Sponsors with legacy floating-rate loans are focused on rate caps and marginal cash flow. They’re rooting for the Fed to cut rates. Others are hunting for acquisitions, but the math isn’t working. “Without aggressive assumptions, most deals don’t pencil,” she said.

 

The IRR Illusion: What LPs Should Actually Be Watching

Many sponsors still lead with IRR projections, but Leyla has shifted her mindset. “I don’t screen for how much money I’m going to make. I don’t screen for the IRR probability,” she told me, “the only thing I’m laser beam focused on when I evaluate private placement deals is the probability of losing money.”

 

That loss-aversion lens changes everything. She believes LPs are better off compounding modest, positive returns over time than chasing double-digit IRRs that come with a real chance of loss. “Making 3-4% positive IRR for 10 years straight outperforms hitting 20% on some deals and going to zero on others,” she said.

 

Stress Tests Are Private. Optimism Is Public.

Behind closed doors, sponsors are more conservative than they let on, she says. The real pros run multiple models – best, worst, and most likely scenarios. “I always ask for stress test scenarios underwritten to the GFC,” she says, continuing that she used to hear sponsors saying such scenarios were never going to play out because the underwriting is too stringent. “I’m hearing a little bit less of that now,” she says.

 

Still, she’s skeptical of any deck that doesn’t acknowledge the possibility of a rent decline. Of course deals won’t pencil if you underwrite to a 10% rent drop but, in some markets, that’s exactly what’s happening.

 

Cash Is a Position. Waiting Is a Strategy.

When I asked what she’d do if handed a $1 million windfall today, Leyla didn’t hesitate: “I’d keep it in cash and I would try to get very narrow on what my buy box is,” not because she’s fearful but because she wants to be surgical when she deploys.

 

She encourages LPs to be patient and wait for opportunities that fit tight criteria. In an environment where you can make 4.5%+ tax and risk-free, “there’s no harm in waiting,” she says.

She also shared stories of seasoned sponsors that sold early, sat in cash through the entire 2021 run-up, and are still waiting because they can’t find deals that pencil – that are still too expensive for prudent investors.

 

What Leyla’s Watching Now

Leyla doesn’t try to predict markets. But she does monitor signals:

• The 10-Year Treasury yield
• Local supply pipelines
• Investor sentiment from her network of LPs

And her biggest piece of advice? Focus on not losing money. That alone will make you a better investor.

 

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In this series, I cut through the noise to examine how shifting macroeconomic forces and rising geopolitical risk are reshaping real estate investing.

 

With insights from economists, academics, and seasoned professionals, this show helps investors respond to market uncertainty with clarity, discipline, and a focus on downside protection. 

 

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