Welcome back to Greysteel's GreyCast podcast. In today’s episode, Chris Mfume is our guest. Chris Mfume is the managing partner of CLD Partners. He is responsible for leading all development and investment activities and guiding the firm’s projects through inception to completion. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute and Thread, a volunteer-driven mentor program. In the episode, Chris discusses his life background and how he started his real estate journey by job hunting for almost 7 months to founding his own business today. He also discusses the challenges as well as the benefits that he faced for being an African-American in the industry. Moreover, he talks about the things that make him and his company different from other developers as well as his system to be better with others. Lastly, he gives some advice to young aspiring entrepreneurs just like him who want to explore real estate and how to be successful in it.

Takeaways

How Chris Mfume started his real estate journey from humble beginnings
The benefits and the challenges that Chris experienced as an African-American developer
Things Chris is passionate about in life
The right time to on making deals and sells the real estate
The important elements to be successful in the real estate business
Advice and wisdom from our guest

Quotes

While I was trying to get a job for 7 months, I was sharpening my skill set. I look for ways that can add value to myself. - Chris

There has never been a better time to be a black entrepreneur in real estate than in 2022. - Chris

Featured in this Episode

TC Cosby
Capital Markets, Greysteel
https://greysteel.com/team/tc-cosby/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tc-cosby-90b7485/

Aaron Inman
Senior Investment Associate at Greysteel, Baltimore Multifamily
https://greysteel.com/team/aaron-inman/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-inman-9596a911a/

Chris Mfume
Managing Partner at CLD Partners
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-mfume-3269151b
https://www.cldre.com

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:06 Chris's background and how he started
07:09 Chris gives insights on how he become successful
10:50 Thoughts about the market today?
14:13 How to approach capital on the equity side?
16:09 The challenges and benefits faced by Chris
19:15 The neighborhood and areas that are being underserved
23:32 Are you having trouble as a black developer?
25:58 What separated Chris from other developers?
29:48 What are the things Chris is passionate about?
34:22 Chris’ advice to all aspiring young developers
39:49 Balancing between aggressively buying and conserving capital
42:12 Great and bad deals that Chris had
44:46 Chris's takeaways for young entrepreneurs to be successful
50:26 When is the right time to make a sell and trade
52:47 Adjusting the market value based on different factors
55:08 Important elements to be successful in business
59:55 What are the missing tidbits for African-Americans to enter the CRE

Produced by Heartcast media
www.heartcastmedia.com