Markets and property types
Michael Zuber on Rent Control, Rates, and Why Most Investors Quit
Michael Zuber of One Rental at a Time answers 10 rapid-fire questions: rent control, his rate forecast through 2029, his worst purchase, and shooting stars.
We're kicking off a new series on The Owner Meeting called 10 Questions with a Millionaire, and Michael Zuber of One Rental at a Time is the first guest: though technically he doesn't count, because he's a multi-millionaire.
Here's how it works. My team writes 10 questions on any topic: personal, political, pop culture, real estate. I don't read them in advance. The guest gets 60 seconds per answer, and then they get cut off. Our unofficial sponsor is Panerai, who failed to respond to our sponsorship request, so I kept the time myself.
What came out of it was a mix I didn't expect: a hard economic take on rent control, a mortgage rate forecast through 2029, the one property he wishes he'd never bought, and the single clearest explanation I've heard of why some people buy real estate and some people never do.
Related reading: Washington Rent Control: Why It Hurts Tenants and Pays Landlords
Rent Control Has Never Worked Anywhere
Question one: Michael has made millions of dollars investing in California, a rent controlled state. With New York's mayor pushing to freeze stabilized rents, what does he think?
His answer was immediate. Rent control has never worked anywhere.
The mechanism he described is straightforward. The person who gets rent control first wins, and everybody thereafter loses. Landlords take inventory out of the market, which reduces supply and reduces quality, and it ends up in a huge dumpster fire eventually.
That's the part people miss when they argue about it. The policy isn't a transfer from landlords to tenants across the board: it's a transfer to the specific tenants who happen to be housed at the moment the rule lands, paid for by every renter who comes after them and finds fewer, worse options.
Why Everything He Builds Is Purple
Fans wanted to know how he landed on purple as the brand color for One Rental at a Time. I expected a marketing answer. I got a better one.
Purple has been his favorite color since he was a kid. His mother's theory is that he equates it with being a king: purple is a royal color. He's never been sure himself.
But it became genuinely important when he read Rich Dad Poor Dad, because that's the purple book. After he lost all that money, he was looking at a bookshelf, and the purple book stood out. As he put it: if it wasn't purple, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. That purple book changed everything.
So the brand color isn't a style choice. It's the color of the thing that redirected his life.
On Billionaires, and Grant Cardone's Reply
The team asked about a multi-millionaire musician saying billionaires should give up their money. Michael pointed to Grant Cardone's response: she was performing in Louisiana with a lowest ticket price of $200, in the state with the lowest income in the country. So why isn't the concert free?
Michael agreed with the point, and so do I. It's easy to argue for other people's money to move.
Natty or Not
Michael has put on a serious amount of muscle, so the internet needed to know.
He didn't dodge it. He's not claiming natural. As a 53-year-old male he's on testosterone plus another medication, both prescribed by a doctor after getting blood work done. His advice to anyone considering it: get your blood work done. Diet, serious exercise, and coaching have obviously done a lot of the work too.
Whatever the mix is, it's working. He looks huge.
The Government Shutdown
Asked when the shutdown ends, his answer was "unfortunately, after Thanksgiving", and he was on record early saying it would be the longest one ever, back when people were telling him it would end quickly.
He didn't sugarcoat the fallout: they'd just cut 10% of flights, there would be multiple rounds of SNAP problems, and it was going to get worse before it got better. I'm hosting an event in Washington at the end of the month and I am not looking forward to the airports. Michael's wife had just flown, and the airports were a mess.
His Interest Rate Forecast Through 2029
My team asked for his forecast over the next 3.4 years, which takes us to partway through 2029. I have no idea why they chose point-four.
Michael's call, on owner-occupied 30-year money with good credit:
- By the end of 2026, mortgage rates go sub-6 again
- After that, a basing period bouncing between roughly 5.5% and 6%
- He does not see us going back to 7%
- He does not see us going sub-5%
And then the part that matters more than the numbers: be careful what you wish for. If you're out there hoping for 3% or 4% mortgages, you're also hoping for a nasty recession. He'd rather take stability in the 5.5% to 6% range, and honestly, stability is the more useful thing to underwrite against anyway.
The One Property He Wishes He'd Never Bought
He'd never been asked this one, and took a moment with it. The answer is a property he still owns, on Princeton.
He bought a house with what he thought was an ADU attached. It turned out to be a badly converted garage, the city found out about it, and he had to scrape it. So he overpaid for the asset and got half the rent he'd expected. A loser.
Then came the part I liked most. Even though it's just a little 560-square-foot house, it's now worth more than he paid. As he said, even that drastic, horrible mistake: a decade of time made it okay.
Time does heal most deals.
Why Some People Buy and Some Never Do
Michael coaches hundreds of new investors, so I asked him the difference between the people who actually buy real estate and the people who never do.
His answer: the people who buy have the discipline and don't fight the process.
He's not out there promising get rich quick. He's not promising anything. He tells people to do the work, figure out average, do good or great, and move on. No easy button, no guarantees. He just knows it's possible, because there are people who've become millionaires and multi-millionaires through real estate. It works for everyone. You just have to do the work.
And plenty of people, for whatever reason, want to fight it. They look for the hack. They look for the cheat code. They can't stay focused, they can't stay disciplined, and they blow up.
He has a name for them: shooting stars. They come in, and then they're gone in a minute.
The Skill He'd Keep If He Lost Everything
If all the rentals disappeared today, what's the one skill he'd carry forward to build it back?
He knows how to identify and grow a market. He knows how to identify good or great deals. He knows how to follow up. Those are skills he's been harnessing for 25 years.
He wouldn't want to repeat all 25 (nobody wants to redo that much growth) but he's confident he could be back here in 10 to 12 years. He's not an entrepreneur by nature, so he'd likely go get a commissioned sales job to stack paper and start again.
The line that stuck with me: that's the beauty of real estate investing. Once you have the skill, you don't lose it. It's not something you age out of. You don't have to be 28 years old and made of plastic. You can be a 53-year-old grumpy old man and still do this thing.
The One Question I Wrote Myself
Of the ten, I only wrote one: the one about marrying unbelievably out of his league.
He credited luck, and then gave a real answer about Olivia. She's smarter and better looking, and he has no idea why she said yes or why she still says yes. What they figured out is that they know what they each do well, and there's very little overlap. He runs down deals and raises capital. She runs the books. Not that either couldn't do the other, but neither is naturally gifted at it. She's great at art and he isn't; he's good with numbers and she's okay with them. They make each other better, complement each other, and force each other to grow.
I asked because of something I watched him do. After BPCon, all the boys came in to film a podcast episode, and Michael said no: he'd been gone three days, he was taking Olivia to dinner, and that's part of his routine. He's 20 years past the grind, and his point was simple: we do all of this for the family, so at some point you have to actually live that dream. You've got to live what you believe.
My wife still talks about the one time she met his.
Key Takeaways
- Rent control benefits whoever's housed first and penalizes everyone after, by pulling supply and quality out of the market.
- Michael's rate call: sub-6% by the end of 2026, then a 5.5% to 6% basing period, with no return to 7% and no drop below 5%.
- Wishing for 3% or 4% mortgages means wishing for a nasty recession.
- His worst buy was a house with a garage he had to scrape, and a decade of appreciation made it fine anyway.
- The investors who succeed have discipline and don't fight the process. The ones looking for the cheat code are shooting stars.
- Market analysis, deal identification, and follow-up are skills you keep forever. You don't age out of this business.
- Protect the routine with your family. That's what the portfolio is for.
That was exactly one minute, and that wraps the first round of 10 Questions with a Millionaire. Watch the full episode for the whole rapid-fire, and go check out Michael's work at One Rental at a Time. If you're getting started, our free multifamily course is at multifamilystrategy.com/get-free-training, mentorship details are linked in the description, and our free Skool community comes with a deal calculator.
Read the episode transcript
0:00 All right, guys. It's 10 questions with 0:02 a millionaire time. Now, Michael 0:04 technically doesn't count. He's a 0:05 multi-millionaire, but I'm super excited 0:07 to run this series. My team has written 0:10 10 questions. These can cover any topic, 0:13 personal, political, pop culture, real 0:16 estate, but they've been giving 10 0:18 questions to me. I have yet to read 0:20 them. Michael has 60 seconds to respond. 0:23 After 60 seconds, he will be cut off. 0:27 The unofficial sponsor is Panerai, who 0:29 will be keeping time for us. 0:32 They failed to respond for sponsorship. 0:34 However, I will keep the time. My role 0:36 is to ask the questions. Michael's role 0:38 is to answer. Michael, here we go. 0:40 Question number one. You've made 0:42 millions of dollars in a rent controlled 0:44 state of California. Mayor Mom Dami now 0:48 wants to freeze stabilize rents New 0:50 York. Your thoughts? 0:51 Wow. So, uh, first and foremost, uh, 0:53 rent control has never worked anywhere. 0:55 Basically what will happen is the person 0:57 who gets rent control first will win and 0:59 then everybody thereafter will lose. 1:01 Landlords will take inventory out of the 1:03 market which will reduce supply, reduce 1:05 quality and it will end up in a huge 1:08 dumpster fire eventually. 1:10 Next question. You wrote the book one 1:13 rental at a time. You've branded 1:14 everything one rental at a time. Your 1:16 fans want to know how did you settle on 1:18 the color purple? Oh, purple's been my 1:20 favorite color since I was a youngster. 1:21 So it was uh it was an easy choice. I 1:23 don't know what it is about the color 1:24 purple. My my mother says it's because I 1:27 equate it with being a king or royal, 1:28 right? Purple is a royal color. I don't 1:30 know. I' I've liked it forever and it 1:32 was just really became important when I 1:34 read Rich Dad Poor Dad because it was 1:35 the purple book. I remember looking on 1:37 the bookshelf after I lost all that 1:39 money and this purple book stood out. 1:40 And if it wasn't purple, I probably 1:42 wouldn't have picked it up. But uh that 1:44 purple book changed everything. So it's 1:45 kind of uh ties it all together. 1:46 A better answer than I expected. Doing 1:48 well on the lightning round here. 1:50 Multi-millionaire Billy Isish recently 1:52 said billionaires should give up their 1:53 money. What's your take on this? 1:55 I think Grant Cardone had an excellent 1:57 reply to her. Uh she was speaking in or 2:00 she was doing a concert in Louisiana and 2:02 said that your lowest ticket price was 2:04 $200. And did you know that Louisiana 2:06 has the lowest income in the country? So 2:08 why isn't your concert free? 2:10 I agree. God. Okay, Michael, you put on 2:12 a ton of muscle lately. The internet 2:14 needs to know. Natty or not? not taking 2:17 testosterone as a 53y old male and is 2:20 morlin both prescribed by a doctor after 2:23 getting your blood work done definitely 2:24 guys if you're going to go out there get 2:25 your blood work done it has certainly 2:27 helped but obviously diet and serious 2:29 exercise and coaching have helped but 2:31 yeah no I'm not claiming that 2:33 well whatever you're doing it's working 2:35 I saw you be gone you're looking huge 2:38 well done my friend well done my friend 2:39 appreciate that 2:40 when's the government shutdown gonna end 2:42 my current guess is uh unfortunately and 2:44 I mean this with every breath after 2:46 Thanksgiving. You know, this is a guy I 2:49 told you it would go it would be the 2:50 longest one ever when people were 2:51 telling you it would end quickly. And 2:52 I'm like, "No, this is going to be the 2:53 longest one ever." And it looks like 2:55 it's now going to go past Thanksgiving, 2:57 which is just tragic, right? They just 2:59 cut 10% of flights. It's going to get 3:01 worse. We're going to go through 3:02 multiple snap things. Uh it's bad. It's 3:05 bad. But yeah, after Thanksgiving, 3:06 hosting an event in Washington at the 3:08 end of this month. I am not looking 3:09 forward to figuring out the airports. 3:11 No, my wife just jumped on a plane and 3:13 it was The airports are a mess. 3:14 Okay. and not looking forward for that 3:16 one. 3:18 What is your forecast for interest rates 3:19 over the next 3.4 years? 3:22 Wow. 3.4 years. So that takes us to 2029 3:26 basically 3:27 and partially through. I don't know why 3:29 my team chose chose point4, but I'll 3:31 ask. 3:31 That's okay. That's all right. So I 3:33 think as we end 2026, so that's uh you 3:37 know that's a third of the way through. 3:38 Uh we're going to see mortgage rates sub 3:40 six. Again, we're talking owner rock, 3:41 30-year, good credit, all of that. And 3:44 then I think we I think we kind of 3:45 bounce between five and a half and six. 3:47 I do not see us going back to seven. And 3:50 I don't see us going sub five. So I 3:53 think we're going to be basically in 3:54 this basing period of of five to five to 3:58 6% probably for the foreseeable future. 4:00 And again, you got to be careful what 4:02 you wish for. If you're someone out 4:03 there wishing for three or 4% mortgages, 4:05 you're also wishing for a nasty 4:06 recession. So be careful what you wish 4:08 for. So I'm going to hope for, you know, 4:10 five to six and I'll even get tighter. 4:12 go 5 1/2 to six. 4:13 The stability is good. 4:15 Yes. If you can go back in time and not 4:17 buy one rental property, which property 4:19 would you not have purchased? 4:21 Well, that's a good question. I've never 4:22 thought about that. All the properties 4:24 we've purchased, which one? Oh, yeah. 4:26 So, there was a property I still own it, 4:28 actually. I bought a property. It was a 4:30 It was a house with an ADU on it. At 4:31 least I thought it was an ADU. It turned 4:33 out to be a garage that was badly 4:34 converted that the city found out about 4:36 that I had to scrape. So, I basically 4:38 overpaid for an asset and got half the 4:40 rent that I expected and it was a loser. 4:43 And I wish I did not buy that one. It's 4:45 on a street called Courtland. Oh, no. 4:46 Princeton. It's on Princeton. And I wish 4:48 I didn't buy it, but I own it now. And 4:49 guess what? Even though it's just a 4:51 little 560T house, it's now worth more 4:53 than I paid. So, even that drastic, 4:55 horrible mistake, a decade of time made 4:57 it okay. 4:58 Time does heal most deals. You're 5:01 coaching hundreds of new investors in 5:03 your community. What is the biggest 5:05 difference between someone who succeeds 5:07 in buying real estate and someone who 5:09 never buys? 5:10 The biggest thing I've seen is the 5:12 people that buy have the discipline and 5:14 don't fight the process. Right? I'm I'm 5:16 not here to promise get rich quick. I'm 5:18 not here to promise anything. Frankly, 5:20 I'm here to tell people to do the work, 5:22 figure out average, do good or great, 5:24 and and move on. I'm not here for quick. 5:26 I'm not here for the easy button. I 5:28 don't make any promises. I just know 5:29 it's possible. There's people like you 5:31 and I who who've become million and 5:32 multi-millionaires and decaillionaires 5:34 because of real estate. It it works for 5:36 everyone. You just have to do the work. 5:38 And lots of people for whatever reason 5:40 want to fight it. They want to look for 5:41 the hack. They want to look for the 5:42 cheat code. They can't stay focused. 5:43 They can't stay disciplined and they 5:45 just blow up. I call them shooting 5:47 stars. They come in and then they're 5:48 gone in a minute. If you lost all your 5:50 rental properties today, what is the one 5:52 skill you developed that you would keep 5:54 moving forward to build back? 5:56 I understand how to identify and grow a 5:57 market, right? I understand how to 5:59 identify good or great deals. I know how 6:00 to how to follow up, right? The skills 6:02 I've harnessed now for 25 years. I 6:04 certainly wouldn't want to do it again, 6:06 right? You know, you don't want to go 6:07 through 25 years of growth, but I 6:09 certainly could do it again. I certainly 6:10 could do it in in 10 to 12 years and, 6:12 you know, we'd be right back here. I'm 6:14 not an entrepreneur, so I would likely 6:15 go get a sales job to stack paper with 6:17 commission. But yeah, it would be um you 6:20 know, once you have that's the beauty of 6:21 of real estate investing is once you 6:23 have the skill, you don't lose it, 6:24 right? It's not something you age out 6:25 of. You don't have to be, you know, 28 6:27 years old and made of plastic. You can 6:29 be a 53-year-old, you know, grumpy old 6:31 man and still do this thing. 6:32 Final question. Michael, you're a 6:34 good-looking guy. You've been immensely 6:36 successful through your career. Fans 6:38 want to know about your biggest clothes. 6:40 What is the secret to marrying 6:42 unbelievably out of your league? 6:43 Yeah, some of that's luck. 6:47 She liked me, too. Um, you know, Olivia 6:49 is the better half. Smarter, better 6:51 looking. I certainly married up. That's 6:53 really a question for her. I really have 6:55 no idea why she said yes and why she 6:57 still says yes after all this time. We 6:59 just click. I I think the one thing 7:00 we've done well is we know what we do 7:02 well and and thankfully it's it's not 7:04 really much overlap, 7:06 right? I ran down deals and try and 7:08 raise capital. She runs the books. Not 7:10 that either of us couldn't do the other 7:11 one, but we're not naturally gifted. So, 7:14 I think the thing that we really figured 7:15 out is we make we make each other better 7:17 together. Not that we're not great alone 7:19 and she would have done amazing without 7:21 me I'm sure but we certainly are better 7:23 together and we we do compliment each 7:24 other and it's very little overlap and 7:26 what she's good at I'm not and that goes 7:29 to everything. She's great at art. I 7:30 suck. I'm good with numbers. She's okay. 7:32 Yeah. We make each other better and we 7:34 compliment and we force each other to 7:36 grow. So, you know, 7:37 well, my wife still talks about the one 7:39 time she met your wife and how awesome 7:40 she is. I one thing that I've always 7:43 appreciated about Michael. This is the 7:44 only question that I wrote of the 10 7:45 questions. But the thing I appreciate 7:47 about Michael is all the boys came in. 7:49 We filmed a podcast episode after BP Con 7:51 and Michael's like, "Nope, I spent time 7:53 with my wife at that time. I'm not going 7:55 to make it out. Sorry. This is this is 7:56 part of my routine." I love that you 7:58 guys have established consistency and 8:00 that was a I appreciate that about you. 8:02 So, 8:03 yeah. Again, we do all this thing you to 8:07 you know, a lot of us, yourself 8:08 included, right? we're doing this for 8:10 the family and when you get to the point 8:12 thankfully I'm 20 years past right 8:14 yourself you got to you got to live that 8:16 dream right and and big bigger pockets 8:18 was three days right where I was out I 8:20 was there to the beginning to the end 8:22 and you know we were you asked to do 8:24 something after the end of day three and 8:25 I'm like dude nope I've been gone for 8:27 three days I'm going to go take Olivia 8:29 to dinner and and we're going to have a 8:30 good time so yeah you just got to you 8:31 got to live what you believe 8:33 I love it I love it well that was 8:35 exactly one minute and that wraps up our 8:37 series of 10 questions to a millionaire. 8:40 Michael, thank you for kicking us off 8:41 here.
Put these ideas to work.
Get support from Christian and the coaching team with your next multifamily deal. See how the mentorship works or start your application.
Apply Now
