What does it really take to build lasting wealth through commercial real estate?

In Episode 1 of Built Different, Built to Last, Greg Widelski sits down with multifamily investor, coach, and author Bill Ham to discuss the lessons learned from over two decades in commercial real estate.

Bill shares how he left a career in aviation, navigated the 2008 market downturn, built a portfolio exceeding 1,000 apartment units, overcame major setbacks and why consistency, not perfection, is the real key to success.

• How Bill used creative financing to acquire his first 402 units
• Lessons from market crashes and downturns
• Raising capital and building investor relationships
• Why failure is essential to long-term success
• Partnership mistakes to avoid
• Why networking beats chasing investors
• How AI is changing commercial real estate

[00:00] Introduction

[01:00] Bill's background

[03:45] Leaving aviation for real estate

[07:10] Creative financing explained

[11:45] Lessons from failure

[16:15] Building partnerships

[20:15] Raising investor capital

[25:15] AI and the future of multifamily

[28:10] Closing thoughts

🎙️ If you'd like to share your own entrepreneurial journey on the podcast, apply here:

https://builtdifferentbuilttolast.com/podcast-booking