On this episode of the Heartland Multifamily Show, I explain what I call The Mamdani Effect.

Zohran Mamdani, the recently elected mayor of New York City, has promised to bring down rent prices. While the intention may be political or social, the economic reality of real estate tells a different story.

In multifamily investing, expenses rise over time. If rent growth is capped or restricted, the math eventually breaks. When income is frozen and costs continue to climb, investors respond in predictable ways.

That response is the Mamdani Effect.

Serious investors avoid the market entirely. Capital moves elsewhere. And what’s left are two types of owners:

1. social-mission investors who are willing to accept poor returns, and
2. owners who are stuck and can’t sell.

New York City doesn’t make the list of top places to invest—not because investors dislike the city, but because the numbers no longer work. Policy changes drive behavior, and markets adjust accordingly.

That’s why I tell investors this: your investments must align with your politics.

If you’re a social-worker investor, NYC may make sense for you. There’s nothing wrong with that. But that’s not who I am—and it’s why I continue to focus on the Heartland, where the economics, incentives, and long-term fundamentals still align.

This episode isn’t a personal attack. It’s an analysis based on decades of real-world experience in multifamily real estate—and why policy decisions matter more than headlines.

Today, we’re talking about AI on the Heartland Multifamily Show. Along with my guest, Isaiah, I talk about the pros and cons of AI. I am in favor of AI. It’s made my life easier, and I expect it will continue to do so in the future. I look forward to the day when computers can clean my house and do my dishes. But at the same time, there’s one thing that AI can never give you, and that's authenticity. As an owner-operator, even if an AI chatbot can report a problem and set an appointment with a plumber on their website, AI won’t be able to give the tenant the empathy it requires to make her feel like her business matters. I don’t think AI will ever be able to do that, and hopefully, it won’t.

On this episode of Ask Uncle Darin from the Heartland Multifamily Show, I answer a question I get asked a lot: Why is it always so hard to run a business/invest/achieve your dreams? The answer may surprise you, but it shouldn’t: It has to be hard. If you expect things to be easy in life, all you have to do is have an average life and never pursue your dreams. In this episode, I teach you how to adjust your expectations so when life gets hard, you don’t give up.

Why would someone sell at a discount? In previous episodes of the Heartland Multifamily Show, I’ve talked about the importance of being skeptical if someone offers you a property at a discount. But there are many good reasons why a property owner is willing to leave money on the table in favor of a quick sale. The top four reasons are illness/death, being on the verge of repossession, not having the time or energy to manage the property, and seeing another opportunity that makes up for the immediate loss. Watch this episode of the Heartland Multifamily Show to learn more.

Are you one of those landlords who say, “There’s not enough time!”? If you’re a landlord, then the answer is yes. None of us have enough time. Today I’m going to give you a tip I heard directly from Patrick Bet-David on how to manage my time: Rate everything on your to-do list according to urgency and impact. Do the things that are rated highest on that list first, and you can put off, delegate, or even ignore things that don’t. As an entrepreneur and investor, you’re always being pulled 100 different ways. This is how you manage your time and focus on what’s important.

Affordable housing. We all like to complain about how expensive things are, but at the Heartland Multifamily Show, I’m willing to tell you the hard truth. I’m not some activist by any means; my views come from decades of experience buying, selling, and managing millions of dollars of properties in America’s Heartland. And the hard truth is that affordable homes aren’t a question of money, it’s a question of qualifications. If you’re a landlord like me or a bank, you check someone’s credit score before you work with them. And many people don’t qualify for favorable treatment. Watch this episode to hear me break down in detail why there’s no magic bullet for affordable housing.

This episode of the Heartland Multifamily Show is a lot shorter than usual because I’m doing a reaction video. I’m reacting to Mark Shapiro, a real estate investor and influencer. (Not to be confused with Mark Shapiro of TKO or Mark Shapiro of Moneyball). Shapiro recently did a video making the claim that everything a woman does is meaningless to a man except being able to support him and grow with him. Watch this video to hear my take on it. You’ll want to hear from my experience as a husband and a real estate investor.

Want to get rich?

This is the video for you. In this video, I’m going to explain to you why the conditions are perfect for a severe crash in real estate prices. Now this is terrible news for most investors, but for the smartest and savviest ones, it’s great news. I’m going to show you why I predict this upcoming crash and how you, yes you, can take advantage of it by planning for it right now. Watch this video for more.