Real estate capital raising and syndication
Where Real Estate Is Headed in 2025, With Joe of Keller Williams
Where Real Estate Is Headed in 2025 | Joe Williams, Keller Williams Co-Founder
Real estate investors, land buyers and capital raisers who want a simple checklist of local, federal and technology factors for 2025.
Worth quoting
"With real estate, it's a completely learnable investment. Everything you need to know about it typically can be publicly acquired if you know where to go."
"If I'm going to go buy a tract, I'm going to go to that town. I'm going to park myself there for a week."
"They're figuring out how to use technology to go from 20,000 ft down to 12,000 ft²."
Summary
Joe, co-founder of Keller Williams, lists seven local influences he checks on any piece of real estate. They are job market, economics, supply and demand, municipal policy and regulations, utilities, material and labor costs, and quality of life. He prefers real estate to stocks because the information is learnable and mostly public. He adds that real estate stays hyper local, so he spends about a week in a town before buying land.
He then covers federal influences such as a redefined government, cost of debt and environmental regulations. On technology, he points to changes in work, buying, health and knowledge. Companies are taking less space, hospitals want patients out in 48 hours, and AI does not replace on-site research. He closes with residential numbers, noting that pre-owned sales in 2023 and 2024 matched at 4.1 million units.
On the record
- Pre-owned home sales in 2023 and 2024 were an exact match at 4.1 million units.
- Joe and his partners own an 80-acre site in Austin next to a hospital chain's land, and the chain is unsure it will build there.
- Joe says hospitals now want patients in and out in 48 hours, and that companies are moving from 20,000 ft to 12,000 ft².
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Where Real Estate Is Headed in 2025 | Joe Williams, Keller Williams Co-Founder. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around land entitlement rules, environmental regulations and property insurance requirements. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.
What stood out
- Real estate is a learnable investment. Joe prefers real estate to stocks because he cannot know what a corporation will do next year. For real estate, he says most of what you need can be publicly acquired if you know where to go.
- Check seven local influences. The list is job market, economics, supply and demand, municipal policy and regulations, utilities, material and labor costs, and quality of life. He notes that slow entitlements in California are a good example of the policy factor.
- Utilities and insurance affect value. Joe says every area has issues with certain utilities. He expects places like Phoenix and Austin to reuse municipal waste water as drinking water. He also mentions rising insurance bills as a cost to watch.
- Technology is shrinking space needs. Joe says commercial tenants are using technology to cut space, for example from 20,000 ft down to 12,000 ft². Health care is changing too. Joe says hip surgery patients now often go home the next day, so hospitals may need less space. A hospital operator told him it may not build on his partners' 80-acre site in Austin.
- AI does not replace local research. Joe uses ChatGPT to rewrite things, but he says it cannot do what he does on site. He visits a town for a week and can tell within five days whether a parcel makes sense.
Related questions
- How can I raise capital for land development?To raise capital for land development, I start with the structure.
- How do I raise money for opportunity zone projects?Start with a project that is already well built, then put it in the zone and show investors the real numbers.
- How do I raise capital for a hotel purchase?Many hotel buyers fund the equity through joint ventures with family offices and wealthy individuals, then add debt on top.
Questions about this video
Why does Joe prefer real estate over stocks?
He says stocks involve too much indecision he cannot answer because he is not in the corporate circle. Real estate is learnable, and most of what you need to know can be publicly acquired.
What local factors does Joe look at in a piece of real estate?
He lists seven. They are job market, economics, supply and demand, municipal policy and regulations, utilities, material and labor costs, and quality of life variables.
How does Joe say AI fits into real estate?
He uses ChatGPT to rewrite things, but he says real estate is still hyper local. AI does not replace spending time in a town and talking to people before buying a tract.
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