The whole “10x your money” era? Yeah… that train left the station a long time ago.

Real estate used to be wildly inefficient. Like, embarrassingly inefficient. And if you were paying attention, it was insanely profitable.

Pre-internet, the edge was basically everywhere.

No CoStar. No Redfin. No Google Maps.

Just boots on the ground, phone calls, and knowing where the filing cabinet was in the building department.

You could quietly assemble properties because no one else even realized the parcels were connected, unless they physically showed up and dug through microfiche like an archaeologist.

Fast forward to now.

The seller knows what their property is worth before you finish saying “hello.”

Comps are public. Data is instant. Everyone’s got the same spreadsheet.

The “information advantage” is gone. Poof. Vaporized.

I once asked one of the top real estate attorneys in NYC what changed the most over their career.

Without missing a beat, they said:

“Twenty years ago, 80% of our clients were syndicators. Now it’s 80% institutions.”

That’s not a coincidence. That’s the entire story.

The same downtown lots that traded for $30 a foot in the late ’90s now trade for $300 a foot.

Unlevered.

That’s not genius investing. That’s just an asset class growing up.

And that growth phase? It’s over.

Today, if you can actually produce a real 20% IRR over five years with leverage, you’re not average, you’re an outlier.

The edge is gone. The capital is global. The competition has PhDs, models, and cheaper money than you.

This isn’t a street hustle anymore.

It’s institutional warfare with spreadsheets and lawyers.

So yeah, play accordingly.