RCN Capital Blog

Uncontested Investing - Why Empty Houses Make No Money & Other Scaling Lessons Investors Miss with Bruce McNeilage

Written by RCN Capital | 3:05 PM on December 30, 2025


Uncontested Investing Podcast - December 30, 2025

In this episode of Uncontested Investing, we sit down with Bruce McNeilage, co-founder of Kinlock Partners, to break down what it really takes to scale a real estate portfolio across multiple markets and asset classes. With nearly two decades of experience building and operating thousands of units, Bruce shares hard-earned lessons from single-family rentals and build-to-rent communities to large multifamily developments and self-storage projects.

We explore how Bruce identifies high-growth real estate markets like Nashville, Atlanta, and Columbia, why job drivers and industry concentration matter more than hype, and how investors can successfully transition from single-family investing into multifamily ownership. 

Whether you’re a newer investor looking to scale responsibly or an experienced operator refining your strategy, this episode delivers a practical, no-nonsense roadmap to building durable cash-flowing assets, reducing risk, and growing long-term wealth through real estate investing.

 

Episode Highlights

00:00 Introduction

01:10 Who is Bruce Mcneilage?

03:16 Bootstrapping growth without institutional capital

04:28 Navigating niche communities and neighborhoods 06:06 Scaling from SFR and build-to-rent to condo and multifamily development

07:08 On-site maintenance, resident experience, and controlling operating costs

10:14 Deal Breaker / Deal Maker: due diligence failures and early wins

11:43 Financing challenges when moving from single-family to multifamily

12:30 Operational risks: scale magnifies maintenance and management issues

13:37 Market selection metrics: jobs, automotive plants, and economic drivers

14:20 How to handle the complexities of multifamily property management

16:35 The “collector” approach: managing multiple small properties efficiently

18:53 “Empty houses make me no money” - vacancy, tenants, and cash flow philosophy

20:26 Dealing with tenants: trespassing, squatters, and evictions

21:53 Tenant screening: background checks, credit checks, and fraud prevention

23:20 Tools and systems for tenant screening

24:00 Starting small, bootstrapping portfolios, and long-term wealth building

25:58 Hard work, sacrifice, and the realities behind long-term success

27:17 Partnerships, complementary skill sets, and team building

27:40 New projects: large-scale self-storage development

Quotables

“Empty houses make me no money.”

“Ninety-two percent of this business is choosing the right tenant.”

“People see the success, but they don’t see the 90% below the surface.”

Links

Website: RCN Capital https://www.rcncapital.com/podcast

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Email: RCN Capital info@rcncapital.com

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