In commercial real estate, finding a promising deal is only the beginning. The true challenge lies in structuring the capital stack, aligning investors, lenders, and operators, and creating a financial foundation that can withstand changing market conditions. In this episode of Build It to Billions, Brett Swarts sits down with commercial real estate expert Janice Landers to unpack why so many mid-market real estate deals fall apart—and what separates successful transactions from costly failures.
Drawing on decades of experience in commercial real estate, capital formation, and investment strategy, Janice shares practical insights into the art of capital structuring, investor alignment, and risk management. Together, Brett and Janice explore the common pitfalls that derail deals, the importance of building strong partnerships, and how thoughtful planning can create lasting wealth and impact. Whether you’re an investor, developer, syndicator, or entrepreneur preparing for your next acquisition, this conversation offers valuable lessons for navigating complex real estate transactions with greater confidence.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward, scale to billions, and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want
you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you.
Thank you so much for subscribing; it means the world to me. Welcome everybody to the Build to Billions podcast, where we guide successful entrepreneurs and investors on their journey from millions to billions. We believe the key to scaling and compounding your wealth in life starts every single day with the mindset and practice of stewardship over ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goals have to be scale and compound your wealth in life, so you give more all of it away to help MVPs. My name is Brett Swarts. Every episode, we’re joined by the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires, or billionaires, and they say there’s secrets and insights with us, so we can all level up, make a bigger impact. I’m excited about our next guest. Our guest is out of the Austin, Texas area, and she has been a part of lots of things in real estate. In fact, her background is is pretty dynamic. She’s the managing principal of Next Stone Holdings and a seasoned commercial real estate professional with over 25 years of experience. She specializes in strategic capital structuring, joint venture partnerships, and raising equity for mid-market to institutional real estate investments. And throughout her career, she’s been involved in structuring over 500 million in capital, facilitating more than 200 million in joint venture equity, and helping acquire over 150 million in assets and so much more. Please welcome the show with me, Janice Landers. Janice, how are we doing?
Janice
Doing wonderful. Thank you, Brett. What a powerful introduction.
Brett
Oh, absolutely. Our pleasure to have you on the show. For our listeners getting to know you for the first time. Would you give us just a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Janice
Yes, happy to do so. As you mentioned, well, first and foremost, I am I’m an entrepreneur that does real estate, and very passionate towards that first because that’s the secret sauce into being successful, and the other thing, like we’re excited about our next stone holdings and anew, unique, you know, all commercial real estate related fund that we’re just in the beginning stages of launching.
Brett
A phenomenal, yeah, and that’s it’s exciting with the deals that seem to be really available today, which we’re going to be talking about what you’re seeing in the marketplace
and what kind of opportunities next gen is going to be focus, next stone is going to be focusing on, and then we’ll talk about some creative ways to unlock some capital, and but let’s get started with a little bit more about your story. So, your experience and your story coming up in real estate, and how has it how has it changed the last couple of years?
Janice
Oh, my goodness! Coming up in real estate, I sold a company and signed a non-compete, and had to pick a new industry, and it always had an interest in real estate, and just through a series of things, wound up in commercial real estate and started out in in brokerage, which was an interesting journey, and wound up doing things that, you know, I never set out to focus, such as land and hospitality, retail. Had an industrial background and thought that’s where my focus would be. And ironically, just was never in markets that were big on those plays. Fast forward, just. had threatened to do this for a long time, you know, for years and years. Had been privileged to really help build a lot of wealth for a lot of people, and help protect their assets, grow their assets, and just through a series of things, got out of my head something I’d been sitting on for a number of years, and put it to paper in a spreadsheet, and have you know dynamic team together. So here we are in 2026, launching something that we’re very proud of. First of all, protects capital, and second of all, gets higher yields.
Brett
I love it. I love the background from you know entrepreneur selling the company, non-compete to okay, well, something completely different is commercial real estate. So you have that business success with commercial real estate, which all commercial real estate is just another business. I mean, you’re in the business of multifamily, you’re in the business of industrial, you’re in the business of medical office, you’re in the business of land development, right? I mean, it’s all businesses. It’s the product happens to be that specific commercial real estate asset type, which is great. So now you’re. Now you’re launching next stone. So, what would you say? So, if you like this little, short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody.
Watch the episode here:
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About Janice Landers
Janice Landers is a commercial real estate executive, investor, and capital markets professional with more than two decades of experience helping investors, developers, and business owners navigate complex real estate transactions. Throughout her career, she has specialized in commercial acquisitions and dispositions, land development, capital raising, investment structuring, and strategic partnerships. Her experience spans retail, office, industrial, medical, and mixed-use properties, giving her a well-rounded perspective on what drives successful real estate investments.
As a leader at NextStone Holdings, Janice focuses on identifying investment opportunities, building strong relationships with founders and investors, and creating capital structures that support long-term growth. Known for her collaborative approach and deep understanding of mid-market transactions, she is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and investors make informed decisions that preserve wealth, manage risk, and create lasting value through thoughtful investment strategies.
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