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Is investing in car wash businesses the best thing to add to your real estate portfolio right now? In this episode, I sit down with Chris Larsen of Next Level Income to unpack why "operating real estate" (assets with both land + business components) can boost returns if the operations are rock solid. Chris shares his journey from a Virginia Tech engineering grad and Category 1 cyclist to building financial independence through rentals, multifamily syndications, and now car wash roll-ups. A pivotal moment losing his best friend (also named Chris) on June 21, 1997 reframed his view of time, purpose, and the need to control capital to live life on his own terms.
We talk candidly about where multifamily sits today: high prices, high rents, and high interest rates have compressed margins. So how do you still get attractive yields? Chris explains why he's still bullish on apartments (especially affordable housing with municipality partnerships and tax abatements), but also why he's allocating to operating real estate like car washes, senior housing, mobile home parks, and even private credit while banks are constrained.
You'll hear a simple, tactical playbook for de-risking car washes:
- Memberships to stabilize cash flow against weather and seasonality (he added memberships at an in-bay automatic wash in Asheville, North Carolina, where his son even worked this summer).
- Operational excellence as the #1 driver of returns either run it well or partner with a proven operator.
- Technology & pricing: use modern software (dynamic pricing, ML/AI tools) to optimize revenue just like best-in-class STR operators do.
- Roll-ups: buy mom-and-pop sites from retiring baby boomers, improve operations, and package multiple washes to expand the EBITDA multiple from ~8x at purchase to potentially ~12x on exit creating value through scale, not speculation.
We also cover why senior housing is poised for a powerful decade as boomers begin turning 80 at 10,000/day, how private lending/private credit can offer double-digit coupons in today's tighter banking environment, and why the quality of the operator has never mattered more. If you're earlier on the journey, we revisit house hacking, small rentals, and when to consider moving up the "Monopoly board" to larger, more efficient assets.
Finally, Chris opens up about infinite banking a tool his family has used for 16 years as a core liquidity hub showing how properly structured cash value policies can store dry powder, protect families, and be redeployed into opportunities (from crises to car wash acquisitions). We close with ripple effect stories from disaster relief fuel runs after the Helene impact near Asheville to helping listeners build work-optional lives that free them to use their God-given talents at scale.
If you want to think bigger than "one more door," understand where operations create alpha, and see exactly how a car wash + real estate hybrid can fit beside multifamily, affordable housing, and private credit, this conversation will give you a practical, step-by-step lens to act not just listen. Chris' links: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextlevelincome/ - Website: https://nextlevelincome.com/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.a.larsen/
Money Ripples Podcast 
