In the latest episode of Get Your Fill, host Christine McCarron chats with Mike Zlotnik—aka Big Mike, CEO of TF Management Group and a full-time real estate fund manager since 2009. After a successful but burnout-prone IT career, Mike jumped ship right after the Great Financial Crisis, inspired by his earliest wins: snagging his first Brooklyn apartment at a steep discount in 2000 from a motivated seller, then buying eight more units in the same building from an 85-year-old eager to relocate. These deals revealed real estate’s “inefficient” market, where buyers can build huge margins of safety on acquisition rather than hoping for appreciation. What started as family partnerships quickly scaled into his first fund, turning a passion for predictable passive income into a professional operation—complete with one rare, speculative Manhattan townhome redevelopment that he admits is pure excitement, not core strategy.
