Why Robert Kiyosaki Gets Excited When Real Estate Prices Fall
Real estate investing with debt can give investors leverage to acquire larger assets, generate cash flow, and build equity—but Robert Kiyosaki argues that debt only becomes a useful financial tool when you understand how to manage it.
In this episode of The Rich Dad Radio Show, Robert Kiyosaki sits down with longtime friend and real estate investor Ken McElroy to challenge conventional thinking about debt and explain how experienced investors use leverage, other people's money (OPM), cash flow, and refinancing to build wealth through real estate.
Robert starts with one of Rich Dad's most contrarian ideas: not all debt is bad debt. While getting out of debt can make sense for someone who doesn't understand how to use leverage, Robert and Ken explain why sophisticated investors may deliberately use debt to acquire income-producing assets.
That distinction becomes especially important as higher interest rates, maturing loans, and falling property values put pressure on parts of the real estate market.
Ken explains how higher borrowing costs change what investors can afford to pay for properties. At the same time, distressed owners and deals that can no longer support their existing debt can create opportunities for educated investors who understand how to analyze a property.
But lower prices alone don't make a good deal.
Robert and Ken emphasize the Rich Dad principle that your profit is made when you buy, not when you sell. Instead of buying property and hoping prices rise, they focus on acquiring assets that can produce cash flow.
The conversation also breaks down how investors use OPM, or other people's money, to acquire real estate. By combining investor equity with bank financing, experienced operators can control larger assets without supplying all the capital themselves.
Ken explains how the strategy can go a step further. An investor can acquire an underperforming property, improve its operations, increase occupancy or income, and potentially increase its value. That increased value may then allow the investor to refinance the property and return some or all of the original invested capital without selling the asset.
Ken calls one potential outcome an “infinite return”—when investors recover their original capital while retaining ownership of the cash-flowing property.
You'll learn why Robert and Ken focus on cash flow instead of speculation, how higher interest rates affect real estate deals, why distressed markets can create opportunities, how debt and equity work together, how refinancing can return investor capital, and why financial education and experience become even more important when using leverage.
The central lesson is simple: debt itself doesn't create wealth.
The strategy is knowing how to find the right property, buy it at the right price, create value, generate cash flow, manage the financing, and adapt when market conditions change.
For investors with the education and experience to use debt intelligently, Robert and Ken argue that a difficult real estate market may create more than risk—it may create opportunity.
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Debt Money and Real Estate
01:44 Office Crash and Conversions
03:48 Deals in a High Rate Market
05:09 Avoid Amateurs and Flippers
12:13 Buy During the Crash
13:21 OPM and Value Add Basics
17:35 Infinite Return Explained
18:57 San Antonio Distressed Deal
21:34 Truth Mindset and Wrap Up
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this video is for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered as financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or engage in any financial activity.
The content presented here is based on the speaker's personal opinions and research, which may not always be accurate or up-to-date. Financial markets and investments carry inherent risks, and individuals should conduct their own research and seek professional advice before making any financial decisions.
Cameron Long
Cameron is a seasoned CFO and CPA with 31 years in finance. He created the AI Trader's Playbook to help everyday investors use AI to find high-confidence trades — in minutes, not hours.
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Good morning
September 16, 2026 is FOMC decision day — the Federal Reserve announces its interest-rate decision at 2:00 p.m. ET. 
The two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting runs September 15–16. On the second day the Fed releases:
• The policy statement (hold, hike, or cut)
• Updated Summary of Economic Projections (SEP)
• The “dot plot” of where officials expect rates to go
• A press conference by Chair Kevin Warsh at 2:30 p.m. ET 
The current target range is 3.50%–3.75%. Markets have been pricing a high probability of a 25-basis-point hike (to 3.75%–4.00%), which would be the first increase since 2023. That expectation has shifted with recent inflation data.
September 16, 2026 is FOMC decision day — the Federal Reserve announces its interest-rate decision at 2:00 p.m. ET. 
The two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting runs September 15–16. On the second day the Fed releases:
• The policy statement (hold, hike, or cut)
• Updated Summary of Economic Projections (SEP)
• The “dot plot” of where officials expect rates to go
• A press conference by Chair Kevin Warsh at 2:30 p.m. ET 
The current target range is 3.50%–3.75%. Markets have been pricing a high probability of a 25-basis-point hike (to 3.75%–4.00%), which would be the first increase since 2023. That expectation has shifted with recent inflation data.
u r not even a broken clock. lol
Surprised you’re not selling out at all-time highs right now. The bounce back after the crash may not be something to get excited about this time around. The robots are here for the jobs this time. We are on the verge any minute now of a job loss avalanche. They did no preparation after the covid renter moratorium for the next time and the robots job loss is going to be a big, big mess. They need to enhance section 8 before this goes down and they’re not. Welcome to the 100-year depression which leaches up to the investors and business owners, you’re just the guy in the titanic movie running to the back of the ship buying some time. There will be no demand for gold because people and factories have no money to drive up price, gold will go to $10 an ounce. Bitcoin will be zero, everybody pulled money out to eat. The government will own all the real-estate because nobody has the property tax money due to renters have no jobs.
*Binance infinity ETH bug right now*
*I just made a video to show that’*
1:18 exactly, and especially since Ramsey doesn’t like Gold; I like to argue that golds averaged 8-9% since 1971, while houses haven’t.
One of his callers had half a million and he told them to buy a house outright and invest the rest! 💔 in 20 years that house could be worth $100,000, $700,000 or if the socialists really win—it could be worth $0! Whereas if the caller financed a $300,000 with an FHA loan around 3.6% their mortgage may be $1,600/month and instead put the $500,000 in US treasuries, their earnings would cover the cost of the house, and they’d still have $500,000 in the end!
9:58 9:59
The biggest barrier to wealth isn’t money—it’s vocabulary. Switching from ‘I can’t afford it’ to ‘How can I afford it?’ forces your brain to look for solutions instead of shutting down. Average minds see obstacles; investor minds solve problems.
robert kiyosaki said that in his book, such a great quote
There is only one reason Robert and Ken and many other fraudsters like them use debt is because they know that the CORRUPTED Government will bail them out together with the CORRUPT CRIMINAL BANKERS, with the Taxpayers money as they did in 2008 crisis. The system designed by the Rich for the rich. And no one of these criminals care that millions of people are suffering and becoming homeless. This is the most inhumane system called CAPITALISM. But only for the poor people. For the rich it is selective Socialism and Communism. They pay for nothing. The poor people pay for everything. American people are so brainwashed. It is a tragedy. Shame on you Robert and Ken.
don’t get mad at people who know how to work a broken system,its a printed world,i said a mouthful
The ricb learnt how to play the game
TÜRKÇE DUBLAŞLI YAYIN İSTİYORUZ
Real Estate will continue to climb… as the dollar depreciates in value.
I love it every time I hear Robert and Kenny talk about that toilet by the fireplace. It’s always a good laugh😂
What nobody mentions about constantly chasing the next level is how quickly the “next level” becomes normal once you reach it. Then you need another one. And another one. That’s why I found some of the psychological parts of Behind the Dark Side of Power by Elliot Westmore more interesting than the financial ones. If you never define enough for yourself, technically you can win forever and still feel behind.
The biggest trap with financial content is that everybody wants a rule that works in every situation. Debt good. Debt bad. Renting bad. Buying good. Job bad. Business good. Real life obviously doesn’t work like that. That’s something Behind the Dark Side of Power by Elliot Westmore actually gets right imo, understanding the mechanism matters more than memorizing somebody else’s rule.
I think people underestimate how much of their financial behavior is emotional. Half the things we call “goals” are really reassurance that we’re doing okay compared to everyone else. Better title, better neighborhood, nicer car, bigger number on a screen. Behind the Dark Side of Power by Elliot Westmore gets surprisingly psychological in places and that’s the side of it that stuck out to me. Money decisions aren’t always really about money.
This might be the first video I’ve seen in a while where the comments are almost more interesting than the video itself lol. People are coming at this from completely different life experiences and somehow landing around the same question: are you building something you control or just getting better at surviving inside something you don’t? Behind the Dark Side of Power by Elliot Westmore asks basically the same question, just from a much darker angle.