About Tom Rauen
From a 4-Plex to a
$90M NNN Portfolio.
Here's How.
Tom Rauen started where most investors start: a residential property, midnight maintenance calls, and tenants he never wanted to hear from. Today he runs a $90M portfolio of NNN properties with tenants like Starbucks, Dollar General, and Applebee's. He built it deal by deal, and now he teaches other investors exactly how to do the same thing.
10,000 Small Businesses
The Story
He Was Exactly Where You Are Now.
Tom grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He didn't come from family money or a real estate background. What he had was an appetite to build something and a willingness to figure it out as he went.
His first real estate investment was a 4-plex. It came with everything that word implies: drug dealers, hoarders, and a storage unit that caught fire at 3AM. He managed it himself. He took the calls. He dealt with the problems. He thought that was just what being a landlord meant.
At 29, he took a bigger swing: a commercial retail building in Dubuque that had been sitting vacant for over a year. He scraped together $65,000 for a down payment, used an SBA loan to close the gap, renovated it into multiple storefronts, and occupied part of it for his own growing business while tenants covered the mortgage. Ten years later he sold it for $1,000,000 in profit. Read the full deal breakdown.
In 2012 he discovered triple net commercial real estate. Long-term leases. National tenants. Zero landlord responsibilities. The complete opposite of the 4-plex. He shifted his entire focus to NNN and began building what would become a $90M portfolio through his commercial real estate firm, Bankston Wealth.
Today Tom is a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alumnus with 12+ years of NNN experience and 87 active investors. His deals are the source material for every lesson on this site. Read the deal breakdowns on the blog.
The 4-Plex That Changed Everything
Drug dealers, hoarders, a 3AM storage unit fire. Tom learned what he didn't want from a landlord life before he discovered what was possible.
First Commercial Deal: $65K Down, $1M Out
House hacked a vacant retail building in Dubuque with an SBA loan. Renovated, leased, occupied, and sold 10 years later for $1,000,000 in profit.
Discovers Triple Net Leasing
Long leases, corporate tenants, zero maintenance calls. Tom shifts his entire focus to NNN commercial real estate and begins building the portfolio.
Founds Rauen Capital
Sets a goal of $100M in assets under management. Opens the portfolio to outside investors. Begins syndicating deals across multiple states.
$90M Portfolio. $1M+ Distributed.
Acquires 12 properties in a single year totaling $27M. Crosses $1,000,000 in distributions to investors. Three more properties under contract, targeting $100M.
Launching Fast Food Landlord
Tom opens up the playbook. Everything he's learned across 35 properties and 12 years, available to investors who are ready to stop managing and start owning.
Bankston Wealth
The Operating Firm Behind the Portfolio
Fast Food Landlord is where Tom teaches. Bankston Wealth is where he operates. It's the same portfolio, the same deals, the same strategy — his track record as an active NNN investor is what makes every lesson on this site real, not theoretical.
Based in Peosta, Iowa, Bankston Wealth currently manages $90.4M in assets across 4 states with 87 investors and 80 tenants. Tom and his wife Amanda run the firm together, supported by an extended network of partners, brokers, and vendors who have been part of the portfolio since the beginning.
In 2025 alone, Bankston Wealth acquired 12 properties totaling $27.2M — the most active year in the firm's history. Three additional properties are currently under contract, which will push the portfolio past the $100M mark.
What Tom Believes
The Principles Behind Every Deal He's Ever Made
Information Is the Real Edge
The best deals don't come from LoopNet. They come from reading local newspapers, knowing appraisers, and paying attention to places other investors ignore. The information gap is where money is made.
The Right Structure Changes Everything
Most landlord problems aren't property problems. They're lease structure problems. A triple net lease with a national tenant doesn't just reduce work — it eliminates an entire category of risk and stress.
Compounding Is the Whole Game
One deal is a good year. Reinvesting the profits from that deal into the next one is a different life. The velocity effect — cash flow, debt paydown, and appreciation compounding across a growing portfolio — is how generational wealth is actually built.
The Right Deal Fits Your Actual Life
The biggest deal is not always the right deal. The right deal is the one that fits your time, your capital, and your family. Tom took $75,000 on a deal that could have been $500,000, and he'd make the same call again.
Vision Creates Value
Every great deal Tom has done required seeing something others couldn't. A vacant building on a highway. An industrial site in a local newspaper. The ability to see what a property could become — and sell that vision to a lender — is a competitive advantage most people never develop.
Dubuque Proved the Model Works Anywhere
Tom built a $90M portfolio from a small city in eastern Iowa. Not New York. Not Miami. Not any market anyone would call obvious. The NNN model works because the tenants are national. The landlord can be anywhere.
What's Your Next Move
Tom Built His Portfolio
Deal by Deal. So Will You.
Whether you're trying to understand NNN for the first time or you're ready to find your first deal, Tom has a clear path for where you are right now.
New to NNN Investing
Start with the free NNN Starter Kit
Learn how triple net leases work, what makes a good NNN tenant, and how to evaluate your first deal — before you spend a dollar.
Get the Free Starter KitAlready an Investor
Get coached through your first NNN deal
You know real estate. Tom knows NNN. Book a call and he'll show you exactly where you are in the process and what the right next move looks like for your situation.
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