Gabe Petersen

Gabe Petersen is the founder of Great Northwest Home Buyers, a principal at Equal Housing Group, and most importantly, the Podcast and YouTube host of The Real Estate Investing Club.

Gabe started out his career as a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies and worked the cubicle life for over 7 years. After 7 years of working for “the man”, he stumbled into real estate after buying a broken-down triplex in Tacoma, WA. As they say, the rest is history.

Since that first triplex, Gabe went on to start Great Northwest Home Buyers, a single-family and multifamily real estate investment company focused on rehabs and rentals in the greater Washington area. He now buys and wholesales single and multifamily properties across the USA.

With extensive experience across many different asset classes and strategies, Gabe decided to start what you know today as The Real Estate Investing Club podcast and YouTube show.

Connect with Gabe at https://linktr.ee/gabepetersen

Click To Read The Transcript

How Gabe Petersen Powered His Way to Building A RE Investment Empire

Pamela Bardhi
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Underdog. Today I have an awesome guest here with me, Gabe. Gabe, how are you?

Gabe Petersen
I’m doing great Pamela. How are you?

Pamela Bardhi
I’m doing lovely. For those of you who don’t know, Gabe is a real estate superstar. And just an amazing being all around which you want to know more, of course, just check out the show notes. But Gabe, you got quite an incredible journey that you’ve had to get to where you are today. What sort of inspired you to the real estate realm?

Gabe Petersen
I really like talking about my journey with all the work and everything along the way. Because I feel that everybody, who gets started or wants to get started down a path. They always think it should be picture perfect, they think it should. You know, everything should work out accordingly. But it never does. Especially my story. It was not that way. I hope the main thing that people pull from my story is just that you have to get started. And don’t worry about all the missteps and the crashes and the burns that you get along the way. Because eventually if you just keep pushing forward, you just keep moving forward. You’re going to get to where you want to go.

But yeah, your question was, how did I get started and why? Why did I get started? My story started, let’s see, I’ll go back to college. I graduated from Udub. Go Huskies! Up here in Washington. My original goal was to be a lawyer, I thought I’d be a lawyer. I graduated degree in philosophy. But then I started actually going and seeing lawyers work, I had a family friend who was a lawyer, and I kind of shadowed him and realized I did not like the work at all, I didn’t want to be a lawyer, I didn’t like what he did on a day to day basis. So it was at the time that I needed to graduate. And I didn’t have a goal, I didn’t have a direction.

I graduated, I was like crap, I really don’t want to be a lawyer. What am I going to do? I don’t know what the next step is. So I kind of pats around, I was a bartender for a while, and then, my friend was working at Accenture. Which is a consulting company up here. While they’re an international consulting company, they are based out of Seattle. And so it sounded like a fun gig. You fly around to different corporations, you work on “cool projects.” And so I said, Alright, that sounds fun. Let’s do it, I interviewed for a few companies. Got a job at a consulting firm and started working. But come to be, I did not like consulting either, I didn’t like the commute.

In corporate, you really don’t have a lot of control. You don’t get to decide the projects that you get to be on. There were a lot of things, I didn’t like about corporate that didn’t really fit with my personality and with what I wanted to do in life. But it was the only way that I knew how to make money and I was making pretty good money. And I didn’t have an entrepreneurship background, I didn’t have an entrepreneurship family. So I didn’t know what else to do, so then, I was that guy that was flipping through my Facebook feed and those ads would come up and say, Hey, make a million dollars. Make an e-commerce company, make a T-shirt company and I mean. It sounded good to me, so the first business I did was actually in eCommerce.

And I did a number of e-commerce companies or businesses. Actually starting with print on demand and then dropshipping. If people aren’t familiar with that. It’s basic math, I won’t go into it, but it’s a form of e-commerce business. And I built that up to about 20,000 a month, but really hated it. I didn’t like sitting in front of the computer, I didn’t like it, there was no human interaction. It just was not for me and that was 20,000 gross, it was not 20,000 profit. So it was not something that I could leave my corporate job with, so I didn’t have freedom yet. I was still working at a corporation and did not like that grind and so I needed something else.

And at this point, I had those skills. I’ve been down that path and e-commerce and I had the skills of marketing and so I said. Okay, why don’t I get a marketing client. Why don’t I do marketing? So I had quit or I had stopped my eCommerce store. Because I did not like staring at the screen. I didn’t like being in my room all the time and also I like working from home so that was not good. The idea of working from home sounded really good until you have to do it all the time. And now it’s like this is the worst idea ever.

So yeah, so the next step I knew. I didn’t want to do eCommerce, I wanted to do something else, so I decided on these marketing chops and I was able to do digital marketing pretty well. So I decided to get a client as a digital marketing consultant. Again, this was kind of Facebook-inspired. A guy was talking about making an agency and so I said, That sounds fun, it’s more client-based than e-commerce. I can, you know, interact with people, so I went out and I got my first client, who was a luxury real estate agent.

So I was helping him sell like 2 million, $5 million houses in Telluride, in Colorado, in the Hamptons, and all these really swanky areas. I was helping him run ads to sell these houses. But again, I found myself going down this path. And I didn’t like the work, I just didn’t like being in front of the computer all the time, and not having people to interact with was really the crux of it. The one thing that I really did like about corporate, was that I had a team around me and there were people that I could talk with and it was social eCommerce. Was not social and digital marketing.

You know, it was more social than eCommerce, but it was still not the type of social that I wanted to be. So I decided to look for another direction and about this time, I picked up the book. I mean, so many real estate investors’ stories start this way. But I picked up the book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And I read it literally one night, covered to cover. It made complete sense to me. I always say it’s a really good book to inspire you. But it’s not a good book to tell you what to do. Because it definitely, Robert goes through kind of why real estate works as a business model, but not really how to go about doing real estate.

So I read the book, and I got super stoked. And I was like, alright, this makes more sense. Real estate. It’s a thing. I’m not staring at this screen, and there’s an actual structure. I can feel it, I can do it and it’s very social. You have to interact with all these people, so this sounds like a good path. So at that point, I decided that I was gonna try this. And so a friend of mine and I started looking for properties. Fast forward, literally two years. We were in analysis paralysis for a very long time and that’s another kind of lesson that I would like people to learn. If you have the ability to take action in real estate if you can buy a property if you have the down payment. There are ways to do it without having money, but it’s much harder.

So if you do have the money, I just say do it. If you find a deal that makes sense, generally on paper, do it. Cut your teeth. Get it done. Because we waited two years before we actually did it, and that was just time wasted. But I did eventually get into a property, got a triplex up here in Tacoma. It was just a nightmare. There was a hoarder there, there was somebody who was growing weed, and their electrical bills were like $700. And we were paying the electric bill. It was a good lesson, a good learning lesson. First flip.

But it was a nightmare, but you know, I’m gonna kind of fast forward the story from that. Because that’s where I really got into real estate and I loved it. I loved the model. It was very social. And it was very engaging like you have to go out there. You have to meet people, you have to talk to them about their structures. It’s very analytical. I’m a very analytical person. So I like spreadsheets and all that stuff, so I decided to go down the path of real estate. I left my corporate job.

And then from there, I started wholesaling. I’m not really into flipping because flippers, their breed in and of themselves. Because you know, it can be stressful if you’re using hard money and now, fast forward a little bit more, we’re doing mobile home and RV parks. We’re closing on our hopefully third park here soon. And yeah, that’s where I am today and it’s been a very roller coaster journey. So if anybody wants to get started in real estate, do it. It’s a great, great path and It’s a great career choice, in my opinion, you just gotta do it. You gotta bite the bullet and take some action.

Pamela Bardhi
Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I think you mentioned a lot of things that were important, but I wanted to hear you all the way through. So you mentioned the analysis paralysis before jumping into your first deal. Which is something that most entrepreneurs really get stuck on, right? Like how do you actually make the jump? What was the step-by-step process that you took that you were like, Alright, no more. I’m going through all kinds of things. The way I always describe it to people, I’m like, you just can’t think about it.

Because if you think about it, you can’t give yourself time to think about it. You just do. Like what’s the worst that can happen? Okay, you learn something you fail. Which is really truly just a lesson, so what’s worse that could happen, right? And I’m like, just imagine like you’re on a diving board. You’re gonna float back up. The water is gonna help you fall back up, so you just go. It’s the same thing, right? Just go and you’re going to either learn something from it and you’re gonna be fine. So that’s what I always tell people. I’ll be interested to know. What was your step-by-step process of like, Alright, we’re doing this like no more.

Gabe Petersen
I mean, step-by-step, I wish there was a step-by-step process, I wish I had a step-by-step process. What I would have liked to have had is somebody in my corner who had a bunch of experiences. And was watching me just kind of flounder and then be like, hey, just, just do it, man. Just Jump, just pull the trigger. But I didn’t, so I guess the step-by-step process that I took, I looked at 100 tonnes and tonnes of houses and I drove to all these different places. And I guess eventually I just realized like, I was wasting a ton of time like I was driving all these houses. I was walking, I was spending nights looking at different properties and I didn’t have anything to show for it.

So eventually, I just kind of decided to take the plunge even though I felt that I was making a mistake. And that’s the thing like these first if you’re doing a flip or anything like that, or your first purchase. A lot of times you’re gonna think it’s a mistake especially if you’re buying a value add deal. If you’re buying something that has some hair on it if it’s your first one. You don’t have the experience, you’re just gonna think you’re making a mistake. This is a problem.

So if the numbers work on paper, if it makes sense, just generally on paper, then just trust those numbers, just trust it. It probably isn’t right if it’s your first time, but it’s going to be in a ballpark and you’re not going to like to lose your shirt. You’re not going to declare bankruptcy. It will generally work. And so if the numbers work on paper, just jump. Just do it, It’s not gonna even if it is. You lose a little bit of money, you still got the education being up in the field.

Pamela Bardhi
Interesting, so you were just like no more wasting time. This is what we’re doing here. Like, let’s keep moving. You know, cuz I mean, you were just basically prolonging your dreams. I always like to say, like, basically, it’s there, but it’s not there. So how did you transition into real estate full time? Because I know, you mentioned that it was kind of a side hustle for a while, because I know that’s a major thing that a lot of people are doing right now, especially in the millennial generation. Our generation, where, it’s like they’re working these full-time jobs. But they have these dreams and they have their dreams on the side right now. So like, how did you transition in? And what would be your advice with that?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, that’s a hard one. Once I had a rental and I had money coming in on a monthly basis and I kind of understood the business model. I felt more comfortable and I just couldn’t do both of them. Like, I hear people who build businesses on the side. And I’m like more props to you. That is hard. It’s like, how do you do that? I don’t know, especially like, the corporate job that I was working at. It required a lot of hours and so it was just too hard to do. Both of them? Really did not like it, like it was not fun for me at all. And so I just eventually just said, screw it, I’m done. This can work, I have made money in real estate. It’s happened and so, I can do it again and so I just left it.

Pamela Bardhi
Nice. And you took the angle of just like real estate investing, like basically buying, buying, and holding. Because I know there’s, as some people may or may not know, there’s like a million facets to real estate. There’s like you mentioned the flippers flipping houses. And there’s the developers, permanent projects, and new construction or they flipped the deal with the permits or. You know, it’s the buy and holds investors that buy assets and hold long term. So what was sort of your first strategy that you were thinking about. When you were looking in the real estate realm?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, so I mean, I’m gonna echo. What you just said is that real estate is awesome. Because there are so many different business models within real estate, I mean. There’s not just one thing and so what I always like to say is real estate starts with the lead. And so if you can really get a system going that brings you leads on a consistent basis. Then you can start playing around with the different strategies on the exit. So like, if you want to try wholesaling. Which is essentially just assigning a contract to somebody else, so you get it under contract for 100,000. Then you assign it over to your friend investor over here for 105,000 and you take that $5,000 spread.

So if you want to do that, as long as you have the leads coming in. You can wholesale the contracts if a deal comes in. That you feel it’s a good flip if it’s in a location that you really have confidence in. If the structure, it’s not down to the studs. Which some flippers do but you know I’m not. I’m not that flipper If it’s in the area of severity of rehab that you want. You can take that on, If you want to buy it as a buy and hold, you can. But really, if you want to get started in real estate. My advice is just focus first on the lead gen.

Focus on finding good deals. And once you’re able to find those deals, then you can start playing around with the exit. With the different models of how to exit the property. Kind of what I did. I did do a few flips. That was kind of like my main thing because I read Robert Kiyosaki’s book. He was really about rentals. But with rentals, your money, your equity is in the property and so you can’t. It’s really difficult to make a business out of rentals. If you don’t have money coming in outside of real estate. Or if you don’t have some major, like if you buy a 300 unit apartment more complex. Then yeah, you’re gonna have enough cash flow to buy other single-family properties. You’re not going to be able to buy multifamily.

Pamela Bardhi
You were shifting basically into what was your first strategy or the first investment strategy into real estate. That was your big thing. So it’s like, at this point, what were you thinking, buy and hold. Because I know for myself, when I went into real estate, I wanted to flip. That was it, I had no intention of becoming a broker someday. I didn’t know anything about commercial real estate and my whole world shifted as I kind of went. So just be cool to see where you started and how you sort of transitioned since then.

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, and it’s cool to hear your story. I feel like everybody who’s in real estate. Their story transitions many times as they get more experienced. I’m actually getting my broker’s license now. I’m in the process of doing that. Because it sounds like a fun thing, I got all these leads coming at me. So that’ll be a new thing that I’ve never done before, so I’m still evolving. You know, as I’m going through this. But yeah, I started out clipping and then mostly wholesaling. I wanted to do it. My main goal was to buy and hold.

But I just couldn’t find the capital. I bought one rental, and then I was like crap, now I don’t have any money. So it’s really expensive out here. If you’re in Detroit or anything like that, you’re going to have a lot easier time buying rentals. But in a coastal market, that’s going to be a little bit more difficult for you.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. I’m here in Boston, and it’s like, yeah, you’re not going anywhere. Unless you tie up, at least, I don’t know, 600,000 in capital minimum, on a multi-family or close to a million. Then you have construction costs and a million other things. So that’s interesting, so you went into flipping and wholesaling and then, basically transitioned into the buy and hold strategy. For anyone who doesn’t know what buy and hold means, it means you buy like a multi-family property.

And basically, you hold it for long-term value, and basically, make sure that it has cash flows. So you not only pay your debt service, which is like your mortgage or loan. Or investors or whatever it may be and then, the profit that you gain from that. So that’s, it’s really cool to see how you sort of transitioned into that. And so, after you bought that first property, how did you transition into basically creating a fund? Because I’m assuming that you have a fund or something? How did you go through that? Because everyone talks about it, I would love to do real estate, but I need the capital.

Gabe Petersen
I didn’t realize, I didn’t learn about syndications or raising capital or anything like that until much, much later. But so, I always like to talk people always. The first question is, how can I get into real estate without any money? I always say, basically impossible. You can’t, you need money. But there are ways to do it with very little money. The best way, wholesaling is a way to make a really little money. Because that’s just marketing.

The other way is raising capital. It’s going to people and asking for their money to put into your projects, and then you’re the one who’s actually doing it. But actually, for the mobile home and RV parks. We didn’t raise money because we negotiated seller financing and really favorable terms. And so it’s been through two other partners, three of us and we use our own. We’re using our own money, our own capital. Another way, if somebody wants to get into larger commercial assets without having to raise capital is negotiating seller-financing. And seller-financing is my favorite thing about real estate or about setting up the structure of a real estate deal. Because you can negotiate terms.

You can make it work on both ends of the spectrum on the seller side and the buyer side and come to a deal. That it’s much more favorable than you could otherwise get for a single-family property. Although, you can do seller financing for single-family property. So yeah, we negotiated seller financing. For all three of them, we’re putting 90,000 down, that’s just been nothing. But we’re giving him good interests, we’re giving him good, good terms. And so we’re making sure that the property cash flows and then. We’re setting him up by giving him an interest payment that he can benefit from. And then we’re getting the benefit of low, low downpayment and being able to close these properties, without having to go to other people to raise capital.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s pretty amazing. It’s like an underdog on a boss move. Automatically when you say RV park, they have to have fun, right? Like it has to be fun, that’s backing it or some sort of mortgage or some crazy downpayment. So I think that’s so awesome with the seller financing. You were able to sort of find your way around that to get into these bigger assets. Which is awesome because your market is expensive. Like that’s a great move. Oh, man. That’s amazing. And also, you were mentioning earlier in your story, how you were sort of transitioning. You were in college when you were like oh, what’s next? I want to be a lawyer but not really, this whole transition. So like in your life, what was your biggest inspiration or who?

Gabe Petersen
I used to be, I still am a big fan of reading books, nonfiction books. And so I read a bunch of books and all the People in those books, all the authors. Or one source of inspiration kind of opened my eyes. Obviously, my parents are a big inspiration just in their work ethic. Neither of them are entrepreneurs or anything like that. So they didn’t really give me that mindset, that frame of mind. But they did show me how to work, how to go out and do well at what you want to set your mind to.

And then my uncle. My uncle, actually, has a recycling business. He started his own business and he was kind of the model for entrepreneurship for me and his business is awesome. He likes to tear down houses and refuse construction sites. And he throws it through this giant conveyor belt system and it takes out all the metal and all the plastic and then. It puts them into these different piles and then he sells those to different people. It’s a really cool, really cool business model.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s so interesting. It’s fascinating that there’s always that one entrepreneur in the family, right? That’s like you kind of look up to and you’re like, that’s pretty awesome. So yeah, I come from Albania. They make jokes. Everyone in our country who comes to the US, like everyone, has a business. So, everyone, I was in the entrepreneur world, like forever. And it’s funny because it’s like every one of my uncle’s my aunt, uncle. Everybody has their own business, It’s pretty hilarious. I was bred around and I didn’t even realize that. But even still, I went to school, and even in undergrad, I still thought I was gonna do a nine to five afterward.

And then, I just had an experience that was just like, Oh, hell, no, no, you’re not, no. It happened right before graduation, then it was like, No, I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it and my parents were like, well, you mean, like, yes, you swore. You’re not gonna be sacrificing work all the time. I would rather work 80 hours a week for myself than work like for others. It just was. So I think it’s really cool, like your transition period. And throughout, because you’d mentioned. You’ve gone into bartending sort of after college for a bit.

What was that transition period for you? And like your thought process during that time. Because I know a lot of people who are in that realm and they just are so down on themselves, and I’m like. Don’t be because that’s gonna shape you in the future. Whether you like to think so or not. At that restaurant that you’re working at, you might meet somebody who’s going to change your life that you don’t know about. So it’s like, what was that transition period like? Food? I think it’s so important. Thank you for sharing that. Because I was also in that world, or like, I was delivering pizzas when I was like, 16 years old and I didn’t think anything of it. But now that all that experience in the restaurant field has helped me to where I am today.

Gabe Petersen
Yeah. And I mean, I think you’re right, I think people do kind of get down on themselves and I was no different. I wish I would have been able to just decide, no, I’m not going to law school, let’s go to the next thing. But there was a period, really, I was pretty down, I didn’t know what I was doing, I was like, I’m a loser. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m like sitting here bartending if you get into that period. First of all, you’re not alone. Many people do that.

Even very successful people that you see. Many people go through that experience. You just get stuck in a rut, when you don’t have a path in front of you. And you don’t see what the next step is. It’s really difficult to kind of get that motivation to take steps. Because you don’t know which steps to take.
That was what was happening to me, I was bartending. I did a bunch of odd jobs during that period. But bartending was the main thing. And with bartending, you’re working late hours and then, when you’re up during the day. All your friends and family, they’re all working their nine to five and so you just kind of feel like an outcast. Yeah, that’s how I felt for sure, I felt that way. But I just kept going forward, then.

And then I met that friend and or talked to that friend about consulting and what direction. But I mean, that’s really how life goes. It’s just, you just take one step at a time, and eventually, something will turn out. You just gotta keep taking those steps, even if you feel down, just keep taking those steps. Because eventually one step is going to lead you to something that you like, and that really fits you. You just gotta make sure and align yourself with your core. With who you are, with what you want. And just keep taking steps in that direction. Eventually, it will work out. I just have 100% confidence that if you take the steps, it will work out.

What Inspired Gabe Petersen?

Pamela Bardhi
What was something that sort of inspired you during that time when you were like, oh, kind of? Because like for me, it was always Pam, like you’re meant to do great things. Just keep going like this is just a stepping stone, right? Like, don’t worry, like it’s cool, like, I would literally be on Myspace slash Facebook. When I was illegally able to get on it because I was like that in middle school. Even though it was only for high school, even though it was only for college kids at the time. And I’m looking up all these quotes to try to stay inspired and that was one thing. That helped me so it was there like a mantra at that time that sort of helped you shift through that period.

Gabe Petersen
Well, no, actually quotes. That is, now you mentioned that I really did. I like quotes, I had a quote book back then, that I always read. I’d still love quotes. But they are super inspirational. It’s something that I kind of took inspiration from. There were a few authors that I really liked. Ralph Waldo Emerson is somebody that I really, really liked. It’s more like an essay called Self-reliance. I read that when I was bartending and I just loved it. I was like, Yes, this is awesome. Makes total sense. So there’s a few books and authors that I read. That just kind of kept me going and kept me pushing forward when I didn’t really know what to do. And other than that, yeah, I think it was mostly the authors that got me moving.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. So basically transcendentalism.

Gabe Petersen
Yeah.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah.

Gabe Petersen
It’s really good. That specific essay is really good. If anybody hasn’t read it, I’d say go for it. It’s called Self-reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Pamela Bardhi
Ralph Waldo Emerson. And there’s other amazing authors that are out of this world. Transcendentalism basically is all about the self, and self-love, really. And I was introduced to that junior high school and I was obsessed. Like, I was literally obsessed with that literature. Like, I became like a lit freak. Because I was and I would just go above and beyond. I was getting like over 100 on all the exams and like essays and stuff like that because I loved it so much. So I mean, for anyone who was thinking about just reading something inspiring. Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and just so many more. Really, truly inspiring, so it’s really cool to hear that that’s sort of what helped you. Self-reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Yeah?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, Self-reliance. And James Allen, that was another good one.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh, nice. That’s amazing. So now, you know, thank you for sharing your journey. And you sort of how you walk through it. Which I think is so cool that it wasn’t your traditional route, which is what a lot of people experience and I’m glad that you mentioned it. Because it’s like a lot of people do go through this. And they think that it is supposed to be a straight path, which is never in the world. So now that you worked on some incredible things, and you’re established in the real estate realm and doing what you love to do. Sort of what’s next in your world?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah. So I mean, we’re, so we’re on our third Park. We’re still learning, we’re still new-ish in the field. And so mobile home RV parks. This is what I’m really excited about right now. It’s what we’re, you know, sort of going forward with. So I’m going to keep going down this path. I still have, I still do wholesales for a single-family and in the single-family realm. I’m gonna eventually do a few more flips, just because I have more experience now and I want to try it out and see that before and after. But other than that, I mean, I had the Real Estate Investing Club Podcast, that I’m having a lot of fun with.

And then eventually, we’re going to be launching a kind of mentorship program. Because that was the piece that I was missing. When I started out in real estate, I didn’t have somebody in my corner who could kind of help me out and point me in the right direction. So I want to give that back to people. Who wants to go down this path, so we are going to be launching that right now. We have an ebook that I wrote to kind of give people the steps.

I break it down into four real estate, the process of investing into four steps plying the deal, financing the deal, adding value to the deal, and then exit the deal. And I kind of go into those steps and how you can do that. So if you want the ebook, check out the website, therealestateinvestingclub.com. And now other than that is just the podcast, building out that mentorship program, and then doing my mobile home parks. Oh, and then I am working on my broker’s license. Eventually, I’ll be getting that too.

Pamela Bardhi
Nice. And now I’m going to leave you with sort of the last question. Which I always ask is, you know, what’s the biggest piece of advice that your older self would tell your younger self?

Gabe Petersen
Just don’t give up. Keep going forward. You’ve got it all in you. You don’t really need it, all the answers are within you. Align yourself with what you want. And what you’re, what you feel inside and just keep taking those steps forward. Eventually, you’re going to get to where you want to be.

Pamela Bardhi
I love it. And what would be your biggest piece of real estate advice?

Gabe Petersen
Real estate advice, the biggest piece is just take action. Buy that first house. Taking more action quicker is my biggest piece of real estate advice. Especially because when I started my journey, it was right after it was 2009. And so it was like that was a perfect time. If I just did more action from 2009 forward, it would have been amazing. But I didn’t, I doodled. I dragged my feet. So don’t do that. Take action. The time is now. Just get out there and do it.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. And because you’re in real estate, I have to ask you this question. What is the 2021 forecast in your opinion? Looking at what the next three to five years look like in real estate in your opinion?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, man. I’ve talked to people much smarter than me about this. And I don’t feel like I have a good opinion. I do feel you know, we’ve had this stretch of expansion for over 10 years now or something like that. So it has to turn around at some point. We can’t just keep expanding. There’s going to be a recession, I don’t know when that is. Seattle’s still, we’re still like a hockey stick regarding straight up. I don’t want to tell people what to do because it’s, I don’t know, I feel like eventually something’s gonna happen. We’re gonna go down, I don’t know when that eventually is.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, yeah cuz I know you over here in Boston, like you just said like a hockey stick. It just keeps going up. You know what I’m seeing in the trends that there’s going to be $430 billion of commercial real estate asset loans due to mature in 2021. A bit terrifying because you’re losing office and retail, especially here on the east coast. And basically the retail presence in offices now with a pandemic. People are like, Oh, we just work from home.

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, that’s gonna be an interesting commercial, yeah. Especially retail is going to be interesting. We’ll see.

Pamela Bardhi
I’m interested. I see these grim figures and I’m like, oh, because it hits commercial real estate first. And then it hits residential areas. So I’m like, seeing these stats on commercial real estate. I’m like, that’s gonna affect us somehow down the line in residential. But let’s keep an eye.

Gabe Petersen
That’s the good thing about mobile home and RV parks, too, is that they’re very recession resistant. They do not get hit as much as other asset classes. So it’s my little plug there for mobile home and RV parks.

Pamela Bardhi
Love it. And now Gabe, where can everybody find you and your awesomeness?

Gabe Petersen
Yeah, absolutely they go check me out at the real estate investing club.com. Best place to go and, or while there too is all my social stuff. So you can just go to therealestateinvestingclub.com.

Pamela Bardhi
Got it, my friend. Thank you so much for being here today. You’re so awesome and inspiring. Thank you for sharing your journey.

 

Tune in to the episode to hear the rest of my incredible interview with the amazing Gabe Petersen.

If you found this story worth your time and made changes in your life, we’d love to hear from you! Subscribe and leave a review.

The Underdog Podcast host is none other than Pamela Bardhi. She’s rocking the Real Estate Realm and has dedicated her life as a Life Coach. She is also Forbes Real Estate Council. To know more about Pam, check out the following: