A potato farmer who quietly bought an entire town, a septic system that failed almost the moment after closing, and a self-storage facility where thieves cut through every door just days before the sale—this episode goes deep into the real, unfiltered side of mobile home parks, RV parks, and self storage. Eugene talks with investor and podcast host Gabriel Petersen about how he transitioned from a corporate role at Microsoft into niche commercial real estate, why he loves sticky pad-rent income over single-family rentals, and how he structures creative seller-financed deals (including a 20-year interest-only note). They walk through underwriting mobile home and RV parks, differentiating business models, dealing with crime risk in self storage, navigating municipalities that don’t want new mobile home parks, and deciding when it’s finally time to sell and roll capital into the next opportunity.
Guest Bio
Gabriel Petersen is a real estate investor focused on mobile home parks, RV parks, and self storage facilities. After starting his career in the corporate world at Microsoft, he flipped houses and wholesaled single-family properties before realizing it would take too long to reach his goals with small rentals. That pushed him into commercial assets, beginning with a mobile home/RV park acquisition in Washington State that he bought with seller financing and then expanded from there. Gabriel now owns multiple parks and storage facilities across markets including Washington and Arkansas, and he is the host of The Real Estate Investing Club podcast, where he interviews active investors across a wide range of strategies and asset classes.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Mobile Home Investments
01:47 Gabe's Journey into Real Estate
03:32 First Deal: Underwriting and Financing Insights
08:06 Understanding Mobile Home and RV Parks
10:09 Business Models: Tenant-Owned vs. Park-Owned Homes
10:48 Lessons Learned from Early Acquisitions
13:18 Property Crime and Self Storage Facilities
18:54 Cold Calling vs. Brokerage: Finding Deals
19:11 The Benefits of Off-Market Deals
20:07 Negotiating Directly with Sellers
22:22 Understanding Cap Rates in Real Estate
23:19 Challenges in Developing Mobile Home Parks
25:01 The State of Self Storage Development
26:35 Utilizing Seller Financing
29:14 Finding New Properties in the Market
30:48 Deciding When to Sell Properties
33:26 The Role of Podcasting in Real Estate Networking
Contact Information
To connect with today’s guest, Gabriel Petersen, visit The Real Estate Investing Club at therealestateinvestingclub.com or email him at gabe@therealestateinvestingclub.com.
To learn more about host Eugene Gershman, his projects, and the Real Estate Development: Land To Legacy podcast, visit https://giscompanies.co/podcast/.
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