June 18, 2025 • 36 mins
Are you ready to redefine success and wealth? Merry and Cathy sit down with real estate entrepreneur Jeff Peterson. From running a small upholstery business to navigating high-octane real estate deals, Jeff's journey is anything but linear. Curious about how to leap from a W-2 job to entrepreneurship? Or how marathon running parallels business discipline? Jeff spills the secrets behind his memoir, "Are We There Yet?" and shares invaluable insights on financial literacy, networking, and long-term investment strategies. Tune in for wisdom that could transform your financial future!
Jeffrey M Peterson's Bio:
Jeff Peterson is a seasoned entrepreneur and real estate investor based in North Carolina. With over three decades of experience, he has successfully founded and operated multiple thriving businesses across various sectors, including Commercial & Residential Real Estate acquisition and management, Land Development and Construction, Retail & service businesses including Re-upholstery, Salons & Bars/Restaurants among others. His real estate portfolio encompasses residential, vacation, commercial, and land holdings valued at multimillion dollars. As a 34-year charter member of Cary MacGregor Rotary, Peterson is deeply committed to community service and civic engagement. Beyond his business acumen, he is an accomplished age group athlete, having completed eight Boston Marathons and numerous Iron-man, Spartan races, and too many other running races to count. In addition Jeff is an avid outdoorsman enjoying bow-hunting, deep sea fishing, and pleasure boating. Peterson divides his time between Cary and Surf City, NC, where he continues to pursue new business ventures while enjoying coastal living with his family. His entrepreneurial journey and diverse experiences inform his practical, results-driven approach to business success.
Special Offer:
A link to Jeffrey's new book "Are we There Yet": https://a.co/d/ioESqnk
Connect with Jeffrey:
Website: https://petersonproperties.co/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/jeff.peterson.315
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeff.peterson.scl/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-peterson-b4a4534/
Thank you for listening. Please check out @lateboomers on Instagram and our website lateboomers.us. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to watch it or listen to more of our episodes, you will find Late Boomers on your favorite podcast platform and on our new YouTube Late Boomers Podcast Channel. We hope we have inspired you and we look forward to your becoming a member of our Late Boomers family of subscribers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Merry (00:01):
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy (00:14):
Welcome to Late Boomers, our podcast guide to creating
your third act with style,power, and impact. Hi. I'm Cathy
Worthington.
Merry (00:24):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations with successfulentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the
ride on each interview,recounting the journey our
guests have taken to get wherethey are, inspiring you to
create your own path to success.Let's get started.
Hi. I'm Cathy Worthington. Welcome to Lake
(00:54):
Boomers. I'm here with mycohost, Mary Elkins, and we are
pleased to introduce you totoday's exciting guest, baby
boomer, real estateentrepreneur, and author Jeffrey
Peterson.
Merry (01:08):
As the principal of Peterson Properties in North
Carolina, Jeff has acquired andmanaged commercial real estate
centers, single family homes,condominiums, and so much more.
Plus, he's devoted to, communityservice, and he's completed, if
I can say that word right,competed in eight Boston
(01:30):
marathons and is the author ofare we there yet? A Memoir About
Grit, Determination, andPerseverance. Welcome, Jeff.
Jeff Peterson (01:39):
Thank you for that nice welcome. I I really
was looking forward to comingtoday and speaking to both of
you. I kind of I've not done a apodcast before where you had two
people firing questions at you.So feel like I'm a little bit
outnumbered, but I'm gonna I'mgonna try to hold my own. So
We'll be gentle.
Cathy (01:55):
We'll we'll try to be nice. Okay. Please talk please
talk to us about your journey,your memoir, are we there yet,
and how you found your path tobuilding a real estate empire.
Jeff Peterson (02:09):
I can do that in an elevator speech. No. Really?
Okay. Go bot.
So Oh. No. No. Are you kidding?
Merry (02:17):
I know.
Jeff Peterson (02:17):
Things could be. Okay. So mine, of course, like
most people in theentrepreneurial field, is not a
straight journey. It kind ofmeanders around, and when you
get towards the end and you feellike you're somewhat successful,
people will come to you likeyou, and they'll say, Well, how
did you get where you are? Thenyou'll say, You know, actually,
(02:38):
I don't know.
Let me recreate this. So thatwas kind of the idea for the
book. I started having a lot ofyounger people especially, were
asking me for advice on how toinvest, how to get started in
real estate and small business.And it got to the point where I
thought about it, and even withmy own children as well, I
(03:01):
thought it would be a good ideato just put some of it down and
try to create a memoir. It's nota biography, but it is a journey
of how I started out and how Icontinued in my journey.
Cathy (03:15):
Super. Super. And and then from there, how you found
the path to building a realestate empire, please.
Jeff Peterson (03:24):
Yeah. My my first my first venture, I started
business when I on my 20birthday, actually. Wow. It was
a small upholstery shop, and I Istarted it reupholstery. Yeah.
I started it out of a frontbedroom of a two bedroom house,
and that's how I got started. Asmall bedroom house that I was
renting at the time, but Ialways wanted my own house. And
(03:46):
a year or so later, I found ahouse, a small house, and
managed to talk the owner intoselling it to me, Although I did
not have a dime, and there's nofinancing. This is back in
nineteen eighty, eighty one,somewhere around there, where
interest rates were over 20%.You couldn't you couldn't get
financing, and you couldn'tafford it if you could.
So I managed to talk him intoselling me that house. They had
(04:10):
lived in it, him and his wife,for years and years. And I read
this book called How to Buy RealEstate with Little or Nothing
Down. And I'm trying to think ofthe author, anyway, it's a very
common book. But I took that toheart, and I went to this
gentleman, and I talked to usblue in the face, and finally,
he decided to do it.
(04:30):
He liked my approach, he likedwhat I was doing, and there was
a small you know, garage outback that I could upholstery out
of, so that's how I started.That was my first property.
Merry (04:40):
Well, that that's an interesting path. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Peterson (04:44):
When I say small when I say very small, I started
small, extremely small.
Merry (04:49):
Well, why is buying real estate the most important thing
we can do for long term success?
Jeff Peterson (04:57):
Well, now you're gonna get me out of soapbox.
Okay.
Merry (05:00):
So No elevator pitch on this.
Jeff Peterson (05:03):
No. No. When you when you do real estate, you'll
see a lot of people will say,you know, it's passive income,
and you can flip, and you can dothere's so many different ways
to do real estate. But thereality is it takes a long time,
and it's it's a discipline. Soyou have to be disciplined in
it.
But over time, it is the bestway to create wealth. Because
(05:25):
when you first buy thatproperty, your renters are gonna
be paying your mortgage. You'regonna be they're gonna be paying
down your mortgage. They'regonna be making all your
payments. Now you're gonnaappreciate value, and you're
gonna get the added benefit ofdepreciation.
So there's and there's morebenefits than that as well. Of
course, you get some cash flowif you've if you've done it
right. But it takes a long timeto do this. And the big fallacy
(05:51):
is that when you start this, youthink you're going be able to
quit your job or that's allyou're going be doing, but
that's not really that's notreally the best way, and it's
probably the hardest path to dothat because your cash flow is
probably not going to support alifestyle because that is not
the number one way to increaseyour wealth. The number one way
(06:12):
to increase your wealth isthrough your appreciation, and
that takes time.
Cathy (06:16):
Interesting. Oh, yeah. Obviously. Yeah. But why should
everybody start their ownbusiness, and what do you
believe is the first step totake?
Jeff Peterson (06:31):
Well, starting your own business. So if you
work for a company and you workyou work for you work for
someone else, you're a w twoemployee. Correct?
Merry (06:41):
Mhmm.
Jeff Peterson (06:41):
And when you're a w two employee, the difference
between a w two employee and asmall business owner is that the
w two employee will make athousand dollars, they'll pay
all their taxes, and whatever'sleft over, they pay their bills.
Where a small business owner,what he will do is he will make
a thousand dollars, He will payall of his bills, and whatever's
(07:03):
left over, he pays his taxes.That is a paradigm shift in in
how you think about how how youcreate wealth and and how you
how you sustain. So it isimperative that eventually you
become your own become your ownboss. The long term is the real
estate, but owning a business isis very good.
Merry (07:26):
That's that's and and if you have employees, they go
before taxes too, don't they?
Jeff Peterson (07:31):
That's correct.
Merry (07:32):
That's correct. So often, when you're first starting a
business, you make less than thew two employee. But
Jeff Peterson (07:40):
When I first started my business when I first
first couple years I had abusiness, I I actually started
having employees. They could goget a credit card. I could not.
I couldn't even qualify to get acredit card because I was self
employed. So it's the same thingwhen you go in for a home loan.
When you go in for a home loan,if you're a small business
person, the mortgage lenders donot like you. Would much rather
(08:04):
work with a W-two employeebecause it's so much simpler for
them. But it's very hard whenyou're self employed because you
know that it's not guaranteed.
Merry (08:12):
Mhmm.
Cathy (08:12):
Yeah. Because sometimes when you're self employed, you
may have saved up plenty ofmoney for the down payment, but
then Kaiser's went through thiswith some relatives. You have to
then justify where did thatmoney come from.
Jeff Peterson (08:27):
That's right.
Cathy (08:27):
And they don't like to believe
you because you don't have
a paycheck coming every two weeks. They don't believe
you, like, where'd you get themoney? And then if somebody gave
you some money, they have tosend a letter. It has to all be
shown, the paper trail. So Iguess they're worried you're
laundering money or something.
Have you found that
Jeff Peterson (08:44):
to be true? I haven't I have not done a
private mortgage, not privatemortgage, but a regular
residential mortgage in years.Now it's all commercial because
commercial people understandbusiness, so it's much simpler.
The process is much more simple.But if you're doing a
residential mortgage, believeme, they don't like people like
(09:05):
me.
They never will. It's it's justnot Yeah. Not easy. Yeah.
Merry (09:10):
Well, you give us some advice on the most suitable real
estate investment that we canbuy based on our own
personalities or skills orneeds? I everybody's needs are
different. Right?
Jeff Peterson (09:24):
Everybody's needs are different. You're right. So
most people start off withresidential because it's it's
easier to get started that way.It doesn't take as much capital.
What they'll do and many times,what they'll do is they will
they'll buy a property, they'llmove into it, and they'll hold
it for a couple of years, andthen they'll rinse and repeat.
(09:47):
So they'll keep that propertyand rent it out, and then go buy
another home mortgage. So theyget better interest rates, and
they don't have to put as muchmoney down. So it works out very
well to begin with. But youcan't you can't do that for very
many properties. You run out.
So you have to go into otherproperties.
Cathy (10:04):
It depends on the market you're in because if you're in
Los Angeles, that's not a veryviable scenario because you're
gonna pay so much for the house,and then you maybe can't rent it
enough to have any positiveflash cash flow.
Merry (10:19):
That's true.
Cathy (10:19):
It's in Yes. Mortgage.
Jeff Peterson (10:22):
With me, if I could just get a little bit of
cash flow, I was happy with itbecause I knew it was more about
the appreciation. And I had mybusiness or businesses. So that
was where I was generating mycash flow. But for the long term
appreciation, the long termwealth, you have to put that
money somewhere, and the bestway to to me to put it is into
real estate.
Merry (10:41):
Well, just and add on to the last question of the
different personalities and howyou would advise different types
of personality on what to buy.
Jeff Peterson (10:55):
It's that's that's a loaded question. I'll
I'll give you one example,though. If you were a if if
you've got an interior designbackground, you have a very good
eye for location and value,Maybe you go into the the Airbnb
short term market rentals, muchbetter cash flow, appreciates
well, and it's hands on. So ifyou have that mentality where
(11:20):
you can actually manage your ownproperties week to week instead
of just long term, there is muchmore benefit to that. But you
have to have the rightpersonality for that.
Merry (11:30):
Yes. You do. Yeah.
Cathy (11:32):
And you also will. And also it matters what you're
doing. It matters a lot the areathat you're buying in because
Airbnbs are getting booted outof so many, areas. Like, there's
an HOA. You can't be in there,and, you know, a lot of HOAs
have come down hard on thembecause people don't want the
(11:53):
renters coming in and out.
How do people how do peoplefigure that out? Do they have to
have a lawyer on each deal?
Jeff Peterson (12:01):
I think you need to look at that before you buy
the property, of course. Somyself, personally, we do a lot
of short term rentals. And I sayAirbnb, but that's for me,
that's a generic term because wedo Airbnb, Vrbo, and then we do
direct rentals, which is our ownwebsite. And we do all
vacations, so we're doingeverything at the beach, and
(12:23):
it's very localized. So for me,the best is to be right on the
beach, no further back fromsecond row.
And we do them all theretogether.
Cathy (12:32):
East Coast beaches?
Jeff Peterson (12:34):
Yes. East Coast. North Carolina.
Cathy (12:36):
Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. And is there a strategy to the way you
learn to speak to bankers andinvestors to achieve your
financial goals?
Jeff Peterson (12:47):
Yeah. That's that's the hard part. So to me
scoop. Alright. Let me I'll I'llgive you this.
So to me, the number one thingthat you can do with your
bankers, well, the number onething to begin with, is to get
to know them today. So don'twait until you're actually
looking at a property or youknow you're just gonna just say
you're gonna get into theproperty business, and you're
already you know, you're alreadyin a business or you already
(13:10):
obviously, you have somewherewithal or you wouldn't even
be starting. So you need to knowthat you need to know your
banker in advance. So you needonline banking is very big right
now. Right?
So everybody's doing everythingonline. But the reality is when
you're dealing with in acommunity, you should be going
into your local bank, into yourbranch, talking to the bank
(13:30):
manager, talking to the bankpresident. So when you
eventually go to them andapproach them, they already know
who you are. They see you out inthe community. So you wanna go
to those community events.
You wanna go to join your localcivic organization, go to
chamber meetings and things ofthat nature so that they know
who you are. And it makes itit's just one little step when
(13:51):
they go, they're comfortablewith you. And if they're
comfortable with you, you'reyou've just created a huge or or
eliminated a huge obstacle.
Merry (14:00):
Is there another kind of strategy you you would use?
Jeff Peterson (14:05):
Well, that's one strategy. Talking with bankers
is always it's always difficult.I mean, I would show them
finances in advance. I wouldtalk to them and say, this is
what I'm looking looking for.What do you need to see from me?
What do I need to do? Next year,I want to start buying some some
vacation rentals, or I wanna buya commercial property. What am I
(14:27):
going to need to do to preparemyself for that in advance? And
they'll kind of give you anidea. So you need to know the
market.
You need to be able to talk thelanguage. So talking the
language is no more thanliterally becoming financially
literate. And when you'refinancially literate, then when
you go into the bank, theyalready know that you know what
you're talking about. But if youdon't talk the language, they'll
(14:50):
dismiss you right out of thegate. So you have to already
know kind of what they'relooking for and, you know, that
you they need to know debt toincome ratios.
You need to know all of thatstuff that they're gonna ask
you. Not that you have to haveit all. You just need to know
what they're looking for and whythey're looking for certain
things.
Cathy (15:09):
And what books would you recommend that people read to
update them their financialliteracy? Something
Jeff Peterson (15:16):
only book
Merry (15:16):
that I would something.
Jeff Peterson (15:17):
The only book that I would recommend is mine.
Oh. I was just joking.
Merry (15:22):
Smart man. Very smart man. You
Cathy (15:25):
did say yours a memoir, not a how So
Jeff Peterson (15:29):
Yeah. It does have some it does have some nice
tips in there, but it's more ofa a lot of it's a rah rah, kind
of like, okay, you can do thistoo. But there are some nice
tips in there. As far as otherbooks, there's so many good ones
out there in the market. I likedfollowing some different
podcasters as well that I thinksome are more entertaining than
(15:51):
than others.
And they may not be giving thebest, best advice, but they're
pretty entertaining. And you canpick up bits and pieces. You
know, to me, I'll read a book,and I might pick one little idea
out of it, out of 200 pages. Iwas like, wow, that's really
interesting. That's worth theprice of it.
That's worth the price ofadmission. And sometimes I can't
(16:12):
remember exactly where it camefrom, but I do like that. I like
the way that works. I'll giveyou this one piece. Oh, go
ahead.
I'm sorry.
Merry (16:20):
Oh, good. No. No. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Jeff Peterson (16:22):
Oh, I was gonna backtrack just a little bit
because you were asking me aboutbeginners. You kinda said
beginning in real estate, butalso this goes to beginning in
business. So I already said thebest thing to me is eventually
work yourself into your ownbusiness. Right? But the first
thing you have to do when youactually get ready to make that
leap is to borrow every dime youcan borrow.
(16:46):
So borrow it before you beforeyou quit that job. Borrow
everything you can borrow. Andwhen I say borrow, I mean go get
your home equity line, tap it,and get as much as you can. Get
your credit cards. Borrow asmuch as as you can because the
minute that you quit that job,you're gonna be dead to the
banks for several years.
(17:07):
You're not gonna you're notgonna be able to borrow anything
or do anything. So I had afriend of mine, and he he was a
a GM at a very popular sportsstore, big chain, very
successful, and he wanted to doa food truck. And I was like,
Oh, man, are you kidding? Youreally want do a food truck? He
said, Yeah, I'm sick of it.
I just want to that's what Iwant to do. I said, Okay. Well,
(17:32):
he goes, What would you tell meto do? So I told him that. And I
forgot that I told him that, butI told him, said, Look, borrow
all the money you can becauseyou're going be dead.
I was kind of trying to scarehim a little bit, but I said,
no, seriously, borrow. You know,you got a lot of equity in your
house? Borrow against it rightnow because you're not gonna be
able to do anything. And twoyears later, we had a
conversation, and he said, Youknow what? Out of all the advice
(17:55):
I got from all of my differentfriends and all the people that
I know, he goes, Yours is theone that actually just saved me.
He goes, Absolutely saved me. Hegoes, I couldn't do anything. He
goes, But I did do that, and itworked. So that's what I'm
Merry (18:09):
heard that. I've never heard that before. That's
wonderful advice. How long doesit take before the bank lets you
borrow after that?
Jeff Peterson (18:17):
Well, so you have to have most banks will tell you
this. You're gonna need twoyears of tax returns. But that's
two years of good tax returns.So maybe the first year is not
so good. Right?
Maybe first couple years aren'tso good. Now you're looking at
four years. But you're going tohave to have a couple of good
years of tax returns, and it'sgoing to have to be moving in a
positive direction. So that'swhy you need to do all you can
(18:42):
before you quit your job. Andwith that being said, I wouldn't
be really quick to quit my jobeither.
Would work twice as hard untilyou finally cannot do your new
your new career and keep thejob, or you can't do a good job
working for the person you'reworking for.
Merry (19:00):
Oh. Is there
Jeff Peterson (19:01):
That's true.
Merry (19:02):
Yeah. To to pivot a bit, is there a trend in real estate
now such as building apartmentsand condos over retail stores?
Jeff Peterson (19:12):
Yes. I'm doing that right now. So it's that
trend, I think, is more citydriven. So I'm building now in
Holly Springs, and we're justabout done with it. But I
remember doing that, we weregoing to put in apartments, and
they said, We will not approvethis unless you put in retail
(19:32):
underneath it, because they wantthe live, work, play model.
And it actually I mean, it's agreat model, how much retail,
how many apartments. Thereinlies the problem, because banks,
again so they've got differentappetites. Some of the banks,
they want apartments. Otherbanks, they just want
(19:54):
commercial. But there aren'tmany banks that want both of
them together.
So when you're looking for yourfinancing, that makes it it just
it opens up a whole new realm ofissues. So so that makes it
hard.
Cathy (20:08):
Tell you what, it's a huge trend in Los Angeles right
now. Those buildings areeverywhere. They're above
Target, and they're above TraderJoe's. Sometimes it's not a lot.
It's an anchor store.
It's one store and lots ofapartments. That's what I'm
seeing all over LA now, but it'sdifferent where you are.
Jeff Peterson (20:31):
Yeah. It's it's coming. We're we're doing a lot
of that, but it's it's not quiteas dense. So you don't have as
much of that, but but you dohave a lot of that neighborhood
kind of so it's gonna beneighborhood shops and
apartments over overhead. Mhmm.
It just it just creates moredifficulties when you're trying
to get the project the projectfinanced. Yeah. Yeah. Then I'm
(20:52):
assuming
Cathy (20:52):
I'm assuming these are all rentals.
Jeff Peterson (20:56):
Yes. Yeah. When you're doing most of those would
be rentals.
Merry (21:00):
Are they? Not condos? No. Yeah. They're not.
Cathy (21:05):
Well, how has the real estate market for shopping malls
and office buildings changedsince COVID?
Jeff Peterson (21:14):
Now that is not my expertise.
Cathy (21:18):
Oh, okay.
Jeff Peterson (21:19):
So I know that you know, I have a shopping
center in Eastern NorthCarolina, and during COVID, we
did a lot of you know, workedwith a lot of the tenants trying
to keep them in there. You know,we we forgave rent. We didn't
really forgive rent. We wekicked it back, kicked it down
the road, but we managed not tolose any of the tenants. So that
was that was very good.
(21:41):
Great. But it was difficult foreverybody. And the banks
actually worked with us as well,because they would come and say,
hey, look, if you need aforbearance, we can kick this
back three months. You want sixmonths? We'll kick it back six
months.
So everybody kind of just was alot more lenient. And I I think
you had to do that becauseotherwise, it would have been a
house of cards. Everybody wouldhave been collapsing.
Cathy (22:03):
Mhmm. Yes. You're right.
Merry (22:06):
Yeah. So I know that you've run-in eight Boston
Marathons. So tell us about someof the sports that you love
because I know you do more thanrun. And, also, I'd love to know
what it would was like to run-ineight Boston marathons.
Jeff Peterson (22:25):
Every one of them every one of them sucked. Can I
say that? Yeah.
Merry (22:31):
Love it. I
Jeff Peterson (22:33):
can tell you some stories. So so the first one I
ever ran, it was I just ran afor me, now I'm just an age
grouper. Right? But I ran aphenomenal race. It it was just
fantastic.
The very next year, this is a02/2014, I ran it again. I was
like, hold on. Get my note. Getmy I'm getting my years mixed
(22:55):
up. This is 02/2012.
So the next year, I ran itagain, and it was 90 degrees
out. It was so hot. They wereasking people to defer to the
following year, and they refundyour money, or they'd just kick
it to the next year. And I wasin great shape, and I was like,
I'm just going to run at thesame speed I ran last year. I'm
(23:16):
not going to kill myself, butI'm going to run it again the
same way.
Well, 90 degrees running doesnot get along well with me.
Right? So I I ran. Tried to runat the same speed, but mile by
mile six six, I still had 20 togo. I was I was actually seeing
stars and me I mean, I was I wasterrible.
So it took me two hours longerto run that race. It was Boston
(23:43):
was my fastest race and myslowest race that I've ever
run-in my life. It was justterrible. So I've had some of
those stories like that where tome and I've run a lot of races,
not just running races, butalso, you know, Ironman and and
Spartans and things like that.But I always say you can have a
(24:04):
great race or you can have agreat story.
The great races, I forget about.I forget about them two weeks
later. Nobody wants to hearabout them. But the great
stories, like where you didsomething maybe you did
something wrong or somethinghappened, those are the ones
that are amusing. They're theones that, like, you'll never
forget them either.
I mean, so so it's
Merry (24:23):
Always. And were you were
Cathy (24:25):
in with the the violent year when all the bad
Jeff Peterson (24:28):
stuff 02/2013.
Merry (24:30):
02/2013,
Jeff Peterson (24:31):
I was. I was. Oh, you And I'd I'd already crossed
the finish line when when thebomb went off, and I didn't know
it was a bomb. Actually, I'dgone down the side street to try
to hear myself on the phone totell the person I was with where
I was, and it's so loud on onBoylton Avenue that you can't
(24:52):
hear yourself think. So I wastrying to trying to talk on the
phone, and I heard I heardsomething go off.
I thought it was a transformer,or I thought it was something in
the air force, or just you justdidn't think bomb. Then I heard
it a second time, and I waslike, oh, wait a minute. And I I
can't tell you how many tens ofthousands of people were on
(25:13):
Boylston right when the bombwent off. And if they had, you
know, if they had done somethinga little bit different, it would
have been so much worse. I mean,they just they actually bungled
it, the people that set thebomb.
But I got back to the room, andI was I was hurt for that race.
I was hurt during the race. I Iprobably shouldn't have run it,
but I did. But by the time Imade it back to the room and
(25:35):
turned on the TV, which was onlytwenty, thirty minutes, You turn
on the TV, and all you saw wassmoke and debris on the street,
and there's not a soul to beseen. Not a soul to be seen.
It
Merry (25:48):
was Mhmm.
Jeff Peterson (25:48):
It was a very, very emotional, very emotional
time for everybody.
Cathy (25:54):
So you had just run past that area?
Jeff Peterson (25:57):
Yes. I had just run past it.
Merry (25:58):
Very I
Cathy (25:58):
had another recently.
Jeff Peterson (26:00):
Yes. I had another friend that was running
as well, and they ran they werein between the two bombs. So one
went off here, one went off onewent off there near the finish
line, and they were runningright in between them. And so it
just ran right through it. Waspretty chaotic.
Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy (26:20):
Wow. Really terrifying. Well, let's let's tell us how
the discipline of sports cancarry over to the discipline
needed to create and runsuccessful businesses. Is there
a correlation there?
Jeff Peterson (26:38):
I think there is. I think and actually, it's it's
a good correlation. For me, it'sit's distance races. You know,
I've done some a lot of shorterstuff too, but not just distance
running, but ultra running, notjust marathons, but even in the
longer So for me, the disciplinethat it takes to train is the
(26:59):
same discipline that it takes torun your business or run your
real estate. You have to you'rein it for the long haul.
So when you're thinking about,just for instance, for a
marathon, you're looking atsixteen to twenty weeks of
training. Well, that's that'salmost every day. And you have a
plan, and that's what you'redoing. If you're really going to
try to run it and run well, youactually have a plan. But it's
(27:23):
the same thing with business.
And you can't just like, well, Ijust don't I'm not in the mood.
I'm not motivated today. Well,if you're not motivated today,
it's gonna you're gonna pay.You're gonna pay when it when it
comes out. It's the same thingwith business.
So you can't just do it whenyou're motivated. You have to be
disciplined. I mean, to me,discipline when you're
(27:44):
disciplined, you work on thosedays when you're not motivated.
You work all the time. So youdon't feel like doing that work.
You don't feel like making thosecalls. You don't feel like
researching this property, oryou don't feel like going and
talking to, a club or you justdon't feel like it. But that's
discipline. And when you'remotivated, then you take it to
(28:05):
the next level. That's when yourbreakthroughs come through.
But if you only work when you'remotivated, you're just gonna
miss so much. So I think it'strue of competition the same way
it's true in business. Andthat's just always the way I've
kind of thought about that.
Merry (28:22):
Yeah. It Well, I
Cathy (28:23):
guess people sit around and wait for motivation to hit
them on the head. Yes. And thatthat's not gonna happen.
Jeff Peterson (28:29):
No. Not gonna happen. We've all guilty of
that. I mean, I've been guiltyof that myself. But, overall, I
know that when you do the work,when you're not in the mood, you
actually feel better for having
Merry (28:42):
it Right?
Jeff Peterson (28:43):
Absolutely. And there's nobody cheering for you.
Nobody knows that you're doingit. Nobody knows that you're up
at 10:00 at night or up at fivein the morning doing the stuff
that that just doesn't seem topay off, but it does. And you
have to do that.
So if you if you think your jobis nine to five and you're gonna
run your own business or runyour own real estate and the
(29:03):
real estate is gonna be passive,you probably should stay in that
w two mentality. So the only wayyou can work for yourself really
is you have to have that drive.I mean, it's not the smartest
person. It's the person with thedrive. That's better get it
done.
Merry (29:17):
Mhmm. That's brilliant. Thank you. I have a question
that's a little sidelined here,but, looking back at your
career, is there one thing youmight have done differently?
Jeff Peterson (29:30):
Oh, now we now we can go on forever.
Cathy (29:33):
Oh, really?
Jeff Peterson (29:35):
Good. No. I don't I don't you know, you can you
can always look I look atmistakes that I've made in
business, mistakes that I'vemade in real estate. I used to
joke, I say I'd you know, I say,what kind of real estate do you
buy? I said, I buy the the good,the bad, and the, What the hell
was I thinking when I boughtthat?
That's true. And I have donethat. I've done that so many
times. And after a while, you dohave to trust your instincts. So
(29:57):
sometimes it just doesn't I haveto go back and analyze what I've
done.
And so sometimes I'll go backand I'll go like, well, what was
I thinking? What was my thoughtprocess? Was something in the
early stages that that thatreally messed me up. And one
thing that I learned wassometimes I'll get excited about
(30:19):
a deal, and I'll I'll work onhow I can figure out how to get
that deal. And I'll never goback to the basis of should I do
that deal.
So just because you're able todo a deal doesn't mean you
should. So my biggest mistakewould probably be doing it's not
the ones you miss. It's the onesthat you did that maybe you
(30:40):
should have just said, you knowwhat? I should just pass on
that.
Merry (30:44):
They they make good stories.
Jeff Peterson (30:46):
They make great yes. They make great I do have
some great stories. You haveproperty stories. Yes. They do.
They do they do make goodstories.
Merry (30:55):
Yeah. But Well, you zero
Cathy (30:57):
in on can can you zero in on something that you could have
done differently that maybe is alesson to somebody else?
Jeff Peterson (31:06):
Well, let me think of one I could zero in on.
There was a there was a propertyat the beach, and this is one I
didn't do. Okay? So it was aproperty down at the beach, it
was the south end of the island,and it was advertised as and the
details are a little blurry now,like like they like they become.
But, basically, it wasadvertised as four lots and two
(31:29):
buildings.
And so I go down there and lookat it, and I thought it was
gonna be a really great dealbecause I'm like, four lots,
these we these are worth this.And I was like, well, this is
really this is reallyattractive. And so I was gonna
do it. I started doing the duediligence, and then coming to
find out the four lots includedthe building. So the building
(31:49):
sat on the lots.
It wasn't plus the buildings. Itwas totally totally together. So
it wasn't nearly as attractiveto me. And there was more to it
than that. It had some docks outon the water, but it was all
kind of dilapidated, looked bad.
So I passed on it. And I wasannoyed at the broker that had
(32:12):
told me about it because I said,this is not you didn't market
this the right way. It wasn't itwasn't presented like it should
have been presented. So I walkedaway. Six months later, I'm
driving on the road, and Iliterally the light bulb goes
off.
I pull over alongside the road.I call up the broker. I said, is
that property still available?He said, no, it's gone. I was
(32:33):
like, I can't believe it.
What I discounted was the thevalue was not really in the lots
in the building. The value wasin those docks on the water. And
since they were not in greatshape, I didn't really look at
those, but waterfront dockage islike gold on the water. And I
(32:54):
totally just I was so upsetabout the buildings and the
lots. I didn't look any furtherat that.
So that's one to this day. Ijust kind of go like, I can't
believe I let that go away. Andside note to that, the person
that bought it, those docks arein such bad shape they tore them
down and were going to rebuild.But then CAMA, which is the
(33:18):
coastal area management,wouldn't let them put it back.
They could have repaired them,and that had been fine.
They could have replaced themone post at a time, but they
didn't do that. They tore itdown, which it was it was the
right way to do it if they wereallowed, but they weren't
allowed, so they lost out onthat as well.
Cathy (33:37):
But Oh, dear.
Jeff Peterson (33:38):
But that's one I do regret.
Cathy (33:40):
Catastrophe.
Merry (33:40):
Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Cathy (33:43):
what what would you like our boomers and our others in
our audience to have as atakeaway today?
Jeff Peterson (33:49):
I think the takeaway would be that you
really need to stay at this along time. I know you can watch
the gurus on social media, andsometimes I'll look at that, you
know, Facebook and Instagram,and I'm like, wow. This guy's 28
years old, and he's got athousand doors. But that's not
always what it seems. You haveto know that you have to be in
(34:13):
it for the long haul, and youhave to follow the basic
fundamentals of real estate andof business as well.
You just but there's no there'sno quick fix on any of it.
Merry (34:26):
Oh, good advice for for life.
Jeff Peterson (34:29):
Yeah. That's true. That is true. That's true.
But we would know we're well, meanyway is a little bit older.
But Yeah. Sometimes sometimes Ifollow that advice, and
sometimes I don't, but I do knowit. You know? So
Cathy (34:39):
Yeah. It's true. Yeah.
Merry (34:41):
Yeah. Well, at least you know it. Thank you, Jeff. It's
great. Great advice throughout.
Thank you. Our guest today inlate boomers has been Jeffrey
Peterson, real estateentrepreneur and principal of
Peterson properties, author ofthe memoir, are we there there
yet, which will give you a lotof pointers on real estate as
(35:02):
well as the life and hisjourney. And he's also a
sportsman. You can drop Peter aline via his website,
petersonproperties.co, and it'speters0nproperties. Thank you.
Cathy (35:18):
Thank you for listening to our Late Boomers Podcast and
subscribing to our Late BoomersPodcast channel on YouTube.
Listen in next week when you'llmeet another exciting guest, Tom
Fox, a compliance expert with alarge podcast network who will
tell us about taking yourbusiness to the next level with
a podcast. Hey, Mary and I needthat one. Can listen to late
(35:43):
boomers on any podcast platformand we do appreciate you. Please
follow us on Instagram at I amKathy Worthington and at I am
Mary Alkinson at late boomers.
Thanks again to Jeff Peterson.
Jeff Peterson (35:57):
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed
talking with both of you. Thankyou. Too. Thank you.
Cathy (36:13):
Thank you for joining us on late boomers, the podcast
that is your guide to creating athird act with style, power, and
impact. Please visit our websiteand get in touch with us at
lateboomers.biz. If you wouldlike to listen to or download
other episodes of late boomers,go to ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry (36:34):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy (00:14):
Welcome to Late Boomers, our podcast guide to creating
your third act with style,power, and impact. Hi. I'm Cathy
Worthington.
Merry (00:24):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations with successfulentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the
ride on each interview,recounting the journey our
guests have taken to get wherethey are, inspiring you to
create your own path to success.Let's get started.
Hi. I'm Cathy Worthington. Welcome to Lake
(00:54):
Boomers. I'm here with mycohost, Mary Elkins, and we are
pleased to introduce you totoday's exciting guest, baby
boomer, real estateentrepreneur, and author Jeffrey
Peterson.
Merry (01:08):
As the principal of Peterson Properties in North
Carolina, Jeff has acquired andmanaged commercial real estate
centers, single family homes,condominiums, and so much more.
Plus, he's devoted to, communityservice, and he's completed, if
I can say that word right,competed in eight Boston
(01:30):
marathons and is the author ofare we there yet? A Memoir About
Grit, Determination, andPerseverance. Welcome, Jeff.
Jeff Peterson (01:39):
Thank you for that nice welcome. I I really
was looking forward to comingtoday and speaking to both of
you. I kind of I've not done a apodcast before where you had two
people firing questions at you.So feel like I'm a little bit
outnumbered, but I'm gonna I'mgonna try to hold my own. So
We'll be gentle.
Cathy (01:55):
We'll we'll try to be nice. Okay. Please talk please
talk to us about your journey,your memoir, are we there yet,
and how you found your path tobuilding a real estate empire.
Jeff Peterson (02:09):
I can do that in an elevator speech. No. Really?
Okay. Go bot.
So Oh. No. No. Are you kidding?
Merry (02:17):
I know.
Jeff Peterson (02:17):
Things could be. Okay. So mine, of course, like
most people in theentrepreneurial field, is not a
straight journey. It kind ofmeanders around, and when you
get towards the end and you feellike you're somewhat successful,
people will come to you likeyou, and they'll say, Well, how
did you get where you are? Thenyou'll say, You know, actually,
(02:38):
I don't know.
Let me recreate this. So thatwas kind of the idea for the
book. I started having a lot ofyounger people especially, were
asking me for advice on how toinvest, how to get started in
real estate and small business.And it got to the point where I
thought about it, and even withmy own children as well, I
(03:01):
thought it would be a good ideato just put some of it down and
try to create a memoir. It's nota biography, but it is a journey
of how I started out and how Icontinued in my journey.
Cathy (03:15):
Super. Super. And and then from there, how you found
the path to building a realestate empire, please.
Jeff Peterson (03:24):
Yeah. My my first my first venture, I started
business when I on my 20birthday, actually. Wow. It was
a small upholstery shop, and I Istarted it reupholstery. Yeah.
I started it out of a frontbedroom of a two bedroom house,
and that's how I got started. Asmall bedroom house that I was
renting at the time, but Ialways wanted my own house. And
(03:46):
a year or so later, I found ahouse, a small house, and
managed to talk the owner intoselling it to me, Although I did
not have a dime, and there's nofinancing. This is back in
nineteen eighty, eighty one,somewhere around there, where
interest rates were over 20%.You couldn't you couldn't get
financing, and you couldn'tafford it if you could.
So I managed to talk him intoselling me that house. They had
(04:10):
lived in it, him and his wife,for years and years. And I read
this book called How to Buy RealEstate with Little or Nothing
Down. And I'm trying to think ofthe author, anyway, it's a very
common book. But I took that toheart, and I went to this
gentleman, and I talked to usblue in the face, and finally,
he decided to do it.
(04:30):
He liked my approach, he likedwhat I was doing, and there was
a small you know, garage outback that I could upholstery out
of, so that's how I started.That was my first property.
Merry (04:40):
Well, that that's an interesting path. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Peterson (04:44):
When I say small when I say very small, I started
small, extremely small.
Merry (04:49):
Well, why is buying real estate the most important thing
we can do for long term success?
Jeff Peterson (04:57):
Well, now you're gonna get me out of soapbox.
Okay.
Merry (05:00):
So No elevator pitch on this.
Jeff Peterson (05:03):
No. No. When you when you do real estate, you'll
see a lot of people will say,you know, it's passive income,
and you can flip, and you can dothere's so many different ways
to do real estate. But thereality is it takes a long time,
and it's it's a discipline. Soyou have to be disciplined in
it.
But over time, it is the bestway to create wealth. Because
(05:25):
when you first buy thatproperty, your renters are gonna
be paying your mortgage. You'regonna be they're gonna be paying
down your mortgage. They'regonna be making all your
payments. Now you're gonnaappreciate value, and you're
gonna get the added benefit ofdepreciation.
So there's and there's morebenefits than that as well. Of
course, you get some cash flowif you've if you've done it
right. But it takes a long timeto do this. And the big fallacy
(05:51):
is that when you start this, youthink you're going be able to
quit your job or that's allyou're going be doing, but
that's not really that's notreally the best way, and it's
probably the hardest path to dothat because your cash flow is
probably not going to support alifestyle because that is not
the number one way to increaseyour wealth. The number one way
(06:12):
to increase your wealth isthrough your appreciation, and
that takes time.
Cathy (06:16):
Interesting. Oh, yeah. Obviously. Yeah. But why should
everybody start their ownbusiness, and what do you
believe is the first step totake?
Jeff Peterson (06:31):
Well, starting your own business. So if you
work for a company and you workyou work for you work for
someone else, you're a w twoemployee. Correct?
Merry (06:41):
Mhmm.
Jeff Peterson (06:41):
And when you're a w two employee, the difference
between a w two employee and asmall business owner is that the
w two employee will make athousand dollars, they'll pay
all their taxes, and whatever'sleft over, they pay their bills.
Where a small business owner,what he will do is he will make
a thousand dollars, He will payall of his bills, and whatever's
(07:03):
left over, he pays his taxes.That is a paradigm shift in in
how you think about how how youcreate wealth and and how you
how you sustain. So it isimperative that eventually you
become your own become your ownboss. The long term is the real
estate, but owning a business isis very good.
Merry (07:26):
That's that's and and if you have employees, they go
before taxes too, don't they?
Jeff Peterson (07:31):
That's correct.
Merry (07:32):
That's correct. So often, when you're first starting a
business, you make less than thew two employee. But
Jeff Peterson (07:40):
When I first started my business when I first
first couple years I had abusiness, I I actually started
having employees. They could goget a credit card. I could not.
I couldn't even qualify to get acredit card because I was self
employed. So it's the same thingwhen you go in for a home loan.
When you go in for a home loan,if you're a small business
person, the mortgage lenders donot like you. Would much rather
(08:04):
work with a W-two employeebecause it's so much simpler for
them. But it's very hard whenyou're self employed because you
know that it's not guaranteed.
Merry (08:12):
Mhmm.
Cathy (08:12):
Yeah. Because sometimes when you're self employed, you
may have saved up plenty ofmoney for the down payment, but
then Kaiser's went through thiswith some relatives. You have to
then justify where did thatmoney come from.
Jeff Peterson (08:27):
That's right.
Cathy (08:27):
And they don't like to believe
you because you don't have
a paycheck coming every two weeks. They don't believe
you, like, where'd you get themoney? And then if somebody gave
you some money, they have tosend a letter. It has to all be
shown, the paper trail. So Iguess they're worried you're
laundering money or something.
Have you found that
Jeff Peterson (08:44):
to be true? I haven't I have not done a
private mortgage, not privatemortgage, but a regular
residential mortgage in years.Now it's all commercial because
commercial people understandbusiness, so it's much simpler.
The process is much more simple.But if you're doing a
residential mortgage, believeme, they don't like people like
(09:05):
me.
They never will. It's it's justnot Yeah. Not easy. Yeah.
Merry (09:10):
Well, you give us some advice on the most suitable real
estate investment that we canbuy based on our own
personalities or skills orneeds? I everybody's needs are
different. Right?
Jeff Peterson (09:24):
Everybody's needs are different. You're right. So
most people start off withresidential because it's it's
easier to get started that way.It doesn't take as much capital.
What they'll do and many times,what they'll do is they will
they'll buy a property, they'llmove into it, and they'll hold
it for a couple of years, andthen they'll rinse and repeat.
(09:47):
So they'll keep that propertyand rent it out, and then go buy
another home mortgage. So theyget better interest rates, and
they don't have to put as muchmoney down. So it works out very
well to begin with. But youcan't you can't do that for very
many properties. You run out.
So you have to go into otherproperties.
Cathy (10:04):
It depends on the market you're in because if you're in
Los Angeles, that's not a veryviable scenario because you're
gonna pay so much for the house,and then you maybe can't rent it
enough to have any positiveflash cash flow.
Merry (10:19):
That's true.
Cathy (10:19):
It's in Yes. Mortgage.
Jeff Peterson (10:22):
With me, if I could just get a little bit of
cash flow, I was happy with itbecause I knew it was more about
the appreciation. And I had mybusiness or businesses. So that
was where I was generating mycash flow. But for the long term
appreciation, the long termwealth, you have to put that
money somewhere, and the bestway to to me to put it is into
real estate.
Merry (10:41):
Well, just and add on to the last question of the
different personalities and howyou would advise different types
of personality on what to buy.
Jeff Peterson (10:55):
It's that's that's a loaded question. I'll
I'll give you one example,though. If you were a if if
you've got an interior designbackground, you have a very good
eye for location and value,Maybe you go into the the Airbnb
short term market rentals, muchbetter cash flow, appreciates
well, and it's hands on. So ifyou have that mentality where
(11:20):
you can actually manage your ownproperties week to week instead
of just long term, there is muchmore benefit to that. But you
have to have the rightpersonality for that.
Merry (11:30):
Yes. You do. Yeah.
Cathy (11:32):
And you also will. And also it matters what you're
doing. It matters a lot the areathat you're buying in because
Airbnbs are getting booted outof so many, areas. Like, there's
an HOA. You can't be in there,and, you know, a lot of HOAs
have come down hard on thembecause people don't want the
(11:53):
renters coming in and out.
How do people how do peoplefigure that out? Do they have to
have a lawyer on each deal?
Jeff Peterson (12:01):
I think you need to look at that before you buy
the property, of course. Somyself, personally, we do a lot
of short term rentals. And I sayAirbnb, but that's for me,
that's a generic term because wedo Airbnb, Vrbo, and then we do
direct rentals, which is our ownwebsite. And we do all
vacations, so we're doingeverything at the beach, and
(12:23):
it's very localized. So for me,the best is to be right on the
beach, no further back fromsecond row.
And we do them all theretogether.
Cathy (12:32):
East Coast beaches?
Jeff Peterson (12:34):
Yes. East Coast. North Carolina.
Cathy (12:36):
Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. And is there a strategy to the way you
learn to speak to bankers andinvestors to achieve your
financial goals?
Jeff Peterson (12:47):
Yeah. That's that's the hard part. So to me
scoop. Alright. Let me I'll I'llgive you this.
So to me, the number one thingthat you can do with your
bankers, well, the number onething to begin with, is to get
to know them today. So don'twait until you're actually
looking at a property or youknow you're just gonna just say
you're gonna get into theproperty business, and you're
already you know, you're alreadyin a business or you already
(13:10):
obviously, you have somewherewithal or you wouldn't even
be starting. So you need to knowthat you need to know your
banker in advance. So you needonline banking is very big right
now. Right?
So everybody's doing everythingonline. But the reality is when
you're dealing with in acommunity, you should be going
into your local bank, into yourbranch, talking to the bank
(13:30):
manager, talking to the bankpresident. So when you
eventually go to them andapproach them, they already know
who you are. They see you out inthe community. So you wanna go
to those community events.
You wanna go to join your localcivic organization, go to
chamber meetings and things ofthat nature so that they know
who you are. And it makes itit's just one little step when
(13:51):
they go, they're comfortablewith you. And if they're
comfortable with you, you'reyou've just created a huge or or
eliminated a huge obstacle.
Merry (14:00):
Is there another kind of strategy you you would use?
Jeff Peterson (14:05):
Well, that's one strategy. Talking with bankers
is always it's always difficult.I mean, I would show them
finances in advance. I wouldtalk to them and say, this is
what I'm looking looking for.What do you need to see from me?
What do I need to do? Next year,I want to start buying some some
vacation rentals, or I wanna buya commercial property. What am I
(14:27):
going to need to do to preparemyself for that in advance? And
they'll kind of give you anidea. So you need to know the
market.
You need to be able to talk thelanguage. So talking the
language is no more thanliterally becoming financially
literate. And when you'refinancially literate, then when
you go into the bank, theyalready know that you know what
you're talking about. But if youdon't talk the language, they'll
(14:50):
dismiss you right out of thegate. So you have to already
know kind of what they'relooking for and, you know, that
you they need to know debt toincome ratios.
You need to know all of thatstuff that they're gonna ask
you. Not that you have to haveit all. You just need to know
what they're looking for and whythey're looking for certain
things.
Cathy (15:09):
And what books would you recommend that people read to
update them their financialliteracy? Something
Jeff Peterson (15:16):
only book
Merry (15:16):
that I would something.
Jeff Peterson (15:17):
The only book that I would recommend is mine.
Oh. I was just joking.
Merry (15:22):
Smart man. Very smart man. You
Cathy (15:25):
did say yours a memoir, not a how So
Jeff Peterson (15:29):
Yeah. It does have some it does have some nice
tips in there, but it's more ofa a lot of it's a rah rah, kind
of like, okay, you can do thistoo. But there are some nice
tips in there. As far as otherbooks, there's so many good ones
out there in the market. I likedfollowing some different
podcasters as well that I thinksome are more entertaining than
(15:51):
than others.
And they may not be giving thebest, best advice, but they're
pretty entertaining. And you canpick up bits and pieces. You
know, to me, I'll read a book,and I might pick one little idea
out of it, out of 200 pages. Iwas like, wow, that's really
interesting. That's worth theprice of it.
That's worth the price ofadmission. And sometimes I can't
(16:12):
remember exactly where it camefrom, but I do like that. I like
the way that works. I'll giveyou this one piece. Oh, go
ahead.
I'm sorry.
Merry (16:20):
Oh, good. No. No. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Jeff Peterson (16:22):
Oh, I was gonna backtrack just a little bit
because you were asking me aboutbeginners. You kinda said
beginning in real estate, butalso this goes to beginning in
business. So I already said thebest thing to me is eventually
work yourself into your ownbusiness. Right? But the first
thing you have to do when youactually get ready to make that
leap is to borrow every dime youcan borrow.
(16:46):
So borrow it before you beforeyou quit that job. Borrow
everything you can borrow. Andwhen I say borrow, I mean go get
your home equity line, tap it,and get as much as you can. Get
your credit cards. Borrow asmuch as as you can because the
minute that you quit that job,you're gonna be dead to the
banks for several years.
(17:07):
You're not gonna you're notgonna be able to borrow anything
or do anything. So I had afriend of mine, and he he was a
a GM at a very popular sportsstore, big chain, very
successful, and he wanted to doa food truck. And I was like,
Oh, man, are you kidding? Youreally want do a food truck? He
said, Yeah, I'm sick of it.
I just want to that's what Iwant to do. I said, Okay. Well,
(17:32):
he goes, What would you tell meto do? So I told him that. And I
forgot that I told him that, butI told him, said, Look, borrow
all the money you can becauseyou're going be dead.
I was kind of trying to scarehim a little bit, but I said,
no, seriously, borrow. You know,you got a lot of equity in your
house? Borrow against it rightnow because you're not gonna be
able to do anything. And twoyears later, we had a
conversation, and he said, Youknow what? Out of all the advice
(17:55):
I got from all of my differentfriends and all the people that
I know, he goes, Yours is theone that actually just saved me.
He goes, Absolutely saved me. Hegoes, I couldn't do anything. He
goes, But I did do that, and itworked. So that's what I'm
Merry (18:09):
heard that. I've never heard that before. That's
wonderful advice. How long doesit take before the bank lets you
borrow after that?
Jeff Peterson (18:17):
Well, so you have to have most banks will tell you
this. You're gonna need twoyears of tax returns. But that's
two years of good tax returns.So maybe the first year is not
so good. Right?
Maybe first couple years aren'tso good. Now you're looking at
four years. But you're going tohave to have a couple of good
years of tax returns, and it'sgoing to have to be moving in a
positive direction. So that'swhy you need to do all you can
(18:42):
before you quit your job. Andwith that being said, I wouldn't
be really quick to quit my jobeither.
Would work twice as hard untilyou finally cannot do your new
your new career and keep thejob, or you can't do a good job
working for the person you'reworking for.
Merry (19:00):
Oh. Is there
Jeff Peterson (19:01):
That's true.
Merry (19:02):
Yeah. To to pivot a bit, is there a trend in real estate
now such as building apartmentsand condos over retail stores?
Jeff Peterson (19:12):
Yes. I'm doing that right now. So it's that
trend, I think, is more citydriven. So I'm building now in
Holly Springs, and we're justabout done with it. But I
remember doing that, we weregoing to put in apartments, and
they said, We will not approvethis unless you put in retail
(19:32):
underneath it, because they wantthe live, work, play model.
And it actually I mean, it's agreat model, how much retail,
how many apartments. Thereinlies the problem, because banks,
again so they've got differentappetites. Some of the banks,
they want apartments. Otherbanks, they just want
(19:54):
commercial. But there aren'tmany banks that want both of
them together.
So when you're looking for yourfinancing, that makes it it just
it opens up a whole new realm ofissues. So so that makes it
hard.
Cathy (20:08):
Tell you what, it's a huge trend in Los Angeles right
now. Those buildings areeverywhere. They're above
Target, and they're above TraderJoe's. Sometimes it's not a lot.
It's an anchor store.
It's one store and lots ofapartments. That's what I'm
seeing all over LA now, but it'sdifferent where you are.
Jeff Peterson (20:31):
Yeah. It's it's coming. We're we're doing a lot
of that, but it's it's not quiteas dense. So you don't have as
much of that, but but you dohave a lot of that neighborhood
kind of so it's gonna beneighborhood shops and
apartments over overhead. Mhmm.
It just it just creates moredifficulties when you're trying
to get the project the projectfinanced. Yeah. Yeah. Then I'm
(20:52):
assuming
Cathy (20:52):
I'm assuming these are all rentals.
Jeff Peterson (20:56):
Yes. Yeah. When you're doing most of those would
be rentals.
Merry (21:00):
Are they? Not condos? No. Yeah. They're not.
Cathy (21:05):
Well, how has the real estate market for shopping malls
and office buildings changedsince COVID?
Jeff Peterson (21:14):
Now that is not my expertise.
Cathy (21:18):
Oh, okay.
Jeff Peterson (21:19):
So I know that you know, I have a shopping
center in Eastern NorthCarolina, and during COVID, we
did a lot of you know, workedwith a lot of the tenants trying
to keep them in there. You know,we we forgave rent. We didn't
really forgive rent. We wekicked it back, kicked it down
the road, but we managed not tolose any of the tenants. So that
was that was very good.
(21:41):
Great. But it was difficult foreverybody. And the banks
actually worked with us as well,because they would come and say,
hey, look, if you need aforbearance, we can kick this
back three months. You want sixmonths? We'll kick it back six
months.
So everybody kind of just was alot more lenient. And I I think
you had to do that becauseotherwise, it would have been a
house of cards. Everybody wouldhave been collapsing.
Cathy (22:03):
Mhmm. Yes. You're right.
Merry (22:06):
Yeah. So I know that you've run-in eight Boston
Marathons. So tell us about someof the sports that you love
because I know you do more thanrun. And, also, I'd love to know
what it would was like to run-ineight Boston marathons.
Jeff Peterson (22:25):
Every one of them every one of them sucked. Can I
say that? Yeah.
Merry (22:31):
Love it. I
Jeff Peterson (22:33):
can tell you some stories. So so the first one I
ever ran, it was I just ran afor me, now I'm just an age
grouper. Right? But I ran aphenomenal race. It it was just
fantastic.
The very next year, this is a02/2014, I ran it again. I was
like, hold on. Get my note. Getmy I'm getting my years mixed
(22:55):
up. This is 02/2012.
So the next year, I ran itagain, and it was 90 degrees
out. It was so hot. They wereasking people to defer to the
following year, and they refundyour money, or they'd just kick
it to the next year. And I wasin great shape, and I was like,
I'm just going to run at thesame speed I ran last year. I'm
(23:16):
not going to kill myself, butI'm going to run it again the
same way.
Well, 90 degrees running doesnot get along well with me.
Right? So I I ran. Tried to runat the same speed, but mile by
mile six six, I still had 20 togo. I was I was actually seeing
stars and me I mean, I was I wasterrible.
So it took me two hours longerto run that race. It was Boston
(23:43):
was my fastest race and myslowest race that I've ever
run-in my life. It was justterrible. So I've had some of
those stories like that where tome and I've run a lot of races,
not just running races, butalso, you know, Ironman and and
Spartans and things like that.But I always say you can have a
(24:04):
great race or you can have agreat story.
The great races, I forget about.I forget about them two weeks
later. Nobody wants to hearabout them. But the great
stories, like where you didsomething maybe you did
something wrong or somethinghappened, those are the ones
that are amusing. They're theones that, like, you'll never
forget them either.
I mean, so so it's
Merry (24:23):
Always. And were you were
Cathy (24:25):
in with the the violent year when all the bad
Jeff Peterson (24:28):
stuff 02/2013.
Merry (24:30):
02/2013,
Jeff Peterson (24:31):
I was. I was. Oh, you And I'd I'd already crossed
the finish line when when thebomb went off, and I didn't know
it was a bomb. Actually, I'dgone down the side street to try
to hear myself on the phone totell the person I was with where
I was, and it's so loud on onBoylton Avenue that you can't
(24:52):
hear yourself think. So I wastrying to trying to talk on the
phone, and I heard I heardsomething go off.
I thought it was a transformer,or I thought it was something in
the air force, or just you justdidn't think bomb. Then I heard
it a second time, and I waslike, oh, wait a minute. And I I
can't tell you how many tens ofthousands of people were on
(25:13):
Boylston right when the bombwent off. And if they had, you
know, if they had done somethinga little bit different, it would
have been so much worse. I mean,they just they actually bungled
it, the people that set thebomb.
But I got back to the room, andI was I was hurt for that race.
I was hurt during the race. I Iprobably shouldn't have run it,
but I did. But by the time Imade it back to the room and
(25:35):
turned on the TV, which was onlytwenty, thirty minutes, You turn
on the TV, and all you saw wassmoke and debris on the street,
and there's not a soul to beseen. Not a soul to be seen.
It
Merry (25:48):
was Mhmm.
Jeff Peterson (25:48):
It was a very, very emotional, very emotional
time for everybody.
Cathy (25:54):
So you had just run past that area?
Jeff Peterson (25:57):
Yes. I had just run past it.
Merry (25:58):
Very I
Cathy (25:58):
had another recently.
Jeff Peterson (26:00):
Yes. I had another friend that was running
as well, and they ran they werein between the two bombs. So one
went off here, one went off onewent off there near the finish
line, and they were runningright in between them. And so it
just ran right through it. Waspretty chaotic.
Yeah. Yeah.
Cathy (26:20):
Wow. Really terrifying. Well, let's let's tell us how
the discipline of sports cancarry over to the discipline
needed to create and runsuccessful businesses. Is there
a correlation there?
Jeff Peterson (26:38):
I think there is. I think and actually, it's it's
a good correlation. For me, it'sit's distance races. You know,
I've done some a lot of shorterstuff too, but not just distance
running, but ultra running, notjust marathons, but even in the
longer So for me, the disciplinethat it takes to train is the
(26:59):
same discipline that it takes torun your business or run your
real estate. You have to you'rein it for the long haul.
So when you're thinking about,just for instance, for a
marathon, you're looking atsixteen to twenty weeks of
training. Well, that's that'salmost every day. And you have a
plan, and that's what you'redoing. If you're really going to
try to run it and run well, youactually have a plan. But it's
(27:23):
the same thing with business.
And you can't just like, well, Ijust don't I'm not in the mood.
I'm not motivated today. Well,if you're not motivated today,
it's gonna you're gonna pay.You're gonna pay when it when it
comes out. It's the same thingwith business.
So you can't just do it whenyou're motivated. You have to be
disciplined. I mean, to me,discipline when you're
(27:44):
disciplined, you work on thosedays when you're not motivated.
You work all the time. So youdon't feel like doing that work.
You don't feel like making thosecalls. You don't feel like
researching this property, oryou don't feel like going and
talking to, a club or you justdon't feel like it. But that's
discipline. And when you'remotivated, then you take it to
(28:05):
the next level. That's when yourbreakthroughs come through.
But if you only work when you'remotivated, you're just gonna
miss so much. So I think it'strue of competition the same way
it's true in business. Andthat's just always the way I've
kind of thought about that.
Merry (28:22):
Yeah. It Well, I
Cathy (28:23):
guess people sit around and wait for motivation to hit
them on the head. Yes. And thatthat's not gonna happen.
Jeff Peterson (28:29):
No. Not gonna happen. We've all guilty of
that. I mean, I've been guiltyof that myself. But, overall, I
know that when you do the work,when you're not in the mood, you
actually feel better for having
Merry (28:42):
it Right?
Jeff Peterson (28:43):
Absolutely. And there's nobody cheering for you.
Nobody knows that you're doingit. Nobody knows that you're up
at 10:00 at night or up at fivein the morning doing the stuff
that that just doesn't seem topay off, but it does. And you
have to do that.
So if you if you think your jobis nine to five and you're gonna
run your own business or runyour own real estate and the
(29:03):
real estate is gonna be passive,you probably should stay in that
w two mentality. So the only wayyou can work for yourself really
is you have to have that drive.I mean, it's not the smartest
person. It's the person with thedrive. That's better get it
done.
Merry (29:17):
Mhmm. That's brilliant. Thank you. I have a question
that's a little sidelined here,but, looking back at your
career, is there one thing youmight have done differently?
Jeff Peterson (29:30):
Oh, now we now we can go on forever.
Cathy (29:33):
Oh, really?
Jeff Peterson (29:35):
Good. No. I don't I don't you know, you can you
can always look I look atmistakes that I've made in
business, mistakes that I'vemade in real estate. I used to
joke, I say I'd you know, I say,what kind of real estate do you
buy? I said, I buy the the good,the bad, and the, What the hell
was I thinking when I boughtthat?
That's true. And I have donethat. I've done that so many
times. And after a while, you dohave to trust your instincts. So
(29:57):
sometimes it just doesn't I haveto go back and analyze what I've
done.
And so sometimes I'll go backand I'll go like, well, what was
I thinking? What was my thoughtprocess? Was something in the
early stages that that thatreally messed me up. And one
thing that I learned wassometimes I'll get excited about
(30:19):
a deal, and I'll I'll work onhow I can figure out how to get
that deal. And I'll never goback to the basis of should I do
that deal.
So just because you're able todo a deal doesn't mean you
should. So my biggest mistakewould probably be doing it's not
the ones you miss. It's the onesthat you did that maybe you
(30:40):
should have just said, you knowwhat? I should just pass on
that.
Merry (30:44):
They they make good stories.
Jeff Peterson (30:46):
They make great yes. They make great I do have
some great stories. You haveproperty stories. Yes. They do.
They do they do make goodstories.
Merry (30:55):
Yeah. But Well, you zero
Cathy (30:57):
in on can can you zero in on something that you could have
done differently that maybe is alesson to somebody else?
Jeff Peterson (31:06):
Well, let me think of one I could zero in on.
There was a there was a propertyat the beach, and this is one I
didn't do. Okay? So it was aproperty down at the beach, it
was the south end of the island,and it was advertised as and the
details are a little blurry now,like like they like they become.
But, basically, it wasadvertised as four lots and two
(31:29):
buildings.
And so I go down there and lookat it, and I thought it was
gonna be a really great dealbecause I'm like, four lots,
these we these are worth this.And I was like, well, this is
really this is reallyattractive. And so I was gonna
do it. I started doing the duediligence, and then coming to
find out the four lots includedthe building. So the building
(31:49):
sat on the lots.
It wasn't plus the buildings. Itwas totally totally together. So
it wasn't nearly as attractiveto me. And there was more to it
than that. It had some docks outon the water, but it was all
kind of dilapidated, looked bad.
So I passed on it. And I wasannoyed at the broker that had
(32:12):
told me about it because I said,this is not you didn't market
this the right way. It wasn't itwasn't presented like it should
have been presented. So I walkedaway. Six months later, I'm
driving on the road, and Iliterally the light bulb goes
off.
I pull over alongside the road.I call up the broker. I said, is
that property still available?He said, no, it's gone. I was
(32:33):
like, I can't believe it.
What I discounted was the thevalue was not really in the lots
in the building. The value wasin those docks on the water. And
since they were not in greatshape, I didn't really look at
those, but waterfront dockage islike gold on the water. And I
(32:54):
totally just I was so upsetabout the buildings and the
lots. I didn't look any furtherat that.
So that's one to this day. Ijust kind of go like, I can't
believe I let that go away. Andside note to that, the person
that bought it, those docks arein such bad shape they tore them
down and were going to rebuild.But then CAMA, which is the
(33:18):
coastal area management,wouldn't let them put it back.
They could have repaired them,and that had been fine.
They could have replaced themone post at a time, but they
didn't do that. They tore itdown, which it was it was the
right way to do it if they wereallowed, but they weren't
allowed, so they lost out onthat as well.
Cathy (33:37):
But Oh, dear.
Jeff Peterson (33:38):
But that's one I do regret.
Cathy (33:40):
Catastrophe.
Merry (33:40):
Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Cathy (33:43):
what what would you like our boomers and our others in
our audience to have as atakeaway today?
Jeff Peterson (33:49):
I think the takeaway would be that you
really need to stay at this along time. I know you can watch
the gurus on social media, andsometimes I'll look at that, you
know, Facebook and Instagram,and I'm like, wow. This guy's 28
years old, and he's got athousand doors. But that's not
always what it seems. You haveto know that you have to be in
(34:13):
it for the long haul, and youhave to follow the basic
fundamentals of real estate andof business as well.
You just but there's no there'sno quick fix on any of it.
Merry (34:26):
Oh, good advice for for life.
Jeff Peterson (34:29):
Yeah. That's true. That is true. That's true.
But we would know we're well, meanyway is a little bit older.
But Yeah. Sometimes sometimes Ifollow that advice, and
sometimes I don't, but I do knowit. You know? So
Cathy (34:39):
Yeah. It's true. Yeah.
Merry (34:41):
Yeah. Well, at least you know it. Thank you, Jeff. It's
great. Great advice throughout.
Thank you. Our guest today inlate boomers has been Jeffrey
Peterson, real estateentrepreneur and principal of
Peterson properties, author ofthe memoir, are we there there
yet, which will give you a lotof pointers on real estate as
(35:02):
well as the life and hisjourney. And he's also a
sportsman. You can drop Peter aline via his website,
petersonproperties.co, and it'speters0nproperties. Thank you.
Cathy (35:18):
Thank you for listening to our Late Boomers Podcast and
subscribing to our Late BoomersPodcast channel on YouTube.
Listen in next week when you'llmeet another exciting guest, Tom
Fox, a compliance expert with alarge podcast network who will
tell us about taking yourbusiness to the next level with
a podcast. Hey, Mary and I needthat one. Can listen to late
(35:43):
boomers on any podcast platformand we do appreciate you. Please
follow us on Instagram at I amKathy Worthington and at I am
Mary Alkinson at late boomers.
Thanks again to Jeff Peterson.
Jeff Peterson (35:57):
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed
talking with both of you. Thankyou. Too. Thank you.
Cathy (36:13):
Thank you for joining us on late boomers, the podcast
that is your guide to creating athird act with style, power, and
impact. Please visit our websiteand get in touch with us at
lateboomers.biz. If you wouldlike to listen to or download
other episodes of late boomers,go to ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry (36:34):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
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