The Broker Secret to Real Estate Freedom with Nick Gonzalez

Name: The Broker Secret to Real Estate Freedom with Nick Gonzalez
Uploaded: 2026-09-03T16:20:44+00:00
Duration: 40 min 13 s
Channel: The Real Estate Investing Club

00:06All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Investing Club. I hope

00:12you guys are having a great day, great week, wherever you are, and whatever day it is for

00:18you. As always, it is Friday on the podcast, so we're bringing that good Friday energy

00:23to you. And man, this morning, so what day is it? It is August 7th. And this morning

00:28I woke up and it was surprisingly crisp. And it made me realize I am looking forward to

00:33fall. I absolutely love spring. I love summer. It is a blast. But come August, around this

00:38time, every single year, I'm just like, I want some rain. I want some clouds. I want

00:43to get cozy. And that just hit me this morning. So that's what's going on in my world. I know

00:48you guys already know. We just got back from that trip to buy the mobile home park out in

00:52Pennsylvania. Everything went well there. Doing all the crazy onboarding, just pulling our

00:56hair out, trying to get everything organized. So that's the world for me. And for you guys,

01:02it is a special treat because we got Nick Gonzalez with us on the show. Nick is from

01:07Linville Team Partners. They do mostly, he owns a brokerage, all the brokerage stuff. We

01:12can talk about that. On the investing side, they do industrial, retail, and office, mostly

01:18geographic location specific. And so we'll dive deep into that. A lot to go into. Nick,

01:24thanks for hopping on the show. Yeah, appreciate you having me for sure. And I'm a little jealous.

01:30I wish I could wake up to a crisp morning. We've had like 90% humidity and like 90 degree

01:37days for the last three weeks. So it's been hot and muggy. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I'm

01:43not jealous of the East Coast weather. You know, Seattle, we do get clouds, we do get rain,

01:48but we are very temperate when it comes to all the humidity and stuff. So I'm happy with

01:54that. But it definitely isn't like cold. It just was, you know, it had that little, the

01:59crispness in the air. Yeah, a little kick. Well, hey, man, I told you before we got on

02:04here, we always like to start with stories. We like to hear how people got to where they

02:08are. So why don't we take us back to the beginning of your story in real estate and just

02:12tell us how you got here. Yeah, yeah, I yeah, I got into real estate end of 2009 2010. And

02:22you know, it's all about just, you know, finding where the opportunity is like it was, everyone

02:30was telling me it was the absolute worst time to get into real estate, which like, I think

02:34the way my brain is wired is that that normally translates into this must be the best time to

02:38get into something like, everyone's running out of a burning building. And you're like, Oh,

02:42I wonder what's going on over there. You know? So I had grown up around real estate. My dad

02:47has, you know, developed real estate in South Florida in the 80s and 90s. Didn't think it

02:55was something I necessarily wanted to get into. But I've just always hustled and worked really

03:01hard. And I knew I wanted to be in a sales position where the earning ceiling was really,

03:07really high. Like, you know, there's a lot of sales jobs that are rewarding and meaningful

03:13and great, but the commissions can only reach but so high. So you know, brokers really excited

03:19me because of the relationships, the earning potential. And you really like eat what you

03:23kill. So yeah, I started in 2010. And found a really, really great mentor, which everyone

03:32I talked to that's looking to get into real estate, I always encourage them to go find,

03:36you know, find the busiest, most successful person in your market, and just give them so

03:41much value that they can't help but reciprocate, offer to do the showings they don't want to

03:45do offer to do, you know, all the underwriting they don't want to do just work your ass off

03:50and they will reciprocate. And I did that I found a really successful guy who taught me everything

03:55he knew. And we still own deals together, we still invest together. We started and sold

04:01a business together. And, you know, I've had a lot of really great mentors. But yeah, I

04:08started in 2010 selling foreclosed properties and small multifamily deals. And that snowballed

04:16and leapfrogged as my own personal portfolio grew. Every commission check I made, I'd go out

04:22and buy something, a cash flowing rent house. And I went fully commercial in 2013. Although

04:30again, I still kind of invest in most asset types. And, you know, do brokerage as well

04:36as run the brokerage and run our investment fund as well. But my last job before real estate

04:42was at IHOP. So, you know, real estate's been great. And it's been very good to me.

04:48Yeah. I will say those, you know, the server jobs, I worked at Red Robin for a long time

04:54before I before college and everything. But those server jobs, they are a good foundation

04:58for sales. They I mean, it really does put you through the ringer a lot of what you go

05:03through there. So no, I'll deny. Well, I guess I can't deny ever saying this. I'm saying it

05:10on a recorded line. But one of my very first like red flags is like, what was your job in

05:15high school? What was your job in college? Like, have you worked a job waiting tables that

05:19doesn't make you a better or worse like person. But if you've waited tables before, or if you've

05:25never waited tables, or like if you've never worked, these like, you know, customer facing

05:32difficult jobs. That's, that's a big qualifying factor for me, because it, I know you have a heart

05:39of gold and a lot of patience if you've, if you waited tables, or you worked in, I mean,

05:44I valet parked cars, I delivered pizzas, I mean, I've worked every job you can imagine. And it's

05:49I have developed infinite patience, thanks to those jobs.

05:53Yeah, I'm telling you, the hardest job I ever had, I was a bartender at this janky little Chinese

05:58restaurant in Seattle. And it was just I bartended for the, like the club nights. And so like the

06:05the salsa night and the disco night, it is just drunk people just being crazy. And it gives you

06:11a lot of patience. And it just gives you some some grit that you will it's really the only way

06:16to get

06:17that. So yes, it's definitely just we went out to dinner with a group of investors on Wednesday. And

06:24one of my favorite games to play is first job, worst job. So everybody you go around the table,

06:32or if you're with a group of people, it's a blast. Everybody shares whatever their first job ever

06:36was, and whatever the worst job they've ever had was. And you just take like a minute or two minutes

06:41on each one. And it's, it tells you so much about people. It's just such a great way to bond.

06:45Because inevitably, there's like two or three people who like, they're like, Oh, yeah, I also I picked

06:49up cans for a summer to for my dad or whatever, you know, it's a really fun game to play.

06:54Yeah, I like that. That's a good, good dinner, dinner question for sure. So let's let's get our focus

07:01back on to real estate. You've mentioned that you kind of you got started on in what is arguably what

07:06people live now would call the worst time in real estate 2008 2009 2010, when it was definitely

07:12dipping. And you got into small or foreclosed properties and then small multi and from there,

07:17you've kind of guided it into commercial real estate. Commercial is huge. There are a lot of

07:22different asset classes in there. And I know you kind of run the gamut. So let's dive into that.

07:28Um, you invest currently you invest in industrial retail and office. Why those three offices one that

07:34a lot of people shy away from? Why those three and what opportunities do you see there?

07:39Yeah, it's I mean, there's no like one size fits all it really comes down to like, where are you

07:45in

07:45your career? Where are you in your investing journey? And so you know, most people I know, like they

07:51started out with rent houses or apartments or mobile home parks, small self storage, like

07:57those are all really, really great assets and they and all of them can scale in a meaningful way. And

08:03you can build great real estate empires like in any one of those. For me, it's mostly like a bandwidth

08:10capacity issue, right? Like I had 30 rent houses, they made me fantastic money. But you know, you have

08:17a property manager and you're micromanaging the managers. It's like, okay, well, do I want to scale

08:22this to 100 200 300 houses? Or do I want to try to level up into a larger asset type?

08:27And again,

08:28there's no right answer. But the right answer for me personally, in my own personal circumstances,

08:32like, okay, I want to focus on fewer tenants paying more in rent. So you know, warehousing tenants that

08:38are renting 20 30 40,000 square feet, the checks are bigger, there's less drama. You're not dealing with

08:46their spouses or their kids or their pets. Or, you know, like these are operating businesses that

08:52operate slightly more sophisticated than like your middle of the road residential renter does.

08:58And so for me, that just attracted me in terms of just continually upgrading. I feel like every year

09:04I sell off, you know, the bottom like 20% of anything that's in my portfolio. And I try to

09:10replace

09:10it with whatever like the top 20% that I'm building towards is. And that's been a really,

09:15really great strategy for me personally. Industrial, I want to, I want to hover on that

09:21statement really quickly, because this is actually something that some partners of mine and I have

09:26have been discussing is this concept one, one partner is firmly in the camp of when you buy a

09:33piece of real estate, you keep it in your portfolio until you're 200 years old, buy, keep and never sell.

09:39And other partners are in the camp of, if you have equity in there, that's working for you,

09:45then you can roll that equity into some a better quality asset. Tell me your perspective on this.

09:50I mean, it sounds like you do like to roll, roll equity. What do you do when it comes to

09:55your

09:55portfolio?

09:57I am constantly revisiting my return on equity. So forget cap rate, forget cash flow. Well,

10:04actually, don't forget cash flow, because here's the other thing. I there's stuff I bought in 2013

10:08that I sold, you know, in 2021, where it's like, forget about everything. If it's making you 200

10:15bucks a month, you might not be at a place in your life where you're like, Oh, do I still

10:19do I still

10:20want one person I have liability to that has my phone number over $200 a month? For me, the answer

10:26is no, right? Like, so it could be a 30 cap, it doesn't matter. At some point, you draw the

10:32line

10:32somewhere where you're like, Okay, I need to meet a minimum threshold of just gross dollars,

10:36or return. But but the return on equity is the most important thing. Because even as a broker,

10:41coaching clients do this, where you say, Hey, you've got 400 grand of equity in your asset right

10:47now. And here is what your actual return on equity, like essentially, your cash on cash on this

10:53hypothetical equity lump sum is, is that an amount that you feel comfortable holding on to? And almost

11:01always, the answer is no. And then if the answer is no, the question becomes, Do I sell or do

11:06I

11:06refi? So I would say like, every investor, like there's no blanket policy, the policy is, look at

11:13all your stuff at least once a year, and then make the best decision you can at that time. So

11:19again,

11:19like I have stuff I've held for a really long period of time, that I'm not afraid to refi and

11:24then put that equity to work somewhere else. And I have stuff that I didn't plan to sell really

11:28quickly that you just flip out of because you say, Hey, like, do I want to wait 10 years to

11:32make 100

11:32grand? Or do I want to make it in four months, you don't always have the choice. Yeah. But when

11:36you have a choice, you got to think pretty hard about it.

11:38I like how you also earlier mentioned, you know, there's different, at different stages of your

11:44investing career, you're going to have different, different tolerances. I'm actually going through

11:48this right now. So I just got into commercial real estate in 2020. And right when I got into it,

11:53I bought these two tiny, tiny little self storage facilities. I got them for dirt cheap,

11:58absolutely nothing. And they are, they are producing well, they make money, but they're

12:02still, they're very small. And in terms of what I'm looking for, even though they do produce great

12:08cash flow for their size, I'm actually just listed them now because I'm realizing like,

12:14it doesn't matter how well, how well they perform in relation to themselves, it matters like,

12:21am I willing to give up my mental bandwidth for this amount of money in terms of cash flow,

12:26in terms of, you know, everything. And for me, that answer is no, even though it is,

12:30they're great assets, they do really well. I'm just not willing to have them, you know,

12:37take up space in my mind for what they're actually producing.

12:41I went through that exact same exercise most recently with three car washes. I was a, I was

12:49partnered with some folks in three car washes. On paper, they made great money. But when you start

12:55thinking about your return on time, your return on liability, your return on brain damage,

13:02you know, again, like you, it's, it's very personal to each person. Like if I was retired,

13:07and I wanted to piddle with like some side hustle real estate, or if my goal in life was to

13:15own

13:1510 car washes, I'd have a completely different perspective. But owning three, you miss out on

13:21the efficiencies of scale, and you expose yourself to just a lot of headache. And like, just it demands

13:27attention. That's not like, again, people like, Oh, I have a car wash that's listed at a 14 cap.

13:33And you're like, dude, the cap rate doesn't apply. Like you're buying either a full time job or a

13:37part time job. So like, what's your time worth? If your time is worth 2250 an hour, you might be

13:43getting the deal of a lifetime. If your time is worth $300 an hour, you might be getting the worst

13:48deal

13:48you've ever done. Um, so it's it is deeply like personal in many ways, no matter what you're

13:54exposing yourself to. Yeah, yeah, I 100% agree. And it still is difficult to make those decisions,

14:00especially the first ones, I have this weird emotional connection to these two tiny little

14:04storage facilities, because they were the first ones that I got. I just, you know, when I closed

14:09those deals, I felt like I had made it. And so there's this like visceral connection to them.

14:15But I, you know, I sat down and I was like, No, it's just not worth it. At this point,

14:19I've evolved past them. And so I need to get rid of them. But it is a hard decision,

14:23regardless of how much, you know, equity you're going to be rolling out of there.

14:28I want to move on a little bit into the brokerage realm, you, you run a brokerage still,

14:33you've had a lot of experience as a broker running your brokerage. It's not something that a lot of

14:38investors that we have on this show do. And it's always a question that I get asked from guests from

14:43people in our school community from people I engage with. It's just should I get a broker's

14:48license? Is it worth it as an investor to go out there and get a license? You know,

14:53I'm already going out doing all this off market lead gen stuff. Should I get something that will

14:57monetize that? What's your perspective on being a broker on running your brokerage? Do you like it?

15:03Do you feel like it enhances your ability to be an investor? Talk us through that.

15:08Yeah, I would say if you're not planning to generate more than like 30%, 40% of your total

15:16annual income off being a broker, it's probably not worth it. I most of the investors over the

15:22years that I've had, that have gotten their brokerage license really primarily for the reason

15:28of being able to collect fees on deals they do as principals. I don't think that has it hasn't paid

15:37off because what you do is you end up isolating or you end up alienating a lot of brokers. So

15:44I think

15:44as an investor, you really need to have a good, deep, meaningful relationship with the best broker

15:51in your market or in the market that you're looking in. Or, you know, be known as that guy who

15:56uses

15:56multiple brokers, but he's really good to all of them. If you're primarily an investor and you just get

16:01your broker license to collect fees, brokers aren't going to want to send you stuff. And,

16:07you know, a lot of times like they're not going to want to pay your fee either. I mean,

16:10we offer on stuff all the time where they're like, we don't pay brokerage fees if you're acting as a

16:13principal, whether you're a broker or not. That's not like a standard policy, but it does come up a

16:18lot. I think being a broker has helped me a lot because I have a really, really deep network of

16:25brokers that I've done deals with that I get along with really well. And they know that I'll always

16:29protect them. Like if there's not a fee on a deal, we'll build in a fee for them. Or if

16:35they're the

16:35listing broker on a deal, they know I'm going to give them really quick feedback or we're going to

16:39offer on something really quickly or not. We're not going to waste their time. And we think like

16:42brokers do. So, you know, again, it's helped me because it's given me access to a lot of off

16:49market deals and pocket listings because after 16 years, you just know a lot of brokers in the

16:54Southeast. And if they know you're active and they get along with you, they're like, oh, let me send it

16:58to

16:58my buddy, Nick. But if you're primarily an investor and you want to secondarily be a broker or you only

17:04want to be a broker to collect fees on your own deals, I think it's probably more of a handicap

17:08than it is a help. Because you're not, you know, most states like getting your broker's license,

17:14you just need like a high school diploma and you need to know how to like use a measuring stick.

17:18Like it's not like, it's not like a valuable education. I mean, I don't want to get like roasted

17:24for saying this, but like it's not, it doesn't, it doesn't make you an expert in your field. It's

17:28like a very low bar for a licensing requirement. Now, if you go get your CCIM, for example, that

17:34tells people, hey, I sat through these four courses where I learned like really detailed financial

17:39analysis and, uh, you know, demographics. And, uh, like when I see CCIM, it's like, oh, this person

17:47got their master's in commercial real estate, you know, so to speak. Um, but no, I wouldn't,

17:53I probably wouldn't encourage people to get their broker license unless they want to make

17:57a go at being a broker who also, you know, does deals. Um, but yeah, that's, that's my

18:02take.

18:03No. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Um, it has come up multiple times and I never know what

18:08to tell people because I'm not a broker, but I, and I don't feel like I have a, uh, a

18:13good,

18:13a good feel for what the other side does. Um, I haven't really been super interested in getting

18:18a brokerage license. I just like, I really just don't want to do the disclosure. Like

18:21when I'm talking to people and say, Hey, by the way, I'm also a broker. Um, and so I just

18:26focused on just doing off market stuff, but people do reach out and I never want to give

18:29them bad advice. Uh, but that makes a lot of sense to, from what you just said. Um, we

18:34are running the clock down. We're at 18 minutes. We've got a couple of minutes left before we

18:39move on to the quick question round. I do like to ask, you know, we're in an interesting

18:43time. Um, I mean, it's always an interesting time, but right now I feel like it's an interesting

18:47time in real estate. And so for the next, uh, you know, one to three years, what do you

18:51guys have on the horizons and what are you trying to accomplish?

18:55Yeah, we've been growing our investment fund. That's been incredibly rewarding. I, even

19:01though the market is tough and tighter right now, and the debt market especially is getting

19:07very turbulent, like rates are not our friend right now. Uh, if you're good at finding

19:12value, there's value to be found now, next year, two years, three years from now, you

19:16just have to be patient and conservative. Um, I would say like the biggest risk of the

19:24last three or four years and the biggest risk moving forward is just focusing on opportunities

19:30where you shouldn't transact on something either as a broker, as a principal, just for the

19:37sake of doing it. Right. And so like 22 and 23, you saw all these multifamily buyers buying

19:43at these really low cap rates, projecting 10% year over year rent growth. And now they've

19:48all gotten absolutely destroyed. I would say we're probably going to see the same types

19:54of problems over the next year, two years, three years where people are like, well, you

19:58know, I think there's opportunity out there and I have to transact on stuff, but there, you

20:03know, there's a lot of value traps out there. So we're, we're really focused on obviously

20:08doing a great job as a brokerage and doing a great job as a broker, but also just really

20:11focused on, Hey, let's be really diligent, really conservative. There's going to be great

20:17value out there as there is right now. Um, but you, you have to be so careful in the current

20:23environment when you, you literally don't know what next month is going to bring. I mean,

20:28between March and August, what rates have done has been crazy. So, you know, again, it's,

20:34it's going to be very rewarding to those who are patient over the next year, two years,

20:40three years who can take kind of like a, a sniper rifle approach to their investing

20:46discipline. Um, but if you, if, if you're used to scrambling and closing a ton of deals,

20:53like you're, you're probably going to step on some landmines, unfortunately. Yeah. And then

20:57that same, that is a theme across however many 600 episodes that we've done, um, that really

21:03successful investors stick to their criteria. You can make money in the up cycle, the down

21:07cycle, the left and right. But the one thing that you have to be consistent on is sticking

21:12to your, your very harsh and, uh, and you know, stable criteria. That's not betting on

21:20continued inflation or continued appreciation. It's not betting on rents continuing to rise.

21:25Um, it's betting on what is actually happening today. Uh, and you know, that's really the only

21:30way to, to protect yourself, protect the downside is, um, underwriting correctly and, and buying

21:36right. Um, with that and having more than one way out of a deal, like that's, I would say

21:42that's the biggest, the second you're like, everything needs to happen this way for me to

21:47hit my returns. Those are, those are scary deals versus here's worst case. Here's base

21:53case. Here's best case. Even in the worst case, I can somewhat limit my downside of my

21:59exposure risk. Yep. All right. With that, I'm going to push us into the quick question

22:04round. Are you ready? Bring it on.

22:06All right. It starts with education. It could be any form, could be a book you've read, movie

22:10you've seen, conference you've been to, mentorship program you've been a part of, anything like

22:14that. I just need two recommendations, one for general life wisdom and then one for real

22:18estate.

22:20Two recommendations. Um, yeah, probably the best conference I've ever attended is the

22:28welcome conference. It's in New York city every year. It's, uh, the author of unreasonable

22:34hospitality hosts this day long conference every year. I went for the first time last year.

22:40I'm going in this year. Can't recommend it enough. It's, uh, if you've read the book on

22:44reasonable hospitality, it reinforces a lot of the philosophy and thoughts in there and

22:50they have, it's like Ted talks. I mean, they have a different speaker every hour and a lot

22:54of the themes are about, you know, delivering excellent service, like interpersonal communication

22:58skills, thoughtfulness. Uh, I mean, it was like, I don't want to say dramatically life-changing,

23:04but it was unbelievably well worth it. Uh, so, you know, general life thing, if you can read

23:12unreasonable hospitality and go to the conference, uh, real estate wise, I really, really think

23:18there's so much value and people do not do this. Like you have to either get into a mastermind

23:25or a group of your peers or some sort of professional coaching program. Because if you

23:32don't have an accountability partner who knows more than you, first of all, or multiple accountability

23:37partners, and you don't have somebody challenging you and coaching you, that's when you like plateau

23:42and the older you get, the less you can afford to plateau like at that stage in your life.

23:46So, you know, even if you're, even if you don't necessarily have the resources to go like whole

23:53hog on it, if you're, if you're in a market, so, so here's what I did. I found like five

24:01other

24:02brokerages similar to ours in the Southeast, but far enough away to where they wouldn't think

24:07we were competitors. And I got one broker from each of those to participate on a zoom call

24:12once a month where we just compare notes. I'm like, Hey, like, how are you guys using Claude?

24:15Like, Hey, what do you guys pay for co-star? Uh, Hey, like when you guys pitch a listing,

24:20like, can I send you one of my pitches and you send me one of yours? It's like, there's no

24:25territoriality. And if you can get one or two little nuggets of wisdom from each of those,

24:29it's, it's time so well spent. So like join one, organize your own, but some sort of mastermind,

24:35some sort of coaching, uh, some sort of just sharpening your skills, uh, is priceless.

24:43Nice. I like that. And yeah, I, there really is nothing that can replace, um, being with people

24:49who are doing, who have achieved what you want to achieve and just people who are doing the same

24:54thing you're doing. Um, I I've hounded this so many times in so many episodes, you, you know,

25:00you can only get so much from YouTube videos, from, from listening to podcasts. Podcasts are great,

25:04but, uh, there is nothing that can replace in person or, or digital, um, communication with,

25:11with people who are doing what you're doing, because, uh, that is the way one you set accountability

25:15and two, um, they, it will respond to specific questions for what's happening in the moment,

25:21um, versus general information, which is generally what you get in, uh, in stuff like YouTube. So

25:26great, great answer. Moving us on to the next one. This is for your younger self. If you could go

25:32back

25:32to the version of yourself that was just starting out back in, I think you said 2008, go back to

25:38him,

25:38look him in the eye, give him one piece of advice moving forward. It's, that's always such a hard

25:44question to answer, right? Cause you, you think about where you are now in life and you're like,

25:48well, in a lot of ways, like, I don't know necessarily that I would change a single thing,

25:52right? Like, unless there's, you know, huge, enormous regrets, which fortunately I don't have

25:57any huge, enormous regrets. I would say the biggest thing is just, and again, this is very personal

26:03to me, but having a little more, um, uh, clarity of focus. So, you know, my first four or five

26:14years

26:14in real estate, every time I got a commission check, I'd run out and buy a rent house and then,

26:20and I'd invest in a deal. And like, that was actually really good. Like it helped me build a

26:23balance sheet really quickly with really great assets. Um, but there's something to be said,

26:29which I've, I've gotten better at this as of age of having like, uh, like the saying, you know,

26:36dig, dig like 10, a hundred foot wells. Don't dig like a hundred, 10 foot wells. Uh, I would say

26:41it's

26:41the same thing. Like I got to where I'm going and I'm really happy with where I am, but I

26:46definitely

26:46had a shotgun approach my first five, six years. I don't know that it needed to be like hyperdisciplined,

26:54but it could have been a little more, uh, disciplined because, you know, I hit a lot of home runs.

26:59I hit a lot of, um, you know, triples and doubles, but I hit so many singles where I'm like,

27:06man,

27:07I made $10 an hour on that project. Like, but I was just, I was just eager to do anything

27:12I could

27:13do. You know, like you're excited and you're making money and you're like, Oh, let me, I'll go flip

27:17this house. And you're like, well, I made, I made eight grand flipping that house. But then you're

27:20like, well, but I also spent like six months working on, you know, like it's, so it's being a little

27:24more discipline would have maybe gotten me where I'm, where I'm at. Yeah. A year or two

27:29earlier. That's a hard question to answer. Like you said, because, um, I mean, you're younger when,

27:35when you're younger and you're just starting out. I wouldn't have listened to me.

27:38Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. One, I wouldn't listen to myself, but two, it's like, I almost feel like I

27:43needed, cause I did the same thing. I remember one of my first flips, we, uh, me and my friend

27:47did most

27:48of the work by hand. We worked on it for like six, eight months, something crazy like that. At the

27:52end, we each walked away with $16,000, which might sound like something to some people, but I'm telling

27:58you, putting that much effort into anything and then getting $16,000 back is like, is, is just

28:05heartbreaking. So, um, it is, you know, it's when you're younger, it's difficult to know where you're

28:12going to be going. Um, and so that shotgun approach is almost like, almost needs to happen. But I do

28:17say

28:17the one way around that is what you said earlier, getting a mentor earlier on, helping somebody that

28:22can sit next to you and help you guide and focus that energy because that will get you farther.

28:27And it's something I wish I did. Um, and I'll definitely be telling my son once he starts to

28:31get into this, uh, you know, trying to guide him a little bit more pointed. Cause I ran into the

28:35same issue where I was just shotgunning everything. If it was a deal, I was going to do it. Didn't

28:39matter what it was. Um, moving us on to the next question. This is about the U S it's a

28:45big

28:45place. There is a lot of opportunity out there. Give me the single Metro you're most excited about

28:51investing in today.

28:54That's a great question. Um,

29:01you know, I couldn't give you a specific city. I would say, you know, Columbus, Ohio is very,

29:07very, very much on our radar. Uh, we just closed a big, uh, a big deal there. We bought seven

29:13automotive, uh, repair facilities that were on a 15 year sale lease back. And we're actually

29:19transacting on to retail shopping centers this month. Uh, just, I mean, outside of Columbus,

29:25but, um, you just want to go where the growth is, right? Like you can find really high yield deals

29:32in tertiary markets where the demographics are not strong. There's not a lot of growth

29:40and, uh, on paper they look great, but you'll be stuck with a problem asset five or 10 years from

29:45now. You could buy in contrast, a deal in a really great market like Charlotte, North Carolina,

29:52you know, just South of where I am or in Columbus, Ohio, or in Myrtle beach, South Carolina, or,

29:57you know, outside of Atlanta. And you can make a lot of mistakes along the way and you might still

30:01come out. Okay. Because it's so much more forgiving when you're in an actual desirable location. So,

30:07um, you know, you just got to go where the growth is. North Carolina is the third fastest growing

30:12state still, uh, second, depending on what list you use. Uh, so, you know, I'm, I'm a big fan of

30:18the Southeast. I'm a big fan of Ohio. Um, and I try to discourage my clients from getting trapped

30:25into these rural deals that seem great on paper, but eventually will become a problem for you when it

30:33takes you 18 months to replace a tenant. Uh, you know, for example.

30:38Yeah. Yeah. And that is, uh, chasing cap rates is another pitfall that you can definitely get into

30:44because you can see a 12 cap and be like, I got to buy this deal, but it's in the

30:48middle of nowhere.

30:48There's five people that live in the area. It's going to be a problem for you more than you'd like.

30:53Um, all right, moving us on. This one is about lessons learned. Not every deal we get into goes

30:59the way we expect it. In fact, pretty much every single time something's going to go wrong and

31:03that's when we get to learn a lesson. So what was the deal that went a little bit sideways for

31:06you

31:07and what was the lesson? Uh, yeah, you know, I think if you're really, if you're a really good

31:16communicator, um, and you communicate openly, transparently, honestly, and genuinely with

31:25anybody you're involved with, even if it's a, like if, if it's a tenant you're in an adversarial

31:30position with or a partner or anything or an investor in your deal, I always, things are going

31:37to go wrong. Right. So like if something goes wrong, I always want the other person hopefully to be able

31:43wrong, but Nick did every single thing he could along the way to avoid this problem or to address

31:49the problem or to look out for my best interest or X, Y, Z. Um, we've had, you know, we

31:54had

31:57what, what problem can I talk about? Um, I would say, so I do hard money lending and, uh, as,

32:08as a side investment with a partner of mine. And I would say of the a hundred plus loans we've

32:15done

32:15in that hard money lending venture, three of them have gone sideways. And those are really hard

32:20conversations to have because you're lending somebody money for, you know, flip house or a

32:25renovation project and something didn't go the way you hoped. And so I would say like the, the,

32:31the times those have gone wrong, you really just, you cannot afford to get angry. You can't afford

32:38to get dramatic. You just have to have a transparent conversation and deal with reality. Uh, and so,

32:45you know, again, like not every deal is going to go correctly, but the second you escalate things or

32:52you make it personal or you don't find a workout. I mean, at the end of the day, like there's,

32:57I know a lot of investors who are really, really strict and disciplined and regimented. And it's like,

33:01do you want to pay the attorney 20 grand or do you want to take a $10,000 loss? I

33:05want to take

33:05a $10,000 loss and just move on with my life. Right. So I think, uh, like being really pragmatic

33:11when problems come up and being overly like transparent in your communication. Um, you know,

33:19this, this guy that we got foreclosed on, like, or that he got foreclosed on. I mean, you know,

33:24he called me crying and I was like, man, like I'm not the one that hurt you and I'm giving

33:29you

33:29solutions to the problem. And it like immediately calmed him down. Cause I'm like, Hey, like

33:32your roofer is the one that screwed you. Your GC is the one that screwed you. Like the, like I

33:39had,

33:39I'm not the one that hurt you. Here are some solutions. And it kind of like immediately

33:44diffuses the situation. Uh, there's an attorney who lent me money when I was very, very first starting

33:49out. And that, that's actually his line. He, um, uh, was a litigation attorney and I had asked him

33:56for advice and he said, Nick, every time someone walks through that door and sits in the chair across

34:02from me on the desk, I like to use, I start with that. I say, Hey, as a reminder, I'm

34:06not the one

34:07that hurt you. I'm the one that's here to like solve your problem. And he's like, they, they come

34:11in here and they're angry. Like they just left some deposition and they're like all, you know,

34:16riled up and it like just immediately diffuses the situation. It's not always going to work,

34:20but sometimes it does. Yeah. Yeah. Having good communication and understand, just

34:26understanding that we're all aimed towards the same goal, um, ultimately, which is, you know,

34:32less stress, less, uh, less headache is crucial to keep in mind. Um, when you're having conversations

34:37like that, um, that does lead us to the second to last question. This is a new question that we've

34:43been asking, but it is, uh, pertinent to where we are today. It's about AI. AI is here to stay.

34:49And, uh, the, the better you are at implementing it in your business, the more, uh, results you'll

34:54see from it. So what is the number one way that you would recommend people, um, that you are, uh,

35:00implementing AI in your business today and seeing results?

35:03Yeah, I, I use Claude a lot. I was using ChatGPT. Um, I've been using Claude probably for

35:10six months now. I use it multiple times a day and I would say, uh, it's, it's just so,

35:22um, well, I guess the advice I would give people is just start implementing something like in your

35:27stack, right? So like, if you're not using AI now, don't obsess over how can I use it? Just start

35:34using it and bounce ideas off it. Like, Hey, I'm looking at this property here, all the leases,

35:41I'm not relying on you to, you know, X, Y, Z, but can you look them over and let me

35:45know if you see

35:45any red flags? That's like such a low stakes way. And you'd be surprised what it finds. Right.

35:52Um, so, you know, I'll, I'll use it a lot as like a sounding board, like, Hey, here's what I'm

35:57offering on this property. Here's the broker's OM. Uh, let me know if there's, you know, anything

36:02that jumps out to you, uh, like very conversational. Um, we do use it for a lot of our internal,

36:10like financial tracking. So, you know, I have like a master spreadsheet I keep with all my

36:16investments and my LLCs and I'll periodically upload that and be like, Hey, like give me like

36:21three interesting insights just off this one spreadsheet. And literally it will tell me,

36:27Hey, you're making a disproportionate amount of income off this. And you're really not making

36:31that much off of this. Like, why are you still back to what I was saying originally, like replacing

36:3520% literally Claude will tell you like, Hey, you're really not making that much on this.

36:39What, why are you even doing this? You know? Um, so think about even like as a broker, you know,

36:43you could upload a spreadsheet of all of your transactions in 2025 and say, Hey, give me

36:48meaningful insights. And I'll tell you, man, you really need to be an industrial broker. Cause

36:52you made 80% of your fees off 20% of your deals or Hey, stop doing tenant representation. Cause

36:59you're getting $2,000 checks when you could be doing seller rep and getting $30,000 checks.

37:04Like it's not rocket science, but again, it's like, it's your accountability partner. Who's

37:1018,000 times smarter than you are. So, uh, but just start using it. I mean, I use it for

37:16everything. I will say I'm still not at the point where I am comfortable enough using it for stuff

37:21that I have to like absolutely rely on because I'm still terribly afraid that it's going to like

37:27mess something up liability wise. Uh, but it's, it's so useful. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I,

37:34the more data you give it, the more, you know, things that you give it to put its teeth into,

37:38the better it is. I'm almost, almost not there yet, but I'm almost to the point of getting rid of

37:42all our QuickBooks account because I've, uh, I've uploaded the just bank statements literally for,

37:47for properties that I own and I can go in there and query it. And it is so much better

37:52than anything

37:53that, uh, that QuickBooks produces and it'll produce reports on the fly just based on what

37:57I'm telling it. Um, it is pretty, pretty crazy what it does. Anyways, that leads us to the very

38:03last question. This is for the listeners. You've given us a lot to think about. I'm sure people want

38:07to reach out, get in contact with you. Is it two parter? Where can they find you? And then what

38:11can

38:11they expect when they reach out? Yeah. Uh, I would say LinkedIn is really an easy way to find me.

38:18So

38:18Nick Gonzalez, the name of my brokerage is Limbo Team Partners. Uh, our website is ltpcommercial.com.

38:26Um, you know, I would say I'm always open to having conversations with folks who are interested into

38:32getting into, uh, brokerage into investing. Uh, we have a lot of first time commercial investors in our

38:41fund and we have lots of really experienced investors in our investment fund. Um, so, you

38:47know, if you're curious about investing in commercial real estate, if you're curious about getting into

38:51commercial brokerage, um, you know, I'm not going to be your, your free, you know, mentor for life,

38:56but I'm always willing to have a 30 minute phone call with someone and hopefully like impart some

39:01knowledge. Uh, but yeah, I'm, I'm pretty visible online, always looking to connect with new folks.

39:06We, I mean, we're always taking on new investors. Um, and yeah, if you're, if you're in Winston

39:13Salem, North Carolina sometime, I'll, I'll gladly buy you a coffee and connect sometime. Uh, not,

39:18not you gave me, you all buy lunch or breakfast. Uh, I appreciate that. All right. Well, I will put

39:24those links in the show notes. So if you guys want to reach out, all you got to do is

39:28click a little

39:28more in the description. It'll pull down that full description and in there you can find Nick's link.

39:35And with that, man, that wraps it up. I appreciate you hopping on the show.

39:40Yeah, I appreciate you. This was a lot of fun. Thank you. Um, and, uh, yeah, I really appreciate

39:45it. Absolutely. For everybody who's with us today, thank you guys for showing up. You are the reason

39:51we do this. So if you guys have any questions whatsoever, reach out to me, Gabe at the real

39:55estate investing club.com. If you guys want to support the show, just leave us a comment, review,

39:59anything like that. Other than that, I hope you guys have a great week. Keep rocking,

40:04real estate, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.

The Broker Secret to Real Estate Freedom with Nick Gonzalez

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