A Different Approach to Capital Raising
On this episode of Next Level American Dream, Abigail and Sean are joined by Corey Peterson. Corey is the owner of Kahuna Investments and has managed and acquired over $95 million in real estate across the country. Our conversation will be on how he was able to develop a capital raise network and “copy his way to success.”
Key Topics
Raising capital
Traditional capital markets
Raising capital in real estate
Connect with Corey:
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SUMMARY KEYWORDS
money, investors, people, deal, business, Multifamily, private capital, stock market, real estate, book, apartment, invest, property, financial advisor, American Dream, return, buy, happened, capital, drove
SPEAKERS
Sean Thomson, Abigail Thomson, Corey Peterson
Abigail Thomson 00:00
Welcome to the Next Level American Dream Podcast brought to you by Thomson Multifamily Group. Your hosts, Abigail and Sean, will discuss how you can take your American Dream to the next level, the real estate investing business practices, and personal development. Join us as we share our experiences as a father daughter duo who are trying to accomplish our goal of financial freedom. We hope you learn more about how to define and achieve your American Dream. Here's another episode of Next Level American Dream. On today's episode of Next Level American Dream, we are joined by the Big Kahuna himself, Corey Peterson. Corey is the owner of Kahuna Investments, and has managed and acquired over $95 million in real estate across the country. Our conversation will be on how he was able to develop the capital raise network, and copy his way to success.
Abigail Thomson 01:06
Hi, Corey, how are you?
Corey Peterson 01:09
I'm doing wonderful. I'm excited to be here!
Abigail Thomson 01:13
We're so excited to have you. So we're just gonna jump right in, you came from a really interesting background. And I'm kind of interested to see like, really what led you to real estate from financial advising?
Corey Peterson 01:27
You know, it's really, it's a crazy journey that I went on. I actually, before I became a financial advisor, I really want to do real estate. The problem was I just hit my first big hurdle that I didn't know how to get past. And so I had to find a job. And that was I ran out of money. I ran out of money, you know, I put I bought like four rental properties, I was doing some fix and flips. And then, you know, I had rental properties. And I put a little bit of all my money in each three rentals. And then I had no money and I had to quit my job. So I had no income and venture MLM any money. And I quickly realized that I had to become get something, you know, solid. And I just stumbled upon being a financial advisor, I had a buddy that was financial advisor. And he's like, Hey, listen, you could do this and still do real estate on the side. I'm like, that sounds great. And so I got into the financial services industry, which was pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me, even though the market crashed. So I started in 2005, or maybe 2000 456. By Oh, seven, the market crashed. So I, I got into it. And then all of a sudden, one of the biggest drops in history happened, and what a horrible job to be in at the time. But the important thing is it taught me about money. And you know, I grew up poor, I didn't, I had some limiting beliefs about money. Like if you have money, you're supposed to spend it all. And you know, and so, when I got trained as a financial advisor, it really helped turn on my understanding of how people view money truly, I'm better wealthy, I understood how wealthy people treat money, and therefore, my mind became more powerful and understanding really how to talk the language of money as well. And really that and because the market crashed, that's how I went into real estate full time. And I came out of the out the you know, the backside of that recession, not hurt by owning any properties, except rentals, and rentals came through fine. But I was really equipped to start my next journey, which was, you know, doing at the time, I was doing single family fixin flips, but what really helped me was being able to raise private money.
Sean Thomson 03:48
Great. Tell us a little bit. You just mentioned a couple times that you were doing the single family rentals and fix and flips and things. What was your transition from single family to doing multifamily and apartments? How did that How did that go? And then why did apartments sort of appeal to you?
Corey Peterson 04:05
Yeah. So when I was doing the single family fixin flip, you know, I got, I was raising money. But the problem was I started, it was getting harder and harder to find deals till like 2009 2010. By 2000, by the end of 2010. You know, how I was buying properties, which was short sales and reos. There wasn't that many more left, they were starting to get weeded out. And so it was getting harder and harder to find deals. And truly, I hadn't learned what a lot of wholesalers do now, which is direct mail marketing and all this, you know, my only way was to find a deal was to get on the MLS and find deals and talk to real estate agents like that was my only way. And what I what I was really what I wanted to happen to is, I was raising I think I had maybe about three or $4 million of Capital on the street at the height of like 2011. A lot of money working. And that was I learned that was the like the real gift. It wasn't me doing single family deals, it was really my ability to raise money that was really important. And I was trying to solve for x, like an algebra equation. I had lots of money, and I needed product to invest in to keep it working. That was how I was making money. And I was like, because I'm lazy. I'm truly a lazy investor. Okay, can I say that out loud? I would, I would, I just thought was like, I drove by apartment complex, I can tell you that. It's actually a painful story. But the problem I got so involved with fix and flip. And doing every aspect of it, like I was the parts runner from Lowe's. Like I never stopped to the point that it was ruining my family life. And this is really hard to talk about. But you would look at me from the outside, of course, a super huge success. But inside my house was crumbling, and was about ready to explode. To the point where like, my son's like, Hey, Dad, are you going to be at my game? My soccer game? I was like, Yeah, no problem, son. But you know, internally, I was like, man, I got four properties that I didn't look at. And so on Saturday morning, I'm like, why I still got to go look at them. And so I devise a plan to wake up early and go. And the short story is, I missed my son's game, I came at the very end. And my son came off the field and he was crying. And he's like, Dad, you promised. And I'm gonna tell you man, it, it broke me, where I was like, dude, I've got the it was like, even though the market was changing, things like that, that that wasn't enough to break me and make me change. It was when my kid, my son looked at me and, and I was failing him as a father, that it broke me in all kinds of ways. I remember. I mean, my son was like, like that just heart wrenching cry, like, I'd hurt him. Kind of like you promised that. And yet, and I am still he wants to jump in my truck and let me take him home. And that was even worse. Because as we're driving home, he's just, you just try to hold it in. And then today, I'm just, I'm just, I'm like, Oh my god, what am I doing? I dropped them off. I get home, my wife looks at me, she goes, you got to you got to fix this. And Dude, I got my car. And I drove around, aimlessly. And Dude, I I was beating myself up physically, just verbally, Cory, you're such an A hole. Why would you put you know, money first and all this stuff first. And, and that's not who I was. And in that state, I finally found forgiveness Actually, I asked God, I cried to god man to forgive me, and ask for his forgiveness. And eventually, I forgive myself. And in that calm state of mind. It happened. I drive by this apartment complex, and I've driven by it a million times. And I normally would say, I wish I could own an apartment complex. But at that one moment, I said, How can I order an apartment complex? And as soon as I said those words, my brain worked. It turned on and it said, Oh, my God, that's that is the correct answer. And I did a U turn. I drove to Barnes and Nobles. Now we would just get on our phones. But I went bought some books on multifamily investing. I learned I learned the business within, you know, six months and within a short period of time, own started owning apartment complexes. And so that's how I really transitioned into apartment complexes out of sheer, I screwed up, I was screwing up my family. And it just so happened that I had found a place to put all my investors capital and work it really well. Yeah, that's crazy right?
Sean Thomson 09:07
That's a great story. I've heard you tell a story two or three times and I still kind of get a little, you know, cuz I'm a dad too. So.
Corey Peterson 09:14
Oh, man. You know, it really is one of those things that like, if you don't understand, going hurting your kids is one of the worst feelings. Yeah, I think a father could ever feel. And for me, it was so real. Right. So yeah, it really wasn't motivated.
Sean Thomson 09:33
Yeah, that's that's a great story. Thanks for sharing that day. You know, for me, it was more of a strategic decision. You know, I wanted to be more efficient with my investing and things like that. And I don't, she's never barely been that upset with me about what I do. But, but luckily, she's working with me now. So that's, that's good.
Corey Peterson 09:49
Well, that's a big testament of what you're doing right, brother.
Sean Thomson 09:52
Yeah, exactly. Well, let's talk about you talking about the private investors you had already sort of in your network and then now you you and that's a big part. Have your business. So how do you go about sort of locating those investors and finding them and, and sort of finding the right person to be involved in what you're trying to do?
Corey Peterson 10:10
Yeah. So this is really, I've just pulled like, the one of the things that I'm really good at, is I'm not very good at inventing new stuff. But I'm really great at copy. And I mean, I'm a master copier, I can copy like the best of them. And really, all I learned to do was copy what Edward Jones had taught me as a financial advisor. They taught me to go out to chambers of commerce to, you know, get into philanthropy thing, find it, find something that you like to do that you love to do that you're passionate about, and go volunteer. And because other business owners volunteer for stuff like that, in other words, go hang out, we're successful, rich people hang out, and do what they do. And so that's really, the magic. That's what I did. And a lot of these people are not in real estate. They're just not. They all want to be though. And so I give them the ability to vicariously live it through me. Because most of these people are successful. Business owners are doctors, dentists, lawyers, chiropractors, busy people. And what I like to say is they have they're busy people with dumb money. And what I when I say dumb money, what I mean is money that's in the stock market. Because like recently, just like what just happened, right? We're going through this covid 19 crisis, and the market is taking a poop. And you know, everybody's 401, K's are almost like 201 K's again. And there's no, there's no rhyme or reason. And, you know, what, what do the investors have to say about it? They're like, well, it's the market. Yet, I'm working really hard to make sure that we're being able to pay our investors, or whether through it, right, there's a real person that has responsibilities. And I think that's what a lot of investors are looking for, is really an alternative to the stock market. I think that's what we create.
Sean Thomson 12:12
Right? It's more I like to tell people, it's just a more tangible method of investing your money, it's, it's, you're much more closer to the source. And with the stock market, you're just so distant from any sort of input or influence. It's, you know, it's amazing how far away you are. So,
Corey Peterson 12:28
yeah, I think, what investors want more than anything, well, the one thing I learned about like it when I was fence advisors is what people are normally expecting, as far as returns, like your average, every event, you know, investor that's in the stock market, their financial advisors are telling them six to 8% is a solid return. Like that's the language. And so if we can do better than that, we get to win, we can we can win, I compete against the stock market, I win 90% of the time, I would say, right, at least for some of their money, I don't get it at all. And honestly, I don't want it all I want to create a relationship, I want my investors to understand that it really is about a relationship, and doing what you say you're going to do and then and letting them over some time figure it out, then they eventually give me a lot more of their money. Right. So it's a slow play. But eventually what happens is your investors you know, 12 percents a solid return for a lot of investors. Well, it doesn't have to be whereas as I call this smart money, smart money is like all your guys that know they got money, and they are going to want the maximum return these and they're using people that are not in the stock market. Right? These are savvy savvy investors. Well, listen, sometimes they have lots of money, but there's a cost to that money. And so that's a pool you can fish in. But I've decided to like never go to that pond. I hate that pond. It's toxic. If you ask me. I go to my other pond of just the average ordinary people that have money and wealth, but like they're in the stock market, I can fish there with my lewer and I can catch big fish all day long. But if I go to that other pond, all that savvy investors, they look at me they're like, dude, your bait sucks. And because they want 20 25% returns, and which is so hard to hit, so hard to hit. And I think that's just you're setting yourself up for failure. And for me as a, as a investor as the one putting together it limits my profitability to where I'm just making little margins. And that's not what I wanted. That's not the lifestyle that I wanted to create. I want to create where I can make my investors that really good money and make myself some really good money. So I tend to fish where the best fish are, in my opinion.
Sean Thomson 15:00
I think also that makes for a more solid business too, you've got more security for everybody involved. If if you're giving a great return not not a phenomenal return, but a great return, it just makes for a much more solid business every time you do a project, and it's consistency consistent, right. So
Corey Peterson 15:17
that was what I meant to say earlier is that one of the things that I found that investors want more than ever, is consistency, consistency, and communication is doing what you say you're going to do consistency in your reporting, and consistency and their return. And they're willing to take less if they can get consistency. And like, yeah, yeah, you know, and that's a relative word, right? Because I never say my investments are safe. But I say, you know, compared to what, right? Like, is the stock market safe? No. Right. So we, you know, but does everybody just leave your apartment on one? You know, do they all get together say, hey, let's leave today? Doesn't happen. Right? And but like, because if you have 100 doors in one spot, you know, if 10 people leave one month, so what that's 10% I'm still getting 90% of my payments. So I think that's the other part of life. reason I love apartments, is that scale of economy?
Sean Thomson 16:20
Right? Well, tell us a little bit about what it is that private capital does for you and your business? And what why you need private capital to to operate an apartment building?
Corey Peterson 16:30
Yeah, great question. Because private capital. So out of all the things that I've done in this world, there's only a couple things that really, really super proud of, and this is one of those moments, is, if I looked at some of the investors that started at the same time I did, the reason my net worth has a lot more zeros in it, is because I learned one skill that they chose not to learn. And that is the ability to raise private money. And I started off, you know, just trying to get friends and family, that's all I've ever done is trying to get more friends, and more family, you know, get referrals from friends. And that's how I've just kind of snowballed my relationship with money. But what that money does, is allow you to invest in way bigger projects. So like I used to, when I first started out, my first raised was $1.4 million. Well, that's a lot of money. But maybe not, right, so that's 14 people with $100,000. Give it that when you look at it that way, that's not super crazy, or super, like, Oh my God, because there's lots of people with hundred thousand dollars everywhere, that are looking for people like me, that could have a track record and have some kind of system that they could, you know, trust in. And so, but but that was a, you know, a $3.2 million deal. And now we're doing deals where we'll raise six to $7 million, you know, and so, say, but it's the same concept. Now we're just doing way bigger deals. And actually, the bigger deals are actually more safer. If we can say the word safe, because it's a bigger scale of economy. And really, that's, that's I think the engine of the apartment game, is you can leverage capital, because we use it not only when I say private money, what what that money's funding, is we're usually going to get a bank loan for as much LTV loan to value as possible. So in other words, if we can get 80% leverage from a bank, that's what we're going to do it because that's the cheapest money out there. And then we're going to say, Okay, well, if we need 20% down, we need, you know, a million dollars of capital improvement monies, we need some money to pay all the closing costs, we'll total all that money up. And that's the amount of money that will raise from investors. And using a kind of a calculator to make all the numbers work, we'll understand what we have to buy a property for, to make all our numbers in line. In other words, we have our deal structure and then you make the deal conform to your structure. And when you do that, and you get an acceptable deal, you know, you've kind of counted on all these other little things to happen. That's that's so but that's what that's what private money does for me is it's allowed me to live a life that I could never dreamed of, if I didn't do it the way I did it. And it's allowed me to have a net worth it's pretty amazing.
Sean Thomson 19:40
So the private capital is analogous to simplifying would be the the private investors will cover any capital expenditures that are above and beyond what you know, traditional debt company with bank or you know, the, the Fannie Freddie sort of secured lender would fund. The private capital takes care of that for you. They become a part of the sort of a part of the structure, the partnership structure of the property. And they gain a return from all that, right?
Corey Peterson 20:09
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, you know, your bank gives you the bank loan, and then all the rest is private capital. And then you just got to have, you say, like, you know, for us, we pay a 6% prep. So we put that 6% percent prep in our calculator, and then it will say, Okay, this is how much this is what this deals gonna do to be able to pay the bank payment, and then also pay your capital to your investors. And so it just becomes math. And like, you know, that's the one thing I love about multifamily and commercial projects, is that it's all based on math, it's all based on numbers, you don't have to get emotional about a deal. You don't have to get emotion about anything, you just buy, based on the numbers, the numbers work, do the deal. The numbers don't work, you don't do a deal, or you negotiate to get them to be acceptable. Right.
Sean Thomson 21:04
So once you once you have an investor, what is sort of the process that you take them through from, I guess, Introduction to to finally investing, is there is there a system for that?
Corey Peterson 21:14
Yeah, and and just let me put out whenever you're raising capital, seek professional advice from a security and a securities lawyer in what that process looks should look like. Because anytime you pull two people together, and four, and they're going to passively invest, you're creating a securities. And so we are regulated by that industry. And so there's, you got to have, we do what's called 506 b offerings, where we need to have a pre existing substantive relationship with our investors. pre existing means before a deal of substantive relationship means that we've asked them financial questions, we understand their financial well being, and then we're kind of making a determination of whether they're suitable for our investment. And so that is kind of what we do. And so we have a process for that to where people and we don't and you cannot advertise. So we don't advertise deals. Now we give away education, I write books and things like that. Lots of ways for people to get to know me. But when it comes to investors, we have a complete process to you know, create a relationship to further that relationship along for them to set one on one conversations, so we can have financial discussions about their, their, you know, who they are, what they're doing. And then we can determine whether or not we want to go forward. And really, that is the job is to get as many people to put up their hands and sit and go through that process. And then we create what we call as an active investor waiting to invest. So once we have them pulled up, then on our next deal, then we can invite them to look at our deal. But until they've done that process, they can't look at anything.
Sean Thomson 23:04
And it makes it sort of an intimate process to because you know, like you were saying earlier, the stock market, you just, you know, you go on an E trade account or whatever, and you buy a piece of paper and hope that it goes up, you know, with a syndication or the process that you're talking about, everybody essentially talks to you, the guy who's in charge of making sure that their capital is preserved in there, and they get a good return. And so it's a very, it's a very high touch a type of investment, I would think for someone that's that's on the private equity side, it really is they really get to see and get to know where their money is being being leveraged or being utilized. Right.
Corey Peterson 23:39
I think that's the beauty of this business, right? When done, right? Because people, I mean, people want to set it forget it in a way, but they want to be informed of what's going on. And if they feel like they can have that direct access or touch, because like, let's look at if you look at it from the other perspective, as someone that's in the stock market, they sit across their broker, and the broker shows them this growth fund of America, mutual fund, or whatever it is, right? And they say, you should invest this based on its history. And so they say you have to give him $100,000. Well, where does that hundred thousand dollars go? Right? How many people does it like go to till eventually, there's one guy that finally says, I want to buy and invest something with this money, all this money? And who is that? No one knows, by the way, and you'll never know because that's how they do it. Right? And, and so the broker that you actually thought you're giving your money to, he has no control. He's, I mean, you could call him He's like, well, I don't know. It's the market. Where the difference of what you just said is, if someone had a question, they call me, I'm the guy making the shots calling the shots. And I think people really like that direct access.
Sean Thomson 24:52
Yeah, you're the guy actually acquiring and operating the assets themselves. You know, that's, that's it. That's such a direct, direct, direct Well, let's, let's talk about the other side of this too. So if I'm a private investor, Cory, how do I go about finding a syndicator? like yourself? That that I can trust that I can get involved with? What are some of the criteria that you think someone that has enough money to invest that they should sort of ask themselves and ask the people they're dealing with?
Corey Peterson 25:20
Oh, man, that's great question, man, you got to understand their track record. You know, if someone like, track record means a lot, and you just really got and the best way to get that information is from their investors, you need to ask, so where to go find people. I mean, obviously, there's lots of multifamily groups, you know, bigger pockets, there's lots of different places to find multifamily people that are that are out there, syndicating, but that's the scary pond. So then you've got to do your due diligence, and finding good operators. And how you're going to do that is you need to listen to what these people are saying, if they're talking about how good everything is, and they're not being, in my opinion, real and honest and open. Boy, I would want to know more. Right? I would want to hear from their previous investors, you know, the good bad, the ugly. And if they don't offer that type of contact, then I'd be suspect, right? Because like, I know, that's what we do. We're like, Hey, listen, don't trust me, call three investors. Here's one that's been with me a long time. Here's one that's been with me for a little bit of time. And here's a brand new one. All right, calm all three, ask him what he felt. I think that's important to give that new person to write the guy that just came on, because he'll be the most fresh in his mind, what just happened? And how he felt about it. And then honestly, the one that's the long term investor, it's really you for the longest if, you know, that's great perspective. And then I even try to help them with questions to ask, ask them if we paid our payments. Ask me if we've missed any. Because I'm one we did. Right? And you know, and I said, like, I'm not perfect, but I'm pretty damn good. Right? But like, you know, the business is not perfect, right? People, like, like, right now COVID-19. Like, next month is gonna be really tough for for my business, for my student housing projects, because colleges are closed, and but parents are still paying. So you know, I think we're gonna get most of our rents. But I don't know. And so we've suspended all payments to investors, for the next, you know, 60 days. And that's just going to be real. And I always say there's not like good news or bad news. It's just the news. I think that's what you're looking for. Is someone just to communicate to you straight? In my opinion, that's, that's probably the best thing that you can try to look for is someone that will just tell you how it is with no, you know, sprinkle, sprinkle fairy dust, you know, just give it to them.
Sean Thomson 28:01
Exactly. Well, on the reality, the picture, the realistic picture should be good enough if they're a good operator anyway. Right. So you don't have to you don't have to, like you said sprinkling pixie dust on your on your deals if you're just operating a good business anyway.
Corey Peterson 28:17
Yeah, but there's still hiccups. Like, I mean, I had my first my second deal that I ever did, was not what didn't go well, I was able to give my investors back their money. But it was really it was my second my first deal went so well that I thought I was invincible. Right. So the second deal that I did was a little smaller than it should have been. And it was close to home. But I hired a regional management company out of Georgia for a property that I owned in Tucson, Arizona. And what I found was that distance barrier was too much. And then I made the second mistake, because I was like, well, I fired them. But then I hired myself as like, I'm gonna self manage this one. That was a horrible idea. And so eventually, I found the right management company, by then it was almost a year and a half, two years into the deal. And my investors were just done. And so we got it back up to where we could sell it and at least kind of breakeven. And here's what's scary is hindsight, man, if I would have kept that property, we would be so golden. That bought it in 2011. There's no way I could have screwed that deal up, but but we let it go, you know, and we sold it. And it cost me like $150,000 to make my investors hole. And so it's a pain story. But honestly, I think I'm proud to tell that story. Because Because of that I've become so much better of an operator.
Sean Thomson 29:41
Right? You see those things coming a little further away now? Yeah,
Corey Peterson 29:43
yeah. So that's another good question is How long have you been doing the business?
Abigail Thomson 29:49
That's great! So final question. And you kind of touched on this as we went throughout our conversation, but our theme is to take the American Dream to the Next Level. So really, my question is what does that American Dream really mean to you? And then how are you putting that into your business and into your life?
Corey Peterson 30:07
Great question, Abbie. Abbie, I believe that we can do anything we put our mind to. For me, this business has changed my life in ways that I honestly, I never thought possible. I got into this business, as I said, in the very first part of this thing for two reasons for time and money. I had a great mentor, even though he never taught me the business. But he gave me the perfect vision. His name was Bruce. And when I was like, eight, almost 19 years ago, how I came up with Kahuna investments is the name of my company, is I went to Hawaii. And my mom was married to this guy named Bruce. And at the time, he was the richest man that I knew. And he had a home right on the beach in Hawaii. And you could just tell, he had a different lifestyle. It was way laid back. He had time, and he had money, and no one in his phone wasn't ringing. And I and like, I remember it so vividly. That I was like, Dude, this guy's The Big Kahuna. And so I asked him what he did. And he said he was in real estate, and he owned apartments. And so and now I'm on the flip side of that, of I'm in real estate, I own apartments. And I truly am trying to live out that vision of being able to, honestly, you know, I bought I got a Jeep Wrangler, you know, like, but it's, it's nasty, right? It could be like, I go out and travel with it, go to some and I go exploring with my wife, I great, take great vacations with my kids. I am, I've put my life first, I put my business on top of it. And the business has to fit in the cracks. And the wonderful thing about this apartment business is when you do it, right, it can absolutely fit in the cracks. And the cracks don't have to be big. It can you know, because like the business is set up to where you can have property managers manage your properties, you can have an asset manager manage that, and to where then you only have to manage the asset manager. So you don't have to work extremely, extremely hard. There's no nothing's fast paced Rhett's kind of do every month, and then all the operations that happen are managed by someone else. And then all I have to do is provide direction. So it does allow you to have with the American dream, man, I'm living right now the American dream. I never thought it would be this good. But I can tell you something for reals is that it is the coolest thing ever to happen to a guy that barely made it out of high school.
Sean Thomson 32:55
You are truly an inspiration. I I know your story pretty well. At this point, you know, you and I are in a couple masterminds together. And actually, I'm in your mastermind. And I've heard your story a ton of times and it is it drives me every day to know that you've you've come as far as you have. And it's possible for someone like me to we have pretty similar stories I think so I you know, I love I love that you I think you are living the American dream for sure.
Corey Peterson 33:22
And I chose to like that was people are like, because I listen to other syndicators and I'm like, they're like, a busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. And I'm like, gosh, damn, like, Why? Why don't you build your thing to make you run around with your head cut off, because you don't have to? Because I'm living proof. Like I built my business to create my legacy, wealth and my lifestyle. And if you when you put a little thought behind it and say this is what I want to do, and here's how I want to do it, dude. There's nothing that I found that could get there that you get there faster. Think about this. If you were to buy an apartment, just one apartment you spent all year looking to find one apartment deal, and that's all you ever did. And you did it five years in a row. So all you about was one apartment five years in a row, you would become a multi multimillionaire and have cash flow flown out your Wazoo and do life would be great. I mean way differently because you'd have passive income showing up whether or not you did anything. And just so you understand it cash flow is sexy. Cash Flow, it makes you smile from ear to ear because it is the most it's one thing that I think it's that passive money and it's the real game and and we've not even hit on taxes. Right? But if I was to tell you the other like the three things I love about real estate and multifamily investing, one it's time to its money, and three is I get more money because they don't have to pay taxes. Because when you're a real estate professional and you hold real estate, Uncle Sam allows you to have depreciation. And with the new tax laws that are currently on the books, you can deduct a crap ton of money to where you probably don't have to pay taxes. And so Cory didn't pay taxes last year. And I don't plan on playing them for a while. Yeah.
Sean Thomson 35:25
So if you haven't already find this book, we'll put links down below in the comments and stuff. This is Corey's latest book. It's a great book tells us about his story and
Corey Peterson 35:37
success standing on the shoulders of giants. Yeah, it's available, we just launched the audio book. So it's on audible.com. You can download it on iTunes, the book thing where you can get the audible there as well. Now, and I actually what's it called I, I said every word, I narrated it. But one of the coolest things I've ever done is actually narrate that book. And there's, when I'm telling about some of the pain stories I kind of alluded to earlier, when I'm reading the pages, and because like when I wrote the book, I got really descriptive in the pain of explaining how I felt. And to verbally have to stay those words, was probably some of the hardest things I've had to do without just absolutely becoming a hot mess. So but you'll feel it in that audible it you actually, it will make you I hopefully it'll make you laugh. It'll make you cry. And it will inspire you to be the best you possible. Because this business is amazing.
Sean Thomson 36:47
Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks, Corey. Well tell us, where should our listeners go to, to sort of learn more about what you have going on?
Corey Peterson 36:56
Yeah, really, there's just two ways, two ways. One, you know, we run a podcast as well called the "Multifamily Legacy Podcast." We teach what we know. Then the other one is just go to www.kahunawealthbuilders.com and we have a free quickstart workshop series. You can download for free and we'd love you that to you.
Sean Thomson 37:14
Yeah, we'll be sure to put all that stuff in the notes, the show notes and stuff too.
Abigail Thomson 37:21
Well, Cory, thank you so much for joining us today. This is fantastic.
Corey Peterson 37:25
Abbie, guys. Sean, thank you so much for having me. I'm so proud of you guys. I watched your journey. You guys are out there killing it. I just I see so much success in your guys's future. Keep doing what you're doing.
Sean Thomson 37:37
Yeah, thanks so much. We appreciate it. We really appreciate you being on the show too!
Corey Peterson 37:42
Rock on!
Abigail Thomson 37:44
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level American Dream. If you would like to learn more about what we talked about today, want to contact the team directly, or interested in passively investing and being a part of our deal room, head over to our website at www.thomsonmultifamilygroup.com Before you go, please leave a review! Your comments help us create more episodes for you to enjoy.