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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Peter Driscoll, a seasoned real estate investor with nearly three decades of experience. Peter shares his journey from Australia to the US real estate market, emphasizing the importance of ethics and integrity in business. He discusses how building strong relationships and maintaining ethical standards have led to significant opportunities in his career. The conversation highlights the long-term benefits of doing business the right way and the impact it has on future generations.
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Peter (00:00)
So he paid me that 100,000, took him about a year to pay me. He was paying me like dribs and drabs along the way. As it turned out, about five years later, I hired him as a salesman in my business. And the single reason I hired him, like I thought he was a pretty good salesman, but I thought his ethics areHe’s the right ethical match. He said he’d do something.
and his actions followed his words. So his level of integrity was that high. Now this guy, I was speaking to him just last week and he’d done his tax return from last year. And he said, I’ve got a really good problem. It’s the first time I’ve earned over a million dollars in income in a year.
Micah Johnson (02:20)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Peter Driscoll, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate investing industry for almost three decades now. Peter, welcome in man, glad to have you.Peter (02:34)
Yeah, thanks, Micah. It’s great. It’s great to be here and thanks for giving me the opportunity to be on your show.Micah Johnson (02:40)
Absolutely, absolutely. I’m excited for our talk today. I think our listeners are really gonna find value in your approach to business, how you’ve made sure that you’ve kept yourself in the game for three decades, leading to bigger and better things throughout the years. So let’s dive in there. For folks who may not know you yet, tell us a little bit more about who you are, what you currently have going on, and the markets that you’re in.Peter (03:04)
Yeah. So basically, I’ve been involved in real estate for a long time now. I actually have a background in financial services and I built a reasonable size accounting practice in Australia. It’s still going. We have a few thousand regular clients in that. And ⁓ I was livingin and out of the US. My kids went to college ⁓ in the US. ⁓ The little college up there in Boston called Harvard. So they both went to Harvard. might have heard of it. So they’re obviously a lot smarter than I’ll ever be. Yes. So what that had me doing was traveling to the US a lot. And I was looking at opportunities in the US. Like in Australia, I have a
Micah Johnson (03:36)
Really nice.Peter (03:54)
pretty decent size. So I had the accounting practice. We had a lot of people who were investing in real estate and they were often not doing it the correct way. Like they would set up the wrong structure. They’d get the wrong financing. They put things at risk that they shouldn’t put at risk. They weren’t getting the tax benefit. So I build the team within my business to execute transactions for people in Australia. So what we have now is a team of salesmen in Australia who sellinvestment grade real estate into our client base there. And then that expanded a bit more. And ⁓ after building that team in Australia, I decided that the people who were making the real money were the developers. So I thought I should have a go at developing myself.
I started a development company and have been doing a number of property developments in Australia. We’re in the process of we have about
two development sites going at the moment. We have a couple of sites that we’re looking at acquiring at the moment to build out, mainly house and land stuff. And like I said, I was going back and forth to America and I thought, what I’m doing in Australia, how can I do this in America? At the time I was watching, which I’m sure some of your audience would have heard of Grant Cardone. So I was watching a fair bit of Grant Cardone and he was talking up the multifamily apartment space.
So I looked at that and got involved in buying multifamily apartment buildings in Chicago. I had a partner, a US based partner I was doing that with. unfortunately that partner, well, is it unfortunate? That partner turned out to be less than what I needed and his ethics were very questionable. I ended up in a lawsuit with him, which
Micah Johnson (06:28)
Gotcha.Peter (06:36)
⁓ I basically got everything I asked for in the lawsuit, which included a large financial settlement. ⁓ The guy, once he lost the court case, then declared bankruptcy. So I ended up getting basically nothing from him. And I think I’m hoping, I’m not sure exactly what all the lessons were, but I think that was a great sort of education for me on being very careful in selecting the right people to do business with.Micah Johnson (07:06)
Right. And how has that changed your view so far? What adjustments have you made based on that to continue investing, especially in America?Peter (07:18)
Yeah, yeah. Sothat’s a good question. ⁓ I think, like, personally, I haven’t made any adjustments in that I’ve always ⁓ had the thought. what’s led to my success in business is being honest, being ethical, just those common human virtues that people are aspiring to. Just be a decent person, treat people decently. ⁓
Don’t try to hide anything. And I think me doing that has, even though I took a pretty big hit on that deal, it’s, think having that kind of virtuous behavior or behaving ethically, I’ve got a big enough pool of people that, okay, that’s one that didn’t work out. And it’s enabled me to keep expanding. ⁓
And I’m just now turning my mind back toward the US of, what is it that I want to start acquiring in the US?
Micah Johnson (08:24)
Got you. Well, lean into that. So you’ve been doing this a long time. How has doing it the right way? Cause I couldn’t agree more. Something I see in American real estate a lot is, is a lack of transparency, explaining things in a way that are almost intentionally confusing and not really straight to the point where I found in my career, if I just told you like it was in a way that made sense to you, whether you did it or not, did it. was, that part’s not what I cared about is does this solve your problem? AndHere’s how it works. And it leads to one, all my deals were way simpler when I approached it that way, because there’s nothing you have to hide. There’s nothing that can go wrong that you feel like you’re going to need to protect or explain yourself for. How has that been? And you own multiple businesses, so you’re not just doing this in one space. You’ve been establishing this throughout the years and found a repeat factor in life of, if you do this the right way and treat people the right way, this really builds on itself.
Peter (09:24)
Yeah, I can give you really good examples of how that’s approached with people that I’ve recruited into my business and how that’s worked with opportunities that came to me. So I’ll talk to you about both of them. So the first oneabout 10 or 15 years ago, I did a property development in Australia. My role in it was finding the right site and then negotiating the
price for the developer on the site. And the developer was going to ⁓ pay me a ⁓ finder’s fee for it. It was a good finder’s fee. It was hundred grand finder’s fee on it. Yeah, so a good finder’s fee. So I did everything right, put it all together. I got to the point where I found the site, I negotiated it all, I handed it over to developer, he bought it. I’d known the developer for a long time. I was a little bit naive at the time.
Micah Johnson (10:40)
Yeah.Peter (10:57)
⁓ And because I’d previously done deals with one of the groups in that development and they paid that amount of money or more sometimes, ⁓ we actually didn’t write anything down. It was just an agreement amongst us. And people would say, well, I mean, you’re doing a deal for like, well, you’re earning a couple of hundred thousand as a finder’s fee or a hundred thousand in that case. Why didn’t you write it down? And it’s funny becauseYou know, if you’re doing a deal for hundred bucks, you probably wouldn’t write it down. But once you start doing a lot of deals with somebody, you start to trust each other and hopefully they’ll do the right thing. Anyway, it got to the point of, okay, where’s my finders fee? And one of the developers said, ⁓ look, we don’t think we should pay you a finders fee on this one. We’ve given you enough. And they had all kinds of reasons not to. One of the other developers said, look, ⁓ you’ve done the right thing by us for so long. I’m going to cover it out of my share.
Micah Johnson (11:34)
Right.Peter (11:57)
So he paid me that 100,000, took him about a year to pay me. He was paying me like dribs and drabs along the way. As it turned out, about five years later, I hired him as a salesman in my business. And the single reason I hired him, like I thought he was a pretty good salesman, but I thought hisare right. He’s the right ethical match. He said he’d do something.
and his actions followed his words. So his level of integrity was that high. Now this guy, I was speaking to him just last week and he’d done his tax return from last year. And he said, I’ve got a really good problem. It’s the first time I’ve earned over a million dollars in income in a year.
So out of our business, he earned a million dollars in sales commission or over a million dollars in sales commission.
Micah Johnson (12:52)
youPeter (12:53)
That wouldn’t have happened but for him honoring his word way back when.Micah Johnson (12:59)
It’s powerful. It’s what my, it’s what my mentor, he, he spent his time. His career was in commercial real estate in New York city, but he says, he calls it paying it forward to your future self where in every moment when you’re going through your day, what you’re doing, remember everything you’re doing is paying it forward to your future self. What are you paying yourself later? Like, what are you actually doing? And I love the thought about it because it makes thatPeter (13:01)
Yeah.Yeah.
Micah Johnson (13:28)
that action in the moment, it gives it the weight of what you’re really doing. It may seem like this little thing just to do the right thing. However, that little do the right thing is compounding day after day after day to where this guy literally just made the most money he’s ever made in a year because of that little action. It is the epitome of, hey, keep doing the right thing and it will build on itself.Peter (13:46)
Yeah.Yeah, and like the thing that impressed me most with that guy too, I know at the time it wasn’t easy for him to honor his word. The easy way would have been, sorry, this is not my responsibility. But because he sort of stepped up to the plate and said, look, I’m gonna take care of this. Somebody like myself looks at that and I’m very impressed by his behavior. So then I’m thinking, okay, how do I wanna reward that behavior so I encourage more of it?
And yeah, and I think in the moment, we’re all like, in the moment, we’re all thinking, geez, I just need the money for that, or I need the money for this, and I’ll shortcut it here, and I’ll get the money, and it’ll solve this problem. What it might do is it might alleviate that problem, and then create a larger problem for you down the track.
Whereas if you take the opposite approach and go, look, I’m gonna man up a bit here, I’m gonna do what’s necessary to honor my word, that,
The compounding effect of that is like this guy, he’s gonna like his starting annual income is gonna be a million dollars plus from here forward. So, I mean, it’s a bit of a no brainer. Once you see that happen.
Yeah, I mean, the other example that I was going to talk to about Micah is ⁓ because I am behaving like that across all of my business, like those just fundamental things like integrity and honesty and, you know, being forthright with people ⁓ that has led to some phenomenal opportunities for myself. Like I was approached by a very large ⁓ Chinese group and ⁓
Micah Johnson (16:11)
Right.Peter (16:19)
Actually, I just reminded myself of something else in that is there’s a very large group headed up by a Chinese guy. They came to me and said, look, we know you’re not the biggest player in the game, but our observation is you’re one of the most ethical guys. We know we can trust you. You do have experience in real estate. The deal that they’ve introduced me to is it’s way bigger than anything I’ve ever touched. And thekey reason that they said that they want to get me involved is they thought that we were ethically aligned and that they knew that I was going to do the right thing by them. So it opened up this massive opportunity. So part of that opportunity was to raise some serious money. So ⁓ the minimum investment in that deal is $100 million. So it’s serious money. And I’ve been sort of searching through, like I personally,
Micah Johnson (17:10)
Yeah.Peter (17:15)
in my own travels have come across a few billionaires, a few very high net worth guys, and they’re the kind of guys who we need to invest in this. But one of the guys I came across was actually a film producer. And he was producing a film and he got me involved in a bit of the fundraising with that. And he bought a ⁓ company to the table to invest in this film.And it was actually a pharmaceutical company. yeah, which I said to him at the time, said, look, I actually, look, they were gonna put a lot of money on the table. And I said, I don’t wanna get involved with that type of company. I said, you can go ahead, but I’ll exit the project if you go ahead. And that particular guy, ⁓ he contacted me about three months ago.
Micah Johnson (17:49)
Come.Peter (18:13)
And he is now connected to an enormous bank in the Middle East. And he said, it was by you refusing to take that other money back then that I thought you’re the guy I should bring this bank to, this bank want to invest into real estate in Australia. yeah, so it’s so like at the time we kind of wanted to get the money in to get this film project going, but I sort ofstuck to my guns on, this is not ⁓ an industry that I wanna be supporting. It was a questionable company. I don’t wanna be associated with those kinds of people. I’m prepared to forego the money now. And at the time I thought I might end up with him as an enemy. But he even said to me, said, what made me bring this bank to you was what you did with that pharmaceutical company back then.
So yeah, I think they’re two really good examples, you know, like my salesman, this particular deal, if you behave with ethics and integrity and honesty, it will come back to you at some point in time.
Micah Johnson (19:14)
Right.100 % and what I like about it is how different the scenarios are Where sometimes the hardest thing you have to do is say no, but you know 100 % you’re supposed to say no Especially as you get into bigger and bigger opportunities. It’s not a little money you you’re talking about walking away from however It’s what that money actually costs you and when you really think about it and have that ability to say you know what? No, I’m not gonna do that. I have never seen a time in life
Peter (19:41)
Yeah!Micah Johnson (19:59)
where it did not reward that behavior. Heck, I’ve seen plenty of times where like send something your way that’s kind of like what you want but would require you to abandon yourself a little bit and the whole point is to say no. If you’ll say no to that, that goes away and then this other huge opportunity comes out of nowhere from it because you literally said, no, I don’t want to participate.Peter (20:03)
Yeah, yeah.Yeah, 100%. Yeah, you’re 100 % right. And it’s very tough too, because sometimes it’s like you said there, that sometimes you’ll know it’s something you shouldn’t do. It’s tough sometimes when like there’s what’s right and there’s what’s wrong and there’s all that stuff in the middle of is it right, is it wrong? And you’re sort of questioning it a bit and you can end up sort of justifying decisions to say, look, I need the money and you know, like,
you know, my wife needs surgery or whatever it is that’s driving your decision making. But if you can stick to your principles and go, no, if I do the right thing, it will come back to me. My personal experience is that those who take the shortcuts, they end up falling on their sword.
Micah Johnson (21:14)
Right. Right.Peter (21:15)
Like thatguy I explained to you with the Chicago deal, know, he just ended up, I don’t know why his behavior changed and he started behaving like a criminal, but in the end now, like he’s 55 years old, he’s bankrupt. So his credit record is basically destroyed for the next five to 10 years. He’s gonna be 60 to 65 before he tries and gets a loan again. They’re gonna say to him, what have you been doing for the last 10 years? Like he’s ruined, he’s out.
Micah Johnson (21:44)
Right? Right?Peter (21:47)
He’s out of the game. if, you know, whatever, I don’t even know what was motivating, whether he had financial pressures elsewhere or a gambling problem or whatever it was. But by following that path, he has basically ruined himself financially. He’ll never recover from that. It’ll be basically almost impossible for him to recover from that. And like I said, my own experience is those that I’ve observed that have done the wrong thing.It has always ended in tragedy for them. And those that have toughed it out and done what is essentially we know to be the right thing, that comes back to them in a like sort of manner.
Micah Johnson (22:19)
Right? It comes back.I agree, I agree. There’s an old Bible verse that says, be sure your sins will find you out. It eventually will catch up to you in some point or another. It reminds me of a ⁓ tragic story of a guy who owned a business I knew growing up and he was a shady guy. He loved to commit insurance fraud. That was his favorite thing to do with his business. And he would never know it. And as I grew and learned,
Now he’s strung out on pills. He’s been in and out of rehab. Like his whole life fell apart because it finally got him. it just like, dude, you’re carrying that. You’re carrying the baggage and the weight of it. Where now you’re spending your whole life trying to outrun it. That ain’t living. Like eventually you can’t run anymore. The wave is coming.
Peter (23:03)
Yeah.Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
So there’s a line in that and it’s, the wind, reap the whirlwind.
Micah Johnson (23:34)
⁓ love that. Love that. Right. Right. Like you can always peg it back to the fact that you asked for it either way. Right. Like in the end you can and that’s where you can’t bluff life. That’s the part you can’t fake. It will. It will do it. And that’s where.Peter (23:36)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah. Yeah.
Micah Johnson (23:55)
When you can go to sleep each night knowing I did the right thing, right? I got a 10 year old and 12 year old. That’s the most important thing to me is that their dad’s not just saying, hey, go be a good person. That you’re going to remember way more about what I did than what I ever said. And what are you actually seeing? What’s really coming through into your world? And I will do that to create whatever it is. Cause there’s just a guy I know he calls it trading your truth for membership.Peter (24:05)
Yeah.Yes
Micah Johnson (24:23)
When you actually got to become somebody else to do that thing, don’t do it. Don’t do it. Let the questions themselves. That’s something I paid attention to. And it’s a funny, this is my funny way of relating to it is when you’re having to guess a lot, calm down, take a second. And I relate it to deer hunting where when you’re deer hunting, that’s a weird example.Peter (24:29)
Yeah.Micah Johnson (24:49)
But you’re looking for them and they come out and you’re like, that what is that a book? Is that this? Is that that? And I’ve realized if I ever have to ask that it’s not because when the buck steps up, it’s obvious it’s boom. It’s like, that’s for sure. One that is for sure one. And that simple analogy, I’ve just seen it throughout life where when I pay attention to that, like little question mark that little, okay, hold on, hesitate. Wait a second. What is that? Or isn’t that most of the time it’s not it’s likePeter (25:18)
Yeah,Micah Johnson (25:18)
take a deep breath,Peter (25:19)
that’s a-Micah Johnson (25:19)
take a beat. And then enough time goes by where boom, there it goes, glaringly obvious. Okay, that’s the move I need to make.Peter (25:27)
Yeah, that’s really good. I think another good thing you said there, Micah, is you’ve got a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old is the way you treat people, you’re creating the world, right? So if you take advantage of someone in a deal, that’s the world you’re creating. Your sons are going to be the beneficiaries of what you create. So if you’re creating, that’s the way the deals get done. At some point,Micah Johnson (25:40)
Mm.Peter (25:56)
that will come and find your children as well. But if you create the world that you deal with honesty and integrity, now it doesn’t guarantee it. There are people out there. But if that’s what you create, not only are you giving the example to your children of how they should behave, but you’re also setting up the environment in which they will exist.Micah Johnson (26:22)
I love that. love that. It’s like farming time is what you’re doing. I grew up farming and it’s like you’re literally using your time right now to farm this future that is going to come about. And it’s where kind of the little bit of woo woo stuff lines up with reality of how it’s 100 % true. What you’re sending out is coming back. That’s the way time works. And it just does it. It finds you. What are you doing on that daily basis?that’s creating that thing you actually want in the future.
Peter (26:53)
Yeah, I think in like in those just doubling down on that there in those moments where you’re thinking what should I do in this deal? A good way to make the right decision is go if I was doing this deal with my son, how would I do the deal? Like, yeah, yeah.Micah Johnson (27:08)
Right, man, that is a powerful way. Complete reframe. IfI was doing it that way, man, so if you’re listening out there, you’ve gotten some gold from Peter today. Man, I really appreciate you being on and sharing your story with us, your perspective. I think more people need to be out there doing it like you’re doing it, the right way, understanding that even when it’s hard, it always will still bring that thing that you want, bring the life that you’re trying to create.
So Peter, for those that are listening, if they’re interested in and working with you, possibly investing with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?
Peter (27:43)
Yeah, the best way, Micah, is probably my email address. I’m sort of back and forth between Australia and America a lot, so I switch out phones a bit. ⁓ My email address is [email protected].Micah Johnson (28:00)
Excellent. And we’ll make sure that that is in the show notes for everybody. So if you’re interested in reaching out and talk with Peter, working with somebody who makes their values forefront in their business, those are the folks I highly recommend touching base with, learning from and working with. So again, Peter, thanks for being here today. If you’re listening and got value out of today’s episode, please share it with somebody else you think could get value out of it as well. As always, don’t forget to subscribe. We appreciate every single one of you that follows along with us.We have more conversations coming up with operators just like Peter out there doing it the right way and building a real business. Peter, thanks again. Everybody, we’ll see you on the next episode.
Peter (28:40)
Thanks Micah.
