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How to Solve Real Estate Deals Like a Puzzle | 35 Years of Commercial Real Estate Wisdom

By January 29, 2026Real Estate Pros Show

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Show Summary

In this engaging conversation, Rene Nelson, a seasoned real estate professional with over 35 years of experience, shares her insights on navigating the multifamily real estate market. She discusses the challenges faced by landlords in increasingly tenant-friendly environments and offers strategies for investors looking to optimize their portfolios or exit the market. Rene emphasizes the importance of understanding financials and the underwriting process, drawing from her extensive background as a mortgage lender and commercial real estate agent. She also highlights the role of coaching and mentorship in her career, likening it to the support athletes receive from their coaches, and stresses the value of building strong relationships in the industry.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Rene Nelson (00:00)
    for a lot of people they’re trying to figure out how to get into the real estate investment game and how to maybe buy their first investment property. And we’ve talked about coaching and mentoring. I would just encourage people be really careful about jumping into coaching programs, vet them. ⁓ Cody Sanchez, who is this powerhouse female ⁓ property owner and she has this amazing mind.

    She says, don’t crush hard and early, meaning don’t fall in love with someone or a product or a property. Don’t crush early. Do your due diligence.

    Quentin Edmonds (02:10)
    Hello everyone. Welcome to the real estate pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. And listen, this lady has easily become one of my favorite guests. I’m sorry, I’m just going put it out there. And I’m going tell you why, cause she’s patient. I love her perseverance. Like she, she has put me at ease because we’ve been having a little technical difficulties and whenever we do that, that kind of throws me off a little bit. And so I appreciate her spirit, her character, her smile and listen,

    Besides all of that, which is great, this lady comes with 35 years of experience. So trust me, she knows exactly what she’s talking about. And so I am so excited to introduce you all to Ms. Rene Nelson. Ms. Rene, how you doing today, man?

    Rene Nelson (02:54)
    Q, thanks for having me on your program. I am so stoked to be here. I’ve been looking forward to this.

    Quentin Edmonds (03:00)
    Me as well and I’m glad you’re here and like I said, I thank you for your patience your perseverance and just your overall character your your presence today So I appreciate you and miss rene i’m gonna be honest. I want to dive in I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days Listen, you want to give us a little bit of an origin story of kind how you got started in real estate We love origin stories and then tell us what part of the world you’re in. So miss rene you have the floor, man

    Rene Nelson (03:29)
    Okay, so I’ve been in real estate for 35 years and I’m based in the Pacific Northwest. So I’m located in Oregon and I decided in my young 20s, I was working at a credit union and I was doing home equity loans and I would see these decked out women in power suits driving white and black Mercedes ⁓ come in and take out home equity line of credit loans because they were going to buy more real estate to put in their portfolio.

    And I was a dead broke college kid that had just finished college and was paying off some student loan debt. And I thought, I want that. So I took some evening classes at a local community college and it just changed my world. The first night setting in class, I actually met my husband. He was the instructor. I told my best friend sat next to me. said, I’m going to marry that man. And my friend said, you are crazy. And I said, you mark my words. And we were married about 18 months later. So

    I can be known as a stalker, but I don’t want to be labeled as a stalker. We were married 35 years before he passed away. He also sold commercial real estate. And he was really kind of the inspiration for me because he said, listen, you have a great mind for numbers. You love numbers. So instead of getting into real estate, back then you did a lot of open house. You put buyers in cars. Zillow didn’t exist. So had to drive them around to every single house.

    He said, you should become a mortgage broker.

    So I was a mortgage lender for 23 years originally, because I love the numbers. I loved helping people get into their first house or buying more investment property. But the cool thing is now where I’m at as a CCIM and a commercial real estate agent, that lending experience gave me a great depth of knowledge for underwriting and how to understand the lending process.

    So I really feel like I can bring a lot to the table for a seller or a buyer because I can not only guide them through the loan process, I have a little bit of skill of being able to look into the future and see potential issues that are gonna come up in a transaction and head them off.

    Quentin Edmonds (06:30)
    Yeah, absolutely loved that. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you for telling the story. Listen, listen from one stalker and we say this loosely to another. Listen, I stalked my wife too. Listen, me and my wife was at a party and we sat on a sofa talking all night. When I say all night, all night, everybody had left the host. They had to put us out the house. I just knew I was, I was putting on a charm. Come to find out after dating for a year.

    She actually was interested in another guy at night. She didn’t even, she wasn’t even interested in me. I just thought we was hitting it off. Right, four years later, that’s my sweetheart. So I know what you’re talking about. When we say we gonna get something, we gonna get it. I know what your name is, Rene.

    Rene Nelson (07:15)
    That’s it!

    Quentin Edmonds (07:17)
    Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. So listen, I have a saying where I say destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning like as you go through life, there are things you pick up along the way that just help you be the person that you are today. And so I love how your husband called out that analytical brain in you, that data brain. But when you look back in your life, can you see even back maybe in your childhood or your 20s? Because you really see that

    You picked up skills back then that kind of made you who you are today.

    Rene Nelson (07:51)
    Yeah, ironically, you know how little girls play with dolls and playhouse and stuff like that. I actually wanted to be a banker so I can remember being about six or seven years old, getting some of my mom’s old checks and writing out checks. And she was like, you know, maybe you shouldn’t do that in case you throw that away. The garbage man may take that check. So I just remember it was super fun. ⁓ And I grew up in a blue collar family. ⁓

    My family worked hard. helped me with education and putting me through college and different things. So I’m really grateful for my roots and where I came from, but numbers have just always spoken to me. And I think that’s one thing that inspires me about being in a commercial real estate position now is it feels like when I talk to someone every day, it’s a puzzle and the pieces of the puzzle are on the desktop upside down. And I have to pick up a piece of puzzle.

    and look at it and listen to their story and figure out how it’s all gonna fit together and how we’re gonna put that puzzle together to get them to the end result.

    Quentin Edmonds (09:01)
    Yeah, no, I love it. I love it. I wish I had an analytical brain. I don’t I mean I have I have what I can archive information very well, but I still how to figure out pieces and move them around and analytical. So hats off to you. I’m a little jealous of you when it comes to that. But let me ask you this. Have you bumped up against any adversity within what you do within your process and within helping people? Is there kind of I hate to say it’s a nightmare clients, right?

    Do they do things that actually hinder the process? Is there any adversity that you face in what you do?

    Rene Nelson (09:38)
    There is often I find that people will make mistakes they don’t mean to. So I’m to give you a two different examples. One, I often see people who will co mingle expenses, either their personal expenses into their real estate. So they’ll try to run their cell phone through and their electrical bill and vacations and trips because they’re thinking in their mind, well I’m going to

    I don’t know, cheat the government and I’m going to write this off through my real estate business.

    But that bites them in the end because when they go to sell, then in my underwriting process, I have to scrape out all of those expenses. And as you know, Quentin, with real estate, when a buyer goes under contract and they’re going to buy a property, they’ll often ask for the last two or three years of a seller’s tax returns. And the reason they do that is

    That’s the moment of truth. That’s what you reported to the IRS for income and expenses. So if you have a really thick expense level, now you have a day of reckoning where you have to explain that to the buyer and it doesn’t look great if you’re like, well, yeah, you know, those are personal expenses. Cause a savvy buyer is thinking in their mind, that’s not really legal. You shouldn’t be doing that. And I’ve had that.

    a couple of times where we actually had to go to the CPA and say, you know, this person wants to sell. think you need to amend their last two years of tax returns because they told me that they put their electrical bills through because they’re electrical. Their utility expenses are too high for an 18 unit apartment complex. They’re just excessive. And so digging, peeling back the layers of the onion, digging into it, that’s what came up. So that’s one thing. And then there are times when

    I sort of feel like Charlie Brown’s school teacher sometimes. Remember Charlie Brown’s school teacher where Charlie Brown would just hear wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Sometimes I feel like that because I can foresee an issue and I’m trying to tell or advise my client and guide them through the process and say, you’re going to do a 1031 exchange. You’ve identified that. You need to call the exchange facilitator today, now, and start having that conversation. They’re not going to charge.

    you anymore. It’s not like an hourly billing rate like a CPA or an attorney. I always tell them call your exchange facilitator. Tell them what you’re doing. Start asking questions so that they are really in knowledge of your situation so that when you get ready to close you don’t make a mistake. A year ago I was closing a transaction where there were three sisters that owned property

    And I had been mentioning to them, call the exchange facilitator, call your CPA, because two of the sisters wanted to stay in and one wanted to drop out and just take her cash at the closing table. And at the closing table, one of the sisters said, ⁓ I forgot. I borrowed money from you guys a couple of years ago. I’m going to pay you that back. And they decided that right at the closing table. Well, there was some tax consequence from that because of how that money was then.

    split out and decided and they could have avoided that had they just had that discussion even three days earlier.

    Quentin Edmonds (13:32)
    Yeah, Nope, I appreciate it. I’m sure you and as you just laid out, I’m sure that can be headaches. I’m sure that can cause delays, maybe even cause, know, just not even just a detour, but a derailing. But again, your analytical mind, I’m sure you’re figuring things out how to get around and how to process those kind of situations. And so I just appreciate you sharing your candor and your transparency. Let me ask you this, Ms. Rene.

    What is the next real goal for you? What are you looking to solve a scale next?

    Rene Nelson (14:07)
    I am so excited with AI and how that’s changing the commercial real estate world. It’s amazing what’s transpiring and happening. ⁓ I see it where it’s a benefit where you could use it to analyze properties faster, quicker. I feel like it’s going to allow me to do a better job for my clients. ⁓ My goal is to help my clients get rid of decision fatigue.

    I’m a big proponent of education and coaching. And the reason I do that is I want somebody to be my advisor and help me so that I don’t have decision fatigue every day on running my business, how to scale, how to grow my business. And I feel like that’s my job as the guide to my clients. And so using AI, it’s pretty amazing. I’ll give you a quick example.

    ⁓ I have a CCIM instructor that has built this amazing software called Acquisition Pro. And he’s taught me through these classes that I’ve taken through his program that you can, how to use AI. I use perplexity, but chats just come risen to the top now, but I use perplexity to go out and look at properties that I’m analyzing to see if the owner or the property manager

    is offering any incentives for moving incentives or, you know, free rent, free cable, free anything, because that tells me that they’re having a problem leasing up. And in just 30 seconds, I can tell that information as opposed to having to ⁓ email the property manager and wait for a response or bug my client. It’s easy to get. And it gives me just one more little tidbit of information that I can factor into my underwriting process.

    so I can advise my clients better. So for me, I think AI is gonna be a total game changer.

    Quentin Edmonds (16:49)
    Absolutely now listening to you. It seemed like you all because you just spoke of AI It seems like you always want to put yourself in a position to serve your clients better And so for me that makes me believe that you value relationships that you value relationship building that you you know value relationship You know retaining relationships. So I just want to talk about relationships with you for a little bit What is your perspective on relationship building? Is it important? Do you put a premium on it?

    Like, what’s your philosophy when it comes to relationship building?

    Rene Nelson (17:23)
    I have a list of my top 150 clients and those are typically clients that I’ve done multiple transactions with and I’m actually working with many of the third generation of those family portfolios that I’m working with. ⁓ It’s relationships are everything to me. ⁓

    I feel like I’m within the Kevin Bacon theory of six degrees of separation of knowing the right person that can connect my client to solve their problem. And I’m in Eugene, Oregon, and you know, we’re a small community. I think our population now is like 180,000. And I typically feel like I know the builder, the developer, the attorney, the escrow officer.

    whoever my client needs, can find it. And if I don’t know somebody in my sphere is going to know how to connect them to solve their problem or get them to the next level. definitely relationships are really important to me. And unfortunately, some of my clients are aging and passing away. So now I’m advising their widows or their children and just really guiding them through the process because

    In commercial real estate in particular, it’s pretty male dominant typically from an owner perspective. The wife may be involved, but when that husband passes away, she may not really have an idea of what to do with the portfolio or how to manage it properly. And I just really feel like that’s my gift in life is to be able to guide them through that. ⁓ My husband passed away three years ago from stage four bone cancer. We had a great year. The year he was

    passing away. Funny story, like I mentioned, he was in commercial real estate. he was either that last year, he was either in a chemo chair or he was clocking CE hours because that was basically keeping him alive. And we both kind of fed off of each other for knowledge and education. And he loved it. So, I mean, some people would travel the world or did no, not my husband. He wanted to finish clocking his CE hours. So ⁓ I just share that that I’ve walked the path.

    of losing a spouse and then having to rise up, come out of the grief and then deal with the portfolio, deal with your children, not deal, but help your children. I’ve got adult children that were really sad that ⁓ their father had passed away and they were a little shell shocked and just having to guide them through the process. ⁓ feel like that’s one thing that I really bring to the table to my investors is that knowledge and

    really the compassion. That’s what most people need when they’re going through that.

    Quentin Edmonds (20:08)
    Yeah. Mr. May, thank you so much for the gift of your vulnerability and transparency. And I think you’re spot on. You are in a unique position to really understand your clients on a deep level and really be able to be with them and walk into a process. And so ⁓ again, thank you for sharing that. And thank you just, you know, for helping people be in the light. And I know it’s not always easy, but thank you for who you are. Like I said at the beginning of show.

    Thank you for the presence that you bring to this podcast. You are definitely just a light and I greatly appreciate you. Listen, is there a topic that we have not talked about yet that you would like to talk about? Is there any other words of inspiration, education or motivation that you want to leave people? I just want to give you a chance that if there’s something, you know, on your mind or your heart, even when it comes to business or personal, if you want to share.

    Rene Nelson (21:04)
    Thanks Q, I would

    for a lot of people they’re trying to figure out how to get into the real estate investment game and how to maybe buy their first investment property. And we’ve talked about coaching and mentoring. I would just encourage people be really careful about jumping into coaching programs, vet them. ⁓ Cody Sanchez, who is this powerhouse female ⁓ property owner and she has this amazing mind.

    She says, don’t crush hard and early, meaning don’t fall in love with someone or a product or a property. Don’t crush early. Do your due

    because if you go into a coaching or a syndication program, often it’s 10, $20,000 upfront, and that may not be the right fit for you. You may be better served to try to find a mentor locally or a really

    estate let you make your decisions. So I think that would be the one thing is just be cautious. There’s so much information out nowadays with TikTok and YouTube and the social media. And there’s some people out there that are pitching programs that may not deliver the results that you’re looking for. So don’t crush our link.

    Quentin Edmonds (22:22)
    Cody Chanchez, I definitely heard that name before I’ve heard. other guests mentioned her before and that’s yeah, don’t crush early. That’s what I did with my wife and I could have got my heart broken, but it worked out. listen, but for y’all don’t crush early. your research. Make sure you fall into love and they fall in love with you. Like do the research. ⁓

    Rene Nelson (22:44)
    That’s right. That’s right.

    Quentin Edmonds (22:46)
    ⁓ Miss Rene, listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, ma’am?

    Rene Nelson (23:00)
    The best way is go on LinkedIn. I’m on LinkedIn. If you don’t belong to LinkedIn, you can also check out my website, which is Eugene-Commercial.com and go on my website, but I’m always on LinkedIn and I love to help people. work with investors all over the United States. I just started working with someone from Canada who wants to move in the next couple of years to America. So I’m going to help him start building his portfolio and

    always willing to help people.

    Quentin Edmonds (23:31)
    Absolutely. Well, let me say to you sincerely. One, definitely thank you for your time because time is a precious commodity. So thank you for your time. Two, thank you for your stories. Thank you for the gift of your vulnerability. Thank you for your transparency. I greatly appreciate that. I believe there is so much power in stories. And so thank you for sharing your story with us. And lastly, thank you for your perspective. Thank you for your mindset, like bringing that mindset.

    to this platform. was refreshing and I know it’s going to help people. again, sincerely, thank you for being here today. I appreciate it.

    Rene Nelson (24:08)
    Thank you, Q. I love your podcast and your information. I think you’re sharing valuable information. So thank you for sharing light in the world.

    Quentin Edmonds (24:19)
    Appreciate that. Thank you so much. So listen y’all heard miss Rene Definitely tap into what she doing get in contact with her But definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I keep telling you we’re gonna bring up amazing people just like miss Rene and we’re gonna continue to do it because Miss Rene’s wonderful and the people with so many people out there that it’s so wonderful that we want to connect you with so please make sure you subscribe and So again, it’s Rene. Thank you again and everyone else

    Have a great day.

     

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