The Pete Podcast

Join us on The Pete Podcast as we discuss the latest in REI tech, trends and collaborations!

The Pete Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Jon Nolen, with 46 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jon Nolen hosts The Pete Podcast, a business show with 46 episodes published.

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  Episode #46

  E46: The Real Estate Investor's Tech Stack (What You Actually Need vs. What's Just Noise)

  Aug 14, 202611 minS1

  In this solo episode, Jon Nolen cuts through the noise around the real estate investor tech stack and lays out the short list of what an operation actually needs. Jon built Pete because his own business had a CRM in one place, a phone system in another, task automation somewhere else, and files scattered across all of it, and he has spent years watching other investors make the same mess in slower motion. This conversation covers the five elements every serious operation needs, the three questions your stack should be able to answer on demand, and the four question audit Jon runs on every subscription once a quarter. He also gets honest about his own history with shiny object syndrome, why AI is the newest and most seductive version of it, and why flexibility without standardization is just chaos with more options. Episode Highlights [0:14] – Start with the jobs that need doing, then find the tools, never the other way around [0:34] – The five elements every serious investing operation needs from lead to contract [1:19] – Why Pete was built, and what a CRM should function as inside the business [1:46] – The three questions your stack should answer immediately about leads, deals, and follow up [2:09] – The contrarian take on AI as the newest and most convincing shiny object [2:33] – Jon's own history with shiny object syndrome and what it cost in missed opportunity [3:23] – Why a tool built for the industry beats a general platform that needs a consultant [4:08] – The costs nobody prices in, onboarding, training, maintenance, and mental overhead [4:36] – Bringing property management into Pete and why consolidation beats a good standalone tool [5:04] – Eleven platforms in use and only two or three of them actually being used well [6:05] – The silo problem, and what happens to acquisitions notes when Dispo cannot see them [6:43] – The flexibility counterargument, and why it only works after you standardize [7:03] – Why a solo investor and a thirty deal a month operation do not need different stacks [7:58] – The quarterly subscription audit and the four questions to run every tool through [10:06] – Software compounds advantages or complexity, and the goal is right tools, not fewest 5 Key Takeaways Define The Job Before You Shop. Investors go looking at tools first, get pulled sideways by what a platform can do, and end up moving laterally when they meant to move forward. Clarity on the work comes first. Your Stack Should Answer Three Questions On Demand. How many leads came in this week, where are the active deals, and what follow up is overdue. If pulling those takes real effort, that is your signal to change something. The Subscription Price Is The Smallest Cost. Onboarding time, training, maintenance, and the mental overhead of managing another platform all sit underneath the monthly fee, and none of them show up on the invoice. Fragmented Systems Create Silos That Cost Real Money. When acquisitions notes about the roof live somewhere Dispo cannot reach, questions go unanswered or get answered wrong, and you are not going to buy a second license just to fix it. Audit Every Tool Once A Quarter. Does it touch a lead, a deal, or a dollar. Is the team actually using it. Does it integrate cleanly or create copy and paste work. And if you shut it off tomorrow, would anything obvious break. Closing Remark Jon represents the operator's view of technology rather than the enthusiast's, which is what makes this episode useful. The point is not to run the leanest possible stack, it is to make sure every tool in it has a job and that the jobs connect to each other. If a tool would genuinely help and it does not exist in Pete yet, he says use it, but get past the shiny and confirm the substance first. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to rate, follow, share, and review The PETE Podcast so more investors can learn how to build smarter real estate businesses.

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  Episode #45

  E45: Why Renting By The Room Is An Asset Class And Not A Side Hustle with Clara Arroyave

  Aug 7, 202625 minS1

  This week Jon Nolan sits down with Clara Arroyave of Co-Living Cashflow, the person he trusts most in the co-living space. Clara has spent about ten years in the asset class, founded what was at the time the largest co-living company in the country with $42 million in assets under management, and built the first Slack maintenance bot for her portfolio years before automation like that was common. This conversation covers what co-living actually is as an asset class, how Clara built a free national calculator that prices rent by the room down to the zip code, and the $7,700 vibe coding lesson she learned the hard way before rebuilding it properly. She also walks through the fake deed that nearly cost a client $350,000 and how AI caught it in minutes. Episode Highlights [1:07] – Clara defines co-living as housing, period, and explains who it actually serves [2:08] – Why renting by the room is a product and an asset class, not a business model [3:07] – A Disney trained operations director and the first Slack maintenance bot in her portfolio [4:06] – Building the first database of the right price per room by zip code across the United States [5:39] – The vibe coding disaster that burned $7,700 in credits over a single weekend [6:22] – Relaunching after conference feedback and the decision to make the calculator free forever [7:05] – Why she gives it away, an eight million unit shortage and too many deals done blind [9:03] – Red, yellow, and green market scoring plus the push for the Room Act nationwide [13:36] – What investors are missing, the coming consolidation of small proptech companies [14:27] – Where investors are overspending right now and why lead gen advertising keeps getting worse [15:02] – The fake deed that would have cost $350,000 and how convincing the forgery was [17:31] – Where AI makes its next big move, acquisitions analysis and back office operations [19:14] – Why you have to train AI on your own criteria and tell it to challenge your assumptions [20:26] – A Charlotte build to rent portfolio of 300 lots narrowed down to the right two [23:00] – Rapid fire, the platforms she regrets paying for and why the leads were the problem 5 Key Takeaways Co-Living Is A Product, Not A Business Model. Treat it as an asset class layered onto residential property with shared common areas and private bedrooms, not as a separate kind of company you have to become. No Code Has A Ceiling. A landing page is one thing. Something that pulls data, integrates an API, and processes payments is another, and Clara found that out when a weekend of credits cost $7,700 and left her features scrambled. Know Your Demographics Before Your Property. How many people in that zip code earn under $40,000, how many live alone, and what a studio costs there tells you whether the demand exists before you underwrite anything. AI Is Best Used To Catch What You Would Miss. Reading a deed for inconsistencies caught an address mismatch and a bogus registration that saved a client $350,000, and that is a better use of the tool than generating more content. Train It And Then Tell It To Push Back. Off the shelf AI will agree with you. Feed it your best and worst case examples, define your thresholds, and instruct it to challenge every assumption you bring to it. Closing Remark Clara represents what it looks like to build in a niche you actually care about, giving away the tool that could have been the business because the industry needs better deals more than she needs another revenue line. Between the honesty about what vibe coding cost her and the fake deed she caught with a careful prompt, this episode is a practical look at where AI earns its keep and where it just burns money. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to rate, follow, share, and review The PETE Podcast so more investors can learn how to build smarter real estate businesses.

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  Episode #44

  E44: How a 20-Year-Old Investor Does 700 Outbound Touches a Week Solo with Elias Harris

  Jul 31, 202627 minS1

  In this episode of The PETE Podcast, host Jon Nolen sits down with Elias Harris, a 20-year-old investor out of Dayton, Ohio who has already built a portfolio of rentals and closed wholesale and seller-finance deals as a one-person operation. Elias isn't a tech guy by trade, but he's leaned hard into automation to punch far above his weight. They get into how Elias went from running zero systems to automating nearly every stage of his pipeline inside PETE, hitting 700 outbound texts and calls in a single week solo. Elias shares his take on where AI is headed for wholesalers, why he switched from phone closes to in-person appointments, and how the lessons he learned in sales carry into youth ministry and the rest of his life. This one's for newer investors who want to scale with technology instead of headcount. Timeline Summary [0:00] – Jon introduces Elias Harris, a 20-year-old investor from Dayton doing wholesale, owner finance, and rentals [0:50] – Elias shares his origin story, from a Christian summer camp at 16 to a calling toward ministry and business [2:18] – Landing his first wholesale deal at 18 and building his foundation reading Never Split the Difference [2:43] – How Elias got connected to PETE and started learning the CRM from scratch [3:36] – The numbers so far: 12 rentals and a couple of wholesales in about 18 months [4:15] – Walking through his tech stack and the two months he ran with no workflows or systems [4:53] – Discovering long-term follow-up automation and calling it life-changing [5:17] – Running a follow-up AI agent, a front desk agent, and a workflow on nearly every status [6:20] – The quantitative jump: 700 outbound texts and calls in his highest week, solo [7:13] – Using technology instead of staff to free up time and keep overhead low [8:05] – Mid-roll: the Lead to Close Health Check assessment [8:51] – The Steve Trang appointment strategy that threw Elias off when he dropped his phone script [10:07] – Weighing phone closes versus in-person appointments and the rapport tradeoff [11:11] – How PETE replaced printing and emailing contracts with one-click e-signatures [12:39] – Where tech still falls short for Elias and his wish for a simpler CRM interface [13:39] – His prediction that elite wholesalers will separate from the pack by going all-in on AI [14:54] – What Elias says to investors who are nervous or dead-set against AI talking to sellers [16:19] – Why an AI agent never takes a sick day and where world models could take things next [17:00] – How the sales lessons Elias learned carry into youth ministry and the rest of life [18:48] – Rapid fire: tech tips, the one tool he can't live without, and a bandit sign regret [22:47] – Where to find Elias and the seller-finance deal on the house he and his fiancée will live in 5 Key Takeaways Automation Lets One Person Scale — Running solo with a follow-up agent, a front desk agent, and workflows on nearly every status, Elias hit 700 outbound texts and calls in a single week. Automation handled the repetition so he could focus on live seller calls. Tech Aids Action, It Doesn't Replace It — Elias is clear that automation only works if you know how to run the system underneath it. You still have to audit it, understand your statuses, and put in the reps talking to sellers. AI Will Separate Elite Investors From The Rest — His prediction is that the wholesalers who shove AI into everything will pull far ahead. He frames AI not as a way to treat sellers like numbers but as a tool to help more people solve real problems. In-Person Appointments Build Deeper Rapport — Phone closes are easier and let you reach more sellers, but Elias sees in-person appointments as the less risky long game once you have the experience and the script down. Good Sales Is Diagnosing Pain, Not Convincing — Elias reframes selling as pulling out the need a person already has rather than pushing them. It's the same approach whether he's talking to a motivated seller or a student in youth group. Links & Resources The Lead to Close Health Check (free 6-minute assessment): https://peterei.com Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss: https://www.blackswanltd.com/never-split-the-difference Elias Harris on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elias_harris24 Elias Harris on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com Enjoyed This Episode? If Elias doing 700 outbound touches a week as a solo operator got your attention, this one is worth a share with any newer investor who thinks they need to hire before they can scale. Follow The PETE Podcast, leave a rating, and drop a quick review so more investors building with technology can find the show.

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  Episode #43

  E43: The AI Tech Stack Running a 2200 Unit Property Management Company with Tyler Casey

  Jul 24, 202639 minS1

  Tyler Casey bought his first fixer upper at 18, held 48 doors and a couple dozen flips by 24, and went on to build a 500 unit property management company in Pittsburg, Kansas. Today he's the CEO of PropEx Property Management, running over 2,200 units across six markets in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Florida. Jon and Tyler break down the full PropEx tech stack, from AppFolio and Tenant Turner to Haven AI voice agents and a custom speed to lease system built on GoHighLevel, Retell AI, n8n, and the Claude API, plus the AI prospecting tool that bombed and the all in one platform Tyler is building to replace everything. If you're a real estate investor or property manager trying to figure out which prop tech tools are worth the subscription, this episode is your shortcut. Timeline Summary [0:44] – Jon welcomes Tyler Casey, CEO of PropEx Property Management, managing over 2,200 units across six markets [1:09] – Tyler's start at 18: buying fixer uppers in Pittsburg, Kansas while attending Pittsburg State [2:26] – 48 doors and a couple dozen flips by age 24, buying 2008 foreclosures for under $10,000 [4:03] – The transition underway: three years building a custom all in one property management platform [5:20] – Why piecing together prop tech means subscription sprawl, messy dashboards, and 100 options per problem [7:02] – AppFolio, Tenant Turner, and Logitout explained: PMS, 24/7 self showings, and key tracking at scale [9:33] – Haven AI voice agent handles tenant leasing and maintenance calls, work order intake, and vendor assignment [11:46] – The custom speed to lease agent built with Fireflies, Retell AI, GoHighLevel, n8n, and the Claude API [13:10] – Jon on why Pete exists: mismatched KPIs and systems that quietly stop talking to each other [15:33] – The tool that bombed: a voice AI prospecting agent Tyler killed after 3 to 4 months [17:31] – Slowing down idea implementation and testing before anything goes live [19:37] – Why Tyler walks away from any platform that demands a two year contract [20:21] – Measuring tech ROI with KPIs: occupancy, turn times, delinquency, CAC, LTV, and ROAS [22:08] – The blind spot costing investors billions: not benchmarking asset performance against the market [23:59] – The V2 owner portal showing turn times, days on market, and true market rents versus current rents [27:24] – Rapid fire: when not to build a tech stack, the one tool Tyler can't run without, and the Salesforce regret [36:00] – LivApex today and the vision to automate 50% of operating real estate at scale 5 Key Takeaways All In One Beats Tool Sprawl — Stitched together stacks mean multiple subscriptions, multiple dashboards, and integration upcharges. Both Tyler and Jon built their own platforms because mismatched systems lose leads and money. Test on Your Own Portfolio First — Tyler has run his new software on his own 200 doors, about 10% of the business, for nearly a year before any client sees it. Find the problems at 200 units, not 2,200. Never Sign a Two Year Contract — If a software vendor needs to lock you in long term, they're not planning to earn your business daily. Tyler walks away no matter how good the tech looks. Measure Tech With KPIs, Not Vibes — Every tool should move a trackable number: occupancy, turn times, days on market, cost to acquire, lifetime value, or ROAS. If it doesn't, cut it. Benchmark Assets Against the Market — Clean statements hide underperformance. Deferred maintenance, high turnover, and rents $500 under market leave billions on the table across the industry. Links & Resources PropEx Property Management — URL unclear in audio, verify before publish LivApex (Tyler's property management software) — https://www.livapex.com (spelling and URL garbled in transcript, verify against audio) Iron Harbor Real Asset Fund — URL unclear in audio, verify before publish Tenant Turner — https://tenantturner.com Logitout — https://www.logitout.com AppFolio — https://www.appfolio.com GoHighLevel — https://www.gohighlevel.com Haven AI (voice AI for property management) Retell AI — https://www.retellai.com Fireflies — https://fireflies.ai n8n — https://n8n.io ShowMojo — https://showmojo.com Peter Lohmann's property management newsletter — via LinkedIn Inman — https://www.inman.com Lead to Close Health Check: https://leadtoclosetest.com/ Enjoyed This Episode? If you've ever wondered whether that voice AI tool pitching you a two year contract is actually ready for showtime, Tyler's story of the prospecting agent that hurt his outreach is worth the listen alone. Share this one with an investor or property manager who's drowning in subscriptions and dashboards. And if you're getting value from the show, follow, rate, and review the Pete Podcast so more investors can find it.

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  Episode #42

  E42: The Five-Minute Leak Quietly Killing Your Real Estate Deals

  Jul 17, 20265 minS1

  This solo episode of The PETE Podcast tackles the single most expensive and most invisible leak in a real estate investing business: response time. The speaker breaks down why lead volume isn't the real problem for most investors and how the first five minutes after a lead comes in decide whether it ever turns into a deal. Drawing on KPIs and AI agents used inside a real acquisitions operation, this episode shows exactly how to make fast follow-up structurally unavoidable instead of relying on discipline. If you've ever wondered why good leads go cold, this one is for wholesalers, flippers, and investors who want to stop losing deals in the gap between a lead coming in and someone picking up the phone. Timeline Summary [0:00] – The biggest leak in most investing businesses hides in the first five minutes and stays invisible [0:13] – Why lead volume isn't the problem and most investors actually have a response problem [0:20] – MIT research: wait past five minutes and you're 21 times less likely to ever reach the lead [0:34] – What sellers really do while they wait, and why they move on to the next investor fast [0:55] – The lead didn't go cold because of the market, it went cold because you were too slow [1:14] – How the speaker's real estate business solved response time with KPIs on first response [1:34] – The late-night hole in live phone answering and how an AI agent now qualifies callers [1:51] – Using Front Desk from Discipline to handle new calls and book appointments automatically [2:11] – Responding to web, PPC, and pay-per-lead traffic with AI agents inside 60 seconds [2:36] – The AI debate and using AI as a backup when a human misses the 60-second window [2:54] – Why sellers don't sit and wait for your callback, they fill out the next form on Google [3:20] – What happens when two, three, or four leads hit at once while you're already busy [3:41] – Why discipline isn't the fix and speed has to be made structurally unavoidable [4:05] – Building a rapid-reach backup so a lead gets contacted even if a human doesn't respond 5 Key Takeaways Response Time Beats Lead Volume — More leads won't fix a business that's slow to respond. The real leak is the gap between a lead coming in and someone actually reaching them. The Five-Minute Rule Is Real — MIT research shows waiting past five minutes makes you 21 times less likely to ever connect. Every minute of delay quietly kills the deal. Track First Response Time — You can't fix what you don't measure. Put a KPI on how long it takes your team to talk to anyone who submits a lead. Use AI To Close The Gaps — An AI agent can qualify late-night calls and reach web leads within 60 seconds, covering the holes humans can't. Many sellers never even realize they're talking to AI. Make Speed Structurally Unavoidable — Discipline fails when you're at a wedding or juggling four leads at once. Build a rapid-reach backup so fast follow-up happens no matter what. Links & Resources The Lead to Close Health Check (free 6-minute assessment) — https://peterei.com Front Desk by Discipline (AI phone agent) — https://peterei.com Enjoyed This Episode? If the idea that a lead can go 21 times colder in 30 minutes made you rethink your follow-up, this episode is worth passing along. Share it with an acquisitions manager or partner who's still betting on discipline instead of systems. And if it helped, follow The PETE Podcast, leave a rating, and drop a quick review so more investors can plug this leak.

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