Jerome Maldonado has built from about $100 million to just shy of $200 million in real estate development. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Jerome dig into the one decision Jerome says he made too late, and why partnerships are the fastest way to grow.

In this episode:

• The regret that drives the whole conversation: "I wish I would've went bigger quicker... It's through good partnerships and taking the time to be around the right people."
• Why he ran solo for years. Early bad partnerships made him fear them, until 2018 when he admitted "you can't grow anymore without help."
• The arithmetic. Pair your ability to pull a building out of the ground with someone else's capital and your volume roughly doubles.
• Abel's version of the same lesson: your net worth is the room you keep, and "the next person that has the capital you need might be sitting right next to you."
• Why growth is really a top line function of two scarce inputs: deals and capital.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Tony Watson is an enrolled agent who has personally handled around 1,200 tax filings a year for 18 seasons. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Tony make the case that wealth is a planning problem, not a filing problem.

In this episode:

• What separates the wealthy: "The one percenter are planners." Tony talks to those clients more than 10 times a year, while the once a year filer he speaks to only at tax time.
• The reframe: the job is not to save tax, it is to "retain wealth down to an obligated amount, and not a penny more."
• Abel's confession: for 8 years he bought houses in his own name and thought he was the pro, until the experts told him "You're doing it all wrong."
• The play that changed everything: his wife qualified as the real estate professional, they put 100K into a deal, took about 60K in losses, sheltered his 300K W2 income, and got a $30,000 refund.
• The line that anchors it: "Failing to plan is ultimately planning to fail."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Dan Sheeks helps young people reach financial independence early through real estate. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Dan talk about the other side of building a portfolio: why he grew to about 20 doors and is now simplifying on purpose to buy back his time.

In this episode:

• The wall every operator hits: "when you get to 10 plus properties, those little things that pop up out of nowhere start to add up and you have to deal with them right away."
• His fix, simplifying from about 20 doors down to 5 by 1031 exchanging into triple net leases where the tenant handles most of the work.
• The math Abel names out loud: on a triple net lease it is almost pure income, "expenses, it's like gone."
• Why cutting overhead is really buying back time and attention: "you don't get that time back."
• The hidden chore of scaling: EINs, LLCs, tax returns, and books for every property.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

David Kitchen, known as Coach Kitch, went from Division I strength coach, the youngest head strength coach in the country at 24, to a leadership consultant for entrepreneurs. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Coach Kitch talk about designing your day and leading yourself first.

In this episode:

• The 70-25-5 rule for a day: spend 70% on what you are already great at and high yield, 25% on new initiatives, and get the last 5%, the things you dislike and are bad at, off your desk.
• The trap that keeps operators stuck: "as entrepreneurs, we hire dogs and then we bark for 'em."
• The line for your worst day: "emotions are information, not instructions."
• Why you cannot manage what you do not measure, and the daily behaviors that quietly decide the outcome.
• Abel's version for deal flow: put an offer on 20% of every deal you underwrite, no matter what.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Joseph Bramante built TriArc Real Estate Partners from a single apartment he bought at 25 while living in Papua New Guinea into over $375 million in transactions and roughly 2,000 doors traded. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Joseph get into why he moved from acquisitions into ground up development, and what the blank page really costs.

In this episode:

• Why development is a different animal: acquisitions are "rinse and repeat," but "with development, no such thing, 'cause every deal is completely different."
• The blank model problem. On an acquisition you inherit historical financials, but on a development "everything from the GPR down to the taxes, you've got to calculate and estimate."
• The enemy is the clock: "time kills deals is true for anything but especially for development." His proof: a project fought since 2017, 2 years lost to zoning and 6 months to a wetlands letter on land that was all prairie.
• Reading the spread early, when the gap between existing deals and development deals compressed.
• The origin: "It's good to be ignorant, I would say, and young," bought from a US Embassy window in a country that was not his.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Garrett Griffin is a wealth strategies attorney, a JD with an LLM in tax, and one of roughly 18 deferred sales trust trustees in the country. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Garrett make the case that tax is not a fixed bill, it is engineered.

In this episode:

• The core move on a highly appreciated asset: instead of paying the gain, sell to an independent trust for a promissory note under Section 453, so "when I initially have that sale, it's not a tax recognized event."
• The punchline: defer the tax for 10 years or more and "I just got a tax free loan from the government, tax free and interest free."
• The honest caution: the trust "is not an elimination technique. It does not make it disappear."
• Garrett's frame for wealth: creation, protection, preservation, with tax engineering running through all three.
• Abel's discipline: "I hire experts around me to help me make the right plays," because you don't know what you don't know.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Brian Eastman has spent about 14 years building self directed retirement plans with checkbook control. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Brian explain how to become your own private fund manager and hold real estate, notes, or a fund inside a retirement account instead of only what Wall Street sells.

In this episode:

• The pitch: become "your own private fund manager," with a firm that acts as "the user's manual" keeping you inside the IRS rules.
• Two lines that carry it: a company match is "a free 100% return on investment," but "you gotta have some gas in the tank first."
• The quiet killer, fee drag: "most company 401ks, you're paying between three quarters and 2% of your total account value per year in fees."
• Abel's scar: he did the 401k "set it and forget it," went through 2008, realized the returns were weak, then rolled it into a self directed IRA to finally hold real estate.
• Abel's leverage doctrine: specialize in one lane and rent everyone else's decades.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Phil Johnson is an executive coach who has spent his career on emotional intelligence, the ability "to feel the fear and anxiety that change creates in us and move through it toward what we're trying to achieve." On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Phil talk about making clear decisions under real pressure.

In this episode:

• The warning that anchors it: "Worrying has no value. Worrying is practicing fear in advance," because "when you're consumed by fear, you're no longer conscious. You're in reactive mode."
• Abel's real stake: a deal at risk with "five, six million bucks" of investor money and a head running every worst case.
• Phil's simple drill: 5 slow breaths, because "when you're focusing on your breathing, it's impossible to feel anxiety."
• The line Abel wrote down: "The person most present in this moment is most influential."
• Why "your network of trusted advisors is the most valuable asset you have."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Clint Coons is the co-founder of Anderson Business Advisors and holds roughly 350 properties. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Clint talk about asset protection, LLC structure, and the leverage that lets an operator actually scale.

In this episode:

• The lesson from his father, who capped out at 20 properties doing every repair himself: "Where's your time better spent? A lot of us get trapped into spending too much of our time on low value activities."
• Abel's triad that broke his own ceiling: other people's money, time, and knowledge. "There's no way you can scale as one individual" without it.
• Clint's mindset test: "whenever an opportunity comes my way, my first question is, what is it gonna do for me? I don't ask, what is it gonna cost?"
• Why preservation asks the cost while growth asks the return.
• Why structure follows strategy, not the other way around.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Ashton Levarek of Valkyrie Group went from 4 doors to more than 260, with 384 more under contract, in about 3 years. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Ashton talk about taking action before you feel ready and building a team of experts around you.

In this episode:

• His engine: "if I think it's a good idea, I'll jump in both feet, and figure out my parachute on the way down."
• The first deal, two duplexes for $209,000, made with no cash in hand, because "taking the action forces you to find the components."
• The lesson that scales: "You don't need to be an expert in it, and chances are you won't be. So align with other people who are experts in the field."
• Forced appreciation in real numbers: $209,000 plus $90,000 of work into a $480,000 appraisal.
• Abel's framing: leverage other people's time, knowledge, and experience, and "learn and earn at the same time," planning backward from the target.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate