What does it take to build a life you love—one where real estate fuels both freedom and flexibility? In this candid conversation, I chat with Eric Nelson, a real estate investor who went from side-hustling engineering grad to principal of Wild Oak Capital… and now lives with his family in Spain while scaling a real estate portfolio and helping others do the same. We cover how to get started with no big plan, creative financing strategies, how syndication changed his trajectory, and the importance of building the right team. If you’re an investor looking to scale smarter and live life on your own terms, this one’s for you.
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Hello and welcome. I’m honored to have with me our guest. Thanks for being here.
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to chat.
Our guest has been in real estate for a long time. If I’m correct, I think it’s 12 years, right?
Something like that, I’m losing track, but some long period of time, yeah.
Right, so over 12 years, over a thousand units under management. So there’s a lot of wisdom to share. Make sure to stick around and get all of these gems. What I love about this story—and I’m excited for it to be shared—is figuring out how to stop trading time for dollars and living life on your own terms. There’s an amazing life now with a family in Spain, still working in real estate investing while also enjoying that lifestyle.
The principal of Wild Oak Capital, helping other investors do the same. There’s a lot to get today. Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get started with real estate investing?
Okay, well I’ll try and give the short version. In 2006, so the timing is important. This was sort of a weird time to buy real estate. My brother and I were in college and ended up buying a house. I had a full-time job during the summer working for an engineering company, which showed two months of decent income—that’s how we got our loan. Looking back, we had no business buying that house or getting that loan, but…
Anyway, that was the true start: we bought a house and rented it to our buddies—kind of the original house hacking. It was awesome. We ended up selling it around 2010 and made a little money. The market took a huge dip during that time, so we were nervous. It gave me an appreciation for market swings. I was young and didn’t know much, but learned a ton. We fixed out a whole basement, learned about rehab, and more importantly, about being a landlord and setting boundaries.
Later, my wife and I moved around and finally landed in Durango, Colorado, where I grew up. We bought our first house there. That’s why I say it’s been about 12 years, starting around 2003.
And then I can talk about my work a bit, too. I was working for an engineering company, looking at my retirement package—it said 35 years, and I was like, ouch. That was more years than I’d been alive. I didn’t know how I could stomach staying that long. So I looked at other income sources on the side and found real estate. When you research that space, real estate comes up quickly.
We bought small rentals. Again, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were underfunded, so we got into seller finance and more. That was the beginning of the journey.
Wow, so no huge plan at first—it was just you and your brother doing something. But you learned a lot. A lesson right off the bat might be: just get started, even if it’s not perfect.
100%. My wife probably gets tired of me saying it, but I always say: just start. That applies to nearly anything—want to write a book? Start with an outline. Just write something, even if it’s terrible. Same goes for real estate. The first step is usually education—listen to podcasts, read books. But eventually, you just have to step in. There are lots of resources, but at some point, you have to go.
And it’s not going to be perfect. I’m sure you had missteps with your first rental, yet real estate is great—usually a win, even with mistakes.
Usually, yes. Sometimes you might even lose a little on your first deal. I have a friend who’s breaking even on his first flip. He was bummed, but I said, “What did you learn?” He said, “Now I know all the tricks.” So that’s a win.
We made a little money on our first deal—not worth the effort, really. Same for our second and third. I was still figuring out how to manage, how to be effective. Managing one or two early on is fine for learning, but it’s often better to hire management if you can afford it. That’s the deal to go after.
Real estate is fairly forgiving if you give it time. It tends to bounce back.
Very good point. So after that first deal, and as you learned lessons, how did your strategy evolve?
We didn’t have a solid strategy at first. If you’d asked me, I’d say: buy one rental a year for 10 years. That’s actually a good plan. If you can save a down payment each year and find good cash-flowing deals, the long-term rewards build. After 10 years, those early properties can be refinanced, and you can keep going.
But I got impatient. I loved it and wanted to go further. We were out of money, so I got into seller financing. One cool story came from that.
Every morning I’d walk my baby son in a stroller around town. I’d call every “For Rent” or “For Sale” sign I saw. I wasn’t looking to rent—I was looking to buy. I got a thousand no’s. But one guy, literally hammering in a faded rental sign, talked to me. I asked if he’d consider selling. He hadn’t thought about it, but said maybe.
I gave him a few days, then introduced seller financing. He’d inherited the place, so I explained the pros and cons. He offered a million-dollar price on a sixplex, expecting me to say no, but I said yes if the terms worked.
We agreed on 3% down—$30,000—with a 40-year amortization and 4% interest. The rent he was getting matched the payment I’d be making, so it worked for him. It was tough to scrape together the down payment, but we managed. I fixed up the units and raised the rents. Soon we had good cash flow. That was the aha moment—there are other ways besides using your own money.
A quick caution: leveraging 97% is risky. I only did it because I knew the property’s real value was higher. If you’re doing seller financing, still consider the risk.
That moment really opened our eyes. Then I went to a meetup and learned about syndication—total game-changer. That’s when I found out about multifamily deals.
Let’s talk more about that syndication shift. It sounds like it led to your current lifestyle while still being active in investing.
Absolutely. A lot happened between then and now. But today, I live in Spain with my family. My kids go to school here. My goal is to work as little as possible—not from laziness, but from intentional design. Some people won’t resonate with that, but some will. We live in a beach town and spend as much time as we can as a family.
We still buy properties. We have a good team, and I’m trying to be present with family during this season of life. My original goal was early retirement—reducing that 35-year plan to 20 years, then to 10.
When I saw how scalable syndication was, that was it. We could offer great returns to investors who wanted real estate but didn’t have the time or knowledge. They’d provide the capital; we’d provide the expertise and operations. It just clicked.
And what’s great is you’re not passive. You’re the GP—still active—but not grinding every day. So what does that GP role look like now?
The team is everything. I’m an extrovert—I love being on podcasts—but this is a team sport. My wife’s been supportive, too. We’ve taken big risks.
When you get a deal under contract, it’s a 90-day sprint—due diligence, lending, insurance, raising capital. Once it’s closed, and if you have strong property management, it slows down.
We meet weekly on Zoom for about 20 minutes per property. We check occupancy, issues, and tenant experiences. We’re very people-first. If you’ve got three properties, that’s about an hour a week total. And once a month, we dive deep.
During the sprint period, yes, there’s more time investment. But once it’s running, it’s manageable. We’ve put strong systems in place.
Bonnie is our asset manager—she loves spreadsheets, details, KPIs. I don’t. She’s perfect for it.
Shane is incredibly smart. He handles distributions, investor details, backend finances, and tax prep. He keeps everything aligned and organized.
I’m more the face—branding, social media, podcasting, capital raising. I also bring in partners as needed. Every deal has slightly different team makeup. My brother helps raise capital and runs events with me, so we’ve got a four-person core team and bring in others as needed.
That’s awesome. I can imagine listeners thinking, “I want that!” How did you meet your team members?
Great question. I don’t mean to sound salesy, but truly—I don’t know anyone successful in real estate who didn’t hire a coach, join a mastermind, or both.
I hired a coach who had a mastermind. I met my first partner there. Later, at a local meetup I was running, I met Shane. He was sharp, so I asked him to underwrite for us. Paid him hourly. Eventually, I realized he should join us full-time.
The team evolved over time. We hired when we grew and needed help. I wish I’d hired a VA sooner. I was doing too much myself. VAs are worth their weight in gold.
So yeah, masterminds and meetups—people doing what you want to do—that’s where I met my partners.
I love that you allowed roles to evolve. Many people struggle with outgrowing their roles.
Exactly. My brother experienced that. I asked him to manage assets—he tried, but later admitted it wasn’t for him. He kept going out of commitment, but we eventually hired Bonnie.
That kind of honesty is key. Find partners who do what you don’t want to. It’s tempting to partner with someone just like you, but that’s not always effective.
Definitely. And since family partners are common in real estate—any advice for those thinking about it?
My brother said it best: separate personal and business. We had a Zoom to draw that line. If something happens in business, it’s not personal. We’ll always be brothers and love each other. But in business, we might need tough conversations.
He’s older than me, and sometimes it’s weird when I “pull rank.” But he gets it—it’s just business.
So good. You have to bring your best wisdom to the business table, even if it’s hard.
Yes. It sounds arrogant, but sometimes you just have better insight in a moment. You have a duty to act in the best interest of the business—especially with investor money involved.
Now let’s talk market. It’s been a tumultuous few years. You’re still bullish—how are you finding deals now?
2024 has been the worst multifamily year I’ve experienced. Since 2010, no year’s been as tough.
I remember in 2021, a lender was at a conference pushing bridge debt. The crowd cheered. But I was concerned—it was short-term, floating-rate debt. We avoided that. A friend of mine didn’t. Their property went from 3.25% to 8% interest, and insurance tripled. They lost everything—$10M deal gone.
Many investors don’t advertise these losses. But capital raising is hard now. People got burned.
2024 was a transition year. Many were on the edge but not forced to sell. Now in 2025, the sell-off is happening. I read 45% of multifamily loans come due in 2025—maybe $200B+ worth.
Some people have to sell. That’s unfortunate, but someone needs to buy—and that’s us. We only bought one deal in 2024. Most were overpriced or based on assumptions that rates would fall. You can’t assume that.
Now we’re seeing realistic underwriting. More good deals in the past four months than the prior 16 combined.
I’m still bullish. We’re seeing the market correct. Just be cautious. Underwrite properly. And yes, we underwrite about 300 deals for every one we buy. It’s a grind, but worth it.
Wow. A lot of great insights there—especially for newer investors without historical perspective.
Yes, talking to people who went through 2008 is invaluable. They carry wisdom from those cycles. 2024 wasn’t that bad, but it stung for many.
Now to wrap up: What’s your go-to operations tool?
AppFolio for property management—it’s the best. Also, SyndicationPro for investor portals.
Great. What advice would you give your younger self?
Start. But also, be patient. It’s a duality. Look at 50 deals before buying. Learn the market. Then dive in.
Love it. What’s a book that changed your journey?
For technical: Raising Capital for Real Estate by Hunter Thompson. For life: Life Worth Living—more philosophical, about defining your personal “why.”
Excellent. And where can people connect with you?
Email me: eric@wildoakcapital.com. Or go to ericnelsoncoaching.com. I run a mastermind there. Happy to chat real estate, living abroad, anything.
And the mastermind—does it focus on multifamily?
Real estate in general. We have flippers, wholesalers, everything. It’s broad and interactive—guests every week, chat support, and more.
Thank you so much. If this helped you, like and subscribe. And share it with someone who could benefit. See you next week!