Building Your Empire Through Real Estate with Marveina Peters

Welcome to Ladies Kicking Assets. We have got another incredible guest, and we are so excited that she is here with us today. We are not financial advisors. All of the information we're putting out is for educational purposes only. And Robin, I'm going to let you kind of give a little bit of an introduction. I'm so excited that she's here with us.

Yes, we have the amazing Marvina Peters. She has had a background in real estate, criminal justice development, and she's just got real estate in her genes. And I'm excited for her to tell you where those beginnings occurred and a little bit about her business. And we will go from there. So, Marvina, thank you for joining us today. Really appreciate you being here.

Thank you so much for having me. This is an honor to sit with you today.

Yes, thank you. So tell us, tell us about your, you know, your beginning really, with your life, your business and sort of how.

Did you get involved in real estate? Because you've done a little bit of everything. You've, you've bought real estate, you're developing real estate. You've got so much going on. So how. How did you even. Even get launched into that?

That's a great question. Let's start there. It started as a child. Both of my parents were real estate agents. Now today they're brokers. Have been brokers for 30 years. Years. 30, 31 years. And my mom and dad both forced me into real estate. It was a family business. And as a child, I believe I started 13 or 14 years old. And they would print out flyers and have. I was, I'm the oldest of four. My brother and I are the oldest. And have. My brother and I doorknock and passing out flyers. So I think somewhere subconsciously, because I was forced to do that.

Well, so did you want to or you were like, I don't want to do that.

No, no, no, no. I didn't know. I spent my Saturdays knocking on doors as a teenager at all.

Yeah, we don't want to be what our parents are when we're younger.

No, no. 13, 14. No, not at all. So I, I think there was a bit of resistant. There was a lot of resistance actually, on that career choice. And so by the time I got to. When you start, I think it was high school, like 12th grade or so you getting ready for college. And you have to decide what do you want to do with your life, you know, before you go to college, what do you want to major in and all other good stuff. What do you want to do? I'll Just major in business management. Because I don't. I wasn't clear on what direction my life was going to take me. But I was always taught that, oh, the umbrella of management really does cover all facets. Wherever direction you go, I think that.

Is needed in pretty much everything. So that was probably a good place to start.

Exactly. So I'm thinking, okay, well, I'll go on to college and do that. What happened? By the time I turned 21, I think both of my parents saw the disgust that I had in real estate, but I didn't realize is they're building an empire and they're seeking what today we call generational wealth. I don't know that that word existed. At least not in my household, in my community back then. But now, knowing now, they were laying the foundation for lifelong generational wealth. And I don't know that I'm just. I don't want to have anything to do with real estate. So they've actually, actually forced me, or they had me, not forced me, purchase a home at 21, purchase my first property, and to give me the tools to learn how to manage a house. And, well, I think what they were thinking was, well, if she has her own home and she's not renting, then she's inquiring equity, and then, you know, the lights will go off and then it'll sink in and then. But guess what? I never even moved into that house. I was sheltered. I'll just say that I was sheltered. I didn't want to leave home. And I said, well, I already have this property. We might as well rent it out. We'll just rent it out. And so, you know, my parents, I did helped me with that entire process because I didn't know anything. I thought I wanted to leave home. I thought. But when it was time and I had the keys, I was like, I'm staying.

It's too good here. It's too good.

These guys are crazy.

Why would I want to cook? Why would I want to.

Why would I mow a lawn? Are you kidding? I don't know. No, no, no. So I just. I knew that I felt like. Or I knew that I could not take on that responsibility at such a young age. But when I did get a tenant and started seeking the rents, and then my parents was helping me, you know, even at that age, by that time, I knew how to manage my own checkbook. But I see the funds that I'm getting and then I sending off the bill money or the mortgages at that time and the utilities I think I did pay utilities at that time. Then I remember, wow, I have this nice chunk of change left. Oh, this is pretty cool. And I think that's where, like, the fire began to burn for me when it came to acquiring multiple properties and then just renting them out later in life, I realized it's really not that easy. But it seemed easy at 21, because, you know, you're living your life. You got everything going on. You was partying or whatever I was doing. As long as I saw $200 left, that was. That was a plus.

That was a lot of money.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of where the fire and the passion kind of became for me and the interest, so to speak, to start to yearn passive income and the desire to want to learn more about passive income when I regret in hindsight, 13, 14, 15, 16, all of those years that I avoided it, you.

Know, well, you know, God's timing is perfect. Right. You know, put it on you. And I love it. Forced investing. Your parents forced you into investing to help you realize and figure that. That out. But you know what? It happened when it did. I wish I had been forced into doing that kind of stuff when I was 21. I didn't figure it out until much later in life.

I actually. I hated it, even. I did. I'm gonna be honest. I did. I like the money, but probably I didn't really start liking. And I just like the money at 21, if I'm gonna be honest. Yeah, probably. And not until I started to really understand the management part of, like, house, the property. Yeah. And that might have been 28, 27, 28, where it wasn't just I was managing it, not realizing that's what I was doing. You know, when you collect your rents and you're paying off something as simple as your mortgage, and you're still managing on a small scale, but understanding, you know, the metrics and what that means and then knowing how to read numbers and then how to grow those gains is where I started having fun. And that probably didn't happen until around 28.

Well, that's the financial education right there. That's the financial education that Courtney and I have talked about on so many occasions that, you know, that we. You do not receive that even now in school.

Oh, they don't teach that?

No, not at any level. And so that you were able to really latch onto that even at 28, 29, 30, is still incredible, because at such a young age, you know, just to. To have that under your belt. And really get it. And you really got it. You know, you understood the power of that and how to. How to use that.

So were you acquiring more properties throughout that time from like your 21 to 28, 29, or were you just managing the one still?

No, it was just managing the one still. At 23, I got pregnant and my life deviated a bit. And my priorities also deviated a bit. A bit because I had my first child. And I think, you know, in hindsight, looking back, that's probably what. Why the spark and the financial freedom aspect, so to speak, was so important to me because now I'm not only living for myself, but I'm living for my daughter as well.

Yeah, I had kids at such a young age and it definitely lights a different kind of fire under you, you know, when have so much more responsibility other than just yourself. It just, it makes you look at things differently. It gives you a different kind of motivation, I guess.

Right. So. Okay.

So, yeah. So where did that take you to? I didn't mean to interrupt you.

No, no, that's perfect. I was just about to leeway into that. Then I had back into college, so I had to drop out for probably a year and a half year or so before I went back and finished. But I had. I decided that I wanted to go into law enforcement. I knew at an early age that I'm a servant and I just didn't know how to use those tools or gifts that God gave me to serve. But I went to the police academy at 25, I think 26 maybe, which is kind of late, But I was determined to serve my community. So in my tenure at the police department here in la, I was one of the few female patrol officers that we had at the station, or we called them beat officers or beat cops as well that we had at the station. I would always get the domestic violence radio calls because you need a female to do the interview of a domestic violence victim.

And that's scary too, because you don't ever know what you're walking into.

You don't, and let me correct myself, you don't need a female. But most of the time a female is requested. 9 out of 10 times a female is requested. So I would always get those calls and you don't know what you're walking into as. So I. I grew some thick skin, needless to say, ladies. And in growing some thick skin, I kind of became somewhat of a. An advocate, if you will, for survivors of domestic violence. And fast forward. I got into a fight, broke my ARM life experience and decided to transition out of law enforcement during the perfect time. It was 2006, 2007 housing crisis.

Yes.

What was I thinking? I'll never forget. I was thinking like, oh, you know what? I'm raised in real estate. I still own properties that I'm renting out because I'm still getting passive income and I'll just partner. I'll just work at my mom's office. By now we up partnering. And that's where we rebranded the business and offered additional services outside of just real estate brokerages and sales. Because I came with my whole passion to. To kind of. I saw a need that needed to be met and I bridged the gap between. Well, taking it back. I'm jumping ahead, ladies. So what happened is because I yearned a passion for victims of domestic violence and survivors in that space, I was able to, which I still do today, is bridge a gap in the housing market with housing victims of domestic violence as a safe home through government agencies. So I use the tools through the government agencies that I've learned and resources that I acquired over the years and somehow was able to really be resourceful in various LA communities because this is a market that has been tapped into. But just at the surface, just at.

The surface, I mean, I just love that you were able to see that. Take that knowledge, take what you've learned, figure out and go, okay, hey, I know to do this real estate stuff over here. There's such. There's such a huge need for, you know, these domestic violence victims. You know, bridge that gap and then not only figure that out, but take the action to go out and make that kind of stuff. It gives me. I have chills right now. It just, you know, there's such a need for stuff like that and it's going to. I'm going to.

I have.

I'm going to have to let Robin talk to make my eyes water. You know, I've gone through all kinds of stuff in my life too. So it. Just to know that there's people like you out there doing such incredible things for the people that need help, because a lot of times they don't have anybody to turn to and they don't know what to do. And I just, I love that you are out providing, you know, these alternatives and these answers, you know, for the people that need it. That's amazing.

Thank you.

Yes. Well, I think to, you know, kind of piggybacking on that. I. I believe when we know our mission and we step into that. Yes, we step into that unknown space. And though it's scary and we understand and, and, and know that we have a voice and we have a mission and we have a, a vision for what that mission is. When you do that and you do it in the way that you've mentioned. Marvina, you know, one of the first things you said is that you've known that you are always a servant. You know, when you do that with a servant's heart, you are, you are reaching and touching so many hearts and lives in so many ways. And so, you know, I can only say that I just commend you for, for listening to that quiet voice and doing something with it because it's been powerful and it, it is still a part of your business focus today, although you're very diversified in a lot of different areas. Yes, that's a, that's a line of business that's near and dear to your heart. And you know, just think about how that's, like Courtney said, how that's given people who may not have a resource someplace to turn in your market. I think it's incredible.

I really, I know you do like development. So are you actually developing, you know, residential real estate for people? Are you going, how. What does that look like?

Thank you for asking. I do development. Single families, one through four units.

Okay. Okay.

And yes, the purpose, the sole purpose would be to seek out, which doesn't always happen, but we renovate or develop distressed homes for the sake of housing, victims of domestic violence or affordable housing. So that could be Section eight, that could be various different programs that are not necessarily just state related, but specific to your county or your city here in LA county. But it falls under the HUD umbrella and there's various different stipends that could be used under the HUD umbrella. So they are rental. We do offer property management services and that is the department that I head up at our company. Teresa Peters Executive Realtors so it's not just traditional property management. The diversification comes from, I'm telling you, 2008 really created a beast because from six when it was when you had to fight or flight, I was out there fighting.

Realistically, I mean, hurt a lot of people in that time. I mean, we know people that lost everything they had. It was all over real estate.

Absolutely. And I, I think one of the, maybe a selfish reason, I'll just be transparent, is by this time I'm grown. So this is 2009 is when my mom and I actually partnered, but when I knew that I was retiring from the police department and I still have kids, two daughters to raise. I knew this had to work. It was too late to go.

Kind of scary too, like, okay, I've got to make a change.

And then I'm not even realizing, you know, boom, the housing crash, the housing market crash and the whole economy starting to shut down. And I was determined that the, the legacy that my mom and dad built and that my mom actually really took the baton on, I didn't want to see that crumble either. When real estate companies and agents really were not working, there was vacancies everywhere. And I said, wait a minute. There's so many people that I know that literally is in my. Well, not my personal phone, but my work phone at the time of victims that I could call right now, and all of these vacant houses. It just didn't make sense to me. And so. And so that's how. That's part of the diversification. Yeah.

Well, and that probably presented an opportunity for you to go in and start acquiring this real estate so that you could do. Because had it been at a time when real estate, you know, is at all time highs right now, would have made it so much harder. But because there was so much opportunity, it was so devastating.

The need, you saw the need like.

You had created this opportunity to go in and acquire that real estate and do what you wanted.

It didn't. That was the best time to acquire property. And yes, I did take advantage of that market. It did. Wow.

That's incredible. Yeah. I try to tell everybody whenever. I'm sorry, I just was going to say whenever you have those, those things, these markets crash, it creates these, these opportunities to go out. No matter what that looks like, it creates opportunity for others, which is what's so great about, you know, situations like that. Right?

Absolutely.

Well, let's talk about your, your girls a little bit. I know that you're running in a lot of different lanes, Marvina. I mean, I marvel at you. When we had a conversation several weeks back and it was like, oh, my gosh, who is this woman? And how are you doing all of this? You have, you're working on managing a brand and do you, do you mind kind of speaking to that for a few minutes how you fit that in and your. And why.

You know, I don't, I don't, I don't mind. Thank you. And thank you for asking. Yeah. And I'm actually managing two brands because the legacy that my mom, the foundation that she, she built for me and for her grandkids, my kids as well, that is still the Brand. So I kind of. It's kind of what I know, you know? So when my daughter graduated two years ago from college.

Look how you smile. Do you see that? I just.

Bad news. So I'm smiling because she doesn't want to be in real estate.

Well, I get that because I've got three adult kids. I understand. But yet they're. They're crossing over. They're crossing over.

Yes. And I can laugh about it now because there was a time where I was like, oh, no, you want to be a. You want to be a rapper? You want to be a singer? No, you don't.

You want to build rockets.

College. And my daughter has an engineering degree, and I put you to college to be a rapper. What are we talking about right now? So there was a time where I had to take a step back, breathe, realize this is her life. It's not mine. Remember when I was her age? And.

Oh, it's hard.

Oh, my goodness, it's so hard.

It is.

And. And she does. And so the industry that she stepped into and that she's in right now is the music industry. And she's. She is successful. She's gained a lot of notoriety. And I checked her out.

She's so talented.

I did, too. And gorgeous.

Thank you. You know, it's easy for me to say because that's my child.

And she sounds good.

You know, I'm so. Thank you so much. It's easy for me to say, because that's my child. And then you get in this space where it's like, okay, am I just liking this because you created it, or do I really like it? And, you know, then sometimes I'll listen to, you know, the radio version because I'm like, okay, maybe that's to. So I had to realize it's her life. It's. She's young enough. This is the time that she needed to capitalize on her brand, her career choice, and let me be supportive to her and see where that goes. So she has a marketing team, and I'm just one person on that team. So to bring it back to the question that you asked was, how do you do this? I really don't just do it.

She.

It's four of us that's on her team. Well, three. Excuse me, Three of us that's on her team, actively on her team. I'm one of three people that all family members that are looking to see her grow and that want to support her and that are investing in, guess what, a brand, because she's building an empire. Yes. So I want to be a part of that. I want to. I don't want her to learn. First of all, you know what? Issa Rae said it best. The music industry is probably the worst industry to get in. So now knowing that, I want to teach her how to manage her money. Financial literacy, as we talked about earlier, I know she didn't learn this in school already. One thing she did learn was proper time management. So thank God we spend X amount of what, 40, $50,000 a year to college to come out of college to learn how to manage your time. That is valuable.

That's big right there.

Well, I love that she has a team, because I think no matter what you're in, whether it's real estate or, you know, social media or whatever you're doing, it's so important to make sure that you create a team and the right team so that such a big deal.

And she was passionate about that. And she is. And, and she listens to now, now that she's doing the art. So when we get contracts, she'll say, mom, okay, I need you to look at this contract, or I need you to contact the attorney and see, you know, she's not. Just hurry up and sign us something. Because she's anxious to get the next dollar, anxious to get on the next person's radio show, whatever that is.

Honestly, so mature. It takes. It takes a lot of folks sometimes a lifetime to. To really get there because they're about the deal and not about the right.

That's exactly right. And so it's. It makes it easy for me to want to manage because it's. She's mature, she's responsible. She's not just signing her life away to the devil. Yeah.

And friend that says sometimes you have to say no to the good so you can say yes to the great.

That's right.

Yes.

And all good. And all money is not good money.

No, it's not.

That's exactly right. Sometimes it's hard to figure that out. And it's, it's, it's something you figure out as you, as you go, too. So everything is such a big learning process.

Right. So she's have merch. So it's not just her music, her merch. She has an ebook. So that's a whole empire that it is being built underneath my nose. And in building a legacy for my grandkids. Yes, of course I want to be involved in that. Plus, I'm learning. I'm learning a lot about technology. I'm learning a lot. And I'm a student of life. It's very important not to just for me not to just stay in real estate. Because when you're in true investor you can absolutely. And you know how to read numbers. You can invest in any industry even if you don't know anything about it. You just have to be around people that does know about it, willing to learn about it. And then if you could read numbers, it's like, oh, I could shift some funds over here and invest in my daughter's business if I could invest in anyone else's business. Right.

Well, you know what, what I've learned through the last two years and less is when you begin syndicating projects, any business. I mean, I did not realize, call me like clueless, but I didn't realize that airplanes were syndicated, movies, Broadway shows, every just everything. It's not like some individual most of the time runs out with their own right money. And it took me like so up into my 50s before I like even realized that I was like, what in the world? First of all, what's the word? Syndication. And I had no clue until the last two years. Less, you know. And so once you realize that and you do, you understand business and people and communities and transactions. It crosses all business lines. You know, it doesn't matter if it's.

18, you don't have to specialize in everything. You find those people that specialize whatever that is and you team up with them. So you don't have to be the expert in everything. So you just find the.

You can't. It's saying.

And that's how you become a student of life and always learning. When you're learning, you're growing. I'm Learning from a 20 to 23 year old every day.

And they're so smart. I have a 27 year old that does media and all of that kind of stuff. And I know I probably frustrate him to death because things, oh, don't worry, I do this.

I'm like, wait, what's that? What's that password? He just told me they're like go into last.

He's like, oh my gosh, mom, just give me your passwords and I'll take care of it for you.

I know, I know, I know. Wow. Well, so you mentioned daughters plural. Daughters plural.

So my youngest, my youngest daughter is still in high school. Okay. She doesn't know. She must have be a gamer and YouTube, YouTuber. But you know, that might. But that's where her passion is right now. I'm really leading her into technology because I know that's where the future is. And rather she stays into gaming or whether she grows out of it, I think the umbrella of technology as a whole, she'll kind of thrive in all.

About digital currency and the metaverse. I mean, so you know.

That space.

Is here and if that's what she's passionate about, then more.

There's going to be so many amazing opportunities in that space. That's exciting.

Yes.

Yeah, I'd let her run with that one.

Okay. I think. Yes. We just learned about the metaverse this summer or April, May or so. So she's tapped into a little bit. She still doesn't understand it and, and I don't fully understand it, but I do have my, my wallet and we try to play around and throw some.

Ether and okay, I have a, I have an NFT that gave me access to a part of a digital world. And because I had that, we have these other spaces that we get to come in and it's weird. You get to come in as the character NFT that you own. And anyway, it's, it's a whole other kind of thing. They do all these like virtual hangouts.

I'd love to hear more about that. We played around in Sandbox and I just couldn't get it. I was like, okay, okay, we got the avatar. Now what? Now that we got the avatar, now what?

I thought about buying land in Sandbox about a year ago, but I was having a tough time swallowing, you know, $50,000 for a plot of digital land, but I should have bought it. In hindsight.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Well, there's so much coming down the pipe. Well, you are an incredible role model for your girls and their brands. You know, you, your, your parents were before you. And so I love how that is really being trickles on down. Yeah.

Yep. That's awesome.

Really is.

You know, I think that, I think it boils down to, you know, building a solid foundation. I'm bringing a conversation back or circling it back to my passion, which is to assist in cutting that red tape to survivors seeking to get away from their abusers. When you can create a house home that's secure and stress free. We already have life stresses. So that secure, stress free, it gives the mother the ability to raise solid, have a solid foundation for their children. Like the children really are our future. And if you think about it like that, it makes it so much easier for me to want to when I can spread those tools because it really, I'm building a better society and it's not just one person at a time. That just came to me, but that's truly what it is. I'm building a better neighbor for you because their kids is going to grow up to adulthood. And you can't help what happens in the inside of the household, but you can help provide some safety, security, serenity, deviate some of the stresses. And kids go through stress, too. Oh, they do, yeah, of course. And I think, you know, us as parents don't acknowledge that as often as we should. And I know growing up, I wasn't told, but it was always said that, well, you don't have any stresses. You're too young, you don't even know what stress is. You don't have any bills. But no, kids do have stress. And a lot of times, especially in today's society, their stress could be just as as high, if not so competitive.

It's so competitive.

All the stuff that's out on social.

Media and everything else, instantly comparing themselves to this fictitious idea of a life that's exactly right. That others are leading and you.

And we can't. Really. Can't come. We cannot compete with that.

Right.

So. Right. The cell phones, the social media, all that stuff isn't going anywhere. It's accelerating through, like we said, the metaverse and all kind of other social outlets. But what you can. What we can do is stay present. And another way of me staying present is, you know, managing and being on the board of my daughter's business and. And, you know, kind of just, you know. Yeah. Being present.

Well, I'm going to circle back just a little bit. So in all of this, you know, housing that you're developing, because everybody should have a home that they feel safe in, you know, everybody should have that. Is that something.

Do you.

Do you raise money for that? Is that. Do you raise capital for that, or. I don't know what your program looks like, but that's something near and dear to my heart.

I work. I work with nonprofits, and when working with nonprofits, there are some funds. I do raise capital. I haven't. I haven't had the need to raise capital since 2019. 2020, actually, right before the pandemic, early 2020. So I haven't raised capital in two years. So right now we're only housing individuals that we already have properties for. All of my homes are full, but I work with nonprofits to seek out any vacancies or have a partnership with 13 nonprofits to seek out vacancies. So they're not. I don't have the capacity to house everyone that I come in contact with. And so I utilize this other resources.

Gotcha.

To accomplish that goal.

Fantastic.

But they're all. Except for, except for like four. They're all single family homes. And so it's not a shared housing type situation. And that's important to me because though I know there's shelters and though I know you can share four bedrooms to a room, that's really. And in case of emergency, you got to do what you got to do, period. But my vision is that every family should. Should have their own bedroom and bathroom. And my vision is not to disrupt the current living style condition, just accelerate it. Sometimes that's a slower process than other. It just depends on occupancy. I wish I could develop faster, but I just can't. I like to go into getting city contracts and working with the city to be on their, their housing list, their affordable housing list. I find that to be most beneficial though require the most work.

Sure.

But I find that to be most beneficial. And yeah, I think I answered your question.

You did, you did. And so many more. Well, you have given us just an amazing glimpse at your life, your roots, where you're taking your personal mission, vision, and your family and working on generational wealth and building empires and managing brands. I mean, wow, is that a mouthful?

So I.

Well, Marvina, I don't have a specialty, I guess.

Well, you are all the things you are.

You just told me I did not have a specialty. I love it.

You know what?

Hey, and that's. And that's great.

You're.

You're in all of it. But we thank you so much. So can you share with our viewers how they can get in touch with you if they've just got questions about any and all the things that we've talked about here?

Absolutely. Marvina. M A R V E I N A at Teresa Peters office. And Teresa is with no H. So.

Theresa, I'll make sure I put that in the links underneath our video.

Yeah, yeah, I wasn't sure.

Great.

I am so honored that you guys selected me. You ladies. Excuse me.

Guys.

And ladies.

We're answer to it all.

I am so honored that you've invited me to, to this podcast of ladies kicking assets. I love it. I love, I love the model. This is incredible. I haven't come across anything like this yet, so.

Thank you. Thank you. Well, we just, we appreciate you and your time and what you're all about and where you're going and we just ask our viewers to subscribe to our channel and you can reach us at ladies kicking assets.com join our group. Send us a message. And we're just grateful, Courtney, thank you and Marvina for our time here today.

Thank you.

Yes. So all the thank yous, We've all thanked each other.

All the thank yous.

Have a great day.

Bye. Bye.