Matthew Peters.
Matthew Peters, 30
Senior Associate in Investment Sales at Marcus & Millichap
Matthew Peters went to Virginia Tech planning to be an architect. By the time he graduated in 2014, he had decided he would rather sell buildings than design them.
A college roommate’s brother was working at Marcus & Millichap, which led Peters to pursue a job with the firm. He started there seven years ago and since then has underwritten some $3.8 billion in deals, focusing on the multifamily, mixed-use, retail and development markets in central and eastern Brooklyn.
He said he enjoys the straightforward nature of the investment sales business.
“It’s very numbers-based,” he said. “You meet a lot of like-minded entrepreneurs, which I like.”
Peters said he and his team have had success in emerging areas such as Brownsville and East New York, noting that “if you’re looking for deals with some higher returns, you’re going to find them out in more tertiary markets.”
A 2016 rezoning of East New York also has driven investment in the neighborhood, Peters said. “I think it’s going to have its moment in the next five years or so,” he noted.
One of Peters’ biggest deals in the last year was the sale of a residential property at 1106 Bushwick Avenue for $1.7 million, which the seller then turned via a 1031 exchange into a $2 million-plus triple-net property in upstate New York.
These sorts of deals are his firm’s “bread and butter,” Peters said. “We help clients looking to get higher yields and to be more hands-off.”
“Personally, I think real estate is the best way to create generational wealth,” Peters said. “There’s always going to be demand, especially as the population continues to grow.”—A.B.
