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This week we sit down with Aaron Peregrine from NAI FMA Realty—and let’s just say, his career path didn’t exactly follow a straight line… unless that line ran through a commercial kitchen in Chicago first.

Aaron grew up in Lincoln, took his talents to culinary school, got a taste of the high-pressure kitchen life (literally), and decided it wasn’t the long-term recipe. From there, he stumbled into real estate by showing apartments—and the rest is history.

Now in property management, Aaron walks us through what the job really looks like:

• Spoiler: there is no “typical day”
• Mornings start with tenant emails and ongoing projects
• Afternoons might include… dealing with a property getting hit by cars. Twice.

At its core, Aaron’s role is all about problem-solving—thinking on the fly, adapting quickly, and keeping properties (and people) moving forward. It’s a career that offers freedom, variety, and just enough unpredictability to keep things interesting.

And when it comes to the numbers? He’s the first to admit—he leans on NAI FMA’s all-star accounting team to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.

If you’ve ever wondered what property management is really like—or how someone goes from chef to CRE—this episode is worth a listen.

🎧 Tune in now!