EP. 139_The Castle That Costs Less Than a Scottsdale House with Mike Stohler

My guest today bought a fourplex that should've been demolished, put eight rental properties on credit cards, and lost the whole thing before Google even existed. That's not the interesting part.

Mike Stohler is a retired Navy pilot and airline captain who rebuilt that first failure into 1,500 rental doors, then sold the whole portfolio to a group that closed the deal on a napkin at IHOP. That sale sent him into hotels — and then into Spain, where a partner showed him a four-star, 19-room boutique hotel and asked him to guess the price. Mike guessed $12–15 million, Sedona pricing. The real number was $2.2 million.

Now Mike runs Gateway Private Equity Group, buying castles, monasteries, and boutique hotels across Spain's Costa Brava — properties that cash flow, cost a fraction of US real estate, and come with a lifestyle most investors never think to ask for.

We get into why his Spanish bank account outpaced his US savings account 14.6% to roughly 0.1%, why Americans are more scared of Spain than the numbers justify, and the one piece of advice he'd give his younger self on day one of this journey.

If you've ever assumed the best returns are still sitting inside the US, this one's going to change your math.

Key topics:

• Buying 8 properties on credit cards, before Google existed — [00:02:00]
• The napkin deal that sold his multifamily portfolio — [00:13:30]
• Guessing the price of a Spanish castle — [00:16:20]
• 14.6% in a Spanish bank account vs. ~0.1% in the US — [00:22:45]
• Why "lifestyle investing" beats a spreadsheet return — [00:26:00]

Guest bio:

Mike Stohler is a retired Navy pilot and former airline captain who built and lost his first real estate portfolio before rebuilding it into 1,500 rental doors. He later partnered into hotel ownership in the US before discovering the boutique hotel and castle market in Spain's Costa Brava region. Today he runs Gateway Private Equity Group, helping investors buy and hold European real estate as both an income asset and a lifestyle investment. He hosted his own podcast for seven or eight years and over 300 episodes before stepping away to focus on Gateway.

Connect with Mike:

Website: https://gatewaype.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstohler/

CONNECT WITH DALLON

Capitallyst Pro Website: https://capitallystpro.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallon-schultz/

FIND YOUR REVENUE GAP

Take the free Pipeline Power Score assessment and identify what stages in your sales process are costing you revenue: https://capitallystpro.com/pipeline-power

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE — Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube