Peter H Thomas (Century 21 Canada Founder) Losing $70 Million and Why He Never Panicked
5/29/202614 min
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://homeservicefreedom.com/
Peter Thomas built $8 billion in real estate — then lost $70 million when his silent partner went bankrupt. At 87 years old, he's sharp, happy, and still building.
Tommy gets the real story: how Peter faced 18 creditors with nothing, negotiated every single one, and rebuilt from zero. The lesson? Your skill set and your network are the two things no collapse can ever take from you.
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 Peter Thomas introduction
01:15 Century 21 Canada 1974
01:34 Built $8 billion
02:13 Biggest failures discussed
03:39 Living well at 87
04:31 What are your values?
04:45 Health and freedom aligned
06:05 Choose your life partner
06:19 Give everything away
07:09 Tommy grew up alone
07:40 Partner went bankrupt
07:58 Down $70 million
08:41 Skill set always survives
09:16 What was next move?
09:42 Negotiating 18 creditors
10:20 Worked all 18 deals
11:00 How to find Peter
11:29 Happiness is a choice
11:48 Tommy's life at 45
12:26 Manifesting your future
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://homeservicefreedom.com/
Check Out My Social Media:
Tiktok ⟶ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialtommymello
Instagram ⟶ https://www.instagram.com/officialtommymello/
Facebook ⟶ https://www.facebook.com/thomasmello/
My other podcast:
Tommy Mello Millionaire ⟶ https://www.youtube.com/@officialtommymello
Live Q&A submission form: https://homeserviceexpert.com/questions
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTommy Mello· Host0:00
All right, guys, check it out. I got Peter Thomas in the house. [laughs] This guy is, uh, 52 years old. [laughs] Uh, you got quite the history, uh- But- Peter, why don't we just, just tell us a little bit about you. Your, uh, your history. Tell me your three biggest mistakes, too- Yeah ... 'cause we were talking about that earlier.
Peter Thomas· Guest0:18
[laughs] The, uh, the hi- mistakes are not listening to my wife enough. If I should listen to her more then I'd be probably more successful.
Tommy Mello· Host0:25
[laughs] Listen to the wife, Rita.
Peter Thomas· Guest0:27
But, uh, yeah. But I, uh, I, I think like I started in, in marketing and sales, I started selling mutual funds when I got out of the army. And, uh, then went into franchising, learned about franchising, and was lucky enough to be able to acquire the rights for Canada for the Century 21 concept, the real, the real estate concept.
Tommy Mello· Host0:44
Century 21 of all of Canada.
Peter Thomas· Guest0:46
Yeah, yeah. And that was sort of my first- And what, what year was that? '74.
Tommy Mello· Host0:50
1974.
Peter Thomas· Guest0:51
Yeah.
Tommy Mello· Host0:51
Okay.
Peter Thomas· Guest0:52
'74. Yeah. And, uh, really got lucky and, and I've always been blessed that I get great people around me. Everybody, everybody around me is much smarter than me.
Tommy Mello· Host1:00
Yeah.
Peter Thomas· Guest1:00
And so, uh- I know how that goes. [laughs] And so, you know, they, people, uh, help you and you grow, and we grew that one to about 8 billion. That was my first- 8 billion ... yeah, in sales. In sales. That was the first- That's fantastic. It was, it was an amazing concept and, and, and pretty wonderful. And I, I got lucky and lightning struck twice. I had another company called Dogtopia.
Tommy Mello· Host1:18
Dogtopia, where the- Yeah ... they take care of dogs.
Peter Thomas· Guest1:21
Dog, yeah, doggie daycare.
Tommy Mello· Host1:22
Dog daycare, yeah.
Peter Thomas· Guest1:22
Yeah. A lady had, she had about, around of 15, 20 stores, and was kinda struggling looking for money. And, um, so I wound