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Strategy Grounded in Experience.
With experience spanning high-end development and affordable housing, from Manhattan to the Pacific Northwest, Michele Peters advises developers, investment firms, and housing advocates on the decisions that determine whether a project succeeds.
Real Estate First.
Then Lawyer.
Michele’s consulting draws on experience as both a real estate broker and a retired attorney. She combines firsthand knowledge of what sells and what doesn’t with legal and business judgment.
At The Corcoran Group in Manhattan, she launched the firm’s first rental division and advised Barbara Corcoran on rental pricing for developments Barbara was evaluating. That advisory work led Barbara to recruit her to direct on-site sales for a major Chase Manhattan Bank workout of distressed luxury residences.
That experience led her to law school and a position as a corporate restructuring associate at Fried Frank. All her experiences inform her consulting today, helping clients assess market appeal, recognize potential obstacles to sales, and make sound business decisions before committing resources.
Areas of Focus
Michele advises clients while a project's direction is still open, when the early decisions count most.
She works exclusively as a commercial business consultant, providing business and real estate advisory services.
Is this deal worth doing?
A candid look at whether a site or project can deliver what the client needs, before time and money are committed.
What is the plan?
Setting out the decisions ahead and the order in which to make them.
How should the deal be structured?
Weighing the business terms of a transaction, including who contributes what and who bears which risks, so the client can decide with clear eyes.
Who needs to do what, and by when?
Coordinating the people and the schedule so the project keeps moving.
What if the way forward is unclear?
Working through the problem alongside the client until the next step is evident.
Writings
Selected writings on real estate, development, housing, and the public decisions that shape them.
10/7/26
Waymo and Public Safety
Who independently verifies Waymo’s safety claims? It seems all roads lead back to Waymo. My research examines the data and relationships behind those claims, with particular attention to cyclists, people with disabilities, and the questions Portland should ask before these vehicles arrive.
8/28/26
What Physics Catches That Politics Doesn’t: Trump, 30 Years and Counting
A Cornell real estate course this summer sent me back to a defective concrete pour at Riverside South in 1997, and forward to a Midtown Manhattan tower and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Each shows what happens when a deadline outruns the oversight meant to check it.
8/9/26
A Solvable Problem: Why Oregon Is Failing the Behavioral Health System It Built
Oregon has invested heavily in behavioral health care, yet beds remain unavailable and services remain difficult to access. The problem is not a lack of resources, but a system whose bureaucracy prevents those resources from reaching the people who need them.