Chasing Financial Freedom

From No Net Worth to an Armchair Real Estate Millionaire with Michael Dominguez

June 15, 2022 Ryan DeMent Season 4 Episode 12
Chasing Financial Freedom
From No Net Worth to an Armchair Real Estate Millionaire with Michael Dominguez
Show Notes Transcript

Special Guest: Michael Dominguez

You're interested in real estate investing, but don't know where to start.

It can be overwhelming trying to learn about real estate investing when there's so much information out there. And it's hard to trust the advice of people who are selling you something.

On this episode of Chasing Financial Freedom, we have Michael Dominguez as our guest. Michael is an award-winning sales representative, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame, and the founder of Doors to Wealth Real Estate Group. He's going to share his knowledge with us and teach us how to get started in real estate investing.

Michael's Book- Armchair Real Estate Millionaire

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Michael D on Chasing Financial Freedom


[00:00:00] Ryan: Hey guys, Ryan DeMent from Chasing Financial Freedom podcast. I hope you guys are having a great day on the show this week. Michael Dominguez, author award-winning sales representative, real estate investor, and also somebody that has some vast knowledge of the markets. And we welcome in Michael, how you doing?

[00:00:23] Michael: Fantastic. And thank you very much for having me. I'm really looking forward to having this chat about financial freedom. 

[00:00:29] Ryan: You are welcome. So we've got a lot to unpack. So let's just start in a little bit about your background and who you are, and then we'll get into your journey. 

[00:00:38] Michael: Yeah. My name is Michael Dominguez.

[00:00:39] Michael: I live in the Ontario or Toronto Canada area. But I am a dual citizen. Most of my investment properties are in the greater Toronto area. I was a typical working my nine to five job. I got my university degree. I did everything I was supposed to do. I got my, I met a girl, got married, had a kid, bought a [00:01:00] house and woke up at almost age 40 divorced no net worth dead-end job or a, I reached a level of plateau in my job.

[00:01:09] Michael: And was frustrated with where I'd become. And I had all these aspirations when I was a kid of becoming a wealthy millionaire and I wasn't anywhere near my entrepreneurial goals. So changed my life and not right away on my 40th birthday or anything like that, but eventually became a realtor quickly became a real estate investor and yeah, and we.

[00:01:30] Michael: Got going from there. What year was that? 2008, was a great year to start in real estate. He says, oh 

[00:01:37] Ryan: yes, the nice downturn that we had. exactly. 

[00:01:41] Michael: Now to be fair. The Canadian market downturn was just, it was little leagues compared to what was happening in the states, but nonetheless, it was a bit of a challenge for sure.

[00:01:50] Ryan: So what got you to that point of being a real estate agent? What led you up to that point? 

[00:01:57] Michael: Honestly, it was a little bit dumb luck, which [00:02:00] sometimes that's some of the best luck of all is to be in the right place at the right time and then take action accordingly. But I was certainly unhappy with my career.

[00:02:07] Michael: I. I was in middle management of a pet retail organization and I was selling franchises for them. And for the longest time, I really enjoyed that. I felt it was a great way to to help. Others build their financial wealth was through franchising. And then I quickly, slowly, maybe is a better way of saying slowly began to realize that this was not the avenue I wanted to take.

[00:02:30] Michael: And and I met a new girl. We were a great relationship. We were buying a home together and I met a realtor who happened to be the manager of. Of the brokerage and she says, Hey, you'd be a great realtor. And I thought, you'd probably say that to all the boys, but but she basically told me that no, you're special.

[00:02:49] Michael: And and so I started to listen to what some of those things she had to say and eventually took a few courses and part-time while doing my nine to five. I thought, if nothing else, this could be a side hustle[00:03:00] and then fast forward a year after that, I said, I left my, if I wanted to leave my broker or my last employer and they actually gave me a package to leave, which was very helpful.

[00:03:10] Michael: And and yeah, the. The history happened after that. So it was a really scary move, leaving that security of that nine to five job that that, that leash that I had was scary to leave. But but it changed my life. Simple as that changed my life. 

[00:03:26] Ryan: Were you financially prepared to leave at that point?

[00:03:29] Ryan: So they gave you a package. Yeah. And then were you stacked or did you have some type of savings or reserves in place? 

[00:03:35] Michael: Little bit, but one advice I have for any person going into their into their forties into a new relationship is find a partner who makes more money and has more money than you do.

[00:03:46] Michael: That really helped an awful lot. 

[00:03:49] Ryan: And she was along for the ride and she supported what you were doing. I bet. 

[00:03:52] Michael: Yeah, absolutely. And a little bit of sarcasm there, but certainly finding somebody who was of, it was such a refreshing [00:04:00] change. Having a first wife who was constantly, we were looking for every dollar and we were scrounging as best we could.

[00:04:07] Michael: And We were budgeting. I was doing a lot of the right things, but when the budget included having like a hundred dollars of free money for the month, that's, there's not a lot of ways that you can really save properly that way. Unfortunately, she was working and not making any money which was not a good combination.

[00:04:22] Michael: So then all of a sudden I met a girl or met a woman who's Who had a six figure income had her own house. And and that certainly gave me a little bit more comfort to, to go out on my own. And we thought, if the worst case scenario happens and I fail miserably in a year or two, I can go back into the nine to five gig.

[00:04:40] Michael: I really didn't want to, but, I always had that as the back of my mind. And we could live off her income for a little bit as I'd be a kept boyfriend. 

[00:04:48] Ryan: So kept boyfriend in those early years while you're out of the nine to five. Yeah. What would you say the characteristics that you had during that time to, [00:05:00] to take it from nine to five to being successful as a realtor?

[00:05:04] Ryan: I, I. 

[00:05:06] Michael: Was born or I've had my entire life, an entrepreneur entrepreneurial spirit. And and it basically, it went on life support. When you get your nine to five job and you get the kid, you get the wife you have the commitments. And I put that in the back burner and forgot about it.

[00:05:23] Michael: But once I had the freedom to start seeking my own fortunes and seeking my own future. Then I was unstoppable and I started to really take control of my future and that's really where it went off to. And I started to attend every meetup, every meeting, every, everything networking.

[00:05:42] Michael: Touching base learning. I quickly, within six months to a year, started to gravitate towards the investors because they were my people I had worked with a lot of those type of people in in my pet industry with franchises. And I just thought this was the right mix for me. And within a year and a half, two years of me becoming a realtor, I'd already [00:06:00] bought my first investment property.

[00:06:01] Michael: I just felt the value was there. 

[00:06:04] Ryan: So when you gravitated to the investors, did. Also ignite or grow that flame to be that entrepreneur that you wanted to be and then say, oh yeah, there's something else I can do here by properties. 

[00:06:16] Michael: Yeah they went, yeah. I'd say it was first becoming self-employed and then became a realtor and honestly if I'm gonna tell you the truth, when I bought my first investment property, it wasn't as much to build generational wealth as it was to make myself a more credible realtor.

[00:06:32] Michael: And it quickly reversed on me where I thought, you know what, I'm gonna focus on building my own wealth. And that will also make me a better realtor in the end anyway. And that's exactly how it worked. 

[00:06:43] Ryan: And do you think that actually got you to a better place in that career is because you did that first or would you have done something differently?

[00:06:52] Michael: Oh if you know the old, if I knew then what I know now, when I was in my twenties and thirties I real estate and cash [00:07:00] flow buying assets in appreciating markets. If I could have done what I. Done it over again. I would've house hacked and lived in one unit, rented out the other and got into real estate investing far earlier.

[00:07:12] Michael: I was involved. I owned a franchise in that pet food industry. I, and I did a few other ventures, so it's not like my entrepreneurial spirit was completely gone, but I just was, it was misdirected. And and then once I got the proper focus, then I moved forward. On the other hand you could make the case that if I hadn't had my challenges early on, I probably wouldn't have had the success later appreciated it all the.

[00:07:36] Ryan: It's amazing journey, what we go through in the ups and downs that lead us to where we are today. So your real estate broker, were you a broker or just an agent at the time? Is there two different designations? Let's ask that question. Cause I don't know enough about the Canadian real estate market.

[00:07:52] Ryan: Sure. Are there two designations? They are here in state. 

[00:07:55] Michael: There is, yeah, there is that basically additional education and the brokerage [00:08:00] allows you to manage others where the realtor, I could have a team, but I don't necessarily have the ability of forming my own brokerage. The reality is that I had zero interest.

[00:08:10] Michael: See, when I was back in my old career, I supervised the number of people. And I SWO to myself and to others that I'll never run my own team. I'll never be a broker. I just I'm focused on myself on that. I ended up. Building a team as after it was all said and done, but I never did form a brokerage because I didn't see the value in that.

[00:08:30] Michael: I, I I spoke to a lot of brokers and most of the ones that were brokers weren't necessarily the top sales people and the ones who made the most money and the most built the most wealth. And especially since my side hustle was not running a brokerage, but was to buy real estate. So I felt that was a better use of my money and my time.

[00:08:47] Ryan: Okay. So as you're building up your side hustle, how does that all play out in the coming years of, did you have goals that you wanted to meet each year to acquire property? 

[00:08:58] Michael: Yeah. So once for [00:09:00] those of you that are just starting your financial freedom journey, one thing that really was an aha moment for me was reading.

[00:09:07] Michael: Reading some of the great books that are out there. Rich dad, poor dad is a classic one, for example, where all of a sudden I started to understand what an asset really was. I met some local mentors and some Canadian mentors that had. High levels of success and we're thankfully sharing that to the next generation.

[00:09:24] Michael: And so I was soaking up everything I could. And so my goal quickly became to, to once a year, I'd like to buy an appreciating. Asset. And that was really my goal. It wasn't necessarily by 16 properties in an hour and a half, or, we're buying some massive multi-unit building that that you know, that I could show on my Instagram feed and say, Hey, this is mine.

[00:09:47] Michael: So I didn't do any of that. I just nice and simple. I bought a single family home with with an additional dwelling. In, and then I did it again and a year later I did it again and I did it for 10 straight years and I [00:10:00] just kept buying these assets now because the Toronto area. And for those of you in the states you probably don't appreciate the level of appreciation and the level of population growth that we've been having here in the Toronto area.

[00:10:12] Michael: But to put this in perspective, the Toronto. Population growth and the surrounding areas combined in, but two years ago, this study came out Toronto is growing faster than the three fastest growing growing cities in the United States combined. It is ridiculous the level of growth that we're seeing here and what that's leading to is a population surge and a.

[00:10:34] Michael: And a property value surge as a result of that. And so I caught a bit of a wave to be honest, but it's been life changing. 

[00:10:40] Ryan: What's driving the huge growth. 

[00:10:43] Michael: We have almost as much immigration in Canada with one 10th, the population of the United States, by the way we're seeing almost as many new people enter the country in one year as all of the United States.

[00:10:56] Michael: So unlike the us where there's so many great [00:11:00] places to live and people are spreading out all over the place in the Canadian market. They're gravitating towards four or five of the major metropolis cities and nowhere more than Toronto. And as a result of that we're growing in population by about 125,000 people a year.

[00:11:16] Michael: And so you think about a city, the size of 125,000. We're basically throwing that on every single year, every year, and we're not adding housing to match it. So again, if you've ever played the game musical chairs, you realize that if there. If there's more people looking than for, and there's less chairs available, those chairs become more and more valuable.

[00:11:35] Michael: And that's what happened in the Toronto real estate market is the housing prices just surged houses I bought 10 years ago are now worth triple what they were worth back then. 

[00:11:44] Ryan: So let's get into that generational wealth and in real estate acquisitions. So can you talk a little bit about your mindset in your approach to real estate?

[00:11:54] Ryan: Invest? 

[00:11:56] Michael: absolutely. For my forties and early [00:12:00] fifties. It was wealth building. I had my nine to five gig. I was making good money. And and so I was basically taking my existing assets. And as I forced appreciation by adding additional dwelling units or cleaning them up, or just simply riding the wave of appreciation, I was essentially refinancing those properties as best I could.

[00:12:21] Michael: and taking the cash from that to buy more properties. So I was just adding more and more assets. The downside in doing that is that the cash flow is certainly affected as you've added more and more debt to each of these units and hurt the leveraging aspect. But when I hit about 53, 54 I was already starting to get a bit of a mindset shift, but but in my database I had three of my clients and, to be fair, they weren't.

[00:12:46] Michael: Inner circle friends, but they were all friends of mine and all three of 'em unfortunately passed away in one summer. And and and two of them were actually younger than me. And so they just start to think, what the hell are we doing all [00:13:00] this for? Do we really need to have a 100 million net worth could a net worth of five to 10 million of real estate assets, as long as I can turn more cash flow and create more.

[00:13:11] Michael: Residual money, passive income could that could that change the game for me? So switched gears and and over the last three years I've been focused more on taking my existing real estate. The ones that weren't cash flowing very well, I've sold one. The one that was a pain in the ass, I sold that one and.

[00:13:29] Michael: And then with regards to my 401k is the American RSP is the Canadian. I started to turn that I was doing private lending with, again, using my expertise as a realtor. And as an investor, I was finding really good people to loan, to, and making good money that way. And the goal was to get a cash flow.

[00:13:47] Michael: My, my number in my head is I said, if I can get to the point of being $15,000 per month in in money coming in through passive sources that I could retire from my nine to five gig. And so when I hit that [00:14:00] financial freedom number, not only did I have the net wealth, but I had the cash flow coming in.

[00:14:04] Michael: That's, that was the goal. And that's where I was really trying to. 

[00:14:07] Ryan: So for the listeners to understand what you're doing, there's a bunch of pieces we can peel back that layer of the onion. Can we start with the private lending aspect? Sure. Go into a little detail about that in, in what that consists of.

[00:14:21] Michael: Yeah, absolutely. I personally am a believer and expert in, in two unit dwellings or single family homes with additional dwelling units. That's my expertise. And when it comes to that, if we have 10 people sitting in a room. I feel, I know as much as anyone else in that room in, in that subject, not in a lot of other subjects, but in that subject so what I decided to do is I had about a million bucks or so in, in in assets.

[00:14:48] Michael: And so instead of putting 'em into the equity market where I don't control. What if IBM stocks or apple stocks are gonna go up or down today or tomorrow Bitcoin, I have no control in making the [00:15:00] Bitcoin values go up or down, but when it came to real estate and two unit dwellings, I knew that market well.

[00:15:07] Michael: So what I did was I sought out people that already had existing two unit dwellings, but were still growing their portfolio, maybe buying, buying, flipping, doing whatever they wanted to do. I didn't want to touch their new projects. I didn't want to touch their their quick flips. I said, let me loan against your your true buy and hold your best asset.

[00:15:27] Michael: You've got a crapload of equity on it. You can't loan against it any, or borrow against it anyway, cuz you're in a position where you can't do it. So that's what I did. So let's say you had a. A bun with a basement apartment that was worth $800,000 and maybe had $300,000 on of debt on it. I would loan.

[00:15:44] Michael: We would have an appraisal done. And let's say it'd araise at $800,000 and I would loan up to 75% loan to value on that. So doing the quick math that's about $600,000. So I would basically loan the difference between what the current balance was and that [00:16:00] $600,000 number. A couple hundred thousand bucks, two, 300,000, whatever the mortgage was.

[00:16:04] Michael: And I would loan that at nine to usually about 9% interest. And these were superstar investors who. This was their pride prop pride of their property portfolio. They were not going to try to lose it. It was a very safe investment. Yeah. I could probably got an extra point or two going to some strangers, but I was focusing on people who were really Allstar investors.

[00:16:26] Michael: And as a result of that, I started generating and my cash flow started coming in at six, $7,000 a month just from just from that money. 

[00:16:35] Ryan: So in the Canadian market, I'm guessing you, did you take a second on the house? How did you secure the actual asset? 

[00:16:43] Michael: Absolutely. Yeah, it's using lawyers second mortgages it, and when people hear the term second mortgages, they get a little nervous because it's a say, okay, I'm behind someone else.

[00:16:53] Michael: But if you know what the value of the asset. If it's an asset that you wouldn't [00:17:00] mind taking over, if it, if something really fails on it there really isn't a lot of risk there, especially if there's a significant loan to value surplus. So even if the values of the property dropped by 10 or even 20% They still weren't underwater.

[00:17:12] Michael: I was still in a position where I could loan out that or where I'm loaning up that money. They could pay that money. And again, the fact that the values went up or down is irrelevant. They were looking to hold it. They were cash flowing, even with paying me that money. And they were using those funds to do something else.

[00:17:27] Michael: So there wasn't a lot of risk on my part to say, there's no risk. Anytime you put your money into an investment, there's an element of risk. Let's be honest. But it was purely low risk. It had solid investment. It wasn't building my net worth, but that's okay. It was focused on cash flow and that's what I was getting.

[00:17:43] Ryan: And that's what you want is cash flow. But the other thing is on the investor side, I can speak from that when private investors come along and they're, they want. Attached to, an asset they're looking at some different numbers than the investor would, or as I would. And it's always the piece.[00:18:00]

[00:18:00] Ryan: Does it work on both sides and I think that's part of the negotiation or the conversation that a lot of people don't get to see and I'm going off on a tangent. I know this, but it's crucial in, in your real estate journey, whether you're doing private lending or you're the actual investor that's holding that property is you gotta find the right people to work with.

[00:18:20] Ryan: And you already did that. Cause you had all stars, all star investors, you knew them already. And you understood the property and that was your side. Now on the investor side they knew you already, they understood what they were getting into, but the biggest thing is it was a win-win situation for both parties.

[00:18:36] Ryan: And that doesn't happen a lot in this space, just for the simple fact that the investor on this side is typically looking for money and they're willing to take that money on at pretty crappy terms. Should I say? Yeah.

[00:18:54] Ryan: I lost you for a bit. Oh, you're back. I'm back. Yep. I lost you. Yeah, no, [00:19:00] I just, I was just stating that sometimes the terms that the investor takes on from the private lender, aren't always the best. 

[00:19:07] Michael: Absolutely. And you wanna be fair on both parties and and again, I could have soaked an extra point or two and gone with people.

[00:19:14] Michael: I didn't know. And I didn't trust my advice to someone who's maybe not an insider in the industry and is looking to get into private lending is is to work with a mortgage broker who does. The industry far better than you do. And then let the let the mortgage broker know the type of property that you might be interested in loaning on.

[00:19:34] Michael: I, I personally if Ryan reached out to me and said, I wanna, I want you to. Loan me some money, cuz I want to do a project in middle America. I wouldn't do it. Not because I don't trust Ryan or I don't trust middle America, but I don't know either of those situations. And I can't I don't feel comfortable in loaning in a market that I've, that I don't know intimately.

[00:19:52] Michael: So I stayed more in areas that I. That I could literally drive to the property I'm loaning against. And again, that's, [00:20:00] maybe that's not what a typical banker would do, but it's not like I had $8 billion to loan out. I had a million bucks and it sounds like a lot of money, but a million dollars can go real fast when you're loaning out, you have maybe 4, 5, 6 deals and that's it.

[00:20:12] Michael: So I've got a bunch of one, two and three year mortgages that I've got loaned. And I'm just, again, I wake up in the morning and at the first of the month I get all that money added to my bank account and it's cool. 

[00:20:26] Ryan: Can't go wrong with that. You're living the dream that most people dream about, I should say.

[00:20:31] Ryan: Yeah. And it's the hard work dedication that you've put in, but you also, it was your passion. And how is that transition now into current life? Are you, we've talked about it and I'm teasing it a little bit is you are wanting to share and help others and give back how's that going for you?

[00:20:49] Ryan: And what does that look like? 

[00:20:51] Michael: Yeah, it's it's a transition. I'm not gonna lie to you. There are days that I wake up, but I'm thinking, what the hell am I doing? But we've been so [00:21:00] conditioned our entire adult life, or even as a child that you if you don't get up and work that nine to five job then what was the point of getting up in the beginning and.

[00:21:11] Michael: And but when you reach a financial freedom number, you you don't have to. For the sake of working anymore. I'll share this real quick story with you is I was working a Sunday open house a little before the pandemic, 18, 2000, 18,019, something like that. And so I'm working there and this 18, 19 year old kid is there with his mom.

[00:21:30] Michael: And and I'm talking to him and, I was at the, I want to teach people. Mindset even back then. And so I'm talking to this kid, I'm telling about the advantages of one day buying a duplex. Like I was showing on that particular day, living in one unit, renting out the other house, hacking building wealth, moving forward, and then the smart ass kid says.

[00:21:50] Michael: If you're so rich, why are you working on a Sunday? And, . And so I basically said I'm here to help people, some bullshit answer like that. And and. [00:22:00] And then I started thinking about it. I said, he's absolutely right. The smart ass that he is. And I don't need to do that anymore.

[00:22:06] Michael: And so it was a bit of a mindset shift and I've been, I'm reading a lot on the subject, but my goal is to live my best life and it's refreshing. It's it? It's embracing to think that some of the best days of my life haven't happened yet. And so I'm putting myself in a position so I can enjoy my best life.

[00:22:23] Michael: So that includes last year I did our drive across route 66 in my Corvette, convertible from Chicago to California, to This year, I spent two months in LA watching, not quite in LA and it's in Huntington beach, California in orange county. And then I drove back across the country. I'm a huge baseball fan.

[00:22:40] Michael: I wanna see a game at every major league ballpark. I've got two more to go and I'll accomplish that goal. 

[00:22:46] Ryan: Wait a minute. You've visited all the baseball parks minus two. 

[00:22:50] Michael: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I've been to 40 major league stadiums including 12 that have since been retired. The last two I need to see are in Minnesota and the Washington [00:23:00] DC's nationals park.

[00:23:01] Michael: And I'm hoping to do those this year. I wanna see as many world heritage sites I can I love the United States. It's my favorite country. I'm a dual citizen. And I've been to more parts of the United States than any American. I know within maybe one or two exceptions, but I've been to like all up and down first, I did all the perimeter of the continent or the country, because I was seeing baseball games, but now I've been driving up and down.

[00:23:26] Michael: This last drive I did was almost 7,000 kilometers, 5,000 miles just driving through middle America, Colorado. Utah Arizona, the west to Texas Memphis I went to see Graceland I'm going to Louisville, Kentucky. I'm just, I'm trying to just do my best life and let people know.

[00:23:44] Michael: And I feel part of what I wanna do. Now it's funny. I was just having this conversation with a great friend of mine. She said, what are you doing now? And I'm thinking, what, if I could live my best life and then tell people of it. Some of 'em are gonna say who the hell's this guy and delete me on social media.

[00:23:59] Michael: And that's cool. [00:24:00] But if some people are inspired by it decide to take action. I actually had three of my best friends that have retired in the last six months because they said, you're having so much fun, Mike. I wanted to do it too. So that. That's where I feel I am right now.

[00:24:11] Michael: There's a book that I follow a little bit. It's called. I dunno if you could see it called die with zero by bill Perkins. And and so it's just a bit of a mindset shift of how you wanna live your best life and and for those of you that are trying to find passive income, trying to find that next level.

[00:24:28] Michael: It's so cool to be thinking that if you could build enough ongoing income that you leave your nest egg alone and just are taking the fruits every single month. And just living off the fruits, not only will you have enough money for yourself for the rest of your life, but you have, you can help out your family as they're going through life while you're still alive.

[00:24:47] Michael: Whether that be helping down payments gonna be helping out my niece and nephew in terms of education I'm paying for some of their education or housing or what have you. And then still having enough for them, once I'm, hopefully long [00:25:00] after I'm long gone, I can pass pass a little bit on too, which is a cool.

[00:25:04] Ryan: That is that it's all great. That's cool. I'm just gonna preface this now at some point, we'll have to come back on and talk more about that, cuz that's a huge conversation and it's also something that I think is very much bigger than yourself. You're impacting the world, you're impacting others and that's huge.

[00:25:23] Ryan: I'd like to have a full blown conversation on it if we could at some point, cuz that is just really. 

[00:25:27] Michael: I would enjoy it. Passive passive income is something that I'm really passionate about. Like obviously we haven't even talked about my book and that's okay. It's, that's 

[00:25:35] Ryan: where I was gonna go to next.

[00:25:36] Ryan: Cause we're running toward, on time here. So I wanna get to your book, but I will always, I will make sure you come back and we can have another full blown conversation on just that aspect. 

[00:25:47] Michael: Yeah. And honestly, it, the one thing I wanna share with you guys is that I don't wake up each morning, say, yay. I get to be a landlord.

[00:25:55] Michael: Yeah. That's what I want to do for the rest of my. No, [00:26:00] that is not what I'm thinking. And so what I wanna tell people is it is a means to an end. Don't get me wrong. There are days and weeks that I enjoy what I'm doing. I love helping out some of the tenants and I get. I get passionate when I'm providing them with quality residential housing and at a, at an affordable price, and then they move on and they eventually buy their own place.

[00:26:21] Michael: So they move on. I feel good about things and I'm making money as a result of that. So it's a, win-win there for sure. But the reason why I'm doing this is truly to build generational wealth it's to help out my family and my my wife and I and my extended family. And that's why I've done what I do.

[00:26:38] Michael: It it did start at a side hustle and that's okay. I don't necessarily, I didn't write the book for the guy who wants to turn this into a full-time real estate gig. Although you could take this approach and turn it into such where I focus on. Is buying quality properties in quality neighborhoods, attracting quality tenants, and then earning quality [00:27:00] profits.

[00:27:00] Michael: And I believe that's the most important aspect. So many people when they're getting into real estate, they're trying to make it on the buy they're. They're buying the crappiest property and the crappiest neighborhood that's dilapidated. And even if they fix it up, all the houses around them are in crappy shape too.

[00:27:17] Michael: So you can't even attract and keep a good tenant. My focus is maybe not as much cash flow, but you've got a great property and many of my clients and myself for that matter, we're often spending two to four hours a month on our portfolio and and it's changed our life. I follow the teachings of the, if you live like Dave Ramsey, if you if you live like no one else, then one day you'll be able to live.

[00:27:40] Michael: Like no one else. That's an important thought process is it's a little bit of extra steps, but in my mind, the risk is to not take action at all. And just depend on an employer or your government to support you in your later years. 

[00:27:54] Ryan: Amen. To all that, that's. I, there's a quote that I have and I can't find it all the time.

[00:27:59] Ryan: I, I [00:28:00] misplace it, but it's an entrepreneur quote that basically says. Live life. No one else will for five years. So you can actually live your dreams. Like no one else will the rest of their lives. And it's well, 

[00:28:12] Michael: that's, that is a play off of Dave Ramsey. So maybe that is a Dave Ramsey quote. It could 

[00:28:15] Ryan: be, it could be, yeah.

[00:28:17] Ryan: Just at the end of the day, it's, that's what it is you don't, I don't, you can't depend on others to get your dreams accomplished. You've gotta put the time effort. And consistency, persistence, whatever you wanna use in there to get to that point. And if you don't put the hard work in and fight through the battles, there's not much there for you to see in the end.

[00:28:38] Ryan: So why not start living life today, go after your passions and do good with it. That's the biggest that's to me it's all about doing the good is the best part because you're impacting others. You're changing other people's lives. And that to me, That's gold. 

[00:28:54] Michael: If you look back at, if you think back about who you were when you were 18 or [00:29:00] 25 or 30, I can't speak for you.

[00:29:02] Michael: I can't speak for anyone else who's in listening here. But, I had my asphalt tendencies. I, I was self-centered and lived, and so people that see me back my old high school or university person, even my first in my twenties, they almost don't believe. The person I am right now, they think, oh yeah, you're you know, how are you best serving yourself? And maybe, I guess at the end of the day, helping out others does make myself feel a whole lot better. But but yeah, in my mind, I have a family and my family isn't necessarily my biological family, but people that are clients of mine and longtime friends of mine, they're in my inner circle.

[00:29:34] Michael: They're in my family. And I wanna. I want the best for them. And that's really what my goal is to do is to, if I can make a difference in the world, then that's that's a pretty good thing. I'm not going to be bringing water to. Africa or anything like that. I'm only in my own little world, my own circle of people.

[00:29:51] Michael: And hopefully if people that read my book, it can have a little bit of impact. It was the whole point of it. It wasn't to make money. Trust me on that. I will lose a [00:30:00] lot of money on this book in the time and the and the expense I had a business coach. The point of brightness book was I had some incredible mentors in my early days.

[00:30:09] Michael: That took it upon themselves to teach me in ways that I give me ideas I'd never thought of before. And when I was in my twenties, I used to think that the wealthy were that 1% or 1% of 1%. And they wouldn't want someone like me in their club. And they pushed me back and kicked me down to stare a couple of things.

[00:30:27] Michael: And that's, that was my mindset. But as I started to network with some people, with some levels of success, it, it occurred to me or it learned I learned that these people were not only not pushing me down, but they were actually reaching their hand back and they were. Offered me some ideas and suggestions and advice to, to bring me up at least another level or two on the run.

[00:30:48] Michael: And I always promised them, and I promised myself that if I ever reach that point, I'd pass it on to the next generation. And that's what armchair real estate millionaires all about. 

[00:30:56] Ryan: That is. That's cool. I enjoy it. I know we've had that [00:31:00] pre that talk before, but that's the second time of hearing it and I still think it's great.

[00:31:03] Ryan: I, I. passing along information and also being able to help others is a huge thing that we don't do enough of. And that's just really cool. So thank you for doing. 

[00:31:15] Michael: You're welcome. And yeah it's, everybody wins when that happens. And I really hope that that now it's not only available on written form, but I actually I went out of my comfort zone and created an audio book.

[00:31:27] Michael: And for those that have never done an audio book before, it is a lot more difficult. I've done a crapload of podcasts in my life, but the ums and OS and, oh yeah, I'm a little bit dyslexic. I think I was never diagnosed, but like all of a sudden I started reading things and so I ended up hiring a voice actor to do the bulk of it, because it just wasn't my skillset, but I oversaw the project and I'm really proud of that as well.

[00:31:50] Michael: So for any of you that are listening to podcasts on a regular basis and say, I don't wanna sit down and read a book. That's 240 pages long. Download the book on audible. And I really think [00:32:00] there's some valuable tips. And regardless of whether you're investing in Wyoming or. Or California or the Midwest or Canada, or anywhere in the world the fundamentals don't change.

[00:32:10] Michael: And so it's buying the right type of market and the right type of and finding the right type of tenant can really make a difference in your life. 

[00:32:18] Ryan: Amen to all that, Michael, we will link your book in the show notes for sure. And we'll share that. So I will make sure that gets out to our social media channels and so forth.

[00:32:29] Ryan: I thank you for coming on. This has been a great conversation. We will have you on for another conversation that we can go in more in depth, because people are gonna ask. I can already tell you now they're gonna ask. The passive investing the lifestyle the passing on the knowledge. There's just so much more.

[00:32:45] Ryan: And I think it's just a bigger piece of a conversation that we can have, that'll be focused on. So be on lookout for that. We'll have my, 

[00:32:54] Michael: I look forward to it. Cool. I look forward to it, 

[00:32:55] Ryan: sir. Thank you for coming on and I hope you have a great 

[00:32:58] Michael: day. Thank you very [00:33:00] much. You as well. All right.