The Real FI Podcast - Real Estate Investing to FI

In this episode, we meet Duane Brown, a married father of five and an electrical engineer from Trenton, New Jersey. Duane's real estate journey began in 2019 when he acquired a duplex in New Jersey for $125,000, which generated $2,000 per month in rent and appraised at $300,000. He quickly leveraged his success and completed two more deals within two weeks, followed by a fourth deal just thre...

In this episode of the podcast, we meet Timothy Lyons, a dedicated firefighter with 18 years of service in New York City. Despite growing up with a scarcity mindset, Tim pursued a career in nursing alongside his firefighting duties. However, he soon realized that trading time for money wasn't fulfilling his goals of spending more time with his family. Tim ventured into real estate with limite...

In this insightful podcast episode, we had the privilege of speaking with Bob Lachance, an accomplished real estate investor who has revolutionized the industry with his contributions. From his wholesaling company that is closing over 240 deals annually, Bob's expertise shines through as he shares his valuable insights and lessons learned. However, Bob’s contributions to the field don't...

In this episode, Josh Shein talks about his journey from traditional mortgages in 1999 to surviving the economic meltdown of the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, and how he eventually found his way into profiting from reverse FHA mortgages. After being burnt out from the corporate world, he reconnected with a former colleague and started a relationship-based hard money lending business that focuses...

On this episode, we welcomed Cody Berman, founder of Gold City Ventures, to share his journey to financial independence and the evolution of his business. Cody discovered the concept of financial independence at the age of 19 and was on a warpath to achieve it by the age of 24. A catalyst for his mindset shift was reading "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris, which taught him not to trad...

In this episode, our guest, Josh Galindo, owner of Galindo Group Real Estate, shares his journey in the real estate industry. Josh started in 2005 by flipping properties and eventually built a brokerage around this business. Galindo's strategy involves taking real estate to its highest and best use, rather than just learning to sell it. Josh has built up a ton of volume with his business and...

In this podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Rachel Swanson, a former dental hygienist turned blogger, entrepreneur, and real estate investor. Rachel shared her journey of starting a blog, writing a personal and spiritual growth coloring book, becoming an author and speaker, and eventually becoming an accidental landlord during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Rachel discussed how she lear...

In this episode, we spoke with DC real estate investor and sales expert Russell Brazil about his journey to financial independence. With over 14 years of experience in real estate investing, Russell owns 10-20 units at any given time in the DC area, primarily focusing on high-end rowhouses. While digging into Russell’s investment strategy, he shared his favorite strategy of adding a bedroom to inc...

In this podcast episode, our guest Soli Cayetano shares her journey into real estate investing. Soli invests in out-of-state properties in Ohio and Georgia, primarily focusing on SFRs, MFRs, and STRs. Soli started her real estate journey during the pandemic, buying her first property in Ohio for $98,000, sight unseen. From that point on, Soli then quickly scaled her portfolio with the help of priv...

On this episode, our guest Scott Hardiman discusses his work with Further Coaching, which helps men overcome their confidence barriers by reprogramming their mindset. With a background in personal training and emotional intelligence gained from being a funeral director, Scott works to uncover hidden drivers and find the root of the issue. The conversation covers topics such as catching limiting be...

Our guest, Yonah Weiss, also known as the “Cost Seg King”, is a powerhouse with property owners' tax savings. As Business Director at Madison SPECS, a national Cost Segregation leader, he has assisted clients in saving hundreds of millions of dollars on taxes through cost segregation. He has a background in teaching and a passion for real estate and helping others. In our conversation with Yo...

Our guest David Lecko, founder of DealMachine, shares his inspiring journey from starting with just $4,800 and growing it to $1.6MM in rentals and $960k in equity. With his help, people have closed more than 10k deals in 50 states using the best real estate investing app for busy investors looking to find more deals at discounted prices. David discusses how he came up with the idea for DealMachine...

In this podcast episode, Kevin Yungman, a real estate attorney, shared valuable insights on various aspects of real estate investing and its intersection with law. Kevin shed light on topics such as short sales, seller financing deals, subject to transactions, foreclosures, and 1031 exchanges. Kevin discussed the legal implications of various real estate transactions and emphasized the importance...

Greg Raymer is a successful real estate agent and brokerage owner with over 20 years of experience. He currently owns and operates a NextHome franchise in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which is about an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee. Before Greg entered the real estate industry, he played minor league baseball for five years in the Padres, but got injured and decided to finish his business degree...

Becoming financially independent doesn’t always mean that you have to strive to quit your 9-5 as soon as humanly possible. If you enjoy your job, but just want to maximize your return on earned income, then our guest T.R. Smith is ready to share some actionable tips with you! If you want to build generational wealth you need to find some "Home Run Investments."  T.R. defines a home run i...

When it comes to real estate investing, one of the most important and underrated relationships that you can have is with your lender. Utilizing a great mortgage to boost returns and secure long-term financing is key to maximizing your returns. That’s why we brought our friend Jamie Lenes on to chat about all things lending. In our conversation, we discussed existing market conditions, down payment...

Our guest Natalie Kolodij is your MUST KNOW real estate tax strategist. Note that we said “strategist”, not “preparer”! There’s an important difference between the two. More than your typical tax professional, Natalie has built a business around helping real estate investors maximize their tax savings and to compound with additional investments. Natalie practices what she preaches through her mid-...

Sarah Weaver is a coach, author, speaker, real estate investor, entrepreneur, and business owner. Nothing thrills Sarah more than helping real estate agents and investors design the life of their dreams whether that is making more money or working fewer hours (or both!). After becoming involved with real estate and attending a few conferences Sarah quickly realized what was deeply needed in the sp...

How many times do you need to hear from us that STRs are a reliable way to massive real estate profits? Our guest, Michael Elefante, is yet another example of how someone can quickly scale with short-term rentals, even in a hot real estate market. Michael started as a college baseball athlete, but when it wasn’t picked up by any of the majors, he had to scrap to make ends meet. His first best idea...

Our guest Pete Reese is the President of Reelvest Properties, a land development and investment company. After some experience with flipping houses through the Great Financial Crisis, Pete and his wife ran an online education business about travel blogging. They turned it into a very successful business and were able to parlay those profits into real estate around 2017. Today, Pete focuses his ene...

Our guest, Sam Primm, is a real estate investor who has built an impressive $42 million portfolio using other people's money (OPM). The most impressive part is that he started on his real estate path in 2014! At the same time that he was selling CAT construction equipment, he decided to get into real estate wholesaling and flipping on the side. In order to build his portfolio to what it is to...

Our guest Doug Peacock is a financial expert and advocate of the concept of "infinite banking," also known as "bank on yourself." This strategy involves using a type of permanent life insurance policy as a personal bank to generate cash value that can be used for a variety of purposes, including saving for retirement, paying off debt, and funding big expenses such as a child&ap...

In this episode, our guest Jas Takhar shares his experience building a successful real estate team and how they are able to serve 700 families per year. Jas discusses the importance of having a clear vision and mission for your team. He believes that having a strong sense of purpose can help keep team members motivated and focused, and can also help attract top talent. Jas also talks about the imp...

Our guest Marco Bario transitioned from a career in the Hollywood TV and film industry to become a full-time real estate note investor. Today, Marco is the President and Founder of Porch Swing Funding, a niche and focused business that allows those owning seller-financed mortgage notes to sell their future payments for immediate cash. Marco’s investment history includes passive commercial syndicat...

Casey Franchini is a testament to the time-tested adage of “slow and steady wins the race”. Since 2007, Casey has been acquiring rental properties one-by-one and building her portfolio. Today, she’s amassed 6 SFRs that gross $100k/year, and has plans on getting into the STR space to bump up her income and FI numbers. Tune in to hear about Casey’s story and building a sold rental portfolio! You can...