From Broke to Millions—Twice: Mark Monroe on Creative Finance, Crushing Setbacks, and Building Lasting Freedom
Episode Details
Transcript
In this episode of From Adversity to Abundance, host Jamie Bateman welcomes Mark Monroe, a seasoned real estate investor and creative financing expert with a story that’s anything but linear. Born into poverty in Vermont, Mark climbed the ranks of the mortgage industry, eventually leading a team of over 100 loan officers. But after a major investment in an online lending program went south, he lost nearly everything—about 90% of the wealth he had built.
This episode dives deep into Mark’s rollercoaster journey: from growing up with nothing to building a financial empire, losing it all, and then rebuilding his life on his own terms. Today, Mark enjoys the freedom to travel the world, indulge in good food, and work on his own schedule—an outcome made possible by the skills he developed in both high-pressure finance roles and, surprisingly, during his early days at McDonald’s.
Mark opens up about his mindset shifts, his approach to solving problems through empathy and active listening, and how those traits translated into massive success in creative finance. He also shares the emotional toll of a serious health scare, revealing the mental resilience that got him through both financial ruin and physical adversity.
This episode blends personal grit, business insights, and powerful lessons in a way that’s both raw and uplifting. Whether you're navigating hardship or simply looking for smarter ways to invest, Mark’s story will inspire and inform.
Guest Introduction: Mark Monroe
Mark Monroe is a real estate investor, creative financing expert, and former mortgage industry leader. He built a large-scale operation with over 100 loan officers, lost most of his fortune in a failed lending program, and has since rebuilt his financial life through savvy investing and strategic thinking. Known for his empathetic approach and creative deal-making, Mark now enjoys a lifestyle of freedom and purpose.
Episode Highlights:
- From Poverty to Wealth—Then Rock Bottom, Then Higher Than Ever – Mark’s full-circle journey through poverty, peak success, major financial loss, and an even stronger rebound.
- Leading in the Mortgage Industry – Building and managing a team of 100+ loan officers.
- Losing It All – The online lending program that led to a 90% loss of his wealth.
- Skills Learned at McDonald's – How early job experiences shaped his business mindset.
- Rebuilding Life on His Terms – Gaining control of time, travel, and freedom.
Key Takeaways:
- Financial success can be fleeting—but resilience and adaptability are lasting assets.
- Creative finance isn’t just a tactic—it’s a mindset rooted in empathy and solving real problems.
- Your past doesn’t define your future. Even after massive losses, it’s possible to rebuild.
- True wealth means freedom—of time, choice, and purpose.
Resources:
Connect with Mark:
Website:https://www.mark-monroe.com/
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmonroe/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/mark.a.monroe
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mark_monroe_/
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSlaOCOzRN9zgj4Yo6MB6xg
Integrity Income Fund:
https://labradorlending.com/investors/passive-investors/
Labrador Mentorship:
labradorlending.com/investors/active-investors/
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Learn more: jamie.myfinancialhaven.com/
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Purchase Jamie’s Book: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGTWJY1D?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
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Connect with Jamie:
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Speaker 0
On today's episode, we chat with Mark Monroe who is a creative financing expert. He's done a ton in real estate. He's was born into poverty, in Vermont and then made a ton of money as a mortgage, in the mortgage industry, with, I think, a hundred and seven loan officers working for him. And then lost almost all of that afterwards with an online lending program that he was investing in and working in, lost about ninety percent of the money he'd made. So he went from very poor to fairly wealthy to essentially broke again and then has rebounded, substantially since then. He's done a lot of business, and, travels the world, enjoys nice food, has control of his schedule, doesn't work Fridays, works when when he wants really. And this is all through some skills he learned, you know, as far as listening and empathy and just solving people's problems. And a lot of those skills he learned from working at McDonald's, and then, you'll hear some other cool stories along the way. I think you're really gonna get value by listening to Mark Monroe. He also had a significant health scare that we talk about at the very end, and we talk about, you know, what really got him through that. So we touch on financial adversity, health adversity, and a lot of business and investing tactics and skills and lessons in this one. We cover a lot of ground, a lot about creative finance. We dive into case studies in detail as well. So you don't wanna miss this episode. Speaker 1
From adversity to abundance, hosted by entrepreneur and seasoned real estate investor, Jamie Bateman, is the ultimate guide for active and passive investors seeking clarity, mental fitness, and the confidence to make inspired decisions in the world of real estate. With a decade plus of investing experience across various niches and a background as a combat veteran, former army officer, and multimillion dollar mortgage note company owner, Jamie brings a wealth of knowledge and inspiring stories to each episode. Through weekly episodes featuring insightful interviews with industry leaders and solo leaders and solo explorations of mindset and strategy, listeners will uncover actionable advice and tips to overcome challenges and build lasting financial success. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting, from adversity to abundance is your road map to turning obstacles into opportunities and achieving financial freedom. Speaker 0
Welcome everybody to another episode of the from adversity to abundance podcast. I am your host, Jamie Bateman. And today, we have with us Mark Monroe. Mark is a creative finance expert, a best selling author. Mark's done a ton in real estate investing, and a lot in finance. Mark, how are you doing today? Speaker 2
I'm doing wonderful. Thanks so much for having me on. I appreciate it. So, you know, we talked earlier, and we're both, spent some time. You're still in Maryland, and I that's where I started my career. Yeah. I've been in Baltimore, DC, Maryland area. So thank you. Speaker 0
Yeah. Absolutely. This is gonna be a fun fun conversation. Fun and and probably pretty pretty moving because I know you've been through some some tough times. But before we get there, Mark, talk to the listener about your life currently and, you know, some of the abundance that you're experiencing now. Speaker 2
Right now, I love my life. I set my own schedule. I don't start working till eleven, and I get done roughly about five. And then on Fridays, because I live in South Florida, and on Fridays, I don't work. In the summertime, we travel. We're actually just making plans to go to, Spain, next week, where wherever that island we're offing the Dallas from. So we're gonna go over there for a long weekend, come back, and then we're gonna, at the end of June, head up to Vancouver. So that's why I love this because you can work anywhere in the world remotely. Speaker 0
That's amazing. That's really, really cool. And and let's get right into it. I know the you know, that that wasn't an option for you in your childhood, because I know you, grew up in in poverty. So let's, let's dive into that if you would. Set the stage for our for our listener. What was, what were things like for you as a child? Speaker 2
You know, even though I grew up in poverty, I was still a happy child. You know, my father left when I was young. He left when I was, like, six or seven. I remember for three months straight, we grew I grew up in Vermont, so it was really cold. But I remember three months straight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, we ate, for a family of myself, my two sisters, my mom, and it fed four of us, craft macaroni and cheese out of the box. I remember it was, like, twenty nine cents a box because I had to walk to the grocery store because my mother didn't have a car, buy the stuff, bring it back. And then during that same time period, it was winter, and she had no money for fuel. So it was, the the, stove was electric, so we all had to sleep on the kitchen floor during that time period. And then on top of it, I had a severe case of ADHD and dyslexia. So I was like that one child. So I was all over the place. Right. But, you know, back then, things I thought was holding me back, but nowadays, I look at it and I use it to my advantage, and it helped me succeed to where I am at today. Speaker 0
Oh, that's a nice nice teaser about the mindset shift you must have made. So okay. So and you said you're always a happy kid. So, I mean okay. So the the as a child, I mean, how did how long did you live in in poverty for? What did that how long did that last for? Speaker 2
I I would say pretty much most of my childhood, up until I mean, it wasn't like, yes. We didn't have the crop and rock on trees. She started my mother started doing a little bit of work, so she got some regular food. But Yeah. My clothes are always my clothes are always hand downs for my cousins, you know, that type of thing. So Sure. I remember looking down at my sneaker in the summer looking to see my toes sticking out, that type of thing when I was a child. Right. You know? But I didn't know any better. You know? When you're young like that, you don't know. And Yeah. But then you look at your friends and you saw what they had, and you don't really have what they had and you wish they had. So I just started doing a lot of odd jobs at that young age doing mowing, you know, help putting food on the table. But then really what really changed me a lot at fifteen, I had to help pay twenty five dollars a week on at home to help put food on the table. So I went to McDonald's, the McDonald's corporation. So started working at three dollars and fifty cents an hour, working fifty, sixty hours a week at fifteen while still in school. And that's where I excelled in my D eight, my ADHD, because I could multitask and I ended up, running one of the stores while still in high school. And they, ended up becoming a regional manager. And a lot of those people were my mentors, and, and that's where I really excelled, and they actually helped pay for the schooling. So I started looking at people that were doing well and made them my mentors, and they didn't even realize that they were my mentors. Speaker 0
That's awesome. There there's a lot that you just covered that's really a little couple of golden nuggets for sure. And I've had we've had, episodes on the show where we've talked about different, just different mental, you know, disorder challenges or different learning disorders like dyslexia. We've had, a couple of people with bipolar disorder where, really, you know, in large part, it can end up being a superpower in some ways. We're not saying that there aren't struggles that come along with being dyslexic or having dyslexia or having ADHD or having bipolar disorder for sure, but there there is an upside oftentimes. And I think in today's world, we kinda overlook that and just, you know, maybe you feel you might feel like you got this diagnosis and now it's a curse. But it sounds like you were able to kind of use it to your advantage. Is that right? Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. I the the biggest thing that was really, you know, starting to be self employed and starting different businesses is where I was weak, especially dyslexia with contracts and reading. I found a business partner that was strong, where I was weak, and where he was weaker, I was strong. And so that created a good marriage. But nowadays with technology, dyslexia is kinda a thing of the past. I mean, technology is really helping us out a lot. I mean, it's still there. Sure. But, it's really helped a lot. And then my ADH thing, I could always I can multitask and do a hundred things at once, but now I just kinda really slow down because you can miss things and create errors that could cost you more money if you go too quickly. Speaker 0
Sure. Absolutely. And then the second point was that I I love you that that I love that you made was that you surrounded yourself with with people that were further ahead than you, and you looked up to them and you were using based I don't wanna say using them, but, you know, copying what they were doing and intentionally learning from them, as mentors whether they knew it or not. Do you have a maybe a specific example of somebody that you, did that with? Speaker 2
Yeah. I do all the time, but I remember this one lady. She was a manager at McDonald's, and she was so good at people handling skills where people loved her. And really what she did was she would get to not sit down and talk to them and talk to them about their personal life, what was going on. So she was building that rapport. About eighty percent of her phone call is really connecting. And that was probably one of the biggest things because it really works in the seller financing world. Because when you're doing seller financing, if you're buying a property and you're trying to convince a seller through seller financing, it's a marriage. You're in a long term commitment with them for whatever the term is, five, seven, ten, thirty years, whatever you're trying to do. Mhmm. So that was probably one of the biggest thing. Her name is Mary Brown, and I still remember. And, but, yeah, that was probably the biggest nugget that I learned from. Speaker 0
I mean, I think that's a lost in large part, a lost skill these days, and I think it's more and more valuable. You spoke about technology, and that is that's amazing. Right? I mean, AI, and there's so much that we can do with that. But I think that's that human piece and that rapport building skill is just, like, so valuable just to be able to listen and understand and have empathy for somebody else. Right? I think it's gonna continue to be really valuable. But I just love the fact that you're intentional about, you know, putting really watching these people and and learning from them. So after fifteen, fast forward, you how did you get into real estate investing? Speaker 2
So well, I did my first deal when I was nineteen. I did the old Carlton sheets book, you know, house still in Vermont at that time, ordered this cassette book. I, you know, I put, we buy houses. I went cardboard box, black, magic marker that was waterproof. We buy houses, went around and put them on the telephone poles. Didn't know I couldn't do that. I got a call from municipality. I got in trouble. So I'm going around taking them down. So this guy called me up, and he was trying to sell his home. I was taking them down in mobile home. He goes, it's you want eighteen thousand twenty one. I'm like, I'm not interested in mobile home. Calls me back a week later. He goes, give me fifteen thousand. I go, I'm not interested in a mobile home. Calls me back another week. He goes, give me twelve thousand. I go, what? Do you own the lane? He goes, no. It's in a mobile home park. I'm not interested. So a month goes by, calls me back again. He goes, it's worth give me six thousand. It's worth twenty one. Now I'm thinking to myself, okay. There's a deal here. You know, granted, I'm nineteen. I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah. I said, I told you I'm not in I'm like, why do you have to sell? He goes, oh, I don't live in it. Some lot rent come and do blah blah blah. And I go to him, I told you I'm not interested in a mobile home, yeah, at all. But this is what I'll do to help you out. I'll give you three thousand. He goes, I'll give me four thousand. I'm not interested in a mobile home. He goes, alright. I'll go ahead and do it for three thousand. I said, okay. I have to go get a contract because at the time we didn't have the Internet. I had to go to the staple. I got it. So I hung up. I immediately called the newspaper, placed a, classified ad mobile home for sale, seller financing for twenty five thousand dollars with three thousand dollars down. First lady called me up. Her and her boyfriend went out, looked at the property. They loved it immediately. So they gave me the three thousand dollars I took that three thousand dollars gave it to the seller. We created a note for the difference at around seven and a half, eight percent over seven years. So it was three hundred dollars a month. That was my car payment, my insurance payment when I was nineteen years old. That was a lot of money. So that was my first deal. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
I'm sure the paperwork was all screwed up. Speaker 0
So and that was from the Carlton Sheet stuff? I mean, that's great. Yeah. That's that's amazing. Speaker 2
But I was nineteen, but then I jumped out of it and went back into the corporate world because I was going up into the McDonald's corporation. And then I jumped back in at twenty five. And that's why I left Vermont to go down to the DC because I was gonna be working for the corporation down there, but I wanted to learn more about real estate. So I took origination class, and that guy came in and said, hey. You wanna work for me? I ended up working for him for about a year and a half. And then from there went and started our own mortgage banking firm. I ended up having one hundred and seven loan officers working for me up in the Baltimore DC area. Back around nine. Yeah. Actually, it would be started. It'd be thirty years ago, believe it or not, around this time, May of yeah. May yeah. May, two thousand fifteen. That's when I started my real career going into it. Speaker 0
Or was it, you're talking about nineteen ninety five? Speaker 2
Nineteen ninety five. Speaker 0
Okay. Nineteen ninety five. Wow. Yeah. That is that is Speaker 2
years ago. Crazy. Speaker 0
And how long did you do that for? Speaker 2
I had that we had that company going for about, I was with them for about three years. I mean, I was making crazy money at twenty eight, twenty nine. Thirty five thousand dollars a month, four hundred thousand dollar bonuses at the end of the year, tickets to the Oreos, tickets to the Washington Capitals. I mean, crazy stupid. You don't think the money's gonna end. Right. Think about this people. When you're in your twenties, you think the world, you're never gonna get kicked and fallen down. Speaker 0
Just Speaker 2
be smart about your money and know when to pull the plug. You know? So I made all that money, did really well, sold my end, came to Florida, got into another business, and all the money I made in that, I went into another one and lost ninety percent of it because it's didn't so at least I was young enough to learn it. Speaker 0
What, what business was that? Speaker 2
That was, doing it in online, lending mortgages. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
And, to to make eight hundred dollars to make eight eight hundred, it cost, it cost us thirty five hundred dollars to make eight hundred. The model did not make sense. So they're like, oh, don't worry about it. We went and raised seven million dollars from the Tampa Bay Bucks, hired sixty people, got the beautiful office, blah blah blah. You know, some of these were my really close friends, and now I was, like, in my early thirties. And, you know, it's just we ran out of money, and they're like that my partner was like, oh, I'll get some more capital, and the money wasn't coming in. So for two months, all the money I made in a previous business, I kept covering rent employees for two months out of my own pocket and went through all ninety percent of it, it, and I just had to pull the plug and couldn't work for about six months afterwards. Speaker 0
Just, because of the mentally, you just couldn't yeah. Gotcha. Yep. I mean, I don't want I mean, I've had, frankly, the servicing loan servicing company that I started, that I shared a little bit about on your show. You know, I should have quit earlier, to be honest with you. And curious, did you have any lessons that you learned like that? Any anything you would obviously, you wouldn't have gotten into it, it sounds like. But in the moment, you know, what would you have done differently? Speaker 2
Well, you you have to know when to pull the plug quickly. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
That's kinda like, how much money are you gonna keep putting into it if it's gonna keep bleeding? Because I've done another business after the fact, and I didn't put a lot of money into it, but I knew immediately after three months of losing money, I'm like, okay. It's time to Speaker 0
pull the Speaker 2
plug and move on. Right. Right. Right. Speaker 0
Just no one to walk away. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. I know in my case, we didn't do really enough, like, market testing to make sure that the that the the demand was there. Right? We thought put in all this capital, get all these licenses, build it, and they will come. And it's like, we did all that, and then we just didn't have enough revenue. We didn't have enough income and, should have grown more organically. But, okay. So, I mean, so you made a bunch of money and then lost most of it, after having started, you know, being born into poverty. Alright. So then set the stage at that point after you've lost ninety percent of of your the money you'd made as a a mortgage banker. What's going through your mind? You couldn't work for six months, you said. How did you get out of that funk that I presume you were in? Speaker 2
Sure. Then I just started getting back into doing the creative seller financing strategies. It was just me. Yeah. So at the time, it was, like, around nine eleven ish. It actually a little bit before, but nine eleven was really when it took off because so I had a license. I was at the time, I was doing the real estate investing, like the fix and flips or rentals, like, traditionally everybody does. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
But, I I didn't have the capital. So how am I gonna start back over with no money? Speaker 0
But I Speaker 2
had the knowledge of how to do loans. So what I started doing is, the the homes are sitting on the market kinda like where they're at now. They're sitting on the market at that time for four, six months. So I started calling sellers up, and it was just me in a processor. I started calling sellers up, hey. Would you be willing to rent the property to me for a few years? And then I'll close that. I'll take in their maintenance repairs. Well, they said, well, I need my money out of the home because I wanna go buy my other home for whatever transfer. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
So what I did was I said, okay. I'm a loan officer. I'll go ahead and refinance your property at eighty percent loan to value, and then I'll make the payments. So and then, oh, then by the way, your new home, I wanna do that loan. Okay. And then I would put a tenant buyer into the property and they would put an option fee. They would put money down. So in one lead I was making like thirty five thousand dollars because I was doing the loan here, the refinance, the new loan, and then the tenant buyer. And then, and then I would put a tenant buyer in it, and then I would cash flow roughly about five hundred dollars a month. So that's how I started doing my creative real go ahead. Speaker 0
No. No. No. Let's dive into that a little bit. So a little bit more with and they can be pretend numbers, but, you know, maybe put some numbers to this. And I don't know if you wanna use numbers from back then or today, but just so our listener might be able to understand. Okay. You have property a and property b, and so you reach out to the owner of property a, and you're trying to solve a problem. You're using your listening skills. It sounds like that you learned from Mary Brown, I think it was. And, and so but you're trying to solve a problem for the owner of property a. Put some numbers behind it with property a, property b, and then the tenant buyer. What does that all look like? Speaker 2
Sure. So at the time, I would refinance them at eighty percent loan to value. Mhmm. And then what I would do at back then, the arms were very popular. And I'm surprised they're not popular in this market condition because of higher rates, but the rates were roughly about where they're at now. They're about seven and a half, but I would do a five two or a five one or five two arm. So, the interest rates, I would get in about five and a quarter. So they'd be fixed for about two to three years, and after that, they would reset. Mhmm. So and and then they would take a cash out. So I would only put a hundred dollars down because they're taking all this money. So in a sense, they're thinking I'm putting all this capital down, you know, that type of thing because they're getting the money to move. I'm solving their problem. Mhmm. Then I would, so I don't know. They whatever they pull out, let's say I pull out I I don't remember because it was so long ago. Let's say I pull we refinance for a hundred and fifty thousand. They might had a mortgage for eighty thousand. They take that difference, and they would go ahead and use that money for the down payment for the next home. Because all they needed at that time was, like, about five or ten percent down Speaker 0
Gotcha. Speaker 2
Of the new home because they'll do a conventional loan on that. And then I would make the payments on the existing home. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
And then Speaker 0
You're buying that existing home, subject to the the mortgage. Correct? Speaker 2
No. I that one, I wasn't buying. It was it's kinda, but I was doing a rent to own. I went under the contract Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
With a lease agreement with a seller allowing me to sublet it. Speaker 0
Got it. Okay. Understood. I gotcha. Speaker 2
Now but back then, I wasn't doing subject twos yet. I was doing the lease option. Nowadays I would do a subject to or an agreement for d. There's different strategies nowadays, but now definitely I would do that because I want the depreciation back then. I didn't know about the whole depreciation thing as much. Sure. So so that's kinda how I do. And then I would put a tenant buyer in there, and I would cash flow a minimum of about five hundred dollars a month. Speaker 0
I see. Speaker 2
I did one yeah. Let me give you a quick one. I did one in Orlando not too long ago just before COVID. The seller was a realtor. She wanted, a hundred and seventy nine thousand dollars for this Speaker 0
home. Okay. Speaker 2
And, I put, I put a hundred dollars down. She wanted the market rent. At the time there was thirteen fifty a month, thirteen fifty. I negotiated down to twelve hundred dollars Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
Because I said, I'm taking care of the maintenance repairs and I only had to put two months down. Upfront. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Okay. Nice. But I only put a hundred dollars down to lock it up. And I said, when I take possession of the property, I'll give you the remaining balance of the two thousand three hundred. Speaker 0
Okay. And she agreed to that? Speaker 2
Yep. Yep. Perfectly fine. And also she agreed to, as long as I make my payment on or before the due date, a hundred and fifty dollars came off of the purchase price as long as I made my monthly payment on time Nice. Each month. Right. So so then, and she had somebody I said, you know what? At least she know I'm gonna take the property, so we'll close in a roughly in about forty five, sixty days. No rush. If you need ninety days, no problem. So then, so paying her twelve hundred dollars a month and a hundred and seventy nine thousand. So then I went out and found my tenant buyer. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Sold it to him, went on a contract for two hundred and fourteen thousand, And his rent to me was fifteen hundred. Speaker 0
Nice. Speaker 2
And he put first, last security and three percent down. So he put a little bit more than eleven thousand dollars down. So out of eleven thousand, I had to give her her remaining balance of the two thousand three hundred. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Yep. Speaker 2
So it was a that was a thirty month contract. And, in in the contract, he's the tenant buyer is supposed to notify me ninety days if he's gonna buy that property. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
I didn't these guys are good people. Had no issues. Over thirty months, I reached out to him maybe twice because a hurricane came through. I wanna make sure everything was good. Yeah. And, good, good people. And then so we're coming to the end of the agreement and he had forty five days left. Technically, he breached the contract. He was supposed to notify me. He never did. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
I go, you're gonna re are you gonna purchase this property? He goes, oh, yeah. I wanna my carrier here, reach out to this loan officer, see what they could do. Now remember, I sold it to them for two hundred and fourteen thousand. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
His his appraisal came in at two hundred and sixty five thousand. I could have been a jerk saying, sorry, but I didn't wanna do it. These guys are good people. Sure. So they got fifty thousand dollars of equity. The seller loved it. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And I ended up hundred dollars, I end up making a little bit more than fifty thousand when you add all the cash flow and everything up on a hundred dollar investment. Speaker 0
That's amazing. And I and the other thing I love about it is it really does sound like it was win win win. Right? Everybody won. Speaker 2
Everybody won. Speaker 0
In that deal. Yeah. Because, you know, we get a bad rap as real estate investors that we're just greedy jerks trying to rip people off. And it's like, if you do things right and you treat people well, you're actually just solving people's problems and adding value, and everybody can win, in a particular deal. So I love that. Alright. So so and that has that kind you've you've you mentioned subject to and, contract for deed or agreement for deed. So it sounds like you've added to your tool belt as far as different things that you can different tools you can pull out depending on what the need is. What's really your your focus these days? I mean, what's is that your that that, example you just gave, is that kind of what your focus is right right now? Speaker 2
That's one of them. Well, I've been focusing on mobile home parks. Purchased five mobile home parks last year, one this year. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
So I've been focusing on that because the higher interest rates and affordability, I've been focusing on that. Yeah. But, I do still do residential. I have over six hundred bird dogs that feed me deals. So, like, trashmen. Yeah. Trashmen, they work in neighborhoods. They know homes are sitting empty. Landscapers, snowplow removals, pool, where I really get my home run deals are hospice nurses. So yeah. So yeah. How Speaker 0
how does that work? Speaker 2
I just did one not too long ago. K. I did one not too long ago. So there's two different ways. Like, the trash manos guys, they take it on Zillow. They text it to a phone number. Then my VA will take it and run with it and chase it down. Those guys because I'm not a licensed realtor. Mhmm. I'm an investor, so I can pay a referral fee. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
So those guys, I'll give, like, five hundred dollars on those. But the hospice nurses, I had one where the daughter called me up. Her parents are in their mid eighties, and the father's in hospice. And they're to a point now where at night, the mother she's elderly. She can't help him to the restroom. So they had to move in with a daughter and the daughter lived over three hours away. And their parents have owned this home more than thirty years. So they called me up, and it was just too much for them to get the house ready. I said, you know what? Just take what you want. Whatever you don't want, leave behind. I mean, they left holiday decorations, every everything you can think of, tools, couches, dishes, everything was left behind, cable boxes, modems. So I get a cash offer and a seller financing offer. They went with a seller financing offer at a four percent interest rate. My payment to them is nine hundred ninety one dollars a month, and I got zero down with two months with no mortgage payments because I had to get the property ready and cleaned up. So then I brought a auction company in. We auction all the things off in the property, use that money for some light cosmetics. I added seventy nine thousand dollars to the purchase price. I wrapped it to my end buyer. His rate is seven and three quarters. He's paying me close to twenty two hundred dollars a month. Out of the twenty two hundred dollars a month, I give the seller nine ninety one a month, month, and he put thirty thousand dollars down. Speaker 0
My gosh. So Wow. Yeah. So That that's amazing. You've given some really good details on several case studies already. So I mean okay. Zoom out a little bit. How have you done? You know, this is where you can share as much as you want, obviously, but did you make back the ninety percent that you'd lost before, or how how have you done financially in the last Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Way way past the ninety percent. Percent. I mean, you're talking I lost that. I was in my early thirties, and now I'm in my fifties. So, yeah, I mean, definitely moved on from that past. Right. You Speaker 0
know? Right. Well, I mean, that's that's fantastic. What would you say, you know, led to the kind of from that low point of losing most of the the money you had made? I mean, mindset wise or just just, I guess, your mental approach, what what was it that really led to your success? Speaker 2
Mindset is one of them and surrounding yourself with like minded individuals to learn from and lift from. Because even at DM I mean Mhmm. I I know quite a bit, but even at DMV, I go out there and start talking to other people, and I learn from other people. And you're always networking and, like, doing business together. Like, you know, I was on a podcast, and somebody said to me, like, what is the one thing that's different in our industry versus other industries? What Mhmm. Or what was the biggest thing that was the moment in our industry? Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And I would say we're in our industry, your competitor, your competitor can be your business partner. Speaker 0
Mhmm. I love that. Speaker 2
That's probably the you know? Speaker 0
Yeah. So before I I I do have some some rapid fire questions, but I I a couple things. First off, I know, there's there's you you spoke earlier about, may have been on your show, may have been on mine. I honestly can't remember at this point, but, about policing our own and just kind of, really being there to kind of, in a sense, self regulate from an industry standpoint. What would you say are some controversial or maybe controversial strategies or tactics that maybe some gurus are teaching or people are learning that you think are problematic? You don't have to call anybody out or anything. But what's a controversial approach to the creative finance space that you're seeing these days? Speaker 2
The biggest, biggest, biggest one is, subject to assignments with the wholesaling and a subject to deal. That is the and it's only come on in the last couple years. I've been in this business a long time and, subject tos just so people are aware of what a subject to is is you're keeping you're buying the property, keeping the existing mortgage in the seller's name, and they're transferring the deed over to you and you take ownership. Mhmm. So and it's been around for investors, and it's an advanced strategy, and it took me a while to learn the strategy. Yeah. So it's designed for us investors to come in, buy a property, and you stay in the middle. Typically, you buy it, you hold it, you you rent it, one of those type of things. Yeah. But if you sell it to an end buyer, you have to qualify them because there's consumer protection regulations to make sure that they can afford the property. Mhmm. Well, what's happening is what's called an assignment where they lock up the deal and they sell off the deal to somebody else and they think they're out of it and they walk away. They think that now. But what they're doing is they're not qualifying. They're just looking, oh my god. I'm gonna get thirty thousand dollars to sign this contract. Oh, wow. I'm gonna make money. Right. But they're not qualifying the end buyer correctly to make sure they can afford that property. And if they put that end buyer into that property and then the end buyer defaults, now the seller's mortgage is in jeopardy. So you're destroying the seller's mortgage. Now they're gonna say, oh, they're gonna be foreclosed on in the first place. Well, it's not the case. They might not have been foreclosed on. You don't know. They could have sold that property. And a lot of times, some of these people might not even been in a financial situation. Right. That's why for me, if they're not financially distressed, distressed, I won't even pitch a subject to. I'll pitch a different strategy, like an agreement for you because you can still do these creative seller financing strategies of protecting the seller at the same time. Right. That is probably the one biggest one, and I think it's probably gonna become regulated because they're destroying the industry right now, because you should not be doing assignments on a subject to. You should it it or have an experienced investor that you're working with that you know they buy it. So if something happens, they make them it's happened to me. I've had I've had buyers or tenants in my properties that stopped making payments, and I had to keep making payments because that's what we agreed to. We agreed to that we're gonna make those payments on that. And then the other thing, what they're doing is they're doing what's called a performance deed or deed in lieu. Like, I I had one of somebody that reached out to me and was like, oh, after thirty days, if I if, you know, if I don't make the payment, you get the property back after thirty days. Speaker 0
Right. So they're they're having they're getting the deed in lieu signed at closing. Right? Like, like, the transfer of the property. You know, I've done deed deeds in lieu when I'm in the process of foreclosing, and I'm saying, hey. As the as the lender in this case, hey. You know, I I don't actually want to foreclose. You know? Would you like to provide the property to me? And we can forget this whole foreclosure thing, but I'm not getting a deed in lieu signed at at the closing of of, you know Speaker 2
And and they're saying at the thirty days delinquent, you get that property back to the seller. That's how they're selling this. Wow. And then they're selling it. But hear me out for this one. Yeah. So I had a phone call that the investor purchased a subject to, from a wholesaler that was doing assignment and they use a transactional coordinator and they wrapped it, put an end buyer and then buyer put fifty thousand dollars down. Well, first of all, you always wanna have escrow of money. So if something happens, you wanna make that payment. Right. Well, what they did is they use, a loan servicing company like Madison. Yeah. So when the buyer sends a check-in, they didn't know this, that the servicing company holds that check for how long? Speaker 0
Two weeks. Two weeks. Okay. Yeah. Speaker 2
Right. So they held that check for two weeks. Well, the buyer, the first payment was on the fifth. The second payment was on the ninth. The third payment was on the eighteenth. So when Madison receives that, the loan servicer receives that payment and they disperse the funds, right, you're two weeks later, you're a month behind. Speaker 0
Right, right, right. Speaker 2
The lady called up. She goes, I want my property back. Speaker 0
Wow. Yep. So would you Speaker 2
say Lot. Speaker 0
I mean and I know there are a lot of people teaching these strategies that and that, what would you say what's the advice for the person, the new newbie investor who's getting taught these strategies to do, like, an assignment of a subject to? What should they do instead? Speaker 2
It it's crazy why you do an assignment because you can stay in the deal and make so much more money. That's what blows me away. All right. I'm gonna make ten, dollars fifteen thousand. I had somebody in my program. She had a deal that came in. She's been wholesaling for five years. And she this property needed about thirty five thousand dollars worth of work. Okay. And, she didn't have the capital because she was had it in a fix and flip. And so I'm like, okay. How much money are you gonna make? I'm gonna ask for fifteen thousand. When it's all said and done, what do you think she's gonna she said she'll walk away. I'll walk away with eight to eight to twelve thousand dollars, somewhere in that area. Mhmm. While we went through the the whole analyzing the deal Yeah. She was making hundred and seventy one thousand dollars over five years instead. Speaker 0
Doing it your way. Wow. Speaker 2
And and using and using your buyer's down payment. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
You use your buyer's down payment to get in a deal, and then you use that money in reserve so something happens. Right. Speaker 0
Right. I gotcha. You don't just make a transaction fee. You're staying in the deal. Gotcha. Speaker 2
And and she's cash flowing seven fifty a month on that deal. Speaker 0
That's amazing. Before we get to some rapid fire questions and and a little bit more about your your business today, I know you recently went through a health scare. Do you mind sharing a little bit about that? Speaker 2
Sure. About a year ago, my hair just started coming back. I had stage three. So and, yeah, it kicked out. It felt like I went through I felt that I went through COVID twice in life because I couldn't be around people, because my immune system was wiped. I had, tautistler stage three spread my abdomen, my shoulder, my neck. You know, I don't I don't wanna get into Yeah. You know, I went through the universe of Miami and Mhmm. You know, I had to bring my vaccine in and I became a lab rat, and they think it might have been from the vaccine, believe it or not. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
You know, it's kinda it's kinda crazy. Because I went to I spent I didn't wanna get vaccinated, but we had to go to Italy and we spent a month and a half in Italy and I had to get vaccinated. So, but, yeah, I was lost thirty pounds, lost my hair. So Wow. You know, I'm at peace. I'm really at peace. I was healthy before and I bounced back really quick and they really think a lot of it had to do with my mindset. I went into it. I was strong. I was gonna, I'm kicking this butt and did, I did a lot of meditation, Doctor. Joe Dispenza. I don't know if you know, Joe Dispenza stuff, meditation, Great stuff. And just did a lot of that in healthy and really focused my mind. And, you know, with his stuff, it's about, you know, controlling your mind, and he believes that your mind can heal your body. You know, that type of thing. Yeah. So but Speaker 0
Well Yeah. Speaker 2
I I feel good. Speaker 0
Yeah. No. No. It's fantastic that you're at peace and you feel good. I'm I'm so thankful you pulled through and everything. That's gotta be incredibly scary. I mean, there's, the one quote about a healthy man has a thousand, wishes or something like that, and a, a sick man has only one, something like that. I know I butchered it, but, you know, what was going through your mind when at the kind of at the low point, if you don't mind? Speaker 2
Yeah. My low point was really, like, I was sick. And my low point, like, for around Christmas time, like, like, it was written around, like, Thanksgiving through Christmas for about forty five days. I was just I just to walk from here to like your door behind you. Yeah. If I, I felt like I was, I ran three miles. I was so out of breath. I had no cells. My no cells to carry the oxygen through my body. You know, that was just like, you know, you because that's what they do. They just kill everything in your body type of thing for people. Right. Right. But, I just wanted to try to, like, take something, just sleep and try to get through it, like, that type of thing. Yeah. Speaker 0
Gotcha. Speaker 2
But I just kept fighting and just I I couldn't move around. God bless my other half. She's there helping me, taking care of me. But Mhmm. But I still my mind's that last week because it was the treatments were brutal. It was Monday through Friday Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
For six to eight each day of the week, Monday through Friday, for six to eight hours a day, I sat there. So it was one week on, two weeks off, one week on, total four weeks. So the first two weeks, I it was okay. I kinda fought through it. Sure. I was sick, you know, that type of thing. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Third week the third cycle, I was like, and then the last one was just you're done. Couldn't eat anything. Speaker 0
Yeah. That that's I I just that's wild. But you really think that the your Speaker 2
hundred percent. You know? That's amazing. Speaker 0
So, I imagine your business took a little bit of a hit during that time. How how has it rebounded since then? Speaker 2
That's the good thing. That's why we like notes, the passive income. Speaker 0
That's right. Speaker 2
I I literally that's what I use, my my passive income, my notes, my rentals. Yeah. I wasn't doing any real estate deals. I did have some of my members and, you know, I'll jump on once a week. And a lot of them couple of them knew something was off because I was wearing a hat at that point, but I didn't tell people that I was sick during that time period. But I remember sitting here where I'm at now, and I usually teach for about an hour and a half. And an hour into it, I'm like, you know, I I gotta go, guys. Wow. You know? But Yeah. Yeah. I mean, thank god I had the passive income coming in. Yeah. Speaker 0
You know? For sure. I mean, if Speaker 2
you helped. Speaker 0
Yeah. If you were tied to a w two, I mean, that with not much savings, that that wouldn't have been good. Right? Speaker 2
No. No. Speaker 0
Awesome. Well, before I get to my rapid fire questions, talk to the listener about how you do mentorship and and what else do you have going on with your business. Speaker 2
Sure. Just Google me, Mark Monroe. That's m a r k Monroe, m o n r o e, Real Estate, or Mark minus sign Monroe dot com. Just follow me. I have a pretty large, Facebook group about a hundred and sixty six thousand members over there in seller financing homes. So we're always educating. And on Monday nights, I do free Zooms for people that wanna learn seller financing strategies. So we do free Zooms, and then I do have a mentorship program, but I only bring three to, like, five people on at a time. I don't bring a lot of people on because I'm still actively investing. I'm doing it. Mhmm. I don't wanna make it a full time thing. I'm here to help people because that's how I learned. And I came from nothing, and I had no money. So I'd be I was that bird dog, if you will, for other investors, how I started out back in the day. So I kind of like to pay it forward, and I really like people, that, you know, don't think they can do it. Those are the ones that I really wanna help. You know? And it's the two things I really out of everything that I enjoy in real estate, it's not about the money. Money's nice, but Mhmm. The two things that I really enjoy is when I'm putting a tenant buyer into one of my properties Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And they didn't think they could become homeowners. They have good income, but the credit or whatever Mhmm. That when they become homeowners and they refinance or put that prop into their name Yeah. That's one of the most things I love helping. I I like finding, like, you know, families with small children that really that. And then I like helping, investors, people that don't think they can, make it in real estate. Speaker 0
Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2
Now one thing I one thing I do wanna say. Mhmm. When you're investing in real estate, no matter if you're doing notes, you're doing whatever, you can't quit. When you fail, don't look at it as quitting. You just learn from it and move on. That's probably one of the biggest, biggest things where I see people come in. Oh, I failed at this. I'm gonna quit. You just look at it as learning, pick up, and move on because we all fail. If you're not failing, you're not learning. So keep that in mind. That's one of the biggest things. Speaker 0
So it doesn't mean you should quit real estate investing if you have a if a deal goes wrong. Right? You should, Correct. Maybe maybe adjust what you're doing a little bit, but doesn't mean you just quit entirely. I love that. Awesome. We got a few minutes here for some rapid fire questions. You ready, Mark? Speaker 2
I am. Speaker 0
Alright. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you? Speaker 2
Good question. Misunderstand. Maybe they don't think I'm approachable, and you definitely am very approachable. Just come up, talk to me. You know? Speaker 0
For sure. I can say that I you are. If if you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would you choose? Speaker 2
Who was that? Probably the guy that ran GE, back in the day. Jack, what was Speaker 0
his name? Welch, I think. Yeah. Speaker 2
Yeah. That'd Speaker 0
be a good one. I don't think we've had that answer on the show. Speaker 2
Jack Welch. Yeah. He was the master. Speaker 0
Yeah. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with it? Speaker 2
Invest it. Real estate notes. Yeah. Probably notes. You know? Speaker 0
What is the challenge that you're facing in your business right now? Speaker 2
Big people. But I adjusted my business, so I don't need good people. Mhmm. I would say, yeah, I would say good people. You know? Just people that that, don't follow through what they say. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Sure. What's one occupation that, yeah, on a that you you've never done that you would love to try? Speaker 2
Pilot. Speaker 0
Pilot. I like that. What would you say how about a book or two that you could recommend for our listener? Speaker 2
Rich Dad Poor Dad. We all love that one. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
And, that I mean, that's a classic. That's why everybody gets into it. You know? Yep. It's true story and then, never split the difference. Speaker 0
That's a great one. Chris Yeah. Chris Boss about negotiation. You asked me this question on your show, but what is one question that you'd wish I had asked but I haven't asked? Speaker 2
What's one question that you have not asked? Wow. I think you covered the same thing. I said you stumped me and I stumped you. We stumped each other. Speaker 0
You did. You did. Yeah. Speaker 2
You know, how about how about a hobbies? My hobbies? Yeah. I love traveling. That's my hobbies. Traveling and good food. I like traveling to places where I've never been and trying their cuisine the food that like, for example, I was in Tokyo and I'll try anything. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
And, I had raw horse tongue, believe it or not. Really? It was delicious. It was so good, sliced really thin. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
I love cooked scallops, but I hated their the raw scallops or chewing those I Speaker 0
love cooked scallops too. Yeah. Speaker 2
So that's one of the things. I guess that's a good question. Speaker 0
Yeah. And you, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but your financial abundance that you you've experienced allows you to do all that all that travel. Right? Speaker 2
One yeah. One hundred percent. It's just and and then also, you just I live way below my means, way below my means, so I don't need those. You know, I just enjoy life. That's kinda what it's about right now. Just enjoy life, travel, be around good friends, family, and just, you know, especially after my health scare, life is short. You gotta enjoy every moment of Speaker 0
it. Love that. That's really good. Well, Mark Monroe, where, you already mentioned, but say it one more time. Where can our listeners find you? Speaker 2
Just Google, Mark Monroe real estate investor. Just Google it. I'll come up that way. And, or Mark, the minus sign, Monroe, m o n r o e, dot com. So thanks so much for having me on. I really appreciate it, Jane. Speaker 0
Yep. And to to the listener out there, we thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us, and that is your time. Thanks, everyone. Take care. Speaker 1
Thank you for joining us on From Adversity to Abundance. We hope today's episode has equipped you with valuable insights and practical advice to elevate your real estate journey. For more inspiring stories and resources, visit us at w w w dot adversity to abundance dot com. If this episode has inspired you, please share it with a friend who could also benefit from our conversation. Together, let's turn adversity into abundance. Until next time, keep building your mental fitness and your real estate empire. Speaker 0
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