BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - I Replaced My $80K Salary with 2 Real Estate Deals Per Year

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Five years ago, Martin Castro-Silva was working at a bank, earning $80,000 per year. Not a bad gig, but one thing was eating at him—he was missing the moments with his two kids, three and one years old at the time. It wasn’t until Martin picked up a pattern that everything changed—all his wealthy clients at the bank were in real estate, and one was willing to show him the ropes. So, using the limited savings he (and his mom!) had, he took a chance with zero investing experience. He knocked his first deal out of the park and replaced HALF of his salary while working on the side. This had to be it. THIS was his ticket to freedom.  Now, in 2026, Martin has an income-replacing machine of a real estate business—he completely controls his schedule and has put his family in their dream home. He’ll talk about exactly how he found, funded, and profited on his first house flips, the huge trap that most beginners will easily fall into, and the reason why telling everyone you invest in real estate is one of the smartest moves you can make. Ready to replace your salary like Martin? He did it with just two deals per year—so why can’t you?  In This Episode We Cover How to replace your salary with active real estate deals (even in 2026!) Using a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to fund real estate deals faster  Quit your job for real estate? What Martin asked himself before he walked away The big mistake that cost Martin thousands of dollars on his house flip (easily avoidable!) The best way to find real estate deals that’s 100% free (but requires some talking) Afraid to buy your first real estate deal? Martin has some advice for you!  And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠ttps://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1261 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years ago, Martin Castro Silva was working at a bank making $80 grand a year. Not a bad gig, but one thing was eating at him. He was missing the moments with his two kids who were three and one years old at the time. It wasn't until Martin picked up a pattern that everything changed. And that pattern was all his wealthy clients at the bank were in real estate. And one of them was even willing to show him the ropes. Martin knocked his first deal out of the park and replaced half of his salary while working on the side. This had to be it.

This was his ticket to freedom. By the second deal, he quit his job, and by the third, he was building an income replacing machine. Just last year alone, Martin did 11 real estate deals. Nothing super creative, no sketchy financing, all using a repeatable formula that anyone can replicate. Now he owns his schedule. He can dedicate time to his kids, and he put his wife and children into their dream home.

And it only happened because he took the chance on his first deal. Today, Martin will show you how to do it too. All right, Martin. Well, tell us about your background and what got you into real estate. Well, I was having my second child. I wanted to be the owner of my time. And I was looking to do something that would give me the freedom to just be with my kids. Yeah.

My background is in banking. I worked for Chase Bank for 12 years. I was working at a Fort Laudal office in South Florida, a very affluent area. And I've noticed that there was a pattern of clients that the ones that were in real estate were the ones that were doing well of. What kind of clients were you servicing? Yes, I was a private client banker. So I was sitting with the big sharks. Okay.

So for those who don't know, when you go to the bank, they have bankers for regular people and then they have private banking. Some of these banks have a special branch or a special person you can go to and do private banking when you got the. real dollars. So you're saying you were helping the big shots. Correct. Yes. And you started to notice that a lot of the big shots were dealing in real estate. Exactly. Yeah. They either own real estate. They were, you know, agents, wholesalers. They were somehow connected to real estate. So I met this guy, the young guy, he was coming every week to do a wire transfer to close on house. And everything he would come, he would tell me in a story. I'm buying this house for this much. I'm going to paint it. I'm going to do very little stuff, spruce it up, and resell it, make 20, 25,000.

Remember, it was the pandemic time, like 2021. I was like, what? How is this guy making $20,000 in a month, in two months? I couldn't believe it. So everything he would come, I would try to always help him and learn more about him. Okay. So you were using him kind of like a little mentor when he would come in there. Yes.

And get some information. Yes, yes. When we got a little closer, you know. And he entrust me to bigger packets. He's like, hey, listen to this podcast. You know, it's going to be good education, good information for you. Since you say you want to start in real estate or want to do something about it. So interest rates were super low.

I took that advantage and refinance my home. Okay. That's on capital. And then I would just bug him, hey, when are you going to have a deal? When are you going to have a deal? When are you going to have a deal? And then he introduced me to a wholesaling company down south. And they were able to get me my first deal and help me with some finance.

into. Okay. Well, tell us about that deal. What'd you, what'd you buy? What'd you pay for? What'd you do with it? It was a town home in city called Lake Worth. How far was that from where you were? 45 minutes. Okay. That's not bad. So I bought it. I didn't have any money then. And my mom had just refinanced because she had like a 5% interest rate and then what the interest rate went down. She had like a 2.5, 2.75. She got pulled some money. And I told my mom, hey, mom, I think, you know, we should get into real estate. This is what I've been hearing from other people. I was trying to lure my mom into getting into real estate and trust me. So she's like, oh, but I don't know. What if he doesn't sell? No, everything is selling right now. You know, people are paying. People want, you know, bigger houses.

So we got that townhouse. And this is what happened. So we bought it in February of 2022. I was still working in the bank. We bought it for 200. It only needed like about 25 to 30,000. Did you pay cash or did you get a loan? We pay 50% of it cash and 50% we got a loan. They gave us like a hard money loan interest only and I started rehabbing it myself. I was hiring contractors here and like more not contractors like handiments to do just a bathroom to do. We did the two bathrooms and we also did the kitchen. But the thing is I was working so I didn't have the time and I didn't know. that in this business you need to be fast. So it took me seven months to rehab just to do two bathrooms and a kitchen.

That's insane. Yeah. Yeah. So we were paying a thousand bucks on interest expense each month. Yeah. When it was finally ready around August, we listed it. I found an agent that charged me very little commission because I was trying to save money, trying to make the most I could, but didn't like the service that I got.

Of course. You get what you pay for. You get what you pay for, right? Yeah. We listed it for 320. We ended up selling it for 310. They actually asked me for a concession or something like that. And I said yes.

And I shouldn't have. I could afford it a little bit more, but I didn't know better. But even with all those hurdles, I was able, at the end, like net net, I was able to net $37,000. Hey, that's a win. Exactly. Yeah. And even after like taking so long, paying $7,000 in holding costs, I was like, what? had I taken action faster, I would have made more money.

But I was so surprised. And then that was the moment when I clicked and everything changed. Because I was like, if I make this two times, three times in a year, I'm going to already surpass my annual salary. So I need to do this more. What were you making at the time at the bank? Anywhere between 70 to 85,000 because I was a private client banker. So my salary was based on commission.

I had a small base and then everything commission. each month. You get what you sell. So you made about, I don't know, close to half your salary on that first deal. Yeah. That's the proof of a concept. So it took you seven months to do that. So how long until you did your next deal? I bought it like a few months later, but I started working on it full time, four months later. Full time. So you left your job in the middle of your second renovation? Absolutely. And my goal was to replicate my salary the very first year. Yeah. So I bought the first deal in February. I sold that in September. I bought my second deal, November. I remember because it was Thanksgiving time. How did you find the second deal to buy? The second deal. So interest rates were low. I also took

at a banish of free finance in my own house. So I went ahead and this guy that I was telling you about. The wholesaler from the bank. The wholesaler, yeah. He found me a deal and he introduced me to the second deal. But he told me the second deal was two hours north. But I was like, you know what? Let me just Do it because the price point was more aligned to my resources. It was less expensive than where you were. Okay. So what did you pay for that second one? For that one, I pay 170.

Okay. And you said you took out a line of credit. Correct. Is that what you used to buy the second one? Yes. How did you convince your wife to let you spend your entire line of credit on buying a flip? I showed them the profits of the other one. It's like, I have a spreadsheet.

Look, this is what we made. You know, if you're okay with it, let's go for the next one. I don't know the market, but we'll find out. These are the numbers. And she said yes. She gave me the support. Yeah. That had to feel awesome.

Yeah. All right. So you bought the second one for 170. Okay. How much work did it need? It was the very first time that I bought a single family home. I was like, my knees were shaking. Oh my gosh.

I was like, okay. This is a different monster because I had to do everything. You know, I need to do floors, paint. The roof was already done. But I had to renovate closet doors, floors, painted house, two bathrooms, a kitchen. I had budgeted $40,000. I ended up spending $50,000. That's not too bad.

Yeah. That's not too bad. People go a whole lot more over budget than that typically on a first or second deal. So you got it done for 50. And what did you sell it for? Oh, here's a good lesson. I was coming from the south, right? Completely different market.

People paying over asking a lot, 30, 40, 50,000 over asking for single family homes. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to price it high. I'm going to set the market. You got too big for your britches. You did your first deal. And you thought, okay, okay. But did your agent agree with that?

Or was your agent trying to list it for less? No, they told me, hey, listen, the ARB in this market, it's going to be 300, 309 the most. I was like, no, I'm going to list it, 325, 335. I'm going to get my price. With all of your years of expertise, you decided. We're in life. A week goes by, I got a cash offer, $300,000. Which is what you originally planned on.

I turned it down. No, Martin. Yeah. Martin, turned it down. I sat on the house for four months and asked me, ask me how much I sold it for. What did you sell it for? 300,000. And I bet it wasn't cash.

It was not cash. It was financing. Oh, man. Four months to sell that. But you sold it for 300. So that means you made profit. How much you make? I made about $35,000 on that one.

Still a win. So at least you got paid to learn a lesson because some people lose money when they learn a lesson. Correct. All right. We've got more amazing story from our investor, Martin Castro Silva, right after the break. As a host, the last thing I want to do or have time for is to play accountant and banker. But that's what I was doing every weekend, flipping between a bunch of apps, bank statements, and receipts, trying to sort it all out by property and figure out if I was actually making any money.

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learning about his journey to becoming a full-time real estate. investor. Let's jump back into it. When I was close to finish that one deal, the one, the first single family home, the same wholesaler reached out and presented me another deal, 30 minutes north. He was selling it to me a little bit cheaper than the first one, but I just didn't have me money because I had used my money to buy that deal. So I found a private lender, you know, just separate another client from the bank. Look at you using their resources.

He gave me a hard money loan. He's an agent. So I remember telling him, hey, listen, if you give me the money, you get to list this deal. He's like, let's do it. Yeah. So he let me 150,000 using the first house, the first single family house as a collateral. And then I used that money to buy the second one. The whole seller had presented me.

So you took a line of credit out. You cross-collateralized that first asset. Okay. Okay. Exactly. I like it. Yeah. I like it.

Was it the same size renovation or did you, was it a bigger? Yeah, same by box. A little bit more. It was like 45, close to 50,000. Same square footage. Three bedroom, two bath. He needed everything. You needed a roof.

He needed floors, paint, kitchen, bathrooms, everything. Full cut job. He gave me the money. I bought it. And then I learned my lesson. Price it right. So I priced it at $2.99, the second single family home in Sebastian. And I got it under contract in six hours.

That's what I'm talking about. Lesson learned. Lesson learned. So you made the same amount, but you made it a whole lot faster this time. Correct. Correct. And I was like, yeah, I believe I closed those two deals in the same week. And so at this point, you were full time in real estate. So you had left your job. That had to be scary, though. Like I get, like I understand that you wanted to move faster, but just leaving your job. That's a big step. What gave you that confidence? I just didn't want to miss any of the moments with my kids. I had back then. I had a three-year-old and a one-year-old, a newborn. And I just took a leap of faith. I talked a lot with my wife. I was like, hey, listen, worst-case scenario, I can always come back to corporate. Yeah. You know, but I want to do something that fulfills me that gives me motivation because I had lost a little bit of the passion that I had for banking and all those years.

I just wanted to change. All right, Martin, these are incredible lessons to learning your first couple of deals. And how cool to get paid for your first couple lessons. I'm very interested to learn what it was like going off on your own now as a full-time investor who had some experience. So where did you go after your third deal? Well, one thing that I learned from bigger packets is that you got to let everyone know you're an investor. Yes, right. So I was talking to everyone, you know, Walmart, anywhere.

Anywhere I go, it's like. Anybody who'd listen. Exactly. Hey, I buy houses, you know, I can buy them cash now that I kind of have a little bit of experience. experience how to finance them, how to get him. So I talked to a neighbor of one of my projects, because I've noticed his property was very distressed. The loan was super high. This was a neighbor from that first single family home? Same street right next to it. Oh, it was next door. Yeah. It was the literal neighbor. Yes, yes. And I told him, if you ever want to sell your home, let me know

and may be able to help you. You know, I either buy myself or find you a buyer. You know, I come from the south, so I know a lot of people trying to move. So it's like, like, oh, you know what? I do want to sell it, but I'm not ready yet. Okay. So we exchanged numbers and that was it. When I was almost done, ready to close on that house, the sale? The sale. Yeah. He called me up and I bought that house for $150,000, which was $20,000 cheaper than what the whole set that had told me that very first. Was it the same size house? It even has one more room. It was a four-two. Oh, okay. Okay. How about how much work? Did it need more work? Yeah, I need a little bit more work, but still the budget was about 55, 50 to 60,000.

Hey, that's works out. You know, this is something I learned this from, I think it was Dolmar Cross who flips. He flips on a TV show out in Florida, actually, in Tampa. But he would always put a sign up in the yard of the houses he was renovating that said this project is being renovated by, you know, and it'd have his LLC in the phone number so that the neighbors knew. And he said he would buy deals like that. The neighbors would call him. And so we started doing that. So I've done deals where we've bought and done multiple houses on the same street just by letting people know. And it's also just good business to let your neighbors know what you're doing because they'll keep an eye on your house for you and make sure, you know, they'll be like, hey, and nobody's been at your house in a couple of days, right? Or they'll tell you, hey, there was somebody creeping peeking in the windows, right? It's just good, good to have the neighbors working for you. So you

bought that neighbor's house. How did you finance that one? Did you use the line of credit or did you do like a traditional bank? No, this time I partnered up with my siblings. It was almost the end of the pandemic era and they had seen my results. So they sold, they made a profit on the sale of their homes. And then we partnered up the three of us. So we bought that house cash. We put the money into it and we made a home run. We probably made like $65,000. Oh, nice, man. So did you split it all even? between three of you? Yes. That's so cool that you were able to bring your family into it.

Yeah. So tell me what the sale price was? We sold that house for 320,000. Okay. So this was 2023? 2023. Here's what's cool about this story is you never took no for an answer. Like if you didn't have the money, you figured out a way to get the money.

You weren't afraid to talk to your friends and family. And I think all of that stems from a couple of things. things. A, you have a very strong belief in yourself and your ability to hustle and get things done, but it sounds like you also have a great family structure at home where your wife supported you and everything that you're doing. And you had great motivation and wanting to be able to spend time with your children. And I think that, like, that's the formula. Like, the formula is, obviously you need to be able to find good deals. But the real formula is you have a strong reason. why and you don't take no for an answer. I think too many times investors tell themselves no, right?

They say, ah, I would do that deal, but, you know, but my credit's not in the right place or, but I'm not quite sure where I'm going to find the money. And they let the butts and the no stop them. And I think a lot of that is because there's fear. And that fear is either fear of failure. They don't want to fail or let people down. But I think a lot of the time, too, it's like fear of success. What happens if it works? I got to keep doing this, right? I think that your belief in yourself and your foundation is really what helps set you up because it just sounds like if you run into a wall, you would just go talk to somebody and figure out how they were doing it and then you would try to replicate it. And it sometimes is that simple. Like it's just surround yourself with people

who are doing it and figure out how they're doing it because I promise you guys, you're going to run into a brick wall. I've done hundreds of deals and I still run into brick walls all the time, but you've got to figure out a way to get through it. You know, when I got started, my very first deal, I ran into a brick wall. I told my buddy I was going to buy his house and then I couldn't find the money. And I called my buddy who's an investor. And I said, hey, can you buy this deal? Because I told my friend I would and now I can't buy it.

And he told me the same thing. He said, Henry, yeah, I'll buy that deal. It's a good deal. But if you're going to be in this business, you need to go figure it out. And that's the best part about real estate is there's a way you can piece a deal together. you just got to be able to do it safely. And so, man, it's such a cool, such a cool, cool story. All right, we've got more amazing story from our investor, Martin Castro Silva, right after the break.

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covered. Have NREG review your insurance with someone who gets investing at NRE.com slash BP pod. That's N-R-E-I-G.com slash B-P pod. There are two kinds of real estate investors, those who have reviewed their insurance and those who think that they have. Most don't realize their coverage wasn't built for how they actually invest. Vacancy periods, rehabs, short-term rentals, or LLC-held properties. These gaps surface only when filing claims. That's why investors work with NREG. They specialize exclusively in real estate investors, understanding portfolios, risk at scale, and cash flow protection. One claim can erase years of returns. If you own a rental property, don't assume you're covered. Have NREG review your insurance with someone who gets investing at NRE.com slash BPOD. That's N-R-E-I-G-E-G.

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So here we are in just the beginning of 2026. What does your business look like now? How many deals are you doing in a year? Well, I had a really good 2025. I bought 11 properties. I was able to flip, bought and sold, seven. Awesome. So you bought 11 properties in 2025. I have so many questions. So first and foremost, are you keeping any or do you just fix and flip only? Yeah. I have two doors. I kept two single family homes, but I mostly flip. Okay. And kind of what's your buy box look like? Because 11 deals, you got to have it pretty dialed in. What are you buying? Yeah, I focus mostly on single-family homes, 1,200 square feet, three-tools.

Sometimes I do a two-toos if the square footage allows me to add another room. Price point, purchase price, anywhere between 150 to 220 and resell value below 350. Okay, so you like that first-time home buyer product. Absolutely. I do the same thing. It's the same. It just helps you stay safe in an uncertain market because in that price point, if something If nothing doesn't work out, you can probably throw a tenant in it and at least break even.

Maybe it costs you a little bit of money, but it's way better than having to pay those hard money fees on a property you can't sell. I love that. And in what market? I only invest in my city, Vero Beach and Sebastian. So did you move to Vero Beach? Because you weren't in Vero Beach when you first started. Yeah. After the same.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you move to Vero Beach because of those deals and the price points? That's awesome. Henry, I bought the first single family home. I bought the second one. And then I bought the throne. I was like, I'm getting my deals here. This is the price point.

This is what I can afford to do. Yeah. That's why. Yeah. And I told my wife, hey, listen, you know, we have a very nice housing for Lauderdale, but the drive, you know. And I didn't want to be far from my family. So it's like it's time to move. So you move to Vero Beach.

And now that's where you mainly operate out of. Yes. I really love that. More affordable, too. And so you're probably able to get yourself. a little more house, a little more bang for your buck? I did, thank God, yes. I was able to sell my house.

I sold my house in 2024, early 2024, able to get on the last wave, you know, where prices were high. So I was able to buy my, sold that when I'm buying a house here. I love this story, Martin, because of all the hustle that you've put in. But one of the best parts about real estate is some of the benefit it allows for us. A, you use real estate to switch markets and live in a more affordable. market. Has real estate provided you any other cool benefits? What's what's the story you could tell us about something cool maybe you've done with some of your property? One time I was just leaving my house,

going to work, going to a job site or project. And my neighbor, I mean, remember, I told everybody that I know, I'm an investor and I buy houses. So I was leaving my house and my neighbor waves at me like this. And she stopped me. I was like, hey, how are you? What happened? I'm selling my house. I was like, stop. I stopped, I pulled up, walked the house with her, she told me what she wanted. I think it was a fair price. And I quickly called my sister-in-law because I knew she was looking for a house. You know, like down south, houses are more expensive.

So they could get more house for the money over here. So I called her up. I told her, hey, listen, you got to come up and you got to see this house because my neighbor is selling. And I want you to be my neighbor. So she came up and we were able to lack this house. house up and put under contract and then she got a deal, you know, no commissions, no nothing. So RealSeed has given me the tools to also help my family members. Oh, man, that's cool.

So now you've created your own little community over there in Vero Beach. I love this story, man. It's just a great story about how someone can use real estate to provide them more freedom. Look, obviously you quit your job and you use real estate to do that. but let's not, let's not, you know, sugarcoat this. Like, you've replaced one job with another. Flipping houses is a job. If you stop flipping houses, you stop making money, right?

So we're not saying that you retired from real estate. But it has changed your family's future. It's changed your future. And when you set out, you wanted to be able to spend more time with your kids. Have you been able to accomplish that goal? Yes, I have. I now have a crew that I work with, right? They're the ones that take care of the remodeling that we have of,

the projects. And this year in particular, I stopped working weekends. Yeah. Saturday and Sanders are for just a family. We do family activities and we try to spend as much time together as possible because time flies. Time does fly. My kids are growing up so fast, but it's so cool. Like me too. I left corporate, but I flip houses. So I have a job as well. But the best part is I make my own hours. Like if I want to take a day off, no one's going to die. Exactly. Right? Like the houses will still get worked on.

It'll be fine, right? Maybe something won't go as smoothly as I want it to because I don't have all the perfect systems in place. But no one's dying. Like you get to make your own schedule. And I can spend that time that I choose to spend with my family. And it's cool to see that you're doing something similar. And so before we get out of here, Martin, I want you to reach out to some of the people who are maybe in the same boat as you, who have a job, they don't have the passion for their job anymore.

They'd love to replace it with real estate, but it's scary. It's scary right now. So are there any lessons you want to share with them or just any words of wisdom you can give people who are seeing this and wanting to do what you did? I love to answer that, but do you mind if I do it in Spanish for the Spanish Arients? Oh, I would love that. That's awesome. Thank you. Absolutely, Henry. what they can

do they're not they're not they're not and the first experience in the realest they're going okay if

they're doing or no money because what they're going to learn has an great. I love it.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for sharing those words of wisdom. There are a lot of people out there who are in a very similar position to you

who maybe just need that little push and I love, I love that you were able to do that and you were able to share your experience. One of the best things I love about Martin is Martin's just a good dude. He's just a good dude. And this business needs more good people. So thank you so much, Martin, for coming on the Bigger Pockets podcast and sharing your story.

I wish you the best as you continue to grow and expand your business in 2026. And thank you everybody for listening to the Bigger Pockets podcast. And also, if you learn something from Martin's story, I want you to check out episode 1231 from January 26. with investor Neil Whitney. Neil is another inspiring example of how even basic affordable real estate investing can change your entire financial future. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast. We'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you all for listening to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes come out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave, The show is produced by E&K, copywriting is by Calicoe content, and editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.w.w.com. The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only.

All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included involves risk. So use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. And remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. Bigger Pocket's LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast.