Epic Real Estate Investing - If You’re Smart but Not Rich, THIS is Probably Why | 1502

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

In this eye-opening episode, discover the harsh reality behind why intelligent individuals often remain financially stagnant while others with seemingly fewer qualifications thrive. Matt explores the phenomenon where overplanning and fear of failure hold back smart people, referencing insights from Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Herbert Simon, and featuring real-life success stories. It emphasizes the importance of taking bold, consistent action over striving for perfection. The episode also provides valuable resources, including a free guide to kickstart your wealth-building journey, and highlights the critical difference between thinkers and doers in achieving financial success. BUT BEFORE THAT, find out how Matt would go from ZERO rentals to owning 10 homes THIS YEAR! Useful links: https://www.notion.so/The-3-Property-Escape-Plan-220315cb4ef9809e9febe64c81d51f71 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Terio Media. Hey, strap in. It's time for the epic real estate investing show. We'll be your guides as we navigate the housing market, the landscape of creative financing strategies, and everything you need to swap that office chair for a beach chair. If you're looking for some one-on-one help, meet us at rei-aise.com. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Let's go. Five years ago, I had a breakthrough that changed, however, I teach real estate investing forever. After 15 years of building my own portfolio, I realized that I was making it way too complicated for beginners. So I stripped everything down to the absolute essentials and created a 10-step plan that lets complete beginners go from zero to 10 rentals and 12 months. Even if you've yet to buy a single property, have average credit, and can only work on

this in your spare time. You'll know exactly how to lock up your first property, use leverage so you never run out of money and scale all the way to 10 homes without sacrificing your job, family, or sanity. And if you're wondering where you're going to get all of the money to buy these 10 properties, the answer is in steps 2, 6, 7, and 8. Combine them all, and money will never be a problem. Step 1. Define the finish line in 15 minutes. Pick one metro.

Pick your buy box and set a simple, monthly 10-door schedule. Oh, and no need to take notes here. I wrote it all out for you in the document linked below. And wait until you hear about the moment that I almost gave up completely. I was sitting in my car outside a title company, literally shaking, thinking my wife was right, and this would never work out. Step two, preload your financing arsenal. Owner occupied, 5% down loan for your first house hack.

Apply for zero to three percent business credit lines. Check out loophole lending.com for this. And make a list of 10 people who want 8 to 10% return on their money. Line up hard money lenders and DSCR lenders before you even look at a property. Now, here's the surprise for most people. You don't find deals. The deals find you. Use deal machine or prop stream.

Filter for absentee, late taxes, 30% equity. Then blast a postcard, a text, and a Facebook retargeting ad. Have them text sell for a cash or payments offer. Let automation do the sorting. You only ever talk to true motivated sellers. I lay it all out for you in the document below. Most people who want to invest in real estate, never get past step one, mostly because they think you need big down payments or a

780 credit score. They get overwhelmed because there's too much guru noise online or too many shiny objects. Most think you have to work 40 hours a week or risk losing your shirt on a bad deal. And that brings us to step three. Build your seller magnet. Target absentee, late tax and equity. Launch a campaign that includes letters, postcards, SMS, and retarget with Facebook ad. And if you're still wondering about where all the money comes from, it all comes together after step eight. Stay with me. But right now, step four. Auto-filter your leads. Only talk to the red apples, the sellers that need to sell. Let automation handle the rest. This is where most beginners crash and burn. They chase every lead, talk to every tire kicker, waste hours every night, then give up after three months with nothing

to show for it. Instead, let call Porter or a VA screen your leads. So you only talk to the red apples. The rest go into Lead Beaver for auto follow-up. Spend your time with the red apples, let your follow-up system spend time with the rest until they warm up and are ready to spend their time with you. It's not that hard. I walk you through the details below anyway, because here's the thing. This is what really keeps people stuck. It's not the money. It's the voice in your head saying, people like me don't do this. I know because I had that same voice. Every time I'd see a we buy houses sign, I'd think that's for other people. Every time someone mentioned real estate investing, I'd nod along, but inside I'm thinking, I don't have rich parents or I'm not that type of person.

If you're stuck in any of these mental traps, I've been there. I remember staying up until midnight, reading real estate books, and going to weekend seminars, paralyzed with what ifs. I mean, what if I lose money? What if no one lends to me? What if I look stupid? Listen, it's impossible to start something new and look good while you're learning it. Just push through it. Make up your mind that your success is more important to you than avoiding looking bad. What you lack in skill, you make up in volume, and what you do in volume creates a skill. The awkwardness, it doesn't last forever. Step five, make offers, written ones specifically. The more you make, the more deals you'll do, the faster you'll reach your goal. And speed is important. It always has been in real estate. But here's what

nobody's really talking about. You see, we're in an 18-month window right now where three things are happening at once. One, interest rates are stabilizing. Two, distressed inventory is building up. And three, most investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting. This exact combination hasn't happened since 2011. And it won't happen again for another decade. Miss this window and you're literally waiting a decade for the next shot. Step six, lock up your first deal. House hack a duplex or a 4plex. Instantly, two to four deals. File for a short-term rental permit if allowed. If you're nervous about having money for down payments, I get it. You don't need more money. You need a better process. Because here's the deal. You don't always need a down payment.

100% leverage is normal when you use these two types of offers. Subject two. This is where you take over a seller's 3% loan. Give them zero to $2,000 for relief. That's it. Or seller financing. Give them their price. But only if they'll take payments, zero to five percent down, that. These are real, practical, and legal, and every contract you need is linked in the document for you below. You don't need to save for five years. You just need the right terms. Step 7. Buy, rehab, rent, refi, and repeat.

The Burr method. Do this every 45 days or so. When you're buying off market like this, you're buying with equity already in place. After you do some repairs, you've got even more equity. Use it to keep building. Step 8. Wholesale the non-cash flowers. Whatever doesn't fit for you as an income property, assign those bad fit deals for $10,000 to $20,000 each.

You can do that easily at my investor base.com. Those quick cash infusions keep the marketing going and the portfolio building. But here's what I wish someone would have told me. Every month you wait, you're not just missing out on a deal. You're missing out on $300 to $500 in future monthly cash flow. But more importantly, you're missing out on the compound effect. You know, that time I mentioned where I was sitting in my car, here's what happened. Picture this. I'm sitting in my car outside the title company, literally shaking. The seller had just

texted me. I changed my mind and my heart went right to my stomach. I mean, six weeks of work gone. My wife's sitting there looking at me like, I told you this wouldn't work. And for about 10 minutes, I almost gave up, almost went back to my cubicle and just forgot this whole thing. But then I remembered something that my mentor told me. The difference between people who succeed and people who don't isn't talent or luck. It's what they do when everything falls apart. So I didn't drive home. I pulled out my lead sheet, looking for the next deal. And from those calls, I was able to pivot to a subject to deal down the street, which turned into my first income property. I didn't let that one curve ball remove me from the game. That was the only difference between me and most. And that one

property led to three more. Those three led to seven more. One decision, 10 properties. Imagine, 12 months from now, you've got a portfolio spitting off more income than your job with every step documented and repeatable. Now, step nine, outsource management after five doors, maybe even sooner. Hire a property manager and a bookkeeper. Keep your time under 60 minutes a day. I mean, managing your own properties, it's the worst and lowest paying use of your time. Managing properties versus managing property managers, that's the difference between, say, four hours a day and four hours a month. Outsource that as soon as you can. Step 10. Audit your equity quarterly. Refire 1031 into better properties. Use extra cash flow to snowball your mortgage pay down.

I mean, you worked hard for that equity. Demand that it returns the favor. All right, so let's look at what happens when you implement this 10-step plan. The average time from first call to contract should be no longer than 21 days. The time spent per week, under seven hours. Most of it on the phone with sellers who already want your offer. The average cash invested per deal, no more than five grand, often covered with other people's money, OPM. And the average time to 10 doors, 10 to 12 months. 85% of my students close their first deal within 90 days following this plan. And most never touched their own savings. The bottom line, you don't need a fortune. You don't need to be a genius or have some insider hookup. You need a proven playbook and the persistence to follow

it consistently. That's how you stop being the person who just thinks about real estate and become the person who actually owns it. But let's be honest about something. All the steps in the world won't matter if you can't find the actual deals in the first place. Because what's the point of having financing lined up? Contracts ready and a perfect system if you're staring at a phone that never rings. Heads up though. These aren't magic bullets. They take actual work. And honestly, most people will watch it and do nothing. Hope is not a financial strategy. Let's get back to work.

If you're smart but broke, you're about to discover the brutal truth that no one wants to admit and why the dumb kid from high school is probably richer than you right now. This isn't about IQ. It's about a psychological trap that's keeping 90% of intelligent people poor. And if you don't fix this in the next eight minutes, you'll still be stuck in the same place this time next year. Sound harsh? That's probably a good thing. Because after 20 years of deals, market cycles, and coaching, I can tell you, it's rarely the smartest who win big.

The economic data backs this up completely. You'll have proof, real-world examples, and the tools to flip the script, no matter your background. Let's start with the raw truth that's going to sting a bit. Wealth goes to the people who do, not just the people who know. And this isn't just me repeating some self-help guru rhetoric. No, it's decades of behavioral economics from business. Nobel Prize winner Daniel Canaman that confirmed that bold, consistent action outpaces over planning every time. But here's what's really messed up. While you're researching the perfect strategy,

someone with a high school diploma just bought their third rental property. They didn't know about cap rates or complex calculations. They just took some action. Want the first unlock? Stop aiming for right. Start aiming for done. And before we go further, answer this honestly. How many business ideas have you had in the last year. Now, how many did you actually start? If that number makes you uncomfortable, you're exactly who this video is for. Here's what's keeping you stuck. If you're always preparing, reading, researching, planning, you're trapped with the 42% of would-be entrepreneurs who never launch because they're paralyzed by fear of failure, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Look, if you're afraid to look dumb, you're suffering from what Stanford's Carol Dweck calls

Smart Kids Syndrome, where being labeled gifted actually keeps people from taking healthy risks their whole lives. If you're constantly overthinking, you're not seeing more than others. You're just seeing more reasons not to act. And meanwhile, people you thought were less qualified are building businesses. They're buying assets. They're climbing the ladder because they move while you're still thinking. Most people miss this completely. Overthinking isn't a sign of intelligence. It's often a defense mechanism to avoid failure. And here's proof. Nobel Prize winner, Herbert Simon, discovered that satisfacer's, people who make quick, good enough decisions, consistently outperform perfectionists in wealth building. Jeff Bezos built Amazon's $1.7 trillion empire using his 70% rule.

He makes decisions when he has 70% of the information. Because waiting to, for perfect data means missing the window entirely. Amazon wasn't built on perfect decisions. It was built on good enough decisions made fast. Picture this. You're at your 20-year reunion, or maybe your 30-year, in case the 20-year has already passed. The kid who barely graduated is talking about his vacation home in Costa Rica and his three

rental properties that made it happen. Meanwhile, you're explaining why you're still building your foundation and waiting for the right opportunity. That sting you just felt? That's your future. if nothing changes. Or maybe it's your reality now. Here's what's really going to mess with your head. Those people getting ahead aren't smarter than you. They're just more comfortable being wrong in public. While you're afraid of looking dumb, they're getting rich, making dumb mistakes and learning from them.

Here's what top investors never say out loud. Most of their wins started out as ugly, half-baked deals. Perfection is for losers. Iteration is for winners. So track offers made, not just leads or calls. That's how you know you're playing the real game. Time is not on your side here. Stay with me, though. It's not too late. There's a plan to correct the course quickly.

But know this. Every month you spend getting ready is another month. Someone else is getting ahead. The market doesn't care about your credentials. It rewards resilience. James Dyson failed 5,126 times before creating his billion-dollar vacuum empire. Sarah Blakely got rejected for seven straight years before Spanx made a her a billionaire. Cambridge University research confirms it. Resilience beats IQ when it comes to building

wealth. The ability to take hits, embarrassment, rejection, even public failure, and keep going, is the ultimate wealth building metric. Here's the data that'll shock you. 80% of millionaires are self-made, according to CNBC's 2003 study. And then there's this from Thomas Stanley's research in the millionaire mind. 80% of millionaires had GPAs below 3.2 in college. That's below. Below, that's below up B-minus. These millionaires aren't smarter than you. They just chose progress over perfection. Money follows value, not credentials. Picture your progress like an elevator. You can't go up until you push a button. And let me tell you about Lisa. Harvard MBA making $120,000 a year. Sounds like an advantage, right? Wrong. Her college roommate, who dropped out in her junior year,

was making $300,000 a year flipping houses. Lisa was too proud to ask for help and too scared to look amateur. When she finally swallowed her ego and made her first offer, she was shaking. The deal fell through. She was embarrassed, sat it out for a minute, and almost went into hiding figuratively to seriously consider other opportunities. But instead of quitting real estate, she made another offer the next week, then another. And six months later, her net worth jumped $180,000. The difference? She finally chose progress over perfection. If your ego or fear, of looking dumb is stopping you, you're not just avoiding failure, you're avoiding opportunity. So are you a thinker or a doer? Because the market only pays doers. Every day you wait,

costs you compound growth. While you're deciding, others are implementing. You don't want to be the person who wishes they'd started today. Be the person who did start today. But maybe now you're thinking, I don't even know where to start. And that's the biggest hurdle. And the real reason most smart people stay broke. Preparation feels. It feels safe. Action feels scary, but Ray Croc was 52 when he started McDonald's. Barbara Corcoran had dyslexia and got D's in school before building her real estate empire. They didn't start with advantages. They started with the guts to act.

Over 2,700 people have already downloaded the free guide linked below, showing exactly how to get started. Real steps, not BS. Look, I can't force you to act, but I can tell you this. Everyone will split into two groups. Group one will feel motivated for about 10. 10 minutes, then go back to planning and researching. Group 2 will click that link below and actually do something about their situation.

Which group do you want to be in five years from now? Or even just 12 months from now? If you just said group 2, but you're thinking, okay, but where do I actually start? I'm doing something pretty crazy right now. I'm actually showing people the exact system I've used to go from zero rentals to 10 properties this year. Step by step. If you're still hesitating right now, you just prove the point.

In five years, you'll remember this moment. And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too? There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind, please share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great care of them.

God loves you, and so do I. Health, peace, blessings, and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio. Living the dream. Yeah, yeah, we got the cash flow. You didn't know home for us. We got the cash flow. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

You're almost at the finish line. But first? There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes. This podcast is a part of the C-Suite Radio Network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com.