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

0:00Brandon Turner: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.

0:38Brandon Turner: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 a 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.

1:07Brandon Turner: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. My background is in banking. I worked for Chase Bank for 12 years. I was working at a Fort Lourdes office in South Florida, 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 off. What kind of clients were you servicing? Yes, I was a private client banker.

1:45So I was sitting with the big sharks.

1:48Brandon Turner: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 agents, wholesalers. They were somehow connected to real estate. So I met this guy, young guy. He was coming every week to do a wire transfer to close on house.

2:25And every time he would come, he would tell me 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 ,000,$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 every time he would come, I would try to always help him and learn more about him.

2:52Brandon Turner: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 introduced 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. Interest rates were super low. I took advantage and refinanced my home. Okay. Got some 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?

3:24And 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 financing too.

3:33Brandon Turner:Okay. Well, tell us about that deal. What did you buy? What did you pay for it? What did you do with it? It was a town home in a 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 when the interest rate went down, she had like a 2.5, 2.75. She had 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 sorry. I was trying to lure my mom into getting into real estate and trust me.

4:12So 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 ,000. It only needed like about$25 ,000 to$30 ,000. Did you pay cash or did you get a loan? We pay 50 % of it cash and 50 % with that loan. They gave us like a hard money loan, interest only. And I started rehabbing it myself. I was hiring contractors here and there, like more, not contractors, like handyman's to do just a bathroom.

4:52We 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 it, just to do two bathrooms and a kitchen. That's insane.

5:07Brandon Turner: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, when I shouldn't have, I could afford it a little, a little bit more, but I didn't know better.

5:41But 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 just, 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.

6:16Brandon Turner: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 know, it's okay. 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 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?

6:49Absolutely. And my goal was to replicate my salary the very first year. Yeah. So I bought the first deal in February. I sold it 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 advantage of free finance in my own house. So I went ahead and this guy that I was telling you about.

7:12Brandon Turner: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 what my resources. It was less expensive than where you were. Okay. So what did you pay for that second one? For that one, I paid$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 him the profits of the other one.

7:48It's like, I have a spreadsheet. Look, this is what we made. 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.

8:04Brandon Turner:Yeah, that had to feel awesome. Yeah. All right. So you bought the second one for one 70. 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.

8:46Brandon Turner:So you got it done for$50 ,000. And what did you sell it for? Oh, here's a good lesson. I was coming from the South, right? Complete 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. Oh, 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? No, they told me, hey, listen, the ARB in this market is going to be 300, 309 the most. I was like, no, I'm going to list it at 325, 335.

9:22Brandon Turner:I'm going to get my price. With all of your years of expertise, you decided. We won 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. I turned it down. I sat on the house for four months and asked me how much I sold it for. What did you sell it for? $300 ,000. Yeah. 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 ,000. So that means you made profit. How much did you make? I made about$35 ,000. $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.

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14:17Brandon Turner:all right we are back with investor martin 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 this 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 than the first one but i just didn't have the 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 the resources. He gave me a hard money loan. He's an agent.

14:54So I remember telling him, Hey, listen, if you give me the money, you get to list this deal. He's like, yeah, let's do it. Yeah. So he lent me$150 ,000 using the first single family house as a collateral. And then I used that money to bought the second one the whole seller had presented me.

15:13Brandon Turner: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 was it a bigger thing? Yeah, same by box. A little bit more. It was like$45 ,000, close to$50 ,000. Same square footage. three bedroom, two bath. He needed everything. He 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.

15:52Brandon Turner: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. 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. Back then, I had a three-year-old and a one-year-old newborn. And I just took a leap of faith.

16:27I 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.

16:43Brandon Turner:All right, Martin, these are incredible lessons to learn in your first couple of deals and how cool to get paid for your first couple of 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 are an investor. So I was talking to everyone, the line, you know, Walmart, anywhere. Anywhere I go, I just like... Anybody who would listen, huh? Exactly. Hey, I buy houses, you know, I can buy them cash.

17:18now that I kind of have a little bit of experience how to finance them, how to get them. 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.

17:31Brandon Turner: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. I may be able to help you. You know, I either buy it myself or find you a buyer. I come from the South, so I know a lot of people trying to move. So he's 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 seller had sold me that very first.

18:14Was it the same size house? It even has one more room. It was a 4 '2".

18:18Brandon Turner:Oh, okay. Okay. How about how much work? Did it need more work? Yeah, it needed a little bit more work, but still the budget was about$55 ,000,$50 ,000 to$60 ,000. Hey, that 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 have his LLC and the phone number so that the neighbors knew. And he said he would buy deals like that. The neighbors would call him.

18:54Brandon Turner: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 been at your house in a couple of days, right? Or they'll tell you, hey, there was somebody creeping, peeking in the window, 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?

19:24No, 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.

19:44Brandon Turner:Oh, nice, man. So did you split it all evenly 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. 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.