Joe Nemeth Quit His Job and Had His Best Year Ever in Real Estate | Lorain County Home Buyers

Mike Hambright (00:01.186)
What’s up everybody? Hey, welcome back to the show. Today I’m here with my buddy Joe Nemeth, joining us from Ohio. We’re gonna be talking about just some lessons learned and a little bit about his story. And I think this will resonate with a lot of you guys that are watching right now or listening. So Joe, welcome to the show.

Joe (00:16.039)
Hey Mike, what’s going on brother? It is good to finally be on this with you.

Mike Hambright (00:17.518)
Good to see you, buddy.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, we’ve been trying to pin you down for a little while. So, hey, I’m excited to talk about just like a lessons learned, what’s working now, some of these things now, because you’ve been in the business for a while now and you haven’t, I know you’re having, know, sounds like you’re on track to have probably your best year ever at a time where a lot of people have really been probably struggling. And so I think the good thing is, is I think we’re, you know, we’re kind of coming out of a bad time where people are getting more comfortable with just navigating.

these waters or probably a little bit of both, you know. But before we jump into that, like just tell us about your, tell us about your backstory.

Joe (00:59.591)
So yeah, so, you know, so I’m actually 48 years old right now, which is even a crazy to think that, right? But, you know, I started doing real estate in 2012, right? My first, you know, my first deal that I, you know, that I ever freaking didn’t was a wholesale deal for like 2,500 bucks, you know? And I was like, you know, I was like, holy crap, you know, like, you know what mean? Like this actually, you know I’m saying, works. I was like, wow, it’s crazy, right?

But, you know, so after high school, I went to, I joined the military for three years, right? So I, you know, I did that. And then I was a correction officer for 12 years. You know, that was a pretty interesting job to say the least. Yeah, right? So I did that for 12 years.

Mike Hambright (01:52.916)
I bet.

Joe (01:58.631)
And then I quit that and I worked, you know, I worked, uh, in the street department for my city, where I live at for five years, right from 2012 to 2017. And I was like, you know, so let me see here. So from 2012 to 2017, I was, know, you know, was, you know, I was doing some real estate stuff on the side part-time, you know what mean? And stuff. then it got, got to a point to where like, I was actually making more money doing that part-time than I was making at the city job. Right. You know,

You know, so I talked to someone, you know, is that, no, yeah, you know, it was actually Josh Cantwell. You know, I said, you know I mean? I mean, so if he me in his office and he said, said, look, man, so like, what could you do if, you know, if you quit the city job today and did this thing part-time? I said, dude, I would explode it. And he looked at me he said, he said, go into work tomorrow and put in your two week notice. And I was like, oh my God. And I did it. And I’ve never looked back. That was 2017.

Mike Hambright (02:53.55)
you

Mike Hambright (02:56.887)
Okay.

Joe (02:57.606)
So yeah, right? Yeah. You know, and I, yeah, and I have never looked back for a single second doing this business. You know, so, but yeah, you know, that’s what got me here so far. And yeah, you know, 2026 so far with the first two months, you know, it’s, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m pasted my best year yet. So it’s pretty cool.

Mike Hambright (03:19.918)
That’s great. I know you got a lot of things that are clicking, a lot of things kind of figured out here recently that, you know, I know you’ve been working on for a while, so that’s great. So Josh convinced you to go quit your job. Josh’s a good guy. What else kind of got you here? Other influences maybe you had to kind of focus on this and keep leveling up?

Joe (03:28.22)
yeah, yeah.

Joe (03:42.823)
So, know, let me see here. Let me see here. So the first, you know, the first deal that I ever did was a wholesale deal like I talked about, right? You know, and I had this book by, it was by Dean Garaziosi, right? You know, it was called like 30 days to fast cash or something like that, right? And it was just about like putting out bandit signs, literally putting out bandit signs, okay, to get your first deal, right? And I was like, man, you know, I’m gonna, you know, I was like, I’m gonna do it.

I’m saying so, cause I had had been a student of like, you know, of like Matt Larson back then too, you know, you know, but, but, you know, I was like, man, you know, like I got to close a deal already. You know what saying? So, you know, it’s, know, so yeah. So Matt, let me see here. So Matt and Dean I say, you know, you know, were my first mentors, right. And then Sean Terry podcast was like huge back when I first started doing this too. You know what I mean? You know,

Sean Terry podcast flip the freedom. That was like my thing that I listened to every single day. you know, you know, but yeah, so, you know, I read that little book multiple times, you know, and, know, I ordered, 25 bandit signs, you know, and I put them out and it’s crazy because, you know, the very first call that I ever got from a bandit sign turned out to be my first deal. So that’s yeah.

You know what mean? So it’s, it’s pretty, pretty crazy, right? But like I was, I was always trying to

Mike Hambright (05:12.768)
Usually it’s the code compliance officer.

Joe (05:15.814)
Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what I’m and stuff, but I was always like looking for ways to get…

You like into, you know what saying? Like into this business, right? Right. But you know I’m saying? They’re like, didn’t allow the money. Cause I was, I was fricking broke back in the day. Right. Right. Those first 25 bad net signs that I bought, I actually had, had to go get a cash advance to even pay for them. You know what I mean? And like when I first got that check for 2,500 bucks for that first deal, like I said, like I had to, right. I had a rush to the bank before they closed at five o’clock to deposit it. Cause my account was negative $50 that day.

Mike Hambright (05:50.05)
Yeah.

Joe (05:52.359)
And I was like, oh, you know, I like, I got it right here, you know, right here. You know I’m saying? Tough times, man. That was.

Mike Hambright (05:52.472)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (05:57.612)
Yeah, and not a lot of money, but proof of concept, Yeah.

Joe (06:01.3)
dude, heck yeah. Right. But yeah, that was, that was January of 2012 because I still have that check copy, you know, like, right. You know? Yeah. You know, I got, I got, I got, got that, I got that check at my home office right there on my desk. So was pretty cool. But yeah, that was January 2012. I did my first deal. yeah, you know, and I, I did that first deal and I was like, man, I was like, you know what? This freaking works. And then I just went, you know, I mean, just never.

I’m saying just never look back and I’ll tell you this.

Mike Hambright (06:31.022)
Keep getting to the next level, yeah. Let’s talk about some lessons learned. Let’s talk a little bit about, because you and I have talked about this quite a bit over the years of just consistent advertising and advertising enough to kind of hit your goals to make sure that you’re.

I know you have some goals. Well, you got to kind of back into like if you’re going to if this is how I think about it, if you’re going to drive across the country and you’re like, well, it’s a thousand miles. You’re like, well, I get about 20 miles a gallon. Well, you you need like 50 gallons of gas. You’re like, well, OK, I’m going to fill up two times on the way there. Right. I mean, that’s how we think of like driving our car. But not a lot of people think about business the same way. It’s like, well, OK, to get, you know, one deal, I need to spend X in advertising. So to get five deals, I need to spend five X in advertising. Like you can kind of kind of reverse engineer it. I mean, there’s some operators.

Joe (07:01.21)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (07:13.722)
You have to make sure that you can handle that volume. just talk about, know, because I know you’ve kind of pulled in and out of advertising a couple times and that is a thing that a lot of real estate investors do, but it causes disruption in your business. So maybe just share some lessons learned about consistent lead gen.

Joe (07:26.563)
yeah.

Joe (07:31.751)
So yeah, so basically like when I first started doing this, like I had like that mentality of like, know, say I had like, you know, two or three deals on her contract, right? I was like, you’re waiting for those to close. You know what saying? Like I wouldn’t do any more marketing because I’m just focused on these three deals. You know what mean? It’s like, you know I mean? Stuff. So being like, you know, you know, just really consistent with the marketing is the number one way to be successful with this stuff. You know what I mean? You know, you know, so yeah, so sometimes, you know, you know, there’d be some months like where like the money was like low, you know.

And it’s like, man, I don’t think I have the money for marketing in this month. that’s like a broke mentality. once I got out of that mentality, things like really, you know what saying? It’s like, oh, wow. It’s like, hey, yeah. It’s like, hey, you know what I’m saying? Even having to put the money on a credit card or something just to float and buy or whatever until the deal is closed. It’s like, hey, man, just do whatever you need to do. But keep the marketing going because that’s what’s bringing in the leads.

Right. So, you know, so that, that’s what I’ve been doing, you know, you know, and like, I to do things the wrong way with that too, you know, stuff like I would always like be spending for the marketing, like out of, of like my business checking account. Right. So the money in there would always be doing this. You know what mean? You know I mean? Stuff. So the wife gets stressed about that stuff too. So like now, like what I’ve been doing recently is just, you know, you know, it’s like using like these credit cards, low interest credit cards, for example. Yeah. I mean, and putting like all like the marketing on those things. Right.

Mike Hambright (08:30.402)
Right.

Mike Hambright (08:42.542)
you

Yeah.

Mike Hambright (08:59.694)
Hmm.

Joe (08:59.942)
So then the deal will start closing consistently. And you know what saying? You know, it’s like, you just pay those off. You know what I mean? You know, and then the business checking account, you know, it’s here, you know, it’s not doing this, you know, that’s been something that I’ve done for probably now maybe for like, you know, the past like five months. And I mean, it’s made a huge, huge difference, like with things that I see, you know I mean? Does that make sense?

Mike Hambright (09:06.67)
Okay.

Mike Hambright (09:12.365)
Right.

Mike Hambright (09:21.4)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you can’t. mean, the problem is, if you you if you cut advertising today, you don’t feel it today, but you feel it in the next three to six months and you won’t even necessarily tie it back to, well, that’s why I’m having a problem right now, because it doesn’t seem intuitive that there’s but there’s like a long cycle on that. There’s like a cycle time like you have to put the put the gas in, if you will, like way in advance, because let’s be honest, we’re marketing to people that have been distressed for years or decades. Like you need to be consistently

Joe (09:31.844)
Yes.

Joe (09:44.549)
Yes.

Mike Hambright (09:53.33)
tapping them on the shoulder because not that we wish this on anybody but they’re they’re living day to day a lot of times right and and when that when they finally make that decision to like okay I need to sell this thing they’re not gonna wait until you get a little extra money in your pocket to send out another mailer there they like need to be tapped on the shoulder today right

Joe (10:14.606)
No, yeah, like some of the, you know, you know, like some of the deals that I’m, you know, I’m closing now right now, like I got, you know, like maybe like, you know, 30, 60, 90 days ago or whatever stuff, but now they’re just closing now. Okay. But that’s in the marketing that I did that then, right? You know I mean? So yeah, you know, you know, and like the deals that I’m that, you know, I’ll be closing like at three months from now are from the marketing that I’m doing today. So, you know, it’s just like cycle, you know, you gotta just keep doing it, you know.

Mike Hambright (10:39.566)
And some of the deals you’re getting today, be honest, are people you’ve been marketing to for years, but they just finally are like, you know what, I’m going to call them and see what’s going on. I’ve been getting these for years, right?

Joe (10:51.302)
I’ve closed, there’s, let me see. There’s two deals that I own for a fact, right? Right. One guy, you know, he said he got my card and it was on his refrigerator for two years and he called me when he was ready. Right. This one other lady said she had my, you know, she had a letter from me and I was like, I was like, holy crap. You know, you know, like that was years and years ago. Cause I, you know, you know, I stopped doing letters probably like in.

Mike Hambright (11:06.658)
Yeah, exactly.

Joe (11:20.806)
2020. You know what mean? She said, I was like, I was like, holy crap, have a letter from me. Right. And there it was. I looked at it. I was like, my God. I was like, yeah, you know, was, I was kind like a newbie back then doing it. Right. But she had that letter literally for like three years. And was like, that’s crazy. So yeah, you know, it’s pretty funny.

Mike Hambright (11:27.246)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (11:38.018)
Yeah. Yep, yep.

Well, let’s talk about some lessons learned in terms of working with your spouse. I know you work with your wife. I work with my wife. I know that that’s changed over the years, like kind of who does what and and probably some struggles of like figuring out how to divide and conquer versus how do we both do everything or whatever. maybe share some. But for to be fair, if you listen to this, I didn’t ask you to be on the podcast as well. So don’t say anything. Don’t say anything bad about your wife here. Otherwise, I’m going to get blamed for it somehow. But

Joe (12:08.721)
Wow. Yeah.

Mike Hambright (12:11.052)
about lessons learned of working with your spouse because a lot of people do that and it could be good and bad it could be good and bad it depends on the day or the situation but there I think we all learn lessons along the way of how to do it right or more right than maybe we started.

Joe (12:28.015)
Yeah, so, you know, so in the beginning she wanted nothing to do with real estate. You know what mean? Literally nothing at all, you know? And I was like, hey, you know, it’s cool. You know I’m saying? It’s, know, it’s not her, you know? But then I kind of talked her in basically, you know, you know, so her first role, her first role, right? You know, I gave her like all, well, no, okay. I’m sorry. Her first role was doing the bills for like all like the stuff we were doing.

You know what saying? Stuff like, you know, the bills, utility bills for the rentals and all that kind of crap, right? You know what saying? And then it kind of got her into like, you know, doing the property management, right? How the hell? Dude, yes. Yeah. You know, dude, because there’s a payment.

Mike Hambright (13:05.898)
You gave her all the shit work, basically. Yeah. The stuff that nobody wants to do.

Joe (13:13.863)
Cause I had been, you know, you know what saying, man? Cause I was freaking doing it for like three years. I was like, I’m so freaking burned out from this crap, right? There was some bills, man, for the properties, you know, and stuff like gas bills and water bills, man, that like were sitting there for three months, you know, you know, I’m just like, man, I, you know, I hate this crap, right? So that’s what she took over, right? But yeah, but yeah, given her, given her the role of property manager for her first main role was pretty, pretty crappy. But I mean, she really flourished with it, right? Cause she’s more of.

You know what saying? You know, of like that type of a person. You know what saying? Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know mean? So, yeah. So she did that for like, for about two and a half years, you know, and, but, um, but yes. Okay. So me and her would have, you know, but have a lot of mini arguments over things with this, you know I’m saying? And, you know, and then it got, got to a point to where like, you know, it was like, Hey, Joe, you want me to do your shit or not? You know saying? Cause if not.

Mike Hambright (13:49.506)
higher level of attention to detail.

Joe (14:13.787)
Then you can start doing it again. was like, okay, I’m sorry. You know what mean? So like the whole thing of like, of like, you know, the giving her the reins completely. Right. That’s what changed it for us that right there, you know, I was just like, here you go. You know, I’m, I’m gone from it. Right. And then everything was good at that point. So.

Mike Hambright (14:25.122)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Hambright (14:30.467)
Yeah.

Yeah, and I think that’s tough for a lot of us as entrepreneurs, whether it’s a spouse or a team member is like, we know we need to bring on, we don’t need to build team to do some of the things that we don’t have the capacity for, or maybe we don’t even have the competency for it, right? But then we have a hard time letting go of the reins. We’re just like, well, I’m still gonna tell you what to do or keep my toe in the water all the time to kind of tell you.

Joe (14:48.411)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (14:58.57)
my perspective on it, but if you have the ability to, you need to just do what you hired that person for and just give up the reins.

Joe (15:05.671)
No, yeah, heck yeah, heck yeah. And like I said, you know, that was the toughest thing for me was just, you know what I’m saying? Because I wanted, you know, I still wanted to have a little bit of control over it. And then I just said, I’m completely out of it, right? But now too though, so yeah, so now she does more so of like, know, of like listing my properties for me. She got her license probably four years ago, you know? So yeah, so she lists her properties for us now, you know, and stuff, and she’s doing, you know, she’s the number one agent for her.

Mike Hambright (15:19.586)
Yeah.

Joe (15:35.079)
you her, her, you know, her thing, whatever you call it. You know what mean? Oh, you know, so, but yeah, you know, so yeah, we’re, you know, we’re pretty much clicking on all cylinders now with that. So it’s all good now. Yeah. I’m saying, but yeah, you know, yeah. And like I try, I try to have her come to fuel events with me as well too. She wants to be there. So it’s pretty cool.

Mike Hambright (15:46.67)
That’s great. That’s great. Yeah.

Mike Hambright (15:53.038)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So let’s talk a little bit about kind of lessons learned in terms of exit strategies. Like I think you used to wholesale more than you do now. you start to, you know, I think especially the past few years, people realize like if you cherry pick the right deals to kind of retail or even whole tail, like you can, you can increase your revenue pretty significantly without spending any more money on marketing. It comes, there’s still trade-offs. comes with some additional headaches sometimes, but there’s pros and cons there, but just maybe kind of share your lessons learned and.

Maybe even a little bit about what you’re doing today from an extra strategy standpoint.

Joe (16:31.335)
So yeah, so today we’re doing, know, we got with the wholesales going on, we got the hotels and the rehabs, right? You know, so, you know, I found out maybe like, you know, like two or three years ago, it’s like, you know, so the whole thing with wholesaling is pretty cool, you know, and stuff, but there’s, you know, you know, there’s a ton of buyers out there that just don’t want to pay money. You know I’m saying? Stuff, they beat you up on price and stuff. So it’s like, hey, you know, so where’s the best buyers at? You know what? They’re on the MLS.

I’m saying, so like, know, so was like, you know, I’m gonna start doing is just doing like a, a lot of Say I close on them, right. I maybe clean them out a little bit and then just list them on the MLS, right? Well, you know, you know, I could turn turn something that would have probably been like a 10 K assignment fee. Right. To something that’s maybe more of like a 25 or 30 K fee. You know I mean? It’s been a, you know, so for the past like two and a half years, you know, that

You know, that’s been a pretty big strategy for me. Um, you know, and then like now just recently too, like I. Cause some of those deals were really only maybe netting me like, you know, 15 to 20 sometimes, right? There was a few that actually kind of backfired on me. Right. You know, and I made maybe like five or six and I was like, dude, like it’s, you know, it’s not even worth that. Right. So now like running the numbers on, on, you know, like on the, on those hotel deals, it’s like, look, I have to net or, you know, after everything is said and done.

30 K on it, or I’m not going to do it. You know what mean? So that’s for the hotels, you know, my, you know, and then, you know, you know, for rehab, trade picking the rehabs is pretty easy because I’m just, you know, I’m looking, I’m looking for ones that just need, you know, like minor cosmetic work, but they’re like in really good areas, you know, you know, so I’m doing around two to three actual rehabs a month right now, you know, so it’s pretty cool, you know, and then I average around two wholesales a month.

Mike Hambright (18:14.124)
Mm-hmm.

Joe (18:26.415)
And probably one hotel. So. You know, but yeah, that’s you know, that’s that’s my strategy for 2026. So, you know, we’ll see how it goes, but it’s going pretty good so far.

Mike Hambright (18:32.141)
Mm.

Mike Hambright (18:37.742)
Yeah, that’s great. On the retail market, what are you seeing now? Things have obviously slowed down over the past couple of years. Are you starting to see an uptick? And if so, is that something that you’re doing? Or it’s just kind of you feel like the market’s turning a little bit? Or is there something you’re doing strategically a little bit differently? What’s going on there?

Joe (18:55.697)
So yeah, so the, you know, so, you know, the only times where I see, see things getting slow is like, you know, it’s like during the holidays, the winter months, right. But our, you know, but our like, rehabs are so nice, right. That they just go quick. You know what I mean? You know, I mean, like I’m, I’m still getting, you know, like over asking price on probably three out of four rehabs that we list. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Mike Hambright (19:22.008)
Wow, that’s great.

Joe (19:24.549)
You know what saying? So yeah, there’s no slowing down from what I’ve been seeing, right? I just saw someone post, you know, something like in the Cleveland area, you know, that area sees a low downturn, you know, I’m not like, Hey, you know, that’s not my area. So I’m not sure about that. here, no, that’s, you know, it’s not that case with me, which is good thing. So.

Mike Hambright (19:41.71)
Yeah, you’re just outside of Cleveland, so yeah. That’s great. Yeah, I mean, when I started in 2008, everybody thought it was a terrible time. I mean, it ended up being a good time to get in, and we didn’t plan it that way. It just kind of happened. But we were rehabbing every, we were probably rehabbing, I don’t know, 80%, let’s say. And the truth is, is most of our deals were on the market for a week or less.

even in that kind of quote bad time, but we just bought them really deep and we bought them in a way to where we could make it the nicest house at the best price at that level. And then you’re always next in line. Like even if it’s a slow market, you just find a way to put yourself next in line always, you know.

Joe (20:23.527)
No, yeah, you know, and that’s like a big key as to my success over, you know, past 12 years is buying as deep as you can. Right. That’s made me, you know, a lot of money. You know what I mean? You have to buy deep. You have to buy deep. So yeah, that’s a good point for sure.

Mike Hambright (20:43.756)
Yeah. Yeah. So Joe, would you mind, would you mind, I didn’t, I didn’t tee this up ahead of time, but would you mind, you’ve been a part of Investor Fuel for a couple of years, few years. Would you mind just kind of sharing a little about your experience with Investor Fuel?

Joe (20:59.623)
Yeah. you know, we, let me see. We started with Investor Fuel about three years ago. You know, and I do, I made a, you know, I made a ton of, you know, a ton of really nice connections inside of there. Right. Um, you know, so let me see at the beginning of last year, you know, you we, you know, we had to step away for a little while.

know, for personal reasons or whatever, know, stuff, but as, you know, as, you’re aware, you know, we, you know, we just signed back up maybe two months ago, you know, you know, so we’re back inside of it. And I’m, know, I’m glad we’re back. Like I said, um, you know, you know, but yeah, you know, there’s a lot of great people there, um, you know, so like, it’s just, know, basically the connections I’ve made over, you know, you know, like over, the past three years and then

You know, know, someone like in the vendors that you guys work with, you know, and stuff, you know, have, have been like great to work with as well. So, you know, yeah. Yeah. We’ll be to be back. That’s for sure.

Mike Hambright (22:08.652)
Yeah, yeah, buddy. Glad you’re back. So awesome. Well, hey, if folks want to connect with you in up in the you’re in Lorain County, just outside of Cleveland. So if folks want to connect with you in any way, where can they go to connect?

Joe (22:23.431)
So, yeah, I mean, if someone wants to send me an email, you could send me an email at [email protected]. I do have a personal and a business page on Facebook as well. I mean, I can get my phone number here if you want me to get my phone number as well. I don’t care.

Mike Hambright (22:47.499)
That’s up to you. That’s all up to you.

Joe (22:50.759)
Uh, yeah, no, you know, uh, you know, my, my personal cell number is a 440 320-5342. Um, yeah, you know, um, you know, I’m doing, I’m doing this full time. So, you know, I’m always out and about, you know, and, know, just, you know, I mean, so just loving this business, loving life that it’s, you know, that it’s created for me and my wife. So we’re good, you know, doing the business.

Mike Hambright (23:18.124)
Yep. Yeah. Awesome, buddy. We’re proud of you guys. thanks for joining us today. Yeah. Good to see you, Yeah. I’m a honey badger. I’m a honey badger with pretty much everything in life. break people down ultimately. Started with my wife. It took me a while to land her, but I got it.

Joe (23:24.743)
Yes sir, yes sir. Thanks for asking me so many times. Thanks for meeting me with this dick. Come on Joe, you gotta do this.

Joe (23:37.467)
Yeah.

Mike Hambright (23:38.658)
So, you got to be persistent. So cool. Well, Joe, thanks so much for joining us today, guys. If you’re if you’re up in the Cleveland area, specifically Lorraine County, you should definitely hit up Joe. He’s probably the certainly the largest kind of home buyer in that county for sure. And he’s been around a long time and always looking for ways to kind of work with other people. So I appreciate you guys joining us today on the show. think at the end of the day, like if you’re watching the show here, we have a lot of a lot of amazing guests on and there’s lots of lessons

learned that they’ve learned that you can apply to your business. I you know, we all need to learn from experience, but the easiest way to learn is from other people’s experiences, good and bad. Those are the best lessons, the easiest ones to make. Sometimes we have to make hard lessons, learn hard lessons on our own, but it’s okay to learn from other people too. That’s one of the powers of the mastermind of Investor Fuel is a lot of people that are willing to share what to do and what not to do to help you climb a learning curve faster than what you’d ever be able to do on your

So if you haven’t checked this out yet, if you haven’t talked for your professional real estate investor and you haven’t Had a conversation with us. You should go to investorfuel.com and schedule a call. We’d love to talk to you. There we go we got it on the wall there. So Cool. Yeah, appreciate you guys for joining us. We’ll see you on the next show

Joe (24:44.743)
you.

Investor fuel, baby.