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Show Summary
In this conversation, Matt Mainini shares his journey from a blue-collar background in Pennsylvania to achieving financial freedom through real estate investment in California. He discusses the importance of creativity in overcoming financial challenges, the value of networking, and the lessons learned from both successes and failures in the real estate market. Matt emphasizes the significance of pursuing passion over money, the need for affordable housing, and the role of partnerships in scaling real estate ventures. He also highlights the importance of continuous learning and taking calculated risks in the pursuit of financial independence.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Matt Mainini (00:00)
And I started house hacking, renting rooms out and that kinda.started the light bulb really went off of how much that actually can save me compared to my peers who were spending three, four, five, $6,000 a month on their mortgage when I was reducing my $4,000 mortgage to three, to two, ultimately to zero, ultimately to making me money to live where I live now. I actually make money.
to just have my residence ⁓ living where I live now.
Quentin Edmonds (02:10)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. Thank you so much for being here today. I have another fantastic guest. I love this guy. know, listen, talking about Silicon Valley. He lived that did tech in Silicon Valley. But what I love about him is how he got creative in California. And so I know he’s going to tell you all about it. I’m happy to have him more. So I want to introduce you all to Mr.Matt Mainini. How you doing, Mr. Matt?
Matt Mainini (02:44)
doing great glad to be here.Quentin Edmonds (02:46)
Glad you’re here. How did I do with that last name,Matt Mainini (02:49)
Perfect.Quentin Edmonds (02:50)
Appreciate you, man. So glad you’re here, ready for the conversation. So listen, let’s get started, I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. Matt, if you want to give us a little bit of an origin story of how you got started, we love the hero’s journey. So please give us an origin story. And I might have tipped it a little bit, but then tell them what part of the world you’re in and what market you’re operating in. So Matt, you got the closer.Matt Mainini (03:16)
Thanks. Yeah, you know humble beginnings in in Western Pennsylvania very blue-collar You know doing those jobs early on I Learned quickly like hmm. I how do I how do I do more than this? You know a lot of my friends and and Family were kind of stuck doing that and didn’t really love it So I knew I needed an education and so I continued my educationinto college and it took me into Silicon Valley. So I went to San Jose State and studied psychology and engineering and started working in the tech field. And it was kind of like I went from a blue collar worker to a white collar worker overnight, you know, but it didn’t really feel deserved. And I still had that kind of tenacious, I need to work hard for whatever I’m going to get, you know.
And I feel like my peers, when they started getting jobs, it was more expected for them. And for me, I had more of a drive of like, I need to keep earning, I need to keep working and, and, kind of prove myself. So I had a career in technology. I worked in user experience design. I worked at NASA, Yahoo, Cisco, a few other companies, you know, I did the circuit in Silicon Valley and
It does pay well. It is a grind. You know, it can be a lot of work kind of always on sort of lifestyle. You may have heard those things and it’s all true. ⁓ But you know, great career, but I want to say it’s kind of like a young person’s game in a sense. Well, I knew I couldn’t do that forever and
started looking at how do I protect my future? How do I build something more here? So I was saving a lot.
of the money that I made, paid down my bad debts. And yeah, I bought my first property in Santa Cruz, California, which is one of the top three most unaffordable places to live. You got the ocean on one side, you got the mountain on the other, and you got Silicon Valley, you know, driving up prices on the other. It’s a beautiful location, lovely, but beach town, right?
but very hard to get into. And so that’s where the creativity comes in. And I put everything into this first house. All my savings are, I borrowed against my 401k. I sold off any stock that I had. I didn’t buy the nicest house either. We’re gonna make it work, right? I knew I didn’t wanna rent anymore.
And I started house hacking, renting rooms out and that kinda.
started the light bulb really went off of how much that actually can save me compared to my peers who were spending three, four, five, $6,000 a month on their mortgage when I was reducing my $4,000 mortgage to three, to two, ultimately to zero, ultimately to making me money to live where I live now. I actually make money.
to just have my residence ⁓ living where I live
So that’s been a journey of learning and figuring this out. But it takes time and it takes commitment. Thankfully, my wife was marriage material when she moved in and we had a housemate and she was kind of okay with it. She understood the game plan.
So that made me very happy that she was on board with this mission. And since then, we’ve elevated beyond ⁓ sharing a kitchen and stuff. But we still ⁓ technically house hack. We rent part of our structure out. that’s a great tax write-off too, right? With the income and then the expenses that go into the house, it ⁓ helps as well.
Quentin Edmonds (08:24)
Yeah, absolutely. Love it, man. Thank you for sharing how you got started sharing where you are. West, Pennsylvania, man, you know, started there, went to school, you knew you wanted more. You didn’t want to get trapped in ⁓ that kind of rat run of the mill kind of lifestyle. So I would love to know, I say this a lot. The destiny has no wasted moments. Kind of meaning like as you go through life.There are moments in your life that kind of fortify who you are now. Right. And so I would love to know what the destiny highlight about you. What did it highlight about your part of your characteristics that kind of make you who you are today and know this is kind of what’s helping you be successful along the journey.
Matt Mainini (09:10)
You know, I, I can think of two things. ⁓ one thing is when I, who you’re around, who you’re with, I got off the plane in San Jose and I’m starting school, all new people. I’m a fish out of water. I, I don’t know anybody. And in my cohort in the school, I had a buddy that said, Hey, Matt, you know, nice to meet you. Hey, let me take you out to lunch. I’m buying. And that was the first time I was.22 years old, that’s the first time somebody ever offered to buy me lunch with no strings attached. Right. It’s not tit for tat or that, you know, me versus you. And he just was open to the discussion. Hey, let’s be friends. And it really opened my mind to how people treat each other. Right. And you give
and that helps you actually down the road receive. And so that was a big.
eye-opening moment to see how the people I was befriending and the way they behave, it really influences you and your potential. So it is your network that influences your net worth big time. ⁓ which is why I’m now part of in groups and masterminds and things, because I’m continuing that process. The other one is, ⁓ I wanted to share was I took a
I had an internship and then that was ending. ⁓ And I took another job. And I can tell you the companies, I was working at Yahoo and that was ending. And I went over to NASA and I had an interest in aviation and space travel and it was a really great team, I thought. And you know what, the only thing kind of negative about it was it was a
half a pay cut, 50 % reduction in pay. And I could have continued looking for those high paying, you know, ⁓ company, private company, know, tech stuff, but I followed my passion, right? And I went with my gut that I wanted to be there. So I went there with that pay cut.
And I was there four years or so before I moved on and it was great, very smart people working there. And I realized something that ⁓ even with that significant of a pay cut, it didn’t feel like 50 % less. My happiness wasn’t 50 % less. So I learned a really valuable thing there that as I go through life, I shouldn’t just chase money. It chased like the
what you want, your passion, the dream that you have. Don’t worry so much. If you can make ends meet, you kind of already, you know, made that bar that you need to get over. And the rest is really, you know, how comfortable are you with things? So at the time, ⁓ that taught me a lot that I shouldn’t be just chasing money, even though I really enjoy investing and, you know, the goal is to put money in and have money come back.
So we do a lot of that. I have fun with that. But I understand it’s the pressure release valve is there, right? You don’t have to, it’s not, don’t need to feel so much intense pressure. It’s not all about that income at the job.
Quentin Edmonds (13:22)
man, I absolutely love the way you think, man. Thank you for the way you laid that out. I mean, even just with your philosophy of house hacking, you said, you say, that’s something that you still kind of do, right? And I think when I think about you and your mindset, even the 50 % pay cut, like living within your means, ⁓ like defining your own success. And I think, know, again, I love the way you think, because I thinkThese are some golden nuggets for people to take because you can define and make your own happiness, right? You define your success, not other people. This is not Quentin against Matt. I don’t define my success based on Matt’s success. You know, I would pre, I would be depressed. got to make, I got to define my own success. And sometimes defining my own success is positioning my life in a way that works for me and a way that relieves the pressure and a way that creates freedom for myself.
And I think, you know, this, what you’re saying and how you are approaching things is really going to help people because maybe they need to reevaluate the overhead. Maybe they need to reevaluate their living situation. Maybe they need to reevaluate taking advantage of some of the things that’s out there that they can take advantage of. And so I absolutely love the way you’re thinking,
Matt Mainini (14:40)
Yeah, so it boils down to three things that you want in the back of your mind to pursue. And for me, it’s the passion, right? So you what what are you passionate about? You’ve got to like, find a way to do that every day. And andhow does that passion add value to others and maximizing that value to others?
And then on top of that, you’re scale it. So how do you grow that thing? And if you can achieve those three things, you have one because you’re doing something you love. You’re adding value to other people. That’s fulfilling. And then you can scale it so you can infinitely grow your income and improve your family situation. And I spent a lot of time thinking about that and what it has become or moved into is housing.
for ⁓ others, including veterans and ⁓ Section 8 or HUD housing, because California has such a need for that. In fact, the whole United States is under supplied in housing. There’s a housing crisis, and we need to add housing. We need clean, affordable housing. And so I’ve looked at that as this is my passion.
like that go. And I left the tech world two and a half years ago. So in full transparency, I was, ⁓ I took a layoff. So there was a bunch of big riff. And I think my, my boss was ⁓ more nervous in that call than I was because with our real estate, we had been building for eight years at that point. I was like, look, man, it’s all right.
Don’t worry about it. Like I’m good. And we never looked back. So I just trusted, you know, from that learning I had before where I made less money for a period of time, I just trusted like we’re good. We can handle this. I mean, I’m on top of the finances. You want to, you want to definitely have a financial sheet for your personal life and kind of know where you’re at monthly.
So, you I knew we would be, have a super long runway. Yeah. Just chase your passion, find a way to add value and then scale it. So now I’m getting into commercial apartments, converting a hotel into affordable housing with 60 % going to veterans. And it’s, it’s a passion project, but it also has a tremendous equity upside. And beyond that, it’s not just about me anymore. Right.
I feel like real estate, can invest, invest, invest and do it all yourself like I had done and make money for yourself and be fine with that. But to grow as a human being in this career, I realized, wait, why don’t I add as much value as I can to the residents and at the same time, bring my friends along, investors, right?
who can invest in this and earn 15, 20 % annualized on these larger commercial properties in syndication work. And so I feel like I found the thing that for me personally, it really resonates that I get to help many other people and I get paid well to do it. So it’s a beautiful thing that it all kind of comes together.
Quentin Edmonds (19:10)
I love it, man. So I wrote it down. P. D. S. Passion, value and scale. Be passionate about something. Add the value to people and then find a way to scale it. I love it, man. I love it. What is the next real goal for you, man? What are you looking to solve a scale next?Matt Mainini (19:28)
Yeah, so I mentioned the California shortage, housing shortage crisis that ⁓ that’s going to take a lot more than my small team or group that’s doing this, right? We’re going to need thousands of units. So other people need to build, renovate, refurbish these, you know, outdated buildings into livable. There’s a lot of offices that need to be reconfigured into livable.I haven’t gotten into that one, but that’s my next kind of growth area. for me personally, ⁓ investor relations to, I haven’t spent enough time reaching out to my network and beyond to share these opportunities with. And so that other people just simply don’t know about it. In fact, working in tech for, ⁓
I think it was 12, 13 years. Most of the people there, smart people, but the work is demanding. So they’re just focused on that. Throw money in a 401k as I had. There’s nothing wrong with the 401k inherently. But if that’s your strategy for retirement, maybe think again that who’s really looking out for you? Well, the answer is you.
You are the only one really looking out for you. So think about your future. Think about how to invest. Don’t just throw it into a 401k and kind of turn the brain off like, you know, you’re good. If you really want that solid future, you got to build it yourself, right? You got to look at investment opportunities, study a market or a niche or something again, you’re passionate about, and you can put money and energy into it.
a little bit on the side, moonlight it like I had for, you know, eight years before I transitioned fully into real estate. Just chip away at it. I always look at it that way. Just little by little learn, maybe spend an hour learning the subject each night. And in a couple of months, you you’re almost an expert in your knowledge. Then you just go do it and start taking action.
Little by little, small investments at first, build, build, build. And before you know it, you end up with a portfolio, a new skill set, and a beautiful thing, is independence, independence from your employer or your boss. You have to want it. You know, I wanted it real bad. I did not want to be beholden to my boss saying, do it this way, because I tell you to do it this way.
I thought I want to be able to creatively live my life how I see fit and take that risk. And with risk comes reward. So you have to be willing to learn, keep learning and take some risk, make it small at first before you put it all in. You know, it took me eight years before I decided to go all into real estate. So for me,
much slower than some other real estate investors I know that were able to really go quick, go big, scale quickly, more quickly than me. You can do it. ⁓ But for me, it was a more slower organic process. I’ve just, the love and the passion for building housing for other people has just grown and grown. So I put the fuel on that fire and then just keep going here.
Quentin Edmonds (23:20)
Absolutely. Listen, man, I love it. Again, love the way you think, love the way you’re building. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,Matt Mainini (23:35)
Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, reach out to me anytime. I’m on LinkedIn. You can find me there, Matt Mainini. ⁓ That’s a good spot to find me and reach out anytime.Quentin Edmonds (23:47)
Absolutely. Listen, Matt, three things. One, I want to thank you for your time. Of course, know, time is valuable. Time is a premium we can put on our time. So thank you for your time. Two, thank you for your story. Thank you for your authenticity. Thank you for your transparency. I really appreciate that. And then lastly, thank you for your perspective. Thank you for your mindset, the way you think in bringing that mindset to this podcast. I really appreciate you, sir.Matt Mainini (24:14)
Appreciate you too. Thanks so much.Quentin Edmonds (24:17)
Absolutely, listen, y’all can’t tell me you didn’t get value from that conversation. Can’t tell me you didn’t get value from Mr. Matt. So please definitely check out Mr. Matt. Look into the show notes, get in contact with him. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Matt. So, sir, I thank you again. And everyone else, you all have a fantastic day.
