From Police Officer to 23 Rental Properties: How Mark Built Wealth With Real Estate

Mark Janowiecki (00:00)
I’ll fill it out and then say, “Here you go. You can take it to your family members or your attorney. Let them look it over, make sure everything looks good.” But I find it—it’s amazing because I find that it shows I’m serious and this is a purchase contract. You can take a copy with you. You can, you know, review it yourself. It just kind of skips that next step of doing a follow-up later on, because I’m confident enough and I can make an offer right then and there. There’s no sense to me having to come back and think about it.

Issa Hanna (01:59)
Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pros Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Mark Janowiecki with me here to share his knowledge. Mark, welcome to the show.

Mark Janowiecki (02:08)
Hey, how you doing, sir?

Issa Hanna (02:10)
I’m doing fine. We were talking earlier—interesting, interesting story as many of us investors have, where we kind of fell into the real estate game. You started as a police officer and now you own 23 doors. So for our viewers at home, can you kind of run down the day-to-day of somebody who has twenty-three properties?

Mark Janowiecki (02:33)
Yeah, absolutely. You know, so I get up in the morning, I want to check my text messages and emails. I self-manage all my properties, so I do have like a secretary assistant part-time. I have a, you know, maintenance guy or two on call if I need, but generally I’m just responding to the tenants, make sure I’m collecting the rents and getting a payroll together for my maintenance guy, and then make sure the rents are collected and put in the right accounts. It’s like today’s the seventh of the month of August and like some of the rents are in, some aren’t. I generally don’t charge late fees. But I’m asking, “Hey, where’s the rent at? What’s going on here? What can I do?” And that’s kind of it. It takes me probably like an hour just to kind of run through my business and stuff. I’m in the middle of a rehab right now on my 23rd house, so I’ll go there in the morning, check on the contractor. I do all the cleanup for the contractor so he doesn’t charge me and I can see what he’s doing and kind of keep things rolling. All right, hanging out with the family, exercising. I also run a security company too—just a small one at our local mall here. And that’s because I was a police officer, so I was able to get that contract for that. So—

Issa Hanna (03:47)
Man, you’re keeping yourself busy. And I love that you self-manage because a lot of landlords, a lot of property managers that come on the show say, “You can’t self-manage, you’re gonna lose money, you’re gonna be vacant.” I also self-manage my properties, you know, and I find it not that hard. So can you tell me why—or can you tell me basically why you find it better to self-manage your properties?

Mark Janowiecki (04:17)
You know, basically it’s my business, it’s my livelihood, right? And no one’s gonna do it as good as you do. No one’s gonna care as much. Even if you pay someone well, it’s not their business, it’s just a job for them. For me, I get down to every detail: why is the tenant late, and, you know, can I help them out with that and be understanding? Or the tenant calls me up, says, “I got a major leak,” and it’s a faucet dripping, right? So I don’t wanna send maintenance out for that or have a management company bill me for something like that where it’s an easy fix. And I can see my properties all the time. Obviously I save the expense, I cut out the middleman on that part, and it just allows me to remain in control. And you know, tenants are—it’s not an adversarial relationship. They’re my customers. I’m providing a home, they’re providing me the rent. So I just want to treat them well and treat them with respect and give them the best service I can.

Issa Hanna (05:12)
I love that. And that’s what the owner-operators need to do, you know. If you are self-managing, you know exactly what Mark’s doing is how you need to handle your business. And I love it, because, you know, why pay the fees if you know how to do it yourself and you don’t mind doing it yourself? So great, great, great advice. And then we touched a little bit—you touched a little bit on that you started as a police officer. So let me get your history. How’d you get into the game? Let’s start at police officer. How’d you become a cop and then turn into a real estate guy?

Mark Janowiecki (06:37)
Yeah, you know, ever since I was a kid I always wanted to be a police officer. And I wanted to be a police officer in the state of Ohio where I’m from. I’m from the Toledo area. And I bought a house at twenty-one. I was young, was not a police officer yet. And when you apply for police jobs, especially, you know, twenty years ago, those were hard jobs to get. I did not have a college degree, no military. So when I went and applied for a police job, there were like a thousand people sometimes for a larger department, like Toledo. And unfortunately for me, I was able to get a job as a police officer in Defiance, Ohio, but it was an hour away from my house. And that was about 2010—about 2009 I really got into law enforcement. And my house was underwater due to the housing crisis. So I almost became a landlord by default because of that. You know, I still wanted to move out to the location to become a police officer, but without being able to sell my house and buy another one because of the mortgage, I just had to become a real estate investor for that aspect as far as renting one house out, then renting another one in Defiance. And then real estate’s all in the news, so you kind of get involved in that, read up on it, and I got interested in that. The thing with me is I loved being a police officer. I’m still a certified police officer. You get 26 paychecks a year, and I kind of already knew what the amount was, and you worked some overtime or some projects for extra, but you kind of knew where you were limited at. You had a limited income. And if you want to do other things for the family or other things in life, you know, I just had to find a way to make extra income. And real estate was just easy for me—buying, renting it out, putting tenants in there. The problem is that as I got more and more houses with a full-time job, you had to take some of the control away to put it with other people, you know, like a maintenance guy or secretary when you’re at work, right? So someone else has to answer the phone, go over there and check on that. They’re not doing it the way I would do it. They’re not giving the best service as I would give. So as I started scaling, and I started using the BRRRR method—buy a couple of houses, cash-out refi, do a couple more—really, I left my job about two years ago, a little over two years ago. And just before I left, it was pretty stressful, cause you got all the houses you’re managing plus your full-time job. And, you know, being a police officer is stressful enough—just the type of calls you’re gonna get and things you handle. And you can’t, you know, handle real estate issues while you’re in the car. So once it reached a point where I had enough I could survive on my own, you know, with the money I’m making from real estate, that’s when I left my full-time job, which was difficult. You had to go sit in an office, talk to your chief, and explain to him what you’re doing and why. And some people said, “Yeah, you’re gonna do great.” Some said, “You’ll be back,” you know, but it was different.

Issa Hanna (09:28)
Definitely, man. And you know, being a cop is a rewarding field. I have many family members that are police officers and it’s definitely a good job, but like you said, you’re limited, right? So, you know, you thought ahead, you thought for the future, you thought for the family and you said, “Okay, I need to build some type of generational wealth, something for the future.” And almost like you said, like fell into it, like a lot of us do. And you’re like, “Okay, I can do this. I can rent these houses, buy them, and do all this stuff.” And now you’ve gotten to a point where you don’t need that full-time job anymore. You’re at home, you’ve basically bought something essentially that is priceless, and that’s more time. And that’s the beauty of real estate. And the only way you’d probably go back to being a police officer is because you want to on your own terms, because you have that money and you have that luxury of time. So man, I just wanted to point that out about your story to our viewers because that is the beauty of real estate. And I wanted to shift focus on a niche you’ve kind of found, and it’s because you have good connections and you were a police officer in the town, Defiance, Ohio. Tell me a little bit about Defiance and why it makes it a good rental market.

Mark Janowiecki (11:28)
Defiance is incredible. Like I said, there’s virtually no street crime. We got the two rivers that come together here. There’s a lot of history here. It’s just a beautiful area. They have lower house prices, generally speaking, especially compared to nationwide averages, lower taxes, and it’s just definitely rental-friendly. The local government here doesn’t mind a bunch of people having rentals as long as they keep them safe and clean. The rents are high, unfortunately for the tenants. There’s not a whole lot of houses out there. So when one does pop up, it goes quickly at a high rental rate. Generally, when you’re watching real estate investors and doing all your research, everybody shoots for, “Multifamily, multifamily, that’s it. That’s where you make the money.” For me, it was single-family because there wasn’t a whole lot of competition for what I was buying cheaper. They rent out easier. It’s less hassle. You don’t have to worry about neighbors or noise complaints or anything like that. Plus the resale value is there, you know. It’s a lot easier to resell a single-family home than it would be an apartment building where you’re limiting who your buyers are. Especially when I came out here to Defiance, of course you had the housing crisis. And then when things started picking back up, then you had COVID hit. I was able to buy houses during COVID pretty cheap. And a lot of it was some skill—took some guts—but a lot of it was just luck, too, timing. It was just the perfect timing. I ended up doing the Dave Ramsey program, I reached Baby Step 7, and I was doing very well with that. And then I started doing cash-out refis on houses, so I kind of went back against that a little bit. Discipline was very, very key for me. I was able to do that through discipline because if you get into a bunch of debt with a bunch of other stuff and everything else, you’re not disciplined. I mean, it could swallow you up pretty quick.

Issa Hanna (13:22)
Yeah, you can get chewed up and spit out with no discipline. And one thing that you said is a strength of yours, and I definitely agree, you gotta have both of these things: you’re confident and quick in your decisions when buying. So give us a little bit more about that.

Mark Janowiecki (13:40)
Yes, you know, like a house will go up on the market for sale and you can kind of see how the pictures look. I know all the local realtors. Is the realtor local? Are the pictures really good quality? What’s the house look like? I went and looked at a house last week and the back door was broken off. The back screen door was broken off, you know, and the realtor was out of area, cause generally a realtor before he lists a house is like, “Hey, let’s at least take the screen door off or let’s do something different.” So you kind of get a feel for the listing. You get a feel for the condition of the house. I’m by no means a contractor or home inspector, but you can walk through pretty quick and kind of get an idea of what’s going on with the house. Is it more cosmetic, or are there some electrical issues? So I can make a decision pretty quickly, like running numbers in my head. I already know the rent capabilities, the taxes, the insurance, and my payment before I even go there, right? You do that ahead of time. So then when you get there, you just take off repairs. So I can confidently make a cash offer right there on the spot within 20, 30 minutes of being at a house. I usually bring a purchase contract with me. Sometimes I do a contingency of my wife walking through it, cause you know, she doesn’t want to go through a hundred houses, right? So I go through a bunch of them and I finally say, “Hey, this one’s good. I like this one.” Then she’ll come take a walk through it with me. Not all the time—she’s a full-time educator, so a lot of times during the day she’s at work, so I’m out there doing it. But I’m just able to make that offer, quick cash. I got a local attorney, we can close quick. I don’t have to worry about financing because I already had that line of credit from the BRRRR method on standby. So it’s worked out very well for me.

Issa Hanna (15:18)
I love that. And a lot of people use the BRRRR method, and it is—it’s the best method to use when you’re doing exactly what you’re doing. Another point I want to make: the wife does gotta sign off, they’re always the real boss, right? Absolutely. And then, you know, when you become experienced enough and you do enough projects and you see enough things, you can walk through a property and you can be like, “Okay, this is gonna cost me this much, this is gonna cost me this much. This is how much material I’m going to pay for for the flooring.” You can calculate this in your head. It’s not something you’re born with, guys, but the more experience, the more knowledge you have, you’ll be able to do exactly what Mark said and just walk through the property, look at it and be like, “Okay, this is gonna cost me this much. I’m buying it.” Another thing I want to point out from our conversation earlier: you say that you bring the purchase contract with you sometimes. Let me hear more about that and why you do that.

Mark Janowiecki (17:01)
Yes. So I have a purchase contract with me. I got it from my local attorney that I use. And I’ll explain to them, “Hey, I’m here to look at your house. I like it. I’m gonna make you an offer. This is a purchase contract I’ll use.” Sometimes I’ll fill it out right in front of the seller. Generally I do off-market deals, right? So the seller is usually a family member or someone that’s looking to move, and I’ll explain to them the whole purchase contract is three pages long. And I’ll fill it out and then say, “Here you go. You can take it to your family members or your attorney. Let them look it over, make sure everything looks good.” But I find that it’s amazing because I find that it shows I’m serious and this is a purchase contract. You can take a copy with you, you can, you know, review it yourself. It just kind of skips that next step of doing a follow-up later on, because I’m confident enough and I can make an offer right then and there. There’s no sense to me having to come back and think about it, get a hold of you again with our schedules and signing it and everything else, right? Just do it right now. Obviously, sometimes they’ll sign it right there and give it back to me and I take it to my attorney. Other times they’re like, “Okay, I’ll look it over with my family or my attorney, and I’ll get back to you in a couple of days.” But it really just kind of skips that step. And when a house is for sale off-market, other people are looking at it or it’s on Facebook, it kind of puts me ahead of everyone else. Because who else is bringing a purchase contract, right? So it’s amazing. Yeah.

Issa Hanna (18:29)
Yeah, I love that. Such a smart move for somebody getting off-market deals, because you got to strike while the iron’s hot. If you’re clicking with these people, if you’re talking to them, if you’ve agreed on a price and you have that purchase contract right there and you fill it out like, “Okay, we’ve agreed. Here it is on paper. I’ve signed it, I’m gonna deliver it to you,” like you said, you’ve taken out a day’s worth of steps or a half day’s worth of steps just by being prepared like that. So man, I love that. And another thing I want to point out: police officers, you guys make great landlords because you guys are dealing with crises all the time in your jobs, right? So when you have that rental crisis or that problem, a leak in the ceiling or something, you’re not gonna freak out like a normal person would, because you’ve dealt with worse in your previous jobs. So man, amazing. I love how easily you’re able to cross over from police officer to investor, it’s very impressive, Mark. And now I want to pick your brain a little bit for our younger viewers, right? You’ve been in the game, you got 23 properties, you’re so knowledgeable you can walk through the property and just be like, “Okay, this is how much it’s gonna cost.” And you’ve built a great network of people to support your growth. In our business, relationships are super important, right? Building these relationships, growing your networks, it’s the most important thing in our business. For younger viewers at home that may just be getting started and don’t know where to start finding these relationships, what advice would you have for them?

Mark Janowiecki (20:18)
Advice I have for them is build your confidence, right? So the biggest thing for me is education. So if this is something you want to get into, read a ton of articles online, go to your local library, grab a couple books, as funny as that sounds. Some do come out every year. Information might be a little dated, but just getting that general knowledge of holding a book in your hand, watch a lot of YouTube videos, and then just going out and talking to people. You know, just like everyone else, I love doom-scrolling, looking at my phone a lot and everything else. But I think that if you put the phone down for a little bit or just go outside and be able to walk the area that you’d be interested in investing in, you see that house that’s vacant, you talk to the neighbors. It’s just confidence, right? And communication. Cause even in this world that’s very digital, personal relationships, communication, networking—that’s still very important. And it might even be a little bit more important now than it was back in the day because of the fact that a lot of people don’t want to go out and necessarily meet people or talk, or they’re intimidated. So again, just going out there and meeting people and talking to them—going to your local coffee shops and sitting there and having a cup of coffee. Maybe you’re reading a real estate magazine or, you know, you introduce yourself to people, good eye contact. And yeah, communication is definitely key. Are they going through a hard time financially, or are they going through a foreclosure? So it’d be pretty easy, especially in a smaller area.

Issa Hanna (21:48)
Amazing advice. And speaking of education, keep being educated. I want to give you the floor. I want to give you time to plug something new you’ve got going on. You’re a certified financial coach. So can you plug that a little bit? Can you give us a little bit more about that?

Mark Janowiecki (22:07)
Yes, absolutely. When managing my own properties, you know, you deal with tenants that don’t necessarily pay on time all the time, and I understand for many various reasons. So I was always, “Hey, you want to sit down and do a budget with me?” It can be a little awkward, and you still try to keep that personal-professional relationship a little separate. And then me being a big proponent of going through a Dave Ramsey program, last year I ended up going through his financial services program and I became a certified financial coach through him. And now I’m able to sit down with clients and meet with them and do a budget with them, whether they’re tenants or not. I do a little bit of local advertising, but I can also do it through phone calls or through video chats like this, so you don’t have to be necessarily local in my area. But for those that are interested in getting a hold of me, you guys can shoot me an email. My email address is [email protected]. And “realty” has no “i” in it—I get asked that all the time. Or my phone number too is 419-262-9946. You can call me or shoot me a text. And I love hearing myself talk, I love talking numbers, real estate, love talking about budgets, so feel free to reach out. I generally run anywhere between $25 to $75 an hour, it kind of just depends on the situation, how much we’re gonna be doing. But regardless, don’t think that you’re in a situation that I couldn’t help you or someone else couldn’t help you. Even if you don’t make much money or you’re struggling financially, there’s always a little wiggle room there. Knowledge is power, you know. Get your financial intelligence up, and even just get on YouTube. “Help, I can’t pay my bills. How do I pay my bills?” And, you know, start going through and scroll through those. That’s very helpful as well.

Issa Hanna (23:52)
I love that, man. Certified financial coach is your next branch that you’re growing on this tree, and I can see you doing super well. Very knowledgeable guy. I mean, built it from the ground up, you know, blue-collar police officer, turned into a big investor in Defiance, Ohio. Fun fact, I’m actually an Ohio guy myself, originally from Cleveland, Ohio. So I’m super rooting for you, Mark, and I’d like to thank you so much for coming on our show. It was a true honor to interview you and pick your brain about all this knowledge and hear your story.

Mark Janowiecki (24:32)
Hey, thank you very much. This is my first podcast. I was a little nervous, but you made it so easy. I loved speaking with you and I loved sharing some knowledge. So you do a great job and have wonderful videos as well. So thank you.

Issa Hanna (24:45)
Man, thank you so much. It was a true honor. And I wouldn’t be able to tell that it was your first time. You did a great job and you dropped so much knowledge on us. Forever grateful for that. And now to our viewers at home, if you guys enjoyed my conversation with Mark and want to see more just like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that can bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time, the Real Estate Pros are out.