Subscribe via:
Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Marco, a successful lifestyle investor who transitioned from a corporate CFO to a real estate investor. Marco shares his journey, focusing on single-family rentals and the importance of cash flow. He discusses the challenges and opportunities in the current real estate market, emphasizing the need for flexibility and adaptability in investment strategies. Marco also highlights the benefits of remote management and the significance of having clear investment criteria.
Resources and Links from this show:
-
Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode
Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Marco (00:00)
Yeah, I’m originally from Germany. So I came to the US when I was 26 years old. Good old American dream story. So I came with two suitcases, $1,500 in my pocket. Never been to the US, didn’t know anybody in the US, barely spoke English. I had a job with a German company as a financial analyst and basically worked my way up. Corporate ladder advanced fairly quickly in my career. Ultimately became a chief financial officer of aof a company in Louisiana. That was my first CFO job and been the CFO for the last 10 years of my corporate career. Along the way in 2016, I became unemployed and one of my CFO jobs was unemployed for about three months. I hated the feeling. It was kind of like you’re this high flying CFO and then suddenly like your whole world crashes. And I also realized there’s no cash coming
Micah Johnson (02:26)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Marco, who’s been making serious moves in the single family residential space. Marco, glad to have you man, welcome in.Marco (02:40)
Hey, great to be here. Love it. Thank you.Micah Johnson (02:41)
I’m excited forour talk today. I think our listeners are really gonna take good information away from one, how you’ve approached real estate. You have a particular way that you do it that I think is very interesting because real estate’s a big umbrella and there’s a lot of ways to go about it and really understanding who you are and why you wanna do this is a critical factor. So let’s dive in on that. For people who may not know you yet, what is your main focus right now and what markets are you operating in?
Marco (03:10)
I’m a, main focus is single family rentals. I, my main strategy is the, BRRRR buying properties, fixing them up, renting them refinancing, which obviously I’ve had some challenges in the last two, three years, but that’s my main focus. And I’m in, I own rental properties in Florida, Southwest Florida in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, which, lately my main focus is, like the coastal area of Mississippi and Alabama.Micah Johnson (03:37)
So a little expansion there. So let’s take a step back real quick and hear a little of your story. What got you into real estate in general and you know what was that path that led you to the way that you do it now?Marco (03:49)
Yeah, I’m originally from Germany. So I came to the US when I was 26 years old. Good old American dream story. So I came with two suitcases, $1,500 in my pocket. Never been to the US, didn’t know anybody in the US, barely spoke English. I had a job with a German company as a financial analyst and basically worked my way up. Corporate ladder advanced fairly quickly in my career. Ultimately became a chief financial officer of aof a company in Louisiana. That was my first CFO job and been the CFO for the last 10 years of my corporate career. Along the way in 2016, I became unemployed and one of my CFO jobs was unemployed for about three months. I hated the feeling. It was kind of like you’re this high flying CFO and then suddenly like your whole world crashes. And I also realized there’s no cash coming in.
You know I realized I had saved some money.
I was okay. but I realized, Hey, not having a constant cash flow is a big deal and depending on your W two is a big deal. So I, went all into real estate. in hindsight was a blessing disguise to be unemployed for three months, which is kind of like really like focusing, zeroing in on, on real estate. learned everything I could, podcast, got some coaching, went to meetups and, found a job.
And I’m like, okay, I’m going to buy it. Initially the goal was to have like three to $4,000 in cash flow. So I figured that covers my basic bills. So if I get ever unemployed again, I’m not going to have this, this kick in my stomach. I’m going to be okay. I’m going to be more relaxed. And from there, the snowball effect kicked in. it was two properties, four properties. Next thing you know, I had 10 properties. And yeah, and it just kept.
Tying up the cash flow and by 2020, I actually was making more money in real estate than I was making my CFO job. I And I uh quit my corporate career and was 45 years old at the time. yeah, and since then I’m a lifestyle investor. I consider myself a lifestyle investor. it means I’m not really driven by assets under management, how many houses I own or whatsoever.
Right now, portfolio of about 45 to 50 single family properties. But for me, it’s all about the cash which generates and lets me live the life that I want to live. You know, have the freedom to live kind of life by design. Along the way, I moved to Southwest Florida. I just love the area, Fort Myers area. So I’m, blessed I can live in that area. I travel a lot. I’m talking to you right now from Ensenada, Mexico.
Micah Johnson (06:12)
Okay.Marco (07:24)
So I actually did a road trip from Fort Myers over Jacksonville at a mastermind to actually to Mississippi on a closing. I had a closing in Mississippi on a property. And from there drove to Las Vegas, spent Christmas there in Las Vegas with my fiance, and then drove from Vegas down through San Diego down into Ensenada, Mexicush, about an hour and a half south of San Diego, where I met for three weeks. And then at one point I will drive back, we’ll make my way back.to Fort Myers.
Micah Johnson (07:56)
Man, what I love about your story is one that you’ve pulled it off, right? You said a specific term there, lifestyle investor, which if you’re listening to this and you’re wondering what that term is, it’s one of the ways that I mean by there’s a lot of ways to do real estate, where it really makes sense with how you got into the industry because of that pit in your stomach of when you’re pulling against a non-renewable resource for survival of, okay.How do I never feel this way again? How do I make sure that I’ve got my bases covered? That led to starting to buy houses. And then what’s interesting about your story too is it wasn’t one you hear a lot of times people just go full-time into real estate and kind of recreate that environment for themselves where they don’t have cashflow yet. So you leverage that W2 into more houses over time, which led to that full-time being able to do real estate five years ago. And now five years later,
You’re living the lifestyle dream. You literally just explained it out loud of you took as much time as you wanted to drive from Fort Myers to Ensenada, Mexico, and you’ll get to take as much time as you want driving back. Like one, congratulations, man. You did it.
Marco (09:06)
Thank you. you. And here’s the thing about real estate. If you set it up right, if you have the right processes and whatsoever, you can do it from anywhere. you know and actually, closed, and this is my first one, I actually closed and I sold the property in the Fort Myers area. And I did that with an online notary. So while I’m in Mexico, I was able to sign all the paperwork.Micah Johnson (09:16)
Yeah.Marco (09:33)
with a notary in an online meeting. And yeah, we closed on the property. Everything’s right with title company and everything. So you, you literally can do buying and selling houses and managing your end of portfolio for any, any way, if you have to write process. I mean, it’s not just like a, just buy something and it goes by itself. You have to build those processes and have put things in place, have a good network, you know, like.Like the house I sold, were some issues during the inspection. have good contractors to fix it up. I didn’t have to be there. So, so yeah, if you have the right network, the right foundation there, you can do this from, from anywhere, literally.
Micah Johnson (10:46)
I agree, man. And for those that like that time freedom where you really want your life back, one thing COVID did was made Zoom calls legitimate. It made the idea of talking to people this way real. and it look at the doors it’s opened up, especially with your online notaries, those kinds of things. Because before that, you were way more static. I mean you could get a mobile notary out to certain places, but there were certain places you couldn’t be and still do what you wanted to do. So you’re absolutely right, man.Marco (10:56)
Mm-hmm.Micah Johnson (11:14)
done well, which is what I would encourage if anyone’s listening to your story, is look how long it took, right? Real estate is a wonderful get rich slow scheme. And if you set it up well in the middle of it, you actually get the life you want. It takes a little bit more time because it’s, you know, there’s so many gurus right now and all the things online where, you know, come do this and do that. You’ll have this in this short amount of time. And some people do. There’s that 1 % of folks they do. They hit a home run deal out of the gate. Maybe they get two or three. I had a friend.His second deal he ever did was over $100,000 return. It was life changing money overnight. Like overnight just, your life just changed in a way and it’s changed forever. It set him up in a way where it did it. So does it happen? Yes. However, we’re not after one deal, right? Eventually that a hundred grand is going to run out. So how are you setting yourself up with like, you’re talking about the process, your toolkit, who’s in your tool belt where you can make a phone call.
And then have whatever deal you’re struggling with, whatever part just solved. It’s, it’s the game changer, man. So.
Marco (12:19)
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.No, it takes time. It’s a process you know. It takes time. And like you said, there’s no get rich quick screen. There might be one. I think 1 % is generous. I don’t think even this 1%. It really, really works out. But um it’s more like a slow process. when it’s spilt, it’s like a.
It’s like a bamboo, you know, it grows really slow, you know, in the beginning. then at one point it just shoots up like crazy. it’s like, build this slow foundation and then it, I keep referring to it as the snowball effect. That’s how I like it, cause it keeps rolling. You know, make more money, make more cash, the more cash you make, the sooner you save up to buy your next property. you know, so it’s just this, becomes this self-propelling machine.
Micah Johnson (13:12)
The term you just used there for cashflow and our prerecording, that’s what you were talking about was your main focus with a house. So let’s dig into that for a second on what it is that you look for, what’s the minimum cashflow you’re going to expect, like what makes you pull the trigger on a deal?Marco (13:29)
Yeah, I’m a little bit, I’m a CFO before. people, people talk to me, they think like I have to elaborate financial model, you know, with IRR calculations and this what, what’s that? I have actually very, very simple, cause one thing I learned as a CFO is like whatever model I have, whatever I calculate, it’s never going to come out that way. You know? So, so yeah, it looks sophisticated. It looks all there. So I’ve never done a budget in my life that actually came in what I budgeted.the next year. You know it’s, anyway, so I’m very simple. So mine is 10 % cash on cash. So if I can generate, let’s say I invest $50,000 with down payment or renovations or whatsoever. Let’s say for simplicity, $200,000 house, I need $50,000 for the down payment, doesn’t need any work.
Ideally, I cash for $5,000 over the year, over the 12 months, which means 400 more or less a month. And that’s kind what I’m looking for is the 10 % and at a minimum $300. So even if it’s, let’s say I buy a house for $100,000 and I would get 20 % or whatever, but the cash was less than 300. I’m not going to do it either. It’s just, it just takes too long.
Micah Johnson (14:45)
Gotcha.Marco (14:48)
build up, you know, so, so I’m like the 10 % and $300 minimum is kind of two gauges. And then, if I, if I hit those, um I mean.Micah Johnson (15:40)
I love that minimum. That’s not one that I hear very often is putting in that minimum, because you’re right. You could get, I’m getting 20 % on this deal, but it’s 200 bucks. It’s okay, great. It’s going to take forever. That’s not going to work out as quick as you’d hope it to. So I love how you’re balancing it on both sides. You got this minimum percentage you want, but also this minimum cash per month you want so that it creates that North Star.Really the reason I wanted you to say that is for others to know it’s almost like a buy box in a way. When you know what you’re looking for, you can say no way faster to everything else. Cause that’s kind of what people run into is you gotta say yes and get off the bench to get into this business. But once you learn how to say yes, then you gotta learn how to say no fast. Because opportunities you see they’re around. They’re gonna get put in front of you. And if you don’t have that guiding light,
You start to take risks that you weren’t willing to take before. You start, like you’re talking about, you made a budget that never stuck. And that’s where I see a lot of investors get in themselves in a pinch is they base so many things on, well, if this does this and this does this and that does that, then all this is going to work out. And it’s like, well, the moment it takes more things for it to go right, the chances of it going wrong are exponentially increasing.
Marco (17:04)
Yeah, or vice versa. They put so many factors in that at one point they make the deal look bad. So did you account for 5%, maybe 10 % vacancy, repair budget, maybe 5%, maybe 8%. And if you put enough factors in, you can make any deal look bad or look as bad deal look good.Micah Johnson (17:13)
Mmm. Excellent point.Marco (17:29)
I just, I just like to keep it simple. And like you said, you have to be able to say no. I learned that too, you know, when, when you get off deals, when I see something, it usually takes me less than a minute to assess if I’m even interested or not. You know, so based on those numbers in my head, what is, what is it going to cost me to renovate this place? $20,000. My down payment is $30,000. Okay. I’m all in for 50. I’m going to rent it for whatever.$2,000, my mortgage all in, it’s going to be $1,500. Okay, that’s going to work. Or it’s going to be $1,700 in rent and I’m all in for $1,500. It’s just not because I mean, every deal you do is work. You know Yes, I mean, you have process in place, but you still you got to inspect the place. You got to line up the contractors. You got to manage the contractors. got to do the closing. You got to get the cash. You got to do this and that. It’s just, I mean, there’s a lot of steps in that whole
Micah Johnson (18:02)
Gotcha.Mm-hmm.
Marco (18:26)
process of buying one property. And if it’s not worth it, if it doesn’t tilt the needle, just don’t want to spend my time. And I think that’s one of the benefits of being a lifestyle investor. I don’t have to, I don’t have a fund. I don’t have to tell people I own a hundred houses, 200 houses. I want to own 500 houses. I mean, those numbers are not relevant for me, but there’s people it is, and then they’re willing to…I can’t come to to junkies, you know, kind of like want to do a deal and just to, hit those numbers. ⁓ but, ⁓ I think it’s kind of.
Micah Johnson (19:00)
Yeah. We’ve, I’ve called, heard them referredto as deal bros in the past. Like how many deals do you do? It’s a popular question you’ll hear at different groups and meetups. And it’s like this thing people try to measure them by. it’s like, well, how many deals you do that actually worked? What’s your real position like, cause you could have done a hundred deals and have zero money.
Marco (19:05)
Yeah.And why you have to chase
so many deals? You don’t have enough money, you don’t make enough money yet. Why do you have to chase so many deals?
Micah Johnson (19:28)
Right. And that’s where it lines up with too, how flexible real estate can be where if you want to build that business where you have large overhead and teams and the CEO and you have to get these deals, it’s an option. And that’s really where personality lines up so much with it. What is it that you actually want to do in this industry? And then learn what it invert from there. Okay. If I want this, I need to take these steps backwards and then you’ll pull it off. Right.Marco (19:55)
Yeah, you bring upa great point. Cause for me, one of reasons I wanted to real estate full-time was that I don’t have a big team. I’ve been a CFO, had teams of 20, 30 people working for me and I was kind of worn out and was kind of burned out. You know and I was like, I know other real estate investors and I’m sure you know too, they have these big teams, have 20, 30 people, have acquisition manager, have a disposition manager, they have this, they have that.
And it’s great for them. I mean, like you said, anybody what works for you whatsoever. For me, it sounds awful. I don’t want to do that. So I’d rather sit in an Ensenada, eat some fish tacos and do a remote closing on the computer. But anybody, again, that’s how I’m wired. If you’re wired, like you want to build, you want to have a thousand property portfolio or you want to make a million dollars every year.
Micah Johnson (20:30)
Right? Right. that’s where…Exactly.
Marco (20:51)
Go for it, whatever drives you.Micah Johnson (20:56)
That’s exactly it right there. Because what I’ve learned about the people that build those businesses, real estate is simply the commodity they chose. It doesn’t matter. Whatever they were going to do, whatever like did it for them, they were going to build a business in that world because that’s their mentality. It’s what they want to do. And you’re right. In my opinion, I don’t think most people wantMarco (21:04)
ThankMicah Johnson (21:17)
the large teams, there’s not that many big companies in the nation. I worked with a company one time, we actually measured it, see how many people out there are doing 40 deals a year or more. There ain’t many, honestly. And to do that many and more, you need a very specific system and process and there’s 50 different positions, five ⁓ inside a scaled real estate company. So it’s like, there’s a very specific thing you got to want and understand. And a lot of folks get on that train and then realize,I didn’t want to manage this many people. This isn’t really what I was after. I was after time freedom. I was after this. And that’s one thing when I’m talking to somebody about real estate, I’d really try to hit home is what is it that you’re trying to do? I’m not worried about your why so much. Like start with why and all that. That’s a different conversation. That’s more existential. This is like, what actually do you want to do each day? What does it for you? Do you want to go to your office and see your team and rile them up? Okay, we got to build this.
Marco (22:10)
Yeah. Yeah.Micah Johnson (22:16)
You want to go to Insanata and take a long road trip? Okay, you got to do this.Marco (22:21)
youMicah Johnson (22:22)
So let’s talk about what you’re thinking for 2026. What are some opportunities that you’re feeling are out there and also what are some challenges that you’re seeing?Marco (22:32)
Yeah, I mean, just for me as a cashflow investor, but I think for any real estate investor, even if you’re a flipper or if you’re chasing appreciation or whatsoever, I think for them even worse. last two years have been challenging. They’ve not been bad. I mean, I’m not struggling. I’m not losing house or anything like that, but it’s just the rent growth and appreciation was so strong between 20 and 23. And now with interest rates higher, I mean, they come down a little bit. They increase quite a bit. It’s just the whole market was kind of…kind of, kind of not stand still. I don’t kind of stand still kind of, it’s just didn’t move too much on top as a single family investor. also have to deal with, a lot of multifamily. I mean, we had the most multifamily coming on market in 2025, I think ever in history. just a hundred thousands of units, probably mill. I don’t know the exact number, but six, 700,000 or something like that in one year. I mean, it’s just the absurd number.
So those are some of the challenges. I think 26 is still going to be a little bit of a transition year. I think we, we we’re going to see lower interest rates. We’re going to see some appreciation again. At the same time, also the economy, I think is not as good as we’re told. I mean, if you watch the mainstream media, GDP grows by four and a half percent, inflation is in check and all this stuff.
But if you’re in the trenches, if you talk to your tenants, you’ve talked to your contractors, that’s not the story. Well, at least not the story that I hear. People are struggling. I mean, yes, maybe inflation is only 2 % this year, but it was 30 % in the last four or five years and your salary didn’t go up 30%. You know so people are struggling. So I think it’s a little bit, it’s kind of mixed bag is I think the interest rate is going to help.
Micah Johnson (24:14)
Exactly.Marco (24:21)
There’s going to be more money flowing into investments. So that’s going to help. the same time, you’re to have people in general struggling with making the rent payments and whatsoever. So my focus is I used to own, well, my philosophy was to own like mostly newer, when I say newer, like 1990s and up. And most of my homes rent for $2,000 and more or used to.But I kind of shifted a little bit. I bought more lately, last two, three years, more homes that, rent more in the 15, 17, $1,800 ranges in my markets. And, and I see a lot of demand still there. So that’s going to be my focus buying, for instance, Mississippi, can buy homes for between one 15, one 80, which rent for 1600, $1,800. I’m going to, that’s going to be my, my main focus.
As it was this year is going to be last year too. I spilled some houses too. Did well with it, but I’m probably not going to build another house in 26 just to see how things are going. And I think a lot of markets also see an oversupply and you’re in Florida, I’m in Florida. And we’re kind of almost opposite parts of Florida. And you see the same thing as I see. There’s just a lot of supply that came on the market. And I think the…
It just has to be absorbed. I’m still whereby invest, I still feel good about it. I feel good about Florida. It’s just that inventory has to be absorbed. And then I think 2027 is going to be a much better year. But 2026 should be, there’s definitely lots of opportunities still. When I say, okay, some stride more, there’s still opportunities. Even if there was a crash tomorrow, I still believe there’s, especially in a crash, will be tons of opportunities.
Micah Johnson (26:04)
Yeah, absolutely. When did you notice that shift to I need to maybe go for that lower rental for that? you know What was it that started to show you like, okay, wait a second, was it where they sit longer on the market, not renting out, or you just noticed that this pocket had more people in it?Marco (26:20)
No, I sawI saw two things. One is, yes, I had some homes. Like in the market I’m in in Mississippi, the type of single family I do, which kind of still the white color, blue color average over a lot of them are on the high end, which is $2,200. It’s kind of the 22, 23, and it’s like the higher end on that market. And I saw these homes sitting a little bit longer. COVID, those homes were ended within a day, you know, and then…
suddenly in 24 was like a month, month and a half. But I owned homes in that same market for like, they were in for $1,600, $1,700. And every time I put them on the market, they were still renting within a day or three days. So I’m like, okay, so the consumer has some problems. There’s a huge demand for, and here’s the thing is like as an investor, think you always have to pay attention. You have to pay attention. It’s good to have a strategy and follow that strategy, but that strategy should be evaluated.
on an ongoing basis. You know It’s like, what worked in 2022 doesn’t work necessarily in 2025 you know. And that’s kind of, for me, it’s one of my pet peeves too when I listen to real estate podcasts and someone tells the world, in 2010, I bought these for closed properties for like $60,000 and blah, blah, blah. I’m like, okay, that’s nice for you, but that’s not where we are today. That information doesn’t help me today. And it’s kind of…
Micah Johnson (27:19)
Mmm.Marco (27:48)
kind of misleading anybody who wants to get into it. I mean, you have to pay attention and adjust and evolve in your strategy. you know yes, I felt like I saw a lot of, I felt how the market is shifting and that’s my focus. so anything I bought in that market in the last two years is rents for like between the lowest I have a 16, 1600, that’s kind of that range. I meanMicah Johnson (27:57)
think you’re absolutely right.It makes sense too. because it’s real estate’s a market and it’s volatile and it goes up and down. It lives in a cycle and you’re right on the money with it. You may have this strategy, but if you’re swinging a hammer and you need an axe, you got the wrong tool you know. You can’t just hit everything like it’s a nail because it’s not all a nail. And having that mindset to adjust.
Marco (28:32)
Yeah.Micah Johnson (28:40)
I mean, that probably went a long way into expanding markets, right? Where you only look focusing around yourself originally and then went to outside of Florida.Marco (28:47)
No, I wasalways in different states. It ⁓ kind of grew through my job and also my idea of one day being a lifestyle investor. when I started doing real estate, I lived in Huntsville, Alabama. So I bought properties there. My first major multifamily was in Mobile, Alabama. It was in 2020. I bought a 40 unit with a business partner.
And when I got into that market, learned single families were stronger too. I bought there. At one point I moved to Mobile because we bought another multifamily. Both were in distress. So my business partner and both moved to Mobile just to overlook it. And it turned out good. We did well. We exited in 22. But that’s how I got into Mobile. And then Mississippi is right next there. And in the Fort Myers area, actually my first property was
My second one probably ever was in Fort Myers because I came here since 2011. I had a good friend from Germany. He came every year. We did like a once, one week a year here. His sister lived in Fort Myers area and I loved the place. You know, and I was in 2011 and I came like, man, I should buy something. 12th, I came, I should buy something. Every year came, prices went up a little bit more. And then in 16, I finally pulled the trigger. And the idea was…
Okay. And I hadn’t really had real estate vision, but the idea was in my corporate job, one day I want to retire maybe at 55, you know, if I, if I do everything well. And then if you have like 10 properties in Fort Myers, would be nice while you retire. So that’s kind of how it started. Just really liked the area. And that’s why I also moved to Alderman.
Micah Johnson (30:28)
Well, it makes sense, especially leading down that lifestyle path. So I love what you’ve been able to do, man. You got you came to America, used the American dream, changed your life forever, and now you’re out there. One thing I appreciate about today is just this real information. Like you said, a lot of times you hear information from people on podcasts, which is more like a resume instead of a here’s how actually what’s going on currently. So I really appreciate you doing that.If someone wanted to connect with you or learn more from you, what’s the best way for them to find you?
Marco (30:59)
Best way is LinkedIn. I’m very active on LinkedIn. Got quite a following there. I post about real estate, but I also talk about general business and taxes. I don’t want to touch that touch, but it’s something I feel strong about. I post a lot about it. And I mean, that’s one of the other reasons in real estate why I’m in is to be honest, it’s the tax part. I ⁓ don’t want to over-explain it, but yeah, LinkedIn, Marco Pfeiffer is my name. I’m sure it’s in the show note, my name. Reach out to me, connect with me.Micah Johnson (31:00)
Thank you.Marco (31:28)
And yeah, I appreciate the opportunity be on here. I mean, I really enjoyed it.Micah Johnson (31:32)
Absolutely, man. I really enjoyed it myself. love again, love your story, your perspective, what you’re doing. I think we need more people in the space doing it like you do it. Just getting out there, building a real business. So for those of you that are listening, you got value from today’s episode, please like the episode, subscribe to our podcast. Again, Marco’s link, his LinkedIn link will be in the show notes. So check that out if you want to follow him there. We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators.just like Marco, who are out there building that business they want for the life that they want. So we thank you for watching. Join us on the next one. We’ll see you soon.
Marco (32:07)
Thank you.
