How Wholesaling Real Estate Changed Mario Fernandez’s Life and Helped Him Build a Rental Portfolio

Mario (This Cop Flips) (00:00)
It was just that, discipline. It was discipline because like I told you a couple of minutes ago, my thought going into wholesaling and buying rentals is like, this is gonna work or it’s gonna work. There’s no other choice. Now,

The consistency of continuing doing it, I’ve always had it. I’ve always been a persistent person when I say I want something, I’m gonna go for it and unless something catastrophic happens and even then I’m still keep going forward a little bit more,

Dylan Silver (02:04)
Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Mario Fernandez, is a real estate investor active in Dayton, Ohio and Broward County, Florida. He spent over 21 years in law enforcement before transitioning full-time into real estate, where he’s built a portfolio of 13 rental properties and completed nearly 100 wholesale deals as a solo operator. He focuses on wholesaling and long-term rentals, managing his own properties and consistently executing deals with his team. Mario.

Thanks for taking the time today.

Mario (This Cop Flips) (02:35)
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I like how you said Mario Fernandez. That was good. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Dylan Silver (02:40)
Absolutely.

It’s great to have you on here. And what I’d like to start off at the top of the show is, you spent two decades in law enforcement. What was the moment that you realized that real estate could replace your law enforcement career and your income?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (02:58)
Well, it started from, believe, right in the beginning in law enforcement. I always wanted to get into real

buy rental properties, which is everyone’s kind of go-to initially. I always wanted to buy rental properties and own properties for obviously the wealth building factor and making more money. But towards my last couple of years,

I decided, I was like, you know what, I wanna go into this full time and make it, know, you know, to live comfortably, to have, you know, to have a better life. Cause law enforcement is great, it’s my passion. I’ve wanted to do it since I was a kid. My father was in law enforcement, you know, and I started initially corrections, then I went to police and, you know, did all of that, but.

You know, it’s a lot of it’s a lot of it’s a lot of hours to a lot of a lot of hours, a lot of crazy hours, a lot of crazy things that has happened, ⁓ you know. And nowadays it’s it’s it’s not the safest to do either. But it’s still a passion. But you know what? I needed to make sure I can set my family up, ⁓ you know, live nicer, live more comfortable. So I was like, you know what? I need to get in. need to get into real estate. So I made the decision and there was no looking back.

and now I’ve been at it for a while.

Dylan Silver (04:22)
I think there’s actually some similarities between and some skill sets that transfer between what law enforcement officers do and real estate investors. I mentioned to you in the green room, Mario, there is a number of police officers that I’ve had on the show that have become investors. It seems to be one of the largest demographics of people outside of real estate getting into the real estate space. Do you see any

maybe personality traits or job skill sets that transition from the law enforcement world into real estate.

Mario (This Cop Flips) (04:57)
Analytical, being analytical. And while you’re in law enforcement, you you deal with so many different situations, deal with so many different people, you talk to so many different people,

and you’re put in high stress situations all the time. Real estate is all great and Dandy is awesome, but there is definitely some high stress situations that you will encounter a lot. And you have to be analytical. You have to analyze a lot.

⁓ certain situations in law enforcement and in real estate as well. ⁓ cause if you don’t analyze, you can, you know, lose a boatload of money and get into a bad deal, whatever it is. So I think that, ⁓ and, you know, being analytical, analyzing a lot of stuff, correlates one to the others, ⁓ as well. And, you know, just, and, and persistency as, you know, it’s another thing, but that that’s basically what I, what I see, ⁓ kind of what each.

Talk to a lot of people. Real estate, you have to build relationships. You have to talk to sellers. You have to talk to buyers. You gotta talk to a lot of different real estate professionals and sellers and just a lot of people in general. And as a police officer, that’s what you do all day, every day.

Dylan Silver (06:53)
And you know, one of the things that I know ⁓ from knocking doors is you never know what’s behind that door. You never know the disposition of that person. Of course, as a law enforcement officer, that’s ratcheted up 10x. But that’s how you have to have the ability to stay on your feet and to pivot mid conversation and understand like, hey, there might be some expectations for how this conversation could and should go. But this could end up going a totally different way because I

can’t control what the other person’s gonna say or do.

Mario (This Cop Flips) (07:25)
Mm hmm. Absolutely right. That that, know, you always go into the unknown. You know what I mean? When and the law enforcement and you have to prepare yourself for that unknown and prepare yourself for any situation that ⁓ may arise within half a second.

you know, and you kind of got to rely back on your training, rely back on your other experiences and rely back a lot on muscle memory of certain, you know, situations on how to handle them, ⁓ you know, and, you know.

putting that to real estate is the same thing. You never know what you’re gonna encounter when you talk to a seller, when you talk to a buyer. You never know what you’re gonna encounter doing in the middle of a deal when fires start coming out and there are issues that start happening that you have to handle at the moment and make it a high stress. So I guess because we as law enforcement officers deal with that, we kind of see some similarities in real estate and we gravitate towards it.

Dylan Silver (08:26)
Now, wholesaling and then also rentals. Did you start with the rentals or did you start in the wholesale space?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (08:33)
I started in the wholesale space. ⁓ I guess you would say I started both, because I started at rentals, because the first property ⁓ that I bought, I ended up renting it and moving out and then renting it and buying another property from it. So I kind of house hacked initially without knowing what house hacking was. So I bought it, moved in, lived in it for a couple of years. Then I moved out, rented it. ⁓

And then I started when I moved out to my second home that I lived in, I started really getting into wholesaling and I was still managing, you the one rental property at that point in time. And I started really digging deep in the wholesaling. And I told myself, I was like, listen, this is going to work or it’s going to work. There’s no other choice. So I started. So I started like head deep, paid for a bunch of courses, did a bunch of stuff wrong, did a bunch of stuff right.

And then when it when it got to a point that my wholesaling income was matching my doing both was matching my law enforcement salary or about to match it. I was like, you know what? need to go into this full time. You know, I know if I put instead of putting these 10 hours, 12 hours, eight hours at work, if I put it towards my wholesale business, it’s going to blow up.

⁓ Or it’s gonna do good and whatever it is So, you know, so I focus a lot on wholesaling and then after that with the wholesaling funds which is what I talked a lot about on my On my all of my socials

is when I started having the money to be able to buy more rentals and then that’s when Both started kicking off at that time

Dylan Silver (10:49)
Now, let’s get a little granular talking about the wholesale strategy. Were you wholesaling in and around Broward County or was this greater Florida or even outside of Florida as well?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (11:00)
It was all, was, it was the Tri County area. You know, Broward, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County. That’s when I, where I started wholesaling in my backyard, if you were to say. ⁓ So yeah, basically all around that area, you know, that’s what I learned initially, you know, all of the different marketing strategies and stuff like that. So that’s where I was.

Dylan Silver (11:20)
What was the primary acquisition strategy? Were you going direct to seller? Were you doing mailers? Were you looking foreclosureless probate? There’s so many ways where wholesalers can get these deals under contract. What was your strategy?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (11:33)
My next society was going straight direct to sellers. You know that there’s always this say that direct to sellers, which is where you get the best deals. Now about the marketing and how I was finding the sellers, everything you can think of. I did it, I did it all. I cold called, I send us a little bit of mailers. I did this, I did that. I drove for dollars and then tried to call through with the app. So I started doing texting when texting came out and started being a thing.

So I’ve done it all, I’ve always, until recently, I always went direct to seller and contracted the property and had a bill to buyer’s list and reached out to my buyer’s relationships and started wholesaling that way.

Dylan Silver (12:19)
Now from the wholesale and the rentals, did fix and flip come into play and how did you determine when was the right time for which strategy?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (12:30)
Well, was wholesaling. Obviously I started. always, I always say that everyone should start wholesaling because it, to me, in my opinion, it is everything relies on a good deal and wholesaling is the art of finding a good deal. So if you can find a good deal, everything else will fall into place afterwards. So definitely, ⁓ you know, when I started, you know,

getting these deals, like I started thinking, I was like, wait a minute, ⁓ I need to start keeping some of these properties. I need to start ⁓ building wealth, building a portfolio. That’s why initially I came into this for, really and truly, ⁓ obviously to live a better life and make money and stuff like that. So I was like, you know what? And then that’s when I started looking at property and actually branched out to another market, ⁓ Dayton, Ohio.

And it just then it just started booming from there because the price points are definitely lower up there. And I was able to acquire more property and so on and so forth. The flipping part came when I did several BRRR strategy properties where, you know, buy rent refinance, you know, repeat, renovate, you know, all of that. And I was like, you know what? I know how to fix these properties. I know how to bring them up to market value or appraised value, you know, for the area. So.

I can turn around and instead of keeping some of these, can increase the cash flow as well as with the wholesaling side and actually flip them and buy more properties. and then I can cherry pick them and stuff like that. So that’s how everything kind of transitioned from that point.

Dylan Silver (14:07)
Now, were you the GC on these deals? know, were you very much involved in the flip itself? How did you manage the crews and the rehab?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (14:17)
I I once again, I definitely rely on relationships. ⁓ So because I dealt with so many buyers during wholesaling, I was able to acquire a good relationship with buyers because I did good business. This is what I was supposed to do. And, you know, did it right transparency. So when I reached out to those buyers like, hey, you know, Joe, it was, know, I wholesale do three, four, five, six properties. Listen, I got one that I want to take down myself, make it a rental. Do you have any?

reliable, good contractors or subcontractors that can help me renovate these properties. This is for like the Ohio properties down here. I’ve always lived down here, so I know everybody.

So I know tile, I know flooring, I know everything. So, and I know them personally, so they were able to, you know, kind of help me with the properties down here. But up there, no, so when I talked to Joe, he was like, this is your guy. He’s good, he’s honest, he does what he’s supposed to do. He does good work.

Call him and then I just kind of build relationships at that point and then and then you know, I started just hey Go look at this property. Give me an estimate what we got to do send me pictures, you know before during halfway or quarter the way send me pictures send me videos of what’s going on and Fix it and that’s how that’s how I kind of went

Dylan Silver (16:20)
One of the things that I hear often from people who are coming, especially from one career into real estate, is the consistency can be challenging, right? Because you’re working a full-time job and then you’re trying to build a portfolio in real estate or a book of business in real estate, and it sometimes feels like you’re running a marathon, either by yourself or with limited help. How did you manage to stay consistent, especially with the intensive hours of law enforcement?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (16:50)
It was just that, discipline. It was discipline because like I told you a couple of minutes ago, my thought going into wholesaling and buying rentals is like, this is gonna work or it’s gonna work. There’s no other choice. Now,

The consistency of continuing doing it, I’ve always had it. I’ve always been a persistent person when I say I want something, I’m gonna go for it and unless something catastrophic happens and even then I’m still keep going forward a little bit more,

that’s what it was. It was just a decision. Like this is going to happen. This is because it’s just going to. ⁓ Now, obviously within…

There’s ups and downs, you know, there there’s times where things go bad and then you know I kind of stopped or you know Well, not really stopped but maybe slowed down because I never stopped since I started and you know Over a decade ago now or about a decade ago So I never stopped but you know, there’s always slowed down moment But the consistency the reason for the consistency was just that I when I made a decision I said I was gonna do it it was gonna happen

Dylan Silver (17:55)
It’s going to work or it’s going to work. A bonus question for you here, Mario. As a wholesaler myself, I’ve seen lots of thorny deals and unusual situations and a couple stand out to me. What’s one deal that really stands out to you as either something that was truly ⁓ out of the ordinary or was a particularly difficult deal?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (17:57)
small choice.

⁓ from wholesale deal or from a from a from a burst strategy deal which which one

Dylan Silver (18:27)
Either

one, whichever one stands out most to you.

Mario (This Cop Flips) (18:30)
the, my wife and I call it the horror house. Okay. So this is a property when I first started like ⁓ buying deals. You I didn’t just rely on my deals or my properties that I found. I actually started reaching out to some wholesalers and actually started reaching out to me because, you know, ⁓ of, you know, the properties that I currently had. ⁓

bought for myself that I had found for myself that now my name was kind of in the list of buyers and renter and then landlords and stuff like that. So I was reached out by a wholesaler in Ohio and he’s, you know, he showed me this deal and you know, I had maybe one, maybe one, maybe two properties under my belt as far as renovating and then, you know, doing the burst strategy. And this one looked good. It was in really bad shape, but the numbers looked good. It was like.

Twenty five thousand dollars that I was supposed to buy it for and it was it would appraise like like 150 or something like that or 100 and something and When I got in there It was bad. It was everything but the Everything but the frame of the house needed to be changed. So my renovation costs Estimate, you know went from a 50 60 thousand dollar estimate to 90 and it got so bad that

One thing experience you cannot beat experience you can learn you can go you can look at a million courses But you cannot beat experience like actually doing it because none of not all those courses are gonna give you every granular thing that’s gonna happen so in in in Dayton, Ohio, which is my my my you know, of my main markets besides Broward ⁓ They have this thing where if the if the property hasn’t had a light hasn’t had electricity for over a year They have to have an inspection

by the city, if not the light company won’t connect it. So I did that. I asked for the inspection. inspector came and he ⁓ looked at the house because I had started work on it. ⁓ Looked at the house and he shut everything down.

He said, you can’t do anything. Yeah. The electric is fine. Great. You’re okay, but you can’t do anything else in this house. You need a permit for this, this, this. And I was, I was pulling permits and all of that doing, you know, stuff proper, but I hadn’t gotten to that point yet. So, you know, long story short, I had to shut everything. I had to shut everything down. And it was to the point that now I needed plans to submit it. I’ve never talked to an architect, never even knew about architectural plan. So now I had to scramble. Once again, I went back to my relationships. Hey,

I need an architect. they were like, what? We don’t have that. So I had to go through, don’t know how many contacts to find an architect so he can draw the plans, come to the house and lay them out and then submit them to the city. And then the city wanted this and wanted that. was a nightmare. Mind you, 50,000 budget went up to like 90, almost a hundred. And it took over a year to get done. I was so many points that I was like, I’m just going to sell this, lose the money.

and lose whatever money I’m going to lose and call it a day. Like I don’t got time for this anymore. And then I went back and said, no, but wait. So then I made a decision again. said, listen, this is going to be, if I lose money on this, this is going to be a learning experience for me. I’ve never done architects. I’ve never done, you know, dealt with this, that, this, that they even made me put a parking pad when the property didn’t have parking at all. So I’m like, why would you make me put a parking pad if the property didn’t come apart? But you know what? They made me do it.

Dylan Silver (21:43)
Yeah.

Mario (This Cop Flips) (22:09)
And and I made a decision I was like, you know what this is this is gonna hurt my pocket This is gonna hurt me as the numbers are completely off But you know what? I’m gaining I’m gonna gain this experience to do this and nobody’s gonna tell me about it later And then if I run up run into any situation like this, I already know what to do So I ended up doing it and finally after a year later the the project finished it to praise that 150 so I was into it for 25

I was into it for 20. Well, I bought it for 25,000. I was into it for another maybe 90, 100. So I run 125. So I still came out, you know, good. Didn’t lose any money, but it was nothing more.

Dylan Silver (22:45)
Yeah.

No, that’s a glory to God that that one worked out because that’s a tough one. Architect on a rehab project is a new one for me. You’re telling me. Horror house. I get it, Mario. ⁓ We are coming up on time here. Any new projects that you’re working on and then as well, what’s the best way for folks to reach out to you?

Mario (This Cop Flips) (22:56)
Exactly.

Well, I’m consistently buying deals in Dayton, Ohio and Broward County. ⁓ am my my ultimate goal is to ⁓ acquire ⁓ a at least $10 million worth in real estate ⁓ as as you know, as buy and hold properties. That’s kind of where I’m going my goal. So every day I am looking for deals. I now I also reach out to agents. I reach out to other wholesalers. ⁓

You know, and when I come across a property that just doesn’t fit what I’m looking for in my buy box, then I have my network of other buyers that do buy them. So I I push it onto them like, you know, I wholesale it. So just continue buying, continue buying rentals until I get to that to that dollar amount and continue flipping to get more and more of those funds to buy more and more of those rentals. That’s where I’m at.

So that’s kind of my project and you can reach me literally in any social this cop flips T H I S cop flips. I’m on I’m on all the socials. I am posting daily. ⁓ You know, my I guess my other side project is to work with people and help people, you know, to get into real estate, get into flipping, get into buy rentals, kind of direct them and help them. So, yeah, you can reach me anywhere and all the socials, all the DMS.

⁓ under this cop, T-H-I-S, this cop flips.