Stop Trading Time for Money – Build Financial Freedom with Real Estate

Melissa J Shea (00:00)

I put too much faith in a person and not the system behind it, like checks and balances. So we recently, as recent as last year, had someone steal about $180,000 of our rent money. And you think, how could you not notice that?

Well, when you have rental income that’s exceeding that, it’s a lot. But they did it so sporadically that there wasn’t a real pattern. So if you had your checks and balances in place, I would have caught it faster. caught it. But I was in disbelief that this person could do it. ⁓

And that’s what I think a lot of people have is they put too much faith in a person and not the system.

Michelle Kesil (02:20)

Hey everybody, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with, Melissa Shea, who has been making serious moves as an investor since 2005, as well as the president of the Long Island Real Estate Investor Association. So, really excited to have you here on the show today, Melissa.

Melissa J Shea (02:48)

Nice to be here, Michelle. Thank you for inviting me. Appreciate it.

Michelle Kesil (02:51)

Absolutely.

I really think our listeners are going to take something away from how you have grown your investing business and how you now educate others to do the same. So excited to dive in with you.

Melissa J Shea (03:06)

All right, Where do you want to start?

Michelle Kesil (03:07)

Awesome,

short. Yeah, just first off, for those who don’t know you and your world yet, I would love to hear the short version of what your main focus is.

Melissa J Shea (03:19)

Sure, my mission is to really empower and to educate families for financial independence. My family means so much to me and too often times people are trading time for dollars. So they’re working their what once was nine to five, so it’s now seven to seven, seeing their families less and less and to make more and more, not even to make more money, just to keep where they were.

And so parents are having to take on second jobs, things to make ends meet, and that means time away from their children. So I think the family suffers when you don’t have that knowledge of how to earn additional income, so you don’t have to trade that time for dollars. So that’s really my mission is that portion. And then the other portion would be when you get to retirement age, too often times people are running out of their money.

And that’s one of the biggest fears. So I really try to help individuals like that that are looking and realize they have more years than they have dollars. So how do you stretch that so you can preserve wealth? So those are my two focuses ⁓ and what I’m very passionate about.

Michelle Kesil (04:36)

Amazing. I love that. And where are you operating from?

Melissa J Shea (04:44)

anywhere. And I say that because we have ⁓ four locations right now. We have Connecticut, New York, Maryland, and Florida. So we’re mostly on the East Coast, but our teaching programs is nationwide.

Michelle Kesil (04:45)

anywhere.

Melissa J Shea (05:48)

have clients in California and things like that, students there as well. Because it works anywhere in the U.S. You know, the same principles apply in each marketplace.

Everyone has a little bit of uniqueness to it, the concept and underlining fundamentals is always the same.

Michelle Kesil (06:09)

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Okay. And what has been like the main keys to keeping this business running smoothly?

Melissa J Shea (06:22)

Well, I wouldn’t say smoothly and I say that because people think that real estate investing is supposed to be smooth and it’s probably any business, any business, because I have 18 businesses, has ebbs and flows, right? So when you have ebbs and flows, there’s no predictability to it. So I want people to understand that that’s completely normal. You’re going to have, especially in this industry, you’re going to have people steal from you. You’re going to have

disappointments and I don’t want them to be taken back by those setbacks thinking that I can’t be like this person or that person especially if you’re have some really ⁓ experienced people on your podcast ⁓ I want them to understand with equal amount of successes can equal amount of disappointments failures and setbacks so ⁓ for me what keeps me motivated and at focal point is having that focal point and that vision so

One of my mentors that helped me understand is if the target’s there, how you get there could be a zigzag, but if you are not crystal clear on your target, and I see this a lot in our industry, I call it the ooh piece of candy syndrome. They like ooh, you know, I should do this, ooh, I should do that. You’re following a strategy and not a goal. If you have the goal, you’ll get there. Different strategies will change, but the goal will never change.

For us, our goals don’t change. We increase on them each year. yeah, and when you hit that goal, you set a bigger goal. That’s the other thing. It’s a never stopping business.

Michelle Kesil (08:04)

Yeah, absolutely. So some of these setbacks, can you maybe expand on one of them that you’ve experienced that maybe felt really difficult at the time and now that you’ve overcome it, like what the wisdom was?

Melissa J Shea (08:23)

Sure. So there’s quite a few. So I’m going to pick a few. Honestly, I think for me, and I see a pattern in myself doing this,

I put too much faith in a person and not the system behind it, like checks and balances. So we recently, as recent as last year, had someone steal about $180,000 of our rent money. And you think, how could you not notice that?

Well, when you have rental income that’s exceeding that, it’s a lot. But they did it so sporadically that there wasn’t a real pattern. So if you had your checks and balances in place, I would have caught it faster. caught it. But I was in disbelief that this person could do it. ⁓

And that’s what I think a lot of people have is they put too much faith in a person and not the system.

And the system has the checks and balances. If you have standard operating procedures, that wouldn’t happen as often, or if it would, it would be very nil. Because you can’t control people. So I think ⁓ not choosing the right people in the right roles has been my setback and very costly. And for me, it always makes me pivot.

I think all things happen for good and what that means is that you go through an experience to find a lesson that you need to learn and then move on. Then you can master that lesson because the pain is there to learn from it. And so yeah, it still happens. I’ve had them from my beginning days when I got ripped off by contractors

to ⁓ just as recently as last year. don’t…

Don’t be a fool to think that this doesn’t keep happening, you know? You just gotta get better at it. That’s all.

Michelle Kesil (10:53)

Yeah, absolutely. Those are just kind of learning lessons that come with the job, like any job and you know when you’re there for that long-term vision you see them as just stepping stones to learn more.

Melissa J Shea (11:08)

Yeah, that’s all I am is lessons learned.

Michelle Kesil (11:12)

Yeah, absolutely. So what are some goals that you have for your business for anything new where directions that is heading?

Melissa J Shea (11:24)

So, 2026, we revamped our educational program so that we could make it easier for people who are outside the states in which we operate. So, we created a new program called the Accelerator Program. They come in for three days, twice, and then they get a year of support and services. So, we have a ratio of 84 % of our students that enroll actually get in a deal and earn their money back within a year.

that’s a phenomenal rate. And one of the things that we do is also give them a money back guarantee. After 12 months, if you still haven’t gotten into a deal, that’s our motivation to help you get into real estate investing. You get your money back for the program. So we revamped that, and I took on ⁓ another coaching instructor, and I’m taking on two or three more. And I think it’s a lot more fun because you can learn from multiple.

So we really named it Real Masterminds, capital RE for the real estate mastermind group. And you’ll learn everything from multifamily to subject to, to ⁓ financing and raising capital and things like that. But you have experience from a lot more people than just one. So I like that benefit. And the practicality, it’s not being lectured to, it’s actually getting you involved. And actually it gets me really excited because the energy is in the room.

And so when you’re in the room, you can be doing deals and have fun. So that’s our goal for next year.

Michelle Kesil (12:58)

Amazing and is this program online like how does that format work?

Melissa J Shea (13:04)

Sure, so you can go to realmasterminds.com and you can sign up for it there or I’m the president of the Long Island chapter of the RIAs. So you can go to L-I-R-E-I-A.com. You can sign up for our mailing list, it’s free. And we give free content so you can learn what we do without having to invest any money on it. then eventually join the educational side which is the Real Masterminds program.

Michelle Kesil (13:33)

Amazing. I love that. So what are you most like focused on when it comes to the investing side of your business? Is there a certain avenue or direction or type of investment style that you like to personally focus on?

Melissa J Shea (13:51)

Sure, after having done many, many, many fix and flips, over a thousand of them, I’m kind of bored with that. ⁓ and it’s not challenging anymore. So what I like doing is new development. I think new development for affordable housing. There’s the luxury brand, which will definitely make you a lot more money, but we’re committed to having a purpose in our non-for-profit side. And so our Clear the Way Housing Program.

is ⁓ we bought our substantial land in Alabama and South Carolina and Florida in which we are doing development projects for affordable housing. So it’s a rent to own program so people who are uneducated on home ownership can rent for us while they learn how to gain ownership and they’re gaining ownership in a house that’s not built in the 1800s or 1900s. It’s something that’s fairly new, easy to manage and ⁓

build equity. So we’re looking at the rural markets or the tertiary markets. So that’s kind of a unique marketplace. Not a lot of people like to fund in that area, but I find that the demand is in there.

So that’s ⁓ unique to our business. And I’m really focusing on systems and processes for our investors, more transparency so they can see where their money’s going, and the progress of the projects that we’re working on.

Michelle Kesil (16:02)

Amazing, that is so exciting!

Melissa J Shea (16:05)

Yeah it is, I’m very excited about it.

Michelle Kesil (16:08)

So what

are some of the ways that your business has grown so substantially? Like maybe there’s people listening to this that are newer in the field and are just getting started and they want to eventually scale. Like what are some of those ways that you are able to do that?

Melissa J Shea (16:30)

Through networking, think that’s why I loved being the president of I still love being the president of the RIA, the Real Estate Vestors Association. Get involved with them. It isn’t just a cliche saying your net worth is equal to your network. It really was astounding to find out that that was really true. And proximity is important. When you’re surrounding yourself with people who are like-minded strive for bigger things.

They seem bigger to you at the moment, but because you’re around people who are thinking and expanding bigger, you do start going that direction. So I would say networking is absolutely crucial. And that’s why now we’re doing ours online for free, because only 3 % of the population think like we do. That’s not a lot of people. And so we need to…

be connected. need to have more community. So I appreciate you guys putting content like this because it’s connecting us. And connecting and networking would be my two number one, ⁓ one and two number of what you should be doing as a newbie and continue to do.

Michelle Kesil (17:45)

Yeah, absolutely. Relationships are everything in this space. They really can help propel you.

Melissa J Shea (17:54)

Yep, absolutely.

Michelle Kesil (17:57)

Awesome. So what are some opportunities that you see right now for where a real estate investment is heading?

Melissa J Shea (18:13)

Sure, I love staying on the current trends of things in the market. I think it just keeps me ⁓ interested in the field. But right now, there’s a big switch to subject two and seller financing. It’s huge. Largely because of those mortgages, if you got a mortgage or refinanced in the last five years, six years,

you really have low interest rates with the challenges you probably leveraged a good amount of it and days on market have increased nationwide to over 200 days on the market. So if you’re looking to ⁓ sell, on subject to financing where you have that low interest rate is attractive for investors to find and obviously sellers don’t know too much about this so if you are a beginning investor or

I think the subject to market is going to explode in the next two to three years and As long as nobody’s refinancing. I think that’s gonna increase Rates drop this week just a little bit first time in nine months ⁓ Which I think is trying to help get the confidence to get the inflation under control But if you have debt that’s tied in at two and three percent you’ve good you can command your higher price

because you can do the subject too. So I think it’s a great market to be in right now.

Michelle Kesil (19:40)

Yeah, absolutely, I love that perspective. So, I know you mentioned that you have written some books. Could you expand on what those books are and what they’re about?

Melissa J Shea (19:52)

Sure, ⁓ my mentor was Jack Canfeld and I enjoyed working with him. I worked with him for four years. ⁓ I wanted to be a good mentor and teacher and he is a phenomenal one. He wrote Chicken Soup for the Souls and series and he sold his books for 66 million. So we did a joint collaborative ⁓ book while we were in his training class and we just threw it together and then we actually published it. So that was our first one and that was just a lesson about

⁓ you know, what we should do, we should do with love, you know, because when you love what you do, it becomes effortless, but it makes an impact. And Charlie Kurtz experience ⁓ in life just taught us that too, is that he really loved what he did. He really loved his family, his country, and that for that he made a huge impact, right? Whatever side you feel or whatever the case would be, it was about impact. And I think that’s what we as real estate investors

realize that what we do has an impact in our communities. When you take a house that is dilapidated or distressed and off the market renovated and put it on, you’re just not making money for yourself. You have realtors involved, have a homeowner involved, you have a title company involved, you have a mortgage company. I love that you can take at any one transaction, you’re pulling together anywhere from eight to 16 different people.

to make a deal work. And you all have to be cooperative. You have to overcome personality conflicts and emotions and setbacks and hiccups. And at the end of the day, one transaction could feed 16 families. I mean, you don’t get more American than that, more impact than that. And I think that’s just amazing. And I sit in awe when a transaction is done and realize how many people

that one transaction affected. And I think that’s just, that’s true impact, you know. So if you love what you do and you can make more of an impact on that, it’s not just about the money.

Michelle Kesil (22:04)

Totally. So, yeah, that’s so important. So both of your books were in that collaboration.

Melissa J Shea (22:11)

Yeah, the second book I actually like more, that was about more the journey about how to get started, right? So I have, I’m blessed to have six boys and two girls and my boys are getting to that age where they’re starting to think about their future. You know, they just graduated high school, college age, ⁓ and they’re kind of finding their place in the world. So I was looking at a book that would take them from start to finish and starting with How House Hack Methodology,

you know, how to get into a house and start building wealth from there. And you can do that as young as 18 years old. I’ve seen even children even younger than that. They need their parents help with that. the point is, is that they can become millionaires by the time they’re 30. So that book was a how-to methodology on steps to take when you’re just beginning. And I built a ⁓ presentation on

how to get to seven steps to build a seven figure portfolio and it really only required buying four pieces of property. you know, people think it has to be all these transactions and it really doesn’t. And that could change your whole projectory for your retirement, for how you put your kids through college and take the financial burden on you. I think financial illiteracy is rampant through the world.

And I had to find this out in my later life and I really studied hard because I really wanted to be with my kids more and or do this for my children and I really had to learn. yeah, I enjoyed the journey. But yeah, that book is more for a step by step, you know.

Michelle Kesil (23:59)

Amazing. I love that. I think that’s so valuable for people to get that and have that process.

Awesome. So before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, learn more from you, where can they find you?

Melissa J Shea (24:17)

Easiest one is you can go on my Facebook page, Melissa Shea, S-H-E-A, or actually the website’s the easiest, L-I-R-E-I-A.com, and just sign up. You’ll start getting communications from me. I post regularly content, just free content, and once a month I do intro to real estate investors.

or financing tips for investors, it’s completely free and it’s current information and it’s a way you can just do a Q &A. So if you just want to get started and you don’t want to have any thread or you know, there’s no pressure to buy or any of that stuff. I really believe in education and if I can help your family just get a little bit more time with your kids, that’s something you can never get back and that’s great joy to me. So because I see it go so fast.

Michelle Kesil (25:13)

Yeah,

Melissa J Shea (25:13)

You know,

yeah.

Michelle Kesil (25:15)

Thank you for what you do. Absolutely. I appreciate your story, your perspective, and your time. Thank you for being here.

Melissa J Shea (25:23)

Thank you very much, Michelle. I appreciate it.

Michelle Kesil (25:26)

Of course. And for those listeners tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure that you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators just like Melissa who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on the next episode.