The Secrets to Real Estate Longevity and Success with Michael Morings | Property Management Insights

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Michael Morings, a seasoned property manager and investor based in Charlotte. Michael shares his journey into real estate, emphasizing the importance of integrity, effective tenant vetting, and the challenges faced in property management. He discusses strategies for success, the significance of building relationships, and the lessons learned from both successes and failures in the industry. Michael’s insights provide valuable guidance for aspiring real estate professionals and highlight the importance of persistence and ethical practices in achieving long-term success.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Michael Morings’ Website
    • Michael Morings on Instagram
    • Michael Morings’ Phone Number: (704) 779-4632

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Michael Morings (00:00)
  Man, that’s a super great question. I say, and I just created this saying, that your longevity is based on your integrity.

  Quentin (00:08)
  Woo! Man, let me write that down, sir. Wow, yeah.

  Michael Morings (00:10)
  Yeah. Yeah.

  Yeah. You know, if you’re going to be in this business and hope to progress, you better be honest, right? You better, you may not have all the answers, but be honest. And when you’re dealing with your clients, you know, there’s really no shortcuts. You know, you want to build long lasting relationships because that’s something that’s sustainable of your Indian industry.

  Quentin (00:18)
  Yeah.

  Hello, everyone. Hello. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And you know what I’m going to say probably by now? I am excited to be here today. Uh you know and I say it all the time. You know I love what I do. I love when I get a chance to just talk to different perspectives in this industry called real estate. And is today’s no different. I have somebody that’s incredibly knowledgeable at what he does.

  Michael Morings (02:09)
  Hmm.

  Quentin (02:34)
  he can probably talk to you a lot from

  a property management perspective, but listen, he can talk to you probably about the investor side of it. knowing when to buy, and talking about when, to really put things out there for the sellers. Like I think this guy is so, so knowledgeable and I am so, so delighted to introduce you guys to Mr. Michael Morings. Mr. Michael, how you doing today, sir?

  Michael Morings (02:58)
  Yeah.

  I’m wonderful, excellent, Q. How’s everything?

  Quentin (03:02)
  Oh

  man, man things is good. Things is even better, man, that you’re here because I’m excited, man. And that’s my word, you know, because it really does. It put a battery in my backpack when I get the chance to listen to people that’s just doing things just in a great way, in an ethical way, in an honest way. And I love our viewers just to be able to see things through your lens, right? And so, man, listen.

  Michael Morings (03:07)
  Thank you. Thanks.

  Cheers!

  Quentin (03:30)
  I want you to take us into your world, man. I want you to tell us what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us a little bit of an origin story, we love origin stories. So you want to tell us kind of like how you got into it. I would love that. But also tell them what market you’re operating in. And so Mr. Michael, sir, you got the floor, man.

  Michael Morings (03:35)
  Of course.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you. And for the listening world, once again, I’m Michael Morings of Dynasty Property Management and Sales. we are a property management company located in Charlotte. Our focus is residential and commercial management. We’re also investors. We acquire real estate. And our sole mission entering the industry was to acquire wealth, right? It’s one of those things when in the early years I heard, if you want to get rich, get into real estate.

  Right? But no one has ever explained what does that really mean. And so of course I have some stories, right? And I’ll just, I’ll be I’ll be brief. Hearing, you know, if you want to get rich, get into real estate, was sort of the catch. And I acquired a real estate license. I joined a firm and I had great mentors, but it wasn’t what I thought, right? I was taught how to do listing agreements.

  how to work with buyers and all like that, cold calling, but I didn’t see any riches in sight, right? And telling my broker, listen, I need something with immediate gratification. Otherwise I have to shoot back, you know, the nine to five is calling me. I have these little bills and all like that. And um so it became very real. And so he pointed to me,

  Michael Morings (05:47)
  you’re working with a seller or a property owner of real estate and the fee structure is if you rent their unit you can get half of the amount as your broker’s fee and then of course on monthly collections you can collect seven to ten percent and in my mind it’s the law of numbers I’m like okay if I rent out two units okay I can make a thousand dollars a month right I think if I collect rents that’s two hundred dollars you know

  I’m not bawling out of control, but it’s enough to pay my rent. And so I kept those numbers in my mind. And that was…

  Michael Morings (06:20)
  good at it, quite honestly. My broker at the time, which was my mentor, he owned a 30 unit complex and he assigned me to that complex and he said, same fee structure, you will be my property manager. I will allow you to collect my rent. If there’s a vacancy, you can rent it out and here’s the fee structure. And so just with that 30 unit complex, I was making some of making more than some of the realtors, right?

  Quentin (06:46)
  Hmm,

  yeah.

  Michael Morings (06:47)
  And it just became, again, immediate gratification. And the turning point was when I remember, you know, I’m young, I’m collecting rents, right? And at the time, you can knock on doors and, you know, a tenant will pay you the rent. I had my book and I just remember children coming to the door and it’s like, hey, mom, the landlord is here. Right. And that just excited, you know, the landlord was an important person.

  And so that always stuck with me uh not realizing what building wealth was really about. But again, another turning point was I remember going to my broker’s office and I have a pocket full of cash and I’m giving it to him, right? We’re going through receipts and he says, well, wouldn’t it be good if you could keep the money yourself? And I’m like, man, I know I’ve been working hard. Is he going to bless me with like, is this a gift? He’s like, yeah, no, I have something better. Let me give you some advice.

  start buying property and you know you can, where you’re making 10 % on rental collection, perhaps you can scale higher, right? He began to teach me about the value of owning real estate and it just became one of those aha moments, right? Where that led me to property management and the desire to own real estate.

  Quentin (07:45)
  Mmm.

  No.

  Man, I love it. Thank you for the origin story. Thank you for taking us through the journey, man. I love how he said, little kid was like, hey, the man’s here. That just put a battery in your back. And I love it, man. And so now things are up and running. You’re successful. I know it hasn’t always especially been easy in this climate.

  You know, so what are some of the key strategies that kind of keep you running smoothly? They keep that machine that you have running smoothly, sir.

  Michael Morings (08:41)
  Yeah, and I’ll tell you, that’s a great question because initially, I’ll tell you in property management, the nice guy finishes last, right? And so simply you need to have your systems in place and that you’re qualifying a tenant based on income, based on credit or rental history. No sad stories, right? In my early career, I made was, hey, I fell on hard times, but I can pay you.

  Quentin (08:49)
  Mmm.

  Michael Morings (09:07)
  Yeah, certainly that eviction, it didn’t mean anything. just, you know, all of the sad stories, right? And I realized that while you may mean well, and you have a job that can help people, your first objective is to do things right and according to a policy and a procedure, right? That will keep you out of trouble. So in property, I’m responsible for your asset. You’re trusting me to improve your value.

  Quentin (09:13)
  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (09:34)
  With that, the success of a property management company is how well they vet tenants. And so to answer your question, policy, right? Staying, having a written policy on how you will collect rent, a written policy on how you vet tenants and sticking to it, right? And improving upon that because the success and closing the success of any property management company is how well they’re able to perform.

  Quentin (10:37)
  No, I love it. I’m sorry, please consider, I apologize, was delayed. Sorry about that, Miss Mike.

  Michael Morings (10:38)
  and getting

  Yeah,

  I was closing. ⁓ You know, the value of any asset, again, is how well the tenant performs, right? You can have a beautiful structure. You can have a beautiful building. But if it’s not cash flowing, the question is why, right? And then if it’s occupied, let’s say, or halfway, whatever that may be, whatever the occupancy rate, well, if the tenants aren’t paying, then we have a problem. Then you have to look at the property map.

  Like what’s happening? Why did you put these people in my unit? That’s the challenge. That’s the challenge, right? You work hard to buy your investment. You call another professional, hey, help me to achieve my goals. I have a mortgage payment and I need my rent to be this amount. Can you can you find me a tenant? Sure, certainly. Now, of course, property management.

  Quentin (11:13)
  Mmm.

  Michael Morings (11:34)
  It can be more sophisticated in the sense of the savvy investor who’s buying apartment complex. And he says, well, look, I’m buying this $5 million apartment complex, and I’m buying it at this cap rate. And I need my rent to be this amount. And in three years, I need to buy my exit strategy. Right? Then you’re looking at

  property management in more sophisticated way. You’re looking at line items, you’re looking at, but you’re creating budgets from income to expense. You’re looking at leases and how you can increase the rents yearly. And it becomes much more sophisticated. But for, let’s say the average guy, you and me, we own maybe one or two or three properties, right? And that’s the extent of some of our investments, right? Not bad even still.

  And even with that, you need a good tenant to pay your rent, to pay that mortgage so you can have residual income.

  Quentin (12:33)
  Mr. Michael, you dropping them gyms, sir. I appreciate you giving the perspective. Man, I really love how you said, you know, you have you have a written policy and procedures on how we’re going to do things because you’re right. People are to come with the stories, man. They’re going to come with the sad stories, And I guess that’s, kind of want to pivot into that too about some of them stories. Like as you grew your business, you know, your successful things are looking great, but there was a journey to success, right?

  Michael Morings (12:36)
  you

  Quentin (13:02)
  And I like to tell people on this podcast, it’s always a journey to success. So there are times when things get real, when things go sideways, when you have to pivot fast. And so Mr. Mike, was wondering if there’s any stories like that where you can show people you’ve built something successful, but hey, there was definitely a journey to get into this success. So did you have any moments like that, Mr. Mike?

  Michael Morings (13:13)
  Yeah.

  let me tell you. ⁓ You know, property management is transient in that you could have 10 owners and you’re only as good as the last tenant that you placed. And so, you can do 100 things right and one thing wrong and that can change the entire dynamics of your business. And so, with property management, ⁓ there’s cases where we’ve lost four and five properties in one month.

  be detrimental and it could be nothing that you did just

  Michael Morings (13:56)
  It could be a matter of, let’s say the tenant really lost their job and you had to evict the tenant, right? I don’t know if the owner is gonna be very happy about that, right? They may blame you. And this is something that you just, you can have a conversation in terms of, look, we did everything right. We approved them based on income credit, rental history, everything checked out. They paid seven months.

  and then they got laid off, right? Well, you know, naturally.

  Michael Morings (15:09)
  if I can’t rent for you, then certainly that puts you in a compromising position and that you may not be able to pay your mortgage. Well, then, you you’re upset with me, perhaps you’re going to blame me. And guess what? I lose the property management contract. Now, let’s say that that happens. If I have 100 tenants and 10 tenants fail to pay,

  I have to go to court 10 times out of the month and file eviction. That’s not very pretty, right? So this is a situation where an owner may say, you know what, we’re going to try ABC management down the street, right? And God forbid if they put in a Google review, you know, they didn’t collect my rent. Oh my God. And these are the things that it’s very hard to control. So

  Quentin (15:41)
  Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (16:02)
  You know, I do say though, with the horror story, the reward is greater than the sacrifice. Because even with that, let’s say again, out of those 10 owners, suppose they say, Mike, my God, I can’t pay my mortgage, I’m having issues. Why don’t you buy my property? ⁓

  Quentin (16:26)
  huh.

  Michael Morings (16:27)
  You see? And so we’ve taken advantage of those situations where it’s like, hey, we know the property, we’ve done inspections, we know the location, we know how much we can get for rent, let’s run the numbers. What do you need to get out of this headache? Right? And so, you know, as real estate professionals, much of our success is in solving the problems of our clients. And so we’re solving a problem, and at the same time, we’re a…

  acquiring real estate thereby acquiring future wealth and in our industry.

  Quentin (17:02)
  Yeah, yeah, I love it. Listen, right along those lines, what is the next real goal for you? Like, what are you looking to scale or solve next? Like, what’s the real goal, Mr Michael.

  Michael Morings (17:14)
  Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, I like to say I’m on cruise control, but we’re never really on cruise control. know, entrepreneurs, for me, it’s the art of the deal, right? I love calling realtors. I may see a home on the multiple listing service, and I love calling the realtor, seeing, you know, how I can negotiate, right? So I’m still at it. ⁓ There is a podcast that I like called Money and Wealth.

  And I believe the gentleman is John Hope Bryant or something like that. yeah, I just can’t cross his webcast. interesting enough, he’s the largest owner of residential houses in the US, I think, upwards of 700 houses. And he just sold the company for $120 million. And I think he still has administrative duties or something or another.

  Quentin (17:47)
  yeah, yeah yeah absolutely.

  Michael Morings (18:11)
  But ⁓ things, hearing stories like that is motivating, right? It just lets you know the possibilities. And so while I own about 22 properties, it’s a family-owned business and um you know it’s just a matter of continuous growth, right? And we’re having fun with it, right? This doesn’t seem like work anymore. So when we say, what’s next? uh you know

  Quentin (18:35)
  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (18:40)
  you know just putting these deals together. I have some I have some really good success stories. I have some horror stories. But it becomes your story you know as you progress in your industry. And um you know it’s just ⁓ the stick to it-ness. right?

  Because I don’t know of anyone who is successful that has not a story to tell. Yeah. And I’ll tell you from the property management perspective, my God, we can write volumes. I don’t think there’s a property manager that doesn’t have volumes of stories.

  Quentin (19:07)
  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Yeah, Well, man, you said my my favorite word, stick-to-itiveness. That is one of my favorite words. Because you just, you know, hear it that often. when you said it, I was like, oh yeah, I knew I liked this guy. But that’s one of my favorite words. And you’re right. It takes a level of persistence, consistency, keeping your eye on the prize to really, you know, get into that cruise control mode, right? To get into that mode where things are going the way you intended it.

  Michael Morings (19:19)
  Yeah.

  Quentin (19:45)
  the intentions that you made. Yeah, yeah, bumped in the road, of course, but still, your intentions is one thing. And when you are intentionally consistent and persistent, it’s no doubt you get to the goals that you want to get to. And so one thing when I listen to you talk, you’re obviously coming in contact with a ton of people. ⁓ You said the business is family oriented. So I can only imagine that relationships are important to you.

  Michael Morings (20:00)
  without

  Quentin (20:14)
  And so I want to talk a little bit about relationships. Like when it came to building your relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you, Mr. Michael

  Michael Morings (20:25)
  Man, that’s a super great question. I say, and I just created this saying, that your longevity is based on your integrity.

  Quentin (20:34)
  Woo! Man, let me write that down, sir. Wow, yeah.

  Michael Morings (20:36)
  Yeah. Yeah.

  Yeah. You know, if you’re going to be in this business and hope to progress, you better be honest, right? You better, you may not have all the answers, but be honest. And when you’re dealing with your clients, you know, there’s really no shortcuts. You know, you want to build long lasting relationships because that’s something that’s sustainable of your Indian industry.

  Quentin (20:45)
  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (21:02)
  those who you’re working with, want good and fair play. That’s what I say, right? I have a thing called palms up. My dealings. If we’re doing a deal together, whether I’m with an investor, whether I’m with a client, it’s like, look, when I tell you something, you better believe that’s what it is. Palms up, right? I’m not gonna try to get advantage of a situation. I’m not gonna deal and I can benefit more than you because

  I have a side deal. And I’m speaking to the wholesalers when I think of this. right? Shout out to my wholesalers. I love you all. But every person, really every real estate professional in every industry, when you have a palms up kind of philosophy where what I tell you can be proven and here is what I’m showing you, this is what I live on, I I sleep well at night. You know

  Quentin (21:35)
  Yeah. Yeah.

  Michael Morings (21:59)
  And my takeaway on that, and I say this boldly, there is no, not one investor, not one person in the city of Charlotte that can say, yeah, there was some mismanagement. Yeah, you know, we did this deal together, but I’m a little uncertain about how, you know, you’re not gonna, no one can say that. And so I pride myself on that and I say it boldly in terms of being a business owner. The integrity of what you do.

  Quentin (22:11)
  Hmm.

  Michael Morings (22:24)
  has to stand out first. Relationships are built on trust. Yeah, built on trust. And so even, and I’ll close on this. So we have a family business, you know, as I said, my brother, my sister, my daughter, and it’s interesting, because all throughout the day, we’re talking about the business, and then we deprogram, right, on the weekends. It’s like, I’ll go out to eat, and we’re not talking about anything about business. And so that’s the…

  Quentin (22:45)
  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (22:51)
  balance also. Success is not just about making money. It’s about being there for your family and strengthening ties and the beauty of building something together.

  Quentin (23:08)
  Man, you’ve said so much in closing, right? Your longevity is based on your integrity. Palms up, right? I have nothing to hide. Like I am coming to you with total integrity. Even when you talked about success and how it looks different for each person, you know, your presence is a present in itself. Your presence, you being there with your family, you being there for the things that matter, is a present in itself, and that’s success in itself.

  I mean, you said so many great gems and man, I thank you so much, man. I love your perspective, love your mindset. And so listen, man, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to get in contact with you,

  Michael Morings (23:54)
  Right, can I give out my personal telephone number?

  Quentin (23:56)
  You

  sure, kid? Yes, sir.

  Michael Morings (23:58)
  All right, 704-779-4632. And I always like to leave something to the young professional, right, who may be uncertain and you’re hearing just as I heard, if you want to get rich, get into real estate, you know, perhaps I can, and there’s no fees, I don’t charge anything, I don’t have any classes, I don’t do any of that.

  you know, property management may be a great field for you to enter. And it really has helped me to scale. It’s really helped me to hone in skills and just even talking to clients because um I have some clients that are multimillionaires. Multimillionaires and their their circles are much different from the circles that I came up in, right?

  having to deal with them in the early years were a bit intimidating. I’m dealing with lawyers, doctors, I’m dealing with federal judges now. I’m dealing with people with the wherewithal and the wherewithal intellect and the foresight of community and family. And so these conversations become different over time. And so it’s it’s it’s an area by which you are forced to grow. You see?

  had to step up my game ⁓ where I thought that I had a sense of intellect. It wasn’t until I met the professors and the architects and the other professionals who really are proficient in what they do. It makes you to step up. right And so just imagine in my early 20s and my early 30s and I’m meeting these

  really heavyweight investors and professionals and they’re asking me, well, how are you going to increase my portfolio? I need to, I need a percent rate of return. You know, it’s like think or swim, right? You said you wanted to be here. Now you have to your dues. You have to educate yourself so that you can have these conversations and be in these rooms. And that’s part of growth too, right? And so again,

  Quentin (25:50)
  Mmm.

  Yeah.

  Michael Morings (26:11)
  Everyone has the aversions of what success looks like. For me, it was always a matter of challenging myself and, you know, stepping up to the plate, right? And just being active. And you don’t have to be perfect. No one said that you had to be perfect. You just have to just get up and start.

  Quentin (26:28)
  Listen, drop the mic moment. Listen, Mr. Michael, sir, thank you, man. Thank you, man. Thank you for your story. Thank you for your perspective. Thank you for your time. I know our viewers has got a ton of value out of this conversation. So Mr. Michael, thank you so much for being here, man. I appreciate you, Sir

  Michael Morings (26:50)
  Salute to you, man. Your questions were incredible. Your smile is contagious, brother. You got an aura that is just very welcoming and you have a light that we see. Thank you for that.

  Quentin (27:02)
  I appreciate that man. That that means a lot. I have been intentional about making sure that I connect with people in the best possible way. And so I appreciate you saying that. I really, really do. That means a lot. Absolutely. So listen, y’all heard Mr. Michael Morings. Y’all got the value, eating Cayman and drop nuggets. And so all I ask that you subscribe. You do not want to miss out on these amazing guests that we continue to have day after.

  Michael Morings (27:15)
  Yes, sir.

  Quentin (27:31)
  day. And so just go ahead and hit the subscribe button. That way you can just come in when the alert goes off. Mr. Michael, I appreciate you again, sir, and listen to everyone else. We will see you on the next time.