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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Micah Johnson interviews Mo, a seasoned real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. Mo shares his journey from being a barber to becoming a successful real estate investor, focusing on cash flow, new construction, and the importance of mentorship. He discusses the challenges of entering the new construction market, the significance of execution in applying learned knowledge, and the value of creativity in property rehabs. The conversation emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning and taking action in the real estate industry.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Morris Aka “MO” (00:00)
Yeah, you know, it’s easy to just sit back and, you know, dwell on the things that you don’t have. But, you know, my thing is just get started. If you have a skill or if it’s something that you know how to do, then, you know, you just got to go out there, put two feet to the ground and use your mind and your brain and go to work.Micah Johnson (01:56)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Micah Johnson. And today I’m joined by Mo, who’s been making some serious moves in the real estate industry for about 20 years now. Mo, welcome in, man. Glad to have you.Morris Aka “MO” (02:08)
Thanks man, I appreciateyou for having me on.
Micah Johnson (02:11)
Absolutely, I’m excited for you to be here. I think your listeners are gonna take something away from your journey in this industry to just, especially when it comes to being resourceful, being creative, doing what you gotta do to get deals done. So let’s dive in on that for people who may not know you yet. What’s your main focus right now and what markets you’re operating in?Morris Aka “MO” (02:33)
Right now my main focus is cash flow and ⁓ going into new bills and new construction. And currently the markets that I focus in are Montgomery, Alabama, which is my hometown, and Atlanta, Georgia, which is currently where I live ⁓ at the moment. So those are my main focuses right now. Yeah.Micah Johnson (02:57)
Okay.Take us back a little bit. What got you into real estate? Where’d you get started at that sledge you are where are today?
Morris Aka “MO” (03:05)
⁓ man, so that started all in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And I was in college at the time and still in college.That’s where I graduated from but you know, I’m a barber which is how you know, my brand came about beyond the clippers and There was a lady who would always come into the barber shop and you know She was just always adamant, know about me getting into the real estate getting to real estate she said once you get your real estate license get your real estate license and You know me being a young kid. I just didn’t know anything about it and know, I just took off on a offer
When I took the real estate test, I failed it a few times and I just kept at it, you know. And so from there, you know, I eventually passed the real estate test. And once I passed it, you know, I started working on her brokerage for a few years. And yeah, that’s kind of how that started right there.
Micah Johnson (04:06)
Were you alwaysinterested in the investment side upfront or when did the investment parts start really clicking for you?
Morris Aka “MO” (04:12)
⁓ man, theinvestment started clicking when I started meeting other investors, you know, as I was out, you know, selling, selling houses.
And that was motivation for me because, you know, I end up just running into this guy who had, you know, a ton of properties. He had about 25 properties and, you know, he kind of started breaking things down to me. He was like, yeah, man, I bought these properties, you know, years ago. you know, I worked at a he worked at a factory on like 25 houses. And he was telling me how how that went for me, how all of them was paid off itself like
And I was like, really? So a lot of those things started clicking. Yeah. So that’s kind of how that went, man. And that was motivation for me. I met some other people along the way as well. So that was motivation for me to, you know, I like, I got to give him some Reynolds.
Micah Johnson (04:56)
Say more. Yeah, you have an instant party now, sir. Please tell me. What secrets do you know?And that was your rentals that was your first project for investing coming in was to get some buying holds.
Morris Aka “MO” (06:11)
NodThat
wasn’t the first thing. The first thing I did was when I got my real estate license in 2006, I actually purchased my first house in 2006. So that right there was a great start for me by purchasing that house in 2006. And I still own that house today. So yeah, so that kind of helped put me in position to do a lot of the things that I am doing moving forward. So that was the first thing to purchase a house.
Micah Johnson (06:30)
Nice.Morris Aka “MO” (06:41)
and you know I was showing a lot of housing I was like man these houses are nice and I gotta get me one so yeahMicah Johnson (06:49)
⁓ I heard that man. I heard that. I wasa realtor when I got started in 2014. There’s something about going in and out of a lot of houses that’s fascinating. You get to see all the best of the best. Like, ooh, I like that one over there. I like this piece. I like this. This is nice.
Morris Aka “MO” (07:04)
Yeah. Yeah,yeah. So that’s how that happened, man. I ended up purchasing the house, you know, purchasing my first home. And from there, I was able to, again, scale up from there.
Micah Johnson (07:20)
And what’s your portfolio look like today? Cause you’re, getting into new builds and things and fix them flips now. But, ⁓ before that you built up a portfolio of homes. What are you at today?Morris Aka “MO” (07:30)
⁓ Currently I’m in about eight houses. Yeah, currently eight houses. And I rent a majority of those out. And so yeah, that’s kind of how that’s going right now. Yeah, I have some long term runners and I also have some short term runners as well. Yeah, fully furnished apartments.Micah Johnson (07:42)
Excellent man. Long term rentals or short term?Okay, excellent man, so it makes.
Nice nice nice nice man. Well take us into the new year then. What are you focusing on now?
Morris Aka “MO” (08:03)
My focus is new construction. I want to focus on new construction. I want to focus on, you know, getting my general contractor license and ⁓ just scaling up, you know, looking to do some new deals and things of that nature.Micah Johnson (08:14)
Right.What’s been the most challenging part so far about getting into that section of the industry?
Morris Aka “MO” (08:24)
⁓ Idon’t know how challenging it is. I think it’s just a matter of just having what you need. ⁓ Currently, I am building my own personal house right now.
So, you know, definitely it’s a difficult bill. So I’ve definitely been learning a lot on just my own current home that I’m building. So, but I think, you know, for a lot of people, I think it’s probably more of, you know, identify another general contractor that will kind of back you on, you know, the things that you need to get started as a general contractor, because you do need someone to endorse.
Micah Johnson (08:45)
Yeah.Gotcha. Yep. Go into that a little bit. Explain more.
Morris Aka “MO” (09:14)
Well, you need a general contractor to endorse you for, let’s say, guess hours per se or just that time or experience. ⁓ So you can get your license because the state, all states are different, but I know the state of Georgia, they require you to have another general contractor to sign off. Yeah.Micah Johnson (09:30)
Gotcha.Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense.
Okay. So we’re getting ready to do some new builds. You’re learning through your own personal ones. Now you said something a second ago that seems to be the nature of your story, which was just getting started. How important has that been for you to just, you know, take the jump, get started through each section?
Morris Aka “MO” (10:36)
Yeah, you know, it’s easy to just sit back and, you know, dwell on the things that you don’t have. But, you know, my thing is just get started. If you have a skill or if it’s something that you know how to do, then, you know, you just got to go out there, put two feet to the ground and use your mind and your brain and go to work.Yeah.
Micah Johnson (11:02)
Right,Creativity is something you’ve mentioned a few times too. What parts of the industry lets you use that creativity? Where do you get to capitalize?
Morris Aka “MO” (11:12)
Well, when I’m doing my rehabs, I’m definitely able to.be a visionary and go in and kind of change some things up in the space and know it might be one of those rehabs where you we may be able to look at it and be like hey we could stick a bathroom right here or you know or knock this wall out or whatever you know just to give it that you know that one thing that it needs to you know to sail you know yeah
Micah Johnson (11:42)
Right? Right. Seeing somethingthat’s not there yet. That is a gift. Not everybody can do that. Can walk into a space and see it for what it can be, not for what it just is right now. And the ones that are the best at it typically are flippers. That’s not ⁓ a random correlation.
Morris Aka “MO” (11:57)
Yeah,Micah Johnson (12:04)
So I do wanna go back to something that I think is important in the industry. And one is, the folks that have helped you along the way, that’s been the same thing in mind too. Someone’s saying upfront, like at the barbershop, Mo, get into this, man, get into this, get into this. And then meeting that person with a lot of doors and they’re sitting there saying, hey, this is how you do that. This is how you do that. How important have those been across your career so far to help you grow?Morris Aka “MO” (12:29)
man, it was soimportant because I know I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me, not only interacting with those people, but also executing what I was hearing. I think that’s the main thing is execution because we all can just like people sitting here listening to this podcast or whatever, we can listen to information, but to take in that information and
and go out and execute what you’ve heard, of course, that’s a different story. ⁓
Micah Johnson (13:06)
That’s the game changer.That’s where it goes from book knowledge to life knowledge. And you get to experience the part that all the folks that walked it out of, this is what the day to day of it looks like. Cause some days it’s ugly, some days it’s hard, some days it’s not what you thought you were getting into, while others it’s everything you wanted and more.
Morris Aka “MO” (14:07)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, again, just soaking it up, just soaking all those things up like a sponge and yeah, it all kind of worked out.Micah Johnson (14:17)
One thing I love about real estate is you get to be a lifelong learner. If you’re someone like yourself or myself that enjoy it, you just, you’re genuinely curious and you enjoy learning and you’ll go look for that next thing and think about that next part. There’s endless room to, to be yourself in this industry is something I like to say. You get to like, what are your strengths? How do you leverage them? Not, not many jobs lets you do that where you can actually come in and find the parts you like to do the most of the time. We all got to do stuff we don’t like to do sometimes and that’s fine.But if that’s, if you’re only doing stuff you don’t like to do all the time, now we got, now we got an issue. You got, you got more going wrong than you think.
Morris Aka “MO” (14:56)
Absolutely, for sure.Micah Johnson (15:00)
Well, Mo, I appreciate your time today, man. You’re storing your perspective. Thanks for joining me on here. For those that are following along that would like to learn more from someone who’s an action taker, what’s the best way for them to find you and follow along with you?Morris Aka “MO” (15:14)
Well, they can definitely check me out on online, beyond the Clippers at beyond the Clippers.com. Also at Beyond the Clippers on all social media handles, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.Micah Johnson (15:30)
Excellent, Excellent. Thanks for sharing. If you’re listening, watching in, make sure you check the show notes, follow along with Mo, see what he’s got going on. I can’t highly recommend more following action takers in the business that show you, this is actually what it looks like as you’re going through it. So Mo, again, I appreciate you being here, man. Thanks everybody for listening. If you got value from today’s episode, please like this episode, share it with someone else you think would get value as well. As always, please don’t forget to subscribe. We appreciate every single one of you who follow along with us.We’ve got more conversations coming up with operators just like Mo out there building a real business in the industry. Thanks again for joining us. We’ll see you on the next episode.
