Zero Experience to Top Producing Broker: Real Estate Success, Mentorship & Wealth Building Strategy

Lucas Pinto (00:00)
I ⁓ I migrated here from Brazil as a kid. I watched my dad cleaning boats, my mom cleaning houses, and my dad’s dreaming the main reason why we came to America was that he could so he could save enough money to buy the house that we lived in in Brazil.

And when I when we moved to the States, I moved to Naples, Florida. And if you’ve ever been to Naples, Florida, it’s a very wealthy community. And I quickly realized that we were not that. We were not wealthy. And you know, from from out of high school to to college, I was surrounded by wealth. And I was trying to understand how do people have money and where is the money at? So

One of the industries that it led me to was real estate.

John Harcar (02:18)
Welcome back to our show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m here today on the High Performer Real Estate Podcast with Lucas Pinto. Lucas is out of Seattle.

Lucas is a residential real estate broker. That’s it. ⁓ with a team and also holds some personal properties. ⁓ we had a cool little conversation before, Lucas. I’m looking forward to learning more. Welcome to our show.

Lucas Pinto (02:42)
Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

John Harcar (02:44)
Yeah, me too. I’m looking to dive into this. ⁓ I love talking to high performers because I think it really each person shines, excels at different things. And I’d love to share that with our audience because everybody’s got their different strengths and their cer the superpower. I can’t wait to talk about yours. But before we do that, tell our audience a little bit more about you, kind of what got you into real estate, what brought you to today.

Lucas Pinto (03:07)
I love it. Well, John, once again, thanks for having me on. ⁓ listen, my my story ⁓ is we were talking about it prior to coming on. I ⁓ I migrated here from Brazil as a kid. I watched my dad cleaning boats, my mom cleaning houses, and my dad’s dreaming the main reason why we came to America was that he could so he could save enough money to buy the house that we lived in in Brazil.

And when I when we moved to the States, I moved to Naples, Florida. And if you’ve ever been to Naples, Florida, it’s a very wealthy community. And I quickly realized that we were not that. We were not wealthy. And you know, from from out of high school to to college, I was surrounded by wealth. And I was trying to understand how do people have money and where is the money at? So

One of the industries that it led me to was real estate.

And there is money in real estate that it, you know, there’s a lot of wealth that’s built in this industry. And ten years, twelve years later, fast forward, I could say that this asset class in this industry completely changed my life and the trajectory of my family’s life. So I’m I’m very grateful for this asset class. I’m very grateful for this industry. And hopefully I could could share some things of value to your audience today.

John Harcar (04:27)
Sure. How did you first get into it? Like what what what started it? You know, like did you all of a sudden just decide to say, hey, I’m gonna go, you know, open up a brokerage or I’m gonna go start, you know, doing residential real estate? Because I think you mentioned like your first six months you did zero deals, right? Yeah, did you get points or like why am I doing this?

Lucas Pinto (04:46)
100%. I doubted myself every single day. I was twenty-two, twenty-three years old. And the reason how I got into it was I was a bartender and I got a sales job. My whole life, people always told me, Hey, you would be great at sales. And I got a sales job at a corporation called Quote Wizard. And Quote Wizard, we would sell insurance leads to insurance companies. And I was so good at that job. And I was making

For the first time in my life, making six figures, calling people and selling them leads over the phone. The frustrating thing is that I hit an income cap very quickly. I couldn’t make more money. And I remember the idea of real estate sales. I’m like, well, I’m selling the product. I think I could sell houses. The commission on a house is two and a half, three percent. That sounds like amazing money.

And I went to my best friend at the time who was very high up at Zillow, which is a real estate company. And I asked him, I said, Hey, I’m thinking about going into real estate. Should I do it? And he said, Man, don’t go it. This was 20 and 16, 2015. He said, Man, don’t do it. It is so competitive. The market is so saturated. It’s not worth it. And I was just shattered. I was I remember this conversation and driving home.

And then I had this thing where I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna prove myself right and I’m gonna prove them wrong. Love that. And ⁓ I got into real estate, and for the first six months, he was absolutely right. And and and this is a good lesson. This is a good lesson because people, when they tell you you can’t do something, they’re right until they’re wrong. And he was trying to help me. He’s a good friend, he was trying to look out for me, but I knew that there was something in this industry for me.

So the first six months, man, it was it was rough. I burned through all my savings. I racked up credit card debt. I was calling homeowners. And I go into someone’s house at a two million dollar home and I’m this twenty three year old kid. And the guy is looking at me like, What the fuck are you gonna tell me? I don’t know if I can

John Harcar (07:37)
What are you gonna tell me about? Yeah.

Lucas Pinto (07:39)
Like what do you but but I was determined to not quit, man. And I was determined to figure this thing out. And sure enough, I found a mentor and I found a team that right around the fifth month, a mentor and a team that was able to guide me and teach me systems processes. And in the next six months I sold nineteen homes and I made the most amount of money I ever made. So

John Harcar (08:03)
And I wanna I wanna go back to that mentor piece too, but I also want to touch back on a few things. Resilience, dude. First six months, zero deals. I mean, let’s not go. We’re all human, right? At some point we’re gonna doubt ourselves to the point of this close to failure and giving up. I mean, yeah. What did you do specifically? And it it might have been like a book, a mindset, something that that you use to help you push through, right? Because what I was thinking, like in my head when you’re saying this, I’m like, okay, you know, his background.

Right, you know, of of your father coming over here and you guys coming over here and and that resilience. I think that’s what maybe implanted a lot of that. But like for you, what was your what was your trick?

Lucas Pinto (08:42)
Man, you you you know what’s really it a full circle moment in life. When I first got into sales before I even got into real estate, somebody gave me a book. It was Grant Cardone’s book. It was Sell or Be Sold. Sell or Be Sold. And for my first year in real estate, I consumed all of Grant’s content, read all his books, Closer’s Survival Guide.

John Harcar (08:56)
Be sold, yeah.

Lucas Pinto (09:08)
And I he said something. He said, write down your goals every day when you’re in sales, especially when you’re new. So that’s what I did. I would wake up discouraged, defeated, like, damn, I got my every day. I was getting my ass kicked, you know, calls, rejections, and I would just write down my goals every single day. And the full circle moment is this I got to meet Grant Cardone. I did a podcast with Grant Cardone. I did three podcasts with Grant Cardone. So it’s kind of it was cool because I

John Harcar (09:34)
Nice.

Lucas Pinto (09:37)
10 years later, you know what I mean? The state like the person that got me into to an industry and got me over the hump, I got to meet, I got to socialize with, I got to tell them the story. So it was really cool, man. So for me, that was a huge piece of finding someone to latch on to because I didn’t have the confidence. So I stole his confidence and then writing my goals down every single day. You know, that that was huge for me.

John Harcar (10:05)
Yeah, I mean I I I think there’s a little bit deeper and it it’s a little bit more important. You know, when you say find someone to latch onto their confidence and it’s like, why did you find someone, you know, and that kind of goes back to the mentor piece that I was I was referring to because, you know, obviously like well, like Investor Fuel, right? That the the goal behind is being around people who have done what you want to do, finding that that that that kind of guidance piece. So why was that important for you when we know that in this day and age you can go find all the stuff you need on YouTube you?

Lucas Pinto (10:34)
I think anybody who says they could find anything they need online is missing the main piece. There is a transference of energy of just being around or in the same room as people who are doing the things that you want to do. At this stage of my life, if there is an area that I want to improve, the recipe for success is pretty simple.

I’m gonna go and research the best person in that industry, pay them the money to coach me and mentor me, and that’s it. That’s the shortcut. And I I think anybody who says, Well, I could, it’s like the idea, well, ⁓ I read five books on playing soccer. Are you Pelé now? Like what? You know what I mean? It’s like it does nothing for you. So I I I’m a I’m a big believer in.

in putting yourself in the right environment. And for me at this stage, I will pay money just to be in the same room as the right people. Like not not even to learn something. I just want to be around them to pick up on that. So

John Harcar (11:42)
Network is your anything. They say network is your net worth. I I look at it as that’s a very true saying, but network is also your also your lab, right? It should be people who’ve done the stuff and tried the stuff that you want to do. And I love it. I love the journey. All right, so your your goose egg first six months. What is the what does the next six months look like? You mentioned the systems and processes. How did that help your business flourish or grow?

Lucas Pinto (11:45)
That’s it.

Lucas Pinto (11:48)
So I think all of business to a certain extent is systems and processes. ⁓ and your ability to create a better system and process will allow your business to scale bigger and bigger. For me, for the first six months, the reason why I didn’t get any deals is because I didn’t have a process. I didn’t have a system. The next six months, I had a system for talking to consumers, getting the appointment.

presenting a value proposition and asking for the business. So once I learned a framework, I could repeat that framework over and over and over and over again. And then as as life goes on as as the business grows, you learn different frameworks, different systems, different processes that you could tag on to what you’re doing. ⁓ so and that’s you know that that that’s what mentors

A good mentor or a good coaching will provide for you. So

John Harcar (13:40)
So do you think in that first six months he winged it? He just kind of like because I talked to a lot of people that like, you know, they they have like, yeah, okay, for this first five years of my business, I mean, I just I don’t know my numbers. I know what my bank account says. Yeah, and I know I’m getting good money coming in and my life is great and I’m traveling. Yeah, but it gets that one spot. And so for you, like well let’s let’s do it on the lighter side for the first first one. What is what was like ⁓ your one of your first couple of deals or the first deal to you that was

Lucas Pinto (13:43)
one hundred percent.

John Harcar (14:09)
blew up in your face or you did something crazy wrong or whatever. Like let’s add some lightness to this real quick.

Lucas Pinto (14:15)
Yeah. So my second deal, I mean, every deal at the time just felt like a roller coaster because I didn’t know what I was doing. But my second deal was specifically, we got to a point on the contract where I didn’t understand this, but we had passed our timeline, our financing timeline. And I remember the listing agent was on the phone and he said, Hey, if you guys don’t close this deal, your earnest money is at risk.

And I remember chatting with the consumer, and I I told the consumer, well, I wouldn’t worry about I don’t remember exactly what I was referring to, but I told her, Hey, I wouldn’t worry about that. And she snapped back on the phone of, Well, I am worried about it. And it it was just the the anxiety and the fear of not knowing exactly what you’re doing. But that’s that second transaction, which was

I was a brand new agent, right? Like that taught me so much of the like I still remember it. And it’s been 11, 12 years. I and it turned out to be a great past client. We ended up doing more deals, but your lessons, at least my lessons, and the things that stick with me are the challenges. I don’t remember the home runs, dude. You forget those quickly. You you remember.

When you get punched in the face and you know to to keep your hand up next time, you know? Yeah. So yeah.

John Harcar (15:40)
That’s huge. All right. So you start getting deals, you start making some money. You start you like this is, you know, you’re you’re starting to get in a groove. ⁓ what’s next? Like how do you build out this machine? I think last when we talked, you said you did 250 residential real estate transactions last year or something around that part. Right. Big leap from zero to nineteen to two fifty. And that’s not a long period of time. I mean, how did you build the machine?

Lucas Pinto (16:08)
Yeah. So I think it starts with great people. You reach so to give you context, the the second and third year of my business grew, but eventually I ran into a challenge, which is I’m only one person. So I need to start hiring. I need great people around me. So great people that are bought into the vision, to the culture, and to where we’re going is needed to build a great business. And along the road, we’ve built some great systems and processes for the individuals within the team.

And but all star I I I think the foundation is really figuring out what your North Star is.

I knew where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to go 50, 100, 150, 200, 250. And when you know where the North Star is and where you’re headed, where your final destination is, you could figure out the path and shortcuts and people that will help you along your journey. I see a lot of entrepreneurs and even realtors on my team, they’re not very clear about what they want.

So then they get stuck just doing random crap and they end up wherever life takes them because they don’t have a North Star. I think one of the things I did well is I knew exactly where I wanted to go. And I still do. And I I I think that’s ⁓ that helps you cut out a lot of the noise because there’s a lot of it.

John Harcar (18:09)
How did you learn that though? Like how did you learn or know that like I gotta focus, I gotta find my North Star, I gotta find my why, I gotta really have that picture painted.

Lucas Pinto (18:19)
Sure. So for me, ⁓ when I got in real estate, my goal was to get a deal. Okay, I got a deal. Okay, now my goal was to do this many deals in a year. Okay, I did that many deals in a year. Right around my second or third, I think it was my second year of real estate. I was maybe 24 years old. I looked at this thing and I’m like, I think I could become a millionaire. So my goal became I want to become a millionaire. And that was the focus, right? So now

In order for me to become a millionaire, it wasn’t just about transactions. I needed to understand how do I keep my money with taxes? How do I invest? So, so because that was my goal, I had to learn all these little roads that led me to my goal. I became a millionaire at 28. And then the next goal was I want to become financially free. I want to have enough money that comes in every single month that pays for all my bills, my lifestyle, and expenses. I did that at 31.

During that journey of three years, I had to learn a bunch of other things. Okay, how does how does it work on on apartment buildings? You know, what’s a cap rate? How do you cap how do I keep expenses low? You know, what what’s so I had to learn a different world to get me to that point. ⁓ so I think having, you know, having a a a clear roadmap of what and being bold enough, and and when I said these things.

Like it was this is my goal, and part of me is like, who the fuck do you think you are? You know what I mean? Like it well, we all out. Right. Right. So and I I think a lot of it is just being audacious enough to to say, hey, you know, I want to live a big life and and and and through the process, and I think this is the beauty of all of it. Through the process of it, the struggle and the pain in that journey is

John Harcar (19:48)
That’s

Lucas Pinto (20:08)
Is a gift that allows for you to help other people along the way. You know, now that’s something you could that’s something I share with my real I have a realtor that four years after on my team, he became a millionaire. He did it faster than I did. So it’s like, okay, like and I think that’s the beauty of it. And it’s it’s super rewarding to eventually get to a place in life where you can help others, pass on your knowledge. ⁓ and I think that’s kind of the the circle.

You know, and that that’s I think that’s the natural circle of life to a certain extent.

John Harcar (20:39)
Well, yeah. mean, we’re supposed to grow and and I mean it all starts with just being a a parent, right? You grow, you pass on your experiences to your kid, and it’s kind of like the same thing. It’s like you you grow, you get to a level, you pass on, and you you like seeing the people pass you, right? Right. Wow, you do that better. Teach me something. All right. So now where are we at today? I mean, I know we talked about the the volume you did. What does your team look like? What is your ⁓ you know, you mentioned you have a a portfolio of your own. What does all that look like for you right now?

Lucas Pinto (20:55)
Right.

Lucas Pinto (20:58)
Yeah. So our team today, we are twenty-two realtors, three staff, so a group of twenty-five. ⁓ we just finished awards just came out a couple of weeks ago. Last year we were the number two mid sized team in all of Washington State. ⁓ our goal for this year is two hundred and fifty units, and we are ahead of our goal. So I think we’ll hit that goal.

We’re in the process of building out ancillary businesses for the real estate business, title, escrow, mortgage, insurance, inspectors, home services. So we want to be a one-stop shop for all things real estate. at least in Seattle. And who knows, maybe we expend to other markets. In terms of the investing, ⁓ and and my whole game plan is I make money selling real estate, I take my money, I go buy real estate. And

I have 22 doors that that it is under my personal portfolio. I’m an investor in a lot of JVs, mobile home parks, and and ⁓ storage units, multifamily. ⁓ I also have a 506C fund. I’ve never done anything with the fund. And the one kind of different investment I’ve been doing for the last 18 months has been Bitcoin mining operations, which is

very much outside of what I usually do, right? And and that’s been very fun and very interesting for me to start venturing down and learning that world of of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. And ⁓

John Harcar (22:45)
Well and a lot a lot of people, a lot of operators I talk to and you know, a lot of business operators they’re they’re diversifying, they’re doing more things. So let’s talk about that for a quick second. Like what is, you know, what got you into the Bitcoin? Like and and what is the benefits of diversifying into something like that for you?

Lucas Pinto (23:01)
For sure. So it started for me back in 2017. ⁓ my best friend in Florida was a guy by Matt. He’s still my best friend today. And Matt was his dad was like a second dad to me, Dr. Novak. And I grew up with them and I knew this family since middle school. And Matt was the smartest individual I knew. Always. He was just a very smart guy.

And I went back to Florida and went to visit him, went to visit Dr. Novak. And I go into Matt’s house and he had all these computers and it was loud and these computers were running. I’m like, dude, what are you doing? And he said, I’m printing money. I’m like, what? He said, I’m printing money. And he sat me down, he tried to explain what Bitcoin was. And I’m like, it didn’t make any sense to me. I’m like, how is it money? Where

Is there is it physical? He’s like, no, it’s this digital thing. Long story short, I didn’t understand it. But what he did do, he said, Hey, you’re gonna buy some. I said, I’m not gonna buy some, Matt. He said, No, trust me, you’re gonna buy some. He made me buy Bitcoin in early 2017. At the time, I I think I spent 17, 18,000 bucks, which for me was like was like a house, you know, commercial check. Yeah, yeah. So

John Harcar (24:17)
Yeah.

Lucas Pinto (24:19)
At the time, I’m like, dude, are you sure about this? And he’s like, I promise you, buy some, hold it, forget it. So I bought three Bitcoins for $18,000. And this was early in 2017. By the end of the year, I sold one Bitcoin for $19,000. So I’m like, this thing is crazy. I kept two, I sold one. So that’s how the journey started. Fast fast forward during all those years.

I started reading books like this one up here, Digital Gold and the History of Money and Understanding this one as well. ⁓ The Creature from Jekyll Island. I’m not sure if you read this, but this talks about what talks about okay, what is money? Talks about what the Federal Reserve is. It talks about what the the whole concept and idea of money. And the more I got to understand this, the more

I came, I got confident in the idea that every currency in the history of the world eventually collapses. Every single currency. and money, as we know it, is a flawed system, right? Like the federal government could just hit poof and a bunch of zeros pop up in a scream and inflate all of us. So over the years, I kept dollar cost averaging and I kept buying more Bitcoin little by little. And

I got to the point where I’m looking at my portfolio and I’m like, my best performing asset class has been this Bitcoin thing. If I average out all the years, it beats my stocks, it beats my real estate. I’ve averaged, I think it was like 35, 36% yearly return on this thing that I buy digitally and it just this digital money.

During that time, Matt started raising millions and millions of dollars. And he was what he was doing at his house was those computers were mining Bitcoin. And he sc he took his dad’s money, who’s a very successful brain surgeon, and they scaled this thing way up. I mean, he had mining operations all over the world. And right around 2024, 2025, a lot of people were going to him and saying, hey,

John Harcar (26:09)
Yeah.

Lucas Pinto (26:25)
Can I give you money? Can you help me set up my own operation? So he started syndicating these deals. And 2025, I think towards the end of 2025, he said, Hey, I like people threw like five, 10 million dollars at me. If you ever want to do this, I’m happy to do it with you. I’ll syndicate a deal with you. I think it could be great for you to diversify. And I did. And it’s a beautiful thing, man, because it’s a hundred.

I was able to depreciate 100% of that investment, 100%. And it pays me every single month like clockwork. I don’t have to deal with tenants. I don’t have to deal with a roof going bad. It’s just it’s clockwork every month. And and what’s interesting about it is it’s did it it’s freshly minted Bitcoin. So it’s it’s paid to a wallet that is untraceable. No one knows who owns this wallet.

It’s freshly minted money sent to a wallet that’s off the grid. So for me, that money is like a ⁓ shit type of money. You know, if anything happens, right, I have this this little drive, no one knows who owns it, I could just poof and go with the money anywhere in the world. So it’s a hedge to a certain extent.

John Harcar (27:40)
Don’t like that guy that threw it away.

Lucas Pinto (27:41)
Yeah, I actually I met him. I met that guy. I met him at the at Bitcoin conference. His girlfriend threw it away. So he’s not even with her anymore.

John Harcar (27:44)
Matt that dude that does hard drive. Be able to look for it because I’d be dead skates. ⁓ all right. So obviously this is high performers, right? What makes you a high performer? What do you think got you to the level to where you’re performing obviously higher than a lot of people? Like what what what would you attribute a couple keys to success?

Lucas Pinto (28:12)
I think high performance starts with your mindset. ⁓ I think it starts with your standards for yourself. I’ve learned throughout my journey that at times where I feel frustrated at employees or the market or whatever it might be, that really that frustration is a frustration that I have internally.

That I’m expressing it through this person or this circumstance. So I think for someone to be a high performer, you have to adopt the mindset of extreme ownership. I own everything. Good things happen, it’s up to me. Bad things happen, it’s my fault. I get caught in the rain without an umbrella, it’s my fault. And I think when you have extreme ownership like that, it puts the ball back in your court.

You have some control over it. If I blame the rain, I can’t do anything about that. I can’t control the rain. So

John Harcar (29:09)
Very true. I love that. Someone trying to get into the industry, whether it’s real estate, you know, residential or even, you know, buying properties or whatever. I mean, like what are one or two r things that you would suggest that they do? Like, you know, before you you know, if you’re getting started, these are one or two things that I definitely, you know, recommend that you learn, seek, whatever.

Lucas Pinto (29:30)
I think maybe finding a mentor or a community that supports you, Investor Fuel or or another community where you could be supported and held accountable and learn. I think that’s super valuable. I’m also a big believer in just the simplest next step you could take to not overthink the I not overthink the end result.

And just what can I do today that will get me a little bit closer to that end result?

John Harcar (29:58)
Yeah, 100%. So I have a high performer reunion in five years and we bring Lucas back on here. What does Lucas life look like and his business look like now?

Lucas Pinto (30:11)
Man, I think in five years, ⁓ I would love to take a step back from the business. I am I have a sales manager who’s amazing and she handles a lot of the day-to-day operations, but I’m still very much involved in the business. I would love to either have a CEO running the business or have sold the business or have merged with a a a bigger organization. ⁓ I think in five years.

I I want to have a family by then. and start a family and be at the stage of my life where I am more focused on my family than I am in in chasing after deals and and making more money. You know, I i it’s interesting because

I’ve I’ve dedicated most of my life for chasing wealth and chasing money. And the more of it I get, the more I realize I need very little to be happy. And ⁓ so yeah, yeah. And it’s ⁓ yeah, that that would that would be an ideal five years from now, you know, more time. That’s that’s the that’s the

John Harcar (31:25)
It’s amazing that statement that you just said, right? And that when you know, when we get to that point where it’s like, look, I I have a ton, I don’t need nearly that much. I mean, there’s more important things to me than making that money, right? If I gotta make a third of what I made now, but I get to spend a hundred percent more time with my daughter, hell yeah. All that’s all that that is. You can’t, you know, and it’s

Lucas Pinto (31:44)
What that’s real wealth. That’s

John Harcar (31:48)
we came in with nothing, we we leave with nothing. So yeah, you know, ⁓ but we obviously want to leave a let leave a legacy. ⁓ Lucas, if folks wanna reach out to you, folks wanna talk with you, folks wanna work with you, how do they get in touch with you?

Lucas Pinto (32:01)
Yeah, they could visit our website, lucaspintoteam.com ⁓ or you could send me a message on Instagram. My Instagram is luke_is_winning And yeah, if you have questions, if you just want to say hi, we’ll love to connect. And ⁓ I hope I get to connect with with some of the listeners. So

John Harcar (32:20)
Any pearls of wisdom you want to leave us with?

Lucas Pinto (32:22)
Yeah, I let’s see any any any words of wisdom.

Think the last thing I’ll leave people with is ⁓ and one thing I’ve realized from my life, we don’t have as much time as we think. My whole life I’ve been even in my twenties, I was just so vividly aware of how fast this thing happens. And I’m still very much aware of how fast this thing happens.

So and and I’ve also watched over the years realtors and people in my organization and friends who move like they have time and now they’re reaching a point in their life where they’re like, ⁓ man, I I kinda don’t or I wish I would have.

John Harcar (33:02)
All right.

Lucas Pinto (33:02)
Play all out. Go, go, go. You lose big, go all in, do the things, take the trip, you know, go all out. You know, the life is meant to be lived. So

John Harcar (33:12)
What do they say, man? You gotta you gotta risk it to get the biscuit.

Lucas Pinto (33:15)
Now you gotta risk it for the biscuit, that’s it.

John Harcar (33:18)
Lucas, man, a great conversation. ⁓ greatly appreciate it. Guys, I I hope you’re listening and I hope you caught with a lot. I mean, there’s a ton of nuggets in there, man. I mean, this is this was good life talk. This was good business talk and this is the stuff that our our our ⁓ guests love to hear. So Lucas, thank you again. Folks, I hope you all enjoyed it and we will see you on the next one. Cheers.

Lucas Pinto (33:35)
My pleasure.