Replacing Your Income with Passive Investments And Creating Freedom with Joey Mure and Russ Morgan
I am excited to have Joey Mure and Russ Morgan on the podcast today! Joey and Russ are the founders and partners at Wealth Without Wall Street, hosts of the popular podcast of the same name, and serial entrepreneurs who currently operate 19 short-term rentals, along with being involved in several other investment strategies. Joey and Russ also have a podcast that enables them to reach more people with the message of financial freedom and passive income. They love talking about the challenges and motivations they experience as business owners to help others pursue financial freedom.
We begin the episode with Joey and Russ sharing their background stories and how they ended up in real estate. Joey shared that he was in the mortgage industry for 11 years, and during that time, he became friends with Russ. Russ was a certified financial adviser, and he started referring clients to him. Their pivot point came when Russ learned something new from a book that he shared with him. It changed the way they looked at personal finance and how they controlled cash flow in their life. They joined forces, and in 2014 they started a partnership that birthed their Wealth Without Wall Street company.
We then talk about Joey and Russ's first investment strategy that they took action on. Joey came from a mortgage business, and the first investment he got into was in private lending. He loved its passivity, a check every month, and it was profitable, but Joey realized that he wanted something that added more velocity to his earnings. On the other hand, Russ started by buying a two-bedroom condo and started a long-term rental. From his experience, Russ learned that his personality style and investor DNA was of somebody who liked to be more involved, and he had to match who he was with the investments he was making.
Next, we talk about what Russ and Joey did together when they combined forces to get things moving in their business. They share that the most important thing they did at the beginning was focusing on their own business. Wealth Without Wall Street was super dependent on them for the day-to-day operations. If they weren’t in a seat talking to somebody, they were not making money, and they had to figure out how to make their business more passive. They hired a consultant who advised them to build a coaching program by bringing in coaches, taking their knowledge, and putting it in a sustainable and repeatable process. Creating GPS (Goal. Plan, and Support) processes that they walk people through was hard work for a long time, and according to Joey, it made all the difference, and it freed them up to go out and implement other things.
We then talk about what Russ and Joey do to make passive income at a high level in addition to crypto mining and short-term rentals. They share that they have a land flipping business that buys property, turns them around, and sells them on terms to somebody else. They often acquire land investments from landowners who have land that they don’t use out of state and have bad taxes. They make it affordable to buyers by having the owner finance for about $200 or $300 a month. For marketing, the first people they market to are the neighbors, and 40% of their purchases come from them. They also market on social platforms such as Facebook and Craigslist. According to Russ, this business model has worked for them, and they produce $10,000 to $15,000 a month in cash flow, and it’s climbing.
Lastly, we talk about what attracts Joey and Russ to short-term rentals as opposed to long-term rentals or regular leases. Joey shares that he has a two-bedroom and two-bathroom house that he has owned since 2004, and this was the first unit they turned into a short-term rental to see if they could get a higher cash flow from the market in 2019, right at the beginning of the pandemic. They marketed the unit on Airbnb as coming soon, and two weeks before it was even available, they were getting bookings. Those bookings exceeded by over $4000 within the first month. However, Joey and Russ's model is slightly different as they don’t buy the property. They lease the properties, and they furnish them. Their down payment is often $1,850 for a three-bedroom, $25,000 for the furnishing, and they still earn $15,000 to $24,000, which is about 66 to 100%, and way better than long-term rental deals.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Joey Mure and Russ Morgan and get valuable information on how you can replace your income with passive investments to achieve financial freedom!
Notable Quotes:
“Financial freedom is a formula that can apply to anyone regardless of where they are.”
- Joey Mure
“When doing short-term rentals, you have to identify and know who your guest is.“
- Joey Mure
“The goal of financial freedom is making your monthly passive income greater than your monthly expenses.”
- Russ Morgan
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
