Former Wolf of Wall Street Stockbroker Turned Successful Real Estate Broker

For this episode, I am thrilled to welcome the President and CEO of McCormick National Holdings, Joe Mendoza. Joe has more than twenty years’ experience in the real estate and investment industry and is the host of two successful podcasts and a YouTube show. He has regularly appeared on television news and radio shows for his professional knowledge and insight. Joe is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, an Accredited Investor, a Certified Fund Manager, and also a successful Business Coach. He has a long history of success including thousands of transactions successfully closed and well over $100,000,000 in volume.

Joe told us that he came from a working-class background, his dad having been in the navy and his mom working in civil service. He remembers his uncle inviting him to a Robert Allen seminar when he was seventeen years old, which is where the real estate investor's dream for him began. He didn’t know exactly what to do to begin so he decided to take what college-level real estate classes he could while still in high school. The market was pretty depressed at this time and Joe decided to go to college to get his four-year degree.

Joe attended San Diego State University and became a stockbroker trainee when he graduated. He learned how to cold-call during this period but then the dot com bust occurred and he lost his job. Joe could only find work as a bill collector and worked in this field for four years, but in 1998 he also began working with a real estate agent to learn more about that side of real estate.

This led us into a conversation of where we think the housing market is headed. Joe said there were some variables in the last market turndown that are really not applicable now, such as the housing loans that were given and the excess supply of newly built houses. This leads Joe to believe any future downturn of the market will not be as severe as what we saw in 2007-8. He really believes that it depends on which side of the real estate fence you are on as to how difficult things may become, especially due to the pandemic business closures. Joe talked a lot about what he has done in his own businesses to adjust to this interesting time.

I knew from my research that Joe spends a lot of time volunteering and so I asked him to describe what he does and how he gives back to others. He said that he has two teenagers and he is very active in their activities. He has been on the board of several non-profit organizations and very involved in his church community. He also spends a lot of time with mentoring and coaching other investors all over the country and also internationally.

I say at the end of this interview that Joe just drops gold all over the place, so don’t miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“Hey Joe, if you want to be rich, get into real estate!”

Joe Mendoza’s Uncle

“All you need is to have a fire ignited.”

Mike Simmons

“When the media is telling you to do something so emphatically, it is counter-intuitive to do the opposite, but that is where a lot of money is made.”

Mike Simmons

“If you own a business and have employees counting on you, it is your responsibility to understand the market and make sure you are poised to be in a good position when things change.”