GI147: From 4,000 Units to 10 Years in Prison with Michael Morawski

Michael “Mike” Morawski is a 30+ year real estate investment veteran. He has controlled over $285,000,000 in real estate transactions.  Mike is an entrepreneur, author, real estate trainer, public speaker, and personal coach with a strong, personal resilience, and deep desire to help others live an extraordinary life. He has coached hundreds of real estate investors to fulfill their dreams.

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Announcer:
Welcome to the Global Investors Podcast, a show that focuses on helping foreign investors enter the lucrative US real estate market. Host, Charles Carillo, combined decades of real estate investing experience with a professional background in international banking to interview experts in all areas of US real estate investing. Now here’s your host, Charles Carillo.

Charles:
Welcome to another episode of the Global Investors Podcast; I’m your host Charles Carillo. Today we have Mike Morawski. He is a 30+ year real estate investment veteran and has controlled over $285 million in real estate transactions. So thank you so much for being on the show today, Mike.

Mike:
Hey, thanks Charles for having me. I appreciate it.

Charles:
So give us a little background on yourself, both personally and professionally prior to getting involved in real estate investing.

Mike:
Okay. geez, personally, nobody ever asks that <laugh> and of interesting, you know, Hey grew up in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, you know, middle class lifestyle came from a family background that my parents were not entrepreneurs don’t know where I got the bug. Didn’t know about real estate. You know, weren’t big real estate people at all was never really talked about. I don’t know where I got the bug, but I kind to do know where I got the bug in, you know, just quick story. I think I was eight years old sitting on the side of a swimming pool with my dad. We were on vacation at a resort. And I remember asking my dad about all the rooms around the, around this pool, the hotel. And he said in his infinite wisdom, cuz he didn’t know anything. He said, people come into stay here and they pay the owner money. And at that point I knew I wanted to be the owner getting paid all the money

Charles:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. So

Mike:
I think that’s where I got the bug from. Nice. I, you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur since my twenties. I, I would work for people and I would go, God, I could do this better than you. And you know, it just was so innate inside of me that that said, go do it yourself. And I wound up going into my first business. I was in the swimming pool business of all things I’m in Chicago. So <laugh>, I’ve never been in the pool business in the Midwest, but it’s kind of a tough business to be in, in the winter time. And I was in the pool business. I couldn’t keep guys working all year long because you know, you just wasn’t as it was a seasonal job and it cost me more money to hire guys, train them and, and then lay ’em off cuz then I’d have to hire new guys the next year. And I decided to go into construction business and do kitchen bath remodeling and went undo, build room additions that grew so fast. So big that you know, I had this very successful, you know, general contracting business before getting into real estate.

Charles:
Wow. And about what year did you make the choice to get into real estate investment? Not just being a contractor.

Mike:
There’s easier ways to ask me how old I am. <Laugh> <laugh> I am let’s say it was a 1990 mm-hmm <affirmative> I decided to go into real estate, so.

Charles:
Okay, cool. Cool. So you got on you started investing in real estate and tell us more about your investing career, how you started and just a little background with you know, you, you had a, a setback in your life, which we’ll go through during this in the next few minutes here, but I met you Mike through one of our attorneys. We have one of the same attorneys and and I learned about your story and that’s why I brought you onto the podcast. So let us know about how you started in real estate and you grew this to 4,000 plus apartments or so, I mean it was must have been pretty fast.

Mike:
Yeah, it was pretty fast. So you, you know, 19 90, 91, I decided to go into real estate. I knew nothing about real estate. I sold my construction business, woke up one morning. I was burnt out and looked at my wife at the time. I said, I can’t do this anymore. You know how it is being an entrepreneur, Charles you’re, you’re doing all the sales, all the marketing, all the, all the bidding, all the work, you know? So I, I, I sold the company, took a year off. And during that year I met a real estate agent who was very successful and went to him and said, Todd, I think I’d like to go in the business. And he said, I think you’d be great at it encouraged me to go in the business. I went in the real estate business. My first nine months I sold 78 houses.

Mike:
I Remax rookie of the year. I went on to build a team selling a hundred over a hundred listings, a year, 125 listings a year. And did that consecutively for a number of years, 2005 rolled around. I saw the market starting to shift and soften and knew I would need to go do something different if I wanted to keep the production up or keep all those people. I had seven people working for me at the time and he didn’t wanna lay anybody off. So I decided to go in the apartment business. Here’s what I understood. I understood that if you raise private equity, you marry it with a great real estate deal. The two stay together you’ll, you know, and everything well you’ll make money. So in 2005, I decided to venture out, raise some private equity, do my first multifamily deal, which I did from there. I raised 18 million. I bought 4,000 apartments. It was $60 million worth of real estate, bought that in five different markets and did it in 30 months.

Charles:
Wow.

Mike:
Built a property management company at the same time, managing 7,500 units. So I scaled a company pretty close to a hundred million in value.

Charles:
Hmm, wow. That’s that’s, that’s, that’s quite the, quite the growth that you had there in those 30 months. So you, you had a little pullback, like say in your, what happened and tell us about you have 7,500 units that under, under management, you have 4,000 that you have equity in and have investors in, I guess, 60 million. And what happened? That was the catalyst in 2008, with all these apartments and all this investor money that led to your you know, led, led to what happened in your life.

Mike:
So I I grew way too fast, right? In 2007 we bought 2,700 units. It was 17 deals, barely had time to breathe, closing all those deals. And, and I thought I had great team behind me stabilizing things and, and that wasn’t happening. So 2008 rolled around. I’m very unstable as a company, 2008, like hitting a wall in a freight train at 200 miles an hour. The whole world starts to implode. I start to come off the rails with my company. Now I had done, I had a hundred and I’m sorry, I had 38 different companies at that point. And I realized that they were unstable under capitalized and overleveraged I Charles I owned

Charles:
Unstable

Mike:
16 million worth of real estate at 85% loan to value.

Charles:
Wow.

Mike:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative> now it’s, you know, when we underwrite today, we’re underwriting deals at 65 to 70%. So so what happened was I had I, I had about a dozen companies. I should have just let go to foreclosure and let those investors get hurt, but I don’t want anybody to get hurt. I never like for anybody to have problems or issues. So I tried to save everybody, Hey, you know, I thought it was a recession. It was gonna last 17 or 18 months. There’d be a 10 or two 12% correction in the marketplace, but it lasted seven or eight years with a 40% correction in the marketplace. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> a little hard to weather that storm. So I I wound up coming off the rails tried to protect all my investors and I started to move money back and forth between companies.

Mike:
So I took money from companies that were running well and putting it in companies that were not running well, mm-hmm <affirmative> and trying to prop up the cash flow, which in turn was fine. You know, my accountant, my attorney both said, it’s okay to do that. Just make sure that you leave a pay paper trail. And we did that and you know, what, the market never bounced back. So I didn’t disclose it to my investors. And because of nondisclosure to my investors, I wound up being charged on wire fraud and mail fraud charges and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Charles:
Wow. So when you were going through that these properties that you’re buying must have been quite the value add if they weren’t stabilized at all. So you had a lot of debt on ’em 85% loan, the value, which was very normal back then they get, I remember this pretty well. And then at that point, what happened was that you’re buying properties that needed a lot of work or they weren’t rented or whatever it might be unstabilized. And then that kind of started the, that was really what you would say as the callous, obviously in the market of 2008, was it, but in your own thing, cuz we had run and we didn’t buy anything that was unstabilized during this time for the most part. And and we didn’t really have too many issues. So your issue was really just a lot of unstabilized properties and a lot of properties without renters in them.

Mike:
Right? Yeah. So yeah, we were buying a lot of value add stuff where occupancies were maybe in the high seventies mm-hmm <affirmative> banks were throwing money at you though, you know, and they were letting you do value, add stuff like that limited reserves. And you know, I don’t know who was worse at that time, me for taking the money or the banks for giving it to us at 15% down. Right. So, so somebody had to, you know take responsibility, you know, of the feds. And so I wound up going to prison though, as a result of it. And 2013, I went away on a 10 year prison sentence and I thought my life was over. I, you know, thought that it was done. And so I’m in prison about 17 days and, and here’s what always tell people is I never flew private.

Mike:
I didn’t have a boat. I didn’t have a big house. I didn’t have a fancy car. I was the neighborhood baseball coach. I was home every night for dinner, my wife and I had a great marriage. We were best friends. And I got ripped from that to live in a 12 by 12 room with three men. I didn’t know, nor did I like and had, you know, three green outfits and five pairs of underpants. And like I said, wondering what happened in my life and I was in prison about 17 days. And while I was gone, my, my wife decided to divorce me about three weeks in and it wrecked me. And then I was really like, what am I gonna do? How am I gonna get through this? You know? And Charles, I, I, a couple things I really believe in my life.

Mike:
Number one, success sleeps clues. I went to that real estate agent early on learned what to do, went into business and just, you know, followed some basic fundamentals and was very successful as there was a ultimate lesson, two that we have defining moments in our life. That things happen to us. And all of a sudden we go, wow, what, you know, what do I do now? Yeah. So I’d gone from running marathons to being 35 pounds overweight. I hate myself, you know, my wife left me, my family’s a mess. I’m in prison. How am I gonna get through the joke was, Hey, let’s take his shoe lace. Cuz we think that he’s gonna hurt himself. And I walk into Jim one day, about six weeks in and this guy up to me and he says, Hey, don’t let these people beat you.

Mike:
He said, all they wanna do is take from you. Everything you’ve ever known and they can take your real estate, they can take your business. They can take your money. They can destroy your family, but they can’t take who you are. They can’t take. What made you, what helped you build those companies you built? He said, you can get all that back. He said, you can get this 10 years back. He said, come to the gym every day, work out, start losing weight, start feeling better. Start liking yourself again. I mean just, I don’t know where the wisdom came from. And, and, and did that. I said, I’ll take you up on a challenge. And I started going to the gym. I came home in the best physical shape of my life I’d ever been in my I went to college, I got a bachelor’s degree in theology.

Mike:
I wrote two books while I was gone. One is exit plan, your complete guide to multifamily investing and, and why you need an exit plan before you buy. I wrote an ethics course. I taught real estate investing, property management and ethics in prison for six years was on an outreach program. I went into the community, told my story to small business owners local college students. And then I met a professor from the university of M that he and I co-authored a paper together that we got published this year in a business journal of ethics, which gets taught at the collegiate level for forensic accounting and sales and marketing classes. So as much as my life got wiped out, I turned everything around and today, you know, I, I feel like I’m, I’m just full of life and resilience rebuilding my life today. I’m in the coaching and training space. Hopefully teach people how to build a multifamily business without burning out with living a balanced lifestyle and without making mistakes.

Charles:
Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s very powerful and it’s great that you are to speak to that person at when they spoke to you. Cuz that changed the whole trajectory. I think of your, that that 10 years. But so what were some main takeaways, obviously you wrote books on property management, you taught it and obviously not commingling cash anymore, but the thing is that what main takeaway ways you’re having you’re you’re underwriting a lot more conservatively. What other kind of what do you, what did you learn that you’re now implementing into your real estate investing business?

Mike:
Yeah. Great question. So, you know, like I said grew way too fast today. I’m more systematic about the growth, you know, recently I’ve been approved to, to go back and, and do deals, be an issuer again and be a sponsor. So that’s been nice. Got a legal opinion on that and back, you know, building a bus, this building a multifamily I’m I’m into trenches with my coaching clients. So when I, when I partner, you know, I partner with, with my coaching clients. So it’s kind of nice. What what one, the first thing I learned was don’t grow too fast. Make sure you take your time. You know, an old carpenter taught me. He said, you cut twice. I’m sorry. Measure one measure twice. Cut once. And that’s that’s the philosophy today is we check everything a couple of times before we pulled the trigger.

Mike:
So I was under capitalized. Didn’t raise enough money. You know, another thing I did was the market was so high Charles, similar to how it is today. I thought I was, I would, I would create this selling technique in my offerings. And I pulled some language out, out of my PPMS that said, Hey, we’ll you we’ll never have to cap. We’ll never have to do a cash call. So I, I tied my hands by, by not being able to go back to my investors and saying, Hey, we have a problem. We need more capital in the deal. Cuz we were restricted from doing that because I didn’t think the market would do what it did and that we would always be able to have excess of cash coming in. Hmm. So that was an issue. Didn’t raise enough money. So I didn’t have enough in reserves or sitting on the sideline to weather, any type of a storm over leveraged.

Mike:
I was 15% down on 60 million worth of real estate as 85% out, low own a value. That’s crazy. Yeah. And then you know, I didn’t listen to the details around me. So, you know, quick story. I was closing a deal in 2008. I’m in a, in a closing room in Cincinnati and I’m waiting for my office to wire $500,000 to the closing and, and it’s not coming, not coming. Finally, my partner gets on the phone and I can’t get ahold of him all day. Can’t figure out where he is at, but he gets on the phone and he is like, Hey, I don’t know how to tell you this. And I’m like, you don’t know how to tell me <laugh> you know, what do you think? You know, you need $500,000 to close a deal. And now all of a sudden your partner says this.

Mike:
Well, he had moved money from an escrow account and I just went crazy. I was like, Hey, listen, we had this conversation before we went into business. You never do that. Well, you know, I never tell my wife about business. I never talked to my wife about business. She just worried about everything. And this was the same thing. I, I come home on Wednesday. I, I dry closed that deal. We sign all the paperwork, say I’ll have it funded by Tuesday. I come home over the weekend, wind up, raising more money, giving some equity away on the deal, bringing some investors in and we got that deal closed. But on Friday night I go out to dinner with my wife and my partner and his wife. And on the way home from dinner, remember I don’t talk to my wife about business. She doesn’t know what happened on Wednesday on the way home.

Mike:
She says, I don’t trust him. I’m like, oh, you know, I think I’m gonna be a good husband. And I go, Hey honey, I got this, I got your back. We’re fine. You’re safe. Everything’s good. When really I should have said, tell me more about that. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> what am I missing? Right. And I, I tell that story because we don’t pay attention to the, the details around us. We get so focused with the blinders on that. We don’t watch the peripheral vision. So on Wednesday, the following week, I’m out to lunch with my attorney and we’re leaving lunch. We’re in the parking lot. And this a long time friend does all my business stuff for me, puts us arm around me and he says, Hey, I want to talk to you. I said, okay. He said, I don’t like what I see going on in your business. I don’t like what your partner’s doing. I don’t like where things are going. So I’ve got two people within five days of each other that are telling me they don’t trust my partner and I’ve got my blinders so tight on that. I’m not paying attention. And I say, I got this under control and I didn’t have anything under control. So I say that because I want people to pay attention, watch the details around, you know, if something’s off kilter, if you need to do something different. So

Charles:
That’s very interesting. I have a mentor of mine years back and he would tell me that always he would always bring his wife with him to dinner or anything like this to meet high end higher level higher level jobs that they were that they were, you know when they, you know, they had people coming on for their business and higher level role positions, he would always have his wife meet them. And it’s something that stuck with me is that I take my wife with me when we’re going and meeting partners or potential partners or anything like this. So it’s something that I’ve heard that a number of times. And that’s great that I mean, you’ve seen that and then obviously your, your, your other professional there saw it as well, your accountant or whatever it was that he noticed what was happening as well.

Mike:
You know, Charles we think we’re so smart. Well, I, I, I, I firmly believe that God matches us with our spouse because they’re smarter than we are

Charles:
<Laugh> so

Mike:
We need to pay attention to what they say, you know?

Charles:
So Mike going forward, tell us about what you are, what you’re doing now. You’re still in obviously multifamily, you’re doing deals. I know you’re doing, you did one, you’re doing another one or a few in Tampa is one of your big markets. Like tell us what you’re guy going on now for your company.

Mike:
Yeah. so, you know, I’m in the coaching and training space. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> I work with real estate investors and entrepreneurs, you know, entrepreneurs, multifamily investors, helping them scale their business, helping ’em coaching. ’em Helping them build their business. And I, I really have a passion for the business and have a passion for helping people. I also am back in the trenches, so I’m, you know, actively seeking out underwriting and putting deals under contract and raising private equity. So we’re out building business, we’re out building a, a multifamily portfolio. I’ve taken a couple of my coaching clients. We’ve gone and found a great family office to work with. Great key principal that we’ve brought to the table. We’ve all come to the table and are building this platform that you know, we’ll probably scale that business, you know, somewhere around a thousand units in the next year where we’d like to get. So it’s kind of the goal we’re shooting for.

Charles:
So as a coach, what is your advice to new multifamily investors when they reach out to you? I mean, do you suggest them to do a deal a hundred percent themself before raising money? Or when should they feel comfortable taking money from investors? Cause I get this question all the time. So I’d like to hear your, your input on it

Mike:
Depends on the person mm-hmm <affirmative> right. And it depends on their goals and what they wanna accomplish. Hey, I went from selling residential real estate to raising 18 million in 30 months, you know, what do you wanna accomplish and how, how fast do you wanna do it? But, but systematic. So I always tell people, I say, listen, let’s get really clear first on your goals and your why let’s get the clarity down because when the tough times come, you’re gonna need to tap into what’s really important. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and tap into that. So we start there and then we start with two key principles, which are building relationships and strategic alliances. How do we build those relationships and build strategic alliances? What does that look like? And, and it’s going, every person is different is what I find, right? Cause some have relationships, some don’t have any, how do we teach people how to do that? And then the next piece is sourcing and locating deals on market, off market. You know, part of that relationship thing is these brokers today, Charles are so busy mm-hmm <affirmative> to try and get a return phone call, you know, and there’s tips and techniques that people need to work into their languaging when they call a broker. And these are things that, that I’ve developed over time that I teach people how to do.

Charles:
Yeah, that’s definitely true. They have thousands of people on their email list and when they send it out and you’re contacting back, you know, they’re that’s why you see too, like when you’re putting a lot of offer in on properties, they, they pretty much are sending you out a questionnaire on who you are and what you’ve done and what you’re doing currently. And who’s on your team and how many units you have and all stuff. And I mean that weeds on a lot of people cuz they don’t wanna waste time. And you have to know how to speak to these brokers and how to deal with these brokers, you or someone on your team and to be able to be successful in actually closing deals, especially where we are now.

Mike:
Yeah, absolutely. Goodness said it better.

Charles:
So what are kind of mistakes? You see other real estate investors making now? I mean, I imagine you saw a lot of mistakes happening now that happened in oh 5 0 8. So give us a little background on what you see might be different from these two periods or that you’re seeing just a, a normal thing that’s happening.

Mike:
Yeah. So, you know, there’s that old cliche that says, if you, the only time you lose is when you quit. Right? Right. You see people quitting too early. So they get in the business, they try to business they don’t get a deal done. They quit. I underwrote a hundred deals to write seven Lois to buy my first deal, to get my first 100 contract. Okay. What are you willing to do? I, I work with an investor that, you know, writes a hundred offers a week to buy one or two deals a month. So, you know, what are you willing to do to get outside your box, to stretch yourself? I believe that that we all need to stretch personally to grow professionally. We don’t grow professionally till we grow personally. And, and that’s part of that’s part of what coaching is too is, is how I work with of people and stretch them.

Mike:
But, but here’s, you know, people need to underwrite more and they need to underwrite more conservatively. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> they need to stop promising investors today. These, these returns of 20%. Yeah. Cause they’re not there anymore. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and as the interest rates come up and we move close are into inflation. Returns are gonna change. I have a good friend who’s who’s underwriting deals today at 50 50, they’re raising 50% equity and they’re only paying their investors five to 6% cash on cash. No IRR, no equity in the deal. So it’s time to start changing because the market is going to, it’s gonna fall. The question becomes when, and I certainly don’t wanna be a doomsday person here mm-hmm <affirmative> and I tell people, keep investing. I’m still investing. Just change how you’re doing it. Yeah. You know, I made these mistakes before I was over leveraged under capitalized. The market was so robust. I didn’t think it was gonna fall. Don’t fall into those traps today, you know, make sure you’re doing something different.

Charles:
Yeah. I see that a lot too with when we’re putting together deals or when we’re, I’m looking at other of people’s deals that they’re sending to us, you know, I imagine you’re on a lot of those email lists too, and you’re reviewing what people are doing and very highly leveraged. And you know, I start seeing deals that are going into 20% plus and you it’s, you know, that’s stuff we were seeing a few years ago. Right. But it’s, it’s now, you know, it’s, I think that it’s very difficult with these business plans because yeah. Rents are going up and we hear that everywhere rents are going up and everybody’s focused on these states with a lot of population growth and that’s great, but you know, rent going up year, year over year in, let’s say Orlando for 22%. I mean, that’s just not gonna continue. I mean, there’s not the income, especially with inflation wages, aren’t gonna go up with it. It’s just not gonna happen now. Is it be better than buying somewhere? You know, I don’t know in the Midwest or something maybe I guess, but it’s is it it’s, you’re just not gonna have that continued growth of you know, where we’ve been going for so many years and now, I mean, we’re going in you know, 10, 11 years, 12 years into this this market. Right,

Mike:
Right.

Charles:
So, but so what do you think the main factors are that have contributed to your success?

Mike:
Oh, my tenacity you know, I’m, I think in my bio there, it says that I have a, you know, I live a resilient life. I won’t, I, I won’t allow the past to dictate my future. I I’ll learn for him the lessons and, and continue to push forward. You know, I had somebody, I was probably in the real estate business three years and I had a, I walked in a client’s house and he went, man, Moroski you are so tenacious. I had no idea what the word meant. You know, I, I, I said very graciously. I said, thank you, appreciate it. Hoping that was positive, went home, grabbed a dictionary. And I went, that is me. I don’t give up, you know, I had a mantra when I was selling real estate that you would either list with me or you’d die. You know, that was it. So cuz I follow up and follow up and, and that’s how you have to be as an investor. You have to be about it. It’s a tenacious business, you know, we’re running a marathon here, not a sprint. So

Charles:
Yeah, it’s, it’s it’s amazing how similar what you’re doing is or what we’re doing is within sales and marketing, where you keep on getting yourself out in front of people in front of buyers or sellers in front of your agents, brokers that are listing and you know, Hey, when you have something, Hey, when you have something, if you’re in, you know, and especially the same thing with investors, when you gotta keep those plates rolling of deals and also of of money coming in so that you can do deals and and be able to close on them when they come across.

Mike:
Yeah, for sure.

Charles:
So how can our listeners learn more about you and your business Mike?

Mike:
Oh, great. I love the network. So anybody wants to pick, my brain has a question, call me, you know, I’m, I’m accessible, very accessible. You know you can email me at Mike at my core intention do com I’m huge on social media. So wherever you hang out, I hang out whether it’s me personally, or, or my business, my core intentions, you can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, so podcasts and you know, go grab a free copy of exit plan. You can download that for free. At my website, you can go to my core intentions.com/exit plan. And then alls I ask is that you send me a review, what you thought of the book. That’s all.

Charles:
Okay. Yeah. So I’ll put in your in the notes section here, your website, the website address for the free book, and then I’ll also your email address.

Mike:
Perfect. Thanks.

Charles:
Well, thank you so much for being on today. Mike, looking forward to connect with you in the near future. Have a great rest of your week.

Mike:
You too, Charles. Thank you. Is that honor.

Charles:
Hi guys! It’s Charles from the Global Investors Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you’re interested in get involved with real estate, but you don’t know where to begin, set up a free 30 minute strategy call with me at schedulecharles.com. That’s schedulecharles.com. Thank you.

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About Mike Morawski

Michael “Mike” Morawski is a 30+ year real estate investment veteran. He has controlled over $285,000,000 in real estate transactions.  Mike is an entrepreneur, author, real estate trainer, public speaker, and personal coach with a strong, personal resilience, and deep desire to help others live an extraordinary life. He has coached hundreds of real estate investors to fulfill their dreams.

Michael began as a general contractor in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago with $5 mm in annual revenue. He sold his company and then took some time off to decide what to do next. Michael entered the real estate industry as a sales agent building a team of agents and support staff that produced over $20 mm per year in sales production.  In 2005, Michael started a private equity firm, raising $18 mm in private equity and acquired $60 mm in multi-family apartments including 4,000 units in five different US markets. As part of the company’s growth, Mike built and developed a property management division that managed 7,500 units.

Mike has always believed that transparency and honesty are central to any successful business and personal life. As a result of the 2008 world economic crisis, Mike let his guard down and let his transparency slip. The impact that had on his company and its real estate holdings left him scrambling to protect the company and its investors.

Due to the market climate, he found himself in a defensive mode operating out of chaos and fear. In an attempt to protect his company’s investors, Mike had to make difficult business decisions. Some of those decisions were handled poorly.  As a result of those poor decisions, the company imploded and Mike faced wire and mail fraud charges which lead to a 10-year federal prison sentence.

To read more about his story, you can read the full story in the Journal of Business Ethics titled: Multi-Family Ventures, LLC and the 2008 Financial Crisis: Ethical Decisions Regarding Keeping the Board Informed

This was a devastating loss of life as he knew it and everything he thought was important and came as a harsh wake-up call.

Mike used his time in prison to make a difference. He worked to receive his college bachelor’s degree. Mike developed and taught bible studies, ethics, real estate, and property management classes. Mike served on a prison suicide cadre and was involved in the community outreach program.  He was one of the founding members and president of toastmasters as well as a core member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He and his story made a positive impact in the lives of others both in and outside the prison walls.

Mike’s resilient mindset helped him turn things around. Now Mike is focused on helping real estate owner/operators and other industry professionals make wise, responsible decisions while continuing to grow their businesses and create a profit. The positive impact Mike can have on you comes from learning from his experiences, both positive and negative. Mike offers to be what he did not have during that time – someone to help you make tough decisions when challenges come your way.

Mike’s comeback story will inspire you and open your eyes. Entrepreneurs are often faced with decisions that impact the rest of their life. As Mike experienced, those choices can either be positive or devastatingly negative.

Today Michael’s passion is sharing his knowledge and wisdom with others for their gain. Mike is the host of the Insider Secrets Podcast and the co-host of Multi-family Unplugged Vidcast.

Michael has built My Core Intentions training and coaching platform to help real estate investors and industry professionals excel in their field. His Core principle is to teach his clients how to create “short-term cash flow and long-term wealth.” This is delivered through live and virtual training events, and three levels of personal coaching.

Two of the things that set My Core Intentions apart is their teaching about developing an exit plan and a deep dive into creating wealth through small multi-family properties. Michael’s clients are completing transactions within 12 weeks, experiencing personal growth and business revenues exceeding rates of 20% growth annually.

We assist our clients in setting accountable standards in their personal and professional lives which enable them to realign with things that really matter, like family and personal growth. We guide our clients to discover their true passions which include a virtuous and balanced lifestyle.

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