126: Building Passive Income With Matt Motil after the Housing Crash, Cancer, and a Divorce

Dr. Matt Motil has had a lot of reasons to be mad at life. During the housing crash in Arizona, he lost his life savings, battled cancer at 30, and got a divorce, in part due to health problems with his son. Despite many setbacks, Matt did not give up. He kept investing in real estate until he was able to build enough passive income to quit his career. On this episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast, Matt and I talk all about what he has been through and how he found success with rental properties.

How did Matt get started in real estate?

Matt grew up in a family of contractors, and he ended up becoming a union contractor at the age of 18. Matt was making almost $20 per hour straight out of high school. Even though he was making good money, he knew he wanted something more out of life. Matt went to school for engineering and while getting a degree, managed a rental property for his parents while living in it. Matt ended up getting a job as an engineer traveling all over the country. He also started to buy real estate and “flip and live,” as he calls it. He would buy a house to live in and fix it up over a year or two.

How did Matt build up his life savings only to lose it all?

Matt worked full-time as an engineer but continued to slowly flip houses he lived in. He was transferred to Phoenix for work, where he bought and sold more houses, eventually getting to a point where he had $200,000 in equity. His wife and he decided to build their dream house for around $600,000, and they put all of their money into it. As soon as construction was completed, the housing crash hit, and their house plummeted in value. Houses similar to theirs were selling for $200,000 or less! Matt could not even find a renter because there was an estimated 80,000 vacant houses in the area and not enough people to fill them. Matt ended up losing the house and all of his money he had worked so hard for. However, he did not give up on real estate!

How did Matt change the way he invested in real estate?

Matt ended up getting a divorce and moving to Cleveland just before losing his house and life savings. He also had a bout with cancer along the way. In Cleveland, Matt bought another house before losing his Phoenix house. He got a great deal on the house in Cleveland, but the market dropped there as well. Matt ended up renting out the house in Cleveland and renting another house to live in. Matt made money on his rental this time, and the passive income lit a spark in him. Matt then met his current wife—who was also interested in rental properties—and they started to build a portfolio together.

Matt and his wife bought as many rentals as they could in each of their names using hard money in order to put less down. After running out of conventional mortgages, Matt started using private money to buy more and more rentals. Eventually, Matt realized he was making enough money from rentals to replace his income. Matt ended up losing his job and was just fine with it because he could move into real estate full-time.

How can you contact Matt?

Matt has helped a lot of people buy rentals in the Cleveland area. He admits prices have been increasing, but there are still many cash-flow opportunities around. Matt also have a podcast, CashFlowKing and has written a book, Man on Fire. Matt has a new book coming out soon, and you can learn more about him at https://www.drmattmotil.com/.