CFD 598 – Jimmy Murray and the Power of Visualization

March 9th, 2020

How do you house hack your way to financial freedom with hardly any money down? How do you build a best-in-class property management company? What is the best day to do a home inspection? What does it mean to be #rentready? Jimmy Murray has all the answers and he is ready to share them with your podcast listeners today.

Over the past ten years, Jimmy’s multifamily real estate investments have blossomed into a successful property management company, Lyon Property Management Group. An investor himself, Jimmy intimately understands the needs of an investor landlord. And that’s why Lyon Property Management is tailored to the multifamily investor.

Jimmy is also an investor educator along with Lyon Property Group co-founder Frank Patalano. Jimmy and Frank host a podcast called The Cashflow Kings where they have been known to pass out free golden nuggets of real estate wisdom.

Podcast Highlights

  • Who is Jimmy Murray?

Jimmy Murray was always a thoughtful kid but he also had an entrepreneurial tilt. Real estate didn’t come along in Jimmy’s life until 8th grade when he wrote a letter to himself where he imagined what real estate and stocks he owned by the time he was finished high school. Jimmy tends to over analyze everything, which fits perfectly with his INTJ Myers-Briggs result.

  • Acorn Theory

Jimmy Murray recently learned about Acorn Theory, where we all start as a small acorn with a guide that helps us grow into a massive oak tree. Sometimes it takes longer to accomplish that, but your goal should always be to realize your oak tree potential. For Jimmy, he didn’t know what the path was that he would take, but he knew that Real Estate was going to be the shape of things.

It doesn’t matter where you start, it matters where you finish. Jimmy’s degree which helped him land a job at a well respected financial firm came from Ohio State University, but he started off in a local community college. His original strategy was to get a job on Wall Street, make a pile of money, and then invest in real estate but it didn’t work out that way. Instead, he found himself failing the CFA exam and being forced to decide whether to invest more time and money in passing the test, or just jumping into real estate and buying his first multifamily property.

Small, daily habits are the foundation for long term success. Progress happens a little bit each day, your goal shouldn’t be to get there immediately. Failures are the stepping stones on your way to success. Sometimes your closest mentors will tell you not to pursue your dream goals, but if you believe in it enough you should be willing to chase what you want.

  • Is there anything you wanted someone to say to you when you were starting off?

Not everyone is going to believe in your vision along the way, but as long as you do, no one else has to. Jimmy wouldn’t change the way things played out when he decided to get into real estate.

  • Why did you go into property management?

When Jimmy Murray bought his first property, he also started wholesaling with the belief that wholesaling would be the way he was going to escape his cubicle. Despite being an introvert Jimmy had managed to market well and generate some interest but he didn’t really know what he was doing. He realized that the best source of his deals was a list of high equity leads so he went back to the well. After doing another deal, Jimmy realized that managing the property and tenants was something he was good at so he doubled down on that.

He also noticed the net income from managing properties is similar to the amount that real estate investors make per door, but it comes without the same level of risk.

Beginning in 2015, Jimmy started focusing on growing Lyon Property Management and found that there were a number of things that you can add to the business as it grows to create additional sources of revenue. This is an idea that many entrepreneurs and investors don’t realize and if they understood it, they would be able to explode their businesses.

If you’re an investor, it’s really important to find a property manager who shares a similar investment philosophy as you. When screening an investor, Jimmy asks them about their approach and mission statement first.

Jimmy wouldn’t have been able to predict how his life would have turned out but he wouldn’t change anything about the journey he’s been on either.

  • Jimmy’s Takeaway

The power of visualization is huge. Create an alter ego for who you want to be, really think about who you want to become and make a name for it. That will really make your visualization much more powerful. You’re not always going to bat a 1000, just get out there and take constant action. If you fail, those are the best learning opportunities.

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