Gary Mann: My First Mentor and his Story

My first mentor, or first person who was actually a good mentor that I had, his name's Gary Mann. He's in Moses Lake and he's not hidden. Almost every building says listed by Gary Mann. He owns the biggest brokerage in town. Gary Mann bought deals with partners when the opportunity came up, bought out partners. He bought everything in fixed rate debt and he never refinanced it. He bought everything in 30-year fixed rate debt. He got a bunch of, and he did smaller multifamily and a few larger buildings. He just let them all pay themselves off over time. He's 75 now. He has $2 million of debt on a $100 million portfolio. Portfolio. He's basically, basically out. He's done really well. Maybe his portfolio is closer to $70 million, but you get the point. He's worth like tens of millions of dollars, and he has no worries about anything ever. 7 figures of cash flow a year, no stress. And he still only drives a $17,000 car because, like me, he's just like, yeah, I don't, I don't need stuff. Um, I just like doing real estate. So he spends it now on development, which he does in cash, just builds buildings in cash. Um, I think it's the best possible strategy. It's the best of— it's the best of Dave Ramsey and the best of Kiyosaki all in one. You build an income that is so that it pays off all the debts that you took on to build that income. On a tax basis, terrible strategy. On a sleep amazingly at night for the rest of your life forever and the next several generations basis, awesome. You just pay more tax to do it. There's less write-offs. You don't have the interest payment write-off. You lever. But I think if you built a portfolio that does everything that you ever wanted it to do, I think the best thing— unpopular opinion, but I think the best thing you can do is stop buying and let it start paying itself down. You get enough cash flow, be done. That's my opinion.