MB 236: The Financial Freedom to Do What You Love – With Megan Lamke

Time is precious. Are you spending your days doing what you love with the people you love? What if multifamily real estate could help you do just that? What if you could achieve financial freedom fast—regardless of your current financial situation? Megan Lamke is Managing Partner at Megan Lamke Real Estate, a firm that helps driven women turn their grit into true financial growth. She built a network of real estate investors working for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and once she and her husband, Darik, had paid off their personal debt ($535K in under 5 years!), they started investing passively in multifamily syndications. Megan quit her corporate job to pursue active investing full-time in April of 2019, and today, the Lamkes have a portfolio of 1,491 units valued at $344M.  On this episode of Apartment Building Investing, Megan joins me to explain why she took a W-2 job after college (despite wanting to become a real estate entrepreneur) and what she and Darik did to live below their means and pay off their debt so fast. She describes what she did to find a good operator as a passive investor and how she leveraged her sales and marketing background to transition to active investing. Listen in for Megan’s insight on how to raise capital at scale with a platform and learn how YOU can achieve financial freedom and spend time doing what you love! Key Takeaways When Megan started thinking about real estate Parents struggled financially, read Rich Dad Poor Dad at age 10 Entrepreneurship and business clubs in high school and college

Why Megan took a W-2 job after college Needed to pay off student loan debt before leave Rat Race Learned sales skills, got to work with real estate investors

What Megan and her husband did to live below their means Sold luxury cars, bought cars for cash House hacked 6BR (rented to rugby teammates) Side hustle as sales and marketing consultant

How Megan and her husband got on the same page financially Financial literacy class as part of premarital counseling Set goal to pay off debt, achieve financial freedom

How Megan’s strategy shifted once she was out of debt Sold 6BR house to invest passively in multifamily syndications Goal to replace corporate salary as quickly as possible

Megan’s advice on finding a good multifamily operator Look at track record, online reviews, lawsuits and marketing efforts Ask questions re: where properties located, how managed, etc.

What Megan’s last day of work was like Surreal (like leaving the Matrix) Culmination of goal that started in fifth grade

How Megan’s life is different now that she’s a full-time investor Control own time (decide when to work) Spend more time with daughter, volunteering

What active investing looks like for Megan Use SDA to underwrite 10 deals/day (300 in 2019) Leverage background in sales and marketing to build out platform

What Megan has done to scale her capital raise efforts Done-for-you tech stack to automate lead gen, booking calls 30 to 37 calls with prospective investors every week

What Megan is doing to attract prospective investors to her platform Create content (social media, videos, blog and weekly webinar) Sponsor real estate events, promote lead magnet on podcasts

How Megan describes her ideal investor Successful career woman age 40-55, primary breadwinner Gritty and knows how to get stuff done

How the automation works to turn interested...