Mark Whitten: 9 Life Changing Tips from the Real Estate Investor

If you’re a fan of the popular morning radio show The Breakfast Club, then you have probably heard of Mark Whitten. The real estate investor has made a couple of appearances on the show.

Mark Whitten is a successful real estate investor from Baltimore, Maryland. He has been making rounds in media speaking about his real estate investments and dishing out advice. Mark has built up quite an impressive real estate portfolio in the past 10 years from wholesaling deals and buying and holding properties. 

Mark has also launched a coaching program where he teaches his wealth of information about how to get into real estate investing and thrive.

Here are 15 advices from Mark Whitten about real estate, financial, and generating wealth.

1. Read. Do your research.

Mark graduated from Morgan State University in 2005 with a degree in Marketing, but he could only find a job at a group home. But that didn’t stop him drive to succeed. He took that time to read whatever book he could get his hands on about real estate. He chose real estate because it produced the most millionaires in the world according to his research. One of the books he recommends is Key to Yourself by Venice Bloodworth.

Once he realized he could make more money in one real estate deal than months of working at the group home, he know he found the right path for him. “Real Estate has allowed me to have the life I always dreamed of and has given me the means to not only provide for my family but to also educate and empower my community.”

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2. Always ask “How can I?”

In an interview with Black Enterprise, Mark said one of the best advices he can give people is to tell them to develop a mindset of, “How can I?”. “Never say you can’t because you’re training your subconscious mind to believe that you can’t do something and it closes off options.”

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3. Find an absentee owners AND an Investor

Mark Whitten says one of the best ways to initially get into the real estate game is to find an absentee owner that’s looking to get rid of a property for a lower amount than the market value. Absentee owners usually have a property they don’t live in and are often renting out. They might want to let go of the property due to illness or difficult tenants. But, you wouldn’t buy the house yourself.

After finding a great deal, Mark advises to get the deal under contract and find a real estate investor that’s willing to buy the property. Then, you would sell the contract for a higher amount than what you paid for. This way, you don’t have to spend your own money to make money. You just need to do the groundwork to find great deals. This is called whole selling.

4.  Don’t overlook Section 8 rental opportunities

Mark Whitten loves Section 8 rentals. Why? Because the money is steady and comes on time. Mark renovates a lot of rental properties for Section 8 housing. Some might overlook this area of real estate because it is considered low income. However, once the units are rented, most of the rent money comes from the government. That means, he has to do very little work chasing his rental money from residents. And the rental money comes on time, every month.

5. Build and maintain great relationships

In real estate, and any other field for that matter, relationships are essential. Whether it’s with an investor that can buy deals off of you or loan you money to fix up a place, or having a contractor that is reliable, it is essential to develop and maintain these relationships.

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6. Find low to medium income areas

You don’t have to live in an area to invest in it. So for a lot of people that might be living in expensive markets like New York or Los Angeles, Mark advises them to look outside of those areas. Find the closest area that’s either medium income or low income. These areas will most likely have the best chances to make money, especially when starting out.

Mark believes higher income areas might be more stable to find homes that the home owners would want to sell for less than market value.

7. No “Burning desire”, no money

Mark Whitten has been passionate about making money for a very long time. That’s why one of his money making advise to other is to have a burning desire to make money. If you don’t have that drive, the burning desire to make money, Mark says you’re just wasting your time by getting into real estate or any other field trying to make money.

8. When you see a boarded house, it’s an opportunity

In one of his training videos from years ago, Mark spots a boarded house in his neighborhood and predicts he will make money from it in the next month. How? By offering the home owner a deal and finding an investor to buy that deal from him. That’s why he advises you to stop and see the opportunity the next time you pass by a boarded/abandoned house in your neighborhood.  Watch the video below to get his full strategy.

9. Hustling is a lifestyle, not a one-off get rich scheme

In one of his coaching videos, Mark Whitten warns his students that if the desire to make quick or get rich fast is what brought them to his seminar, they are in the wrong place. He said making money is a long term commitment and not something to jump in and out of. Mark tells his students to accept hustling to make money through real estate or any other market as a lifestyle, something to do consistently. That’s because your first deal might come months into doing diligent and hard work. But in the end, he believes it pays off in a huge way.