SREI 0044 Paul Moore-From $1.5M in the bank to $2.5M in debt and back to debt-free 13 months later

On this episode of House Flip Masters Holly is joined by guest Paul Moore. Holly was intrigues by Paul’s story of having $1.5 million dollars in the bank to $2.5 million dollars in debt and 13 months from that moment he freed himself of all his debt. 

Paul has an MBA and an engineering degree. He worked at Ford Motor Company for 5 years before he realized he was dying there and wanted to become an entrepreneur. At the age of 35 Paul had become semi-retired but decided that he needed to keep busy and he decided to start flipping homes with his friends. Not heeding the warning signs of the real estate market prior to the crash Paul found himself $2.5M in debt in late 2007. 

In January of 2008 Paul asked himself what would George Mueller do? George Mueller lived in the 1800’s and he was a man who cared for over 10,000 orphans. George also kept track of every penny spent and every penny that was earned. It is estimated that Mueller raised about $180M at that time just with his faith, Mueller never asked for money but had faith that his needs would be taken care of. Paul decided to try Mueller’s philosophy of giving and having faith that everything would work out as it was intended to. 

Four weeks into his giving, Paul met a man in a restaurant who suggested that Paul use a certain law against itself to subdivide the land that he owned. When he took his plan to the planning and zoning commission it was approved even though Paul had found a loophole in the law. 13 months after he presented his plan he found himself debt free - Paul is convinced that had he not started this plan with faith and giving the path that he found himself on would have not presented itself. Holly reminds us that we need to ask the right questions to get the right answers. 

Next on his path Paul and his partner would often travel to North Dakota and found that there was no places for the oil workers to stay - oil workers were sleeping in their pick-up trucks. Paul and his partner decided to build a facility where these workers could stay for a reasonable amount all while Paul could still turn profit from it. Paul mentions that later the facility was sold at the top price for the market. 

While Paul has had great success, he also shares some of his less successful business ventures which have led him to creating his podcast called ‘How to Lose Money.’ On this podcast other entrepreneurs share their stories of money loss in the hopes that newer entrepreneurs and investors can learn from the mistakes that have been made. 

One thing that Paul talks about learning from his personal story of loss is market selection. Market selection is half of the success of any type of commercial real estate venture. Holly agrees that market selection is a huge and very important factor. 

Holly asks Paul to share his story about funding for human trafficking. When Paul saw what Tom’s Shoes was doing for children in third world countries he wanted to figure out a way that he could also make a difference in the world and in the lives of those less fortunate. Paul came up with the idea that when an investor invests with him part of the profits made off the investor will go to a foundation that the investor is passionate about. The investor gets to keep their entire return on their investment; it is a portion of the funds that Paul keeps that are donated accordingly. 

Holly asks Paul to explain to listeners his involvement with human trafficking and what he is doing with his real estate investments to combat it. Paul explains that human trafficking generates over $150 billion dollars in revenue. Human trafficking prays on women and young girls and it is happening right here in the United States. Paul wants to help the victims of this modern-day slavery. Paul uses his profits from his real estate investments to give to foundations that help women and girls who have been victimized by human trafficking; foundations that give vi