about
I'm J Thomas Martin. After I got out of jail for selling cocaine at 19, I made the decision that I would find a legal way to make good money, and live the life I always dreamed. After going back to college and eventually graduating with a degree in economics & minor in finance, I ended up working in bank regulation during the financial crisis. Wow, was that interesting.. And I learned two important lessons along the way..
1) I loved traveling on my limited vacation time.
2) Real Estate could be a lucrative field
I also made 2 decisions:
1) I would quit my job to travel the world full-time
2) I would use Real Estate to help me do that.
contact
me
For speaking inquiries:
organizer@sfbaysummit2019.com
I bought my first 4-apartment investment property in the San Francisco Bay Area on New Year's Eve 2012 with 100% borrowed money (which I don't recommend to everyone!) Then fixed it up, partnered up, and bought more. I started a meetup. Then started the SF Bay Real Estate Summit. Another real estate entrepreneur introduced me to hosting on Airbnb, but I thought it would be too much work.. I eventually hosted guests in my extra studio/room, and things started looking a little rosier..
I wanted to expand my Airbnb rentals but didn't have enough to buy every property, so I started renting apartments from other investors, putting furniture inside, and re-renting on Airbnb. I was doing everything myself as I grew to 2, 5, 10+ apartments, but I needed some help! Working full-time while managing my properties, running a real estate conference, and managing the growth of this Airbnb business was a lot to do! Let alone leaving time for traveling the world..