Cashflow Diary™

Tom Nardone proves the American Dream of financial freedom is entirely possible once we open our eyes and recognize opportunities are literally everywhere. That’s how he became known as the Millionaire Mailman by getting involved in real estate investing. 

Tom wasn’t always the investor and author he is today who has been seen on TV talking about his life. He started simply as a “postal person” working a government job. At age 19, he started working for the Post Office as a mailman. It didn’t take him long to realize that the security entrapment of “good job” is not a lot different from a 30-year jail sentence. Tom explains it simply and truthfully. He says, “You feel trapped, and your income is limited.” 

Realizing his “good government job” was not going to make his dreams of being financially free come true, Tom took some real estate investing courses. He bought his first house in 1983… at the age of 23. (So when you say you’re too young to be an investor, you’re wrong.)

Tom soon realized he had a major unfair advantage over other investors. That’s because he was delivering the mailed default notices and related mail that every homeowner who falls behind in payments always receives. 

That means Tom could knock on the doors of these individuals and chat with them. He would quite literally get there first and before other real estate investors. He’d have to jump into his civilian clothes to go back and have a deeper conversation with the homeowners, but he got really, really good at it. 

Every day Tom (like all other mailpersons do) drove and walked neighborhoods to deliver mail. Tom started buying houses on his mail routes and networking with other letter carriers to refer to him vacant houses that provide an excellent source of leads that no one else knows about. Smart move! This went on till Tom was 35, at which point he decided he didn’t need to be a mailman any longer because he had at least 35 rental properties. 

Tom explains the foreclosure process from the viewpoint of a mailman. He says that before the Lis Pendens and the Complaint are filed, the only people who know that the house is headed for foreclosure are: 

#1) The borrower who can’t make the payment, 

#2) The lender who didn’t get the payment, and 

#3) The mailman who has to deliver the certified letter sent from the mortgage company to the borrower, and gets to walk up to the front door and stare the person on title right in the face.

Tom said, “When I bought my first few houses, my fellow workers started calling me “Millionaire Mailman”! The name stuck. 

Listen as Tom shares his story of how he built a portfolio of 25 “keeper” rental houses with positive cashflow and retired from his job. Tom says, “When I finally quit my job, my fellow workers were coming back to me begging me to teach them how I did it.”

After Tom quit his J-O-B, he realized he no longer had the “inside scoop” on finding house deals from his old mailman job. So, he started an approach of building a mailman bird dog network. Another smart move!

Tom now has more than 250 properties and truly lives the American dream in Florida. (But that doesn’t mean he only invests in Florida. Not by a long shot!) 

Want to know how he did it? Want to become a real estate investor? Tom lays it out step by step in this episode of my Cash Flow Diary podcast. Learn more. LISTEN NOW.