After spending part of his childhood living in hotels and discovering at eighteen that he was an undocumented immigrant, James De Leon went on to build a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio before the age of thirty-two. Hosts Anna Mendoza and Ashley Cleary sit down with the Marine veteran and real estate investor to unpack how discovering the VA loan, house hacking, and the BRRRR strategy completely changed the trajectory of his life and helped him scale to more than 30 doors in San Diego.

James opens up about losing money on out-of-state investing, why he focuses only on San Diego real estate now, and how delayed gratification helped him grow multiple businesses without paying himself for years. From surviving financial hardship to building wealth through multifamily investing, this episode is packed with lessons on discipline, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and long-term financial freedom.

Timestamps

00:00 – Why Real Estate Deals Still Exist in Expensive Markets
00:26 – Welcome to the Millionaire Blueprint
01:13 – James De Leon’s Story: From Undocumented Immigrant to Marine Veteran
05:04 – How DACA Changed James’ Life and Opened New Opportunities
06:50 – Living in Hotels, Financial Struggles, & Growing Up Poor
09:43 – Fear of Losing Everything & Building Financial Discipline
12:58 – Building a Real Estate Ecosystem In-House
15:16 – Flipping Houses, BRRRR Investing & Delayed Gratification
18:46 – Culture Shock, Entrepreneurship & Constant Learning
20:23 – What the Marine Corps Taught James About Business
23:33 – Discovering BiggerPockets and Learning Real Estate Investing
26:26 – Buying a Fourplex in San Diego With a VA Loan
30:21 – Why James Bought Real Estate When Everyone Said Not To
36:09 – Losing $80K on an Out-of-State Real Estate Deal
39:41 – Why James Invests Only in San Diego Real Estate
41:06 – Using Partnerships and Leverage to Scale Real Estate Investing
43:18 – How the BRRRR Strategy Helped Scale Their Portfolio
46:07 – Building a $3 Million Net Worth Before Age 32
48:43 – Financial Freedom, Frugality & Buying Back Your Time
52:44 – What James DeLeon Would Do Differently Starting in Real Estate Today
54:09 – How Real Estate Private Money Investing and Partnerships Work
56:38 – How to Start Real Estate Investing With Only $10K
1:09:31 – Where to Follow James and Learn More About Real Estate Investing

Resources Mentioned

Bigger Pockets
James’ Instagram- @jamessdeleon