Why Getting Rich Slow Is the Smartest Strategy in Real Estate Investing
Show summary
In this conversation, Michael Iuculano shares insights from his extensive experience in alternative lending and the mortgage industry. He discusses the importance of speed in transactions, the impact of market cycles on business strategies, and the value of building strong relationships and a supportive team culture. Michael emphasizes the need for calculated risks and the role of obsession in achieving success.
Key takeaways
- Michael Iuculano has worked in alternative lending since 2002 and says this is roughly his fourth market cycle, which taught him that markets don't move in a straight line and discipline matters more than chasing quick wins.
- His company does non-QM and alternative lending, including hard money, fix and flip lending, ground-up construction lending, bridge loans, and cash-out loans for borrowers who don't qualify for a bank or can't wait for bank speed, often closing in about a week.
- He describes his main brokerage as the largest privately held (non-publicly traded) mortgage brokerage in the country in terms of production as of 2025.
- He estimates networking is about 20% of success and relationship building is about 30%, combining to roughly 35% of his business; most of his deals now come from past clients, referrals, and industry contacts rather than inbound calls.
- His guiding philosophy, tattooed on his arm, is 'To every person there is an equal or greater benefit,' which he uses to reframe business setbacks and challenges as opportunities.
- His closing advice: stop overthinking and take calculated risks, but don't force a deal; get networked with people, and become obsessed with constantly improving and doing more deals.
- He's currently focused on building his team, getting them to higher levels of success and sustainability, and maintaining a drama-free, supportive company culture.
About the guest
Michael Iuculano runs an alternative lending and mortgage brokerage business based in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he has lived since 1995. He has worked in the lending industry since 2002, doing non-QM and alternative lending including hard money, fix and flip, ground-up construction, and bridge loans, and says his brokerage is the largest privately held mortgage brokerage in the country by production as of 2025. He also partners with students and does his own deals rather than only lending in theory.
Listen to the audio
“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and they underestimate what they can do in five.”
Michael Iuculano
“I love getting rich slow. It's actually kind of cool.”
Michael Iuculano
“To every person there is an equal or greater benefit. It is tattooed on my arm. So it is literally my life quote.”
Michael Iuculano
“Stop thinking, just do. The longer you wait, the more you'll analysis by paralysis. You have to take a risk. Make it calculated. But don't force a deal.”
Michael Iuculano
Questions answered in this episode
What kind of lending does Michael Iuculano's company do?
Primarily non-QM and alternative lending, including hard money loans, fix and flip financing, ground-up construction lending, bridge loans, and cash-out loans for borrowers who don't qualify for a traditional bank or can't wait for bank-speed underwriting. Many of these deals close in about a week.
How does Michael Iuculano get most of his deals?
He says he's pretty much referral-only at this point and doesn't take many inbound calls. His business comes from past clients, referrals, and other people in the industry who know his track record and credibility.
What has going through multiple market cycles taught him?
He says this is roughly his fourth cycle since starting in 2002, and it taught him that markets don't move in a straight line. Putting all your eggs in one basket repeatedly, like betting it all on roulette, will eventually wipe you out, so discipline and long-term thinking matter more than trying to get rich fast.
What's his advice for investors who are stuck overanalyzing deals?
Stop overthinking and take action, because waiting too long leads to analysis paralysis. He says to take a calculated risk, get networked with the right people, but also don't force a deal that doesn't make sense.
How does he weigh networking versus relationship building in growing a lending business?
He estimates networking accounts for about 20% of success and relationship building independently for about 30%, combining to roughly 35% of his business overall, which is why most of his deals now come through referrals rather than cold inbound leads.
Resources and links
Full transcript
Michael Iuculano (00:00)
Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and they underestimate what they can do in five. Because a lot of people are just, trying to get it all now, they’re trying to like, we all wanna get rich. And you know what I learned? I learned.
love getting rich slow. It’s actually kind of cool.
Quentin Edmonds (01:53)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds. Happy to be here today with you. I have another fantastic guest and listen, this gentleman, his company comes with a ton of experience. mean, I can’t even pinpoint down just the one thing that they do. And when I say that it’s because they do a lot of things at a very, very high level.
That’s why I say that. And so I’m going to let him break down all the things that he, you know, that him and his company does. But I’m so excited for us to peek through the lens of Mr. Michael Iuculano. Mr. Michael, how you doing today,
Michael Iuculano (02:37)
very good, I’m very good. Thanks for having me on. How are you? ⁓
Quentin Edmonds (02:40)
man doing great. I’m happy to have you here and sir I want to dive right into it man. I want you to tell people what your main focus is these days. If you want to give us a little bit of an origin story how you got into it we love the hero’s journey so it’s an origin story and then also man tell us what part of the world you’re in the markets you’re operating in. So Michael sir you have the floor man.
Michael Iuculano (03:02)
Yeah. So, um, I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. I’ve been here, uh, since June of 1995. So I guess, uh, we’re about, what is that 30 and a half years, right? Um, we are primarily doing, uh, non QM and alternative lending. a lot of hard money stuff, lot of crazy stuff, uh, deals that are really needing speed. like,
fix and flip lending, a lot of ground up construction lending, bridge loans, cash outs where somebody either doesn’t qualify for a bank or can’t wait for the bank in terms of speed. We’ve been doing this in roughly a week. I think we might be at 24 years in February of 2022. Today is just short of February 26.
Main brokerage is actually the largest privately held mortgage brokerage in the country in terms of production non publicly traded as of 2025 ⁓ So one of the biggest things we bring is that you know, I’ve already made all the mistakes in lending I’ve already gone through that ⁓ I’m in the trenches with a lot of these people. I partner with students sometimes I do my own deals
So I don’t just lend from the standpoint of maybe what if in theory, I’ve done deals, I continue to do deals. ⁓ It’s not really a guess for me. It’s what I do. It’s who I am really.
Quentin Edmonds (04:41)
Yeah, yeah, mr. Michael, I I love it man. Thank you I wanna I want to pick at your origin story just a little bit right because I always have a saying where destiny has no wasted moments, right? There are things that we go through in life that kind of make us kind of who we are now So I would love to know your journey in real estate What has it taught you about you as if it bill anything to you that you kind of? Like for a moment’s been on like it did it teach you about?
know, discipline, resilience. Like I’m just throwing some stuff out, right? Like we’re headed to the journey towards you,
Michael Iuculano (06:03)
Well, I’ll tell you what, you know, when I got in the industry, was young, again, 2002, was early 20s. And at that time, the market was on fire, right? And so of course, when you’re young, you don’t realize that it doesn’t go in an up line, it doesn’t go in a straight line, right? There are generally…
Quentin Edmonds (06:25)
everything flows right?
Michael Iuculano (06:26)
Yeah. So that was a lesson I had to learn. You know, so I think right now, I mean, I guess this would be my fourth cycle right now in 2026. So I would say, you know, it teaches you discipline, right? Because you can put all your eggs in one basket and maybe you’re a hero, but maybe you’re zero. The challenge is you do that too many times. It’d be like being in roulette and winning.
And then you’re like, wow, I’m going to put it all in again, all in again. If you keep doing that, eventually you’ll get wiped out. Pretty highly probable outcome. So being disciplined, seeing long term. What it really made me do, and luckily at a young age, was to think very long term. If it doesn’t matter in five years, your move, your thought.
whatever you’re gonna do, if it’s not gonna matter in five years, it doesn’t matter now. Another thing too, and somebody said this, I can’t remember who said this, but this is so real, this is so true.
Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and they underestimate what they can do in five. Because a lot of people are just, trying to get it all now, they’re trying to like, we all wanna get rich. And you know what I learned? I learned.
love getting rich slow. It’s actually kind of cool.
Quentin Edmonds (07:55)
Man, I love that you actually said a saying that my wife says all the time if it ain’t gonna matter in five years, don’t give it five minutes, right? you ⁓ got this. I’ll let my wife know that she’s telling me all the time, right? You know, because I get stuck sometimes I get stuck in my head. Listen, if it ain’t gonna matter five minutes, five years, don’t give it five minutes. But I love how you said, you know, you’re on your fourth cycle.
And I’m glad, I’m glad you said that because there’s this thing called an Exodus and that’s when a snake sheds its skin, right? In order for the shake, the snake shed his skin. has to rub up against something hard. It has to like rub up. So the skin kind of sheds off. And so when you talked about being your fourth cycle, sometimes we have to rub up against adversity in order for us to grow to the next step that was supposed to be. And so if you don’t mind, Mr. Michael, have you rubbed up against adversity as you was building and as you belong to life?
Michael Iuculano (08:49)
You want to see something cool? I’m not even going to answer. I’m just going to show you something. So this is tattoo. You probably can’t read it, To every person there is an equal or greater benefit. It is tattooed on my arm. So it is literally my life quote. It is so embedded in me that in some crazy way, I’ve actually learned to almost
Quentin Edmonds (08:57)
I can’t write.
Michael Iuculano (09:18)
enjoy challenges because I’m not kidding it’s never as bad as it seems and I remember when I was younger I would freak out at things I would you know be like very volatile or whatever but funny every time there’s a challenge or problem like something awesome comes from it like I had an event I won’t say what last year in I guess what is it 25 in about July of 25
And it was really all a sudden, it was, you know, no warning, nothing. And I was like, wow, this is going to disrupt a lot. And all you do is you just adjust and just get better. And if you want it, right, like you can choose to fold, can choose to lay your sword down
you can just be resilient and almost like a nutcase, which is what I choose to be. I’m not going to let this get me down. And then it’s like a battle, a battle of myself about
much more can I take how much more it’s like it’s like the workout you ever see people and they’re like you know you did a lift and you’re like complaining you don’t realize how much more your body can take push it push it right and when you do that’s when the that’s when the outcome happens right barrier to entry is the greatest thing in the world because that’s where the successful people separate that’s where the men become the bolt or the boys become the men barrier to entry.
Quentin Edmonds (11:21)
Yeah. Yeah. Not me. You are talking. ⁓ there’s a saying, there’s an old kind of ancient proverb. says no discipline feels good at the time, but once the discipline is finished, produces a lifetime of. So like when you, when you push in, may not feel good. Like you said, you, you at the gym, you push in, you may feel like you want to give up, but if you push through that discipline later, later on, when you look back at it, you’ll realize.
Michael Iuculano (11:22)
Differentiating factor,
Quentin Edmonds (11:50)
how much you can actually endure and you’ll have a piece about whatever the next thing comes up. Whenever the next thing you gotta push fast, you like it. I push fast that I can push past it. Exactly, man. Exactly. So I love it, man. I love it. Let me ask you, what is the next real goal for you? What are you looking to solve a scale next, sir?
Michael Iuculano (12:13)
You know, my real focus now is building my team up and out, right? Like focusing on them, getting them to the next level, the next level, building that, getting them to more and more ⁓ success, more and more sustainability. And I believe that, you know, as a team, as a business, what’s here is what supports up. So if we can get that.
more and more and more. We’re just more and more stable, more and more solid and you know, changing lives, right? Like it’s cool. It’s cool to see people be successful and that you were able to have an impact and you know, it’s cool. It’s very cool. We have a great culture. You know, we get along, we tell jokes, like it’s, there’s no drama. Everybody helps everyone. It’s quite peaceful.
Quentin Edmonds (13:05)
Yeah,
man. So glad you mentioned team. So glad you mentioned how you want others to succeed because this is that portion when I always talk about relationships, right? And so I would love to know how important relationships are to you. Do you put a premium on it? How do you build relationships? Mr. Michael, if you don’t mind talking to about relationship building,
Michael Iuculano (13:27)
Well, you remember that first thing you asked me and I told you it was 20 % of the networking is 20 %? Well, is relationship building. So if I were to say, you know, I also believe it’s who you know, not what you know. And so if we sort of overlay the first question of networking being 20 % and relationships are independent of networking are about 30%. So somehow if you combine that, it’s probably a total of 35%. So
lot of my business, I’m at a point now where I don’t even really take inbound calls. Most of the deals that I do are past clients, ⁓ referrals, other people in the industry that know that I do what I do and I’m very good at it. So I’m pretty much referral for the most part only. And I think that speaks a lot to the relationships I’ve built, the credibility, what I’ve done.
do what I say, you know what I mean? ⁓ It’s everything. It’s very, very valuable to me.
Quentin Edmonds (14:32)
Yeah, Mr. Michael, listen, is there any topic that I did not touch on that you want to touch on? Or in is there any other word of inspiration, education, motivation that you want to give to the people listening?
Michael Iuculano (14:47)
Stop thinking, just do. ⁓ Obviously, that’s a weird statement because people don’t want to get, you know, at a loss. But I think you have to move and you have to make a decision.
The longer you wait, the more you’ll analysis by paralysis. You have to take a risk. ⁓ Make it calculated. But and don’t force a deal. It’s obviously somewhat of a contradicting statement because you’re like, it, you know, pull the trigger. But then, you know,
Don’t force a deal. You have to find ⁓ a spot in between. Link up with someone, get networked with someone. More than anything. I remember for many, many years people gave me shit about this. Become obsessed. I don’t care. I don’t know anybody who’s ultra successful that along the way wasn’t obsessed. Maybe they got to where they wanted and they chilled out a little bit, but I don’t know anyone that really became.
ultra successful unless they did it over an 80 year period of time or like just a little. You be obsessed. I’m obsessed. I constantly want to be better and do more deals and meet people. You know, I’m at it’s funny. It seems like every dinner I’m at is with a client where it becomes social and we’re talking about business. We’re talking about deals, but we’re still connecting on a interpersonal level as well. Like my goal is very clear.
Quentin Edmonds (16:53)
Yeah, I love it. I love it, Mr. Michael. I appreciate you, sir. Appreciate your message. If anyone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,
Michael Iuculano (17:07)
go to MJICapital.com, fill out the form or you know call the phone number online and that’s the easiest way. You can also find me on social at Hard Money Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L. So that’s my Instagram.
Quentin Edmonds (17:25)
Got you. Well, listen, man, first, I want to say four things to you, right? First, thank you for your time because you know time is valuable, right? We can put a premium on our time. So thank you for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story. I put a high value on people’s story. People have the right to share their narrative. So thank you for telling your story, for the gift of your vulnerability, for really planting seeds to people that they can build on and actually get freedom from. And then thank you, not in. Thank you for your mindset.
Thank you for your perspective and bringing that mindset to this platform. The last thing is a little personal. I was already going to the gym after I, after I got off. I’m definitely going to the gym now and after looking at you, man. thanks for the encouragement. So thanks for the encouragement, man. But no, I really appreciate you being here today,
Michael Iuculano (18:14)
Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
Quentin Edmonds (18:17)
Yeah, absolutely. So listen, y’all heard Mr. Michael check the show notes. Definitely check him out, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here. I keep telling you, we’re going to bring up amazing people and Mr. Michael is no different. And we’re going to continue just to bring up these amazing people with, with this amazing just mindsets. And so again, thank you, Mr. Michael and to everyone else. You have a fantastic day.
