How a 10-Year Old Orphan Became a Successful Investor

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Imagine one day living in a luxurious, spacious house with everything you could possibly want in life. Now contrast that with red and blue lights filling your home, with officers yelling and sirens blaring. Then, envision a SWAT team ripping you away from your parents. 

Although it seems far-fetched, this actually happened. 

By all accounts, John was living a charmed “trust fund” life, but that was quickly all taken away from him. At age 10, that left John Mansor a ward of the state—orphaned and alone, with only his brother, David, alongside him. He’s spent the last 15-plus years climbing back to the top.

Challenges mold you, and John has risen above the challenge each time to oversee a $40 million real estate portfolio with over 600 units under management. Today, he leads a collaborative team dedicated to financial well-being and the liberating power of financial freedom through real estate, specifically focused on multifamily and RV park investments.

The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune

John was born into a loving family who valued success. His father was a successful entrepreneur in construction as well as interior design. His mother was on track to become a CPA. 

Everything changed in the early 2000s when an 18-wheeler T-boned his father’s car, resulting in severe back injuries. As a workaholic committed to maintaining his business and success, John’s father sought ways to get back to normal to override the pain.

He turned to painkillers, and his reliance on them led to a spiral of addictions. Unable to cope with the responsibilities of the business and parenthood, John’s father lost everything. 

Simultaneously, his mother struggled with a silent addiction to narcotics. In the aftermath, John was forced into Section 8 housing and government subsidies, and the family was thrown into challenges they’d never faced. John recounts:

“One night in the mid-2000s, all I heard was a loud bang and unknown voices saying, ‘freeze and get down on the ground.’ Next thing I knew, I had automatic rifles in my face. You see, my mom was involved with a drug dealer.” 

Subsequently, John became a ward of the state and soon found himself in foster care, experiencing the instability of bouncing between housing placements and eventually landing in a group home. 

John says: “At this point, I didn’t care about school. I didn’t feel like I fit in with anyone because I didn’t feel like anyone understood what I was going through.”

A Way Out: Focusing on What Can Be Controlled

Living as a ward of the state, life was a real battle of survival for John as a child. As he entered middle school, an opportunity for a change of scenery changed his perspective on life.

He was granted a scholarship to a sleepaway camp nestled in the Adirondack Mountains called the Raquette Lake Boys Camp. Soon after, John was taken in and adopted. These transformative experiences ignited a spark within him, propelling him to aspire for a better life. 

During this time, he learned many lessons. John says, “I didn’t have to stay at the same station in life that I was currently in.” He realized that there were certain things he could control. Namely, academics and getting into college. 

All of his weight shifted to ensure that he went from a mediocre student to an excellent one by putting in the hours needed to get results. His motivation was to become an investment banker after college. John remembered being fascinated with stock traders when living his early years in New York. 

Hard work paid off when he was accepted to Bentley University. There, he engaged in several stock exchange-related programs the school offered to get firsthand experience.

Preparation Meets Opportunity

Upon graduating, the harsh reality of the job market hit him when many potential employers believed he lacked relevant experience for an entry-level finance job. Undeterred, John entered tech sales.

After some success, John realized something was missing and couldn’t figure out how to get back to the life he used to have as a kid. A W2 job wasn’t going to get him back to the kind of life he knew was possible.

Luck or Fate? Becoming a Wholesaler

There’s a saying that “luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” This is the type of luck that those in search of financial freedom seek. They don’t wait for something good to happen—they find ways to stack the deck in their favor. That’s exactly what John did.

Once John set his sights on earning more, he began researching ways to create passive income, searching the internet for phrases like “how to build generational wealth.” He dug into a variety of topics but was most intrigued by stocks, real estate, and starting his own business.

During the pandemic, he reconnected with Ben Simon, a friend from college. John discovered that Ben, along with partners Carl Venezia and Alex Stanton, were growing a full-scale wholesaling operation in Massachusetts. With his sales skills and eye for value-add investing, John fit right in.

John didn’t just want a job; he wanted ownership. He decided to prove his worth by taking on more work and getting results. Some wholesalers go for volume with lots of deals, even if the fees aren’t as high. John decided to take an entirely different approach: Go after big deals.

Upon implementing this strategy, the average assignment fee grew to between $30,000 and $60,000. After landing a $105,000 fee on a 12-unit multifamily, John became a partner at Archer Acquisitions.

The Value of Active Listening

Early on, John realized that sales is fundamentally about active listening—a skill that involves understanding the other party’s needs, concerns, and motivations. With determination, grit, and an inherent knack for connecting with people on a genuine level, John recognized the power of emotional intelligence in real estate transactions. His ability to make others feel heard and seen emerged as a cornerstone of his success, setting him apart in a competitive landscape. 

Rather than solely promoting his agenda, John embraced a question-based selling approach to unearth the core issues that mattered most to sellers and investors. By genuinely understanding the intricacies of someone else’s situation, he positioned himself as a problem solver. 

This approach became a game changer, especially when dealing with distressed sellers who needed quick solutions. John’s ability to offer sellers a swift resolution—providing them with cash quickly and securing an assignment fee—exemplifies the power of active listening in creating mutually beneficial outcomes. 

By actively engaging with sellers, understanding their unique challenges, and crafting solutions tailored to their needs, John secured profitable deals and built lasting relationships based on trust and empathy.

The Discovery: Real Estate Syndication 

Fueled by a desire for longevity, wealth, and passive income, he knew that there were other opportunities in real estate beyond wholesaling. 

For John and his partners, syndications offered a chance to build equity, the key to generational wealth. So, they identified a property in their pipeline and decided to give it a shot.

From $0 to $40 Million in Assets 

Taking down this eight-unit property marked a shift from quick, active income to a more strategic approach focused on creating sustainable wealth. With a keen eye for acquisitions and a knack for sourcing opportunities, John entered real estate with a commitment to invest back into the business. 

The journey was one of bootstrapping, where each step forward was a lesson in sourcing, acquiring, and operating the acquired assets. This quickly led to rapid growth over a two-year period, where they would purchase RV parks and more multifamily properties, such as a 40-unit townhouse community on Cape Cod.

A pivotal moment came when John and his partners’ investors took what turned out to be a fruitful risk when they purchased their first RV park. John and one of his partners decided to take it upon themselves and moved into their first RV park, gaining firsthand experience that transcended their level of asset expertise.

Although John and his partners were syndicating prior to the RV park, they began scaling their efforts upon seeing the results and returns they were getting. The syndication efforts started out as investments from friends and family but have grown to a new level. John and his partners cater to busy professionals who seek to benefit from real estate without the demands of full-time investment. 

At the heart of John’s real estate philosophy lies a commitment to creating passive, generational wealth that can’t easily be taken away from you.

After a little more than two years, the company has successfully purchased approximately $40 million worth of real estate, with a pipeline closing in on an additional $20 million in acquisitions in 2024. John operates on a low-fee model, where the upside is largely granted to the investors primarily and then to his company. This helps to offer outsized returns to investors, initially friends and family, and now expanding to others.

Informing a Meaningful Mission

In the dynamic landscape of real estate, John’s investment philosophy transcends mere financial gains; it’s rooted in a profound commitment to creating value, providing affordable housing, and fostering enjoyable living and camping experiences for investors and tenants. His specialization in RV parks and multifamily assets is a purpose-driven approach that stems from personal experiences and a desire to give back. 

This firsthand experience of living on government assistance became the impetus for his focus on multifamily assets. By investing in properties that cater to workforce housing and Section 8 multifamily properties, John aims to bridge the gap for those who depend on affordable housing solutions. 

Final Thoughts

In the dynamic landscape of real estate, John’s success and philosophy transcends mere financial gains and is rooted in a profound commitment to creating value, providing affordable housing, and fostering enjoyable experiences. John says: “I am in the position to create a better environment for people like me. Our company wants to work with like-minded individuals who see value in investing in real estate for its long-term benefits and not short-term gains.”

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.