Mary Katherine Johnson sits down with Kathy Fettke, Co-Founder of Real Wealth, to unpack a practical roadmap to real estate investing that ordinary professionals can use to build durable wealth. After a family health scare wiped out her savings, Kathy discovered the power of rental income and house hacking, then turned a weekend radio show into a learning engine interviewing experts (including Robert Kiyosaki) and stress-testing everything with commonsense cash flow. In this episode, she explains how to leave bubble markets for fundamentals, why average-priced homes near jobs and infrastructure win, and how disciplined vetting of property managers protects returns.

Kathy traces the origins of Real Wealth, now an 88,000-member community helping busy professionals buy sensible rentals and participate in passive syndications. You'll hear how she helped clients exit overheated markets, redeploy into metros like Dallas at the start of massive growth cycles, and avoid the 2009 wipeout—while emphasizing education over hype. We cover criteria for market selection (jobs, population, schools, infrastructure), avoiding analysis paralysis, and building a retirement portfolio of cash-flowing assets you'd be proud to offer tenants.

She also shares the mindset reset that unlocked her progress—challenging limiting beliefs about money, trusting data plus intuition, and taking action after a focused year of study. Whether you're early in your journey or ready to scale, you'll walk away with a playbook for resilient passive income that aligns purpose, planet, and profit. Subscribe to Fortunes of the Brave for bold, credible, visionary conversations that help you take the next right step.

Key Takeaways: • Define buy-box fundamentals and stick to cash flow over speculation. • Follow jobs, population growth, schools, and new infrastructure when choosing markets. • Vet property managers rigorously; your team is the moat around your returns. • Start where the numbers work (average-priced homes); avoid negative cash flow "status" assets. • Educate deeply, then act—progress beats perfection and paralysis.

Chapters:• 00:00 – Welcome + who is Kathy Fettke • 01:04 – Real Wealth's mission: build long-term rental portfolios • 02:10 – Health scare, house hacking, and discovering rental income • 05:13 – Pivot to broadcasting about wealth and learning from experts • 07:07 – Mortgage clients' strategies and the power of leverage (then) • 09:50 – First high-net-worth client: seeing the planning gap • 11:44 – Bubble markets vs. fundamentals; enter Dallas playbook • 12:50 – Buying five Texas rentals that actually pencil • 16:30 – How to vet property managers and read local demand • 19:52 – Tenant-first mindset and providing a needed service • 28:46 – Real Wealth today: 88K members, free education, vetted teams • 31:07 – Early syndications and the path to passive investing • 33:37 – Client outcomes and why common sense wins • 35:11 – Debating "it's dangerous to buy" and winning on cash flow • 37:29 – Close + how to connect with Kathy

Resources Mentioned: • Real Wealth — free education, vetted teams • Rich Dad Poor Dad — Robert Kiyosaki • Extreme Success — Rich Fettke • Case-Shiller Index (context from Kathy's media appearances) • Rockwall, TX example (schools, commute, infrastructure) • JOBS Act and passive real estate syndications (context)

Connect with Kathy: • Website: realwealth.com • LinkedIn • Other: Free weekly investor webinars at Real Wealth

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