From Grease to Granite: A Mechanic’s Road to Wealth with Clancy Mummert!

In our first remote episode, we welcome Clancy Mummert, a real estate investor who transitioned from the automotive and fiber optics industries into full-time house flipping. Clancy shares his journey of quitting his W-2 job, navigating real estate investing, homeschooling his daughter, and finding a balance between business and family life. We dive deep into real estate strategies, personal growth, faith-based financial decisions, and Clancy's goals for 2025. 

Clancy opens up about the challenges of flipping houses, structuring deals, the importance of networking, and how faith plays a role in his financial and business decisions. We also discuss the impact of coaching programs, the power of community, and how personal convictions influence investment strategies. 

Tune in to hear how he navigates real estate, family, faith, and business—all while keeping an adventurous spirit and a strong foundation in God.

📌 Key Topics:
✅ Clancy's transition from corporate life to full-time real estate investing
✅ Lessons learned from flipping houses and finding private money
✅ The impact of supportive relationships in real estate and marriage
✅ Homeschooling, family dynamics, and extracurricular activities
✅ His son's journey into the Navy and preparing for military life
✅ Real estate investment strategies, including deal sourcing and financing
✅ Structuring partnerships, returns, and the importance of risk management 
✅ Financial freedom, travel benefits, and building a business to sustain lifestyle goals
✅ Tax strategies, business structures, and the importance of long-term planning
✅ The ROI of investing in coaching and mentorship
✅ The role of faith in financial decisions, tithing, and trusting God's guidance
✅ Work-life balance and defining success beyond business

Transcript

We take the payout from the private money, and I don't pay myself during the process. However, I keep some back after the process and then dump everything else into the next flip.

Freedom Fighter:
Well, Clancy, welcome. I appreciate you jumping on and being our first remote guest and helping us out. Hopefully, we don't have too many bugs and can work them all out so we can start having more remote guests and learning from people worldwide. So welcome! Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself—tell us about your mustache and how you got it so perfect?

Clancy Mummert:
Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me on. It's a pleasure to try to do this remotely and see how it all goes. About myself—I'm just an average, hardworking guy. I grew up in Idaho, went to college, got a degree in automotive technology, and did that for 16 years. I didn’t enjoy it much and wanted to do something different, so I got into fiber optics.

I liked doing that, but I wasn’t too fond of corporate America. So I tried starting other businesses on the side, like my own shop. Then in 2021, I decided to quit my job and go into real estate full-time to see what would happen. I figured if I lost it all, I could always go get another job. I quit my job in January 2022, started full-time in real estate, and haven’t looked back. I’d say I’ve been doing pretty darn good so far.

Freedom Fighter:
When you started in real estate, you said, "Hey, I don’t know anything," and you went out pretty early on and got coaching, correct?

Clancy Mummert:
Yeah, pretty close. When I quit my job, I thought I’d flip cars. Then I kept seeing stuff about real estate and thought, "Well, I’d rather do real estate." I like it more. So I got coaching from Ryan Panetta. I joined his Future Flipper rookie program for a year, took about four months off, and later joined the all-star program, which was much more in-depth.

The rookie program taught how to find deals, structure deals, do flips, raise money, and the basics. The all-star program focused more on running a business the right way. I knew if I wanted to keep doing this, I needed to make it a business. So I jumped in, and I’ve been a member for almost two years now.

Freedom Fighter:
During the rookie program, how many flips did you do? Was it mostly learning or hands-on?

Clancy Mummert:
No, I did all flips. I didn’t have another W-2, so I jumped straight in and started learning as much as possible. They said it could take six to nine months to get your first house, but I didn’t have that much time. I went for it and ended up getting my first house in three months. I flipped it in one month and sold it before it was even finished.

I learned how to find private money quickly. I tried using hard money but was in too rural of an area. So now, all I use is private money. My second deal took a bit longer—I finished and sold my first house in June, but I didn’t take ownership of the next one until August. That one was creative financing, seller-financed by the private money lender. It was a major rehab. We started in September and didn’t put it on the market until the following March.

The downside was that I did all the work myself instead of hiring it out. I only hired out the windows because I didn’t want to deal with them, but everything else was on me. That’s why it took so long.

From there, I started picking up more houses. Right now, I’ve got three going—number six, seven, and eight. One is closing next week, so that’ll drop me back to seven and eight. Number seven should be on the market by February. For number nine, we’re working on turning the lower level into living space and renting out the upper level as a midterm rental for traveling nurses or professionals. That one’s actually our primary residence, so we’ll move downstairs and rent out the top.

Freedom Fighter:
Thanks.

Clancy Mummert:
We’ll have some cash flow going, won’t have to worry about the mortgage as much, and it’ll help us out.

Freedom Fighter:
And as you kick some of the kids out of the house, you get a little more room and move down to the basement.

Clancy Mummert:
Exactly! Our house is four bedrooms, three baths. There were five of us here, but now it’s down to three. We don’t even use half the house. Downstairs, we can add a bedroom, making it a three-bedroom, one-bath unit. Upstairs would be two bedrooms and two baths. It’s a good way to utilize what we have and help someone else.

Freedom Fighter:
Are you converting it into a legal duplex, or is it more of a co-living situation because of the short-term rental strategy?

Clancy Mummert:
We’re not turning it into a technical duplex because city codes won’t allow it here. But we have an outside entry to the basement, so we’re just closing off the upstairs stairway. That way, we can rent it out.

Freedom Fighter:
That’s a great workaround. Turning it into a legal duplex can get expensive, and dealing with local governments can be a hassle. Renting out rooms in your house gives you the income stream without taking on that huge financial burden.