1326: How Mike Hills Survived 2008 Crisis... and Built a Real Estate Empire After

How does someone go from buying a rental property right after college to managing a brokerage across 14 states? In this episode, Mike Hills—ex-accidental investor turned managing broker at Atlas Real Estate—who shares exactly how he did it. From the power of relentless follow-up to the mindset shift that separates top producers, Mike breaks down what it really takes to build a thriving real estate business. Whether you’re just getting started or scaling up, this episode is full of real, tactical advice. Listen now to level up your game!

Listen to today’s show and learn:

Get ready to meet Mike Hill [00:00]
Learn about Mike’s Real Estate Journey [01:07]
House Hacking and Early Investments [01:45]
Surviving the 2008 Financial Crisis [02:54]
Transition to Real Estate Agent [05:09]
The Value of Knowledge in Real Estate [07:39]
Investor Clients and Repeat Business [13:17]
The Accidental Investor’s Journey [22:37]
Accountability and Effort in Real Estate [28:16]
Intentionality in Real Estate Transactions [32:34]
Real Estate Advice for New Agents [38:54]
How to connect with Mike [42:42]

Mike Hills

Mike Hills is Vice President of Brokerage at Atlas Real Estate. With two decades of real estate ownership experience and sole ownership of over 50 rental units, Mike uses his deep knowledge, personal experience and vision to lead Atlas’ Brokerage and Growth teams, which have placed over $1B in assets. Mike is a managing broker in 10 states and sits on Zillow’s National Advisory Board.

Mike joined the Atlas team in 2013, and today leads a rapidly growing team of employees. He is passionate about both disrupting the traditional brokerage model and leading by example. Mike personally owns more than 50 units including a condo, townhouse, single-family homes, duplexes, quad-plexes, an apartment and a trailer park.

The motto is simple: good for you, good for me, good for everything. In 2015, Mike started “Real Estate Investment Hour” which is a free weekly event series where he and his team teach aspiring investors how they can get started with a buy-and-hold strategy. The goal is simple: to help people identify and achieve their financial goals through real estate.

Mike is also a national speaker for Rachel’s Challenge, a non-profit whose goal is spreading kindness and compassion based on the life of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School shooting tragedy. Mike has spoken to more than 300,000 young people across the US and Canada in the last 10 years.

In 2019, he was named among the Top 100 Mile High Leaders and he is a frequent guest on local talk radio and often featured in national publications such as Business Insider. Mike’s passion in all this is to help others live their best lives by guiding them in the path towards financial freedom through real estate investing.

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Episode Transcript:

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-Aaron Amuchastegui