If you are a real estate entrepreneur who has closed a few deals but still feels the pressure of doing everything yourself, this conversation will resonate. I sat down with Cameron Philgreen to talk about what it actually looks like to grow from one house to a 25 property portfolio without burning out. We discuss contractors, capital, delegation, guardrails, leadership, and what it means to build a business around your investing instead of just chasing the next deal. Cameron shares practical systems, honest lessons, and a bigger mission that drives his decisions. If you want your portfolio to grow without your life feeling heavier, this is one to watch.
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Hello everyone. I’m Adrienne Green and today we’re here with Cameron Philgreen. Here we focus on how real estate entrepreneurs break free of the grind using leverage, support and smarter strategies. So let’s jump in. Cameron, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you for having me, super stoked to chat.
Well, to set the stage for our listeners, can you give us a quick snapshot of your real estate portfolio today?
Yeah, I’m about 25 properties, something like 35 units. 80% is residential, about 20 to 25% commercial, depending on how you calculate, whether it’s square footage or units. I have about 60,000 square feet of commercial space, less square footage of residential, and I’ve been on the real estate investing journey for about six years. From one owner-occupied house to about 25 to 30 properties in six years. It’s been a great and super fun journey.
Love it. I can tell that there’s going to be a lot for us to talk through here with the growth you had over that time and the fact that you’re in a couple different areas of investing. Many investors and listeners are a few deals in. They’ve got their first few deals done. What helped you shift from that stage of doing a few deals to intentionally building this scalable business around your real estate investing?
I think the bottleneck for most investors, and for sure for me, was capital and labor. Really good contractors are hard to find. Everyone has their own contractor story. Everyone has had to fire a person or two if you’ve been investing long enough and if you do value add real estate investing, which usually involves aesthetically improving property or improving utilities or something similar.
You’ve dealt with your fair share of contractors, whether you wanted to or not. I made a few mistakes hiring the cheapest guy. That was a huge learning point and a huge hurdle that I had to get over. It took me a long time, but now I’ve got this great crew of guys. They’re not the cheapest, but they get it done fast. They do good work. They know how to finish.
I’m super happy. I give them a ton of credit for the success I’ve had flipping and doing BRRRRs. I can count on them. I trust them and we know how to work together. I know what they’re good at and what they’re not good at, what they’re comfortable doing and what they’re not comfortable doing. That’s a huge one.
Capital is a big one too. That’s why I spend a lot of time on social media and at meetups building trust with people, showing them I know what I’m doing, and working with individuals, a married couple or someone who just has money sitting in the bank and wants to make 10 to 12% on their money secured against real estate. Having connections with just a few people, honestly just three people who trust me to get their money back to them within a few months while earning a good return, has made a big difference.
If you can get capital and contractors that you can trust and you don’t have to babysit, those are the two things that helped me get to more scalability.
Love that. It definitely resonates, especially when you speak about contractors and the headaches with them. When people think of value add, they think this is easy. It lets me recycle my capital. I can BRRRR. I can have a property with no money in it. The truth is there is no free lunch. If it’s light on capital, it’s often heavy on the work.
You mentioned you don’t need a ton of contractors, just a few reliable ones. Does that mean you’ve gone deep in one market where you’ve got that team of boots on the ground?
Yeah. All my stuff is in Waco, Texas. I haven’t scaled out of state yet. I’m looking to do that in the near future. Everything I do is here in Waco and I’m visiting projects every week or two and making sure things are going smoothly. In terms of scale, I’m doing about 12 flips a year.
Awesome. When you visit the properties every week, are you general contracting yourself or do you have a GC overseeing that team?
I have a guy who is kind of the boss of these guys. He’s the GC, but I’m the GC and I manage him, if that makes sense. He’s not super professional. I also work with other contractors. Most of the guys I work with aren’t super tech savvy, but they swing hammers and they get it done.
We do travel internationally and language learning comes up a lot. You mentioned some of your contractors speak Spanish. Do you speak Spanish?
I try to speak Spanish because most of the guys I work with don’t speak English. Anytime I’m on site talking with them, I’m speaking Spanish. I’m not great, but I’m trying to get better.
I’m currently in Vietnam with my family. Vietnamese is a tonal language, which makes it challenging for English speakers. As a family, we’ve focused on learning Spanish. It’s been amazing to see how quickly kids pick up languages compared to adults.
Speaking a foreign language casually face to face is very different than speaking it publicly on a recorded platform. There’s a different kind of pressure.
Yeah, you don’t have the body language and context clues.
Exactly. Now shifting back to structure. You’re doing 12 flips a year. That’s a lot to manage. How do you keep track of it all? What systems help control the chaos?
Finding capital has gotten gradually easier. When you’re early on, you get a deal and you don’t know where the money will come from. It feels daunting. It gets easier as you build trust with lenders and hard money people.
On the flip side, I send a promissory note and title creates a deed of trust. That side is straightforward. With flips, I’m still refining my system. If we’re redoing a kitchen, I’m out there laser measuring, designing the kitchen, ordering cabinets, countertops, and as much material as possible from Home Depot and Amazon.
I order everything at once, often $10,000 to $15,000 at a time, and have it delivered to the property. Once it’s there, my job is mostly done. They put the pieces together based on the plans I provide. The planning phase takes a few hours of my time. I’m thinking about delegating that planning and ordering process next year. That would be a huge lift.
Then they finish it up and I list it with a realtor since I’m not licensed.
I love that you order everything at once so you’re not the bottleneck. The crew has what they need and can move quickly.
Exactly. I don’t want to be the one slowing things down. If I don’t have the material there, I’m the bottleneck. I get everything on site and then step back.
You also own a brick and mortar business. Can you share about that?
We have a coffee shop. The only reason we were able to open it is because of real estate investing. Our first house was a small three bedroom, one bath. We lived in it for two years, rented it for three, and sold it tax free with about $110,000 in gains under the two out of five year rule. We put that money into a commercial property, gutted it, and started a coffee shop.
I love specialty coffee. We opened a 2,800 square foot shop with an in house scratch bakery. We have bakers there every morning at 4 a.m. It’s my dream business. I didn’t start it to make a ton of money. I started it because I love it and wanted to create a third space for people to meet, go on dates, and do business meetings.
It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot about leadership, hiring, and firing. That small house made it possible.
That’s such a powerful reminder of what one property can turn into.
Real estate can open doors to passion projects. You never know what that first property might lead to.
There’s a lot of overlap between your coffee shop and your real estate business. Leadership, hiring, planning, forecasting. How do you approach financial analysis?
I like spreadsheets and financial planning, but you can only forecast so much. At some point, you have to take action. I’ve been in meetings where we’re just staring at spreadsheets. I’d rather ask, what actions do we need to take today?
It’s good to start from three years out and work backwards. What needs to happen this year, this week, today? But don’t overanalyze. Whether it’s a single family or a $5 million deal, you can talk yourself out of it if you overanalyze.
I use the calculator and notes app on my phone. If the math works, it works. It shouldn’t take more than a day to know if it’s a deal.
I love that bias for action.
Let’s talk about delegation and leadership. You’re not swinging the hammer or making lattes every day. What was hard about letting go of control?
It’s super hard. I’m still learning. With handyman tasks, I used to jump in first. One of the best moves I made was paying a handyman $25 to $30 an hour to handle repairs. That’s been some of the best money I’ve spent.
At the coffee shop, I’ve learned to create SOPs and train people quickly. I have a great manager, head of bakery, and head roaster. Hire people smarter and better than you. I don’t know how to bake or roast, so I hired people who do.
I used to be behind the bar a lot more. Now I’m there about once a month. I’m learning to delegate and give others ownership.
How do you decide what stays on your plate?
It’s about what you’re 10 times better at than others. I’m quick with email and admin. I enjoy designing kitchens. Eventually I’ll pass those off. I think about what my time is worth. Anything under a certain hourly rate, I try to delegate.
Dan Martell’s book Buy Back Your Time has great formulas for this.
Let’s talk about burnout. Many investors scale but feel trapped. What guardrails help you avoid that?
Spending time with family and learning to rest is important to me. I work eight to five, five days a week. At 5 p.m., phone down, full dad mode with my three kids. We observe Sabbath on Saturdays. I don’t work Saturdays or Sundays aside from minimal check ins.
Having one full day of rest each week is huge. Vacation is important too. Rest plus delegation helps prevent burnout.
I love how clear your guardrails are. That clarity makes decisions simple.
My wife has been a huge help. Being on the same page about work and family balance is critical.
Real estate is full of opportunities. How do you evaluate them through the lens of faith, family, and long term peace?
My real estate company is named after Matthew 6:10. My mission is to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth through making property more beautiful and creating spaces for community.
If an opportunity aligns with that mission, I pursue it. Money matters, but mission matters more. With a large commercial project, we’re focused on improving the neighborhood and creating space for families. That feels more fulfilling than just making money.
Having a bigger why behind making money is important.
When you have a clear mission, it guides daily decisions.
Exactly.
Cameron, this has been an amazing conversation. If people want to connect with you, what’s the best way?
Instagram is Cameron underscore Phil Green. My YouTube channel is Cameron Phil Green. My website is CameronPhilGreen.com. I have resources, courses, and mentorship available.
For those in Waco, the coffee shop is called Forkeeps Coffee. Look it up and stop by.
Next time I’m driving through Waco, I’ll be there.
Thank you again, Cameron. And for those reading, think of the real estate investor you know who could benefit from this conversation and share it with them.