Johnny Lynum is an active duty Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, a highly experienced real estate investor, and a loving husband and father. He has completed over 41 real estate deals including flips, buy and holds, and even apartment complexes. He has a real estate coaching program and recently wrote a book: Millionaire Real Estate Success Strategies: What They Forgot to Teach You in School.
Johnny agreed to share some of his insight and wisdom with the Honor & Equity community.
How did you get started in real estate?
I leveraged my VA loan after I had been on active duty for only one year, buying one-half of a duplex in Warner-Robins GA, and the mortgage ended up being $300 dollars less than the rent I was paying on my apartment, so the numbers made sense. I still have that property today and the tenant has been there for 11 years. Then the Air Force moved me in 2010, and I was considering renting since I was going to be so busy with work, but I ended up using my VA loan again to buy a foreclosed property in Newport News, Virginia. We lived in that home and eventually rented to tenants as well. Two and a half years later, I moved again and bought a third property with my VA loan in South Riding, Virginia.
Because of the VA loan, I was able to purchase three properties as a young man early in my career. Home prices were much lower back then, so I was able to purchase all three properties and still be under the limits of my VA entitlement.
What software or tools do you use in your business that have provided significant value to you?
We use Slack because it allows us to document and store everything involved with our real estate projects, such as contracts, and pictures, and I can communicate directly with all my virtual assistants and team members.
I also use REIReply as my primary CRM for marketing. We use that system to send text messages to property owners in our target markets to acquire more properties. 
We also use google drive to organize and store all of our documents. I like it because I can access it on my laptop or on my phone, and I can share links to others easily to give them access to documents.
What advice do you have for military folks who want to get involved in real estate?
Take action! The best time to buy real estate was 20 years ago, and the next best time is today. We have a tendency to over-consume information via podcasts, books, seminars, networking, and mastermind groups, so we have everything we need to be successful but we lack the faith that we will be successful.
Especially military members with the unique skill set that we have and the challenges that we face on a daily basis, we don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we bring to the table.
What do you want your legacy to be?
I want people to say, “my life wouldn’t have been the same without Johnny Lynum”. That goes for my family, my wife and kids, and my dad, as well as everyone in my network and mastermind groups that I’m in. I want to leave the world a better place than how I found it.
Tell us about your book Millionaire Real Estate Success Strategies: What They Forgot to Teach You in School.
I never planned on writing a book, but it just happened naturally because of the people I had surrounded myself with. The book starts by documenting my life journey from my humble beginnings in Alabama, to learning the basics of real estate and establishing my credit as a borrower so I could qualify for a VA loan. I also document the success of other people in my network and how they overcame obstacles. My hope is that these stories will inspire the reader to develop their own strategy and take action to begin their own real estate journey.
Where can people go to connect with you and learn more about you?
I’m on most of the social media platforms as Johnny Lynum on Facebook and LinkedIn, and I’m on Instagram as @themilitaryceo. People can also go to my website www.johnnylynum.com to learn more about me and my company Operation Invest and our mission, which is to educate other investors and help private investors to diversify from the stock market and secure passive income backed by real assets.
I hope you gained value from this interview with Johnny Lynum. Make sure you follow us on Instagram @honorandequity and connect with us on our website http://www.honorandequity.com