
How a Mechanical Engineer Lost It All Then Built a $600M Portfolio — With Patrick Grimes Part 2
From The Real Estate Side Hustle Show: How To Buy Real Estate With No Money by eric Lindsey
May 6, 2026 · 38 min
About this episode
Patrick Grimes shares his journey from losing everything in 2007 to building a $600 million real estate portfolio.
Patrick Grimes lost everything in 2007. He went all in on a pre-development deal — highly leveraged, certain to double his money. Then 2008 happened. He lost it all. A mechanical engineer who had worked with Tesla, Google, Lockheed, and Johnson and Johnson had to start over completely. What he did next is the blueprint every W2 investor needs to hear. Patrick Grimes | Passive Investing Mastery | 5,000+ Units | $600M Portfolio Why LPs Should Pay Attention to This Operator Patrick did not stumble into syndication. He spent years moonlighting — buying single family homes in recession resilient Texas markets while working full time in California. He deployed every bonus and every extra dollar of his paycheck into those assets. He earned a master's in engineering and an MBA while doing it. He worked for free for seasoned operators — doing slide decks, underwriting, due diligence walks — without even knowing his partnership percentage on the first two deals. He was just focused on learning the right way to do things. That foundation is what built a $600 million portfolio. How He Balanced W2 and Real Estate Investing Patrick was running himself ragged moonlighting while working full…
People in this episode
Host: Eric Lindsey
Guest: Patrick Grimes
Topics covered
- real estate investing
- financial recovery
- syndication
- W2 employment
- portfolio building
- passive income
Keywords
- real estate
- investment strategy
- financial loss
- portfolio management
- W2 to contractor
- Texas markets
- syndication
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Tesla, Google, Lockheed, Johnson and Johnson, Passive Investing Mastery, S-Corp
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