In this episode of Burning the Ships, I sit down with Martine Richardson — a Richmond-based real estate investor, rental property coach, and community builder who went full time in real estate ten years ago not by choice, but by force.

Martine shares the honest version of how her journey started — getting fired from her job because real estate had already become her priority, and deciding in that moment to go all in rather than look for another paycheck. She opens up about the early hustle of wholesaling to stay afloat, how she accidentally stumbled into her first rental property through seller financing, and why she has been ten toes down on buy-and-hold investing ever since.

We also dive into the freedom that rental properties have quietly built for her family, how growing up with financial hardship shaped her drive, and why she now ...