The Determined Society with Shawn French
Overcoming the Odds: Edgar Munoz’s Journey to Real Estate Success
Fri, 11 Apr 2025
From overcoming gang life and connections to becoming a successful entrepreneur in real estate, Edgar Munoz shares his incredible journey with Shawn French. In this episode, Edgar opens up about his past struggles, including surviving a brutal fight, his military service, and how determination pushed him to excel in real estate despite the odds. Learn how Edgar’s mindset and resilience shaped his path to success in Iron Valley Real Estate Prestige. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Edgar Munoz and what is his background?
Just spilling beer everywhere, dog. Like, cool, have a good time. Back up a little bit. Like, whatever. I can't control it. But like, can you help me out? Hey, man, no problem. And he kind of looked at me. It was like, no problem. But it was like, there's a problem. I'm like, oh, that kind of brother fucker, dude, this is not going to be good.
So then like 20 minutes later, a female was doing the same thing. She had, you know, like she wasn't fully dressed and, you know, I didn't see, I didn't, I looked and I'm like, And I was like processing through my mind. I'm like, okay, I tell her to move now. And I went like this to tell her to move. The guy goes, you piece of... Oh, because she's hot? Because she's a girl?
You're not going to tell her to move? I'm going to whoop your ass. I'm like... Oh my God. I'm like, dude, I'm like, no man. I was just telling, I'm like, whatever. And so like, I had to like, like they literally had to move me spots. Cause this guy was really wanting to fight me.
Yeah. Yeah. That, that alcohol gets in them and that pride, right?
Bro, it's crazy. And then, and then one time I worked the end zone or the, they call it the black hole, the black hole. Yeah.
They're just spitting at people and just throwing crap. Scary moments, dude. Yeah, I'd go tailgate. We'd have the Battle of the Bay. So I'd be there every year.
With the A's and the Giants?
No, no, Battle of the Bay. So I'd be there for the 49er Raider games. And we'd get there three hours prior, tailgate. And I'd always have a big crew with us. We travel well. And... You got to be on your P's and Q's. You got to be careful, man.
It's like the L.A. Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. Remember that guy that got beat up so bad he's like a vegetable? I don't know if he's still alive or whatnot, but he was at the game, I think, with his family.
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Chapter 2: How did Edgar's upbringing and family history influence his path?
So, um, originally from born in San Diego, raised in Southern California, LA area, San Gabriel Valley. Um, this is gonna sound weird, but my dad was in the cartels before, you know, the cartels were popular. Yeah, he was an OG. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he grew up in the area, it's Durango, Mexico, and that's like Sinaloa, Durango, Mazatlan is the tri-states that- How close is it to Tijuana? Far. Far.
OK. Far, far. So when you see the shows, Sinaloa, Durango, it's the middle of Mexico. OK, got it. But they got to get through Tijuana. Sure. So he was connected through there.
OK.
But the reason real estate sparked my interest because you got to do something with the money.
Yeah. Oh.
Wow.
Um, so I was old enough and I was lucky enough to watch him make all these moves. And he was like, you need to get into real estate. This will never end. Yeah. And, uh, cause he like all the stories, right. They're trying to get out of it.
Yeah.
And, uh, that's the seed to real estate then. Um, but. Grew up in L.A., not L.A., but El Monte, California. And then I moved to San Dimas. Okay. So I go from El Monte, which is gangs everywhere, all Mexicans fighting against the Asian gangs. Yeah. Then I moved to San Dimas. And if you're old enough, you remember Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures. That's San Dimas, right?
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Edgar face growing up and how did he overcome them?
Yeah.
So at an early age, me and my mom didn't have a good relationship. So I never got along, didn't really live in the house. But I was making my own money when I got my own apartment, did everything on my own.
What was the point of contention with you and your mom, if you don't mind me asking?
Man, it was rough. She got here at 11. No, she got here at 16 years old from Mexico. Her mom passed away when she was 11. I know this now, so I understand it a little bit more.
Yes, of course.
So all brothers, all males, they live in, you guys have been to Cancun. It's just jungles. They lived out there. So they sent my mom over with my grandma who just passed away. Oh, man. And she was raised here. And similarly to me, I'm an only child, so I didn't have brothers and sisters. So she's here by herself. Being raised technically by her family, but it's not the same. Right.
You know, you can't go talk to your brother or your mom or your dad. So she didn't know how to really be a mom, I would say, as far as nurturing. Yeah, man. And then my dad was out. So he was never home. He was out doing his trips, doing whatever. So growing up, I remember she was always working. Right. So she's not around. What does she do? Man, I remember going back to Almonte.
I remember being in the factories. Well, they're not the sweatshops.
Okay. Wow.
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Chapter 4: How did Edgar's military service shape his career and discipline?
So my dad was a good father. Um, and I'll bring this together. So my dad, in his way, he tried to teach me business as far as moving money. Um, And then also he did remarry. I have half brothers and sisters. And we went camping. We went to concerts. We went to whatever. Whatever he was doing, he made time for the family. Whereas my mom was always working. Yeah. all day, every day.
And even on the weekends, she did Iron Valley. All the people here know her because she's always cooking, baking, doing things for small events. So she's here. She's here. She's here. So when my dad died in 03, She, I was already gone in the military or whatever, but that distance and that time healed a lot of stuff because now I get to think I'm not with her.
I'm a grown man now kind of moving on my own. But then that curiosity gets the best of you. Like you, my mom, you and my dad meet. You know, why did you come to the States? I didn't even know my grandmother had passed away from cancer when she was 11. Like I didn't know these things. Wow.
So your mom lost her mom when she was 11 due to cancer.
Right.
So she didn't have that mother nurturing. Not at all. That's why she didn't know how to give birth.
Right. So she was raised by men. Yeah. And so she would just be my ass whenever something. Got masculine energy, man. Right.
Yeah. Yeah.
So to the point where at, at, when I was a teenager, we kind of squared up, like, like, you're not going to hit me again.
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Chapter 5: What motivated Edgar to pursue real estate and how did he start?
I have to be the bigger man and say, I get it. I'm not going to hold this against you. And although we haven't had those deep conversations because she is just in her ways, that's who she is now.
That's who she is, man. She ain't changing now.
No, no. And then I'm the only child. So what I did was I have the grandkids. I got her a house here. So instead of paying a daycare center or whatever, throwing my money and throwing my money away over there, I said, how about I get you a house? I'll pay your mortgage, pay the bills. It's going to cost me the same.
Yeah, exactly. And you're here.
And you're here. And you ain't got to work if you don't want to. Where do you want to go every year? I take her on trips and whatever. And that's how we're kind of making up time right now.
Good, man.
And she's all into the kids. And then, well, going back, let me just say, I joined the military at 18. Traveled the world, had a great time, got to travel before 9-11. Good for you. Different world, right? 9-11 happens, then Afghanistan, Iraq, did all those deployments.
I got out in 07, met my wife who I'm with now, but didn't get to get into real estate because I was always moving every two to three years because of the military.
Because of the military, right, of course.
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Chapter 6: What are the key lessons Edgar learned in his first years as a real estate agent?
How did you work through it? It's far and in between of those people that do make it that first year or the first year success. What I will say is you hear about the open house strategies, the marketing, the flyers, all that, the guerrilla tactics. All the fluff, yeah. That you have to go out and get it versus attracting business. There's two different things. So what I was doing is exactly that.
I was door knocking. I was hosting open houses. Okay. Okay. What about the minute things? What if I do get to talk to somebody? Are they qualified to buy? Nobody. So joining the right firm or the right mentor or whatever team is crucial those first two years. Sure. To learn all those things, because even if I did talk to you and you did want to buy a house, what's the lender?
What kind of loan program can I assist you with? I have no clue.
You got to be more of a consultant, right? Like be able to like, now when you speak to somebody, like, Hey, are you working with a lender? Have you been pre-qualified? Do you know what your budget is? Right. What's the top end? What's the low end? What are you looking for?
Yeah, I mean, in the beginning, it's like, oh, yeah, I got $100,000 in the account. I could buy a house right now. Sure you can. Sure you can. Proof of funds, right? Exactly, yeah. You're too embarrassed to ask those type of questions, those probing questions in the beginning when you're new. I didn't have those skills.
Yeah, so like now if someone said, hey, I got $200,000 in the bank. I'm ready to buy it. All right, cool. Hey, so I'm going to go. Tell me what you want. I'm going to find it within a day or two, and then we're going to go buy a house, right? Yeah, yeah. Hey, look. Well— Well, no. Are you ready to buy?
Right? What's your criteria? Look, I'll look this up while I'm doing this. Email me your proof of funds. Yeah.
Boom. See ya. Let's get this thing going.
Yeah. And now it's send me a screenshot.
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Chapter 7: How does Edgar approach client qualification and real estate consulting?
You get in a better cadence, you get in a better, you know, pattern of conversation with people, you know what I mean? And it starts to grow pretty quickly at that point.
Yeah. And my aspirations were always to own a real estate company, be a broker. So I did have those aspirations early on. And a team, I caught the eyes or what I did was I strategically would host open houses on a vacant house that was staged. And there was a team that was basically had these flips and they would stage them. Coincidentally, I did multiple open houses at their properties.
And they're like, shit, Edgar, you work harder than our team members. Why don't you join us? So they recognized my value, my work ethic. Just doing what I do throughout my whole life was just consistently working, which I thank my mom.
Yep. Yep. Your mom was just trying to survive, dude. Yeah. It wasn't a thing where she didn't want to be around you. No. You know what I'm saying? She was trying to support me. Yeah, she was trying to support you. You know, your dad and her split, and, you know, like, that's life, and she had to do what she had to do, man.
Yeah, she didn't get anything from my dad as far as compensation. Now, I did get in trouble every now and then, and he'd have to pay the fines. Right. And so he did help there. But yeah, that's how I initially got into real estate. And then my success came from those teams or that team that I joined.
And they taught me how to talk to people over the phone and convert and get them to a lender or figure out solutions on, you know, just scenarios that are just kind of out of the box.
Yeah, man, specialty loans, like whatever it takes, right? Then they have like the USDA loans. They have like the VA loans.
I mean, we're heavy VA loans, but at the time it was a different market. Somebody owes $4,000 on a car and they got a $400 payment. I could pay that off with a VA loan, you know, if I negotiate. Wow. So I could not only get your closing costs. It's like, well, now you could actually afford this house for $350 if we pay off your car. Wow. Hey seller, your house has been on the market for 30 days.
How about you give us nine grand and 4,000 and we take this off your hands right now.
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