Westbank Real Estate Investors Meetup

Calling all investors, landlords, flippers, realtors, contractors, Lenders, wholesalers and anyone with an interest in Property Investing. Come to this extra special meetup to network, learn or share with someone in the room to help move everyone closer to their goals.

Why This Meetup Is Different

The Westbank Real Estate Investors’ normal 2nd Thursday meetup conflicts with Mardi Gras parades this month, so we needed a new time and venue. The St. Bernard Parish Real Estate Investors invited us to collaborate at their meetup, and we saw this as the perfect opportunity to bring back one of the most requested stories from the Westbank Real Estate Investors archives - this time with a full update.
So strap in for a live interview with Mike Fernandez.

Mike’s Story

In 2023, Mike spoke at a WBREI meetup and broke down how he used house hacking as the foundation to build a real rental portfolio and long-term real estate career. We never got that talk on video, and a lot has happened since then.

So we’re doing it again - properly.

Since that original talk, Mike has transitioned full-time into real estate and is now actively operating across multiple parts of the business, including:

- Rental property ownership
- Property management company
- Flipping and BRRRR projects
- New construction
- Residential sales as a licensed Realtor
- Landlording and community leadership through local meetups

Special Meetup Collaboration

This event is a Westbank Real Estate Investors collaboration of the St. Bernard investor meetup. With Mardi Gras shifting schedules, we’re combining forces for one bigger, better night on Da Parish.

What to expect:
- The meetup will be run Westbank-style
- Emile will interview Mike live
- We’ll walk through his full journey, from first house hack to today
- We’ll dig into what changed when he went full-time
- We’ll cover house hacking, rentals, flips, BRRRR, property management, and new construction
- Steve will run Have & Needs, so bring deals, buyers, contractors, and questions

Why This One Is Worth Attending

Mike’s path is one many investors aim for:

- Starting small and living in your investments
- Using house hacking as a launchpad
- Reinvesting intelligently
- Building multiple income streams inside real estate
- Making the jump from W-2 to full-time investing the right way

This isn’t theory. It’s a local, real-world story that’s still actively unfolding.

Whether you’re:

- New and curious about house hacking
- Scaling rentals or flips
- Considering a move into full-time real estate
- Or looking to integrate investing, brokerage, and property management
You’ll leave with practical insight you can actually apply

Agenda as follows:

6:30 pm: Doors Open/Networking
7:00 pm: Interview with guest + Q & A
7:45 pm: Needs and Wants + Networking
8:00pm After meeting drinks at Gattuso's Neighborhood Restaurant

You are welcome to come whether you are trying to go from 0-1st deal or deal 1,000 - 1001. We will have a needs and wants section where you can tell the room if you have something to offer or are looking for something. Whether that's an off-market deal, hard money, contractors, partners etc.

Our speakers aren't selling anything and neither are the organizers. We just want to get the West Bank property investing community networking and talking as we believe that will benefit everyone.

We are grateful for the support of Lease Co and Home Buyer Louisiana that helped cover some of the costs of the event through their generous sponsorship