Relli co-founder and CEO Mor Milo joined Quentin "Q" Edmonds on the Real Estate Pros Show, powered by Investor Fuel, to talk about opening up passive real estate investing and what building Relli has taught him. They cover why passive real estate has been hard to access, how Relli started as a marketplace for accredited investors, getting through the loss of co-founders, and Mor's approach to networking. The episode, "How to Passively Invest in Real Estate for Just $100," was released August 4, 2025 and runs 35 minutes.
Editor's note: first published August 2025, so some details have changed. Today Relli is a marketplace where investors review offerings from reviewed sponsors, express interest and talk to each sponsor directly, and each offering page shows its own minimum. Target returns and distributions mentioned are projections, not guarantees.
Watch on YouTube, or listen on the Investor Fuel episode page. The show is also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Key takeaways
- Most ways into real estate, like rentals, small multifamily or flips, take a lot of capital, know-how and risk. Mor's aim is to let more people invest passively alongside experienced sponsors instead.
- Sponsors told Relli they needed accredited investors first, so Relli launched in April 2025 as a marketplace where sponsors list offerings for accredited investors.
- Mor's mantra is "be in business tomorrow." Losing co-founders forced Relli to focus, and that focus led to its first customers.
- Mor wants investors to know about options beyond single-family rentals, such as oil and gas, self-storage lending and net-lease retail. Target returns are projections, not guarantees.
- His networking advice: be direct, don't be afraid to say no, and always lead with the business and finish with the connection.
Full transcript
Lightly edited for clarity, with a few short passages removed. Section times match the YouTube video.
Introduction (0:00)
Mor Milo: Passive real estate investments have been happening for decades, but they've been relegated to the top 1% and the institutions of the world. So all we're doing is taking something that exists behind closed doors, bringing it out into the open, and reducing the barrier to entry so everybody can participate. Our goal is to reduce the amount of capital, reduce the amount of know-how and reduce the amount of risk by giving average Joes like myself the opportunity to invest alongside highly qualified sponsors who have been doing this for years and years and have millions of transactions under their belt.
Announcer: Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Show, where we interview real estate investing professionals from coast to coast, as well as the service providers that serve the real estate investing industry. Our goal is simple: share what's working now to help you improve and scale your business to the next level, and meet the pros who can help you get there. Real Estate Pros is powered by Investor Fuel, America's leader in helping real estate investors and professionals build the business you need to live the life you've always dreamed of. Let's start today's show.
What is Relli trying to build? (1:36)
Quentin Edmonds: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Investor Fuel podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and today I am joined by a man who is standing at the intersection of finance, real estate and technology. You ask me what that means? I'm going to let him tell you, because this man has an abundance of wisdom. He has a new way of looking at things, and I think a way that's really going to blow your mind when you put your mind around what he's trying to do. So hear the words he's saying, but also let your mind take you where his words are taking you, because I believe he's doing something really, really good for the real estate space. So I want to introduce you all to my friend, Mr. Mor Milo. How are you feeling, sir?
Mor Milo: I'm great, Q. I appreciate you, man. Thanks for the wonderful intro.
Quentin Edmonds: No, absolutely, man. I believe in what you're doing. I know we've only known each other for a short time, but what you told me has really resonated with me, and I believe it's going to resonate with our listeners. I really do. I love the approach that you have when it comes to... I'm going to let you do it, man. I was about to try to say it, but I'm going to let you do it.
Mor Milo: You've been killing it. I've been talking to you for a little while now, and I feel like you're killing it. Don't doubt yourself, my friend. You're absolutely awesome, Q. Thank you for the intro, though. I have no problem hopping in. Essentially, Relli is planning on becoming the stock market of real estate, and our goal is to give everybody the opportunity to invest in real estate in a passive way with as little as $100. People have tried to do this before, and it's been a little difficult to achieve. But I think, from a timing perspective and with the product we have to bring to the table, we can really help a lot of people build wealth and get their foot in the door in real estate for the first time, maybe without giving up their entire life savings. Give them an easy, small baby step where they can start playing in the pool, but not necessarily have to dive in headfirst.
Quentin Edmonds: Yeah. That's exactly what I was going to say, Mor. You took the literal words out of my mouth. But what I do love is when you said, and they didn't hear it, but I heard it when you said it, that you're offering everyone the opportunity to participate in real estate.
Mor Milo: That's the goal. That's the goal. I think real estate has been a closed-door business for a very long time, to a certain extent, and the barrier to entry is very high. If you're an average Joe and you want to try to get into real estate right now, what are the methods you'd normally approach? Either you're doing a single-family rental, or you're doing a small multifamily deal, probably a fourplex or a twoplex.
Who is Relli for? (5:21)
Mor Milo: Or you're flipping a house. All of these are incredibly capital intensive and require a lot of experience. To go build a house or renovate a home or do any of these things requires a lot of work and knowledge. As someone who watched my parents come to this country as immigrants and build a small portfolio of real estate that they managed as landlords, and build their wealth through it, I also watched them deal with tenants and be landlords, which is extremely hard, and deal with renovations when the time came to move tenants out and bring new tenants in. The idea of investing in real estate has been portrayed as passive for a very long time, but the majority of the opportunities in the market for an average consumer like myself to get their foot in the door require a lot of capital, a lot of know-how and a lot of risk.
So our goal is to reduce the amount of capital, reduce the amount of know-how and reduce the amount of risk by giving average Joes like myself the opportunity to invest alongside highly qualified sponsors who have been doing this for years and years and have millions of transactions under their belt, so they're not alone. They can do it with a really high-quality group of people they can passively give their money to and say, "Go build this project, because I believe in it," and reap the benefits of the cash flow and the equity growth while leaning on the experience of sponsors, some of whom have upwards of a billion dollars in assets under management. So our goal is to give everybody the opportunity to invest passively.
Just to give you a little background, the way the market currently works is that high net worth individuals and institutions normally come together with real estate development firms to put up the equity to purchase a deal, so they can get the debt from the bank, build out the project, manage the project, turn a profit and sell or refinance, or whatever their goal is. So passive real estate investments have been happening for decades, but they've been relegated to the top 1% and the institutions of the world, and the average consumer hasn't had an opportunity. What we're trying to do is bridge the gap between the ultra-high net worth and high net worth people and the institutions, and the average Joe who wants to do the same thing the institutions and high-level passive investors do, but with smaller amounts of money. So all we're doing is taking something that exists behind closed doors, bringing it out into the open, and reducing the barrier to entry so everybody can participate.
Quentin Edmonds: Man, I love it. I can only imagine, because you're the expert, but I imagine that's not especially easy in this climate, right?
Mor Milo: Easy would not be the right word to describe it. I would say the opposite of easy. It's extremely difficult. But somebody has to go through the trenches to figure out how to get this done. So why not me?
What keeps Mor motivated? (9:09)
Quentin Edmonds: And that's my question. What keeps you motivated? What keeps things running smoothly for you?
Mor Milo: Well, first of all, I have an incredible team, first of which is my business partner and longtime friend, Ross Iannarelli, who's my right hand, and I like to say the right side of my brain. He has been my day one for the last three years building this company, and for five years before that, building three previous companies. So number one, finding good people. We were just talking about how the common denominator in everything is people, and I would say my team is the number one thing that keeps my head somewhat attached.
The next thing that keeps us going is a true desire and passion to invest passively as average consumers. The story really is that Ross and I have both been investing in the stock market for many years, and we've done well. We've invested in bonds and crypto and all sorts of fun things like that. But we didn't have real estate. And for the last 31 years of my life, I've watched my parents purchase and rent out real estate, make a lot of money and live a great lifestyle through that real estate. What I didn't like was the active participation and management, right? I didn't want to deal with tenants. I didn't want to deal with maintenance. I didn't want to deal with renovations. I didn't know anything about how to manage and construct these assets, so it didn't make much sense for me to go out and do that.
I knew that high net worth individuals and passive investors of all kinds were deploying capital with really highly qualified builders, but I never qualified, because I wasn't accredited. So that gave us the reason to say, "Okay, well, Ross, you and I both want to invest in real estate. We want to do it passively. We want to be able to trade it like we trade our stocks. We don't want to touch the asset. We want to give our money to highly qualified people. It's kind of like the stock market. Why don't we build a stock market for real estate?" So we went out and decided to build it.
What we discovered along the way was that real estate development firms have never gone out to the public. They've never gone to the average consumer. So it's a completely different landscape. We had to dig into the compliance components, right? What does the legal look like? What does accounting look like? What does audit look like? What is all this stuff we had to go figure out? Then we went out and talked to the real estate developers, and basically what they told us was, "Hey, guys, we need help with where we're at today. This is cool for the future, but we need accredited investors. All of our deals are sent out via email through newsletters. How can you help us get this in front of more people?"
So what we decided to do was take a little pit stop on the way to the stock market of real estate by building a marketplace for today. There are a lot of developers, real estate investors, lenders, fund managers and syndicators out there who want to find new investors, but don't have a way to advertise their deals in a very attractive and affordable manner. So we decided that the first component of this stock market for real estate was a passive real estate investing marketplace, where real estate developers could come and list their offerings for accredited investors and do business in real time. That's what we launched in April. Slowly but surely, we're building out the foundation of the business with lots of different real estate developers. The second we find the first public offering, we can list it on the platform and start getting average consumers involved. So we're excited to go step by step and try to build something awesome for the market, and slowly but surely, we're going to get it in front of the average Joe and let the average Joe participate as well.
Quentin Edmonds: I love it, man. I'm going to see if I can say this saying. I said I was going to have it committed to memory, but I don't know if I have it yet. It's a military saying: slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. And it sounds like you're smoothing this thing out. We're starting off slow, we're going to smooth it out, and once this thing gets smooth, then we can turn up the speed.
How do you keep going when things go sideways? (14:11)
Mor Milo: That's actually an awesome analogy. I know that one from racing. I was in the automotive space for a long time, and they say slow is smooth and smooth is fast. It's the same thing. The idea is that when you're going around a turn and you're smooth through it, you have great traction, you hit your spots, you get the apex of that turn, and you're going to have a better result at the end of the day. So it totally resonates for me. I've been around cars my whole life. It's a great analogy. I completely agree.
Quentin Edmonds: I love it, man. I love how you put in the word traction. So now I'm going to expand on my saying, thanks to you, Mor. I'm adding language to that phrase.
Mor Milo: Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for bringing it up, man. You spawned the idea, so here we are.
Quentin Edmonds: My man. I appreciate you, brother. Now, you talk about building something with your partner, Ross. I can imagine, because for all of us, as we build things, there are times when things get real. Stuff goes sideways.
Mor Milo: Oh, yeah.
Quentin Edmonds: Times when you had to pivot fast. For our community of entrepreneurs, people at different levels of their journey, maybe they're stuck in something where they're like, "I'm trying to figure this out." Do you mind sharing a moment where you had to pivot fast?
Mor Milo: Absolutely. This journey has been a roller coaster. This is our fourth startup together, Ross and me, so we've been through the roller coaster a few times. I have a mantra that I've said on a couple of podcasts. I think I learned it from a guy named David Meltzer. The mantra goes like this: be in business tomorrow. That's it. Be in business tomorrow. Really, that's all it is. Because at the end of the day, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, a week from now or a month from now. Something could be great, and then it falls apart, and you have to completely renovate and change it. As long as you're in business tomorrow, you're going to be alive long enough to figure out what you need to change and make the adjustments. When you come from a place of "I'm going to be in business tomorrow," you're not thinking about 10 years from now. You're thinking about what you need to do to keep your doors open tomorrow. And I promise you, if you just keep being open tomorrow, you're going to get through that problem, and you're going to look back at it and say, "Oh, my God, I was worried about that problem?" Because the problems only get bigger. This is a game for problem solvers, and the beauty of the game is that it naturally gets more difficult every day you continue to play it. Whenever you choose, the problems go away. You can choose that. But we didn't get into this to make the problems go away forever. We got into this to consistently solve bigger problems every single day, so we can make more and more impact. And every day that you stay alive, you solve a bigger problem.
From my perspective, there were a couple of moments throughout this journey. You asked me for a moment. At the time, we had four co-founders all working together, each siloed in our specific tasks. When we lost one of those co-founders, we had to spread all of their tasks across an already very small team. Bandwidth has been incredibly difficult for us, because there's always more work to do than there is time to do it in. So that really rattled our cage. We had three co-founders who had to figure out how to pick up the slack and keep the business going.
At that time, we ended up having to make a pivot, because we realized that the second we lost that co-founder and that bandwidth, we had to get even more focused on what our customers wanted. That's when we decided to take a step back and offer an accredited investor platform that we would evolve into the public market. And that generated massive growth for us, right? It was a huge, huge loss that we had to work through, but because we got more focused, that loss gave us our first customer. You can't ask for better than that, right? Sometimes you have to let things go in order to get new, better things. So that's one moment where we thought it could have been the end of our business, because we lost a massive piece of it. But we were able to focus, stay in business until tomorrow and keep finding ways to execute so we could get to the next level.
We've had 10 or 15 of those types of events. We had another founder who is no longer with us, so we're now down to two. At that time, we thought, "Oh, this thing is over. We're dead in the water." But what happened was Ross and I put our heads together, we focused even more, and then we got six customers. Right? So you have to let go of things to get the new things. You have to let go of the old to get the new. Sometimes you want to hold on to the old because it's all you know, and the devil you don't know is scary. But sometimes you just have to let go. Actually, I think Steve Harvey said this: if you want to fly, you've got to jump. There's no question about it, right? You can't walk up to the edge and fly if you're not willing to jump over it. Sometimes the edge just shows up, and you have to jump, and you don't have a choice, and you're not ready. But it gives you the chance to fly.
Quentin Edmonds: Yeah, man. That's the type of stuff people are not talking about, honestly. This is the kind of stuff that separates folks: the people who just dabble and the people who are looking for the long-term approach. Like you said, I'm going to be in business tomorrow. I'm always going to be looking for a problem to solve, and that in itself is going to keep me in it for the long term. Not only that, it's going to keep me in a place of integrity, because I'm not just trying to do something just to do it. I'm trying to solve a problem.
Mor Milo: There's intention. Absolutely. 100%. You're right on, Q.
Quentin Edmonds: No, absolutely, man. So listen, what are you guys focusing on? You're definitely solving a problem. We already got that, because, I'm looking at my notes, you're offering everyone the opportunity to participate in real estate. So you're actually solving that problem. But what would you say is the next goal for you guys?
Mor Milo: The next goal for us is to truly solidify our product in a way that we see adoption in a massive way.
What is next for Relli, and how does Mor network? (22:32)
Mor Milo: We have something in the range of 1,300 users right now who are active, with accounts, looking at deals. But we know there are millions of investors out there who would love access to these types of deals. So our biggest problem right now is that not enough people know about what we offer, and not enough people know who I am, or who Ross or my team is. It's really hard to do business with people you don't know. So what we're really focused on right now is getting our faces out there, getting our vision out into the world, showing people who we are, providing value first and asking for money second.
Right now, what we're looking for is more passive investors who want to deploy capital into real estate, because we have some incredibly powerful real estate developers, lenders and syndicators offering amazing deals on our platform, deals we've personally looked at and vetted for our community to invest in. And we want more people to know what's available to them, right? People don't know that they can invest in an oil and gas deal and write off a lot of the money they invest. People don't know that they can invest in self-storage. We have a deal right now that targets between 13% and 15% for them, like they are the bank, paid out every quarter. We have another group offering investments in Walmart, Starbucks and AutoZone. They own a portfolio of $150 million worth of retail properties that Walmart, AutoZone and Starbucks rent from them. They target an 8% return on the money, paid every month, and investors get a percentage of the profit when the property sells.
People don't know about this stuff. They don't know it exists, right? Right now, everybody just wants to go buy a single-family residence and maybe get 10% or 12%, but they work their tails off. They deal with the tenants. They deal with the maintenance. They deal with the renovations. Instead, they could target the same, if not a better, return, with safety in numbers, because you've got a bunch of investors and a bunch of assets, not just one, and target payouts every month or every quarter from the money the professionals are making, while you sit back and count your money.
Quentin Edmonds: I love it.
Mor Milo: So that's what we're up to. We need to get our name and our brand out there, and then we need to show people that we act with integrity, that we care about them and that we want to do well by them. We offer them an amazing free service where they get a white-glove experience and can connect directly with the CEOs who are offering these investment opportunities. So our biggest challenge right now is how to get in front of more people and show them the value we can give them.
Quentin Edmonds: Man, I love it. I love the next move. I absolutely love it. And of course, as you build, you know that the next move can either compound things or create chaos, depending on how you play it.
Mor Milo: No doubt about that. That's for sure. It usually creates chaos, but that's okay.
Quentin Edmonds: Yeah, it does. That's what it does. And of course, we have people listening who are early in their journey. They're looking to level up. They're looking to make moves. I love the way you and Ross have built things, and I love the way you genuinely talked about your partnership. So I would love for you to answer this: when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what's made the biggest difference for you?
Mor Milo: Wow, that's a good question. I'm very blessed and gifted to be pretty good with my words, so I've been able to do rather well just getting to know people at events and meeting people in person. That has been an overwhelming game changer for me personally, because when you're intentional about networking, it doesn't feel inauthentic. I feel like a lot of people feel they're acting inauthentically when they go to a networking event and approach someone to talk about doing business. Sometimes the setting doesn't allow you to be overwhelmingly direct, so you feel like you're faking it to get in and talk to them, like you're really just imposing on them.
Well, in my personal opinion, and I actually learned this sitting at a table with three other CEOs who were triple my age, about 10 years ago, I prefer to be direct in those types of environments and then let the authentic relationship develop. The reason I say that is because when you're at a networking event, everybody is there to do business. You didn't show up to the happy hour at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Wednesday because you wanted to meet your next best friend. Will you maybe meet your next best friend? Actually, I've met some incredible friends at networking events. But that's not the intention. The intention is to go there to do business and connect.
So 10 years ago, when I was sitting at this table with these three other business owners, I asked them, "Hey, what's the best way to get somebody to do business with you?" They looked at me and said, "Mor, always lead with the business." I asked why, and the response was this. Everybody has had this engagement: "Hey, let's go get lunch." "Okay, let's go get lunch." We sit down. We have lunch. Me and Q, we're having lunch. "How are your kids? What are you doing?" Blah, blah, blah. Then in the last 10 minutes of the lunch, all of a sudden: "Hey, so I wanted to talk to you about something. I really want you to be my customer." Okay, well, you just spent an hour playing nice, right? And then in the last five minutes, you switch up on me, and now I feel gross. Instead of leaving and saying, "Oh, I met a new friend, I feel great," it's, "Oh, no, this person spent an hour trying to get me to like them so they could try to sell me something."
Let's flip it. Me and Q, we're going to lunch. We're sitting down at our favorite Chinese place, or whatever you like to eat. I look at you and say, "Q, look, I need 10 minutes of your attention to talk about this particular topic. I see your business as a potential customer for me, and the reason I see that is X, Y and Z. What do you think?" Okay. Me and Q having a conversation, doing business. All right, great, cool. Ten minutes later, what comes out of it? Almost always it's, "Yeah, let's do business," or "No, I'm not interested," or "Let me think about it." Cool. Ten minutes taken care of. Now you can spend the next 50 minutes enjoying your lunch, sitting across from Q, talking to Q. "How are your kids? What's the deal? How are you doing?" And then when you leave, it's like, "Oh, he was here for business, but he actually took the time to get to know me. That's pretty cool." Even if I don't do business with you, I'm going to feel like you took the time to care about who I was, because instead of starting with the chitchat, we finished with it. And now I'm leaving you with a good taste in your mouth, like, "Hey, so nice to meet you." And it feels authentic, right?
So I treat networking the exact same way. I go up, I'm direct. I say, "I see your company. I see what you're doing. I'm at your booth. We're at this conference. What are we talking about? Let's see if we have a genuine connection." And you don't have to have a connection with everybody. That's another thing I think people mess up. You don't have to like everybody. You have to respect everybody. It's okay to go up to somebody at a networking event and say, "Hey, I see your business. This is what you do. This is what we do. Let's see if we can work together." Cool. Great. "Here's my card. Here's your card. See you later." There's nothing wrong with that. If you get into a more personal conversation, even better, right? But understanding that you have to be intentional about meeting people when you go to a networking event is super important.
Another thing I would say is ridiculous honesty in the moment. If it doesn't fit: "Look, I don't think it fits. You seem like a nice guy. Let's exchange information, but I don't think this is a good fit." If it fits: "Hey, I think this fits. This could be a thing. Let's dig a little deeper." That's more important than anything else you can do, because that's authentic. It's real. That's what people want. They want authentic connection, right? So I think that's also really important when it comes to networking. But in my opinion, the best way to move the ball forward is to be where the people are and to actively communicate with those people.
Quentin Edmonds: So just go ahead and run all that back. Say all that back again, because it'd be so good.
Mor Milo: No, that's all right. Short and sweet. Let me actually put a little bow on it, okay? Don't be scared to be direct. Don't be scared to say no. Transactional relationships are okay. And always lead with the business and finish with the connection.
Quentin Edmonds: So well said. So well said. I told y'all before, he's a really gifted communicator. That was great, man. Listen, before we wrap, because this has been great, this has been so good...
Mor Milo: Thanks, Q. I appreciate you, man.
Quentin Edmonds: No, I appreciate you, man. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you or learn more about Relli, what's the best way for them to reach out?
Where can people find Mor and Relli? (33:11)
Mor Milo: There are lots of ways to connect with us. We're very active on social. If you're looking for some of our content, or you want to engage with what we're up to, go check us out on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and TikTok. Everything is @InvestWithRelli. So InvestWithRelli, R-E-L-L-I. If you want to connect with me directly, feel free to email me. It's my first name, M-O-R, at relli, R-E-L-L-I dot C-O. Co, not com. And lastly, you can check out our platform, create an account and do whatever you'd like with the deals on our platform at relli.co, R-E-L-L-I dot C-O.
Quentin Edmonds: There he is, y'all, Mor Milo. Listen, sir, I appreciate your time, your story and your perspective. We definitely need more people doing business the way you're doing it, man: the right way, with integrity, being honest and making honest and authentic connections. So thank you again, man, for being here. I appreciate you so much.
Mor Milo: Truly a pleasure, man. Happy to come back whenever.
Quentin Edmonds: Absolutely. And listen, for those tuning in, if you found value in this, please make sure you are subscribed. You never know who we're going to have on this podcast. We are giving you a wealth of information, and I do not want you to miss out on people just like my friend here, Mr. Mor Milo. Again, thank you so much, sir. And y'all, I will see you on the next podcast. Y'all have a great one.
Announcer: Thanks for joining us for today's Real Estate Pros Show. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss another episode. Have a great day. We'll see you on the next show.
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