Bobby Cowart

East Tampa public housing. Navy at 18. E-1 to O-4. 10 rental properties. Built from zero. This is the real story.

I Grew Up in Public Housing

East Tampa. College Hill. Public housing.

In 1986 there was a riot in my neighborhood. I was a little boy. I stood outside and watched it happen. I didn’t understand what was going on. My mother stood next to me trying to get people to go home so they wouldn’t go to jail.

My mother worked two jobs to take care of four kids. There was no money. There was no blueprint. There was just her, working, and us watching.

I made a decision early. I was not going to be on drugs. I was not going to sell drugs. I was not going to be a criminal. I was going to win. I just had to figure out how.

The Navy Was My Way Out

I joined the Navy at 18. I believed it was my way out of poverty. That was not a guess. That was a plan.

I started as an E-1. The lowest rank there is. I went to college while I served because I was determined not to quit. I had a mentor — a good friend who believed in me before I fully believed in myself. Their guidance pushed me to write a new vision every time I hit a milestone. Every time I reached one goal, I wrote the next one. That kept me going when nothing else did.

At E-3, I was done. I called my mother.

“Mom, I can’t stay here any longer,” I said.

She paused, her voice steady but heavy. “Son, there’s nothing for you here. You need to carve out your own path.”

Her words hit me hard — like a mirror I wasn’t ready to look into. I stayed.

I served 30 years. I retired at 48 as an O-4. I went in as an E-1 and came out a commissioned officer. That did not happen by accident. It happened because I kept writing the next vision every time I finished the last one.

How I Saved $100,000 in Italy

The military sent me overseas. Naples, Italy. Japan. Bahrain. Most people use those assignments to travel and see the world. I stayed on base and saved money.

In three years in Italy, my wife and I saved $100,000. We did not go anywhere. We did not spend. We sacrificed on purpose because we knew what we were building toward.

That money became the foundation for the properties.

Everyone Told Me Not to Do It

When I started buying real estate, the people around me said don’t do it. My mother’s friends. People I knew. They all said the same thing: you are going to lose all your money.

I was nervous. I was scared. But I was also determined to be different.

In my community, one property is considered a success. I grew up watching people work hard their whole lives and end up with nothing. The Black community generates $2.1 trillion in spending power every year. Most of it goes right back out. Not because people are lazy. Because nobody showed them another way.

I was determined that was not going to be me.

The $37,000 House

After the housing crisis in 2008, prices collapsed in Florida. In 2010 I bought a house for $37,000. Everyone else was afraid. I was ready.

That same house is worth $260,000 today.

That is what happens when you prepare, wait, and move when others won’t.

The Mistake I Made

I won a bid on an HOA foreclosure without doing my due diligence. No lawyer. No research. I thought I knew enough.

The original homeowner contacted me. I gave the property back. Lost $5,000.

I found out later I had more options than I realized. But I didn’t know that at the time because I went in without the right information. That $5,000 taught me more than any win ever could. I went back and won another foreclosure the right way. That one went perfectly.

I tell that story because this site exists because of mistakes like that one. The information was out there. I just didn’t have it when I needed it.

Where I Am Now

I am 54. I retired from the Navy at 48 after 30 years. I have 10 rental properties in Florida, including an Airbnb, generating consistent cash flow every month. I have a military pension, dividend stocks, gold and silver, and a published book.

I came from public housing. My mother worked two jobs. I watched a riot as a little boy and didn’t know what it was.

Nobody handed me anything. I wrote the vision and I worked the vision until it was real.

Hunter of Money exists for the people who were told it wasn’t for them. It is for them. It always was.

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