Nerds Guide to FI

From stumbling into house hacking to building an Airbnb empire, Travis from @theyoungretireeby33 has a LOT to share with us. Travis began his journey to FI after reluctantly reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and his eyes were opened to different types of investing. At 24 he bought his first home and rented out 2 of the bedrooms-and realized he could live for free! Living in Orlando, he realized that short term rentals were where the money was at. Fast forward to today, and Travis is an expert in short-term rentals, and lucky for us we get to pick his brain. We get real about Airbnb ownership, namely: what are the odds my house will get trashed? Travis explains how you can screen potential guests like you would screen a tenant, why your cleaning crew will be your best friend, and what to do when a guest steals your throw pillows (his answer might surprise you).  After hosting more than 2000 guests, Travis learned from first-hand experience how to handle situations and he shares the small touches that earn him great reviews. We chat about vacation home loans and financing, property management and the processes he uses to make things easy. He shares the software he uses to automate and outsource his bookings! I'm not going to lie, now I just want to Airbnb something. You can find Travis on Instagram @theyoungretireeby33 and check out his guide to Airbnb hosting!

This week I’m talking with Zasha, a fellow mom, woman in STEM and real estate investor (did we just become best friends?) about what its like to invest in a high cost of living area. Zasha lives and invests in Maui, Hawaii both, in rental properties and flips. She didn’t start out with any real estate or financial background, instead she was a civil engineer for ten years. Before she was married, she sold her home she shared with her mother, and netted $100k+ profit! She had no idea this was possible and started to learn more about investing in real estate. Zasha has a wealth of different experiences in real estate, from flipping homes to rentals in section 8, to building attached dwelling units on her properties. We talk about criteria we look for when shopping for homes-you can’t beat that corner lot! She demystifies renting to section 8 tenants, and like most things, its less intimidating than it seems. She has worked her way from FHA loans to BRRR to using private money and partnerships. She has even dabbled in seller financing. Zasha isn’t afraid to try new things and make them work for her. Like me, Zasha’s goal is to make passive income month and be on the path to financial freedom. Though I’ve been reluctant to jump on board, Zasha has sold me on the importance of a morning routine for success. She talks us through her tips-she wakes up at 4:30AM (ok probably not going to be able to do that one) and plans her day, visualizing what she will accomplish and using affirmations. Exercise is key and working on mindset daily. We both talk about balance and what's important to us. After this conversation I’m inspired to start thinking about my mornings differently. Step one: visualize owning a home in Maui… You can find Zasha at @investwithzasha on Instagram!

We’re kicking off season 3 with Bonnie Galam of Landlord Law School™! Bonnie became interested in real estate investing during law school, and now self-manages 100+ units with her husband, along with her own firm, podcast, and website, offering templates and trainings for new investors. WHEW...its not clear when she sleeps. We talk about her journey into investing and using the BRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) strategy. Though we both agree it feels like everyone and their mother is getting into real estate, we know there are still deals to be found! I ask Bonnie what its really like working primarily with student housing: Do the tenants pay their rent? Is everything just always covered in beer?  But it sounds like student housing isn’t as intimating as I thought (although wood floors are a MUST). I have a list of legal questions for Bonnie including: - “I just went online and formed my own LLC…is that terrifying?” -Do you need an LLC per property? -When’s the best time to form your LLC? -How should I tighten up my lease terms? We take a deep dive into LLCs and I ask her about the Series LLC. Bonnie teaches offensive asset protection methods, like getting everything in writing, good contracts, estate planning, etc. I learn that you can often get lease templates from attorneys and its more cost effective than having your attorney look at your existing lease. Every year Bonnie does an “asset protection self-audit” and asks herself “What didn’t work this year? How can I tighten up my lease to prevent this going forward?”. Bonnie is a wealth of information and offers so much information through her podcast, website and her Landlord Law School™ included in the links below. I have a feeling you’ll want to listen to this one and take notes! I feel smarter now after recording this podcast with such as fellow boss lady, love her and some killer #lawyershit Find Bonnie: https://www.bonniegalam.com/ podcast: Good Bones Real Estate Investing Tools Mentioned: https://kajabi.com/ www.avail.co www.appfolio.com www.anchor.com

This is a complete “pinch me” moment. I am thrilled I was able to connect with the one, the only, Paula Pant! In my eyes Paula is the Michael Jordan of the FI community (hence episode #23…see what I did there?) and I am beyond excited to share this conversation with you today. If you aren’t already a giant fan of Paula Pant of Afford Anything, you will be when we are finished with this episode. Paula has created a blog, a podcast, a community and now a comprehensive real estate investing course that takes her students through the entire investing process. Paula talks about beginning in real estate-one of many different investments she uses to achieve FI. Paula takes us through her most recent deal in Indianapolis from start to finish and we are able to cover so much ground. If you’ve been curious about out-of-state real estate investing this is the perfect episode to listen to. We talk about Paula’s “1% rule” (article linked below) and what we look for when starting to search for properties. Filtering through criteria is like filtering through a dating app. Sometimes you need to adjust your criteria and broaden your search before you “swipe left”. Paula takes us through how she was connected in a new market with investors and networking. She guides us through the negotiation process-and knowing when to let go of a property. We learn what an “escalation clause” is and how she utilized it in her process. We go through our thoughts on running the numbers-we are both “cash on cash returns” haters. Paula is a pro at zooming out to see the bigger picture. She analyzes how these investments contribute to wealth in the LONG term, while looking at the short-term opportunities. Paula has a comprehensive spreadsheet as a part of her course-which piqued my interest to track this. Her course covers EVERYTHING you’d need to get started in real estate including: finding a deal or creating a deal; local or out of state investing; financing; renovation vernacular; building your team; and buying negotiation. Enjoy the episode, I know you’re going to love it! Links and Resources https://affordanything.com/one-percent-rule-gross-rent-multiplier/ @paulapant on Instagram Podcast creation platform: https://anchor.fm or download the app Property Management Platform: www.avail.co

I’m so lucky to keep meeting awesome like-minded investors through this community, and that’s how I met Kier. We talk about everything from her real estate journey to comparing strategies to mindset and of course our favorite tasks to outsource. Kier grew up with real estate in her blood. Both of her parents were in real estate, and they brought her along for the ride…including helping with all the fun stuff like painting and cleaning out hoarder houses. By the time she graduated high school she was ready to go straight for real estate as a full-time career; but instead, she got her degree first and her real estate license. Once she had her w2 job and met her husband (a contractor how perfect is that?) they bought their first flip in cash. Soon Kier got a taste for cash flow and her real estate journey took off. We talk through her experience doing a live-in BRRR (buy, renovate, rent, refinance, repeat) and agree that inheriting tenants isn’t as scary as people make it out to be. We get into some of the nitty gritty of property management, comparing notes on tasks we outsource and what we take on ourselves. We realize everyone suffers from the comparison game and there is NO timeline you need to follow during the path to FI. The best part about this community is surrounding yourself with other like-minded investors that inspire you. Kier is also a fan of Jen and Joe Dellafave (episode 18 & 19) and is considering utilizing creative financing. She mentions some great auction websites to look at, and we compare tools for running the business. Kier has a lot of things to look forward to and I’m excited to see her continue this journey to FI! Check out her Instagram @realestate.kier and her courses, she has a ton of great resources to share. Enjoy the episode! LINKS Instagram: @realestate.kier Website: https://likemindedinvestors.co

Instagram is an amazing resource for meeting like-minded investors in the real estate community, and that’s actually how I connected with Casey from @brickbybrickwealth. We discover we have a lot in common, including that we are both “talkers”, so we get into a LOT during this episode. Casey began her career in SoCal and realized the 9-5 job with the long commute just wasn’t for her. She soon found her niche helping real estate investors. Fast forward to a move to Memphis with 2 kiddos, her husband and a cat. She tried her hand at running an Etsy shop, but she quickly realized her time is a limited resource, and you can only produce so many items in a day. Casey and her husband soon began investing in rental properties (5 total) all with 20% down and traditional mortgages. Casey and I talk about what we’ve learned from rehabbing rentals (you can probably leave that popcorn ceiling untouched), and how sometimes a late fee can be quite exciting for us landlords. We talk about our methods of running the cash flow numbers for a property, and agree that usually the best answer lies somewhere in between the worst and best case scenario. We compare tenant screening methods and our deal breakers, and we also talk about some of the things we just have to let slide.  Casey was encouraged by her sister to teach other people how to invest. She spent a year creating a 6 week immersive course to teach her process from start to finish—including helping others with out of state investing. You can check out Casey’s Instagram @brickbybrickwealth and her website brickbybrickwealth.com!

IT IS MAY 8.  You know what that means?  Um, sooo it is my BIRTHDAY.  YAY, 32.  I think this is ABOUT to be my greatest year yet (despite my strong belief that it is all rather blah on the birthday front after age 21).  So, I thought there would just be no better way to celebrate than to share this AWESOME podcast with my newest BFFs around the IG #reicommunity -- Ali & Josh aka @theficouple -- if you do not know these two yet, you are about to LOVE them. Their journey to financial independence began in 2017. Ali was about to graduate from her master’s program, and decided to add up how much they owed in student loans. It totaled over $100k! Like I did, Ali and Josh found Dave Ramsey and started the baby steps according to the total money makeover. They were planning a wedding, starting to make progress, and then Josh was laid off. Eventually they decided there had to be a faster way to pay off debt and eliminate expenses. Enter Bigger Pockets and Set for Life. Josh and Ali found their first house hack in 2018 and learned that sometimes no matter how great the numbers look on paper—location trumps all. By 2019 they had paid off $50k of student loans! In this episode we dive into the ins and outs of FHA loans and live-in flips (windows are EXPENSIVE), the tenant screening process, and how far you can go with networking and referrals. We discuss the real estate snowball and how we feel about using debt responsibly. Josh shares his advice for first time investors that is surprisingly simple (hint: is your personal budget in order?). If you came here looking for beauty tips, I share the best ways to deal with paint in your hair (occupational hazard). We discuss imposter syndrome and how much we grow as we go through this investing journey. We had a great conversation that I know so many of you will relate to. Enjoy the episode!

Today I’m sharing a PART 2 of my  conversation with Joe and Jenn DelleFave. If you haven’t listened to episode 18 yet, I would listen to that one first. There was just too much great content to edit this down to one episode! Jenn shares that the key to talking to people with confidence was creating a script for herself (genius) and the couple plans to create courses to help you do the same. Joe explained how Covid 19 pushed him into going “all-in” on their business. With 23 active deals (as of this episode) at one time, we talk about some of their best practices as business owners. They share how they knew when it was time to outsource some of their work, and what shifting from working IN their business to working ON their business looks like. Having a winning team is a crucial element for their success, as well as automation. They take time at the beginning of each month to reflect and write down their “wins” from the previous month—LOVE this idea. As long as you’re moving forward you are probably making more progress than you are giving yourself credit for. Jen talks about blocking her time out in her calendar, including family and personal time and creating boundaries. She also advises taking advantage of hiring an accountant. Its just SO worth it. Anything they can do to streamline and automate their business they do and continue to evaluate what's working for them.  I probe them on their personal finances and relationship to debt. We talk more about the advantages of their business model-and the fact that all of their debt is non-recourse debt. Most advice on creative financing is now outdated and things are changing quickly. Joe and Jenn have been fine tuning their skills with mentors, coaches and mastermind groups and are getting ready to share courses with you! Follow Jenn and Joe on Instagram @jenndellefave @josephdellefave Resources: https://www.avail.co/ https://www.patlive.com/

What comes to mind when you hear “creative financing”? In today’s episode I sit down with Joe and Jenn Della Fave to learn about their unique business model. I met Joe and Jenn through a like-minded investor group and was immediately intrigued when I heard their story. They bought their first flip together in 2008—such an ideal time to start in real estate investing right? Joe had watched his parents and grandparents invest in real estate, and had the benefit of seeing what worked, and what did not. Pretty quickly into their journey they realized they did not have interest in being landlords. They wanted to do things differently in a way that would work for them. Cue the infomercial VCR tapes (yes, that’s how Joe learned) and so began years of working within the “creative financing” umbrella. Joe and Jenn have created a business in which they are able to offer “rent-to-own” properties and deals that benefit them, the seller, and the future buyer. As Joe explains, “If you do real estate right, everybody wins”. They talk with me about what makes a great future tenant buyer and how having a tenant in a rent to own agreement is different from your typical renter. This all makes more sense as we go through an example “deal” and you really see how this works in action. (40:50) What exactly happens with that down payment from the tenant buyer? Tune in at 58:50 and they explain it all more clearly.  We talk about how the couple finds the perfect properties, oftentimes using leads from direct mail (I for sure took some tips from their letter campaigns) and the importance of having the right people on your team. We agree that Facebook is a great resource for reaching people interested in selling, as well as referrals. Ultimately networking with other investors brought great results as well. Joe and Jenn were so transparent during this interview and gave great examples with numbers, so by the end of this episode it will all start to click, I swear. We have more to discuss so look out for the continuation of this conversation!

So…you bought a rental property. Now what? David from @DIY_Landlord is back on the pod, and we are diving into the ins and outs of managing your properties. There is a TON of incredible advice shared in this episode, so I marked the highlights for you. Have a pen and paper ready and be prepared to reference this again and again. I am beyond excited to share this with you all! [3:19] Understand the laws—GOOGLE is your best friend here. -Try searching things from the tenant perspective, ie “how to stop my landlord from evicting me in xyz state”. - Know the basic safety regulations (smoke alarms, lead paint, etc). - How much notice do you need to give? When can you change rent? The more you understand, the less you’ll have to fear! [7:48] Tips on inheriting tenants: -understand who your tenants are before you even purchase the property -set expectations and provide guidelines for tenants (rent payment, what you are doing for them and what you aren’t) -use a letter of introduction: there’s a good sample on Bigger Pockets [13:55] Make sure your accountant loves you: -use a sheet for every property and list out your expense categories separately, including capital expenditures -pros/cons of accounting software: buildium, app folio, quickbooks (don’t worry excel or google works just fine for me) [26:30] Get informed delivery for your PO box and thank us later :) [28:10] Have a list of major contractors ready -you need HVAC, electrician, plumber, handy man (your local home improvement store often has a list!) -network with local real estate investors -see how things are fixed so you can troubleshoot things in the future and save yourself some cash [43:26] Marketing your properties [50:20] Formula for how you list, showing properties, etc. -features, location -include tenant qualifications [56:15] David’s tenant screening process -check for evictions -landlord reference (2-3 years) …these are valuable! Have some questions ready. -credit report -criminal history -income 3x the rent Resources you should check out! Cozy.co www.buildium.com www.appfolio.com Rently www.avail.co www.Rentometer.com Happy.co