Part 1 – Making the Decision

A couple of years ago, Jonny, was bit by the real estate investment bug. It began how most bug bites do – immediate, incessant, and intense. Top that with the kind of man he is – an obsessive top former, starved for information – and it was as though he spent an entire day in a swampland covered in sugar water. Investing in real estate was ALL he talked about. It was ALL he thought about. So, naturally, I became infected too.

Pregnant at the time and working full-time as a Probate Paralegal at an Estate Planning law firm, he eased me into it. First, by insisting that I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Let me pause here; if you were like me and had no idea of the true meaning of wealth and what it means to have your hard earned dollars work FOR you, open up a new tab in your browser, hop on Amazon, and order it NOW. You’re welcome.

Suddenly, the old bartender/waitress in me totally fine with making quick cash night after night, feeling okay with making payments on a never-ending car note and the Paralegal working dutifully for her paycheck was a bit enraged; why hadn’t I bothered to learn about this sooner?? Who was hiding these grand pearls of wisdom? With that frustration, came empowerment…and a commitment.

After thanking my husband, I was caught up and ready to look at our finances and goals for our growing family with a whole new set of lenses on. We dove in head first. Being the opportunity and connection magnet that he is, Jonny made friends with a group of successful Realtors and Wholesalers in Dallas, Texas and we were on our way.

Wholesaling real estate involves an investor buying a property or getting a property under contract and then selling the house or assigning the contract as quickly as possible. The investor may wholesale the property to another investor who will the fix up the property and rent it or flip it. In this scenario, we are investor number 2.

Anyone in California can probably understand why we chose Texas to begin our investment journey – comparatively, the costs (and therefore risk) are substantially lower. We entered into this with a goal to learn as much as we could and figured that any loss would be part of that learning experience. Being the young, soon-to-be-parents that we were, it made sense for us to go this route…while still being wildly unpredictable and risky enough for us to be slightly buzzing with those types of nerves you get when you know you could be on the brink of making a substantial life change.

My early on recommendations for anyone interested in getting into investing into real estate…

1. Do your homework. Wholesaling is not the only way to go and it isn’t necessarily the most practical for all because it does require being able to front cash at the drop of dime. Remember, these investors want to sell or assign the contract to the next person FAST. So, if you aren’t ready or able, you may miss out on opportunities.

2. Know your limits. Investing in the real estate market is EXCITING, but it’s also unpredictable. As hard as everyone involves tries to stick to a timeline, there are many unforeseen things that can cause delays. If you’ve put every bit of your cash and savings into a deal and then it suddenly gets pushed out several weeks or even months, that can be financially and emotionally devastating.

A lot of trust went into the decision to become remote investors. And a lot of growing pains. But, within 3 weeks of connecting with our remote team, we purchased our first property and, 55 days after that, sold it for a $10,000 profit. Our feet were wet and the fever caught. We were officially investors and flippers.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – Playing The Game!