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How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

Released Tuesday, 19th November 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

Tuesday, 19th November 2024
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Episode Transcript

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0:02

Welcome back to the open house podcast where women talk real estate.

0:05

I'm Christina Moderas. And today we're diving into a really unique journey with one of our community members,

0:06

Alicia Parker Smith.

0:13

So we talk about her leap from house hacking her first property to actually purchasing

0:13

land in Ghana after a super inspiring trip with her friends.

0:23

So her story is super cool and a testament to creativity and courage in real estate.

0:28

So as we release this episode, we're just three days away from closing our community

0:28

membership until mid 2025.

0:37

So if you've been wanting to make some big real estate moves, you whether that's buying

0:37

your first property or house hacking, exploring international investments or joining

0:47

forces with a friend, this is your chance to find the support, the resources and

0:47

connections to make it happen.

0:54

A reminder that open house education is a nationwide community where women can learn,

0:54

connect and get inspired to pursue real estate creatively.

1:02

So what do we all have in common?

1:05

You know, I started this group in August with a hundred founding members and really was

1:05

blown away at who joined.

1:12

So everyone here is driven, but really kind and thoughtful in the way that they approach

1:12

real estate.

1:20

Everyone is committed to learning and building wealth.

1:24

together in a fun and supportive space.

1:27

Many of these women are exploring partnerships with real estate and are open to the

1:27

possibility of actually meeting a woman in this space to partner with as well.

1:36

So we use the platform Circle and it's really easy to navigate and we have a handful of

1:36

forum channels as well as a space in there to watch old event recordings and to download

1:48

other resources as well. And we host two to three monthly events.

1:52

next one is actually this week, tomorrow actually.

1:55

So it's November 20th and led by community member Kara.

2:00

She recently sold a short-term rental property management company and is going to give us

2:00

like all her tips and tricks and also talk to us kind of about how the process of selling

2:12

that business went. I think she got top dollar for her system.

2:15

So I'm really interested in learning from her.

2:17

We also are rolling out an accountability partner program.

2:21

So that will be regular check-ins to keep you on track with your real estate goals.

2:25

I have had an accountability partner for the last eight years of my life on and off.

2:31

And it's really the only way that I'm able to accomplish any like big goal that I have

2:31

personal and business and real estate.

2:39

So we will be rolling that out very soon.

2:42

So like I said, I started this group in August and have seen the women in there already

2:42

get super tangible results.

2:49

you know, within, I'd say like the first one to three months, members are either buying a

2:49

property, finding a partner, or starting to implement their real estate strategies and

3:01

also figuring out what their real estate strategy is.

3:03

So yeah, I hope to see you in there this week and at the event with Kara tomorrow.

3:09

One more thing before we dive into the episode, I've been getting a lot of good questions

3:09

about our online community on our Instagram page.

3:16

So one woman just asked me, she's curious if it makes sense financially for her right now

3:16

to join the community because she's not actively looking to make any more investments at

3:28

the moment. And I responded with, yeah, totally fair.

3:33

I'm honestly, this is true. Like I'm not.

3:36

either. Like I'm not in a place in my life where I'm like actively searching for property.

3:40

Like I have my little nest egg and I'm happy with it growing it.

3:44

But it's been a really nice place to be around like minded women and share when things

3:44

come up at my current properties or in my even just like my own house if something comes

3:55

up. I like to share. I like to also I like to see the deals that come through because sometimes I'm like, maybe

3:56

I could throw so many at that.

4:03

to be a part of this property or this deal or this collaboration.

4:06

I really like to stay in the loop and keep my real estate brain fresh, if that makes

4:06

sense.

4:12

Okay, let's jump into today's episode with Alicia.

4:16

Okay, hi, Alicia, how's it going?

4:19

It's going well. Thank you for having me on this show.

4:21

Very excited for our conversation today. Yeah, me too.

4:24

Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

4:27

Yeah, of course. So my name is Alicia.

4:29

I live in Dallas, Texas currently.

4:32

I moved here earlier this year from Austin, Texas for a job opportunity.

4:37

And Austin is where I got connected with Open House.

4:41

But before living and moving to Texas, I was in North Carolina.

4:44

I grew up in a military family. So I did the whole moving around quite a few times in my younger years and went to school

4:46

in North Carolina as well.

4:52

what's your, I guess, what's your background before jumping in like for work?

4:56

I work in communications, corporate communications, doing PR.

5:00

That's my background. That's what I went to school for.

5:02

I originally thought I would open my own PR agency one day.

5:06

So the idea of like entrepreneurship has always been there.

5:09

I have since realized I do not want the lack of work-life balance that comes with owning

5:09

an agency.

5:17

And I've since looked for other options, which we're going to naturally talk about in our

5:17

episode today.

5:21

But yeah, so. Corporate Communications, Yeah, let's jump into the real estate side of things.

5:28

Do you want to talk about your first property?

5:30

I know it's a duplex, but I'm just interested in what drew you to that as your first

5:30

property.

5:37

A little bit of backstory really quick. When I moved to Austin, I was living in a house hack that I didn't even know was a house

5:39

hack.

5:44

And when the pandemic happened, my friend and I just started wanting to learn about real

5:44

estate.

5:50

That's when I came, actually a coworker of mine recommended your podcast to me.

5:56

started listening to your podcast. There's another podcast I found and I was just learning all about real estate investing

5:57

and the process of buying a house and the different ways you can do it.

6:05

And through that process is when I realized I was in a house.

6:08

Wait, was it cause your friend owned the house and she was renting it out to you?

6:12

I hear like, wait a second. Yeah.

6:15

I was like, wait. I can totally do this.

6:18

I'm like on the other side of it right now.

6:20

So that was definitely like a boost of confidence.

6:23

And then yeah, I got connected with Jen, one of the agents at Open House and she became my

6:23

real estate agent and walked me through process of buying my first property, which was a

6:33

layout wise, it's like a duplex, it's like an in-law suite.

6:36

So I guess you would call it more of a sneaky duplex situation, but I just refer to it as

6:36

a duplex.

6:40

And then also on paper it's referred to as a condo.

6:42

So it's just a very like. Strange setup, but we've made it work, a freestanding condo.

6:47

So I don't have to pay for the roof repairs, which was nice because it got repaired

6:47

earlier this year.

6:52

And the external walls you don't have to cover through the HOA, but you just have to worry

6:52

about the external and the internal part for like insurance and things of that nature.

7:00

So it's been a really interesting learning process, just learning about how that works on

7:00

paper when you have to like get things done, like a HELOC and insurance and all of that

7:09

stuff. Yeah, that's the first property I bought a sneaky duplex in a tertiary market.

7:15

So it's actually in a college town that is now really growing and expanding because Texas

7:15

is really on the up and up when you think of like Austin going south towards San Antonio.

7:25

And yeah, when I was in the process of looking for a property, my first house, I was on

7:25

the MLS daily.

7:33

Every listing that Jen sent me, I was like scrolling through and rolling the numbers,

7:33

running the numbers and

7:38

really came like a student of just the process in that regard.

7:41

And when we found this listing, I was like, my gosh, something about it just really stood

7:41

out.

7:46

And I know you're not supposed to get emotional about listings, but there was a little bit

7:46

of emotional component there, but more so of like a peace and a calmness that I didn't

7:54

necessarily feel when I was looking at other properties and analyzing other potential

7:54

deals.

7:59

And so we went toward it.

8:02

I still had that feeling. It made sense on paper.

8:04

We did the offer and things of that nature, which we'll probably talk about.

8:07

And my offer was accepted. So we went under contract and that became my first Amazing.

8:12

Okay. I didn't realize it was a sneaky duplex.

8:15

Okay. So, and you have an HOA and you're still able to house hack.

8:19

So this is, this is good because I love showcasing all the different ways that you can

8:19

make your first home an investment.

8:26

So yeah. So what did you do to make this like a duplex, I guess?

8:31

I actually forgot to mention too, I closed on my house, I think it was like just a week

8:31

before my birthday too.

8:39

So that was like my big birthday present to myself.

8:41

It was a year a cool like personal, think it was my 24th 24th birthday, that's even

8:41

better.

8:47

21, yeah. Wow. So it yeah, it was just like a really cool like little personal milestone moment.

8:54

But yeah, I... As far as the layout of the house, it's three full bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and it

8:56

has two kitchens with like a full kitchen, really.

9:05

It's stove, stove, sink, and fridge.

9:08

It is 1,600 square feet, and that includes the garage.

9:13

So it's a top, bottom duplex.

9:16

So on the bottom floor is the garage for the top unit.

9:20

And then there is a one bedroom, one bath.

9:23

That's about 500-ish square feet.

9:26

And then there's like a really thin like side hallway that will take you upstairs from the

9:26

garage.

9:31

And that's where you have the other two bedrooms, the two baths.

9:34

The master is considered upstairs, even though the bottom bedroom I think is technically

9:34

bigger.

9:39

But the master's upstairs and then it has this really cool like wraparound porch.

9:43

But yeah, it's about 1600 square feet. And I was staying in the smaller portion because I had this really...

9:50

interesting phase where I was like obsessed with tiny houses and if you're familiar with

9:50

like the fire movement there's people in the fire movement who like did the tiny house so

9:57

they're debt-free and things of that nature and that's how I kind of got interested in it

9:57

and so I thought I made more business sense and I was also comfortable living in smaller

10:05

spaces so I ended up living in the smaller space and then renting out the larger space

10:05

where I was able to make more money.

10:11

Wow this is amazing okay so I

10:14

I'm trying to wrap my head around this property because so also it is basically a true

10:14

duplex because a sneaky duplex is when you section off part of your home and usually that

10:25

part that you section off doesn't have a kitchen.

10:27

It's usually acting as like a hotel room.

10:31

I mean, you can always add a kitchen, but it's just harder.

10:33

when you bought this property, had the people before you set this up like that, like they

10:33

had added this kitchen and everything.

10:41

So that was the floor plan of the property, like how the house was built.

10:44

And the person I bought the house from, were investors, they're investors that moved to

10:44

California and they're just offloading it.

10:50

So there's like this door that connects both sides of the houses together, the top and

10:50

bottom side.

10:56

And so what I did was just seal it off with like some soundproofing and things of that

10:56

nature, which was like maybe like a $200 investment or less.

11:04

And I didn't, yeah, I didn't have like any heavy capital I had to put in because the floor

11:04

plan already worked out.

11:09

to make it a duplex and it was already operating as a duplex with the previous owners.

11:13

Wow. so when you bought the property, was it with financing and stuff, was it seen as a single

11:14

family home or a duplex?

11:22

Single family? On paper, it's a single family home, which is really weird.

11:26

Again, it's been a really weird learning process with this property on paper.

11:31

Okay, interesting. This is like a curveball for even me.

11:34

I love it. I love how creative you can truly be with real estate.

11:39

Do you mind sharing some of the numbers? How much was this property?

11:44

How much did it cost for the mortgage? Yes.

11:47

So in the offer and my closing documents, because I took a look at them before our

11:47

conversation, so I did a conventional loan for about $241.

11:57

And I remember the lender I work with, which was recommended through you all, and she was

11:57

a phenomenal lender.

12:02

She recommended a conventional loan for my financial situation over doing a FHA.

12:07

So we did that. We did 3 % down that I could take advantage of as first time home buyer.

12:12

I had a 3 % interest rate. And when we did the offer, Jim was also really creative about how we did the offer.

12:19

So we include an escalation cause because when I bought this house, was during the frantic

12:19

craziness of the housing market.

12:27

This was in 2021. And Austin was one of those cities being mentioned in the news frequently with how insane

12:29

it was and how...

12:35

impossible it felt to buy a house.

12:37

So we had to get really creative to make it work.

12:39

And so we had an escalation clause. I think the offer was 300 and then the escalation was up to 310.

12:46

And then the second offer, I remember when Jen called me to tell me that my offer was

12:46

accepted.

12:52

Good thing we did the escalation clause because if I would have just did 300, I probably

12:52

would have lost the deal because the second highest offer was 305.

13:00

But because we had that escalation clause,

13:02

we were able to get the deal. Interesting.

13:04

OK, cool. Yeah. That's definitely a strategy that was being used a lot during that time.

13:11

I would say now the market's cooled down, which honestly I think is way better.

13:16

You can get even better deals.

13:19

I just don't like making an offer when there's like 20 other people who are doing it too.

13:25

It just feels, it doesn't feel great.

13:27

It's stressful. But yeah, I love that you were able to get something during that time and something within

13:29

your budget, something that you have made like a true investment.

13:38

Because I really, I don't think just buying a house and just like, sometimes I don't think

13:38

it's always an investment, you know, like you can buy something that will make you quote

13:46

unquote house poor. Your mortgage is high.

13:49

It's kind of like a burden, but you definitely didn't go down that route and you are house

13:49

hacking.

13:56

How long did you live in that property?

13:59

before moving? So I had just moved out earlier this year so about three to a little under three full

14:01

years and I moved just when I moved out of the property because I was moving out of Austin

14:11

and I do want to caveat going back to like the numbers of my deal and something that I

14:11

thought was out of reach for me but didn't really know was actually available for people

14:21

who are listening and probably like researching real estate, a lot of people talk about like OPM,

14:22

other people's money.

14:27

And one of the ways people often talk about us like asking family members.

14:31

And I remember when I was going through the process of learning how to buy like, going

14:31

through the process of learning how to buy a house and just learning about the real estate

14:37

market. I did not think OPM.

14:41

be a family member was an option for me at all.

14:44

I was like, I do not come from that kind of family.

14:46

Like, I don't have someone who's just gonna give me $100,000 or whatever the case may be.

14:51

But my parents really saw my dedication to see this through and find a deal.

14:56

And it just so happened that the timing lined up where my parents could start accessing

14:56

their retirement funds without the age penalty.

15:04

And because that timing aligned perfectly, my parents were willing to take out, willing

15:04

and able to take some money out of their

15:10

for their retirement fund to give toward gifting this house.

15:14

And so I was able to, again, going back to like how insane the market was at the time and

15:14

all these cash offers, I was able to present that type of cash incentive, right?

15:24

Because I bought the house for way more than it was appraising for at the time.

15:28

And I did get, know, everything ended up balancing out with appraisals for the property

15:28

now.

15:33

But. Yeah, that was an interesting situation that I didn't think was possibility but really was

15:34

and for people who that truly might not be a possibility There are programs out there and

15:44

companies you can work with that kind of act as like the rich uncle Like I used to call it

15:44

where they're able to help present offers ash cast as cash offers again We're not really

15:53

in a market where that's needed anymore. Thankfully Yeah, but it is it is an option for some people where that doesn't make sense.

16:00

I love that you brought that up because

16:03

Yeah, like I and that's exactly what we're doing at our in our community in the open house

16:03

education community.

16:10

Like I want women to meet other women and, you know, potentially buy together because you

16:10

just never know.

16:19

You never know who's in your back pocket, who you could potentially partner with.

16:23

And if you don't ask and you're not even like in that right, I guess, like headspace to

16:23

know what to ask or like how to ask or whatever you're you.

16:32

you might not think it's for you. And I'm glad that you brought that up because I think a lot of people, when they hear

16:33

people like, I partnered, like my parents helped or like I'm partnering with my parents, I

16:43

presented that to them. They kind of write it off and they're like, well, I couldn't do that.

16:47

But you're like, well, did you, you know, did you ask?

16:50

Like, did you present it in a way that they could see the benefit for them as well?

16:55

You know, did you try even before that?

16:58

like, so they could see that, like,

17:00

take you seriously, like you said.

17:02

They saw how hard you were working and yeah, it was a, I'm sure, benefit for them as well.

17:10

you know, yeah, so I love that you brought that up.

17:13

Yeah. And that actually, so, yeah, before we move on from numbers, do you, how much was your

17:15

monthly mortgage payment?

17:24

My first year, it was about $1,500.

17:29

Under 1600 just under 1600 and I was renting out the unit for that price so the way I

17:29

structured the Expenses for this duplexes because both units are on the same utilities I

17:42

have like a utility stipend basically so as long as utilities stay under $400 a month I

17:42

would pay for that out of pocket along with the HOA fee and then if it goes above to Above

17:53

$400 a month. There was like a percentage big down on the

17:56

on the square footage of each unit to cover that extra cost.

18:00

that helped.

18:02

So when I was living there and house hacking, I was basically only paying like 500 bucks

18:02

to live in my house.

18:08

was the $400 of utilities and the HOA.

18:10

And then now that I've moved out, I'm cash flowing about $500.

18:14

That's great. That's amazing.

18:16

So long-term renting are both units now?

18:19

Yes, this is kind of, guess, a con of HOAs.

18:23

My HOA doesn't allow STRs at the moment.

18:26

So I'm, you know, limited to the long term rental situation.

18:31

But it's been a really cool process finding long term tenants and building relationships

18:31

with them.

18:36

I've really started to enjoy the property management side, which we'll talk about a little

18:36

bit later.

18:40

But yeah, it's been it's been a fun process.

18:42

Do you mind sharing like how you found tenants and like

18:48

how that whole process goes. feel like people might hear your story and be like, wow, she just like went from, you

18:49

know, renting and then like being a homeowner and then she also had to find tenants.

18:58

Like, so when you were living there, you kind of had to find tenants pretty quickly,

18:58

right?

19:03

Yeah, I think the same month I closed, I was looking for tenants that same month.

19:09

Also, I closed in July and again, I mentioned a college town, like July was like ending

19:09

the hot season to really find or have the biggest batch of tenants available.

19:18

So I was kind of working against the clock. I learned a lot about finding tenants in my time owning this property.

19:26

I remember my realtor, she told me when I was closing on the house, she was like, you

19:26

don't really need to use a property management to find companies.

19:36

There's a whole community, there's resources, there's people to support you.

19:39

You can look at stuff online. There's, you know, certain, like, additional rights you have when you live at the house

19:41

versus just, you know, renting it out completely.

19:48

And kind of what you were saying earlier, alluding to earlier, I was so overwhelmed with

19:48

just the home buying process.

19:54

And I just, kind of threw myself in there and was just learning so much.

19:58

was like, I don't know if I can tackle, like, property manager on top of that and learning

19:58

the laws and everything.

20:03

So. I definitely psyched myself out, hindsight being 2020.

20:07

I definitely could have, did both on my own.

20:10

And I worked for the property management company a first year, did not work with them

20:10

again.

20:16

And I started finding tenants on my own and using listings.

20:20

There's different listing sites and some property management software companies have

20:20

listing components to them.

20:25

So you can kind of do your research and figure out what site works the best for you and

20:25

your situation.

20:31

There's Facebook posts and then communities like Open House have been really helpful in

20:31

giving tips about posting, listings for the post, the copy you're using, advice when

20:41

you're of like screening for tenants, so you're making sure you're doing it in an ethical

20:41

way.

20:45

But it's definitely something that you can self-manage.

20:48

And then I used a listing locator kind of sort of company this last time around when I was

20:48

renting out the...

21:00

The second part of my house, just because I was already moving, I was already in Dallas at

21:00

that point and I couldn't do the back and forth to do open houses.

21:07

So from a convenience standpoint, I outsourced that, but I had a great relationship with

21:07

them and they found some really great tenants and it was a really good partnership.

21:14

So in the cases where you do have to work with someone like a, a realtor or a, property

21:14

locator company, property management company who does locating, just finding a really good

21:23

relationship where you work well together. But in other cases, you can really do this on your own, especially with community.

21:29

Yeah, that's totally fair. Yeah, I've used like Zillow before in Facebook.

21:35

think Facebook's like the best now to find people because you can like check on their

21:35

profile.

21:39

I don't know who uses Facebook still though. It's like, know, I of listings on Facebook.

21:46

Okay. But okay.

21:48

So yeah, how did you find I okay, I think property management companies, it's a really

21:48

hard job, but they're, they get a bad rep.

21:56

But it's also really hard to find a good property management company.

22:00

So you said you found like a, almost like a, like they help you find tenants, like a

22:00

locator.

22:07

How did you find like a reputable company?

22:10

Trellin Errer. My first experience was so sour.

22:14

I just happened to learn a lot from it.

22:17

And that gave me a lot of wisdom moving forward.

22:20

And then also just like asking folks questions about like, what questions should I be

22:20

asking a locator?

22:26

How do you know if they're going to really go the extra mile?

22:30

When you're signing contracts with different locators, there's normally a percentage of

22:30

rent that they're going to take.

22:36

Normally people who have a higher percentage of rent tend to take your listing more

22:36

seriously.

22:39

That's kind of just how it happens sometimes.

22:41

So negotiating a deal that works for both parties.

22:45

But I think there's an intuitiveness.

22:49

I don't know if you can relate to this as well, or maybe it's just me being alone here.

22:53

There's this intuitiveness instinct I've just felt a lot through the real estate buying

22:53

process and being a landlord.

23:00

And you just know. You know what I mean?

23:02

I think we just know.

23:05

Trust your intuition. You do have to get your hands dirty a little and make some quote unquote errors.

23:13

But you learn so much from that.

23:15

And then next time you're like, I'm going to ask.

23:19

this question now or like, I'm getting a weird vibe from this person in the attitude

23:19

they're giving or like the way they're communicating.

23:25

And I totally agree that, yeah, trust your instincts there.

23:29

Okay, so when you were moving to Dallas and, you know, you had to go from living in the

23:29

space to fully renting it out, was that hard to let go of your like personal space?

23:43

Or were you just like, ready to move on and have it become like a full investment

23:43

property?

23:49

Yeah, I knew when I bought this property, I was eventually going to move out completely.

23:54

When I bought it, I thought I would move out sooner, but life happened.

23:58

Especially in subsequent years when layoffs became a bigger thing and I was impacted by

23:58

that.

24:03

And that kind of just changed up my timeline a little bit.

24:06

So when I was thinking about moving out completely, that was the same time I actually got

24:06

the job.

24:11

So I was like, okay, well, this kind of answers the question for me.

24:14

I can't really track my feet here.

24:17

And I was excited about it, but also a little anxious and getting in my own head.

24:21

think one of the things for me, one of my biggest hurdles has been like the mental hurdles

24:21

of just like the unknown and, taking risks.

24:29

but yeah, I.

24:32

I needed that push to get out of that property because I really wanted to buy something

24:32

new and start looking at other things, but I would keep psyching myself out and it just

24:40

elongated the process. And so this was something that really shocked my system.

24:44

One thing I was afraid of was like, okay, what if I move out and I have this mortgage and

24:44

maybe I have a vacancy and the tenant rent is not paying for all of it.

24:55

And then I have another mortgage. What am I going do?

24:57

Am I going to go bankrupt and all those. But things work itself out.

25:00

There's numbers to run. can conserve, you know, can contingency plan essentially for these and have a good amount

25:01

of reserve.

25:07

So I try to stick to the numbers when I get really emotionally overwhelmed in my head.

25:14

And you know, since moving out completely, I think it's given me that boost of confidence

25:14

to really see being a landlord and building my portfolio as something that's more

25:24

achievable to scale because I'm not so emotionally.

25:27

tied to it, like, you know, an example of living under the roof that I'm renting out as

25:27

well.

25:33

From moving to Austin to Dallas, what did you buy something else or what was your next

25:33

move from there?

25:39

Yeah, so because it was a very quick move, I started renting again, which is interesting.

25:47

At first I was like, kind of whatever about it, but I'm learning to enjoy the process.

25:51

so I'm looking at options to buy multifamilies when my lease is up.

25:57

So that is the next goal is to continue buying or I've even started getting interested in

25:57

studying business acquisitions.

26:06

So I think those are my two options when my lease is up, either buying a company that's

26:06

kind of in the real estate industry because I really think ultimately I'm going to be in

26:14

the real estate industry in some capacity. Or if I find a really, really good multifamily deal here or a deal that I can structure to

26:16

be a good deal.

26:21

I'm doing that. kind of two course, two paths I can take.

26:27

Yeah. But I'm pretty sure that you like kind of went, didn't skipped over this land situation.

26:36

Definitely. When did that happen?

26:39

You're like, yeah, I didn't buy anything.

26:41

like, what about the overseas land that you said you bought?

26:45

Yes. OK. So this was very interesting.

26:49

So there is an organization, an old coworker of mine started called Black Women Invest.

26:54

And it's a networking group where they talk about real estate, stock investments, a whole

26:54

bunch of different things.

27:00

I've heard of this. Yeah.

27:02

Shello, she's awesome. And so she does trips overseas, real estate investing trips.

27:07

And so I went to one of her brunches last year.

27:10

She mentioned that she was going to Ghana in the summer of 2024.

27:13

I had always wanted to go to West Africa.

27:17

And it was hard to find people who wanted to go to West Africa with me.

27:21

I was like, well, I don't want to go alone. So when I was at this brunch and she was talking about the trip, I was like, my gosh, this

27:23

is my ticket to go.

27:27

And I get to learn about real estate. so in the process of going for the trip,

27:31

Before we even left to go to Ghana, we were meeting with lawyers and their versions of

27:31

real estate agents, brokers, and just learning about the real estate market there.

27:43

And even during all of this research, I didn't think I was going to buy anything.

27:47

I was like, this is going to be a really cool learning experience.

27:50

I'm going to enjoy my time in Ghana, and I'm going to come back to the US.

27:55

And so when we got there, we toured a ton of different.

27:59

and attended different areas in Accra, on the coast, just all over.

28:03

And we ended up finding toward the end of trip some raw land that was available.

28:09

it's outside the city of Accra, but it's kind of going out into the hills.

28:15

The best way can describe it for people who live in Texas is like the equivalent of buying

28:15

something in Wimmerly, like the Hill Country, and its proximity to Austin, but a little

28:22

bit closer because you can still see like the skyline and stuff like that.

28:26

So it was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking and yeah, raw land there and that area is

28:26

kind of more of an affluent area anyways.

28:35

And so we got some, we heard about a really good deal on plots of land being sold by a

28:35

developer and...

28:40

We literally all jumped on it. I was the last person to jump on this.

28:44

So there was four other women who bought plots.

28:48

So we all bought plots of land in the same area.

28:50

So we're going to be in the same neighborhood and neighbors when it's all said and done.

28:55

They all got two plots. There was only one available.

28:58

I only had one Wow. We're like FOMO I just got my one.

29:01

I know. We're doing this.

29:05

my gosh. And so yeah, it was a...

29:08

The plot of land was equivalent of about $5,500 American dollars.

29:12

And it's about 1.16 acres, so roughly a little under 7,000 square feet.

29:21

So a smaller plot of land, but still able to work some construction there for potential

29:21

investing opportunities, or if I just want to hold the land for a couple years and sell it

29:31

back and flip it. The transaction process for them, it's mainly a lawyer that you're working with.

29:38

in the States where you have like your agent and your lender, since we were essentially

29:38

doing all cash for these deals, didn't need lending options.

29:46

We just worked with a lawyer who was in direct contact with the developer for the

29:46

contracts.

29:52

The lawyer cost about 3000 American dollars and then some miscellaneous expenses with

29:52

contractors surveying the land, getting some people to do some quotes for fencing and

30:01

things of that nature, which is probably... going to be about an additional $2,500 when it's all said and done.

30:08

yeah, just a little over $10,000 to have a piece of land internationally.

30:15

I have so many questions and I don't even know where to start with this.

30:19

Like, how did they pick Ghana?

30:21

why did she have ties to Ghana?

30:24

Like, how did she like pick Ghana?

30:26

So she had a relationship with a

30:30

Essentially the equivalent of a real estate brokerage in the area and one of their main

30:30

points of pushing and doing business with is people of diaspora, the African diaspora,

30:39

because we're all over the country. Ghana has also made a really big effort to bring more members of the diaspora home for

30:41

tourism.

30:46

They did a really big tourism push a handful of years ago.

30:50

And so there's been a really big interest in people investing.

30:52

There's also lot of American celebrities that invest in Ghana.

30:55

think Jay-Z owns quite a bit of land there and there's a lot of

30:59

American developers starting to go there to do projects similar to like, you know, either

30:59

selling plots of raw land or developing townhouses or condos or really, it's a very cool

31:13

process to get to be involved in.

31:15

And I feel like it's kind of an early enough stage where you're seeing the results that

31:15

people are having, but it's not super crowded and congested.

31:22

And it's a really cool opportunity to learn about

31:26

Yeah, what real estate looks like in other countries.

31:29

my gosh. 100%. Like what a cool opportunity and like seemingly kind of like cheap grad school for you to

31:30

real estate grad school for you to like really learn about something that like who else is

31:43

going to be teaching you this? Like you got to go there.

31:46

You got to learn from the people there and like, yeah, that's, that's really cool.

31:52

what was, you know, when, how did they convince you to buy like?

31:56

I feel like a lot of women are like, okay, I want to buy a house with my friend, but I

31:56

don't even know where to like, how do I get them to take me seriously?

32:03

So when these women were like, okay, we're buying this land.

32:07

Were you just like, I'm in or were you like, what did you hear to be like, I'm in?

32:14

Yeah, I think it's so interesting because to be completely honest with you going back to

32:14

like the confidence you have when you

32:22

when you partner with people on deals and you buy a house with friends or a family member

32:22

and things that we talk about in the open house.

32:30

I don't think I would have bought the land if it was just me.

32:33

I think I would have been way too scared and intimidated and just overwhelmed with the

32:33

experience.

32:38

But the fact I had other people who were going to be with me during the process, we used

32:38

the same lawyers, we got on Zoom calls together and chatted with each other.

32:45

We made sure that we were all comfortable, though at the end of the day, we were all

32:49

buying individual plots of land for ourselves, we were in it together.

32:53

And that kind of camaraderie, I think, was the confidence we all needed to really go

32:53

through with the deal.

33:00

just the value of the land, that's a crazy cheap deal to be able to get.

33:07

I mean, I don't know what a plot of land in Wimberley, Texas would cost, but.

33:10

It would be a lot of money. Not 56, or how much did you say?

33:15

5,500, yeah. Not 5,500.

33:17

Yeah. So yeah.

33:19

It made sense. The math made sense.

33:22

then having people who were going to be alongside you in that process, who you weren't

33:22

doing alone, really make the difference.

33:29

God, I love, this is so cool. And I love your attitude towards it.

33:32

It's so true. All these women were doing this, and you could share the resources.

33:38

It's like, why not jump in?

33:41

together and do this. Like you're on this trip, this real estate investing trip.

33:44

And yeah, I love that so much.

33:47

my gosh. Okay. So what now?

33:51

Like what did you all buy this?

33:54

Like I heard you said, you know, you might hold it for a couple of years.

33:57

Did you have immediate plans? we like, this just seems like a cool thing to do a good idea long term.

34:04

I'm going to buy it, figure it out as I go. Or did you have a plan?

34:08

I had generally a sense of option A is I would just flip it and hold it for a while.

34:13

And option B, I would just take my time to build on it.

34:17

Another thing in the culture, they don't really believe in debt the same way Americans do.

34:23

And so what you'll have people do oftentimes is they'll buy land, they'll fence it.

34:29

And then when they have money to start building the foundation, then they'll build the

34:29

foundation.

34:34

When they have money to start building the next phase of the house, then they'll build the

34:34

next phase.

34:38

You know, a house would take maybe five to 10 years to build there versus, you know, here

34:38

where we just, you know, take out loans for things.

34:45

So the idea, even if I want to hold and build on a long-term is something that's already a

34:45

part of their culture.

34:51

So that's something I don't feel like I'm necessarily like losing out on or missing out on

34:51

taking a longer process if I decide to hold it long-term.

34:59

But option A is definitely to hold it for a couple of years and then evaluate if it makes

34:59

sense to sell and potentially buy something else in the area.

35:07

Wow, cool. So I am assuming then you didn't really look into how much it would cost to build house or

35:08

did you hear around how much it is?

35:15

Depending on the developer you use, probably we were getting different quotes like smaller

35:15

houses, probably about $86,000 American dollars.

35:22

And if you want bigger houses, probably $180,000 to $200,000 American dollars.

35:30

Okay, got it. So way more affordable than

35:35

Texas to do.

35:38

Okay, cool. Well, so were the other women also in the same boat as you like that they were probably

35:39

just going to hold it?

35:46

I think most of them are planning to build.

35:48

And eventually retire there or or like, it down to children?

35:54

my gosh. So cool.

35:57

yeah, the all the creative things you could do.

36:00

with this. absolutely. And I always knew I wanted to eventually buy something overseas.

36:04

I had no idea truly that I would be doing it so soon.

36:08

But when opportunities happen and you have the resources and availability to do it, just

36:08

kind of go for it.

36:14

totally. The amount of houses in Italy my friend sends me and I'm like, wait, but what does that

36:16

mean?

36:23

Like, how do we do it? Like these castles that are like $10,000 and you're like, but wait, what?

36:29

I can't comprehend, like, yeah, what kind of option to buy over there?

36:36

Is it way different? You know, it's so cool that you were able to go over there and all figure it out together.

36:42

Because, I'm baffled by this.

36:45

I want to hear more stories of people buying in different countries because it's such a

36:45

new territory for me as well.

36:54

But yeah, I'm interested to keep... like hearing the updates because, you did have an update.

36:59

Tell us what was going on. You said there was a little bit of a drama with the developer.

37:05

my gosh. So a good learning lesson when you think of like buying land internationally, the legal

37:06

implications of you not being a citizen of that country.

37:15

so in a situation with Ghana, only Ghanaians can own land freehold.

37:21

anyone else who's not a citizen of the country, you basically have land leases that last

37:21

about 50 years.

37:26

So every 50 years you have to get it renewed.

37:29

There's situation, there's some essentially high level, there's some workarounds to that.

37:34

And we were told we could do a workaround.

37:37

And so we all were going through this deal with the idea that we would have a workaround

37:37

and when it was time for the workaround to happen.

37:44

They didn't want to do the work around anymore. So that caused some drama about like some people, some of the ladies weren't even sure if

37:46

they still wanted to go through with the deal.

37:52

For me, because like I mentioned, I would probably flip it.

37:55

That's my primary exit strategy right now.

37:58

I didn't really care as much about it.

38:00

But if you're going to invest in the land, build a house, kind of capital and then...

38:07

either retire there or want to give it to your children at some point, it does have an

38:07

implication.

38:12

So we were able to work it out.

38:15

Literally, I got an email update today.

38:17

So very thankful that it looks like all of this is over with.

38:21

And so we'll look at the contract signed the leasing contract portion sign.

38:26

But the land is already ours. Thankfully, I've had the land since I think early mid October now.

38:32

So are they agreeing to the workaround then?

38:35

And so then Okay, awesome.

38:38

essentially, you know, the other women who bought and if they want to like retire there,

38:38

whatever, they're, they're all set.

38:45

Okay. Awesome. Yeah, I want you're you got to share in in in our circle community in our open house

38:46

community of like, I'm going to definitely post this episode in there.

38:55

But you're you're gonna have to keep us updated in there of like, what's going on?

38:58

Because I'm so so curious. Absolutely.

39:01

I would love to do a lunch and learn to probably after I get it.

39:03

So I have a a better picture to show.

39:06

yeah, let's do a linch and learn on this.

39:08

Yes, you should. Okay, let's see where I'm like, what else?

39:12

Where do we even go from here? It's like that was I feel like you have such a good attitude towards everything that's

39:13

kind of come your way with with real estate in general, even talking about this developer

39:24

situation. It seems like you've had like a pretty good attitude towards it.

39:28

And I know real estate can be very stressful at times like

39:32

There's a lot of new things, like you said, like that you have to deal with and you know,

39:32

you're not taught this in school.

39:38

It's really you have to like go in and jump in and, you know, do it.

39:43

So what like what would you tell someone who's about to jump in and they're too scared?

39:49

Like I think a lot of us are like, we're going to do that in two years.

39:52

It's always a two year timeline. And I'm like, what you know, what would you tell someone who's like

40:00

Waiting for two years for the next 10 years, like how do you get them to like make a move?

40:05

Yeah, I think, I think as someone there are definitely deals I could have acted on that I

40:05

didn't act on out of fear.

40:13

And I definitely kick myself about that now.

40:15

And I think that's probably a shared experience with a lot of people when they're starting

40:15

out and maybe even more, you know, seasoned experience people in the real estate industry.

40:23

And I think that pain of what if has been part of the reason to

40:28

springboard me into taking action when a deal makes sense.

40:33

This is going to sound extreme, one thing I think about is like, but did I die though?

40:38

It's been really crazy. Like I have cried.

40:41

I have lost thousands of dollars.

40:44

I had had tenants who were insane personality wise and, and you know, do crazy things to

40:44

your property.

40:52

And those are some really dark moments where you're like,

40:55

my gosh, this is really for me. But even in those moments, I was like, I'm not going to let this get the best of me.

41:00

I'm not going to let this scare me away because there's something about just owning

41:00

property, being a landlord, being in this process and being in the real estate industry

41:09

that I really feel like a calling toward, you know, and I really feel like my strengths

41:09

show up well here.

41:14

And so one thing I think about also as from a perspective standpoint is what

41:20

Decisions can I make today that my future self will be proud of and thankful for.

41:25

And I use that insight daily when making decisions.

41:29

I am so happy and thankful that the Olicia in 2021 bought that house because it gave me so

41:29

many opportunities that I would not have today.

41:39

And I've told all my friends and I joke with people I'm like if we become friends you're

41:39

gonna end up buying a house.

41:45

Yes, I talk about Home ownership so much because it's such a beautiful thing and there's

41:45

so many ways to become a homeowner You don't have to do it the traditional way where you

41:55

buy a house and you live in that same house for 30 years There's so many pathways to home

41:55

ownership now and so many benefits of it And so for people who want to do and have an

42:04

interest in it. I love educating them about

42:07

about the process. I'm always telling them about open house.

42:09

I'm like, follow them, listen to their podcast.

42:11

This is who I am.

42:15

I want people to have the experience or the feeling that I feel that that sense of pride

42:15

and thankfulness and gratitude knowing, yeah, I made the right decision a couple years

42:24

ago. I'm super grateful for that now.

42:26

And the confidence that you get from just doing that first jumping into that first

42:26

property, it's, you know, it's mind blowing.

42:34

I was like a totally different person.

42:36

And I know that comes with age as well, but like it also comes with the experiences you

42:36

put yourself in right?

42:43

And if I can be like super honest when I like I I bought my first house and tending to be

42:43

a landlord I did all the research and knowing like there's gonna have to be fixes and

42:52

you're have to be like have a reserves prepared and all these things I'm gonna be honest

42:52

with y'all.

42:57

I did not know how to install a fan. I did not know how to do basic like handy work around the house

43:03

But I learned it. And so if you're listening to this and you're like, OK, well, if I buy a house and

43:04

something breaks, what am I going to do?

43:08

Well, you can have money and pay for someone to do it. But you can also learn these things yourself.

43:12

And that's a whole other empowerment journey, knowing that you know your house.

43:17

You get to learn the quirks about your house and the intricacies of your house and just

43:17

have the confidence to know, OK, if my tenant calls me up because the toilet is having an

43:25

issue. I can go over there and fix it or have someone go over that same day and get it resolved.

43:32

And so those things also help add to the building blocks of confidence as a landlord and

43:32

investor.

43:38

my gosh. I love that you said that because I too did not know how to change a ceiling fan.

43:43

I am going to be honest that I still don't.

43:47

And when I bought my house, I was like YouTubing everything, even how to install blinds.

43:54

Then I literally the day like a week later, I met my partner He's so handy he I literally

43:54

started putting work I was like, can you install this like dishwasher?

44:06

Can you do this that and then like now I feel Now I have a handy man who lives with me But

44:06

before that like, you I

44:18

was trying to do, I YouTube'd it, you you can, you can YouTube anything, you can do it.

44:23

And also if you don't want to do that, you can hire that out.

44:26

Like you just need to know, you need, that's why our community is so good because you need

44:26

to know like what is actually expensive and what is worth me like trying to figure out.

44:35

And you can do that, you can know that before jumping into a project.

44:41

But God, I just, I think that, you know, everything you've been doing, Alicia is just like

44:41

so cool and I'm

44:47

so thankful that you're in our community and have, you you're just like bringing up

44:47

experiences that like I don't even know about like, right?

44:58

I can't know everything. You can't know everything.

45:01

We are here to learn from each other.

45:03

And yeah, I'm just so thankful that you came on the podcast.

45:07

Absolutely. And I would just add to the community aspect.

45:11

There are masterminds that I paid for.

45:15

like thousands of dollars for shame that do not amount to like some of the knowledge I've

45:15

learned and just being a part of the open house education.

45:25

And thank you so much for starting the founders member group, just even being a founding

45:25

member.

45:30

And I remember when we were doing like all the introductions and I saw all of these women

45:30

who like own STRs and land and have all these cool investments.

45:39

it was. so inspiring and challenging at the same time and also refreshing to see all these women

45:40

out here already doing it.

45:47

think sometimes when you don't have your group yet within the real estate industry or just

45:47

any industry or hobby or interest you have, it can feel very lonely.

45:55

But when I was scrolling through all the people and hearing their backgrounds, was like,

45:55

my gosh, my people, where have you all been?

46:01

Literally. It's been amazing to see people doing it, being able to ask questions.

46:07

Being in a community where it's safe to ask questions, because yeah, you can pop your

46:07

question on a Facebook page that's free, but you're probably gonna get some people talking

46:15

to you sideways. Let's just be honest. my gosh, Having that safe experience to be able to get an answer and get helpful resources

46:18

and learn the cool things that people are doing, the projects that they're working on.

46:26

I think a big part of this journey, because it's not like a job, it's not like going to

46:26

school, being in real estate is...

46:33

it's all another thing and when you don't have community, I feel like, at least for me,

46:33

I've moved slower.

46:39

I've questioned myself more and I've gotten stuck more, but having community, having

46:39

people around you who have done it or are doing it that you can learn from, learn

46:48

together, dream bigger, think bigger.

46:50

There's so many things I didn't think, like you were saying, that I didn't think were even

46:50

possibilities that I now know are possibilities and know people who are doing them.

46:58

It's been such a tremendous help.

47:00

and yeah, I just, love you guys.

47:03

thank you so much. I'm like in a launch and I wasn't even going to ask you about the community and like,

47:04

sorry, my brain, but yeah, like I, I'm, I was blown away by like who joined and everyone's

47:17

stories. And I was like, this is what my 22 year old self was like desperately wanting and have

47:17

been desperately wanting ever since.

47:25

And, you know, you know, I was.

47:29

totally blown away by who joined and everyone is just very kind, thoughtful in the way

47:29

that they are approaching being a landlord, that they're approaching homeownership.

47:39

And that's exactly what I'm looking for and have been looking for.

47:43

And I'm glad that you're a part of this founding group and more women are joining.

47:49

And it's just, it's incredible. Thank you so much.

47:51

One more last plug. have to add one more thing about the culture that I've noticed too that is so different

47:52

from

47:58

from other real estate communities I've been a part of, I think people here are good

47:58

people.

48:04

You know what I mean? You can meet some people in this industry where it feels so transactional, it's almost

48:05

like off-putting, but I'm seeing so many smart businesswomen who are also just kind and

48:17

mindful. They wanna have a good experience for their tenants or their guests, and just the level of

48:17

detail and thoughtfulness is...

48:26

something that really also that's very special about the community.

48:29

So anyways, I'm done.

48:31

Thank you so much. It's been a great experience.

48:34

Thank you. I yeah, I so appreciate you.

48:38

Yeah, it's just been lovely to learn from you and chat with you.

48:42

There's so many women that you have on the show and I love listening to those interviews

48:42

and learning about the other things that people are doing through the community as well.

48:51

Again, I think my biggest thing is like, what can you do today that the future version of

48:51

yourself is going to be proud of?

48:57

And I think me holding to that has helped me take risks, knowing that you don't have to do

48:57

it alone, that there's people out there in the thick of it who have already done it, and

49:06

literally a community right here that's helpful in a very empathetic and smart and kind

49:06

way.

49:10

Yeah, just finding your tribe and making decisions that the future version of you will be

49:10

proud I love that.

49:17

Well, thank you. Yeah.

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