0:00

Would you say that attending

0:02

these events with other like minded investors

0:05

lifts you up and kind of gives

0:07

you confidence to keep investing?

0:10

So I think it was never, really the goal

0:12

to have so many connections, but you just

0:14

start attending people in this space

0:16

who are putting out retreats that you follow on

0:18

social media or putting out events. And

0:21

it was really nice and almost kind of cathartic.

0:23

Like it's fun when we were messaging back

0:25

and forth and you mentioned termites

0:28

or plumbing leaks. And

0:30

I'm like, funny, you mentioned that now I

0:32

termites and plumbing leaks. And

0:34

so we all just have the same set of problems

0:37

and I think it helps normalize

0:39

it because a lot of my friends are not dealing

0:41

with plumbing leaks or running

0:43

the rental properties in the evening and I'm enjoying

0:46

myself and think it's fun because this is what

0:48

I am passionate about and enjoy doing.

0:51

But it's really hard when you don't have anyone to talk to locally

0:53

and so I think that's really how I got involved in these networks.

0:56

And you actually make good

0:58

friends through this.

1:04

Welcome to your Landlord Resource Podcast.

1:07

Many moons ago, when I started as a landlord,

1:09

I was as green as it gets. I

1:11

may have had my real estate license, but I lacked

1:14

confidence and the hands on experience

1:16

needed when it came to dealing with tenants, leases,

1:18

maintenance, and bookkeeping. After

1:21

many failed attempts, fast forward to today,

1:23

Kevin and I have doubled our doors and created

1:26

an organized, professionally operated

1:28

rental property business.

1:30

Want to go from overwhelmed to confident?

1:32

If you're an ambitious landlord or maybe one

1:35

in the making, join us as we provide

1:37

strategies and teach actionable steps

1:39

to help you reach your goals and the lifestyle

1:41

you desire, all while building a streamlined

1:44

and profitable rental property business.

1:47

This is your Landlord Resource Podcast.

1:53

Hi there, landlords, and thank you

1:55

for tuning in to the Your Landlord

1:57

Resource Podcast. This is Stacie

2:00

and today I am going solo

2:02

as your host. Kevin's here,

2:05

but working behind the scenes

2:07

because today we are interviewing

2:09

another investor and landlord

2:11

who wanted to come on here and

2:13

tell her story of all the ups and

2:15

downs that she's experienced as a

2:18

self managing landlord. Sarah

2:20

King is the founder of Sarah

2:22

King Invests, a brand centered

2:24

around showing people what it is

2:26

really like investing in real estate

2:28

and how it can be used to accelerate

2:31

the journey to financial independence. Her

2:34

roots started with Dave Ramsey,

2:36

where she and her now ex

2:38

husband worked themselves out of $118,000

2:41

in debt. They acquired five

2:44

properties and had a baby just

2:46

to have her marriage and investment portfolio

2:48

crumble shortly afterwards from the

2:50

ex's drug addiction. Determined

2:53

to provide stability, Sarah

2:55

purchased her first house hack on her

2:57

daughter's first birthday. She

2:59

learned how to manage renovations, but

3:01

the key to her success was in learning how

3:03

to raise private capital. Since

3:06

2020, Sarah has acquired

3:08

16 units and has furnished

3:10

nine midterm rentals, all

3:12

while working a full time W 2

3:14

job. Sarah is highly

3:17

educated and works in the field of genetics

3:19

as a medical science liaison, when

3:22

she isn't landlording or hanging out

3:24

with her daughter or her new husband. From

3:27

plumbing problems to the network of friends

3:29

and the team she's built up to help manage

3:31

her rentals, Sarah thought she could save

3:33

our listeners some time and money by discussing

3:36

what she's learned. Without

3:38

further ado, please welcome

3:40

Sarah King.

3:42

Well, hello. How are you?

3:44

Welcome to Your Landlord Resource.

3:47

Hello, how are you? I'm doing good today.

3:49

Oh, good. So we

3:51

have followed you on Instagram since

3:54

we first started and I think that was September

3:56

of 2020. So quite

3:58

a while.

3:59

Nice.

4:00

That, and I believe

4:02

you were Nerds Guide To

4:04

Fi back then. That correct?

4:06

I was.

4:07

And you, yeah. And you had a podcast of your

4:09

own.

4:10

Yeah. So originally started with that

4:12

and yeah. And then you

4:14

have kids and you decide you need something has

4:17

to go.

4:17

Yeah.

4:18

I started it kind of during the pandemic and then

4:21

it kind of fizzled out in the end, but it

4:23

was fun.

4:24

I don't think people really realize how

4:26

much work it is to have a podcast. We didn't,

4:29

but we're still, still

4:31

going strong. We're in it a year now and we're,

4:33

we're doing really well. So we're happy about that.

4:36

Yeah, I learned a lot. It's hard

4:38

to, it was hard for me to see the return

4:41

of the time you're taking and the hours

4:43

you spend. And then also I

4:45

ended up like offloading it and getting an

4:48

editor and all of that. And then it just costs

4:50

so much money and it's hard to recoup that.

4:52

And I'm like, I made it as passive as

4:54

I could, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't, I

4:57

needed to get back to the houses, which is where I'm

4:59

happiest.

5:00

No, I know it's, it's a lot.

5:02

it's definitely a time suck and time is money.

5:05

said that before. So, but

5:07

I mean, we have watched your life change in

5:09

so many ways. Since that since

5:12

we first started following you and you're

5:14

pregnant now with your second child, right?

5:17

Yes. So I actually am like 18

5:19

days away from my due date. So like

5:22

Okay. good. We got you in before

5:24

all that.

5:25

I

5:25

So,

5:26

know. Like so far, so good. Everyone.

5:29

Yeah, and your daughter must be so excited.

5:32

She is so excited. I was the opposite.

5:34

I was always like, please, mom and dad have

5:37

no more children. And she's like

5:39

wishing for a sibling for her birthday. So

5:41

she's ecstatic.

5:42

That's Yeah. I'm the youngest of

5:44

four. So, my siblings were like,

5:46

okay, you're done now, right? No more. Let's

5:49

give the listeners some background on

5:52

your investment journey. When

5:55

did you start and where are

5:57

you now?

5:58

Yeah, so I started investing in

6:00

real estate in about 2018. You

6:03

guys saw everything behind the scenes.

6:05

So I was actually married before,

6:08

we started out on this Dave Ramsey journey, me and

6:10

the ex husband. And so back

6:12

in 2018, we like got really intense

6:14

about paying off our debt and I

6:17

got super into financial independence and I was

6:19

definitely the money nerd in the relationship.

6:22

And so after about a year of

6:24

Dave Ramsey, I'm like, okay, we're on track to pay off

6:26

our debt in under two years. What

6:28

are we going to do now? Because we have about a 50 percent

6:30

savings rate. And we started out with $118,000

6:34

dollars in debt. And it was all

6:36

like crappy debt to like credit cards,

6:38

mostly vehicles.

6:40

Kevin and I were same spot. Yep.

6:42

Yeah, and you're just like, I can't live like

6:44

this. And for

6:46

me, it was really hard because I went to college. I went to

6:48

grad school. I kind of did all of these things

6:51

and you felt like you checked all the

6:53

boxes. Then you get married and you have nice cars

6:55

because you're a college graduate now, and of

6:57

course, like you have a good job, so you can make the car payment.

6:59

And then you're just drowning in

7:02

a hundred little payments. And

7:05

I learned that was no way to live. And so a friend

7:07

was like, Hey, you should listen to Dave Ramsey. And

7:10

used him and then kind

7:12

of got into like

7:14

what to do next. And so I, you

7:16

kind of start out figuring out how to invest

7:18

in like the stock market and everything. And once you automate

7:21

it all, It gets pretty boring

7:23

and I just feel like I needed something active to do.

7:26

And so he actually, my ex

7:28

husband was the one that got me started in real estate,

7:30

which is very interesting. And so he was

7:32

like, Hey, I've always wanted to own rental properties.

7:35

And then we got into it and I learned that so

7:37

much of it was the back end, like bookkeeping,

7:40

finding tenants. You have tenants now you have

7:42

to screen them. You have to background them.

7:44

The actual running of the business

7:46

part.

7:47

Yeah, yeah. And he was super

7:49

handy. And so I figured he would be most

7:52

of the work and I would be, you

7:54

know, just supportive and it ended up being, really

7:57

heavily me and then completely me by the

7:59

end. And so

8:01

we scaled up to five properties together in

8:04

about two years, including

8:06

our primary residence. And then,

8:08

we had our daughter. So I have a little

8:10

girl who's four, almost five in June. And

8:13

so when she was about three months old,

8:16

I found out that he had a drug addiction. That

8:18

I know about, or I don't know if it

8:20

started then, whatever it was.

8:23

And it just ended up being a really bad scenario where

8:25

I ended up kind of taking over all the property

8:27

management and learn how to hire contractors

8:30

and things because he just wouldn't show up on the job site.

8:32

And I'd be like, well, we have plumbing

8:35

problems. And I remember the first

8:37

time meeting like an HVAC guy and I'm like, I

8:39

know nothing, I'm going to get scammed and they're going to

8:41

tell me to buy a new furnace. And I met my first

8:44

really nice guy that walked me through like I was

8:46

an idiot because I didn't know anything about property.

8:49

And I was like, okay, I can

8:51

do this, this is a relationship business. And I

8:53

love that part. To this day, that's my favorite

8:55

part is like working with contractors

8:58

and handyman and technicians and learning

9:00

who will educate you versus. who

9:02

is this woman walking onto the job site with

9:04

Uggs on? And

9:08

so you find the right people and then

9:10

you're like, okay, I can totally do this. And so

9:12

it was actually really empowering at the time

9:14

to went through the whole divorce process. And then

9:16

I bought my very first house, just me,

9:19

when my daughter was turned a year old. I,

9:22

they gave me like a week and it was

9:24

like, what day this week do you want to close? And like her birthday,

9:26

because I'll always

9:27

Oh, I think I remember that

9:29

me house. Yeah. And

9:31

so that was in 2020, but we ended up having to

9:33

sell all five properties we own together.

9:36

And I just started over completely. And

9:39

it was really hard because I'm like, they kind of became

9:41

my kids after a while. In addition to

9:43

the baby that came me, like in a carrier

9:46

on the front to the different properties. You learn,

9:48

you could figure it out and you could problem solve. And

9:50

that's, that's kind of how it took

9:52

off. And now So

9:55

Oh my gosh. I know. I get it. I mean,

9:57

we joke that our rentals are

10:00

better operated than our own home. They're in better condition

10:03

our own home, you know, cause we always put

10:05

that first,

10:06

I had to stop sending appliances

10:09

to my own house and then like transferring

10:11

them to the rentals with my husband. My husband now

10:13

is like, all your houses have better things

10:15

than ours. And like, be quiet. This house

10:17

doesn't make us any money.

10:19

I know. Exactly. Exactly.

10:21

And so where are

10:23

you now? How many units do you have?

10:25

Yeah. So I'm at 16

10:28

right now. And I have 11

10:30

properties and it's really cool because

10:32

I essentially started at ground zero and rebuilt

10:35

it.

10:35

Nice.

10:36

So you had to figure out a lot to scale up that

10:38

quickly, but my friends kept telling

10:40

me, it's okay, you're starting out with experience

10:42

this time. And at first I was like, yeah, yeah, that's just

10:44

what you're telling me to make me feel better, but

10:47

it really was true. And it kind of grew

10:50

like crazy pretty quick.

10:52

Oh, wow. And so do you manage

10:54

all 16 of those units?

10:57

I do not. I

10:59

started out when rates were really low,

11:01

buying long term rentals and the market was a little more

11:03

friendly. And I love long term rentals.

11:05

Like I still self manage, I have eight of those.

11:08

And then I switched to midterm rentals when

11:10

everything started to change and housing prices started

11:12

to go up a lot, along with interest rates,

11:15

just because I was really sick of

11:17

working a W 2 job still, and

11:19

then feeling broke from real estate and sending

11:22

all of my money. And so I really got into

11:25

airbnb's, midterm or medium term

11:27

rentals for the cash flow

11:30

because they do cash flow really well. And

11:32

then about a year in, I was like, uncle,

11:34

I am one human being. And then property

11:36

management for those now. So I have eight that

11:39

are furnished.

11:39

Longterm investors as well, and

11:42

we have a studio in one of our

11:44

six plexes that we are converting

11:47

to a midterm rental and,

11:49

it's all done. It's ready to go. We're,

11:51

we're launching it in a couple of weeks and

11:55

I'm a little nervous about it. I got to say, I

11:57

mean, I,

11:57

Congratulations.

11:58

Thank you. I know there are a lot

12:00

more work and, and I'm here for it. I

12:02

just, I'm sure I can find

12:04

a manager, you know, here in California somewhere

12:07

who can help me out should I

12:09

need it.

12:09

And sounds really good if you have like one

12:12

you're doing and you can, you're like, okay,

12:14

if I do midterms and people stay for two

12:16

or three months, I may be turning it

12:18

four or five times a year. My

12:20

problem was I went from like zero

12:22

to a hundred really quick, which is my toxic

12:25

trait as a person. And once

12:28

you have eight, you're like, holy

12:30

cow, this is a lot of turnovers. So I

12:32

think going slower would

12:34

be my recommendation. Like you don't need to be

12:36

totally insane like I did it.

12:38

I think our thing is, is that we have

12:41

two studios that are in this sixplex

12:43

and it's also, we've also

12:46

got two, one bedrooms and two, two bedrooms

12:48

and those out really well longterm,

12:50

but the studios have a lot of turnover anyway.

12:52

So we're like, okay, if we can make more

12:54

cashflow on them, let's, let's give that a try.

12:57

So I think that's kind of what we're at,

12:59

although the person who's in our

13:02

other studio now just resigned their lease.

13:04

So, you know, good to go there for another year.

13:06

Yay. So,

13:08

that's, that's a relief. So we'll,

13:10

we'll test it out

13:11

I started with one bedrooms too. Just

13:14

because they were kind of the underperformers of

13:16

your portfolio when you look over it. Yeah,

13:19

and the other ones are just easy to lease. Like, I always

13:21

tell people, they need extra bedrooms, they need

13:23

space, they need stuff to put their store

13:25

things, bring all their dogs,

13:27

and, like, long term tenants

13:30

are a whole different niche.

13:31

They really are. yeah. they really

13:33

are. And the thing is, is that for

13:36

the studios, I know it seems kind of odd,

13:38

but we're in Midtown Sacramento,

13:40

which is the capitol of California. And so

13:42

we've got a lot of business

13:45

professionals that come out and have to work

13:47

for a project for, 90 days

13:49

or six months like that. So that's

13:51

kind of what our market is. Not

13:53

necessarily, although we are close to the hospitals. We

13:56

don't allow pets in this complex. So

13:58

that might be, a little bit of a, a

14:00

hindrance for, for some nurses. Cause I know

14:02

that a lot of them travel with pets. So,

14:04

Right. And the nursing

14:07

market has changed so much over the last

14:09

like year and a half. It's so different than

14:11

what it was during the pandemic. And we

14:13

do more business professionals. And also

14:16

we do a lot of like contractor groups or

14:18

individual guys that are coming town. We

14:20

have Amazon facilities and

14:23

Walmart, is constantly building new

14:25

Walmarts in our city. So

14:27

we'll house a lot of like working professionals,

14:30

more like very blue collar workers

14:33

our main niche. Just because our,

14:36

like in our town specifically, we

14:38

learned that nursing stipends were cut in

14:40

half. And so people

14:42

were going to spend like $3000 on a one

14:44

bedroom or two, $2500

14:47

and now they have like a thousand dollars to spend

14:49

and it make sense. When

14:51

looking at the overhead costs of keeping

14:54

good furniture and, maintaining spaces

14:56

with appliances and Keurigs and stocking

14:59

them, that the nursing contracts

15:02

ended up kind of not being where I thought I'd be. And

15:05

now we mostly do,

15:07

yeah, traveling professionals and contractors

15:10

now.

15:11

I'm hoping it works out. So we'll, we'll check it

15:13

out. We follow all kinds of people and so we've

15:15

learned quite a bit and I take courses

15:17

and do lot of reading. So, we'll

15:19

see how that goes. So you prefer

15:21

to manage longterms yourself. Am

15:23

I getting that right? Yeah. Okay. Okay, but

15:26

you love the cashflow that comes with

15:28

the midterm rentals, right?

15:30

And you don't do any short term any anymore. Okay.

15:34

Short term out the gaps now that I have property managers,

15:36

but it was just me, I'm like, I'm not doing that.

15:38

That's way too many turnovers, like turning

15:40

it over after three days and coordinating cleaners

15:43

and things, but they will sometimes short

15:45

term rent the gaps. But

15:47

we try to do a minimum of four days

15:49

now, and it depends on the house. Like we have

15:52

some houses that just always perform well

15:54

on long term contracts.

15:56

And so we'll set a higher minimum day

15:58

for that one to try to get.

16:00

So it's funny, we just had a conversation

16:02

with our insurance guy because,

16:05

long story short, we lost our insurance, had to,

16:07

you know, go with a new company and he facilitated

16:09

that. And when I had to sign the contracts,

16:12

it was checked off that there would be

16:14

no short term or

16:16

leases under one year.

16:18

So I had to get back a hold my guy

16:20

and find out and go listen, and that's not going

16:22

to fly because we've got that going.

16:25

He goes, no, no, it's fine. You just can't do like Airbnb

16:27

short term. So basically

16:30

if, we had decided to do any

16:32

short term on those gaps we

16:35

would not be covered. So

16:37

anybody out there listening, these are, these are

16:39

things you need to know and think about.

16:41

And me and my insurance guy talk a lot.

16:43

I think I have a benefit, so I'm in Fort

16:45

Wayne, Indiana, and so we just don't

16:48

have many rules out here. We've

16:50

had long conversations and so far we haven't

16:52

had any issues with our insurance. Me

16:54

and my insurance guy are buddies. Yeah, I'm like

16:57

someday that's probably going to change because insurance

16:59

has just been an absolute bloodbath in the last year

17:01

and a half. So will,

17:05

yeah, especially with you guys, like where

17:07

you're at.

17:08

Yeah.

17:08

Anyone near water

17:10

Near water or near mountains where you're going to get

17:12

any wildfires. Yeah.

17:14

So we just lost the insurance also

17:17

on one of our summer homes that

17:19

we have in the mountains. So that's next

17:21

thing is we have till June to find a new

17:24

one for that. So it's, and it's hard because

17:26

it's all surrounded by trees and then

17:28

they want you to cut it back and you're spending $10,000

17:30

to get a tree guy in there to trim it all back

17:33

and clean it up, which is great. But,

17:36

it's like, should I spend $10,000

17:38

on trees or should I just, $10,000

17:40

on the insurance?

17:41

Yeah. And you, you don't,

17:43

I feel like when I started out, I didn't realize my biggest nemesis

17:45

is would be like trees and

17:48

water. Which makes sense

17:50

now, but you're just like, wow, water is a problem

17:53

and trees are such a problem. Like one

17:55

year I spent like $5000 on trees. So

17:58

Really?

17:59

Not much, but you know,

18:01

No, but it, it is though. I mean, you're

18:03

talking about things. So we saw

18:05

that a few weeks ago and that's kind of how,

18:08

we've gone back and forth, with you on

18:10

the gram and we

18:12

saw that a few weeks ago you had a pretty sizable

18:15

problem with the plumbing in one of your

18:17

midterm rentals going on. Why

18:19

don't you explain to our listeners what happened

18:22

and what you had to do to remedy

18:24

all of that.

18:25

Yeah, so this is, I have an uptown

18:28

duplex. I bought it,

18:30

this is my first really true midterm

18:32

rental property I bought in Fort Wayne specifically.

18:35

So this one's like near and dear to my heart. I think my property

18:38

manager now hates it because it's just been the

18:40

house of water problems. But

18:42

by the house with the tall ceilings and cool character,

18:45

I guess is, you know, it,

18:48

it got me, but so

18:50

you know you're going to sign up for issues potentially,

18:52

and this house had a lot of problems. And

18:55

so we did a very heavy cosmetic rehab,

18:57

the tenant in the upstairs unit,

19:00

let her dog poop and chew everything

19:02

up. And so it was like every surface needed

19:04

touched in both of them.

19:07

And then lo and behold, you get it into

19:09

this beautiful state and then plumbing

19:11

issue after plumbing issue happened. So

19:13

for my most recent issue, it was actually

19:15

the cast iron pipe that runs through

19:17

the top and bottom units, like your main drain

19:20

line that goes to the sewer

19:22

and runs out, of the building. Well,

19:24

the useful life on a cast iron pipe

19:26

is, a hundred years and you're in

19:29

120 year old house. And so it

19:31

would just literally was crumbling in

19:33

the walls it was running

19:35

into the basement.

19:37

Okay.

19:39

Yeah, so it was gross. gross

19:41

that actually my third water leak in this

19:44

property. So we have a long

19:46

history of problems in this

19:48

house.

19:49

Well, I mean, that's,

19:51

that last one is one that probably would have put me

19:53

over the edge. I'm not so sure that.

19:55

But we have had

19:58

three floods now,

20:00

not the one that wasn't so bad, one that was

20:02

really, really bad and did one third of the

20:04

house. We had the water supply line

20:06

to the toilet had broken and

20:08

ran for like three days because the house was vacant.

20:11

And unfortunately we had just

20:13

finished a remodel. We had the

20:15

carpets went in the week before. And

20:18

we had all new windows. We had painted everything.

20:20

You know, all the trim was gorgeous. We're just getting

20:22

ready to, start putting it on the

20:24

market after doing all the work. And,

20:27

yeah, that was, that was a lot

20:29

of fun.

20:30

And I've actually replaced the ceiling

20:32

twice now.

20:34

Okay, yeah. Well,

20:36

that's not fun. So

20:39

this you said was an up down unit. So

20:41

is it two units? One on top of the other.

20:44

One on top of the other. So the bottom

20:46

is a two bed, one bath, and the top

20:48

is a one bed, one bath unit.

20:50

So you had two of your units

20:52

affected by this. Okay. So that's,

20:55

yes.

20:55

Even worse. Yeah.

20:57

And Airbnb.

21:00

Oh.

21:01

The first round of water leaks in this house, I

21:03

was self managing. And so the last two

21:05

times my property managers, it's been a them

21:07

problem and we just coordinate it. And

21:09

it's one of those times, like, I'm so grateful I have

21:11

people and I know people now in

21:13

the city and I've spent the last

21:16

like year and a half, my number one goal has just been like networking

21:18

in the city I live in now because I didn't

21:20

grow up in Fort Wayne, I grew up like in the country.

21:23

And so just this

21:25

time was so much easier, even though it was a much bigger

21:28

problem, it was actually easier to solve because

21:31

I knew everyone to call for once. And

21:33

there's so much power in that.

21:36

We did an, an episode all

21:38

about, having what your different team

21:40

members are. So the ones that are to be in field

21:42

and then also the ones that on the more professional

21:45

level. So there was two podcasts

21:47

there. We'll link them in the show notes for everybody.

21:50

But I noticed when you, post

21:52

stuff on Instagram you give a lot

21:54

of credit to your team that

21:56

work on all your projects with you.

21:58

Yep.

21:59

So can you talk a little bit about how

22:01

you found them and

22:03

explain to everyone why it is so

22:05

important for you to have a team in place

22:07

when you're owning rental properties?

22:09

Yeah. I get a lot of people asking,

22:12

like, how do you do all this? You're one

22:14

person, like you have kids in a day

22:16

job and do you not sleep? And

22:18

I'm like, it's because of the people, you know,

22:20

because you are a person

22:23

buying a bunch of property. And so you kind of have to figure

22:25

that out. And so I like to always talk

22:27

about the team because I want people to have very realistic expectations.

22:30

Like Sarah is not in there fixing

22:32

plumbing lines. I'm not painting my own houses

22:34

anymore. And so I always try to put that in there

22:36

because I think people get this unrealistic view of

22:39

you have to be handy and working on your own houses

22:41

to make any money. And so

22:43

I always like to include that to be like full disclaimer.

22:47

I'm really good human manager, but

22:49

I'm not, I'm not there with the

22:52

breaking cast iron pipes. The

22:54

first key piece was really the

22:56

first calls were to my property manager.

22:58

So it's two gentlemen. We worked together. And

23:01

we met each other, man,

23:03

I can't even remember how we met now. One

23:05

of the guys and I went to high school together, which is

23:08

a really weird scenario because I graduated

23:10

with 86 people. So the fact that I

23:12

knew someone else that was investing in real estate,

23:14

I'm like, we have to meet and have coffee and see how we here.

23:18

And so he ended up helping me assemble

23:20

bed frames one day and we just

23:22

talked about real estate and that kind of led to

23:24

them managing for me. So I

23:26

met them. And so we sit down and we're like, okay,

23:28

first of all, we have tenants in the bottom and the top.

23:31

Or the top was open at the time, but we

23:33

had a long stay, like a six month

23:36

stay coming in, and it was within

23:38

a week, we're like, yeah,

23:40

and we're like, we have one week to figure this and

23:43

it was such bad problem, and

23:46

I think it was actually like six months.

23:47

time when it comes to

23:48

No. Yep. And

23:50

especially that big of plumbing and then

23:53

putting a ceiling back together, you know, you're gonna have

23:55

a drywall and drywall takes like multiple

23:57

days of drying and

23:59

then you have to paint it. And so we

24:01

had a lady in the bottom that books

24:03

direct with us and knows

24:06

Houston, like the guy I went to high school with. And

24:08

so he's like, I'll talk

24:10

to her. And the nice thing is they have their own

24:12

property. So he was like, we can move her to one of ours

24:14

temporarily. Yeah. Absolutely. And she can decide

24:17

if she wants to stay in one of their other units

24:19

because they have enough, they can do that now, which

24:21

is lovely for me because that

24:23

I'm not stuck, displacing a woman with

24:25

nowhere to go. And so we

24:27

talked to her same day it happened. We're like, we're

24:29

so sorry. We'll happily move you. Here are your

24:31

options of what we have open. And

24:34

then we'll go from there. And so we got her

24:36

moved because we're like, this is a sewer

24:38

line problem. We don't really want you here, but you don't

24:40

want to start off the conversation with hey,

24:43

you know that water, sewer. So

24:46

we just like quickly got her moved

24:48

out and she was happy. And then

24:51

we're like, okay, we have one week and we

24:53

don't want to move this six month booking. I don't

24:55

want to lose that, especially because I'm really going to need

24:57

that after fixing all this plumbing.

24:59

And we didn't really know at the time how much was going

25:01

to get pulled out. And

25:04

like how much drywall had to go. And we ended up pulling

25:06

down the entire kitchen ceiling just to make it

25:09

It was honestly easier to pull down the whole thing and use full

25:11

drywall sheets,

25:12

Yep.

25:13

Versus trying to like salvage and blend.

25:16

Yep, I agree with that.

25:17

but we had water like coming out of a light fixture.

25:20

We had every, yeah,

25:21

That's nasty!

25:22

It was gross. Yeah. we're sewage.

25:25

This is going great. Yeah.

25:26

Oh, God. And you're pregnant.

25:28

And so, yeah, of course. So

25:30

I'm not going in there. Yeah. But

25:32

the guys went and took pictures and videos

25:34

and things. And so we coordinated

25:37

between a plumber, our

25:40

contractor group that now we kind of all share.

25:42

And we met over a taco

25:44

Tuesday, like lunch meeting.

25:47

So several of us, like real estate

25:49

investors do tacos one Tuesday

25:51

a month, and that's we got to know

25:53

this contractor group. And so if

25:56

you ever have investor lunches in

25:58

town, go to them because it's totally worth

26:00

it. And so that's how I know my

26:02

general contractor that we use, our plumber

26:04

that we use. Just

26:07

like different people you can plug into different spots. Like,

26:09

okay Crystal's really good at drywall. Her

26:12

husband's really good at framing. Like

26:14

we're going to put the pieces together and

26:16

we know each other. So that's how we were able to really pull

26:19

off that quick timeline where I think a lot of people,

26:22

if we hadn't had that connection, they would have been like,

26:24

I'm booked months out, right.We'll

26:27

shuffle things around and make this happen for you.

26:30

And. the whole thing is, is that for us,

26:32

we, very similar situation.

26:34

I used to go to meetups all the time and,

26:38

and I would learn things, right? So they

26:40

would lawyer that would come and speak about,

26:42

new laws that were coming into place or whatever. But

26:44

then afterwards you would meet,

26:46

like we met our painter and then painter

26:49

got us hooked up with our contractor

26:51

and our contractor got us hooked up with the electrician

26:53

and the roofer and all that kind of stuff. So, I

26:56

mean, and that's just how it goes.

26:58

And when you learn to trust one and one knows

27:00

how you want to operate business and how you,

27:03

you know, cause some people want to do it on the cheap

27:05

and some people want to do it completely, on

27:07

the straight and narrow, so, you'll

27:09

find out who's on your side really fast

27:10

Right. Yep.

27:12

So this

27:14

is leak number three. My first leak ever

27:16

in this house was caused by

27:19

just a bad handyman recommendation. Where

27:21

they said, Oh, this guy, like he can always

27:23

like work you in quick. And

27:26

I'm really impatient. That's my biggest problem,

27:29

but I now learned you

27:31

either better have a really good relationship or they're

27:33

free for a reason. And

27:37

I'm kind of in the latter camp now, which I'm really proud

27:39

of. But in the beginning it was more, I was

27:41

getting whoever, had time on their schedule,

27:43

which no one good should have time on

27:45

their schedule, especially with the market,

27:47

how it is now. And so one

27:50

of the leaks ended up being the tenant

27:53

when I was self managing still flushed

27:55

a bunch of flushable wipes and tampons down the toilet,

27:58

like, you know, and

28:00

it normally wouldn't be a big deal. But

28:03

so essentially it caused a water backup. So that

28:06

bundle of goodness got caught

28:08

in some tree roots when I was leaving the house

28:10

and up the, you

28:13

know, plumbing backwards. But then we learned

28:15

that somewhere in the

28:17

plumbing, they had added like a black corrugated

28:19

pipe, but a drywalled over it. And

28:22

so when the water backed up through the water

28:24

lines, the corrugated pipe

28:26

like did not do well. And so again,

28:28

we had sewer like running into the basement

28:31

of the house because it was like

28:33

like expandable accordion

28:35

looking pipe and the water just like,

28:38

it did not stay connected. Like I think as

28:40

long as it was going the proper direction, it was fine. But

28:42

when it backed up, It leaked. It

28:44

was like overflowing behind my washer

28:46

and dryer.

28:47

Oh, no.

28:48

It almost looks like a dishwasher. Like

28:51

hose, but black. I'm like, I don't even like,

28:54

this is nothing that should be in the wall. And

28:56

so that was my bad handyman

28:58

recommendation slash normal

29:01

tenant wear and tear, like I now like

29:03

scope the sewers like twice a year at

29:05

the house. Cause I know it just has tree root problems

29:07

and people will, you kind of

29:09

have to, and this will sound bad, like

29:11

dummy proof your houses. Like it's amazing what

29:13

people will do no matter how many

29:15

signs and things you put up. They

29:17

will use flushable wipes. How do I prevent this

29:20

from causing sewer water to

29:22

back up into my basement?

29:23

Yeah, well, you have to put it in the lease that if,

29:25

if, you know, whatever ramifications

29:28

come from them doing that. But I guess then you

29:31

also have to prove that it was them

29:33

if it's a two units, right?

29:35

Yeah. So it's a two unit and my problem was

29:37

it was through Airbnb. And so they weren't on

29:39

leases. So I'm used to

29:41

beautiful world of long term tenants where

29:43

I'm like. Ma'am, you

29:46

signed this paper saying you wouldn't

29:48

use these and we found them in your plumbing. And

29:51

we get it scoped every once in a while. So I know it had

29:53

to be during this period. And

29:55

so, yeah, but you're kind of stuck

29:57

honestly in that situation because of

30:00

course the upstairs says it wasn't them. The downstairs

30:02

says it wasn't them and you're left like holding

30:04

the bill.

30:04

Yeah. course. I mean, you

30:06

know, it, it is what it is, right. I

30:09

mean, and you've talked before

30:11

about tenant proofing, right?

30:13

You

30:13

Yes.

30:14

a little bit about that? Tenant proofing, what you think

30:16

that Yeah. is?

30:18

So I do a lot of different things in my units

30:20

now, just from honestly

30:22

learning the hardware. Like I try to

30:24

put up signs saying like, don't flush anything.

30:26

But now I know some houses have

30:28

like older cast iron pipes that run to,

30:31

from the house to the sewer line connection.

30:33

I know roots are a problem at a couple of them.

30:35

So we just regularly scope

30:38

our properties like twice a year. We

30:40

have a good guy that will come out and do it for like 50 bucks.

30:43

So, yeah, and

30:46

it's like an actual company too. It's like, they're

30:48

rated on Google and everything.

30:51

Okay. Wow.

30:52

in Indiana, everyone.

30:54

Oh my gosh. We have a single

30:56

family that we are just put on the

30:58

market and we're going

31:00

to scale up from from it. And it's

31:03

in a college town and we

31:05

bought it for our son to live

31:08

in when he was in college with him and his roommates.

31:10

Ended up being a great deal because his roommates paid

31:12

rent, they paid for all the expenses and

31:14

we didn't have to pay for any living expenses for him.

31:17

And now he's moved on, he's

31:19

gone on with his life and

31:21

I really didn't want to rent to college

31:23

kids and it's really in an area

31:26

that's great for families to kind of go in. So,

31:29

we said, okay, fine, we'll sell it. Well, another investor

31:31

came along and she

31:34

has asked us to, scope

31:36

all the sewer and then figure

31:38

out if there's anything wrong, then we have to fix

31:40

it.

31:41

hmm. Mm

31:41

And I said to my realtor up there, you know,

31:44

I'm not going to do it. They want to do what

31:46

they can do it, but I get it. Like she came in,

31:48

totally low balled the offer and she's asking

31:51

for everything back and all this stuff. I said

31:53

Yeah.

31:53

From an investor I totally get it. But from

31:55

Right. It's terrible.

31:57

Mm hmm.

31:58

so

31:59

I've literally told people I'm like, you don't want me to buy

32:01

anything from you because I'm going to say everything

32:03

is too expensive and I

32:05

would like you to pay for everything. I would be a terrible buyer.

32:08

Yeah.

32:09

And I bought houses after telling someone that, so

32:13

like, you don't want to sell to me. And they're like, no, we like

32:15

you. You're, we know you whatever. And

32:17

I'm like, okay, well,

32:18

All right. There you go. go.

32:21

I know. Exactly. Well, and that's the name of the game.

32:23

Right? So,

32:24

Right.

32:25

I'm going to switch gears here and

32:27

ask you a couple of questions about your experience

32:29

as an investor. Now

32:32

I know you're involved with Bigger Pockets and

32:34

you often attend their conferences

32:36

and other networking events. Would

32:39

you say that attending

32:41

these events and meeting up with other

32:43

like minded investors lifts you

32:45

up and kind of gives you

32:47

confidence to keep investing?

32:50

Yeah. So I think it was never, really

32:52

the goal to have so many connections,

32:54

but you just start attending people in this space

32:57

who are putting out retreats that you follow on

32:59

social media or putting out events. And

33:02

it was really nice and almost kind of cathartic.

33:04

I think that's really why, like my Instagram started was

33:06

first, like, watch me pay off debt because this

33:08

sucks. And all of my friends think

33:10

I've lost my mind because I'm like waitressing

33:13

side of working my day job. And they're

33:15

like, what are, what is Sarah doing? She her

33:17

nice car and what is she driving now? And

33:20

so I think it, kind of grew

33:23

into more, you know, we all have

33:25

similar problems. Like it's fun when we were

33:27

messaging back and forth and I'm,

33:30

you mentioned like termites or

33:33

plumbing leaks. And I'm like, funny,

33:35

you mentioned that now I termites and plumbing

33:37

leaks. And so we all

33:39

just have the same set of problems and I think it

33:41

helps normalize it because

33:43

a lot of my friends are not dealing with

33:46

plumbing leaks or running the rental properties

33:48

in the evening and I'm enjoying myself and think

33:50

it's fun because this is what I am

33:53

passionate about and enjoy doing. But

33:55

it's really hard when you don't have anyone to talk to locally

33:57

and so I think that's really how I got involved in these networks.

34:00

And you actually make good

34:02

friends through this. And now I

34:04

almost go to the Bigger Pockets for more of a social club.

34:07

Like I, I think I might lobby con

34:09

for future conferences because I'm like, at

34:11

this point, a lot of the education is

34:13

focused on people in the beginning stages.

34:15

And once you've kind of grown, there's

34:18

not a lot of talks you get a ton out of,

34:20

because you're like, I could phone a friend that could phone

34:22

a friend that would find the answer for me if I needed

34:24

it. And it's just the power of connection.

34:28

Because I, in the beginning when I didn't know

34:30

anything about how to do real estate, and I'm like renovating

34:33

my house hack, I would call like

34:35

people from Instagram and be like, can I talk to

34:37

you about, like, my furnace

34:39

is frozen and I don't know why. And

34:43

it's summer in Indiana and something's clearly

34:45

wrong and I've angered it and I have no idea

34:48

where to begin. And I know my

34:50

usual HVAC guy will not go to this property.

34:53

So it's a new person I'd have to find. And

34:55

I'm worried he's going to try to sell me a new furnace.

34:57

Like, what do I need to know about this? And

35:01

having those people were,

35:03

it was everything. And so that's

35:05

really why I got into it and kind of still am

35:08

and do different retreats because it's nice because

35:10

you can actually help other people

35:12

now, but then you have this

35:14

group you can complain to about, your

35:17

eighth plumbing leak and it feels

35:19

cathartic.

35:20

It is.

35:20

sVarious suport groups from different events

35:23

I've done and good friends now that we can call

35:25

each other anytime with issues.

35:27

Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's nice to have your people,

35:29

right? You got your, tribe that you can

35:31

kind of lean on and you can help and it's,

35:34

helps with accountability as well. Right? So

35:37

I think there's, there's that. Because

35:39

some of those like bigger pocket events and

35:42

even some of those like masterminds,

35:44

things like that, that I know you've done, we've

35:46

done they're pretty expensive.

35:48

So for people out who don't have

35:51

that kind of money, what would you suggest?

35:54

Yeah. So I'm perpetually cheap. So I'm actually

35:56

kind of shocked that I like conferences and

35:58

things by now. I think

36:00

first to start starting a social media account,

36:03

just to get to know people is very

36:05

helpful. I didn't think in the beginning

36:07

it would really evolve to this, but I'm like, I

36:09

always grew it thinking I'd monetize it in some

36:11

way, hence the podcast and like make money

36:13

through this. And now I've realized I can

36:16

save money and do cool things through

36:18

Instagram, just by having an account that people

36:21

are aware of, and it's just networking.

36:24

It's just messaging people. Like I like that we can

36:26

chat or my other friends and

36:28

I can chat online. And it's weird

36:30

when you like have met them in person now, because I'm like,

36:32

I have all these online friends all over.

36:35

My husband's like, how are you getting gift, like

36:37

Christmas cards from Salt Lake City? I'm that's

36:40

my friend who lives there. And you

36:42

have all these online friends.

36:45

But if you're just starting out, Instagram is free.

36:47

Your DMs to people are free.

36:49

You know, helping other people like do their

36:52

podcasts. Like you don't have to spend money on

36:54

that. And honestly, that's

36:56

really how I got my portfolio kind of going off

36:58

the ground.

36:59

I know. That's good. No, we appreciate that. So

37:02

yeah, no, I mean, it's

37:04

funny because our kids

37:07

will always say to us and our kids are all in their twenties,

37:09

we'll say, I'll say, Oh, my friend from Instagram,

37:12

my friend from Instagram or, you know, they're

37:14

Oh, They're not your friends. Like

37:16

they're just people that are on there. I'm like, no,

37:18

no, no. Like we actually talk, like we know

37:20

We actually talk. Yeah.

37:22

know, you know, so they,

37:24

I know about their kids. We have regular calls,

37:26

like, you can really build

37:29

connections and it's interesting because

37:31

you've already kind of carved out that you're like

37:34

minded. So when you meet in person, it doesn't feel

37:36

weird. And most people are so

37:39

authentic anyway, but figuring out who your

37:41

people are is pretty interesting.

37:44

I will say like, if you're ever going to spend money, I think smaller

37:46

retreats are better than conferences. Just

37:49

because conferences are kind of impersonal. I get

37:51

a lot of conferences because I go and see my friends

37:54

Yeah.

37:54

and they're doing really cool things and I get to hear about

37:56

their boutique hotels and way,

37:59

way more riveting things than what I'm doing in Indiana,

38:02

in my opinion. Yeah. Yeah.

38:06

And then their other partner on the back end,

38:08

like I know her really well, like we chat a lot,

38:10

so Deanna is awesome. And

38:13

so, and we met at a retreat originally,

38:15

so I actually met Soli kind of the last out of

38:17

everybody,

38:19

okay.

38:19

Deanna and I are really good friends and we have this like group

38:22

chat with our friend Katie and

38:24

so we're constantly talking

38:26

about problems. But she's an architect

38:28

and so she's just really cool to talk to about projects

38:32

and

38:32

Yeah.

38:32

her husband. So

38:34

Yeah. Yeah.

38:35

they're a cool power duo to know.

38:37

we're talking also, we're talking about Soli

38:39

from Lattes and Leases or

38:41

Lattes Leases or whatever it

38:43

Yeah.

38:43

And, you know, she has just taken

38:46

off and she's

38:47

She has.

38:47

well. And yeah.

38:49

She's incredibly smart. And I think what

38:51

I appreciate about her is she's

38:53

much quieter in person. She doesn't drink.

38:55

Like during bigger pockets she's like, I'm gonna go back to my

38:57

hotel and watch Ugly Betty. And I'm like, this is

38:59

my favorite. Like, you're just, you're,

39:02

we're all secretly grandmas. And I think that's

39:04

why all became friends and

39:07

just such smart people you meet at these

39:09

retreats and you kind of bond. You

39:11

do put on some degree of like a facade with

39:13

your social media, because you have to be outgoing and push

39:15

yourself. And it's cute to see her be like, I'm

39:18

exhausted. This has been great. I'm going to bed. We're

39:21

humans that do require sleep.

39:24

Yeah. And the funny thing is, is that, you see

39:26

people on Instagram and you're thinking everybody has

39:28

these, big hotel suites, the penthouse

39:30

suite and they're getting on their private jet and then

39:32

they're driving their Lamborghini and you know,

39:34

it's like, no, you know, we drive a Honda

39:37

and we're staying at you Residence

39:39

Inn.

39:40

So my friend Katie and I were left in charge

39:42

of what car we got. And then it ended up being Katie.

39:45

And she's just hilarious. Like she's

39:47

doing like improv stuff on the side

39:50

right now. And so she's like,

39:52

I'm going to get a minivan because Soli will hate it. So

39:55

we rented a big white minivan and

39:58

would pick her up in it. And it was hilarious. And

40:02

we enjoyed it a because I mean,

40:04

she's at the level where she knows people that do like

40:06

lease or rent, like a Porsche

40:08

or something to drive up to these we're like,

40:11

we're going to go the opposite way and get a

40:13

giant white van because we can all fit

40:15

in it and it'll be great. And I was pregnant at the time.

40:17

So I'm like, I can DD for everyone. This

40:19

is a dream. We'll just throw all our friends in this

40:21

giant van. And so it was a great time.

40:24

Oh, that's that's awesome.

40:27

Oh, my gosh. Well, okay,

40:29

so you, like, like

40:32

myself, have been through some,

40:34

pretty rough times and mine was many,

40:36

many years ago. And I'm happy to say that I

40:39

am such a different

40:41

person and a better person now because of what

40:43

I had to go through back then. Do

40:46

you have a Mantra

40:49

or any tips for those who might

40:51

be overwhelmed and think that maybe

40:53

investing is too much work for them right now

40:56

Yeah.. So I always keep this like

40:58

phrase up on my computer screen. So that's my background

41:01

if I could like screen share my screen, I would show

41:03

up where I had one

41:05

that was like, Go Be Who You're Always Meant To

41:07

Be. Just because I felt like I

41:09

made myself, like, I remember

41:12

feeling like I couldn't ever tell my ex husband

41:14

every little thing I was doing

41:16

because it was so overwhelming. Because

41:19

I have 80,000 irons

41:21

in the fire and rental properties are like pouring

41:23

gasoline on that because things break every

41:25

day. And the more you get, the more

41:27

stuff breaks and the more people you need.

41:30

I just remember I wasn't like showing up who

41:32

I wanted to be. And I always felt like I should be doing

41:34

more with life and, you know, enjoying

41:37

things more. And it was just challenging.

41:40

And then it got harder and harder, obviously, by the

41:42

end. But

41:45

yeah, I think leaning into that

41:47

and just showing up as your whole self. And I, I

41:49

kind of made peace for a bit that I would be like alone

41:51

with cats by the end, and then I met my

41:53

husband. So things

41:56

come out of nowhere, but I was like, I just

41:58

feel like I'm going to overwhelm guys

42:00

that are, you know, trying to date you and you're

42:02

like, let me tell you the 37 things

42:04

I have on my agenda today. And they're going to be

42:06

like,

42:08

Yeah

42:09

Yeah, no, I'm like, you're insane. I'm like,

42:11

yes, that

42:13

is me in the package. And so it's

42:15

just really cool to be able to be myself

42:17

completely with my husband and know that is

42:20

out there. So I just feel really

42:22

fortunate to have like gone through that. But

42:24

it wasn't always easy, obviously. Like

42:27

I had, I always thought it was kind

42:29

of funny because I just, I am not very

42:31

emotional and I would cry every single

42:33

day for months, like I started retaliating,

42:35

like She's gone zero days

42:38

without crying. Like kind of like the workforce

42:40

reports where they're like, we've gone zero days without incident.

42:43

It was like, just want to go one day

42:45

without crying. And that was

42:47

very unlike me. And so I did

42:49

a lot of life coaches. I

42:51

did therapy. I did kind of all

42:54

the things I got on like anxiety medication.

42:56

I definitely had some you know, depression

42:58

going through the divorce. And so

43:01

I've just always been very open about, you know, getting

43:03

help for your mental health and of

43:05

getting yourself in order. So you show

43:07

up for your people in a way that you want

43:10

to be. And it was just kind of figuring

43:12

out, I'm like the person that I always like truly

43:15

believe I am in my head, like, let's

43:17

go be her all the time. And

43:19

just kind of realizing that if

43:21

people aren't comfortable with that and they don't need to be

43:24

around your circle

43:26

and kind of taking up that energy.

43:28

And so a lot was just figuring out who your true people

43:31

were. At the time,

43:33

you know, going into real estate, I had

43:35

gone from a two income house to a one income house.

43:37

And I was really scared about that idea because I'm like,

43:39

what if I lose my job tomorrow? It

43:41

was the pandemic and I just needed financial

43:43

security. Like money's a

43:45

big thing for me. And so just

43:47

having. And not like, oh

43:50

I'm obsessed with money or anything, but it's more like,

43:52

if I was to get fired tomorrow, I need to support

43:55

this child, and I needed to have a runway to do

43:57

so, and real estate

43:58

Completely. Completely understand

44:00

Completely understand that. I had three boys. Three

44:02

boys as single mom. Yeah.

44:05

And it was a lot. And I, I had a lot of support.

44:07

I, I'm going to admit that I had a lot of support.

44:09

But know, one

44:11

of some of the my my aunt

44:14

and she was

44:16

kind of a mentor to me. And

44:18

she would say to me Stacie you

44:20

have to get your house in order. And I, and

44:23

didn't really understand what that meant.

44:25

And basically it was just, you know, get

44:28

your shit together, get your life and start prioritizing

44:31

what's important in life and what's not important

44:33

in life and, and let those go. As

44:36

I look back on it now, you know, now

44:38

I'm trying to kind of refocus

44:40

on that a little too, cause you know, we started

44:43

Your Landlord Resource. We didn't have to, we just

44:45

thought, Oh, let's just, you know, try to help other, you

44:47

know, newbie landlords out there, try to find

44:49

their way and run their business and stuff. And, to

44:52

be honest with you, it's not a huge moneymaker for us.

44:54

So,

44:54

no

44:55

But. Yeah. Yeah. what

44:58

it is. And, we're here to help people and stuff. But

45:02

it's important that when

45:04

life gets overwhelming, even now

45:07

that I can, that I know how

45:09

to step back and say, nope, enough

45:11

is enough. I've got to prioritize myself, my

45:14

health, my family even, so,

45:17

just being able to be firm with yourself

45:19

and, and

45:19

hmm,

45:20

yourself I think is, is huge, which

45:22

I know you have learned that as, as

45:24

I have. So.

45:26

And I've been slowly trying to work on that because I'm like

45:28

now that I'm, so me and my husband got married almost

45:31

a year ago, and so I

45:33

had made myself extremely busy through

45:35

divorce and a single mom life

45:37

and just trying to build out financial

45:40

security, but then you

45:42

also make yourself just incredibly busy where

45:44

you have no time to also just like enjoy

45:47

things. Or like my husband's

45:49

like sit down and watch one TV show,

45:52

Mm

45:52

Like watch one. And so

45:54

this winter we watched, like, I've

45:56

never binged watched really anything

45:58

unless I was in college and I think it was Friends.

46:01

And so we, like he,

46:03

we sat down and watched like Stranger Things

46:05

and Game of Thrones

46:08

and I'm like, I'm just wasting my time.

46:10

But it was like, I just needed to slow down

46:12

a little bit and find.

46:14

Mm hmm.

46:15

What pace was sustainable because I'm like, I'm

46:17

just going to be the busy person that never sees their

46:19

kids. If I keep up at this extraordinary

46:22

rate not that I need to watch every

46:24

TV series with everyone, but it's,

46:27

it's just a little bit where we get quality time

46:29

together. And I think that's huge. We're both quality

46:31

time people. And so

46:33

the last like two years, it's been,

46:36

yeah, it's just been like, figure

46:38

out what I can hire out so I

46:40

can slow down.

46:43

Yeah.

46:43

So it's been really

46:45

interesting. So now I have like an assistant that helps

46:48

me with like bookkeeping. I have a bookkeeper,

46:50

a CPA, of like,

46:53

I don't mow my own lawn. I don't, there's

46:56

a lot of things I don't know. I have a house cleaner. Just

46:58

trying to figure out, you

47:01

know, and setting like a minimum dollar amount of like, okay,

47:03

what task is worth $50

47:05

an hour or $100 an hour and

47:07

get rid of all of those. Like, if it's not making me

47:09

happy and it's not building connection with my

47:12

husband or my child, it needs

47:14

to go. And being okay with like,

47:16

I'm pretty spendy, but now

47:18

I get to go on walks at night instead of running around

47:20

to houses most of the time, unless I just am

47:22

in a project and enjoy it.

47:24

Yeah. Well, huge. mean, that's

47:26

huge.

47:27

speed up and then slow down. So

47:30

yeah,

47:32

And slowing down is, I think it's

47:34

hard for people like us who are motivated.

47:37

Right. I mean, I'm

47:39

not trying to toot my own horn. I don't really

47:42

need the money and so

47:44

anything that comes from Your Landlord Resource, it's

47:46

kind of like, oh, okay, well, you can just maybe,

47:48

put that towards an investment or something like that.

47:50

But it's hard because once you

47:52

start something, I'm person that

47:54

wants to see it through and finish it. Right.

47:58

Been, there's been a couple of times

48:00

where I've got my foot out the door and I'm like, I'm

48:02

done. I don't want to do this anymore.

48:04

Yeah

48:04

This isn't fun anymore. Right?

48:06

Right. I had to pivot what I thought I

48:08

was doing with like podcasts and social

48:10

media because it's, it's very thankless.

48:13

Like I wouldn't spend a thousand,

48:15

you know, I'd spend a thousand dollars and make

48:17

$500. Then I'm like the next year I'd spend

48:20

and make a thousand and people like, you made

48:22

$3000 between your podcast and

48:24

social media. And it was like year three. I'm like,

48:27

yeah, but I spent five, like, I'm not getting any

48:29

better at this. I'm just really good paying people.

48:31

And you can get the revenue up and

48:33

then I decided, what if I just totally

48:36

scrap all of it and use

48:38

it for just like awareness, because

48:40

now I get asked to do cool podcasts like this.

48:43

I like host a networking

48:45

event for money nerds at BiggerPockets.

48:48

Just from getting to know people and I'm

48:50

like, this is super fun

48:52

and kind of fulfilling a different box than I thought

48:54

it would. And then also I pivoted

48:56

to just using this platform to raise

48:59

private money, where people get to watch me

49:01

do things that are fun and like get dirty

49:03

sometimes. And then talk about my

49:05

team other times, but get to see like,

49:08

that I'm kind of like CEO ing my portfolio

49:10

now versus actually working on it day to day.

49:13

And so I pivoted to like, if I raise private

49:15

capital from one person on Instagram

49:17

this year, it was worth the time I put

49:19

in. And that seemed much

49:22

happier to me than

49:24

constantly pushing out like evergreen content

49:27

three times a week because that's what they say

49:29

to do. And how many reels do

49:31

you do and things, but, my

49:33

growth is

49:34

And we,

49:35

right now, but I'm happier and I enjoy

49:37

it. So

49:38

So there's that, right? it's

49:40

all about being happy. And I think some people forget

49:43

that. I think people are just so focused

49:45

they forget to be, what makes them happy.

49:47

So you have a couple of links

49:50

that are on your Instagram account.

49:52

We'll put

49:52

Yeah.

49:53

them in the show notes. You want to explain to people

49:55

what those are for.

49:58

Yeah. So I keep a list

50:00

of people who are interested in private money.

50:02

And that can be either if you would

50:04

like to be a lender and actually buy a property with

50:06

me. So passive lending where

50:09

essentially you're interested in real estate, but have no

50:11

time, but have money. I

50:13

love this stuff. So I'm like in deep

50:15

every day. And so I can essentially

50:17

help other people buy real estate and then get

50:20

a set return every month. And

50:22

so, that's on there. It's

50:24

also good because I'll do like email blasts

50:27

and like private money slide decks,

50:29

and you can come watch me like pitch to other people

50:32

when I have a investment and just like learn

50:35

how to do it yourself. If you're like, I don't know how to raise private

50:38

money, it'd be cool if I could watch someone else do it. Come

50:40

on over, join the list. You don't have to lend,

50:43

can hang out and watch. I don't do

50:45

it a ton. But when we do do

50:47

it, everybody's welcome. And like, please bring questions.

50:50

And then the other things I have, I think on there

50:52

right now are just a, I

50:54

used to have a, I do a furnishing checklist

50:57

on there. And then I

50:59

think that's probably the second link. So,

51:01

and then I keep a running list of if

51:03

I someday mentor anyone or do

51:05

like a mastermind or something, you can

51:07

join that list. I always figured if I suddenly

51:10

am laid off for my job, I'll start educating

51:12

more. So

51:13

There you go. All right. All

51:15

right. We're done here. I always,

51:18

always have to have a backup plan. A

51:21

couple more quick questions. So what

51:23

are three pieces of advice that

51:25

you have for newbie rental property

51:27

owners who want to self manage their

51:30

own properties?

51:31

I think finding someone on Instagram

51:33

that's investing in honestly similar things

51:36

to you and asking them for some of their

51:38

resources. I

51:40

use Avail.Co still for

51:42

all of my like electronic leases

51:45

auto payments. I guess the first thing is you, you

51:47

need a real lease. There's lots

51:49

websites you can go to, to get it. Second

51:52

of all, Yeah, do

51:54

your tenant screening very well.

51:56

Yeah,

51:56

If someone walks in and tells you I have a pile of

51:58

cash, that's a red flag. And

52:01

then, give yourself some patience

52:03

to get started because we're all kind of learning.

52:05

And so really lean on other people,

52:07

you know, even if a lot of us are on Instagram,

52:10

because you genuinely want to help people, so don't

52:12

be afraid to ask. Because

52:14

I think just knowing anyone that can help you and support

52:17

you through the screening,

52:19

choosing an applicant, because really it's

52:21

all who you put in your properties and it's by far

52:23

the most labor intensive part there

52:25

is, is just finding good people

52:27

It is.

52:28

and it will make or break your life

52:30

for the next potential years ahead.

52:33

And so definitely to

52:35

ask for help during that phase is

52:37

important.

52:39

So Kevin and I have a course that we're working on

52:41

right now it'll be it's called

52:43

From Marketing to Move- in. And basically

52:45

it starts all the way from, fair housing

52:47

and how to, set up your ad

52:49

and, and market your property all

52:51

the way through, prescreening, vetting

52:54

the tenant, showing the unit, getting

52:56

the unit ready, and then moving the tenant

52:58

in and what they need to know and all that kind of stuff. And

53:01

we're hoping that this is something

53:03

that, people can learn from. It's,

53:06

the most important for us. It's the

53:08

most important part because

53:10

that person

53:11

yeah,

53:11

living in there is going to make

53:14

everything great or it's going to make your life hell.

53:18

So you really want to be picky about who you're putting in

53:20

there.

53:21

Right. As you were saying that I'm,

53:23

I remember so many, yeah,

53:26

there's just so many flashbacks of like things

53:28

you didn't do well in the beginning. And I remember

53:31

early on everyone, the first

53:33

thing they ask is when can I see a property? And

53:36

it's kind of like meeting contractors for the

53:38

first time where, you know, you'll

53:40

say yes to 10 people seeing it and two

53:42

will show up or vice versa. And

53:45

it's a huge time suck. It's a huge

53:48

loss of your time. And so now,

53:50

it is rare that I show

53:53

a house to more than two

53:55

people because I've talked

53:57

to them, I've done a pre screen

53:59

on them, I've asked all my questions,

54:02

we've background checked all the parts and pieces

54:04

and actually seeing

54:06

the property should be very last

54:08

and a lot of people like want to put it first. You're like,

54:11

why would I, you know, pay an application

54:13

fee or pay for a background check if I

54:15

have never been seen the house? Because it will save

54:17

you tons of time. I

54:19

remember the first time I ever put out

54:22

a rental application,

54:24

I got like a hundred people replying and I had no

54:26

idea what to do. And I'm like, I

54:28

have over a hundred people that want to walk

54:30

through this property and that's the first thing they ask.

54:33

And so just being prepared for that, I think is

54:35

a shock every time. Sometimes

54:37

how many people will find

54:39

you and beg to walk through the house before

54:42

you really know anything about them.

54:43

Yeah. I mean, it's huge. We do the prescreening

54:46

and then Kevin is pretty handy

54:48

with the photos and photography

54:50

and videos. So he does a,

54:53

a video walkthrough to music and makes it

54:55

all nice and everything. And we will forward

54:57

that on to people. Before just

54:59

to make sure so they can at least get in, it looks

55:01

like they're kind of getting in the space and we've

55:03

got the it's called a Matterport

55:05

where it does a 360 degree view.

55:08

So we'll put all that up to try

55:10

to let people see as much as they

55:12

possibly can. Then if they're still interested,

55:14

then we'll move forward from there. All

55:16

right. I know you got to get going here. I,

55:19

one more question though. You, you're

55:22

a reader like we are, what

55:24

is one book

55:26

that you recommend that our listeners

55:28

read?

55:29

So I'm still a diehard money nerd.

55:31

That's kind of my background, I enjoy

55:33

reading articles about the

55:36

economy and personal finance. So

55:39

my favorite book of all time is called The Simple Path to

55:41

Wealth. And I think it's, it

55:43

teaches you really how to invest in the stock market

55:46

and it makes it really not scary. The

55:48

cover of the book looks extremely boring. But

55:51

the guy wrote it for his daughter who was 0

55:53

percent interested in finance. And

55:55

so he tries to make it funny and witty and

55:57

it is hilarious, I think. But

56:00

I'm kind of a money nerd. And then he's like, and in the

56:02

end, she didn't really care about the books. I published

56:04

it for all of you guys, I

56:07

think is really cute. Cause it's like every parent's struggle.

56:10

For sure.

56:11

And so it's by J L Collins. It's great.

56:13

And I think it's a good background because at some point

56:16

as a real estate investor, you grow so much that

56:18

you start looking into other ways to

56:21

kind shuffle around money. And so

56:23

I'm starting to see a lot of my investor

56:25

friends, which is really cool, who used

56:28

to care 0 percent about 401ks

56:30

and stuff, be like, okay, my

56:32

CPA is saying I have X amount of money,

56:34

like that I'm going to get taxed on,

56:36

what are ways I can protect and like kind of shelter

56:39

away some money, and there's, you know, self directed

56:42

401ks and IRAs and all these

56:44

really cool things as someone who's, you

56:46

know, self employed only can do. And

56:49

it's just a really nice alternative if you're

56:51

like, Hey, my exposure is a hundred percent real

56:53

estate. You know, it's a nice dip the toe

56:55

in the water to be like, okay, maybe investing isn't that

56:57

scary.

56:58

Yeah. It's always good to dive. It's always good

57:00

to

57:00

is The Simple Path to Wealth.

57:02

Oh, good. Okay. Well, I haven't,

57:05

I hadn't read that one, but I, like

57:07

I said, I have kids in their twenties, so it's, you

57:10

know, probably a good one. Maybe I'll check it

57:12

out and then hand it off to them. But you know,

57:14

one of our, guys is getting ready to buy his

57:16

first rental. So we're really excited about that.

57:18

Between Rich Dad, Poor Dad and that

57:20

Yeah. Well, we, they all got Rich Dad,

57:22

Poor Dad for.

57:23

friends read it.

57:24

Yeah, right. So we gave them all

57:26

for Christmas every year they get a book,

57:29

either self help or a business book or something. We did

57:31

Dad, Poor Dad. So maybe this year we'll,

57:33

we'll work on that, but it's always good to

57:35

diversify, right? Like you don't want everything

57:38

in rental properties or everything

57:40

in stocks, right? So what, when one

57:42

goes, kind of, it's nice to have,

57:44

just to have a good balance on stuff. So that's a

57:46

good one. So thank you. All

57:49

right. Well, thank you so much, Sarah,

57:51

for coming on today. You

57:54

have been a wealth of knowledge and

57:56

inspiring for, you know, all of

57:58

the, our landlords, and it's probably nice that they

58:00

get to hear, a different voice than, than

58:03

just me and Kevin. So nice

58:05

to have a little change

58:06

We like you guys though, it's fun.

58:08

Yeah. No, you know, we enjoy it.

58:10

We have, and we have fun together and that's, part

58:12

of it. That's the major part of it. Right.

58:15

Well I know you have a doctor appointment you need to get

58:17

to for

58:17

I do. Yes. Yeah.

58:20

checked and, and make sure everything's going

58:22

well and we cannot wait, right?

58:25

For the announcement and all the things. So

58:28

we're really excited.

58:29

Oh, that's awesome. Do you know what you're having?

58:32

We're having a baby boy, so we'll have a girl and

58:34

a boy, and then I'm done.

58:35

then you're done. You got, yeah, we

58:38

kept going. We tried to, we were trying to get that girl.

58:40

It didn't happen. We ended up with three boys, but yeah.

58:43

that's all right.

58:44

Our dream is to travel, and we're like, hotels

58:46

and everything's gonna be made for four

58:48

and so we think for travel, at least if one of us can

58:51

triage a child at a time, that

58:53

may help, because it would be

58:57

You are exactly

58:59

right on that.

59:00

Yeah. Yeah.

59:00

We would get a room for us and a room for the kids.

59:03

This is obviously when they're older. When

59:05

we would go to Disneyland it was always

59:08

kind of a pain because there was always that one little

59:10

one. And I mean, it was just like, it

59:12

was, Yeah. you're good.

59:13

You draw straws. Yeah. And

59:16

then I'm like, now that I said this and we're going to have like twins or something,

59:18

but so the first ultrasound, I'm like, Oh, thank God there's one baby,

59:21

we really just wanted two, but

59:24

I see people with these huge families and

59:26

it's amazing what they have. And I'm I

59:29

just, I lack the patience. So

59:32

very proud all parents who can do more

59:34

than that.

59:35

Right. I mean, I have friends with six kids. I'm

59:37

like, Oh my gosh, no way. So

59:40

My

59:40

anyway,

59:40

My property manager ahs eight.Has eight. One of the guys, one

59:43

of the guys has no kids. The other one has eight children

59:45

and like your wife is a saint. Please

59:47

tell her we mean it when we say

59:51

that.

59:53

Alright.. Well, It was wonderful talking to you

59:55

today. Thank you so much for coming on to

59:58

the podcast, and you take

1:00:00

care.

1:00:01

Thank you. You too.

1:00:03

Wow, just wow.

1:00:06

You know, Sarah and I have gone back

1:00:08

and forth for years on social media,

1:00:11

and I'm so impressed with how

1:00:13

she has grown and developed herself personally

1:00:15

and professionally. We hope you

1:00:17

all enjoyed listening to what she had to

1:00:19

say today. We are working

1:00:21

on future episodes where we can get some

1:00:23

other landlords on here to tell their stories

1:00:26

and inspire you in your rental property

1:00:28

business mindset much like Sarah

1:00:31

has done for us today. As

1:00:34

I mentioned in the episode we have an

1:00:36

online or downloadable course

1:00:38

that Kevin and I are working on. It's

1:00:40

called From Marketing to Move In and

1:00:42

we'll cover step by step what

1:00:44

you need to do to find and place

1:00:47

your ideal tenant. Not

1:00:49

ours, your ideal tenant.

1:00:51

We will help you determine exactly what

1:00:54

to look for in applicants to ensure that they

1:00:56

will pay on time and love and respect

1:00:58

your property while living there. The course

1:01:00

starts with marketing and how to write

1:01:02

your ad, moves into prescreening,

1:01:05

showing the unit, and then the application

1:01:07

process. Of course, we're going to work

1:01:09

through the lease and discuss all the areas

1:01:11

you must include in the body of the lease

1:01:14

and several other items that you may not have

1:01:16

considered. And finally, we

1:01:18

walk you through the move in process from preparing

1:01:21

the unit, inspections, and

1:01:23

what you can do to set your tenant up for success

1:01:26

while living in your rental property. We

1:01:28

are super excited to be finally getting

1:01:31

this course completed. If you'd like

1:01:33

to sign up and be on the waiting list

1:01:35

and maybe even be part of our beta group,

1:01:37

we will link it in the show notes for you to check out.

1:01:40

And of course, we're going to include links to our

1:01:42

free weekly newsletter, our free

1:01:44

downloadable forms that we offer, and

1:01:47

our private Facebook group, as well as our social

1:01:50

media sites. Again, thanks

1:01:52

so much for taking time out of your busy day

1:01:54

to listen to all that we, and today,

1:01:56

Sarah, had to say. We appreciate

1:01:59

each and every one of you. Until

1:02:01

next time, you've got this, landlords!