Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to
the Flip Houses Like a Girl
podcast, where we educate,empower and celebrate everyday
women who are facing their fears, juggling family and business,
embracing their awesomeness andwholeheartedly chasing their
dream of flipping houses.
Each episode delivershonest-to-goodness tools, tips
(00:21):
and strategies you can implementtoday to get closer to your
first or next successful houseflip.
Here's your spiky-hairedbreakfast taco-loving host.
House flipping coach DebbieDeBere.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey y'all, it's
Debbie and it has been a minute.
I know it's been a while sincewe dropped a new episode, but
we're back and I really couldn'tbe more excited about what's to
come.
You know how much I lovesharing the real stories of
women out there flipping houses,facing their fears, building
businesses and really changingtheir lives.
(01:00):
But with everything going onbehind the scenes, it's really
just been hard to give thispodcast the time and consistency
it deserves.
So I'm really pumped to sharethat I'm going to be passing the
mic to our incredible FlipSisters community.
So the podcast has always beenabout amplifying the voices of
women who are flipping theirfears, flipping houses and
flipping the script on what'spossible.
(01:21):
And now we're taking thatmission even farther.
We've got an amazing team ofhouse flipping coaches who've
walked the walk.
They've negotiated thecontracts, battled the
contractors and finished flips,and now they're stepping into
the hostess seat to help sharethese powerful stories.
In each episode, one of ourcoaches will be interviewing one
(01:42):
of our members and sharing allabout their flip.
While I won't be on the micevery episode, I will always be
in the background cheeringeveryone on and, trust me,
you're in great hands.
These coaches are trulypassionate about supporting
women just like you who want tostep into their power and create
lives they love.
So whether you're on your firstflip or your hundredth flip or
(02:04):
somewhere in between, welcomeback.
We're really glad you're here.
This first podcast is betweenlongtime real estate investor
and Flip sister Coach Sis.
She's interviewing one of ourmembers, brianna, about her very
first flip.
All right, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Hey Brianna, hi Sis,
so why don't you start out by
telling us a little bit aboutyou?
Tell us your name, tell uswhere?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
you're from.
Tell us about your family, allof that, okay, all right.
Well, I am Brianna Sisk.
I live in Lawrenceburg,tennessee, which is a very small
town at the very far south ofMiddle Tennessee.
I am married to my high schoolsweetheart.
We have two little boys.
They are four and six.
I have done several thingsbefore flipping houses.
(02:56):
I have done x-ray.
I've worked in CT, so I've gota little bit of medical
background.
I've worked in CT, so I've gota little bit of medical
background.
I trained a midwife for alittle while.
Oh wow, I didn't know that.
Oh, yes, that was so fun.
I still love that's, anythingto do with birth, love that kind
of stuff.
But I did have to take a stepback from that just because of
(03:19):
my family, which is fine, but Iloved every minute of it and I
had an office job for a littlewhile and then I started
flipping houses.
Yeah, now do that full-time asa stay-at-home mom.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Now, and now you're
flipping houses as a full-time
stay-at-home mom.
Because you started with us,you were working full-time.
I was your one-on-one coach.
Yes, I remember.
I remember us doing yourone-on-one calls and you were in
your car on break at work.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, yeah, so that
that was one of my goals was to
have time freedom to, you know,be able to be with my boys more,
be with my family more, and soit's been wonderful that I've
been able to get to that goal,because that was one of my main
things.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yes, so I was just
looking back.
Everybody fills out theonboarding questionnaire, the
mentoring questionnaire, whenyou first start, and I was just
looking back at yours and thatwas the common theme all
throughout your questionnaires Iwant more time with my boys.
I want more time with my boys.
I'm tired of asking for timeoff work and having somebody
(04:32):
tell me that I can't stay homewith them when they're sick,
that I can't stay home with themon snow days, and you've got it
.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Oh yes, I'm there and
I'm so thankful for it which my
husband, thankfully, is a bigsupporter of that, you know he,
he's able to support usfinancially to, you know, get
through with me building mybusiness, and so he's been
really, really on board andsupportive to help me help me
achieve my goals and dreams.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, yeah, and that
very first flip that you
completed.
I'm sure that was a big helpgetting to that goal right, yes,
oh, yes, yes, and it was so fun.
I love it but it turned out socute.
By the way, it was adorable.
You had some exposed brick inthere.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
It was really
beautiful yes, I'm very happy
with how it turned out.
It it it definitely turned outhow I wanted it.
That's the character that wasin that home is definitely what
I was wanting and I'm so happythat I got there.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, your vision
came to life, for sure, yes,
yeah.
And that well, let's kind of goback to the beginning of that
Cause I think everybody's goingto want to know how did you find
it, how did you finance it?
You know all of those gooddetails, so maybe you can kind
of walk us through your start tofinish how you found it, you
know making offers, you know,and then how you financed it and
(05:56):
go from there.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, okay.
So I had been searching for ahouse for months.
I guess at this point, throughdifferent methods that were
taught in the program, just kindof low key that I could just do
and nobody knew that I wasdoing it, which one of the
biggest things that y'all teachus is tell everyone what you do.
Tell everyone what you do.
(06:18):
And I just kept saying, likeI'm just not ready, like I'm
being from a small town,everybody knows everybody, you
know, it was intimidating for meto tell everybody that I'm
flipping houses when I hadn'tflipped a house yet it's
(06:39):
vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yes, yes, and that's
that imposter syndrome.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Absolutely,
Absolutely, yeah.
And so I finally worked up thecourage.
I had made a business page fora Facebook business page and
Instagram business page.
I had them made for a while,but I never like hit for them to
be public.
You know, I was kind of justkeeping it to myself and I
(07:05):
finally just got the courage tojust do it.
I just one day I was just likeyou know what, if I fail, I fail
.
If I do great, I do great, andeveryone gets to see.
And so I finally announced youknow, I finally told everyone on
my Facebook you know, this iswhat I'm doing, this is my
(07:26):
business.
Follow along if you want to seewhat it's like.
Within three days, I had someonereach out to me that I went to
hospital with.
It was someone that I knew, andshe just reached out and said,
hey, we have a house that we own, that we do not live in, that
we would like for you to look at.
You know we're ready to sell it, Like we were going to fix it
(07:49):
up, but we just really don'thave the time.
And so, would you want to comelook at it?
And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah,I'll come, and I think I went
that day or the next to look atit and loved it.
I was like this is perfect.
And so we just kind ofnegotiated some prices and we
finally came to a price that weboth agreed on.
(08:09):
That worked for me, that workedfor them.
I want to say that took placefor three or four weeks.
You know a little bit of backand forth on that and I actually
had gotten to a point where Ihad said you know, this is what
I can, this is the most that Ican pay for the house.
And they had actually turned itdown and said you know, that's
(08:30):
okay, that's okay.
If you change your mind, justlet me know.
But you know that's just what Ican do.
And so they completelyunderstood.
And I mean, I think it was twoweeks later, maybe I just get a
message and she said you know,we've talked about it and we're
good with that price, we're goodwith that.
And so then we went undercontract and I bought it and so
(08:56):
to to finance it, I used hardmoney to pay for the house and
the renovations and then for thegap funds and the carrying cost
.
There's plenty of those.
We used a personal haylock tocover those and so- Okay,
unlocked some of that.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yeah, money sitting
in your own home, yeah and put
that to work.
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yes, it was a
wonderful resource.
I will say that because I Imean, I really didn't have money
in my business account to doanything with, and so we solely
relied on the hard money and thehaylock yeah, so many different
ways.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
There are so many
different ways to fund a flip.
A haylock is a great option.
Private money lenders are outthere.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
There's just tons and
tons of great options for sure,
absolutely, absolutely, and Iwas willing to do the private
money.
That's actually the route thatI planned to take initially.
And then I had heard the termHELOC thrown around and I think
one day my husband actually waslike why don't we use, you know,
(10:07):
why don't we use our equity onour house?
Like, we have that that we cantap into, like why don't we use
that?
And so we did.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Absolutely Great.
That's awesome.
Okay, so you, you got to theclosing table.
There was no issues with titleor anything like that, right?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
No, that all went
pretty smoothly yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And then, were you
your own GC or did you hire a GC
to manage the project?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
So I was my own.
My father-in-law is acontractor, so that was a very
helpful tool in my back pocketbecause he really kind of held
my hand along the way.
I basically called him everysingle day because he was so
helpful.
In that sense I was verythankful for that.
(10:57):
But yes, I did kind of manageeverything with his help and his
.
I used a lot of his resources.
You know he had a lot of peoplethat I was able to use also.
But yeah, I mean, for the mostpart I should have done it
myself.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, and so then
through that process, was there
any kind of like surprises orhiccups or anything that
happened along the way?
Tell us how the rehab went.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Okay, so the majority
of the rehab went great.
There were definitely somehiccups, which the home was 112
years old and so it was prettymuch a gut, and so we pretty
much knew ahead of time what allwe were getting into.
There were a few things.
(11:43):
The plumbing we were going totry to keep it had been updated.
I mean it wasn't 112 years old,but we were going to try to
keep that.
The house had not been lived infor I think two years, but
whenever we turned the water on,the majority of the pipes under
the house were busted from justfreezing during the winter.
(12:05):
It was a small house and so itwas not a big deal.
My husband actually raided allthe plumbing because he knew how
, and that wasn't a huge deal.
I would say my biggest hiccupwas a situation with the painter
which I talked to y'all about.
That I remember that.
I don't want to go too in-depthin it because I do live in a
(12:28):
small town.
But long story short, I didhave to get another painter, and
so it all worked out in the end.
I did go over all my budget,for sure, on the paint, which
that quote was a little higherthan I was expecting in the
first place, but then I had topay two painters, so that was a
(12:51):
little bit of a setback and thatwas probably my biggest stress
in the whole thing.
You know, like getting throughthat.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
So I listened to you
talk about like it being a full
gut, and so I was just havingthis conversation with another
person I was coaching earliertoday.
Sometimes those full gut jobsare easier to manage, especially
budget-wise, because youalready know that everything
needs to be replaced.
(13:19):
So you're budgeting foreverything, and so when those
surprises come up, they're notas big because you've already
budgeted to replace everything.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
I completely agree
with that.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I completely,
completely agree with that,
because I mean, because I wastrying to think, you know, were
there any big surprises?
Well, we were already replacingeverything, so there wasn't
really.
So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
So what was your favorite partof the entire flip process?
Like this is, I know, I know,my favorite part of watching you
was, but what was your favoritepart of doing it?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
it's a hard question
for me because I truly loved so
much of it.
Uh, so much.
Probably my favorite part isthe transformation.
I mean the transformation is sorewarding, so rewarding and I
loved.
I was pretty hands-on with it,which I know some people aren't,
but I enjoy, like I enjoyhands-on work, and so it was
(14:22):
really fun to be involved withsome of that, and I loved
staging.
I did my own staging.
That was so much fun.
I really loved all of it.
It's hard to pick a favorite.
What was your favorite part?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
My favorite part of
watching you was seeing you have
that realization early on of,oh my gosh, I have to tell
people what I'm doing or thisisn't going to work.
Oh yeah, we had had thatconversation, you and I, and it
was like a light bulb went onand I loved that.
As soon as you did it, itworked for you.
(14:57):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
So many ways of finding flipsout there, and I think we teach
like 60 of them, right, 60 plusin our program, but they're all
going to work differently indifferent markets, right.
So it's a matter of testing,right.
You have to try.
You have to actually be willingto get out there and try, and
so, seeing you trust thatprocess and just go for it on
(15:22):
something that is free Facebookand Instagram they are free,
they do not cost you anything tomarket and it worked.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
It worked for you.
Yeah, it's definitely thatwhenever I got finished with my
flip, they do not cost youanything to market and it worked
.
It worked for you.
Yeah, it's definitely thatwhenever I got finished with my
flip, that was one of the firstthings I did afterwards was I
actually took a social mediacourse for, like business
marketing, which the majority ofthe people there were small
shops, boutiques, you knowdifferent things, and so it felt
(15:50):
different for me because I wasa whole different market that
was there to learn.
But I just early on, like Ireally saw the importance of
social media for my business andI really wanted to learn and
expand and get better at that,because that's something that I
feel like is ever-changing and Ijust really wanted to continue
(16:14):
on with that.
I'm still executing othermethods of finding houses, but
it was definitely exciting thatI got myself out of the way and
it worked for me.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yes, right there,
getting yourself out of the way.
That's probably the hardestlesson to teach people is we're
in our own way.
We are the ones that arestanding in our own way, and
when you have thatself-awareness and you can see
that in yourself, that's whenthe really good stuff starts to
happen.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, you just got to
do it scared yeah, you got to
do it scared, you got to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Scared, yeah.
So did you have any limitingbeliefs or like mindset
obstacles?
I know we kind of talked aboutyou know not wanting to put
yourself out there on socialmedia, but was there any other
limiting beliefs or mindsetobstacles for you before you did
the whole process?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
I would say that was
probably my biggest one.
It's just worrying about whatother people thought, which I
mean, y'all teach us a lot.
It doesn't matter what otherpeople think, it's my life, you
know, it's my business, and so Idefinitely did have to get over
that, like I had to, like Isaid, get myself out of the way
and get over that.
I mean, there was definitelyfear there of losing money in
(17:36):
the process, you know, losingmoney that I didn't have and
that that was all there.
It was all there.
But thankfully, with theprogram I felt so confident in
what I was doing, you know, Ifelt confident like I haven't
done this before, but I knowwhat to do, you know, and so
that really helped me.
With that, I mean other thanthose.
(17:59):
I don't know.
I just kind of went for it.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You did, you did.
I definitely remember in havingour one-on-one calls, thinking,
yeah, this girl's going to dothis, this woman is going to do
this, this woman is going to dothis.
She's not going to stand by andlet this pass her up.
I just, you were a doer, youwere an action taker and, like
you said, doing it scared, and Icould see that.
So I knew it was going tohappen for you, for sure.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Well, thank you for
saying that in me, even whenever
I might not have seen it inmyself.
You did.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
You had it for sure.
So we kind of we haven't talkednumbers yet, so can we talk
numbers a little bit?
What was your purchase priceand then renovation budget
timeline, sale price and profit,and all of those things.
Yes.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
So I bought the house
for $70,000.
Okay, so I bought the house for$70,000.
Okay, it let's see.
My renovation budget originallywas 69,000.
That's including buffers.
You know that that wasincluding my buffers.
The total renovation costswound up being 75,000, which was
over, but I was still happywith yeah, that's not too bad
(19:09):
the timeline.
So I originally had estimatedsix months for renovations,
three months on the market, youknow, gave myself some wiggle
room, so nine months total wasmy goal.
The reno actually wound upbeing nine months, but then,
thankfully, it was on the marketfor seven days and so that gave
(19:32):
me about a month in escrow.
So 10 months total.
So I was happy with that also.
And then it sold for $225,000,which was the original ARV was
$200,000.
So I was obviously tickled todeath with that, and then my
(19:52):
profit wound up being $38,471.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
$38,000.
You made $38,000 on that firstflip.
That is phenomenal.
I agree that's life-changingmoney for a lot of families.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Absolutely,
absolutely, which I'm so excited
to have that to put towards mynext flip.
You know, like I'm, like I'malready itching to like spend
that money on another house,reinvesting in yourself.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yes, you know, that
is just proof, like, like.
I mean, like, what's the saying?
You gotta spend money to makemoney.
That's what this is, yeah, yeahinvesting your money.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's so awesome.
That's so amazing.
If you think back across theentire flip, like the entire
process, is there anything thatyou wish you would have done
differently or you would havechanged in?
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I know I'd mentioned
in the group being my own
contractor, you know, managingthe project there were times
that it would be a week or twoand I'd be like nothing's even
been done at the house this weekand it would really stress me
out, because time is money withthis, you know you want to get
it done and get it sold and so Ido think that that was all
(21:17):
error on my part whenever therewould be lulls, because most of
the time the lull would bewaiting on the next person to
come in.
You know, like I was ready forthem but they weren't ready for
me on their list and I thinkthat I could definitely manage
the time better which I knowthat comes with experience.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah.
So do you think maybe that wasa little bit of a scheduling
like, oh yeah, weren't sure whento schedule the next yep,
definitely, definitely.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
You know, I would
think I would have time and then
something would get done reallyfast and then I was not ready
for the next person.
So so definitely, and maybe Icould.
I mean, I was, like I said,very hands-on.
I don't feel like any of myprojects that I gave myself
really held me up, but some ofthe things that I did could have
(22:10):
gotten in quicker if I justhired it out and which now,
looking back, I had the wiggleroom in my budget, but I was
just my first flip.
I was just trying to keepeverything in budget, you know,
and so where I could do things Iwould to save money.
And so I think in the future Iwill probably hire out more
(22:33):
things because I know now it'sworth it to, because I know now
it's worth it to pay to get itdone faster.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah, I agree On so
many of my early flips.
I did all the painting, I lovepainting and I'm a good painter.
I used to paint a little bit asa side business but I realized
really quickly Well, probablynot really quickly, but I
probably realized it a littleslower actually that
professional, like realprofessional painters can paint
(23:04):
so much faster than I can andthey do a nicer job and they're
just done and it's over and it'sout the door.
So yeah, I think, but don'tdon't you think that goes back
to giving up a little bit ofcontrol too?
Definitely yes yes definitely,and that control is sometimes
where we manage our anxiety.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutelyyeah, I agree.
(23:28):
Is there anything else you wantus to know today, or do you
want to tell us about or talk tous about, or what are your
plans coming up here?
Are you working on finding yournext one?
Speaker 4 (23:40):
I am I'm working on
it.
Like I said, working on thesocial media stuff I'm making,
getting together contentcalendar, which is kind of out
of my comfort zone, honestly.
I mean social media.
I have a love-hate relationshipwith it, I do.
So I'm working on that to getword of mouth out there.
(24:01):
You know what I do.
I want everyone to know what Ido so when they see a home,
they'll reach out to me, or ifthey have a home, they'll reach
out.
I do a lot of driving fordollars, drive for dollars and I
look up who owns the house.
You know, write them a letter,all the things.
So, yes, i'm'm definitely.
I wish I had my next house,like yesterday, definitely ready
(24:25):
to get my next one in.
Another thing that I just wantto say is like I could not have
done this without you, ladies,and I tell people that all the
time, all the time, becausey'all were my biggest
cheerleaders, aside from myhusband.
He was, he was a, he was a goodone, but I mean any doubts or
(24:50):
any issues that I had.
It was so easy to just reachout and I had a whole team of
ladies just right there givingme answers, giving me
encouragement, and it just mademe feel so confident.
You know, in, like I saidearlier, I had never flipped a
house before, but I feltconfident, like I felt like I
knew what I was doing and Iwould not have been that way
(25:14):
without the program.
The podcast is how I actuallyeven found out about the program
.
I just kind of got this thoughtin my head.
One day I drive by these housesthat are run down and beautiful
and someone needs to fix them up.
Yeah, I just wish someone wouldfix those houses up.
And then I thought, well, whydon't I like I love hands-on
(25:37):
work, I love that kind of?
I love home decor, I loveinterior Does that like I love
that stuff?
And so I thought, well, whydon't I like I love hands-on
work, I love that kind of?
I love home decor, I loveinterior, does that like I love
that stuff?
And so I thought, well, whydon't I kind of look into what
it takes?
That's when I found the podcastand I listened to that in my
spare time and then I thought Imean, I actually like I actually
could do it.
I actually I actually could fixthese houses up, and so it's
(25:59):
been really awesome andrewarding to me that I'm now on
the podcast.
You know it comes in a circle.
It went from it just kind ofbeing a little idea in my head
to finding the podcast, findingyou ladies and making a business
out of it.
It's been so fun.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Good.
It's so rewarding to hear allof that, especially since you
and I were paired up asone-on-one early on.
Um, I just I feel like we'vereally come full circle from
one-on-one coaching to now doingthe podcast together, and I'm
tearing up a little bit becauseI'm just so dang proud of you.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Thank you that might
make her so dang proud of you,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I'm tearing up a
little bit here too, so I'm so
proud of you.
You came from this.
You were kind of shy andsoft-spoken and very, very sweet
and incredibly smart and sodriven and I just, I just knew
you had it in you.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Thank you so much,
sis.
That means so much to me.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, to see you come
full circle and to be here
today is just really an amazingmoment, and I cannot wait to see
what you do next.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Thank you so much,
thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, so thanks for
being here with me today.
Absolutely Anytime Got a littleteary eyes going on there.
So do you have anything elseyou want to tell us or that you
want people to know?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
I mean, I feel like
I've already said it, but if
this is something that you want,don't let yourself be a
stumbling block because it'sgoing to be scary.
It's a big thing and it feelslike a big move because it is,
and it's so scary, but you cando it.
I mean, just don't let yourselfget in the way.
(27:49):
Don't let your fears get in theway.
Let them drive you, let them,you know, take that energy from
that fear and put it towardsdoing something Action, and it
is so rewarding in the end.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
All right, brianna,
that's a wrap.
I just wanted to say thank youso much for sharing your story
and I am so excited to be here,like genuinely fired up, to be
here with all of you.
Why?
Because I get to work with realwomen everyday, women who are
doing all the things raisingkids, taking care of aging
(28:27):
parents, running households,holding down careers, juggling a
million responsibilities andstill carving out space to learn
something new, somethingpowerful, something just for
them.
Flipping houses isn't just aboutreal estate.
It's about flipping the scripton what's expected of us.
(28:47):
It's about saying, yeah, I cando this, yeah, I can build
something and, heck, yeah, I canmake a difference for myself,
for my family and for my future.
So if that speaks to you, ifyou're tired of waiting for the
(29:08):
right time and ready to just gofor it, then girls, sign up for
our house flipping course.
It's built for women just likeyou step-by-step guidance and a
community of supportive womenwho are just like you and the
kind of real talk we're allcraving.
Because, like my Nana used tosay, you're not just anything
darling, you are a force, andit's your dang time to shine.
(29:29):
Catch you next time on FlipHouses Like a Girl, where we're
building more than just equitywe're building lives we love.
Head to theflipsisterscom andschedule a call to see if we're
a good match.
We have limited spots openingup this month for new
enrollments, so don't wait.