December 16, 2023 • 36 mins
This interview is with our awesome FlipSisters Coaching Program Member Mariana in Florida makes $24,000 in just 3 months using none of her own cash.
She has military duties, works 12-hour shifts at a hospital, has a newborn AND still MADE the time to complete 3 successful house flips in her first 9 months with us.
She was brand new to investing. Brand new to real estate. Brand new to her city.
All of the above are excuses we hear people make for why they can’t be successful.
And Mariana’s story is so powerful because it’s proof that if you want something bad enough, you will make the decisions you have to make in order to get it.
In this episode we cover:
- Her answer to, “what would you say to someone who says they don’t have enough time?”
- How she juggles many responsibilities and prioritizes her business which will eventually get her the time and financial freedom she craves
- How she found her first flip
- How she financed it all with no cash out of her pocket
- The challenges she faced just getting to the closing table
- The naysayers along the way
- Navigating this business with a baby on board
…and so much more.
This is an episode you don't want to miss!
GOODIES
1. THE book on women flipping houses is here! Click here to grab the digital download of my new book for just $4.99! Just as everything else we do is different, so is FLIPPED: Lessons and Stories of Women Flipping Houses and Facing Their Fears.
2. Sick of sitting on the sideline watching other people do the thing you want to be doing? Are you FINALLY ready to do what it takes to flip your first house and want incredible step-by-step training and support to get you there faster? Click here to see if we may be a fit to work together.
3. Follow That Flip! Follow this 8-part video series as we flip a house!
4. Our goal is to inspire 1,000 new women each month and we've been achieving it with help from loyal listeners like you! If you are getting value out of this podcast will you kindly leave us a rating and review and help us spread our message?
5. Are you a real estate agent tired of chasing the same potential clients as everyone else? Sick of the roller coaster commission? Get the REI Agent Pro Certification! Click here for info and to join the waitlist.
Debbie DeBerry | The Flipstress®
Leaving people and places better than we find them.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 delivers honest togoodness tools, tips and
(00:21):
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 DebbieDeViery.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey there, I hope that whatever you're up to today
, you're having an easy one.
Thanks for tuning in andlistening to this episode today.
I'm really excited to sharethis story.
Yes, I say it every time and Imean it every time.
This will inspire you.
So if you have ever said I'mtoo busy or I just don't have
(01:06):
the time to do this thing, fliphouses, whatever your thing is
that you really want to do Iwant you to listen to this story
because Mariana okay so ifanybody was too busy, she would
definitely fell into thecategory of too busy.
She has military duties, she'sa nurse at a hospital working
(01:29):
12-hour shifts, she has anewborn and she started this
business.
So how did she do that?
Plus, not only that, sheflipped three houses
successfully within her firstnine months in our program.
Studying her story forces us todrop our story of I'm too busy
(01:55):
to XYZ.
You're not too busy.
I'm not too busy, we are nottoo busy.
We just don't have ourpriorities right.
All right, and you're going tohear so much more.
Just stay tuned.
You're going to love her.
She's in Florida.
She's going to talk to us abouthow she found her first flip,
how she financed it using noneof her own cash, how she almost
(02:20):
didn't get to the closing tablebecause she had some lender
issues.
There were so many hurdles andthis woman just kept pushing
through.
There wasn't something that wasgoing to happen that was going
to make her quit.
It just made her dig deeper.
Oh my gosh, I love this story.
(02:41):
Thank you, mariana, so much forsharing it with us, and let's
get into it.
Let's start with who you are,where you are, what you're up to
in the world, aside fromflipping houses.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Okay, so my name is Mariana and I am currently
living in Jacksonville, florida.
I am 31 years old and I am alsoa military, so I am in the Air
Force, I'm currently in theGuard, but I was active duty.
I was stationed in Ohio and Irecently actually moved to
Jacksonville.
So this is not my hometown or acity I know thoroughly or
(03:19):
anything like that, which I knowmatters as well.
So this is a new market for me.
I don't know anything, I don'thave connections, I don't know
my neighbors, I don't know anyof that.
So we got pregnant with my baby,and so we decided that it was
time to move back to Florida.
My mom is here, so that's whyJacksonville, and so we've been
here for a total of 10 months.
(03:40):
So brand new space for us.
Yes, and I'm also a respiratorytherapist, so I work at a
hospital.
That is my day job, as I say,and so I do work shifts of 12
hours and full time for me isabout three shifts a week, even
though with the baby, I've beendoing about one to two shifts a
week is usually what I've beendoing and the company.
(04:01):
So because I have the militaryand I have the hospital and I
have my baby and I have thecompany and I have my family.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So you don't really have much going for you right
now.
You don't have anything.
You have nothing going on withyour days Relaxing yeah, no.
Wow man, that is a lot Okay.
So one of the big things wehear I don't have enough time.
I have a full time job, I havea family.
What would you say to that?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?
That's it.
It's possible.
There's always time.
There's always time.
It's.
How uncomfortable do you want toget?
How uncomfortable maybe youdon't want to get uncomfortable,
but how uncomfortable are youwilling to get to make it happen
and get it done?
Because, whether it's jobs,whether it's the military,
(04:53):
whether it's family, a baby,whether it's whatever, there's
always morning time, there'salways nighttime, there's always
in between time.
I mean, even right now, whenI'm at the hospital, I see my
patients and I have rounds and Iround throughout the day.
But I carry my AirPods now withme and I have like little notes
(05:13):
and stuff in my pocket.
And when I'm maybe waiting forpeople or maybe I'm in between
rounds and I have some time, I'mlistening to podcasts, I'm
listening to educated material,or if I have a property I'm
working on, I'm pulling comps,if people are sending me
properties, if I'm trying to domarket research, I mean I use
every minute that I haveavailable so you can do it.
(05:37):
What is the end goal?
Oh, the end goal for me is justtime with my family, just being
financially stable.
That's what I want.
I want financial freedombecause I want time with my
family.
I want time with my baby and Iwant time with my partner and
I've realized in my 30 years oflife that the military has been
(05:57):
a wonderful opportunity for me.
I've loved serving.
I love serving.
It's not about that.
It's more about time with myfamily and it does take that
from you.
It is a sacrifice that you makeand that's a sacrifice you make
with jobs like hospital jobs.
I work with people day in andday out.
I hear it from everybody.
(06:18):
Everyone's like oh, how manyshifts do you have left?
Oh, this is my third one.
Thank God I'm not gonna have tocome back until like three days
from now, and that just blowsmy mind.
I'm not okay with that.
I can't live like that.
I know people that have hadthese jobs for 20, 30 years and
that's how they live their life.
They retire.
I respect that.
(06:39):
That's fine, but that's not forme.
That's not the life I want.
I want to not have to do thatand count down the minutes to
when my shift is gonna be overand dread going back to work
Like, oh my God, I have to workon Monday, like I don't want
that.
All of those things is why Idon't want that, and that's why
(07:00):
I want this yes.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You have purchased three properties.
Did you just close on the thirdright?
Yes, yesterday, and it's beenlike five months since you came.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
It's been, yeah, since March.
Oh my gosh, april, may, june.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
July you were brand new.
Brand new to real estate, yes,Brand new to Jacksonville.
Yes, let's talk about yourfirst flip.
Walk me through.
How did you find it All settled?
And when you went, you saw thehouse.
Obviously you ran the numbers,did the spreadsheets.
(07:43):
Were you really scared puttingin that offer?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yes, I was super scared.
I was actually so with thatwholesaler.
We connected over Facebookbecause after I saw how the
business rolls on Facebook, I amlike a lady with a mission.
So since I was looking for ahouse, I mean, I was like, I was
dedicated.
It was nonstop.
(08:09):
Like any post, I had to do witha house, anyone that was a
wholesaler, anyone that wasselling something, I was like is
this available?
But is this available?
Hey, my name is so-and-so.
Is this available?
I'm a flipper, I have a company, you know, and is this
available?
I need to go see it and I wouldget on list and get on list and
get on list.
(08:29):
And that's how I networked withall of these wholesalers.
You know, and this was one ofthe wholesale companies that I
connected with, One of theirmembers was on one of those
groups that had posted a houseand when I reached out asking if
it was, when he put me on hislist and I started getting the
emails and it was like a legitcompany.
It's actually Florida wide,they're pretty big and they
(08:50):
manage a lot of differentproperties and I keep getting
their emails.
And so that house came up.
I had gone to see a boatload ofhouses right At this point, and
it was talking, I guess,because I might forget later
talking about sort of likemental blocks.
I know that was one of thethings my baby, you know, like I
(09:15):
have my baby.
And so, yes, I'm not workingbut I have my baby, so it's not
like I'm just like free to justgo and do whatever, you know, I
mean I can, but I have to bringmy baby.
And so it was when I went tosee houses, when I went to meet
people, when I went to meetcontractors, I had my baby, you
know, and it was one of thosethings where, at the beginning
(09:38):
and when I started this processof going to see properties, I
was sort of like a littleembarrassed, you know, because
not because of my child, butbecause I'm very professional.
And so, because I'm veryprofessional, you know, we have
this sense of, I think, just theprofessional world.
You know, here in the UnitedStates it's very like, you know,
(10:00):
kids and family.
It's not, it doesn't blendright, like if you have a
meeting, you don't bring yourkid to your meeting, you know.
And if you have this training,I'm not bringing my kid to my
training.
So in my mind I'm like, okay,this is business, this is
business activity.
You know, I'm bringing my kid.
I feel like that's gonna beunprofessional or inappropriate,
(10:20):
or people are gonna judge me,or you know like, oh, she's
bringing her kid, you know.
So I remember the first time Iwent to see a house, I brought
my baby, you know, and I wasmeeting one of the contractors
who now today she's mycontractor, right, and I was
kind of embarrassed, I mean, myinternal thoughts were, oh my
(10:41):
God, like I'm gonna show up withmy baby.
And you know, they're probablygonna think like, oh gosh, she
brought her kid, like you know.
And I was like, but I have nochoice, you know.
So I got to the house and I puthim on the baby carrier and in,
we went to the house, you know,and he was just like looking
around doing his thing.
And I met the GC and she was,you know, she was actually very
(11:04):
nice.
Nobody seemed to care.
I mean, yeah, they kind oflooked at me like, oh, there's a
baby, that's weird.
But that was about it, you know, she didn't really care.
She was just kind of like, oh,your baby's so cute.
Okay, let's go look at thehouse.
And you know, we looked at thehouse and whatnot, and it did
take me a couple properties forme to kind of have that like sit
(11:25):
down with myself and be likeyou know what this is.
This is what I'm looking to do,right, I'm trying to build this
business and the reason I'mtrying to build this business is
because I want to be with myson and I want to be with my
partner.
So if for me and my company,that's what my business looks
like.
Is me taking my kid to the bank, to wholesalers, to walking
(11:50):
properties, to closings whichwe've gone to too now and he was
walking on the closing table,like he was crawling on the nice
fancy wooden table that theyhave at title companies you know
, where they have like all thosefancy pens and stuff my kid was
literally crawling on her table, pulling all her pens out, and
I'm like I'm pretty sure youdon't have a lot of babies
walking on your table.
(12:10):
And she's like, yeah, no, thishas never happened and I'm like
I'm glad we're your first, Idon't care anymore.
I don't, because I kind of gotthat mindset where that's what
my business looks like, that'swhat my company looks like and
that's what fits me and that'swhat I need to do and, as a
matter of fact, I like that he'swith me because I want him to
see these things.
That's the point, exactlythat's the point.
(12:32):
But you have to take that mentalbarrier out of yourself because
nobody else is sitting therebeing like shame on you, mary
Anna, for bringing your baby.
Like you're putting thoselimitations on yourself and your
mind and you're embarrassedbecause you want to be and you
think it's inappropriate,because you're putting that
stigma on yourself.
Nobody else says and if youcome in with a baby and you're
(12:53):
rocking the baby, nobody's goingto tell you that a baby can't
be there, right, like nobody'ssaying that that's wrong.
That's just on you to kind ofchange that framework and own it
.
And by the fourth house we werewalking in there and my baby
Luca, he was like mama andlooking at houses and he already
knew the drill.
I didn't care Anyone.
It's a lot of dudes, usuallyfor the most part, usually a lot
(13:17):
of men that are taking videosand looking at the houses and
stuff.
Usually not a lot of women, andI'm used to being on mostly men
because the military is there's33% of women in the military,
so I'm comfortable with beingwith a bunch of dudes, I don't
care.
So it was one of those thingswhere, by the fifth house, it
was awesome and I'm like I'mpacking my baby, I'm packing my
(13:37):
camera, we're going to look atthese properties and we're good
to go, we're rolling.
So that was definitely one ofthe biggest things for me to
just be comfortable, just doingwhat I need to do.
However, it is that I need todo it for myself, for my family,
my business, right.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yes, aim into that.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
But the house.
So the house.
They were originally selling itfor $129.
So I said $120.
She's like, ok, no, well, whatabout $125?
And I was like I look at the DAagain.
Mind you, I've never negotiatedfor a house before.
Ok, so this already is like, ohmy god, like dear Jesus, we're
(14:14):
negotiating for a house.
Like, is this really happening?
And so she's like $125.
I'm like, no, I can't do $125.
I mean, that's $5,000 over.
So then I was like, glory toyou, $125.
And then we were over here likemy partner and I were like, oh
my god, they want $125.
What are we going to do?
So look at the DA again.
And we're like, ok, maybe let'slook at this again, let's look
at the closing cost.
(14:34):
What about the realtor?
What realtor are we actuallygoing to use?
Maybe we can negotiate thecommission with the realtor.
And I was like, ok, yeah, andLori had said she's like, yeah,
actually I know a realtorThat'll actually do that
percentage a little bit lower,so let's go ahead and put that
percentage lower.
And we tweaked it to where wecame to $122.
And so I was like $122.
(14:56):
And she's like, well, $125.
And I was like, dude, literallyI can physically give you no
more.
I mean literally.
I told this wholesaler I'm like, I am not even lying to you.
I physically cannot give youany more money.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
This is my very best.
This is all I have, jesus.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And so, without trying to sound desperate, you
know what I mean.
I'm like, literally, I cannotgive you.
It is $122.
Or this is a no, becausethere's no margin here, and
she's like all right, $122.
And yep, I know.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And then were you like oh crap, yes, what did I
just do?
Let me make sure the numberswere right.
Did I look at the numbers right?
What did I miss?
Wait, what's happening?
Does that sound right Exactly?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
That sounds 100% correct.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That's exactly it still happens to me too this day
.
No, ok, that's comforting, alittle less panic involved, but
that still is like oh crap, waitwhat I missed.
Did I do that right?
It's like because it just youknow our brains freak out, yeah,
yeah, because it matters too,right?
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So it does.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, ok, so you got it for $122.
What were you thinking therepair amount was going to be
when you were like doing thenumbers on the DA?
What were you thinking yourrepairs were going to be $26,000
.
And what did your repairs comein at?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
$32,000.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Hmm, Not bad, okay, so what were some of the
surprises?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh Lord, so what?
Well, since we're on topic ofgetting the house on a contract
and talking about obstacles,difficulties and all of those
non-fun things okay, I had,because I'm me.
I had established arelationship with a hard money
lender.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, okay, yeah, sorry about the financing, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So, just like you, you, youteach us.
You know the questionnaire lookfor your finance, look for your
lender.
Be ready.
I had done that.
I had done my homework like agood girl.
I had everything ready, right.
I had had several conversationswith my hard money lender.
They were super nice, they werevery, very, very kind, and so
we had done the whole thing.
(17:12):
I had asked all the questionsabout what their fees looked
like, how that was going to gofor us to be ready for when the
house came, right, right, andthey were used to working with
people that were new to Fix andFlips and they were good with
being kind of like that backupand checking your ARV, and that
was very nice, right.
So I had messaged them like,hey, listen, it looks like this,
(17:33):
is it?
Bam one 22,.
All right, they had checked theARV.
We were kind of good to go onall of those areas.
But when we had done theinitial paperwork for their
requirements, they have a, anexperience sheet, right, like
properties that they count, andif you have any experience then
it actually reduces the theterms.
(17:55):
They give you better terms,right.
So my partner actually has arental property in West Palm
Beach and it was actually hisoriginal home.
He actually renovated theapartment and then when he moved
, he put it he it's a rentalproperty now.
So we had told them that andthey said, oh, we'll count that
as an experience property, ofcourse.
(18:16):
So we had given them all theinformation about the property
and they were like oh, so that's, that's that means you have.
You're no longer in the zeroexperience category, now you're
on the one to three or one tofive experience category.
So your percentage now is,let's say, 80%, right, versus
70%.
I don't remember what the exactnumbers were, and so that is
(18:38):
what I had been running mynumbers this entire time,
because we were prepared, and Iliterally broke their paper down
at all the little fee thingsthat they send me and I looked
it looked like a college class.
I highlighted and I put arrowsand I called them and I said
what does this mean?
What does this mean?
What does that?
(18:58):
Why is that number like that?
You know, like because I neededto be prepared for when I ran
my numbers, when I found a houseright, so I find the house, get
it under contract and maybe aday or two later they're,
they're like okay, we're goingto put in the loan documents.
We're going to get everythingapproved, right, we're going to
start the process.
We're going to start thetimeline to closing, right.
(19:20):
We're like all right, perfect,awesome, we're all excited.
Well, they like, a day after Iget the house under contract,
they're like well, actually Iwant to go ahead and let you
know that we're going to have tochange your terms, and we're
actually going to have to.
Instead of covering, let's say,the original 80%, we're
actually going to only cover 70%, because we realized that your
(19:41):
experience property was doneover three years ago and it has
to be within the last threeyears in order for that to be
counted.
Nobody had said that to me, andand so I'm like are you kidding
me right now?
I just got a house undercontract and you're going to
change the terms on me when Ihave a house under contract.
(20:02):
That, for me, means, as youvery well know, I need to bring
more money.
I have to now go find moremoney, because you decided to
change the terms at the veryliterally last minute, right?
So that was not okay, I mean,and we were, honestly, we.
It's one of those things wherethere's so much going on, you're
(20:26):
learning so much, you're stillin fear because it's still
something you are doing for thevery first time, it's your first
house.
And when that, when he, whenthey said that to us, I mean we
literally were like, we werelike almost devastated because
we don't have money of our ownright.
And then, for any listener alsoright, that are like oh, people
(20:48):
have savings, yes, sure, someof the ladies in the group maybe
they're older, maybe they havetheir retirement funds.
I'm not, I'm 30 years old.
I have no money.
Okay, I've credit card debt.
That's what I had, right, likeI've lived my life and maybe
that's irresponsible and I,maybe I should have a savings up
until this point.
That's fine, but you know what?
I don't have any money stored.
So we had no money of our ownto put towards any of this right
(21:09):
.
And so that to us was like, ohmy God, what are we going to do?
What are we going to do Now?
We have to go find more money,right.
And so we, literally I walkedinto the bedroom because my
partner was in the bedroom withmy son while I was having this
conversation with them outside,and I came into the room and I
told them what happened and welooked at each other and we're
like, what are we going to do?
And we were so like devastatedand not my time, dramatic, very
(21:34):
defeating, defeating, exactly.
We were very defeated becausewe had done so much work, you
had done it right, exactly, andI had.
I worked so hard to be preparedand to just have all my ducks
in a row and to do my homeworkand to understand what was
happening.
And for someone to come andlower right and change the terms
(21:55):
at last minute, I was like, areyou kidding me right now?
And we looked at each other andwe're like, what do we do?
And so I remember I sat down onthe bed.
I have a whiteboard in the roomthat I usually, you know, do
like write stuff, whether it'smotivational or numbers or
whatever it is that we're doing.
And I was like, okay, let'sjust think.
And I was like, okay, I put onone side, we stop.
(22:18):
And I put on the other side, wemove forward.
And I do a line down the middle.
And I was like, okay, let'swrite it out.
Okay, why would we go forward?
Right, and we put financialstability, our company, the
opportunity for a better life,the time, all the work that I've
put in, right.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Cause it's still a good deal, like it's still a
deal.
It's not about it not being adeal, it's just that now you
need more money.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, and it was just so like at that moment in time
we were not experienced enoughto handle that kind of situation
, to where now I would handle ita little bit different because
I have more experience right,but at the time you're so new,
you don't know so many things,You're doing everything you can
to make this happen and you'veworked so hard to get to that
(23:08):
point that it just felt verylike, how are we gonna move
forward?
And then we wrote down the stop, why we would stop and why we
would move forward.
And I was like and we,literally I looked at the board
and I was like we have no choice, we need to move forward.
There is no stopping.
Yeah, like there is no stopping.
We are going through it.
(23:28):
There is no reverse.
This sucks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay.
So what did you do?
How did you bridge the gap?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I fired them is what I did Picked up a new lender,
got the paperwork going, goteven better terms than what they
were offering, and we got theball rolling bam Okay so you got
a hard money loan, but did youhave some gap funds where you
had to get a private loan?
Yes, so we did.
Family and friends actuallyended up financing.
Yeah, financing what was needed, yeah, so okay so you purchased
(23:59):
for $1.22?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yes, $1.22.
Renovations you thought we'regonna be $26 and they came in
around $32?
Yes.
Were there any huge surpriseson the renovation?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yes, there was a pipe that did need to be, that was
leaking, that was, and they didhave to drill in the concrete A
little bit, though a little bit,they patched it up, repaired it
and then they just took out allof the walls and anything that
had any humidity and they justreplaced all of that and they
replaced any old galvanizedpiping that they saw in the
(24:36):
process.
They replaced it with newpiping.
Nice, that was a surprise.
And then the AC also ended upneeding some repairs, like the
water pump was broken and it wassupposed to be good to go, but
it actually ended up needingsome repairs and they actually
needed to replace the tubes thatgo outside, to the outside unit
(24:58):
as well.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
What was your timeframe?
You were in this flip for fivedays, I know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It was so fast, it felt like an eternity.
Debbie, I know.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I know it felt like years, but you were in it for
how long?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It was so.
Four months was the originaltimeframe.
Purchase to close was theexpectation and we did it in
three months.
Purchase to close that'sawesome.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Your first flip like that's awesome.
32k worth of work, amazing.
Okay, so then it's done.
Put it on the market.
How did that feel?
Putting it on the market?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Oh my God, so scary, so scary, so, so scary.
Worst part of the whole thing,it is Literally of the whole
thing.
I was like, oh my God, this iswhere they're gonna.
This is where I kept tellingeverybody, this is where I know
how good I did my homework.
Like this is all of the workthat I've done so far.
This is where people are gonnabe like oh, it's sold, or it
didn't sell, or she knows whatshe's doing, she's not, doesn't
(25:59):
know what she's doing.
Like it was just, it was likethe test.
It was a test to see how gooddid you do in everything that
you've done so far?
Yeah, it was, yes, anxiety, yes.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
When you bought it, what were you thinking?
The ARV was 195.
And what did you guys end uplisting it out?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
200,000.
Well, 199,000, 1900.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And when you listed it, how was the traffic that
first weekend?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
First weekend was actually not the best.
We got more showings in theweek than we did over the
weekend, which I thought waskind of odd, interesting.
Yeah, I know that was odd.
We got a showing the first day.
That it the first day it wentlive.
We got a showing immediatelyand then we got two more
showings after that that weekend.
Actually, I think we had oneshowing on Saturday that was it?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Did that scare you?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was okay.
I had done my homework in termsof market research and I knew
that hot homes went under acontract in 15 days.
So because I already had thatin my mind, I was already primed
.
If it takes 15 days, we're goodand, honestly, I knew that
average homes went undercontract in 21 days.
So I was like you know what 21days at 21 day mark?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
then maybe we'll talk about that is exactly why that
data, those two data points, areso important.
So you know when to startfreaking out and you know when
you just need to chill out.
So then you got.
Did you get multiple offers ordid you get one offer?
How did that go?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So the first offer that we got was the one that we
sold to.
When the realtor, like, doesthe contract with you, she asks
you like if you wanna know ifyou get multiple offers
afterwards.
And I had said no, so I don'tknow if I did get another one
afterwards or not, just becauseyou start playing that game.
And I don't wanna play thatgame with myself.
I'm like you know what?
(27:56):
Like we picked this one.
I don't wanna know if somebodyelse came in with like $10,000
more.
I don't wanna play that like ifand what.
So we got an offer for $200,000,which is technically $100 over.
Yeah, and she wanted to put thedeposit down immediately.
It was this widow from NewJersey that had actually fly
down and she was just here forthe day in Florida looking at
(28:18):
houses and she, like I guess,saw 10 different houses and she
fell in love with ours.
She said that she loved it andthat it was her dream house and
that she had always wanted tolive somewhere like that.
Yeah, I got like you know, Igot like a little watery eye
when they told me that.
And, yeah, she's like I wannaput the deposit down now to want
anybody to snatch my house, andso she put the deposit on and
(28:41):
she paid like 80 with cash, andthen she financed the rest with
an FHA loan.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
How was the closing Like?
Did anything come up during theescrow period or the closing
period?
Oh wait, FHA, yes, Aha, so youhad a 90 day issue come up.
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yes, and so she wanted to close ASAP because she
was moving from New Jersey andwas living in a hotel.
Okay, and we were not at our 90days.
We needed to sell.
The soonest we could sell wasJuly 28th and she wanted to move
like July 3rd and we were like,listen, lady, you're gonna have
to wait.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
if you want it, We'd love to but we can't, yeah, but
we can't.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
So she literally had to just stay at the hotel and
wait until July 28th in orderyeah, in order to buy the house.
Yeah, and that's what she did.
That's what she ended up doing.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Anything else come up .
Speaker 3 (29:33):
At the end, when we were like a couple days to
closing, they informed us thatthey needed an extension of a
couple of days because of theFHA we really don't know why,
but because of the FHA situation, that she actually wasn't able
to close with an FHA but thatshe qualified for conventional.
(29:56):
So all the lender was doing wasswitching from FHA to the
conventional and so they justneeded a couple of days to do
that.
We weren't sure.
They never told us if it wasbecause of the rehab and FHA or
because it was a New Jerseything, because the lender was
from New Jersey.
If they had maybe differentrequirements, we never really
(30:16):
got the specific reason, butthat's what they said.
They said she couldn't closewith an FHA on that house, so
she was just gonna gettransferred over to a
conventional.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So were you freaked out or were you okay, relate,
it's gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I was okay because it was presented, as she can't
close with an FHA, but don'tworry, she qualifies for
conventional.
That's what they're doing andthey need a couple days.
Yeah, they're doing a sale,right?
Exactly, yes, exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
So what was your profit?
$24,000.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, yes, three months, 24k in three months,
that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes yes, yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Were you blown away?
Or were you like holy cow, Likewow, we did it.
Yes, yes, it works.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Yes, it works.
It works and we can do it andwe did do it and I can
definitely do it again and Idefinitely wanna do it again.
And it was just doing thatfirst rotation.
That's what we would say Likeif I can just do the first
rotation, I don't care if I make$5,000 somewhere else, like,
let's just get through the firstrotation, because there's only
(31:30):
so much that theory can get youand education can get you.
You have to do it.
You have to go through fullrotation.
Your program is phenomenal,phenomenal, phenomenal,
phenomenal platform.
But there are things that youhave to just do, because you're
gonna run into things that noone can train you for.
No one can teach you how torespond, no one can teach you
(31:50):
how to manage, no one can teachyou how to do any of those
things, and you just need to goout there and you just need to
do your full rotation.
And that's what we wanted to do.
We wanted to do our fullrotation.
It just so happened that ourfirst rotation was a $24,000
problem On a 200K house, we'lltake it.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That's amazing.
12% profit that's a prettyphenomenal.
Oh my God, I'm so happy for youguys.
You are just.
You are such a doer.
It's so refreshing to seesomebody and you're super
coachable and you ask questionsand you get help when you need
it.
Like you're just awesome and welove you and we love that
(32:26):
you're in our community.
We see you, we see yourengagement and we appreciate you
so much.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story.
Thank you, debbie.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
You've got two more flips, yes, two more flips, yes,
yes.
And the one that we just closedon yesterday is a big one.
It's a big one, it's a 300,.
We bought it at 390, but theARV is actually about $600,000.
So, yes, we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh my gosh, we'll have to have you back.
We'll have to have a catch upsession for the next two.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yes, oh my gosh yes.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You're awesome.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I appreciate it, thank you, thank you Really, I
really thank you, thank you,thank you, thank you.
This platform phenomenal, thecommunity is phenomenal, all the
ladies are great and really thereason I like to share, and
even me thinking about doingthis podcast.
When you mentioned it, I waslike, absolutely, because I
remember when I was like freshwith the baby and all I could do
(33:29):
was listen.
And when I heard about theprogram and it was just new to
me, I knew you had the podcastand I started listening to the
podcast and listening to thestories and I think I listened
to almost all of them and one ofthe things was, oh my god,
these are people like me and Iwas like, ok, if this lady can
(33:51):
do it, I can do it.
I mean, if they went throughthat and they could do it, I can
do it too.
So I definitely know thatsomeone hearing this that can
identify with any of the thingsin my life will give them
motivation to do it and it'sdefinitely doable.
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Your program is awesome, so thank you, thank you
, thank you, thank you, you'rewelcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
Thank you again for sharingyour story, of course, my
pleasure.
All right, I'll see you in thegroup.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Yes, thank you, debbie, have a good day Bye.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So the next time you think to yourself, oh, I just
don't have the time for that,that thing that you really want
to be doing, that thing that isgoing to get you the time
freedom you want, the financialfreedom you want, I don't have
time for that.
Are you kidding me?
Like?
That's all I hear now Afterthis conversation with Mariana
(34:50):
is are you kidding me, debbie?
How do you not have time forthat?
You make it a priority.
There's not another option.
Dig deep and you do the thingsyou need to do.
Oh my gosh, so good.
Anyway, if you want to buy,renovate and sell houses or rent
houses, maybe have an Airbnb ormidterm rental or long term
(35:14):
rental somewhere, that is whatwe help women do.
We help you start thesebusinesses so that you can have
the thing you ultimately want,the thing we ultimately are all
chasing, which is more time withour loved ones.
Right, the financial stabilityand freedom to have more time
(35:38):
with our loved ones.
If you want our help chasingyour house flipping dreams, we'd
love to be part of your journey.
Go to herfirstflipcom and booka call with us.
Let's see how we could worktogether.
All right, until next time, goout there, flip houses like a
girl, leave people and placesbetter than you find them and
(35:59):
make it a great day.
Bye-oh.
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 delivers honest togoodness tools, tips and
(00:21):
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 DebbieDeViery.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey there, I hope that whatever you're up to today
, you're having an easy one.
Thanks for tuning in andlistening to this episode today.
I'm really excited to sharethis story.
Yes, I say it every time and Imean it every time.
This will inspire you.
So if you have ever said I'mtoo busy or I just don't have
(01:06):
the time to do this thing, fliphouses, whatever your thing is
that you really want to do Iwant you to listen to this story
because Mariana okay so ifanybody was too busy, she would
definitely fell into thecategory of too busy.
She has military duties, she'sa nurse at a hospital working
(01:29):
12-hour shifts, she has anewborn and she started this
business.
So how did she do that?
Plus, not only that, sheflipped three houses
successfully within her firstnine months in our program.
Studying her story forces us todrop our story of I'm too busy
(01:55):
to XYZ.
You're not too busy.
I'm not too busy, we are nottoo busy.
We just don't have ourpriorities right.
All right, and you're going tohear so much more.
Just stay tuned.
You're going to love her.
She's in Florida.
She's going to talk to us abouthow she found her first flip,
how she financed it using noneof her own cash, how she almost
(02:20):
didn't get to the closing tablebecause she had some lender
issues.
There were so many hurdles andthis woman just kept pushing
through.
There wasn't something that wasgoing to happen that was going
to make her quit.
It just made her dig deeper.
Oh my gosh, I love this story.
(02:41):
Thank you, mariana, so much forsharing it with us, and let's
get into it.
Let's start with who you are,where you are, what you're up to
in the world, aside fromflipping houses.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Okay, so my name is Mariana and I am currently
living in Jacksonville, florida.
I am 31 years old and I am alsoa military, so I am in the Air
Force, I'm currently in theGuard, but I was active duty.
I was stationed in Ohio and Irecently actually moved to
Jacksonville.
So this is not my hometown or acity I know thoroughly or
(03:19):
anything like that, which I knowmatters as well.
So this is a new market for me.
I don't know anything, I don'thave connections, I don't know
my neighbors, I don't know anyof that.
So we got pregnant with my baby,and so we decided that it was
time to move back to Florida.
My mom is here, so that's whyJacksonville, and so we've been
here for a total of 10 months.
(03:40):
So brand new space for us.
Yes, and I'm also a respiratorytherapist, so I work at a
hospital.
That is my day job, as I say,and so I do work shifts of 12
hours and full time for me isabout three shifts a week, even
though with the baby, I've beendoing about one to two shifts a
week is usually what I've beendoing and the company.
(04:01):
So because I have the militaryand I have the hospital and I
have my baby and I have thecompany and I have my family.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So you don't really have much going for you right
now.
You don't have anything.
You have nothing going on withyour days Relaxing yeah, no.
Wow man, that is a lot Okay.
So one of the big things wehear I don't have enough time.
I have a full time job, I havea family.
What would you say to that?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you want it?
That's it.
It's possible.
There's always time.
There's always time.
It's.
How uncomfortable do you want toget?
How uncomfortable maybe youdon't want to get uncomfortable,
but how uncomfortable are youwilling to get to make it happen
and get it done?
Because, whether it's jobs,whether it's the military,
(04:53):
whether it's family, a baby,whether it's whatever, there's
always morning time, there'salways nighttime, there's always
in between time.
I mean, even right now, whenI'm at the hospital, I see my
patients and I have rounds and Iround throughout the day.
But I carry my AirPods now withme and I have like little notes
(05:13):
and stuff in my pocket.
And when I'm maybe waiting forpeople or maybe I'm in between
rounds and I have some time, I'mlistening to podcasts, I'm
listening to educated material,or if I have a property I'm
working on, I'm pulling comps,if people are sending me
properties, if I'm trying to domarket research, I mean I use
every minute that I haveavailable so you can do it.
(05:37):
What is the end goal?
Oh, the end goal for me is justtime with my family, just being
financially stable.
That's what I want.
I want financial freedombecause I want time with my
family.
I want time with my baby and Iwant time with my partner and
I've realized in my 30 years oflife that the military has been
(05:57):
a wonderful opportunity for me.
I've loved serving.
I love serving.
It's not about that.
It's more about time with myfamily and it does take that
from you.
It is a sacrifice that you makeand that's a sacrifice you make
with jobs like hospital jobs.
I work with people day in andday out.
I hear it from everybody.
(06:18):
Everyone's like oh, how manyshifts do you have left?
Oh, this is my third one.
Thank God I'm not gonna have tocome back until like three days
from now, and that just blowsmy mind.
I'm not okay with that.
I can't live like that.
I know people that have hadthese jobs for 20, 30 years and
that's how they live their life.
They retire.
I respect that.
(06:39):
That's fine, but that's not forme.
That's not the life I want.
I want to not have to do thatand count down the minutes to
when my shift is gonna be overand dread going back to work
Like, oh my God, I have to workon Monday, like I don't want
that.
All of those things is why Idon't want that, and that's why
(07:00):
I want this yes.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You have purchased three properties.
Did you just close on the thirdright?
Yes, yesterday, and it's beenlike five months since you came.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
It's been, yeah, since March.
Oh my gosh, april, may, june.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
July you were brand new.
Brand new to real estate, yes,Brand new to Jacksonville.
Yes, let's talk about yourfirst flip.
Walk me through.
How did you find it All settled?
And when you went, you saw thehouse.
Obviously you ran the numbers,did the spreadsheets.
(07:43):
Were you really scared puttingin that offer?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yes, I was super scared.
I was actually so with thatwholesaler.
We connected over Facebookbecause after I saw how the
business rolls on Facebook, I amlike a lady with a mission.
So since I was looking for ahouse, I mean, I was like, I was
dedicated.
It was nonstop.
(08:09):
Like any post, I had to do witha house, anyone that was a
wholesaler, anyone that wasselling something, I was like is
this available?
But is this available?
Hey, my name is so-and-so.
Is this available?
I'm a flipper, I have a company, you know, and is this
available?
I need to go see it and I wouldget on list and get on list and
get on list.
(08:29):
And that's how I networked withall of these wholesalers.
You know, and this was one ofthe wholesale companies that I
connected with, One of theirmembers was on one of those
groups that had posted a houseand when I reached out asking if
it was, when he put me on hislist and I started getting the
emails and it was like a legitcompany.
It's actually Florida wide,they're pretty big and they
(08:50):
manage a lot of differentproperties and I keep getting
their emails.
And so that house came up.
I had gone to see a boatload ofhouses right At this point, and
it was talking, I guess,because I might forget later
talking about sort of likemental blocks.
I know that was one of thethings my baby, you know, like I
(09:15):
have my baby.
And so, yes, I'm not workingbut I have my baby, so it's not
like I'm just like free to justgo and do whatever, you know, I
mean I can, but I have to bringmy baby.
And so it was when I went tosee houses, when I went to meet
people, when I went to meetcontractors, I had my baby, you
know, and it was one of thosethings where, at the beginning
(09:38):
and when I started this processof going to see properties, I
was sort of like a littleembarrassed, you know, because
not because of my child, butbecause I'm very professional.
And so, because I'm veryprofessional, you know, we have
this sense of, I think, just theprofessional world.
You know, here in the UnitedStates it's very like, you know,
(10:00):
kids and family.
It's not, it doesn't blendright, like if you have a
meeting, you don't bring yourkid to your meeting, you know.
And if you have this training,I'm not bringing my kid to my
training.
So in my mind I'm like, okay,this is business, this is
business activity.
You know, I'm bringing my kid.
I feel like that's gonna beunprofessional or inappropriate,
(10:20):
or people are gonna judge me,or you know like, oh, she's
bringing her kid, you know.
So I remember the first time Iwent to see a house, I brought
my baby, you know, and I wasmeeting one of the contractors
who now today she's mycontractor, right, and I was
kind of embarrassed, I mean, myinternal thoughts were, oh my
(10:41):
God, like I'm gonna show up withmy baby.
And you know, they're probablygonna think like, oh gosh, she
brought her kid, like you know.
And I was like, but I have nochoice, you know.
So I got to the house and I puthim on the baby carrier and in,
we went to the house, you know,and he was just like looking
around doing his thing.
And I met the GC and she was,you know, she was actually very
(11:04):
nice.
Nobody seemed to care.
I mean, yeah, they kind oflooked at me like, oh, there's a
baby, that's weird.
But that was about it, you know, she didn't really care.
She was just kind of like, oh,your baby's so cute.
Okay, let's go look at thehouse.
And you know, we looked at thehouse and whatnot, and it did
take me a couple properties forme to kind of have that like sit
(11:25):
down with myself and be likeyou know what this is.
This is what I'm looking to do,right, I'm trying to build this
business and the reason I'mtrying to build this business is
because I want to be with myson and I want to be with my
partner.
So if for me and my company,that's what my business looks
like.
Is me taking my kid to the bank, to wholesalers, to walking
(11:50):
properties, to closings whichwe've gone to too now and he was
walking on the closing table,like he was crawling on the nice
fancy wooden table that theyhave at title companies you know
, where they have like all thosefancy pens and stuff my kid was
literally crawling on her table, pulling all her pens out, and
I'm like I'm pretty sure youdon't have a lot of babies
walking on your table.
(12:10):
And she's like, yeah, no, thishas never happened and I'm like
I'm glad we're your first, Idon't care anymore.
I don't, because I kind of gotthat mindset where that's what
my business looks like, that'swhat my company looks like and
that's what fits me and that'swhat I need to do and, as a
matter of fact, I like that he'swith me because I want him to
see these things.
That's the point, exactlythat's the point.
(12:32):
But you have to take that mentalbarrier out of yourself because
nobody else is sitting therebeing like shame on you, mary
Anna, for bringing your baby.
Like you're putting thoselimitations on yourself and your
mind and you're embarrassedbecause you want to be and you
think it's inappropriate,because you're putting that
stigma on yourself.
Nobody else says and if youcome in with a baby and you're
(12:53):
rocking the baby, nobody's goingto tell you that a baby can't
be there, right, like nobody'ssaying that that's wrong.
That's just on you to kind ofchange that framework and own it
.
And by the fourth house we werewalking in there and my baby
Luca, he was like mama andlooking at houses and he already
knew the drill.
I didn't care Anyone.
It's a lot of dudes, usuallyfor the most part, usually a lot
(13:17):
of men that are taking videosand looking at the houses and
stuff.
Usually not a lot of women, andI'm used to being on mostly men
because the military is there's33% of women in the military,
so I'm comfortable with beingwith a bunch of dudes, I don't
care.
So it was one of those thingswhere, by the fifth house, it
was awesome and I'm like I'mpacking my baby, I'm packing my
(13:37):
camera, we're going to look atthese properties and we're good
to go, we're rolling.
So that was definitely one ofthe biggest things for me to
just be comfortable, just doingwhat I need to do.
However, it is that I need todo it for myself, for my family,
my business, right.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yes, aim into that.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
But the house.
So the house.
They were originally selling itfor $129.
So I said $120.
She's like, ok, no, well, whatabout $125?
And I was like I look at the DAagain.
Mind you, I've never negotiatedfor a house before.
Ok, so this already is like, ohmy god, like dear Jesus, we're
(14:14):
negotiating for a house.
Like, is this really happening?
And so she's like $125.
I'm like, no, I can't do $125.
I mean, that's $5,000 over.
So then I was like, glory toyou, $125.
And then we were over here likemy partner and I were like, oh
my god, they want $125.
What are we going to do?
So look at the DA again.
And we're like, ok, maybe let'slook at this again, let's look
at the closing cost.
(14:34):
What about the realtor?
What realtor are we actuallygoing to use?
Maybe we can negotiate thecommission with the realtor.
And I was like, ok, yeah, andLori had said she's like, yeah,
actually I know a realtorThat'll actually do that
percentage a little bit lower,so let's go ahead and put that
percentage lower.
And we tweaked it to where wecame to $122.
And so I was like $122.
(14:56):
And she's like, well, $125.
And I was like, dude, literallyI can physically give you no
more.
I mean literally.
I told this wholesaler I'm like, I am not even lying to you.
I physically cannot give youany more money.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
This is my very best.
This is all I have, jesus.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And so, without trying to sound desperate, you
know what I mean.
I'm like, literally, I cannotgive you.
It is $122.
Or this is a no, becausethere's no margin here, and
she's like all right, $122.
And yep, I know.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And then were you like oh crap, yes, what did I
just do?
Let me make sure the numberswere right.
Did I look at the numbers right?
What did I miss?
Wait, what's happening?
Does that sound right Exactly?
Speaker 3 (15:49):
That sounds 100% correct.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
That's exactly it still happens to me too this day
.
No, ok, that's comforting, alittle less panic involved, but
that still is like oh crap, waitwhat I missed.
Did I do that right?
It's like because it just youknow our brains freak out, yeah,
yeah, because it matters too,right?
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So it does.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Yeah, ok, so you got it for $122.
What were you thinking therepair amount was going to be
when you were like doing thenumbers on the DA?
What were you thinking yourrepairs were going to be $26,000
.
And what did your repairs comein at?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
$32,000.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Hmm, Not bad, okay, so what were some of the
surprises?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh Lord, so what?
Well, since we're on topic ofgetting the house on a contract
and talking about obstacles,difficulties and all of those
non-fun things okay, I had,because I'm me.
I had established arelationship with a hard money
lender.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, okay, yeah, sorry about the financing, for
sure.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, yeah.
So, just like you, you, youteach us.
You know the questionnaire lookfor your finance, look for your
lender.
Be ready.
I had done that.
I had done my homework like agood girl.
I had everything ready, right.
I had had several conversationswith my hard money lender.
They were super nice, they werevery, very, very kind, and so
we had done the whole thing.
(17:12):
I had asked all the questionsabout what their fees looked
like, how that was going to gofor us to be ready for when the
house came, right, right, andthey were used to working with
people that were new to Fix andFlips and they were good with
being kind of like that backupand checking your ARV, and that
was very nice, right.
So I had messaged them like,hey, listen, it looks like this,
(17:33):
is it?
Bam one 22,.
All right, they had checked theARV.
We were kind of good to go onall of those areas.
But when we had done theinitial paperwork for their
requirements, they have a, anexperience sheet, right, like
properties that they count, andif you have any experience then
it actually reduces the theterms.
(17:55):
They give you better terms,right.
So my partner actually has arental property in West Palm
Beach and it was actually hisoriginal home.
He actually renovated theapartment and then when he moved
, he put it he it's a rentalproperty now.
So we had told them that andthey said, oh, we'll count that
as an experience property, ofcourse.
(18:16):
So we had given them all theinformation about the property
and they were like oh, so that's, that's that means you have.
You're no longer in the zeroexperience category, now you're
on the one to three or one tofive experience category.
So your percentage now is,let's say, 80%, right, versus
70%.
I don't remember what the exactnumbers were, and so that is
(18:38):
what I had been running mynumbers this entire time,
because we were prepared, and Iliterally broke their paper down
at all the little fee thingsthat they send me and I looked
it looked like a college class.
I highlighted and I put arrowsand I called them and I said
what does this mean?
What does this mean?
What does that?
(18:58):
Why is that number like that?
You know, like because I neededto be prepared for when I ran
my numbers, when I found a houseright, so I find the house, get
it under contract and maybe aday or two later they're,
they're like okay, we're goingto put in the loan documents.
We're going to get everythingapproved, right, we're going to
start the process.
We're going to start thetimeline to closing, right.
(19:20):
We're like all right, perfect,awesome, we're all excited.
Well, they like, a day after Iget the house under contract,
they're like well, actually Iwant to go ahead and let you
know that we're going to have tochange your terms, and we're
actually going to have to.
Instead of covering, let's say,the original 80%, we're
actually going to only cover 70%, because we realized that your
(19:41):
experience property was doneover three years ago and it has
to be within the last threeyears in order for that to be
counted.
Nobody had said that to me, andand so I'm like are you kidding
me right now?
I just got a house undercontract and you're going to
change the terms on me when Ihave a house under contract.
(20:02):
That, for me, means, as youvery well know, I need to bring
more money.
I have to now go find moremoney, because you decided to
change the terms at the veryliterally last minute, right?
So that was not okay, I mean,and we were, honestly, we.
It's one of those things wherethere's so much going on, you're
(20:26):
learning so much, you're stillin fear because it's still
something you are doing for thevery first time, it's your first
house.
And when that, when he, whenthey said that to us, I mean we
literally were like, we werelike almost devastated because
we don't have money of our ownright.
And then, for any listener alsoright, that are like oh, people
(20:48):
have savings, yes, sure, someof the ladies in the group maybe
they're older, maybe they havetheir retirement funds.
I'm not, I'm 30 years old.
I have no money.
Okay, I've credit card debt.
That's what I had, right, likeI've lived my life and maybe
that's irresponsible and I,maybe I should have a savings up
until this point.
That's fine, but you know what?
I don't have any money stored.
So we had no money of our ownto put towards any of this right
(21:09):
.
And so that to us was like, ohmy God, what are we going to do?
What are we going to do Now?
We have to go find more money,right.
And so we, literally I walkedinto the bedroom because my
partner was in the bedroom withmy son while I was having this
conversation with them outside,and I came into the room and I
told them what happened and welooked at each other and we're
like, what are we going to do?
And we were so like devastatedand not my time, dramatic, very
(21:34):
defeating, defeating, exactly.
We were very defeated becausewe had done so much work, you
had done it right, exactly, andI had.
I worked so hard to be preparedand to just have all my ducks
in a row and to do my homeworkand to understand what was
happening.
And for someone to come andlower right and change the terms
(21:55):
at last minute, I was like, areyou kidding me right now?
And we looked at each other andwe're like, what do we do?
And so I remember I sat down onthe bed.
I have a whiteboard in the roomthat I usually, you know, do
like write stuff, whether it'smotivational or numbers or
whatever it is that we're doing.
And I was like, okay, let'sjust think.
And I was like, okay, I put onone side, we stop.
(22:18):
And I put on the other side, wemove forward.
And I do a line down the middle.
And I was like, okay, let'swrite it out.
Okay, why would we go forward?
Right, and we put financialstability, our company, the
opportunity for a better life,the time, all the work that I've
put in, right.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Cause it's still a good deal, like it's still a
deal.
It's not about it not being adeal, it's just that now you
need more money.
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, and it was just so like at that moment in time
we were not experienced enoughto handle that kind of situation
, to where now I would handle ita little bit different because
I have more experience right,but at the time you're so new,
you don't know so many things,You're doing everything you can
to make this happen and you'veworked so hard to get to that
(23:08):
point that it just felt verylike, how are we gonna move
forward?
And then we wrote down the stop, why we would stop and why we
would move forward.
And I was like and we,literally I looked at the board
and I was like we have no choice, we need to move forward.
There is no stopping.
Yeah, like there is no stopping.
We are going through it.
(23:28):
There is no reverse.
This sucks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay.
So what did you do?
How did you bridge the gap?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I fired them is what I did Picked up a new lender,
got the paperwork going, goteven better terms than what they
were offering, and we got theball rolling bam Okay so you got
a hard money loan, but did youhave some gap funds where you
had to get a private loan?
Yes, so we did.
Family and friends actuallyended up financing.
Yeah, financing what was needed, yeah, so okay so you purchased
(23:59):
for $1.22?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yes, $1.22.
Renovations you thought we'regonna be $26 and they came in
around $32?
Yes.
Were there any huge surpriseson the renovation?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yes, there was a pipe that did need to be, that was
leaking, that was, and they didhave to drill in the concrete A
little bit, though a little bit,they patched it up, repaired it
and then they just took out allof the walls and anything that
had any humidity and they justreplaced all of that and they
replaced any old galvanizedpiping that they saw in the
(24:36):
process.
They replaced it with newpiping.
Nice, that was a surprise.
And then the AC also ended upneeding some repairs, like the
water pump was broken and it wassupposed to be good to go, but
it actually ended up needingsome repairs and they actually
needed to replace the tubes thatgo outside, to the outside unit
(24:58):
as well.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
What was your timeframe?
You were in this flip for fivedays, I know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It was so fast, it felt like an eternity.
Debbie, I know.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I know it felt like years, but you were in it for
how long?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
It was so.
Four months was the originaltimeframe.
Purchase to close was theexpectation and we did it in
three months.
Purchase to close that'sawesome.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Your first flip like that's awesome.
32k worth of work, amazing.
Okay, so then it's done.
Put it on the market.
How did that feel?
Putting it on the market?
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Oh my God, so scary, so scary, so, so scary.
Worst part of the whole thing,it is Literally of the whole
thing.
I was like, oh my God, this iswhere they're gonna.
This is where I kept tellingeverybody, this is where I know
how good I did my homework.
Like this is all of the workthat I've done so far.
This is where people are gonnabe like oh, it's sold, or it
didn't sell, or she knows whatshe's doing, she's not, doesn't
(25:59):
know what she's doing.
Like it was just, it was likethe test.
It was a test to see how gooddid you do in everything that
you've done so far?
Yeah, it was, yes, anxiety, yes.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
When you bought it, what were you thinking?
The ARV was 195.
And what did you guys end uplisting it out?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
200,000.
Well, 199,000, 1900.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And when you listed it, how was the traffic that
first weekend?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
First weekend was actually not the best.
We got more showings in theweek than we did over the
weekend, which I thought waskind of odd, interesting.
Yeah, I know that was odd.
We got a showing the first day.
That it the first day it wentlive.
We got a showing immediatelyand then we got two more
showings after that that weekend.
Actually, I think we had oneshowing on Saturday that was it?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Did that scare you?
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was okay.
I had done my homework in termsof market research and I knew
that hot homes went under acontract in 15 days.
So because I already had thatin my mind, I was already primed
.
If it takes 15 days, we're goodand, honestly, I knew that
average homes went undercontract in 21 days.
So I was like you know what 21days at 21 day mark?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
then maybe we'll talk about that is exactly why that
data, those two data points, areso important.
So you know when to startfreaking out and you know when
you just need to chill out.
So then you got.
Did you get multiple offers ordid you get one offer?
How did that go?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So the first offer that we got was the one that we
sold to.
When the realtor, like, doesthe contract with you, she asks
you like if you wanna know ifyou get multiple offers
afterwards.
And I had said no, so I don'tknow if I did get another one
afterwards or not, just becauseyou start playing that game.
And I don't wanna play thatgame with myself.
I'm like you know what?
(27:56):
Like we picked this one.
I don't wanna know if somebodyelse came in with like $10,000
more.
I don't wanna play that like ifand what.
So we got an offer for $200,000,which is technically $100 over.
Yeah, and she wanted to put thedeposit down immediately.
It was this widow from NewJersey that had actually fly
down and she was just here forthe day in Florida looking at
(28:18):
houses and she, like I guess,saw 10 different houses and she
fell in love with ours.
She said that she loved it andthat it was her dream house and
that she had always wanted tolive somewhere like that.
Yeah, I got like you know, Igot like a little watery eye
when they told me that.
And, yeah, she's like I wannaput the deposit down now to want
anybody to snatch my house, andso she put the deposit on and
(28:41):
she paid like 80 with cash, andthen she financed the rest with
an FHA loan.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
How was the closing Like?
Did anything come up during theescrow period or the closing
period?
Oh wait, FHA, yes, Aha, so youhad a 90 day issue come up.
Yes, I did.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yes, and so she wanted to close ASAP because she
was moving from New Jersey andwas living in a hotel.
Okay, and we were not at our 90days.
We needed to sell.
The soonest we could sell wasJuly 28th and she wanted to move
like July 3rd and we were like,listen, lady, you're gonna have
to wait.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
if you want it, We'd love to but we can't, yeah, but
we can't.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
So she literally had to just stay at the hotel and
wait until July 28th in orderyeah, in order to buy the house.
Yeah, and that's what she did.
That's what she ended up doing.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Anything else come up .
Speaker 3 (29:33):
At the end, when we were like a couple days to
closing, they informed us thatthey needed an extension of a
couple of days because of theFHA we really don't know why,
but because of the FHA situation, that she actually wasn't able
to close with an FHA but thatshe qualified for conventional.
(29:56):
So all the lender was doing wasswitching from FHA to the
conventional and so they justneeded a couple of days to do
that.
We weren't sure.
They never told us if it wasbecause of the rehab and FHA or
because it was a New Jerseything, because the lender was
from New Jersey.
If they had maybe differentrequirements, we never really
(30:16):
got the specific reason, butthat's what they said.
They said she couldn't closewith an FHA on that house, so
she was just gonna gettransferred over to a
conventional.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
So were you freaked out or were you okay, relate,
it's gonna be fine.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I was okay because it was presented, as she can't
close with an FHA, but don'tworry, she qualifies for
conventional.
That's what they're doing andthey need a couple days.
Yeah, they're doing a sale,right?
Exactly, yes, exactly yes.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
So what was your profit?
$24,000.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yes, yes, three months, 24k in three months,
that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yes yes, yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Were you blown away?
Or were you like holy cow, Likewow, we did it.
Yes, yes, it works.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Yes, it works.
It works and we can do it andwe did do it and I can
definitely do it again and Idefinitely wanna do it again.
And it was just doing thatfirst rotation.
That's what we would say Likeif I can just do the first
rotation, I don't care if I make$5,000 somewhere else, like,
let's just get through the firstrotation, because there's only
(31:30):
so much that theory can get youand education can get you.
You have to do it.
You have to go through fullrotation.
Your program is phenomenal,phenomenal, phenomenal,
phenomenal platform.
But there are things that youhave to just do, because you're
gonna run into things that noone can train you for.
No one can teach you how torespond, no one can teach you
(31:50):
how to manage, no one can teachyou how to do any of those
things, and you just need to goout there and you just need to
do your full rotation.
And that's what we wanted to do.
We wanted to do our fullrotation.
It just so happened that ourfirst rotation was a $24,000
problem On a 200K house, we'lltake it.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
That's amazing.
12% profit that's a prettyphenomenal.
Oh my God, I'm so happy for youguys.
You are just.
You are such a doer.
It's so refreshing to seesomebody and you're super
coachable and you ask questionsand you get help when you need
it.
Like you're just awesome and welove you and we love that
(32:26):
you're in our community.
We see you, we see yourengagement and we appreciate you
so much.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story.
Thank you, debbie.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
You've got two more flips, yes, two more flips, yes,
yes.
And the one that we just closedon yesterday is a big one.
It's a big one, it's a 300,.
We bought it at 390, but theARV is actually about $600,000.
So, yes, we're very excited.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh my gosh, we'll have to have you back.
We'll have to have a catch upsession for the next two.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Yes, oh my gosh yes.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You're awesome.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I appreciate it, thank you, thank you Really, I
really thank you, thank you,thank you, thank you.
This platform phenomenal, thecommunity is phenomenal, all the
ladies are great and really thereason I like to share, and
even me thinking about doingthis podcast.
When you mentioned it, I waslike, absolutely, because I
remember when I was like freshwith the baby and all I could do
(33:29):
was listen.
And when I heard about theprogram and it was just new to
me, I knew you had the podcastand I started listening to the
podcast and listening to thestories and I think I listened
to almost all of them and one ofthe things was, oh my god,
these are people like me and Iwas like, ok, if this lady can
(33:51):
do it, I can do it.
I mean, if they went throughthat and they could do it, I can
do it too.
So I definitely know thatsomeone hearing this that can
identify with any of the thingsin my life will give them
motivation to do it and it'sdefinitely doable.
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Your program is awesome, so thank you, thank you
, thank you, thank you, you'rewelcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
Thank you again for sharingyour story, of course, my
pleasure.
All right, I'll see you in thegroup.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Yes, thank you, debbie, have a good day Bye.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So the next time you think to yourself, oh, I just
don't have the time for that,that thing that you really want
to be doing, that thing that isgoing to get you the time
freedom you want, the financialfreedom you want, I don't have
time for that.
Are you kidding me?
Like?
That's all I hear now Afterthis conversation with Mariana
(34:50):
is are you kidding me, debbie?
How do you not have time forthat?
You make it a priority.
There's not another option.
Dig deep and you do the thingsyou need to do.
Oh my gosh, so good.
Anyway, if you want to buy,renovate and sell houses or rent
houses, maybe have an Airbnb ormidterm rental or long term
(35:14):
rental somewhere, that is whatwe help women do.
We help you start thesebusinesses so that you can have
the thing you ultimately want,the thing we ultimately are all
chasing, which is more time withour loved ones.
Right, the financial stabilityand freedom to have more time
(35:38):
with our loved ones.
If you want our help chasingyour house flipping dreams, we'd
love to be part of your journey.
Go to herfirstflipcom and booka call with us.
Let's see how we could worktogether.
All right, until next time, goout there, flip houses like a
girl, leave people and placesbetter than you find them and
(35:59):
make it a great day.
Bye-oh.
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