130. REAL DEAL: Finding Yourself Through Real Estate

Summary

---

Real Estate Investing School Podcast

Episode 130: REAL DEAL - Finding Yourself Through Real Estate

Release Date: February 8, 2024
Host: Brody Fawcett
Guest: Emily Fackler, Head Coach at Real Estate Investing School

---

Overview

This episode of the Real Deal series zooms in on the power of real estate to catalyze personal change and financial growth, featuring the story of Emily Fackler—who moved from a successful but all-consuming corporate career to full-time real estate investing. Emily breaks down a standout deal—a 72-lot mobile home park in Kentucky—that she acquired with “none of her own money,” revealing concrete, actionable steps for anyone looking to reclaim their time and financial future through real estate. The conversation covers the ‘why’ of her transition, the nitty-gritty of creative acquisitions, and down-to-earth advice for new investors—including what she wished she'd done differently.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Finding Purpose Through Real Estate (00:00 - 04:36)

• Brody Fawcett opens the episode pointing out that real estate deals are often simple (but not easy), requiring work, intention, and willingness to step beyond comfort zones.
  • “Just how simple it is to replicate and to do on your own…Simple, not easy, because it does take work.” (A, 00:32)
• Emily Fackler shares her story of leaving a high-paying, fulfilling job because she realized her career kept her distant from her kids.
  • “We had a babysitter...she knew more about my kids than I did.” (B, 02:18)
  • “I loved my job until, you know, it was just too much, and I realized I love my family more.” (B, 02:22)

2. Making Life-Aligned Sacrifices (03:27 - 04:36)

• Emily describes the big sacrifices made to free herself for family (moving cities, budget cuts, leaving private schools), all deemed “totally worth it.”
• She stresses the importance of not settling and realizing “there is another way” outside the corporate grind.
  • “If I can help them realize that there is another way…It really transforms your life.” (B, 04:09)

3. Deal Breakdown: Creative Acquisition of a Mobile Home Park (05:21 - 20:45)

Deal Overview (05:21 - 07:20)

• Asset: 72-lot mobile home park in Kentucky, 18 park-owned homes.
• Source: Found on Facebook Marketplace—deal was not listed for sale.
• No Money: Emily set out to use zero of her own money out of necessity, not just creativity.
  • “My goal for this property was to use zero of my own money. And I'll be honest ... I didn't even have any money to use.” (B, 05:26)
• Strategy: Leverage systems (like Marketplace notifications) and targeted outreach with intention, not luck.

Negotiation Process (07:22 - 12:03)

• Original Ask: Seller wanted $600,000, 20% down, 6% interest.
• Emily’s Approach: Built rapport, asked for seller financing, and made a transparent, data-driven counteroffer.
  • On negotiating: “If you can explain why you're having to do a 375, this is the payment I need to make money based on what the money's coming in and the expenses I know I'm going to have come out…” (B, 17:11)

Terms Secured (16:51 - 18:10)

• Final Price: $375,000 (down from initial $600,000 ask).
• Down Payment: 10% ($37,500).
• Interest: 6%, amortized over 20 years.
• Seller Financing: Achieved by clarifying her needs and presenting several options.

Funding the Down Payment (18:50 - 20:22)

• Down payment was entirely funded by a private lender (family friend) at 6% interest, amortized over 30 years with a 5-year balloon.
  • “We did 6% on that as well… because I knew based on our numbers, even if worse came to worse, that I'd be able to pay that money back.” (B, 19:32)
• Lender has no equity, only a promissory note.

4. Cash Flow Realities & Value-Add Strategy (21:28 - 23:54)

• Initial Cash Flow: $3,500/month, but Emily reinvests all profits into the park for upgrades and vacancy fills.
  • “Day one, we're getting 3,500 in cash flow. But I am not keeping that money…I’m putting that back into the park.” (B, 21:33)
• Upside: Added $3,300/month in year one by rehabbing vacant homes and increasing units at market rent.
• Community Focus: Rents lifted slowly to market rates with sensitivity to tenants; business model prioritizes long-term, ethical growth over instant profits.

5. Lessons Learned, Cautionary Advice, and Community (26:04 - End)

• Reserves Matter: Emily candidly admits underestimating the need for reserves—plumbing issues caught her off guard.
  • “I did not have enough reserves in my account…I did not have enough reserves that I needed.” (B, 26:06)
• Workarounds for Reserves: Suggests negotiating reserve funding into private lender agreements, tapping business credit lines or cards.
• Support Systems: Strongly advocates finding a coach, community, or mastermind to avoid mistakes and maintain motivation.
  • “Most of my calls…is all right, I'm feeling like this and I'm going, that's normal. I did this, this and this.” (B, 27:37)
• Transparency: Emily offers to share the actual correspondence and deal docs she used with students to demystify the outreach and negotiation process.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Getting Started with Nothing
  “I didn’t even have any money to use. So it wasn’t just like, oh, I’m really creative. I am creative. But like a lot of the listeners…I didn’t have any money.” (B, 05:27)
• On Negotiation
  “It's not B2B business to business. It's human to human. Explain why you're doing that. If you can explain why you're having to do a 375…” (B, 17:11)
• On Asking for Seller Financing
  “If you never ask, the answer is always no.” (A, 14:00)
• On Market Realities
  “We always buy something where the rents aren't at market…But we're very, very mindful of bringing those up. It may be a slower business plan…but that's important to us.” (B, 22:58)
• On Delayed Gratification
  “A lot of people…think, oh, well, I, I was gonna live off this. I quit my job because it was $3,500…that takes time.” (B, 21:33)

Fun Moment

• On Family Perception vs. Reality
  Emily’s husband: “We have all these properties. Where’s the money?”
  Emily: “We're not taking the money yet. We've got to not take any of the money right now.”
  (25:17 - 25:44)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 — Introduction & Episode Theme (The “simple, not easy” mindset)
• 02:12 — Emily’s Pivotal Career Shift (Leaving corporate for family)
• 03:27 — Sacrifices and Life Adjustments
• 05:21 — Overview of the Kentucky Mobile Home Park Deal
• 07:22 — Lead Generation & Direct Outreach Explained
• 10:12 — Building Seller Relationships & Negotiations
• 15:24 — Structuring Seller Financing
• 18:50 — How Emily Funded the Down Payment
• 21:28 — Realistic Cash Flow, Reinvestment, and Community Focus
• 26:04 — Lessons Learned: The Importance of Reserves
• 27:37 — Advice on Coaching and Community
• 28:43 — Deal Documentation Offered & How to Connect with Emily

---

Final Advice

• Do the Work: Real estate investing is accessible, but requires persistence, resilience, and willingness to learn and ask for what you want.
• Find Support: Surround yourself with experienced mentors or peers to avoid avoidable mistakes and stay motivated.
• Be Patient: True wealth in real estate is a long game—delayed gratification is key.
• Prepare for the Unexpected: Always plan for reserves and occasional setbacks.

---

How to Connect with Emily

• Instagram: @emilyjfackler
• Email: [e-mail]
• Deal Docs for Students: Available via Real Estate Investing School

---

To connect with coaches or learn about the Real Estate Investing School, see the show notes.

Transcript

[A]

What's up, everybody? Thanks for tuning in today and welcome to another episode of the Real Deal podcast with Real Estate Investing School. And we're pumped today. So this is your host, Brody Fawcett. And as you guys already know, this is a short, sweet episode. We're going to talk about one deal with one of my favorite people today, and I'm excited to introduce this one. And as always, like, the coolest thing about diving into these deals is you understand just how. I shouldn't say easy. I should say simple. Just how simple it is to replicate and to do on your own. And the reason I say simple and not easy is because it does take work, right? You can get all this information, you can learn all this stuff, but at the end of the day, you're the one that has to go and apply it and try these things no matter how simple they are. So with that being said, today we have Emily Fackler. Emily, what's up?

[B]

Hey, what's up?

[A]

I'm excited to jam with you today. Obviously, I know you really well. Emily's one of our top coaches. She's actually the head coach at Real Estate Investing School and all of her students absolutely love her. So, Emily, it's. And I'm not even just saying that they rave over you. So how many students do you coach right now?

[B]

Right now I have, oh, I think I have 14.

[A]

14. Awesome. Awesome. Cool. Well, you crushing it. We appreciate you and all you do. And today we're excited because we did dive into one of the deals that you've done and just kind of give you a quick background. What's cool about Emily, obviously she's a female crushing it in this space. But she, not too long ago, kind of left the corporate world and was in a spot where she was making great money, had a great job and was thriving as far as success wise at what she was doing, but also realized that she was away from her family, away from her kids. And I think you kind of had like a pivotal moment where you're just like something happened where you're saying like my nanny was raising my kids more than I was or something like that. Is that maybe tell that story really quick.

[B]

Yeah, I just like most moms that are working a lot and really like their job, you're just away from your kids all the time. And so yeah, we had a babysitter that we had all the time in the summers, on the holidays, after schools, etc, and I mean, she knew more about my kids than I did. And there were a lot of things Going on with my kids, where I was having to leave work constantly. And I just thought. And I loved my job until, you know, it was just too much, and I realized I love my family more. So it was. It was a really pivotal moment of, you know, what. What is this all for? Right. Why am I not around my family all the time? And they're the most important thing. So. Yeah, you're exactly right. A true awakening.

[A]

Yeah. No, that's so cool. And props to you, because I think a lot of people feel that way, and then they look around in their circumstance, and they're like, well, it's not in my control. I have to do this because I have to provide. And, you know, it is what it is. Some people got the better end of the stick, but it didn't happen to me. And I just think it's cool to, like, point out because you still had to make sacrifices. Like, when you quit your job, you realize that, like, hey, I'm quitting. And one, this is giving me the motivation to figure this real estate investing thing out. But two, like, you also, you cut back on your expenses. Like, you actually had to sacrifice a little bit, and you knew what was in store in order to build your future.

[B]

Yeah, we moved cities, pulled our kids out of schools that were, you know, private schools, took. Took a big look at our budget and had to set really strict rules on that. So absolutely huge sacrifices, but totally worth it.

[A]

Yeah, I love that. I love. You said it's worth it, and I love that. I just love pointing that out because so many people are just, man, it's. It's not in my cards. It's not for me. And I always love the quote, you know, don't. Don't complain about the results you didn't get with the work. You weren't willing to do something like that, Right? Did I completely butcher it?

[B]

No, I think you're close. It's close. My thing is, like, a lot of people don't know what they don't know, or, like, you're kind of blinded, and then you're like, oh, wait, I can't. There is another way. And that's like, if one of my main goals for women or people in general is, like, if I can help them realize that they're. There is another way, and you just kind of need help through it. Like a coach at the real estate investing school. I mean, that's. We don't just talk about real estate. You know, as you know, we look at a budget, we look at what can you do Differently, and it really transforms your life. And that's especially for women to be around their kids more.

[A]

Yeah. Love it. Totally. So good. We could. We could jam on that all day. But I think it's important just to point out, obviously, the purpose of this show is to get down and dirty on a real estate deal you've done. And I think it just goes along with what we've talked about because it gives people the hope that they can invest in real estate with using, like, a little bit of hustle and doesn't necessarily have to rely on all of this, this cash and spending a bunch of money and even, like learning a bunch of stuff. You just kind of figured out a lot of it when you got into it. So with that being said, give us a brief overview of the deal we're going to dive into today, what it is, explain it really quick, and then we'll dive into numbers and stuff. And then ultimately how you found it, how you funded it, and how you forced it.

[B]

Okay. I'm really excited about this one. This is perfect after what you just said, because my goal for this property was to use zero of my own money. And I'll be honest with everyone, I didn't even have any money to use. So it wasn't just like, oh, I'm really creative. I am creative. But like a lot of the listeners and students, I didn't have any money. So this was a mobile home park, one of my favorite asset classes, and this one I found on Facebook, but It was a 72 lot mobile home park in Kentucky. And what. What questions next? You. Are you gonna. I don't want to, like, overstep your question.

[A]

No, that's great. No, I appreciate it. What was the purchase price? So you said you seller financed it. You said it at zero down. Is that what you said?

[B]

Nope. So, first of all, there's not a purchase price because it was not for sale, but I'll go into.

[A]

Okay. I love it. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, so I found this on Facebook. Just kind of give the background of when we get into the number. So I found it on Facebook and I was going through Marketplace and I have keywords selected where it sends it to me if it comes up. And one of them is mobile homes. And so it said, for rent for 500. And I messaged the person that posted it and I said, are you the owner of the park? And they said, yes, I. I work for the company, you know, of the owners. And I said, okay, would you be willing to sell it? And they're like, sell the mobile home. And I said, no, the whole park. And they said, actually, we would want to. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, it works. It works. It does. Honestly, I knew it worked because I found this is like, one of the. I think it's four properties that I've gotten through just asking people if they would sell it. I love when I go in. So I'm in, like, a small town, I go into, like, local places, and they'll say, hey, did you just buy, you know, blank, blank, blank property? And I'm like, yeah. And they'll go, well, I didn't think it was for sale. And I said it wasn't. I love it, but you gotta ask for the sale.

[A]

That's amazing. So good.

[B]

When I asked them what they would want to sell it for, they said 600,000. And that was. That was not anywhere close to what. What I wanted or could. Could pay for that property.

[A]

Okay, so I'm gonna pause you for a second, which I wanna hear what you did next, but a few things. Like, I love that you had keywords set up to notify you. Like, that's. That's super cool. Awesome. I love that. Why. Why did you message them like you saw it for sale or you saw it for rent? Like, why did you. Why did you wanna reach out and ask if they were willing to sell it?

[B]

Because that's part of my strategy. So one of the things we do in the real estate investing school, you talk about the three to three that we have. Every student. If you go up to a student in the real estate investing school, they're gonna. And you say, what are your three to three? They're gonna be able to tell you, right? And the first one is the money that you need to be free. And the second one is your strategy. And then the third thing is your most important next step. Well, my strategy at that time was to get another mobile home park. And so when you set up your KPIs. One of my KPIs is offers. And in order to make an offer, you need leads. And in order to get leads, you've got to go out there and find them. And a lot of people look on loop net and all that, but I. You. When you find the good deals, you've got to do the good work. And so I. That was one of my. Like, that was one of my key performance indicators was fine deals, Not. Not on Zillow, like, create deals. So that was one of my things. Like, I need to reach out to a certain amount of people on Facebook a week to be able to do that.

[A]

Yeah, I love that. And I kind of knew you're gonna say something along those lines. That's why I wanted to ask you. Because a lot of people think it's just like, oh, I'm randomly, you know, seeing what my friends are doing on Facebook. And I saw this and I had this random idea to message them. It's like, no, the intention behind it of like, hey, this is what I'm doing. I have my goals, I have my KPIs that hit my goals, and this is what I need to do. And so that's what led to it. And so I think a lot of people think like, oh, and I get this a lot too of like, oh, you're so lucky like that they're willing to sell that to you. And it's like, well, no, you know, like, yes, but no. Are you so lucky that you message them? They say yes. It's like, yes, but no. We were just talking before, before we went live here on somebody I messaged yesterday on, on Facebook Marketplace and they like shut me down. They were super rude, not willing to sell, you know, and it's just like, you also got to understand there's a lot of those that goes into it to get things like this. And if you're not willing to go through that and put in the work, or if you give up after a few of those, then you'll never get get to where you're at. So love that. Okay, so what happened? He said, I want 600,000 for this. And you said, oh, that's not going to work. And then what happened?

[B]

Yeah, we went back and forth through phone calls. One of my main things is building relationship with the seller. I'm a seller at times. They're just people and you really want a win win for people. So you got to understand what they're looking at and they've got to understand what you're looking at. So just talking with them, I realized they wanted that 600, 000 price. But I can't do that because if I were to resell it, it at that point, to me, it wasn't really worth that. So if you just kind of, kind of manipulate the numbers. And so what I did is I really put together a clear proposal to them. It had three different options for seller finance. Well, let me back up. I asked if they would sell our finance. So again, ask for, ask for the sale, Ask for seller finance. They actually said yes. They had done a seller financing before. They wanted the 600, 000, they wanted 20% down and then they wanted a 6% interest rate. At that time, 6% was high. I didn't care. If I can manipulate the other numbers, who cares? Right? It's about cash flow. It's about this property was zoned for R3, where I can actually build onto some of the property for multi family. So there's a lot of different things going on, especially people talking about interest rates right now. There's so many more factors that can be manipulated where you don't. You won't care about that interest rate. So that actually they said 6%. I was able to give them their 6%, give them over time, more than the $600,000 to them. But I had to change the down payment and then I had to change the purchase price in order to do that. So it's kind of a pool different levers to be able to get that. Yeah, probably a lot.

[A]

No, no, that's good. That's good. That's good. Yeah. So I love this. I'm loving all this because a few things I just want to point out. Like one, just because someone says this is what they want, it doesn't mean that that's necessarily what it has to be. Right. There's always a way to create a win win scenario. Not always, but like, that's what we're trying to do. Win win. Right. And that, that was a win for him, maybe getting his 600,000. But it wasn't win for you because the terms weren't the terms that would work out for you. So it's all about balancing what. Give and take, give and take till you find that happy medium. I also, I also love that you pointed out that it's not all about the interest rate. Like I man, we need an entire show on this because so many people get so caught up in what the interest rate is that they just miss out. And I actually just did a post on Instagram the other day just talking about how you could utilize a credit card with a 20 interest rate. And people were like, that's the dumbest thing ever. Yeah, but it's like, it was the. The concept of it is like, if you can use that money to get you now a 40% return, you're now making 20% with nobody's money. Right. And that was just an example to drive home the. The point of it. But this is the exact same thing. And you're like, hey, it doesn't really matter the interest rate. Especially now. Like, I have a seller, finance that's locked in for 5%. Another one that's locked in for 4% for 30 years. But the crazy thing is, at the time that was high. Like, that was high. I was like, oh. I was like, okay, well, it doesn't really matter. I'm okay paying higher interest because the numbers work out that, that well on it. So I love. You said that. And it's all, it's all a puzzle, right? There's different pieces to the puzzle. And if you're only looking at one piece of the puzzle, which the interest rate is so high, you're missing out on the entire picture. And really, like, you have to see the other pieces to know whether the interest rate even makes a difference or not.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So love that. And then I love that you asked about seller financing. Like, that's just like another thing that seems, probably, seems obvious to people. Like, oh, yeah, you sell or financed it? Well, no, you ask them if they're willing to sell or finance. And if you never ask, like, the answer is always no. And so I love that concept. And I submitted an offer on a house this morning actually, and I was talking to the agent and I first said, hey, do you know if they're willing to sell or finance it? And it's, it's, it's two and a half million bucks of this property. And she's like, no, I don't think so, but I'll ask anyways. And she came back and they're like, yeah, they're open to seller financing. So I'm like, they always say, even her just assuming, no, you know, you never know.

[B]

No, they're probably going to want the cash. Probably. You need to check.

[A]

Yeah, let's ask them and see. You know, and I, I think too, like, not to get too far off on this tangent, but especially now with interest rates climbing the way that they are right now, I, I think there's a huge opportunity for seller finance deals because people see that one, you're willing to sell or finance it at a, at a higher rate. You know, I'm, I'm willing to accept that. And for them, they're like, that's actually a good return on my money versus selling it and me trying to invest it somewhere and hoping I can get that return out of that. So anyhow, love that you did that. Now back to what you did. I want to hear how you structured it.

[B]

Okay, so I told you I didn't have any money, right? So, yeah. So we ended up going with purchase price of 375. I was able to talk with them. They okay, let me go back. This mobile home park had 18 park owned homes. I've bought mobile home park before. Mobile home park before. We only had the lots, those different beasts to me. But they said, we think the mobile homes are worth about a hundred thousand. We think the lands, you know, worth about this. And I, and I had seen the homes and I said these homes are going to need a lot of work. And there was actually a ton of cash flow on the table. And I was very transparent about that. They're not stupid. I'm not, you know, we all know what's going on. But when you did the expenses and you saw the cash flow, you would say, well it probably is worth 600,000. But I knew I'm gonna have to put that money just pour it back into the park for upgrades for everything I wanted to do with it. It was more of a, I would say fixer upper. It was the way I negotiated also was that it was in a flood zone. So I said it's 72 lots, but actually 15 of those you cannot put mobile homes on anymore because of that. A lot of people were scared of that. I worked with the city and the zoning and kind of talked through that. Worked with my property manager who's a total rock star. And we were like, yeah, we think it's worth the risk. We can take this on. So there are a lot of different ways to negotiate. That ended up landing at 375. Seller finance, 10% down.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

6% interest rate for 20 years.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That's incredible.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean coming, coming From, I want $600,000 not seller financed and 20 debt. Like that's, that's like cutting all those numbers in half almost.

[B]

Well, people are like how that's insulting. Why would you give somebody a 375 offer when they said 600? And here's how we are people. It's not B2B business to business. It's human to human. Explain why you're doing that. If you can explain why you're having to do a 375, this is the payment I need to make money based on what the money's coming in and the expenses I know I'm going to have come out. Especially if they've done seller financing before or they're business people, which a lot of the times investors, unless you're buying a single family home, you're working with other business people, they, they get it, they understand. So if you can explain and say like I don't Want to lowball you here. I want you to get what you want, but I also can't afford it at this price. And here's why. So that was, it was a lot easier when you just have a conversation with somebody instead of just like submitting an offer. And it they ask for 600 and you give them 375, well, of course they're gonna say no. You know, they, yeah, they're not. They don't understand the reasoning why and they think you're just giving them a low ball.

[A]

Yeah, no, that's, that's great advice. And a lot of that can be done during like the due diligence process as well. If somebody is under contract and they have an inspection that's done, it's just like, hey, look, here's the inspection. Here are all these things that are gonna need to happen now. Like, I want to buy this deal. I like it. I think that it's great. But someone has to pay for this. And so here's kind of my compromise. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so that's. Ultimately I take it down. Now, hold on a second. You said 10% down, but you didn't have any money. So what happened? That's $37,500 magically grew on a tree.

[B]

And I. No, I'm just kidding. So I had, we had done a little bit investing before and we had, we, we talk about it with our family members and stuff, and not in a way of like, do you, can I get money? Can I get money? Can I get money? People are seeing that instead of your money sitting in a bank, if it could be earning money somewhere else, that that's more beneficial. So I have a family friend who said, hey, if any opportunities come up, let me know. I've got this amount of money that's sitting in the bank and I'd rather earn interest. And I knew what sort of return they wanted and we did the same thing, asked them for if they were interested in funding it. We did 6% on that as well. And it's actually on they, that. So you've also got to find out what your investors want. So this one isn't on a 20, it's actually on a five year balloon. Because I knew, baked into my business plan that we were going to raise, raise rents on the lot, upgrade, fix up some of the units and put new people in, which we've already done that. And so I knew based on our numbers, even if worse came to worse, that I'd be able to pay that, that money back. To the investor. So that's on a five year. She said, I don't, you know, I'm this certain age. I don't want my money in 20 years. I'm going to want it in five. So we were able to do that. Worked with a real estate attorney to write that up. They did a promissory note. And, you know, all that's filed and secured. So.

[A]

And is that so with her. So she doesn't necessarily have equity in the deal. You just borrowed money and paid her interest?

[B]

Absolutely. Yep.

[A]

Cool. I love that for lots of reasons. Obviously you get to retain, you know, most of that equity or all that equity. And equity is way more valuable than, than debt is. So that's awesome. And then you paid her. So it was, was it interest only for five years and then there was a balloon or was it amortized?

[B]

It's amortized on a 30 year. So it's really low payment every month.

[A]

On a 30 year. Cool. And is, is, is, is yours amortized? I know it's a 20 year payback, but is it amortized over 30 years on the. I was going to say resort, but the mobile home park, it's amortized over 20, 20. Okay, cool. Awesome. So cool. So break this down from a standpoint of what your expenses are. I know they're going to be a little different, obviously for that first five years, you know, paying off that, that private money. And then what does that look like from a cash flow standpoint for you? What do you, what are your expenses each month on it? What do you collect per rent?

[B]

Yeah. Okay. So when we first took it over, and I kind of want to say this because you see all these headlines on Emily bought a mobile home park and immediately was getting 3, 500 in cash flow. Which, that's true, I was. Day one, we're getting 3, 500 in cash flow. But I am not keeping that money. I'm not spending that money either. I'm putting that back into the park. So I want to, I want to say that because a lot of people get in there and then they think, oh, well, I, I was gonna live off this. I quit my job because it was 30 $500, you know, and that takes time. You know, we've only owned it for a year and I'm still putting that money in. I will live off that money at some point, but right now I'm not. So day one, it was about $3,500. We put a lot of money in, and that's cash flow. So I, I can't remember my exact expenses, our mortgage that we pay to the seller. Oh, gosh, I, I, I can't remember off the top of my head.

[A]

That's okay. The important number is that that cash flow one people can figure out the expenses.

[B]

Over the past year, we have increased the cash flow by around 3, $300. And that's by. We fixed up some mobile homes that we had owned, but they were vacant. And then we also had a living quarters there that the owner's, you know, family or manager was living in, et cetera. So we actually put somebody in there as well. We are kind of on.

[A]

And that's per month. You said you added another 3, 300 per month?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, wow. That's awesome.

[B]

Yep. Because we, the, the people that we have in currently, they're low. Their rents are really low. They're probably about 250 under market. So when we fix those up and put people in, they were at market rate, putting them in. So we're doing that stair step where we're increasing it as their rent, as their leases come up. And then also we don't do it all at one time. We are very big in our community and affordable housing. And so anytime we buy something, we, we always buy something where the rents aren't at market. That's part of our business plan. But we're very, very mindful of bringing those up. And so it may be a slower business plan that most people have, but we are in a small community and that's important to us. So we make sure and do that over time. So we're, we would like to see it increase over time about the same rate every, every year until we get up to market.

[A]

Wow. And a lot of that's due to the fact that you're willing to sacrifice what you might want now, that extra cash flow for what you want later. Right. And you're investing that back in. And I mean, that's real estate investing in a nutshell. Right. You're sacrificing money now so it will pay you later and give you that freedom later. So I love that. That's awesome. What a cool deal. How cool is that? And like, I know we touch a lot of these on these deals of like, hey, anybody can do this. You don't need a lot of money. You don't need a lot of experience. Yeah. And there's a lot of haters when it comes to stuff like that. And they're just like, oh, you make it sound too good to be true. Yada, yada, yada, like that's not how it works. And I think that. One, that is how it works. Yes. But two, like, yeah, there is work that's. That's required. Like, a lot of people either take the attitude of, hey, you can't do that. That's too hard. I wasn't blessed with lots of money growing up, yada, yada, yada. I don't have a good paying job, whatever. And that can be their story. Or their story can be like, hey, I'm gonna do what Emily did, and I don't have any money, but I'm gonna still find a way and put in the work to go make this happen. And so I love your story and I love this deal because of that. And obviously this wasn't, you know, the first deal that you. The only deal that you did. Right. Like, this is what you do now, and this is how you, you know, build freedom for you and your family, which is so awesome.

[B]

If you talk to my husband, he would say, I'm not building freedom yet. Because he's like, we have all these properties. Where's the money? And I'm like, we're not taking the money yet. We've got to not take any of the money right now. So that's kind of how we're living. My kids are like, I know he.

[A]

Wants to go golfing.

[B]

You said, we're poor, but you just bought another property. And I'm like, you'll understand one day. I try to explain them, but they don't.

[A]

You'll understand one day.

[B]

Disney. And I'm like, no, we're not going to Disney.

[A]

I love it. No, so, so good. And your husband could very easily be a comedian. He is one of the funniest people I know so. Well, anything else you want to add to this deal or anything else? If somebody wants to go and replicate something like this? Any advice that you have?

[B]

Yeah, a couple things. I do want to give a caveat to this, that. And I try to tell my students this all the time. Before I kind of go into that is one thing I did wrong about this deal and I want to explain that is I did not have enough reserves in my account. So I say I didn't pay any money, but I did not have enough reserves that I needed. We had some super big plumbing issues. And so before you go into a deal like this, I do want to have a caveat of the investor that you have give you the note. Also ask them for some reserves in there, and you can pay that back. That's not a big Deal. You could also get a business line of credit if you're. Because a mobile home park would be a business and a lot of other asset classes are. And then third one would be, you could have a business credit account, credit card account. So I think part of the cool thing about doing podcasts and listening to other people is avoiding their mistakes. And so I did want to give a couple of mistakes that I did make on this deal, which were those, those three kind of saying, I didn't need any money. Well, you kind of do need a little bit money, but you don't have to use your own.

[A]

We thought you were perfect. We thought you got it all down.

[B]

That's what people think when they see all the, you know, the podcast or the tick tock. It's like, oh, it's so easy, you know, and then that's why they quit. That's why they give up, because they realize it's hard when they get into it. But 100 to hate it. I mean, not to like toot our own horn at the real estate investing school, but it would have, it's just so much easier when you have somebody to do it with you. So even if you're, you know, I highly recommend getting a coach and being involved in something like the real estate investing school. But if you're not going to do that, go to meetups or surround yourself with people that have done it too, that have gone through the trenches. Most of my calls on real estate investing school, when we get through the teaching and the strategy and all, that part is all right. I'm feeling like this and I'm going, that's normal. I did this, this and this. And they're like, oh, thank you. Like, that made me feel better. I was in my own head. You know, I'm around my sister and my mom. They don't do this and they don't understand. But if you don't do that, you're gonna give up because you don't have somebody kind of guiding you through. So I would, I would definitely say that I also have a document on this exact deal that I've shared with our students. And it shows the screenshots of every correspondence I had with the seller. And also. So it's pretty cool. So if you, I don't know, you guys want to put it in the show notes or put in the show notes or whatever that is. People like to see that. They like to see, well, what did you say to them? What conversation did you have? What email did you write? And I'm Not. I don't keep secrets. I want everyone to win. I want everyone to do it. So I'm happy to share anything that I've done before.

[A]

I love that. Well, you definitely have done that in the last 20, 30 minutes here. So thanks so much for sharing your story, sharing that deal. If people want to follow you, learn more about you, where's the best place to do that?

[B]

Yeah, you can find me on Instagram. I'm Emily J. Fackler, also at the Real Estate Investing School. Emily at the Real Estate Invest. Or is it real estate or the real estate? Emily at Real Real Estate. Okay. Emily at realestate Investing.

[A]

I think either one will work, but real estate investing school is shorter, so.

[B]

Cool. Yeah.

[A]

Well, also, if. If you're listening to this and you're like, hey, I want some help, doesn't matter what stage you're at. We have. That's a cool thing. I think now we have, you know, a dozen coaches and their expertise is all across the board, from apartment complexes to, you know, getting started with no low money to seller financing to all across the board. So if you're sitting here listening to this, being like, hey, I would love someone to help me go through the process so I don't make some of those mistakes and I can scale a lot quicker. That's what we do. That's what we're here to do. So click link in the show notes. You can book a free, free call and just learn about it, hear about it, and see if we can't help you out. But with that being said, thank you so much for tuning in and we will catch you guys next time on the Real Deal for the Real Estate Investing School podcast.