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Real Estate Rookie
Creating $3,000/Month Cash Flow Just by Pivoting to THIS Investing Strategy
00:39:20
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- [00:00]
Ashley Kerr
Diversifying your assets is a good way to hedge against the difficult housing market. But knowing which strategy to use for each of your properties can have a major impact on your cash flow and success.
- [00:13]
Tony J. Robinson
Our guests today learned some invaluable lessons about the key differences between flipping houses and operating multifamily properties. And in this episode, we'll unpack how picking the right strategy for the right property is key to cash flowing in this market.
- [00:31]
Ashley Kerr
This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast, and I'm Ashley Kerr.
- [00:34]
Tony J. Robinson
And I'm Tony J. Robinson.
- [00:36]
Ashley Kerr
Aaliyah, welcome to the show. Let's start off with a little bit about your background on buying your first house and exactly why it was so important to you.
- [00:46]
Aaliyah
Of course. So I am from Buffalo, New York, born and raised. I was adopted by my grandparents. My mom, she had me at the age of 16, and my grandpa, her dad was like, you know what? You go finish school, I'll raise Aaliyah. And so growing up with grandparents, it was really different because throughout middle school and high school, my parents on average were about in their late 60s, 70s, and my peers, their parents were like, in their 40s and their 50s. So my grandparents couldn't really move around comparable to, like, my parents of my peers. And so outside of that, though, my childhood, my upbringing was fantastic. I grew up in the same house my entire life until I was 19 years old. There's even, like, little drawings of how tall I got every single birthday. And so it was really, like, near and dear to me. I went to the same schools. Like, I knew everybody by the time I got to high school for about, like, 10, 12 years. When I was 19 years old, my grandparents had to give up their house to help put me through college. And that was really devastating. They lost their house. And so I had always made it my mission to one day buy them a house. And so I remember when I was an undergrad, I was just Googling, like, top 20 paying careers, and I landed on law. It's not my passion, but I was like, okay, I don't absolutely hate it. I was like, you know what? I'm going to go to law school. And I applied and I got in. And now I've been working in New York City as a lawyer at a law firm for eight years. And I was able to save up enough money. And during COVID when interest rates were very low at 3%, I jumped the gun and I purchased them a house that was my first property, my biggest purchase ever in life. I was super nervous, but I did it happy that I did it because now I refer to it as the gift that that keeps on giving. And I remember that there was a bathtub that was huge and they had to really like climb over to get inside. I wanted to knock that down and create like a walk in shower for them. So I found a contractor. Reviews were good. We worked on a bathroom. It was a complete gut, made a huge, massive, beautiful walk in shower for them. And I was like, you know what? I like this. My grandma also likes to cook in the kitchen. At the time was very outdated. And so I was like, you know what, let's I have an extra, some extra money, let's cut out this kitchen, give her some new countertops, cabinets and the like. And we did that too. And ever since then I was like, oh my God. I actually really enjoy remodeling. I really like making houses more functional and then what they currently are. And so I started watching Flip or Flop on hgtv. I watched every single episode and I was like, you know what? I could flip houses. Like Buffalo is one of those markets where like you can still buy a house for like 60, 70, 80k, put some money into it and then make a good profit. And I was like, you know what it looks like, I just need the right team and I could do this. And so that's kind of like how I got into flipping.
- [03:24]
Ashley Kerr
There is a lot to unpack here. And I love this story of how you got started in real estate. So let's start with that first house though, with your grandparents. What was the process for you because you're living in New York City at the time when you bought them this house. Correct?
- [03:40]
Aaliyah
Correct.
- [03:41]
Ashley Kerr
Okay, so how did you find contractors? How did you manage the rehab of these projects from afar?
- [03:49]
Aaliyah
So at that point, Covid had hit and so we were working remotely. So I was able eventually to come back to Buffalo. And I remember posting, I joined a Facebook group on Buffalo, Buffalo real estate investors. And I remember posting, does anyone have a contractor that they recommend? And I got like 20, 30 comments. And so I just started googling them and I started looking at reviews. I'm definitely a review girly. Like before I go out to eat anywhere or do anything, like I look at the reviews and I found a contractor who had decent reviews who was available also immediately. And so I went with him. And it was a good process. I was definitely very new to everything. I remember at that if I could just go back in time and do some things over again, I would. But I remember I picked out like three different Finishes for the bathroom at one point. So it was a little bit of a hot mess. But this contractor was very patient. He kind of walked me through the entire process and the hand holding that I very much needed. And we got the job done. So we had to work under pressure. It was a very quick turnaround. We were closing. My grandparents needed to move in right away. There was someone who wanted to rent out the current home that they were living in. So we were on a time crunch, but we got through it. And I remember I would just like bring my laptop and I was working remotely and I would just be there at the house as they were working all day long. I sat there for like seven hours, eight hours a day, one to learn and also just to like make sure like that was my biggest investment. I didn't like, I wanted to make sure sure my guys were working, you know, nine to five or whatever, you know, just putting in reasonable hours at the time. So yeah, I set up shop and I was there on location, on site.
- [05:24]
Ashley Kerr
That's incredible to actually do that, to take the time to go and sit there. And I'm assuming it probably wasn't the most comfortable place to sit in work while they're rehabbing a property.
- [05:35]
Tony J. Robinson
We want to get into like the nitty gritty of you transitioning from this kind of passion project of a rehab and to actually flipping, you know, from like a. An intentional perspective. But I guess just give us like a 30,000 foot view. How many flips have you done and just like, I guess have they been successful for you financially? Like just give us the quick 30,000 foot picture of that.
- [05:55]
Aaliyah
Yeah, so I've done eight flips on average. In the beginning I was making around 40k per flip, which in my mind was great because this again was like a side hustle. It was very passive income. My contractor really is just so trustworthy and he gets in and out and he does such a great job that that's the reason why I was able to be so hands off and focus on my career in New York City, being a lawyer. And so I made good money in all of my flips. And I would say with the exception of one flip, all of my flips had offers, multiple offers over asking within one week of U.S. listing. And so it was great. I was like, this is, this is like some of the easiest money I've ever made. But I would say like, my key to success there again is the contractor. And I learned that from the books that I read. I really did my research and my homework Before I purchased my, my first flip, the books I read, the TV shows that I watched, I knew that your contractor can make or break this whole thing. And so how I found my contractor is an interesting story too, because I started just looking on Zillow at houses that were remodeled and I saw one that like just looked absolutely fantastic. The craftsmanship was like really there. And I called that agent and I'm sure, as you guys know, agents love to talk. And so this agent went on talking about the property, about the flipping process, and then I was like, well, who did you work with? And he was like, oh, his name is so and so. And he gave me his name and the guy's phone number. And so I've been working with the same contractor now since 2023 on every single project and it's been great. My last flip that I sold, I made 200k in profit. So my average, now 40k in profit is higher.
- [07:34]
Tony J. Robinson
That's amazing. And I think, you know, you hit on a very important point here, Lee, is that sometimes the best way to find a good contractor is going to the best agents in that town, you know, and seeing who their Rolodex of people are. Because they've been in this space, they've been buying and selling or in those transactions for a long time. They tend to know who's good and maybe who isn't all that great. So I love that strategy. We're going to hear a little bit more about how Aaliyah is managing this flipping business and some of the pivots she's made throughout her journey as well. But. But first we're going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back.
- [08:05]
D
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- [08:42]
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- [09:57]
Ashley Kerr
Okay, now let's get back into the show. So Aaliyah, one of the biggest lessons you've learned was when moving from a flipping mindset to a long term rental mindset, can you kind of share the story of your multifamily investment when you made this transition?
- [10:15]
Aaliyah
Absolutely. So again I chuckle because I'm just like, only if I can just rewind the clock. I applied my flipping mentality to my rental portfolio and I lost money. I lost money because of that. And so to break this down, I purchased my first four unit long term hold late 2024. I was working in New York City. I did not have time to come back to Buffalo to see the house in person. So I just sent my agent. I think lesson number one for like my first four unit, my first multifamily, my first long term hold, it was good for me to lay eyes on it. I should have laid eyes on it. So that's lesson number one. Lesson number two is that we waived inspection and so again, flipping single family homes. We usually waive inspection because it's just so competitive in Buffalo to get a deal like you almost have to these days. And you know, but we have like an idea like worst case scenario, if we waive inspection, we'll have to update some electrical, update some plumbing. You know, here's our worst case scenario number and we're fully ready to go in and do that full job, Whereas on a long term hold, I should not have done that, because one of the issues that came up later, and this was like, two months after I closed, I remember getting text messages from my tenants literally, like, every other week that the power had went out. So the electricity was really outdated. This house was built in, like, 19, I think.08. It's very old. And they had fuses, so every time someone turned on a microwave or plugged in a vacuum cleaner, the power would go out. And this kept happening. And so I had to update one of the panels for one of the units. Come to find out, in order to update one, you have to bring all of them up to code. And so I ended up having to update four service panels, and there was no house panel, so I had to add a house panel. So that was $18,000 right off the gate that had I had an inspection, an inspector would have flagged for me. And so that was a huge, huge lesson that I learned. And I wish I can go back in time and redo that. Another mistake that I made, too, was so one of the units was vacant when I closed on it. And so I remember walking through the unit, I was like, oh, this is so outdated. Mind you, it was moving ready. It just. It was moving ready. They had granite countertops, but they were in great condition. They had nice cabinets, A little outdated. Great condition. The floors were nice, but I was just like, you know what? Like, I could use some quartz countertops here, some white shaker cabinets. We can do some new tile backsplash. And so we gutted the kitchen and we gutted the bathroom, and I ended up spending $16,000 rehabbing this place that really did not need to be rehabbed. And in the end, that only allowed me to increase rent by, like, $100. So it just wasn't. It wasn't a value add. And again, that's just an example of me applying my flipping mindset to. To this rental portfolio. I should not have done that. I could have made some small cosmetic changes like paint. But to say, you know, I don't like granite countertops, Let me put in quartz. That's just like, rookie mistake.
- [13:21]
Tony J. Robinson
Aliyah, you know your. Your story of, like, waiving the inspections, I totally get it, right? Because like you said, as you invest in a market that's a little bit more competitive, sometimes that's what you need to do to get that offer approved. I can share what I've done. And actually, I want to get your opinion because you're you just happen to be in the same market. But there are some times when I buy from like a wholesaler, for example, they're typically not going to give you like, you know, an inspection contingency. But what I've done is I'll still do an inspection. That way at least I get the report and I know what I'm stepping into. And my worst, worst case scenario is that I lose whatever EMD I put down. And I have used that one time, you know, just like a bargaining chip. Like, hey, I'm just going to walk away. Who cares if you keep my 5k EMD? And we've been able to kind of renegotiate. So that's kind of been, my approach is still do the inspection even if I waive it and then just say, okay, I got to walk away because of X, Y and Z. Actually for you, since you're in that same market, like how are you handling kind of the inspections and due diligence while still remaining competitive?
- [14:19]
Ashley Kerr
Yeah. So basically if it's really dilapidated and I'm doing a huge remodel, I'm not getting an inspection because I'm ripping apart walls anyways. I'm going to, you know, my scope of work is so big that I'm most, I'm kind of accounting to replace most items. Anyways, to update, we're throwing in very.
- [14:40]
Aaliyah
High EMD to get these offers done. We're throwing in 30, 41 point. I threw in a 60k AMD. It's just so competitive. But I completely, I like that strategy and I will definitely use it. If you know, for whatever reason I'm making an offer on a property and I can use a lower emd and then I'll just weigh the cost, you know, benefit analysis from there.
- [15:04]
Tony J. Robinson
Just one last point on that and I know an investor now you gotta, you gotta be very, I think, careful using this strategy because you can definitely burn some bridges, especially if you're working with like wholesalers in specific markets. But his thing was like, dude, I'll get my offer out, but the contract doesn't become binding until my EMD is submitted. And he's like, so I'll just make sure that if I get a yes today at 12:00, by like 3:00 today, my, my crew is out there walking the property and if I find anything wrong, then I just won't submit. My EMDM will let the contract cancel out. So that's another strategy. But obviously if you keep doing that to the same contractor or to the Same wholesaler. Eventually they're going to be like, hey, dude, I'm not, you know, we're not going to contract anything anymore. So you got to, you got to use that, I think sparingly probably. So you. You go through this process with the four unit, you, you know, learn some good lessons. It sounds like, what's your, what's your next move after that? Do you double down on that new strategy, given that you kind of paid some, you know, paid the cost to learn some new lessons, or do you continue to pivot into different, different tactics?
- [16:03]
Aaliyah
I started off this real estate investing, only doing flips. And that four unit, of course, is my first rental. And then I really just started treating this as a business and I started doing my research and I, you know, learned and read up all about cost segregation. You know, I'm still working my W2 too. And so I am getting killed with taxes. And so my plan is to slowly but surely acquire rental properties to help offset the capital gains tax that I'm getting hit with. And so, yeah, that's, that's my plan going forward. I'm going to take those lessons that I learned and apply them on all my properties. I also realized too, that in the beginning stages, I was really just focused on design, like, the pretty stuff, right? Like, I knew barely, like, anything about electrical, plumbing, you know, the condition of a roof. And so now what I'm doing is I'm just digging deeper and really doing my homework. And I'm watching YouTube videos just where they follow an inspector who's doing a home inspection for like two hours. And I'm really just trying to, like, learn the. The dirty stuff, as they call it, so that I, I know when I, you know, I know when I'm considering a house and it only has four panels and the four unit multi property, I know that there has to be a fifth one for a house panel. Like, to me now looking back, I'm like, okay, that's obvious. And I can count them as I'm at the house because I will, of course, like, not skip out on seeing it. So, yeah, definitely, I'm taking those lessons and I'm acquiring more rental properties and continuing to flip.
- [17:32]
Ashley Kerr
Aaliyah, can you share the numbers on this multifamily to what the purchase price was, what your rents are, and then what your cash flow is on the property?
- [17:40]
Aaliyah
Yes. So I purchased the property for $580,000, much well over asking price. And we got the third unit that was vacant that I remodeled fully. We just got that rented and so my cash flow now is around 600, 700 bucks. It's not a lot and I've had a lot of repairs. Right. Like I've already put in so much money into this house. I'm not too upset though because it is in an area called Elmwood Village where I'm from and it's a fantastic area that attracts a lot of people. There's lots of bars, there's really good restaurants. It's really one of the highlights of our town. And so I am really banking on appreciation here. So this is an appreciation and a cash flow play for me.
- [18:21]
Ashley Kerr
Yeah, that definitely is a great area for appreciation to be there. So with this property you have your the four unit multi family. Well I definitely want to get into the piece where you're going to be talking about how you're finding these deals. But first we have to take it quick ad break and we'll be right back after this.
- [18:41]
D
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- [19:17]
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- [20:25]
Ashley Kerr
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- [21:31]
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- [22:25]
Tony J. Robinson
All right, so we're back with Aaliyah and Aaliyah. I think the the million dollar question here is what are you doing to source your deals? I think for a lot of rickies that are here they understand the process of I've got to work with the contractor. I've got to make sure I've got a good scope of work. I got to make sure I'm doing those things. But as you said before the ad break, the money is made when you buy. So what strategies, what tactics are you using right now to find good deals today?
- [22:48]
Aaliyah
So mostly I am relying on the MLS on what's on Zillow. I am calling agents, I'm telling agents around town if you bring a deal to me and we work together, I'll also sell the deal with you. So they're incentivized to also keep me on their radar as of right now. Again, because it's just so competitive here. I'm not getting the number of deals that I would like to per year. My team is ready to scale and so what we just started doing is off market marketing and so hopefully within the next like month or two we should see some results from that and I should be able to acquire more deals. But so far it's just been relying on what's on the MLS and I play very close attention to that too.
- [23:29]
Tony J. Robinson
Let's break that strategy down just a little bit more because I think for a lot of rookies they when they think about hey, finding a great deal, they don't necessarily think mls. So what is your specific strategy for sourcing these properties? Are you just going every day on to Zillow and just seeing what's there and you know, offering at list price or do you have a strategy where hey, whatever it is, I'm going to offer 70% of that. Like what is your specific process for sourcing and offering on these on market deals?
- [23:55]
Aaliyah
That's a great question. So I've been looking at properties that have been listed for a while. I usually won't make an offer on a property that has, that's only been listed for a couple of days or a week because I just know like likely they're not going to accept my offer. It's very rare that I give them an asking at asking offer anyways because I just that there has to be enough margin for me to make money and then also for me to have like a contingency in case anything goes wrong. So I usually target properties that have been sitting for a while. My best flip where I made the highest profit was a property that had went under contract but then fell out of contract for whatever reason. And I was able to call that agent right when it went back up on the market. And so it was showing on the MLS that it had been listed for about 30 days. And I contacted that agent and I said hey, what's going on with this house? You Know, I'd like to really make an offer. How desperate are the owners right now to sell it? You know, if you get this deal done for me, I, you know, will let you represent me on the sell side as well, once my team is out of it. And so we were able to work together and I got the deal done. That's a very interesting story in and of itself, though. So fast forward, I ended up working with a different agent when I sold that house. The issue with incentivizing an agent and telling them that, like, hey, we can work together once this house is flipped, is that now that agent, what he did was that he started pitching the house to his current clients. And so he had came to me about like, two, three weeks into the flip, right when we had closed and said that he had other clients who wanted to put an offer before we went to market and wanted me to design the house according to their taste and that, you know, we would get essentially what I would be listing the house for, which at that time, I purchased the house for 500. We were going to list it for 830. And he was like, they'll give you an offer for 830 right now if you take it. And then just work with them on the design. And so I can go more into that if that's. Yeah.
- [25:57]
Ashley Kerr
So, okay. So I'm thinking off the top of my head. Pros are like, you already have an end buyer. Cons are they back out of the deal and they don't have a good design taste. So what kind of happened in this situation? What did you decide on?
- [26:11]
Tony J. Robinson
Or the other piece is now you're just almost like general contracting for this person. And, you know, you've got to take their tastes and their demands and their desires into account. So was it a happy ending for you? Did it turn out how you wanted it to?
- [26:23]
Aaliyah
It was so rocky, and I lost so much sleep over this because the issue was, was that he, this agent, was really trying to get me to agree to this deal. He also said there was a contingency that he would have to sell his client's current home in order for them to be able to purchase my home. And so he also said that he would be the only agent on the deal. So he was essentially getting triple, quadruple commission on this whole thing. And, you know, I started to just question again, me being the lawyer and me being very risk adverse, is this in my best interest? I know I'm going to do a great job on this property. It's in a Very highly desirable neighborhood. The design is going to be 10 out of 10. Is it in my best interest to just make a deal before it goes on the market or to show the house to the world and just see what happens? And so I really like went back and forth on that. And I remember it got to the point where I was just so, like, confused and a little frustrated that I couldn't come to a decision that I booked a last minute trip to Aruba and I went to Aruba and I was, yeah, I booked a last minute trip to Aruba and I flew out like a couple hours later and I was at the hotel pool and I started just chatting to a lady and she was a real estate agent from upstate New York in Westchester. And I told her this story and she was like, oh, wow. She was like, no. Like, you need to sell. You need to show this house to the world. It's a beautiful house. You're doing a great job. Like, those buyers, if they really want this house, they're going to be around. You can kind of like talk to the agent and get a sense of what their design style is and somehow try to incorporate that a little bit. But they will be around if they really want this house and if this neighborhood is that desirable, as you said. So I was like, you know what? I'm like, that's, that's true. That makes sense. And so I remember I flew home and I told this agent, I was like, you know what? I've decided I don't want to go through with the deal. Also, because I'm working a full time job, I don't have time to handhold decision making when it comes to the design process. And I was just having nightmares about like, like waiting for a response on like paint, color, cabinet styles, handles, you know, there's tile backsplash. Like, there's so many decisions that you have to make along the way. And my team, we get in and out, right? It's very seamless. And so I explained this all to the agent. He was like, you know what, Leah? He was like, that's right. I think that is the best decision here we should list in our market. And then that gave me a real red flag because the way that he just flipped. So like all of a sudden I was like, wow, like you have been trying to convince me for so long that I should just make this deal and now you just flipped script. And so I started talking to another agent who sold a house in that neighborhood a couple blocks down that blew all the other comps out the water. And so this agent put on a full presentation, was like, look, I'm the best person to do the job. I have the buyer's list from that house, the comp for people who didn't get the get the deal, who would be interested. And also, just to let you know, do you know that that agent was part owner of that house? And I was like, what? I was like, no, he didn't. I, I, he never told me. She was like, what? He never disclosed that to you? I said, absolutely he did not. And so I remember calling him back was like, hey, are you part owner of this house? You never said that. He was like, oh, well, it's in the mls. It's on the mls. You should have known. And I'm like, I'm a lawyer, I'm not an agent. I don't have access to the mls, so I would not have known that unless you had told me. And he was like, oh, you know, I just thought because, you know, you're a sophisticated client, that you would have known. And I'm like, how would I have known? And so I was like, you know, I'm so sorry, but like, I'm not going to work with you. I'm going to go a different direction. Because at that point I just really couldn't trust anything he said. And even that decision alone was really, really hard for me to do because Buffalo is a very small town and reputation matters, right? And so I kind of given him my word that I would sell this house with him. But it was just so many things that had happened along the way that I was just like, this is not in my best interest. And at the end of the day, this is a business here. And so I let that agent go and I worked with a different agent and I got an offer for 990 that I accepted. So we were going to list it for 8:30 and I ended up selling the house for 990.
- [30:24]
Ashley Kerr
There's two things I want to mention. First, we have to address the fact that you flew to Aruba to talk to someone that probably lived a couple hours from you in New York City that gave you great advice, just the way the world works, coincidentally like that. And then the second thing is how that second agent put together a pitch to you. What a great concept. As if you're looking to sell a flip as to instead of just picking the agent you've always worked with, or the most convenient option actually going out and looking who sold properties in that area, if they have a list of Potential buyers already. So. And also, I'm curious, was it. How was the experience working with that agent? Do you think that part of the reason you got top dollar was from the agent helping you sell this deal?
- [31:13]
Aaliyah
Yeah, absolutely. That agent, I mean, that was my first time working with an agent where they put together this whole pitch. And so when she was like, let's meet on Zoom, I'm like, okay. And then it was a whole, like, slideshow almost. And this agent had really done their homework. And now, now I can tell, like, that agents who do their homework for. As the agent who's just looking for a quick deal, that agent knew the area extremely well and just had all the information on what buyers are looking for. And that agent was very involved in the whole process when it came to decisions on staining and restoring the hardwood floors, for example. They came in and she was like, you know, buyers really like this type of brown, not this, like, orange type of brown. The houses in this neighborhood, I know what they have do this. And like, every piece of her advice was just, like, spot on. And I definitely contribute the success and the fact that we got this offer for 990 because of the team that I was working with. And that is a very valuable lesson. It's like, on one hand, I want to incentivize the agent who I'm trying to get a deal done with to bring my deal to the top of the pile where he can potentially get both sides of the commission. But at the same time, I want to work with the best, best agent who I know can do the best job at selling my property. And that was the decision I had to make.
- [32:27]
Tony J. Robinson
Aliyah, I mean, what. What an incredible story. And. And kudos to you for having the courage to kind of stand up for yourself and for your own business. I feel like sometimes as a rookie investor, we can sometimes get swayed by the people that we feel have more quote, unquote, experience than we do. But kudos for you to. For kind of seeing through that and making the right decision for yourself to. Well, I. I want to talk a little bit about the off market, but just one. One last kind of thought for me on, like, the deal, finding sides how this conversation initially started. But I know two investors who do incredibly well. They invest in South Florida, and the first, like, I don't know, two years of their business, they only did on market deals. And they had a very kind of regimented process where they hired a va, they trained this VA how to look through Zillow, all these different websites. And kind of the criteria, what the buy box looked like. And they had a templated email that the VA's would send out with like a, you know, pay if the asking price is X, we're always going to offer some percentage of that somewhere around Y. And they just had a team of VA's every single day, all day sitting out these offers. And that's how they got all of their deals for the first two years of their business. So just a reminder to all the rookies that are out there that it's not a bad deal just because it's on the mls. If like, you know, social media, so many other people, they just like poo poo on the mls. But there are good deals to be had if you make the right offer. So just a reminder for all of our rookies that are listening, but going back to the off market thing, the last question from Ilya is you said you're kind of experimenting a little bit with the off market strategies. What does that look like for you? Are you doing mailers? Are you cold calling? What strategy are you leveraging?
- [34:00]
Aaliyah
This is actually another interesting story. If I take a step back, my one flip that I did not get an offer on within the first week. It was when we listed it on the market right before Thanksgiving. It's very cold in this market. I didn't get any offers that I liked and so I decided to rent it instead. And I was renting it or I listed it for rent for $2,700. My mortgage at the time, what I owe to my hard money lender was about 2,400amonth. I was just going to rent it and then hopefully when that person leaves, it'll be a better season and I'll get, you know, the offers that I had. Like, I was contacted by an agent who works on behalf of insurance companies and the insurance company was looking to rehouse a family whose house was destroyed in a fire. And he told me that it would be a midterm rental agreement about a minimum of 10 months and that the insurance company usually pays higher than asking would I be interested? And I was like, of course. And I was like, well, how much? He was like, well, how about $4,000 a month? And I was like, I thought at that point, I thought this was a scam. And I was like, yeah, definitely. Of course. He was like, okay, well, let me talk to the insurance company. I'll hang up and I'll call you back. So I remember I called some of the agents that I worked with. I was like, hey, have you heard about this? Have you heard of this guy? They're like, oh, yeah. Like, these deals come up once in a blue moon. He called me back. He was like, we can get the deal done for $4,000 a month. We'll move his family in. However, they want to know if we can keep the furniture. That was estate. It was staged furniture that I was renting for myself, Stager. And so I remember, I was like, oh, yeah, of course. And I was so excited. So I'm like, calling my stager. I'm like, hey, like, is there any way that I can, like, extend, like, the. The time that this furniture is here? I'll pay you, blah, blah, blah. She was like, aliyah, I really have some of my best pieces in your house and booked back to back to back. I really just need this. So I was like, crap. So I called the insurance agent back. I was like, I'm so sorry, but we can't keep the stage furniture. He was like, well, the insurance company has a vendor that they work with to furnish it, but it would take about two weeks, three weeks for that furniture to arrive. These folks, they want to move in right away. They've been cooped up in a hotel room with their dog and their newborn. He was like, would you be willing to furnish the house? If so, we can give you $5,000 a month instead of $4,000 a month. And I was just like, this is absolutely insane. And I did the math. If it's a minimum of 10 months, that would be an extra thousand dollars a month. $10,000. That's probably around how much it would take for me to furnish the house. So it'd be free furniture, and then I can use that furniture and just list this property as a midterm rental. And so I did that.
- [36:25]
Ashley Kerr
Or you could even sell the furniture, too, on Facebook Marketplace, too, and recoup some of that cost, too.
- [36:30]
Aaliyah
Yeah, exactly. And so that agent, he actually also co Owns a lead company, and so they generate a list of leads, they skip trace those leads, and then they sell that list. And so I. He approached me, he was like, hey, Elliot, we got a fantastic deal done. Would you like to talk about other partnerships we could possibly do? And so I purchased some leads for him. We're targeting pre probate and missed mortgage payments as well. And so we're going to use that list. I'm going to hire a cold caller. We're also going to try to do some text messages, and we're going to, like, test trial and error this thing out and see how many leads we can. We can get with this.
- [37:12]
Tony J. Robinson
Wow. You've got some amazing stories.
- [37:16]
Ashley Kerr
Well, Leah, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Real Estate Rookie. Can you let everyone know where they can reach out to you?
- [37:23]
Aaliyah
Absolutely. So you can find me on Instagram. It's le S as in Sam Sheree. C H e r I. I am on Instagram. You can DM me there and we can talk. I'd love to share advice or get advice from you if you have any that you'd like to share with me or to work together.
- [37:39]
Ashley Kerr
Thank you so much. And if you want to become more involved in the rookie community, you can join the real estate rookie Facebook group or also message in the real estate rookie Instagram account. We knew we now have to. You can send us a DM or comment on one of our posts or reels. I'm Ashley. He's Tony. And we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real estate Rookie.