← Real Estate Rookie
Real Estate Rookie
Making $13,000/Month Cash Flow from ONE Rental and ONE Business in ONE Year
00:47:51
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- [00:00]
Tony J. Robinson
What's up, Rickies? Today we're diving into a simple blueprint for how to get that first cash flowing property. Now our guest went from having zero real estate experience to becoming a full time real estate entrepreneur in record time. Proving that smart investing and authentic networking can accelerate your path to financial freedom. From corporate financial analyst to full time real estate investor, Alison Craft used real estate to completely redesign her life so she can prioritize her family so she'll share her playbook on getting her first property. How she identified markets, built her team and constructed her buy box to find the right cash flowing property to kickstart her journey. This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast. I'm Tony J. Robinson and today Garrett Brown from Bigger Stays is filling in for Ashley. Garrett, what's up brother? How are you doing man?
- [00:51]
Garrett Brown
Great, man, glad to be back on and always ready to talk about some real estate investing and short term rentals.
- [00:56]
Tony J. Robinson
Well, there you go, man. Well, today we've got Allison and Allison, we're super excited to have you. Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast podcast.
- [01:02]
Alison Craft
Thank you, Tony. Thank you, Garrett for having me. I'm super, super excited to be on here.
- [01:07]
Tony J. Robinson
Now, Allison, you were working as a corporate financial analyst and like just kind of getting started in your real estate journey. When, when I get. Something kind of significant happened that changed your life. So can you share how your brother's sudden passing and your, your kind of personal circumstances accelerated your real estate journey?
- [01:21]
Alison Craft
Yeah, and I'll take it back to the very beginning for you too. Yes, I was in corporate finance. I worked in corporate finance for about 10 years and then, but prior to that I got married, started a family and you know, after having my first son, I did the whole, you know, I, I did what you're supposed to do. You know, you go, go on maternity leave for three months and that's done and over. And I put my son into daycare and I went back to work. And then just a year and a half. Yeah, about a year and a half later, I get pregnant again with baby number two. And the second time around was a little different. I was more confident mom per se. And after I had my second little boy, my maternity leave was so much easier. And it was so nice being off and just connecting with him that when I had to go back to work, it was, it was a little bit more of a struggle, let's just say, of going back to work for him or going back to, you know, the cubicle and putting my little boy into daycare. So that kind of changed Something in me of like, okay, let's kind of get into real estate. So from there I, I discovered bigger pockets. I just remember sitting down at the dinner table with my husband and I asked him like, hey, have you heard of bigger pockets? And you know, he asked me, he's like, do you live under a rock? You know, like, how have you not heard of bigger pockets? But from there, like, him and I were just kind of on the same page, like, okay, you know what, let's get into this whole real estate and you found your niche of short term rentals and that's what you kind of want to get into. So that's when I really just started deep diving into things and just learning as much content as I possibly could on YouTube and things like that and continuing listening to all the podcasts. So then June comes around and I discovered his name's John Bianchi, he's the Airbnb data guy. I found his content and I just deep dived into his stuff and I just had, you know, the guts to reach out to him because I was analyzing properties, I was analyzing markets because we had a lump sum of money that we had in savings that we wanted to use that to put into another investment vehicle. And that's why we chose short term rentals. We felt that was a lucrative business to get into. I had no idea what I was getting into, by the way. I was very naive, very naive. And I just thought it looked, you know, kind of cool to have a vacation rental. I live in Florida. So I kind of just went down, you know, down that route. And I even posted on like a forum, like in Bigger Pockets, asking questions and, and I would get answers and, and I got recommended to a realtor who lives, you know, in my area and who is like a bigger pockets, investor friendly realtor in town. So anyway, so I, I actually connected with him and he was a pivotal person in my journey, in my real estate and in my co hosting business. Kind of fast forward when I was working and talking with John and that's when he was like, got on the phone with me, we started talking and he was kind of like just pointing me in the right direction, like, hey, look over here kind of thing. And so he kind of pointed the market that would better suit my financial, you know, criteria of what I could afford at the time. So yeah, so then In October of 23, I'm in the right market that I need to be in. I get the realtor, I get the lending, I get everything in place. And then November of 23, I found a house and I put in an offer and then I close on that house in December of 23. And then from December of 23 to February is when I was like renovating the home, added some capital improvements to the home and then working with the designer and you know, and getting the installation team in there. And then when the house went live in February, my phone was blowing up, you know, ping, ping, you know, like the congratulations. Somebody booked, you know, Airbnb. It was just non stop. And then so I was on such, this, this high. So what you're alluding to of what really changed everything was in March. So just being live for about a month, maybe a month and a half, tragedy struck my family. My little brother got in a bad accident, sorry. And he died suddenly. And, and it really woke me up in terms of that life is very short and do what you want to do. You know, he was only 26 years old and you know, he was so young, you know, had a young family, he was barely married, you know, had an eight month old baby. And so, you know, like this whole thing just put a wrench into everything. And, and so I went home, you know, for two weeks and was with my family and then from there asking work to take off. So again, because I'm a W2 employee at this time, um, me being a full time real estate investor wasn't really in my, you know, site, not with one rental. I, I couldn't do that. So I had to ask time off. And it was, it wasn't difficult asking for time off, giving the circumstances. But nonetheless I, you know, I had to go back. And then you just try to find solutions to be there for your family. And that's given me, you know, I guess the, the inspiration in me to live a better life per se, because I mean, I got to tell you, like my brother was the most kind, the most generous. Just seeing like going, you know, obviously going through the whole funeral and everything like that. My brother had 2, 3 miles of people lined up. He impacted so many lives. And, and so just seeing that, I mean something so devastating and something so negative, you can take something positive out of it somehow. And that's what I'm trying to do. And so, you know, obviously I took a lot of time just, you know, trying to figure things out and, and all while still operating and managing my own rental and out of state, by the way. I was managing out of state and so I had a great team by the way, that was helping me. My boots on the ground. Where where my rental is. And so they were a godsend. And so, you know, a couple months do go by, and I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to do co hosting. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That's something that my brother and I had always talked about was businesses and, and kind of doing your own thing and just having that passion and finding something that kind of lights you up.
- [08:02]
Tony J. Robinson
I first just want to thank you for, for being transparent and, and I think sharing the story of your brother and how it's impacted you, because I think there, there are a lot of people listening who have gone through similar experiences, whether to the same degree or, or even further. But I, I think what you said that's really important is that there, there are lessons to be learned oftentimes in those hard moments in life. And it sounds like the lesson that you took away from this, not only the impact that your brother had in other people, but like, hey, what does it mean for me and what kind of life do I want to live? And that it gave you some perspective. And I, I do think there's something to be said about having these moments that kind of wake us up to say, well, what kind of life do I really want to be living? And I, I just give you kudos for not letting that message fall on deaf ears and actually doing something with it. So, you know, just thank you for sharing that and kudos you for actually taking action, because there's, there's a lot of people who hear it, who see it, who think it, but they don't actually do the work to make it happen. And you did that. So just, you know, I want to give you some, some credit there. Now. It, it, it sounds like you move pretty quickly, though. You know, you said, hey, I've got this idea. You start talking to John Bianchi, Airbnb data guy on, on Instagram, great guy. You find the property, you get it launched, and now you're like, okay, well, well, what's, what's kind of the, the, the next move for me. So you kind of built the side hustle, and you talked about it a little bit, but you started co hosting. So for, for our rookies that maybe aren't familiar with what co hosting is, can you just break that strategy down? Like, what does it mean to be a co host?
- [09:36]
Alison Craft
So co hosting is more so like property management, where you kind of take the less risk route, meaning that the homeowner will find somebody, meaning, like, you as the co host, to do all the operations, the pricing, and working with cleaners maintenance, doing your inventory management, guest messaging, really doing everything and managing the listing on Airbnb or whatever other platforms that you, you know, you want to list your vacation rental on. And so that is more so the, the route, the, the light bulb that went off in my head when I was getting five star reviews on my own rental and where I kind of just did everything on my own, where I figured it out through trial and error in terms of how I message guests, how I coordinate with my cleaners, how I send supplies or troubleshoot any issues, you know, standard operation procedures if something goes wrong and things like that. Like, I was building so much confidence. So that's when the light bulb went off of, maybe I can do this with other people and I live in a vacation market. Maybe I should just do it here and start my own little business. And that's kind of where the idea sparked in my head.
- [10:57]
Garrett Brown
Allison, this is, I know this is going to be profound for a lot of people just because of the story of your perseverance with different tragedies that came in. And I can definitely, you know, I feel for you in that too, as somebody that has used tragedy to help, you know, get to triumph the best we can in this type of situations. But I want to take it back slightly to your first property, the one that really launched this and was able to help you leave your, you know, your W2 job. How did you find, you know, I know you mentioned John, who is, who is an awesome, awesome resource and, you know, we've talked before with him multiple times. What, what was it about the market you were finding that you was, that was able to work within your buy box? And how did you know exactly what you were going to be comfortable with, you know, spending and putting into this initial investment and know that that market was going to be the one for you.
- [11:45]
Alison Craft
So, yeah, so John did lead me to this market. It was more so for the purchase price, like the price to entry to get in, because I only had so much capital. So I'll, I'll throw out numbers right now I had a hundred thousand dollars cash to use to put towards a property. Now that hundred thousand. Now I was pretty naive with this. It was going to go towards the down payment and the renovations and the furniture. And so I actually was short because of the furniture and things like that. As you know, starting an Airbnb is. It costs to start everything. I had limited funds, even though I thought I had enough. So going to that market, I knew it was a driving distance From a major city, actually multiple major cities, about 90 minutes, two hour drive where people can go out and into a peaceful area and have a nice vacation and get away from the busyness of the city. And so that was one aspect that I was looking at. Obviously the purchase price was the next thing. It was the timing that I bought the house. The interest rates were through the roof. My interest rate that I got was 8.625 at that time. So I knew my mortgage was going to be a little bit higher and it was going to be higher too because I was, I only put 10% down because I didn't want to put 20% down because I again, I needed to leverage as much cash as I could. Cause I didn't have a crazy amount. Like I'm not a big investor investor. I don't have unlimited resources or funds. So I had to be very strategic with this. And to be honest with you, I, in my head I wanted to hit a home run and my husband was like, no, just hit a base hit, like just, just hit a base hit. Like don't, don't stress yourself out. And so that's why like working with John, you know, he gave me that confidence like this is going to work out. Don't, you know, don't stress about it because I was stressing over every little dollar. I didn't know I was going to have enough, but I had the whatever it takes mentality. Like I burned the boats like I did and I got credit cards and I knew that I needed a hot tub to compete. And, and so I got business line of credit. I did what I needed to do to get past that finish line. And so and I had all the confidence in the world in that market based on the data. And again coming from a corporate finance back, I needed those numbers and I needed the, the proven history that it would work out so I can sleep at night. And because I was like, as anybody any investor knows, like when cash is tight, it, you know, that isn't one thing on your mind. And you, you do stress like am I going to make it this month? And, and I see that with the, I actually see that with the clients that I work with in my coasting business because they're, some of them are unsure if they're going to make the mortgage payment that, you know, it's just, it just really depends on where you buy and the research that you do and the interest rate and everything with that. So it really comes down to the research and just having the confidence and the data and that's kind of how. Where I, you know, found myself.
- [14:58]
Tony J. Robinson
And Alison, where did you, where did you land, you know, after you launched this property? Just like, ballpark, what's like your usual monthly cash flow?
- [15:06]
Alison Craft
Oh, so for my monthly cash flow, now this is going to be spread because, like, you know, during PCs seasons and things like that, so spread about $3,000 a month for my first year. So again, like, I launched in February of 24, so I just completed a full year just last month. And so I'll just lay out the numbers. I purchased the home for 370, which, by the way, the home was listed for 389, four bedroom, three bath, about 2,700 square feet. It was actually a bigger home. And it was just, I hate to say the word, it was just ugly in terms of cosmetics. Like, the color it was. Had orange walls. The kitchen was dated. You know, it just, it just needed an uplift more. So just cosmetically, like, everything, like, the roof was good, climbing was good. Like, everything was good on that front. And so it just needed. And just needed some help. So I put about $40,000 worth of capital improvements and that. 40,000, that, that includes the backyard. So I redid the backyard. I even somewhat kind of leveled the backyard a little bit because it was like, again, I'm in. I'm in the mountain market, so it was very hilly, so I, I needed to kind of flatten it up out a little bit and added a fire pit, hot tub, cornhole, had a nice deck and everything. And so, so anyway, so. So yeah, so when, when I put in the offer, I offered it at listing, SO 389, the appraisal. Oh, my gosh. This is where it got kind of scary for me. The appraisal came in at 360, which was a huge difference. And as, you know, like, I'm, you know, I'm getting lending and I only have so much cash. So I really wanted this house because the numbers panned out. The numbers were fantastic. So I really, really wanted it. And so. But I didn't want to bring in that gap, that appraisal gap. And so anyway, I called my husband. I was like, okay, what can we do? So we offered again because I really wanted to be aggressive and get this house. So I offered at 370 and they accepted it. So we just had to bring an extra $10,000 to the closing table. And so it was kind of like woosa kind of thing. So we got the house. And so anyway, so the, the summer months are My peak months, so like July and August, I was almost 100 occupied. And those two months I cash flowed 8, $9,000 for each month. And then you know, my slow months, you know, September kind of slowed down and even December slowed down, you know, during the holiday. And I thought I was going to get a little bit more but, but I mean it anyway, so 370 purchase price and then I ended the year with just shy of 120k. And that 120,000 revenue included. It was my nightly rate revenue and my cleaning revenue. So it was all top line revenue was.
- [18:12]
Tony J. Robinson
But I mean 100, 120,000 on a $370,000 purchase, that is really solid ratio there. And you know, if you're, you know, 3K average net cash flow per month, what is that, 36 grand a year on just over. It sounds like $100,000 investment. I mean you're, you're getting close to a 30% return at an 8.6. Right?
- [18:34]
Garrett Brown
Yeah, I was going to say with an 8.6 interest rate. I want to highlight that. That's wild.
- [18:39]
Tony J. Robinson
So you know, you refinance that bad boy back down to like a, you know, a six or something and now you're doing even better. Well, Alison, I want to hear more about how you kind of scaled up your side hustle, the co hosting, because I think for a lot of rookies that are listening or they can figure out how to get the first deal, but it's getting the second deal that seems to be a little bit more challenging and seems like you found a good way to do that. So I want to hear more about how you scaled the co hosting. But first we want to take a quick break so we can hear a word from today's show sponsors.
- [19:05]
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- [21:23]
Tony J. Robinson
All right, we are back with Allison and Allison, I want to dig just a little bit deeper because you you built this co hosting business rapidly and I believe now you're managing 15 properties in a relatively short period of time. So I think the question I have is how did you scale so fast? But I guess maybe the maybe before we even get to the scaling just how did you find your first client?
- [21:47]
Alison Craft
It was actually an organic lead. And this is kind of a funny story. In July of 24 I created an LLC. I went on fiver, I had somebody help me create a wix website, created a website. Once my website went out there I actually got like an inquiry to come through. Somebody found my website through Google and They, they reached out to me immediately. When I saw that inquiry and that like form submission that came in, I called that person right away. It was this lady from Ohio. It's just like a small condo in St. Pete that they had and she saw the name of my co hosting company and she's like, I really liked your name. And I was like. Because I asked her, I was like, how did you find me? Because I literally, it was like I probably had my website up for maybe a couple of weeks and I did not expect this. I didn't expect it to happen so soon. Which by the way this is not normal. Like I don't get a lot of inquiries through my website. So this was really a one off situation. And so, so anyway, she's like, I really liked Crafty Co host. I thought that was a cute name. I was like, ok, so that's kind of how I got my first client. And it really, it really was building confidence I guess when you just connect with these people. Like, okay, I, I think I'm meant for this. Like this is, this is kind of, kind of cool. So I get, I, I kind of onboard that client and I, and I knew that client was going to use her condo. You know, I wasn't going to make any money. I knew I wasn't going to make any money on this. Obviously I'm still working my W2 and, and then my next client that I got again, this is something where a light bulb kind of went off in my head where I used thumbtack at times to find vendors and handyman and things like that for my actual business or my actual rental. And I was like, what if I can I search for property managers on thumbtack? And I did. I searched in my area for property management and so and that's where I realized the light bulb went off. I'll just create a profile on thumbtack. Not knowing that I needed to pay for leads again, I was very naive. I just did it. I didn't even think. I just did it. And so I created a profile and then I was kind of going through like a weekly budget. What does that even mean? So I just did like the lowest amount, which the lowest amount was like a $90 weekly budget for marketing leads. And so, and I remember I would get like a lead to come through and then that's when I realized like, oh, what's this charge on my credit card? It's like thumbtack. It was like for that marketing lead. And so, but right when I got that lead though, I immediately. Because they gave you the phone number. So I immediately called that person and like this next person that I got was actually a really good lead. And it again, it just built confidence. And so I called this person immediately. Their house was in Pinellas park, you know, like St. Pete area. And you know, it was a three bed, two bath, it was a pool home. And it was a legit investment property. Like it wasn't being used by the owners. Like, this was like the real deal for me anyway, to co host. So, so anyway, I, I had multiple phone calls with these people, or I shouldn't say these people, like this homeowner. And again, it was that connection and kind of whenever I got them on the phone, I somehow closed the deal. And so, so yeah, so then from there I got, I closed them. Now I only for. I'll just tell numbers here because I really wanted that, I really wanted that client. So I said I'll, I'll co host for 10% because that's. He had a current property manager that, that was handling his house. And this guy lived out of state and so he's like, I don't, I don't really like what he's doing for me. So that's why I'm looking. And so I was like, okay, I'll match, I'll match what he's charging to. You know, I kind of did what I needed to do to get the sale. So that's how I got the second one. Now I did. I got about three more clients from Thumbtack alone. And I invested in terms of like my marketing budget. I invested probably 14, 1500 bucks, but I got four, four clients from there. So. And then the other route, how I got other clients was again through referrals where somebody's like, here, this is Allison. She's really nice. She can take care of your property. And then again, once I talked to them on the phone, I ended up closing the deal. So, yeah, that's kind of how, how I got those clients. And, and some of those clients too. When I win their trust, they give me more properties because a lot of these investors, they don't have just one property. They're continuing to buy and they have multiple. And, and so actually I want to shout out to one person who is a bigger pockets realtor investor. He was a, again, a pivotal person in my co hosting business. He literally handed me one client who had three, three properties. And she has. She is the best client and I love her so much. And so anyway, her and I connected right away. And so, and so now I'm like, he just handed me three listings essentially, and that was huge. So. And his name is Josh Green. So if you ever need a realtor in the Tampa area, reach out to Josh Green. He's great.
- [27:20]
Garrett Brown
It's an amazing story because I remember when you told me the thumbtack story the first time. Out of all the co hosting people I've talked to, that was one of the more innovative ways I've heard of finding leads. And I'm glad it actually worked out for you because I think we've had similar trajectories with. You know, I co host a lot of properties as well. And the one thing that I've kind of struggled with is, you know, how do you, you know, what has been the biggest implementation into your business to scale it so quickly? You know, the key hire or keep, you know, system that you implemented, and how do you keep all these own happy, you know, like, it's just such a wide range of personalities. What do you do to, you know, kind of mitigate that?
- [27:58]
Alison Craft
So that is such a great question. And I see, and I will say co hosting is like, well, Airbnb and short term rentals is not for the week. I just want to say that it's not for the week.
- [28:07]
Sponsor 1
So.
- [28:08]
Alison Craft
But with co hosting, the difficult part is I. So I have my client who is a homeowner, so I need to, you know, look after them and I also need to look for the guest. So I need to give a great experience for both people, so the guest and the homeowner. And so that is the hardest part. But yes, I would say the biggest thing to keep these people or like, in terms of, yeah, just like holding on to your client is building trust, I would say, and having that open line of communication and showing that you care, like, those are the biggest things. Because I'll never forget somebody, one of my clients told me that they're like, I just love working with you, Alison, because you care. I was like, is that the bare minimum is that I care? Like, because I know that there's a lot of property management companies that, you know, they scaled, you know, really big and, and so, you know, they may have VAs and things like that and they just don't, like, I don't know, like, it's just, it might just be a little bit different. I come from a boutique style approach where I am just, again, I'm just a mom and I'm just a solo entrepreneur and, and I really do care because, like, I, I want to take care of these clients because they take care of me. Like they're, they're paying me. So I want to make sure that I do right by them. I want to make sure that I am a reliable person and I am true to my word. If I say I want to do something, I will do it. And that's just how, how I grew up, how me and my siblings are. So I don't know, we're, we're, we're crazy. So. And that's another thing too, like I will say is that I, I've grown such a passion for this where this doesn't seem like work. Well, I will be up at like 4am, 4:30 working on this business. And that's what I was really doing a lot when I was working. My W2 is getting up early, working on this and then going to work, being with the kids, coming home and then, and then. Well, a lot of times I would pass out early because I would get up so early. But, but yeah, just like I just truly went all in on this and I really do look after, after the clients. But there is a fine line and the difficult part is I would say getting a lot of texts from the client and phone calls and then also having to do guest messaging. I would say that is actually a boundary that I'm working on right now in terms of some clients that I have where they're constantly texting me and there's some micromanaging there, just kind of just working through. And it's not with all my clients by the way. Just like you just kind of find those, but just trying to figure out that fine line.
- [30:54]
Garrett Brown
So I have two awesome, very valid points of dealing with this type of business because short term rentals are a great real estate investment, but there's also the hospitality business on the other side that people sometimes forget. So I have two follow up questions on that. So what is your monthly cash flow right now in your co hosting business alone? If you had to kind of estimate.
- [31:15]
Alison Craft
This past month was my biggest month yet. I will say that Florida, you know, it is peak season right now. It's spring break. So right now I've, I've cash flowed just shy of 10,000 and that's, you know, because of software and you know, those are my expenses as you know, like a host. You got a million million subscriptions, you know, so I got my property management software pricing tool ChatGPT. I use a lot of AI. I don't just random things, just random. And it all adds up. And the More properties you add to it, the more you pay per month, per listing and you know, direct bookings and you know, things like that and bookkeeping, all that.
- [31:55]
Garrett Brown
So as, as you're adding more properties, you know, and, and one thing in the co hosting business is the percentages that people charge, you know, vary from state to state, person to person. How have you, have you upped your percentage that you're charging to owners now? And, and how did you make that decision? Because I'm sure it was a little intimidating to, hey, you know, like I need more, you know, because of all the, the tech and things that come in play. So how have you kind of handled that?
- [32:20]
Alison Craft
And that comes with confidence too because like in the beginning, like I really wasn't sure, like, should I be charging this much, this much? Because I, I think I know what I'm doing. And so like again, like as I, as time went on and when, when I realized that I was providing a lot of value, I was like, okay, you know, this is, this is the percentage I'm going to be charging and I'm going to stick to that. But there are certain clients that I'm working with where they kind of want a hand in it as well and they're investors too. So I totally can align on the profit margins and how the margins tend to like squeeze. I empathize with them on that. So I'm willing to negotiate. So I do negotiate my rate. So actually every client I have, I actually, I'm, I'm kind of all over the board and it might just be because I'm just a bad business person because I'm so, I'm like, again, I'm such a rookie and I've, I've made some mistakes by the way, where, where I have actually one client where I actually am doing a fixed, a fixed rate per month. And that was, that was again a learning thing that I did in the very beginning and I won't do that again. And, and yeah, so I, I find myself working harder when there is a percentage tied to the commission. I shouldn't say that like that, like, like I, I don't know, I, I, like, I do treat it as a, you know, as my own and I do that for all of mine. But when it is a fixed cost, like there is something different in terms of your mindset. But, but yeah, I, I just, my pricing has been all over the place. I will say that just to close the deal kind of thing and, and.
- [34:09]
Tony J. Robinson
To get reps and sometimes that's more important. You know of being able to, to get the reps in and improve your processes and learn what works and learn what doesn't work, then really squeeze in the most out of every single client. Because I'm, I'm sure as you continue to grow and scale this business, maybe one day you start firing some of the clients you don't like as much, you know, and, and that's just part of, I think, evolving as a business owner. Well, I want to get into Alison, you know, kind of your advice for folks who want to follow in your footsteps and maybe one day walk away from their W2 jobs. But first, we're going to take our final ad break and Ricky's while we're gone. If you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to the real estate rookie YouTube channel. We were like just shy of 100,000 subscribers and ash and I and all the team would love that, that little plaque that YouTube sends out. So if you're enjoying the content, make sure to subscribe and we'll see you guys right after the break.
- [35:00]
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- [38:37]
Tony J. Robinson
Loved your story so far and I love the hustle. And Again, congratulations. Almost $10,000 per month in cash flow from your quote unquote side hustle. Right? The thing that started as a side hustle. But I guess what would your advice be to someone who maybe wants to transition from their corporate job to doing real estate full time?
- [38:56]
Alison Craft
Yeah, I mean I would say hold on to your W2 as long as you can because that is a great vehicle to have in terms of getting lending and things like that, like, I didn't like. So I actually jumped ship exactly a year after I closed on that first rental property. So I put in my two weeks, December 20th, or, I'm sorry, my last day was December 20th, 2024, and I closed on that house December 18th of 2023. So it was exactly a year and two days since when I, when I left my corporate job and I left, I mean, 10 years. And so I guess my advice is if you're going to go the real estate route, I mean, this is a business and I would definitely treat it as a business. And, and if you have that entrepreneurial spirit where you have that passion, I would say whatever you bring home, like in terms of your, your cash flow from, from your W2, you know, after your insurance, 401k and everything like that. Because like, I'll just use simple numbers here. Like, like let's say that you bring home $4,000 a month in, in your W2, and if your side hustle is bringing in maybe half or like 50%, 60% of that and it. And you really want to, and you think that you can really push the envelope there and really go all in on your business, I say go for it if you are at that point. For me, I was just shy of that, that dollar amount when I jumped ship because I had a lot of confidence that I had things in the pipeline and things that I knew that were going to come in the next coming months. And so if you have, you know, sales in the pipeline or things, you know, to look forward to and your numbers are panning out, then that's when you can kind of have that serious conversation of like, okay, I'm ready to leave this corporate job and go all in on my business. And that means, and again, I'm going to use this term again, just burn the boats, jump and just go all in and do whatever it takes to, I guess, survive as a business owner and to thrive. And so, and that's really the approach that I took is my side hustle was almost approaching my main hustle. And that's when I jumped and, and then it, when I jumped in December and now in March, I am cash flowing close to 10,000. I'm making more money than I ever have made in my entire life. It's crazy of how, how things can change quickly, very quickly. If you go all in.
- [41:47]
Garrett Brown
I think your, your story is going to resonate with so many people that, that feel the same way and then sometimes they just don't want to take that leap into the fire. And you know, getting those reps in and really kind of getting your processes in line is, is a lot of work and it's daunting at first, but then as you've kind of seen as things start to start to matriculate, you're able to put things together. So looking forward though, I'm. I'm sure maybe next time we'll talk to you. You might have a hundred clients by then or I don't even know. But what's next in your, in your real estate journey and what are some of your goals in the real estate investment side and your co hosting business in the future?
- [42:20]
Alison Craft
Well, I'm going to try to be like Garrett. No, so honestly, Garrett, when I, you know, I follow your content and I see that, you know, you invested in land, like that is something. And again, and it really kind of goes back to my family just kind of knowing what my brother wanted. He, he wanted land, he wanted to buy land. And so, and now that's something that's kind of burning inside me. Like maybe let's, let's, let's go this route. Let's kind of go the unique style route in terms of purchasing land, doing some unique stays and testing those waters. And so that's more so in terms of like my real estate and kind of what I'm starting to research some and trying to go down that route and see if it's something that I can do. And so, so anyway, that's kind of more so the real estate because my husband and I, yes, we are on board with, with continuing with investing in real estate because it's, it's proven to us, so. And it's proven to me too, so, so that's for that route and then for, in terms of co hosting, I love talking about this stuff. So obviously, you know, adding on more properties and really trying to stabilize my business and really just, you know, put a little bow on top in terms of like my systems in place and things like that. Just trying to fine tune certain things that I'm, that I'm going through right now. And then, and then also too, I actually am. I've always been wanting to get into content. I just never, like, nobody will listen to me. So it's like, I don't know, like, like you always like fantasize, like, oh, you know, I'll do like a YouTube channel or whatever. Because like one thing that I do love doing is I love, you know, recording my kids doing crazy things because I think they're the most hilarious, you know, little humans and so I don't know. And they're so cute and so I just love recording them and, and you know, editing videos and putting that on either Tick Tock or Instagram or what have you. So I just, I don't know, I kind of want to kind of see if I can go towards the content route maybe. It's very daunting and it's, and I know it's time consuming, so I don't know exactly how I will go through that, but that's more so kind of like in the back of my mind, but. But yeah, that's kind of what I'm envisioning maybe in the next couple years and just really just again, just focusing on the business and to continue to fuel that fire that I have in this business because it's mine and it's really cool to have.
- [45:06]
Tony J. Robinson
Alison, I just want to say congratulations again because I, I think what you've accomplished in an incredibly short period of time is not only impressive, but I think inspiring for all of the rookies that are listening. But I guess I also just want to remind all of the rookies who are listening that Allyson didn't just like stumble into the success that she's found and that a lot of what she's been able to accomplish is a direct relation of the hard work she put in. Like you said, she was building this while having two young kids at home, while still working a full time job. And, and I think that's the kind of grind that a lot of people aren't willing to commit to. They want the end result. They want to be like Allison and be on the podcast saying I quit my job and you know, made 10 grand a month for my, for my business. But they don't want to do the grind that's required to get there. So I just want to make sure that we're, we're calling it from both ends. Well, Alison very much enjoyed and appreciated you sharing your story today. If folks who are listening want to get in touch with you, where's the best place for them to go?
- [46:04]
Alison Craft
My business name is Crafty Co host, so that's with A C. So craftycohost.com you can follow me on Instagram. It's AllisonCraft1, I believe I gotta look at that again. But yes, you can follow me on Instagram as well and reach out to me through there. I'm happy to talk to anybody. Like I said, I could talk about this stuff all day. Reach out.
- [46:29]
Tony J. Robinson
Thank you so much for joining us. Allison and Garrett, thanks for filling in for Ashley today and for all of our rookies. Thank you for hanging out with us. And again, if you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at Real Estate. Rookie. And if you're on Instagram, we are at biggerpockets. Rookie. And if you're looking for me and Ashley, I'm at Tony J. Robinson. She's at Waltham Rentals. Garrett, what's your what's your Instagram handle?
- [46:49]
Garrett Brown
Garrett brown, Re Nothing too complex. So.
- [46:52]
Tony J. Robinson
Garrett Brown, RE There you go, man. Well, rookies, we appreciate you guys. We'll see you in the next episode. Best of luck, and take care.