She Started Investing in Her 50s, Now She’ll Retire with Rentals!

Summary

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Real Estate Rookie – Ep. "She Started Investing in Her 50s, Now She’ll Retire with Rentals!"

Hosts: Ashley Kerrick, Tony J. Robinson
Guest: Beth Smart
Date: March 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features the inspiring story of Beth Smart, who overcame significant personal and financial adversity in her 40s and 50s—including divorce, bankruptcy, and massive IRS debt—to ultimately build a cash-flowing real estate portfolio. Beth shares her journey from survival mode through her first real estate deal, supported by real-life tactics, mindset shifts, and lessons learned for rookie investors. Her story is a testament to late bloomers and beginners facing daunting obstacles, showing that it’s never too late to build a path toward financial freedom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Beth's Backstory: From Crisis to Clean Slate

[01:03 – 08:57]

• Beth recounts the overwhelming pressures she faced: new single motherhood, a failing business, an IRS tax lien ($70k from $10k due to penalties), and bankruptcy.
• The final straw: a simple, but symbolic household incident that made her realize she couldn't continue in her stressful, toxic marriage.
  • “That was my last straw—the dirty garage.” (Beth, 04:49)
• She describes the challenging logistics of running a med spa alone, raising two young children, and juggling mounting debts.

2. Step-by-Step Survival and Recovery

[05:14 – 11:40]

• Took over the med spa, learned to cut unnecessary expenses (symbolically letting go of a $5k monthly Yellow Pages ad).
• Prayed daily for just enough income to cover bills—many times earning exactly what was needed “miraculously.”
• It took about two years before feeling financially secure.
  • “It was two years after the drama…when I felt safe.” (Beth, 08:57)
• New personal rules: never base decisions on fear, always trust her gut, learn to say no, and never let herself be in that powerless position again.

3. The First Real Estate "Bang"

[15:14 – 19:31]

• Seven years later, in a much happier and stable place, Beth and her new partner, Patrick, accidentally became accidental landlords with a mountain cabin.
• Rented it on Airbnb, realized they needed insurance, and after paying one premium, suffered a major explosion in the home—thankfully no one was hurt.
• Insurance covered $60,000 in damages, which set the stage for strategic real estate investment.
  • “Our introduction into true real estate began with a bang…” (Beth, 17:23)

4. Mindset Shifts: Not Internalizing Failure

[19:31 – 22:12]

• Beth emphasizes the importance of not identifying with low moments.
  • “At times someone…can start to internalize that situation as part of who they are…You have to take a look at yourself and say, ‘This is not working.’” (Beth, 20:45)
• Key: focus on learning, asking for help, and believing you can change your path.

5. Turning Adversity Into Opportunity—Her First Flip and Rental

[22:54 – 26:15]

• Sold the land from the destroyed cabin; used the combined $100k(ish) to buy an 1895 Victorian house (her first intentional investment property) in Cripple Creek, CO.
• Used it as a short-term rental near casinos, later converting the garage into a separate, cash-flowing duplex.
  • “$200,000 for three units is pretty solid.” (Tony, 26:15)

6. Growing The Portfolio & Market Selection

[26:15 – 31:50]

• Inspired by real estate education during the COVID shutdown, Beth and Patrick learned strategies like BRRR, flipping, and house hacking through free online resources, and weren’t afraid to try new things.
• Discovered Pueblo, CO (once dismissed by Beth as undesirable) after hearing real estate advice from Grant Cardone's "Undercover Billionaire."
• Found deals by connecting with wholesalers—sometimes as simply as responding to Craigslist ads.

7. First Flip Success and Rolling Profits Forward

[32:13 – 35:36]

• Made a $65k profit on their very first flip, completed in under two months.
  • “We made about $65,000. Real estate is just fun.” (Beth, 32:44)
• Reinvested profits into two more properties: one became a successful short-term rental, the other was intended to be a flip but became a mid-term and then long-term rental.

8. Overcoming Contractor Trouble & Managing Setbacks

[40:37 – 44:07]

• Lost their primary contractor mid-projects, a daunting test for new investors.
  • “What are we going to do? ...You have to focus on solving the problem.” (Beth, 40:58)
• Found backup help via Craigslist; converted an STR to mid and then long-term rental for stability.
• The result: multiple properties stabilized, still cash-flowing today.

9. Lessons Learned and Strategic Shifts

[44:21 – 45:46]

• Wished she had been more disciplined about running the numbers and budgeting—early deals were "gut and vibes."
• Now values detailed analysis, especially since no longer bolstered by extra cash from her medical spa.

10. Transition Back to Stability & Retirement Planning

[45:46 – 48:42]

• After selling the med spa (which sold in four weeks instead of an expected nine months), Beth and Patrick took W2 jobs as mail carriers for the USPS for steady income, insurance, and the prospect of a small pension.
  • “We have a job that’s going to give us cash flow.” (Beth, 48:11)
• “I get paid to learn, and I get paid to exercise.” (Beth, 48:20)
• Continued learning about real estate during mail delivery via podcasts, including BiggerPockets.

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Memorable Quotes

• "When you’re operating in that level of fear, it’s like nothing is scarier." – Beth [10:12]
• "I started to notice that…when I got all the junk out of my life, the universe just started to help me." – Beth [05:14]
• "Our introduction into true real estate began with a bang." – Beth [17:23]
• "I didn't know how to advocate for myself...Now, I always trust my gut." – Beth [10:12]
• "You have to focus on solving the problem…when you have that laser focus, the universe really does conspire to help you." – Beth [40:58]
• "That IRS debt…took way longer to pay off than the $65,000 flip ever did." – Ashley [48:42]
• "Real estate… you can have fun, help people, and make money. They're not mutually exclusive." – Beth [34:56]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–03:30 – Beth’s backstory: rock bottom
• 04:49 – “The dirty garage” moment
• 05:14–08:57 – Surviving and taking over the business solo
• 08:57 – When Beth finally felt “safe” again
• 10:12 – Core rules for survival & not internalizing fear
• 15:14–19:31 – First foray into real estate, insurance story
• 17:23 – “Introduction to real estate began with a bang”
• 22:54–26:15 – First intentional purchase & the learning curve
• 32:13–35:36 – First flip: $65k profit, momentum building
• 40:58 – Contractor quits; how Beth solves crises
• 44:21–45:46 – Lessons learned: budgeting, numbers, and growth
• 45:46–48:42 – Selling the med spa & new retirement plan

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Conclusion & Takeaways

Beth’s journey is a blueprint for late bloomers and beginner investors, underlining:

• It’s never too late: She built her rental portfolio in her 50s and 60s.
• Mindset first: Don’t internalize failure, create non-negotiables, trust your intuition.
• Resilience and adaptation are critical: Pivot when life or business throws you curveballs.
• Practical tips: Learn to manage setbacks (contractor issues, pivots from STR to LTR), analyze numbers, and seek stability (even if that means W2 income for a while).
• The importance of community: Beth found education and encouragement not from gurus or expensive coaching, but free online groups, courses, and podcasts.

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Contact Beth:
Beth.goodpropertiesmail.com

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For More Stories or to Be Featured:
biggerpockets.com/guest

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Transcript

[Ashley Kerrick]

If you're sitting there thinking you can't get started in real estate because life's too hard, or you have this going on or you can't do it. Today's story is with Beth and she's going to provide you the motivation and inspiration to know that you can do it. At one point in time, Beth was going through divorce, had a struggling, failing business, had $70,000 in IRS debt, and on the verge of bankruptcy. But she made it out and she ended up getting her first real estate real estate deal.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And in today's episode, Beth is giving us not only how she got out of that very precarious and difficult situation, but how she built a cash flowing real estate portfolio that includes flipping long term rentals, midterm rentals, and short term rentals all in the span of a few years. So if you want the tactical guide along with the motivation, then this episode.

[Ashley Kerrick]

This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast and I'm Ashley Kerrick.

[Tony J. Robinson]

And I'm Tony J. Robinson. And with that, let's give a big warm welcome to to Beth Smart. Beth, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.

[Beth Smart]

Thank you. Glad to be here.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Beth, you were a new single mom. A business had just ended up in your name and you were dealing with a federal tax lien. So the margin for mistakes was basically zero. What was the first domino that fell? What happened that turned your life from manageable to I'm in survival mode. And how quickly did things spiral for you?

[Beth Smart]

Well, so first I'm going to start by saying it's so hard to talk about my past because it was such a painful time. And that was about 20 years ago. So that's the timeline. So I've come a long way in that 20 years. So I'm happy about that. But at that time, I had a new business. I had a nine month old and I had a two year old. And I was realizing that I had a horrible marriage. So it was just one thing after another. I had also had a bankruptcy and that was kind of the first flag that told me this is not a good marriage because he, it just was all part of that bad marriage thing. So I had a bankruptcy that I kind of went through by myself. And then I was getting letters from the IRS saying you need to be audited. And my husband at the time said, just ignore that. Well, when you ignore the irs, they do not like that. And so I did get a tax lien.

[Tony J. Robinson]

That's like one of the people that you can't ignore is the federal Government, I think when they asked for.

[Beth Smart]

Yeah, well I know that now. So thanks. Yeah, well, and I don't know, I.

[Ashley Kerrick]

But you trust someone and you, you trust them to know what to do.

[Beth Smart]

And that's right. And I was, I was trusting him that he was going to give a good advice because he, you know, when people talk with authority and I don't know, I, for me it was like I have, I've learned now not to just trust anybody because they're, they act like they know what they're doing because that's not always the case. That's actually probably rarely the case. So I'm not sure if I'm answering your question, Ashley, but there was a lot of dominoes that just kind fell over all at once. So I had a new business that I really didn't know anything about. I've had started a med spa with my husband at the time and he was working for a laser company. So that's how we got into that industry. And then with this new little baby and a two year old and this new business and then I'm like oh my God, I have a terrible marriage, I need to get out of it. And oh, I have a bankruptcy and oh, I have a tax lane and it's like, it's just has to, everything has to start over. So it was like a clean slate. And that's what happened.

[Ashley Kerrick]

What was the moment like when you realized that you couldn't like live like that anymore, that you had to figure something out once you found out about all this stuff going on. What were kind of the first steps that you took to make some changes?

[Beth Smart]

So the last straw was, and I'm laughing because it was like what a stupid last straw. So we had bought a house during that whole subprime lending thing. So I knew that that was going to be a horrible thing when that seven year note came due or whatever. And I was cleaning our three car garage because it was just a mess. And I'm a person of order and everything has a little place. And I had spent the whole day after working at the business and raising these two little kids by myself because he was traveling. I organized the garage because I thought this is going to be nice when he comes home from traveling and he came home and, and trash the garage. And I was up that night and I saw the garage and I burst into tears and I'm like I can't do this anymore. It was just everything else. I mean we were in debt, we had, we just had nothing for to our names and my husband was trapped. He was home. He wasn't home a lot because he was traveling for this business. And I just. That was my last straw was the dirty garage.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Beth, I. I applaud you for having the courage to recognize that you weren't happy in a situation and kind of stepping out of it. But then that also kind of puts you, like you said, in a very unique situation where now you're. You're newly single, two young kids, and I guess walk us through, like, what happens with the business that you started this business together, but it seems like you became the. The person really running it after the fact. Like, how. How did that come to be? How did the business fall into your lap?

[Beth Smart]

Well, we had signed a lease in a mall, and we had a. We had to be open seven days a week, which was working. When he had quit his job, and we were supposed to be working together, but he was not working. And so when I. When the divorce was processed and he moved out, I had to be at the office every day, even though we didn't have any clients, even though there was no bit money coming in, but we had about $15,000 in monthly expenses that I'm like, somehow this has to. I have to pay these bills. And somehow people would come in and spend money and buy my laser services when I needed them to. And it was. It was the first time that I really realized I'm going to be okay. That they're. Even though I don't have support and I don't have the people around me, and I don't have, you know, a rich uncle to help me, somehow, miraculously, people would just come in and buy things, and I'm like, I'm going to. I. I started to notice that I got all the junk out of my. Out of my life, and I was cleaning up my messes and, I don't know, the universe just started to help me. And so it was during that. It was 2007 and 2008, which was another weird period, and people were just. They would come in and spend. They'd give me their credit card and they would charge $7,000. And I needed. How much did I need that day? I needed $7,000. And they would just come in and charge. And I'm like, this is weird. And then I would sometimes never see. So I had to handle everything from the finding a tax accountant and paying bills, because I knew that paying taxes was really important. I'd learned that. And I just had to pay the bills. Then I asked the leasing company with the mall, if I could just be open six days a week. And they said, you know, it's actually, we never do this, but it's in your lease that you don't have to be open seven days a week. So that helped a lot.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So, yeah, that's, of course. And I mean, again, I think a lot to put on. On one person's shoulders. But when everything was. Was kind of chaotic, you mentioned the, the federal tax lien. You mentioned bankruptcy. Like, a lot of the options were off the table for you to try and like, get stable. So what did you kind of tackle first, second, third to start putting the pieces back together and, and rebuild your own personal financial foundation?

[Beth Smart]

I went through all our expenses for the business, and I had an employee who was just. She advocated for me. I don't even remember who she was, but she came in and she was helping me run the business. And she called up the yellow pages because my. We had a monthly charge of like, I don't know, $5,000 or something for yellow Pages. And this is when back in the day, people actually advertised in the yellow pages, but that was going out because this was all pre Google and all that. And so she got rid of that Google or that yellow page ad for me. So that helped a lot. So things like that. So it's just lower, minimizing my expenses and then just praying every day, okay, I need to make $3,000 today. Okay, I need to make $100 a day. I need to find a cheaper place to live that's just as safe, that is more convenient and closer to work. So, you know, it just. I'm juggling a million things and it was just like, oh, I'll do that one today. I'll do that one today. So that's. That was my modus apparandi. Let's just deal with it.

[Tony J. Robinson]

How long after the divorce and you becoming the. The sole owner of the business, do you feel like it took for you to get to a point where you could kind of breathe again?

[Beth Smart]

Well, I think it probably took about two years of just one day at a time, one hour at a time, and making it. And okay, I have a little cushion of money in the account. I have this bill paid off. This bill's about to be paid off. So I think it took about two years. And I remember when I felt like I was safe and I was secure and I was going to make it, and I had. I had a friend come into the store and she's like, I'm going away to Estes Park. I'm in Colorado, said, I'm going to go away for the weekend. Do you want to get a cabin and bring the kids and go with us? And I thought I looked at the numbers and I'm like, I can afford to do that. I can afford to pay someone to be in my store. I can afford to go rent this little cabin and enjoy myself. And so. But that was. Yeah, it was two years after the drama. So what would that have been? 2010? Yeah.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Beth, during this time, did you create, like, any rules or for yourself that maybe, like, you're not going to base your decisions on fear anymore or that you're not going to, you know, worry that your kids can't depend on you? Was there anything that kind of went through your mind that you realized from this point and this experience that you weren't going to let that control you anymore?

[Beth Smart]

I know during that period, my rule was I wasn't going to fail. I wasn't going to end up homeless. I wasn't going to end up living in my car. I wasn't going to lose my kids. I had a fear I was going to go to jail because of this tax lien. And my biggest, biggest fear was that my. I knew my ex husband wouldn't bring my kids to visit me. So, you know, when you're. When you're operating in that level of fear, it's like nothing. Nothing is scarier. So. So the rules I created where I was never going to be in that situation again, but that also I needed to learn to trust my gut, that if, you know, somebody comes in and tries to sell me something and I think it's a stupid idea, then I'm going to say, I'm going to learn how to say no. Because I didn't really know how to say no. I didn't know how to advocate for myself. And so, I mean, it was like basic core rules that I was creating of, you know, don't give away your soul.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Beth, how much was the tax lien for?

[Beth Smart]

Well, I think I owed like, $10,000, but because I had ignored them, the interest, I think it was $70,000, you know, which. When you're not making any money, it could be $70 million. It was. It was just a lot of money.

[Ashley Kerrick]

I mean, that could be with someone's whole year's salary. $70,000. Yeah. And especially when it was only 10,000, knowing that, like, it could have been taken care of. But, yeah, all the penalties and interest. Wow.

[Beth Smart]

Yep.

[Ashley Kerrick]

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[Ashley Kerrick]

Welcome back. So Beth had rules, but real estate investing starts when reality tests them. So, Beth, walk us through the exact moment you've stopped and insisting on a cool market and chose a market that actually worked for you.

[Beth Smart]

Okay, so we're gonna flash forward about seven years. And my medical spa is doing really well. My divorce is completely over, and I have met a great man named Patrick. I'm gonna refer to Patrick a lot.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So I love that this story has a happy. Not even the ending, but a happy middle part.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Yeah, Happy transition.

[Beth Smart]

There's a good transition. So. And that's what changed everything. So I've gone. I've gotten out of the mall. They let me out of my lease, which also never happens. And then I rented office space in an office building. And I could only be. I could be open whenever I felt like it. And my. I met this man on online. Whatever those things are called. Yeah, Online program. And we were. We were just. We were destined for each other. It was just a great fit. And he was an executive chef, so I had manifested a cook into the family. Thank you. Because my. I don't know. Anyway, that was a good thing. That was a good, good big sign. And he ended up, after a couple years, quitting his job as a chef. And he came to work for me. So we were working together and we're working and that's when. And we. He had a little kid and I had little kids, and they were. Well, now they were 7, 8, 9 by then. And we were just having fun. And I had a family, and I've never really had a happy family. So we enjoyed a few years of having a happy family. One of the things that Patrick had was a little cabin in the mountains. And it was a little like a double wide mobile home that previous owners had built a deck on. And it was just in a beautiful spot with aspen trees and you could see all the Rocky Mountains and all the mountains, I mean, all around. And it was just such a peaceful retreat. We spent a lot of time there. We had a blast up there and. Yeah, Ashley, I forgot your question. What was your question? You know what?

[Ashley Kerrick]

Go into how you had started in real estate.

[Beth Smart]

Oh, thank you. That's a great question. Oh, yeah. How interesting that we're on that. This podcast and we're going to talk about real estate. So we didn't realize we were in real estate at that time. But we love this. We love the cabin and we thought other people should enjoy it. And this is what Airbnb was just starting. And I'm like, you know what? We probably could make some money. I think somebody would come to this. I mean, it was very rural. It was very rustic. It had running water and a bathroom and a shower and even a laundry room. And so we put it on Airbnb and we got somebody who like spent a week up there and they loved it. And I realized we. We just own this free and clear, but we didn't even have insurance on it. And I thought, if we're going to keep renting an Airbnb, we better get basic insurance on in case. In case something happens. So we got a policy. We paid one premium, and I think it was like $30 a month. It was nothing. And we paid monthly. And like I said, we went up there every. We went there all the time. We were there at least every other weekend. And I always wanted to. I'm sorry, I have to use my hands, but I always wanted to. It was just a mobile home, but I always wanted to pop the top so that you would have an even better view of all the mountains. And we went up one weekend. It was Halloween weekend, and there had been an explosion and the. The top had popped. So I guess our introduction into true real estate began with the bang, because insurance came up three times to inspect our claim and found that that we hadn't committed any kind of fraud. And we ended up getting, I think our, our claim was for $60,000. So we got the full amount.

[Ashley Kerrick]

I want to make sure there's no one in this. Right, like it happened to be vacant.

[Beth Smart]

Yeah, yeah. Nobody was hurt. But my, like my. One of the bedrooms, the bed had melted, so something horrible had happened. But we'd had the, I'd made one insurance premium and, or payment and I mean, I was crying. We both were just in shock that it's like somebody popped the top and melted the windows and broke everything and anyway, yeah, it was so sad. It was awful.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Beth, I know that the insurance situation was obviously terrible because, you know, obviously we never want that to happen to our properties. But it also becomes this, this kind of moment where you really do launch into real estate investing. And I want to talk about that. But before we do, you, you know, you said, hey, we're going to fast forward about seven years or so. And you go from this very difficult situation, post divorce, newly single businesses struggling to, you know, happily married, you know, families there, business is doing well. How does someone separate the difficulties of a moment from their identity? Because at times someone who's going through something difficult can start to internalize that situation as part of who they are. And the reason that I asked this because I was just talking to an investor last week and we were on a, on a conversation. We were having a conversation. She was like almost in tears because she had this property that wasn't performing well and she was like, I just feel like I'm a failure. And I know that there are other people out there who have gone through similar situations, whether in their personal life, their business, whatever it may be, who start to internalize these difficult situations a part of who they are, and they start to question their ability to be successful at anything. How did you not fall victim to that?

[Beth Smart]

Well, I don't know that I didn't fall victim for that. You know, when you're a self made woman or self made human being, when you try something, whether you do it intentionally, like I'm gonna go try doing this for, or you just have to fall into it and make it work. When it's not working, you do have to take a look at yourself and say, this is not working. And I'm. There's something that I'm not good at. And so some people don't do that self analysis and go, okay, what can I learn? I need to learn. I need to ask somebody. I need to read a book. I Need to now, today. We didn't do this back then. Listen to a podcast or whatever. So I think people who fall victim to oh, I'm a failure. It's because they're not looking to, they're not looking to learn and they're not looking for what else. There's something I don't know, I better figure it out. So at least that's what I did. It's like this is not who I want to be. I want to be a different kind of person. I want to be a success. I want to be somebody who has achieved things. And I didn't know how to do that. I didn't have anybody showing me how to do that when I was growing up. So it's like, all right, I'm going to listen to the, the people that you know the science of, of getting rich. The science of personal achievement. The secret. I mean there's, you know, the what you think about, you bring about. That's something that I learned during my whole divorce is that that book movie came out the secret, it's all about the law of attraction. I didn't know anything about that. But it's true. What you think about, you do bring about.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, well, but I appreciate that because again, I know there are a lot of folks who are listening that just don't have the confidence to move forward. And I feel like that's what stops a lot of people more than the technical know how more than the, you know, they, they've read all the books, listen to the podcast, watched YouTube videos, but they're just missing the confidence piece. So I think it's always important when we can talk to someone who's gone through the, the kind of peaks and valleys of life and business and can show that sick them with it has a positive impact. But going back to the, the insurance story, so you guys, you know, obviously a terrible thing happens, but then you get this, this big check from your insurance company. What do you guys do with that? Like, do you, do you rebuild the cabin? Do you turn it into another short term rental? Like what, what happens next?

[Beth Smart]

Well, we did love that location, but it was really far from anything and our kids were growing, getting older and we're, that this is just too far from anything. So let's find something else. Let's take this money. I think we paid off a car, but we still had, you know, a bunch of money. Plus we sold the land for I think another 40,000. So that was like a hundred thousand. Today I would do it so different. But back Then we're like, let's go find another kind of retreat center. That's how we looked at it was a retreat. And so we got found a realtor and we're just driving around looking on the MLS and found this house in Cripple Creek, Colorado, which is this old gambling town, and found this house one block from the casinos, that it was in the middle of this little town. So of course, in hindsight, it's not at all what we were looking for, but it's exactly what we needed. This is 1895 Victorian. It was painted purple and blue, and it's just so cute. It just was so cute. And so it was in December, and when we went to inspect it there, the water wasn't even on. And we're like, it doesn't matter. We're gonna buy it. We just knew in our hearts that this was our house. So we took that money from our explosion, our bang, and we bought this house and we went out and furnished. It went with period pieces. We'd walk into a thrift store and it's like, that's the perfect couch. Which, you know, I don't really recommend buying a furniture from thrift stores, but it was like, that's the perfect furniture. So we. I think we got it furnished within a week and we spent New Year's Eve there.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Did Beth, did you have to do any repairs at all?

[Beth Smart]

No, no. Well, once the. Once the water got turned on, there was a leak, but. And we. We had that fixed, but that was. That was it. Otherwise it was perfect. It had a detector garage with a studio above, and we're like, we can rent that out. This will be fun. It'll be so much. It'll be lovely. And so we were there New Year's Eve, I remember, and we staying there, and I'm like, wait a minute, we have a mortgage on this now. Wait, this isn't relaxing. We have a mortgage on it, so we're gonna have to do something about this. And so that's what we did with that money. We bought really, truly our first investment property.

[Ashley Kerrick]

And how much did you purchase it for?

[Beth Smart]

Oh, gosh, I think it was maybe 200,000. It was. It wasn't very much, but this was probably eight years ago, so now it's worth more, thank goodness. But we still have it, actually.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Oh, really? That's awesome.

[Beth Smart]

We rent it that summer. We put it on short term rental because I was such an Airbnb expert by then with our cabin and that one tenant that we had. But we put on and it was a block, it is a block from the cat casino. So that was. People would come up for the weekend and they just, they loved it and it was convenient and it was adorable and all the things that we loved about it, other people loved about it. Well, then fall came and nobody really goes to Cripple Creek for the weekend because it's cold and snowy and it's not that much fun. So then, okay, we got to get a tenant in here. So we found a property manager and she got it rented. It probably took a couple of months, but so we had long term rentals in there, long term tenants there for, I don't know, two years. And that's when we started really learning about real estate. We're like, you know, if we converted the garage to another unit, then we could have a duplex. So we actually now have a duplex. We converted that to a duplex. So that's our, that's a nice cash flowing property.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah. $200,000 for three units is, is pretty solid. So you, you guys, you guys take that money, you use that to launch into your, your first true real estate investment. But you don't stop there, Beth. Like, I know you go on to start experimenting in all different types of real estate investing. So what was the next deal after this? And my mind is blown. When you said 1895, I've never, I don't even think I've been inside a house.

[Beth Smart]

Yeah. Two centuries ago.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Come visit me, Tony.

[Beth Smart]

And you see a lot of them, right? Yeah. So. Well, we didn't really realize we were investors. We were just like, we were just getting the mortgage paid. And then Covid hit and our business, we still had our medical spa and it got shut down. And my husband had always wanted to be a real estate agent because he loves looking at real estate. He doesn't like helping people buy real estate or sell real estate. He just likes to look at real estate. And so during COVID he got his real estate license and I'm like, all right, I'm going to be a part of his life and, and help him with that. And so I found this Facebook page and this woman was teaching how to be a real estate investor. So every night we, it was a five night program. We listened to that and we learned all of the real estate techniques. Airbnb or Beat the Burr Method and flipping and house hacking and wholesaling. And we, our minds were blown. We're like, we could totally do this. So that like giving a little kid a dollar back in the Day and go into the candy store. So that's how my husband was. He's like, well, we're gonna go buy now. We're gonna go buy real estate. So he. We knew Denver, which is where we're at. The Denver metro area was too expensive. And so Pat was looking in Pueblo, Colorado, which is two hours south of Denver. And I grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which Pueblo? You just. It was like the armpit of the world. It's just the nastiest place in the world. And so when he's like, look at all these properties about a Pueblo, I'm like, we're not buying in Pueblo. It's disgusting there. And he's like, no, no, really, really. Look at how cheap the properties were. And they were. I mean, that at that time, Denver, the average price was $600,000 for just off the MLS, and in Pueblo, it was $150,000 for the same kind of cute little house. And I'm like, yeah, but it's Pueblo, so. No, gross. Well, at that time, also there was this TV show on Netflix called Undercover Billionaire. And Grant Cardone got sent to Pueblo of all places in the world. And he's like, this is the greatest town in the world. And I'm like, I don't even know who Grant Cardone is, but okay, if that guy says that it's a good place, we should go check it out. So again, on a New Year's Eve, we went. That was when we do everything, apparently. So we went down to Pueblo State New Year's Eve, and we looked around this town, and Pueblo, Colorado is the cutest little town in the world. It has a city park and a zoo and old little Victorian homes. And I mean, there's some yummy, yucky places, but it's got. There's a lot of history. There's a big reservoir. So I'm like, all right, let's go by, let's look down here. So we ended up finding. So we found out about how to get on wholesalers lists. And so we. I'll make this very short. We found a property and we went and walked through it. And during that time, it was so chaotic, right? It was. It was like you could walk into a house. And this is what one of the realtors said that we met at the flipping house or at the house that we. That we were looking at. He's like, you could have dog poop on the walls and you're gonna get three offers above asking. And I'm like, what? I don't even that doesn't even make any sense, but it was true. So we toured a house, we put a B, and we got it. We got this house that we were going to flip. It was below market. I didn't understand why they were using a wholesaler because it was a great house. They should have just used. Put it on the mls. But I know that's kind of. That's one of those mysteries in real estate, right? It's like, why. Why did they do it that way? I don't know. But anyway, it was to our advantage. So.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, I just want to ask because I. Obviously you're still in Colorado, but it is a new market for you, and you mentioned it briefly, which said we got on the list of a wholesaler. There are a lot of rookie investors who don't understand how to start building those connections with wholesalers who have the keys to unlock all of the deals that tend to make a little bit more sense. So what did you actually do to get in contact with these wholesalers in a market that you didn't actually live in?

[Beth Smart]

I think probably at that time, my husband went on Craigslist and said, I want to buy wholesale properties. And there were just people there, they're like, hey, want to buy this below cost? Now you can Google buy wholesale properties, and they'll find all these companies, and that's what they do. And they go out and they door knock, and they, you know, they get these contract. They get these properties under contract for below cost. It's. It's. That's a whole world that I'm not interested in. I would never want to be a wholesaler. It sounds on paper like it would be fun. Like, you just go help somebody get out of their house. They're gonna lose, and you help them pay off their whatever. But I just didn't want to do that, so. Yeah. Yeah, right. And so. And that's. And that. Anyway, so we just. We just bought another flip just recently, and I'm like, why does this even. Why is this property being sold through to a wholesaler? Like, they could just sell it anyway. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I ramble.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Tony, didn't you wholesale deals for a little while?

[Tony J. Robinson]

Yeah, we did, back in 2021, I think it was. And yeah, I mean, a lot of it was us getting, you know, cussed out by home sellers, saying that we were the 18th person to call them today. And how did you beep this? And, you know, you should beep this and, you know, all these other kind of crazy Things, but we did a few. Do you know which. Which is, I guess, the price you have to pay.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Now, when you saw your $65,000 profit, what did you do next? And why did you choose to roll it into two more properties instead of just taking the win and pocketing it?

[Beth Smart]

So that was how much we made from our very first flip. It took us about, I think a month, maybe six weeks. And we fixed everything, which now we don't do that. But even then, we turned around and we sold it in two days. We actually only got one offer.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Two days. Wow.

[Beth Smart]

Yeah. And we got me. We made a profit of if I did the numbers right, which, who knows if I did? But we made about $65,000. So what we found is that it was so much fun. Real estate and real estate in general is just fun. And it was fun taking this kind of house that just needed some love and making it, improving it, and giving more life to it, and then turning around and finding somebody who's like, this is my forever house. I love it. It's. I want to buy it. And so that was just. And then we made money at it. I mean, it was fun. So we took that $65,000, and instead of spending it on something that we didn't want, we're like, let's keep going and let's stay in Pueblo. And so my husband, who loves looking at real estate, found a house that was. It had a for sale sign in the front, but it was not on the mls. And he called up the agent and he's like, yeah, that's for sale. Well, you know, it's not on the mls. Oh, well, I don't know. So we looked at. We had. We looked at that and the price was right. It was like 160, $70,000. It didn't need any work, and it needed a little cleaning and some paint. But it had hardwood floors, the bathroom was fine, had claw foot tub in it. And we had a contractor who had helped us on our flip, and he's like, you should do this as a short term rental and we'll manage it for you. And so we're like, okay, because it's two hours away, we can't do a short term rental. But we know how much money those can make, so let's turn this into a short term rental. So we bought that house in June, middle of June, and I immediately got it set up on Airbnb and we had it booked for the 4th of July. So it took us two weeks to turn that around. And we had it booked for I think four straight months and made, I mean so much money. It was so, it just was fun. It was fun because people loved it and they, and then I love helping people, but I also love making money. And I learned from my med spa those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can have fun, you can help people and, and you can do what you're supposed to do. So that's what we were doing. The other thing that we did with that $65,000 profit is we bought actually we bought two properties down in Pueblo. One we turned into a short term rental. We actually closed on both those properties on the same day and we were going to just flip that other property but we ended up losing our contractor because he got really burned out because we were moving at the speed of light and he was managing these properties and having to turn them over every couple of days. And then the one kind of challenge about Pueblo, Colorado is August, super hot. And so that's, by now we're into August and he got burned out and he quit managing the short term rental and he quit finishing our flip.

[Tony J. Robinson]

I just want to say that's like the biggest fear for every real estate investor is that you build a relationship with someone and then for whatever reason they don't follow through. They, they kind of stop mid job because now you as the investor are left to pick up the pieces. And I want to talk about that. But before we finish off the serve about the contract, we're going to take a quick break to hear word from today's show sponsors and we'll come back finish that story.

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[Ashley Kerrick]

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[Tony J. Robinson]

All right, welcome back. We are here with Beth and she just broke the news that her contractor kind of burned out in the middle of not one but multiple jobs. So I guess Beth maybe describe the moment that the relationship kind of broke. I guess like what went wrong? What did it put at risk? And what did you do in Those first like 24 to 48 hours to try and keep things moving along?

[Beth Smart]

I remember where Pat and I were both standing. We were supposed to go to dinner with our contractor and his wife and we had made plans to go to this little Mexican restaurant. And they called and said, oh, we can't go. We have to go do something else. And we knew what that meant. We knew that they were quitting because of other things that had happened. And we both just looked at each other and said, what just happened? And what does this mean? Because they're doing this and they're doing this and they're doing this and oh my God, what are we going to do? And so sure enough, they're like, we're not doing this anymore and give us our money that you owe us and, and here's the keys and good luck. So we went on Craigslist. My husband's really good at that. And he found another person to finish this house, finish the, the house on that. We were flipping and we shut down. I think we probably had a couple more short term rental appointments or, you know, bookings that we finished. And I found a cleaning lady who would go in and she moved those around for a couple months, but it was just too much work. So I'm like, let's turn that house into a medium rental. And you know, you just to answer your question, Tony, sorry. You just, you have to deal with it and you have to. It's like all hands on deck and what are we going to do? And you have to just, you have to focus on solving the problem. So, okay, we got to finish the house. All right, Find somebody to finish the house. We got to find somebody to clean the house because we can't do it and turn it over because we have bookings. You just have to find somebody. And when you have that laser, focus on finding what it is you need because it's. It's not like it's life and death, but it kind of is because it's your business. It's like the universe really does conspire to help you, and you find those people show up. And so the contractor that we found to finish the, the flip, he was, he did a really good job, but he was, he moved at the speed of a sloth. He was so slow. So it took what it should have taken about a month. It took him like three months. And so it was done in November. Well, then it's too late to try to sell it, right? It's in Colorado at least. You just can't sell anything in that fourth quarter. So we ended up turning that property. We put that on the market too. No. What did we do? We turned that into a long term rental, which wasn't the goal. That wasn't what we were going to do with that money. I wanted that cash so we could buy another flip, but we turned it into a long term rental. We actually still have that property and we're on just our second tenant in, what is it, four years. So that turned out. It turned out okay. The house that we had is a short term rental. We turned that into a midterm rental. And that went really well for a couple of years also. And that was nice money and pretty easy money. And that cleaning lady that I had found, she would go in after the month and the, you know, however. However long that that contract was, she would go in and turn that over. And then we just had a couple of bad experiences. And I'm like, you know, let's just turn this into a long term rental. So that's. We still have that property also. And that is a. That's been a very nice investment for us still. It's still booked. So. Yeah.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Beth, after having to learn how to pivot and change strategies, what are maybe some things you implement now when you're managing a project or a rental that you wish you would have done before?

[Beth Smart]

So the way we funded a lot of these projects was through my medical spa. So we don't have that medical spot anymore. I sold that. And now my husband and I both have W2 jobs. Why? I don't know, but we do. And so what I wish I had done. Yeah, exactly. So. And it is. It's nice to have insurance and. Yeah, whatever. But I wish that I had been wiser with the budget and the money and really, like, you know, everything I've learned on bigger pockets about how to analyze a deal, we would analyze a deal by going in and going, what a cute house. Oh, and we could paint it this way. And then we do this. And we didn't really run numbers like we've learned how to do now. And we've had to learn how to run the numbers because we just don't have that. I mean, my med spa was kind of a cash. It was a cash cow. So I just, if I needed money, we just, we'd make some. That's one thing I learned. It's like, oh, we need some money. Well, let's make some. And that's what I'm loving about real estate and why we've decided to get back into flipping. Because I do like, I like making some money. And flipping is a really fun way to make some money. And I get to help people, I get to be creative. My husband gets to find things. He loves to find things. And then we have a nice little payoff. So what I would do different is just is look at the budget and be a little bit smarter. Which now that's what I'm learning how to do.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Beth, I just. One follow up question on the. The transition back to W2, because I think for a lot of folks that are listening, the goal is to get to, hey, I've got my own thing going and that's kind of sustaining me. But you, you've ventured back into the stability that comes along with that. What was the. Maybe the decision making process that you followed to say, hey, we're going to put the med spa up for for sale versus continuing to run that alongside the. The flipping and the other rentals that you own?

[Beth Smart]

When we were shut down for Covid and we got to have a life and, and try other things. When then we had to go back to work for a couple of years, we realized how burned out we were. And it was one of those decisions that we kind of just made. Within a couple of days, it's like, let's put this. Let's put the business up for sale. And so we found a business broker, and they had said, well, it's probably going to take about nine months to sell your business. And we're like, all right, that's perfect, because then we can make some more money and save some money and maybe even pay off one of these properties. It sold in an hour. So we closed within a month. So it went from nine months of I, I could. I have a lot to do in nine months to I have a lot to do in four weeks. And so it was. It was a miracle. And we got out of there and yeah. So then we realized, okay, we still don't have quite enough money and now we're kind of bored. And that really was. We were kind of bored because we couldn't do too much because we didn't have that money that we were making. So we're like, let's go get jobs. So I started working for the post office. I thought that would be a fun job. I can get paid to exercise by walking. I can be outside and I could be by myself. I just needed my own. I needed to be away from having to wheel and deal and make sales like I had to do at the med spa. And then six months later, my husband started with the post office too. So we're both mail carriers. If you work for the post office for five years when you started our age, we're Both in our 60s. If we work five years, we get to. We get a pension. It's not a big pension, but it's cash flow for the rest of my life is how I look at it. And we also get to keep all our insurance. So I think that's a. That's a win, win, win. So, yeah, we have a job that's going to give us cash flow.

[Ashley Kerrick]

I mean, that feels like a good retirement strategy.

[Tony J. Robinson]

I love the concept of, like, how you describe it. If I'm by myself, I don't have to talk to anybody throughout the day.

[Beth Smart]

Well, I honestly, Tony, I'd never listen to podcasts. I'd never nothing until I got this job. Because now I am by myself all day. I've got my headset on, and I. That's when I really discovered was bigger pockets. I've been with the post office three years now. So I have. I get paid to learn and I get paid to exercise. So. Yeah.

[Ashley Kerrick]

Well, Beth, thank you so much for joining us today. I really enjoyed this conversation. I still think it's incredible that you made the $65,000 off one flip in a short period of time and that was almost the same amount as that IRS debt you had. And I can imagine that took way longer than the flip did to actually pay that off. So. But congratulations on all your success and thank you so much for sharing your journey and also the lessons you learned and what you would do differently too. So Beth, where can people reach out to you and find out more information?

[Beth Smart]

You know, I'm not on social media, so my email is Beth Goodproperties. Beth.goodpropertiesmail.com who am I? Beth goodpropertiesmail.com well Beth, thank you so much.

[Ashley Kerrick]

We really enjoyed having you on today.

[Beth Smart]

Thank you very much.

[Ashley Kerrick]

I'm Ashley, he's Tony, and we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate Directy. At some point, your little real estate side hustle stops feeling little rent's coming in. Maybe you've got a couple properties now and suddenly the money part gets real. Your tax bill's going up. You're Googling LLC versus S Corp at midnight and you're just hoping you didn't miss something that'll cost you later. That's where Collective comes in. Collective is the first all in one financial solution built exclusively for solopreneurs. Saving you time and money, they help you structure your business for success, whether that's forming a single member LLC or adding an S Corp election. Collective's AI engine, backed by expert oversight, automatically categorizes every expense. You never miss a deduction beyond bookkeeping. They handle quarterly tax estimates and prepare both your business and personal tax returns so you never miss a deadline. You also get integrated invoicing plus seamless payroll for S Corp owners, which can unlock thousands in self employment tax savings. And with Collective's community and support, you can finally take the solo out of Solopreneur. Right now, Kollective is giving you 50% off your first two months when you go to collective.com rookie. That's 50% off your first two months at collective.com rookie.

[Tony J. Robinson]

Hey rookies, if you're watching this, we want you to apply to be a guest on the Real Estate Rookie podcast. That's right. Ashley and I are looking for amazing stories just like yours to be a part of our real Estate Rookie podcast. Now look, you don't need to be an expert. You don't need to have done thousands of deals. Even if you've done one deal, your story could help inspire the next listener

[Ashley Kerrick]

as a rookie investor. Especially if you just got your first deal. It is all fresh in your minds and you are the best person to tell your story. Give your experience on how you got it done to help someone else get their first deal.

[Tony J. Robinson]

So head over to biggerpockets.com guest if you want to be a part of our show again. That's biggerpockets.com guest and we'd love to have you on.