← So Money with Farnoosh Torabi
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- [00:00]
Farnoosh Torabi
If you're running a business, you know that every time you miss a call, you're leaving money on the table. When every customer conversation matters, you need a phone system that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24, 7. That's why you need OpenPhone. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or computer, so no more carrying two phones or using a landline. Plus say goodbye to voicemail. Their AI agent can be set up in minutes to handle calls after hours, answer questions and capture leads so you never miss a customer. OpenPhone is offering our listeners 20% off of your first six months at openphone.com tech. That's O P E N P H O-N-E.com tech and if you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone no missed calls, no missed customers.
- [00:54]
Liz Faircloth
Only the best will do for mom so make Whole Foods Market your Mother's Day destination. Shop the floral department for vibrant blooms like tulips, orchids, peonies and expert crafted bouquets. Then head to the wellness and beauty department and give Mom a spa like experience with scented candles and more. And if you're hosting brunch or dinner, order flavorful Whole Foods market catering by May 9th. Celebrate Mother's Day with whole Foods Market in store and online.
- [01:25]
Farnoosh Torabi
So money episode 1823 how to build wealth and Invest in real estate in 2025.
- [01:33]
Liz Faircloth
You're listening to so Money with award.
- [01:36]
Farnoosh Torabi
Winning money guru Farnoosh Torabi. Each day get a 30 minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencers and from Farnoosh herself. Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons. Sorry, you're in the wrong place. Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life.
- [01:57]
Liz Faircloth
Welcome to SO Money. You can't control the market, you can only participate in it. And that is from 20 years ago when I started investing in real estate to today. So choosing the right markets will always be the most important thing you do in this business. Over the right property or the right strategy is a good time to buy a vacation rental. It depends on what market you're in. To answer that question and why I'm saying that it's so important right now is that you see certain markets are still strongly appreciating the rent. Growth is still happening in that local market. Jobs are increasing, people are coming to that area in high volume because of the jobs or the lifestyle.
- [02:43]
Farnoosh Torabi
Welcome to so money everybody.
- [02:44]
Liz Faircloth
We are diving into the world of.
- [02:46]
Farnoosh Torabi
Real estate investing today and not just as a strategy for wealth, but as as a movement especially for women to claim financial independence to build generational wealth and find community in a traditionally male dominated space. My guest is Liz Faircloth.
- [03:03]
Liz Faircloth
She's the co founder of InvestHer, which.
- [03:06]
Farnoosh Torabi
Is a global platform and network that helps women invest confidently in real estate, connect with opportunities and build wealth on their terms. You may know Liz Faircloth and her business partner Andresa Gidelli from their podcast called Invest her and the growing ecosystem they've buil to support women at each stage of their investing journey. They've got a conference coming up called Invest her con. It's happening June 1st through 3rd in Orlando. A one of a kind hands on real estate conference where the networking is intentional, the knowledge is strategic and the energy they say is unmatched. And if you're serious about real estate as an investor and you want to learn from women who are actively building wealth in this market today, you want to be in this room. The link to attend is in our show notes. Now in our conversation, Liz and I discuss how to identify the right markets to invest in now, the risks to consider before diving in, short term versus long term rentals, co living models, and.
- [04:03]
Liz Faircloth
How Liz protects her time and energy as an entrepreneur, investor and mom. Let's do it.
- [04:10]
Farnoosh Torabi
Liz Faircloth, welcome to Sew Money. It's great to have you. We're going to talk about real estate, building wealth, women. I love living in that intersection, as do you.
- [04:20]
Liz Faircloth
Absolutely. It's a fun intersection.
- [04:23]
Farnoosh Torabi
You are the co founder of Invest her, which on the outside it appears like you're helping a lot of women learn how to navigate real estate as investors. But truly at the end of the day, what I think you're doing, and I think this is really the behind your mission is to help women build lifelong wealth, generational wealth, not just to the transaction of real estate, but to become educated people around how to build wealth outside of maybe the standard investing in the stock market. How would you describe your data day work and mission behind Invest Her?
- [05:00]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah, absolutely. So you know, I like to say Invest her is it's a global platform, right, where women real estate investors can get three things and women don't like to waste time, they like to get to the point. So what we find, and so there's three things that we really truly offer in what we've built is the getting access to the right strategic knowledge. You can get knowledge out there, but are you getting the right knowledge to move you along in your journey. The second thing is real investment opportunities. Right. That's how we really ultimately grow our wealth. Not talking about it or getting the knowledge, actually doing something with what we know. And then are we surrounded by a high level network? Meaning are these women where I want to be versus surrounding yourself with people who are going to say, oh, this is not a good time to invest. This is not a good time to insert whatever their answer is. So that's what we really focus our energy on, providing women both online and offline.
- [05:55]
Farnoosh Torabi
Mm. And you say it's global in the United States. How would you describe the woman who comes to invest? Her? What is her background? What is she really looking for? What draws her to you?
- [06:08]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah, it's a great question. What we found in that is, it's interesting because women actually don't like the word community. Right? We don't. We can get that can get a little bit under our skin. Meaning, oh, it's, oh, you're a community. Meaning it's like we're going to go sit in a circle and do something together. That's what I mean. And then nothing against knitting, that's it. That's your jam. You go for it. But what I find a lot of the women coming to our investor con and listening to our podcast and being around other like minded women is that they're driven. They are women that have learned how to build successful portfolio. They're doing positive things and building their wealth and living their life, but they're doing it by themselves. They're very much a solopreneur in the sense of like rugged, individualist. And so what women really need is to be around other women that they can also bounce the idea off of or see what they're doing. And how do I shortcut this? How do I not take as long as I took to do X, Y and Z? But a lot of women are not always looking for that per se because they're so busy in their business they don't get their head out of the sand, if you will.
- [07:16]
Farnoosh Torabi
Why did you want to focus exclusively on women? Or I guess not exclusively, but it's in your brand and I know you'd probably don't turn guys away, but this was part of the mission was to focus on the female demographic.
- [07:28]
Liz Faircloth
When Andresa and I were partnered together on a handful of projects, flips and new construction, we'd get together and support each other talking through our businesses or challenges. Then we'd go to events. Every time we go to an event. Whether it was a small meetup, real estate investing group or a conference. We did feel like we were the only women there, or we were very few. And then we'd look on stage and it really got under our skin that we saw women on a panel, but they were not the keynote. They weren't the one talking about the economy. Or people were asking them, how is it like to be a real estate investor versus how do I build my wealth through real estate, like real tech? Really the important questions. Now that's not important, but let's talk about why a woman is investing in the sense of building her wealth. So that really got under our skin, even to the point where when we launched our podcast, I remember this conversation I shared with a gentleman in my network. I said, oh, we're going to launch Invest the Investor podcast, Real estate investor podcast. He goes, you're gonna run out of women to interview. And I said, we're not gonna run out of anyone to interview. And we haven't 550 episodes later, but yet that was the perception found was that women were investing, they were running under the radar and they were doing it themselves.
- [08:44]
Farnoosh Torabi
I just wanna highlight Andresa, your partner. She was on so Money in about a couple years ago and she had this incredible story of how she arrived at real estate as an investor. And for her it was like from the ashes of divorce, rising from that and being hell bent on establishing financial freedom for herself. How did the two of you sync up and what's your story? Actually, Liz, as you are now totally immersed in this world too.
- [09:13]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah, it's interesting because I think we both had an identity crisis for two very different reasons. So she was going through a divorce. I said, I don't know if this is the right time to launch a new business. And she's like, no, this is exactly what we need to be doing. So that was what was happening in her world, what was happening in my world. Parallel was I had just left my corporate job. I just had my son, who's 11 now, but I just had my son. And we started talking. I felt like there was like a little bit of an identity crisis where I was that new mom. I had this newborn at home. I left the corporate work that I was doing for over a decade that I had a lot of confidence in, and I joined my husband in building our business full time or between having my little one at home. And I felt at that point, on paper, I should have been so happy and proud. Our real estate was starting to really financially support us but internally, honestly, I was not sure of myself. I felt so lost. And emotionally I was like, what am I doing? Is this really the right path for me? I love my newborn who is healthy and. But I was like, is this all there is? And I hate to even verbalize that because I should have been really grateful. But I also felt very torn and very alone, to be honest. And I didn't have anyone around me and that's really what I met on Tressa. And then we started chatting and connecting and supporting each other and for our own sort of changes in life, for different changes. But yeah, I think it's tough when we shift careers, we shift our. We have. We're a new parent. And all of that, all the above really caused me to question, like, what is really important to me. And what I really loved was I loved inspiring, I loved connecting, I loved seeing people grow, not just myself. So Invest Her. As much as I was supporting and empowering our. What we're all about is the network to empower other women and to give them the tools in the community. Creating Invest her gave me so much life, gave me a new purpose, gave me like, oh, wow, this is my mission. This is not just a business, this is a movement that I feel so passionate about. So I'm really grateful for to. When we're giving, right, we get. That was an interesting kind of full circle moment for me.
- [11:20]
Farnoosh Torabi
I want to seek all your wisdom about how to invest this year and in the coming maybe 18 months is things are so uncertain. But I also want to draw attention to your Invest her con, which is happening June 1st through June 3rd in Orlando, Florida. What goes on at this conference? It looks amazing. I'm looking at the photos. It looks pretty epic.
- [11:44]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah, the. I appreciate that. What we find and the reason why we launched Investor Con a few years ago was that traditional networking doesn't work right. Traditional networking events, if you will, don't work. They're boring. We collect business cards, we come back from the event and we're like, who did I talk to?
- [12:03]
Farnoosh Torabi
Yes.
- [12:04]
Liz Faircloth
Why did I talk to them? There's a lack of alignment and there's a lack of intentionality. And Jess and I, when we came together and said we really want to do an in person conference, we said that's not going to happen at our event and we're going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't. I think, number one, networking is crucial right now. Whether you're entering the real estate investing landscape or you're growing your portfolio or you're honestly just sitting there. I'm not sure what to do because of the tariffs or the interest rate. The sentence of just feeling a little uncertain. Being in the right rooms with the right people who are active in today's market is critical if that's something you really want to gain that confidence. So I always say we, that's what we created Investor Con to do is to build a network that you don't outgrow, per se. Right. That are active in the business. And every conversation feels like it's meaningful and intentional. And so Investor Con was born out of that. And we, what we do is it's very hands on, a hands on workshop, one after the other, even one that we do. It's a signature one called Deal, Deal or no Deal. And this year will be about new construction. And so the woman leading it is going to have a couple different deals and in the projects, if you will, properties to analyze. And in the audience, women sitting together, they're going to analyze those deals and then they're going to come up to the mic. Would you do this deal in today's market or not? And why not? So it's really more of a large workshop transformational event where you're constantly looking at where am I, where do I want to be and what, who and what do I need to be around so I can move the needle in my own life, in my own wealth building. Because you can build wealth right now. There's no question people are building your wealth.
- [13:42]
Farnoosh Torabi
Let's get it. For women who are listening, brand new to real estate. Where is the best place to start? And how would your advice be different this year as opposed to, I don't know, when's like, when was like a heyday, like 2021, 2022, and rates were so low and there was still a lot of inventory. Where do you start today? Why is your advice so specific?
- [14:06]
Liz Faircloth
I'm gonna, I'm gonna answer that question. But I think it's very interesting that the advice that I often will give is very similar to what I've always said and what I think doesn't matter if you're in an up market or a down market or regardless of the interest rates, what I'm about to say matters more now because there's not room as much for error. And so when there's not as much room for error and you have to really know what you're doing in terms of making sure your numbers are correct, making sure you can analyze the market and know the market before any property is always the best advice. That advice is so much more important now than more than ever. Margins potentially not as yes and no. I would say a couple different things. I always say, and I heard this from, I forget the gentleman's name, but I heard this many years ago. You can't control the market, you can only participate in it. And that is from 20 years ago when I started investing in real estate to today. So choosing the right markets will always be the most important thing you do in this business over the right property or the right strategy. Is this a good time to buy a vacation rental? It depends on what market you're in. To answer that question and why I'm saying that it's so important right now is that you see certain markets are still strongly appreciating the rent. Growth is still happening in that local market. Jobs are increasing. People are coming to that area in high volume because of the jobs or the lifestyle. The beautiful thing that Covid did was that it actually encouraged people to live where they want to live and also work where they choose. So you see that now the areas that are appreciating and doing very well from a real estate market perspective are also the areas that people are wanting to live. Leisure, being outside. And I'll give you an example the if you are not really in an area that's appreciating or increasing in its value right now, then it's going the opposite. So you can hedge that with interest rates or inflation or the current whatever the gonna happen with tariffs and construction. So if you're in a depreciating market, you're gonna lose, right? You could potentially lose, I should say. So it's really my. You have to be really mindful of what market am I really looking to invest what's needed in that market? Because quite honestly, we all know housing is a necessity. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Now where you live and what kind of home you live in can be a little more of luxury, right? Could be luxury or basic. So as an investor just get really engaged and obsessed with the market. What is happening in that market? What is the local economy doing? Are jobs coming? Are jobs leaving? Are people coming? Are they leaving? These are basic questions, but those are really core questions. Then you can start to say it doesn't make sense to buy a rental property here based on those answers. Yeah, they're going to be bringing a thousand jobs in because Amazon's building. They're going to need more housing here. Oh, okay, interesting. Where are they going to need housing, all those kind of questions. And you're not going to know all that by yourself, Right? You're going to need to be around other people that you can bounce that off of and really start to problem solve together.
- [17:19]
Farnoosh Torabi
I moved to Brooklyn in 2011, which even at that time felt like I was late to the market, but worked out 10 years later. We all had anyone who bought around the recession did pretty well. We would say that once a Starbucks comes into your neighborhood or a Whole Foods, then maybe it's actually too late to buy. It's a great bellwether. You mentioned Amazon jobs. What are some other telltale signs so people can look at that and go, okay, this looks like things are changing and prices are going to go up.
- [17:51]
Liz Faircloth
Here's the biggest thing that I've learned is that you don't want to be the pioneer. You don't want to be the one that's. Actually, I'm going to be the first one to invest in this community.
- [18:02]
Farnoosh Torabi
You'll wish you were, but.
- [18:04]
Liz Faircloth
Exactly, exactly. I. I'm doing a project in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which has lately gotten a lot of press and been on the kind of cutest towns in America list. I've also invested in Trenton, New Jersey, which has had its struggles over the years. Gentrifying and developing city in the state of New Jersey. It's the capital for those who are listening. So I've literally invested in the nicest neighborhoods, in the neighborhoods that people are struggling to make things work with, developing. So what I can say there is that if you are the pioneer, it's really risky. And so while that's on one scale, the other scale is being too late to the party. And you saw that with Austin in particular, Austin, Texas, people started investing and it's on the hottest markets and it's a beautiful city. I don't mean to dismiss Austin, but from a real estate investor, you go back to supply and demand. Basic stuff, right? Supply and demand. The demand was high. The supply was also high. So in terms of these folks going in saying, yeah, I'm going to do a small multifamily and the rents are going to. Rents are going to increase by X, Y and Z. They didn't see that. If your rents are not increasing and your pricing is what you bought it for, if you didn't underwrite it correctly and analyze it correctly, you might be experiencing some of that frustration. I've always invested in areas that are not the hottest markets, but are an hour and a half from the hottest markets and they have investments I'll give you a perfect example. Winston Salem, North Carolina. It's not Raleigh, it's not Durham, but it has such an investment of jobs economy we vested there about three years ago. Four years still makes sense to invest there. We still like that area. A lot of buildings there, but it's a thriving area that still has a lot of room for growth. Meaning there's things happening economy there, but it's not tapped and it's not oversupply. It goes back to supply and demand. Always want to be in an area that needs is a high demand and the supply is lower. That's ultimately the goal.
- [20:01]
Farnoosh Torabi
Great tips.
- [20:02]
Liz Faircloth
Have you ever woken up with a funky symptom like a swollen itchy eye or a tight pain in your neck and immediately googled it or searched TikTok.
- [20:09]
Farnoosh Torabi
To see what's wrong?
- [20:11]
Liz Faircloth
We've all gone down that rabbit hole, but it's time to get the help and care you really need with ZocDoc. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. We're talking about booking in network appointments with more than 100,000 doctors across every specialty from mental health to dental health, primary care to urgent care, and more. Once you find the right doctor, you can see their actual appointment openings. Choose a time slot that works for you and click to instantly book a Visit. Appointments through ZocDoc also happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score same day appointments. I can't tell you the number of times I've used ZocDoc in a pinch and you should too. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com somoney to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's z o c-o c.com somoney zocdoc.com somoney.
- [21:13]
Farnoosh Torabi
It'S not what you say, it's.
- [21:15]
Liz Faircloth
How you say it. And when you show up in a Range Rover Sport, you don't have to say much at all. This is the vehicle for those who lead with quiet confidence, where power, poise and performance speak louder than words. The Range Rover Sport combines a dynamic sporting personality with refined elegance and agility, delivering an instinctive drive that feels as purposeful as it looks. Looks Its distinctly British design doesn't shout for attention, but it gets it. And when the road changes, the terrain. Response 2 system with 7 drive modes, adapts like a seasoned traveler Inside Luxury is not an add on. It's a standard Breathe easy with the cabin air purification system, enjoy serenity with active noise cancellation, and explore in comfort, whether you're gliding through city streets or carving through winding country roads. There's even a plug in hybrid engine option with an estimated electric range of 53 miles, because even raw power can be smart. Explore Range Rover sport@range rover.com USSport that's range rover.com USSport when we went to Paris a few years ago, we booked an Airbnb in the Marais. Nothing super fancy, just a clean, comfortable apartment with great light and a tiny balcony that overlooked a quiet street. What made it stand out was how easy everything was. The check in was smooth, the place was well stocked, and the host had clearly put thought into what guests would need. We didn't have to chase down WI fi codes or wonder where the wine opener was. It was all there. It reminded me that hosting an Airbnb just isn't about making your place available. It's about the experience. And for hosts who don't have time to manage every little thing, or maybe live in a different state and can't be at the ready for their guests, Airbnb's co host network can help. A co host can handle guest communication on the ground, support and more, so the stay runs smoothly even when you're not around. Whether you've got a second property or just want to host your space while you're out of town, a co host can make it manageable and profitable. Find a co host@airbnb.com host.
- [23:23]
Farnoosh Torabi
If you're running a business, you know that every time you miss a call, you're leaving money on the table. When every customer conversation matters, you need a phone system that keeps up and helps you stay connected 24 7. That's why you need OpenPhone. OpenPhone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or computer, so no more carrying two phones or using a landline. Plus say goodbye to voicemail. Their AI agent can be set up in minutes to handle calls after hours, answer questions and capture leads so you never miss a customer. OpenPhone is offering our listeners 20% off of your first six months at openphone.com business. That's O P E N P-O-N-E.com business and if you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. OpenPhone no missed calls, no missed customers.
- [24:20]
What are your thoughts on Airbnb versus Long Term renting. There's a debate there as to whether that's even long term. Good strategy for both the investor and the community. Right. It eats up the supply for people who actually want to live there and send their kids to school in the neighborhood. What's your POV on what you do once you have the property and monetizing it? What's like right now seems to be the most lucrative path. Let's just start there.
- [24:47]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah. If folks listening, take a few steps back, the goal would be, and I see this all the time, people buy the property with one particular strategy in mind. They haven't fully vetted the strategy and then they're like, hold on, I can't really do that very well with this property. So what's my plan B and C? So number one, it's always helpful to have a few exit strategies or a few different ways that you can either make it a long term rental or a short term rental. Those are things you can change. The thing you can't change is the market. And again, I go back to the market because people get so enamored with I know so much about this property. It's in this did it do. And then you ask them questions about the rent and regulations. Back to Airbnb and short term rentals, there's a ton of regulations. And again, if you're in the air in an area that is aligned with that, great. I have also seen people who have not done their due diligence.
- [25:37]
Farnoosh Torabi
Yeah, I started to look at a property I went to Penn State. Just throw my own anecdote into this. Maybe it'll be interesting to listeners and maybe you could assess it. State College, Pennsylvania. I find that these college towns, there's a lot of rental opportunity. Like there's so much off campus housing, whether it's condos, homes, but also for the alumni who go there and maybe visiting professors, they need places to stay short term. There's only so many hotels and they're typically very expensive. Football weekends, event weekends, graduation weekends. To buy in that market is not very high. You can get a nice three bedroom for like $300,000. It hasn't appreciated much in 10 years. It's not like you're buying it to build equity in that home, but there's rental income. Short term is not going to work there. The town is like anti Airbnb, which I get. So then the question becomes, is it going to be enough of a monthly rent to make up? Because there too, like the cost of living is pretty low. So it's not like you're getting New York City rental prices. So the margins might not be quite as high as if it was like a short term rental situation. I don't know. I'm still looking at it because I love Penn State. I went there. A lot of people who graduate, alumni, they'll buy something and maybe have their kids live there. So it's got a lot of utility, but as an investment, not clear yet.
- [26:56]
Liz Faircloth
And that goes back to, okay, what are the problems that this property can solve in this community? And I think that's the other part is do I want to stay in this market long term or the next five years? That's a question that people don't ask themselves enough. So it's either do I want to figure this out or do I just want to cut my losses in an area like that? The other very popular you see this increasing right now is co living. So you have a single family home that may have five bedrooms, that again, depending on regulations, it's actually a long term rental. But individuals are basically renting each of the rooms as almost like a small hotel, if you will, but done very differently. You have to have certain management in place, certain leases in place. I don't have properties like this per se, but I've seen people in this economy triple their income, triple their revenue because of being able to do something that's more co living where they share some shared space and then they have space that is dependent on their own needs. A bedroom, is that going to work in every market? No. Could that work in an area that has a lot of young people who actually want to live with other people?
- [28:05]
True.
- [28:05]
Yeah, I would absolutely say. Would that be great in a rural community? No, I don't think so.
- [28:11]
Farnoosh Torabi
I didn't live in one of those houses when I was a student. There was a home like a big house and we all, like five of us lived in it, had our own rooms.
- [28:19]
Liz Faircloth
Ultimately it's like student housing.
- [28:21]
Right?
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Farnoosh Torabi
It's another, but basically off campus, private. The thing about the home that we were looking at Penn State and like looking at their laws and everything, it's actually do a VRBO or an Airbnb out of your home, but you need to live there at least six months out of the year, something like that. And so who am I going to find?
- [28:38]
Liz Faircloth
And that's where you can take one asset. I think that's the greatest thing about real estate is you can take one asset and say, okay, could it work even for a midterm rental? So a midterm rental is 30 days minimum. 30. So it's not quite a short term rental. And you're in an area where there might be traveling nurses. You might be in an area where.
- [28:56]
Farnoosh Torabi
Consultants, professors and people are thriving with.
- [29:00]
Liz Faircloth
That, that strategy with. But again, it's special, it's, it's the knowledge part because I don't have, I don't have an exact. If you said, Liz, would you get a, would you get in this particular market, would you invest in this particular strategy? If I don't have experience in that market and that strategy, I would be like, I know someone that could probably help you within our network. But it's hard to have all that specialized knowledge. So it's about making sure you're asking the right people and not just your Uncle John or your Aunt Susie who I don't know, no offense, live up there they may not know anything about.
- [29:31]
Farnoosh Torabi
A friend of mine actually said, why don't you look at maybe getting a contract with the university.
- [29:35]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah.
- [29:36]
Farnoosh Torabi
As they have people coming into town for various reasons for a month or two months, they're always courting professors and all of that. Like a lot of times they'll just throw them up at a hotel. But wouldn't it be nice if they had like a home experience and maybe you could create. It's a really an experience maybe for them and it's something bespoke and special and makes them look like a standout because it's very competitive to attract talent to universities right now.
- [30:02]
Liz Faircloth
So student housing, I'd say I don't have any properties that. But I know, I know a lot of women in our community have a lot of student housing properties. And it's so interesting because people are like, I don't want students in my house. They're going to wreck the house, the whole thing here. However, what's really interesting with that particular strategy again in the right area, depending on what you're saying, is that what the rent that you can command again, my bedroom and the security deposit and who's signing the lease. It's not the students typically, it's the parents. So again, from a protection perspective, right. This, like any investment or building your wealth is all about mitigating risk. And I don't know about you, but so many of the women in our community too, I see it all the time. They want to mitigate risk. You don't want it to hold you back from making a decision. But you certainly don't want to, especially now. Right. Just oh yeah, I'm going to take all my life savings and wing it here. No one's doing that. Not the women in our community. But they also don't want to be stopped by. There's opportunity. So how do I make decisions so I can move the needle but also not feel like I have to have all the answers myself?
- [31:06]
Farnoosh Torabi
Yeah.
- [31:07]
Liz Faircloth
There's a lot of pieces of the puzzle.
- [31:09]
Farnoosh Torabi
Yeah. And it sounds like risk is just going to be a part of this. Like any investment. But going in very much eyes wide open, leveraging that net work knowledge, it's a, it's cliche but knowledge is power and it's the key to being able to. You can't foresee everything, but you can foresee a lot.
- [31:28]
Liz Faircloth
Yeah. No, I agree. And I always say knowledge, it's strategic knowledge is critical, but it's not enough to build a really successful portfolio. Why it's not enough that I've seen by so many different women is that it's like I know what I can do but I may not take the action to do it because it's. That's not going to be appropriate for this area. And I think it's like the whole thing we see so many times people are spouting off knowledge. But how does that relate to my goals and the lens that I have in terms of like my particular wealth building goals, Is it align or doesn't how active or passive? Especially with real estate. Right. Investing in the stock market's one thing. It's more passive if you will. I'm a real estate investor and there is a continuum from passive to active. And most people think it's just active. I gotta go buy the property, I gotta be the landlord. I gotta deal with late night calls that may or may not be accurate. And so the biggest thing is what is my specific goal and does this investment help move me towards my goals? That's a really important question I think most people need to answer especially right now because the margin of error for anyone going to be huge. I'm doing a project right now in my own hometown and we're doing a ground up construction project. And we ran the worst case scenario. We said it's going to take 18 months, it's going to cost more than what we think it's going to cost. And we just literally listed out every problem that could happen. This property is five minutes from our house. But we listed out every worst case scenario. And then we had a very important thing is what is our break even number? What would have to happen for us to literally sell this house and not make Any money, which I don't want to do, of course. But we ran those numbers, we ran that scenario and we said, are we still willing to take this risk? Are we still willing to take this cash and buy this property and renovate it? And we both did a lot of scenario running and we said, yes. Worst case scenario is fun. Not fun, I don't think it's fun, but it's interesting to talk through. Like, literally, what is the worst case?
- [33:34]
Farnoosh Torabi
I'm talking my love language. This is all in a healthy state of panic. Like you got a worst case case. If you're afraid of an investment or a new job or a new deal, worst case scenario it. Because then you'll find what it is that you actually value and what you need to protect. Not so that you can avoid the deal, but that you can go and do the deal more protected and confident. And having had done all the risk assessments that so many people don't do. You know, we started this conversation talking about what's important to women, which is protecting our time. And as you are building this huge portfolio, even this new project that you've got underway, Liz, what are some of the systems that you have in place or the habits that protect your time while you're scaling your investments and your, and even your community?
- [34:23]
Liz Faircloth
At Investher, I always like to say you schedule what you value. So if I value time with my kids or if I value, obviously I have a project I'm working on. We have investor con coming up. I have a business to run, multiple businesses to run. I have my kids. Right. There's a lot of pieces of the puzzle, but if people say, and I hear this from women, oh, I value my family, I value my kids, and if I look at their calendar, there's nothing on their calendar. I don't know about that. And not to be mean or rude, but we do schedule what we value. So that's the first thing is that I play offense with my schedule. And what that looks like is really protecting it and putting the important things on my calendar. Important, not urgent. Back to Stephen covey. Back the 90s, he wrote 7 Habits.
- [35:12]
Farnoosh Torabi
Of Highly Successful People.
- [35:13]
Liz Faircloth
You can't beat that book. I don't care how many books come out, but I think that to me is number one. I do also look at the roles that I have in my life as a mom, as a wife, as just myself. Like my what those roles, who I am to a lot of different people in a lot of different ways and say, okay, what can I put on my calendar? This week to help me with that particular role or with that particular project and then how do I protect it? Something I've been doing that has been so helpful for me, I'm not sure why I didn't do it sooner is to almost like a weekly review, like a weekly State of the Union I call. So that has been super helpful for me. Meaning it's like a Saturday morning. It's a half hour I sit with my journal before the family gets up. Up. I walk the dogs. So the dogs with me, of course, my cute little Bailey and I, I asked myself the question, what worked this week? What didn't work? What are the pluses and the minuses from the week and what am I grateful for? And so that kind of gives me this, the seeds of okay, how do I want next week to look like? What do I need to put in place? Okay, I really worked a little too late. We have, we pour so much of our energy, time and team into Investor Cons so we can have this one of a kind conference that is like no other. That is taking a lot of my energy and time and rightfully I also need to be mindful of are we working out every day? Am I going to take a walk at noon with my dog? So that being proactive with your scheduling and then looking back, a little State of the Union strategy or exercise that I do will help you put in place. Okay, what's working? What's not working? Because that's intentionality, right? That's being mindful. That's intentional. It's playing offense in your life. And I like sports. But it is, it's true.
- [36:53]
Farnoosh Torabi
It's the consciousness, the beauty of being conscious, which, yeah. Otherwise you're just going through the emotions.
- [36:58]
Liz Faircloth
And then you burn out and you're.
- [37:00]
Farnoosh Torabi
Like, how did I get here? Liz Faircloth, thank you so much. We're going to send everyone to check out Investor Con. I hope, I know it'll be successful. I hope the path from here to then you get some more sleep, you get to a couple more workouts and. But I know it's like a front loaded effort. The more you put into it now, then you can actually enjoy being there and actually be a participant and not be wondering if the menu is correct and the lights are working, have teams for that but you can't help yourself.
- [37:26]
Liz Faircloth
Correct. Correct. But no, I appreciate being on here and it's about really creating that life by design, not default. And I just don't think we can do it by ourselves to be around like minded people and women and to stand for us and to say, oh wow, how are you doing it? How are you doing it?
- [37:41]
Farnoosh Torabi
Yeah, we need that now more than ever. It's going to be a rocky year. It has been and it will continue to be. Thanks so much. Thanks so much to Liz Faircloth for joining us. Learn more about their conference InvestorCon happening June 1st through 3rd in Orlando, Florida. The link for that is in our show notes. I'll see you back here on Friday for AskFarnouche and I hope your day is so Money.
- [38:17]
Liz Faircloth
Hey, this is Farnoosh Tarabi from the Sew Money podcast. Running a business means wearing a lot of hats, but ordering supplies shouldn't be.
- [38:25]
Farnoosh Torabi
One of the ones you don't like.
- [38:27]
Liz Faircloth
Walmart Business helps organizations like yours save time, money and the headache of managing purchases. From office essentials to bulk break room snacks, it's all in one place. Online, in store or right in their app. Sign up for free@business.walmart.com and get back to what really matters running your business. Support for this podcast and the following message is brought to you by E Trade for Morgan Stanley With E Trade you can dive into the market with easy to use tools, $0 commissions and a wide range of investments. And now there's even more to love. Get access to industry leading research and insights from Morgan Stanley to help guide your decisions. Open an account and get up to a thousand dollars or more with a qualifying deposit. Get started today@etrade.com terms and other fees apply. Investing involves risks. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC Member SIPIC E Trade is a business of Morgan Stanley.