All Forum Posts by: Deisy P.

@Deisy P.

Hi Deisy,

I’m female and I invest out of state,

you can DM me anytime if you have any questions or just need someone to vent to or get advice!

I have a husband and he's great on helping me with ideas, plans and feedback and supports what I do 100% —but really the REI business is my thing. It's almost always me who goes to check out the properties, makes the offers and meet with the "boots on the ground", and manages our rentals. And don't get discouraged because of a few bad experiences. You just got to pick yourself up, learn from the experiences (I know your pain!) and keep moving forward, and don't get discouraged by these set backs. :)

@Deisy P.

I recently clawed back money from a contractor through my credit card company, but that probably only works if you paid by credit card. Very similar situation, I gave the guy a deposit in haste and later realized what he wanted to do was bogus. Confronted him about it and he had the audacity to tell me there was a 10% cancellation fee! HAH! Gave him 3 documented tries to rectify the situation and clearly outlined what I wanted. No response. Credit card company opened up a fraud ticket and billed back the deposit. No problems.

Barring that, the amount involved could be enough to take him to small claims court.

Failing either of those, it’s several important lessons learned (Albeit at an expensive price tag).

1) Get multiple bids.

2) don’t always trust your realtors contractor recommendations (had a guy once bid pre-close and then double the same bid post-close, clearly in cahoots with the realtor) and

3) don’t pay small contractors/handymen before any work is done (more comfortable doing this on large/sophisticated outfits). I’ve started paying in 1/3rds and the first payment is made at the END of the first day. If they must have a deposit, I’m on to the next one unless I’m really desperate. If they say “well, I need to buy materials” tell them you’ll buy the materials, so there is no out of pocket expense for them upfront.

As for doing this all on your own as a female, don’t let that alone one stop you. I’ve got two strong daughters who I hope to raise to be fiercely independent. Does that mean they’ll make good landlords or RE investors? Who knows!? That’s a unique mindset that not everyone (male or female or otherwise) is cut out for. Being female and being a good/bad landlord or RE investor are mutually exclusive. I think the real question you need to ask yourself is do I have what it takes to be a landlord/RE investor?

Also... I know in the moment these situations are stressed it’s hard to see through the haze, but 6 years from now when your crushing it with 65 doors, you’ll never even remember this moment.

Hi Deisy, 

Consider seeking out women-owned business partners if you're more comfortable building a network with them, or as a starting place to find folks to shake off that last bad deal with and consider pressing on. Federation of Women Contractors in Illinois looks interesting https://fwcchicago.com/. 

You can search for certified WOB in Illinois here, try filtering to commodity code NAICS 23 "Construction" or any of the subcodes beginning with 23 (i.e. specifically for plumbing, roofing, etc.)

Now there may not be many businesses that have taken the steps to certify with your states small business arm or similar departments, so it's not an exhaustive list. If you find even one to add to your folks to call for one of your next quotes, it diversifies your quote results in at least one way by gender, and perhaps more. You can select minority, accessibility, and veteran owned businesses also in separate or combined searches.

Keep in mind most states set 51% ownership minimum to be certified as any of these, that cancels out most wife/husband REI partners who often register as 50% owners LLC, etc. These are still great and knowledgable women of course, often doing the books who have gained a thorough knowledge estimating rehab costs whether they've ever done that hands on work (or desire to!)

https://chicago.mwdbe.com/Fron...

This is not of course a statement that you can trust any more or let your guard down with other women in contracting business. I suspect many of them have experienced similar challenges you mentioned you're going through, and would be a great network to learn with, build up and on.

I am a woman partner who understands parts of the business deeper than my male partner, and though I will admit the construction knowledge resides mostly with him, I have slung hammers and roofed enough to say I'd go it alone if it came to that. I would also as has been mentioned by other responders weigh my valuable time against how much hiring property management would eat into my profits, which I believe is worth considering regardless of whether you're working solo, if that's not your favorite part of the work or what you're most confident in.

Happy to be a part of your network. As an aside, https://www.mbda.gov/page/stat... links to all states comparable departments, but as my home state PA link was broken, a quick Google or DuckDuckGo will do the trick, "list of women owned construction businesses in [insert your state]".

@Deisy P.

Also, always get three bids minimum! Negotiate and leverage the bids against eachother, be comfortable negotiating! Reach out to me any time, only 3% of women are in the REI space so we need you and to lean on eachother! While my husband is on deed most of my REI biz I handle solo.

Let's connect!