All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Slaughter

This morning I finished reading Grit by Angela Duckworth, PhD. As I read the last couple pages I couldn’t help but think of the question that is asked in nearly every BiggerPockets podcast episode,

“What separates successful real estate investors from those who give up, fail, or never get started?”

I have heard the different answers from different podcast guests and yes, there are several qualities that make up a successful person. However, without grit, giving up, failing, or never getting started is inevitable.

Angela summed it up perfectly on the last couple pages of her book,

“To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.”

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she uses the word “invest”. Anything we spend our time on is an investment. However, since we are on BP it’s safe to say that we share the same value of investing in something that could bring so much freedom and opportunity (read: real estate).

Angela goes on to talk about being interviewed by a journalist,

“He said, ‘So it’s obvious you could have talked all day. You really love this subject.’

‘Oh gosh. Is there anything as interesting as the psychology of achievement? Could there be anything more important?’

He chuckled. ‘you know,’ he said, ‘I absolutely love what I do, too. It’s amazing to me how many people I know who’re well into their forties and haven’t really committed to anything. They don’t know what they’re missing.’”

I took Angela’s Grit Scale and my goodness was I crushed (although not surprised) to find out I wasn’t perfectly gritty. Not even close. But there is hope for me and everyone else because we can become more gritty through practice. In the book, grit is described as the intersection of passion and perseverance and the idea that our work becomes more rewarding the longer we stick with it. Hallelujah! Wouldn’t it be terrible if our work became more miserable as we went from newbie to expert?

So for the new investor, stick with it. Find your niche—rentals, flipping, out of state, syndication, multi-family, notes, etc., the opportunities are endless. Know that success without conflict is unrealistic. Failure and rejection are well worn roads on the path to success. You can do greater things than you could ever hope or imagine. When things get weird, and they will, just go to the sage advice of Dory and JUST. KEEP. SWIMMING.

Welcome @Stephen Spradley, it's like Disneyland for adults out here.  We just did the same thing about a year ago, except my husband was Navy.  It's an exciting time and I hear it takes a year to adjust, I'll let you know once we feel adjusted ;)  BP is a great resource and it's a great time for y'all to get into something new.  I think a lot of the qualities that it takes to be successful in the military lend themselves to investing so I think you'll enjoy it.  Best of luck and hope to see you at a meetup.

@Lucas Mills, one way or another, yes.  Whether it is already rehabbed or we buy distressed and manage the rehab ourselves, by the time the tenant is placed the property has been completely renovated and is under a property manager.

I'll take a look at your other forum post and feel free to PM if you have more specific questions.

@Josh Calcanis, I thought the same thing when I heard the news.  50,000+ new jobs, what a dream for a real estate investor! As far as where/when to dig in, I would say as close as you can and as soon as you can, that's my first thought. 

I also lived close to Seattle a few years ago and I agree, it was crazy to watch the way Amazon affected the areas. It was the same thing in the bay area, I lived there when silicon valley was taking off and the ripple effect there still hasn't tapered off. So all that to say, investing off of Amazon's potential impact is speculation...but in Seattle and the Bay, speculation has had a great ROI.

@Justin Holwell, you bet.  I did what you're doing and spent time evaluating areas based off of diverse job economy, growing population, purchase price/rent, public and private sector, etc., and we landed on Memphis. I just got off the phone with a colleague who is in Colorado and doing the same thing, evaluating providers, areas, and still in the most active part of the out of state investing experience. 

 I hope you land on a great team with a proven track record, economies of scale, and reputation.  Having those qualities will give you a sense of control over your investment, will save you money and will make life much easier as you 'manage' your investment from afar. Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

Hey @Justin Holwell, welcome to BP

1) It's arguable.  I have a rental there and I keep an eye on new listings but I have focused most of my efforts out of state, simply because my returns are better.  There are investors here who are flipping and BRRRing and all of it, so it's definitely doable. I think it also makes more sense to do value-add here if your operation is scalable, i.e., if you are doing so many flips that you have a full time reno staff and if some properties have tighter margins than others, the economies of scale are in your favor.  

2) We get sent quite a bit of direct mail from investors wanting to buy the Greeley property so I would say you will probably get results with DM as long as you can put in a bigger effort than the other investors sending out DM. I got a wholesaler list from a hard money lender a while back, they might be a good source if you reach out to a couple different ones. I think your analysis is correct, not a lot of deals on MLS.

4) Lots of good meetups--if you go on the BP events page you can find the ones around you and there are several more on the Meetup website, feel free to reach out if you're looking for anything specific.

Congrats @Filipe Pereira, I enjoyed reading your story!

@Robert Scaife, no and here is why--

I buy a distressed property, go on Zillow and look at the Zestimate.  I rehab property, go on Zillow look at the Zestimate--it stays the same, it doesn't change based on updates.  I buy a property scrape it and pitch a tent on the lot--zestimate stays the same, you get what I'm saying. I don't know how Zillow's algorithms work but it doesn't update for any of the subjective information.  

There are more accurate websites you can find if you are looking for a rent estimate.  Personally, I would call a few local property managers, tell them about the area, size and features of the property and get an estimate from them.  The rental income is important and affects all of your numbers so make sure you have a conservative estimation.

@Eric S., there are a bunch of meetups that you could check out when you are out here, I think they are listed on the BP events page.  I'm sure you know that this area is experiencing a lot of growth, if I had the flexibility I might focus on a house hack in an emerging market or maybe a town/city close to some of the areas that have low inventory.  Just some ideas, I would reach out to @dan mackin for more "house hackin" expertise.

@Jeff Tropeano, hope you are well! My first thought as I'm reading your post is about the same as what @Bill S. said first, I would really like to know more about the areas these properties are in from a local expert/boots on ground.  As far as your first OOS investment goes, I would want it to be a home run.  

Is the one in Memphis TK or is it a rehab? That would make a big difference but the price is too low if its TK.  Although the numbers look good upfront you will spend more with turnover and tenant issues in that price point.  That would add a lot of stress for me being out of state and I think it would add peace of mind to have a higher quality tenant, especially on your first one.

So as you're evaluating your first oos investment keep in mind what you can do to minimize risk--

3/4 bedrooms are ideal (a tenant might upgrade from 2 to 3 bedrooms but very unlikely to go from 3 to 2 bedrooms.  Plus with 3/4 bedrooms they might stay more than one year, or forever--less turnover and less leasing fees), and get feedback about the area--find your local expert and then cross reference his opinion with other local neutral parties (I even called the local PD when I was buying my first one).