From Losing Her Health, Home, & Marriage to Chasing Financial Freedom (5 Doors!)

Ashley:
This is Real Estate rookie episode 432. I’m Ashley Care and I’m here with Tony j Robinson.

Tony:
Welcome to the Real Estate Rookie podcast where every week, three times a week, we bring you the inspiration, motivation, and stories you need to hear to kickstart your investing journey. And today’s show, we are speaking with two very special guests. We have Bella and her 12-year-old daughter River, and they’re a mother and daughter investing duo who work together to buy, renovate, and manage properties. Now Bella and River are building their portfolio so it can support them and they’re working towards being financially free in the next five years. So Bella River, welcome to the Real Estate Rookie podcast.

Bella :
Thank you. Thank you, thank you. We are so excited to be here.

Ashley:
Hi River. Hi Bella. Thank you so much for joining us. We want to get started with what actually caused you to want to start investing in real estate. A

Bella :
Few years ago I got sick and continue to get sick and I found myself unable to walk, unable to move my arms, and then slowly I lost my eyesight. So I lost my ability to work, to do anything to support my daughter and myself. It was just really hard. I couldn’t make ends meet anymore and my doctors are self-pay. I would constantly be canceling my appointments or moving ’em out to the next month just trying to make amends meet. And I was just trying to think of what can I do to bring in more income to help us survive and not even survive to thrive after all that’s happened to us.

Ashley:
Yeah, what an incredible story that you have to kind of go through this journey with your health and still have the motivation to find something to support yourself instead of just giving up. So what were you doing before you started or before you had your health issues? What was the industry that you were working in before that?

Bella :
I was working in it and I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, heart. I also had my own, I had three online businesses, so I had a regular W2 income coming in and I also had my side incomes coming in and at the time I was also married, so we had that income coming in too. And that’s another thing that happened too where I lost his income. We divorced, I couldn’t afford the bills by myself. I had an eight month old baby and my house was foreclosed on as well. It was just basically all of this was going on at the same time. Losing my health, losing my marriage, my house. It was just a lot. It was just, I say my life was just on fire.

Tony:
Yeah, Bella, it breaks my heart to hear those things. I know how difficult life can be at times, but I guess what kind of conversations were you having with yourself during that moment or during those moments? Because you have pretty significant health challenges that you’re facing A new baby, you said eight months old, a divorce, those were a lot of things that even if they just happened by themselves would be difficult, but to experience all of those at once would even be more. So I guess what kind of conversations were you having with yourself to stay positive, to stay motivated, to believe that there was something better on the other side of all of that?

Bella :
I think my why was my daughter and I just knew she was my responsibility. I needed to provide a better life for her and to be able to afford the things like art classes or going to dance or just a trip to Disney. I couldn’t do those things. And it was just the uncertainty of not being able to provide for her was my motivation. And I started getting my financial house in order. I listened to a lot of Dave Ramsey and what stuck with me was he would say your income is your biggest wealth building tool. And that’s where I would get stuck. I’m like, well, that’s where I lack. I can’t go pick up overtime hours. I can’t go pick up another job. I can’t go jump in a car, an Instacart or Uber. What do I do to bring in more money so we’re not struggling every month? And that’s where I accidentally got into real estate.

Ashley:
Can you explain that to us as to how you accidentally came across from it? We get a lot of people on as guests and they are searching, how do I become financially free? How do I get rich quick? What was actually the method of how you accidentally got into real estate?

Bella :
Real estate is familiar to me because my family, they’re all realtors, but I really never paid attention to it. And my sister was just speaking to me one day talking about her listings and what was going on and I just quickly asked myself. I was like, should I buy property? Maybe this is my answer. And it was just such a strong yes. And I called my sister up, I said, Hey, I want to buy that property you were talking about. And she told me, she goes, well, seller just accepted an offer from someone else. We’re waiting for the buyer to sign the paperwork. And I was like, okay, well just keep me updated on that. And she called me back a few days later and she’s like, buyer went MIA, never got back to us, never signed, can’t get ahold of them. Do you still want the property? And I was like, yes.

Ashley:
So that’s definitely an exciting feeling. And I think right there is one lesson, like never move on from a property without putting in some kind of little word out there that you are still interested in the property because properties can fall through all the time. And you took that, you just made that one extra statement of saying, just follow up with me. I am interested in it. Where some people, they just go at a property and say, oh, it’s already under contract. I’m not even going to bother the real estate agent, or I’m not even going to tell anybody. Keep me in mind for a backup because there’s always chance that if the deal falls through instead of having to re-list the property, it’s so much easier for the seller, their agent to go out to the people who are already interested. That right there is already a great tip in itself. Before we dive into the first deal, I think it’s only appropriate that we speak with your investor duo, your daughter, river. So river, what is your favorite part of helping your mom invest?

River :
My favorite part is when we have to rent a property or the tenants move out, I like to message people back. And what I do on the Rent Ready app, I help screen the tenants.

Ashley:
So first of all, congratulations on being 12 years old and being an investor and entrepreneur already. So it seems like property management software has been very helpful to you in getting your real estate investing journey done. Yes. Yes. That’s awesome. So Bella, can you explain to us what it feels like to have your daughter be able to help you? I understand it has to be extremely challenging to not have your eyesight and your ability to walk.

Bella :
I am so proud of her, so, so proud of her and the experience she was gaining, just doing real estate and helping me, looking at contracts, helping me screen tenants. And now we’re actually, we homeschool and I’m teaching her how to bookkeep. So she has her own binder with each of the rental rentals and she records every month incoming, outgoing, and I have her do the math, okay, what was our profit? What was our net? These are valuable skills that she’s gaining now that she’ll be able to use in the real world.

Ashley:
I 100% agree. I took in accounting class when I was a senior in high school. It was just for a couple months, but it was the most impactful class I think I took of my whole high school career. And it was an elective class because a lot of high schools don’t, at least public high schools don’t offer so many classes that actually teach you life skills, like learning how to do bookkeeping, manage your finances and things like that. So that’s great you guys are doing that.

Bella :
Absolutely. I agree completely as well. She also handles our budget. We homeschool and for fifth grade I had her take Dave Ramsey’s financial piece with me, so she has her financial house in order as well. So she handles the budgets for our personal household and for the business accounts and she tracks it on her iPad and we have monthly budget meetings. So it’s really cool and I just want to get her that habit because those are skills that she’ll need when she’s an adult.

Tony:
Bella, what a cool experience for you as a mother and daughter to go on that journey together and river. I’m sure you’re building some skills that are going to serve you well as you find yourself in adulthood as well. But I guess just even going back to just as a real estate investor, I guess, how does not having your eyesight or the mobility impact you as a real estate investor?

Bella :
It definitely puts you in a more vulnerable position. None of my tenants know I’m blind. I think maybe one or two people on my teams know that I’m blind, but everybody else does not. And it’s just more for protection. You don’t want them to know, oh, I send them to go fix a hole on the wall or paint and they’re like, oh, she’s blind, she’s not going to know any differently and let me just pick up the paycheck. And so I just keep it on. I just don’t say anything about it and I just go move on. And as I get renovations done or anything done, I just say, sure, just send me a picture and a video and then I’ll send payment over. And that’s where my mini me steps in and she makes sure, looks at the video, looks at the picture and says, okay, mommy. And she’ll send money over.

Ashley:
That’s a really incredible process that you guys have put together to actually complete that task because I can imagine it is very difficult to have to rely on other people. And this is where a lot of new investors get caught up where they feel like they need to be involved in every aspect. And here you are without the ability to be involved in walking through the property and things like that, and you have set up a system that works for you for your business and not giving any excuses as to why you can’t be a real estate investor. I think you’re disproving a lot of people who have those doubts and disbeliefs today that they can’t do and can’t get started. So we’re going to take a short ad break here, but when we come back, we’d love to get a rundown of your portfolio and talk about your first deal. Okay. You guys, we are back from our short break with Bella and her daughter river. So Bella, can you give us a breakdown of what your portfolio looks like today? Yes.

Bella :
Right now we’re still in our rookie stage, but we do have five doors. We have two properties in central Florida and we have a triplex in the Ohio market.

Ashley:
So which one of those did you get first? What was kind of the order of those properties?

Bella :
The first property we bought was here in central Florida, and as I was buying that first property, the seller came back and said, Hey, these tenants are going to be moving out. Do you want the second property? I said, sure. And we bought both together. And what’s interesting, I didn’t know until probably last year how great of a deal unicorn was because it was a seller financing. And it didn’t hit me until listening to podcasts and listening to books that traditionally it would’ve been 20% down for each of them. So I would’ve had to come to the table with about $50,000. And this seller was owner financing and he did 0% down for both properties for me. So I was able to get into both properties for 8,000 each. He just asked that we pay all closing costs on each side, which was about $8,000 each. Wow,

Tony:
That’s fantastic. So Bella, let’s maybe break down that first deal. What steps did you even take to go through that process to find that deal to negotiate the seller financing? Kind of break that deal down for us.

Bella :
I didn’t have to negotiate seller financing. This was a old landlord. He still wanted that monthly check without the maintenance. So he put all his properties for sale with seller financing. And I honestly at that time I knew nothing about real estate and I thought, oh, okay, that’s just how it is everywhere else. But now I know better. And that deal, actually that first deal, it was 90 K and it was actually what they call an alligator property because I was negative about $300 a month and I was going to chicken out and not buy it because I was so scared. I was like, oh my gosh, what if we put ourselves in more financial debt? What happens if I can’t make this work? And I use a technique called muscle testing, and it’s just a way to kind of use your body as biofeedback, kind of like your own lie detector machine.

Ashley:
Almost like trusting your gut in a

Bella :
Sense. Yeah, in a sense you actually use your body to get physical notifications, kind of. Some people use sway. I use, I can only use my fingers, so I use my fingers. So I asked the question several times, they kept saying, yes, you need to buy this. And I say, are you sure? Is this a great financial investment for us? And I kept getting, yes. So then I brought in the big guns. I brought in my 9-year-old at the time. I said, okay, babe, do your thing. I showed her a picture of the property, I said, do your thing and you tell me what you get to. And then she looked at me and she goes, mommy, we need to buy this. So we bought it and then we bought the second one too. So we did a dual closing because as we were in the middle of buying the first property, the second property came up. So I did the same thing and we got a yes. And I said, okay, we’ll take both of ’em. And that’s what happened, that first deal.

Tony:
So Bella, you said that you were somewhat hesitant because the cashflow wasn’t the greatest on those first two properties. So I guess what do you think it was that made you find the belief to move forward with it even though the cashflow wasn’t there?

Bella :
Honestly, it was my muscle testing that I’ve been using it for several years. It’s never steered me wrong. And I just went with it and I’m so glad I did because this was in the middle of 2021. I was negative for about nine months, so that was an extra 3000. So my all in on that property was about 11,000 and middle 2022, the market went hot, especially in central Florida. Each of those properties I paid 90 k for, they jumped up over $110,000 in equity in less than a year of me owning them. And the rents went up over $800 month than when I started with, and they’ve been beautifully cash flowing.

Ashley:
Wow. So that was three years ago. Yeah, $800 from three years ago. Wow. That’s awesome.

Tony:
Ashley, have you ever seen a rent increase that big before?

Ashley:
Not in three years going up 800 unless doing a nice rehab on the property, but not just from markets or on snow. So what freedom has real estate been able to provide you after losing your income? What happened with your ex-husband, your vision and ability to walk, all of these horrible things happened and since then you started your real estate journey. How has that actually made a difference in your financial future?

Bella :
It has allowed me to breathe.
Yes, it has given me relief. There are so many nights I would be in tears trying to figure out how do I support myself and my daughter? And as kids get older, they want to do more things, they want more toys and I want to do dance, I want to do this, and I just couldn’t afford it. And I remember thinking, I was like, how do I make this work? And receiving those monthly rent checks has made such a big difference. I don’t have to worry about, oh, I have a doctor’s appointment, I can’t pay for it. I need to move it. I need to reschedule. I can afford my doctor’s appointments, I can afford her extracurriculars. She’s very much into art right now. She takes several art classes a week, I homeschool. So that was another expense, their curriculum, her books, and I don’t have to worry about it. And I still have money that I can put in the savings and I can just breathe. That’s the best word. It is just a relief.

Ashley:
As soon as you said that, I could feel your relief as you said that that was the biggest thing for you is being able to breathe. And just congratulations on taking that initiative. River. I have a question for you kind of on this aspect, but what is your favorite part about helping your mom? What’s the actual favorite task that you do in the business?

River :
Well, I love messaging people. I like bookkeeping as well. She bought me glitter pen, so when I bookkeep it’s sparkly.

Ashley:
Oh, that’s so cool. What a good idea.

Tony:
We got to do that for my bookkeeper as well. Get her glitter pen. So my p and l is like a little prettier

Bella :
And she color codes it too.

Tony:
So Bella, one question that comes to mind for me, because even for a lot of rookies that are listening, they have fear of buying properties that they’re not able to physically walk themselves. We call it buying property sight unseen. But for you, literally every property that you have, you have to have some process in place. So I guess how do you protect yourself from being taken advantage of when you’re initially walking a property and then even once you have the property from the contractors, the property managers to tenants? And you touched on it a little bit, but I think it’s worthwhile. Maybe dive into that topic a little bit deeper.

Bella :
Yes, my mainstay is muscle testing. With muscle testing, I can pull and gather information quickly, speed on my thoughts. So we’re building a team in Indiana right now. Literally my daughter will pull up Google and we’ll Google contractors handyman and we’ll just muscle test, okay, who’s the most trustworthy here? Who’s the most reliable, who should work with? And I’ll give them a call. And as I’m hearing their voice, I’m checking them. I’m like, is this person a good person? Is this person trustworthy? Is this person going to lie, cheat or scam me? And as I’m doing that, they’re speaking to me, I’m asking questions. My daughter’s on the other side doing the same thing. So as we hang up the call, we kind of ping pong each other. I say, okay babe, what did you get? Yes or no? And then we move on. And that’s how I build my teams.
I do the same thing with my tenants and I love it because I was able to help two single moms that just came out of bad relationships that happened to me too. And they didn’t have the credit score to get into somewhere. And I was able to get them into my properties because I could muscle test them and I could see that they truly were good people, they were trustworthy, they’re just coming out of a bad situation. But that’s not something you can on paper, they just wouldn’t qualify. But I can go that extra step and I can just pull that information. And I do that with all of real estate. I find it works really well with contractors, realtors, everything. And I can actually muscle test the property as well. I can check the foundation, I can see if there’s mold in the property. I can do all sorts of things with muscle testing. It’s such a great tool to have and it’s great because everybody can actually do it. It’s just knowing how to do it.

Tony:
Now, one thing that I believe is important, and this is just in business in general is the saying of trust but verify. And I guess what is your process? Because you’re doing this initial muscle test when you’re having these conversations, but I say that you get an inspection report back and maybe you’re considering purchasing a property. What are you doing to try and verify the information that’s in those inspection reports given that you can’t go to the property yourself?

Bella :
We recently bought property in Ohio and I also helped a family member buy up there as well. Once we get the inspection report, I already have my team there and I just call a second person, like a handyman and I’ll send it to them. And usually I’ll say, can you just look this over and can you just look at the property as well for me? And usually they’ll do it. Some of them will just do it without a fee because I say you’ll be first in line if I need anything done on the property. Or then I had another one was like, sure, I can do it for 50 bucks and that $50 is worth everything. And I have I guess second eyes on there to check it for me and we go off of that.

Tony:
So I just want to recap kind of the process that you just laid out, Bella, because I think it’s something that all of our rookies can replicate, especially when they’re buying remotely or maybe in place that they can’t go visit themselves. But you said the first thing you did is you interviewed a bunch of potential team members in that market and you kind of used your own instincts to who you trusted and who you didn’t. Once you have those team members in place that you trust, you find a property that you like, the first thing you do is you get an inspection done. So there’s one certified professional who’s walking that property giving you their opinion of what needs to be done and what maybe you can ignore for now because it’s not that big of a deal. And then the second layer to that is you then pass that same inspection report off to another contractor, handyman, whoever, maybe have them go walk the property to identify if there’s anything else that might be missing. So now you have two sets of eyes that have walked that property with their years and years of experience to tell you what should be fixed or what maybe can be passed down the road. Am I tracking that process correctly?

Bella :
Yes, absolutely.

Tony:
And I think that is the key to giving yourself confidence as a new investor is you really don’t add a lot of value as a first time investor walking the property yourself. Because if you’ve never purchased a rental property, if you’ve never managed a rehab before, if you’ve never done any of those things, what value are you really going to add above and beyond the contractor, the inspector? And the answer is probably not a lot, it’s just an emotional thing. So Bella, I love that you’ve been able to break it down in a systematic way to give you that confidence to submit those offers to buy those properties without having to go to the property yourself.

Ashley:
So I’m going to take a short break here, but when we come back, I’m going to dive into why you decided to actually pivot and change your markets and manage a renovation from afar. So we’ll be right back. Welcome back Bella and River. So you guys started out in Florida and then you made the switch to Ohio. So what went into making that decision?

Bella :
I was listening to BiggerPockets and I heard a lot of people just talking about other markets and I’m like, why are they all talking about the same states and similar markets? So I had my daughter pull up and I was like, oh my goodness, these prices are definitely not Florida prices. And my light bulb went on and I was like, right now Florida’s way too expensive for me. And I was like, I can do the same thing somewhere else. If everyone else is doing it, I can do it as well. And that’s what we did.

Ashley:
So what are some of the things that you considered when you were looking at it, you at the prices, was there anything else in the market that you were like, this is exactly where in Ohio we need to invest in? Were you looking at job growth industries, anything like that on top of the price point?

Bella :
No, honestly, I don’t have the ability to Google and Google data or anything like that. And I tried getting my daughter to try and do it, but she’d just get bored. She wanted to go play. So I have a very small window when she would do it for me, what I was doing was as I was listening to people talk about where they’re investing, I just kind of made mental notes of the markets. And what I did was I was like, okay, these are the states people are talking about what state should I invest in? And I got from all the markets, Ohio and Indiana popped up for me. So what I did is I had my daughter just pull up listings. I just told her Google multifamily for sale in Ohio. And from there, I don’t know if it was Zillow or Redfin that she popped into, I said, okay, let’s just muscle test it.
And that’s exactly kind of, you do kind when you’re trying to scrub data and you put in filters, I can do the same thing. I said, okay, we’re looking for a multifamily house that will be a great financial investment for us and under a hundred thousand dollars. And we just kind of muscle tested and it brought us to one property. And I said, okay, cool. We called the realtor, we went and saw it the next day and it was listed for 90 K. It was a duplex. And when we got there, she was on video time with my daughter. She goes, oh, this is not a duplex. It’s really a triplex. And it had two long-term tenants and the bottom was already turnkey. I said, okay, we want it. And we bought it.

Ashley:
So when you talked to the real estate agent, was that the agent that you just saw on the listing who was actually selling the property and you just contacted her directly? And how did you start to build out your team in Ohio?

Bella :
I did the same way I Googled and I just called them beforehand. I had already known I wanted to buy in that area, so I just Googled agents and muscle tested ’em, and we got our agent and she was ready to go the next day and we went and saw it and it just fit all our boxes. I wanted to make sure, for me, I wanted to cashflow at least a thousand dollars a month. That was my buy box, that was my goal. And we got it for 80 5K, we put down 26,000, and my mortgage is $550 and it’s bringing in 2300 right now. So it made our buy box

Tony:
That is a killer deal. What year did you buy that one?

Bella :
We just bought it five months ago.

Tony:
Wow. And so what’s your interest rate on that?

Bella :
It at a 7.92%.

Tony:
Wow. And that’s crazy. And you’re so cash on that much. That is a crazy good deal. I got to have you find some deals for me, Bella, because that one’s like you knocked it out the park. So it sounds like what you’re saying, Bella, is that in terms of helping you identify that next market, you relied on your network, and I say network loosely because it’s maybe not investors that you knew personally, but just other investors that you’re hearing having these conversations and that’s what led you into this new market. And we talk about this in the podcast a lot as well, but I personally believe that a lot of times the best way to find a new market is to talk to someone who’s already investing in that market, right? Like Ash, you did pretty much all of your investing in your own backyard, but your first flip that you did out of New York City or out of Western New York, out of Buffalo, where was it at

Ashley:
Seattle? Pretty much as far away from Buffalo as you could get. But I partnered with somebody who only did flips in Seattle. So it wasn’t really me having to learn the market, it was me just finding that one team member, that person to partner with who had all the experience, had the network, had the knowledge to go into that market. So just having one key person that can connect you to anyone in a market definitely helps make it an opportunity.

Tony:
So it sounds like 86,000 bucks, you’re renting it out for, I think you said 23. Was this property turnkey bill or was there any work you had to do to this triplex?

Bella :
Yeah, it was turnkey. We did update the bathroom on the second floor and we did that long distance. My 12-year-old turned interior designer and I introduced her to Pinterest and I said, just look to see what’s the trend and let’s mimic it. And we did. She loaded the Lowe’s card up with all the things and we called Lowe’s up in Ohio, contractor went, got the material, and within a week we had a new bathroom. It was gorgeous. Yes.

Ashley:
Yeah. Oh, that must have been fun river, to be able to pick out all the design for that. It was very fun. I’m

Bella :
Very proud of myself.

Ashley:
Yeah, I’m proud of you too.

Bella :
And then she went on to renovate four more bathrooms for me down here. Oh

Ashley:
My gosh. Wow. Cool. River, you didn’t tell us that too in the beginning that you’re also the interior designer for the business. That’s awesome. So with those rehabs with finding the contractor, was that the same thing? Did you Google contractors or did your real estate agent actually connect you with a contractor to use?

Bella :
I googled them.

Ashley:
I feel like that’s such a hard part of going into a market is first you can find an agent, but finding a reliable contractor that you can trust is usually more difficult.

Tony:
And I just one follow to that, Bella. I agree with Ashley. That is a big challenge for folks finding that right person. So what specific questions Bella, are you asking as you’re interviewing these different contractors? That’s where a lot of new rookies get stuck is that they don’t know what exactly they should be asking to be able to differentiate the good from the bad. So what questions do you recommend rookies ask as they’re looking to interview these potential team members?

Bella :
I like to ask about experience and if they work more with investors or more residential. I try to find contractors and handyman that deal more with investors because I do find there’s sometimes they’re reluctant to when they say you’re out of state and they’re like, oh, another out of state investors coming to town. So I try and tend to stay with people that just mainly work with investors in their area and also how quickly they communicate. If I call ’em, do they call back? If I text ’em, do they call back? That’s very important for me. The communication piece as well.

Ashley:
We recently had one of my contractors on the show as a guest, and he’s very specifically built out his business as an investor friendly contractor. And during the episode we talked about the differences in a contractor who does home remodels for people for their primary residences compared to an investor friendly contractor because it is two completely different realms where an investor just wants to get done what it needs to, it doesn’t care about that it’s going to be the highest and best quality of all the products that are out there. Where as if it’s your primary home, you’re going to care more about that. It’s a high-end finish for the product and an investor wants to make money and he can give tips as to what’s the best way to actually go about that without actually compromising quality. But it’s not going to be the high-end finish that a homeowner would want in their product. So having a contractor that can kind of guide you as to even knowing the market as to no rentals in this area have quartz countertops, you would be great with just doing laminate or things like that that can help you guide along the market, I feel is so useful. So Bella, what is your process for once the rehab is going on, what is your expectation for these contractors as to how they report to you while the job is being completed?

Bella :
I usually just send a text and just ask them

Ashley:
For an update.

Bella :
For an update, yes. And they usually, without me really asking, they usually every contract I’ve worked about with five contractors now they willingly or they just like to send me pictures and videos as they go through progress. And then once it’s done, they’ll send me a video of everything done and pictures and then that’s when I’ll send payment over.

Tony:
And I love that you’ve really tried to systematize everything and it’s like every time we ask a question like, Hey, here’s what I do first, here’s what I do second, here’s what I do third. And you’ve really had to think through what the right process is for you to make sure that you’re finding the right people, that you’re finding the right deal. So we have a lot of people who listen to the podcast the same exact way that you were before they read the books, they watch the videos, but they never take action because they’re making excuses for themselves about why now isn’t the right time, why they can’t do it because of X, y, Z reason. What is your advice to those folks who are sitting on the sideline making excuses or waiting for the perfect time to get started?

Bella :
I say jump right in. As long as your financial house is in order, you have an emergency fund, you’re good financially. I say jump in. It’s a wild ride. But it’s fun, but it’s so rewarding. It has changed our lives.

Ashley:
Before we kind of close out here, I want to ask River, we touched on your interior design experience. Could you maybe give us some tips as to what is in right now for a bathroom renovation?

River :
So I like choosing a lot of light gray stuff because it’s not white and it’s not black, it’s more in between. So it’s kind of like a perfect color. So I mainly like to pick stuff like gray and white and a lot of the bathrooms that I renovated have the gray wood tile look.

Ashley:
Oh yeah, I love that Look, the graywood tile. Well thanks.

Tony:
Yeah, I love the design tips. I’ll take those for our next property as well. So I guess last question for you both, and Bella, maybe we’ll start with you, but I guess what is next for the two of you? I know you talked about the goal of financial freedom, but yeah, I guess what is next in the roadmap for the two of you?

Bella :
Sure. We just finished finding our team in Indiana In the next few months I plan to pull some equity and we are going to purchase our first short-term rental. So we’re excited about that. We’ve been looking, we have some properties earmarked. We know the location. And just today actually, I finished reading Sarah Weaver’s 30 Day Stay, and once my leases in Florida end, I will be converting them to midterm rentals. We’re in a great spot in between Daytona Beach and Orlando. I think we do really well for midterm, so we’re excited about that. Entering the short term midterm rental market.

Ashley:
Bella, you mentioned that you were going to pull some equity. Could you explain what that means for maybe somebody listening that isn’t sure what that process actually is?

Bella :
Yes, pulling equity is HELOC and it’s a home equity line of credit, and I have over a hundred thousand dollars in my property sitting on each one. I’m going to get out a HELOC and use that money to purchase more properties with it.

Ashley:
And that is a great use of the equity in your property. For sure. Well, Bella and River, thank you so much for taking the time today to explain your journey and to give everyone this amazing sense of inspiration and motivation to get their first deal or their next deal. So we’re going to link information about Bella and River in our show notes so you guys can reach out to them or find out some more information about them. Thank you so much for listening and we hope you enjoyed this episode of Real Estate Rookie. Don’t forget to join us on Facebook, and if you love this episode, make sure to give us a follow on your favorite podcast platform. I’m Ashley. And he’s Tony. And we’ll see you guys next time on Real Estate Rookie.

Tony:
This BiggerPockets podcast is produced by Daniel ti, edited by Exodus Media Copywriting by Calico content.

Ashley:
I’m Ashley. He’s Tony, and you have been listening to Real Estate Rookie.

Tony:
And if you want to be a guest on a BiggerPockets show, apply biggerpockets.com/guest.