“Snowballing” to 12 Doors in 4 Years & Replacing TWO Six-Figure Salaries

Ashley:
My name is Ashley Care, and welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast, where every week, three times a week, we bring you the inspiration, motivation, stories you need to kickstart your investing journey. Our guest today decided to make sacrifices today for a better future. She believes that every rookie should reverse engineer their goals so that you know what to do and how to get there. We are going to discuss why your first property is so important, how one property will snowball your portfolio, how her portfolio, let her leave her job, and also why making six figures can actually suck. So let’s give a big welcome. So Emily, thank you for coming onto the show today.

Emily :
Yeah, so happy to be here.

Ashley:
So to get started, what were your life circumstances when you started to even think about real estate investing?

Emily :
So before real estate investing, I had just graduated college with my engineering degree, and right out of college I started working for, and I worked as an environmental and safety manager for them. And basically what that means is I was making sure that they were complying with the environmental and safety regulations in the US and it was a very demanding job. It was very high stress. It was a 24 7 operation manufacturing union environment. And honestly, after one year in, I was exhausted and I realized that even though I was making six figures, it sucked.

Ashley:
So what was it like at work when you and your coworkers were making this great salary, but it also seemed like living like you were broke too?

Emily :
Even though we were making, me and my husband both worked for Anheuser-Busch, actually, we were making a lot of money. We knew we still wanted to quit, and what we did was just we’re like, how much money do we need to survive? What is our cost of living? So we started tracking our budget and then came up with a cost of living number, and then it was actually only $4,000 a month, which is I feel like pretty good for us. But that gave us a tangible goal. We were like, okay, $4,000, that doesn’t seem that insane actually. So we started just saving our money. We were like, okay, let’s just save our money, find a way to invest it. And so we just, were saving half of our income every month and meanwhile, all our coworkers are buying new cars and buying really nice their dream home, and we’re just literally driving a junker car.
It had a headlight out at one point, a taillight out, a dent in the back from when I backed into a dumpster. But really we knew we just wanted to spend all our money investing. And at some point I had actually, I’m very entrepreneurial minded, so I actually was looking at other avenues to build a business or invest my money. But then at the end of the day after all this research that I did, I was like, oh, real estate is the most straightforward investment strategy. So many people are already doing it. Truly we can do it too.

Ashley:
So what were your coworkers saying to you? Were they motivating you? This is awesome, we’re cheering for you. What was going on at work during this time when you’re kind of making this life change?

Emily :
Honestly, I got made fun of a lot. Every time I pulled into the parking lot and driving my junker car, and even my boss who knew I made good money, it was just like, what are you doing? Why are you driving a junk car? But really to me, it was kind of a point of pride. I was just like, me driving a junker car is me getting one step closer to being able to quit this job. I don’t want to be here. And anytime I really saw anybody else balling out, buying fancy new things or whatever, I was like, you’re going to be working to pay off that liability for a long time. And I remember one of, I was talking to some people at work, some of my friends, and I was getting pumped up about how me and my husband are grinding it out on the weekends.
We’re hating our lives, but loving our lives because we’re, we’re realizing our goals. We’re getting closer, we’re doing these renovations, and I was always trying to brainwash other employees into doing real estate. I was like, come on, it’s so fun. But somebody that I really looked up to, I think overheard our conversation, came up to me and my coworker and they were just like, no, you should be enjoying your life. You shouldn’t be grinding it out on the weekends or whatever. Thankfully, I’m very hardheaded and I don’t often take advice from other people, but it’s ironic to me today that I look back and think about what they said to me, but they’re still working for the company and now I have the freedom that I want and I’m glad that I never took that advice. And I hope the people that I work with didn’t take that advice to heart too, because look where I am versus that boss that’s still kind of a slave to that company. So it was difficult at times, but thankfully, I don’t listen to what people say to me

Ashley:
And especially somebody who’s not already living the life that you actually want to take their advice. It’s funny because I had a similar story when I graduated college, I started working at an accounting firm and I lasted six months and I was like, I cannot sit at a desk anymore and do the same task over and over again just for different people. So I put in my two weeks notice, and I also wasn’t making the amount of money that I had hoped and dreamed for. It was like, oh my God, I graduated college. I’m not going to be an intern anymore. Here’s the big payday baby. And that day did it come, I think it was a dollar raise from what I was making as an intern. And I said that to her. I said, the pay is just not what I expected and it makes more sense for me to just quit and it’s not affecting my family’s income at all having this amount of income.
So I just want to have babies and be a mom. And she said to me, she said, you will regret this. And she’s like, I’m not making the money I want to make either. That’s just how it is. And she was a partner at the firm and that right there was just all of the guarantee that I needed that I was making the right decision because I looked at her lifestyle, her grinding at the office of all hours and all this stress and all these headaches, and she got married late in life and all these things. And I was like, I wanted to be able to experience life sooner and I didn’t want to have to wait 20 years until I could make partner at the CPA firm and then still to make money and still be stressed, but knowing that she was the top level at the firm, a partner, and she still was not making the money she needed, was just really eyeopening to me. And I was like, okay, I’m making the right decision.

Emily :
Yeah, totally.

Ashley:
Okay, so we’re going to take a short break, but when we come back, I want to hear why your first deal was so important and how your real estate portfolio actually allowed you to leave your job eventually. So let’s hear a word from our show sponsors. Okay. Welcome back, Emily. Thanks for joining us. Give us a brief overview of what your portfolio looks like today.

Emily :
So between me and my husband, we started investing in 2018 and we built our portfolio to 12 units that we own together. And then we also co-host six units for other investors in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ashley:
Can you just give us a real quick rundown of what co-hosting means?

Emily :
Yeah, so we manage rentals for other investors that don’t necessarily live in St. Louis, but their properties are in St. Louis. So we manage guest communication, property management and maintenance for them.

Ashley:
And those are primarily short-term rentals where you’re a co-host on the Airbnb platform or other platforms too, correct?

Emily :
Yeah, short-term and midterm rentals. Yep.

Ashley:
Okay. So tell me why it was so important for you to actually buy that first deal. Yeah,

Emily :
The first deal was so important to us. It really helped us snowball for the rest of our deals despite the fact that I did so many things wrong on that first deal. So basically I bought what I like to call a grandma special where it had good bones, but it needed a lot of cosmetic updates that I decided to DIY, even though I’m really not that handy. And I call it the gray house because I painted everything gray, and when I say everything, I mean every single wall that place, the outlet covers, the light, covers, light switches, and I painted the countertops like a faux marble again, painted everything. And then even the backsplash, I used this aluminum ceiling tile and then just liquid nailed it on as the backsplash. I mean, it’s not a timeless design, let’s just say, and I’m actually redoing it right now. So I’m hating myself every step of the way, but despite the fact that I messed so many things up, it really showed us the power of real estate and was kind of like a case study when we were eventually able to rent it out. It was just like an aha moment and it allowed us to buy a lot more properties down the road.

Ashley:
And I think too is what you messed with were cosmetic things. It’s not like you went in and said, I’m going to DIY, the electric or the plumbing. It did something crazy and you’re fixing it now, and it’s something the cosmetic things are easier to fix than the actual mechanics of the house or repairing the foundation, or maybe you put out, pulled out a wall that wasn’t supposed to be coming out. It was load bearing, things like that. So I think that’s a great example of starting with a property that just needs a cosmetic flip. Even if you do the cosmetic things, not so correctly like painting the countertops, but you can always go back and fix that without having to do a huge repair or for it to be a safety hazard for whoever lives in the property if you were kind of DIYing the mechanics and having no idea what you were doing. So with that property, you said it snowballed you into your other deals. So do you want to break down the numbers on this deal?

Emily :
Yeah, so I’ll call it the gray house. So I bought this gray house for $90,000 at the very end of 2018, and I used an FHA oh three K loan, and with that type of loan, I was able to roll in the renovation, some of the renovation costs into that, so I was able to add an extra 30 K into my loan. So all in my mortgage was 2k, so that’s what I bought it for.

Ashley:
Real quick, Emily, how difficult was it to do the 2 0 3 K loan? Was the inspection process, the approval process, would you do it again and was it worth it?

Emily :
Oh yeah, it was so worth it. And honestly, I had such an amazing loan officer that really helped me along the way, helped me an FHA approved contractor as well, and actually that contractor we’re still in contact with today. So it was a really great process and smooth process for me, and there’s a lot of benefits to it, so I definitely do it again.

Ashley:
And Emily just gave everybody a great tip there. If you need a contractor and you’re working with a loan officer, ask the loan officer who has actually done 2 0 3 K loans or maybe new construction and worked on other people’s properties because the loan officer is going to know if that contractor followed through with the project because when the inspection came up, if there was things wrong or they didn’t get their draw because it wasn’t finished or it went over budget, things like that, that loan officer is going to know because they’re the ones that are approving, let’s do the withdrawal, let’s pay the contractor. So what a great recommendation to actually find a contractor through your loan officer who has had experience paying out that contractor and knowing if they did a good job or not. So you’ve gone and done the rehab and what happens next on the property?

Emily :
So my husband and I slowly started renovating this. We were like, we’ve got so much time, let’s just learn in a construction zone and start doing these renovations. And about three months into the renovations work told me that I had to move to Baldwinsville New York because there was a brewery up there and they were moving me into a new position. So when I thought I was going to be slowly renovating it, then I realized I only had two weeks to get this renter ready because really I was renovating it with just myself and mine. I was just going to be living there as my primary residence, but now I was like, oh, shoot, I got to get this ready in two weeks. I’m moving halfway across the country, hence the painted outlet covers. But we were able to get it renter ready. I was able to rent that out for $1,400 a month to a long-term renter, and we were able to cashflow five to 600 a month off of that, which to me was kind of like an aha moment because I just gave myself a 5% raise. So at work when they’re like, oh, we can give you a 5% raise, I was like, I just gave myself one actually. So that was kind of showed us the power of real estate right there.

Ashley:
So let’s talk about that move as in you all of a sudden now have to move out of the property and with doing an FHA loan or the 2 0 3 K loan, you have to live in the property for a year. So how did that end up working out for you?

Emily :
Yeah, so I basically contacted my loan officer because I was like, what do I do? I understood that it was okay to do it, but I was like, what channels do I need to, who do I need to connect with basically to tell them if this is okay? I was planning on eventually refinancing the property anyway, so I was like, I’m just going to call my loan officer. He’ll probably know. So I gave him a call and yeah, I think maybe I provided just my employment contract that said I was moving to New York, and I was like, is this okay? And he was like, yeah, it’s definitely okay since you’re being moved for work. But yeah, I was a little nervous at first, but then I kind of just leveraged my loan officer’s experience and he really made everything smooth.

Ashley:
And I think that can be, if somebody is holding out from doing one of these loans because they’re not sure if they want to live here for a year, if their job may relocate them, definitely something to look into that that’s okay if you have to relocate for certain reasons. There could be circumstances where it’s not like you have to live in the property for a full year or two. Okay, so how did this deal actually move you and catapult you into your next deals?

Emily :
So really, we started saving the extra cash flow from this property, and then about a year and a half later, I was interested in refinancing the gray house because really the money was kind of burning a hole in my pocket. We know we wanted to build our portfolio, so the house actually appraised for two $75,000, which is

Ashley:
Really good.

Emily :
Insane to me.

Ashley:
You were hundred and 30 or 140,000 into it, or 120,

Emily :
Right? One 20, yep,

Ashley:
One 20 into it. Wow.

Emily :
I was like, what?
Yeah. So I was like, okay, let’s pull some equity out of there. This is insane. I haven’t really done anything to this property. My tenants have just been paying me every month and now I’m able to pull out $30,000 of equity from this property. So we pulled that out, and especially despite my horrible diy, I was like, this is insane. My horrible diy, it’s still app, but thankfully it’s still appraising, but it wasn’t a great area. So location really is key sometimes. And so we pulled that 30 K out and used that as a down payment on another single family in St. Louis, which we bought actually site unseen while we were still living in New York.
And also, funny enough, I bought that property without, I had it under contract without even telling my husband. He had been working nights and weekends and 12 to 14 hour shifts, and I used to send him all my potential deals on the mls, check this out, three a day, and it was just so overwhelming for him. So I was like, okay, I’m only going to tell him when this becomes a real thing. And I got so far down the process of this second single family home that I had it under contract, and then I was like, oh, I should probably tell my husband we have a property under contract. So he came home from working midnight shift one day, and I was like, Hey, honey, remember that really cute house? I might have showed you. Well, we have that under contract. And he was like, he had no recollection of what property I was talking about or anything, but it really turned out to be one of the best investments we’ve ever made because we were able, when we bought that second house, we turned that into a midterm rental and then we’re able to rent that out for a thousand dollars a month and basically tripled our passive income.

Ashley:
So I want to break that down. So your first property, what was the cashflow on that property when you first got it and you didn’t refinance yet? What was the cashflow that you were getting off of it,

Emily :
Like five to 600 a month,

Ashley:
Then after you went and refinanced and you pulled another 30 out, how did that affect your cashflow?

Emily :
Yeah, it decreased our cashflow by about $200 a month,

Ashley:
But now you’ve rolled that 30,000 into another property that is now cashflowing you a thousand dollars per month.
What a great transition to give up that $200 to be able to make a thousand dollars would a great snowball effect of moving your money and using it to your advantage by also using leverage too. Not like you just took that 30,000 and bought a property in cash and that’s cashflowing thousand used the leverage, you got another loan on the property, but it’s not you paying the loan. The tenants are paying the loan, and now you’re cash flowing that thousand instead of 200. So I just want everyone to understand that power of, because I think it’s very easy to get caught up in, oh, well, I just paid closing costs on that loan a year ago and now I’m going to go and pay closing costs again to refinance it. Does that make sense to me? You just increased your cashflow by $800 by doing that. Do you remember offhand what the closing cost kind of accounted to that second time as far as fees that you had to pay? I’m assuming it was worth it.

Emily :
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think I remember using all that 30 K for the down payment on that second house because the purchase price of it was only like 135. So we were able to just use that chunk of equity from the gray house and just put it all towards that second home.

Ashley:
Well, that’s amazing. That’s awesome. What a great example of the power of scaling and moving money from one property to another. Okay, so you’ve got that property now, what happens next in your investing journey?

Emily :
So from there, we are making even more money, still saving about half of our paycheck every month. At some point I picked up a little side hustle to save even more money. We were like, we got to quit as soon as possible, but we need money to do it. And actually in 2022, I found out yet again, I had to move back to St. Louis for work.

Ashley:
Oh, wow.

Emily :
Yeah. So we were like, this is the time. And when we moved back to St. Louis, it was kind of like a free for all. We ended up buying six more units. So one was a fourplex that where we live now, actually, we live in one of the units. And then we also bought a duplex at that time. And actually we used a 10 31 exchange from a property that Brian had bought along previously in our history. So I’ll save that for another podcast episode. And then in the blank of an eye in 2022, we had quickly scaled to 12 units before we knew it.

Ashley:
Congratulations. That’s awesome. And it all started with that first deal of just deciding to take action. So one of the things I’m really excited to hear about from you is when did you actually decide to leave your full-time job?

Emily :
So really the beauty of just real estate or having side hustle or having a side hustle is it just gives you options. And that’s all I wanted in life for options. So I had actually convinced Fry to quit his job first. I was like, Hey, you quit your job. I’ll have a secure job working in, it’s going to be fine. But then as we started making more money from real estate and he basically started renovating our units full time, so we’re making more money. He’s busy, we’re living for free in our fourplex. I kind of had a moment where I was like, oh, I don’t need to be making six figures anymore. I’m really tired of going into work. This is exhausting. So I actually took a $30,000 pay cut and got a remote job for working for a tech startup. And little did I know startups are extremely volatile, who knew?
And around that, I worked with them for six months actually. And then the Silicon Valley Bank collapse happened, which is the second largest bank failure. And that tech startup had all their money in that bank. So they panicked and they were like, ah, we got to fire a bunch of people. We got to lay a bunch of people off. So since I was new there, I’ve only been working there for a few months, I was part of a major layoff, and I remember getting off the phone with HR that morning and just being in shock and being the number crunching nerd that I’m, I immediately just looked at how much we have in our bank account. And I was like, how many months can we survive? If we have zero income? Let’s just assume I’m making $0 a month. And we had a moment where we were like, oh, we can survive 16 months without making any money.
And then we were like, but we do make money. So then we kind of looked at our real estate and just how much I was making for my side hustle. And I told Brian at one point, I was like, I’m definitely going to apply to jobs, and I am still dusting off my resume to this day. It’s kind of like a running joke. I’m like, yeah, you’re definitely going to apply for sure. But yeah, that was a moment where the rug was pulled up from under our feet, but then real estate was there to catch us. We were like, oh, we’re completely fine. And I don’t know that I would’ve ever quit my job, to be honest, because I had that false sense of security I would say. But really we were fine doing it ourselves all along.

Ashley:
How important would you say it is to actually understand your personal finances and for you and your husband to actually sit down and say, okay, this is the cashflow we can take from our properties. This is what our expenses are, this is what we can live on. Is this something you guys would intentionally sit down and discuss? Or was this just maybe you guys just talking about it randomly kind of talk about that process where maybe someone wants to get in the same position as to how this can become a family matter and the best way to approach it?

Emily :
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s funny because Brian, I would say started our budgeting journey. He’s a very frugal person, so he started it, but then I’m really competitive. So I was like, oh, and this was before we were really married. He would have his budget, I would have mine. So he started budgeting and I was like, oh, I’m going to make a budget too. And then it was kind of like a competition on who could save the most money every month. And then I picked up a side hustle so I could beat him. But I really think then we knew, we were like, oh, what’s our trending last 12 months of cost of living? How much money do we need to survive and pay our bills every month? And we had that tangible number of 4,000 a month. That was our cost of living number. And I think knowing that number kind of alleviated some stress because then it became real. We were like, okay, well if I’m making $500 a month on the gray house, the first house that I bought, I only need so many of these types of deals to quit my job to get to that $4,000. So it became more of an achievable goal and not just this gray area of how am I going to quit when we knew exactly what our cost of living

Ashley:
Was. Are you any apps or anything to track your budget?

Emily :
Yeah, we used to use Mint. Now I leave that all to Bry, so I think that’s what he’s still using. But yeah, that was a really good platform. I think it’s maybe changed hands a couple times, but really there’s so many tools out there that you can use. Even just the normal banking apps show you what your spending is every month and breaks it down into categories. So

Ashley:
Yeah, I recently started using Monarch and I really, really love it. Yeah, that’s a good one too. We’re going to take a short break, but I want to hear what advice you have for rookies getting started and how you’ve diversified your income while also having a full-time job. But first, let’s get a word from our show sponsors. Okay. So Emily, what other income streams you talked about a side hustle do you have besides real estate investing?

Emily :
Yeah, so our real estate investing, just our 12 units, makes about five to $6,000 a month. And that really covers our cost of living expenses. But we’re still in the stabilization mode. BRI is still renovating a lot of units that we have. So we knew we wanted to have other income streams to really not have all our eggs in one basket and just to make as much money as we can without breaking our backs. So we started a co-hosting business in St. Louis where again, like I talked about, we help other investors and just manage their property so that they have more time to look for new deals. And then we make about 3000 a month from the co-hosting business. And then on top of that, I have my own consulting business where I help companies utilize a platform called Smartsheet. And I actually did this consulting on the side while I was working full-time at ab. So I’ve been doing it for I think at least five years now. And that sign hustle has now turned into a full-time hustle for me, and I am on track to make six figures with that business, which is I would’ve never thought possible. So

Ashley:
How much do you think of that achievement of making six figures with your side hustle? Was the fact that you were able to leave your full-time job to focus on it, but also that you didn’t have the stress of I need to make money to survive and live on this side hustle. Do you think that had an impact at all that you had your real estate income to cover your expenses where you weren’t stressed to the fact of I have to make money to survive off of this?

Emily :
Yeah, I definitely think just having the time to breathe and breathe, relax and invest my energy into this business without having a W2 help me really grow it. And I grew it in a way where I wasn’t under duress. I was like, I don’t have to, everything that I’m making is kind of extra. And with that mindset, I feel like that’s kind of unlocked a whole new level for me. And the way that I operate that business has really, I’m operating in a different way. I’m not taking on clients that are sucking life out of me. I’m taking on really good people. I’m being particular, and I think it’s just flourishing because of that kind of abundance mindset versus scarcity mindset. I have to take any client that I talk to or whatever. So I definitely think that it’s had a big impact on that side of the business.

Ashley:
And I want to ask, what is your husband’s role in your business? You’re spending a lot of time doing your side hustle. What is his role to kind of help with the rentals not part of things.

Emily :
So he renovates our rentals full time, which when we had him quit, we didn’t think he would still be working full time. Now he’s been done working Forhe for two years, but it’s, it’s been wonderful because it’s really allowed us to put a lot of equity into our properties and do the finishes that we want because we’re saving money on labor because my husband’s doing it. And he also does all, I would say, 90% of the management. So setting up leases, gas communication. He also does a lot of the co-hosting side and maintenance of the properties and stuff like that. So it’s crazy because we thought he was going to be not busy. We thought he was, I mean, and he’s the most structured person. He wakes up at a good time, gets ready, he works for a full day, comes home, and it’s wonderful. Even on the bad days where maybe the renovations really tough, he’s just so much happier than he was working the w2. Sometimes we have to remind each other like, Hey, at least you’re not at the brewery. But it’s like you have to be grateful for where we are or we are grateful for where we are now because it’s allowed us a lot more flexibility in life.

Ashley:
My business partner Daryl, he worked a W2 job forever and he was in construction and then he quit to work full-time in our rental properties, doing a lot of the rehabs, doing turnovers, doing maintenance, things like that. And the big differences is that you’re working for yourself. You don’t have somebody else telling you what to do, but also if you make a mistake or you decide, you know what? I’m not going to go to work today and it’s going to delay your rehab one day, who does it affect? It affects you personally. It’s not affecting somebody else when you are working on your own projects. And that’s one of the things he loves is that there’s so much flexibility that if he doesn’t want to make as much money, take a week off, but it’s your project that’s suffering because it’s a week delayed now, a week longer until you can get a renter in place.
But that’s okay because it’s his decision where if you’re working for someone else, they’re not going to be very happy that you decide to take a week off and this project’s going to be extended a week, things like that. So even though he’s doing a lot of similar things, he did working in construction that he hated, it wasn’t actually the work that he hated, it was just the corporate aspect of it all and having to work for somebody else and not be able to do things your own way. So plus the time that he has back with his son now is incredible, even though he still is working a ton of hours whenever he wants to work too, to make those hours. So I completely understand that and get that. It definitely is a huge change, especially when you have that flexibility of you’re not starting a brand new business like we talked about with you, where you have to hustle to make ends meet. You guys waited until you had that rental income coming in. So you already have that base, you already have that foundation. So it’s probably not as stressful to make sure a renovation gets done because you already have that foundation built.

Emily :
Yeah, it definitely feels different working for yourself than working for somebody else.

Ashley:
And then you also have the co-hosting business. How much is that about bringing in a month for you?

Emily :
That brings in about 3000 a month for the six units.

Ashley:
Six units. Wow, that’s awesome. Okay. And then there was one thing that my producer had mentioned to me before when we were reviewing the show. As your husband also has another job within your household as the director, can you kind of explain what that was?

Emily :
Yeah, so I jokingly call bride the director of fun and vacation activities because now that we have more time on our hands and all these things that we’re doing, we still have a little bit more flexibility. He is able to plan very fun and extravagant trips for us. So last year we took a month off and went to Italy and he planned the whole thing and planning’s not really my thing either, so I was just like, yep, you got that right. So yeah, that’s his other side gig. Yeah.

Ashley:
That’s awesome. So lastly, what is your last piece of advice for rookies who are just getting started in real estate?

Emily :
Yeah, I think my advice would be not all money is good money. If you have a job that, like me, you hated it. It was just sucking the life out of you. It’s just not going to be worth it. And if you want to quit, your immediate next steps would be to create a budget and track your expenses, come up with that tangible, average cost of living. Once you have that number, it kind of seems more realistic now. And then even from there, look at that cost of living and see if you can potentially shave off any extra expenses. Look at your discretionary spending and evaluate if you can save money just to help you to get to your goal faster. If you don’t want to shave anything off, then maybe it just takes you a little bit longer and build habits that match your lifestyle goal.
So for example, we really wanted to quit and for many years we took a lot of camping vacations, and granted, Brian and I liked to camp, but we were like, we’re going to wait for these extravagant vacations later. Like we are happy taking cheaper vacations so that we can invest more of our money in real estate. And then once you get that cost of living number and you feel good and confident about it, reverse engineering that to determine what your investment strategy is going to be. So maybe that means having for Airbnbs that cashflow a lot of money, or maybe that’s 12 long-term rentals that are like 200 per door. It’s going to depend on your risk tolerance and a lot of other factors. But I think once you have that cost of living number and then you reverse engineer that, having a clear cut goal too, that number will really set you free.

Ashley:
That’s great advice. Emily, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today and tell us about your journey and to also give some great tips for rookies that are wanting to get started in real estate or be able to quit their full-time job. So thank you so much. If you want to find out more about Emily, you can go to our show notes and we will link her information. You can also find her on biggerpockets.com. Thank you everyone for listening. I’m Ashley, and we’ll see you guys next time on the next episode of Real Estate Rookie.

Speaker 3:
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.

Speaker 3:
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