From Doubt To Booked Out: Tanya’s First Furnished Rental

Welcome And Meet Tanya

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Welcome back to the Flip Houses Like a Girl podcast. This is the show where we highlight real stories of everyday women who are learning to flip houses and create freedom for themselves and their families. I'm Christine, one of the coaches here at the Flip Sisters. I've been flipping and buying rentals for the last seven years and have been coaching here for the last three years. But enough about me. Today we're excited to introduce you to Tanya. She joined the Flip Sisters program in June of 2025, and since then she's launched her first short-term rental. Tanya comes to us from Georgia. From the very beginning, she dove right into the trainings, did the work, and trusted the process. We can't wait for you to hear her story, the lessons she's learned along the way, and the advice she has for other women who are just getting started. Hey Tanya, thank you so much for joining us today. So thank you so much for joining me. Would you please introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Absolutely. It's good to be here. My name is Tanya, and I've been with the Flip Sisters for just a little over a year, and I enjoy it. Real estate has always been something that my mom was interested in, and uh that I've been interested in. So it's always intrigued me in my life, but I never took that big step forward to do anything about it until now.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Well, we're really glad you joined us. Tell me where you live.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

I live in Georgia, the suburbs of Georgia. Been in Georgia for many, many years. I won't say how many, but they are double digits. And I'll just leave it at that. So everyone says you've been here long enough to be uh a Georgian. So I am a southern Georgian now, although I've lived in other states while we were growing up. I've been in Georgia for the longest of my adult life.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

So I know you've done a lot since you've joined us. So I want to tell you, I want you to tell us a little bit about what you came here for and what you've been working on.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Wow, okay, I sure can. I came to the Flip Sisters to learn more. Real estate has always been something that my mom loved and I've always been interested in, but I didn't really take that leap or that big step into it, into the pot of real estate, until I joined the Flip Sisters. And what I wanted to get out of it is to be able to drive my own

From Curious To Confident

SPEAKER_01 3:40

goal mobile as far as my future, my finances, and in real estate. And so that's what my plan was to get out of this.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

That's great. I love the way you phrased that. Driving your own goal mobile. That's so fantastic. Tell us where that journey has taken you.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

That journey has taken me from being in a place where the thought is in my mind, and what if, and I wish being a part of my thoughts to I can do it. I know I can. I have confidence. I'm more confident now than I used to be as far as talking about real estate, uh, discussing it. I definitely know more than I knew before. Absolutely more. I'm just really, really amazed at how much knowledge I've gained since I joined the group. What I thought I knew wasn't enough. What I learned from mom and her friends wasn't enough. It wasn't until I joined the group, uh Flip Sisters, then I knew, okay, you knew a little bit, a little something, something, but you really know now you're in the mix, you're in the flavor of it all. So I'm more confident now. I know what I'm talking about, and I know the numbers. And that is something that I'm very proud of. That is something that my family and my closest friends see. So that's a wonderful feeling. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

So tell me about what projects you're working on. I know that you have a furnished rental. Yeah. So tell me

Building A Team That Carries You

SPEAKER_02 5:40

about that.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

So I have a whoo, that's been a journey. Just on the furnished rental. I never would be as far as I am now. I never would have been able to come as far as I have with my furnished rental without my team. My team is what helped me. Uh, my team is who was there, our group, the team that I built when I joined. Some of the people on my team, I didn't know I would need until I joined the group and realized, oh, okay, I didn't even think of that. Oh wow, that's that's something I need. And when I started uh making calls and making it known what I was doing and what my goal is, what my goals are that I'm aspiring to, that's when things started coming together, when people started asking me questions and seeing and realizing. So I would not have been able to do it without my team, my friend who's a realtor, my niece who has her real estate license, and then another friend I made in one of my investment groups who also has their real estate license. A very, very close family member is a contractor. So I was lucky enough to be able to grab their time and

The Deal That Fell Apart

SPEAKER_01 7:10

then subcontractors and things like that. So when I started my rental, I saw a property that I said, oh, this is cute. We went through the normal process to get approved for it. And right at the very, very end, just I would say less than a week, it didn't happen. It fell by the wayside, and it was through no fault of my own. It was the broker and the underwriter. The underwriter at the last minute did a final review that should have been done before, and they asked for some things, and the broker that we were working with wasn't really following up and checking like they should have been doing. And then less than a week, I think it was a few days actually, they said, we're gonna need about 20,000 more dollars. And I said, No, we already worked the numbers, and this isn't gonna work out. This is gonna put us in a bad situation that we didn't plan for. We could have, but that wasn't a part of what we had budgeted, so that deal didn't go through. It's hard to be able to just come up with a large, large, large lump sum outside of the budget that you worked up for a purchase within a couple of days. Yeah. So that was really difficult and that was hard. So we lost the property. Um, I never forgot about it though, because I thought it was so cute. So I favored it, and um I just would routinely check on it because sometimes deals don't go through. I was a perfect example. It did go under contract within a week after ours fell through. And so I just kept watching it. Months passed by and months passed by, and then I received an alert. My phone ding! And I said, Okay, what's this one? Because I I do a lot of alerts for my phone for properties, and so cute little homes. And I was looking through the list and there it was. And I said, Oh, I got on the phone with my realtor friend. I let her know she contacted the

Winning The House Back

SPEAKER_01 9:55

real estate agent for the owners, and they didn't want to deal with us again. They said, Why? Why would we do it? Look at what happened the last time. So I sat and I thought about it, and I started telling my realtor why. And I said to myself, why are you taking it so personal? Stick to the facts. So I started writing them down because my mind and my emotions were taking over when they said, Why should we give you another chance? No, we tried this before, we've been down this road. So I just started writing the facts down. And when I did, it turned into a letter. It actually turned into a letter. And I called my my realtor and I told her, I said, you know, that statement they made, you know, that upset me a little bit because it's not really true. And there's a little more to it than just we tried that before. Why should we give you another chance? And she said, Oh my, this is this is wonderful. Do you mind if I go back to the table and and see? And she did. And they came back and said, Well, why should you're using the same broker? I don't know that we want to do it. And I said, Okay, well, I'll use I'll use your people. And I did, and they accepted it. And we went through the motions, everything worked out. It was done within a week.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Oh, wow. Did you change your lending scenario?

Lending Lessons And Process Confidence

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Did you did you use a different lender? Okay, so tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I used their lender that they had. I just called the gentleman. I didn't even know what company he was with or anything. She just gave me the phone number and told me his name. So I called and he handled everything. And I pretty much was at his beck and call. He was wonderful, him and his team. But I didn't know at the time all that was involved. I know now. I know a lot now, and I know exactly what's involved and what has to happen. But at that time, I didn't. And I just felt like, okay, I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. But now I do know what's involved because I I've learned the process and I know it. So I'm not really on pens and needles about the process anymore. I'm confident in the process because I know what has to happen. I know what is needed, how long it takes, and I know when I'm hearing things, if that's really something that's true or not. So we ended up renting the home. It was empty for six months because I really had only had a rental once ever, and it was when my adult children were younger, they were toddlers, and I rented it and it didn't work out. So I really didn't know a lot about it because I didn't really have time raising kids. So we rented it to a friend, uh friend of my husband's. So they were wonderful, it was a family, they were wonderful, and then the husband uh received uh news that he had to move to Florida for work. So he did. And instead of letting us know in advance, he just went ahead and moved and subleased our property. So the person he was leasing it to paid him. He was charging more, and then he would just give us the money, send us the payment. Well, that didn't work out. No, not at all. And when we went by there, it was a mess, it was terrible, terrible. Things were destroyed. It was just, it was horrible, it was horrible, and it just yeah, it set us back a little bit. And so at the time we went

The Rental Disaster That Sparked Change

SPEAKER_01 14:10

through the property, that was around shortly after that. That's when I joined the Flip Sisters. And I learned about numbers and I learned how to do budget. I learned budgets, I learned what I needed, I learned how to look at lists and make sure I checked everything off. And that helped. I contacted the people on my team that I had formed. I asked for the information and had meetings and discussed it, and then we got to work on what we knew and what I knew had to happen to make this property a rental. And so it all came together. I refinanced because I had already reached out to so many lenders. I knew all their terms, I knew what they would expect, and I knew what would work for my situation. So uh one of the lenders that I had reached out to that I found out through the program, because there was, you know, the group they'll mention, uh, lenders that they spoke with or that they had positive uh experiences with. And so I just I reached out, and one of them happened to be that lender that was mentioned in the group, and it worked out. And we were talking about the flips, and he said, Oh, we do regular loans too. I said, You do. He said, Yes, we do, and we can take care of your situation, and so it did. It worked out.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

So this is a hard money lender that also does, is it a DSER loan that you were talking to him about? Debt service coverage ratio.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

It was. We did it as a REFA, it was a company

Refinance And Rehabbing In Four Months

SPEAKER_01 16:05

that they work with that they use quite often, that it wasn't an HML loan, it was just a regular conventional loan. And it was someone that they worked with and they had placed a lot of clients with for some of their deals, and they gave me a good rate, and um, it was someone that that I found through the group.

unknown 16:32

Good, good.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Well, that worked out really, really well.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

And so it was a long-term, was it a 30-year fixed product?

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Mm-hmm. Yes, it was, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

All right, and when was that? When did you do that refinance?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

I did that in October of 2025. Okay, all right, 2025.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

So not too long ago.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Okay, not too long ago, and uh we had everything rehabbed and ready to go by it within four months, within four months, the rehab, the financing, the we refied in in the business name, and that worked out really well. I learned how to do that in the program. I had did it before a long, long time ago, but not on my own. Uh this time I did on my own through the program, and we refied in the business name, and my team is who did the rehab on it. Yeah, I made a lot of visits to Home Depot, as one does when rehabbing a property. Boy, I tell you, it got to the point once where I had crooked out tears, and I said, My husband said, You're gonna have to go back to Home Depot. And I said, I can't do it. Oh, yeah. When I walked in there the last time, the man knew my name. He remembered me. And then the next time I went, the lady knew me and she came over. And I said, Well, when you walk in Home Depot and they know your name, you know you you've made quite a bit of visits there. So it was a lot, but it worked out, and now I know how to do it, what needs to be

Rehab Budget Surprises And DIY Savings

SPEAKER_01 18:20

done, and how not to take on too much to stress myself out in the crocodile tears form.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

I see. So let's let's dive into that a little bit. What was your original budget for your rehab?

SPEAKER_01 18:38

My original budget was 20,000. The estimate went up about five to six grand from what we thought. It was one of those, oh, okay. Look at this. And we were like, oh no, we didn't know about that. So you had surprises. We had some surprises, we did about five to six thousand worth. And my husband said, Well, let me let me look at this and think about it. Let's sit down and talk. So we ended up doing some of the work ourselves. And I, you know, I pick up a hammer and start doing things, and I I hit my hand, my finger, you know, I bust my finger, things like that. I'm just, I just didn't think I could do it, but I I could, and I did. And so we were able to save just about ten thousand dollars. So the original rehab budget ended up being reduced just about ten thousand. So that was wonderful. That was wonderful. We were very happy about that.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Good. So what kind of surprises paid off? Yeah. So what kind of surprises did you find? What were things that you came upon that you did not plan for and didn't know you needed to plan for?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Well, when we looked under the sink and we pulled up the wood that was there underneath, it was someone put wood, rotted wood, they put good wood on top of rotted wood under the sink. And so we had to take all of that under the sink and on the sides in the cabinet out, and that had to be redone. We had a breaker box issue. Yeah, there was some burning and some other things in the breaker box, so we had to replace that, and those are very expensive. That was something that we didn't know about until we went in there because something the dryer just stopped getting hot. So we didn't know it looked like that until one of the subcontractors came in who was an electrician, and he sent us a picture of it. And we said, oh no. The other thing was making the game room. The subcontractor came in and he put it together, and we were not there. He put it, he built it so close to the water heater that was in the garage that you couldn't get to the water heater to turn the dial either to make the water hotter or to make it cooler or even to service it. I I don't know what he was thinking. But when we showed up, I said, okay, I'm smaller than all of you, and I can't even get in here to turn the water hotter or Or to turn it down, if or you know, to service it. What happens when we call the service guy to do it? So that had to be demoed, that had to be demolished. The whole thing taken down that we had already paid for. We had already paid him for it and he was gone. So we had to demolish it and rebuild it again to move it to the right about three feet. Wow. Okay. Yeah, so that was unexpected. We never thought we'd pay for a storage room just to demolish it and have it rebuilt all over again and buy new supplies for it. So that was a surprise. Um, when they pulled up the carpeting on the floor when you

Timeline Buffers And Choosing Quality

SPEAKER_01 22:55

first come in, there were some issues with some of the wood. So that had to be uh repaired, and we didn't know that we didn't expect it. So those were a few surprises that we had to deal with.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

So, how about your timeline? You said it took four months. Is that what you were expecting?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

I was honestly expecting approximately two and a half to three months. Some of that I have to say was on me because I didn't want to just settle. I had my ideas of what I wanted in the rental, and I knew that it was going to push us behind on our timeline, especially after everything that had already surprised us. And I said, well, what's another two weeks? Yeah, to get it right. Exactly. And I'm glad we did. I'm glad we did. But that was what I knew we could get it done in two and a half to three months, but it actually took four months. Okay. But when we did our budget for it, we did budget for more time. Oh, good. Okay. We did budget for more time, not as much money.

unknown 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Because it ended up being because of the surprises, uh, which me and my husband, it worked out with us doing some of the stuff ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Well, I'm glad that you put in those buffers. That's definitely something that we stress and we talk about a lot in our calls in the group. We talk about those buffers, the time buffers, the budget buffers, the overall project buffers. So good. I'm glad you did that. I'm glad you took it to heart and kept it in there.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yes, we have budgeted for the six months for the mortgage, for the utilities and things like that. What took us over the budget we had originally set was the surprises.

Furnishing And Finding Your Style

SPEAKER_01 25:05

But it all worked out.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Good, good. So, and then tell us what came next.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So, what came next is once we had the rental ready, we marketed it, and within a week and a half, we had interest in it, and we had bookings for the rental.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Awesome. So at this point you had also furnished it.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

I did, I did that. I didn't think I had a decorating bone in my body, but I realized some of those bones, you know, started sticking out. Because I always said, you know, the decorating bones were given to my uh sisters and my mom. I never had one. I always would call my sisters or my niece, but I found out that I do. So that was a wonderful surprise to see what I wanted to happen come to the light. So I was able to, I furnished it myself, I staged it myself, I did all the decorations, I did call my sister after I took pictures and said, What do you think about this? So she did tell me to remove some pillows, change some covers, and take a few chairs out. And that was pretty much the extent of it. But I I was very excited and and quite proud of myself for just pushing myself and just doing it. I just did it.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Awesome. That's great that you had someone to bounce that off of too.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Yeah, thank goodness I had that support. So that worked out, and I was very happy. Very happy.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

So then you started getting bookings pretty quickly. How is it going now?

SPEAKER_01 27:06

The bookings huge. I've been pretty much booked except for one week at a time, sometimes more than that. Uh, one month I had bookings for three days,

Bookings And Midterm Rental Strategy

SPEAKER_01 27:20

the next week, four days, the next week, the whole week. Pretty much the weekends are usually booked. I have had, let's say, two, almost three months where I didn't have as many bookings, but we budgeted accordingly. So things are working out and we're pleased with it. We did short-term, but now we really um I did some research and looked into midterm rentals, and I'm gonna shy away from long-term rentals for a bit. I'm gonna go back to it, but I just need a little break from it. So, midterm, I'm going to focus on midterm rentals. And in between, in the meantime, when we have uh dates available, then I will do some short-term rentals. So that's what I'm working on now, the the midterm rental goal, and that we have had some inquiries for that and some negotiations, and I did decline an offer, and I had to tear down another one that was for just almost a long-term rental, and I just didn't want to go there. I didn't want to go there yet.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

So far, where have your get why have your guests visited the area? Is there a specific uh place or event? Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Right now we just finished the FIFA uh games, FIFA, and where is the rental? The rental is about 20 minutes from downtown Atlanta, and then it's not far from what used to be called the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and it has a new name now. It's on the tip of my tongue. I just had it, they left me. Um, so we're not far from there, and they're always having events there. So whenever they have an event for the weekend, the the car showings, the racing, things like that for family events, we we're always booked. We always have bookings for those types of events. Yeah. So that worked out.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Awesome. So tell me, what was your favorite part about the process from the I would say from the refi on?

SPEAKER_01 29:46

I have to say I like looking at things to put in your home to redo, little knobs for your cabinets, cabinets, doors, you know, curtains, things like that. I love that I could stay in Home Depot, but that's just me walking around, not really needing things and don't not having a deadline. My favorite part of the entire process was seeing what I had budgeted and what I had put on paper and the plan come to light. Come to light. My vision for what I wanted to happen actually happened. And that was the

The Joy Of Seeing The Plan

SPEAKER_01 30:35

best that feeling of when the house was finished, when the rehab was done, when the furniture and everything was done, which we did ourselves, went and we, of course, we had a part in the rehab, the furniture we did all by ourselves, and me staging it. Once that was all done, that feeling was just the best. Because it was what I wanted to happen and what I wanted to see, and it actually happened. I mean, I had my doubts a few times. I was like, I don't know about this. Oh my goodness, I don't know if I can do it, but I did, I did, and I just kept going and I just did it. The alternative was not to and just let it fall apart and why I had come so far, and I had put so much work into it and learned so much and studied so much, and I just knew a lot, I gained so much knowledge. I just did it, and and I just feel so good about that, and I was proud of myself for that, and family members were were really proud of me too. So that was just the best.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

Fantastic. I love that so much.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Me too, me too.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

It's really been fun to watch your journey. Of course, I got to meet you when you first joined the program a little over a year ago. And it's really been a pleasure kind of watching you go from a place where you just loved real estate but weren't sure what to do, what you wanted, how to run those numbers to a place where now I every time I see you working on a deal or you're in talking about your wins for the week, you are so focused.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

So that's been amazing to watch. It's really exciting. Tell me what you're working on now or what's on the horizon for you.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

I have made offers on some properties. I became, I came really, really close. I was actually called after I made an offer on two homes. I was actually called about my offer one, and that conversation was a lengthy one for

Making Offers And Holding The Line

SPEAKER_01 33:10

one of them, but I knew what I was talking about. I knew the numbers, I knew what I was talking about, and I had that confidence. And I was just like, okay, no, that's not in the in the numbers. That's not, I can't do that. The second one I came really, really close. I had actually offered just about five thousand dollars more than I had worked up in my offer, and I was that was being taken off of my profit. So I got a call back and I knew that I was in the last two or three, and I was asked if I could go up six thousand more dollars is mine. It's mine, and I really desperately wanted it. I really, really did, and I I I probably could have. But I was able to hold my own in the discussion, and I said, this this home is is over. You guys are asking for too much. Um I'm looking at the you know, the comps and I'm looking at the other homes in the area and the values that for similar homes, and these numbers just aren't here. And she actually was really nice and said she understands and she understands what I'm talking about. And, you know, that's what she was asked to do. So she said she would keep me, definitely keep me at the top of the list for the other ones that are coming through and coming down the line. But I've had made quite a bit of offers, and I just have that feeling deep inside of me that knows any day now, any day now, I don't rush it because if the numbers don't fit and if it's supposed to happen, it will. I just need to keep on the road I'm going and keep to my goals and remember those and and just put put the plan in motion, keep that plan moving and things. I never thought I would have gotten this far. I mean, I never thought I would have made as many offers as I did. I never thought I would be able to hold the conversation for 45 minutes with a lone person about the value of a home with a wholesaler, uh, with a real estate agent. Um, I used to always call people, call people, and I went to some uh real estate meetings, you know, investment REIA meetings, and I met some really good people who are knowledgeable and I've been able to hold conversations with them. I was a little intimidated when I went to my first one and actually the second one too, but then I realized you know a few things, don't you, Tanya?

SPEAKER_02 36:22

You know a few things. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

And I have people calling me now. I used to always make the phone calls and look for, you know, people who want to invest and join in. And I can't remember the last time I made one of those phone calls. I I'm the one they call now based on those relationships, based on those conversations, they know that I know what I'm talking about. So that's great. They've offered me financial money. They've offered me money, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Like private money.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Awesome. Well, that's so great. I'm so glad to hear it that you're following the numbers. That's something that's so important in real estate. Those numbers do not lie.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

They don't, they don't, and I came really, really close when I first started with my offers. I I was so excited and I got caught up in the moment. And right after that moment, when everything settled down, I said, Oh my goodness, wait

Momentum Mindset And Community Support

SPEAKER_01 37:35

a minute. And I got my calculator and I was calculating.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

I was like, you should never have strayed, you should have stuck to the numbers, and I had to rescind, rescind my offer, but I knew why, and I knew what I had did, and I knew what I wasn't supposed to do, and why, so it worked out, yeah, and sometimes the best deals are the ones that you walk away from, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

It it I didn't want to because I really, really was waiting for one, and that one we were really excited about it, and I just had to walk away.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

I had to walk away, yeah, as the numbers, it's the process, yeah, it's all about those numbers. Well, I absolutely understand what you mean when you say you have that momentum and that feeling, and you know when it's coming. I've had that same feeling, and it's like when you get into this momentum, I've seen it with so many flip sisters, you get into this momentum of regularly walking deals, analyzing deals, pulling comps, making offers. It's going to happen. It's just a matter of time. So it's it's really been fun to kind of watch you go through and really embrace that and really trust the process. That's been it's been really great to watch.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Yeah, it's it's been great, you know. Even when I had my moments of can you really do this? Just the encouragement and the group, just I would read stuff and see posts and hear other ladies, and I would say, Oh my god, that's exactly how I feel. It was like I was watching a replay of how I felt or what I was going through. And to see them come out on top of it, that was I knew then. I was like, Yeah, keep going, keep your pace. This is gonna work for you, and it has.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

It has. That's fantastic, Tonya. Thank you so much for sitting down with me. I've really enjoyed talking to you. I've really enjoyed watching your journey over the last year, and I'm so excited for what's to come for you.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Thank you so much. I really appreciate

Closing Thoughts And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 40:15

you and and the program and the and the wonderful ladies that I've had a wonderful pleasure and I've been blessed to deal with for this year. That's been that's been great.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Thank you so much for joining us today on the Flip Houses Like a Girl podcast. I hope you found inspiration and practical takeaways from Tanya's story. Remember, every successful flip starts with one brave decision to get in the game. You don't have to do it alone. If you're ready to take the next step toward flipping your first house, we'd love for you to learn more about the first sisters program. It's the leading coaching program and we need design specifically for women across the country who are ready to put houses in their local markets. To connect with us, check out the program, or just be inspired by other stories just like this one. Visit us at the footballstorm.com. And that's always thank you for watching, subscribing, and sharing this podcast with other women for ready to take us back into the world of open houses. Until next time, keep going, keep going, and remember, you can ask the weekend.