Dec. 15, 2025

From Teacher To Six-Figure Flips

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The Flipsisters
Leaving people and places better than we find them.

00:00 - Welcome And Diana’s Backstory

01:37 - The Lookout Mountain Opportunity

04:15 - Creative Contract And Delayed Closing

07:10 - Funding The Deal And Capital Stack

10:25 - Private Lenders And Family Dynamics

15:42 - Scope Creep And Luxury Comps

18:20 - Designer Missteps And Cost Overruns

22:50 - Demo, Structural Issues, And Additions

26:10 - Finishing The Attic And Layout Choices

29:00 - Building The Team And Subcontractors

31:20 - Landscaping, Hardscapes, And Outdoor Design

34:10 - Pricing Strategy And The First Offer

37:05 - Carry Costs, Extensions, And Plan B

40:00 - Negotiations, Concessions, And Closing

44:00 - Profit, Regrets, And Key Lessons

47:00 - Life Change, Next Moves, And CTA

WEBVTT

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Empower and celebrate everyday women who are facing their fears of going facing their audience and coldheartedly facing their dreams of flipping outfits each episode of where it's honest and goodness, cool tips, and strategies you can implement today to get closer to your first or next successful house flip.

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Welcome back to the Flip Houses Like a Girl podcast.

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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.

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I'm Blair, one of the coaches here at the Flip Sisters.

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I've been flipping and buying rentals for the last six years and have been coaching here for the last three.

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But enough about me.

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Today we're excited to reintroduce you to Diana.

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She joined the Flip Sisters program in 2022.

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And since then, she has flipped three houses, both in Tennessee and in Georgia.

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A little bit about her.

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Diana is from the Tennessee area.

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She was a teacher and then became a stay-at-home mom to her two adorable kids.

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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.

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Hey Diana, thank you so much for joining us today.

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Thanks, Blair.

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I am so excited to be here.

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Awesome.

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So I know you've had quite a few interesting projects since starting with our group, but I'd really like to hear more about your most recent huge flip in Look Mountain, Georgia.

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And when I say huge, I mean it.

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This baby was close to, it was a little over 5,700 square feet.

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Yeah, it was big.

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Awesome.

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So kind of talk to me about like how you found the property, you know, walking through it, doing your renovation budget, just kind of like the planning, the finding and the planning period.

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Yeah.

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So when we first saw this house, we were still flipping our two other projects, which were more normal-sized homes, I would say.

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And my realtor had, we've done a couple of deals with her and she kind of knows we're looking for things.

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And so she asked us one day, and this was two years ago, August of 2023.

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We were still in the middle of our two other projects.

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So she was like, Oh, I have this house up on Lookout, and it's a pocket listing.

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So one of her other realtors in her group in her office had this listing.

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And we were like, Well, yeah, we want to go see it because Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, we live in Chattanooga.

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Lookout mountain is one of the iconic areas of for Chattanooga.

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It's one of the oldest neighborhoods in our area.

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The houses are big.

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There's a lot of mature landscaping.

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It's a really beautiful area.

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If you ever come to Chattanooga, the things people come to Chattanooga for are like Sea Rock City, see Ruby Falls, all of that's on lookout.

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So we were drawn to look out.

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We went and looked at the house, and it was big.

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And it was she was really pretty from the front.

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On the inside, she needed some work.

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There had been some maintenance issues.

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The house was in pretty rough shape.

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But when I walked in, I felt that there had been love in the home.

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There had been a family that really loved it and then kind of it got neglected.

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But we were still in the middle of these two other flips.

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So we didn't make an offer on it right away.

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They were asking 600K for it.

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And we knew the numbers well enough to know the reason this house was a pocket listing was the owner, I think, didn't want the house to be shown for sale in her community.

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She didn't want her neighbors to know that she was selling.

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She didn't want it to go like officially on the market and for people to be walking in the house.

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So we knew we could have bought it and then just like resold it.

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There was enough we thought juice there that we could have done that.

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But we did it.

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We were like, we're still in these two other projects.

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So we walked away from the house originally.

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We just said, yeah, we love it.

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It's beautiful, but we're we're busy.

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So a few weeks later, I get a call from my realtor and she said, Hey, you know, that house, I'm on lookout.

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I talked to the other realtor, and she had said that she thinks the owner would be open to a longer closing date.

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And we were like, Well, do you mean like three months?

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Because that's kind of how much time we would need.

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And she said, Yeah, I think so.

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So the owner had already moved away and had kept this home.

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She had had a job opportunity, had moved the family, but still had some of her stuff in the house.

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So we were thinking, okay, this was around I think September, August, September, two years ago.

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So we said, Well, if she'll accept a longer closing, we also offered cash for 600, what she was asking, and we would close in three months or when we finished our first flip, because we were in flip one and two at the time.

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And they accepted.

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So we went under contract, were waiting to, you know, working on our got our other projects done.

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But those projects, one of them finished in November, and then the other one, I think we finished it around November, December.

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We still hadn't closed on that first project, and the holidays were coming up, and she still hadn't moved her stuff out.

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So we asked if we could move the closing date back again.

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We pushed it back past Christmas.

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And then we were still, because we thought we were gonna have all this cash from two houses that we were selling, and one house closed in December, and then the next house closed in January.

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So we ended up pushing the closing back one more time into January.

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And so this whole fiasco of like get just getting the house under contract, just getting it to the closing date in the very beginning was a pretty big challenge.

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I ended up having to talk to talking to a hard money lender.

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The house sits on two county lines.

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So the interesting thing about Chattanooga is Chattanooga is right on the border of Tennessee and Georgia.

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And so Lookout Mountain goes from Tennessee down into Georgia.

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And then this house is on the Georgia side and it sits in two counties.

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So it's paying tax to one county.

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The hard money lender had some difficulty, whoever was doing the appraisal, getting the loan done.

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So, anyways, we ended up closing it and paying cash because our other two houses closed, and then we got like a cash out from the hard money lender month or so later.

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So that's kind of how we funded it in the beginning.

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I had had a private money lender from our other projects that we had worked on for, I think around two, maybe 200K.

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And then we had some of our own cash, and then the hard money lender came in.

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So that has kind of been this whole project was like we piecemealed it together, but we made it work.

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We got it.

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So we closed in January 2024.

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Yeah, that's I mean, that's awesome.

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I love the fact that like you weren't afraid to ask the seller for what worked for you.

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You know, I think sometimes we're so afraid to make our offers, whether it's price, whether it's timeline.

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And sometimes I'm like, well, you got to give them a chance to say yes or no.

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You've got to put your hat in the ring, right?

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So like I think that's really cool.

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And it also sounds like it was a win for the seller because, you know, for whatever reason she left her stuff there.

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You know, maybe it was a bit of an emotional thing and she wasn't quite ready to let go.

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And it probably gave her enough time to be like, okay, like it's time to go, time to pack our stuff.

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Like these people are trying to move it.

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You know, they're we I told them that, you know, they they can buy the home.

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Great.

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Absolutely.

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Kind of like at that point, how much like total were you in as far as like the hard money loan, your money?

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You know, kind of like what was your like adding it all together, purchase price and your budget for your reno.

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So we ended up buying it for$579.

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We got around$20K off because there were supposed to be kitchen cabinets, but I told you, so they had had a few issues with the house and they had gutted the kitchen.

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And then I guess they had gotten some insurance money.

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So the in the garage when we bought the house were brand new appliances.

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There were supposed to be kitchen cabinets.

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They weren't there, they never showed up.

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So we got 20k off that price.

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And yes, just to your point, I didn't even know, I didn't know we could even ask for that, that time frame.

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And just like you're saying, like she didn't want to sell the house quick.

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She had been, she didn't want to, she didn't really want to sell the house.

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So, you know, it gave her time to get back in there and get her stuff out.

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So absolutely.

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And then as far as the money goes, and this is gonna be a common theme throughout this project, is money was in and out in all these different ways.

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I could not tell you in January how much of it was hard money because I know that we got a loan for around I know eventually once it's kind of easier for me, like at the end, I can kind of see so we had a hard money loan for 810.

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And then we had another private money for another, I say 600-ish.

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Okay.

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So I think is that like 1.4 ish is what, but then minus you know, the house for around 600.

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So the house, so the reno budget was 800k.

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That's what we spent on the renovation of this house.

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$800,000.

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Like, oh my god.

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Oh my god we will definitely get into that and that rental budget.

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But I kind of want to go a little bit into the private funding there.

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I mean, 600k, that's that's nothing to go off at.

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Like, that's a lot of money.

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Can you kind of, you know, obviously don't need names or anything, but just kind of like how did you source that?

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Did it all come from one person?

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You know, how did you pursue getting those funds?

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I know that you kind of had a great working relationship already because of your two previous ones, which is awesome.

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Yeah.

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I had a loan for around 200K with my parents.

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And then we had another business that I'm involved in with my dad.

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We have some other real estate.

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And so I had another 160 with that.

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Then we had another 200 from I would say like smaller chunks from family members.

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So and some friends, small amount from like friend.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And of course, you know, paying everybody interest.

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Everybody knew, everybody knew, you know, what we were up to.

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And at that point, yeah, we had had a few flips under our belt.

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And so I had started to have people kind of be like, hmm, what are y'all doing?

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You know, could we get in on that, you know, kind of a thing.

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So yeah, absolutely.

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And I tell people, like, I think with private lending, it kind of snowballs.

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And that's why, like, I tell our students, like, share what you're doing, you know, let people know.

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I'm always surprised at people who approaches me and is like, oh, hey, like I have$100,000 in this savings account.

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Or, you know, a lot of people don't know they can tap into their 401k, or like if they have a self-directed IRA.

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Um, and they've been like, yeah, like I've been putting money in here for years.

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And what I think is cool is like you you involved, you know, family and friends.

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And I know sometimes people are all like, oh, don't do like business with your family and friends.

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But I'm like, but who else would I rather make the money?

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Right.

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Yeah.

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Like I want my friends and family.

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Like it's if it if somebody's gonna win here and somebody's gonna get the money, like I would rather it be people I love than, you know, maybe some random bank or, you know, well, I love hard money lenders.

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Like, you know, I'm like, I'd rather my dad or, you know, an aunt get that money back than them.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And I'd say that's one of the best skills that you kind of learn when flipping a house is how to raise capital.

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It is such a valuable skill.

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And I'd say it's so creative.

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There's such a creative aspect to it.

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It doesn't look the same, you know.

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My interest rate with my dad was really low because he's like, he's investing in me.

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He wants to make a little bit more than whatever he would get in a savings account versus like the hard money lender who doesn't know me, you know, is gonna charge three times that.

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So yeah, it can be very stressful, and especially like with my par my family and my dynamics, my history with him, like it has not been the easiest relationship, especially when it comes to money, because they feel then, at least with my family, my dad in particular, like, oh, you're going on that vacation or you're buying that blah, blah, blah.

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You haven't paid us back yet.

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So we've had to kind of learn, you know, I like projects that have start and end dates.

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And yeah, being very clear on boundary setting when if needed.

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But then other times people are just like, here's my money, like let you know, let me know how it goes.

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So then there's no.

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My dad was one of my first private lenders too.

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And like it meant a lot to me that he supported me enough to basically put his money where his mouth was, even though like he couldn't see the finish line.

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Um, so that was really cool.

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But yeah, it's and it's funny, I have private lenders I do like that I've worked with, and they're like one of them's like, You don't have to tell me.

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Um, because like I plan vacations for myself and my family.

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We plan like six months to a year out, right?

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So like I'm going ahead and I've already paid for those off of like previous flip, you know, sales or weight.

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But yeah, I've had that same thought one time where I like messaged a lender and I was like, Listen, you're gonna like you just dumped like 60 grand in my account like for renovations.

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Um, and and I'm I went to Alaska and I was like, listen, I can send you the receipts of when I paid for this like seven months ago.

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And he's just I appreciate that, but like, no thanks.

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Like, you know, we have a contract, and you know, when yeah, I expect that it to be paid back in that time frame, not you know, before or so, yeah, I totally get that.

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Yes, it can be tricky, but it's doable.

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And like if you have a dream, if you have a goal, you know, you're gonna what are you gonna do to make it happen?

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So you just like you know, suck up some pride a little bit and just you know it's okay.

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Been there, done that.

00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:52.000
So let's jump into this$800,000 innovation budget because my goodness, I I've done some big homes myself.

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Um, I don't think I've hit that level of renovation budget yet.

00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:02.559
So, like talk us through like, I mean, the the planning of that, like how did we get to that number?

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So my reno could have been like somewhere like in the 600s, and then with carrying costs and fees and all that stuff, that was in there.

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I think because I think we were all in at the end around that like 1.4.

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So that would have included other costs in there too.

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This is the thing through that for I am not the most detail oriented when it comes to bookkeeping and accounting.

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So that is one of my biggest challenges.

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I have to tell myself I'm learning because it is not very new to me.

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It stresses me out.

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I'm I feel like I'm terrible.

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I'm a terrible human because I don't know where every dollar goes.

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But I'm just that's it's okay.

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So the thing about this house, the reason we went into it was I'm not doing it with my by myself.

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I have my husband who is basically acting as our GC.

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Okay.

00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.279
And he did that with the other two projects that we worked on.

00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:08.960
So he does not have, it's not like he's been a GC in his past life, but he grew up in a working class home and they fixed everything themselves.

00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:10.480
They didn't pay people to do things.

00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.480
He built his own house growing up.

00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:24.559
Like he can fix HVAC, he can he can do all the things, yeah, which has been a learning lesson for us and why I loved the flip sisters because it taught us how to analyze a deal.

00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.400
And when you get the house at a certain price, then you can pay people to help you.

00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.319
So that's a whole other thing.

00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:32.559
But yes, we did GC it ourselves.

00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:39.039
We saw the house, we saw the neighborhood it was in, and these houses were million-dollar homes.

00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:42.319
And you know, there's a little bit of a variety up there.

00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:50.480
It's not like all mega mansions, but the road that that house was on, there were definitely homes that were in the multi-millions.

00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:57.359
The issue we ran into was Georgia homes, there is a state income in Georgia.

00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:04.240
So the I I don't know if this is exactly correct, but the home prices are slightly lower than they are in Tennessee.

00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.559
Tennessee home prices are a little bit higher.

00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:16.319
And the city, the way that Lookout Mountain is oriented, you have most of the homes are in Tennessee, and then there's maybe a third of the homes are on the Georgia side.

00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:26.880
So when it came to doing our comps, it was a little bit tricky because we were comping it to other homes that were in Tennessee, which you had to take into account that there's a slight difference in price.

00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:30.640
And so we had sort of comped out maybe a 15% difference.

00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.519
And, you know, we had our realtor looking at the number.

00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.559
We talked to another realtor that was over there.

00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:45.519
And so we felt pretty good that we could, when we were buying the house, we thought we could get 1.5 for it.

00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:51.839
And so when it came to our renovation budget, originally we had wanted to spend around 400K.

00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:57.839
So if we were buying it around six, put 400, and then we had really good margin wiggle room.

00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:04.799
Once we got into it, my husband and I also just have difficulty sticking to a budget.

00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:15.279
If we see, if we see the margin is there, we want to bring the house to it's like it was like a artwork, you know, to us.

00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:18.799
It was like we see this vision, we see this, we see how beautiful it could be.

00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.039
Like, let's take the shot.

00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:22.880
I don't know if I would do this again.

00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:23.519
I don't know.

00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:33.039
I know, I know why people stick to more middle income housing, but um average sales price homes and all of that because of this.

00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:35.440
But you know, sometimes you gotta live and learn.

00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:36.880
And we certainly did that.

00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.400
So I know what we're capable.

00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:51.920
The other thing is like my husband and I have really high expectations and standards of ourselves, and it's really hard for us to put lower quality materials in a home if it could bring the if it could bring that value.

00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:55.200
We wouldn't have done that in like a lower income neighborhood.

00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:02.160
But because that neighborhood was so fancy and so like there are homes that are selling in the multi-millions up there.

00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:04.400
Yeah, we we went for it.

00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:12.640
And then in the very beginning, the first sort of big hiccup challenge we came into is we were still coming right off of these other two flips.

00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:18.480
And so my husband was pretty tired because he was G seeing those other two projects.

00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:19.359
We just got done.

00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.039
We got into this house.

00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.200
I went to a real estate meetup group.

00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:29.440
I knew that this level design I needed a very cohesive look.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:35.440
I wanted it to feel like it had been, you know, professionally designed.

00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:41.279
And my husband and I are good, but I didn't feel like we were that good.

00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.480
And so I do I knew I wanted to work with a designer.

00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.480
I found one at a real estate meetup.

00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:47.680
I looked her up online.

00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.599
She had beautiful projects that she had done, met with her.

00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.960
We went and visited some of the projects she had done, done beautiful work.

00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.799
I did not ask, do you stay on budget?

00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:01.200
How was it work?

00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:07.680
You know, I didn't ask tough questions to the people that she quote quote worked on their house.

00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:08.400
Gotcha.

00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:10.640
I didn't interview other designers.

00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:17.519
I didn't price out what an average design consultant would be.

00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.799
So she gave me her price, and I was just like, okay, sounds good.

00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:21.680
Sounds good.

00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:22.400
Yeah.

00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:31.839
And so she in the very in January, we talked to her and she's like, okay, I can't give you exact numbers, but about this is what it would cost.

00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:38.960
So her design would be$30,000, but she was gonna do all of the design, pick out all of the finishes.

00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:53.200
And, you know, we thought that is a lot, but if we don't have to pick out one light fixture, one flooring, you know, we knew there was enough margin in there, and you're gonna get us this really high quality level product.

00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.440
You know, we thought, well, we'll try it.

00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:00.079
And then she also said, Well, I can also project manage it for another 30,000.

00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.880
Thought, okay, over the course of six months, we thought, eight months.

00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:12.559
I paid her a deposit, signed a contract that outlined what she was supposed to do, paid her, I can't remember exactly what it was, maybe 20K.

00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.720
It was a lot in January.

00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.599
And then she starts going and getting us bids.

00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.640
And the first bids for just the demo was like$60,000.

00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.200
And it was a lot of demo.

00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:31.599
The house was old, but it was actually it looks old, but it was built in 1990.

00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:32.960
It was not very old.

00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:33.839
Oh, wow.

00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.960
There was an addition that someone had done off the back of the house that was built poorly.

00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.599
The water was getting in between the addition and the how the brick house.

00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.000
And so they had turmit damage.

00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:49.440
That wood was all rotted.

00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:50.720
It was basically falling off.

00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:57.119
So we had to take off about I don't know, I think it was like a thousand square feet of like porch.

00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:00.319
They had like a sunroom and a porch and a deck off the back.

00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.079
And so we had to take off all of that.

00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:04.880
So her quotes started coming in high.

00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:12.799
And we were like, uh, my husband didn't feel good about it because the crews, we did have some crews that we had been working with.

00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:14.480
We were like, okay, we'll get more quotes.

00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.319
So we got more quotes, and our guys could do it for like$10,000.

00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:24.079
And so these were some yellow flags that, you know, were popping up.

00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:30.319
And then she started bringing in, yeah, her electricians and her her plumbers, which she works on like commercial jobs too.

00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.200
And so I'm sure they're very highly qualified humans.

00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:41.440
And this is kind of the dance that we're playing, is like we want really high quality work, but we're not willing to pay designer prices for it.

00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.599
And so we started having issues.

00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:52.079
Mike kind of took it back over pretty quickly in February and was like, kind of told her, you know, hey, I'm just gonna go ahead and like get the quotes.

00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:55.599
I'm gonna go ahead and like I'll do the project management basically for it.

00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.519
Problem is I didn't put it in writing.

00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:58.480
I didn't get her.

00:23:58.559 --> 00:23:59.839
We taught, we talked to her about it.

00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:00.480
Right.

00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.720
We assumed, okay, we talked to you about it.

00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:06.559
And then she sent us her first bill after we'd already paid her$20,000.

00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:08.880
Her second bill was for another$20,000.

00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.039
And we were like, you're like, wait a minute.

00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:11.759
What?

00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:12.640
Yeah.

00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:24.079
And so by then she had maybe given me like a notebook with some like Pinterest, some some design things, but I was really underwhelmed with what she was giving us.

00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.519
And it was not spec to our budget.

00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:35.759
It was really just like a Pinterest board, which for a few thousand dollars, three, four, five thousand dollars, maybe, you know, could have been helpful.

00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:41.759
And we did, we did use her design ideas, but who girl.

00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.880
So I didn't learn my lesson though.

00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:50.319
We paid her that, and then she continued on charging for project management.

00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:57.599
And so finally it took me till probably July before I was like, okay, in writing, here's an email.

00:24:57.839 --> 00:24:59.920
We owe you zero dollars.

00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:04.079
Any other additional work will be done for free.

00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:09.680
You know, please respond to this email that you've gotten it, you've received it, and that you agree to it.

00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:10.799
It took me six months.

00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.039
So this was like six months of stress.

00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:16.880
And I don't know what it I think because she was a female, I think I liked her.

00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:18.799
I really wanted to work with her.

00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:24.799
And I had you want to believe that people are gonna like show up and do the things they said they were gonna do.

00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:25.359
Yeah.

00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:25.920
Yeah.

00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:28.880
I got the rug, just I don't know.

00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.880
So I still this community is pretty small.

00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:36.720
I still like see her and have to, you know, be nice and it's fine, but that was a huge.

00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:39.119
I am way faster at firing people now.

00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:44.480
I tell you, I've learned that like that lesson that was a$60,000 lesson that I learned.

00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:47.200
But we got a beautiful product at the end of the day.

00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.759
We got a beautiful product, so got into it.

00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:51.519
Mike started working with his guys.

00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.440
We didn't really have any big issues.

00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:56.960
He, oh, the the biggest thing, we took that addition down.

00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:00.000
And then Mike goes up into the attic, my husband.

00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:04.240
And one of the things that we had done on our two previous flips was we had finished basements.

00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:06.559
We had unfinished basement space and we finished it.

00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.799
In this house, it had a huge attic that we finished.

00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:17.920
And so even though we took off, you know, about over a thousand square feet of space, we added over a thousand square feet of space up in the attic.

00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:20.319
So that really helped us out.

00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:26.799
And we could just envision like a teenage birthday party, a whole football team.

00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:30.319
There was like this house was made for a big family.

00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.680
It had four bedrooms on the second floor.

00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:37.680
And then the attic, we add another bedroom and like kids' living area.

00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:42.480
So one of the things we did talk about was whether or not to add the master on a main.

00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.519
That would have been an addition off the side of the house.

00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:51.440
We talked about moving the staircase to opening up the space inside with the kitchen and the living room.

00:26:51.519 --> 00:27:00.559
We ended up just opening up that space a little bit and kept a more formal because it has a more formal um layout and design of the house.

00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:02.720
But all the bedrooms were up on the second floor.

00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:09.599
We asked around and people said, you know, up here the houses are older and people are used to having bedrooms upstairs.

00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:16.160
Also, the person who buys this house has a lot of kids and they're a youngish family.

00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:18.799
We just, that's who we built the house for.

00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:20.960
And that's who ended up buying the house.

00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:22.799
So I'm glad we did that.

00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:28.799
But we did, you know, at that price point, you're just knocking out who's gonna buy the house.

00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:31.519
Well, it's not going to older retired people, you know.

00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:32.160
Oh, okay.

00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:35.839
Well, it's not going to anybody who can't climb stairs, you know.

00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:36.720
Right.

00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:37.440
Yeah.

00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:44.559
So everything else, as far as the G seeing, like our subs did a pretty good job.

00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:49.279
Mike at that point and had had most of them for, you know, at least two projects.

00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:53.680
Like our main group of subs who does the flooring, the painting, the tiling, all of that.

00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:55.119
Those guys were good.

00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:00.240
We found a new plumber because we had been through a couple during our other two flips.

00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:01.519
So we had we found a new guy.

00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.559
Mike really liked him.

00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.759
He did good work.

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.519
The electrician, we still did okay.

00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:09.680
And then HVAC was okay.

00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:12.240
But by then, it was like we had had enough experience.

00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:16.319
So things moved a little bit more smoothly through the renovation.

00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:23.359
It was just, yeah, the size of the house, and then putting that much into it.

00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:29.119
There's five bedrooms, like seven toilets, you know, six baths, something like that.

00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:30.960
So it adds up.

00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.680
And then the exterior space, we also took this lot.

00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:42.559
It was a very flat lot, which was really nice because up on the mountain, a lot of the houses are like on a brow and they don't have much of a yard.

00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:47.920
And so this house had this great lot, but it had no boundaries around the edges.

00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:52.079
So it was like on a highway with these little cabins in the back.

00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.480
So we added a fenced-in yard for kids, dogs.

00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:59.440
I found a great landscape designer.

00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.920
She did great for like 500 bucks.

00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:09.759
She gave me a beautiful design with like, here's all the plants, you know, that are native up there, low maintenance.

00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:22.079
We went through a few landscapers, and then we did this like really beautiful, because there's these little tiny, they're long-term cabins, they're not short-term cabins, but long-term cabins in the back.

00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:27.680
And so when you're walking out the back living room, you basically stare right at this cabin.

00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:38.160
And so when we had bought the house, she had this brick patio with like eight foot, 10-foot brick around it, kind of felt like you were in a walking into a prison cell.

00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:39.440
So it was really weird.

00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:45.839
She had a hot tub back there, and then you have this huge yard, but it wasn't really usable.

00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:51.119
So we took the brick down to like so you could see like the view.

00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:51.599
Yeah.

00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:55.599
Yeah, but then yeah, but the view was staring at this cabin.

00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:59.839
So we added a wall, like a stucco wall brick.

00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:06.079
And stuccoed it and then added like a little formal garden that walked into the side yard.

00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:12.480
I mean, we probably spent, you know, 80,000 on the yard, all new sauna, irrigation, drip systems.

00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.319
So lots of new things for us.

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:18.480
I think the other thing is my husband and I want to build our own house one day.

00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.240
And so we were kind of using this as like a practice house of like what would we want to do?

00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:23.119
Yeah.

00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:23.599
Yeah.

00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:24.799
And we did learn a lot.

00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:25.599
We learned a lot.

00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:35.839
I've never done a brick, you know, stucco wall outside, but it was actually surprisingly easy-ish to do and added a, it was just absolutely gorgeous.

00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:39.519
So my realtor ended up, she was great.

00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:46.000
She would come pop in and give her, you know, her advice and just thoughts on materials and things.

00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:56.319
And I ended up the stager, the woman who staged the house, she was involved for the last like probably four or five months because it, you know, it takes forever to get those last things off.

00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:01.759
But she was the one I ended up whenever I would have like, okay, is it this wallpaper or this wallpaper?

00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.519
What do you think about this color or this color?

00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:05.359
And I would ask my stager for free.

00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.440
And she would, she gave great advice.

00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:18.319
So next time around, I'm like, I just I would hire someone as a like on an hourly consulting, you know, basis, like help me pick out these five finishes.

00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:18.960
Yeah.

00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:20.480
So that was really great.

00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:22.559
Kind of building that little team.

00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.079
In general, you know, my husband and I work together pretty good.

00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.880
We still, you know, we have young kids and there's a lot.

00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:38.400
It's it's a lot to add on to a relationship when you're you know, and so I've tried to have more like roles for each one of us.

00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:40.799
Like you, this is your job and this is my job.

00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:41.759
Yeah, absolutely.

00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:43.119
Defining the roles.

00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:49.200
And so I'm not stepping on his toes, you know, he knows way more about construction than I do.

00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:57.599
So I just kind of come in and I'm like, this is more practical, or this is, you know, I kind of give feedback on his design.

00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:04.319
But he taught himself how to use um like SketchUp and he designed the entire house on his computer.

00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:11.039
So every angle, every room, yeah, lots and lots of hours he spent designing it.

00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:12.960
So yeah, it was pretty incredible.

00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:16.799
I mean, I am thinking about it now, like, yeah, it was pretty amazing.

00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:27.519
But in the last two years, as some people might have imagined, you know, prices have changed a little bit, especially in the luxury market.

00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:34.880
So, according to our numbers, as we were going along, we were looking at price per square foot and comps that were selling.

00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:41.680
So once we were kind of going into okay, what are we gonna put this house on the market for?

00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:44.640
We got a little cocky, I'd say.

00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.759
And there were some comps that could support it.

00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:53.920
And if we had time to leave the house on the market, I think we could have maybe gotten gotten the price we wanted.

00:32:54.079 --> 00:32:58.319
We put it on the market at 2 million, like 1.99 or something like that.

00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:07.200
Yeah, it was did I miss anything from like the reno or trying to think of if there's anything else kind of from that timeline?

00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:14.079
I think the next big sort of hurdles and challenges are going through with putting it on the market and then getting it sold.

00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:14.480
Yeah.

00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:15.039
Yeah.

00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.200
So you listed it like 1.9.

00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:17.920
Right.

00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:19.200
What happened with that?

00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:25.519
Or like did when did you what made you make the decision to do like a price adjustment or anything like that?

00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:29.839
So we put it on at one point, yeah, like nine five.

00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:40.559
Two weeks later, we got an offer for 1.85 from a realtor who does a lot of work up on the mountain.

00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:47.440
And he had been to the house with my designer who told us she was bringing a quote friend by.

00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:49.119
So she brings this guy in.

00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:56.640
He's actually, I'm sure you've heard there's certain places where there's certain people that are just he's the guy up there.

00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:59.680
He does a lot of, he does a lot of transactions up there.

00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:04.640
He's also one of the most difficult person, like not nice.

00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:07.279
They usually those usually go hand in hand.

00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:08.719
Yeah.

00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:09.280
Yeah.

00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:12.480
And so he came in, the house wasn't even done yet.

00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:20.400
The like he could not see all the level of finishes that we were doing, and he started like throwing numbers out there to us.

00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:24.079
We already had a realtor, but he wasn't our representing realtor.

00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:34.079
So I don't know if he had a grudge against us about that, but it was just kind of weird to us that he was throwing out these numbers to us, even though he didn't see the quality and level of the finish.

00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:34.639
Right.

00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:38.719
So we kind of had a weird feeling about him in general.

00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.639
And just the way that he was talking, he's kind of derogatory about things and people.

00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:45.679
He was just like kind of not a not a great like dude to talk to.

00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:47.920
You're just ooh, please.

00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:48.400
Yes.

00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:49.039
Yeah.

00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:53.280
So when he brought us that offer, we didn't negotiate.

00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:56.639
We just said this is our asking price at 1.95.

00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:03.360
And he sent back a nasty message as oh, they, you know, should have learned their lesson, and you'll, you know, blah, blah, blah.

00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:03.840
I don't know.

00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:05.360
I don't know exactly.

00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:09.679
We are he had their opinions, real and their opinions.

00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:11.519
Yeah, he does this with everybody.

00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:13.119
He's kind of nasty to everybody.

00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.599
Everybody works with him, has had a story.

00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:18.239
So we say thanks, but no, no, thanks.

00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:19.519
Like, we're just going on the market.

00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:21.519
We're just going into spring season.

00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:23.360
Like, we're just going into summertime.

00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:25.039
So then it was crickets.

00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:26.480
After that, it was crickets.

00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:28.159
We didn't get another offer.

00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:29.599
We went into spring.

00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:33.920
I didn't want to change, I didn't want to lower the price till at least like June.

00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:36.880
So I wanted it to sit on the market for a while.

00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:38.239
And so we let it sit.

00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:41.760
And our carrying costs per month were about$10,000.

00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:42.800
Maybe nine.

00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:44.000
All the loans.

00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:44.239
Yeah.

00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:49.360
And the staging was expensive to stage it, completely staged.

00:35:49.599 --> 00:36:02.239
So that was the other thing is we didn't have that contingency sitting in a bank account, you know,$60,000 in case it had in case it sits on the market for six months.

00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:03.199
I thought, no way.

00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.119
Like this house is so beautiful.

00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:05.920
It's so perfect.

00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:07.519
In the summertime, it's gonna sell.

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.440
So we did our first price reduction in June.

00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:17.519
And then come July, it was like we were getting, we were getting a little worried.

00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:27.119
And we were thinking, we okay, so also the hard money loan lender that I had gone with, we had a one-year loan with them.

00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:29.280
It was not a six-month loan, it was a one-year loan.

00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:33.119
So one year with them was right when we were going on the market, basically.

00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:35.599
So we did an extension, we did an extension with them.

00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:36.320
No big deal.

00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:37.119
No big deal.

00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:41.840
So then come time we did a second extension with them.

00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.920
I never asked how many extensions would you do?

00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:46.960
I never asked.

00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:55.519
So in July, it was like they were telling us, okay, in August, we will not be doing another extension.

00:36:56.079 --> 00:37:00.159
And so our loan would be due August like 26th or something.

00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:05.199
So come the end of July was, and we had, you know,$800,000.

00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:07.679
And I like, I'm good, but I'm not that good.

00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:09.519
I can't just come up with$800K.

00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:10.800
Like we could have.

00:37:11.519 --> 00:37:13.440
So we were thinking, okay, what are our options?

00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:13.599
Right?

00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:15.519
What are what are the different things we could do?

00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:19.280
So we looked at keeping it as an Airbnb because of the county it was in.

00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:20.800
It's like right.

00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:25.760
You can't do Airbnbs in most of Lookout Mountain, but you can do it in the county we were in.

00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.039
So we had talked to it.

00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:31.440
We found a different lender who, and also getting it, it was still on the market.

00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:34.480
So we would have had to take it off the market and refinance it.

00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:42.960
We would have been able to pay off all our big loans, but then still had a few smaller loans and then furnish the house and all that stuff.

00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:44.800
So it's a whole big deal.

00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:47.039
So we did have a background, right?

00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:47.679
Not ideal.

00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:55.119
So we're like, or we knew our margins were still good enough that, like, if we could just sell this house, then we'll be fine, you know.

00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:58.480
So we we brought it down to I think 1.85.

00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:06.480
And my realtor, we told her, you know, hey, like, go talk to XYZ, the realtor up there and see, you know.

00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:10.639
So she did, and he's like, Oh, well, you know, she said, Oh, hey, blah, blah, blah.

00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:13.280
You gonna, you know, let me know if you have any buyers.

00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:16.559
And he's like, Uh, your seller's gonna be more realistic.

00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:20.159
So high, the price is too high, blah, blah, blah.

00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:24.480
And um, she's like, you know, I think they're they're open.

00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:27.519
And so yeah, he brought us another deal.

00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.559
It was a cash offer for 1.7.

00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:36.800
And so at that point, we looked at our numbers and we're just like, okay, what are we gonna accept?

00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:37.280
Right.

00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:39.599
Not what do we want, what will we take?

00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:40.000
Yeah.

00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:42.719
We said, okay, let's come down a little bit.

00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:50.400
So I think we went back at like 1.75 and set maybe we negotiated from like 1.8.

00:38:50.719 --> 00:38:54.159
We they ended up, we went under contract with them at 1.75.

00:38:54.239 --> 00:38:57.199
So that's what I think that's what we ended up with.

00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:58.880
That's what it sold for.

00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:05.039
Now we had to deal with this very fun realtor during that period of time.

00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:05.360
Yeah.

00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:11.599
They took, you know, they did their home.

00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:14.559
It was the house went under contract.

00:39:14.960 --> 00:39:19.599
It was a cash offer, but contingent on appraisal and inspection.

00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:21.119
They did their inspection.

00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:25.599
Another thing we could have done in that meantime of that six months was done our own inspection.

00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:28.079
We hadn't been in the crawl space in probably a couple months.

00:39:28.239 --> 00:39:32.000
So when they did their inspection, they found a lot of humidity in the crawl space.

00:39:32.239 --> 00:39:35.920
We encapsulated the whole crawl space and added a dehumidifier.

00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:38.400
Um, so that was like six thousand dollars.

00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:45.760
And the humidity when they installed the flooring on the whole first floor, the humidity was too high.

00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:48.880
And so we had put in hardwoods and the hardwoods like cupped.

00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:49.119
Yeah.

00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:58.719
So we ended up giving them like a$10,000 concession for the flooring, which was our bad, was on our end.

00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:03.199
So got through that process, but he tried to pull out like one more time.

00:40:03.280 --> 00:40:12.559
He tried to say that the homeowners were having a difficult time getting home insurance for it because the home had had previous insurance claims on it.

00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:19.280
And we immediately, I'm like, I've since, because of our new company, I've since joined a BI.

00:40:19.519 --> 00:40:33.280
And I would say that has been one of the best things that we've done is joined a BI because I now have access to a plumber who will show up tomorrow, an electrician who will show up tomorrow, a basement guy who came and saved our butts.

00:40:33.440 --> 00:40:35.039
You know, I have insurance people.

00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:41.039
I call and within a few hours, she had me a quote and said, No, the home is insurable.

00:40:41.199 --> 00:40:43.440
Yes, it's expensive because the home is very expensive.

00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:45.840
And so it's an expensive giant home.

00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:46.400
Yes.

00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:52.880
So he tried to add that, like at the end of his appraisal period or that two-week window or whatever.

00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:58.880
Yeah, that the house was now contingent upon them finding insurance, insurance, yeah.

00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:02.000
And so no, we've already negotiated, we're good.

00:41:02.159 --> 00:41:09.760
Yeah, no, my realtor was like, uh no, you went, you made a cash offer, you know, and we did have other backup, like we had other people who were interested.

00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:12.320
We were gonna be, you know, we would have kept it, blah, blah, blah.

00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:16.400
So he ended up coming back the next day and they agreed to it.

00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:18.800
And they did close, they closed on time.

00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:21.199
Um, we didn't have any problems.

00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:36.400
And then, yeah, once we closed, then the new owner actually, you know, reached out to us and we're now talking to him, and he's very, very, very appreciative and feels like the house was made for his family, and they've been so lovely about yes.

00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:41.119
So glad we don't have to deal with his realtor.

00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:42.719
Hopefully, I know it's funny.

00:41:42.960 --> 00:41:48.719
I tell people like, I really feel like real estate and being in real estate has made me a better person.

00:41:48.960 --> 00:41:58.639
Because, like, sometimes I'm like, you just have to play well with somebody in the sandbox, even if they're not your people, they give you the ick, but like we have to get this done.

00:41:58.800 --> 00:42:03.519
So, how do I, you know, just maintain professionalism and move it forward?

00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:09.039
Yeah, I totally, yeah, it's not fun all the time, but like I like I said, I think it's made me a better person.

00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:18.800
Well, because it also like it, and now I it goes into my personal life too, where I'm like, okay, like this isn't my favorite person, but like, you know, I need we we need to work together.

00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:19.840
Yeah, great.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.400
So, like that sounds like it kind of ended well.

00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:31.039
So, you know, after all the dust settled and everything, do you have like a rough figure of how much you guys profited and walked away with?

00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:33.840
It's around 200,000.

00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:36.719
It's yeah, numbers are still rough.

00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:41.920
We're still we're still figuring, I don't know if we'll ever figure it out, but it was somewhere, it was somewhere around that.

00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:52.079
And it was like the hard part too, is like if we had taken that first offer, you know, that would have been an additional 150k we lost because we didn't take that first offer with the holding costs, yeah.

00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:58.480
So yeah, but 200 is not nothing, and it's allowed us to move into our next project.

00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:00.320
So oh, that's awesome.

00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:03.519
Yeah, so lots of lessons learned.

00:43:03.679 --> 00:43:05.119
Like that's great.

00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:07.119
Yeah, and I like to tell people it's kind of funny.

00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:21.679
I I in coaching, I hear that a lot where investors are like, Well, I could have had this and I lost it, and then like I try to change mind frame there to, you know, you didn't technically lose it because you didn't have it, um, but it still hurts, right?

00:43:21.920 --> 00:43:26.559
Like you feel like what we could have done, you know, we could okay, yeah, I totally get that.

00:43:26.639 --> 00:43:36.079
But 200,000, like walking away with that after that, like a huge project and some of the things that you had to overcome is absolutely incredible.

00:43:36.239 --> 00:43:40.639
So, and you made a beautiful, I mean, I've seen the pictures, it gorgeous house.

00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:45.360
Like, I'm so glad that the family that moved into it loves it because it's beautiful.

00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:46.079
Thank you.

00:43:46.239 --> 00:43:49.199
Yeah, it it was an incredible project.

00:43:49.440 --> 00:43:52.159
And I'm glad, I'm like, I'm grateful we went through it.

00:43:52.320 --> 00:44:07.519
It's like one of those, I don't know if I'm gonna do it again, but this process of raising capital, especially this much capital, like the project that Mike and I are now doing, we bought five territories of a franchise.

00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:14.559
So when they're asking, like, oh, you know, you're gonna need 250K for that, it's like, I gotcha, don't worry.

00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:17.039
Like, we'll figure, we can figure this out, you know.

00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:22.320
I also I have a partner who's very supportive, who's very helpful.

00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:26.000
He he's good with he's better with numbers than I am.

00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:33.360
And so the other thing is just like learning to rely on a lot of other people and asking for help and building a team.

00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:36.239
It's so you can't do it by yourself, you know.

00:44:36.719 --> 00:44:37.840
Yeah, 100%.

00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:48.880
And it's yeah, I tell people it's both humbling to me and also exciting in the fact when you learn that moment, like that I don't have to do everything.

00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:56.559
Um, and it actually works better for me to like hand off the things I'm not good at to somebody who is good at them.

00:44:56.719 --> 00:45:11.519
You know, I'm empowering them to shine in their area, and then it allows me to shine in my areas and not be like really frustrated and sad because I can't get something that's, you know, should be really easy done and I can't.

00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:12.159
Well, cool.

00:45:12.239 --> 00:45:14.159
It's not your area of expertise.

00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:15.760
Give it over to the expert.

00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:17.280
Yeah, a hundred percent.

00:45:17.360 --> 00:45:18.559
And they need jobs, you know.

00:45:18.639 --> 00:45:28.239
These people, they need work, so you know, you giving them work is that's undervalued, I think, is being being the one that has work for people.

00:45:28.719 --> 00:45:29.679
Really valuable.

00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:30.320
Yeah.

00:45:30.559 --> 00:45:32.079
So it was fun.

00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:33.280
It was a lot.

00:45:33.440 --> 00:45:34.239
It was a lot.

00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:43.199
I feel a little bit of, you know, there's a little like I don't want to say PTSD, but these projects, they take so much time, energy, emotion.

00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:45.119
It takes a little bit to like recover.

00:45:45.280 --> 00:45:48.320
I feel like yeah, still recovering from this one.

00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:59.440
But I'm like, I know this these again, this like the skill set that you're learning to like analyze a deal and to add value to something and to know what the value is gonna be when you're done.

00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:06.960
It just, it's so the skill set applies across so many other different avenues in the world in your life.

00:46:07.039 --> 00:46:14.960
And so just so, so, so thankful for all of you and the coaches in this program because yeah, it's changed, it's changed our life.

00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:27.440
Mike, you know, Mike was a firefighter, I was a teacher, and then we got out of the W-2 world, and now we're trying to, you know, flipping, not rely all of our income on flipping, but have a another active income source and then flip on the side.

00:46:27.519 --> 00:46:29.599
So that's kind of the plan now.

00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.000
Oh, yay! Like that is so amazing.

00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:37.360
And I'm getting all the feels because like I, those are the stories that like I live for and I love, you know.

00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:43.519
So thank you so much for like hanging out with me and sharing our your story with our listeners.

00:46:43.760 --> 00:46:48.800
I hope everybody that's listening made it to like just that last phrase there is like so worth it.

00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:55.440
Uh, just to hear how you can use flipping to like completely change your family's life is incredible.

00:46:56.159 --> 00:47:03.840
So, for all you listeners out there, thank you so much for joining us today on the Flip Houses Like a Girl podcast.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:09.199
I hope you found some inspiration and practical takeaways from Diana's story.

00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:16.320
Remember, every successful flip starts with one brave decision to get in the game, and you don't have to do it alone.

00:47:16.480 --> 00:47:22.639
If you're ready to take the next step towards flipping your first house, we'd love for you to learn more about the Flip Sisters program.

00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:32.320
It is the leading coaching program and community design specifically for women across the country who are ready to flip houses in their local markets.

00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:42.559
To connect with us, check out the program, or just get inspired by more stories like this one, visit us at www.theflipsisters.com.

00:47:42.800 --> 00:47:50.719
And as always, thank you for listening, subscribing, and sharing this podcast with other women who are ready to step into the world of flipping houses.

00:47:50.960 --> 00:47:58.000
Until next time, keep going, keep growing, and remember, you can absolutely do this.