Crushing Her First Flip in Expensive, Competitive Denver Market w/Emily Gordon

Unknown Speaker  0:01  
You're listening to the flip houses like a girl podcast where we educate, empower and celebrate everyday women who are facing their fears, juggling family and business, embracing their awesomeness and wholeheartedly chasing their dream of flipping houses. Each episode delivers the honest to goodness tools, tips and strategies you can implement today to get closer to your first or next successful house flip. Here's your spiky haired breakfast taco loving host house flipping Coach Debbie DeBerry.

Unknown Speaker  0:38  
Hey there. Thanks for hanging out with me today, I've got an interview with one of my students who successfully just flipped her first house in the Denver area. So I'm super excited to share that with you. We'll get into that in just a minute. First, I want to do a listener shout out. Thank you for taking the time to share reviews give ratings, it helps our podcast land in more women's hands. So thanks so much, you guys. Alright, this review is by Angie T. 101. She said, I love how Debbie asks all the questions, not just the successes, but the struggles to each episode is packed with useful information from real house flipping experiences. I've been listening for the past year and still can't wait for the next episode. Thank you, Debbie. Thank you, Angie, I'm so grateful for you for taking the time out to let me know that what we're up to here matters. So thanks so much. All right, you guys. Without further ado, let's jump into this conversation with Emily Gordon from Denver, Colorado. We're going to talk about all kinds of things about her first flip. And she's also in the middle of her second flip. And she shares at least six tips that you're going to want to be writing down. All right. So if you're driving, don't write, but listen, and then come back and listen again, when you can write some notes. All right, it's that good. All right, here we go. Okay, so let's start by introducing yourself telling us a little bit where you are a little bit about you, like, Where are you in the world? And, um, maybe a little bit of your background. And if you're like working or what you're what you've been up to recently. Cool. I'm

Unknown Speaker  2:33  
Emily Gordon. Um, I so a little background, I recently went through a divorce. Like when I was 48. So a few years ago, and basically hadn't worked in 20 years. I have three kids, all teenagers now. I'm big into sports, lots of travel for them. So, you know, I was a stay at home mom and I just did all the carting my kids to hockey every morning, he always played hockey, my dad is basketball. So hockey every morning before school, and then travel out of state for both boys and, you know, for my daughter, so then a 48 got divorced. It was kind of like, Okay, what am I gonna do? Right? So I ended up getting my real estate license.

Unknown Speaker  3:22  
I want to ask, was that like, did it was that a scary? What am I gonna do? Or was it kind of like a freeing? What am I gonna do? Or maybe a combination of both?

Unknown Speaker  3:31  
Yeah, it was a combination of both. Honestly, it was freeing on the side of, you know, the divorce. I'm done with it. So that was free. But yeah, scary in that. I haven't been in the workforce for 20, you know, almost 20 years? And what am I gonna do what I'm gonna have to, you know, support my kids eventually. And crazy. So I have, you know, several friends that are in real estate, and someone who said, you know, Hey, get your real estate license, I think you'd be great. So I did it. And I did the, you know, quick, whatever, six week course or whatever it is, did that. Thank god pass the test the first time, right? No idea how. And so did that for a little bit. And then COVID hit because it was, you know, shortly after COVID hit and so I was kind of, and then the person I was working with, sorry to back up a little bit. The person I was working for, just kind of went off the radar. And it was like, okay, no guidance. I'm totally new at this. I've no idea. Plus, I wasn't totally 100% passionate about the real estate side of it. I i've been passionate about and I looked into in the past when I was married, actually looked into the flipping side of it. And my ex husband was like, Oh, we don't have that kind of money. We can't do that and you can't, how would you do that? And so, you know, I just kind of like okay, I guess I won't do that. Um, you know, fast forward to getting the real estate license. Realizing, hey, this isn't exactly what I want to do COVID hits and then I had seen a thing about staging. And I thought, well, maybe that'd be a good compliment, because I'm really into the interior design, you know, that part of it and, and like wanting the house to look the way I think it should look, you know,

Unknown Speaker  5:21  
I took a

Unknown Speaker  5:24  
course to get my certification in staging. So I did that. So now I'm like, Okay, I have my real estate license and my staging, staging certification. Now, what do I do? So I'm Driving through the neighborhood with fast forward dating my boyfriend, and we dive into his neighborhood, and we see someone that's flipping a house, you know, clearly has to be they've got a dumpster outside, and you know, all this construction going on. And I'm like, that's what we're talking about it. And I was just saying, I don't know what I want to do with this real estate license. And we were driving up and it was like an epiphany or something, because that's crazy, right? Like, I got chills. Yeah. And I'm like, that's what I want to do. Like, I would love to flip houses, but I have no idea how. And my boyfriend was doing a podcast, he had his own podcast. And so he's like, why don't you start doing some research so that you can find them like, Oh, that's brilliant podcast. So I started Googling. I think I told you this. When we first talked that I started Googling podcasts. And like women, you know, women doing house flipping, and I came across yours over time, so I was walking my dogs all the time, and just started listening to your podcast, and I think I listened like three or four, maybe not even that many. And then I heard your advertisement about the course. Yeah. And I was like, What the heck, I'm just gonna do it. You know? And I was nervous. And I know you of course, it's like you don't know. And there's courses out there that are way, way, way, way, way more expensive than yours. Yes. And I'd already invested, you know, my real estate license, I'd invested in this staging thing. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, I hope this isn't. Yeah. You know, no,

Unknown Speaker  7:04  
no, you don't, you know, no, I

Unknown Speaker  7:06  
totally get that everyone thinks it's a scam. Or, potentially be Yeah, exactly. Oh, I get it. That's, I mean, I totally get that. Absolutely. And I'm, I buy coaching programs, too. And so I feel the same way. It's like, I'm gonna click a button. And you never know if it's going to be like they say, or if it's not,

Unknown Speaker  7:26  
yeah, I completely get that. But I can wholeheartedly say and no, Debbie did not pay me for this endorsement. I'm like, that is the best investment I've truly I truly mean that from my my heart best investment I made in myself,

Unknown Speaker  7:42  
Oh, my God, that like, seriously, that's gonna make me cry. No, I really did it because it is an investment in yourself. And I see that as every person who does that. It's that's a, it's a big deal. And it's you saying, I trust myself, which is huge. It's so huge for us to trust ourselves. Right? Like,

Unknown Speaker  8:02  
I'm worth it to take this investment. And that's amazing. Well, thank you for saying that. Of course, of course. And I truly do mean that. And, you know, it's it's getting past those negative thoughts, like with my ex husband, who, how would you do that? How could you do that? You know, we're, like, whatever. And so you just gave me the confidence. And I your course, is amazing. And just love how step by step it is. And it's just taking work out of it really does.

Unknown Speaker  8:32  
Trying to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to do that. Awesome. Good. Thank you so much. I love hearing that.

Unknown Speaker  8:37  
Yeah. So that's kind of I mean, that's my story. And then I just, I started going through the modules, and then kind of went tried to go as much as I could step by step and, you know, came up with my target, or target audience, Target, you know, neighborhoods and that kind of thing. And then I started calling wholesalers and started calling, you know, the hard money lenders and doing all that stuff.

Unknown Speaker  9:00  
And so that you just did it like, but that's huge. You because the way you're saying it, you're just like, I mean, I just started calling them and started doing it. It takes some people so long to get to that point, right? Like, we build things up so much in our minds, like,

Unknown Speaker  9:15  
Oh my gosh, making that first call and we build it up, and then we do it. And it's like, that was not as bad. Why did I put that off for so long? Well, you have such I mean, not only do you have your amazing course you offer, but then you've got all the extras like with the Facebook group and the weekly calls and all that stuff. And I apologize that I've been on lately just because you're busy with it. Yeah. But um, but that's amazing. Because it just gives you so many different ways of looking at things and like, you know, someone will say, well, everybody's new, you got to start somewhere and I started that's what I would do. I pick up the phone and I would just pick it up before I came in thinking I would call like hard money lender and it's like, Okay, if I'm gonna sound like an idiot and I know what I'm talking about, even though I've got your whole list of questions, You got to start somewhere. And there's everybody's so nice. And they're impressed with Oh, wow, you know a lot about this. But it's That's awesome. all your questions.

Unknown Speaker  10:10  
Those questions alone, like, you know what you're talking about? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I love it was scary once you get awesome. That's amazing. Okay, so you're you're going through, you're doing the things. And then you looked at a couple properties. And then maybe it was maybe like the third property that you looked at?

Unknown Speaker  10:33  
Yeah, I mean, I had because I have my license my real estate, like, I did look at a few vacant homes on my own too. But I mean, it's crazy. I'm sure, you know, the market is crazy Denver. I know, crazy. And, like, I'd looked at one property, they can property and I think they had like 23 offers. Yeah. And, you know, over ask and cash off, you know, and stuff like that, that I couldn't deal with? And so, um, but yeah, it so I did look at I don't know, maybe, I don't know, six properties? and not many. I mean, it's really not know, any, yeah, that's a combination of maybe eight. If I say that the combination of like the MLS, the low hanging fruits. And like wholesalers, yeah, I'm pretty much working with one wholesaler totally hit it off with the person that I work with. He's amazing. And he's so cool. Because he was like, you know, I would go look at something that was kind of out of my, you know, territory of where I should get to that I've kind of decided I want to stick to. And he said, You know, I would voice him like, Oh, this feels like a lot. And it's kind of I don't know, if it's good for me. And my first one. And that's what I love about him is he is like, you know what, you're right. Like, I don't think this is one for you. It's a little more involved. And you would kind of steer me away from things that might be a little too much. I'm really glad to hear that. JOHN is so great. And yeah, he'll like he's to the point where and you know, like this, we're on our second one that we got our second property with him as well. And, you know, he's like, Yeah, I don't even bother sending you stuff. Like some of the things because he knows it's not in the wheelhouse of what you know, I want to do.

Unknown Speaker  12:18  
It's so funny, because I just sent a text to one of my wholesalers earlier this week, and I was like, What's up, man? Like, I haven't heard from you. Did you forget about me? And he's like, No, it's just the numbers are not good. And I'm not going to send you those because you send me responses that are like, no, no. Which is Yeah, yeah, right. Right. Right. Yeah. Don't send me the fluff. I appreciate it. But don't forget about me either. Forget. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, awesome. So you got your first one through wholesaler, let's go through like the details of that one, like the purchase price renovation budget, the timeline, which was like, negative seven days, it was so fast. And then that, like, let's just talk about the details of that, would you would you pay for that one?

Unknown Speaker  13:04  
So we paid around 321,000? Okay. Um, rehab was about 28,000. Wow, that's so low.

Unknown Speaker  13:17  
Yeah. Isn't that crazy? It's okay, to get on our second one, too.

Unknown Speaker  13:23  
I'm excited about our budget. So um, yeah, then sale price was 414,000. So you have profit of just a little under 30.

Unknown Speaker  13:37  
That's amazing. And not just that, the timeline?

Unknown Speaker  13:41  
Yeah. So literally, it was like three and a half weeks from close to, like when we put it on the market. That's crazy. Yeah. And we and in retrospect, I know we probably would get to this later, but maybe I'll jump ahead if you don't mind. But I go for it. In retrospect, it's funny, because that's one of the things like as a new real estate agent as well, you know, I'm totally new to that to some kind of like figuring my way out there. I would have waited a little bit because we had that really deep freeze. I don't know if you remember hearing Oh, like negative, I don't know, 10 or something.

Unknown Speaker  14:19  
But it was cold.

Unknown Speaker  14:21  
And we we decided let's get it we were just anxious to get it on the market. So we put it on the market on that Friday. And it was like, you know, negative temperatures but it's sold in four days. So Wow, there was you know, I guess in retrospect wasn't bad, but I would have pushed it and waited till the next weekend when it was nicer, nicer weather.

Unknown Speaker  14:41  
It's so hard. It's so hard because when you're done it's like just I want to put it out there. I just want to know I want to know I want to know. Yeah. The house is like you did amazing. It is so freakin cute. It is so cute. Um, and I so many people have posted on on because I shared it. Yes, yeah. And so many people have talked about it. Yeah. You did such an awesome job. Thank you. You're welcome. So did you were you the GC?

Unknown Speaker  15:11  
Okay, so just to back up a little bit, so I ended up partnering with my boyfriend. And, you know, he he was kind of he was very hesitant. He was the one who said, it was kind of after the second deal that I was looking into, I was like, cuz I'm kind of funding the rehab part of it and the downpayment myself and was stressed out about that. And he's like, Well, how about, you know, I know, I want this, I you want this to be your baby. I want it to be your baby. But maybe we could partner and I could bring some money to the table. I was like, hallelujah. I mean, it's funny. It didn't even dawn on me. Like, it wasn't even a consideration of, you know, talking to him about it. No, see a contractor. Somebody does Oh, no, um, he has military about former navy seal. So he's just very like he was the platoon commander. Oh, yeah. I love it. No, oh, yeah. Yeah, regimented with the scheduling. But he is very, very handy. I mean, he's done a ton of stuff on his own house and just handy. Like, you know, he's like, well, I can't figure it out. I'll look it up on YouTube and figure it out, you know, yeah, installed a hot water heater, because you look up on YouTube. You know. So anyway, so that, you know, again, it was kind of a surprise, but it worked out great. And it's great, because we both bring different things to the table. And he like, number one, he brought his friend to the table, who is our, basically our GC, but he's kind of a jack of all trades, but we kind of oversaw the whole process. And we were very involved. I mean, like, we demoed, we, you know, helped with cutting tie. I mean, I should say my boyfriend did most of it, but I did figure it out. Right, you supervised every site needs a supervisor. Yes, yes. Yes, sir. Nobody cuts the finger off or something. Right. So but it was great. I mean, I, I really loved that part of it. Like being totally symbolic. We were there every single day from like, seven in the morning till eight at night. I mean, just the whole process, which is great, because then it lets you see how everything works. And then the next one, you can see, okay, well, this works. This wasn't so great. Or you know,

Unknown Speaker  17:33  
exactly, yes. There's so much learning in the doing and in the watching.

Unknown Speaker  17:41  
learning curve. It's Yes, yeah, totally. But yeah, so basically, it was kind of the three of us that worked on it. And our contractor pretty much did everything. The only thing we did set out the hardwood floors that we had refinished.

Unknown Speaker  17:57  
Yeah, we're so fast. I'm just so I'm so impressed with how quickly you got through that three and a half weeks like that's really impressive. Yeah, on a first flip,

Unknown Speaker  18:06  
let's press it with a little a little house but you know, still I mean, it just everything lined up. It was great because Cade was very good, my boyfriend about just keeping the contractors like we said, okay, here's here's what you said. You can do this on Tuesday, Wednesday, you'll be done by Thursday like with our paint, and they're like Yep, and held to it. I mean, every we were lucky in that everyone was great with the timeline and they stuck to it.

Unknown Speaker  18:31  
I love it. So yeah, that's awesome. Were there any Were there any surprises in the in the renovation? Like did anything come up?

Unknown Speaker  18:42  
I mean, it just yeah, it was it was straightforward cosmetic luckily didn't run into anything. You know major. The only thing that did happen which is when we do put it on the market and that freeze that we had one of the agents called me he's like hey, I just wanted to let you know i just showed your property and there's a pipe that looks like it's burst outside and there's water spraying oh geez I hate that phone call turned off the water or so we thought but it was it was the sprinkling system so think it was this is an external pipe for the sprinkler it didn't do any damage you know, we got over there was like or the place luckily was like 20 minutes from our house. got over there. And that's what it was. And we didn't you know, didn't want us to double check like okay, the sprinkler beats out over that. We just assumed it was done right for now. Good learning lesson like mixer. The system's blown out.

Unknown Speaker  19:41  
Oh my gosh. Oh, I can't imagine getting that phone call. Wait, what?

Unknown Speaker  19:46  
Water over lovely hardwood. Oh, but thank God it did not you know,

Unknown Speaker  19:55  
I have I have received phone calls like that where Water, like the the sink, the kitchen sink, the drain lines weren't installed properly. And so water was somehow something with the dishwasher. It's been a it's been a couple years. I can't remember. But it was all flooding out and going underneath the flooring, and it was just like the worst. Yeah, that's awful. I hate those. I hate those. And it's always on the ones that you like, have been a pain in the butt along the way. And then you're like, Oh, my God, just get me out of this freaking house. Yes, yeah. Um, okay. And so you found it through a wholesaler? Let's talk about financing. I know. You said you put up some of your own cash for the most of it. Did you use a hard money lender for that? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  20:45  
So I probably interviewed no joke like 15 hard money lenders. Good for you. Yeah, I started with your list that you have in the course. And I just kind of started going down the list. And yeah, you know, everybody is has little differences here and there. And you find out the little nuances and, and I really like the one I went here, locally in Denver, I think they have maybe Texas and Arizona too, but just great. And, you know, was so nice with me knowing you know, this is my first and learning everything about it. And we went to him on the second project and there so we basically we had like two or three days overlapping with the two loans because we we unfortunately had to buy the next property before closing. So if you're please, please

Unknown Speaker  21:38  
get this off the books

Unknown Speaker  21:40  
worked out. And it's really cool, because our hard money lender has teamed up with Home Depot. So now there's, you know, cool discounts there. So I'm like, Oh, nice. Yeah, it's, that's a lot of savings. It actually adds up to be a lot of savings. He does, like we just bought our appliances for the second flip. And it's huge like this. Awesome. Like, it's a price of probably over a dishwasher that we say like, yeah,

Unknown Speaker  22:07  
that's huge. That's amazing. What's the lender?

Unknown Speaker  22:10  
It's capital fund one. So they're awesome. And yeah, great, because now we have that relationship. That's the thing too, I've learned through this process is how important and I know you've said this in you know, relationships are so important and just taking care of your people.

Unknown Speaker  22:26  
Yes, yes. Because if you take care of them, they're going to want to see you continue to do the thing and continue to be successful. So they're going to help you, you're going to get those calls of Hey, this property is coming with nobody else knows ya get ready, right? Yep. Yeah, exactly. Um, that's awesome. I love it. I'm so glad you had such a good experience with them, too. It's always nice to hear. Because I'm like, I just feel like when people come into this business, they are they assume all her hard money lenders are terrible. And all wholesalers are terrible. And that's just not the case. Yeah. Your boyfriend had the y'all used kind of a key contractor. It sounds like who did most of the stuff. Yeah. And then how did you? Did you guys have to find any subs or anything? And how did you do that? If you had to?

Unknown Speaker  23:22  
Yeah, well, that was another again, back to the relationships. We asked our wholesaler if he had any recommendations, because, I mean, I've done things to my own house personally. And I've used you know, lots of people, you know, setups like electricians, and plumbers and that kind of thing. But my guess was okay, these guys are gonna be pricier, a little bit pricier. And they were we ended up using my electrician who's done work at my house. And he's amazing, but I know his prices are a little bit higher. And the guy we've got on this current project does all the electrical too, so he's like, an all in one everything. So it's awesome. Yes. But yeah, we asked her wholesaler and he gave us a list of you know, he's like, I don't, I can't personally speak first. You know, so do your due diligence on these. But here's kind of our running list we have at the western of Yep. And so we kind of went down that list and you know, found a painter. And the one thing again, like, I'm probably jumping ahead, but like what we learned, yeah, definitely get two quotes at a minimum. Yes. quotes. Yes. Yeah. Which we didn't do on paper. Because we just, you know, we were like, sounds reasonable, you know, and I cried. I did look in our Facebook group to just to kind of see, hey, what, you know, does it seem reasonable and it seemed reasonable. But, um, you know, it's never a bad thing to get another quote and just see if we can get better.

Unknown Speaker  24:56  
Yep. Okay. And then Alright, so There weren't really any renovation surprises. What's your favorite part of the flip process? I have a feeling I know. But sometimes sometimes you, you guys surprise me with your answers. But what's your favorite part?

Unknown Speaker  25:14  
My favorite part is like picking out all the stuff. And the finishes and just like the vision of it. And like this one that we're working on now we cut out a wall to make it could the pass through from like the living room because when you walked in, it was kind of dark living room and cut it out kind of like we did it the first one and just opens it up so much more than the bright light from the kitchen comes in. And it's just Oh, it just it's it's I'm so excited for it. So, but yeah,

Unknown Speaker  25:44  
just I can't wait to see the vision of it and making it all come together. Yeah. Yeah, same, same. I love I'm addicted to that part. I totally get that. And that

Unknown Speaker  25:55  
was it was so fun. Caden, I would go I mean, like I said, we were there every day. And it was fun to see like the changes from Yes, where it started. And then the next day like, oh, the wall tiles up in the in the bathroom. Oh my gosh, it's the best it is. I mean, it really is so addictive. I love it so much teeny tiny bathroom, and you take all the green paint down and all the horrible tile they have up and you put up your white tile and it's just like, three times bigger, though. Oh, cool. It's fun to see the transformation.

Unknown Speaker  26:29  
When did you start the renovation on project two?

Unknown Speaker  26:33  
Okay, so we closed last Tuesday, because of this door. We were supposed to close on Monday and everything was closed. Nobody can get up their houses. Yeah, well, it's done Tuesday, they started demo Wednesday. Awesome. And they worked. his crew worked for five days. And it's insane. Like they have knocked everything down. They've dry walls, they've framed stuff out. I mean, it's ready to go. And he left to go or juicy left for Mexico, which we knew for two weeks for two weeks. So we're having hardwoods done starting tomorrow, like some of the stuff you know, then you can't be in the house anyway. So right, we're gonna keep it you know, keep the project going. Yeah, um, but, you know, again, we're kind of shooting for that same Well, not three, three and a half. It is a little because this is double the size. This is twice the size. It's Oh, wow, this is a four bedroom, two bath. It's about two little over 2000 square feet. Wow. So it's, you know, hoping for like six weeks Max?

Unknown Speaker  27:37  
Yeah, yeah. Um, is it also cosmetic in nature? Yes. It is. Nice. Yeah. And what are your numbers on that one? Are you thinking? Okay, so, we bought it for 495 we're thinking hopefully 35 maybe just a little over 35. Um, and then I'm hoping for like, 640 I mean, that's amazing. Well, 2000 square feet is in Denver, or

Unknown Speaker  28:11  
whatever it is. So it's a wow, old Stapleton if you know where that is. Yeah, so off of I 70. There. Yeah. So it's a cute, it's a great little area and grass. qL brick, you know, kind of bungalow a little bigger than bungalow, but just yeah, cute, great bones. Really,

Unknown Speaker  28:34  
well, you're gonna be out of that by the time I get there. So you're going to need to get flipped either three or four before July, please. We can do a meet up at your one of your Friday. Awesome. That's amazing. I am. I'm just I'm so excited for you. And I'm just so inspired because you, you did it. Like you just went and did the stuff that didn't feel comfortable. And the stuff that was scary, and you just did it. And that's like, it's all we can do is just go do it. Right? Like, it's all we can do. Um, okay, so leading me to what were some of your mindset blocks or maybe limiting beliefs that you might have had going into your first flip?

Unknown Speaker  29:26  
I'm like, Okay, can I really do this? And, gosh, what if I put all of my savings to this and it just takes you know, or we find I mean that's that is the scary thing of absent with a sailor is you don't get to inspect the property. So right. You get what you get. You don't throw a fit, you know? I say, can you tell I have three kids? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  29:54  
When my four year old came home from pre K, saying that I was like, Oh, I like this Pre k teacher like this? Yeah, yeah, we still say it seven years later.

Unknown Speaker  30:08  
But yes, still up. But yeah, so that can be a little scary. Yes. Good thing was, we did have our contractor walk the property was paid 150 bucks. Let's walk through it. And that was great because it taught me to like major things. Let's look for foundation. I mean, I know we've talked about this too, but it's great to see it firsthand like, foundation and roof. Windows, and you know, the big ticket items. Yes, that stuff. And if it's too crazy, then walk away.

Unknown Speaker  30:39  
Absolutely. There's so much like I even if somebody is not anywhere near ready to pull the trigger on a deal. I say I don't care, go to the showings, go rock properties with the contractor, go listen, and just get comfortable being in that space and thinking about numbers. And oh, this is what this would cost? And this is what I should look at. Yes. It's like that practice is invaluable for sure.

Unknown Speaker  31:05  
It truly is. And I thought of you or your voice was in my head. I mean, not only did I do it with, you know, being able to have having my license being able to look at, you know, yes, most of them were vacant properties that I looked at, but even going like I remember the first time I went to meet the hard money lender and I was so impressed. Yeah. Yeah. Because all these men pull up in their trucks with, you know, some have their signs on their trucks. I mean, they're legit, and then there's Yeah, you know, yeah, like, I have no idea what I'm doing but sure, but I that was it was so invaluable to just the more you do it, the more comfortable you feel walking salaries and like okay, this is doable, or Oh, no, run away. Yeah, this is way too much for

Unknown Speaker  31:50  
Yes. Yes. And listening, listening to that, like listening to that voice of that little nudge of now. No, something's off about this, even if you can't even voice what's off about it listening to this.

Unknown Speaker  32:05  
Right. Totally. Yeah. And that's the one thing that I will say about the the first one we did is we went a little because I think I was so ready to have because I had already you know, kind of I got under contract on one back down after the inspection. And then I just was ready to get something and so the one we ended up with this first one was a little out of our area target area. So I probably wouldn't go there again. We it's a things are starting to flip. But you vote said Don't be the first one in there to flip. You don't want to be the first one. And we weren't. But it's definitely not my target area. Got it. And it worked out. It worked out. But I think that's what we said like this next one. Let's stick to our plan with Yeah, area.

Unknown Speaker  32:59  
I get that. And also it's like, you know, what, do what you got to do to get your first one out of the way. Right, like, beyond making bad decisions. Like it wasn't like it was you were making bad decisions. So like, sometimes that first one isn't the most ideal everything. Yeah, but it rips the band aid off and it proves to you that you can break into it.

Unknown Speaker  33:24  
Now you can do it. Yeah, yeah, that's why I was kind of like, you know, it's it's really not that involved. So it's not too scary. But yeah, so it worked out. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  33:34  
that's awesome. Is there anything that you would do? Well, you kind of said a couple of things that you would have done differently Is there anything else you would have done differently on your first flip?

Unknown Speaker  33:45  
Um, okay, I took a couple notes Let me see. Forget Um, oh, not necessarily do differently but just a good reminder, I think is to number one, this is of course because of COVID and hopefully you won't have these issues but like give yourself lead time on appliances. I don't know shoes. Oh my gosh, appliances were crazy. Yes, lucked out. And we lucked out on the second one like we've got our appliances are being delivered in two weeks. We're good and matching and everything. But it's crazy like the lead time on appliances. And always inspect everything make sure you inspect to your deliveries you know all the appliances because once they put into place if it's got a dangerous scratch or whatever, too bad, you know, because you accepted it. And also like we we learned like inspect bathtubs because we got to it it wasn't that big a deal but we got a bathtub back to this first place and it had a huge chunk out of it. Shall we looked at and so we then we start opening them and Home Depot to make sure I'm inspecting them because there were like three that had chips out of them. Oh geez. Crazy. So that's a good thing that we learned like Okay, if you can inspect it in the store before any read stuff like that, like, you know that the tubs and and then we had a vanity that the sink came shattered.

Unknown Speaker  35:10  
Oh my gosh, are you serious? It's like, like, all this stuff fell out of the truck or something.

Unknown Speaker  35:16  
I know seriously. I mean, it wasn't all like it was from a different one was Home Depot one was like, right there, you know, but that's crazy. Yeah. So just, you know, be sure to inspect things. Um, yeah, that's a great, those are great tips for sure. Yeah. And then I'm trying to think, to do differently. Um, oh, I guess Okay, here's the big one. When you make a decision about something stick to it. Like your title. I mean, we didn't change anything. But I have done that before. Like, in my own house. I thought this tile is gonna look awesome. And then the guy put it up and like, Oh, my word That's horrible. And luckily, it was just like a little small bathroom vanity. So he ripped it off and just put something else up. But, you know, sometimes you don't know until you get something up. But I have a really good idea. And the cool thing is like floor and decor, I love the their website. You can like put the tiles up on their little mock thing. Yes. So it gives you a good visual. But yes, love floor and decor, like on the first one we just had. It was weird because there was a closet in the dining room. That was just the weirdest thing. So we thought, well, this, maybe let's frame it out. And we'll make a cool little kind of bar wine area. And the more we looked at, we're like, cool, okay, this isn't gonna work. So we ended up dry walling over it and just closing it up. So that's when I say like, stick to your original. It only set us back like a day. But then we were kind of, you know, oh my gosh, we're getting in a drywaller. And our paint guy luckily found a drywall because it wasn't really his thing. And so you kind of stick to the plan as much as you can.

Unknown Speaker  36:55  
Yes. I love that. No, I think that's a great tip. Because we do, like, we can do something. And we're like, oh, well, we can also do this, this and this. And it's like, leave leave. What is it leave? Good enough. Alone?

Unknown Speaker  37:07  
We've good enough. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, because we can, we can run up

Unknown Speaker  37:13  
all day long, but just totally well, then you can be on your budget. And it's like, we like on this project, we have said, Okay, this would be super cool. If we have it in the budget, at the end, we're gonna leave it like it doesn't really affect the project. You know, there really doesn't change anything. Demo wise or timeline wise. So if we have budget at the end, we will add it in.

Unknown Speaker  37:38  
But, you know, we're not stressing, we're not. We're not Yeah, yeah, that works. Great. If it doesn't, no big deal.

Unknown Speaker  37:45  
I love it. Do you have any other tips? I love these tips. These are so good. Well, thank you.

Unknown Speaker  37:51  
Um, gosh, I'm trying to think, I mean, I am very happy to have partnered with my boyfriend because, um, you know, even though I still I don't feel like I'm not doing this isn't my baby. And it still is like, the, it's my company name. Everything's going through just my company. And, um, but it's great. Because, you know, if I'm having a bad day, or I'm off, or I'm down or whatever, and, you know, it's usually he's not in the week he can. Yep. Or that just two heads is always better than one when looking at something or you might not think of something in the way that they would and you know, it's just, it's been great. And it's just less scary. And it makes it fun. Like, yeah, literally, I'm like, this is work. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  38:44  
right. Like, the thing like when we're building your team, like you're building your team, right and he's part of your team. So when we're building our team, pick people we want to hang out with my family. Yeah, I think people we want their energy around and then we want to be in their space like pick people that are that make this fun because it's we need to be having fun. This is such a it's such a fun thing that we get to do right like loving these old houses back to life. It's so fun that we get to do this and then to do it with people that we like and enjoy and like it's just like wait, this is work. Wait, what? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  39:25  
no, and that's the kind of back to the relationship thing to crew that we found because just to give you background on so that Dave, who was working with us on the first one he didn't live here in Denver, he lives about an hour and a half away. Not ideal. Got it but you know, he's great does amazing work. But so basically what he did is he came here for like a three day period. Then he would go back home then became the next week for three days went back home and then it came for two days. I mean, that's literally what took him eight days to do that project. Yeah, I mean, he's he went from like, seven in the morning till eight at night, just boom, boom, boom, non stop. And again, my boyfriend helped him with a lot. I helped wherever I could, like, I did yard stuff. I did some painting stuff outside, you know, wherever we could help. But, um, you know, we were kinda It was kind of a trial, like, let's see how this works. And it just, you know, him being away from his wife. And yeah, that's how much you know, and traveling back and forth. So Sure. So we were kind of To be honest, in panic mode on the second one, because we're like, oh, gosh, now we need to find crew but that's where we went back to New Western and jack who we work with there. I mean, we've we've gotten a dinner with him. We've I mean, I feel like he's a buddy. You know, he's, we trust and we just said, Look, we're kind of in panic mode. We're looking for somebody, Do you know anybody and he gave us this basically our GC and he is amazing. Crew, I just can't believe it.

Unknown Speaker  40:55  
They are wholesalers are a great resource for contractors and subs because they want you to be successful. Because if you're successful, you come back and you buy more houses from them. Yeah, yeah. just trusting that people aren't not everyone's out to screw you. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker  41:11  
Yeah. And like taking care of like the bottom line, you know, by our crew lunch the other day, we're gonna Yes, we want them to be happy. We'd be respectful of families they have, you know, places to be to they you know, their time line. So just taking care of people, I think.

Unknown Speaker  41:30  
Yeah, I love it. This is definitely a people business. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Um, this has been so fun. Do you have anything you want to share before we, before we go? Anything else? I don't look at my notes. Yeah. Like, I don't ever want anybody to get off and be like, dang it. I don't feel complete. I meant to say.

Unknown Speaker  41:55  
So back to the staging. Yeah. Obviously, I'm a believer in it, because I got my certification. But I know you say that in your course. Like, staging is huge. People, it's huge. Listen.

Unknown Speaker  42:09  
You Really? I mean, it's huge. It's an it's such. It's such a good investment. And oh, my gosh, I for sure. Like, it least, fivefold comes back for anything. Yeah, I mean, at least it just shows so much better. Yeah, I would never I would I just wouldn't skimp on that. I that's not something where I would try to save money on by not doing because I just I I know that I definitely get a higher sales price. I definitely. It definitely shows better. Like, yeah, yeah, the before and afters are better, too, because it's just so good with with furniture and accessories like, homey, right?

Unknown Speaker  42:50  
Yeah. And then the pictures like you said, you know, we we did end up taking the pictures ourselves this time, because it was such a small house. Yeah, but I did also learn that you can, because we've got a good camera, but you can get you can rent a wide angle lens for like 20 bucks.

Unknown Speaker  43:09  
Oh my God, that's amazing. You know, if you're going to do it yourself. Yeah. One of the biggest things, and I touched on this earlier, one of the biggest things that we have to have, when we're doing this or anything new and big and different and scary. We have to trust ourselves. We have to trust that whatever comes our way, we'll get through it. It might suck so bad physically, emotionally, financially, it might be the worst freakin thing you've ever been through. But you trust that you've been you'll get through it because you've been through some shit, right? Like, you've been through some shit. Yeah, yeah. Cuz

Unknown Speaker  43:47  
I, I sometimes think well, you know, when I've questioned myself, or I can do this, or I, but but then when I look back, I'm like, but I did that. Right. And I also did that, right. And I survived that. And things, you know, have generally worked out for me like I'm doing okay, you know, I can do this. So it's, I mean, and I'm not saying that I always have this positive way in my head. But, um, you know, you need to stop sometimes I'm like, Okay, yeah, I survived this, or I did this or whatever, like, do this and others gonna be sucky times and people are gonna say no, and it'd be scary. And that was my, I guess one of the things I think I wrote down at the beginning, like, yeah, it was scary, but I would be pissed at myself if I didn't try this. Yes. Like, because I was scared. Yes. And I'm not getting any younger. So you know, make happen now. Yeah. Why can't I? I don't know. So yeah, so I i your program is amazing. You're amazing. And I'm not just trying to I just truly believe like, It was one of those things I mean it like it was a things happen for a reason. I found your podcast for a reason.

Unknown Speaker  45:07  
I'm so grateful for that. Thank you. And now you're on it.

Unknown Speaker  45:11  
And I'm on it. How crazy. Is that? Like? Crazy. Oh, cool. So cool. I love that. I know. And I'm so excited for you to come out here.

Unknown Speaker  45:20  
Yeah, we'll be there. We We escaped the heat. Yeah, Central Texas. Yeah. I'm totally inspired by you. I'm so happy for you here. I just congratulations on making things happen. Really? Like just Congratulations. You're awesome. I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for trusting me. And thanks for letting me be part of your journey. Absolutely. Thanks for being my leader. You are amazing.

Unknown Speaker  45:48  
I mean, a wealth of knowledge. I can't say it enough. It's just your systems are set up. So intuitively and just perfect. Love. Oh,

Unknown Speaker  45:57  
my gosh, take the guesswork out. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I'm so glad to hear that. Awesome. Emily, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you Have a great week. You too. I'll see you in the group. Bye. Okay, but there you have it. There's Emily Gordon's first flip journey. And she's in a highly competitive market. Very investor saturated, expensive. All of the things right, all of the excuses that I hear from people why they can't do this. Yes, you can commit to it, do it. And if you're sick of being on the sideline, and not taking action, because you're scared, and you don't want to do this alone, you don't have to. Alright, get on my waitlist. Because the women inside my program. First of all, the community is unbeatable. The place is awesome. All right. I guarantee you, you've never experienced anything like it. Secondly, we are closing on deals left and right. We have so many first flips happening right now. Yes, in the middle of a pandemic right now. And they're smart flips, and they're doing good in their communities. If you want to be part of something really incredible, we would love to have you if you resonate with my message. If you resonate with my vibe, I know that you're going to love the other women inside the community. All right, go to first flip dunrite.com get on the waitlist, and you'll have first dibs on the next opening. Because I give so much personal attention to people inside my community. I don't let a ton of people join at once. So it's on a rolling ongoing basis. Alright, so put your name on that list. You will be notified within a week or two of your chance to join. Alright, first lift on right calm. Until next time, go out there flip houses like a girl leave people in places better than you find them and make it a great day. Bye