Navigating FHA's Flip Rule & Making $16k on Her First Flip With Cherish Thompson

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 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  0:39  
Hey,

Unknown Speaker  0:40  
how are you today, I'm excited to spend a little time with you here, sharing this interview with one of my students who just finished her first flip. And we go over all of the things that came up, such as a contractor who bailed within two weeks, an agent who didn't understand FHA, his 90 day flip rules, and delayed closings, second appraisals 20 $300 plumbing surprise at the end, and all the other things that came up, and guess what? This crazy lady wants to do it all over again. I love it. Honestly, all what we do is we solve problems. We manage people, projects and problems. And if you can do those things, and get through some of the hard times and want to do it again, that is the whole point to do your flip in a way that makes you want to do another one. And really, it all comes down to trusting yourself trusting that whatever comes your way you can handle it. There will always be surprises. That is what makes this so fun. No projects are the same. There is always something new and different and exciting to learn. All right. So let's get into this conversation with cherish because I know you're going to walk away with inspiration to get started. Alright, let's jump into this conversation. So why don't you just kind of tell us a little bit about you who you are, where you live a little bit about you and your family.

Unknown Speaker  2:32  
Okay. I am name's cherish. I am right outside of Houston. In Katy. I have a husband, three kids, two dogs. Crazy, crazy life here. Kids are in sports and scouts and I have one son in college. I do. triathlons, marathons, ultra marathons. So pretty much we always have something happening here. And just to make it a little bit more interesting, I decided to start flipping houses, you know, going on as it was,

Unknown Speaker  3:13  
I love it. What did bring you to, to jump into flipping houses.

Unknown Speaker  3:23  
I love real estate, like I love houses and looking at them and like my neighborhood is pretty new. And I one of my favorite things to do is just to go look at the model houses just go around and look at the furniture and look at the houses and get ideas, open houses. So I kind of and then I got my real estate license. And I was like you know what? I don't really want to use this for anything other than myself. You know, why not buy and sell houses. I think it's fun. And I love renovating. I love painting. I love just getting in there and doing all of that stuff seeing the change, you know, like the foam like

Unknown Speaker  4:05  
I am so here for transformation like I am so here for it. Yes, absolutely. I often get asked, Well, how often you have to go to your job site. Well, I don't really have to go that often. But I choose to because I'm so addicted. I have to see. I want to see when the walls come down. Yeah, I want to see when the wall goes back up. Like I want to see all these things. So rewarding. I know is I know. I'm okay. What was your background? Were you were you working before?

Unknown Speaker  4:37  
So I have been not working for quite a while. My husband and I own a pizza franchise. Um, I don't think I know about you. Really? Yeah, we opened it a couple years ago. So he has you know, like his job and then we do that inside. So I've been doing that Okay, um, and then prior to that I was, let's see, we did a short stint of homeschooling. Um, I just kind of been doing random little things here and there trying to find trying to find my way. Yeah, yep. Yep. And you've had this nudge for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No watching, I'd like everybody else to watch the TV shows. And then you know, you find out actual real flipping is not much like the show. No, it's not. You know, it does kind of Spark. You know what, like these. Sometimes it's kind of like, what these people can do it. I'm sure I can be successful in it, too. So

Unknown Speaker  5:43  
yeah, absolutely. And that's like, the reason the entire reason for this podcast is to show everyday women doing it. Right. That's it just because like, if I see somebody else who seems like a normal person, right, like not this big bazillionaire, right, Guru type, but just a regular person doing it in a way that I want to be doing it. Right. So that's the key, like, yes, you can do this in a way that is full of integrity, right? Yeah. Is not screwing people over. Yeah. And you can sleep at night and you're creating safe, beautiful spaces for people. It's pretty awesome. Yeah, it's a win win. It's good for everybody. Totally. Alright, so you recently completed your first split. Yes. Let's dig into that. Okay, where, first of all, how did you find it? Okay, so

Unknown Speaker  6:39  
I found it from a wholesaler. Yep. Um, wholesale. The wholesaler here has a website. And I was checking it all the time. I'm in and I found it and jumped on it. So that worked out for me this time.

Unknown Speaker  6:55  
Nice. Were there Did you have to deal with multiple offers and that sort of thing? strangely, no,

Unknown Speaker  7:00  
surprisingly, because it was in Houston, but it's in the Katy ISD, which is a really good school district. So it kind of was the best of both worlds location. I think it was just timing. When I was able to get in there, because we got in like the second day listed except checking their website all the time. Kind of the second that they posted it. I said, I want to go look at it. We were you know, when I called in the driveway and made the offer. That's awesome.

Unknown Speaker  7:28  
Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, and how did you finance the deal? Did you use hard money or what? How did you finance it?

Unknown Speaker  7:35  
So I, we actually use cash? Our own cash. Now, I will say I had put this property under contract right before I started. program. So had I, you know, one of the things I would do different is in moving forward. We're gonna use hard money and not our own cash. So I think Yeah, yeah. It's, it's scary. And it's an unnecessary risk. I think so. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And then takes a little bit of pressure off of, you know, all of that. You don't need that extra on top of you. If you don't need to do it. You know, use the right use. Use the hard money. So it's Yeah, that's the way we're going forward with it.

Unknown Speaker  8:21  
Got it. Got it. Yeah. Um, okay, so cash to purchase cash to renovate cash for everything. Yeah. Well, what was the purchase price

Unknown Speaker  8:30  
that we got it for? They were asking 148 I asked 145. I offered 145. They took it and actually she took it in like, two and a half seconds. You know, like, Yes, right away. And I was kind of like, I kind of wish I would have come in a little bit lower. Well, I'm impressed because the wholesalers around here there's no, there's no negotiate. Negotiating. I know what you know, so I'm kind of like, I don't mind somebody telling me. No, you know, yeah, like, I'm not gonna be embarrassed. Yeah. I kind of wish I would have come in said like, 140. And then she would have been like, No, we don't negotiate. Okay, sorry.

Unknown Speaker  9:05  
Okay. 145 I love it. Oh, and then what was what did your renovation end up costing?

Unknown Speaker  9:21  
So and that was another big learning thing, because we walked through it and I'm thinking, it just needs a facelift. It's in pretty good shape, no roof. That h back was good. You know, everything. 1015 grand, you know, it's kind of what I was thinking maybe 20 and ended up being 32. Mm hmm. Um, so that was kind of a huge eye opener. Yeah, for me, moving forward. Now, you know, when I'm doing the analyzing of the, you know, potential homes, I'm counting a lot more than what I had thought. Yep. Issues what cost? Oh, it was 30 for that.

Unknown Speaker  10:04  
Okay. 32 and then what was your timeline?

Unknown Speaker  10:08  
So we closed or I closed? I purchased it August 6. Okay. And then I listed it September 22. So about a month and a half. It was pretty quick.

Unknown Speaker  10:19  
What was the holdup? Okay, we need to get into there were there. Uh huh. Okay, so the sale took. Okay. Okay, so then I didn't know this. I love it. I love coming into these not knowing all the answers already. I think that's more fun for me. Okay, so, fantastic timeline for your first flip. Like, seriously, kudos. That's awesome. What happened when you listed it? Did you get an offer? Did you go under contract quickly? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  10:47  
So you listed it at 210. Three days later, I got an offer for 217. And then they wanted us to cover like five grand in closing costs for them. Okay. So it was still over asking price. And we jumped on it. Of course, you know, yeah, sure. That's great. And they wanted a 30 day clause everything seemed fine. Um, we're going along the process. We're in like the middle of October, I get a call from my realtor and I said I'm I have my real estate license. I did not use it in this case. Kind of because this guy had been showing me houses and I kind of felt like in and then I bought it from a wholesaler. So I kind of felt I kind of owed him some commission. So I let him listed. And he calls in October and he's like, Okay, so this, they're using FHA and Oh, right. He didn't know. He had no idea that FHA stuff. Oh, okay. Now, as you know, we have so many people looking at it, and so many people interested, I wouldn't have needed to take an FHA right. Alright. Oh, that was a big one for him to miss. Yes, man. Well, then he's like, Okay, well, you haven't own the house for 90 days. So we had to wait until November now, he said we had to wait to November before they could even make an offer. Um, so that was pushed as us through to November six. So then we start the whole thing again, and then we get into December now. Then he's like, Oh, they need a second appraisal. Yep. And I don't know how he didn't know that either. Yep. Oh, yeah. And then he said the title company doesn't know how to, we had to pay for it. So the seller pays for the second appraisal. Yeah, just standard. Yep. Um, he didn't know that he needs like, they don't know how to bill you for it. I know. Right? If I'm trying to, I want to say like a week and a half before they even figured out how to Bill me to order the second appraisal.

Unknown Speaker  12:58  
I don't even understand what I didn't understand what you're talking about right now. How does the time? Okay. Wow. Oh my gosh, at this point. Are you just like, what

Unknown Speaker  13:09  
is happening?

Unknown Speaker  13:12  
is nobody ever sold a frickin house? Flip? Yes, it happens all the time.

Unknown Speaker  13:19  
Yeah. And then, you know, cuz like, and then the typical, they wanted to see the repair receipts and all that. I mean, it was just, it was one thing after another, and then like, the whole thing is, you know, the real estate and he came, he was surprised every time. Like we were okay. Right? The whole time, right? reacting instead of knowing Okay, this is what they're gonna want. This is how it works. Yep. Um, so in one of the resources you have the 90 day, that'd be a huge for everybody to look at. Yeah. Yeah. Like I found it later. Yes. And because it has all of that, and I would have known more than him. I could have been like, okay, here's what's

Unknown Speaker  13:58  
gonna happen. Right. Right. Right. And it's not that you can't sell FHA. You can't think okay, well, well, I'm sorry, I'm not going to sell to an FHA buyer. No, it's not that account for it. Right? Right. So account for the fact that you can't go under contract until day 91. Right account for the fact that you're going to have two appraisals, like account for all those things, and you're fine. But yeah, when it's a surprise, guess, Guess how I learned that? 12 years ago,

Unknown Speaker  14:27  
I sold my first house via FHA. You had to go through all that stuff. And I was just like, Oh my gosh, man, it was another and then right before we were supposed to close so like I mean, I'm thinking when we got the offer we're gonna close in October. So here we are December Okay, so that's more carrying costs. Yes, more taxes. It's more you know, utilities everything. A week before we were supposed to close a pipe burst outside. Oh my god. That was another 20 $300 that's what took it over the 30 you know, at the end of the 32, you know, and it had a pool. So the whole time I'm also having to pay the pool guy to be cleaning it, you know, that's like three more months of right. All of that, that I you know,

Unknown Speaker  15:19  
you didn't have to go through it because you could have taken another offer. Yeah, once you go under contract, you don't want to come off market right. Like you don't want to come off market and then go back on because something's wrong with the house right?

Unknown Speaker  15:31  
Yeah, yeah. Because then you're also potentially starting over with you know, different buyers you don't know what to expect. Right? Right. Right. You're exactly right. Like already gone through the inspection process like everything yeah, moving along. Just great. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Thankfully, our buyers loved the house. And they Yeah, I mean, it wasn't our fault. It wasn't their fault. It's just it was just the situation Yep, it is what it is yeah. And then I got a call all the sudden like on a Monday is like hey, we're gonna close December 23 like he's like can you be there and I said yes no matter what. Oh, and I found out to the other thing I was gonna mention I when we bought the house I had title insurance on it and everything else well apparently there were two liens filed when the seller originally put our house gave you know, put it under contract or wholesaler he did that with three different wholesalers. Oh, gosh, yeah. So So yeah, somebody put a lien on it. Right. Two of them two of the both of the other two, put a lien on the house. So we had to get those released. Somehow it didn't come up when I closed because I was given a clear title.

Unknown Speaker  16:54  
Yeah, you know why? Because the timing of it all right, I guarantee you because that's exactly what happened to me in the past when Lee alene didn't show up, right because they pulled title before the lien was filed, right. And then we closed and then I go to sell surprise and there it is person on title two clouds on the title. And so how was that dealing with? That's very interesting. How was that dealing with those wholesalers?

Unknown Speaker  17:19  
Not not fun? One of them was pretty good about it was there kind of a chain and they were pretty good about releasing the lien. The other one did not want to release the lien and it was $10 she'd put $10 in earnest money on the house and like I will give you $10 if you will please sign this release. And release the lien so we can close

Unknown Speaker  17:42  
it wasn't like you went around his bat. Exactly. You are innocent. I had no i standard Yeah, innocent bystander. You have no idea what's going on. And he's trying to punish you right. I oh my gosh, you

Unknown Speaker  17:56  
know what his endgame was you know, like I'm not sure what he was trying to just I guess make it hard for I don't know how that's accomplished. Like what's the point of that? Yeah, so my my real estate agent ended up having to the night before we closed because the guy kept saying y'all sign in FedEx it in a FedEx and ended he never did never did so he had to drive to this guy's business at like 930 at night and he said it was like a shady you got a flat tire on the way my I know I'm like, this is just one thing after another. It was like in like some back alley business thing. Oh, sure. It was you had to take up had to be notarized. So I had to pay like $350 for this notary to drive out there with him at 930 at night to have the guy sign the thing because he kept saying he was mailing it but he wasn't. So he's like, I want to see him sign it and personally take it in my hand. Yeah, back. And that's that's how we finally got that released. Oh my gosh. Like, yeah,

Unknown Speaker  19:01  
this is why the doing there's so much learning in the doing right. Like, you just learned so much, right?

Unknown Speaker  19:11  
Yeah. Wow. The thing is, people are like, are you going to do it again? like yeah, I'm gonna do it again. I mean, yes. It was it was fun. It was rewarding. I made some money. Yeah, um, you know, and I ended up giving these people a really nice house that I write. Right And I mean, you know, the experience was was good you were you like you said, I learned I learned much and I'm yeah, be surprised by FHA next time, right? And now I'll know Okay, so potentially there might be liens if you buy from a wholesaler you know, these and now I know more.

Unknown Speaker  19:42  
Yeah, and it exactly, not exactly. Theory thing. The things you don't know aren't scary. It's right.

Unknown Speaker  19:49  
You look you know, it's it's what it all comes down to in this business and really anything is self trust you trusting that regardless of what comes up, you'll figure it out. Right? It'll be okay. Yes. Like, yeah, aside from death, everything's gonna be okay. It might not be fun, right? Easy, but it's it really is this sense of, alright. I mean, I'll figure it out it might it and sometimes that's really emotionally very painful and financially very painful, right? When a deal just goes on and on and on. I mean, some of these can really drag out. But, I mean, I had one that was terrible. And I'm like, yeah, heck, yeah, I'm gonna keep doing this list. I still love this. Yeah. And not like, like, a lot of the things that happen, are flukes, and really like you, aside from the FHA rule, you couldn't really have done anything to prevent anything else. Like it just is. The things happen. things came up, you handle them. And like, it's just trusting yourself.

Unknown Speaker  21:00  
Really. It's empowering to be on the other side of that, you know, okay, like, because at some points like, this looks bad. This looks like you know, I don't know what's gonna happen, but there's always there's always an exit out. Yes. And to solve the problems and to come out on the other side. It's like, Okay, good. Let's Let's do it again. Let's go. Yeah, like, Oh, yeah, I

Unknown Speaker  21:20  
just did that. I'm fine yet. Bring it on. Let's do this. Yes. Okay. Speaking of profit, what did you Okay, so let's see, the total timeline then was like four months. Yeah. Okay. That's not bad. I mean, I know it should have been should have been like, two. Yeah, but four months is not bad. It's not terrible. It's not. Okay. Four months and what what did you guys end up making? So

Unknown Speaker  21:49  
little thingy at the end? It was after all of it. A little over 16,000. See, like, that's great. Okay, what was the sales price? It was two. It was 217. Uh huh. And then minus the five. You know that we paid for sellers costs.

Unknown Speaker  22:10  
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. So a little less than 10% profit percent of the ARV profit. Congratulations. Thank you. I mean, that's fantastic. It's so 4000 bucks a month. Yeah. Pretty good. Not, not a bad.

Unknown Speaker  22:26  
Not a bad start. So yeah, we'll do that again. Let's do that again. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker  22:33  
That's awesome. Okay. Did your husband enjoy the process? As much as you? Um, yeah, I

Unknown Speaker  22:39  
think so. I think he likes it that I'm doing this and it makes me happy. Yeah. Like, I'm, this is my thing. Yeah. And, um, you know, and the other thing is, he's really happy because like I said, I like renovating and doing things. And I'm not doing that on my house.

Unknown Speaker  22:57  
And other people's house. I love it. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  23:01  
So that's not complaining about that, you know,

Unknown Speaker  23:04  
he's like, keep doing that. Yeah. You love. Tell me about your experience. Did you act as the GC? Or they like, did you sub everybody out? Or did you hire a GC to manage the project? How did you do that? So we

Unknown Speaker  23:21  
had a GC. There were certain things he did not do though. So it was kind of a little bit of both. Okay, he didn't do lawn. He didn't do the pool. Okay, um, we had some plumbing issues. He didn't do plumbing, which was weird. But he did everything else. Okay, it was kind of like, but I knew all that at the beginning. Like I talked to him at the beginning. I knew what his you know what I was going to have to find. Yeah. Um, so that was good. At least that wasn't a surprise, you know? Yeah, I don't I don't do the pool, like halfway in. Right. Right.

Unknown Speaker  23:55  
Um, how did you find your contractor? So he was a referral from a friend? Do would you use him again? What was your overall experience positive? No.

Unknown Speaker  24:09  
No, so um, when I gave the 10% down path, did you know the down payment at the beginning? Yeah. He, I didn't know this. But he bought plane tickets to Mexico for his whole family for two weeks later, which is fine. Basically, I'm saying he gave himself two weeks to get the house done. Oh, gosh. And at the end of the two weeks, he left with his whole crew. And they all went to Mexico. And he's like, okay, it's done. And he's sending me these text messages. Can you tell me the rest of the you know, whatever was left to pay. I go over to the house. It was not. We didn't walk the punch list. Okay. Oh, so I'm remembering this. Yeah, I should. Uh huh. Okay, so I was looking at the back because that's why I posted the pictures on the Yeah, I'm like, Am I just being right? Yeah, I'm type A, so I might be a little bit too much here. Or rain me. And so we ended up, I ended up finishing it all myself. Are you serious? Yeah. Cuz I wanted to done you know, it's like he was going to be gone for another two weeks it's like, well, then it's two weeks till he gets back. And even then I can't be sure he's gonna, you know do the work. Right, right. So I had to do it. I did it myself. So how did you handle the payment? balance? Yeah. So when he got back, I had to meet me at the house. And I showed him pictures and walk through everything. And I said, you know, because he came from a friend as a referral. I don't want to I don't want to be that person and be a jerk about it. But I don't feel like I owe you the whole amount either. Right. So I said, What do you think is fair? And he took a little he took some off? I don't think he took nearly enough. Yeah, but he took a little bit off. And, you know, we kind of, you know, we call it a day, so yeah, yeah, I won't. I wouldn't use him again.

Unknown Speaker  26:11  
Yeah. So see, so you have you also had some contractor issues, and you're still like, sweet. Yeah. Where's the next one?

Unknown Speaker  26:18  
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I've been looking ever since it was under contract. I've been looking. Yeah. So yeah, definitely. Definitely. I can't wait. I can't wait to start like,

Unknown Speaker  26:29  
I love it. I love it. Um, okay, now. Were there big surprises, like expensive surprises? I remember you just said the 20 $300 surprise at the end? Yes. With the drain line. Yes. Was there anything else along the way during the renovation that came up?

Unknown Speaker  26:52  
There was one other thing one of the times I went to look at the house I came in and there was water all over the floor. And we had just laid the the laminate floor. Oh, gosh, and there was one of the toilets had leaked? I think I think I can't I think they didn't put the toilet back on. Right. And it leaked in I mean, that it's, you know, a little bit of water on laminate floors. Even the waterproof stuff does not? Yeah, nope. Yeah. It's gonna get underneath it was already warping it. So yeah. Rip that out and replace that. And like it was at my cost, because I couldn't prove that, you know, they did it. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully, I had a little bit of cushion in there for that. But still, yeah, that was a surprise. You know, the plumbing thing that happened at the very end was frustrating, because have we closed in October? That wouldn't have been on me on any property for a long time. I mean, stuff happens.

Unknown Speaker  27:51  
Exactly. Yeah. That's how it goes. Yeah. What was your favorite part of the entire flip? I know the transformation is there anything else like in particular, like the picking out the finishes or doing some of the work yourself or both of those things?

Unknown Speaker  28:09  
I loved. You know, like, the whole process of picking everything out and matching everything. Because the whole house is empty. You know, it's like, that's the whole thing. You can just do, you know, whatever you want. And there were things that I did in that house that I might have been not sure of to do in my own, you know, not like like, weird, but like you said, like, your own like, Oh, that's really cute. I'm going to do that. You know, like, Yeah, well, little fixtures and stuff that I might not put in my house, but I would do it there and it looked awesome.

Unknown Speaker  28:39  
Yeah. So cute. I don't know that you posted the Did you pit post? I did. I know. I know. Well, now we're all going to be begging you to

Unknown Speaker  28:52  
Okay, I'll find them. I'll find out. My actors. Yeah, it was it. That was so much fun though. Yeah, you know, like you can go on Pinterest and you get all these ideas and then being able to execute them. Yeah, was so fun. It was great. I had a really really good time. Um, you know, I think the only thing for me that I struggle with a little bit is knowing when to pull back you know, cuz I'm kind of miss let's do it all and make it all fantastic. In the house, you know, in that price range didn't need all that the neighborhood can call for that. So yep, we had to say okay, what how can I get this look in an affordable way?

Unknown Speaker  29:30  
Yes. And that totally. And I love that part. Yeah. That like so much creativity? Yes.

Unknown Speaker  29:36  
Yeah. Yeah. Like I Dad, I did the garage doors. I did this like I use this gel stain stuff to make the garage doors look like wood, but they won't cool. Yeah, so yeah, I needed to we need to see pictures. Okay, now you're just teasing. I will. Alright. I'm super impressed. I want to see all this. He was fine. It was a good time. That's why I can't wait to do it again. But the whole process was fun finding a house is that Yeah, you know, and I like challenges. Yes, exciting. It's a risk. And I like that riskiness a little bit, you know, it's a calculated risk. Yes, exactly. That's what I'm all about calculated, it makes a risk. That makes sense, you know, gonna pay I thought it was Yeah, the whole process was super, super fun. Even the unknown of it, you know, I guess, selling it and waiting and closing. And I just, I loved it. I loved the whole process. It was great.

Unknown Speaker  30:32  
So I love the whole process, too. I feel the exact same way. There's one part that is always the hardest for me, it's the most vulnerable part for me. And it's right when it gets listed on the market sale. And it's what, what are they going to think? Like, that part feels so vulnerable to me, because I feel like I've just put my heart into this house, right. And it's like, my heart is out there. Please be gentle.

Unknown Speaker  31:03  
Like what if, like, when the finishes like picked what I felt like these are terrible,

Unknown Speaker  31:07  
right? Yeah. Yeah, that feels super vulnerable today. That's my least favorite part is right when it goes on the market and just waiting for the responses. I Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That hurts. It's painful. Yeah. And then going under contract, and then waiting until the option period expires. So the options are a little iffy, too. It's like what's going to come off?

Unknown Speaker  31:30  
When we sold one of our own like, my personal house, the last house? They had a 10 day option period day in my husband calls me and he's like, yeah, they just backed. I thought he was kidding. Like, are you kidding? You know, cuz they had done the inspection. everything went fine. And then they cheap to eat? Yeah. Yep. The option time is is the worst. It's so painful man. passes, you're like,

Unknown Speaker  31:56  
Yeah, exactly. It's like, I can breathe. Okay, you. Um, okay. So, in thinking about? So this is something that you've been thinking about for a while. Right. So what was what finally pushed you over the edge of just go do it? I put words to that.

Unknown Speaker  32:24  
Yeah, that's that for me. As a woman, as a mom, I just wanted my own thing. Yeah, I hear that a lot. Because, you know, I feel like, I do so much for everybody else all the time. And it's like, this is, you know, I in the feeling of pride to go through the modules and say, I feel confident to do this. Like, I am not necessarily. You know, for one thing, I'm terrible on the phone. I hate making phone calls. Yeah, but I do it. Right, because it's right or the process. So to find something hard and to do it, and I just I wanted something for me. I wanted yet my own thing. Yeah, I didn't want to go to a job and get a paycheck. This is I'm earning this. I'm doing this whole thing by myself. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yeah, it feels so good.

Unknown Speaker  33:19  
Yeah. Amen to that. Were there any? So maybe like, like, it's, you're an athlete, man, not just Natalie. You're an endurance athlete. Right. So you are like constantly in your you are constantly being bombarded by thoughts in your brain saying, Why are you doing this? Yeah. Let's stop. It'll feel really good to stop right now. Yeah, I think that's really good training. Like, honestly, I think that's such good training for everything. Right. Like dealing with the discomfort being Yeah, okay. And the discomfort, right.

Unknown Speaker  33:57  
I think I think for me, the big thing with that is knowing Okay, this hurts, everything wants to stop. But keep going. When you're finished. It'll stop hurting. Like, right. When you're done. You're going to be so proud that you just get that. Yes, it all worth it. makes it all worth it. Yep, everything.

Unknown Speaker  34:16  
Totally worth thinking about going into your first flip. What was one of your biggest fears? Like, aside from losing money, right. Can you think of

Unknown Speaker  34:34  
Yeah, just failing. Yeah. And financially, just yeah. failing. Like, just Yeah, okay. I just I was terrible at that or whatever, you know. Yeah. Having the process go well, at all I was that's that's always a fear for me. Yeah. Yeah, that was probably the biggest one. But like, I mean, that's my personality, though, is you take something you're scared of failing to do And then you do it. And it's even that much more amazing. Yeah. When you come out on the other side of it,

Unknown Speaker  35:06  
right, right. I mean, we really do just have to suck it up and do it. You really do.

Unknown Speaker  35:12  
Yes. There's no other way around it. Yeah. Cuz there's, there's partly, you know, there's positive parts. There's good. There's gonna be hard parts.

Unknown Speaker  35:18  
I don't know. Yeah. That's part of the, but that's what makes it so rewarding. Right? It's coming through that being like, holy crap. I just did that. Because otherwise everybody would do it. If it was really Exactly. Everybody would do it. So Exactly. Aside from the things we talked about, like knowing the FHA 90 day rule, is there anything that stands out like, Okay, I'm totally doing that differently next time.

Unknown Speaker  35:48  
Um, besides the hard money thing, right, I That's right. Hey, yeah. Also, contractor wise, um, I have a lot more questions like, I'm going to be a lot more careful. I'm upfront, like, these are my expectations. And I think some of that comes with confidence of like, I didn't know what I was doing. I really don't know I was talking about in this time, I don't, I don't care if I know what I'm talking about or not, these are my expectations. And then if you get, you know, two or three bids, and then you can kind of meet with them all and pick them I kind of because it all happened so fast. I kind of settled in with him. And I think that, that could have gone a lot more sideways than it did. Yeah, um, you know, thankfully, for me, I don't mind doing some repairs and stuff that had to be done. But you know, but if I didn't have time for that, what it right. I mean, some things could have been, then we would have had the house and even longer, right. So I think the other main thing I learned that I would do different is the contractor aspect.

Unknown Speaker  36:54  
That's really important.

Unknown Speaker  36:56  
Yep. Did you? Did you use any of the contractor management stuff from the modules? like did you use? Did you have him sign your contract? Or did you just use his contract?

Unknown Speaker  37:11  
Okay, so I signed his contract by the time because they'd already started before I got there in the modules. And that's why like, the punch list that you have amazing, yes, yes, yes. Um, because you find things and you see things that, you know, kind of would have slipped through the cracks. Yeah. Um, and I think that that also was important to to have my like that my contract?

Unknown Speaker  37:40  
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. In that also. So the reason I asked that is because you mentioned something about wood that is so very, very, very common, and especially with women, we tend to come into this thinking, Oh, my, I hope this contractor will work with me. Instead of I choose to work with this contractor, and here are like, this is the scope of work. These are the consequences. Yeah. And I'm going to follow through on those consequences. We don't tend to show up like that. That like on flip to, you're ready to show up like that. It took me three years. Like Finally, I woke up and was like, Okay, you know what, I'm the freakin CEO, this business and I need to show up like, I'm the CEO of this business. We're, oh, well just take it. Yeah, you know, I can handle it. That's fine. I'll just take it, which is total BS. Yeah. And it's ridiculous. So I'm like, I think having your contract and having your things that they have to sign as well. It's like, Okay, I'm not, I'm not working for them. Like, I'm not signing their stuff going on, you know, they're just gonna do whatever they want to do. Um, I mean, in the contract, we have them sign. It's it benefits both parties. Like it's not like not pigeonholing anybody. But it does help me feel more confident. Like, I have these. These are the rules. This is what happens if you break the rules, but then it's on me to follow through on those consequences, which is tough, which can be tough. But Yep, absolutely. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm excited. I'm super excited for you. I'm so happy that. I mean, I'm always happy to hear when somebody does their first flip, and they want to do a second one. That's the whole point. Like the whole goal of the first one is to just do it in a way that makes you want to do a second one. Yeah. And that looks different to everybody. Right. So yay, I'm so glad that you're looking at number two. That's awesome. And I really appreciate are you sharing your story? Because like I said, at the beginning, sharing our stories, it helps other people, other women. Everyday women see that, yes, we can do this. Okay. There's somebody else who's saying they did this. Right. Okay. And they had an issue with their contractor. And they had an issue with the sales process. And so they had issues. they solve the issues. And they want to do this again, like, it's awesome. I think this, this story is really powerful. And it's gonna inspire people. So thank you for sharing it with us first. You're

Unknown Speaker  40:38  
welcome. Thank you for all that you do, too. I'm super, super enjoyed the whole learning process. I started it over again, twice, just because I love it so much. I keep going back and like things and yeah, it's great.

Unknown Speaker  40:50  
I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you for letting me know. Is there anything you want to say before we go like anything? we maybe have something we didn't touch on that you wanted to be sure to say? Or parting words, for people

Unknown Speaker  41:05  
say yeah, the only just don't? Don't let fear and don't let being scared of the unknown and things you don't know. There's going to be things you don't know. You know, there's going to be nine now this time, I'm going to use a hard money lender. Okay, so totally new for me again. So, you know, there's always something that you don't know, don't let that be the thing that stops you. Yes. Know how that's gonna go. Or I don't know things. I don't have all the answers. Nobody does. Nobody does.

Unknown Speaker  41:33  
And there's always something new. There's always something new to learn. Oh, I'm still learning, right. 13 years later, I am still learning new things on projects. Just don't be scared. Do it. Just do the thing. Yeah, do the thing. I love that. I love that. Well, I'm so grateful. Again, thank you for sharing your story. Thanks for being in our group and in the community. I love it. Pictures, please. We really, I will. Um, Alright, that's it on my end. Thank you so much. Sure. To me, thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you for taking time out of your day and rescheduling all that jazz. I appreciate it. No problem. Thank you. All right, and now you have part of cherishes journey, her first flip journey. And I know that that's going to inspire some of you to go get into action. And you're going to want help. Because you don't want to screw up, right. So here's the thing. I'm about to open the program up our awesome coaching program up for the first time publicly since last April. All right. So if you want to have a community of women, supporting you, and helping you and guiding you and cheering you on and picking you up, when you get knocked down. That's what we do. We're really, really good at it. Because we're intentional about the community we create. So here's the thing, if you want to be part of that, and you want help on your house flipping journey, go to first flip dunrite.com put your name on the waitlist, and I will let you know as soon as I open the doors publicly. Alright. And that's going to be very soon. So go to first flip dunrite.com put your name on the list. And let's do this. Let's chase your curiosities. And do so with support. The support is what's missing in most courses out there not going to lie. The support is the differentiating factor for sure. All right, put your name on the list. Let's do this. You know the drill. 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, y'all.