Subject-To Deal on Her First Flip With Christina Johnston

Intro 00:01
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.

Debbie DeBerry 00:39
Hey, how are you today? Thanks for taking some time out to hang out with us. I'm super excited about today's interview that I'm sharing with you, because it's just fine. And it's super valuable. And it's important that you understand the things I tell you are possible, are actually possible. So I like bringing guests on, that are implementing the things I say are possible, so that you can see. All right, and now this interview is with one of my students who I also have hired, she's also one of the coaches in my private coaching community. And on her first flip, she was able to provide a solution that really helped the homeowner out of a tough situation. And she was able to do that without having to go get outside financing. There's no bank loan involved. There's no hard money loan, none of that. It was a win, win all the way around. Alright, let's get into this conversation. First, why don't you do a little introduction? Like just a little spiel about who you are, where you live? Tell us about your family that that sort of stuff.

Christina 02:00
Um, okay, so I live in Huntsville, Alabama. I'm from Houston, Texas actually stopped Houston, Texas. And we moved here about 12 years ago. And I have six daughters that are under the age of 15 is the oldest and then the baby is 16 months. She's our little surprise, surprise biscuit there. Yeah, we, we had three biological children. And then we wound up adopting our two foster daughters. And then about a month after the adoption was final, we got the surprise of a lifetime that I was pregnant in my 40s. So um, that was a real life changer, but she's a blessing. And so life is always crazy.

Debbie DeBerry 02:53
Well, I think that's even more important for people to know, because you have six freaking kids under the age of 15. I have 110 year old. And I'm like, wow. And you still like you make the time you make the time to do all of this, which is just awesome.

Christina 03:12
Well, I can tell you this, my second child rocked my world. And so those of you that are looking at me like I'm some kind of parent expert, I'm not. I have a lot of help this time around. My first three were very challenging. And so this time, you know, I have a lot of helpers. So don't think that I'm any superhero or something with all these kids, but but yes, I had to, I had to make a decision to do something for myself. Um, and that's what got me into this real estate investing journey.

Debbie DeBerry 03:50
So and you did you say that you're in Alabama?

Christina 03:53
Yes. I'm in northern Alabama. So Huntsville metro area? We're about 20 minutes. Well, 15 minutes outside of Huntsville, in the northern County area.

Debbie DeBerry 04:04
Awesome. And how did you find me?

Christina 04:09
Um, no, it's it's a funny story. Um, so I was working with one of my best friends. She's a photographer, and I was doing some of her editing. And she came to me one day and said, You know, my husband wants to do this flipping stuff. And you know, we're looking at this house and she said, Would you go look at the house with me? And I'm like, Sure, I'll take a look. And I took a look around. She knew I had some experience in remodeling my house and just fixing things just around the house. So she had me look around this house and I found a really big problem that she hadn't known about and the dryer event they had remodeled everything and the dryer vent was sealed up. bed sheet rock,

Debbie DeBerry 05:01
oh gosh,

Christina 05:02
as I'm kneeling down there, sticking my hand in the, in the dryer vent on the exterior of the house, it just hit me like, I love this kind of stuff.

Debbie DeBerry 05:13
That's awesome. I don't know this about, you know, after she she and I had talked a little bit about, you know, the flipping idea. I started researching it really for her. And so she could kind of get some more, I guess, idea on what it's like to flip and things like that. And I found several podcasts and videos made by men in the industry. And I actually said to myself, you know, if I could find a female, because the the perspective of a woman in this business, it's, um, we face unique challenges. And so I started looking women, you know, women in real estate women flipping and you were the first one that came up women flipping houses. I mean, that was, yeah, it was what came up, and I started watching your podcast and listening. I'm sorry, listening to the podcast and watching your videos and following on Facebook. And then I just did it

Debbie DeBerry 06:11
Just That's awesome. I love it. Um, okay. And then, in terms of when you joined, were you scared when you scraped? Were you scared when you push to that? Yeah, sure. Click like now to join button.

Christina 06:30
Yes. So first of all, you know, all the other programs that I looked at, were so expensive, and I thought there is no way I can pitch this to my husband. We, I just now got him to agree to put the baby in a daycare and for me to you know, work some more hours. There's just no way. And I mean, I'm talking like 10s of thousands of dollars these programs. And then I found yours. And I was like, this sounds too good to be true. You know, the price point was just for everything that you you offered, it felt too good to be true. so I just really just weighed all of the the reasons why I wanted to do this I focused on on the why. And I came to the conclusion that I needed to do this for me, you know, time is ticking away. I'm already in my 40s if I'm going to accomplish what I want to accomplish in life, I need to start, I need to stop having babies. No, not really well, but yes, really. But you can do this. If you're a mom, and you've got young children.

Debbie DeBerry 07:45
Yeah, it's possible to do this. Yeah, totally. All right, let's jump into your first deal. Because one of the things like there are just so many things that I love about your first deal. Um, one being the way you found it, because it's something that I say, hey, go do this. And not everybody does this. Right? And then how it took a little while. Right? It was a it was a roller coaster? For sure. It was a yes. No, it's not gonna happen. Yep. No, it was total on again off again. So take us through how you found it. And what it was like how, let's just talk about how you found it first.

Christina 08:29
Okay, so first, I have to speak to your program. And your, the way you have things set out is so methodically purposefully planned out, and even from releasing the modules one at a time to all the different steps. It's like that for a reason. And I'll tell you why. You know, I'm, I'm the kind of person that always kind of questions and bugs the system a little bit to make sure things, you know, oh, but I know better. I need to do it my way. Like saying, oh um, even when I did join, I was like, okay, she says, do this, this and this, but, you know, I'm gonna do exactly like, but but in the beginning of a trial, in the beginning, I did. And so one of the first things was to just put yourself out there on your personal social media, you know, after you've created your your business and done all the steps that you tell us to do. Um, I just put it out there. To my friends and family. I said, Look, this is what I'm doing now. Y'all know, I can't just sit still, I'm always going to be doing something. And this is what I'm doing. And I'm a friend of an elderly friend reached out to me through that, because she saw that post and she says, Oh, do you you know, do you buy houses? And she said, You know, I'm in a really difficult situation right now. So I told her, you know, we can we can talk about Later. And so we did. And we met and we talked and she told me kind of what was happening. And I told her what was what was happening with me. And we set up a meeting. And I show up to the meeting. And as I'm there, a gentleman's walking out of the house, and she says, oh, he just bought it. And I was like, What? I didn't understand what was happening. Well, come to find out she did not. She felt so burdened by this house. And she loved me so much as my friend through through our church, that she didn't want to put the burden of the house on to me.

Debbie DeBerry 10:44
And wow. that's so this is interesting to know, like, this is this is real. This is how some sellers feel.

Christina 10:50
Yes, she and she, and she even we have a heart to heart. I said, You know, I wasn't upset that she didn't choose me. I was just concerned. I was like, you know, why don't you listen, you know, let us meet first I could have helped you. And I was really concerned that he had had her sign something and didn't give her a copy of it. So she couldn't tell me what she signed. She just knows that he gave her a check. And, and he left and so me not knowing the process me not knowing really anything yet. And I made it a thought worst case scenario, thought of the typical stereotypical house flipper or not house flipper, but, um, what's it called, like a wholesaler or something, doing something like Sharky, you know, and that was what I was like, this doesn't sound right, this sounds shady. You know, I felt really bad for her. Anyway, um, you know, she said, I just didn't want to burden you with this house. That was the end of it. And that was that I said, okay, it's okay. I understand, you know, let me know if I can help you any way. If you have questions, maybe I can help you find the answer. I offered to get her an elder advocate, if she needed that, I wanted to make sure that the contract she signed was on the up and up. And, and that was that and we left it at that. And I went along with my modules and learned the program and started implementing all the steps. I put several bids on different houses and got turned down. And so I'm proceeding with my business as as normal. And then she contacts me in, I guess, March, and, and said, Look, you know, I don't know what's happening. The guy can't close for whatever reason. This was right around the COVID stuff, right before everything started kind of coming down to this was this year. So she reached out to me basically, in the same situation she was in, but worse this time, because now, she has no seller, for me, no buyer for her house, she has already moved out and was living somewhere else. And could not afford both. Both where she was living and, and the house she left. And so um, anyway, that's, that's how I found it. And that's how from there it's kind of history after that, we worked it out. And we structured the deal in a very unique way, so that she could get what she needs and what she needed. And then, you know, I could still make it work.

Debbie DeBerry 13:39
Yeah, let's talk about that. Because it's a way that people don't believe is possible. And and I want to note that when I do talk about this, people always say, Well, how do I find those kinds of houses? It's not that you're finding a kind of house, it's a solution, you can offer a seller, if it makes sense to both parties, right. So it's not a kind of house. It's a solution that we can offer. Okay, let's talk about it. How did you exactly and and 

Christina 14:06
let me do a side note in one of your podcasts. One of the reasons why I chose to pursue this program was your heart and your reasoning and your reasoning behind what you do. And, and my reasoning and heart lined up with that leaving people in places better than the way you found them. And so it was not about money. For me, it was not about the house, really. I mean, it was really about helping my friend, she genuinely needed help. And I genuinely had the tools that could help her in some way.

Debbie DeBerry 14:45
That's amazing.

Christina 14:46
And I didn't know really how it was going to help her because I still needed some more facts to to really analyze. Um, but I knew I was going to help her in some way.

Debbie DeBerry 14:57
Yeah, you lead with how can I help her, which always allows us to come up with solutions, right? Because if we're not, we're in the art we're this already listening of, they just want the most money possible. That's it, every seller just wants the most money possible. And that's not the case. And it's not what's best for them in every case. Like, there are different scenarios, and people just need somebody to listen, really, as we continue along. I think connection and listening are just going to become more and more important. At least that's what I hope I like, even with all these eye buyers, right? It's like, there's that's just transactional. We're still humans trying to have human experiences. Right. So right. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about it. 

Christina 15:47
So what I really wanted to do is have a clear picture of what she wanted. I said, if you could wave a magic wand, and whatever you want, could happen, what would that be? And she told me in detail, what she wanted, why she wanted it. This was her family home, she grew up in this home. There were some other personal things that she shared. And I wanted to get that clear picture of what she wanted, and why. Yeah, I love that question. And then from there, I went to work and said, Okay, how can I make all these things happen for her? And, and may not lose money in the process? You know, yeah, that was really, that. It right there. Yeah. And so, um, you know, she, she was time was of the essence of this transaction. Because she was already living in where she was going to live, and needed this house, done like a month ago, as far as you know, sold or whatever she was going to do. So because of the time situation, and because of some other personal factors, and the option of a subject to Okay, you know, became an auction. And I explained it to her subject to, it's where you buy the property subject to the existing mortgage, so the mortgage stays in the property sellers name. And then you just assume the mortgage. And there's a lot of rules and caveats in there. And so it's, it's a little more detailed than then I'm making it very simple right here, just for the sake of this, this call, but that is how we structured it as a subject to so she kept her original mortgage, and I just paid it, I paid the monthly payments during the rehab. Awesome. And so that that helped her because we could close quicker, I didn't have to, you know, get a hard money loan or a private money loan or any kind of loan because it was already there. The loan was there. All I had to do was secure the funds for the rehab.

Debbie DeBerry 18:04
Yeah. Got it. Yeah, I love it. And, okay, now, let's talk about the rehab.

Christina 18:17
Okay, remember that little part where I said, as long as you know, I want to help her as much as I can’t be losing money. I'm gonna learn by -what to cover you- like hands on, I've learned hands on. You couldn't have taught me this. No one could have taught me what I learned through this experience without going through it.

Debbie DeBerry 18:42
Yeah, that's the beauty of flipping houses. And of course,

Christina 18:45
hindsight, 2020. If I could wave a magic wand and go back, you know, what, I make any changes? Really? No, I wouldn't, even though we hit some roadblocks. And we had to make some changes and pivots. I would do exactly the same way because I have learned so much by that experience. And that experience being that initially, the rehab costs that I used in my deal analyzer, and we're probably significant considered significant costs, compared to most flips. And once we got in there and started doing the work, we found out it needed a lot more work, like to the tune of 25,000 more. So our rehab budget was originally 60,000. And it we basically rebuilt the house.

Debbie DeBerry 19:38
Yeah, it's awesome, by the way,

Christina 19:40
but but I can say that I made a plan a plan B, and a plan C always and made that very clear to my investors. And, um, you know, we were able to pivot pretty seamlessly Yeah, every time something else came up, I know, of course, you know, some of my contractors were like, oh, gosh, you know, we've got this and what's going to happen? And, you know, is this going to kill the project? And I was constantly like, I got this guy's is cool. Yeah, no, I have a plan B, I have a plan B for Plan B.

Debbie DeBerry 20:19
Right. Exactly. Exactly. Always have multiple strategies, right. Multiple plans, backup plans, backup plans to the backup plans. Yes.

Christina 20:29
Yeah. And and even when you don't have a backup plan, I think it's really important to know, in this business, there is no problem that cannot be solved. Totally. No problem. Any problem that can happen, there is a solution. Would the result sometimes result in not as much profit or, you know, possibly a loss? Possibly. But even when things like that happen, it's such a good learning experience, because you'll know that for the next. Right, right. Yeah, I hope I will. I didn't skip one of your questions that you had asked. I'm looking kind of at my, my numbers here. And yeah, so the repair budget was significantly higher. And mind you, I had started out planning to get a sorry, planning to get a private money loan for the rehab. So you know, we did the deal subject to, and then I had a little bit of cash that I used for, like the closing and the downpayment. But ultimately, you know, I was going to get a private money loan for the entire rehab, because in the beginning, and when I pitched this idea to my husband, risk to our family was a big concern in financial risk. Yeah. And that was constantly on my mind, you know, yes, I can help her I could do this and do that. But ultimately, I can't risk our personal finances. That was like something floating in the back of my mind constantly. Yep. So in doing that, and, you know, the original plan was to get a private money loan for all of the rehab. But when we had to pivot, I had to pivot some other mindset things to, you know, pivot the risk pivot just how I was going to fund it. And I had with my alternate plan, I still had the option to get another private money lender. And this was, remember, this was right in the middle of COVID. When it was beginning, March, April, we closed may 13. So may 13 2020. Right? What was going on with the economy? We had no idea what was happening, right. So uncertainty risk was, the term risk became a completely different term in May 2020, right. And so so we made some changes to that. And I wound up utilizing some of the options that were provided, because of COVID, through the TSP loans, and things like that, from our personal 401k. And some other you know, there's some other personal things that you can utilize that don't necessarily put you at risk. So like, you don't have to have a bunch of money to start out in this business. But there are personal ways that you can find your your flips without actually getting into your bank account. But some of the wrote down some of the things that some people may use, if they're going the personal route is personal investment options, savings, stocks, bonds, things that might could be cashed out, he locks on your personal residence or other investment properties, credit cards. Those are just some of the options that you can utilize when you're in a situation where you don't want to get a private money loan. The other reason was, because of the pivot and because of the $25,000 additional expense. We um, we had to weigh that because if we use private money, we have to pay a an interest, you know, that that lender? Yeah, so, um, by pivoting and using some of my personal options, we say, See, now I don't see it on here. But it was it was a significant significant savings. Here we go. Um, it was over $7,000 in interest that I saved by using my own money that was just sitting there and In the stock market and things like that, so, um Did I answer your question? Sorry, I'm getting sidetrackedlooking at my notes. 

Debbie DeBerry 25:08
Oh, no, we're good. We're good. So okay. So, we talked about some renovation surprises that happened. But well, renovation budget surprises at least Hmm. Um, and then in terms of the contractor, did you hire a contractor? Or did you manage it yourself? or How did you work that.

Christina 25:32
So I had planned to be my own GC to save money that this was part of the original plan, you know, a GC, a general contractor, they usually charge a percentage of the whole project. And in turn, they manage the project for you, they hire the subs, they handle, you know, cost, the materials and all that, and they give you the reports. But in this deal, there was just not enough room to pay for a general contractor. So I chose to be my own project manager, well, in my county, and the permit department has a rule that if you are going to act as your own general contractor on a property you own, you have to sign that you will not sell it for a year. And so that kind of threw it for a loop because I'm here to flip houses and, and I was planning to offload this by the summer. And, you know, all of a sudden, I'm already in the deal. I'm already I mean, the train is already moving. Yeah. And and then I realized this, um, it had I done better homework, and stuck to the modules that you provide this telling us, you know, it, the order to do things in, I probably would have figured this out sooner. Um, but yeah, so the permit process in the county meant that I couldn't sell for a year. Yeah. And, and so that also contributed to our pivot, it kind of all happened at the same time. It affected the budget a little bit, because the permits, things that I thought my key contractor could do. Now, he couldn't do because of the permit requirements, right. I didn't do the proper, proper research beforehand, to find out what kind of work his permit, you know, requires permit and licensed contractor and what doesn't, yeah, and so because of that, I had to pivot again, and there was more expense. Yeah, you know, the budget was went up more, because then I had to hire a licensed person for certain things that I hadn't planned on, on hiring a licensed because I thought my key contractor could do it, and sign off on the permit. So, so that just kept, I mean, my rehab budget just kept backing up against the wall. But again, because I had the multiple Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, you know, and I was able to solve the problems and, and we were able to, we decided we're going to rent it. And we didn't decide we were kind of forced to, I couldn't sell it for a year. And we decided to make it into a rental so that I could get some of these funds back. And really, so I could be compensated for my time. Really. I mean, I don't want to really call it a profit, because, you know, I, I put a lot of time into it. And, and I mean, I deserved a profit. Business is a business. That was really hard. On a side note, that was really hard for me to say, and do because I wanted to do is help people. And to say, I deserve a profit for that. Yeah, it's still even hard to say.

Debbie DeBerry 28:59
Yeah, I know. I know. Um, but you don't you can't do this. If you're not making a profit.  I know. I guess I keep coming back to it. I know.

Christina 29:09
So, um, we were we were able to pivot on that project. And we finished it in record time. I mean, this was a full gut. Yeah, every single system was replaced on this house. Yeah. plumbing, electrical. Ah back all the sheetrock. ceiling. insulation. It is a new house. It's a it's a new house. and I should share the before and after picture. Great. Yeah, yeah. But um, in the end she got rented out and and for a above market rent rate. I had a lot of naysayers. 

Debbie DeBerry 29:53
I know and I want to talk about that. Okay.

Christina 29:55
You know, I mean, I'm I get price shamed all the time, even though this program is One 20th of what it is elsewhere right on price change all the time, even on listings and on leases and like all of that, the price shaming has nothing to do with you. And it's hard, because we take it on because we care what people think about us. It has nothing to do with you had nothing to do with the property. It had everything to do with the people who couldn't afford that rental rate period. Yes. But that's a hard, like, that is a like a daily reminder to myself, it's hard, right, wherever he is everyone, we're not freaking Nutella. But, you know, I, I put so much time and heart and energy into this project, that I was firm in my mindset that I am not accepting a penny less than this, I'll sit on it and not rent it. Before I accept, yeah, unless, and I had realtors, private message me and say You're ridiculous for asking this amount for that area. And this and that. And I had call after call after call of people who drove by I put a little sign by the main road that said house for rent. And they called ask for information. And when I told them, they're like, You're crazy, you're gonna get that for that. Even people in that are in the neighborhood said, you know, and there was some public posts that were totally shaming. And, yeah, it made me like, Oh, you know, feel bad. But my best friend, she said, You know what, they're just just not jealous. But there's, they're shaming you because they can't afford it. It's not about they can't, you know, and so I held out. And I did, I will say I did lower the price from the first price that I put out there for the monthly rent. And, but there was a reason for doing that. I was originally going to include all of the furniture and everything, the staging, you know, to allow that to be rented furnished. And there were some other things. So really, you know, although I did drop the price, and the person, you know, the, the tenant, the tenants who applied for the house, and never do the difference. I mean, they didn't know, that I had planned to do you include all this stuff. Right? So it still was within the budget and it still rented for above market.

Debbie DeBerry 32:40
Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So did you want did you want to add something else?

Christina 32:47
Well, I just wanted to kind of sum up the the structuring aspect. So the plan, the final pivot plan was to rent it and then to do a cash out refinance, so that I can pull my money out backing out and the rehab money that I put in personally whereas if I'd gotten a private money loan that would have been to pay the private money lender off and and so that's where we're at right now we're in the process of finishing up that cash out refinance. Once I get that, that cash out, then I will pay off the primary mortgage the subject to mortgage and myself and another private investor that contributed as well.

Debbie DeBerry 33:38
Awesome. Awesome. And you have since like, while you were in the middle of that actually, you bought another project sounds crazy.

Christina 33:52
Yes, I did. And there was this house had gone on the market and I knew I wanted it immediately I saw it it was on the MLS. I messaged my realtor and I didn't know this at the time but she was someone in her family had passed away and she was at the fear all day and I was like why not she responding I want to put a bid on this house just I thought really bad later but um, and then at by the end of that day, it had listed pending and so and we missed out on that and I apologize for texting her incessantly and so then we let it go. I mean obviously it was it was already pending. I didn't let it go in my mind I kept thinking man that house that house that house house and then one morning I roll over and look at my phone and guess what's back on the market. And so before 7am I had her on the call it call we want it we're gonna put in an offer you know asking price above asking price instead We did and I purchased it. And, um, we're starting on it, hopefully next week.

Debbie DeBerry 35:07
Yeah. So what's your plan with that real quick. 

Christina 35:10
So that one, it's on a large, kind of a larger lot. And it's a very old house 1950. So it does need some work. And my plan is to refinish it, or rehab it, and rent it. And the other side of the land, that's clear, we're going to build a duplex on it. And so it's really two projects in one. And the best best news, I don't know if I should share this publicly.

Debbie DeBerry 35:45
Okay, let's retract.

Christina 35:50
Let's just say things where I already have a renter, yes, for the house once it's done. And it's a really awesome situation, another situation where I'm able to help somebody. I wish I could say it. Um, but it's another great win win situation, it really is not very happy of how it worked out. And we're very excited.

Debbie DeBerry 36:20
That's awesome. That's awesome. Yay. Okay. Let's see, I think we touched on everything. We even touched on, like, some mindset stuff and limiting beliefs, which you know, I love talking about because that's, that's anywhere in everywhere, right? We have those anywhere and everywhere, but people don't talk about them as much.

Christina 36:43
Can I say something else about that? Yeah. Um, so I started this program, thinking that I was going to flip houses. And that was my goal flip, you know, flip stressed flip houses. And when I had to pivot with that project, even though it worked out, and and now it's a cash flowing asset, and everything, I still kind of felt a little bit like I failed, because I didn't flip it. I did it, you know, flip it for the profit, like, you know, the program is designed for. And, thankfully, because of our tight knit group, in our private group, within the coaching program, I'm one of my fellow flipping sisters, as we call him, um, pointed out that I didn't fail. You know, why are you saying you failed, you didn't fail, renting and having a cash flowing up. asset is not failing. And I had been sitting on that for several months. And I think it was messing up my mindset, I'm Why didn't start on this next project. Because I was thinking I had I had failed from my goal.

Debbie DeBerry 37:57
Yeah, I know. And I love talking about this with you, because it's just like, you had for so many reasons. It wasn't a failure for so many reasons. And I know that it feels that way. When that was the intentional, like the intended goal was fixed split profit move on, right? The fact that you had alternative exit strategies, 99% of beginners, first time flippers do not have that. Okay, so the fact that you even had alternative exit strategies mapped out in your mind. And then we're smart enough to recognize, oh, crap, I got a pivot. And I'm going to pivot fast. And let's choose this one, right? And oh, well, if this isn't a great choice, okay, we've got another choice. But you've got to pivot and choose right and just, yeah, all choices. You can make another choice if you have to, but I love it. Like it's so it's so obvious to us when you talk about that on that one. mindset call our book book club. Yeah. mindset mind your business, right? Yeah. When we talked about that, we all of us were like, it is so obvious that you won on so many levels. And then also, we realized, like, we get why you thought you fail. Like we understand that because we're humans, and we would feel the same way. But as an outsider, it was choreographed beautifully.

Christina 39:26
Well, and I will say this, you know, um, yes, your program teaches how to flip houses. Okay. But really, I feel like you should redo all your marketing, because that's not the primary thing that you do. And the primary thing that you do and and that we do in the group and in the coaching program, is empower us as women in this industry to identify what you want. Feel like you deserve what you want. You know, Find the tools to get, you know, get there. And it's okay to reward yourself and pat yourself on the back when you've done a good job. And just all the mindset work, really, I never would have done this kind of mindset stuff on my own, but having an accountability group, and that has been a huge asset to me. The flipping education is just kind of a plus. And I think everybody in the group feels the same way. Yeah, at least the people who are actually doing the thing. Yeah. Right. I think some people who maybe aren't doing actually doing the work and doing the thing, the scary thing, which is the flipping of the houses, I think that sometimes they may say, Oh, this, you know, I don't know, you know, they may not feel it as much. And that's because they're not doing it.

Debbie DeBerry 40:57
Exactly. Well. And that's one of the reasons why I think most real estate investing courses are they set people up to fail, because what they do is they're like, okay, here's the content, you know, for six to eight weeks, and then you're on your own to implant, the hardest freaking part you're on your own to do, which is why we stick around for 12 freaking months, while you while you go implement. And what you're gonna do is, like, it's it is your process, your race, your pace, your process? Yes, everyone is on a different journey. Some of us have a lot more mud in here that we have to, like dredge through, right? We have to, like, get through that mud. Yeah, others have done some work or done or have been around different messaging, the messaging, we've been around all our lives, completely impacts and drives, how we think, what we believe is possible. what we believe is possible for us, even though it's possible for other people might not be possible for us. I'm not right. Right. So robot crap. Like, we have to talk about that stuff. And if this is, it's basically a mindset program, and I happen to teach you about flipping houses And the Need with that. Yes. 

Christina  42:31
Yes, every day, it's ongoing. And, you know, I've been in this program, what, nine months? Yep. Nine months. And house flipping aside, I feel like I have grown so much as a person and, and as a woman. Yeah, I guess I could say, you know, and it's affected all areas of my life. Really, it really has. And that's just from doing the mindset work and get allowing myself to feel things. Yeah. And, and I'm such a natural born leader. I'm the oldest of five. And I'm always seemingly in a leadership type position. And I've always approached that leadership as Okay, you're in charge. So you've got to be tough, you've got to be fearless, you've got to put on this huge armor. So you, you know, you can lead fiercely through the, through the war. And I'm realizing that's actually not the best way to do it. Um, and so I forgot where I was going with that.

Debbie DeBerry 43:44
Well, I think it's, it's, it's just, maybe it's more of like how you've grown and more awareness that you have of yourself now, like, perfection is not it's not the goal, right? It stops being the goal, like authenticity, and transparency become the new goals, like, let's show up, and let's be who we are. Right? And let's flip some houses and have fun, and have fun in total dorks. 

Christina 44:13 
Um, you know, vulnerability. That's one of the key things that I'm working on right now. Yeah, is just be yourself. Like you put it with that picture.

Debbie DeBerry 44:25
Oh, exactly. I'm like, I'm using that. And you're like, Okay, no, like, No,

Christina 44:32
you know, but I'm there. It's okay. Because people are gonna like me, or they're gonna not like me, and it's not that I don't care. I do care, but it's not going to define who I am. If they liked me or don't like me.

Debbie DeBerry 44:45
Yeah, I know. That's a tough, man.

Christina 44:47
I'm just going to be myself and have fun and, you know, be supportive. I'm going to try and be you know what, I feel like I need, you know, somebody else.

Debbie DeBerry 44:57
Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. I think that It's amazing that I love that thank you for, like, just thank you for sharing what you've gotten out of the program because it makes me teary, I will I probably will get teary because you know more about this, because that's what I was hoping to create. I was hoping to create three years ago when I threw this party, right, I threw this Internet Party saying, Hey, I teach women how to flip houses. But I do it in a different way. And I'm a little bit woowoo. And I'm not so profit driven, right? was like, Who knew I had no idea if anybody was going to come to my party, but I wanted it to be a different party than anyone else was creating. And we're totally freaking doing that because of the women that that this program attracts. And it's like, we're very protective of the bubble. Like if people come in and they want to be toxic, they're not going to they're not going to hang like, it's not, that's not that kind of party at all. So I'm just grateful that women are trusting, like this random weirdo on the internet, like, Okay, let's go flip houses with Debbie. Let's see what she's like. But really, like, they're trusting me enough to say, Yeah, okay, let's do this. And then they get inside the community. And it's just making the community even better. Like, it's just amazing. It's this beautiful snowball effect. So think it means a lot when when you guys share that it's more than just flipping houses. Because that has always been my goal, that it's more than just flipping houses. It's who we are in the world, how we show up to others, how we show up for ourselves, like all that stuff. So thank you.

Christina46:34
And your authenticity and vulnerability and willingness to share even, you know, your mistakes and the things that you've been through. I'm learning from that. And and I hope to do the same thing. You know, for other people in the group say, hey, look, I'm not perfect. I don't know, I've only been in this thing for nine months. But I've gotten really good at finding the resources, what to solve the problems. And so I appreciate your vulnerability, because it's teaching me to set that armor down a little bit and to let people in and to see, hey, look, I make mistakes. I mean, I've got my background, I'll pretty over here, but I ain't even shameful, like, for sharing.

Debbie DeBerry 47:26
I love it. I love it. 

Christina 47:27
I literally had to move the vacuum cleaner. Anyway, sorry to sidetrack. But this group, it's it's amazing. And I really, really appreciate everything that that you've done and the other members in the group. It's what keeps me going.

Debbie DeBerry 47:44
You're awesome. Well, thank you for sharing your story with us. 

Christina 47:49
You're welcome. Um, I will say this to you know, the other ladies in our private group. It's so inspiring to just hear their stories and and how, you know, yes, they were scared at first. And then they took that that fear and just kept on going. And something that one of the other ladies helped me to realize is that the fear is not a weakness. The fear is something we all feel. It's seeing the fear and doing the scary thing anyway. That shows the true bravery. And I'm seeing that so much in our private group. And it's like, feel to my tank of Okay, keep going, keep going, keep going. Hearing people and being empowered by other people who are doing that scary thing.

Debbie DeBerry 48:44
Absolutely. Absolutely. Amen. Sister. You're a rock star. Christina. I'm so glad we cross paths. All right, Christina, thank you very much.

Christina 48:54
Goodbye.

Debbie DeBerry 48:56
I'll see you later. 

Christina 48:57
See you later. 

Debbie DeBerry 48:48
All right, 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. All right, get on my waitlist. Because the women inside my program. First of all, the community is unbeatable. The places 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 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. All right. So put your name on that list. You will be notified within a week or two of your chance to join. All right, first lift dunrite.com 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