Building intentional partnerships

I was hesitant on putting my past projects up here because I felt like what I’ve done in the past doesn’t align with what I’m looking to do with Legacy Collective going forward- but this is how my Legacy started so now I feel inclined to share it because it’s part of my journey. The point of me sharing this is so you can gain an understanding of my track record. Most properties that were purchased required building trust with a potential partner or investor. Going forward requires me to do much of the same- but I look to be more intentional on who I partner with.

Here’s a few highlights of deals I’ve closed over the years:
Track record

Pay attention to the numbers, which are circled in red. I share this because getting into real estate doesn’t mean you need to have deep pockets. Most developers aren’t using their own money to fund their projects, and even if they are, you need to know that it isn’t the only way. There are many things I love about real estate- the potential to impact lives with what is created, the ability to give me time to be with my family and being able to use it as a vehicle to build generational wealth- which for a lot of people, feels so far removed and not even a possible. But along with this, comes the possibility of creating financial freedom to spend time with those who matter most and do the things that make our lives more meaningful- AND you don’t need to be a landlord or rehabber to achieve any of this. People keep their careers and do all this without crunching numbers, managing contractors, etc.

– Have you thought of investing in real estate as an additional stream of income but don’t know how to get started? If you haven’t, have you thought of building an additional revenue stream but can’t because your time is committed to your job and you can’t possibly take on another thing to do?

– Would you call yourself a socially conscious consumer? Are you mindful about the brands you buy because their goals and mission align with yours? If so, have you thought that you could also be a socially conscious investor? That money that you invest (whether it’s in real estate, an investment fund or some other vehicle) can support socially conscious businesses, while you receive a return on your money?

I’d love to hear from you even if none of this relates to you or is on your radar. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or just want to connect!

Find solutions to Problems You Wanna Punch!

That was a quote from Morgan Berman, CEO of MilkCrate- which was sort of my theme/takeaway from the PA Conference for Women- which I attended on Friday, October 12th- along with 12,000+ other people- including men! Below is a re-cap of people/books/quotes that resonated with me that I hope you will look into as well. It wasn’t too long ago that I shared my blog post about about the BlogHer event in NY and learned about Tiffany Dufu, founder of TheCru, which I am now a proud member of, along with 9 other ambitious women that will help me achieve my intentions! If you haven’t heard of The Cru, learn more about it here: Find Your Cru

Overall, I thought there was a ton of content- I learned a lot about people/companies/topics that I would not have been aware of had I not attended. I think it’s a great event to attend if your intention is to come back with a few nuggets to help build yourself/your business. The majority of the topics were geared towards people working in corporations, that didn’t apply to me- which makes sense, since many of the sponsors were large companies- Beneficial, Jefferson, GSK, etc. Would I go again? Yes- but it would depend on what topics are covered- specifically surrounding issues that face entrepreneurs. It just so happened that a few topics were areas that I was interested in, that could be applied to my business- but that may not always be the case.

Morning keynote:
Amal Clooney– What a beautiful human, inside and out- an attorney/activist for human rights and has represented people like Nadia Murad, Nobel Peace Prize winner- who have been victimized by genocide, mass atrocities, and human trafficking.
Amanda Southworth– a 16 year old who created the app Anxiety Helper, for those with mental illnesses and Verena, a security system for members of the LGBTQ community-

Session 1:
Jenn Welter, author of Play Big– shared her journey on becoming the first female coach in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals and revealed her nuggets on how she was able to lead her team effectively. I loved her approach because when I think of leading a bunch of men- football players nonetheless- I would never think that gaining their trust and connecting with them personally, would give her an edge. In thinking about it- when men have only been lead by men- they’ve only gotten that approach/perspective. Being coached by Jenn was probably a long overdue breath of fresh air. Emotional intelligence played a huge role in leading to her success- as well as being AUTHENTIC- which is a message I hear constantly! Few quotes that she shared:

“Even as a coach, you need to be coached”
“People you lead have to feel like you’re human”
“Perfect is not human”
“Get Buy In from the players (or key stakeholders) before getting buy in from the top/decision makers ”

Session 2:
Sally Helgesen co-author of How Women Rise lead a panel discussion that covered key topics in the book and included

Panelists:
Dani Rylan, founder, National Women’s Hockey League and Fast Company “Most Creative People in Business 2016”
Fran Hauser, author, The Myth of the Nice Girl
Karen Etzkorn, CIO, Qurate Retail Group

There were so many quotes/tidbits that I took away from this discussion and am eager to get to listening to the book! But one thing that brought me to tears was when Karen Etzkorn shared that women tend to be reluctant on sharing their achievements. This is a huge thing for me that I need to get over. I’ve definitely had moments where I felt like I wasn’t delivering my best self as a mom, business-owner, wife and once I get down a path, it just opens up Pandora’s box. But she said, look in the mirror and just say, “Look at what I’ve done!” Just writing that made tears well up in my eyes. I need to focus on the good I do and what I’ve accomplished vs. the opposite. Doing this is definitely something I intend to do whenever I fall into a moment where I feel like I’m falling short. How many times have you not given yourself enough credit and fell down tquote le of not feeling like enough? That affirmation is something that I always need to keep in mind to help me see and acknowledge what I’ve accomplished.

Afternoon keynote:
Serena Williams: New mom, elite athlete- extraordinary and ordinary all at once

I mean, I know Serena Williams and what she stands for. But I totally connected with her journey about being back in the finals less than a year after giving birth to her daughter- and the internal struggles she shared as being an elite athlete and a mom. I mean- not that I’m an elite athlete- LOL but her journey as someone who wants to be great at her career and as a mom, and the struggles that come with are so common. Being in the presence of greatness really does something to me, and seeing/hearing her talk and realizing she’s just as human as anyone else and the only difference between her and everyone else is where she focuses her time and energy. Aside from being there to share her journey as an elite athlete and a mom, she wanted to raise awareness for maternal health, specifically for black women and domestic violence survivors. Purple Purse is a cause that she supports to help victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives.

Some quotes she shared:
“I’m obsessed with breaking records and making history”
“Success of one woman should be an inspiration to the next”

Session 3:
By this time, I was already tired from the day- but still felt I gained some info re: companies/people/topics that I should be keeping on my radar!

Nathalie Molina Nino, CEO, Brava Investments and author, Leap Frog: 50 Hacks for Women Entrepreneurs lead a discussion surrounding social impact investing. This is a topic that I’ve been doing a lot of digging around- so I intend on writing up another post re: this. People, specifically women and millennials, are increasingly becoming more conscious about the products they consume and the companies they invest in. On the panel were:
Morgan Berman, social entrepreneur & CEO, MilkCrate @morganberman
Gayle Jennings-O’Byrne, founder and CEO at iNTENT Manifesto
Sally Susman, EVP, corporate Affairs, Pfizer

Things I intend to keep on my radar:
http://conference.ic-svn.org/
https://rsfsocialfinance.org/our-story/
Pipeline Angels
SheEO
BRAVA Investments
100WomenPhiladelphia
Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs
BlockChain

When responding to political issues, Sally Susman of Pfizer suggested that the company has criteria which it uses to decide whether it needs to respond:
– Is it relevant to our purpose?
– Is it important to key stakeholders?
– What options do we have if we choose to respond?
– What is the price for not responding?

I thought this criteria was a useful way to decide how we spend our time and be intentional about it.
– Is it relevant to our purpose? (does this action/person/activity align with my purpose?)
– Is it important to key stakeholders? (Is this action/person/activity important so that I can better serve the people that matter to me/my business?)
– What options do we have if we choose to respond? (What are the potential outcomes of doing this?)
– What is the price for not responding? (What are the pros/cons of doing this?)

Yes, this post was sort of a ramble, but there was so much content to be shared- hopefully you get 1 or 2 nuggets out of it!

Trust me, we’ve made progress!

People have asked me for updates and quite honestly, there wasn’t much to update anyone on until the last month.

Given that this was our personal home, there was a lot of back and forth between us and our architect.

Once we approved the plans plans, we had to submit them to the township, which took about 1 month to get approved. While we were getting our plans approved, we worked with our lender- Direct Mortgage Loans. If you need a contact for a renovation loan, hit me up! My girl Shannon Rose is over there now and her team is responsive and knows their shit! Ha!

For something like this it’s ideal to have funds on hand to get the project moving- whether it’s your own cash or from a partner. Some unforeseen expenses thus far have been the poison ivy removal and the tree removal. Given that the property has been vacant for a long time, the poison ivy was out of control. Cisco found a legit guy that removes poison ivy from the source- so if you’re in the Philly/Lower Merion area, let me know! Back in March when we had a wind/ice storm, a tree came down and almost hit our house. Since that tree came down, the chances of the 2 trees beside it coming down increased because there was nothing protecting them- so we had to remove all the trees in the back, which I was sort of bummed about. The trees offered a level of privacy that we liked.

Work didn’t start until early September and we closed on the loan earlier this week. So all the progress is quite boring! See all the stuff they don’t share with you on HGTV??!

Here is an album with all the pics- including items that were found amongst the piles and piles of stuff. New pics will be added here so you can go back to this link to check the progress. The most recent pics will be towards the bottom. Enjoy!

Photo Gallery

“Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind” Bernard Baruch/Blogher18 Recap

My blogher18 tribe pic! @nerdinthecity @safia_alice @cffowler13

I wasn’t sure of what to expect from this conference since I’m not in the fashion, health or beauty industry. Honestly, I was finding a reason NOT to go. I think I’m a pretty good networker, but I can’t say that I have any interest in schmoozing with people overly obsessed with perfection and selfies! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 I wasn’t sure if it’d be the best use of 2 days time. I mean seriously, I rarely get full days to myself so I was definitely able to think of plenty of things I could do instead of going to #blogher18.

How many of you have those moments when you signed up for something or about to do something and then you flake? I’m guilty of it. I think there are definitely times where you commit to something and make a decision whether or not something is worth your time. There are other times when you keep telling yourself that something else is a better use of your time, but deep down what’s really happening is that you’re not being open to something and are trying to avoid it. That was me. So I decided I was gonna go in and make good connections and look for the good in everything! And that’s what I did.

And I walked away with so much! I connected with some truly inspiring women doing really remarkable things- 20 somethings-50 somethings, moms, entrepreneurs, self-starters, leaders- jewelry makers, marathoners, authors, inventors, designers and most importantly… DOERS! Being in the same room with that type of energy can’t be replicated through a video or Facebook group- and is an experience that really needs to be on the priority of my to-do list for my own personal growth.

When I saw the list of names of people attending the event, it was quite overwhelming. But wow! There were names I’ve never heard of and people doing great things. People you need to know about because of what they are about so here’s my ramble in no particular order:

Dr. Alaa Murabit @alaamurabit (AND she’s down with TLC!) is a global policy leader who stressed at the importance of having women of color “at the table” when it comes to global policies and peace building. I can’t remember the exact stat she shared, but there’s a stark contrast in successful programs/policies when women of color are at the table helping to make those decisions.
Monserat Adebanjo @browngirlforthearts, founder of Brown Girl for the Arts-
Nekpen Osuan, founder of @womenwerk
Angie Thomas @angiethomas, author of “The Hate You Give” which inspired the movie of the same title (she has such a light to her and I seriously wanted to grab drinks or do karaoke with her)
Gabrielle Union… @gabunion #blessed #grateful
Denise Woodard, @partakefoods founder of Partake Foods and based in Jersey City, a mom of a toddler, she took it upon herself to create snacks that are free of the top 14 food-based allergens that are delicious!
Maria Menounos @mariamenounos, both her and her mom are brain cancer survivors- Maria had brain surgery last summer and shared the importance of making her happiness and health a priority
Maria Forlio @marieforlio, founder of The B School: “Life should not be compartmentalized”
Tiffany Dufu @tiffanydufu, founder of The Cru: “If you want something you’ve never had before you’ll have to do something you’ve never done before”
Clemantine Wamariya @clemantine1, refugee from Rwanda and author of “The Girl Who Smiled Beads” https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=112&v=kiWDY01KSAA
Donna Orender, author of Wowsdom
Tiffani Thiessen @tiffanithiessen, on sharing her approach on what she’s involved with/projects that she takes on:
It has to come from the heart
It has to have meaning
It has to be something that is great, so that my children can see that I’m great and so they can see themselves be great
I mean… RIGHT??? I totally identified with her last point which is extremely important to me.

And how about the people that weren’t speakers but are women who are doing their thing and striving for greatness? I immediately connected with @nerdinthecity @cffowler13 and @safia_alice who are amazing women (because they are intelligent, gorgeous, fun and positive!) in the featured pic for this post and I am so grateful I did.

I know, I can go on and on… but what I took away was that life is too short to worry about the small shit and how much my success is influenced by those who have values that are in line with my own. There will always be things/people that get in our way. But it’s my choice on who/what deserves my time. Many times our excuse is lack of money/lack of time but it’s because we want things without doing the grind to get there. It is on me to decide what I want for my life, and live with purpose and intention to achieve that and share my light. And forget about everyone else who doesn’t uplift me in making that happen. And I need to remember to not forget to give that same support to others as well! That I’m doing a disservice to my ancestors, our loved ones and God by not being great!

Some quick quotes/notes:
Find a “joy buddy”: someone you partner with to ensure that you’re both doing things that make you joyful regularly
“Don’t compare your inside self with their outside self”
Gabrielle Union shared her thoughts on how women are 80% more likely than men to post the hashtag “#grateful” or “#blessed” This was bothersome because it implies that the women posting those hashtags didn’t earn her way to get to where they are, where as men rarely ever say that because they typically own where they are/are confident in how they achieved the success in their lives.
Become disciplined in making yourself matter
Alison Lewis, JNJ’s First Female CMO, on the work/life blend: “You can’t have it all. Having it all is a marketing ploy. Decide what your priorities are and be at peace with that.”

So what’s on your mind? How can you be great or find joy??!! Don’t be greedy with knowledge that you have that can empower others. Please share!

Antiques Roadshow Meets Hoarders!

Before this long post, let me get this out of the way. Pls take a look/share this link with those who you think would be interested. It’s the online auction for many of the antiques that were included in the sale of the house we bought in January: https://bit.ly/2IqmHYQ

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So it’s been 2 months since we closed on our future home and I thought it’d be a good time to post an update since I feel like we’ve made some decent progress.
When I made the offer, I thought I had an idea of what I was getting into, since I’ve seen it before. Buying a house full of stuff, where there was literally no room to walk is something that is pretty normal for rehabbers. The owner emphasized that there were a lot of antiques that I could resell, but there was no way for me to know the value of everything prior to making the offer and prior to buying the house. Because there was so much stuff, I’m not sure there are many people who would take the time and money to go through all the contents to sort through the trash and valuables, without actually owning the house. In addition, he was on a time crunch. The fact that we had been in touch for over a year, it took a really long time for him to trust me and it would have taken him just as long to develop the trust of another potential buyer. I honestly had not walked through the entire house to see what was inside prior to closing. There was no room for me to go up the stairs, so I just assumed it was full of stuff. The owner understood that and it was decided he would remove any valuables prior to closing and that everything else left behind was ours.

After we closed on the house, I did emphasize to him that if there’s anything in particular that he was hoping to keep, to let me know. The only thing he mentioned was his taxidermied dog! He ended by saying to not worry about giving anything, “at this point to me, it’s a gift.”

So, normally any developer who buys a property full of stuff usually goes in with the intention of trashing everything. Getting a dumpster and clearing out a house is a quick process- when receiving quotes for the cleanout, I was getting told it would take a few days at most. But the people who walked through told me a lot of the items could be salvaged, donated or resold. I personally don’t like the idea of just trashing everything. I understand from a developer’s perspective why it’s done. There are a lot of holding costs associated with rehabbing and every day that adds to the timeline of a project affects the bottom line. Since we still needed to work on getting architectural drawings in place, there was no rush in our opinion to clean out the house. We didn’t need it cleaned until the house was ready for the work to be done, which was a few months. So it was decided that mostly my husband (with the periodic help of myself, family and friends) would spend our “open time” on the weekends getting rid of the trash and sorting through what appeared to be valuable. Not to mention, that trashing everything is so wasteful, which didn’t make me feel good. To me, the less that I could keep out of the landfills, the better.

Going through everything was definitely gross. But there were so many cool things that we found. We couldn’t possibly take pictures of everything. But there were so many moments when we’d hear each other say “WHOA, CHECK THIS OUT!!” Paintings from the 1800’s. Leather bound 1st edition books of classic authors. Sconces- lots of sconces. Lots of silver. Lots of period furniture. French antiques. Signed porcelain pieces from Japan and China. Issues of Time Magazine from when JFK was assassinated. Lots of American and Pennsylvania history books and collectibles. Persian Rugs. When we initially went through the stuff, we thought the previous owner was just a hoarder of antiques. But probably after a month, we found some letterhead and receipts and learned that he owned an antique shop. Mind you, the items have been sitting in a vacant house for a LONG time. So we weren’t sure if there was initially any value since lots of items were in bad shape. However, there were lots of items that were in very good shape. Here are some pics of a few items we found:

After feeling like there might be some valuable stuff in the house, we sent a few pics to auctioneers and antique buyers and got some strong interest. But we didn’t want to set up time with various people and have them pick at everything. We wanted to get as much out as we could at one time. Additionally, since we had an idea that the items were valuable, we didn’t want random people to go through the house- and possibly let others know so that they’d just steal everything.. I know, I am a little neurotic and think about these things! And how do we know that if we got offers on these items, that we are getting a fair price? Do we get the items appraised and then sell them off to a collector? I would imagine 1 appraiser wouldn’t be able to accurately appraise all of these items. And once they’re appraised, it would need to be stored somewhere- which would cost money every month. The financial return to do all of this would need to be worth it for us to go through a process that could possibly take months.

We were not expecting this and it was quite the process- figuring out what we do with all this stuff. Asking for referrals to connect with appraisers, antique collectors and buyers. We paid a consultant to give us some advice, who told us we probably couldn’t get much because of the condition of the items. (Insert the theme music from “The Price is Right” when a contestant loses right here.) Here we thought we had some items that lasted over 200+ years and because they weren’t preserved properly, they’d die with us! I hated that feeling. But she gave us a few names of some local auctioneers, which is how we got connected with Michael Locatti.

Cisco was the one who managed this process of sorting through the trash and setting aside the items that appeared to be of value. And after he got through almost all of it, I had to do some aggressive nudging…. I mean… nagging- to make sure we scheduled auctioneers to walk through and give us their opinion, prior to being out of town for over a week. The first person who walked through was Michael and he immediately hit it off with Cisco. Cisco called me immediately after he met Michael and he seemed overly excited. I’m thinking… “This is the first person you’ve met. We probably should talk to other people.” But a huge reason why Cisco felt he was the right person to handle all of this was he immediately felt like he could trust him is because his wife is Filipino. Ha! Really though, he could tell that Michael saw value in the items and a great communicator. I needed to get on the phone with this person and see if I get the same feeling as Cisco did. And I did. Basically we’re asking someone to go through a house full of treasures and hopefully they won’t steal anything that could potentially have a lot of value. Through his experience, we could tell that the reason he has been doing this for years and gained the trust of handling some prominent estates because he was able to establish himself as a trusted resource. It’s a huge undertaking- to gain the trust of someone and build a team that you in turn trust as well. His team has been with him for years and in talking with them, they all have really great things to say about each other.

We liked Michael’s diligence to get the items out of our house as fast as he could. After that first meeting on a Saturday, he had his crew removing stuff from the house for the 4 days following our initial meeting. He took everything that he thought would be worth it to put up for auction. Now, there are still a lot of things left at the house that we could sell off, donate or keep. We decided to keep a few items- which is quite the treasure for us! It’s really gotten me to appreciate period furniture- and how these items have lasted for over 100+ years. My next step is to find out how I could use what’s left over in a way that feels modern.

Finally, since we received this “gift” we decided that after all is said and done- we’ll be taking a portion of the proceeds from the sale and will be donating it to a charity of the previous owner’s choice. He had a lot of people interested in buying this house, who would have likely paid more, but he stuck with me. He knew what he was doing, and we are extremely grateful!

Home Sweet Home!

So.. big news for my fam. After renting for 7 years, we finally bought a house! We live in an area that has very little inventory for the price range we wanted to be in and have been looking for over a year. It was seriously difficult for me to come to terms that we may actually have to be like everyone else, buy a house and pay retail!

Well.. thankfully, that didn’t happen. After getting outbid several times, shedding tears and thinking of creative ways to finance our purchase so that our offer would get accepted, we bought a house that was not listed and no bidding war. We even put in an offer on a house down the street from where we live, that was accepted. And literally less than 24 hours later, I had to back out because it didn’t feel right. It’s quite a story, but one I hope my girls will appreciate when they’re older.

To get an idea of the scope of what I was working with, the house had been vacant for over 10 years, probably closer to 15. Investors and realtors were constantly sending him letters and calling him to sell the house to him. So I had PLENTY of competition in the sense that there were a lot of people willing to make him offers. But I had ZERO competition at the end of the day because he got to know me, know what I was about, and learn that I was going to treat him with compassion and be understanding. I wanted to work with him as his agent or as a buyer, because I felt that there would be agents and investors out there taking advantage of his situation. This deal almost fell apart, weeks after we had already been talking.

I’ll post a video on the story behind it and document my journey into making this house our home.

Change is A Comin’!

So I have an announcement!

Some of you who know me know that I started my career in real estate over 10 years ago. It started off as a side-hustle to my full time job, which eventually replaced my full-time job. Cisco getting laid off from his “cushy/secure” job just 3 months before we got married is what motivated us to start seeking additional streams of income outside of our jobs. I was living in NY and I just wrapped up a consulting gig before making the move back to Philly. Granted, he ended up securing a new position within the same company within weeks. But it was just the push we needed to realize that could happen to either of us at any given time and we needed to have more control over our financial destiny.

You know those “flip houses with no money” real estate commercials? Yup, that’s how I got started. Now, I’m not going to go into the details of what I did, or what we learned during that time. Much of what is taught is true, but it’s definitely not as easy as it is portrayed. This was before kids, and Cisco and I were so enthusiastic about building a lifestyle that allowed us some flexibility with our schedules. It was a time in our lives where our mindset shifted and we wanted to create an income that wouldn’t require both of us to be at a job.

So anyhow, to cut a long story somewhat short, we went through lots of real estate training and had lots of mentors, which we are extremely grateful for. After doing a number of deals, I left my job and we got into residential house flipping. Cisco stayed at his job while I focused on earning my income through real estate. Without kids, totally manageable. The big mistake I made was not setting our systems up so that the time required for me to be in the business was minimal. I knew that being “self-employed” according to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, was not what I wanted to be. But that’s what I created. I created the marketing for the sellers and buyers. I did cold calls and walk-throughs. I raised the money- meaning, I put the numbers together for everything and met with investors. I created the marketing when the house went up on the market. I mean, everything. There was a point where I did get help using an answering service to screen phone calls, virtual assistant to help with some administrative tasks, and used contractors to do my walk throughs. But I can’t say that even those processes were seamless. So yes, doing that without kids is totally manageable. Doing all that with kids, without systems in place, was exhausting.

So I decided a couple of years ago to take a break from house flipping and focus my efforts on being an agent. There’s only so much I felt I could manage in terms of running my own business and my thinking was that being an agent was less risky and had the potential to also be set up as a business, which I liked. But my heart wasn’t in the actions I needed to take in order to help me become successful as an agent.

A trip to the Philippines last year helped me find meaning in why I have a career in real estate, in the first place. Seeing with my own eyes, what my great grandfather created for his family made me realize that what I truly wanted for myself and my family was bigger than what I was doing or what I already knew. I knew that I personally could not be satisfied by fixing/selling individual houses or being a real estate agent. Going through the streets of Talisay in the Philippines, and seeing that what he created so many years ago are proud landmarks of that town, was inspiring. He probably grew up without mental limits that were imposed by his family, his peers or were self-created, which I’m totally guilty of doing. I realized that I limited myself to being a wholesaler/house flipper/ real estate agent because I thought that doing larger projects were beyond my reach. But that’s not true.

So although I’ll still have my license as an agent, my plan is to re-focus my efforts to eventually do larger development projects. My experience has been in single-family residential houses. I plan to continue doing my own development projects, but I will no longer be working to help investors find properties. Going forward, my intent is to pursue development projects that are meaningful to me, on a scale that is much larger than what I am used to. I have the experience, supportive network, partners and passion to create what I want that will allow me to do that. I have been spending the past year connecting with visionaries who truly care for the development of Philadelphia and surrounding areas and being a part of conversations that matter to me, and it’s really exciting.

I haven’t been chatting much on my blog, so I hope this gives post and the pics below give some insight into why. I’ll be posting updates as I can, but feel free to connect with me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter- to follow me on my journey!

To Buy or Not to Buy?

So a few people have asked me my thoughts on whether they should rent or buy. Generally speaking, most people come from a mindset that you should own a home as soon as you can vs. renting and paying someone else’s mortgage.

Which is absolutely true, to a degree.

Here’s a fun flowchart that makes deciding a little too easy:
Should I Rent or Buy Flowchart: Business Insider

And a couple of recent articles on the topic:
Should I Rent or Buy a House? Marketwatch

In This Floundering Housing Market, Should You Buy Or Rent? Forbes

So before I start talking about this in more detail, I’ll put this out right now… I’m RENTING! (gasp…shocker!) 😉

There’s a lot of backstory behind that which I’ll save for another post, but long story short- we owned a place in the city, sold it at a loss and rented in Philly. When the time came for our daughter to start school, we had the opportunity to rent a house behind our closest friends. We had to pay minimally more (around $100/month more than what we were paying in Philly) to be in a bigger house, a better school district and behind our closest friends. So we hopped on it.

Now, although we rented our primary residence, we actually did buy/sell houses during the time that we rented. So we didn’t truly waste all of our money paying someone else’s mortgage.

Renting our primary residence has offered us flexibility that was extremely important to us. I’ve always known that I didn’t want our family to come across the need to move (because of school or work), and then have a hard time selling a house. Between my husband’s job, the kids starting school and being a city girl, we weren’t ready to decide on a place where we wanted to “plant our roots.”

Which leads to where we are today- after almost 6 years of renting- we might actually buy our primary residence.

Mind you, I’m being extremely selective on where we buy, knowing that whatever it is- our goal is to plant our money there and have it be a source of income for us. For example, if whatever we buy is worth $350k after all repairs, the plan would be to stay as close to $280k as we can, leaving around 20% in the property that will grow over time, as the mortgage gets paid down and using those funds to rehab/sell.

We’ve decided that whatever we end up buying, we want to:

1)Not pay retail. This means that whatever we buy, we will likely do a lot of work to it, which may include expanding it, allowing us to add value. This also means that if for some reason something happens and we need to sell, paying below retail will give us some room to price our house lower than the market so that it hopefully sells quickly.

Oh and by the way, just because you are offering less than asking price, does not mean you’re getting a deal. I don’t care if the house is an REO, foreclosure, short sale, etc. I won’t give a lesson here on how I calculate the value of a house, but what is considered to add/take away value to a house varies depending on your local market.

2) Buy in an area that is steady or growing, not just one that we can afford and the house fits our needs

3) Buy in an area where renting the house out will allow us to cash flow, giving us an extra source of income and equity line to tap into in order to re-invest.

So why all the criteria? Mostly, it’s the timing of everything. I’m not a financial advisor, but I understand real estate enough to know that buying a house just to buy because it sounds nice and not seeing how that house fits in with my long term financial/life plan is not ideal for me. Additionally, if all these criteria aren’t met but we get a homerun deal for a big house that probably wouldn’t rent out because renting, we are OK with that because we know we would be able to sell it.

I must share, the biggest benefit of buying your primary residence- is not having to pay capital gains tax- which you would have to pay on the sale of an investment property. You can sell your primary residence and avoid tax on no more than $250k in profits on the sale if you’re single, $500k if you’re married.

So how does this apply to you? What if you want the flexibility of renting, but want the benefits that come along with buying? Here are a few ideas:

1) Buy a multi-unit and live in one of the units.

2) Rent where you live and buy a property in an area that cashflows enough to cover the majority or all of your rent payment. For example, if you’re renting a place for $2k/month, consider buying a property that generates at least $2k amount in rent that you’re paying + more for cash flow- ideally $2500

3) If taking advantage of your local real estate market sounds appealing to you, but you feel it would take a bit of time to understand your market in order to make a move, consider partnering with an investor you trust or has been referred to you, who has the real estate experience you lack. And do your homework on them. You can generate extra income using funds you would have used to buy a house and instead, just lend on a project.

Well there you have it. Now hopefully I didn’t get you more confused on whether or not you are ready to buy!

My top 3 tips for buyers in today’s market- SPRING 2017

My top 3 tips for buyers in today’s market- SPRING 2017

In case you’ve been living under a rock, we are in a SELLER’S MARKET! What does this mean for you as a buyer? It means you need to be prepared in order to decide and act quickly. In representing both buyers and sellers in this market, here are some tips I wanted to share that will hopefully get you the house you’ve been looking for.

Buyers:
1) Write down your needs/wants and prioritize that list

There are so many factors that go into buying a house. One obvious one is price. But there are other factors that you may want to consider:

– Is the house in an appreciating area? Is there any nearby development that would make it worth being at the higher end of your budget?

– What is your long term plan? I’m a firm believer in holding off on buying a primary residence unless you have plans on staying there in the long term. Unless of course, you get a slammin’ deal where you’re actually making money on the purchase today vs. paying retail and hoping for appreciation. If you don’t know what your plans are for your primary residence but you are ready to buy or want to take advantage of a growing market, consider purchasing an investment property or putting that money to use in other ways, i.e. partnering or private lending.

2) Don’t feel bad saying no to family and friends. If choosing an agent, make sure that agent has built trust with you and has knowledge of the local market.

Deciding on who will represent you is tough. Once people hear that you are looking to buy, friends and family come out of the woodworks with their recommendations. The agent that represents you should have intimate knowledge of the local area which you are looking to buy, in addition to showing you that the area/house meets your long term goals.

Yes, all agents have access to listings. But school boundaries, rental info, neighborhood demographic, local development, an understanding of blocks/types of houses that are highly desirable are all important factors that an agent should share with you, to ensure that you’re buying a house that meets your long term needs. Having this knowledge takes time and being able to quickly submit an offer on a house is tough if your agent can’t provide you with info you need to make an informed decision.

I also mentioned trust. Once you choose the agent who will represent you and has gained your trust, their job is to make sure they submit strong offers on your behalf. This may mean that you will be submitting an offer higher than asking price. But if your agent is able to provide you with information that supports that, in addition to your own due diligence, then trust that they are working on your behalf and not trying to make you pay more simply because of commission. Have them show you what the difference looks like for yourself, in terms of your monthly payment, and the seller. This should allow you to decide if it’s worth paying more.

3) All parties involved need to move quickly. Choose an agent, a lender and title company that will move quickly and work in your best interests.

As I said, choosing an agent means that trust has been established with him or her in order to expedite your transaction. So using vendors that your agent refers is perfectly normal. However, if anyone drops the ball in terms of timing, this can kill the deal, especially in a seller’s market. Extensions are not guaranteed and if a deadline isn’t met, you can miss out. Once you are under contract, there will be work for you to do. Make sure your agent communicates your deadlines and responsibilities to ensure that you’re moving forward as planned and if at any point you feel that a vendor is not meeting your expectations, have a conversation with them first and decide if it’s worth continuing that relationship before deciding to fire them.

Now go and make some offers! Feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions or if I can help you or someone you know with the homebuying process in any way.

Schools schools schools!

I’ll admit, it’s a little late for this post, for anyone with children approaching kindergarten age and looking for a school.

My purpose in sharing my experience in searching for the “perfect school” is that wherever you decide to send your kids to school is nobody’s business but your own. Whether you decide to send your kids to the not so ideal school, or if you decide to take a leap and go beyond what you originally envisioned in terms of the “ideal school” for your kids. With social media and everybody’s perfect lives being available for us to see, there’s an urge for us to “keep up” with what everyone else is doing.

Anyhow, I’m losing focus. Ha! But to give a little back story, we were renting a house in a not so great school district a little over a year ago. Not only were we ready to move because of the school district, but we were also growing out of the house. On top of that, and I don’t say this in a way to brag, but my daughter is bright. So my goal was to put her in a place where she would be challenged, but also enjoy being in school. I didn’t want her to think that things always come easy. In talking with professionals that know the public school system, we concluded that we had to move to a better school district or send her to a private school.

So we applied to 2 private schools in the late fall/early winter prior to when she was supposed to start Kindergarten. Our thinking was that we wanted to at least see what was being offered. We wanted to at least have private school as a consideration- because the only thing I knew about private schools was from other people’s perceptions about them, and not from my own experience.

I considered school districts in the following order because of district ranking and location.

The four that I considered were:
Lower Merion (1/2 day kindergarten)
Haverford (1/2 day kindergarten)
Radnor (full day kindergarten)
Abington (full day kindergarten)

Prior to making our final decision on where our daughter would go to school, we had the opportunity to move to a great school district, behind our closest friends. So we hopped on that opportunity, not knowing whether our daughter got accepted/whether we could afford the private schools that we applied to.

So we moved to a great school district and I thought we were set, right?!

Being that she is bright, we felt that having her go to kindergarten wasn’t the best for her. Well, the school district that we moved to didn’t want to even consider having her skip kindergarten because she didn’t meet the age cut off. I know my daughter and felt strongly that she would be bored in kindergarten, at least at public school. If I was going to send her to public school, I wanted her to skip kindergarten. I saw the curriculum and knew that they wouldn’t be able to tend to her needs if she was placed in kindergarten.

To make this very long story short, when the decision came whether we pay money to a private school vs. sending her to a great school in a great school district for free, we decided that it was best for her to send her to private school. The payment that we were making wasn’t that much more than what we were making for daycare/preschool, so we felt that it was worth at least trying it out. In addition, the school that we chose felt that she was a good fit for 1st grade. So our thinking was that, “Hey, if this school doesn’t work out for our family financially, then maybe we can have her go to public school and she’ll be in the grade that’s more appropriate for her.” We felt that it wasn’t a permanent decision and that we had to at least give it a try.

I say all this because I have spoken with parents who are surprised with our decision. And without knowing all the facts that brought us to our decision, it’s easy to judge someone’s choices. In the end, we felt that what we were doing was best for our daughter and that the adjustments we needed to make to our budget to make it work wasn’t such that we had to drastically change our lifestyle. We were able to make adjustments to other areas of our budget and still are. It isn’t an easy choice and there isn’t a perfect fit.

Lastly, I feel like a lot of parents completely close off the idea of private schools for various reasons. They immediately think: 1) I can’t afford it 2) I don’t want my kid growing up with “those” kind of people (i.e. rich, snobby people) 3) it isn’t for our family (because they grew up going to a certain type of school, so they think that’s the kind of school that their children should go to) 4) it isn’t diverse. I think a lot of people close off the idea of sending their kids to private school without even knowing anything about it. They just completely close off the idea because they assume these things without making an informed decision.

The moral of my story is that we’ve done what we think is best for our family and are very happy with our decision. Now, that can change obviously. Before kindergarten was even on the radar, I never thought that we would send our kids to private school. But things change and I tried my best to keep an open mind throughout the decision making process. We recognize our situation is different from others and are thankful to even be able to have a choice of a great public school vs. a great private school. Every family is faced with similar decisions at some point. My thinking has always been that we have to do our best to do what’s best for our family and not what appears to make our family “look good” in the eyes of people who at the end of the day, don’t really matter!

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