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Dave: Hey, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Discount Property Investor podcast. I am your host, David Dodge, and today I am joined by a friend and a fellow student, Miss Kristen Allen. Kristen has an awesome success story to share with us today on the podcast. You guys are going to learn a ton. She has been working her butt off, and she just made a big old, big old bag of money. And I wanted to bring her on the podcast and congratulate her and, of course, share this win with her, but also learn about, you know, what she did and how it all worked and just kind of get all the ins and outs. Kristen, welcome to the show. Good morning. How are you today?
Kristen: Good morning. I'm good. How are you? I'm doing for having me.
Dave: Fabulous. Thank you for coming on. So let's just jump in. I mean, this, this is just all about, you know, sharing, educating, teaching those that are new. You were once new, you know, many months ago. So these are, this is really just designed to just help people. Right? So again, do me a favor. Let's break this into, like, maybe two or three parts. Number one, who are you? Number two, how did you go about, you know, finding the deal? And then number three, just tell us about the deal. So super simple.
Kristen: Okay. So I am an investor. I really want to focus on helping people transition. So with that, I started in the probate space and helping families go through probate, kind of transitioned into a different space, but still with a service oriented background in what we do. So that has really been the focus. But with that, it was really hard to find deals that, you know, we could get to the close. So it's been a lot of marketing and churn, but essentially we've gotten there. I've been interested in real estate for a very long time. I think I started my company in 2011, but I really wasn't sure how I wanted to get into the real estate space. And I learned about many things, notes and lease options and kind of the probate space fit the most for me. So that's what I've been focusing on along with just since 2018, I came across probate leads and started working them. But like many, I was very hesitant to be on the phone. So I know that was a hindrance to how quickly I have been able to move because I am not the sales person, as you, as you will say.
Dave: We've worked on that and made, done a lot of good coaching and got you over those humps. So, yeah.
Kristen: How long have you been to David?
Dave: Oh, my goodness.
Kristen: Throwing me into the deep end.
Dave: You did all the heavy lifting. I just kind of helped and guide you, of course, you know, as a coach, but you did all the heavy lifting. Kristen, this is about you, not about me. The. How long have you been. I'm trying to think the best way to word this. How long have you been not just dabbling, but, like, aggressively working leads?
Kristen: Since 2021, I would say.
Dave: Okay, got it. Aggressively working leads made making this, like, not just a hobby anymore, because you had mentioned, like, 2011, you kind of just were getting. In 2018, you started, you know, like, saying, oh, this is kind of the route that I want to go. And then since 2021, you've been aggressively working leads. Amazing. Okay, awesome. Very, very cool. You just did a deal. Huge win. Congrats. So happy for you. How much money did you make?
Kristen: So total was 73,000, but I put in about 35, 36,000. So I recouped that, and so I netted 33,000, $30,000.
Dave: Okay, amazing. I want to hear all about it. I know that the audience and the listeners want to hear about it, so just do me a favor. Start from the beginning, not back all the way to 2011. Let's start back like, you know, when the lead came in, you know what? Where did it come from? How did you get the lead? What did the conversation start off with? How long did it take? Did you run appointments? Did you go to the property? How many times? Like, break it down. I want. I want you to give us all the details, if you don't mind.
Kristen: Okay, cool. I will try to hit all those hotspots. Perfect. So this was actually a referral. Word of mouth. So I've been. Yes, I've been doing a lot of networking, and one of the ladies has been a huge support. So she works at an assisted living community. And this family came in, and right away she said, you need to talk to Kristen. So the brother called me and told me his brother was looking to move into a community. You know, he needed to move fast. They needed to close in a week. I said, okay, we'll see what we can do. So he got me in contact with his brother. I talked to him. We set an appointment to be able to meet at the property. So I met with the brother. I spent about 3 hours there with him, and we just did small talk. But I asked him why he hadn't went with any other offers that he had, because he had a couple of people already come and give him offers, and he just. He felt like it was moving too fast with him leaving his house that he had been in for 40 years. But he also knew he needed to because he was sick and he was there by himself. So he had accepted the fact that he needed to transition out of his home. But in the course of us talking and us just, you know, me listening to him and everything else, he gave me the number that he had received from one of the people who came in, and I had already run some comps in that area, so I had an idea of what the price was that I was going to be looking at, and it was close to that price. So I essentially said, you know, if I can match that price, which is 150,000, you know, would he be interested in working with us? So in the end, he said yes. Now, in the end, he did skip ahead.
Dave: How long did that take from that initial offer, or basically you. You didn't really make an offer per se. You just kind of agreed to pay what somebody else was paying, right? Or am I wrong on that?
Kristen: Yes, because I had done the numbers and just looking at. We did a tour of the house. It did need work. He owned it outright, but he seemed that he was comfortable with 150. The ARV for that area was about 250 to 270. And looking at what it needed, you know, I figured it needed about 30,000 or so and work so that those numbers might make sense.
Dave: Great numbers. Absolutely. So, folks, don't get me wrong, Kristen made an offer, but she didn't have to come, you know, make an offer not knowing if the seller would like it or not. In this particular scenario, the seller was like, had gotten offers and didn't dislike one of them and told it to Kristen. And Kristen's like, yeah, I could do that. Right? Am I getting this right?
Kristen: Yeah. Because essentially the guy just came in and he looked around and gave him an offer contract and left. So.
Dave: So why did he go with you versus this original guy that had made that offer that he essentially was okay with?
Kristen: Rapport.
Dave: Love it. I knew that was the answer. I. Yeah, I gotta ask because the people watching, listening don't know. I knew that's what it was. Absolutely. So rapport what does that mean? How did you build rapport? What does that look like?
Kristen: I mean, I really just went in there and, and we had small talk. Now, I would not recommend everyone have a three hour appointment, but, you know, when you're working in this space, the way that I am, the care and feeding is in building the rapport and taking the time to get to know the sellers, and they really do appreciate that. So, you know, just about his life, what he had been through and things like that, he. He had cancer. So, you know, just talking to him about what these last few weeks had been with him, going to different communities, what he liked about him, what he didn't. If we had some other ways that we could help him as far as, like, the furniture, and he had a car that he wasn't going to be able to take. So we helped him with the car, we helped him with the furniture. So I think us coming with more than one option, and not just the house, was a big sell for him.
Dave: Hell, yeah. You came in and provided so much value. Kristen, one thing I want to add, and I know you've heard me say this a lot, because we do a lot of coaching calls together. I have. I've run a lot of appointments that are an hour long, probably hundreds. A lot of appointments that are 2 hours long, probably dozens. And a few appointments that have been 3 hours long, too. And I have never not worked with a seller. When I work, when I run a two or three hour appointment, I've never not worked with the seller. It may not happen that day, but in a month or two or five, whatever, I work with that seller. So I I want to agree and emphasize that building rapport, even if it takes a couple hours, is so valuable. I love it. Amazing.
Kristen: Yes.
Dave: Okay. So built rapport, helped with a bunch of other stuff, problems, just basically telling the seller, we can help any way, possibly. What else can we do? You did all those things and how long did it take from whenever you got the lead, from the referral to the time when you guys closed on the property?
Kristen: So I met with them within a week after she referred them, and I got the contract, I believe, that same night. And then I had been working with a JV partner, and with that particular deal, I reached out to him right away to see if that was something that he would be interested in partnering on. He met me at the property, and so I would say about it was days, because the brother was really. Yeah, the brother really wanted it to close within a week. Um.
Dave: Oh, the part the brother of the seller.
Kristen: Yes. So, um, he was concerned, you know, that his health was going to decline quickly. So he wanted to make sure that he was still around. So, um, ironically, he is still around. So, you know, it's funny that way. But, yeah, we, we closed and, or we plan to close the beginning of February. And so from the time that contract.
Dave: Was signed, how long was it to close? About a month, two weeks. Oh, two weeks. Amazing.
Kristen: Yeah. So, yeah, it was really the title search that we were concerned about, but the.
Dave: Yes, amazing. Okay, two questions come to mind. Number one, have you worked with the JV partner before?
Kristen: No, that was the first time working with him.
Dave: Question number two, how'd you meet the JV partner?
Kristen: So I had another deal that I had worked. I was going to do that as a wholesale. So I had an open house and some individuals came to that property. And one of the individuals, he kept in touch.
Dave: You built rapport with that individual, too.
Kristen: Yes. So he was trying to look for more deals, and I told him I was looking for someone to JV with and not just do wholesales. And he recommended someone. So I went out, I met him, come to find out it was his dad, which was, you know, small world, but his dad has a construction company. He does flips. You know, this was something that seemed like, okay, this is, he has a whole process and system in place. So once I connected with him with this contract, he went and checked out the property, and he said, yeah, we can do it. So he was willing to pay the purchase price. Oh. So one part that I found out once I got it under contract was that there were bed books.
Dave: Happens. Bought a few like that.
Kristen: Yeah. So you found that out.
Dave: What, what happened next? Uh. Oh.
Kristen: Yeah. So I went and talked to the seller because we would have to do a treatment on the house for bedbugs, and so we reduced the price based on that.
Dave: So ultimately, you found this out in discovery, which means after you got the contract on the property, you had an inspection period, and you found that out during your inspection period. Correct.
Kristen: The seller did not mention it on my first visit, but I after. And he mentioned it and I discovered it after. Yeah.
Dave: This ultimately raised the cost of repairs.
Kristen: Yes.
Dave: Right. Because of the added work. And then you went back to the seller and you told them, hey, good news. I still want to work with you. However, the cost is going to go up a little bit, so I need to get a better deal. How much did you get them down?
Kristen: We went down 10,000. So 140 was amazing.
Dave: How much did it cost the bedbugs.
Kristen: Not quite that amount, because the JV partner, he has his own construction crew and knows all of these folks to handle it, so he wasn't concerned and getting it fixed. So I'm not sure exactly on the number, but either way, it wasn't ten. Probably not, but yeah.
Dave: So tell me, tell me the agreement that you and this joint venture partner had, who, by the way, you had never worked with before, you had met from building rapport, from a previous deal that was essentially going to be the buyer on it, but wasn't, so just kind of just built, you know, met a guy from being in the. In the space. And what did the deal look like between you, you and him?
Kristen: So we agreed that he would purchase the property for the 140 and then that I would fund the repairs and then we would split. Yeah. So in the game, so do you, right?
Dave: Yep.
Kristen: So I agreed to pay up to 40,000 for the repairs and then we would split the profit 50 50.
Dave: And you all had a joint venture agreement in place that assume.
Kristen: Yes.
Dave: Perfect.
Kristen: So we draw. We drew all of that up once we, you know, kind of laid out those terms and we got everything drawn up perfect.
Dave: And I guided and assisted Kristen with this, of course, to make sure that she couldn't get stuck or lose. But again, she did all of the heavy lifting here. So got the agreements drafted up, signed, recorded all the good stuff. He purchased it. You now have possession. Sellers are, like, probably thrilled. Tell me about the closing day.
Kristen: It went smoothly. We closed with an attorney, so she handled everything, and he really was the one buying it, so he signed off on the paperwork and everything. I just had a couple things to sign to put a lien on the property for the repairs.
Dave: Sure.
Kristen: But, yeah, it was a smooth process for that as well. It was, yes. And the brother, he was very happy.
Dave: Very happy.
Kristen: The one thing I forgot was that he had a cat and he didn't want to take the cat with him to the community, so I had to take care of the cat and get a rescue for the cat. So I've kept up with him a couple of times to see how he was doing, but, you know, I think he was a little bit sad about the cat, more than the house in some ways.
Dave: But my best friend's my cat.
Kristen: Yeah.
Dave: Seriously, my best friend. I love him. I get it. That's sad that he had to part with the cat, but all in all, huge win. Amazing. Tons of value. Let me guess, you purchased it with cash as is, and fast. All three things, right? That's what we do, provide convenience. Okay, so bought the property. This is the joint venture partner, but of course, you're part of the transaction. They're thrilled. What happens next?
Kristen: Starts construction right away. So this particular property is about a thousand square feet ranch. The washer was in the kitchen, the dryer was in the garage. So that, yeah, my main thing out.
Dave: In the yard.
Kristen: Needed work, but no, so I wanted the dryer to be in the house. That was objective. So.
Dave: Kristen, I'm sorry, I should have asked you this earlier.
Kristen: Oh, Chesapeake. Virginia.
Dave: Virginia. Cool.
Kristen: Yeah. So his team came in and they demoed, and, I mean, they took out the walls and redid the bathroom and redid the kitchen, and you would never know that that was the layout. So it really came together.
Dave: I just heard something that I think the audience might have picked up on, too. Joint venture partner had a construction company. But you were paying for the rehab.
Kristen: Yep.
Dave: That's amazing. So he purchased it with his money to buy it. And then you just paid his company to fix it.
Kristen: Yep.
Dave: Amazing. Okay. So they came in, they rehabbed it. What's the rehab cost and or time? How long? How much did it cost and how long did it take?
Kristen: So it was about 35,000 and it took six weeks. So bad. Yeah. We closed on the 9 February, and we were able to list the house by the 20th or not the 20th, about the 17 march, roughly. We were shooting for the 15th. So he has a whole family operation, so his wife was a realtor, so she does all the listings for his properties. So that was already, you know, she knew what she had to do and she took care of it. He asked if I could do the open house, so we did an open house. It listed on a Friday, and I did an open house on Sunday and Monday we had an offer, so someone had come before or after the open house, and they put an offer in on Monday, full price offer, but we listed it for 275. There were comps in the area around the 250 mark. So when we went in with before the rehab was started, we thought we were going to hit, try to hit the 250 line with what we were going to list it at, but by the time it was done, she's like, I think we can go for the 275, which was another house that had sold in the area. So I was a little nervous, but it sold quickly, so luckily someone came, it was the right fit for them, and they wanted to close quickly, so we were able to get that closed on the 20th of this month. And, yeah, it has been a whirlwind ten days ago.
Dave: Amazing. So let me guess. The seller got back what he put in, plus maybe even a little interest if there was a private or hard money loan, or maybe is his. His money. Regardless, he got that back, and you got your rehab funds back. So everybody was made whole, and then you split the profits 50 50.
Kristen: Yes.
Dave: Everybody contributes, everybody wins. So many wins. Let's talk about the wins for a second. Brother and seller both won. Seller and brother both won. I guess the cat didn't win, but that's okay.
Kristen: Well, the cat did win, because the cat was in a. The cat was a boy, and he was very territorial. So I had intended to bring him to my house before I took him to the rescue. And he was like an outside cat. Like you couldn't get. You couldn't get to him. So, had he went to the SPCA, they might have put him down because he wasn't socialized. But I found a rescue company, and they took that cat. She sent me videos that he's so much better now, so I feel good about where he's gone. So I. Yeah, I misspoke.
Dave: The cat one. That's a huge. Okay. Sellers, one cat, one agent or not agent, attorney. Got a. Got a closing. They made a little money. They won title company, one because they got some business. You and the joint venture partner, one because you guys got a good deal that had a good spread. His team of contractors and his contracting construction company all got jobs and made money. They won.
Kristen: Yeah, I'm sure.
Dave: Home.
Kristen: They helped to clean out the house and take some of the furniture for themselves. So they won on that five yards.
Dave: And Lowe's won by selling y'all 30, 25, 30 grand worth of materials, whatever the difference of the labor is in the materials there. The wife of the joint venture partner was an agent. She got a listing and made a commission. She won. Yeah, the list goes on. You had the. You listed it at the top of your range. You got it sold quick. That's a huge win for everybody involved. A buyer got a great, awesome deal in Chesapeake, Virginia. Rehabbed. Right? And no bedbugs in the house anymore. Right? All clean, new stuff. Dryer in the home, rehab. Pretty beautiful clean home win. And I'm sure there was a title company and an attorney on the backside, too. So, like, I don't even know how many people just won there. 40 people. Something crazy like that. Awesome. I love real estate investing. I love fix and flipping, and I love working with people like you because it just makes so much. It just makes for such a fun experience. And who doesn't want to go make 30 grand? Let's talk about the profits.
Kristen: Yeah. So it was 33,000, which is. I don't know what I expected, but I. To almost make 100% on the ROI is. Is. I'll take that any day. So.
Dave: Absolutely. For what, like two and a half months, right? Not even. Yeah, roughly. That's such a short amount of time, so. And then how much did. I would imagine that the joint venture partner also cleared about 33 grand, too, right?
Kristen: Mm hmm. Yeah.
Dave: Amazing. What was your biggest takeaway from closing this transaction? Getting and getting paid and making a ton of money.
Kristen: I think all of it. You know, it's been a lot of sweat equity as far as, you know, building relationships and getting a plan in place on how I would do a deal in certain scenarios. So, you know, I had ran through many of them in my mind once I came across this property. But working with a JV partner for the first time is, you know, is scary in and of itself, and the whole trust factor that has to be there. Um, but I. I feel like, you know, preparation is important, and had this happened a few years ago, I might not have been as prepared, and it really. It helped to build on those blocks. So I think that's my biggest takeaway, is everything happens for a reason and happens when it's supposed to happen, so.
Dave: Absolutely. And when you build a ton of rapport with everybody, it happens so much easier, doesn't it?
Kristen: Yes.
Dave: Well, I know you're gonna. I know you've heard me say this a hundred times, maybe a thousand, a lot of times, but I want to make sure we say it on the podcast, too. Buying houses, flipping houses, wholesaling, fixing, flipping, and all these different things that we can do. It all starts with making a friend. And, you know, a lot of people that are new when I say that, they're like, okay, Dave, sounds good. They don't really realize how important that step in the process is. Nobody wants to do business with somebody they don't know, like, or trust. Building rapport is the name of the game, but really don't. Don't think that you need to, like, go learn all this crazy NLP or all these tips and tricks or sales methods. Like, I'm terrible at sales. I bought a thousand houses in my life, but the goal is just make a guys, you will build rapport naturally if you learn how to make a friend. And Kristen was great at it when I met her, but she's even better at it. Now. And what an awesome story. Kristen, congrats. That is so amazing. And what's next? More of these?
Kristen: I hope so. Now the work continues. So I had someone I talked to on Thursday who I think is she's trying to ghost me now. Nice persistence. I need to try to get her back on the phone because I think that one could be a win on a. On a, I guess a hotel type of a scenario if we can get this one locked up. So fingers crossed there and have a couple others that I'm trying to make sure I'm marketing to heavily so I can get in front of them. So it's really getting back out there and starting over again.
Dave: And I'm confident you're going to do tons of deals just like. Like this. Last question, Chris, and I won't keep you. Thanks again for coming on the show today, sharing these wins, sharing the process, and then just the entire, you know, journey. It's been amazing. Right. So last question. What advice would you give to the guy or girl that's either listening to this podcast or watching this video here? You know, if they are new, what advice would you give them so that way they can ultimately save some time to get their first deal or get that next deal?
Kristen: Don't give up. Be persistent and you make sure you stay positive mentally because you will have some doubts in what you're doing. But if you are really wanting to do this business, you have to be the one telling yourself that it's worth it. And make sure you're prepared, whether it be with the paperwork or whether it be with, you know, outside partners that you have to go with. But you have to have your ducks in a row. So get that in order and you should be good to go once you get that contract under your belt.
Dave: I love it, Kristen, thank you. You are crushing it. Keep it up. Huge win. I love getting to hear about it, getting to celebrate it with you. I am so excited for you. And I know you're going to have so many more just like this coming right behind it. Thank you for being here, guys and girls. Take it from Kristen. Be persistent. Build rapport. This business is incredibly simple if you stick to it. All right? Solve problems, make friends, and ultimately create a bunch of wins. There's 30 wins we talked about on this episode. 30 of them. Create a bunch of wins, solve some problems. This is so incredibly simple. Kristen, you are the best. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing.
Kristen: No problem. I really appreciate it.
Dave: I love it. All right, signing off, guys. Thanks. Thanks, Kristen.
Kristen: Thank you.
Dave: Thanks for listening to the Discount Property Investor podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please like share and subscribe to help us reach a wider audience. To jumpstart your real estate investing career career, please visit freewholesalecourse.com, the most complete free course on wholesaling real estate ever. We would also appreciate it if you left us a review on iTunes or stitcher. Thank you in advance for your support. And remember, you make your money when you buy and you get paid when you sell.
Dave: Now let's go build some wealth.
