That title was super weird to write. The first time someone ever said that to me I remember being so confused. I am a real estate investor? Are you sure?
I’m still getting comfortable with the title. It’s been a fun journey over the last 3 years to get here. I’ve got HUGE dreams and my husband thinks I’m crazy most of the time. We do unconventional, not normal things and that’s why we’ve earned the lovely title above with 0 previous knowledge in real estate other than countless hours watching HGTV.
So let’s jump into the story of how we got started in Real Estate
On our honeymoon in 2017, we decided to buy my husband’s grandmother’s house in Columbus, Mississippi to fix up and flip. We lived in Nashville, were expecting our first child in a few months, and did not know one thing about flipping / fixing houses… not to mention, the house wasn’t even for sale at the time.
When we got home from our trip, we both left our jobs in Nashville and headed to Mississippi. I’m pretty sure my parents still think I’m crazy. We moved into the house (with my husband’s father who was living in the house at the time) and soaked it all in. All the brown paneling, green shag carpet, dark and closed-off spaces. Everything. It needed a lot of attention and investment.
Finding an Attorney
So over the next few months, we worked on finalizing all the paperwork to buy the house. As newlyweds and young adults, we were so naive. Buying a house is a huge task. My husband and I did not know one thing about what we needed to do. We barely had any money to our name and were just living on a prayer.
I remember when I called the real estate attorney to figure out what I was supposed to do to get a contract written up since we were not buying the house through a realtor. I remember that day so vividly. The men I spoke to were rattling off numbers and weird words and I was taking notes as fast as my hand could move. After calling 3 or 4 attorney offices, my head was spinning. I wish I still had that piece of paper with my notes and random Google research. At this point, I had no clue a real estate investor would ever be something I considered myself.
Buying the House
So I finally figured out how to get the contract written and sent it to my husband’s family to sign. Of course they had changes and questions. Somehow I was answering questions to the 60-year-old aunts/uncles who clearly had purchased more houses than I had. I was confused every time I read an email. What about this or that or what? I had no clue.
Since my husband and I had a small wedding and none of these family members lived close, I hadn’t even met any of the family. I barely even knew their names. I didn’t know these people, but I was trying to buy their mom’s house. The house they all grew up in. Yikes!
There was problem after problem and down to the minute before we walked into the attorney’s office, I still wasn’t convinced the deal would close. The rest of the family needed to sign and send back the papers before we could buy the house, and for whatever reason, some of the siblings were having trouble getting it done. It was a mess. Yet somehow we walked out of the Attorney’s office with the keys and we were officially homeowners!
When we left the attorneys office I thought the fun was about to begin. I was ready to tackle all the old as soon as possible!
There were many projects and a lot of lessons learned before any fun was had. HA
Stay tuned for what happens next in my journey to become a real estate investor. If you can’t wait for more, check out a few other renovations I’ve shared here!
— Cass