If You Can Believe It, You Can Achieve It

What mindset do people need to succeed in real estate?

It’s how you show up in the room… You also have to be willing to take risks, work hard, look at and analyze multiple deals from various angles and think outside of the box! When something goes wrong, and it will, you have to consider it a lesson to be learned, grow from it, consider it part of the education, apply the lesson to the next purchase and move on.  Just don’t stop moving forward towards your goals. 

How can a growth mindset help you become a more successful real estate investor coming out of a bad deal?

Imagine if we could go to the local box retailer and pick up a bag of hindsight…  Ooooh how many lessons we could save ourselves from!!! I imagine I’d be a lot wealthier too! I believe a growth mindset is as valuable as not being attached to money. I’ve always believed there is enough to go around, that you don’t have to take from someone else to get ahead.  And yet that is the space you enter when you don’t know what you don’t know. I believe having the right mindset helps you to stay motivated, keep at it, keep connecting, keep working at it, and focus on your big picture (have a vision board)! Always taking the lessons, consider it college… and keep going, your time will come, the right people will enter your space and you’ll get the next deal done right!

What bit of advice do you have for newbies getting into real state investing?

Keep a positive flare and do your homework… from all levels on your deal, not just when you get to the contractors.  When you are new to the game, I suggest saying as little as possible. Never exposing all your cards. Know that YOU are being vetted too. And always remember that deals come and go. Never fall in love with or get emotional with any deal.  Make sure the NUMBERS and the FACTS stand on their own.

What do you recommend people do when vetting a sponsor (GP) team?

Search all county records for any and all types of spellings of their first and last names as well as their various companies and those names, present and PAST. I also recommend doing this when vetting your real estate groups as well. Look up the board of directors, the organizations leaders, the companies and boards they serve on… see what you come up with. Are these people YOU’D WANT YOUR GRANDMA doing business with??? Get references! Look at and research the jobs they’ve done in the past.  Go to the city, look up and call all those contractors on those previous jobs. See what they have to say. Do your homework. Pay attention to the flags. The more glimpses and references you have from previous colleagues involved, is what will help guide you in deciding if this person has the same integrity as you and is this someone, now that you have the full picture, that you would really want to do business with?  How about any of their associates, the groups they say they are part of or work for? Could they all be working together behind the scenes? Are these people you would want to do business with?

This interview is with Jennifer McCracken. Jennifer has a kind, calming soul and I am very thankful that I have met her. I love that Jennifer loves her pets as much as I love our pet. I asked Jennifer to reflect on mindset for this interview because mindset is what makes or breaks us. Jennifer has continued to show me how strong she is as an investor and as a person.

Why did you start your real estate journey?    

Growing up I remember my parents having a rental property. I remember sitting in the back seat looking out the window as my parents stopped over to the house for various reasons and/or just driving past it from time to time to look in on it. They joked it would one day be my college fund.  Hahaaa, yeah, that didn't happen after the divorce!  But I learned the value of what having a rental property “could” do at a very early age. After my parents split, my mom remarried and my step-dad and her started their own painting & decorating business. I was 14 years old working with my mom, calling clients for appointments, matching receipts with expenses, doing year-end business tax preparations, and endless office filing. I also helped my step-dad on various job sites. My job was to paint “the closets” because I wasn’t allowed to paint the walls until I perfected those closets… and so I learned how to paint!  By 20, I bought my 1st place to live and got a lesson in financing and closing a real estate transaction. At 22, I was hired as a marketing assistant working for a guy who was buying B & C class properties nationwide, rehabbing and re-branding them. He built a portfolio of 16,000 units before selling it off!  He currently is building luxury apartment communities in the states where both of his kids attend college. Talk about “creating a life you want” … now that’s how you do it!  

What was the greatest lesson you learned while investing in real estate?

Choose and vet your partners wisely. You end up carrying their baggage, so choose carefully.  You have to be comfortable with them and know that they have the same integrity that you have.  Always watch your back, people who act as if they are helpful, aren’t always helpful to YOUR success.

Can you explain what it was like to enter into this space? What were some of your challenges in the beginning?

I was 20 years old when I bought my 1st place. It just made sense to buy vs. rent. I was young and needed a loan when someone suggested I asked for a loan with the “local community bank”. So I called the local bank and scheduled a meeting. They asked me a bunch of questions and I went through the application process. I believe they saw that I had a good job, good credit, and was responsible with my car payment, and much to my young surprise, I got the loan! With the help of my mom and step-dad I was able to rehab the kitchen & bathroom. I sold my 1st place two years later for more than twice what I paid and had put into it. Then, I bought the next one…

What skills have you gained during your investing journey?

I learned early on how to put presentations and pro formas together as well as learning how to approach investors and lenders. Each deal has always lead to the next bigger deal! So learning to trust myself along the way and keeping the right people in my wheel house has been very valuable.

Share a story with us on how a mindset shift has helped you. How has it helped you overcome adversity in your life?

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