Episode 10: On the Road to Real Estate Success

Road Trip Reflections and Real Estate: Lessons from the Journey

Join host Kimberly Hoyt in this episode of The Investor Evolution Podcast as she shares valuable insights from her recent epic road trip across 12 states. Kimberly draws parallels between the planning, flexibility, and resilience required for a successful road trip and what it takes to navigate the world of real estate investing. From the importance of having a clear plan and being prepared for unexpected detours, to the value of networking, learning from experience, and documenting your journey, Kimberly provides practical advice to empower your path in real estate. Tune in for an engaging discussion that blends personal anecdotes with professional wisdom to help you on your investing journey.

00:00 Introduction to Investor Evolution Podcast
00:26 Kimberly's Epic Road Trip
02:32 Planning Your Real Estate Journey
05:39 Expect the Unexpected in Real Estate
08:09 The Importance of Flexibility
10:11 Networking and Connecting
12:20 Learning from Experience
13:52 Safety and Due Diligence
16:45 Taking Breaks and Reflecting
19:20 Documenting Your Journey
21:01 Seeking Advice and Guidance
22:38 Enjoying the Rewards
24:00 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

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Whether you're just starting out in real estate investing or already making strides. The investor evolution podcast is tailored for you. Come along as we tackle these questions directly. And deliver practical insights. to empower your journey in the realm of real estate investing.

Yeti Stereo Microphone & FaceTime HD Camera: 0:16

Hey everyone. And welcome back to the investor evolution podcast. I'm your host, Kimberly White. And I am excited to be here with you today. My family and I had the most epic. Road trip this past couple of weeks. And I wanted to tell you about it and share some of the learnings that I came back from. As I reflected on that trip. So we are in Western Colorado in Grand Junction, Colorado. And we drove from grand junction, Colorado, all the way to Northwest Arkansas, where my mom lives. Then we traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. To visit some friends and we spent the night there and then all of us, a group of us. I went to Townsend, Tennessee at the base of the great smoky. Mountains and enjoyed some camping glamping. Really? It was, we were in a tiny home, which was really cute. I got a great little resort there. We've ventured into North Carolina because we were so close. And on our trip home, we decided to, instead of just backtrack and go the exact same way we came, we decided to make a loop. So we went up through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois. And then we decided, well, let's get some other states in our journey. So we hit Iowa, Nebraska. And we spent the night in Nebraska and then we decided, Hey, let's go through Wyoming and then cut down. So I think we did a total of 12 states, including Colorado. And about 14 days. Now we have quite a bit of stopping, stopping at my mom's stopping at her friends, stopping and Townsend. But we had an incredible amount of time in the car, right? Because it was a long road trip. And so I wanted to share some. Takeaways, some thoughts that came up through this journey. With you guys, as we think about our real estate. Journey. So let's see if I can get this to work and let's get started. All right. So first things, first planning. Is essential. Right. You have to know. Where you're going to get where you want to go. Right. So for the road trip, we had our Google maps. We needed to know kind of the places that we were going to stop the itinerary as it was. Do we need to stop for lunch dinner, where we about plan to stop? Are we driving straight through or are we spending the night somewhere? My mom's house from our house is about 17 hours of driving. Which is a lot. And you, you might be thinking there's no way I could do that with my kids. We have done this trip twice a year. Since my. Son has been my, my oldest son was born. So we've done this. Many times. At least 26 times, right. Because he's 13. And so it's, it's something that we have done we're used to. So for us, it's, it's just the trip. A lot of times that first leg of the journey. Um, sometimes we'll break it up into two days, but usually that first. Going out to my moms will drive it all in one straight shot. And, you know, it's total about 19 hours total, right? With stops and bathroom breaks and all that. But you kind of need to know what your plan is before you get started. As far as real estate investing goes, you need to know where you're going to get, where you want to go. If you don't have a plan, if you don't have an idea. You're going to be in this murky middle, where you're just kind of floating, seeing what everybody else is doing. And wondering why you're not moving anywhere. It's because you don't have a destination that you're going for. And guys, I'm talking to myself when I'm talking to you because I've been in that spot where. I didn't really know where I wanted to go. Um, taking in all this information, but not really doing any action because I wasn't sure what I really wanted. So as you get started in your real estate journey. Have a plan in mind. Now we'll talk about this as we go. Can it shift? Absolutely. But you're not going to get started if you don't have a destination in mind. So pick a pick an avatar, pick a. An investment type that you want to be involved in. And just start making. Incremental changes to work towards that goal. So that you can start adapting and evolving to where you really want to go, because you may say, okay, I want to get to this. You know, I want my first buy and hold. Great. And you get there. You may change your mind and say, actually, I really want multifamily. Your, your plans may change as you go. And that's totally fine. But you have to at least get started to figure that out. Okay. Expect the unexpected be prepared for detours and have an emergency plan and real estate and an emergency fund in place. With our journey. We had some construction, right? So he had a little bit of delays, maybe a few detours. But nothing too crazy. We were about an hour from my mom's house. It was about 1230 in the morning. So he had been driving forever. And we came up on a car fire. A semi-truck cab was on fire. In the middle of nowhere, Missouri. So at the bottom of Missouri, there's. Nowhere around. I mean, it was a really small town. In this. Semi-truck was on fire. Not sure why what happened? And we came up, we were right behind the police before the fire trucks had even gotten there. So we were stuck there for about an hour waiting for them to put it out. We got to watch a little. Firefighting and actions. So that was kind of cool. But we were ready to get to our destination, but sometimes those delays, those detours pop up. When you least expect them. If you can be prepared. For those unexpected challenges in real estate. You know, every real estate transaction, every real estate flip, there's always something. There's always something that comes up that. You weren't expecting. Maybe you. Are wanting to move a wall and you find out, oh man, that's a load bearing wall. I can't quite do it. Or maybe you get in there and you realize the plumbing in the bathroom has been leaking. And now we have to replace the sub floor, which we weren't anticipating that cost of doing whatever it might be. There's there's always something that pops up. So be prepared, plan for it. Have a contingency budget. In place. A lot of times people will have an additional 10, 20%. Budgeted. Into their rehab budget. For that very reason, because a lot of times you need it. So be prepared. And you might find that that's a load bearing wall and you can't do what you were anticipating doing. Being able to shift and figure out a different way. Go through that detour. Is a great skill to learn. And you learn that by going through it right. Okay, next one. Flexibility is key. So same kind of along that same lines, right? If you have that. Load bearing wall that you were expecting to tear out and you can't being able to be flexible and pivot is super huge. Now, and this goes for traveling too. Maybe someone gets sick along the way, right? My poor husband, we ended up, we were two days behind leaving because he got Salmonella food poisoning and there was no way that man was sitting in the car for 12 hours of driving. Right. So we had to wait for him to. Feel better and be able to make it. And, you know, in a car for several hours. So we had to be flexible in our timeline of leaving, right. Same thing with closings. Right. You guys know. You have this expected close date and sometimes it gets delayed. Maybe it's because of paperwork. We're waiting for stuff from the title company, maybe an unexpected lien pops up. And you have to deal with that and decide if you're even going to take this project on. Maybe the seller had some other things that came up and you need to wait a little bit before you can close whatever it is. Being able to be flexible, to pivot, to move. Is very helpful. And. It's a great mindset to be able to like, okay, cool. Okay. This came up now, what, what am I going to do? How am I going to plan for it? How am I going to move around it? When you have that? Ability to flex and change with the situations you're a great person to work with because you see opportunities and learning in those obstacles instead of frustration and complaining, right. We want to work with people like that. So being flexible with your strategies. And being able to pivot when needed. Super helpful skill to learn. Alright, network and connect. So meeting new people and learning from the locals. Now this can. Be used in a lot of different ways. So on our trip. We went to, uh, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. And then we went to Townsend Tennessee for our camping trip. And there were a couple of other families. That, um, came and joined us. We, they are new to us, but friends with our friends. And it was great to meet with them, to talk with them, to learn from them about the local area hear about their experiences. In that area. They had been to that campground before. So learning what they liked, what they've done, how they had a good time. The last time, it was really important. And this comes back to networking within the real estate space, because you're going to learn so much from others. You're going to learn from others who have gone down that path. And you're going to learn from their experiences that can help you move forward faster when you're listening to them, hearing their stories, knowing what pitfalls that you need to be aware of and plan for. And be ready for those things can be really helpful. So make sure you're getting out and going to local meetups. And meeting others who are doing the things that you are doing super important community is huge. And then when you have an issue, something pops up. Hey, Aye. I need help with this specific thing. In this rehab project have you had any experience with that? You're there's someone there is someone in your network. Who's like, oh man, that happened to me. Here's what happened. Here's what I had to do. Here's how I solved that problem. You know, and you're going to be able to, again, move forward faster because of their experiences. So the connection in your network is huge. Learning from experience. Okay. Every trip teaches us something new. Every time we go on a road trip, we learn different things about our kids. Uh, timing of stops. We learn to ask every time we're close to a rest stop. Does anybody need a rest up? Because inevitably, inevitably, we will be. Just passing it when someone's like, oh, I need to go to the bathroom. Oh. So we've learned that we ask as we're approaching those rest stops, even if it gets monotonous and they're pretty, pretty quick. And you know, we have a lot of them. We always ask because we don't want to have that obstacle. Pop-up. And each, each time we get valuable lessons. And in real estate. You're going to learn by doing, you're going to learn from others as well. But nothing is going to teach you as much as your experience. If you're sitting on the sidelines. Yeah. You can understand it. And maybe. I see some things like, oh, okay. I understand why they chose to do this. I understand why they chose that exit strategy, even when maybe. They were planning for this to be a fix and flip. You can understand it, but when you're going through it, and you're the responsible party, you're the one involved in it. You're going to learn so much more. You got to get out and you got to do. So you're learned from those experiences. Safety first. So thorough due diligence is key making sure, you know, on our road trip, making sure our car as well, service making sure the tires are aired up. You know, the windshield washer fluid is full. The oil is good. All of that stuff is important for a huge road trip. Now one day, our tire pressure gauge went off. And we had to stop and check it. And it ended up being our spare tire. That sensor was a little bit low and it went on and then it went off just pretty much as quickly within a couple of hours. Um, after we checked and made sure the other tires were okay, so it went off, but. Knowing that. We have those things that we need to check before hand. It's super important. This is where due diligence and good underwriting comes in on your projects, because if you are diving into a project, And you're. Relying on others due diligence. For you. That can be an issue, especially when maybe. Their goals and your goals are not quite aligned. And you want to make sure whatever you're doing, whatever piece you're putting into that real estate pie. Is as safe and secure as possible for you. This is a little bit different. For whether you're the borrower and asking for money and buying a property. You know, you need to know if your exit strategy is gonna work. If. If the numbers make sense. As a private money lender that does look a little bit different. You need to make sure your money is safe and secure. You need to make sure there's enough equity. Involved for you to be safe and secure. So there's a little bit different. Uh, strategies that go into due diligence, depending on how you're coming into the transaction. And you want to make sure that you are keeping yourself safe. No one else is looking out for you. Like you're going to look out for you, so make sure you're doing that piece. Don't trust. Anyone else, trust and verify, right? You want to make sure that your numbers are sinking up with their numbers. And if you are looking at a property. And they're saying the ARV is this, and you're getting something different. Make sure you open those lines of communication and talk about it. And if you're not getting a satisfactory answer, Then maybe this is not the deal for you and that's okay. But you have to make sure. You are keeping yourself safe. As safe as possible in real estate. Because you're the only one that's really, truly looking out for you. So due diligence is key. All right. Taking breaks. We all know that with long road trips. It can be hard. It can be tiring. Sometimes you need to switch drivers sometimes y'all just need to stop. Get out, stretch your legs, move a little bit and get the blood pumping. Get some good oxygen in. Maybe you're stopping. At a local park and you're getting out, you're moving, you're taking a hike, you're walking, you're just sitting outside getting that fresh air, taking that break. Is revitalizing. Right. And so in your real estate journey, You may be grinding and you may have your head down and you are doing all the work and you are working so hard, which is awesome because that's going to move your business forward. But don't forget to take the time. To take the step back. Am I going where I thought I was going is my trajectory, the path that I expected to take. Uh, have I veered off because I've gotten distracted by other things or am I moving forward in those goals? How am I feeling? Am I feeling overwhelmed? Am I feeling stressed? Feeling like I've got a lot of things going on and. You know, just treading water, just barely keeping your head above water. If so you need to take that step back. Because when you have that time to reflect, relax a little bit, you're going to come back. And be ready to go. You're going to make better decisions. You're going to feel better about the whole process. And that's a good thing. So. Make sure you're taking some time to reflect and it's, it's nice to be present also, you know, you may be in a tough spot in your business, but when you can be present. And just sit in that for a second and really look at it. For what it is and realize, man, look how far I've come look at all these things that are going on. Yeah. Their challenges right now. But man, I'm learning so much. And you can take that time to. To have some gratitude about where you're at, that's gonna move you forward faster because then you stop seeing negatives and you start seeing the positives and you might find a solution to a problem that you've had. And you've been working on. Just because you've taken that time to step back and relax a little bit, but also just look at it from a different perspective. I think that can be really helpful. Make sure you guys are taking some time for you. All right. Document your journey. This is a, this is a good one, you know, as we're taking pictures, you know how the window and all our stops, making sure I take pictures and every little state that we were in. You know, it's good to be able to look back and say, look at where we've been. Look at all the things that we've done in this last two weeks. We had an incredible journey and it's kind of fun. Cause you know, my mom Darrel's mom. We know they're following along. So they get to see where we've been, what we've done, the things that we're doing, and it's exciting because other people get to learn from you, but then you're going to be able to look back and be like, oh, I remember remember that we had such a good time. You know, we went. We got to spend time with good friends. We had amazing food. We had amazing views. God's creation is so incredible and so incredibly diverse. We got to see so much of the country in the last two weeks. What an incredible time it was. Now for real estate, you might be thinking, you know, you get to document that journey from the fix and flip. That was like, you know, the hoarder house to this amazing luxury build, whatever it is, you know, and you get to watch that. Journey progress. Documenting that is super key. That's also good for future lessons. Cause you're going to learn from it. You're going to be able to look back and be like, okay. Yeah. I remember when this happened and this is what we had to do. You know, you'll figure some things out from that helps others see what's possible and others might want to come along with you on this journey. So that's really cool. So you're going to be helping others and also learning from it yourself. So make sure you're documenting. Seek advice and guidance, right? Travel guides are there for a reason. They help you. No. What are the places that you want to see that you don't want to miss? And also maybe some things that you want to avoid, you know, Out Rushmore in the summertime is going to be super busy or Yellowstone. You know, maybe you want to see it at a different time of year when it's less busy, whatever that might look like. Seeking guidance and advice from. Experts mentors, those who have. Done that trip before is super helpful because you're going to get little golden nuggets of information. That you're going to be able to use in your journey as well for us, it was great that we went with people. To this little resort who have been there before. That was cool because then they already knew the area. They could tell us where to go, what the best places to eat were around there, the best places to explore. And that made our trip more enjoyable because we didn't have to figure it out. We didn't have to stumble through the dark and figure it out on our own. Right. And again, that's where the travel guides come from. They give you that advice. So you have a more enjoyable experience just like with real estate when you're getting. Uh, advice and guidance from those who have done the thing before that's going to improve your experience. Because again, you're learning from them. And you're avoiding some of the pitfalls that maybe they came across as well. So super important. To seek advice. And then enjoy, enjoy the rewards. Once you reach your destination and the gains that you were hoping to achieve, whether that's, you know, just being able to spend time with friends when we're on that road trip. Maybe those gains in real estate or the monetary gains that you were hoping to achieve, but a lot of time the monetary gains are great, but it's the experience. It's the lessons that you learned. Those are the rewards that you will use over and over and over again, because those lessons learned. Those experiences have taught you so much that you're going to use them as you move forward. It'll help guide you and further. Trips, right. It'll help guide you in further investments. Because you've learned a lot from that. So those are the lessons. Those are the rewards that really are going to stick with you, that you're going to use. Time and time again, that are so valuable. Yes, the monetary reward. Awesome. We love that from real estate. That's why we're all here. And that's super important for sure, but I think the lessons, the connections that you make through real estate, Are going to be so much more valuable in the long run than those temporary monetary gains that you make. So. Those are the things that I've learned from our amazing road trip that we just went through. And I hope this was valuable for you. I hope you found some little golden nuggets and just a different perspective, really a different way to think about your journey. Sometimes. Like we've talked about you're in the grind and you're in it, and sometimes it's nice to just take that step back. And really think about how far you've come. Think about your real estate journey. Think about where you started. And where you're at currently. Now you may only be baby. baby. investor, just starting out and you have a little bit of experience. But that experience. is important. Maybe you've been doing this for a couple of years and you've traveled a long way. Whatever it is. Being able to look back and appreciate how far you've come, the lessons that you learned and take from those lessons and those experiences, and be able to. Use it moving forward. Super powerful. All right, everyone. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I look forward to seeing you again next week until then have a great one.