Gavin: Hey, guys, how are you doing, Gavin Timms with REI Network. Welcome back for another episode. I’ve got an awesome guest today. Can’t wait to introduce her before I do. If you didn’t already get it. Make sure you check out the Maui case study, how we did a fix and flip virtually without seeing the house, without bringing in the money, building relationships, doing that deal virtually. If you want to check that out, go to REINetwork.com/maui. REINetwork.com/maui. Again, it’s one hundred percent free. And it’s going to be great content to go and check that out right now. Let me introduce my awesome client who’s just down to earth. She’s a rock star. Sandra, how are you? 

Sandra: Awesome. How are you doing? 

Gavin: Yeah, I’m fantastic. You just actually got, I guess, a telling off from me a little bit whether, you know, I don’t know what it is. We’re coaching clients sometimes when, like, they don’t want to tell me all the good stuff, just the. But so we just, I wanna say, reconnected kind of a couple of days ago and we talked, you know, how’s it going, Sandra? You got a pretty good I’ve been super busy doing deals and making money, so that’s obviously what it’s all about. So we’re going to come on to that and what you’ve been up to since kind of been working together and even before me, I will say that you are already successful in doing deals. So not am I trying to say that it’s down to me at all? OK, this is down to you and what and what you what you do with Sandra just for people just to get to know you again, super down to earth. You are who you are, which is what I love. You’re in a monster house, mansion, let’s say, in the outskirts of Atlanta. I want to talk about that. So just give us a background on you and kind of where you’re at. And we’ll go from there. 

Sandra: My name is Sandra, I live in Georgia here and south of Atlanta, and I’ve been actively investing in real estate now for six and a half years. I believe following you for several years, I don’t know, maybe three, three years, something like that. Anyway, so before I was injured in the military, I guess this is back in nineteen ninety-three or so. And so when my career ended, as in the Army, I decided, OK, I want to do something different. So I was working as a bartender and I saw an infomercial on TV in the middle of the night kind of thing. And I got bit by the real estate bug they say yeah anyway. So I, I just started pursuing, trying to learn to do this business and I bought all these books, these tapes, CDs. I went to boot camps, you know, I did it all. At least I thought I was going down the right road when in fact I was going down the road. All I want to do is share I mean, sell me something. They don’t want to help me. Right. So after eighteen years of doing that, literally forever, I decided, OK, I’m going to get serious, I’m going to start learning and really dedicate and invest in myself to get it done. So I did and I started to apply what I was learning and started doing deals pretty quickly. And then I met you and I was like, OK, I need to like start working with this guy. I guess my biggest thing was even though I was successful and I was doing deals, I was so all over the place, I was sporadic, you know what I mean? Like, I wasn’t organized. So I’m sure there was a lot I was missing. So since starting with you last year, my business has completely changed when it comes to organization and utilizing team members instead of trying to do it all myself, which is huge. 

Gavin: Yeah, I remember our first call and I was kind of attracted with your situation. I want to talk about the mansion here in a minute. So we’re going to go back there because it’s just it’s just awesome. And it’s one of my favorite stories. I always tell it anyway, we’re going to come back to that. But when we had our first call, what was amazing was I use this on the last podcast I did with somebody else. It was just kind of chaos, right? A little bit. And you were working way too hard. Right. And you work hard now, right? You’re manic. Well, you’re working hard, at least in an area of making money. Right. When you were going where you were scrubbing lists and pulling lists and scrubbing them and wading through it, and then you were marked into them. I mean, it was just like it was great. And I just come and go in. What are you doing? I mean, it’s working, right? Don’t get me wrong. We’re like you stressing me out. Well, why are you even doing any of this stuff? Right. And obviously it works. Right. So that’s why you would do it, because it works. Why change something? But how can we get your time back and be more structured to make more money? Right. The more deals and that’s kind of what we started to put in place with that structure, with team members. I’m huge on virtual assistance, local assistance and getting them working efficiently and obviously. Well, we did that. We put it in place. I mean. You carry on. I mean, how’s it been going? Well, it’s been happening. 

Sandra: I mean, we’re not going back to talking about working so hard. When I started years ago, I had terrible credit, like really bad credit thighbones, credit score. And I was negative. Twenty-six dollars in my checking account. So I was like, OK, I got to figure this out. So all the deals I was doing before were creative style strategies and listening to you over the last few years and learning some of the techniques and strategies that you teach, that’s really helped me to be able to grow and do deals. Right. So when I started with you a year last year, I was just like everything I was even though I had done flips, I had raised money and all that stuff. But being so chaotic and scattered, it really does affect the amount of deals you can do. You’re leaving money on the table that you don’t realize you’re leaving, you know, and it’s. And so, yeah, being able to give my business where it needs to be with your help is just tremendously that amazing. So thank you for that. 

Gavin: I appreciate. Well, I appreciate the kind words, but it’s you, right? You’re the one that’s actually doing it. And I remember a few months ago we had a call. I don’t know if you remember, you’ve done a few deals and it was going well, but you just said something to me. You’re like, I’ve just got to now get committed, right? Because you were doing everything. Like you were doing multiple things, a lot of shinies going on. And you just said, I just got to make this like, yeah, it’s working, but I really got to make it work now. And since you’ve obviously applied that and been doing it, I mean, you’ve just told me since we’ve been marketing just a loan on what we I was doing with you real outside of your network, you’ve done 14 deals. 

Sandra: 14 just because your training and we’re coaching with you 14. 

Gavin: But 14. And that’s on then on top of then you’re networking with wholesalers, you’re creating stuff on top and it’s just giving you more time to focus on that and make more money. So and then and then deals have come pretty much probably when you tell me in the last several months, in the last few months, probably. Right. More of them have come in that time frame, would you say? 

Sandra: Oh, yeah. As a matter of fact, we’ve got over the last, I don’t know, a few months of really being committed to organizing my time and allowing using the virtual assistants and training my personal assistant. And I have to do it the right way instead of my way. I’ve been able to like we’re literally processing anywhere from five to ten leads a day. And that seems crazy. And it may not be a lot to some people, but for me, five to ten leads where real leads, not just leads like these are leads that potentially will go under contract, I believe. Right. So just the 14 deals we’ve completed, that doesn’t count all of the leads that we are following up on because of you and you’re coaching with that with me. So like I said, it’s I mean, I would say, OK, so I talk to my assistant this morning. We have six that we’re trying to put under contract right now. It’s just a matter of working out the details and the seller asking for some concessions, which I’m fine with. So it’s just a matter of delay in getting the contract done. But the point is, is those six came from the leads that we are pulling now that we’re working on. So I’m just saying, like, we have multiple, multiple deals we’re trying to put under contract right now. So every day it’s something new. And it’s exciting to me because, like, I’ll get leads that aren’t you know, they may say no today and so many people put them aside and don’t follow up. And we’re constantly following up. And it truly is three or four or five touches before somebody is committing to come. 

Gavin: And as soon as people understand and realize, like, let’s just break down what you’ve just said. And it’s the same in my business as well, is that it’s in the follow up. Right, the profit. And you said to me when we were together, you said, well, I got to do one deal to break even. Right. So if I can do more than that, I’ll go profitable. And that’s the same in your marketing, that if you do one and it covers everything, then how many from that marketing source can you close over a period of time? Then it’s just profit gain. Your time’s involved. But in terms of your marketing dollars and your marketing budget is not huge. No, it’s right. Because I know obviously you have you have one Coca-Cola. Right, for what he brings in. And you’re in Atlanta, a super competitive market. 

Sandra: I don’t even work all I mean, like I’m only in a small part of south Atlanta to which I mean, there’s not enough deals to go around for everybody. You just got to know. 

Gavin: Yeah, definitely. And you do the creative ones. You do flip you wholesale, you network, you buy from wholesalers as well to get them up there. So you super active as you started to grow that. So that’s amazing. But you’re in Atlanta where it’s too competitive. Apparently. It isn’t. And it’s the process is the process, the process, you know, and it’s the same when I go to Maui virtually, it’s just the sequence. It isn’t rocket science. If you work and if you trust it and you work it, I mean, you said you use virtual assistant. You like him, right? 

Sandra: Oh, he’s awesome. Yeah. I was so scared to use virtual. So it’s like I don’t know why, but I guess it was a foreign thing to me. Meaning. Meaning I didn’t know how the process works, you know what I’m saying. And so to be able to work with a virtual assistant is like, why the heck am I doing this years ago? 

Gavin: I know. I know it’s insane. I mean, they bring in so much money for us, like on our real estate business. I mean, they’re the only ones pretty much that generate the leads. 

Sandra: So, I mean, I do want to say something that out of those 14 deals and out of those nine flips that I did with you, one of them wasn’t even here. It was out of state. And I never even saw like I saw pictures that was it. I never went there. Nothing I did at all sitting at this kitchen table, just sitting right now. And in less than 30 days, I sold I bought it for twenty and sold it for forty-one and I put twenty, twenty two hundred dollars I think into it for repairs. And I used my, I use my team so I use my agent that I found there. Yeah. To, to earn her commission and do all the work. She found the landscapers. You found the repair guy. I paid everybody through the Internet. Yeah. Oh it was like amazing. Even to the closing through email. Through digital.

Gavin: And that’s what it’s like. Right. And we have I remember as well as a coaching call and hopefully you don’t mind me saying this when you’ve done deals in your life because you haven’t done this form of marketing. You like what I do. I like get go in this conversation. Right. Because normally you’re doing it in a different way. And soon as you are not out to hear that, you’ve done it virtually because we are that stumbling block of like, how do we get that, you know, that awkward first initial call with the seller? How do we overcome that? So it’s great to see that you’ve done that virtual as well. So which is amazing because, you know, now with that lot one day or that you can now take this into multiple markets if you choose. 

Sandra: Yeah. And it’s just a matter of jumping out of that mindset of, you know, you just got to change. It’s a process. You just have to say, OK, so what are the steps to do in this process and make it apply to wherever you want to do it and whatever strategy you’re doing, but you got to get organized. And that was what I needed to do. 

Gavin: Absolutely. No, that’s awesome. Well, I appreciate you sharing. I think a lot of people are going to get a lot from this. You know, they really are from multiple directions, from virtual together. They’ve done the structure, the systems in Poland to focus on the right areas of the business, all these things that they can take away from this. But I do need to come back to the story of how where you live and how did this come about. 

Sandra: I tell you what, nobody believes me until I actually see it. Right. So like here, people that are local when I’m in business with people or whatever and I’m like they’re like you. We do what we do, events in our house and stuff. They’re like, oh, really? Well, we have eleven thousand two hundred sixteen square feet finished. And if we finish out the basement, which has over 15 thousand square feet, and then the attic, which is about eight thousand square feet, and then we have we can put in a two bedroom apartment over the garage, then we will have over thirty two thousand square feet finished when we’re done with three septics just out of it, do more in. But I acquired this house on a creative finance. Yeah. So it started as a while. First it started as for rent and then I negotiated him to a lease option. Yeah. And then it went from a lease option last year to owner finance. So I, I put, I put down forty five thousand down which is nothing because the houses were thirteen point two million dollars. To get in at forty-five thousand. That was a lot of money out of pocket for me. 

Sandra: However, I live in this house for basically for free. The only time I’ve had money come out of pocket was during Covid for two months and that was because Airbnb was shutdown. So we have Airbnb space, short term rental space here in the house that generates enough money. Plus the events that we’ve done here now are few and far between because of Covid. We’ve added additional short term rental space that covers my house payment, which is fifteen thousand a month, and my overhead of utilities. So I don’t pay anything to live in a mansion. And to most people, it’s mind blowing, like, how do you live in a mansion for free? Right. It’s just about getting creative and figuring it out. Right. The guy that when we met him, he had only owned it for two months. So, you know, I just had to pick his brain and find out what his why was why he needed what I was fixing to offer him. Yeah. And because I solved this problem, I got my dream home. 

Gavin: And it is a dream home. I mean, I’ve seen it. I mean, you just get the square footage there. But I mean, it is nice, amazing condition. It’s a mansion. I mean, that’s what it is. It’s a mansion. So, you know, to get creative even in my house, which is on the way scale, but we have the guest house at the back and we rent the guest house, Airbnb, and that covers the mortgage. Yeah. We technically live here for free as well. Obviously not a mansion. 

Sandra: So, I mean, it’s only because I have the space that I can short term rent, you know. I mean, and that’s just one option. There are other things probably I can do. Like a friend of mine actually said we should do a mystery dinner theater event, which we are going to do. So there’s other things we have. You know, we get creative. We try to figure out things that we can do for fun and generate income. 

Gavin: No, it’s brilliant. Fantastic. And I love that because people like and again, you just so down to earth, you you just like I am. You just if you meet us in person, you just you and that’s you don’t plan anything on you are who you are which is great.

Sandra: My hair is in a ponytail. I didn’t get all that stuff for this just an hour ago. I was standing knee deep, well ankle deep in water in a property we just bought. I’m committed. 

Gavin: Absolutely. You are both good. Well, look, I want to just want to say this to everyone. This listing guys. You need to know Sandra, if you are in the Atlanta area and you want to J.V., you’re doing your marketing, you’ve got deals you can’t move, OK? Sandra is the person that you need to know you’re buying. 

Sandra: We are buying. We’ve got the cash available to us. We just need more deals. Money. 

Gavin: Absolutely. So she is buying as well. So make sure if you’ve got a contract, you want a job, you want it to buy directly from you, make sure that you reach out. Sandra, you got an email address for us? 

Sandra: Yeah, it’s [email protected] And that will come directly to me. 

Gavin: Awesome. OK, great. So make sure you reach out to Sandra guys because again this is I called this company or network because it is all about networking. It’s who you know, OK, not what you know, to get your foot in the door and then start delivering and make things happen. So, Sandra, I appreciate you. It’s amazing to work with. You’re amazing to work with you. Just get on just get on with it. You do it. You follow direction. And again, I appreciate the nice things that you’ve said to me. You’re the one doing it. I don’t want to take anything away that it’s not me. You’re the one doing it. So, so time. Fantastic job. And guys, if you want if you’re interested in working with us, OK, go to RE network.com/systems, REINetwork.com/systems and let’s have a conversation and we’ll go from there. So appreciate your time, Sandra. 

Sandra: You’re welcome. Thanks, Gavin, so much. I appreciate you. Bye, guys. 

Gavin: Bye bye.