Simple Keys to Success as a Female Real Estate Investor

Monick H. empowers women to invest in real estate. The insights she shared helped her expand her own business to new heights. Her hope is to help others do the same.

Monick’s real estate investing journey started by accident.

When the time came to buy a house, Monick quickly realized that buying a house in Los Angeles was no small endeavor. Though she made six figures in her career as a lawyer, buying a house “in a semi-decent neighborhood, not a mansion in Bel Air, started in the $600,000 to $700,000 range.” To offset some of the cost, she turned to house hacking. Monick found a property that offered additional units she could rent to tenants, making the mortgage more affordable–even profitable!

From land lording out of necessity, she acquired skills and foundational knowledge that she would later use to build her real estate empire. She began flipping houses, buying rental properties, and employing additional strategies that earn passive income. Fast forward to 2022, her real estate portfolio consists of over 1,000 doors and growing.

Helping one million women

Along with her flourishing real estate business, Monick is the founder of Real Estate Investor Goddesses. Resources on the site ranging from blog posts and podcasts to events help teach women how to invest in real estate. The idea came to her in the most peculiar of places–a hotel elliptical.

Monick recounted that she was traveling for a conference on real estate investing. Out of 120 people, there were “virtually no women in the room. I wanted to bring women into that room, which is how my mission to help one million women create financial freedom came to me on that elliptical machine.”

She shared words of wisdom that anyone can apply as part of a recipe for success. Here are Monick’s tips.

Invest in yourself

Ultimately, you need to invest in yourself. Whether that means buying a course, reading a personal development book, or otherwise is up to you. There are three major categories you should be aware of as you begin the process of self discovery and learning the ins-and-outs of real estate.

Mindset

In the course of a year, Monick went from figuring out how to buy a four plex to acquiring a multitude of properties. To do so required a major mindset shift. Initially, the idea of having 1,000 doors didn’t feel realistic or even the slightest bit possible. What a mentor told her changed her view of reality and what was attainable. She noted:

“One of the big things was knowing it was possible. Until I heard him talk about that, I didn’t realize it was doable. I thought you had to be a billionaire. I wouldn’t have considered it or even conceived of it.”

Simply knowing that other people had paved the way allowed her to conceptualize what it would look like. Having someone like a mentor that you know saying it also makes it feel more realistic. When her mindset shifted, the possibilities expanded greatly.

Monick also mentioned two crucial paradigm shifts that resulted from the same conversation. “I’m not limited to where I live and I’m not limited to my own capital or credit” she said. Though she was based in Los Angeles, she decided to begin investing in other states that were conducive to her rental strategy. As she explored new markets, it was clear that price points vary greatly from state to state, so her money stretched further outside of Southern California.

Using other people’s money enabled her to grow quickly as well. Along with flipping and rentals, Monick discovered syndicating. The private capital she raised could then be used to buy multiple multifamily houses and even enabled her to acquire commercial properties. None of this would’ve been possible without a mindset shift.

Network

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people can accelerate your career. Knowing this, Monick made a literal investment in herself by paying for a mastermind group that would help her cross paths with other high achieving investors.

“I joined a high end mastermind where they were doing certain syndications. I did a lot of training and went to a lot of events. In fact, I probably spent over $60,000 that year alone on my education. Being around the right people paid off exponentially.”

Given the portfolio she’s amassed, it’s clear that this worked for Monick. To her, it was a calculated risk that she knew had tremendous potential. Depending on your situation, it might be worth it to do what Monick did. In some ways, paying holds you accountable and increases your motivation to finish.

There’s also free ways to network. Websites like BiggerPockets offer opportunities to converse with like-minded people. You can also research local real estate meetups. The point remains that you need to be around people who have higher expectations so that yours rise as well.

Start with the end in mind

Think about the lifestyle you want and work backwards. Do you want to be more passive? Would you rather flip full-time?

Monick advised people to go through a discovery period and learn about different types of real estate investing strategies. People have varying levels of risk tolerance, flexibility of schedule, financial situations, and reasons for investing.

These are all factors that you should consider because “depending on what your end goal is, your strategy will vary because certain things might give you a lot of passive income, but not the tax benefits, for example.”

Regardless of your situation, there’s likely something that matches your situation. Real estate is an umbrella term that covers a tremendous amount of tactics and strategies. Just because owning rental properties doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean you can’t invest in real estate.

Many people give up before they ever get started. Some assume that real estate investing is not for them because it’s too time consuming. Others are deterred by financial limitations. Monick addressed wide variety of fallacies that many investors have and demystifies them.

You need to have tons of money in order to get into the game

“Saying ‘I don’t have enough money,’ is a fallacy because you can do anything with the right strategies, partnerships, and creativity. You can get in at any budget,” said Monick. This was a major part of her own mindset shift. Once she realized that she was not limited by her own capital, her options expanded.

You need to have a lot of time

Many people think that you need to have an abundance of time on your hands to invest in real estate. Though that’s true for more hands-on strategies like flipping, “it can be very, very passive, like buying a stock or a bond. There are a bunch of strategies that don’t require a lot of time.”

You have to be hands-on

Horror stories abound regarding bad tenants. This serves as a deterrent to many would-be investors.

She goes on to say that “people don’t want to have to evict anybody. And then there’s that fear about actually having to do the work of being a landlord and dealing with the three P’s tenants, toilets, and termites. There are a lot of ways that you can invest where you never have to deal with any of that.”

Deals that fuel your success

Monick’s advice serves as a great starting point for any new investor. It also prepares small scale landlords to expand their businesses in a variety of ways. Whether you’re just starting or have an extensive portfolio, Sundae’s Marketplace can help get you to the next level.

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