Resilience & Creativity: The Keys to Rolonda Andrews’ Real Estate Triumph

Michael Stansbury (00:01.172)
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Mike Stansbury today. My special guest is Rolanda. Andrews Rolanda, how are you?

Rolonda Andrews (00:12.554)
I’m doing well, doing well. Thanks for having me.

Michael Stansbury (00:15.19)
Yes, ma’am. Thank you. Can’t wait to hear about your story and how you’re helping people in real estate right now. But first, at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate entrepreneurs 2 to 5x their businesses to allow them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted and allow them to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. Rolando, let me ask you this first question about what were you doing before real estate? What made you pivot into real estate? Kind of give us in our audience what you were doing.

As far as for employment, for fun, all that stuff before you went down this yellow brick road.

Rolonda Andrews (00:50.978)
Well, you know it was a calling of sorts because I used to manage a hotel for Marriott the Fairfield Inn in Detroit, Michigan and I was fired My general manager and I didn’t get along but I was fired and devastated at the time and Realized that I could not allow one company to have that much control over my livelihood And so from that point forward I became an entrepreneur

I left the Detroit area and moved down here to Atlanta. Ironically, Marriott sent me here for five weeks to train. So I was very familiar with the city. I knew a few friends here. So yeah, it was the place I wanted to be. I opened up Rolo’s, which was a beauty and barber salon after being here a couple months. And then I sold that and went to real estate school. Always had a love for real estate. So that was the end goal eventually.

Michael Stansbury (01:48.32)
Alright, so I love this origin story. So you came here and what made you go into owning, did you own and operate a beauty salon? Is that what I heard?

Rolonda Andrews (01:57.056)
Yeah owned and operated a barbain beauty salon.

You know, in the neighborhood, I’ve always done hair, cut hair, did natural hair and eyebrows. So it was just a natural transition and it was the easiest transition for me to become an entrepreneur. Right. So I started working in one of the barbershops here in Atlanta area on Trinity street. It was called trim setters and I worked there for a few months and then I realized this is something that I could do myself. And then I found a location and then that’s how Rolos

Michael Stansbury (02:15.351)
Right.

Rolonda Andrews (02:31.684)
was born.

Michael Stansbury (02:33.152)
And how long did Rolo’s last, kind of what was the beginning and end and how did you roll that one up and sell it?

Rolonda Andrews (02:39.81)
It lasted about four, about five years or so. I went to real estate school and got my license in 1999. I had rented some space to some guys in the back that were installing car stereos and doing window tinting. And so I ended up selling it to them and I negotiated a deal where I was still able to work there.

free, didn’t have to pay anything, kind of just help to educate them on the management of the business. And then once I was able to branch off on my own, because you know there’s always a learning curve, right? And so when I was able to start making enough money, then I just left the business totally. But yes, I sold it to the guys I was renting space to, which allowed me to kind of transition at my pace into the real estate industry.

Michael Stansbury (03:31.852)
Yes ma’am, I’m just, and again, I’ve got some information about you here and what’s interesting about your story is you got a lot of education, right, by having ROLOs about creativity, owning a business, and you’re able to take those principles that you learn into real estate, and that’s why you’ve been around so long and been able to help a lot of people.

Rolonda Andrews (03:56.842)
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, that’s definitely a foundation running a business is having your own

Michael Stansbury (04:02.326)
Yes, that’s right. And so now, let’s fast forward maybe into 10 or 15 years into the industry. Kind of tell us what were you doing in real estate 10 years ago compared to what you’re doing now.

Rolonda Andrews (04:14.496)
Well, you know, it’s no secret that the market crashed in 2007 and 2008 and I had to do a major pivot. Prior to the market crashing, as a realtor, we don’t have as much control over the deal as we would like, right? I can do a great job.

But if the lender doesn’t get the deal closed, one gets paid. Homeowner doesn’t get the home. So I realized that understanding financing was very, very pivotal in my career in being able to help my clients and understand how to maintain control for my clients. Because a lot of times we were getting answers at the witching hour. we’re not closing tomorrow. And I knew before tomorrow that we weren’t closing. So I joined a mortgage trainee program.

Michael Stansbury (04:37.997)
Right?

Rolonda Andrews (05:02.276)
here locally in the Atlanta area and I became a loan officer so I was kind of the dual threat for my clients and then about four years later I opened my first mortgage company first choice funding and it was on Chamlee Tucker Road and we were doing subprime loans we were doing subprime you know so you get a house you get a house you get a house so when the market crash you know subprime loans went away in an instant right

and so did my business and when the dust settled you know foreclosures people were underwater they couldn’t buy they couldn’t sell but when the dust settled I realized the investors kept the market going they were still buying and selling

Michael Stansbury (05:32.396)
Right?

Rolonda Andrews (05:47.06)
No matter how bad the market gets, investors were still moving and shaking. So I did a major pivot, you know, after I shedded a few tears, right? I had to come back and do some different things, right? I mean, it was, was tough. was 30 days away from foreclosure, right? My business went down the tank.

Michael Stansbury (05:56.45)
Right.

Rolonda Andrews (06:05.666)
you know because we went from closing loans to not closing loans in an instant. In my real estate business I had a real estate team I was working with RE-MAX at the time and I had a couple realtors working with me doing a lot of the field work and I was closing the loan so all of that went away in an instant I lost two of my investment properties to foreclosure lost

And I was 30 days away from foreclosure on my personal home and I was able to do some creative stuff to save that but that’s just letting you know how bad things have gotten when I said lightly I shedded a few tears. Yes Shedded a few tears nonetheless, but I made a major pivot, you know my

Michael Stansbury (06:39.266)
Right.

Michael Stansbury (06:44.672)
And your pivot was to, the folks that will always be in the market.

It just is a part and parcel that investors buy when it’s good and they buy when it’s bad. Let’s qualify bad. They love a downturn because they understand the elements and the principles of investing. If you can help investors in the good and the bad, you’ll always have a steady stream of clients. Does that paint the picture a little bit?

Rolonda Andrews (07:17.588)
Absolutely, absolutely. mean investors know that there’s always an opportunity Always good property no matter how bad the market gets who will appreciate

Michael Stansbury (07:27.148)
Yes ma’am. you had that pivot, you cried, I did too. I remember those times. I was working.

as a realtor and do a new construction selling $700,000 houses in 2008. And they were going, I would go to the closings and see these mortgages for like $8,000 a month in 2008. thinking, how is this going to keep on going? But I buried my head in the sand, just kept going because I thought the good times would always roll. And then they didn’t. And then I had to pivot. And I had some of the same similar circumstances. I had some pain. And sometimes pains, we don’t realize it, right?

back and say that was actually a good thing because it taught me something. So what are some of the things that it taught you?

Rolonda Andrews (08:06.38)
Mm-hmm.

One of the main things for me was not to put all my eggs in one basket, you know multiple strains of income was the new security for me because I had everything in my real estate industry basket in the mortgage industry Basket, but they were all tied to the subprime loan, right? That was my that was my client and so now fast forward

I still work with some primary homeowners as a referral basis, but 90 % or more of my business is working with investors. I reinvented my mortgage company. Now I have a mortgage company servicing real estate investors nationwide, Premier Lending Solutions. And so I’m very, very proud of that. And in the midst of just before the market closed crashed, I got my insurance license. And so I helped my clients.

prepare for retirement as well, put money in a safe place, life insurance, annuities, all those things that a lot of them don’t think about as we’re making money. So my thing for my clients is I help you to protect everything you own and everyone you love while we’re building wealth. So that’s what I do.

Michael Stansbury (09:25.23)
Oh, I like that. I like that. That’s very clear and concise and tells people exactly what your core values are and what you’re trying to do and help people. I like that a lot.

Like, give us a typical situation where you’ve helped somebody in the last maybe six months. I’ll let you choose your own adventure. You don’t have to name the client’s name, but kind of tell us a little bit, this is a real estate investor that needed lending, or this is somebody that bought some property and we needed to make sure that it was cash flowing correctly and all those, loans, the insurance and all that stuff was tweaked where it worked for them. Again, you’ve got the floor.

Rolonda Andrews (10:00.73)
wow, mean there’s so many. I can start with the client that, and I’m not as young as I look, I’m proud to say I am 56. And so I have a lot of my clients that are my age or older and preparing for retirement. And so I’ve helped the client recently just structure everything, get prepared for retirement, move her money, roll the money over from a 401k to another qualified account where now it’s not tax-deficient.

Is growing tax-free and that’s just a rock IRA Just to say what it was and then after five years because she’s just real close to that five years Then of course she gets to realize the income and the earnings Tax-free so just trying to educate my clients on what to do so they could be prepared and also she has a structure on her property that Is not being used so we are setting up

business structure, creating her trust or holding company, operating company and getting her prepared to get business capital to renovate this structure to realize some of the residual income that can come from ADU on your property.

So it’s several things that I love to do. I can get very, very creative. I closed on a new construction project just last month. They were building five homes in the Chicago area. Very, very proud of that. They just recently broke ground. So I do a wide range of things nationwide.

Michael Stansbury (11:20.845)
Yeah.

Michael Stansbury (11:37.196)
That is very interesting. So Rolanda, if somebody was out there and they’re like, think Rolanda can help us out. I’d like to know more about her. Where can we find you on the internet? Where is the best place to reach you?

Rolonda Andrews (11:50.882)
Rolanda Andrews dot com is the website. Also I’m on social media all things real estate by Rolanda. We got to make sure that Rolanda is spelled with two O’s because sometimes people would misspell my name and I’m so glad when you have my name up there correctly the first time. But Rolanda Andrews dot com right or all things real estate by Rolanda on IG or Facebook you can find me there as well.

Michael Stansbury (12:21.048)
Well folks, the information will be in the show notes below.

Rolando, it was very great to hear your origin story, what you’re doing now to help people. I love to hear the fact that you’re doing this in a really whole, you got your real estate insurance, you’re taking everybody’s consideration where they’re going next in retirement and trying to help people in every stage of life. Kudos to you and thank you for being a part of the Real Estate Pros podcast. Folks, again, like and subscribe.

below and get in touch with Rolanda. Again, anything else you want to say to our audience before we leave?

Rolonda Andrews (13:00.394)
Hey, the world is yours to have. Whatever you believe you can do, you can. And that’s something my mom always said. Whenever you put your mind to something, you know you can absolutely do it. But you gotta have your heart in it too.

Michael Stansbury (13:12.712)
Miss Andrews was probably a great mom. That’s awesome that she left you with that. That’s awesome. Well, folks, again, thanks for watching. We’ll see you next time.

Rolonda Andrews (13:17.782)
Thank you so much.

Rolonda Andrews (13:21.684)
Alrighty, thanks for having me.