Learn How Marissa Solis Built a 35-Year LA House Flipping Empire

Mike Hambright (00:00.716)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. Today I’m here with Marissa Solis, amazing real estate entrepreneur out of LA that’s been flipping houses for 35 years, amazingly has learned a few things along the way that she’s going to share with us today, including just the power of relationships, how to run a business like this and have flipped hundreds of high end properties in LA while having five boys and a lot of other things. So Marissa, welcome to the show.

Marissa Solis (00:25.908)
Thank you Mike for having me on the show. It’s my pleasure. Yeah.

Mike Hambright (00:28.622)
It’s good to see you. Yes. Yes, yes. So before we kind of dive in here, you have an amazing background of having done this for a long period of time, have seen lots of ups and downs. We know it’s been a challenging market over the past couple of years, but I know this isn’t your first rodeo. You’ve had lots of ups and downs over a 35 year career here. So we’re going to talk a lot about you and the lessons you’ve learned over this time period.

on the show today, but maybe just start off by telling us a little bit about your background in terms of being a real estate investor in LA.

Marissa Solis (01:03.852)
Yeah, so my passion about real estate started with my father. He was flipping houses in Mexico. And so when I was very young, I’m like, oh, I want to be in that business. So when I moved to LA, I work on sales. And a couple of years after, I just got my license and I started selling real estate. you know, I had a lot of great people that had helped me a lot to be where I am right now.

by teaching me, guiding me. And, you know, I’m a good student, so I like to do my homework and listen to my teachers. And I think that that had pay off for me because I had been able to build a career where I lived over a thousand properties and, you know, multiple entitlements, sell them for a profit. And my latest one, which I have it in Esper right now, is an entitlement for

a hotel in Hollywood for 175 rounds and it has been challenging to sell it, but I got the price and I got the buyer by being patient and not taking like listening to the crowd, but listening to myself. So to me, we have the answers inside ourselves, right? But you get information and process and then make your own decision based on what resonates well with you and the data.

Mike Hambright (02:32.78)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Marissa Solis (02:34.17)
And, you know, I’ll be closing pretty soon, so I’m excited about that.

And in regards to my business, really what had built my business is relationships. I love people and I’m very interesting. You know, I always want to learn about them. So I do have a process that I follow and it’s like, let’s see somebody lease a property today. Right. And I never talked to that person, but the first thing I do is about timing. Right. If the listing comes like this second, I try to call them like within the first.

30 minutes that the listing comes out because that’s when they answer the phone. After a couple of hours, they not, know, because they all everybody is talking to them. So when I talk to them, the first thing I do if I’m very interested in the property, I make an appointment to go and see the property because being face to face with them, it’s more powerful than being on the phone. Right. So once I.

Mike Hambright (03:37.098)
Mm-hmm, and this is what this is with the agent right because I know you do a lot of stuff through agents

Marissa Solis (03:40.523)
Yeah, I have like that my agents that I continuously talk to them, but the new agents is like these kind of agents, they don’t do a lot of deals. They do two, three deals a year, at least in LA. That’s how people work. So I meet with them, then we walk through the house and I start relating with them. Like, you know, from the like, do you have kids like a little more personal because I’m a mom.

and I can relate if they have kids or if they like traveling. It’s just like talking to a friend, right? I don’t see it like, that’s the agent. I’m just like, I’m going there mostly to know the agent more than the property. And I walk the property and then I ask them questions like, hey, what is the sender’s motivation? How soon do they need to close?

you know, is there anything that’s unpermitted or, you know, the condition of the property. So that allows me and at the end of the conversation, I said, if I can make you an offer today, can you get it accepted in the next hour? And they said, you know, can you call your seller right now? You know, and Sunday do call them in that moment. And they said, well, you know, I’m here with a buyer and, you know, she’s an experienced agent. She’s an experienced buyer.

And you know, she seems like a nice person and she has the proof of funds and she can close in, you know, 14 days. And this is her price because I can give them the price on this spot. I’m very familiar with the values. So obviously I do my homework before I go there. Like, I mean, it takes 10 minutes to know the value of a property. And I just try to close a deal there. And, you know, maybe from that, like

25 % of the time I’m able to close a deal on this file and So that’s like a new leads right the old leads is different because I just called in and say hey How are you? I know when their birthdays are anniversary kids birthday like they’re important days So it’s in my calendar and it pops tomorrow is Mike’s birthday So I know like okay. What’s the best way I can communicate with Mike? That’s Eli’s text email or call

Marissa Solis (06:05.906)
And depending on the person’s style, I adjust to their style, not my style. And I just like, I’m very present because the way I see the business, okay, if I have 50 good agents, and from those 50 good agents, 30 % brings me one deal a year, that’s 15 deals, right? And the average profit in LA is 120.

Mike Hambright (06:29.038)
Yep.

Marissa Solis (06:34.16)
every one of them means a lot of money to me. So, and I try to see them maybe once or twice a year, not that often because of the distance in LA. But, you know, and I try to do open houses where, hey, kind of see my latest rehab. So they come too, you know, so just like timing and, know, really being caring for the person. I think you have to have like a caring heart.

to be able to do this because, and be kind of patient and listen to them. mean, do more listening than talking because people in general, they not too interested in your life. They more interested in their life, right? And you gotta look at it like that way. Like, okay, they don’t wanna listen where I travel or this or that. They wanna know, hey, I’m going to this place on vacation and.

Mike Hambright (07:18.528)
Yeah.

Marissa Solis (07:30.761)
You know, if I know they’re going on vacation or a place and I had been there, I tried to send them an email with ideas or just so I need their mind, you know, because the whole goal in relationships, you’ve got to be present in their life. Otherwise, they’re going to call the next person and not you. Right. So always like being present and, know, is they having a challenge with something or they need a contractor or side contractor or anything they need?

Mike Hambright (07:49.624)
Right. Right.

Marissa Solis (07:59.962)
I’m kind of that resource for them.

Mike Hambright (08:02.562)
You’re the connector. Marissa, how do you, so when you buy houses, you buy a lot off the MLS and you buy stuff through agent relationships. Are you buying stuff that is distressed or it’s not that distressed and you’re just offering closure to close quickly? Is your play there going after properties that need updated and that’s how you add value or is it just the value you add is a quick close?

Marissa Solis (08:04.422)
Yeah. Yeah.

Marissa Solis (08:30.3)
Yeah, mean, most of them are, I would say they are fixtures and typically they are like they haven’t been renovated in forever. So I, it’s heavy fixtures and then when they are live fixtures, it’s hard to make the numbers work. They have to be or at square footage because I have experience in construction. You know, I just finished building 28 different properties. So I

Adding 500 square feet is easy and the return on the investment is great. So if it’s a good area, I can get everything done within six months.

In LA, it takes a little longer than other areas.

Mike Hambright (09:15.694)
Yeah. So let’s, let’s stay, want to talk a little bit more about the relationship stuff because you and I were talking about this at investor fuel recently and I’m very big on relationships. We send out birthday gifts and we, you know, we recognize the things that are important to people. How do you, what, what advice would you give to people to become a better network or a better connector? I mean, it sounds like it’s easy to go do it, but it is a craft. Like you have to be very thoughtful and, um,

and you have to kind of use some systems to track like when key dates are and things like that. Like what advice would you give to people to become a better networker?

Marissa Solis (09:54.578)
I think the number one thing, be happy to see the person or talk to the person. It’s like, let’s say you are talking right now and then if I say hi Mike, or say hi Mike, there’s a difference on the feeling. So you wanna touch the person’s feelings, right? And I think that’s a big thing. When you feel moved and inspired by somebody, you’re willing to do anything for them.

And I can be happy, be honest and do what you say you’re to do when you say you’re going to do it, right? Because we all very busy, everybody, we all busy and it’s easy not to do. It’s like, okay, it will be easy to cancel these, right? Because I have so many things going on right now and every day matters to me on my projects. But I committed to do this and I’m going to do it no matter what gets on my way.

So the same thing with people, mean, is you promise them to call them or text them or something, do it. So I just like, I don’t know, I just love to connect with people that are in my industry because I don’t really talk about anything else other than real estate. So it’s kind of fun to talk to somebody who is in the same field, you know.

Mike Hambright (11:17.014)
Yeah, and I think, you know, with what the country’s been through with COVID, with all the social media stuff, all the political strife and all, you know, the proliferation of social media, even though I’m all over it, a lot of those relationships.

I look at social media very differently. It’s a way to meet people that I can then hopefully have a real relationship with outside of social media. I think a lot of people end their networking at social media so they never really get beyond the kind of shallow relationships without going very deep. And I think people crave that. People want real relationships with real people more so than ever right now.

Marissa Solis (11:55.939)
Yeah, you want to know that somebody’s out there in the world to help you because we all run into challenges and you know, it’s nice to know that, hey, you know, I can call Mike for this or I can call Marissa for this, you know, like it’s nice that people know that they can count on you. And I think that’s so human. And it’s a win win for both for the party who’s giving and receiving because it’s life is like a dance you give you receive and.

I think that we need more of that to make half a better world. I think honesty is big. If I’m not able to do something, I say, don’t have the knowledge to do that, but I can find that resource.

Mike Hambright (12:40.642)
Yeah, yeah.

I want to shift gears a little bit Marissa and you’ve raised five boys who are now men and you have this, I know you’ve worked really hard, I I know how hard you’ve worked for 35 years and my wife and I only have one son, he’s 18, he just moved away to go to school but we thought one was like, I can’t imagine there was two and you have five. So how do you balance being a driven career woman in a field that quite frankly is challenging?

Marissa Solis (12:48.271)
Yeah.

Marissa Solis (12:55.461)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Hambright (13:12.592)
lot of real estate stuff happens in the evenings and weekends and whenever it pops up, it happens, right? But you also did that while raising four young men. Kind of talk about just how to have, I don’t want to say balance, because I don’t know that balance is even a real thing, but just talk about how you balance all that and maybe give some guidance to some of the younger real estate investors out there that are struggling with that.

Marissa Solis (13:35.416)
Yeah, I mean, I’m really organized, so that helped me a lot. And I always made a goal to take care of myself the first hours of the day, like exercise and just like one hour for me, whatever I want to do. So I wake up at 430 in the morning. So I have that time for me. And then, you know, when they were younger, you know, they I will take them to daycare at 7 a.m. So we are out the door.

you know, 10 minutes before seven. And so I can start at 730 and pick the nuts from school and give them a snack and, you know, help them with homework. And in between I will take calls and they already knew I will go. And so they knew not to make a noise, you know. You know, they grow in the business, right? Like I will play games with you or whoever sees a fixer, you’ll get a dollar. And so every house was a fixer, right? Because they wanted the money.

Mike Hambright (14:21.162)
Hahaha

Marissa Solis (14:32.993)
And I played like a lot of games with them, so they were involved in the business indirectly. So they kind of made it a little fun for them. And I said, we’ll go and see a property and then I will go and see three or four. Like, you said one property. I like, well, now I want to see more. So I will play them with me, you know, like on weekends because I.

didn’t have a babysitter, I’ll pay them with me, so the properties wouldn’t. So I just made it fun for all of us, and then I will reward them like, okay, we’re going to go to lunch, you know, or something. So it was different all the time, but just being organized and always putting the family first. I never, if I had something important for school, a play or something, and to go to an appointment, I always chose.

go to the school and do what I said I was going to do instead of I don’t I didn’t mind losing business because of my family. I just feel like you never lose business if you put your family first because people will get it and if they if you lose that is because it wasn’t a good match for you what I could buy so.

Mike Hambright (15:45.26)
Mm-hmm.

Marissa Solis (15:46.903)
I just put them first, I continue to put them first and I’m happy to say they still call me and say, mom, what should I do about this and that? And we are very close, we have like a weekly Zoom call and a weekly dinner. So there’s two touches in the family on a weekly basis and we travel two, three times a year together. So it’s not like…

Mike Hambright (16:08.866)
Mm-hmm.

Marissa Solis (16:11.704)
This is what I did is like, what am I doing today to continue that legacy? So your whole, every single day that I woke up early, every like thing that I did, it continues with a follow up of having that two touches. And they still like hanging out with me, which is kind of nice, you know? you know, so I love that and my granddaughter, now I have three grandkids, my granddaughters, which are

Mike Hambright (16:33.762)
Yeah.

Marissa Solis (16:41.77)
not in LA, they said, we went on to the call, even if it’s short, so they are seven and five and a two year old. So they are a part of the call and they are like, you know, we talk about things like how was your week? You know, what did you learn this year that is helping you be happier or what is your challenge? Everybody wrote, we rotate the leadership and it just becomes very interesting. And you get to,

really get to know the person more and more because we continuously changing and transforming right with time. So, and how I came out with that, say, do you guys want to see each other like two times a year or 52 times, you know? And they said 52 times. So, and we have like 90 % of the time we do it. Sometimes we don’t because there’s something going on. Like when I was last week, you know, they did connect. So I just connect on the phone like for

Mike Hambright (17:27.054)
you

Marissa Solis (17:39.629)
three minutes during dinner to just say hi. You know, I’m here, but I’m traveling, but I still participate by checking in, you know? And it’s just fun, you know? Like it’s so, so much fun. And it’s very short. It’s only for 30 minutes, you know?

Mike Hambright (17:58.702)
Yeah, that’s great. I think a lot of people struggle with that balance, right? And I won’t say that there is balance, but I agree with you. If I look back, I have regrets about, sometimes I put the business before family because I feel like I had to, but I think overall, you don’t have to choose one over the other, even though it feels like it in the moment. when you kind of set your…

set your priorities and you have kind of clarity, I guess, in your vision for what’s important, then it’s easier to, I guess, kind of quote balance all that.

Marissa Solis (18:35.479)
Yeah, and it’s easy to say I could do more or in the past and all of that. you know, I don’t think anybody’s perfect in that moment. We’re doing the best we can with the knowledge we have. But it’s what am I doing today? What am I doing today? That’s what matters because, you know, how am I in that relationship? Because, you know, we continuously got to be building. I mean, the reason why you have four meetings and the trips and this and all of that is precisely for that.

Mike Hambright (18:45.944)
Yeah, that’s right.

Mike Hambright (18:52.728)
Yeah.

Marissa Solis (19:05.441)
Because if you do once a year, know, yeah, it’s great, but it’s not enough. So I think the same thing with my family is like, you know, it’s an effort every week because there’s other things to do, right? I never put anything there. I always like that’s my priority. And then I want to pass on that to the next generation, you know, like my granddaughters already craving to be part of those calls.

And that’s amazing, they have a family support.

Mike Hambright (19:39.352)
Yeah. Marissa, so you’ve been doing this for a long time.

I know you’ve seen a lot of ups and downs and I think the past couple years have we’ve seen people leave the industry and Jump into something else because it seems easier, but that also will get hard I always have the most respect for people that stick with something for a long long period of time and You you just have to you have different tools in your tool belt that that work in different markets, right? and so maybe you could share some of your knowledge on just kind of standing the test of time like

the mindset that you have to have when you’re riding the ups and downs, when it feels like things are tough, but you know they’ll get better because maybe it’s a market cycle issue or some other issue. But just talk about maybe some of your lessons learned for playing the long game in this industry.

Marissa Solis (20:28.642)
Yeah, for me, I always focus on one thing. I’m going to buy this deal, my next deal. I’m not thinking I gotta buy 20 or 30. I’m thinking I wanna buy one deal. And then once I’m done with that one, then how can I buy the next one or how can I sell the next one? So I never see like, gotta do 20, 50, I just like one. So how am I going to accomplish that one? And when you are…

When I focus on that, then obviously other people are calling, we are looking at other deals, blah, blah, blah, but I’m focusing on getting one. One at a time is like a game, right? Like soccer people, they’re not thinking I’m going to score five goals. It’s like one, how can I get that one done? How can I make a home run, right? So I just keep it simple and compassionate for myself.

Mike Hambright (21:15.054)
Right.

Marissa Solis (21:26.43)
I gotta be compassionate with myself. I don’t criticize myself. I mean, we all have like the good and bad boys, right? But my bad boys, I say, thank you so much for that info, but I’m choosing the right one. know, like, because I mean, human nature, right? We tried to criticize ourselves like blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? You know, me, I was born and raised in Mexico. So before, at the beginning, I only wanted to

Mike Hambright (21:39.33)
Ha ha.

Marissa Solis (21:55.125)
deal with people who spoke Spanish because it was easier for me. But one day I made the decision and I said, listen, it doesn’t matter how you speak English. What it matters is who you are. So people who want to work with you, they don’t care how you speak. They care about who you are, how you treat them, how you being honest, you know. And in that moment, I was in an open house. Everything turned around and my

next clients they were like an American couple, know, and I was like, you know, like once I made the decision, everything transformed.

Mike Hambright (22:38.19)
Yeah, that’s great. Well, Marissa, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us today. If folks want to connect with you in LA, or I guess anywhere, but if folks want to connect with you to learn more about what you do or how they might work with you even, where can they go?

Marissa Solis (22:54.75)
Yes, the fastest way is text me or call me. My number is 323-770-4510.

Mike Hambright (23:07.04)
true networker you just need one tool and that’s your phone.

Marissa Solis (23:10.017)
Yeah, yeah. And I’m delighted to talk to people and help. If they have a question or they’re what to do, I I love talking to people and sharing my knowledge because if I can help somebody, it’s just going to multiply towards me 10 times more. So it’s like the more I give, the more I receive. And I’m happy to help people. know, that’s kind of, I want to be like the bridge to a better life for everybody.

Mike Hambright (23:30.606)
That’s amazing.

Marissa Solis (23:39.512)
and that’s including me, my family and everyone that I connect with. I, you know, it’s just a happy feeling. And I know you have that because I can see it. that’s like, even though, you know, I, can read people when they are real or not, at least as you get older, right? And I really like and care like the way you care for all of us. And I’m very thankful for that.

Mike Hambright (24:09.006)
Well, I appreciate you. So Marissa, thanks for sharing your story with us today. Great to see you. Yeah, and everybody, think you hopefully you all learned something from today. You don’t have to make the trade offs between family and business. Although in the heat of the moment, it feels like you’re making a lot of trade offs. You can’t worry about what happened yesterday. You have to focus on the future, what you’re going to do today and tomorrow.

Marissa Solis (24:13.77)
Great to see you as well.

Mike Hambright (24:32.046)
and you should just play the long game. Like this is a great business, it can change your family tree, but you can’t give up, whether it’s real estate or anything, every time times get hard, you can’t just quit. You’ve gotta keep plowing forward and those difficult times make you a better operator in the good times. So thanks for joining us today. Marissa, thanks again. We appreciate you.

Marissa Solis (24:52.522)
Thank you so much. See ya.

Mike Hambright (24:54.638)
We’ll see you next time, everyone.