Buy What Other Investors Avoid: How to Find Profitable Fix & Flip Opportunities

Deborah Price (00:00)
So it’s gonna take time. If they’re gonna do a good job, they’re gonna have to put in the time. And so again, as a real estate investment coach, I’ve had students that they get started and they don’t realize that it takes time. You have to build that momentum. There is momentum, and once you get your momentum building, then it’s like keeping things going. As it was explained to me when I got into real estate, it’s like a plane taking off. Most of the energy is in the takeoff.

Scott Bursey (01:58)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey

Glad you’re with us. Today we have an amazing industry leader in the studio, Deborah Price from the Young Real Estate Team and eXp Realty. With over 32 years of real estate experience in Utah, Deborah is a licensed instructor, investment coach, certified mentor, luxury specialist, relocation expert, and ExpressOffers agent. From new construction and land development to fix and flip rentals.

and commercial deals, she has mastered virtually every corner of the market. Listeners, you can expect an action-packed conversation filled with practical strategies to scale across multiple niches and elevate your real estate portfolio. Deborah, welcome to the show.

Deborah Price (02:47)
Thank you. Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Scott Bursey (02:49)
It is awesome having you here. And to help our listeners get up to speed. Please give us the ninety-second highlight reel, if you will, of how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Deborah Price (02:59)
So my career in real estate started when I worked for a hospital and they downsized and so the position I was working in was eliminated. And so I asked my friend who had been my realtor, what did she think about me getting into real estate? And she said, I think that’s a great idea. Come work with me. So I took out my four one K and started in real estate and then haven’t looked back.

Scott Bursey (03:21)
Thank you for sharing that background and giving our listeners a really a look into your journey. You know, Deborah, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to seamlessly integrate hands-on investment strategies like land development and commercial deals with top-tier agent mentorship and coaching throughout your 32-year career. Expanding on that, curious to know.

With your experience in Utah real estate across residential, commercial, and land development, what core strength has been your biggest driver for long-term success?

Deborah Price (03:55)
My willingness to learn and to continue growing and to connect with great people and my work ethic because the thing with me in real estate is I have to get it done and I have to complete it and I have to do it right. And so if that means sometimes getting up at two o’clock in the morning and working on my real estate, then that’s what I do because I just

I I’m driven and so I just have to get it done.

Scott Bursey (04:21)
Deborah, how do you instill that foundational strength in the agents and investors you mentor and coach?

Deborah Price (04:27)
That’s a tough question because I’ve always wondered what how can you motivate people? And honestly, they kind of have to have a lot the some motivation themselves. They have to be willing to learn and they have to be open to this real estate market. And some people, you know, just take to it and just run with it. I’ve got I’m a I’m also a mentor and I have some real estate students that have just done phenomenal. I’m so proud of them.

in eXp and and then others they just like, this isn’t quite what we expected. This is more work than we thought, And so it just kinda depends on the person, but if they’re willing to learn, I’m willing to help them.

Scott Bursey (05:54)
And interested to learn when managing, coaching, instruction and active development or fix and flips, what internal bottleneck or limitation do you constantly have to keep in check?

Deborah Price (06:06)
So working with the right people and having good subs and contractors to work with ’cause a lot of them are busy these days. And so I am not personally one of those that can go in and do the electrical or knock out a wall like they do on some of the shows. But I so I have to know somebody or meet someone that can do it for me. I mean, I can I’m good at directing, I can help them say this I want this and this and this and this.

But I’m not actually talented that way. So work just finding the right people to work with that have time to work with me.

Scott Bursey (06:37)
Really appreciate you sharing that. And wanting to understand, where do are you seeing the most lucrative opportunities in the Utah market currently?

Deborah Price (06:46)
the multifamily is getting kind of inundated. so if you’re if you have the tenacity and the willingness to stick it out, you can you can still find good deals. And there’s a lot of people these days, so like in our broker meeting today, we were talking about how people

don’t wanna do the work, they want the house done. So for someone who’s willing to go in and do the work, they can they can make some money because, you know, other people want to come in and have it done. They don’t want to have to go in and paint or repair or replace the carpet or remodel. And so if you’re willing to do that and you have a good team, then that’s a that’s a great area.

Scott Bursey (07:26)
What market headwinds or external threats in land development and construction are you monitoring most closely today?

Deborah Price (07:33)
So I love land development and new construction and land development, there’s a lot of people again out there picking up land. And land development is one of those things it takes about three years before you see a profit. And so you have to be patient with that if you’re gonna do land development. I’ve worked with some multi multimillionaire land developers and that was a fantastic experience for me, but it does take time.

And that’s the same if you’re working with builders, it takes time to build those homes to develop those lands and everything. So if you’re looking for something quicker, then that would be finding something like a multifamily you pick it up and resell it, or a property that needs minimal work, doesn’t need a full-blown rehab, because that can even take six to eight months.

And so it just kinda depends on how much time and how long you want to wait on the investment.

Scott Bursey (08:26)
What key risk management steps should investors take to protect their deals from those threats?

Deborah Price (08:33)
Make sure they have a cushion. Like especially with rentals, I encourage my students to have a cushion so that if a tenant doesn’t make a rent payment for a month or two, they’re okay. Cause if they’re tight, so tight on their income that if that tenant doesn’t pay, then they’re they can’t make their mortgage payment if they have a loan on that rental, then that can be a problem. And so I encourage them to have a cushion that way.

And that’s a good idea with rehabbing doing fix and flips too is to have plan a little extra, plan a little extra time. So if they say they they’re gonna do this fix and flip in six months, and then something happens, like for example in Utah, the weather winter happens and then it takes seven months, then they need to make sure that they they’ve given themselves enough cushion that they’ll be okay. So just

Planning on some things will take longer and cost more than you sometimes you first anticipate.

Scott Bursey (09:31)
Thank you for pointing that out. And Deborah, help us understand. How do you bridge the gap between high-end luxury client needs and fast turnaround ExpressOffers solutions in your operation?

Deborah Price (09:43)
Well, higher-end clients, they it takes a while to sell higher-end properties usually. And so you need to plan more expenditures to market and to do a nice a nice job with marketing their properties. it also sometimes can take connecting with people all around the world to get that higher-end market.

and so they can be kind of time consuming in the fact that you just want to make sure you’re there and meeting everything and following up with them and letting them know how everything’s going. I try to do that with all my clients, but especially with my higher-end, they want to know what’s going on and they want to know I that I’m taking care of everything. And so and doing it with a smile. And so that’s part of it.

The ones that want things quickly, that’s keeping on top of it because if they’re looking, I have a lot of investors that come to me and want me to help them to find properties. And if they’re looking, they we need to move on it quickly. And that’s one of the reasons I joined a team, because my team, if I get really busy, I always have my team to back me up. I have transaction coordinators and people who’ll do open houses and things like that. And so

Having a good team has helped me a lot.

Scott Bursey (11:36)
What is the key indicator that tells you which exit strategy or offer type fits a given property best?

Deborah Price (11:43)
The numbers. Looking at the numbers. So what like I’ve been coaching real estate investment students since two thousand and fifteen and what I would do is when I’d we’d have an appointment is I’d sit down and have we’d go over the numbers. And then do those numbers make sense in that area? Because sometimes they’ll call me with a deal and they’ll say, Well, I’ve got this great property, but

they think maybe they’re gonna make twenty thousand on it and maybe the numbers really only say five. And so, you know, you just always need to look at the numbers and make sure that it makes sense for that area because sometimes like I’ll have people give me deals and I’ll do the numbers and I’m like, no, these numbers don’t make sense.

Scott Bursey (12:25)
Yes. And sticking to those numbers.

Deborah Price (12:27)
Yes. Yes. That’s a good point. Definitely.

Scott Bursey (12:30)
Deborah I’d love to know, what does your professional network look like right now?

Deborah Price (12:34)
My goodness.

It’s always expanding. So right now with eXp, I have a lot of connections with them and a lot of agents and brokers. But I’ve been in real estate for so long, I just know so many people that it’s hard to really put a finger on that. But I’m always open to meet new connections. Like I said, I have a broker right now that’s putting together a mastermind for real estate investment coaches, and I’m excited to be a part of that.

I think it’s fun to get together as groups. to get together with groups and brainstorm and kind of see what the market’s doing and where do we wanna go from here and things like that.

Scott Bursey (13:08)
Thank you for sharing that. Surrounding yourself with high-caliber network really accelerates everything. And digging a little deeper, what is the most valuable piece of advice you can give to an investor looking to build momentum and scale across multiple real estate verticals?

Deborah Price (13:25)
So it’s gonna take time. If they’re gonna do a good job, they’re gonna have to put in the time. And so again, as a real estate investment coach, I’ve had students that they get started and they don’t realize that it takes time. You have to build that momentum. There is momentum, and once you get your momentum building, then it’s like keeping things going. As it was explained to me when I got into real estate, it’s like a plane taking off. Most of the energy is in the takeoff.

And then it’s just keeping it on course after that. And so a lot of people don’t realize that you’ve got to put in the time at first. And then after a while you can have people on your team and you can just kind of keep make sure you’re staying on track. But it doesn’t take as much effort as getting everything set up and going.

Scott Bursey (14:08)
Thank you for laying out that blueprint. And Deborah, you have given our listeners a tremendous amount of advice here today. Is there any additional golden nugget or two that you’d like to leave with our listeners?

Deborah Price (14:22)
Believe in themselves and trust their instincts. You can do this. Anybody can do this. You just have to be willing to learn. But yeah, if a lot of times people don’t believe they can do it and they can. It’s if they don’t know if they don’t have the skills, like I said, with rehabbing, I don’t have the skills, but you can find somebody who does. And if

Sometimes that means working as a team also. So a lot of the investors and developers I’ve worked with, I’ve noticed I learned from them that a lot of times they have partners and they have teams and they’ll so then that way everything is not just on them.

Scott Bursey (14:55)
Thank you for sharing that. And Deborah, for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you on future deals, what is the best way for them to plug into your pipeline and reach you directly?

Deborah Price (15:07)
Exter email.

Scott Bursey (15:09)
Deborah, thank you so much for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros Podcast.

Deborah Price (15:13)
Thank you.

Scott Bursey (15:13)
This has been an absolute master class. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Deborah Price, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you on the next episode, everyone.