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Show Summary
In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Trinity Anderson, a young entrepreneur making strides in the real estate flipping industry. Trinity shares her journey from starting at a real estate mentoring company to navigating the challenges of her first flip. She emphasizes the importance of networking, mentorship, and taking action, especially for young investors. Trinity discusses her goals for the future, including house hacking and flipping multiple properties, while also highlighting the need for creative solutions and community support in funding her ventures.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Trinity (00:00)
the biggest thing that I say is like you’re never too young to start. ⁓ Personally, I’m 17 and I started this journey when I was about 16 is when I got hired at that company and it’s just as soon as you put your mind to it, you can see results. When I started looking for that house, I found it within three weeks of my initial search and it’s just as long as you are willing to put in the time, the effort.and actually take action, that’s the most important part. You will start to see results, you can get out there. And as for flipping houses and my advice with that, ⁓ you don’t need anything to start. Get on Zillow, find a property, and you need to look for three basic numbers. MAO, ARV, and you need to account for your profit and how much it’s gonna cost you to fix up the house.
Michelle Kesil (02:21)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil and today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with, Trinity Anderson, who has been making serious moves getting her flipping career started. So excited to have you on the show today, Trinity!Trinity (02:22)
Hey, everybody.Thank you. I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Michelle Kesil (02:44)
I think that our listeners are going to take something away from how you’re working on starting up your business. So let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you, can you give the short version of what your main focus is?Trinity (03:02)
Alright, so my main focus is just like getting out into the space, networking, finding the right people, and that will help me like grow my database and my knowledge base because I’m still young and still learning and I’m new to the space.Michelle Kesil (03:17)
Awesome. Can you share your story? How did you get into this world?Trinity (03:21)
Okay, I’ll start over with that. Okay, so I started just about over a year ago when I got hired at a real estate mentoring company called Seven Figure Flipping and I was part of their marketing team. So I started going through a lot of their videos and like editing it and as I was doing that I was listening to everything that they were saying and I’m like…this is some really good information. And so I decided in January of 2025 that like I could do this too. And I started out just wholesaling and
I was not doing it correctly. knew that there was like more, well, I didn’t know that there was more resources available to me. And so I went a very traditional route just through like the US postal system. And I was buying stamps at 75 cents per, I was buying my own envelopes, writing each address, it taking up hours of my time and I was at like 83 cents per mailer. And so along with like all my time being taken, I was going bankrupt at the same time.
And I tried that only for a couple of months and eventually it of just fizzled out. Up until like just a couple months ago, I decided that I wanted to go back into this. I wasn’t ready to give up. I just needed to adjust my strategy. And that’s when I decided to do flipping.
Michelle Kesil (04:40)
Awesome. That’s so cool that you are able to use that job and that education that you weren’t expecting to get onto this path. Can you share about what your flipping journey is looking like?Trinity (04:51)
Thank you.Yeah, so I started looking on Zillow and Zillow is like a pretty decent place to like find deals, at least in my area. And like I was searching and it wasn’t much.
there wasn’t much available because everything was market value and as a flipper you know you have to go below market value to fix it up, sell at market value and so I wasn’t finding much deals and I had heard once at one conference one time that this guy had found a deal on Facebook I’m like why not so I decided to go on Facebook and give it a try and within five minutes I found a house the same house I have a contract on and the very next day I went to go see it
It looked great. ⁓ I mean, it didn’t look that great. So that’s why I liked it. But ⁓ I looked, ran my own inspection on it. Everything was coming up good. And over the next two days, I ran some numbers on it and I made him an offer two days later. And everything was going wonderful. ⁓ Except for when I made him the offer.
and he accepted after I drew up my document, I mean my contract, ⁓ well, sorry. So what had actually happened is I didn’t know how to make a contract at all because I’d never even seen a legal contract. So I’m freaking out after he accepted my offer and I took it to the title company and they drew up a contract for me. But since they were drawing it up,
They pulled his records separately. And when they pulled the records for the house, a lady’s name popped up. And I thought that was really peculiar. I sent the contract over to him and I’m like, hey, can you tell me why your name isn’t popping up on the contract? And he’s like, ⁓ I don’t own this house. And I’m like, what? Because I had asked him directly when I was there, do you own this property? And he told me yes. Anyway, it turns out the house was his sister’s. And… ⁓
She had passed away only two days ago. So when I went to see it the first time, she was still alive. But now, once I gave him the offer, she had passed. And so now I’m stuck in the probate process. And that’s just where I’m sitting.
Michelle Kesil (07:56)
Wow, that’s a crazy story. A lot to learn for your first flip.Trinity (08:00)
Yes, a lot happened already.Michelle Kesil (08:04)
Yeah, how are you preparing for what the next phase of this journey is going to be?Trinity (08:10)
So I’ve decided to ⁓ kind of not scratch that house, but ⁓ since the project is delayed, I’m not focusing on it directly. I want that to be my second or third flip because probate that can take several months up to a year. And I haven’t even been allowed to run an inspection on it because I don’t own any of the rights to the property yet. I have a contract saying that he will sell me the house.for the price we agreed upon, will buy the house once he owns it. But that’s all that I have currently. So what I’m doing instead is going out and finding more houses. And I haven’t found anything that matches the credentials that I’m looking for yet. However, I’m still actively out there looking. ⁓ Still on Zillow, still on Facebook, just anywhere I can find leads.
Michelle Kesil (09:01)
Awesome. So let’s say someone is also starting out, maybe they’re younger like yourself and they feel like they don’t have a lot of cash to do this work because of course everything, you need money for everything. ⁓ Yeah, like do you have any creative solutions that either you’re working with or that you can share with people?Trinity (09:57)
Absolutely. So the biggest thing that I say is like you’re never too young to start. ⁓ Personally, I’m 17 and I started this journey when I was about 16 is when I got hired at that company and it’s just as soon as you put your mind to it, you can see results. When I started looking for that house, I found it within three weeks of my initial search and it’s just as long as you are willing to put in the time, the effort.and actually take action, that’s the most important part. You will start to see results, you can get out there. And as for flipping houses and my advice with that, ⁓ you don’t need anything to start. Get on Zillow, find a property, and you need to look for three basic numbers. MAO, ARV, and you need to account for your profit and how much it’s gonna cost you to fix up the house.
If you can find how much you can buy the house for, how much you can sell it for.
and how much it’s going to take to fix up, you can essentially buy any house as long as those three numbers work out. So go on Zillow, go on Facebook, just start searching and put in offers. Like if you’re putting in the time to go look at a house, put in an offer. Your time is worth it. And you never know, they may accept it. Even if it’s like 20, 30 grand less than they’re wanting. And as for like getting the money to get started,
you don’t need money to get started. After you get a deal, that’s when I start searching for the money. I didn’t have money prepared or secured when I got this house, but after I got it, that’s when I went and started looking for private money lenders. And that’s not the only solution, that’s what I use, but there are many places to go and get resources like that.
Michelle Kesil (11:38)
Amazing, that’s so inspiring. Yeah, because I think that can really stop younger people is like, I need to wait until I have X amount of money to invest.Trinity (11:49)
Absolutely. And just the biggest thing is don’t let yourself get stuck in like analysis paralysis. You don’t need all the information to get started. I heard that if you can make, if you know 70 % of what you want to know, I mean, if you know 70 % of a subject, then you’re ready to take action on it.Michelle Kesil (12:08)
Yeah, and besides your job where you were watching those videos, did you learn in other ways? Did you have mentorship? What did your learning trajectory look like?Trinity (12:21)
So, my parents started flipping houses about three years ago and they had a little bit of a rocky start. Thankfully, I got to kind of watch their process and learn from their mistakes. It took them like two years to flip their very first house because my dad had decided to do it all on his own. And that was a big lesson for me. And that’s hire contractors. Don’t try and do the work yourself. You just need to budget for the proper work.And as for mentors, I watch those videos and that’s a whole community and that what I was able to be involved in. And in addition to that, I’m a part of a secondary mastermind called the Teen Mastermind, which is actually an amazing story as well. It’s run by a 19 year old teenager up in Oregon and he’s done an amazing job growing this business from the roots up. And I’m part of that and that’s all offered me just an amazing support system.
So I would say just find yourself people you can bounce ideas off, get a sounding board. And also like YouTube University, there are amazing resources on YouTube. You would be so surprised.
Michelle Kesil (13:28)
Yeah, absolutely. I think we have so much information at our fingertips right now that there’s a lot to take advantage of.Trinity (13:35)
Absolutely, we’re in the information era.Michelle Kesil (13:37)
Yeah, what’s like motivating you to, yeah, get started at this age? It’s so inspiring.Trinity (13:44)
Well, I’ve always been an entrepreneur, just my entire life. It’s part of my personality. ⁓ In middle school, I was buying packs of gum, selling each ⁓ slice for like 25 cents. And that’s not a lot of profit, but the ROI goes crazy on it. ⁓ And by 14, I started my own dance studio, running operations for just over a year until I had an injury. And seeing as I was the only teacher, we had to cease operations. And this is just my next step.And this is something that I now have enough information and business information and knowledge that I can actually carry that onwards. And this is only the tool to like reach others. Of course, like I enjoy flipping houses, but that’s not my entire motive. I want to be able to inspire others with my journey. I want to be able to speak on stages, speak on podcasts and just really help motivate others.
and eventually I want open back up the dance studio.
Michelle Kesil (14:43)
I love that. That’s so beautiful. Yeah, you definitely have a motivating spirit.Trinity (14:48)
Thank you.Michelle Kesil (15:30)
Yeah, of course. So what are some of the goals? mean, I know you mentioned like motivating people in the studio, but when it comes to like real estate, what are some of the goals that you maybe have for the next year?Trinity (15:46)
For the next year, it’s hard to think like that big because I feel like so many things are compiling right now and I’m not sure where I’ll be, but hopefully like better than I am now. Well, hold on, that’s a lot. I have a little bit of an idea of where I’m going. So in the next year, I’ll be 18 and I want to move out. And so my first goal in the next three to four months, I want to get a house hack.⁓ house in ⁓ Clarksville and I’m going to get a DSCR loan on that and that will allow me to purchase that with only 15 % down or possibly less if I find a different lender. Currently 15 % down which hopefully will be funded by one of my flips that I’m doing and then I want to do two flips. ⁓ I found out that the house right next to the one I have a contract on is vacant.
and I’m reaching out to that ⁓ person ⁓ right now and hopefully I can get two houses right next to each other. And if I flip up one before the other one is ready, it’ll boost the ARV for the second house. So I definitely want to do those two houses. And other than that, I’m open to doing houses just about anywhere as long as the numbers match up. ⁓ I don’t have a set number, which you’re making me realize I probably should have a number in mind of houses I want to reach.
by the end of the next year. I just want to know that I want to keep going, keep driving forward. And my goal is to spend two hours every day just researching houses or researching loans, but devoting two hours each day to just moving myself and my business forward.
Michelle Kesil (17:25)
Yeah, I love that. That’s so powerful. Are you currently like in school or university or is this like your full-time thing now?Trinity (17:33)
So I worked that other job and that’s still my W-2. And I’m out of school, so that’s awesome. It just happened this year. So I’m like really grateful for that. ⁓ With school I would say just do the work, double down and get it done with. School is amazing, but ⁓ once you’re done with it, it really frees up a lot of time to devote and focus your energy.Michelle Kesil (17:56)
Yeah, of course. The more time you have, the more you can choose where you spend it.Trinity (18:01)
Yes.Michelle Kesil (18:01)
Are there any sort of major obstacles that you have encountered ⁓ where you learned a lesson that you want to share with others that are starting their journey?Trinity (18:13)
⁓ The biggest obstacle I encountered was definitely with wholesaling. When I started in January, I didn’t take the time to research those resources because there are sites available for wholesalers and real estate investors where you can be sending out mailers for 30 cents, like 30 cents per mailer, and you wouldn’t have to write anything or stick the stamp on, lick the back of the envelope, andLike that was so taxing and I just didn’t take the time to look for a better way. And once I was doing things, I just kind of like got onto the rope and I was thinking this will just get better. Like the system will clear up by itself. I’m just on the grind and you have to notice the difference between being in the grind and being in a system that doesn’t work. When you’re in a system that doesn’t work, things don’t get better.
If I were to have gotten a house from that, maybe I would have hired somebody on, but they would have been taking up the same amount of time that I did, and I wouldn’t be really systematizing anything. So you need to be careful of falling into the day-to-day rhythms and not actually making progress for your business. I would just be cautioned against that.
Michelle Kesil (19:34)
Yeah, absolutely. I think in the beginning stages it can be hard to know what’s actually going to move the needle forward and it’s trial and error.Trinity (19:42)
Yes.Michelle Kesil (19:42)
Okay, amazing. before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect or learn more about what you’re doing, where can people find you and connect with you?Trinity (19:56)
You can reach me at trinity.tlcinvestments at gmail.com and I will try to respond as soon as possible.Is it okay if I drop my GoFundMe link?
Michelle Kesil (20:12)
Yeah, of course, whatever you want to share.Trinity (20:14)
⁓ it doesn’t have like an actual link. just like a URL code. I might just share that.Michelle Kesil (20:18)
okay. Well, maybeshare about it now and I can ask production to put it into our show notes. So.
Trinity (20:25)
Cool. So, Adrian, my turn.Michelle Kesil (20:27)
But yeah, if you want to maybe share what it is for the audienceknows what you’re looking to raise money for.
Trinity (20:31)
Yeah.Um, so also I have a GoFundMe link for my Women in Power show. Like I said, I was able to get a spot for the Netflix series Women in Power and I need $3,000 to cover production costs and that’s just something I don’t have right now. And I started GoFundMe to raise that. I actually only have 24 hours to get that done.
And so if you could donate or you could just share it, that would be so amazing.
Michelle Kesil (21:04)
Awesome, Trinity. That’s so inspiring. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time, your story and perspective. Loved having you here.Trinity (21:14)
Thank you for having me on the show. It’s been amazing.Michelle Kesil (21:16)
Of course. And for those listeners tuning in, you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators just like Trinity who are building real businesses. And we’ll see you on our next episode.
