Flip Less, Hold More: Real Estate Investing, Creative Finance & Legacy Building with BaTiBa Bridges

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (00:00)
Actually, I’m still learning. I’m still developing that. But I will tell you, the goal is to hold more properties than flip more properties. Again, it goes back to my why. And my why is going to be my children. This property that I just flipped and actually will be holding is for my son.

So when you see me be a little more hardcore, a little more spicy with the contractors, it is because my son, my Gregory, is my why, and this is for him. The goal is to have more holds than

flips for me.

Dylan Silver (02:05)
folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, BaTiBa Bridges is a retired law enforcement officer, turned top producing real estate agent, investor and entrepreneur. Known as Queen New Build, she specializes in residential real estate, new construction, fix and flips, creative finance, and short and midterm rentals, while building a portfolio focused on legacy and generational impact for her family.

She’s joined by Darrion Butler, her broker on record, serial entrepreneur and tech driven operator who serves to help her expand her real estate and her real estate business. Darrion and BaTiBa, thanks for joining us today.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (02:45)
Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Dylan Silver (02:47)
Now, BaTiBa, coming from the law enforcement background into real estate investing and then real estate brokerage, how did those law enforcement skills transition and maybe serve as an advantage?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (03:01)
One of the biggest advantages that I have drawn from my law enforcement experience is discernment. So because I worked for the Federal Bureau Prisons, I always had to read energy, watch, trust my gut. And so those types of characteristics parallel what I have to do or have.

in real estate, especially as an investor, a real estate investor. Discernment is, you need the discernment piece is vital in being an investor when you’re trying to invest and you’re trying to put together all those pieces. So that’s my biggest draw from law enforcement is discernment and trusting that gut.

Dylan Silver (03:49)
No question. And I was actually watching a TikTok that you had up recently talking about working with contractors, right? And it’s one of the most challenging areas for a lot of investors as well as just folks in the general public, right? How do you know when this will be a good working relationship? Is that something that you’ve employed this kind of sixth sense to navigate those relationships as well with contractors?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (03:54)
Yeah.

Absolutely coupled with not just utilizing the sixth sense, but I needed to take a course I needed to take some training I needed to get a mentor So that I wasn’t just going off the cuff or I needed to fine-tune that I didn’t want to just think in my mind

This contractor is a taboo person. This contractor has to get me because I had to think that way a lot of times with the inmates. And I had an opportunity to take a course, a training, have a mentor that could guide me and show me a different perspective.

Dylan Silver (04:50)
as someone who’s got the tech background, but you’re a broker yourself, how did your broker background influence the way that you’re approaching real estate investing as well? Because that’s somewhat of a, I don’t want to say rare combination, but it is a niche way to be operating, right? Investor agent, right?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (05:57)
Well, I try to look at real estate from a macro perspective. Broker is kind of an umbrella over a bunch of agents. when it comes to looking at real estate as an umbrella over it, really paying attention to the direction that not only the agents are heading, but also the market, the overall capacity of what we’re going to have to deal with. We’re in an ever-changing, probably the most complex real estate market.

I can’t say ever because I’m only 45. So I don’t know what it was like before, but being in real estate 16 years at this point, this is the most complex market we’ve ever we’ve seen. So I have always been a strong proponent of not continue to look just for the next buyer seller tenant, but

look at some investment options so that you can someday retire from real estate. I ask that question in every class, like, you ever met a retired real estate agent? And the concierge shaking your head no right now. So the question is, how do we get there?

Dylan Silver (06:53)
Yeah.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (06:59)
And investment is a huge strategy for doing that. so I’ll take that broker’s point of view and put it into the investment side as well so that we can ⁓ one day have a retired real estate agent.

Dylan Silver (07:15)
We were talking in the green room about how you had effectively helped BaTiBa scale her real estate business. And walk me through that. How does someone who is producing themselves and a broker help someone else scale not just their real estate business as an agent, but also themselves as an investor?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (07:36)
Man, it’s a, BaTiBa is one of the few people that have taken the resources that are offered by the horns. Most realtors are never exposed to first off becoming a brokerage owner. They either never heard of it. They don’t understand the concept, but it’s a very, it’s now truly turning your real estate license into a business. Cause again, if you’re having to do it all yourself, then

that then you’re stuck at your own capacity. So taking that space of, know what, I’m going to become a brokerage owner. She’s able to bring on her own agents if she chooses to. Crazy enough, the compensation plan for it is way less than even most traditional brokerages would be. But you have, again, to approach it from a business standpoint. And then on top of that, taking the bull by the horns from the investing side.

⁓ She was very attentive throughout the entire seven weeks. She dug in, she took from even when she acquired her first property. ⁓ She dug in as much as I’ve seen anybody dig in to learn this because she sees the opportunities and as she’s watched ⁓ this kind of all unfold, it’s been so many aha moments like, man, I can do this and I can do this. And most realtors are just not exposed to it.

And I, you know, I try to teach them as much as I can, but you know, I can only can lead, I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make them drink.

Dylan Silver (09:07)
would like to pivot to the kind of chicken and the egg discussion of what came first, the real estate brokerage or the investing. And I’ll start with you, Darrion. Did the investing arm come first or did the brokerage and working as an agent come first for you?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (09:25)
The as far as my personal career, my personal career, was a I’m still of course a realtor, but I’ve been a realtor since 2013. I was actually number two ranked agent in Texas in 2016, 17, 18. It was extremely exhausting. And in 2017 is when I decided to switch over to the investment round because I decided I can flip 12 houses and make the same amount of money as I did selling 57.

Dylan Silver (09:28)
Yeah.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (10:28)
So which one am I gonna do? And so I dug heavily into the investment side at that point. ⁓ To be honest, I never thought I was, I paid for my broker’s license class, but never thought I was gonna become a broker because I know the extra responsibility that comes with it.

Dylan Silver (10:30)
Right.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (10:46)
So I’m keen, I am huge on the investment side. There’s so many, even right now with the market, the way it is, if you can get into the investment side, keep some properties, them out, because one day this tide is gonna turn in the next year or two years and we’ll have a little bit more stability and whoever owns the properties during that time are gonna be the ones that kind of come up.

Dylan Silver (11:08)
Batiba, I’ve seen a number and have had a number of former law enforcement officers on the show and they are typically involved on the investing side. Was that where you started or where you thought that would be your bread and butter or were you thinking, hey, I’m going to go into brokerage immediately?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (11:27)
No, my goal was to be an investor from the beginning. I did not get my real estate license to actually be your traditional real estate agent. My goal was to obtain investment properties and set up legacy homes for my children, for my husband. That was my goal. So that’s why it fit for me. The brokerage was an idea of my designated broker because his platform, his mission is business. Business first, legacy for your children, retirement.

And so he was able to lead. As an example, we saw him with his businesses. And a lot of us that are under his brokerage umbrella decided that if we are really going to make a dent in investment and being a legacy real estate agent, it is best to have your own brokerage and run your own company so that you can really

see the benefits of being a business person.

Dylan Silver (12:25)
Now, you mentioned earlier the sixth sense that you had taken that from the law enforcement career, but building out a business seems to be maybe a different skill entirely. How did you develop those skills? Was that something that you saw from Darrion? Did you have to seek outside knowledge? How did you develop that business building skill?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (12:46)
Well, actually, believe it or not, being a law enforcement officer, you still have to have some analytical skill set. And a lot of this investment is analysis. So people don’t think about the two coming together as one. But a lot of my law enforcement background, and don’t forget, I was a law enforcement officer, but I also was an HR specialist, analysis.

That moved over to this niche and it’s very helpful. It keeps me grounded, balanced, and I make better decisions because of that background.

Dylan Silver (13:26)
And I know legacy is something that’s so important to you. When you were getting started with your first couple properties and underwriting your first few deals, did you have an end point in mind? Did you have a certain number of properties or a certain scale or scope of the business that you wanted it to be at? Or did that evolve over time?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (13:46)
Is this for me? Because it could be me or Darrion.

Dylan Silver (13:47)
Yeah.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (13:51)
Actually, I’m still learning. I’m still developing that. But I will tell you, the goal is to hold more properties than flip more properties. Again, it goes back to my why. And my why is going to be my children. This property that I just flipped and actually will be holding is for my son.

So when you see me be a little more hardcore, a little more spicy with the contractors, it is because my son, my Gregory, is my why, and this is for him. The goal is to have more holds than

flips for me.

Dylan Silver (14:26)
Now, there’s so many different ways where folks are not just getting into real estate, but doing creative deals. And it seems to be more prominent now than ever between, you know, assignable contracts, wholesale to seller financing. I even talked with someone who’s doing ground leases and listing homes using ground leases to basically reduce the total amount that people need to come out out of pocket. Do you have a

favorite or preferred method as of late in these creative deal structures.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (15:37)
I actually believe it or not, I’m one of those few people that like the hard money. I like the hard money and maybe it’s because I like the hard money company that I’ve been working with. I like that I’m just now starting to explore more creative options. One thing I learned from Darrion and from his associates is utilizing, actually stacking the credit cards. And I’m not telling people to get into debt. Do not get into debt. I’m not advocating for that, but you need to be smart.

And so stacking the credit cards, getting those business credit cards, but making sure that you’re paying them off in an appropriate time frame, which is something that I learned from Darrion from the jump. So his class was not about.

Flipping, just flipping. It is about business. It’s about being business savvy. It’s about finance as well. So to answer your question, I’m exploring more. I just did my first wholesale deal just recently. Darrion kind of watched me as I did that. And so I’m still exploring.

Dylan Silver (16:36)
Now, Darrion, pivoting back to your experience, so you mentioned being a top producing agent and then getting into the investing side. As someone who’s done this on the opposite end, I felt like while I was going through real estate school, sitting in that classroom as a wholesaler, that creative deals was almost like a dirty word in the traditional real estate space. And so when you started to get into the investment side, did you have to make

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (16:58)
Yeah, it is.

Dylan Silver (17:04)
like a whole new sphere of contacts in order to spur on that business? Or did you have already a solid foundation around you of fellow realtors who were doing creative deals and investing in that type of thing?

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (17:17)
No, actually, it was an entirely new world. And to be honest, it kind of still is. I tell people in class, less than 1 % of the people walking around with legs know how to do what we’re doing when it comes to just, and I don’t just say just flipping houses, but investing in real estate in general.

so one of the, I still appreciate it. One of the biggest regrets that I have is I lost my traditional real estate sphere. cause I dove head first into the investment side. So I sold all those homes and I didn’t have any follow-up or anything from it. I’m okay, you know, but it, it’s, it, was a completely new world on this side. And, I would, I just so happened to be the guy that had to dig the hole first in order to learn so can show others.

It was I was in those foxholes by myself most of time

Dylan Silver (18:05)
And that can be challenging.

Speaking of being in a position where you’re having to navigate difficult waters by yourself. BaTiBa, I imagine having Darrion as a business partner and someone who’s a mentor to you has been helpful in so many different circumstances. Bonus question for you here as we are coming up on time. Is there any one deal or project or situation that stands out where you felt stuck in the water maybe?

and Darrion was able to provide some really timely feedback or advice for you.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (18:37)
Okay, Darrion’s gonna get all kind of, you know, love. But I’m not going to not mention my husband. My husband is my business partner. And he was with me this whole time. There were a lot of challenges and obstacles with this particular flip. There were so many. And I will say that with Darrion,

Where he came into play is the calmness. I can be spicy. I can be. That’s the law enforcement side of me and just my personality. But the calmness is where Darrion is going to come in. So I needed to vent some of the things that were going on that were happening to me. Darrion is the calm.

The one thing that he did do though, that where he had to get more spicy is the first contractor that I had so that you have some context. had to, Darrion went from calm to he needs to be fired. So I needed that experience. I needed someone to look at the house in the totality, look at the project in its totality and say, we’re behind, we’re behind on our deadline here. He needs to be fired.

I had to hear that, my husband had to hear that, and we had to move. So that’s where Darrion came in and got a little spicy because he had to.

Dylan Silver (19:51)
you have to set those boundaries. mean, 100%. When you’re dealing with contractors, when you’re dealing with even business partners, right? These are the relationships that can cause issues even when the underwriting may be fine and everything might be otherwise like copacetic. We are coming up on time here. Any new projects that you’re working on and then also anything that you’d like to mention directly to our audience.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (20:14)
New projects, just this project is finished as of yesterday. And so what’s coming is going to be the FIFA Airbnb. This is, that was our goal. The next project is, the next, we’re on the lookout for is going to be another flip, not a hold, but a flip.

So that’s pretty much what the next steps are for us. After that is going to be getting my broker’s license because he’s just on me about that is getting my broker’s license. That’s just important to do. So that’s the next goal. Flip broker’s license.

Dylan Silver (20:49)
Batiba, Darrion, thank you so

much for joining us today. Thanks for your time.

BaTiBa & The Legend Collective (20:52)
Thank you, Dylan. Thank you.