From Divorce to 7 Homes: Real Estate Wealth-Building Secrets

Liana Pomeroy (00:00)
I was a single mom, a divorcee. I have rebuilt my entire portfolio from nothing. I mean, when I got divorced, my ex-husbands liked to spend money a lot. And I didn’t have much when I got divorced, not quite 10 years ago. And I rebuilt my financial world through real estate. And you know, I think real estate is one of the most powerful tools that if you don’t have a lot of money,

and you’re struggling and you want to get out from under the struggle, you can buy a primary residence, buy a two or three unit and live in one and rent the other one and fix it up a little bit. You can help pay your mortgage and carry cost. Then you can, know, a year or two later, you can refinance or take a HELOC, pull cash out, buy something else.

I mean, you know, I was lucky. I’m in mortgage. So, know, refi boom and some good years have helped. But, you know, I went from having $80,000 in debt and $80,000 in equity in a house when I got divorced to owning last year, I seven houses, multimillion dollars in net worth and, you know, completely different financial world. And if I were just investing in a stock and making 10 % on that, I wouldn’t be there yet.

Kristen Knapp (02:50)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Liana Pomeroy, an investor and the founder of Pomeroy Lending. So thank you for being here, Liana.

Liana Pomeroy (02:57)
Thank you for having me.

Kristen Knapp (02:59)
So let’s get into just the beginning. How did you get into this industry?

Liana Pomeroy (03:02)
I was in the middle of buying a house in 2001 and five days before closing, the lender called me up and said, have two hours to decide if you wanna buy this house because the product that we talked to you about six months ago after providing all of your documentation, that product isn’t gonna work and we have to switch gears and you need another $40,000. And I went, oh.

Kristen Knapp (03:27)
Yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (03:27)
this is kind of important and I had

no idea. So I had a really bad experience with a lender and I was kind of looking for something new and I went, this is something I could do. And so that’s how I got into it. And it’s really influenced how I take care of people, right? I don’t want anyone to have that experience. So.

Kristen Knapp (03:49)
Right, yeah and

what are some other like just holes in the market that you saw? How is your company different and how does it stand out?

Liana Pomeroy (03:57)
So I would say the biggest thing is, and it’s funny because it’s been almost 25 years and I’m still this, right? So my strengths are really what I would call love and strategy. So I’ve had clients over the years consistently say I’m the only person in finance who treats them like a human being. And I take extra time with everybody. So that’s a big thing, right? Like I’ve been coached by lots of amazing coaches over the years.

They always say I shouldn’t spend so much time with clients, right? To make a million dollars plus, you’re supposed to do 20, 30 minute consults and not do that. And I still do. So the first thing is I actually genuinely care about people and I want them to feel good about what they’re doing. So that’s one. The second piece is I have a really good strategic brain and I like to use it. And it’s fun for me to take something and figure out.

you know, what’s the least expensive, most elegant way to get to the closing table. And so we start there. And then the other piece of it is after all these years, I’ve done, you know, bank lending, I’ve done correspondent lending, I ran a branch for a large national correspondent lender. And then a couple of years ago, I got into being a broker and the broker world’s really changed. I think it’s really magical now. It’s so fast, so efficient.

So now, not only do I have a massive toolbox of just products I can use, I always tell clients, know, now I have the products to match my brain. I’ve always been creative. I’ve always loved to do this kind of, you know, creative strategy, but now I can actually, I have all the mix and all these different lenders so I can find you a solution 99 % of the time. And if I can’t, I know local bankers, I know hard money lenders, I have kind of a nice…

Kristen Knapp (05:27)
Mm-hmm.

Liana Pomeroy (06:33)
big robust toolbox there, right? So it’s usually me, but sometimes I have to refer you out, but I can solve problems. So those are my main things I can do. ⁓ It’s nice, it’s fun. I can actually do what I say and do it for less money, right? Being a broker, my pricing’s great. I have flexibility when I need it. So maybe you’re shopping, I can match pricing.

Kristen Knapp (06:41)
Yeah, I think.

Yeah, that’s all.

Liana Pomeroy (06:58)
or maybe you need a cheaper rate, a lower rate because you’re right on the edge and I can still make a decent amount of money and take care of you and solve that as well.

Kristen Knapp (07:08)
That’s amazing, really having a personal touch to it, where it’s very different than going to one of those big institutions where you’re just another number.

Liana Pomeroy (07:16)
Yeah, and I have a my processor who’s kind of my right hand used to run an underwriting department. So that’s the other nice thing right now is that the last few years we got a lot more opportunity to bring in good folks, right? Most of the really good people I’ve used over the years end up in underwriting or like one of my closest friends, she runs a commercial underwriting department for a bank now, right? She was my processor years ago.

So the nice thing with the industry being a little less intense the last couple years is that you can get good people. So I have not only my brain, but a experienced underwriter who can also fill in the gaps when I need it. So I can do more.

Kristen Knapp (07:47)
Yeah.

Absolutely, and hiring

out a team is kind of the hardest part, finding great people who hear your values.

Liana Pomeroy (07:59)
Yeah, it’s not always possible, so I’m really lucky that way too.

Kristen Knapp (08:03)
Yeah, and you mentioned something that I think is really important about the lending world. I think a lot of people think of it as almost transactional, but it’s an incredibly creative industry where you really do have to utilize your problem-solving skills and really come up with these creative solutions.

Liana Pomeroy (08:17)
Yeah, and that’s, to me, that’s the most fun. I remember various refi booms where friends of mine I’d work with say, isn’t it great? We can just do 20 loans and not have to think. It’s just the same thing over and over. And I would always say, no, yeah, easy money is nice, but it’s kind of boring. I actually like the complicated stuff.

Kristen Knapp (08:37)
Yeah, yeah, and you get to be more specific to your client.

Liana Pomeroy (08:40)
Yeah, I really like to tailor things to my clients. And I have clients from all walks of life, and I would say that the key thing that makes me like them best is that they get it, they need actual help, and that they appreciate the strategy, the hand holding, the extra love. When they get it, I will go to the ends of the earth for them.

Kristen Knapp (09:01)
I mean when you’re talking about

money, it’s definitely something that I’m sure people value. It feels good to have someone who’s actually on your side protecting you.

Liana Pomeroy (09:09)
Yeah, mean, you know, buying a house or refinancing your house, it’s one of the biggest transactions most people ever do in their entire lives. It’s scary, right? I think a friend of mine said once that, you know, he was an EMT driver and then he got into the financial services business and he said, people are more afraid of talking about money than they are in the back of an ambulance. And, you know, and then you add somebody’s home to that.

Right? It’s already one of the hardest things and scariest things emotionally. And then home is the other biggest thing. So, you know, it’s one of the most daunting experiences of somebody’s lifetime. And you might do it three, five times. You know, if you’re an investor, which I work with a lot of investors, they’re flipping houses, they’re rehabbing houses, they’re buying and selling all the time. Even for them though, you know, I have done thousands of transactions. They might do 20.

or 30. And so, you know, those kinds of partnerships make all the difference. I genuinely get it. I genuinely care. I’m strategic. I can help you. And so these are long-term relationships. You know, I think a lot of people think lending is just like, like you said, transactional. But most of the relationships I have are not. There’s, you know, these are people, a lot of times they become friends of mine. I’ve invested with people that I’ve met through this process.

Kristen Knapp (10:04)
Yeah.

course.

Liana Pomeroy (10:29)
I’ve become really good friends with some. I’ve inspired some clients of mine to get into real estate. I have one agent in Boulder who literally got her real estate license, I don’t know, seven, eight years ago, and she said she was inspired by me. She’d done a couple houses and she, sorry, I hope the audio is good. She’d done a couple houses and she said, you know, it such a great experience. It was so much fun that she wanted to do more.

Kristen Knapp (10:55)
Wow, and it’s really interesting that you have the investing experience as well to kind of, it’s a very well-rounded scope of work that you’re experienced in. When did you get into investing?

Liana Pomeroy (11:06)
⁓ Honestly, before I got into lending, so I bought a condo in my 20s. I was a filmmaker at the time. I didn’t make any money. I was a documentary filmmaker and I bought a condo and I got a $5,000 gift and used an FHA loan. It was in my mid-20s and I sold it a few years later because I had a film business that didn’t work and I made $40,000.

on an $80,000 condo purchase and I was hooked. And then the next deal that I did was, so that was in my mid-20s and I’m old, so like almost 30 years ago.

Kristen Knapp (11:33)
Yeah.

Wow, that’s amazing. Yeah, I mean, it’s great when the first deal goes really well, because then it’s easy to keep going with it.

Liana Pomeroy (11:48)
Colorado

is really easy to make money. It’s just gold.

Kristen Knapp (11:51)
Yeah,

talk more about the Colorado market and what makes it special.

Liana Pomeroy (11:56)
So

it’s interesting, so I started in Colorado, I grew up in Northern California in Colorado and got spoiled, honestly, in real estate. For really long time, I would buy a house, fix it up, you know, like for my primaries. I mean, the whole time I’ve been in this, you know, I’ve bought a primary, fixed it up, sold it, made one to 500,000 depending on what it was.

you know, didn’t pay capital gain or didn’t pay much. And that was, sorry, I talk with my hands a lot. And then I, during the last refi boom, 2020-ish, I was making quite a bit of cash and I was working in Southwest Florida as well. I had a really good friend who was running a couple of Sotheby’s real estate offices. And so it was COVID, the Colorado market was out of hand.

And so I started buying in Florida and Southwest Florida is an entirely different kind of market, right? Florida is very up and down. And so I currently have real estate that is not exactly making money. ⁓ I’ve now experienced hurricanes and the market changes and all kinds of stuff. Whereas in Colorado, I’ve owned in Lakewood and Boulder and Denver and

Kristen Knapp (13:03)
Very good, yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (13:14)
Long mon, I’ve had short term and long term rentals and flipped my primaries and every single thing in the Colorado front range just makes money. Literally. I mean, I sold a couple things last year and they sold for less because the market’s a little soft, but I still almost tripled both investments. Right? In a soft market, just by holding them for a handful of years.

Kristen Knapp (13:24)
Wow.

Liana Pomeroy (14:14)
So

Colorado is pretty hot. I, you know, this is something that if you’re an investor, the hard part is finding the deals. You have to still find a deal. I make my money on the buy every time. And I’ve been told that I’m like kind of good at that, you know, that’s, and also on not overspending on the rehab, right? Some people do these very custom rehabs and you know, you have to keep your color palette simple. You have to not overspend. And so I teach people how to do that.

Kristen Knapp (14:25)
and what are your chances? Yo!

Liana Pomeroy (14:41)
actually. I have a lot of clients that start with me buying a primary and I teach them how to build a portfolio. That’s really fun. And you know, and they’ll call me and say, what do you think of this? Or what do you think of that? Or they’ll send me a Zillow listing or something from their agent and say, you know, will you take a look? And I don’t go see them. I don’t go in them really. I mean, maybe for a good friend. But that’s a big part of what I do for people.

Kristen Knapp (14:42)
Yeah, I would.

What are your best tips for how to source a great deal?

Liana Pomeroy (15:10)
Just be relentless and don’t be attached to the when. I’m working with a friend of mine right now. She was in my women’s real estate group a couple years ago. She got a windfall. She really wants to start flipping houses. And I just told her, be patient. So, you know, I personally look at Zillow obsessively every day.

I have a massive group of agents who send me stuff. I have friends who flip houses. That’s their main business. I’m on a few wholesalers lists, you know, and I just look for the deal. I mean, the biggest thing I would say is know your market. And if you don’t personally know your market, have a couple agent friends who do. Last year, there was a house in Longmont that I was like, ooh, that’s interesting. That’s only 400. That’s a great neighborhood.

And I called my agent friend and I said, hey, what do you think of this one? And she goes, no, absolutely not. You know, like maybe for 50 redone. And it was listed at 410 or something. And I went, glad I asked. And then a wholesaler had it listed within a week for more.

Kristen Knapp (16:04)
I’m ⁓

Yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (16:17)
So you just, you know, use your network, use the resources, do not go in blind and make sure that the buy is actually a deal. Wholesalers will send comps that aren’t real. So that’s the number one thing, right? Is really understand what you’re buying. Is it actually value if you spent $100,000 on a rehab and you got a flip loan at 11%, right? And you had to hold it for six months.

Is there any money left in that deal? And often there isn’t, right? I know lots of horror stories. I haven’t had a horror story. I did only make seven grand on a flip I did with a friend a couple years ago. That was painful, but it was still up, right? We still had something left over after all our expense. That’s the worst I’ve ever done in Colorado.

Kristen Knapp (16:56)
Yeah. ⁓

Absolutely.

Wow, that’s pretty impressive.

Liana Pomeroy (17:08)
It’s a good market if you don’t overspend. And I’m cheap, I’ll buy 99 cent tile and then mix it with a piece of granite. And I mean, that’s how I do staging too, right? know, high and low. Pick a few choice things to make it really gorgeous. Maybe some lighting or something in the master bathroom that makes it really pop. And then otherwise, stay simple. Don’t over-improve something you’re flipping.

Kristen Knapp (17:32)
Yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (17:35)
You know, I did a top to bottom flip a couple years ago in South Boulder and everyone said, it’s so pretty. And I said, no, it’s not. It’s still just a crappy little old sixties house. But I maximized the space. Everything felt good. It was beautiful, right? But it was mostly white and like warm toned woods and really simple colors. And it just felt good, finished and very livable.

Kristen Knapp (17:45)
you

All right.

Liana Pomeroy (18:01)
Right? So that’s the other thing. I move walls, I do all kinds of things, but if you’re gonna get into investing, you can’t really change the house. So if it’s on a corner and on a busy street, that’s not gonna change. You know, if it’s surrounded by apartment buildings, that’s not gonna change. they’re, you know, really, one of my rules of thumb is if it’s…

scary or it’s a place I wouldn’t live, I won’t buy there.

So, know, the investor groups always talk about your buy box, right? Know your buy box, which is basically like, what are you looking for, right? Do you like condos? Do you like single family homes? Do you like fourplexes? You know, what neighborhoods? What price points? My rule of thumb is if there isn’t $100,000 extra in the deal, I won’t even look at it. I don’t care if it’s a trailer, a condo, a house.

If there isn’t a hundred grand in wiggle room, what if the market changes? Right? What if it gets worse? I still want to make 50 and be flexible, right? Build in enough wiggle room that, you know, something’s going to happen. You’re going to have to replace electrical or plumbing or I don’t know. had, you know, I had a new roof and new insulation over rodent poop in one house. Right? You know, that was five grand. I had to call the hazmat people, right? It needs to be safe.

Don’t, if you’re new, don’t do something you need to permit. Right? In some towns, permitting might add three months just to get the permit. And if you’re saying, I’m gonna sell this thing in six months and you spend three months waiting on a permit, you’re not. And that flip loan at 11, 12%, that’s expensive to just sit on something and wait.

Kristen Knapp (19:28)
right.

Absolutely. No, that’s such good advice,

Liana Pomeroy (19:44)
So those are some of them.

mean, I, you know, it’s, if you’re new, find somebody who’s not new and partner with them.

Kristen Knapp (20:31)
Right. think that’s the best. I mean, you just gave so much practical advice that I think people can learn a lot from. But yeah, think partnering with someone is also great insight, you know, just to help you when you’re starting out. Something I really want to touch on is you’re very passionate about getting women into real estate investing. And I would love for you to talk more about that and that passion.

Liana Pomeroy (20:51)
Yeah, so I mean, I was a single mom, a divorcee. I have rebuilt my entire portfolio from nothing. I mean, when I got divorced, my ex-husbands liked to spend money a lot. And I didn’t have much when I got divorced, not quite 10 years ago. And I rebuilt my financial world through real estate. And you know, I think real estate is one of the most powerful tools that if you don’t have a lot of money,

and you’re struggling and you want to get out from under the struggle, you can buy a primary residence, buy a two or three unit and live in one and rent the other one and fix it up a little bit. You can help pay your mortgage and carry cost. Then you can, know, a year or two later, you can refinance or take a HELOC, pull cash out, buy something else.

I mean, you know, I was lucky. I’m in mortgage. So, know, refi boom and some good years have helped. But, you know, I went from having $80,000 in debt and $80,000 in equity in a house when I got divorced to owning last year, I seven houses, multimillion dollars in net worth and, you know, completely different financial world. And if I were just investing in a stock and making 10 % on that, I wouldn’t be there yet.

Kristen Knapp (22:10)
Yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (22:11)
And so I like to do that for women. especially, I meet women in their 40s, 50s, 60s who need to figure out a way to get to retirement and they don’t have it. And so teaching women how to embrace real estate in whatever way works for them, right, is an actual viable functional path to financial abundance. It’s no joke, it’s real, it’s tangible.

And in Colorado especially, the front range is miraculous. mean, so it’s fun, right? Right now I have a client, she’s 67 years old. She’s buying a duplex and long line and she’s putting 20 % down and then the downstairs unit will pay two thirds of her monthly payments. And then she’s gonna do some improvements, right? And she’s done it once before.

But you know, her $3,000 a month mortgage payment is going to be about a thousand dollars a month that’s not covered by the renter. And you can’t rent in this area for a thousand a month. She’ll have a nice two bedroom downtown Longmont place to live and you know, for a thousand dollars a month. And then that frees her up for other stuff. And then she does some updating and rehabbing, making it nicer. She can either pull the equity out in a couple of years and do another one.

keep it, make that a rental, buy another primary with a money down. I mean, there’s so many ways to do it.

Kristen Knapp (23:36)
Yeah, it’s amazing and more creativity.

Liana Pomeroy (23:37)
But these are real, like this is actually

tangible, right? This is a real way for women to make real money and have less stress.

Kristen Knapp (23:46)
I think it’s so powerful and I know you work with a lot of single moms and a lot of divorcees and you really make an impact on them.

Liana Pomeroy (23:54)
Yeah, it’s fun. mean, you

know, what better thing could you possibly do than help somebody who’s struggling transform that into someone who’s thriving?

Kristen Knapp (24:03)
Absolutely. And do you do coaching?

Liana Pomeroy (24:05)
I coach lots of people, don’t charge for it, I just do it. I’ve had all these people tell me I should do that for a living and it just, it’s not really where I wanna go. I am working on putting some classes together online for these various things we’re talking about. But every time I dive into putting a coaching program together, like one on one, I resist it. I don’t think it’s really my calling.

Kristen Knapp (24:27)
Yeah.

Liana Pomeroy (24:29)
But it’s a good question, because I have, yeah. I love coaching. I also coach a lot of my friends on their business models and help them monetize it. I’m pretty good at that, right? The strategy brain and the desire to help women especially, like make real money. A lot of friends of mine have businesses where they’re kind of struggling, poking along, and I sit them down and say, okay, where’s the money? Where are your, you know, where are your…

Kristen Knapp (24:33)
Yeah, well…

Liana Pomeroy (24:56)
funnels and your revenue streams and know and chunking down the cash flow and really figuring out where the money could be if it’s not flowing. Yeah.

Kristen Knapp (25:06)
Well, I’m

sure you help so many people just with helping out for free. mean, you have so much good insight to share. And we’re already at the end of our time, so tell everybody where to find you.

Liana Pomeroy (25:16)
So my main website is pomeroylending.com and that’s probably the easiest. It’s just P-O-M-E-R-O-Y, Lending, L-E-N-D-I-N-G.com.

Kristen Knapp (25:28)
Well, thank you so much for being here, Liana.

Liana Pomeroy (25:30)
Yeah, thanks Kristen, that was a lot of fun.

Kristen Knapp (25:32)
Well, thank you everybody for listening and we will see you back next time. Bye.

Liana Pomeroy (25:37)
Take care.