From Interior Design to Real Estate Wholesaling: Krystal Hudson’s Investor Journey

Krystal Hudson (00:00)
some of them are a little bit harder lessons than others. think resilience is one of the most important lessons that I’ve learned. not to get too deep into this, but one of the reasons why I really learned about wholesale also is cause I had a health crisis some years back and I couldn’t do interior design, architecture. Like I couldn’t do anything and.

You know, I thought that was it for me for a while. And then when I started learning about wholesaling and kind of learning how I could utilize knowledge that I already had, because like you said, nothing is wasted.

Quentin (02:06)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I’m excited today. I’m excited today and y’all know what excites me because we got someone new that we’re going to learn from. I say it and y’all listen, I think y’all believe it. We all can literally be doing the same things, but because we’re different, we have different processes. We’re going to approach it differently. And so that’s why I love learning from everyone.

because everyone has a different kind of special take on what they do. Even if we’re all involved in the same thing, which we’re not all involved in the exact same things, but y’all get the point what I’m saying. And so today is no different. We’re going to learn from someone who, listen, she does a lot. She positioned herself a lot within her team and within what they do. And she’s very knowledgeable, very proficient at what she does. And so I’m excited for us to get to learn from today, Ms. Krystal Hudson. Ms. Krystal how you doing today, man?

Krystal Hudson (03:00)
I am doing great this morning. How are you?

Quentin (03:03)
Absolutely.

I’m doing good. I love that you are an NU person. So my wife says, when you ask somebody how they doing, she teaches our kids to say, I’m good, NU. Because some people don’t ask you how you doing. So I love it. You’re a natural NU person. I’m doing good. How about you? Well, I’m doing good too, Ms. Krystal . Thank you for asking. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah.

Krystal Hudson (03:17)
You do it.

Hahaha!

Thanks for having

me on here.

Quentin (03:28)
Absolutely. I’m so glad you’re here. I mean that sincerely and authentically. so Ms. Krystal , I am the type, I like to dive right in. And so I would love for you to tell the people, what’s your main focus these days? If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in and then tell them what city you’re repping. Tell them where you are. People love to know where people are geographically. so what’s your up to, your origin story and where you are. Ms. Krystal , you have the floor, man.

Krystal Hudson (03:53)
Okay.

Well, hi everyone. I’m so happy to be on here today ⁓ So what I currently do is I am a part of a wholesaling team. I am a dispositions Specialist so after our properties go under contract. I am the one who is Responsible to for finding buyers we do off-market and on-market property So with us we wholesale, but we also do a lot of novations with our team

so that we can utilize the MLS to find buyers if and when necessary. I’m also a real estate agent. So a lot of times, although we work throughout the entire Midwest, am located in Chicago. So I’m a representer for ChiTown real quick. basically I’m a real estate agent in Chicago. So for all the properties that we get that are local to us, I can definitely put those up on the MLS when we’re doing innovations.

⁓ Whenever we’re no baiting in other states, we have a good group of realtors that we work with that we can kind of, you know, that we’ve made a part of our process so that they can help us to find buyers that way as well. ⁓ So yeah, that’s what I do in the wholesale space. My origin story is I actually lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years. I have a background in architectural, interior design and construction. So

My first job out of college was actually as a project manager in construction. ⁓ I very quickly realized like even on the interior design side of things that people were basically getting these properties to flip them into sell them. So that’s when I started really, you know, looking at real estate investors, being interested, seeing them buy these distressed properties.

Quentin (05:35)
Mm-hmm.

Krystal Hudson (05:42)
basically in Los Angeles, a lot of people would buy real estate properties ⁓ and then they would hire us to come in and remodel it and then they would end up selling it on the back end or some of them would live in it for a couple years and then sell their properties. So that’s when I became really interested in real estate investing.

⁓ I still do architectural and design work and just thought it would be a great idea to add as a component onto my work. The fact that I could help investors by helping them to procure, ⁓ you know, distressed properties, I could also help them with the design work and then they would be able to flip it. So that’s when I started learning about wholesaling ⁓ and just realizing that you could bring people opportunities, like investors’ opportunities.

for them to work on their next project and then get paid in that aspect as well. So originally, wholesaling was meant to be an addition to what I was doing architecturally and interior design wise. So ⁓ I’ve relocated to Chicago about two and a half years ago, met up with a good team of wholesalers out here and have just kind of hit the ground running from there.

Quentin (07:46)
Love it. Thank you, ma’am. Thank you, Ms. Krystal , for cluing us in, walking us through the journey. I am an active listener, so as you was talking, I’m writing things down. And so I want to give you a brief summary of what you said, because I want to make a statement to ask you a question, all right? And so now you’re part of a hotel scene team. You’re on the disposition side. You’re aging as well in Chicago. You lived in LA for 10 years.

interior design and construction is the area, you know, kind of that you started off in. ⁓ And then, you know, you moved to L.A. and when you got to L.A., you started noticing people buying these distressed properties, right? And so with them buying the distressed properties, obviously, like your interior design move kind of kicked in like, hey, y’all buying this? Listen, I know how to, you know, make this thing look the way needs to look. And so you got to kind of got to wholesale as just kind of addition to what you did. But then.

It kind of took off. You met a team. It hit the ground running. And so is that a pretty good summary, Miss Krystal ? I it, right? And so we did that summary probably like, you you told that story probably like five minutes, right? It probably maybe like four or five minutes. So Miss Krystal , we know life doesn’t happen in like five, well life does happen in five minute increments. But our whole life has not happened in like five minute increments, right? And so Miss Krystal , I have a saying.

Krystal Hudson (08:45)
Yeah, that’s a pretty great summary.

I’m so

Yeah.

Quentin (09:07)
where I say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning as we are going through the journey, we are building momentum to the people that we are now. And we’re borrowing, we’re borrowing from the journey. We’re borrowing from the lessons. We’re borrowing from, you know, the failures, the success. We are finding out what works, what doesn’t work. We’re finding out our superpowers and like how to place our superpowers to help us and to help others. And so I would love to know Ms. Krystal .

throughout the journey, it hasn’t been five minutes, more than five minutes, the journey itself. What have you learned about yourself throughout the journey? Have you learned discipline, resilience, humbleness? Has it changed the way your mind works around innovation? What have you learned on the journey to where you are now?

Krystal Hudson (09:54)
⁓ I would say all of those things, to be honest, ⁓ some of them are a little bit harder lessons than others. think resilience is one of the most important lessons that I’ve learned. not to get too deep into this, but one of the reasons why I really learned about wholesale also is cause I had a health crisis some years back and I couldn’t do interior design, architecture. Like I couldn’t do anything and.

You know, I thought that was it for me for a while. And then when I started learning about wholesaling and kind of learning how I could utilize knowledge that I already had, because like you said, nothing is wasted.

So even though I was sick for a while, I still had all that knowledge. So I could utilize the same knowledge that I have. I’ve known investors, speak to investors and just kind of navigate a different space in that even if I wasn’t like.

Managing the construction job myself. Basically, I just kind of had to learn how to pivot Which I would say is a very big lesson that everybody should learn is how to pivot Because I still do all the things that I love to do I’ve just had to kind of you know, adjust adapt So

I would say resilience is definitely one of the most important things humility. Absolutely ⁓ Wholesaling will humble you fast. I remember

just my first deals being excited and it’s like, you get this deal locked up, you get it at a certain price you think is going this way and fires will just start coming. ⁓ you know, there have been multiple times where I had to manage my own expectations, especially in the beginning where I’m like, all right, you get a deal under contract, let’s see how it goes. know, anything can happen. Like don’t be overly excited. Don’t automatically assume just cause you get this contract means that money. Don’t, don’t.

Someone told me not to count the money until it’s in your bank account, basically, like, because you just never know what can happen. So I think definitely, you know, resilience, being able to pivot, ⁓ being humble, because we also work with a lot of different people. And I’ve seen deals fall apart because of ego battles before where I’m always like, let’s all kind of, you know, check ourselves because we’re dealing with a lot of different people. Every buyer might be different. Sometimes they…

get a little petty, you know what I mean? Or you don’t want to deal with someone who’s going to blow up a deal just out of pettiness. So I think all the character traits that you listed are very important, especially if you want to be successful in this field. Also integrity. I think that wholesale gets a lot of bad rep. And there are people out here who, you know, make it make it kind of difficult for all of us. ⁓ I will say as an agent, though, I think

real estate agents are the same. Cause I think everybody’s like, ⁓ wholesalers aren’t licensed. I’ve, I’ve seen some agents do some, strange things as well. So I think just having integrity in general, having a good group of people that you can always come back to, I don’t want to ruin a relationship with the buyer because if I get other, other properties, I want to be able to have the same repeat buyers. There’s plenty of people in this space that’ll have like 10 solid buyers that they can take all of their deals to.

⁓ so yeah, I think all those traits are important, but definitely resilience because there are going to be times when for one person, this deal might look like it’s falling through. I’ve had numerous deals that we worked on where if we didn’t like really push to get that thing closed and see a way through and make a way, then the deal would have fell apart. So there’s a lot of people who are willing to give up and that makes the difference. Like who’s going to keep pushing forward and get it done versus who’s going to like.

Quentin (13:04)
Yeah.

Krystal Hudson (13:32)
give up at the first sign of trouble that they see.

Quentin (13:35)
Ms. Krystal , thank you. Thank you for the insightful, wisdom-packed, nugget-packed answer. I really appreciate it. And I’ll tell you why, one of reasons why I ask that question and do that kind of exercise, if you will, because at the center of everything that we do, business, life, whatever, it’s us. We’re at the center of everything that we do, right? And I love how you said you have to be willing and able to pivot.

And some people pivot more easily than others. And so it’s like, what tools do we have that’s going to allow us to be able to pivot? And I think one of the tools that would allow us to be able to pivot is to be able to know where we draw our strength from. And so sometimes you have to be able to look back and be like, wait, how did I get in this situation in the first place? Like what has sustained me so far, right? Because a lot of those things, even though you’ll learn new tools, you’ll learn new systems, the foundation of what’s the same you then,

is more than likely it’s going to be the foundation that sustains you now. Stick-to-itiveness, patience, humbleness, being a growth mindset, right? If it sustains you then, more than likely it will be able to sustain you now. And you’ll add on to that. You’ll add on different tools that you can use, different experiences. But sometimes what grounds you is knowing you. What my mentor says, when you know who you are, you know what to do. And so that’s one reason why I ask that question to get SureTake.

Krystal Hudson (14:39)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Quentin (14:56)
on your journey and kind of what you’ve learned along the lessons. So I appreciate your answer. really do. Yeah, absolutely. So Miss Krystal , what’s next for you, man? What’s next for you when it comes to business? What are you looking to solve a scale next? What’s next for you,

Krystal Hudson (15:02)
Yeah, absolutely.

So what is next for me and what I’ve been working on the most is just creating package deals for people essentially. So as I was explaining, I have worked in architectural interior design. I do wholesale. I’m a real estate agent. So ideally I would like to take on more clients who are interested in basically a full package. So instead of them going to multiple people.

they can come to me for everything. So for example, let’s say you’re a fix and flip investor. I will help someone find and procure your distressed property. If you need help with obtaining permits, I can do that. I do the design work and then I can list your property as well. So I basically have packages for investors who are looking to fix and flip properties. ⁓ I also offer staging and virtual staging.

services as well. So I’m essentially just a one-stop shop for real estate investors who are looking to, you know, make money, maximize their investment. I’ve worked with a lot of homeowners. I know what homeowners like to see. I know, you know, how they like to feel in their home. And for me, everything is about how your house feels. I think a lot of times people design properties and they do look great. ⁓

But sometimes it’s missing that home feel. Sometimes it feels a little cold. Sometimes I can go into a property and tell that a builder did it and they just use builder grade materials and this house probably looks exactly like every other house in the subdivision versus somebody having a home that truly feels warm, inviting and unique for them. So my design expertise has been very advantageous for me in this space and I love to share.

my expertise with the people that I work with as well. ⁓ So yeah, I’m just trying to simplify the process for a lot of people because I have worked in all these spaces and can offer people great deals basically and just help them, you know, every aspect along the way. So any investors who are looking for their next property, you know, I can kind of help facilitate every phase of that project for them.

Quentin (17:21)
Absolutely. So I want to ask you, I love getting everyone’s perspective on this one word. And so for me, you have synthesized this one word, but I want to ask you directly because you’ve talked about helping investors, helping homeowners, you being a one stop shop. helping anybody can come to you, be the one stop shop. And then you just said you share with people that you work with. So you’re not trying to just hoard your experience. You’re like, no, I’m willing to share it. So I want to get your perspective.

this word relationship. Ms. Krystal , when you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind to you?

Krystal Hudson (18:36)
Relationship. Well, I think relationships are everything, to be honest. Just like I was saying, even about buyers, everything is about maintaining relationships. I don’t want somebody to buy a property from me one time. I want to know this person, know what they’re using the property for, and know what their extra strategies are so that whenever I see a property that’ll fit them, I can send it to them.

And my business, like throughout my entire career, even before I was in wholesaling relationships have always been the most important aspect. Relationships make me think of connection. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of relationships. ⁓ and I think that our connection with people is what keeps us human. You know, at the end of the day, we’re all trying to be successful, to generate wealth, you know, create generational wealth, whatever our, our goals and objectives are. And.

⁓ Even when I was only doing interior design, everything was about interpersonal relationships with people. I started off working in someone’s home, which is one of the most intimate places that I could be. You know, I’m in your home, I’m meeting your kids, your family, all those kind of things. So relationships have always been important to me. And even on the real estate side, ⁓

I’m always telling people I’m looking to build long-term relationships. Even if a deal doesn’t work out, I would never try to burn that bridge with someone because you just might never know when they’ll circle back to you in general. But yeah, think when I think the word relationship, I think connection. And ⁓ connections are everything in this business, like in life in general, who you know can get you very far. So ⁓ yeah, you know, when someone thinks of me, I want something good to pop into their head. I’ve gotten…

a lot of referrals because of my relationships with people who then have relationships with other people, you know, and they’ll send their family and friends my way as well, just because, you know, they like the impression that I left on them basically. But yeah, I think that our connections are everything and it’s important to maintain them as best as possible. Or even now, I’m here with you making a new connection. You know what I mean? I’m here.

Hopefully someone in your audience can resonate with what I’m saying and we build new connections that way as well and form new relationships with people that way as well.

Quentin (20:49)
Connection is a powerful word. I mean, I’m so glad you brought that to the forefront. actually wrote it down when you said it. So I’m gonna type, think in pictures when people talk. so, yeah, right? And so connection is, if you think about a car, every connection has to work in order for the engine to work. order for it to make, right? Exactly. So connection, everything in its proper place makes sense. that’s, know, so when I, one time I got relationship advice.

Krystal Hudson (20:58)
Me too, actually.

Exactly.

Quentin (21:18)
And the person says, order for the car, now this is old school batteries, right? Cause now we got electric cars. I’m not too sure what works now, but you know, there’s so much going on now. But with old school cars, with the battery, if you ever had to get a jump, you notice that you have the positive and the negative. He talks about how the battery will not work without the positive and the negative.

Krystal Hudson (21:27)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Quentin (21:43)
They both have to connected in order for the battery to work. So when I hear about you talking about connection, I’m thinking about everything has to work. There is the things that you don’t like sometimes, but that makes the engine work just as much as the things you do like. And so even with connection, when you’re with people, when you’re interacting, yeah, there’ll be some things that you may not like about the person, but don’t burn the connection because you still need the connection for it to work. And so I’m glad that you put the word connection up.

Krystal Hudson (21:55)
Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah, and just to pick back off of what you said, because I do think of people as puzzles. Like I think that we’re one large puzzle and all of us are a piece to it, right? And we connect in different ways to form a much larger picture than just ourselves. Like I would never think that I’m the full picture of anything as one person. So yeah, you know, you don’t have to be everyone’s bestie. You know, maybe we’re not gonna go out on a Friday night, but I…

Quentin (22:12)
Ms. Krystal please.

Yeah.

Krystal Hudson (22:38)
can respect people’s intelligence. I can respect what they do, you know, so I can look at people and admire them outside of my myself or my own ego basically as like this person might be a facilitator, this person might be a connector in a sense that they can connect you to a bunch of different people. Like everyone has their own gifts, ⁓ purpose and talents basically and I think it’s important to just

You never know when you might need someone. think a lot of times we have this attitude, like, we don’t need this person. You never know who somebody is going to be. You don’t know who they currently are. You really just don’t know. But ⁓ I do think that all of us are a piece of a much larger puzzle, especially in the wholesale space. Essentially, it’s our connections that make us successful. have to connect with people. We’re literally bridging the seller and buyer. We’re connecting people. ⁓

I like your car analogy because that’s absolutely correct and even the positive and the negative, especially what we do in real estate. There are so many things that can come up, ⁓ but it’s both of those that balance everything out and kind of make things work the way that it does.

Quentin (23:50)
Absolutely. And that bridge analogy was perfection. Of course, because I think in pictures, when you did the bridge, was like, oh, that’s brilliant. So Miss Krystal , is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Is there any other words of inspiration, education, or motivation? Like, if you came in with a thought in your head, like, I want to make sure the viewers get this, I just kind of want to create space for you to land that message. So just want to make sure we don’t leave anything out.

Krystal Hudson (23:54)
This is where we are.

I think that you’ve pretty much covered everything the only thing that I would say to people is You know to just keep going and this field regardless of what it looks like You know a deal to me and someone told me that this might be why they’re addicted to real estate because it has highs and lows But it really does you know like there there are times when it seems like everything is going wrong And then there’s times when it seems like everything is going right. I have my easy deals where I’m just like that

nothing, like how did that happen? And then I have the more challenging ones and it always balances each other out. And I think for anyone, especially who’s newer entering the field, you know, to just make sure that you try to stay as consistent as possible, link up with people if you need to, you know, and to just keep going no matter what, because I definitely think that it is an industry where people can be very successful. We see a lot of successful people all the time.

but I also think it can be very discouraging depending on the type of mindset that someone might have. So it’s a great field to build wealth in, whether if you want to be a wholesaler just to start and transition into investing in your own properties or if wholesale is just going to be your bread and butter in general. There are so many opportunities. Like at this point, I look at stuff like, well, what, should I be buying for myself? Because we get all these deals. It’s like, maybe you should invest in it yourself, you know, or as I’ve been telling people,

⁓ I’ve done other things and I’m bridging all of my experiences together into this one space. And I do think that wholesaling is an opportunity to do that. So if you do have other skills, that’s an easy way to make yourself valuable to people as well. Like I see people who have a truck, started hauling junk removal company. You know what I mean?

We have so many properties that have stuff still in them, like why not be able to offer that as an additional service? So I just encourage people to think of themselves as more than just like a middleman and deals, like really, you know, figure out what your strengths are, figure out where you can add value, because I see people starting businesses on top of just doing wholesaling because they want to haul some stuff out of a property for a few thousand dollars. So there’s just so much potential there.

But I know that a lot of people give up and I see a lot of wholesalers who are new, who join mentorship program after mentorship program and it seems like nothing is working. ⁓ And I think that if they just keep going, honestly, then they will become extremely successful doing this.

Quentin (26:51)
Ms. Krystal , listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Krystal Hudson (27:01)
So you can get in contact with me a couple of different ways. My interior design business is called Krystal Hudson Design Studio. You can find me on Instagram at khds.interiors. And for real estate, I’m on Instagram at Krystal , K-R-Y-S-T-A-L, the broker. You can also reach out to me through my website. It’s www.krystal-hudson.com

Quentin (27:30)
Absolutely. Well, Ms. Krystal , let me say three things to you sincerely, OK? First, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. And so you gave us your time today. And I greatly, greatly appreciate that. Secondly, thank you for your story. ⁓ I believe stories carry a tremendous amount of weight because they can plant seeds. We may never see those seeds grow, but the seed is still there. And it can grow two years from now, five years from now.

Krystal Hudson (27:56)
with

Quentin (27:58)
So thank you for your gift of vulnerability, your gift of transparency, and your gift of authenticity. So thank you for coming and planting some seeds today. And lastly, ma’am, thank you for the way you think. Thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today, ma’am.

Krystal Hudson (28:14)
Yeah, thank you. You know, I also want to thank you for your time. Thank you for having me on here. ⁓ I really enjoyed it. I hope that, you know, maybe in the future we get to do some deals. Like I said, I got family out where you are anyway. So yeah, you know, I hope that I just make a positive impact on people. hope that whoever listens to this feels some type of motivation, you know, helps you get unstuck or whatever the situation is. But ⁓

Yeah, I’m happy to be here, happy to always share my time, especially if I feel like it’s gonna benefit somebody and even the slightest bit. But yeah, I appreciate you as well. And I appreciate everybody who is listening to me right now.

Quentin (28:56)
So yeah, you are truly an in-to person for sure. I appreciate that. Nuggets, yeah. yeah. You are definitely an in-to person. So I appreciate that. Well, listen, y’all heard Ms. Krystal . You can’t tell me y’all didn’t get the nuggets. You can’t tell me she is not a wealth, a resource. She is a connector. So look into the show notes and get in contact with her.

Krystal Hudson (29:01)
I am, I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out. I’m like, I definitely am.

Quentin (29:22)
But that’s because all that information is there. That’s why I said looking into show notes. So if y’all look in the show notes, everything she said, you can get in contact with. know some of y’all were scrambling like, wait a what was it again? It’s in the show notes, okay? And definitely make sure you are subscribed here. Cause I promise you, we’re gonna continue to bring up amazing people just like Ms. Krystal Hudson. So ma’am, I say thank you again and everyone else have a fantastic day.