From Psychology to Real Estate Empire: Christina Suter on Building Wealth with Meaning

Christina Suter (00:00)
I danced when I was younger, West Coast swing.

And I had this guy, I was in my twenties, he’d pick me up in his car and he’d take me to dancing. And it was you know, he was just a bud, right? He wasn’t actually a boyfriend, he was just a bud. But the point is is that he would c he from the moment I got in the car, he’d complain about his multifamily holdings. And I’d be like, Dude, you have way more money than I do. How can you possibly be complaining about about owning multifamily in LA? I’m like, my god, that’s crazy. Like, really?

Scott Bursey (01:58)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And today we’re tapping into a different kind of power. We’re joined by Christina Suter, a master at aligning real estate strategy with life purpose. Christina doesn’t just teach you how to acquire assets, she provides the fuel to turn those assets into personal and financial freedom. Whether you’re looking to scale or just starting to find your footing, you’re going to walk away with a roadmap today. Christina,

Welcome to the show.

Christina Suter (02:28)
Thank you, Scott. It’s so delightful that you guys invited me in the show and I so appreciate it. Any any time that can, you know, help spread, educate, spread or inspire, I’m like that’s fantastic. So thank you for the invite, Scott. I’m looking forward to it.

Scott Bursey (02:42)
Absolutely. It’s just a delight to have you here. And please tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Christina Suter (02:49)
So I am I kind of a couple business models, but first and foremost I started my ⁓ real estate investing business, basically with ⁓ real estate investment advisement business in two thousand and seven. And basically it’s I’ve been growing my real estate portfolio for forty years and in two thousand and seven my business coach said, Why don’t you switch your business consulting, small business management consulting, over to investing to pe you know, consulting people investing real estate. I’m like, I can’t advise people on real estate. I mean

I can do my own investing but advise other people and he’s like, you could do the same sense of life purpose that you do in all with your entrepreneurs, which is what does it mean for them to design a life that feels on purpose and on passion for them and have real estate be the tool for that life instead of having the business be that tool? And I went, ⁓ I could I I guess I could. And that is meaningful. I have a master’s in psychology, so that’s meaningful for me, being able to impact people’s lives, help them find their purpose, their passion.

Who do they want to be while they’re investing, while they’re living their life? To me is actually the greater question. And I get so much satisfaction out of knowing that people have finally anchored in what’s their passion, purpose, and joy, and giving them that clarity to go, yes, this is how I want to live. And then claim it and then grow that and stand in that. I’m like, yeah. So that’s my consulting work. And the other work I do is I’m also a professional investor.

have multifamily doors of my own and I take investors’ money in order to do that as a G P. So I do enjoy both arms of my business. ⁓ they both bring me satisfaction in their own way.

Scott Bursey (04:24)
That is awesome and your passion truly resonates. You know, Christina, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to bridge the gap between hard asset real estate investing and the deep personal work of helping people identify their true life purpose. You haven’t just built a portfolio, you built a bridge for others to cross into life of their own design.

Christina Suter (04:51)
Thank you, Scott. That’s God, you’re good at words, Scott. I must say, you’re good at words. That is that is the knot of life where I feel like I really try to excel and try to make a difference. There’s physicality which shows up called money, called real apartment buildings, called tenants, called there’s all this physicality, but then there’s who are you in relationship to that. And that’s the joy when you get to choose and define who you’re going to be in relationship to it. So when I was I I danced when I was younger, West Coast swing.

And I had this guy, I was in my twenties, he’d pick me up in his car and he’d take me to dancing. And it was you know, he was just a bud, right? He wasn’t actually a boyfriend, he was just a bud. But the point is is that he would c he from the moment I got in the car, he’d complain about his multifamily holdings. And I’d be like, Dude, you have way more money than I do. How can you possibly be complaining about about owning multifamily in LA? I’m like, my god, that’s crazy. Like, really?

Right? Like, why are you complaining? I went, I mean, if I, you know, and I I was, you know, a young investor. I had to give single family doors. I didn’t have multifamily at the time. And so you could say I was a pup, but I didn’t understand. But what I did get was I never wanted to be a multifamily owner that complained about my financial success. Right? That was illogical. Why would I complain about my success? And that was how I entered into early in the multifamily and being an investor and all of that was like,

I want to build a life that I want to be living because I didn’t want to be this dude. Right? And that became a passion for me, whether it was my personal growth work and designing my own portfolio or designing my own life or helping other people design theirs. Like, you know, like let’s let’s this world is for playing and for mastery and for satisfaction and clarity. And you get to choose that. I can say the words really easily.

And I I’ve had to walk my own mountain, so I’m not confused on how hard it can be. I’ve I’ve had to do that myself. ⁓ but it is a choice you can make and it is a mountain you can climb and it’s worth climbing in my in my mind. And so yeah, that’s the the basis of my consulting work and even my investing.

Scott Bursey (06:59)
I love it. Christina, let’s dig into the foundation here. What is the biggest strength that has kept your consulting business thriving for so many years?

Christina Suter (07:56)
kind of described it. I have a master’s in psychology, I have a bachelor’s in business, a teacher’s credential, and a master’s in psychology and spiritual psychology to be accurate. And between those three, it it is sort of like that’s the cultivated conversation I bring. ⁓ so people who want to think about life that way go, hey, I want to work with you, I want to talk with you. And that’s you know, let’s use real estate as the tool to build the life I want. And I guess that’s but then there are people who come would come to me sometimes and they’re like, I just want to earn a lot of money. And I’m like, well

I I I I can’t h I I can help you earn a lot of money and I understand how the tool works really well. I’ve been at it for forty years, but I don’t work that way. Right? So if you want to earn money from money, then I can help you do that, but I’d prefer not. I’d prefer to teach you abundance. I’d prefer to show you abundance. So ⁓ that’s sort of the cornerstone of the consulting work and that and I actually like people.

I actually really like people. Actually I actually enjoy the conversations and I really want to help people grow. And you know, I actually like people and and ⁓ it helps because, you know, like you, Scott, it helps me craft my words, hopefully in a way that makes impact and can shift people’s lives. ⁓ so I would say those are the cornerstones that help me. And again, I’m primarily residential, so it doesn’t mean I can’t help people with commercial, but I know that that’s the basis of my experience. So just to call it what it is.

Scott Bursey (09:19)
Absolutely. ⁓ well said. And let’s talk about trust for just a little bit. What helps you build that long-term trust with your clients?

Christina Suter (09:29)
I like people. ⁓ I’m pretty straight up. I’ll give you my opinion. ⁓ I don’t hide a lot. and honestly I think with after forty years of investing there the the skill is there. And I failed and I’ve succeeded. I’ve had my portfolio fall apart in two thousand and nine, two thousand and ten. So I faced the wall of what it means to say, you know, let’s yeah, I’m a

I’m a loser, I’m a failure, I didn’t know what I was doing, I thought I did. I’ve, you know, I’ve that whole ego of like, you know, and and the world’s falling apart. And and it’s helped me in two ways. One, being more authentic, face who I am more authentically. And two, it’s helped me understand the mechanism of real estate and cycles and investing. And it really doubled me down on the economy. So I think people trust me because I’m trying to bring all my skills to bear and all my history to bear. Hopefully without.

being inauthentic in any way. Hopefully with just say, hey, look, this is my experience. I don’t suggest you do this. Here’s why and I can tell you the story. You know, and I will tell you the story.

Scott Bursey (10:35)
Those negatives so often turn into be such positives. Thank you for that great explanation. And curious to hear your take. In the early days of advising, what was the one weakness or hurdle you had to overcome to effectively communicate your strategy?

Christina Suter (10:54)
my god. I remember I’d finish the session and I’d be driving like I said that wrong. my god, my clients are gonna be so mad at me. I said it wrong. Like I remember those panic moments. ⁓ so I’d say early on it was really learning what it meant to guide people, ⁓ and saying it right, right? Being able to understand when to push and when to pull back. ⁓ some of it was still

You know, developing the real estate knowledge. I started in two thousand and seven with the consulting, two thousand and nine and ten we know was a big transition for everybody, including me and my clients. We were doing a lot of conversations about strategic short sales, you know, and and how you deal with banks that are willing to release the asset but not release you from the debt. And therefore it’s not really a you know, you’re not really it’s not really a a short sale because they’ve not reduced the value of the debt and how you deal with those people. So, ⁓

I would say it’s really learning to be a consultant and interacting with people and pushing them and not pushing beyond their capacity, but growing them. ⁓ and just being able to I took me time to create a whole system. So I have this whole curriculum I walk people through. ⁓ that is where are you starting, where do you want to go, and then how do you want to get there? ‘Cause that’s the crux of the conversation. How do you want to get there? And it took me time to learn to not just do the portfolio analysis, which was easy because I’ve been doing my own portfolio for s you know.

fifteen, twenty years at the time. ⁓ doesn’t not do it, but really create the whole arc. What’s the vision that you’re looking for? And making that a concrete process so people could go, ⁓ I can see myself going there. Like I get it. And I’m like, yeah, because I gotta see it. If they don’t see it, they’re not inspired for it. If they’re inspired for it, they won’t do the work. They won’t climb the mountain. Right? And my job is to help them climb that mountain. So it took me time to put the curriculum in place.

Scott Bursey (12:46)
Thank you for that great explanation. And that is spot on. You know, looking at where the puck is going, where do you see the biggest opportunity for new investors to gain traction in today’s specific market?

Christina Suter (13:33)
No, you’re very sweet. ⁓ my multifamily. But that’s because I’m doubling down on multifamily right now. Right? So I sold my last multifamily in two thousand and nine. ⁓ during the market was down turning. My daughter was born in two thousand and nine and I wanted to be a stay home mom and the market was falling apart.

Like life is crazy. Life is crazy and my ego is totally being torn to shreds. And it was good. It was good that it was being torn to shreds. In the end result, it made me a much better, more authentic, more grounded, more humble investor, right? Less less using investing for ego and more using it for life satisfaction. ⁓ but I sold everything, all my doors. If I’d known that multifamily was going to be the first to recover, I would have kept my multifamily doors, not just everything I owned. but it did let me be a mom for five years.

And be settled and focused on being at home and being alone, which was highly valuable. That was my that’s my purpose. That’s my why, right? Is my is my family. but at the same time, I it really ended up ⁓ teaching me the value of being able to invest thoughtfully and carefully. But it was an incredibly humbling experience. I lost your question, Scott. I’ll admit it, I lost your question.

Scott Bursey (14:44)
Mm.

No problem. No problem. Let’s go just a little deeper for a moment here. What’s the biggest threat you see new investors facing when they try to jump into deals without a clear plan?

Christina Suter (15:00)
⁓ like I say, okay, the question was was what’s the asset? So the asset is multifamily and I’m digging into multifamily right now because it’s on sale and hasn’t been on sale since I sold everything in two thousand and nine. So I’m jumping on that. ⁓ and I think there’s accuracy in having watched the cycles to multifamily being the right asset class, even though single family is starting to hurt now as well. I don’t think it’ll see the discounts that multifamily is seeing. And I passed on the whole office thing, because that to me was a complexity one, is not my

primary area, but also it’s a complexity where you’re really truly having less chronic demand in office, whereas residential demand is continuing to go up. We’re continuing to have more people and we have a chronic ho housing shortage in the United States in general. So therefore I really believe in residential. That’s my answer to that question. ⁓ The difficulty is being able to find units and being prepared to find units. And I know a lot of people are having a hard time raising capital.

So if you’re larger investor, then it’s hard to raise capital. But if you have dry powder, multifamily is pretty easy to step into in my opinion right now. ⁓ I invest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We have a seven cap and a less than a seven percent interest rate, a cash flow is day one. I’m an old school, I’m old. I’m I may look young, but I’m an old lady. Truth is, I’m I’m almost sixty. And so therefore, you know, I really believe that multifamily is about cash flow and not about f just forced appreciation. So

There’sn’t there is being able to buy in if you have the powder is available to you right now. Being able to raise capital is inherently difficult right now. Being able to find units in my world that are both that are performing well enough, they’re in that sweet spot between the huge amount of damaged units that are out there, which there huge amount of damaged units, 160 doors, 30 doors gone to fire.

There’s no insurance money to fix them because they’ve already used up the insurance money doing something else, they’re not bank owned, and there is 30% occupancy. And so that’s a highly damaged unit that needs a lot of structural repairs. And that’s a diff that’s that’s hard, right? How do I get a a unit like that to perform when I get my biggest bump out of interior renovations and not out of structural renovations? Right? So that’s it’s trying to find that sweet spot between buildings that are suffering but not so damaged that you can’t bring your investors’ return. And

There’s lot of competition for those and not as much capital available. Hard to raise the capital.

Scott Bursey (17:24)
You

get the nail on the head right there. Let’s stay on the same track here. Multifamily. What is some of your vision strategy, let’s say for the next twelve to twenty-four months?

Christina Suter (18:18)
Lovely question. So ⁓ continue to investigate multifamily, buy a hundred plus doors in out of state I’m green, California. So out of state is like I invest in Tulsa, I invest in Indianapolis. We’re also looking at Atlanta because you know and ⁓ and Texas because Texas continues to grow in population and is very positive towards businesses. So those are our identified areas. But ⁓ in the next twelve to eighteen months I want to continue to purchase doors and

‘Cause all the time needs to go to acquisitions. There’s a team of four of us that work together to be able to sort through the enormous amount of units that are out there right now and being able to figure out what’s going to be right for us. And then being able to stabilize those doors. Right? So if you’re buying doors now in this high interest rate environment, you the obvious value add is the damage to the units, and that’s what we’re most familiar with. But the second value at is the change in the interest rate. If we then buy something that will cash flow

projected on today’s numbers and when we go to refinance in who knows how many years, right? We thought interest rates were going to go down this year, but they’re not. They may not. They may not. ⁓ but once you refinance, that’s also a value add to the building. But to me the the risk in syndications is this constant what needs to be done in three to five years. We need to be done with blah blah blah in three to five years. I’ve seen enough cycles to go you’re setting up a time bomb potentially.

You’re not intending to, but you are in that structure. So our model is to refinance when it makes sense and then continue to hold the building. Because I think there’s a a a structural flaw that has been placed inside of multifamily syndicated deals that I’m not comfortable with, having both been an LP investor and owned apartment buildings. I feel like that’s a structural flaw that has set up the last two downturns I’ve seen in the financial world or the financial side of residential investing. ⁓

So twelve to eighteen months by position buy buildings that are well positioned or will be well positioned once they’re once they’re restabilized, and that you have forced value add through rehabbing them, but you also have the value out of having a lower interest rate that you can lock in later. Well, not lock in for thirty years, because of course commercial doesn’t do that, but get a lower payment ⁓ on that building. and then natural time. Compounding in real estate and time is the most

gracious thing that real estate offers us is being able to invest over time and have those rents grow over time is valuable. ⁓ so that’s the focus. The focus is to buy buildings, to stabilize them, to enjoy the long term run.

Scott Bursey (20:53)
And that’s some laser focus right there. Thank you for that strategy. What a blueprint. And Christina, for someone starting from scratch, I loved the play by play. And what is the first move they should make to define their investment purpose?

Christina Suter (21:07)
⁓ where do you want to go? What’s the it’s very simple. It’s I call it the vision in numbers. ⁓ and in so in a ways it’s in a way it’s simple, but in a way people don’t relate to it. There is a vision in your head of who you want to be, what you’re building your real estate portfolio for. In twenty years I want to travel, I want to have a f have the right to be a stay-home mom, which was mine. I want to be able to leave a legacy for my grandchildren. I want to

And there’s a vision of life that you’re living in that vision. And we we we see flashes of it. If you sit in that vision long enough, you can see the world you’re making. I live in this type of house, I live in this city, I live you know, I have these amount of children, I have like I have this. Right? And it’s like, well, that vision is what you want, you’re inspired to create. Let’s create it in numbers. What would that cost you? What would that life look like?

Right? If you want to have a jet plane, what is that going to cost you? If you want to just live on a houseboat, what’s that going to cost you? Right? And then once you anchor that, now you’ve got your North Star. This is how I want to live. This is it’s not just the numbers, it’s who I’m being. Well, now we can talk about what do you want to train yourself for think about today? What do you want to learn today? What do you want to start investing in today that makes that vision the truth in twenty years? And who do you want to become?

Today to start building that vision. So that when you get there, you go, Yeah, I did it. I call I called the North Star and I’m like, we’ll target the North Star and if you land somewhere close to it, won’t that be good enough? Right? Somewhere close to that. So that’s I think what guides one’s investment portfolio.

Scott Bursey (22:55)
It’s all about the why. Aligning your money with your why is definitely a winning recipe for staying in the game long term.

Christina Suter (23:05)
I agree.

Scott Bursey (23:07)
Christina, interested to know, are you part of any investment groups, ⁓ peer groups, social groups, anything of that nature?

Christina Suter (23:15)
Sure, I’m I’m I discovered only recently the deep value of masterminds and belonging to these larger communities. And so I belong to the Collective Inner Circle, which is, you know, got five leaders, Ken McElroy, Russell Gray, Robert Helms, Jason Hartman, and George Gammon. And it’s it’s great to have access to them. And I joined them because I I one, I love Russell’s sense of purpose because I obviously am deeply into having a life that fulfills purpose.

your purpose or your purpose with a higher alignment, whatever your personal point of view is on that, I don’t care. But having that sense of purpose. And I love how calm Ken is. Ken’s like, no, this works, this doesn’t work. Every time I talk to Ken, I’m like, okay, let me steal myself up. I’m gonna be ready for his direct feedback. But he’s he’s not dramatic. He’s like, no, this is what works. And I appreciate the groundedness of that simple point of view that Ken has to offer. So I love being part of the Collective Inner Circle. And then I belong to a smaller mastermind

with a mentee of mine called the Wealth Forum with Bronson Hill. And I I really appreciate Bronson and again his his focus of building community and being able to just go, Yeah, I’m investing in real estate and you’re investing in real estate and you’re investing in real estate. And here’s how my backside got handed to me and here’s the lessons I learned and like just being able to be straight across with people. Authentically say, Yeah, I’m I I’m worried about this deal. What do you think? You know, and having conversations with people who’ve been down the path like you for twenty years or

thirty years or forty years like myself. You know, and just being able to be really raw about what works, what doesn’t work, and, you know, what does it mean when you gotta go home to your family and say, sorry, we’re not earning three hundred and fifty thousand anymore this year. We’re gonna earn one hundred and fifty if we’re lucky. And what does that mean? ‘Cause that is what can happen.

Scott Bursey (24:58)
Christina, I just love that framing. And I know our pros are gonna want to hear this from you. If you had to start over today with only ten thousand dollars and a laptop, what is the very first high octane move you would make to build a sustainable pipeline?

Christina Suter (25:16)
⁓ the laptop makes sense, but honestly, I’d get off my ass and I’d get out in communities. I just truth the laptop is all about managing the back end for me, right? Man, yes, social media, yeah, I have a strong social media presence and I understand all of that, and social media is great, and being able to build brand is great. So that’s important. But the way that I get deals through my door is I get my ass, excuse me, I get my backside off the sofa.

And I get out to real estate meetings. I run two real estate meetings of my own and I go to real estate meetings every week because being able to network as a mentor of mine used to say belly to belly and eyeball to eyeball. And he had a little bit of a belly, so it may have literally been belly to belly for him, but belly to belly and eyeball to eyeball is the still the best way to be able to find deals, to find partners, to find contractors, to find the people you need, because you don’t do it alone. You have to do it in a team. You have to, right?

You can replace some team members, but there are many team members you cannot replace. Even the even if you had three D printing, you still gotta talk to the person running that three D printing company to get that billing printed. So it’s still a person to person business. So get off your backside and say, I’ve got ten thousand dollars, guys, work with me.

Scott Bursey (26:34)
Rolling up your sleeves and getting after it. I just love that. And Christina, you provided so much knowledge for our listeners today. But is there any additional words of wisdom or advice that you can leave with our listeners?

Christina Suter (26:49)
Yes. The universe meets you at the point of action. Or God or the pe your community or if you don’t take action then there’s no way to maneuver yourself to a better position. You just kinda have to. So take action even if it feels like it’s fumbling, you know. I I like to think about baseball, right? How many how many times do you actually does a batter actually hit the ball? Less than five out of ten.

Less than fifty percent. You’re lucky if you have somebody who has four out of ten. So you need to get your backside out on the plate and being willing to swing at it. Because otherwise there is no creating. The answer is automatically no if you’re not out there playing. So just a thought.

Scott Bursey (27:34)
That’s a great thought and that’s a huge distinction. Thank you for that advice. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to plug into your pipeline and reach you directly?

Christina Suter (27:49)
So Christina Suter Consulting. It’s christinasuter.com. So Christina with a C H and Suter, which is S-U-T-E-R. Yes, my husband was a good suitor, but it’s not spelled that way. S-U-T-E-R. ⁓ and or ⁓ livearichlife.info. But also I do have a phone. So it’s 310-463-5942, eyeball to eyeball and belly to belly, babe. So 310-463-5942.

That is my cell phone. Text me if you want to set up a call. Leave me a message if you want, but I’ll actually respond to texts faster than I respond to phone calls. So, you know, please just, you know, let’s talk about what it means to be human and still be committed to one’s success and quest in life. And let’s use real estate to do it.

Scott Bursey (28:38)
Christina, this has been a great conversation. Thank you for joining us today.

Christina Suter (28:45)
Thank you, Scott, for having me. I so appreciate what you guys are up to with Investor Fuel and all the different pieces and parts that you’ve put together. I appreciate you, Scott, and what you’re doing and helping educate people and really being able to draw forward that people can have an opportunity in real estate and be a stand for that message getting out there. So thank you, Scott, for the work you’re doing.

Scott Bursey (29:06)
Appreciate the kind words. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you got value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with the lineup of elite guests, just like Christina, 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 in the next episode, everyone.