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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Emily Lopez, a seasoned real estate investor with a unique background in construction. Emily shares her journey into real estate, emphasizing the importance of mindset, resilience, and the willingness to face challenges. She discusses her strategies for success, including her approach to scaling her investments and the significance of building relationships in the industry. Emily also addresses the common struggles faced by entrepreneurs and encourages listeners to empower themselves and take action towards their goals.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Emily Lopez (00:00)
We had to battle them to reinstall that like three times, but they kept not being able to do it and not being able to come back. Well, we couldn’t get our occupancy certificate from the city to get out of there and stop paying the $1,700 rent or whatever in the other place we were paying plus the expenses on this building. We knew we would get through it, but in that moment when they’re not coming and you see this gap and somebody thinks that’s acceptable and they were going to try to leave you with that. And it’s just.I can think of times over and over again in the construction process where we subbed something out and we weren’t happy with what we got. And again, there’s money, troubles, and things that you need to get moving. And we knew it would get resolved, but in that moment when you’re sitting there and they can’t come back for another week and you don’t know if when they come back next time it’s gonna be corrected, it’s just, you gotta understand that’s part of business.
Quentin (02:20)
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Q Edmonds. And if you’ve been watching me, you know what I’m going say, I’m excited. I’m excited to be here, have another amazing guest. I’m going let her tell you more about her background. But she comes packed with experience. She knows what she’s doing.She has a construction background that makes a lot of things be more easier when she gets into the best thing, like with her lens, because y’all know what I say. I love when we get a chance to look at, look through other people’s lenses. And so she has a unique lens because she comes with a unique set of experience. And so I am thoroughly excited to introduce you guys to Ms. Emily Lopez. Ms. Emily, how are you doing today,
Emily Lopez (03:09)
I’m good, thank you for making me sound cooler than I am.Quentin (03:12)
Bro, I told you that that’s part of my job. Comma, however, comma, however, you’re pretty cool. And I know our viewers are going to get a ton of value of what you’re about to tell us. And so I’m going be honest with you. I’m going to dive right in. I want you to tell us what your main focus is these days. If you want to tell us a little bit about how you got into real estate, I’m sure we would appreciate that story. But also I want you to tell us what markets you’re operating in. so, Ms. Emily, please, ma’am, take us into your work.Emily Lopez (03:42)
All right, so I’m in a small town in Wyoming, small town for me, about 25,000 people. We have a town about 12 miles away with 13,000 people. So there’s a lot of crossover. So you could live in one work in the other stuff like that. But when I say small town, sometimes people think, you’re in a suburb. No, like that’s it. I’m not in a small town close to a big city. So sometimes when people think about it being hard to invest in real estate, they’re in these bigger markets. And so sometimes these smaller markets, there’s more opportunity.and where people have to invest out of where they live. Fortunately, I’m in an area where I can invest where I live. And I’ve been able to do that for the whole time. And so I started out working in rental property maintenance when I was in high school, actually had a teacher and his wife, they own trailer parks and a bunch of investment properties and said, you’re a hard worker, you want a job? And they taught me everything I know.
So I worked for them through high school, college, went that traditional route. Everyone said, get a degree, get a degree. I don’t care what, you know, your parents, just get one. So I have a master’s degree. I don’t use it all. My husband has a master’s degree. He doesn’t use it all. And we make more money in our investments. And so I’m not saying don’t go to school if you have something like, I want to be an accountant or I want to be something, a nurse where you’re going to use it. But if you don’t know what you’re going to do, if I would have just started this stuff before,
would have saved six years, you know? And so I went that route.
continued to work for my real estate mentors just thought it was a job and realized, maybe I should do this. So started investing in real estate about maybe 13 years ago and buy and hold rental properties, bought and hold bought as I could started ⁓ friends started asking me to help with their projects because I had the construction background.
but I wasn’t licensed. And so I actually got my general contractors license when I was new into real estate to supplement because when you’re a real estate agent, you only make money when you sell. I quit my steady county job. I was actually a juvenile probation agent for the county to get my real estate license and start investing. I was already investing, but to start being a real estate salesperson kind of be all in that world, you know. And so went into that was doing construction renovations for other people doing my own renovations on my projects.
got to the point that I didn’t have time to do construction for other people. So now I only, ⁓ mostly buy and hold, I buy distressed properties, I renovate them, hold them as long-term rentals. And I have sold a couple and I’m gonna do that a little bit more moving forward just to be able to inject more capital, but mostly only doing construction on my own properties unless someone’s really in a bind and they need help here and there.
Quentin (07:00)
Woo, yes indeedy. Listen, thank you for taking this down the road of how you got to where you are. mean, super exciting. I love everything you said. Now, I would love to know you’re in it. You started 13 years ago, you’re in it, you’re finding success. Don’t give us all your secrets, but what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly? Like what are some of the systems you have in place? What’s some of the secrets of yourself?Emily Lopez (07:29)
I think it’s like your mindset. Because entrepreneurship is really hard and not just real estate investing. That’s just what I mostly have my hand in. But you are always seeing especially now with the internet, you’re seeing people once they’re doing well, most people aren’t going to come in. I’ve seen a couple that are like, I’m starting from zero, I’m going to document here’s all my struggles. But like, I personally don’t like to struggle in front of people. And I actually have recordings I have taken where I’m like,on the floor in the basement crying of a property that I’m renovating like seven, eight years ago. And I’m like, maybe one day I’ll like if I ever try to put something together to share with people all say, okay, this is where I was. And here’s where I’m at now. But no one’s seen those videos. And I saw one the other day and I was like, delete like, you know, but ⁓ you got to be able to struggle and be willing to struggle for a long time and understand that like it is hard now. And that’s okay. But I have to keep going because it’s a real bummer when you
bought your first property and you worked so hard. And you’re like, okay, but how do I get to the second one? Because financing is hard at the beginning, because you have to be able to keep it and invest in the next one, but have good enough debt to income ratios that you don’t have to sell that one, or there’s a lot of sacrifices you have to make. So people think, you know, you see all these people trying to sell you a program that’s like, I did this in nine months. And it’s like, questionable, you know, maybe because you sold a lot of programs, you know, and not because you were actually, you know,
So I think that you have to be willing to stick with it and struggle for a really long time and know like that delayed gratification 100%. If I keep doing this, it will work. It might not work now. It might not work in three years, but like in 10 years, if I keep going, you have to remember the time is going to pass anyways. When I get to 10 years from now, when I get to 2035, it’s still 2035. I’m either where I’m at now or I’m where I let myself be because I went through the struggle for those 10 years. And so you just have to be willing to stick with it.
when you’re not seeing those tangible wins, but you have to have faith that they’ll come.
Quentin (09:31)
It’s almost like you knew the next question I was going to ask. Now, I promise you, if you go look at my videos, not saying you have to, but if you do, I always get to the segment where I say, everybody want to look at the success, but people don’t want to know the process. And people won’t show the process to get to success. And so I’m going to put you on a spot if you don’t want to share, please. Because I know you said you got videos, you’re holding it. But I do know that it’s…So I’m going to ask it. There are moments when things get real, when deals go sideways, times when you have to pivot facts. And I was wondering if you can share a story like that, because everybody’s on different parts of their journey, and somebody literally may be stuck right now, and they may not know that this is part of the process to get to the success. And so you’ve been here, you’ve done that. I was wondering, Ms. Emily, if you could maybe share a story like that.
Emily Lopez (10:27)
think I’m going to start it with something I’ve heard. you have to remember that I think Charlie Munger said this. And your business is like lattice, if you know lattice, where it’s got all these woven parts together. And so like, it’s got like, here, so you have all these pieces, right? And I think when something hard comes up, we kind of go,you kind of freak out and it kind of stops you, especially, you know, I noticed, I’ve heard and I’ve noticed this as things have gone on. Your problem is not a problem if money can fix it, right? Because it’s like, this is
I can address it. But when you have everything in that first property and it really matters, it hits you way harder than it’s like, I’m working on this. That was a hiccup. Maybe I make less money on this. And there’s all these pieces of your business and some are going good and some are going bad. And that’s just business. If you want to be in business and you have to be an entrepreneur or you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to understand that that just happens. And it happened to everyone before you that it will happen to everyone that comes after you. And like the thing I remember and my husband says to me sometimes is,
If everybody else is doing these businesses, and they have these hiccups, like you’re not the first person that’s ever happened to you’re not the first person that ever went through this. And so I mean, any specific example would be when you pay a lot of money to a contractor, and they do a horrible job, or they burn you or they, you know, in that moment, it’s just the end of the world. I remember so I was renovating my office building when I bought my real estate brokerage eight or 10 years ago, I can’t even remember now. And
That was a lot. That was a lot of money at that time. And it was like, we have to get in here, we have to get this, this space in use so I can stop renting this other commercial space I’m using. And it was so expensive. And we bought this old building and we had a roof that was caving. I mean, it was a $20,000 roof and $20,000 to redo the electrical and $10,000 redo the plumbing and then pretty much everything else I did myself, you know, and we had a storefront put on like glass windows in the front. We’re in downtown.
It was pretty expensive. And the people came in and it was just the company was horrible. They were horrible to work with. And I walk in and I see there’s a gap under my door. Like we live in a winter climate, like the gaps like this big and they got this weird framing like it’s done. And I’m like, it’s done. Like there’s no way this is usable. They’re like, well, you could pour the concrete and slope it out. Again, commercial space in downtown, like I can’t slope the concrete because then it’s a tripping hazard. And so
We had to battle them to reinstall that like three times, but they kept not being able to do it and not being able to come back. Well, we couldn’t get our occupancy certificate from the city to get out of there and stop paying the $1,700 rent or whatever in the other place we were paying plus the expenses on this building. We knew we would get through it, but in that moment when they’re not coming and you see this gap and somebody thinks that’s acceptable and they were going to try to leave you with that. And it’s just.
I can think of times over and over again in the construction process where we subbed something out and we weren’t happy with what we got. And again, there’s money, troubles, and things that you need to get moving. And we knew it would get resolved, but in that moment when you’re sitting there and they can’t come back for another week and you don’t know if when they come back next time it’s gonna be corrected, it’s just, you gotta understand that’s part of business.
And there’s these hiccups that come up and you’re not doing anything wrong, but you got to get your head right or you’re going to give yourself a heart attack. If you do this for 40 years as an entrepreneur, you have to find a way to calm your spirit and know, yeah, this is happening, but we’re going to get through it. Think of all the other things in your life you’ve gotten through and also have a financial reserve. That is like my biggest thing is don’t over leverage yourself as an investor where you know, so many things are going to go wrong and come up that you can’t anticipate. Don’t ruin yourself on your first deal.
Quentin (14:14)
Mm.Hmm.
Emily Lopez (14:43)
Don’t give up what you do have. Don’t ever risk it all. know, risk a reasonable amount. At least that’s my comfort zone.Quentin (14:47)
Yeah.Yeah. Woo, I love it. mean, mindset. I mean, you just laid it down perfectly. Like your mindset is the difference between if you’re to dabble in this or you’re going to be in it for the long term. And so you hit the nail on the head because like you said, issues are going to come. is part of being in business, but your mindset is going to be how you get over it, how you push through that growth mindset is how do I solve the problem instead of just getting stuck? And so I appreciate you. I appreciate you so much.
for saying that, I think that’s going to be very, valuable to the listeners. Let me ask you this, Ms. Emily. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? Like, what’s the next real goal for you?
Emily Lopez (15:32)
So right now, I think I’m looking at a strategy of, I’ve tried a little bit of everything. I’ve done buy and hold. I did short term for a while and realized with my schedule, I was having a hard time finding reliable people in my small townto do the turnovers and the cleaning and all that. So I ended up having to go over there a lot. So short term was not for me because I couldn’t build up that workforce, that team. So I have a lot of long term and I have done a little bit of selling and I like to buy and hold long term. That’s obviously,
tried and true, that is the best strategy when we look at what real estate does historically. However, you have to be able to inject more capital in. And the other thing is, if you’re going traditional mortgages, you can only get 10. And then you got to start going to, you know, different type of lenders, higher interest rates, which interest rates are already high. And so I am at the point that I have eight mortgages, I think. And so I’m to get to the point where I can’t get any more mortgages. And so do I want to
Quentin (17:10)
you very much.Emily Lopez (17:12)
bring in some partners? Do I want to look at some non-traditional financing? Do I want to maybe pay something off or 1031 into something else? But at least my intermediate thing is I’m going to do buy one for buy and hold and then flip one and then buy one for buy and hold and then flip one. Or maybe looking at, because I’ve had some of those properties for so long, I have some good equity, pulling out lines of credit to then flip that one, but keep the property versus doing another mortgage.and being able to scale. I want to get to the point where I’m always gonna work. I love working. I love being busy. I just am a hyperactive person. But obviously I think you can tell. ⁓ But ⁓ I don’t want to have to. And so I want to get to the point where I have that comfort level. I think we all have this number of I wanna have this much coming in cashflow on my properties per month.
Quentin (17:50)
you. ⁓Emily Lopez (18:06)
And then I’ll keep working. I just want it to be there. So that’s kind of my goal. Maybe buy one, keep one, buy one, keep one, or sell one, keep one, sell one, keep one.Quentin (18:14)
Got you, got you. No, I smile because you remind me so much of my wife. I am the slow snail pace and her brain is just, and you remind me of my wife. you know, I get it. I mean, this is why y’all brilliant. This is why y’all do what y’all do. This is why y’all are successful. So trust me, like, I absolutely get it. And I love the plan that you laid out. ⁓ you know, there’s no doubt in my mind you’re going to find success with whatever you do because that’s-the prototype that’s in front of me is that you keep finding success. You keep finding ways to make sure you hit whatever goal you want to hit. And so I want to ask you this because I want to get your perspective when it comes to relationships. So when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?
Emily Lopez (19:05)
So that’s a weak point for me. That’s something that I crave and I am trying to put more effort into. And I think maybe starting out, I had no time because I would work a full-time job and then till two in the morning, I’d be working on a property. And so I mean, with what time, you know? And so I think that you learn ways to grow with relationships. I think it depends on if you’re starting and you need a little bit of guidance. So now for me, I want those friendships as like a sounding.Right. And so just someone to talk about it that has a common interest. So I’m not boring somebody who doesn’t care about it with the subject. But I will say, when I started in real estate, I started working for ⁓ my real estate mentors. They’re like second parents to me now. I’ve known them since for almost 20 years now because I started working for them when I was in high school. ⁓ They
I got lucky I fell into it and I learned everything that I learned from them. I got my construction basics I got I mean, I can still go talk to them about their opinion on a real estate thing. And the market was different when they started when I started because they’re in their 60s and 70s obviously, but just having that expert who has been through it and and also just the blueprint. I think it’s encouraging to see someone who’s been through the struggles who’s put in the work and you’re like, wow, in this much time, here’s where you can end up.
If anybody in the world has done it before you, you can do it too. If it’s possible for anyone, it’s possible for you. And so that was kind of what I saw with them is like this worked and it can still work might be different than it was all those years ago. But if anybody else has done it, there is absolutely no reason you can’t. And I think having people ahead of you shows you what’s possible. And I think it’s nice to have that blueprint that this this this is possible. It can happen. But then you got to turn around and you also have to help the people that are
not where you’re at. So if you have 10 properties, can you help someone with none or three? And then maybe someone with 20 can help you or a different type of property you want to learn about. But you can’t just take and not give you got to do both. But you also don’t just give and don’t take right? I think some people it’s hard to accept help. And I’m one of those it’s really hard to accept help. So if someone’s willing to help you and teach you take it let them because you got to do the same though just
Just always give as much as you take, give more than you take, but also let yourself be helped too.
Quentin (21:24)
So well said. So this is going to my final question because I love your mindset. And when I get a chance to talk to people who mindsets I love, I’ll make space for this opportunity. So is there anything you would like to say to the listeners that’s maybe edge? I mean, you’ve already been educating and inspiring, but something that you’ve been thinking about, like me not prompting you for the question, maybe something that you want to tell them that’s inspiring, educational, something that you feel like that they really can.take a hold to and really use as a tool when it comes to mindset. I just want to create this opportunity if it’s something like that that’s on your heart.
Emily Lopez (22:03)
think the big thing is, and I already said this before, if anybody has done it, you can do it. And we have so many opportunities. And I think one thing I’m seeing is I look at younger people because when I when I went when I got my master’s degree, I was a TA in the university. And so I was teaching students. And I was a juvenile probation agent. So I’ve been around a lot of young people. And I think I’m really seeing a shift in our society where people have this victim mindset, like, well, I can’t becauseOr it’s hard because, well yeah, it’s hard. Of course it’s hard. I ain’t saying it’s easy. I’m not saying it’s easy. Nothing that, like, nobody that’s in the position you want to be in is ever gonna be like, yeah, it was just really easy. It just fell into my lap and I like had some kittens and there were some rainbows and like, it was just great, you know? Like, okay, so.
throw out the easy and like empower yourself like if you want to sit and say how hard it is and be a victim. The people that are like in my community, the investors that I am most inspired by a lot of them have their immigrants, they’ve come here and started from nothing. And that they didn’t have the option not to succeed. They busted their butts because if not, then what else you know, and so like
you are served in no way by feeling sorry for yourself. And also nobody cares. And I don’t mean that in a mean way. But I mean, like if things are hard, the bank’s not gonna be like, okay, like your life’s really hard. Here’s the loan for your first investment property. Like, only you can change your life, but you can unless you think you can’t and you want to sit and grovel. And so you have to just know like it is 100 % possible. It doesn’t matter what adversity I’ve come from because the people that I know with the most adversity are like
the most successful because they had no other option, right? And so like, I know things are hard, and I’m not trying to be unsympathetic. But if you just focus on your heart, you’re never going to go forward. And so you have to work on saying, okay, and but like you said, comma, however, here’s where I’m going. And so you got to get your mind right. Because all this I feel sorry for myself. This is hard. Yeah, it is hard. Keep going, you know. And so that’s it. Like, you’ve got to know you can, but do you want to and that’s up to you.
Quentin (24:17)
I like to say choose your heart, because you’re going to choose it one way or another. You’re either going to choose to press forward and choose that heart. You’re going to choose to sit back and not doing anything, which actually is a choice, but it’s going to make things hard. There is a heart that you’ve got to choose. Choose the heart that’s going to push you forward, that’s going to put you in a better position. But you’re going to choose a heart one way or another. And so.Emily Lopez (24:21)
Yes.And
one heart forever and one heart is a process. So do you wanna pick the hard permanent, I’m parking here and I’m staying here, or do you wanna pick the hard path that is a bridge to good?
Quentin (24:53)
Well, I told y’all, listen, I told, and she talking about, what’s the word you use? ⁓ More cool than what you are? I don’t know what you, the phrase you use, but I told you he was awesome. Like I told you, and people got to experience it. And so thank you, Ms. Emily. Thank you so much. Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, or maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?Emily Lopez (25:17)
So probably Instagram because you can message on Instagram. So my Instagram is at Emily dot a dot Lopez. You can always message me on there. I will try to respond to anything. I always try to respond or at least make a video response because then everybody can get that information. If it’s like how do I scale or how do I do this? I was trying to make a video and then I’m on YouTube to that’s YouTube at you can DIY home and that’s where I’m sharing some of thoseQuentin (25:20)
Gotcha.Emily Lopez (25:44)
Hey, you’re an investor and you need to learn some of those. How do I put a outlet in or an outlet? How do I do a light switch? How do I build a wall? How do I plumb under my sink? How do I tile a bathroom? I have hundreds of videos over there if you’re a beginning investor and you need some of those things that you can’t afford to hire out. But you can message me on Instagram always.Quentin (25:49)
Yeah.Listen, there she is, Miss Emily Lopez. Ma’am, thank you. Thank you so much for your story, for your perspective. Thank you for your time. I know Alveo has got a ton of value out of this episode. So I just got to say thank you one more time.
Emily Lopez (26:20)
Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.Quentin (26:22)
Absolutely. So listen, y’all got it. Y’all got the value. Y’all know we will continue to bring up just amazing people, just like Miss Emily. So make sure you are subscribed. That way when that alert go off, you know, you know, you can come on in and get the value. So appreciate you, Miss Emily and everyone else. We’re going to see you on it next time.
