How Creshana Russell Built Wealth in Real Estate While Working a 9 to 5

Creshana Russell (00:00)
I want to encourage young professionals that you don’t have to quit your nine to five to invest in real estate. What you should be doing is leveraging your nine to five to invest in real estate. You don’t have to quit, because I see a lot of people out here, I see a lot of influencers and whatnot, and they’re doing real estate full time, and that’s great, love that.

Scott Bursey (01:56)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Scott Bursey And today we’re thrilled to welcome a respected authority in the real estate investment strategy space. Creshana Russell of C Barrett Properties LLC. Creshana is known for her disciplined strategies in property acquisition, asset management, and long-term portfolio scaling, helping investors maximize their growth. Welcome to the show, Creshana.

Creshana Russell (02:25)
Thank you, Scott. I’m happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Scott Bursey (02:28)
It is

absolutely is our pleasure. Creshana before we dive into the market dynamics, please give us a little bit of a background on your story. How did you get into real estate?

Creshana Russell (02:46)
going to start from the beginning, right? I came from immigrant parents, second from immigrant family, that they worked really hard to give me opportunities that they did not have. taking it back, I majored in accounting in college, right? And upon graduation, I was one of those students who were lucky enough to have an offer already in hand. So I remember taking home my offer letter and Scott, was

It was about $45,000 at the time. That was my offer letter out of college. I brought it home. I was so excited. My mom was so proud. And that moment hit me because here I was 20 years old with an offer letter in hand. And that was more money than my mom was making at the time. So in her sense of, even though she was so excited for me, I felt a sense of weight at the time because

I felt it was almost like a transitioning moment where I’m like, you’re no longer a kid anymore. You’re gonna have to go out there and find your path. And for me, that’s what led me to start looking into real estate. A few months later, I bought my first property. I lived there for a year fixing it up. It was terrible. It was horrible. It needed a lot of work, but I lived there.

Scott Bursey (04:09)
You

Creshana Russell (04:13)
and I got help fixing it up. I fixed it up and my job started getting really demanding at the time ⁓ and I was doing a lot of travels for work so I was never there anymore. I was always on the road traveling for work. I ended up having a conversation with my parents and decided that I was gonna move home. So when I moved home,

this is when things shifted for me because now I became a landlord. I rented out the place and I became a landlord. I now had funds that I could save and also help my mom. So that transition right there showed me the power of real estate. I now had to be able to save money as well as help my mom financially. And that changed the game for me completely. I saw that as a win-win situation and

was determined that that was going to be my path from there on and a couple years later I bought a second one. I bought a duplex and that was where things really like, real estate was no longer a thing I was just doing on the side. It became like you’re an investor now. So that’s that’s how I got started. Short version.

Scott Bursey (05:35)
That’s

awesome and thank you for that version. The feeling that you had to feel when you were able to help your mother.

And that’s because you applied yourself through academics. That was awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us, Creshana You know, what caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to bring a high level corporate grade structure, so to speak, to residential property management while still keeping that boutique personalized touch that C Barrett Properties is known for.

Creshana Russell (05:46)
Absolutely.

Yeah.

Scott Bursey (06:12)
What’s the biggest key to maintaining that standard as you’ve grown?

Creshana Russell (06:20)
As I’m growing my portfolio, I focus on what I know that works for me. My sweet spot. I focus primarily on my two to three family houses. In Connecticut, we have a lot of smaller multifamilies, so we’re talking about two to three family houses. And for me, that’s my sweet spot because they are in such high demand.

and the turnovers are significantly less compared to larger units. I have a few of those in my portfolio and I feel like from what I’ve seen over the years, those are the ones that perform the best. So that’s my sweet spot. And that’s how I’ve built my company, like where, you know, I’m known for…

having those smaller multifamily units and I’ve had ten and Scott for ten plus years. Like they stay, you know, like longevity and I love that. I am so grateful for that and I’m so grateful for them.

Scott Bursey (07:30)
Absolutely, that personal touch, that makes total sense. And it sounds like you built a culture where the standards actually run themselves. Creshana, beyond capital, what is the most important non-negotiable metric you advise your clients to track for long-term portfolio health?

Creshana Russell (07:54)
For long-term portfolio health, know, for me, it goes back to three things. There’s system, discipline, and relationship, right? I have system in place to help me manage my portfolio. We’re talking about systems needed for credit checks, tenant screening, ⁓ leases, just managing tenants, just, you know,

Scott Bursey (08:06)
Yes.

Creshana Russell (08:21)
The whole screening process, the listing process, getting the unit rented out, discipline. I am scouring the market every single day. I’m looking at what’s coming on. get up each day, I have my to-do list. I make my to-do list and I’m checking things off, prioritizing. And relationships. mean, we know relationship is a big deal in real estate. To be successful in real estate.

relationships are key. So I have great relationships with contractors, realtors who are sending me deals, you know, to take a look at all the time, ⁓ not to mention my own personal relationships, right? So I have my support system around me, my husband, my dad, my parents in general, who helps me out with my children and the household things. My dad, who is like my right-hand man, who helps me out.

with my projects that are going on. In fact, he spends more time at my projects than I do. He spends more time checking in with my contractors and just kind of making sure that things are moving along because I have a nine to five, I’m still working. So I don’t have as much time to stop in during the daytime and he’s able to step in and do all of that for me as well as my husband. So I leverage relationships a lot. Like it takes a village.

Scott Bursey (09:47)
And because you have that network, that core, your family, you’ve been able to keep your tenants for 10 plus years. That’s a true testament to what you have built and what you’re going to continue to build. I just know it. That’s a powerful distinction. How are you actually finding those opportunities when the rest of the market may be looking the other way, for instance?

Creshana Russell (09:55)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

When the rest of the market is looking the other way, I’m a numbers girl, right? I remember I told you I majored in accounting. So if the numbers make sense to me, Scott, I’m gonna move forward, right? ⁓ I pencil out the deal, I do my analysis, and nowadays I try not to get stuck in analysis paralysis, right? So I…

Scott Bursey (10:31)
Sure.

Creshana Russell (10:41)
If the numbers make sense on paper, I’m looking at a deal, I’m doing my breakdown, know, purchase price, what are the rent values, how much work am I gonna need to put into the deal, all that thing. So I put it all on paper and if it makes sense and I have the money to move forward, I am going to definitely just go at it. And I have a certain market that I love, like certain areas that…

Scott Bursey (11:02)
Absolutely.

Creshana Russell (11:09)
that are prime markets for me. And if an opportunity comes in one of those areas, I’m going to figure out how to make it work.

Scott Bursey (11:20)
You’re maximizing your skill set, it sounds like to me.

Creshana, interested to know, how are you advising people in your network on how to take care of things when you’re working your nine to five? What kind of contact do you have with them on a regular basis? Give us just a little bit of your insight and how you’re able to lead your core group.

Creshana Russell (11:27)
I’m on it.

I am checking in daily with my prime contractor. Like now I have projects going on, I am checking in daily. Yes, I do have to be at my nine to five, but any chance I get, I’m still responding to texts. I still have to address, and they know that I’m working. So I touch base every evening after I get home from work. And we have a…

Scott Bursey (11:59)
Daily.

Creshana Russell (12:22)
almost like a strategy call, right? We have our plan of what we’re attacking this week. We’re doing floors this week. We’re doing painting, whatever the case is. And I check in, how’s that going? They send me pictures. They send me updates. Also, remember I told you my dad, he is known for stopping by at all my projects and he’ll call me and let me know how things are going as well. And that’s again, goes back to relationships, right? So the contract, one of my contractors that I’m working with, we’ve worked together for,

many years now. So he knows my style, I know his style and we check in and from there we are able to just keep a wrap of, you know, what’s happening, what needs to get done and how we plan to keep moving things forward. Plus my weekends, my weekends I am like, Saturdays I’m taking care of all of that. I’m on site and making sure things are good, materials, I’m going to the various stores to get materials and picking out finishes like.

It’s a lot, but you know, I’m a weekend warrior.

Scott Bursey (13:28)
Not only are you a weekend warrior, but you keep tabs of things very closely on a daily basis. And that is not easy to do when you have a nine to five. But staying on top of things is what ultimately is getting you ⁓ is where you’re achieving your success and you’re capitalizing on that sweet spot, that core. I got to ask you, this has been on my mind.

Creshana Russell (13:35)
Thank you.

Scott Bursey (13:54)
What major market risk or threats are you perhaps watching in your particular market now in Connecticut?

Creshana Russell (14:04)
In Connecticut, inventory is still a struggle. So inventory is still very low here. ⁓ The deals are still pretty competitive. We’re seeing, you know, house and prices are, they’re still pretty high here. So I don’t think, I don’t, they’re not dropping significantly in Connecticut at all. In fact, some areas they’re actually increasing. And of course there’s, you know, there’s the…

variability with interest rates these days. Like interest rates are all over the place. So interest rates aside, mean, for me, interest rate is not a deterrent because we all know real estate is a long game and it will all balance out eventually. But for right now, what we’re seeing is the low inventory that still is struggle. So it’s still pretty tough to find the right deals here. But

You gotta have those eyes and ears on the market. You gotta have those strong relationships, you know?

Scott Bursey (15:06)
Absolutely,

you’re applying the daily and that’s going to provide vision for your long-term strategy, which is solid, solid. And I gotta ask you this as well. If you could walk us through, Creshana, what is your most valuable non-deal related metric for determining the health of your enterprise?

Creshana Russell (15:15)
Yes.

So aside from the numbers, Because I’m a numbers girl, aside from the numbers, I really look at communities. You know, I know my sweet spot and there are certain areas that I focus on. And I mentioned earlier that my sweet spot is the two to three family units. So two to three family units in really good areas. That’s my sweet spot.

They are, they’re definitely more harder to come by because of the lower inventory. Sometimes you unfortunately have to wait till somebody passed away to get one of these units, but it’s worth it. know, like once I get in, what keeps my business going is whenever we got a new place, I go in and I set it up. I set it right. So, and then what I mean by that is we’re going in and we’re doing the work.

We’re getting new appliances. We’re making sure the kitchens, the bathrooms, those are all done properly. The plumbing, the furnaces, the electrical, we’re making sure that everything is good going in and starting. We’re setting it right first from the get-go. And in turn, I’ve seen where that really, it saves me so much money long-term, having to go, if you’re going ahead and you’re just trying to just quickly fix something up really quickly and get it all rented out.

chances are if you’re cutting corners, you’re gonna face issues down the road. So we don’t cut corners. Once we go in, we’re making sure the units are good and we’re putting in things that are durable. Like I personally put in granite or quartz countertop in my unit whenever I’m doing a kitchen because I don’t plan to go back in there ever and go change countertops. So we’re setting, we’re using.

Scott Bursey (17:27)
Makes sense.

Creshana Russell (17:29)
Yeah, we’re putting the place that we’re making sure that we’re using quality materials and doing quality work. We’re setting it up right and then we just set it and forget it, right?

Well, not forget it, but you know what I mean.

Scott Bursey (17:41)
Absolutely. Sure.

And let me ask you this, is there one takeaway that you’d like the listeners to know about ⁓ your enterprise?

Creshana Russell (17:55)
Yes, so I really talk a lot about encouraging young professionals to just get out there and figure out a way to make money outside of their 9 to 5, right? And for me, that’s real estate. So I really focus heavily on encouraging. I just recently started sharing my journey on social media and I recently

I want to encourage young professionals that you don’t have to quit your nine to five to invest in real estate. What you should be doing is leveraging your nine to five to invest in real estate. You don’t have to quit, because I see a lot of people out here, I see a lot of influencers and whatnot, and they’re doing real estate full time, and that’s great, love that.

But there’s a lot of us out there who are still working our nine to five, and for me, I particularly speak to

the ones who are just starting out and they’re looking, they don’t know, they need a little bit of direction of how to get started. So I personally leveraged my retirement account to get started. I mentioned that. And from there, I’m recycling funds to keep my business going and to grow, right? So that from a personal aspect,

That’s one of the things that I want people to know about my brand and my social media presence is really to encourage folks that you can do this without quitting. And in fact, if you’re young and you have any interest, you should try to do this as soon as possible because time is your best friend when it comes to real estate. And from, yeah, and from like the business perspective with my company,

Scott Bursey (19:41)
Absolutely.

Creshana Russell (19:48)
Again, like I said, Scott, we go in and we make sure that things are done properly from the get go. You know, I love when my tenants are with me for years because it shows that we’re doing something right. You know, like I have tenants, like I said, who’s been with us for over 10 years and they’re almost like family now. So. We.

I take care of, I love my tennis, I definitely appreciate them and I take care of their places and take care of their needs and it’s a family business, right? It’s like creating a community here.

Scott Bursey (20:27)
Absolutely and it has proven to be a winning formula. That is outstanding. Creshana, that was incredible and thank you for bringing that to our audience. Before we wrap up, for our listeners who want to follow your work or connect with you directly or learn more about your real estate offerings, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?

Creshana Russell (20:52)
Yes, so you can find me on your various social media platforms. So Instagram, you can search Creshana Invest in RE, or you could really just search Creshana Russell and I will pop up TikTok and Facebook as well. So I really…

recently started posting my journey there. I’m hoping to build more of an audience, like I’m saying, to ⁓ encourage folks to get started or if they have any questions or don’t know where to get started. I’m hoping to provide some ⁓ direction, some educational ⁓ materials where can help you get going on your journey if that’s something that folks are interested in. So that’s where you can find me, Scott.

And I have contact information in my bio there as well. So if folks wanted to reach out, send an email, that kind of thing. So you can find me there.

Scott Bursey (21:57)
The big takeaway from our conversation today is take care of your tenants and don’t cut corners. And those are very impactful words. And that is the way to run a successful enterprise. Creshana, thank you for being here.

Creshana Russell (22:05)
Don’t cut corners.

Thank you, Scott, for having me. It was an absolute pleasure. I’m very glad to have been on here and sharing my story.

Scott Bursey (22:29)
It’s been a ⁓ wonderful, sincere pleasure on our part. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. If you found value in today’s episode, please make sure you’re subscribed until next time. Keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.