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Why Real Estate Investing Beats the System (And Builds Generational Wealth)

By January 14, 2026Real Estate Pros Show


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Show Summary

In this conversation, Kristi Dietz shares her inspiring journey from the music industry to becoming a successful real estate investor and educator. She emphasizes the importance of empowering women in real estate, providing insights into investment strategies, financial literacy, and the challenges faced in the industry. Kristi discusses her personal growth, the significance of relationships, and the misconceptions surrounding real estate education. Her passion for teaching and helping others is evident as she encourages young people, especially women, to take control of their financial futures through real estate investment.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Kristi Dietz (00:00)
    a lot of people do is they spend a lot of money every day at Starbucks, going out to lunch, going out to dinner, going out to cocktails, buying clothes, all those things. And if you would just cut that back in half, you could save a lot of money and start using that money to save for a down

    And I try to tell people, start small, just get like a condo.

    And the banks will always allow you to buy bigger. They won’t let you buy smaller because then they think you’re going to turn it into a rental. So I say, buy a one bedroom condo, live in it for one year to two years, turn that into a rental, then go buy a two bedroom condo.

    Quentin Edmonds (02:07)
    Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And I’m excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest. And I can’t wait for you to hear everything that she’s accomplished and what she’s doing now. She’s a teacher of real estate, definitely are empowering women and making sure women are in position to get property.

    retain properly and so because we never know what the future is going to hold if we just being honest We’re adults, right? We don’t know what’s gonna happen And so I love the way that she empowered women to make sure they’re in a position to keep what they gain keep what they have and so I’m so excited for you all to Get to know miss Kristi Dietz, Miss Kristi. How you doing today, maam?

    Kristi Dietz (02:55)
    Excellent. Thank you for having me, Quentin.

    Quentin Edmonds (02:57)
    Absolutely. Thank you so much for being here. And look, I want to dive right in. I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. I would love for you to take us a little bit of an origin story. Tell a little bit of an origin story of how you got to where you are now. And if you don’t mind telling us what markets you operate in. So, Kristi, you have the floor,

    Kristi Dietz (03:19)
    Thank you. ⁓ Yes. So one of my biggest passions is helping teach women how to invest in real estate, starting from buying their first home by themselves to investing in rental properties and creating assets to buy and hold. ⁓ I’m in the Los Angeles market, but I’m originally from Florida.

    And I moved out to Los Angeles in 1995 to work in the music business. And I happened upon a class in 1996 by a Dr. Marsha Reddick at a community college on how to buy foreclosures for no money down. So while I was working in the music business, I just studied and learned and took every class that he taught on how to buy investment properties. And I think it was about 1997, I bought my first investment property, a government foreclosure. I think it was a VA foreclosure in Orlando, Florida.

    And then I just kept going. Once you get through the first or second one, you just keep going. And by the time I was, by the time 2000 came around, I already owned 12 properties. ⁓ I then got married, pregnant, ⁓ didn’t want to work in the music business anymore. So then I switched full time into teaching at the colleges for Dr. Marsha Reddick, ⁓ teaching people how to invest in real estate and how to do everything with properties and how to get properties.

    and assets in real estate. And ⁓ I’ve been doing that ever since, since 2000. And I’m still with Marshall Rettick Real Estate, and I’m a realtor for them. I’m a mentor. I teach, and I really try to help and empower women ⁓ to show them from a young age on how to invest in real estate and create their own portfolio and their own assets, and to keep those assets, whether they’re married or divorced.

    Quentin Edmonds (05:51)
    No, no, I absolutely love it. I love you empowering women and I love you empowering from a place of experience, right? You are you’re showing them what you’ve done for yourself. So you like listen this this works. I know it’s working. I’m gonna show you and walk you through how it’s going to work. Kristi, I would love to pick your brain about some strategies, right? So I would love to know some business strategies that you use, but I also would like to know some personal strategies that you use that

    have helped you along your journey? I know some people, may do gym, they may do meditation. So what are some personal strategies that you know help you and some business strategies to help you as well?

    Kristi Dietz (06:31)
    Well, I think some of my personal strategies is just being grateful and thankful every single day. That’s very important. And to just love and appreciate everyone around me. there’s not one person that I can’t learn from. Whether it’s someone I meet on the street, whether it’s…

    you know, a CEO of a company, whether it’s on a podcast with you, any, any place is a learning experience and to continue and keep learning. I think those are the most important personal things that I do. As far as helping, are you saying as far as helping people, what is a straight, what is something that I would do to help people?

    Quentin Edmonds (07:11)
    Yeah,

    I mean just I mean some strategies, you know that you know teach people consistency to Discipline like any kind of business strategies that you have honed on to that you really pass on other people. Yes, ma’am

    Kristi Dietz (07:23)
    Well, I think the biggest thing that people need to do, especially women, is put off short-term gratification needs for long-term appreciation and gains.

    a lot of people do is they spend a lot of money every day at Starbucks, going out to lunch, going out to dinner, going out to cocktails, buying clothes, all those things. And if you would just cut that back in half, you could save a lot of money and start using that money to save for a down payment.

    ⁓ I would say if you, I teach people if they don’t own any property at all, their first thing should be to try to buy something owner occupied. You can get an FHA loan three and a half percent down, or you can even get ⁓ down payment assistance for most states you live in where you can get a hundred percent financing. And then you can even get gift money from your family. So you can almost get into a property for free. And I try to tell people, start small, just get like a condo.

    And the banks will always allow you to buy bigger. They won’t let you buy smaller because then they think you’re going to turn it into a rental. So I say, buy a one bedroom condo, live in it for one year to two years, turn that into a rental, then go buy a two bedroom condo.

    And with every property you get to appreciate and get the tax write off to take off your income. So let’s say if you make a hundred thousand a year and you own 10 properties and each property gets a $10,000 write off, I’m just making this simple form.

    You basically pay zero to the government. And when you buy real estate, that’s why millionaires do it and billionaires. ⁓ have not paid federal, state or social security since 1998. Zero. And I’m in California, folks. Yeah. So it’s because I own enough real estate that I’m able to I bought 24 properties and I still own 11 and I own enough real estate that for my job, J.O.B., which is a realtor, how I make my income, I can write everything off.

    from my rental properties. You either give 50 grand to the government or you give 50,000 to yourself maintaining your properties. It’s better to pay yourself than to pay the government.

    Quentin Edmonds (09:29)
    Yes, indeed. I mean, listen, you’ve given them you’re giving them what we call free game, right? You’re giving them information that’s really, really going to help them

    really, really empower them. And I absolutely love it. Now, what 24 is still only 11. I’m listening to you. Has it always been easy? Has there been any adversities that you’ve bumped up against as you was building?

    ⁓ and coming to success, has there been difficulties at all?

    Kristi Dietz (10:36)
    Oh, absolutely. Listen, I don’t come from money. No one ever gave me a dollar. I moved out of my house at 16 years old. Didn’t start college until I was 21. I remember being on food stamps in college because I had no money for food. I worked two jobs in school. So absolutely, you know, I built every dollar and every single thing I have on my own and had a lot of failures along the way, but failure…

    makes you succeed because when you fail you get back up and you try something different. And when I bought my first property in Orlando, I actually borrowed $3,000 from a friend because I just graduated college not long before, a year and a half before Miguel. He gave me $3,000 and then I borrowed another $3,000 or $4,000 on my credit card and that was my down payment for my property, $7,000. So you do what you have to do.

    And people say, my gosh, you don’t borrow money and borrow money at a credit card. But that was my first property. And I bought that property. And I know you say, oh, well, that’s when properties were cheap. But hey, our interest rates were 9 % back then when I started buying. So it’s all relative. And that property right now that I bought for $70,000, think, back then, and the rents used to be $12,000, I think the rents used to be $800 or $600 a month. Now their properties were $350,000.

    and the rents are $22.50 a month. So your mortgage stays the same, but your rents go up and up and up. That’s where you get your cash flow. So yeah, I mean, I’ve definitely had a lot of reverse that, you know, I got divorced. ⁓ My ex-husband really never made any money, even when we were married. I took care of the kids. I worked 60, 70 hours a week. I bought real estate.

    I did it all and I was exhausted until I was 42 years old and then I got divorced. I had a heart attack at 40. So I had a lot, I had a lot, but I just kept saying, if I don’t do this, what am I gonna do? And I thank the God that I ran into that class right out of college or a couple years out of college because I don’t know where I’d be right now.

    Quentin Edmonds (12:52)
    Yeah, yeah. ⁓ absolutely. I’m so grateful for your story. Thank you so much for saying, always say thank you for the gift of your vulnerability, right? As you’re giving us things that we wouldn’t know unless you shared. And so I thank you for that. And thank you for your perseverance. I want to ask you, what’s your next real goal? Is there something you’re looking to solve a scale next? What’s next for you,

    Kristi Dietz (13:16)
    always want to buy reals will find once you start a bug, you get really exc better than buying a new want buy a new property some of mine in 10 31 is exch property. Um or sometimes because I want get the bills. We all acquire b credit card bills and I

    that I took out, I have to pay 40,000 of that, you know? So ⁓ I think my immediate goals are just really to continue teaching in the spring and really helping. I always feel if I can help one person change their life, and a lot of young guys come as well, not just women, but just young people in general. If I can pay it forward to teach people what I was taught, then I feel that I’m doing something and it means something.

    Because I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I wouldn’t have been taught by all the mentors that I was taught. And I want to continue doing that for other people and helping people.

    Quentin Edmonds (14:26)
    Absolutely. So I’m glad you mentioned mentorship. I’m glad you mentioned helping people, teaching people, even us men. Hello. Thank you so much. We appreciate that. But I saw, I wanted.

    Kristi Dietz (14:38)
    my class. Some of them come because they want to meet all the ladies.

    Quentin Edmonds (15:23)
    Listen,

    Kristi, that’s always gonna be our top tier motivation for us guys. Like, don’t even know, we don’t know what you, what’s the class for? I don’t know, just seen what I, you know, just seen a lot of people here that I like. So, that’s all I’m be able to.

    Kristi Dietz (15:38)
    credit. But then they get very into it. Then they’re like, Oh,

    Quentin Edmonds (15:42)
    Exactly.

    That part. That part. We’re so gullible. Y’all know how to get this. We’re so gullible. But let’s gullible for a good reason at this point, know? So yeah. But so I want to talk to you about relationships. I want to talk to you about relationship building. Is building relationships important to you? How have you gone about building and establishing relationships within business? Like, it has served you well. So what is your perspective on relationships?

    Kristi Dietz (16:12)
    Yeah, relationships are pivotal to success. feel like you need to work with people almost a higher level than you are so that you can strive. Because if you hang out with people that are lower than you, then you’re going to get pulled down. ⁓ I only want to work with people that are honest, have integrity and character. I don’t play games. ⁓ I treat people the way I want to be treated. I treat everybody equally. Relationships, mentorship, goal setting.

    All of those things are very, important. it doesn’t, relationships, doesn’t matter if I have relationships, people that teach me that are 20 years old and people that teach me that are 80. I just got a phone with an engineer is 87 years old this morning because he was giving me some advice on some things. So I just always am looking to learn from the relationships and also any way I can help in the relationships because I just think.

    you need that. And also in all my clients I work with, would never ever ever sell anything. Anyone that I myself would not purchase. even their home, if I’m selling their home, it’s like it’s my home. So I think that’s, and just really always being truthful and have integrity.

    Quentin Edmonds (17:25)
    Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Truthful and integrity. mean, those are music to my ears, because everybody’s not truthful. Everybody doesn’t have integrity. So I love when I get a chance to talk to somebody that highlight those characteristics, integrity and being honest. Because, you know, we were talking about relationships. I just think that’s the best policy is just to be honest and just to be truthful and be upfront. That way,

    When we establish these relationships, we’re establishing them on solid foundation, not just on what I can get from you or what you can do for me. Let’s be authentic and honest about where we are, establish a healthy relationship, and then let’s see organically where we go from there when it comes to business and different things like that. ⁓

    Kristi Dietz (18:14)
    win-win, there’s a win-win for everyone. Because I see a lot of these ⁓ real estate classes online like wholesaling classes and stuff and what they say is half truth. I’m like, ⁓ that’s not true. That is not true at all. You know like and I’ve had students of mine that ⁓ get duped into these really expensive $20,000 classes. I have one guy actually that can join my women’s and he’s actually very smart. He works for NVIDIA.

    high-level programming he does all the programming and he got in he got in paid 20,000 to take a wholesaling class and I said, okay Do you basically know you got to go knock on the door of little old ladies whose houses are falling apart and take a property from them, know Do you realize what you’re doing here? You know like and it’s it’s um, I’m like $20,000, you know, and so you

    They lure you in with half truths versus or you can find a good mentor like someone like me. I don’t even charge people. I just help people because I want to help people, you know, and then in the future, if you end up buying a house for me, then I’ll get paid that way, you know, by a seller paying me a commission or something like that. But a lot of you have to be really careful because a lot of these classes are not truthful. They give you just half truths and it’s not really what it appears to be.

    Quentin Edmonds (19:37)
    Absolutely. Well, I want to just praise you for a minute because I’ve listened to your story and you had to overcome some things. And I think that really powers you to be integral with people because you know the price you had to pay to overcome and be who you are. so it’s like, I want to help you, but I’m going help you give you the truth. I’m going help you giving you honesty. And so one of the things you said,

    is that you were grateful. you know, when I asked you about, you know, strategies that you used, you were so gratefulness. And ⁓ my wife and I, you know, of course, well, people may not know this, but now you’re going to know, you know, it’s New Year’s Eve. This is when we shooting this. But all year, my wife and I, we have been putting, we got a gratitude jar. So we were writing things down all year about what we’re grateful for. And we’ve been putting it in jar. And so tonight,

    12 midnight, we’re going to bring the New Year’s in reading off hundreds of things that we’ve been grateful for over the year. And, and you know, and then we’re going to reset it, you know, in, in 2026, what we grateful for and keep doing it, you know, keep going for it. And so I just say that to say, when I listen to you, I listen to how grateful you are. I listen to that you want to pass that on to other people that, you know, I’ve overcome.

    I’m here now and I want to teach you some strategies, but they’re going to be strategies that’s rooted in integrity, honesty, and gratefulness. And so that’s just me praising you. really appreciate you being here. I really appreciate you being here. really do.

    Kristi Dietz (21:14)
    Thank you so much. I love that. I’m going to start a jar too. ⁓ I’m going to start a jar for the family and put it. That’s an amazing idea. Yeah. And you know, ⁓ people think because you own a bunch of real estate, you’re just all rich. You’re like property rich, cash poor. If my tenants need a new roof or a new hot water heater, they’re getting it, not me.

    What it is is when you retire, you’ll have a forced savings account and hopefully be able to live off your rental properties or live off the money from your rental properties. So it’s a sacrifice all the time. I only allow myself a new car once every 10 years. All my money needs to go in my rental properties. So just because I have 11 properties, it doesn’t mean I’m some rich person. I’m not. I work every day. I put in a new air conditioning in a house the other day.

    Quentin Edmonds (21:50)
    Because

    Kristi Dietz (22:06)
    Taxes I have a tax bill right here. So all the money goes but I’m paying myself instead of paying the IRS and I’m creating a force savings account for myself because Realistically, none of us are going to be able to live on the pittance of Social Security than we get You know and we have to have some way to be able to keep our standard of living Somewhat near what we’re doing right now

    And really the only way to do that is invest in real estate. Millionaires have 80 % in their assets in real estate and 20 % in the market. And they do that for a reason. I don’t care who you talk about, they all do. Every past president we’ve ever had owns tons of real estate. Even we used to have Arnold Schwarzenegger as our governor of California years ago. And he owns over 500 rental properties in Los Angeles. And people don’t realize that.

    Quentin Edmonds (22:45)
    more.

    and.

    Kristi Dietz (22:57)
    And it’s just really a way. And the best thing you could do is buy a little house, turn in a rental and go keep going bigger. But most people go and buy the biggest house they can right off the bat and live like, like choking themselves, barely able to pay. A smarter thing is to start very small and keep getting little tiny bigger houses all along. Start with a condor townhome and then turn each one. If you do that in nine or 10 years, you’ll have five rental houses. And then you can stop.

    Quentin Edmonds (23:24)
    Yeah.

    Kristi Dietz (23:26)
    You have five hours that you can stop. Well, because you’ll be addicted to it.

    Quentin Edmonds (23:29)
    Absolutely.

    That part, there you go. Absolutely. Kristi, I can’t thank you enough. Thank you so much for being here. Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to get in contact with you?

    Kristi Dietz (23:45)
    You can call me directly on my cell phone if you like. I don’t mind. I’m always willing to help people. No charge for that. just like to help people because I just feel it’s important. My number is 818-6940740. 818-6940740. You can also email me. My email, my company is realinvestor info incorporated, which stands for Retire Early and Live Investor.

    So my email is [email protected]

    Quentin Edmonds (24:22)
    There you go. Well, listen, Ms. Kristi again, I want to thank you for your time because time is very valuable, very precious. We know that. So thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your story. Again, thank you for your gift of vulnerability. Thank you for sharing different ups and downs with us. Thank you for sharing your wins and the difficulties. I really appreciate your story.

    And definitely thank you for your perspective. Thank you for the way that you think. And thank you for bringing that perspective to this podcast. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for being here today.

    Kristi Dietz (25:00)
    Thank you for having me, I’m grateful.

    Quentin Edmonds (25:02)
    after hi wonderful yes i am grateful too that is wonderful thank you so much ⁓ listen definitely get in contact with miss miss Kristi but definitely make sure you’re subscribed here for sure because i promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Kristi so thank you again ma’am and to everyone else we will see you on the next time

    Kristi Dietz (25:04)
    Grateful.

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