Nkoli’s Inspiring Journey: From $10 to Real Estate Broker

Nkoli (00:00)
I won the Visa lottery in a few years ago, about 20 something years ago. I was in Nigeria and when I won the lottery, it allows you to come to the United States to give you the green card so you have an opportunity here. It’s the land of opportunities, right? So I remember

John Harcar (00:15)
Right? Yes, sir. Or ma’am.

Nkoli (00:18)
coming to America, which it’s not the movie this time, this is real, I was with only $10 in my pocket. story. My family had nothing at the time I won the lottery, so my uncle helped buy the tickets, one-way ticket for me to come to the United States with $10. I remember landing in Detroit and I prayed. I was like, God, I don’t know what I’m going to do with $10. Thankfully, I have an uncle who I will stay with, but that was it.

John Harcar (00:23)
Yeah. Wow.

Nkoli (00:46)
My journey started like most immigrants. I went from McDonald’s Burger King. I remember getting my first Paycheck, you know coming with $10 and I think it was maybe 50 or whatever dad and I was so excited nine months after I came to the United States I got a job with T Bank and I remember the first day I walked into the bank I made a prayer and I was like God, you know what? This is an opportunity for me.

John Harcar (02:51)
All right, hey guys, welcome back to the show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and I’m super excited today to talk with our guest here, ⁓ Nkoli Ogwuru Once again, hope I said that right. ⁓ And we’re gonna talk about not only her journey in business and in real estate and what got to today, but also how she’s really helping people achieve that American dream, right? That home ownership, why she’s working with a lot of first time buyers and those type of things she does.

So, Nkoli welcome to the show.

Nkoli (03:21)
Thank you, John. Thank you for having me.

John Harcar (03:23)
Yeah,

I’m excited to talk about what you do. I love when I hear, you know, someone that has a passion, you know, for something like that, that is helping a giving. But before we get into all that stuff, what I’d like you to do is share with our audience a little bit about you, right? Your background, what got you into real estate and I mean, really what brought you to today.

Nkoli (03:42)
Awesome. Okay. So I won the lottery. Not that kind of lottery that most people think about. So

John Harcar (03:45)
Yeah!

Nkoli (03:50)
I won the Visa lottery in a few years ago, about 20 something years ago. I was in Nigeria and when I won the lottery, it allows you to come to the United States to give you the green card so you have an opportunity here. It’s the land of opportunities, right? So I remember

John Harcar (04:07)
Right? Yes, sir. Or ma’am.

Nkoli (04:10)
coming to America, which it’s not the movie this time, this is real, I was with only $10 in my pocket. story. My family had nothing at the time I won the lottery, so my uncle helped buy the tickets, one-way ticket for me to come to the United States with $10. I remember landing in Detroit and I prayed. I was like, God, I don’t know what I’m going to do with $10. Thankfully, I have an uncle who I will stay with, but that was it.

John Harcar (04:14)
Yeah

Wow.

Nkoli (04:37)
My journey started like most immigrants. I went from McDonald’s Burger King. I remember getting my first Paycheck, you know coming with $10 and I think it was maybe 50 or whatever dad and I was so excited nine months after I came to the United States I got a job with T Bank and I remember the first day I walked into the bank I made a prayer and I was like God, you know what?

This is an opportunity for me.

This is nine months, right? And I’m going to a job where I was paid, if I remember correctly as a teller, it was $8.50 an hour. So that’s almost what I came to this country with, right? So I said, I want to make it in this country. I already said that in Detroit, but now the dream was becoming clear that I’m going to work in the banking industry. I’m going to meet people. I’m going to meet the rich, the poor, they, everybody.

John Harcar (05:12)
Mm-hmm.

Nkoli (05:29)
in this space. And from then, my journey in the financial services industry started. A year after that, I started college. I went to college at Cleveland State University. I graduated in three years in business, a business bachelor’s of business at me and all of that. And from there, got married. My husband was in Nigeria. So we went back home, got married and he came.

John Harcar (05:44)
Congratulations.

Nkoli (06:42)
And I remember ⁓ when I studied the real estate journey was ⁓ the year my husband came. He got a job in Texas. I’m in Texas now and I had been in Ohio for like nine years. And when he came to, when he was removed here, Texas has always been pricier. Like the homes have always been higher than other states. didn’t just start today.

And he wanted us to move into an apartment. And again, I’d worked in the banking industry for at the time, eight years. I’ve worked in lending. I’ve worked in credit. I’ve worked in all that. I it didn’t make sense. The rent for a three bedroom in Allen, Texas was like three times what I was paying for rent in Ohio. So I told him it was good to buy a home and he struggled. He’s like, we pay cash. You know, he’s from Africa. We pay cash for everything. And he’s like, we, you know, I was like, you’re never going to have enough like.

John Harcar (07:10)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Nkoli (07:33)
money to pay cash in America unless you’re making, you know, for a home. And, he finally agreed and we bought our first home. But when we bought that first home, something struck in us. Like when we drove in from, Ohio, the look at the time we had a daughter, she was about two and a half. And we had, was pregnant with the second one and I remembered the look on our daughter’s face.

She was coming from an apartment and she ran into this home in Allen. She ran into her room and she ran down the stairs and she hugged us and she said, mom, dad, thank you. We have our own home. She ran outside and at that moment, cause I was scared, you know, moving to a new state I had never been into. My husband had worked here for a couple of months and I was buying a home, but the joy in our daughter’s heart and soul like

John Harcar (08:03)
Mm-hmm.

Sure.

Nkoli (08:27)
Every fear disappeared. I knew we had made the right decision to get our family home at the time. And it stayed back there. I worked in the banking industry from there. My husband and I owned two ⁓ pizza franchises. We tried that. We failed forward. Don’t let me. It was a nightmare. I don’t know what to do to the food business. I should have stayed with the financial services. So we didn’t do so well there. We have to start again. Then 2016. ⁓

John Harcar (08:32)
Mm-hmm.

Okay, bye.

Hahaha!

Mm.

Nkoli (08:53)
By this time, by 2011, we had four children under seven. Yeah, wow. And so I had to stay home for like five years after we failed in our business, trying to run the business so that I could stay home. Then 2016, it became clear that someone had to, my husband travels a lot, he still does, work. So he’s been consultants, lived in different countries for work. So now he travels locally.

John Harcar (08:57)
Wow.

Okay.

Nkoli (09:20)
And it was evident that someone needed to be home. And I was, I already told them when the last one turns five, I will go back to work. But if you stayed home or work for yourself, it’s hard to go back into corporate America. I had been home for like at the, at the time, eight years. So.

I decided to go into real estate. said, you do great in real estate. You’re a salesperson. I was like, I know, but I want to do real estate as an investor, not as a job. But I went to real estate school and that’s how the journey to real estate started. It was mostly so that I can have time for the family, but also it was a passion of mine and me coming from the lending and the whatever background.

John Harcar (09:47)
Right.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Nkoli (10:04)
was phenomenal. So I had to build my business from the scratch. I’d stayed home. I didn’t know anybody. I had left the corporate world, you know, stay home moms. I wasn’t in any stay home groups. So, but I had a church family and that was how my real estate business started almost 10 years ago.

John Harcar (10:20)
Wow.

Was there something like a seed planted in the past with real estate? mean, you’ve been in the financial stuff. You were doing all this other stuff. Why did you? I heard you mention, you said, hey, I have to get into real estate or I want to get into real estate. What created that passion for real estate or that want for real estate?

Nkoli (11:14)
Okay, so my all time favorite game is Monopoly. Do you know what Monopoly? Honestly, so as a child growing up in Africa, I played it a lot. I loved to buy the hotels. I loved to buy the homes. I loved to build that. So real estate was always in the blood. And like when people recommended that and said, hey, you do great. You know, since you don’t want to go back to corporate America, you can make money and still be home for your four kids with your husband traveling.

John Harcar (11:17)
yeah.

Hmm.

Nkoli (11:41)
And my mom used to stay with us to help with the kids at the time too. So it makes sense. It’s something I had had even as a child that was going to do real estate investing, but it became, you know, ⁓ a career in 2016.

John Harcar (11:43)
Mm-hmm.

You have such an incredible story. I mean, you have that, you know, and I wrote down immigrant story and I say that as like the view of like, if you looked at it like a movie, that sounds kind of like how a movie would progress. I mean, you came with nothing and you grew and you flourished. What were some of the things, some of the key attributes or, you know, the habits that you had to grow to continue to keep just trying to go and go and build and build and get bigger?

Nkoli (12:22)
So one of them was where I came from. My family was struggling when I came to the United States and I knew they were counting on me to succeed because I had to help them, right? I came with $10. I had parents, had siblings, younger siblings, and I only have another brother. I’m the first daughter. Now in the African culture, I’m going to teach you a little bit about us. The first daughters have a lot of role. We are like the mothers of the family.

John Harcar (12:38)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Nkoli (12:50)
So I knew that burden was in me to be the mother. So I had to succeed in this country. So there was no time to play. If you notice my life, I started work, I went to school, I graduated. So it’s been like that the last two decades plus.

John Harcar (13:01)
Yeah.

Nkoli Ogwuru (13:04)
So I said, family in Africa, they were counting on me. Remember I you I came with $10. So coming with $10, I had younger siblings. I have my parents, they had no money. They were dependent on me. mean, it was like,

John Harcar (13:08)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Nkoli Ogwuru (13:19)
I was sent the right time. So that drive, then the connection I have with people, my true, I connect with people a lot. So, and I saw that it was just not my family. I had relatives, I have friends who were counting on me to help. I still do. Like I have foundations, I support back home and stuff. So it keeps me going. Like if you see my story, there’s never been a break. It has been constantly.

John Harcar (13:43)
Alright.

Nkoli Ogwuru (13:45)
How can I succeed? How can I help people back home? My parents, my grandparents, my relatives, my friends. So that keeps me going. And then here in this country, seeing the need for people to, ⁓ people like me, immigrants like me who come here with nothing, who have this dream, helping them see the dream of home ownership is my greatest joy, honestly. It’s just like, you know, it’s possible. Everything’s possible.

John Harcar (14:01)
Mm-hmm.

Awesome.

It is. And you’re proof. ⁓ We talked a little earlier. You’re currently doing residential and commercial as a broker agent. ⁓ What does your team look like? What are your goals? Where are you trying to get to? Talk about your business today.

Nkoli Ogwuru (14:28)
Okay. So right now my team includes just my husband and myself. Now I do have a social media team helping me prior to this year. I’ve never been on social media. My business had been 98 % referrals. I don’t know. Yeah. So I don’t do no social media, but again, trying to expand my influence and people tell me my clients are like, why are you not in social media? You know, when you’re working with Gen Z’s and Gen Y’s and yeah.

John Harcar (14:43)
Best kind.

Nkoli Ogwuru (14:57)
Like, where are you at? You know, we don’t see you. They’re like, you have so much to give. Don’t hide yourself. So I started delving into the social media. You know what? So my team now is my social media team. have an assistant and then my husband and I do real estate together when he’s available. So when I can’t show homes, he helps me with that. So, but the growth plan is to add more people to the team in the future.

John Harcar (14:59)
Right?

Got it. And I think you said start your own brokerage. Yes. Is that your plan? ⁓ you do have it. Okay. That’s right. You want to grow that.

Nkoli Ogwuru (15:25)
Yeah, I do have my own brokerage actually. My brokerage is called

Mootswool Inc. I started it in 2020, registered it in 2020, but I’m a broker under another broker.

John Harcar (15:35)
Okay.

Got it.

OK. And then, you know, when we started off at the beginning, we talked a little bit about kind of what your passion is and your passion about helping people achieve that home ownership. And based on your story, I could see why. So let’s talk a little bit about that or touch on that for a quick second. How do you help people really get into that home ownership?

Nkoli Ogwuru (16:37)
Okay. So one of the things I do is I take my time with a buyer consult. My consultation takes about an hour and a half. And the reason I do that is I want to know that my clients are ready. I pride in the fact that one, my clients don’t lose their money and might give my clients what they want. I tell them that my goal is to make sure I put you in a home that I don’t want you two years after calling and saying, or a year or a month after I regret the home. So I do.

John Harcar (16:49)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Nkoli Ogwuru (17:04)
The consultation, thankfully I do have a mortgage loan license. So I pre-qualify you. I worked in credit. So if the credit doesn’t look good, I tell you what to do to build your credit or to rebuild it or to start from the scratch what to do. So I guide them through this process. That’s what my process looks like. The consultation, look at their credit and I tell them, if you can’t trust me with the information to get you a home, this is probably going to be the largest investment you’re going to make in your life.

John Harcar (17:33)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Nkoli Ogwuru (17:33)
which is your home. That’s most people’s largest investment. And

you’re trusting me. You’re coming to me to provide that to you. So you need to trust me through the whole process. I know what I’m talking about. So the consultation is critical to getting all the information to know when they’re ready. It’s not every time someone wants to buy a home, they’re ready. And that’s what I have to kindly help them understand. Like, okay.

We’re not ready yet. The credit doesn’t look good or the income, you know, before you start messing up, running your credit up and down, let’s go through this. And I, sometimes I tell them you’re free to, if you want to go to credit comma or whatever, pull up your credit report. I’ll help you look at it. I’ll help you see what is wrong with the credit right now, what we can do, how to negotiate some things, guide them through that process before we get a home. So that’s what the process looks like. And generally.

John Harcar (18:18)
Okay.

Nkoli Ogwuru (18:25)
was to follow the steps we get at home within the set time I give them, six months, three months, whatever. And if it’s a little bit too complicated, then I refer them to someone else who can guide them through getting everything ready, especially credit before, you know, so.

John Harcar (18:40)
Mm-hmm. Got it.

Okay. So kind of like a full, I don’t want to call it white, white glove service, but you really make sure that they have all their ducks in a row.

Nkoli Ogwuru (18:49)
Exactly, because I don’t want them to lose their money or get frustrated when you know, I do know how many how many people have gotten excited written a contract want to buy a home and Three weeks to close in or two weeks down the way and you’re like, sorry Don’t qualify and all the dream everything the inspection money is wasted. Why so let’s make sure these things are ready I call it the red carpet service actually,

John Harcar (19:04)
Yeah.

Red carpet, there we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah. I like that. Do you think that that’s something that’s lacking in the space, right? With, yeah.

Nkoli Ogwuru (19:20)
Yes, it is.

I believe so. ⁓ because I’ve had second time home buyers come to me and they tell me their first experience was not this way. They were lost in the process. So my clients are part of the process. Like when we go to show houses, I’m pointing out keywords like, this is crown molding. This is trade ceiling. Why? need them to understand the entire process. So when they’re not lost, you know, when somebody you’re like, what is that? So

They follow even the inspections. I make sure that they educate it. But many times in the industry, people just take people out to go buy a home. So I think that’s very lacking.

John Harcar (19:56)
Yeah.

Yeah, the communication, the discussion, you know, the investigation that you do to really make sure that someone’s ready is huge and I appreciate that. If there’s folks out there in Coler that are listening right now and they wanna, they, okay, well, before we do that, you’re in the Prosper, Texas area, correct? What areas do you work in? Is it primarily right around that in the Frisco area or is there a specific area that you operate in?

Nkoli Ogwuru (20:17)
Yes I am.

So I work in the North Dallas area. tried Houston market and I was like, what took me out here? So I tried Houston, it was overwhelming. I did sell it, like, no, I’m not familiar with this. Cause I, again, I want to do my clients right. I don’t want to just buy you a home. So I do the North Dallas area. So the prosper area, the Wiley area is Dallas, Garland. The contract I have written is I have raw lags then footwork, just the DFW area. That’s what I’m basically focusing on.

John Harcar (20:27)
the North Dallas.

Hahaha!

Sure.

Okay.

The DFW, awesome.

OK, perfect. Well, guys, if there’s anybody out there listening that maybe has some clients or maybe wants to talk with Encoli about business in the area, please reach out. How do they get in touch with you?

Nkoli Ogwuru (20:55)
Yes.

So my, ⁓ I’m on, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. It’s my brokerage name Ruthswall. it’s R as in Roger U T H S W A L L right. Ruthswall. That’s on Instagram. They’re starting to talk Facebook. Then a LinkedIn is my full name. Nkoli Ogwuru

you are here. So there are ways you can reach out to me and I can send you my information too. So if anybody needs it, they can reach out to us. So yeah.

John Harcar (21:42)
Yeah, no, we’ll pull that off. We’ll put it on the put it in the show notes and Nkoli I appreciate you coming on here. I loved your story. ⁓ Be stay resilient. Keep doing what you’re doing. ⁓ Guys, if you enjoyed this as well or if you have any questions for him, Nkoli, reach out. But I hope you all enjoyed the show and Nkoli. Thank you again. And we’ll see you guys on the next one. Cheers.

Nkoli Ogwuru (22:04)
Thank you. Thank you.