Money Focused Podcast
Helping ordinary people, become extraordinary with MONEY! Each weekly episode is packed with actionable tips, expert insights, and real-world advice to help you grow financially and take control of your future. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your wealth, you’ve found the perfect place. Get ready to transform your financial journey, one episode at a time!
Money Focused Podcast
EP 47 - Grow Your Portfolio! Overcome Real Estate Challenges!!
Discover the secrets to achieving financial freedom and overcoming real estate challenges with Jhanel Wilson, a former chemical engineer turned real estate investor. Jhanel shares her journey from rescuing her father's abandoned duplex to building a portfolio of over 100 rental units. Learn how she used hard money loans and credit cards, dealt with unexpected liens and unreliable contractors, and switched from a secure 9-to-5 job to making real estate her main income source. Jhanel gives amazing insights on financial planning, government contracts, the BRRRR strategy, and the tough psychological hurdles of leaving a steady paycheck. Tune in for her empowering advice on starting small, building strong relationships, and pushing through challenges to achieve real estate success.
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Welcome back to the Money Focus Podcast. I'm your host, Moses the mentor, and on this episode, I'm honored to have Janelle Wilson join the show, who turned a credit card rescue operation for her dad's house into a booming real estate portfolio of over 100 units. She's a former chemical engineer and now she's a real estate mogul. Janelle's journey is about leveraging credit to create wealth, so let's explore her strategies, her insights and how you too can transition from a nine to five to financial freedom through real estate. Let's go. I really appreciate you. I know you're super busy and I'm a big fan. For those who don't know you, though, my first question is always for my guests to really walk through their career journey, their professional journey and, in your case, how you got started in real estate. So the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I got started because my dad actually had a duplex on the same block as my grandmother's house and I remember him going across the street and pick up rent money. Now I didn't know it was rent money, but I did know that he had a set lot of cash when he came across the street and I was always in the money. I had my first bank account when I was seven years old, so that impressed me. I was like, wow, house across the street equals money. So fast forward. A few years later he actually got to crack you know he's part of the crack epidemic but my mom sent me to live with my grandmother. My mom, who was a homemaker, was totally relying on him. She lost everything too. But, like I said, I want my grandmother. And that was where my journey started to change. Fast forward even further.
Speaker 2:10 years later I was in college, this house that my dad had that was going to be abandoned, had been abandoned for over 10 years was going to sheriff's sale and I saved it by paying the back taxes. I had about 5,000 worth of taxes and I was about 20 years old at this time and I didn't. I'd never been inside this property. I had no condition that I was in. I didn't know what a tax auction was. I just know I had to pay this back money to save his house. So I used a student loan, pay the back taxes and finish school.
Speaker 2:When I finished school, I went inside the house for the first time and it was a total gut. You can see the sky through the roof. I had no beams, the back wall was collapsing and I was just overwhelmed and I was like you know what, let me go back to work and max out my Roth, right. But then a few months later it was gonna get demolished. From the city I got this notice saying it was gonna get demolished because I had all these violations, and when I was reading these violations I felt overwhelmed, like I don't know what any of this stuff means. I wasted my $5,000. My dad's house will get torn down. But there was a contractor there who overheard everything that was happening and he offered to fix everything. So I took a cash advance on my credit card. I don't recommend doing that, but it was the only thing I know about the time and I paid another 5,000 and to get into stuff repaired Now this is a lot of money to me.
Speaker 2:This was in 2004,. 10,000 today would probably be like 30 grand, okay, so it was a lot of money. So I fixed some repairs and got off the demo list. I had no money. I was living off of refund checks. So, yeah, I didn't have any money.
Speaker 2:And so when I did this last 10, he gave me a quote to fix the rest of the house, and that was for about 25,000. And I was like what? I guess this is the end of my road because I don't have 25 grand. I don't you just sell it. And I was like, all right, I'll sell it. And just a few days later someone walked up to me and said hey, I'll buy it for $45,000. Now this was in 2004. And it was a total debt and in my mind it was worth about $25,000. So when he offered me $45,000 for it, it got me thinking like, oh, oh, what do I have here? And I decided to keep it. So I kept it and a few days after that, when meeting the investor, I was in the hair salon and telling people what was going on with this house and someone said hey, I just got a home equity loan and it is drive-by appraisal and the house appraised for $70,000.
Speaker 2:I got a loan for $63,000 and I said what? This sounds genius. So I applied for this loan, but it was called Wachovia back then. I fixed up the outside of the house. I put in new windows, I painted and I had to pray my makeshift foundation worked, which it did, and I got approved. So I got a loan for $63,000.
Speaker 2:But at the table I found out I owed an old mortgage, old water liens, mechanics liens, and then wound up paying another $45,000 at the table. But I was left with $18,000. And with that $18,000, I hired that contractor. He started doing the contractor stuff, stopped showing up, stopped doing this and that, but I tracked down his workers. They actually finished the job for a lot cheaper. But once that was done I put two section, eight tenants in there and I was making over $1,100 a month. Now I was like whoa, this is what that investor saw. He knew what this house to make a thousand dollars a month. I had no idea. And once I paid my line of credit I had $700 left over. Now this is a lot to account to the 22-year-old, and so that was when I started real estate, and now I have over 100 units and that is how I began in real estate.
Speaker 1:Wow. So now that you have over 100 units, now, when did you actually make the decision to actually quit your job? Like, how many units did you have at that point?
Speaker 2:Right. So I worked for the government and my job was pretty cushy. I could come in, do my work and nobody really bothered me, and I thought I would be there forever. But then my boss changed, and you know how changing a different boss can ruin everything for you. So things were going great. I had discovered hard money loans. I was using credit cards First. I started using credit cards to buy properties. Then I started to network more and learn about more, more funding sources and I discovered hard money loans and I discovered what's called now the Burr strategy. So I was buying properties with credit cards, hard money loans and refinancing with a commercial bank and with that process I was getting cash in my pocket. I was able to buy more properties and started to really scale.
Speaker 2:So my first year with part of money loans and credit cards, I bought three multifamilies. I bought duplex and two triplexes and in that first year it was my first hundred thousand dollar cash out check. And at this point I'm like shoot, I got this all figured out. I got the money. I was going to auctions and I had wholesalers. I was getting the properties Like there was nothing slowing me down, but it was my job. I didn't know this at the time. So my boss, so I was going to be there forever. I was like this is cliche, this is easy, I can do all this from my office at 730. When I walked in I was like yo, can I check my email? Can I get settled first? And one day I told him I said, listen, you don't have to micromanage me, I do my job. Please just let me get settled and I will come straight to you. And he kept doing it.
Speaker 2:And so I actually had to make a decision, because they also did a buyout at my job. This was on the Great Recession. They weren't giving any raises, they weren't giving any bonuses, which I was fine with because I was already making like another $50,000 outside of work and I felt bad for the rest of people, but I was cool. So when they did this buyout, they paid everyone who was like of age to retire, and this was a lot of my support team. So I'm an engineer and I work in a pilot clan and when a scientist scales up their project, they bring it to me and I designed the how to scale it up and I tell the operators what to do and I just monitor them. So this buyout got rid of all the operators. So I was in there doing the work, which I didn't mind it, but I don't want to be there all day and work through my lunch and all that.
Speaker 2:So then I had to make the decision where I had to pick between real estate and my job. And when my boss changed, things got hard. They wanted me there all day and I had the access to the hard money, loans and properties through auctions. I was like I guess I got to go and I took off a month to just kind of recalibrate things and just make sure this is what I wanted to do. And when I was off I got introduced to so many opportunities. A house right next to mine went up for share sale and I would have never known unless I was there. So I got that house and six months later not even six months, like three months later I told my boss, I said I'm leaving and he got even worse.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that was when I made the decision to leave. For people that I talk to, that that's made that plunge. They always say, hey, like so many opportunities come about once they actually, you know, leave their job. You know, so it sounds like that happened to you. When you know, when you actually left your job, you know many opportunities came your way. But on the flip side, I'm just curious because I haven't made that plunge yet. So this is a selfish question too. So what was something about the whole plunge? You know, because it sounds really sexy to say, yeah, I left my job. But what was one thing that you wish that you said, man, I should have held on a little bit longer. Or maybe you can tell someone like me or some listeners like, hey, before you make that job, consider X, y, z. Is there something you want to point out?
Speaker 2:So I'm a planner and I probably left actually later than what I really probably should have left, which is why things got hard. And another person who was kind of encouraging me to go and kind of made me feel like I would be OK is another engineer who he used to work for Merck and he was out doing real estate for years on his own. I was like you know what, if he can do it, I can do it, you know. And so I just made sure everything was was already okay, like I had the infinite money source, I have the infinite properties and I had a point where I had a contractor that I trusted. So I went through five contractors before I found my dude. So once you have your contractors, your funding sources and your properties on paper, you're okay, like you can do it, and it's pretty much a matter of fear and letting go of the uncertainty of the security of your job and then going out and trusting yourself and trusting the process and just taking that leap. But I know this answer is not good enough for most of us, so I'll say these things. This is when I left. I left when my real estate income was almost as much as my job income. So I was making about 70,000 in real estate, which on paper turns out to be more than your W-2, because that's not even taxed. Ok, you're keeping a whole lot more money of that. I was making $70,000 for my job at that time, so I was making close to what I did at my job. Also, I had already researched how much my health insurance was going to be. I researched how much I want to pay in life insurance. Like I already researched all this stuff, I made sure all my expenses were covered. I could cover my housing, I can cover my car. So I just I've made sure I planned with that and then I just took that leap. You kind of just got to trust the process Once you know that the money's there and I did that too I went to my lender.
Speaker 2:I said, hey, if I quit my job, can I still get loans? And they say yeah. Then they showed me my numbers. This is what I teach other people too. I said this is what your numbers need to look like in order to get financing outside of your job. So once he showed me that and he showed me my number like way over that I knew that I could get financing. So as long as I know I can get financing, I knew I can get the properties.
Speaker 2:There was really not just the rentals, but you flip in there, you add flips. You can easily make 50,000 on the flip I was making. I don't, I'm not a flipper, but I will flip if it's just too easy and I can make $50,000 in two months just from a simple flip and you can't do that with a job. You want to make an extra 50 grand. You can't just go call up and do something when you see that how easy this money is because, like I said, you got the deals clamping, you got your wholesale, you got your auctions that you go to, you got the money. Like what? What else is really stopping you? What else, what is it?
Speaker 1:What slows people down, in my experience, is just that security, that guaranteed paycheck. You know, um, that's really what people kind of struggle with, and what, what I, what my family, what I teach people to do, is to really number one. In my opinion, right, you have to not live paycheck to paycheck. I think that's one of the fears in itself, to where, if your finances are not in order, it's hard for you to even think about investing because you're so worried about the next week's paycheck, you know. So getting your household expenses in order really helps a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right, I was actually really good at that. Having your foundation set, knowing how to manage your finances, is a priority. If you don't have that together, then you're going to mess up in business anyway, Because how you treat your personal finances is how you're going to treat your business finances. So that has to be first. But as far as a guaranteed money, I feel the same way and that's why I went to Section 8. And I work for the government because I wanted the security. My whole family works for the government because they were like you got to make sure you have your job security, security. So security has been built into my head and that's why I run to Section 8 for that security. So if you already know that you have government contracts, you know how to get them Now. Now, what's your excuse?
Speaker 1:I think the biggest hurdle, personally I look at is like health insurance. I haven't done a lot of research. I mean I want to understand that that's not an issue. I also want to make sure that I have all the infrastructure in place. You mentioned a contractor. You mentioned funding sources. Those are the type of things that you know. I guess once you get in motion doing it over and over again, you'll have plenty of commercial lenders on hand. You have plenty of contractors on hand. I've used one contractor in my experience Now. Has he been good to me? Yes, but I don't know if he's the best because I've only used one.
Speaker 2:So for the contractor, if he has been treating you right and you're still buying properties, you're still making money, he's getting the work done, he's honest, he has integrity, he has all the things that you look for like based off your own values and morals. He has all those things, then he probably is a good contractor. Maybe you are blessed and got lucky in your first one. Maybe you have a good gift of discernment. You can tell a good one from a bad one. You just picked a good one from the start, so I would not worry about that, unless he's giving you a reason to work. It doesn't sound like he has All right. So there's the confidence in knowing that you got something good and using that and in the health insurance, that's not an issue. It's just a matter of you want to research and getting that confirmation for yourself. But no, you find out how much it is. Do you buy enough property to pay it?
Speaker 1:What about the pipeline of properties? Because all the properties that we've bought have been traditional lending, so I know we're probably not doing it in the maximum ROI capacity at this point. I know you mentioned commercial lending, and what would you say for that? What's the best way to vet funding options out there? Is there any that you would recommend?
Speaker 2:It depends on what your model is. If you want to buy a turnkey, you have the money to do that. You can continue doing that. I didn't have the money to turnkey. The most I made in my job was 78. It just wasn't enough to buy houses, so I had to do the birth strategy. The birth strategy allows you to buy distressed properties for very cheap the cheapest I bought a house for I think it was for $5,000 and do the renovation, because they paid for the renovation 100%. So if you want to scale and not be limited by debt to income because that's what slowed me down too After my third property I couldn't buy another property, even though my first two were making $700 and $900 a month, and I was making 60,000 at my job and all I had was a car note of 300 bucks.
Speaker 2:I don't know why. I couldn't get approved for the loan. So I was forced to go with commercial lending, which didn't look at my personal funds. They only looked at how much the house was worth and how it performed. So you could buy things that are already up and operating 10 units, 20 units, 50 units that is already bringing in money and can service the loan. So it is just a different financing strategy once you step into that realm and they're everywhere. They're at credit unions. They're at your local bank Now, banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
Speaker 2:That is not their wheelhouse. Their wheelhouse is residential, okay. So when people wanna say bad things about those other banks because they wanna get a rental property or something that's not their wheelhouse and is going to be harder to go financing. But you can just Google commercial mortgages and see what banks pop up. You can Google commercial mortgage credit union because they have the best product for it and the credit unions are the best because they do not have prepayment penalties. They have the lowest rates Right now. My latest loan was for 6.75. And I think a lot of the no-doc loans, which I don't recommend, are around 8 or 9%. So credit unions who have commercial mortgages are the best to use for, even for residential. But scaling up and being able to get properties that are not on your personal name, not on your personal credit report, have no limitations.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and that's the thing I mean, because you know, for me to be able to scale up and replace my income, I know I'm going to have to shift away from the traditional loans. So you know because one thing I would say you mentioned turnkey. So the properties that I purchased in Cleveland, they were listed as turnkey and that's. That's could be furthest from the truth. I pretty much had to do a lot of work in there and that's how I met my contractor. Cleveland is a market where those are older homes anyway. So the chances of you not having to do any work is slim to none of you not having to do any work is slim to none. So I want to implement the burst strategy and be able to have that maximum ROI to put the money in, pull it out. So that's perfect. So I appreciate that. So talk to us about how you actually find your off-market deals. Do you work with wholesalers? How does that work?
Speaker 2:You know, my dad's house was going to go for auction, so I was introduced to auctions at a very young age and so I always knew they were present, but again I didn't have the cash for them. So the people who I knew were buying at auction were like my plumber and my electrician they were going there and buying houses for $10,000. So when I first learned about the credit cards, I, if many people, probably get those envelopes in the mail and they'll never open it. If they do, you see a check in there and in the check it says 0%. And so I called them up one day. I said hey, what is this check? Can I just put this in my bank account? And they say, yeah. I said, so, I can put it in my bank account and it'll be like money I can spend and it's not a cash advance, it's 0%. It's like, yeah, it'd be 0% for 18 months or whatever. So that's what I did. I put the. I remember putting $14,000 in my account for the first time and it was like, wow, I'm going straight to the auction. And so that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I started buying an auction with that cash on my credit card. So I bought. Um, I bought a house for 10,000, another one, I bought two for 10,000, one for 17. And so I started at auctions and I realized that it's not just those auctions. Those were the tax liens and the foreclosure auctions, but I got introduced to more. There's so many more. There's estate sales, there's drug seizures, there's a liquidation that the city might do of houses that they have, so there's a whole world of auctions that people don't know about. Yes, there's a tax and foreclosures, but there's more. There's a ton more. So I got a lot of my properties through auctions.
Speaker 2:Then my contractor, my electrician, he introduced me to a wholesaler and his wholesaler a lot of his stuff was from the auction. I learned this later. But my first wholesaler was someone who he got in touch with an estate, who, the person who passed away had a bunch of properties and they had to get rid of them. And I got two of them with my first triplex. So he was a wholesaler who looked up to see who died, looked up to see what they owned, worked it out with this with the family and then sold it to investors. So I was introduced to wholesalers.
Speaker 2:So I use mostly wholesalers and auctions and that's how I get my pipeline out, because wholesalers love people who pay with cash, love people who have hard money lenders and who are, who are true to their word. Once you say you're going to close with them, once you pay your deposit, you follow through, and so I got a lot of favor with the wholesalers because they trusted me. So whenever they had a deal, they called me first. If they had an email blast, they still called me first and see if I wanted to deal.
Speaker 2:So I got my properties, mostly through wholesalers. They knew exactly what I wanted. They knew I could close and they would bring me deals. And I go to auctions and I also have a couple of realtors when I found out about a house that I wanted. So I have them in my back pocket too, and whenever they get good deals before they put on MLS, if it's something that I like, they bring it to me first. So it's all about not only knowing what's out there, but building those relationships and having integrity and knowing how to financing financing. So it's all a culmination of everything.
Speaker 1:When you buy at auctions I'm assuming it's sight unseen, right, You're just pretty much you're getting what the address they might do. They even show pictures Like how does it actually even work? What's the buying process, the criteria for you to even buy a property every?
Speaker 2:auction is different and you have to read the stipulations and know what they are. Most of the city auctions you cannot go inside them because they don't have the the wherewithal to be able to let people in them. And people people do what they do. People break in, people break in and then they secure it back because they want to see it. Other auctions they do have shown. So it all depends on the auction. I just went to an auction a few weeks ago. They had pictures of the properties. They had pictures of the inside of the properties. They enlisted the zoning. They did so many things to help get these properties sold. So it all depends on the auction. But if you're a new investor I do not recommend buying auctions. I haven't seen it's not until you do like a total gut that I that I would say a total gut job is is.
Speaker 1:That's probably the one that might scare me a little bit, but you know, I'm sure the biggest risk is the bigger reward, so people jump in the total best before they're really ready.
Speaker 2:They should not. They don't realize how many components there are to a guts before they're really ready. They should not. They don't realize how many components there are to a house that they don't know. They don't know how to manage a contractor. So the fact that there's so many things that they don't know, they don't know how to manage a contractor, it's just a recipe for disaster. So I always recommend do a cosmetic first. Buy a grandmom's house, buy a house that has wood paneling, drop ceilings, but she took care of it. Like the roof is still good, the electric is still good. And then, once you learn how to manage your project, know how to manage your contractor and you understand a lot more things about a house, then you can start doing total goods Because, yeah, there's a lot more of them available because not a lot of people can buy them, the prices are cheaper and it almost be your pick. I mean those have definitely been my biggest reward, but that was after I knew how to do them and know how to control my rehab.
Speaker 1:How did you get to the point where you understood how to manage your contractors? Was it just truly trial and error you know you had to get burned a few times or did you invest in some education to put you in a more even playing field when you actually have those conversations?
Speaker 2:So all these skills that you developed as a business owner, it's just through a lot of this, through your own morals and values, and then just going through trials and kind of just learning how to talk and manage and deal with people. So I was raised in a Christian household so I feel like I already had good, good, a good foundation of how to treat people and that is like the first thing. If you don't know how to talk respectfully to people, if you always assume the worst out of people, you're already going to be in bad shape when it comes to managing. So at least I had the respect of people, at least I didn't want to like upset people and I had that foundation so that when I started having bad experiences I could learn from them. Like one time one of my tenants said this to me he's like you don't know how to talk to people and I was like and I knew that was true because people kept telling me this and I noticed because you know I'm in the sciences we are pretty straight up front and can just tell people how it is. We know if something's operator error like, yes, operator error. You know what I mean and none of us will be offended, but we know when, like out in the real world, we have to have more um, more I don't know compassion for how someone feels, or empathy or something.
Speaker 2:And I started to learn from that and I started to read books. So I started reading leadership books and then I kind of learned how to talk and communicate better and, um, that is just all the management of the person. But then when you start building a relationship with your contractors and they're good ones they actually explain things to you and you learn about the construction process that way and I'm already an inclusive person I ask questions. I'm like well, why is that? Why is that? Why do you put this over here? Why is this pipe this big? And so I just learned just through asking questions, being curious and having really good contractors who like to explain things to me. So all those things kind of molded me into knowing how to manage a construction project.
Speaker 1:Are you a part of all phases of your business? Do you have a team? Because it sounds like you're a part of the acquisition, you're part of the construction or remodeling, and you also interact with your tenants. So are you, you know? Are you doing it all or are you just going to dabble as you go?
Speaker 2:pretty much I've done it all through the process. I've started hiring people, but, yeah, I've done it all, which is how I know so much about every aspect of it, which I kind of feel like everyone should go through that no one wants to take the baby steps. Everybody wants to stop at start, at the top. It's like you really got to understand every piece of it. You got to know how your tenants feel, how the contractors feel, how how your wholesalers feel, just so you can be that person who can, um, be the ones who likes it's easy to work with, like wholesalers. You got to know that their pet peeves are people who will not close, okay, people who back out. So it's like you'd be that person who doesn't commit unless you know you can definitely close. You'd be the person who actually pays your contractors.
Speaker 2:Like I could not believe the amount of people who don't pay their contractors, the people who nitpick at things that it's not really a big deal and make an excuse not to pay.
Speaker 2:So it's like you know, you learn how to be reasonable and work out things. So so that it benefits both of you, and just so it is important to go through every step of the phase, just so you know how to work and how, so you can train other people too to also take that over for you. But yeah, I've been involved in every part of it and whenever I talk to or whenever I go to a meeting or workshop about large multi-family and I see like there's someone different for every single part of the job, I'm like, oh, I can do all these things Really, like I would make so much money commercial because I could keep all this up in my pocket. But yeah, I've done everything. I do everything and there's, of course, things I don't like, but I like being a part of it all. Then I like training my staff to take over and teach them how. I think that yeah, it's very rare.
Speaker 1:So when I, when I speak to you, know other investors who are really doing multifamily, they say, hey, as fast as possible, moses, get rid of. You know X and you know which might be the property management, the communications, all that type of stuff so you can focus on deal acquisition. But you know I'm like you, I'm can focus on deal acquisition, but you know I'm I'm like you, I'm like I want to know. You know I really enjoy knowing who's in my properties. I still like to do it and I don't like to pay a property manager who's not even going to do the job the way I want it to be done. It's still take a chunk of my money.
Speaker 1:So I haven't made that leap yet but at some point, I guess, as I get older, you know, maybe I'll do it, but for now I want to get my hands dirty. So I can, I can. I definitely uh, um, you know, kudos to you, commend you for you know really showing people how to do it, because your channel, on your, on your social, you're very transparent about your journey. You know the good, the bad and the ugly. What would be one thing you would want to highlight to the audience that, hey, before you jump in. I know you hear these large, you know dollars being thrown around and this financial freedom, but what is one thing you would caution for someone who wanted to jump in to the rental property or real estate investing arena that they should know before they even try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I realized that there's two different people that I'm usually talking to.
Speaker 2:I'm talking to people who have so much confidence and faith in themselves that they will just jump in and do everything and I was like that one time too and I got humbled really quick.
Speaker 2:So, to those who are super confident, think that they know everything and that they can conquer anything I love you, I do, but no other thing that you don't understand you have experienced yet. And to start small with a cosmetic single family and then work your way up and take on those, those challenges and learn from them and grow. And to the other people who think that they don't know it all and they just keep researching and researching and paying this and paying that person, you know more than the average person. You will be super successful if all you did was take that leap and jump. Trust yourself, trust the process, trust that the people will come to you whenever you need something, trust that you will get that advice that you've been looking for whenever you do have something, and all you need is the trust, the faith and the trust. So those are the two things that I say to the two different people who I find that I talk to the most.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take that jump, especially coming from you. Appreciate that. What do you say to the people who look at the current landscape of real estate and say it's so unpredictable, we're about to have this crash. You know the interest rates are too high. What are your thoughts as someone who's been investing for a long time now? Is this a good time to buy, or should you be on the sidelines Just interested to hear your perspective?
Speaker 2:All of us investors who invest full time. We don't pay attention to any of that noise, none of it. None of it really applies to us. We know that there's all different types of forces and we don't really we don't worry about what we can't control. So we don't know when a crash is coming. We don't know about when interest rates are going up or down. We're still going to make sure our numbers make sense. Now we know that we can get houses for cheap. We know that rents are continually going up. So even though the interest rates went up, so did my rents.
Speaker 2:My rents went up higher than what the rates went up, so I'm actually making more money now with the rates up. My major advice is to tune out the noise. If there's something going on that's going to stop you from investing, stop watching that channel, stop listening to that influencer and tune it out and trust in someone who's telling you that it is still a good time to buy. This is what you do. This is how you do it. Tune out the noise. That is still a good time to buy. It is always a good time to buy, to invest, to start a business. You just got to learn from someone who has been doing it for a long time and can tell you how to do it.
Speaker 1:Do you offer any, you know, education or mentorship programs or anything like that that the audience might want to? You know, tap into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a couple of times a year I do do a five-day class where I pretty much teach you how to tap into the unlimited amount of money, Do credit cards, hard money lenders. I tell you how to tap into the unlimited amounts of properties through auctions and wholesalers the wholesale sites that my students use, the auction sites that we use. I tell you how to find contractors and pretty much how to vet, how to tell the good ones from the bad ones. Then I teach you how to rent a section eight, how to find the good tenants and how to get the most amount of money. So this is my five-day program. Also, bring in a tax strategist to show you how we're barely paying any taxes. So it's like there's literally no excuse not to invest in real estate. We show you these things and if you're interested in learning with me, then you can sign up for mentorship after that.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you so much. You know you gave a lot of great tips on why someone should make that jump Before we go. If there's any final advice or final thoughts that you have to share with the audience, please do, and also close this out with the best way to contact you, whether it's your website, social media. Just really appreciate you so much and the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:I guess I just want to reiterate, to tune out the noise and trust in yourself. You can always learn through me. I post a lot of for Instagram. I do post a good and a bad and ugly and I show you that even with those good and bad and uglies, I still make money. We still make money despite all that and we learn from it and we try to prevent it again. So Instagram is my name Janelle Wilson, j-h-a-n-e-l Wilson, w-i-l-s-o-n, and I have all types of links to Instagram.
Speaker 1:So get to know me on Instagram binge my stuff, learn what I teach, learn to trust me, and then, if you want to tap in with me deeper, my links are there, perfect, and I'll make sure to include all your contact information in the show notes. So again, thank you so much, janelle, and we're out you.