Business
Savvy investor Maria Giordano joins Brian on the show today to talk about her real estate ventures. In this episode, they talk about negotiating, creative deals, and the meetings Maria organizes for female investors in AZ, the Phoenix Women’s Real Estate Investor Network. Listen in today to hear how Maria negotiated an amazing creative deal to get her current property. Key Takeaways: [2:05] Maria talks about getting started in the real estate and some of the prejudice she faced getting started as a woman in real estate. Shortly after getting into real estate, the market crashed and she started investing with other people’s money essentially at the start of her venture. [3:50] They started by doing fix-and-flips and vacation rentals, and switched their focus to buy-and-hold to reduce the amount of work they had to put in. This also allowed for more flexibility to be away from home and will provide legacy wealth for her children. [5:30] When she first got into real estate, Maria was a divorced mother of four. Though the real estate business is a male-dominated industry, it doesn’t mean that women can’t succeed the same way male investors do. For other women who want to get into the industry, two tips she has are to educate yourself as much as possible and then get to where you feel comfortable asking questions. [9:25] Maria started a real estate group for other women in real estate. They discuss issues in real estate from a woman’s perspective. The structure also provides a comfortable place for females in real estate to network and ask questions. [13:40] The bulk of Maria’s business revolves around buy-and-holds structured with more creative deals like ‘subject to,’ lease options, etc. Creative deal options allow her to make more deals happen and also yield a higher ROI. [15:10] The market conditions are right for people to be using more creative deal structures. There are several opportunities in this market, especially for people who don’t have much equity in their home or people who want to sell properties with dated value. Her main focus is on cash flow. [17:10] Maria talks about how she works with buyers to steer them in a more creative direction. The most important thing to find out is the motivating factor behind why they want to sell. Asking questions to figure out what a seller really needs can help you negotiate the deal how you want. [19:20] Maria breaks down a huge deal that she closed in Pennsylvania using creative deal structures. She originally got the lead from a Zillow search and reached out via letter and door-knocking until the seller responded. [23:10] The house had two mortgages, and Maria was able to do a short-sell of the second mortgage (down from $315K to $73K). She bought the first mortgage from a loan company subject to the existing financing. [27:30] She negotiated the second mortgage first to save the property from foreclosure. She was able to get the first mortgage ‘subject to,’ despite the risk. It can be risky because the note could be called due. [32:25] When she closed on the property, she paid about $137,000 cash (from private money) and started making payments on the first mortgage. She had the property appraised, and ended up getting an $825,000 property for that price. She refinanced and was able to get the money for her rehab, which made the value of the house $1.2 million. [35:30] This is something any listener can do! Maria was successful because she followed up properly with the seller and negotiated with the right people. By doing this, she gained a property with a lot of equity and was able to help the seller out of her own situation. [37:15] Let Maria’s story serve as an inspiration! To get in touch with Maria, check out any of the links below. Mentioned in This Episode: Meetings Daily REIA Show REI Facebook Page Brian’s Book “How to do ‘Subject To’” Maria’s Website Email: maria@realestateproftisystem.com AZREIA Phoenix Women’s Real Estate Investing