How to Build 4 Tiny Houses From Scratch | Ali Crook

Ali Crook (12s):

And You know I found all this out in due diligence. That's the main thing when you make an offer on land or an investment property. And you have to find out, is this conducive to short-term rentals, You know the size of the property, the style, all of that. You wanna go sit down and talk to the planning department, the health department, the whatever, the more intricate it is in bigger cities, and make sure that you're not gonna get shot down on stage six of investing all this money.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (40s):

Ali Cook is a licensed realtor and entrepreneur in Atlanta who owns multiple tiny homes and tiny homes in every sense of the world. They're tiny, but they're also full homes and they kind of sit in that vacation rental space. Ali got her BA in 2013 in international affairs from the University of Georgia. She's an avid dogs fan. And in 2018 she graduated with a master's of heritage preservation degree with an emphasis in historic preservation from Georgia State University. During her studies at GSU, she worked all around the Atlanta Metro area, nominating buildings and districts to the National Register of Historic Places.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (1m 20s):

It was during this time she developed her love for the history's homes to people in Atlanta's in town neighborhoods. Ali has recently won awards as a top performing Atlanta Realtors Association, top producer two years in a row, as well as the ERA real estate circle of honor. Also, two years in a row. I've met Ali at multiple real estate investor events around the country and we kind of share a lot of understanding the fundamentals, what makes a successful investment and How to Build a solid real estate portfolio on those fundamentals. So today we'll be talking about the basics, how to find an agent, what makes a great agent, and what field Ali's desire to build tiny homes as well as what that journey has been like.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (2m 1s):

So Ali, welcome to the show and thank you for being one of my very first guests.

Ali Crook (2m 6s):

Yes, thank you Eti, and congratulations on getting this off the ground. I'm super excited. We talked about this in Tampa in December and I am honored you reached out to me to be a part of this.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (2m 17s):

Absolutely. So tell me about the moment you're closing on the loan for the tiny houses. What, what was that like?

Ali Crook (2m 25s):

Yeah, So I had not done a real estate investment prior to closing on the land to buy the tiny homes. I was a realtor for about three years before I started realizing I need to get into the investor game. And summer of 2021, I stumbled into a beautiful situation through a TikTok that led me to a group of really awesome real estate investors who do things a little unconventionally, meaning they use private money or seller finance, things like that to fund deals that normally wouldn't be touched by an institutional lender. So I met Lisa Englehart through her TikTok about her teeny home program, bought the program, and I joined her mastermind.

Ali Crook (3m 10s):

That really gave me the motivation to go out and find a lot to do a build and turned that into a short term rental. So September, 2021, I closed on two acres, which are deeded separately to one acre of parcels. One I was able to buy with cash and the other I bought was seller financing. So it was very nerve wracking because I had not done any construction prior to buying the lot. I had remodeled a bathroom and in the sense I say I remodeled the bathroom, I honestly ripped up the floor myself, got exhausted, then hired a contractor to put the towel back in. So yeah, I don't know, I was very naive, but very well equipped with experts in the field through networking.

Ali Crook (3m 54s):

So thankfully I where I met you at Dealmaker in Richmond, Virginia, hosted by Jim and Al, I met business partner and Michael Hicks. I met a private lender and I met a mentor in Lisa. And then from there I've been exposed to this awesome group of people that go to all these events all over the country and internationally. Next month I'm getting on the investor at Cruise that'll go to several different countries and it's seven days of nonstop collaboration, networking, and courses. So I'm really excited about it.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (4m 25s):

That's awesome. So it sounds like the tiny houses themselves are like, they're made from like a repurposed 40 inch T ink shipping container. Is that, is that right?

Ali Crook (4m 34s):

So what we did is the tiny houses themselves are stick built. So they were wooden frame stick and post foundations. So we sunk nine columns per house. They are 20 feet by 20 feet with a wooden frame floor, and then they are 20 feet tall on one side and 13 feet tall on the other side. So they have a sloped contemporary roof. We built them all in site with framers and then from there they wrapped the house and did the siding, did all that sort of thing. But the shipping container component that you're referring to is our central amenity area. This was kind of a nod to Michael Hicks. He has a background in building unique properties.

Ali Crook (5m 14s):

So he has three shipping container homes and tree houses and a-frames and all kinds of just really cool outta the box properties that he and his wife have developed over the years that are just fabulously successful in the short term rental space. So we were permitted in Dahlonega where my short-term rentals are located, which is about an hour and a half north of Atlanta, Lumpkin County. The unincorporated part of Dahlonega allowed me to do two structures per acre, and that is why I ended up having to stick build houses, which I could have done shipping containers, but I kind of like to the build ground up for financing purposes. And then we had all this extra space in between the four houses.

Ali Crook (5m 55s):

So we brought in a 40 foot shipping, shipping container that I bought from Mike and he connected me with a welder that cut a 20 foot section out of the side of it. And so we have a really nice pass through area for people to sit under the container for like shelter. We have an indoor outdoor seating area with a dining table and then we have a 40 foot deck that's built next to the table, or the, excuse me, the container that has a Blackstone Grill and a prep station and we've got games up there and those cute retro looking wheelie coolers and all that so that when we have groups that come into the tiny homes, we rent on an individual basis and all four at the same time. So we've had everything from graduation parties to post wedding ceremonies and family reunions at the huddle.

Ali Crook (6m 38s):

And that's what we've named it is the huddle is the central amenity area. And my business is called Huddle at Crooked Creek LLC because there is a creek that runs on the property. There's a really beautiful spring that pops up where in the mountains and it flows through the property and it didn't have a name. And my last name is Crooks, meaning named to Crooked Creek.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (6m 59s):

I love that.

Ali Crook (6m 60s):

Yeah. Yeah. So I've been in business, this is a fun random story, but I've been in business since October of 2022. That's when we got our certificate of occupancy, our short-term rental permits and our tourist accommodation permit. We have to kind of behave like a hotel based on the local county ordinances. And for the first time since we've been open, I got a call the other day from somebody looking for the huddle house, which you are not native to the south, but the Huddle house is kind of a more southern version of Waffle House and a lot of people will call the tiny homes huddle homes or huddle houses and I'm like, You know what? It's fine. I grew up going to the Huddle House here in Snellville, Georgia.

Ali Crook (7m 40s):

So it kind of tickled me, but I'm shocked that it's only happened once to be honest.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (7m 47s):

So what was the inspiration for the tiny houses? Because most people, they're buying their first investment property and they're thinking three bedroom, two bathroom, single family house above standard, easiest way possible. What was the inspiration for the tiny houses? Was it just like scrolling through TikTok and seeing Lisa's content?

Ali Crook (8m 3s):

Yes and no. So I am a self self-employed realtor and anybody that's gone through the mortgage application process knows that you have to be able to document your income, your debt and your credit. And I didn't have a lot of debt, I had great credit, but my income on paper did not look super strong because I was a business owner. And it's just a whole complicated thing that requires a lot of extra red tape when you are self-employed versus being a W2 employee of a big corporation because our income is not static. So some months it's feast and some months it's famine. So I talked to a good lender friend of mine that helps me with my clients here in Atlanta and she said, You know we can pre-qualify you for this amount.

Ali Crook (8m 48s):

And I looked at what was available X amount, I don't even remember what it was and it was just not gonna be conducive to cash flow. I wanted something that would You know one, provide an awesome experience and two, be something that was feasible. I didn't wanna send a ton of money getting into a mortgage and then not have anything left over to do a rehab or something like that. So I started looking around and You know a lot of people get the idea of, oh, I'm gonna buy in and pop a tiny house on it or a yurt or a geodesic dome or all these different things. And there's a lot of really cool stuff out there that does it very well on the different short-term rental platforms. But you have to look at the local zoning codes to see what they're gonna permit.

Ali Crook (9m 31s):

So I chose to look in the Dahlonega market because my sister and brother-in-Law have a very successful business there called Spirits Tavern. It's a barn grill on the square and they've been operational for a decade this year. So very excited for them. And they also had some short-term rentals. So I kind of knew from the insider's edge of what that involved dealing with the local government. So from my historic preservation days, I knew how to dig through the planning documents and I went onto the Lumpkin County planning website and found a guideline that kind of outlined tiny homes and shipping container homes and things like that that they were planning department had put out there for developers.

Ali Crook (10m 11s):

So there was no minimum square footage. That's the number one thing that Lisa Englehart will teach you if you're getting into tiny homes. And a lot of people don't think about, that's the biggest thing. A lot of counties, especially here in the Atlanta metro area, they have a minimum square footage of 1600, 1800 2200 square feet. 'cause they want you to build a three bedroom, four bedroom home. They don't want a little tiny thing for conformity purposes. So Dahlonega said, no, we don't care. You can build as small as you want. So that right there was kind of like adding up. And I had talked to a couple of manufacturers of tiny Homes on Wheels and things like that, and those are not truly real estate. Those are really RVs. Those are registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Ali Crook (10m 51s):

They're kind of more like a modular mobile trailer home. Those are all used interchangeably and they don't appreciate the same way that real property does that's a fixed and built on the ground. So I was like, okay, this is what I've gotta do. I've gotta figure out How to Build one of these. And when I found Lisa in July of 2021 scrolling through TikTok, I just was looking at hashtag tiny house and she's the sweetest lady, she's got the greatest Southern accent. She's like, Hey y'all, I'm Lisa. I build tiny hims on current foundations. You can too. You should follow me and learn more. So I did. I followed her for about a month and then I got this really great drip campaign email from her that included a bunch of details about her program.

Ali Crook (11m 34s):

It was somewhere around $500 and I thought, You know what I'm, I'm not gonna miss that $500 and this, this will be a good connection. So, and I was so right. I bought the program about one o'clock in the morning and the next morning, maybe 9:00 AM or so, Lisa's calling me. I was like, Hey, thanks so much for buying the program and who are you and You know asking me all these questions? Because so far when she had started her program, she had connected with people she knew personally through the real estate investor networks and I was kind of the first person to fall into the funnel. So then from there the inspiration really took off. She had a lot of building plans. I took one of her plans, kind of rew it and designed it.

Ali Crook (12m 14s):

Then I came to Dealmaker to hear her speak and I met Michael Hicks and the rest is history. So it was, it was really, really lucky. Just like hit a vein of gold.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (12m 25s):

So it sounded like you kind of had the sense of you definitely wanted to do a tiny house because of the financing component to it, but then you also have that insight of I can't just go buy a container or a trailer park and plop it on the ground because it's not gonna appreciate, it's gonna appreciate like a car which doesn't appreciate Yeah.

Ali Crook (12m 43s):

Yeah. I mean don't get me wrong, there are so many investors out there that do modular homes and trailer parks and things like that that do incredibly well. But in the short-term rental space, you want something that's unique and something that's new and modern really, really performs well. Short-term rentals, it's no secret perform better than long-term rentals. Yes, they're, they're more involved. They're not necessarily passive income. But as a realtor at ERA Foster and Bond here in Atlanta, we have a property management arm of our business and my work best friend is the property manager. And listening to her talk about the insane things that long-term tenants do really convince me I don't wanna do that.

Ali Crook (13m 25s):

I would love to have short term guests that come that You know stay for a couple days and they have a great time and then people that they pay the cleaning fee. And I have a beautiful cleaning team of people that absolutely have made this business a success that You know they come in, they take care of everything and we have to do periodic maintenance and restocks and things like that. But I know exactly where I'm at with the properties, whereas I've had friends that will rent a property and they'll get it back and the dishwasher is missing. True story. Or my neighbor rented her house to a family that had a bunch of kids and when she got the property back in her possession, the quartz countertops were broken.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (14m 6s):

Quartz countertops were broken.

Ali Crook (14m 8s):

Yes, yes.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (14m 9s):

Possible.

Ali Crook (14m 10s):

I have no idea. I am still confused. And this was several years ago and I mean I literally wake up in the middle of the night and we're like quartz countertops, were broken. You know. So that sort of thing is of no interest to me in Georgia. You know you have to disclose, we're a buyer beware state. So disclose, disclose, disclose is the name of the game. If, you go to any of my short-term rental listings, it says at the bottom, owners hold real estate license in Georgia because I'm majority owner, my mom is part owner, she retired from teaching in the beginning of 2022 and she got her real estate license to help me with my residential real estate sales business. And so You know, people know nobody on the consumer side has ever asked like, Hey, what does this mean?

Ali Crook (14m 54s):

But it, it kind of is there to protect us so that there's never an argument of tenancy agreement You know nobody's entering into a long-term rental because we're a hotel, we've got all of our licenses on the walls and all four of the tiny homes you come in, we've got our health score, our short term rental permit, our tourist accommodation permit, and we have to pay for those annually and pay sales tax just like any other hotel and go through health inspections. Which I am perfectly fine with because I wanna make sure that we are at the top of the line for everything. Experience, cleanliness, location. We're only 10 minutes from Dahlonega, which is a really great tourist town. We've got 14 wineries in Lumpkin County.

Ali Crook (15m 35s):

We were named in Conde Nass, Southern Living, all sorts of different travel blogs for food, wine and the Christmas scene. We've had a couple of Hallmark movies filmed. So Christmas does really, really well in our market. Lots of people come to see the cute lights and go shopping at the little boutique stores and things like that so

Etinosa Agbonlahor (15m 54s):

So it's like Atlanta goes where you should go If, you wanna get your Hallmark fixed If you wanna

Ali Crook (15m 59s):

Yes, exactly, exactly. I was totally against the Hallmark movies until about five years ago and then my cousin converted me and now I'm like, yes, I can melt my brain and watch this keep trash. So

Etinosa Agbonlahor (16m 11s):

I do love like around the holiday seasons when the Hallmark movie start to air, I just love like sitting in my like little rocking chair with like a little drink and like watching. Yeah. I personally enjoy it. I love a good hallmark.

Ali Crook (16m 23s):

Yeah, no I do too. I was like in denial about it for a long time, but I will now accept it. And having the tiny houses and being able to decorate them for Christmas was like one of the best experiences buying the Christmas trees and getting all the little decor. I was behind the curve this year and I just took everything down on Wednesday and it was so sad. But You know it's only like 10 more months until we put it on back up.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (16m 47s):

So like you very, so this is the four tiny houses are the first kind of official investment real estate investment you made.

Ali Crook (16m 55s):

Yes.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (16m 56s):

And with your first big investment, you're doing a joint venture, you have an agreement, it's in an LLC, you've got multiple partners, you're talking about pouring concrete, hanging sheet rug, doing framing, going through multiple inspections, a private loan. This is the first deal ever you've done. Yeah. Where did sophistication come from to like take all of these like really sophisticated elements, put them together on your first deal? Like how did that, where did that sophistication come from?

Ali Crook (17m 22s):

So it was kind of a step by step thing when I started I thought okay, I can pay for You know this lot and I can sell or finance the other lot. So that was step one. And then my mom is retiring and says, yeah, I'll join you on this and I'll invest the money. So I'm thinking, okay, with her money we've got enough for part of the building package. And then I met Mike and we started talking and You know there's a lot of very restrictive guidelines around lending out of an IRA, which is where a lot of real estate investors get their foot in the door. And so he came to see the project because he is basically in my backyard, he lives just south of Chattanooga in Rossville, Georgia.

Ali Crook (18m 4s):

And he and his wife rode down to see the property and meet me at my sister's restaurant and just to get to know each other. And at first we were talking about them lending on the property, but then he said, You know I can't be involved if I'm the lender. And I think that for both of us would be more beneficial for me to kind of act in the general contractor capacity. So that's where we entered into a joint venture agreement that has turned into an equity partnership. Sorry

Etinosa Agbonlahor (18m 31s):

To interrupt but I just wanna clarify for anybody who's listening and doesn't quite understand why he couldn't be involved, when you're lending out of an IRA, there's really strict guidelines about the investment you make and the IRA rules really require that's a positive investment. So if he lend out of his IRA and then turned up to like help Ali, like hang she truck or like point out dimensions, it would be like he was involved and it would be a violation of the lending rose.

Ali Crook (18m 54s):

No, thank you for clarifying that because that is a huge thing that you can't lend to direct descendants and children, grandchildren, parents. So my mom, hers was not an IRA investment, hers was just an active capital. I'm not even exactly sure we have a full-time bookkeeper and a CPA that helps us keep track of all of this.

3 (19m 18s):

Hey quick reminder, all the content you hear on the podcast and in the fireplace community are all for your entertainment and education only. It's not financial advice. Please get advice from a competent financial professional, especially If, you need expert help for your very specific situation. Okay. Onto the episode.

Ali Crook (19m 40s):

So we ended up moving forward with the partnership breaking ground in January because it hook from September until the end of December to get all the soil analysis, apply for the septic permits, apply for drilling the new, well all of that. And then when we pour down the trailer, that was on the seller finance side, that's why the seller of this land was willing to do that deal that way. It was one owner that owned each parcel and I really was interested in only the lot when I went to look at the property, but my mom was like, You know you really should go after both because then you can kind of control what's happening on the other half of this one piece of property that clearly goes together.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (20m 20s):

You had said it was two acres but do I deed it separately?

Ali Crook (20m 24s):

Correct, yes. So the previous owner had subdivided it.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (20m 28s):

Aha, okay.

Ali Crook (20m 29s):

Right down the middle. And thank goodness they did because that was a technicality and the local guidelines that because the property was subdivided prior to a certain date in 2010, I was allowed to have two residential dwellings per acre instead of just one. So that was just like a sign of look like this is what's meant to happen And You know I found all this out in due diligence. That's the main thing when you make an offer on land or an investment property and you have to find out is this conducive to short-term rentals, You know the size of the property, the style, all of that. You wanna go sit down and talk to the planning department, the health department, the whatever, the more intricate it is in bigger cities and make sure that you're not gonna get shot down on stage six of investing all this money.

Ali Crook (21m 17s):

So I knew I had a meeting with the planning director, the building inspector, the health department director and I thought out said I wanna build this. And I showed them a picture of my weird polygon drawing and said I wanna build four of them. Is this okay? And they were like, yeah sure. So that really You know solidified the plan. But back to the business formation, we formed the LLC, I guess it's a joint partnership agreement operating agreement that an attorney drew up for my mom and I who owned the company and then a joint venture agreement between my company and Mike's company. And then from there we had all of that lined up, we had all the permits, we had all of the You know building plans and illustrations and data on the local area, other short-term rentals that perform really well, local amenities, some information from the Chamber of Commerce to kind of show like why are people coming in and out of this area?

Ali Crook (22m 14s):

And I had all that with Dealmaker the second time I went pretty sure we saw each other there and I handed that all over to a private lender and she was like, okay, I think I might be able to to help you here. And she really took a chance on me and I'm very grateful for that because I had not done any real estate investing. I didn't have anything else to point to other than I owned half of the property free and clear. So when she came in as a private lender, she wasn't able to be involved in the project. She never saw it did anything other than lend money directly to my LLC for an 18 month interest only term So. I paid her two points and 8% and we closed in April of 2022 on that loan because at that point our funds that my mom and I had personally had kind of dried up and her money came in to finish out the build.

Ali Crook (23m 1s):

So You know we had a lumber package, all of the labor, the siding, I mean all of those were just really major expenses and I was able to get finished to the point that we got our certificate of occupancy in September and that September, 2022 was really when the market really started shifting and the resale market, everything started slowing down a lot because we had come through these amazing months of like two and a half percent 15 year fixed mortgages. You know I was thinking multiple offers for clients a hundred thousand over asking that's when people were willing to name their child after the seller to get the house. And literally that's the stuff was happening in Atlanta.

Ali Crook (23m 41s):

It was absolutely insane. Did not enjoy that period at all, but it was a very good profitable time for me as a realtor. So that that worked out really nicely that had that income coming in. Then I went to a local bank through a relationship I had made with a lender here in Atlanta and they were willing to refinance the whole deal. So they bought out the private lender and the seller finance So I currently have one commercial mortgage, it's a five year adjustable rate mortgage. So that will come to maturity in September of 2027. That is worth 50% of the app Perrys value in September. So we have a lot of equity in this project.

Ali Crook (24m 23s):

So that's been the challenge now is balancing the expenses to try to get to cash flow, which so far has been fine, we're paying the bills, it's just, there's nothing extra yet. So we would love to tap into that equity to You know then get some of the cash flow and then look for the next build site because this has been very fulfilling. I feel like everybody is very happy with where we are with the project, whether that be a guest or a past investor. So You know it's just a matter of time before we can find the next set of components to to do it again.

4 (25m 14s):

Quick one, If, you are listening to this episode and you have questions about things that Ali's saying for example, what does it mean to put down two points and 8%? What is a hard money loan? What's a private money loan? What is the difference between those two things? What does it mean to lend out of an IRA? What are the rules around that? How might you access some of these sorts of investors, investments, et cetera. Come down to fireplace, join us in fireplace. Those are the kinds of things that we talk about, especially when we have an interview that is technical or goes into some of the nitty gries of deals within real estate investing. You can bring your questions over to fireplace when we have our calls and those other sorts of things we talk about.

4 (25m 57s):

So you can check that out@ourfirsthouse.org and you can join us in fireplace. Okay, back to the episode.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (26m 7s):

That's awesome. And I think it kind of highlights kind of the, a couple of different areas of this kind of real estate investing journey, right? You've done all this work to put all of those incredible components together. The lender came together, the LLC came together, the building came together, the financing came together, the refinancing comes together. But it's still like a sacrificial part of hey we're not eating our seeds yet. We're gonna keep investing back into the business and keep trying to grow the business. We're not ready to kind of like lay back and just kind of eat whatever proceeds we're getting from the the properties,

Ali Crook (26m 39s):

Right? Yeah, no it's, it is not totally just like a passive income source yet. It will be. Absolutely. It's just You know. This was the first stepping stone. My second project in real estate investing was due to the relationships that I had established with the tiny home build, I was able to secure a private lender that lent me the down payment to do a hard money loan on a purchase and a flip. So actually the house directly across the street from where I live was owned by good family friends that I've known almost my entire life. And they had this massive house, 5,600 square feet that needed a lot of cosmetic repair, some systemic You know things, but it was in excellent shape on the exterior and everything on the inside needed an overhaul.

Ali Crook (27m 29s):

So I was able to go in, purchase the house close on that with both the private money lender and the hard money lender. And for people that don't understand the difference, hard money is an institution loan that is usually some sort of accredited investor that's raised a lot of money that lends out at You know flat rates if the deal makes sense, meaning the after repair value is You know so much more than the purchase plus the repairs. So they don't wanna lend on anything that costs more than 70% of the after repair value by the time you purchase the house and do the repairs. And then to get into the deal.

Ali Crook (28m 9s):

So you have some skin in the game, you have to put down a down payment and that could be anywhere from 10 to 30% of the purchase price and then they will usually lend a hundred percent of those rehab costs in construction draws. So you have to have some money in that upfront to get started on construction. And then you have a series of inspections as you go to ensure that you're actually spending money on luxury vinyl plank and appliances and not jutting off the Bora Bora You know for accountability purposes to the investors. So that worked out really well because we were able to close on that in July of 2022 and a property sold November 30th.

Ali Crook (28m 49s):

So it was extremely stressful because it was my first time, it's right across the street from me. So I never got to stop looking at it or being involved, but we have wonderful new neighbors and everybody got paid back and are happy with me. So You know it was also during pretty decent in market shift, the appraiser kind of shot me down a couple times. So You know the, the proceeds were not exactly what I was hoping but not a loss. So I consider that a win and a notch in the belt for project number two.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (29m 25s):

It's so hilarious when like real estate impress, we like make all those numbers and we're like estimated ar RV and we make our fancy decks and then shop them around and then when it comes time for like the appraisal, you're like holding your breath, crossing your fingers around being like, God please just let us appraiser think that my numbers make sense or like think that like the house is worth what I think it's worth.

Ali Crook (29m 46s):

Yeah

Etinosa Agbonlahor (29m 47s):

And waiting for like the appraisal to come back. It's the worst.

Ali Crook (29m 50s):

Yeah the, so like my broker in real estate, rusty Willis, I was extremely lucky when I finished my program to get my license. I went to the Atlanta Realtors career night and there was probably 30 different brokerages in the room and I promised myself talk to everyone, hear them out, go on as many interviews as you can because when you're an agent the broker is like who you hire. It's not the other way around, it's not like a job interview. So you're looking for a broker that's gonna offer you the most in terms of support, guidance, training, all of those things. And a lot of the big box brokers will nickel and dime, you You know you'll join and they'll charge you a dust fee and then they'll charge you for the post license continuing education credits.

Ali Crook (30m 35s):

And then You know they do all kinds of stuff where my broker likes to call it play realtor where you have a chili cook off or whatever, but you're not out actively growing your business and selling real estate and helping people in the real estate market. So I was very lucky. I met Rusty Willis and his partner David Ren who owned my brokerage and from day one You know, I was like okay, you've gotta listen to these people. They know what they're doing. And I was super fortunate two weeks into having my license, a very good friend of mine was like, yeah, I kind of don't love my apartment, can we go look at something? And we closed two weeks later so that's pretty unprecedented. I was able to close deal within like a month of having my real estate license from there.

Ali Crook (31m 17s):

You know you, you really get a sense of what's happening in the market from the investor side. So You know the appraisers can be awesome or they can break you. And I knew going in that if I got a certain type of loan that could really You know cut the deal down and it did, if I had been in the market the year prior, I would've probably hit the number that I was thinking. But You know it's fine. And and the thing is what I was trying to get at earlier is my broker always says the price and the value of a property is what the market brings it. So my buyer came to look at the house across the street, he offered me You know 10,000 over asking price because I was willing to pay 18,000 in closing costs, which to me I was like yeah, let's go, that's a good deal.

Ali Crook (32m 5s):

And then the appraiser was like nah, this isn't worth that. And she cut us off by $20,000. So yeah, we were under contract at six 10 and she came back at five 90 and it's like okay, here's a buyer that wants to buy, here's a house that sold for this You know and she used comps that were out of the school district, different zip code, different city. So there's a lot of elements, it doesn't matter. You can plan for years and still to say that that appraiser that walked through and I live and this house and that house is right there. Like I'm looking, looking out my office window and I can see it. She was in and out so fast I didn't even know she was there. You know. So for that person to say this is worth 20,000 less You know it is what it is, it was a VA loan.

Ali Crook (32m 51s):

There's nothing you can do unless If you wanna be like, no, I'm not gonna sell you the house or you have to pay this guy. So then they walk away and then you sit there for another four months and that's to nobody's benefit. So You know you have to know when to get in and get out and that comes with experience. If I hadn't been an agent, I would've probably been like, oh no, I'm getting ripped off, I've gotta wait. You know stuff like that. So,

Etinosa Agbonlahor (33m 12s):

But you being an agent made you go okay, like it's 20 k less, but this is one that I think it makes sense to move on rather than waiting for like the next

Ali Crook (33m 19s):

Five. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because this isn't the end all be all. There's always another deal out there. So If, you pay everybody off, you get their money out. And personally and selfishly these people seem like really sweet people and they are So, I was like, I want them to be my neighbors. It was a first time home buyer and a veteran. So You know, it's like this man has served his country, his wife is lovely, I want You know them to have the house. And so that I feel like was a big learning curve in about a 24 hour period. You know getting that appraisal back and getting the kick in the gut. But You know it's, it's just part of the the deal and If you can get past that. I feel like you can continue and and do the next deal and then one of these days will be like the people we see at these seminars that have sold a thousand houses and You know have all the stories.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (34m 8s):

You know. It's interesting, I feel like in real estate, I mean all businesses really, knowing how to talk your ego down is such a huge thing. And that's exactly what you did in a scenario, right? You go, okay, it's 20 k less I can like stump and kick. But then there's also, it's also worth like taking myself out on a walk and being like, right, I understand that it's not what I want but at the same time there's all of these other benefits that are beyond the price that makes it sensible to like still go forward with the deal. Like they're great people and live right next to me. This is a veteran who has served the country. Like there's all of this other like great reasons to still to this and like kind of you, you kind of talk your ego down a little bit and go, let's be, let's be sensible.

Ali Crook (34m 49s):

Yeah,

Etinosa Agbonlahor (34m 50s):

Yeah,

Ali Crook (34m 51s):

Yeah. No it's definitely a challenge. Another thing that You know the foot versus a short-term rental property with the short-term rental property, you want it to be special. You want it to have the the cutest cabinets and the Bluetooth speaker above the shower and the extra comfy beds and all the decor with a flip. It might not be in your best interest to have a $6,000 KitchenAid range and it might not be in your best interest to have waterfall quartz countertops, but when you are too invested, it's hard to stop. And full disclosure, the $6,000 range was brand new and was sold to me by a friend for 1200.

Ali Crook (35m 33s):

So I'm still very proud of that and my neighbors have a very beautiful kitchen, but there was definitely points where I probably should have stopped and I'm not sure that I got the return on investment. So You know that that's also a skill that's learned over time. You know if I wanted to go into the kitchen remodeling business, this was a great showcase piece, but that is not the goal. So that's another thing that I took away from this project.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (36m 1s):

So in 2021, you had worked with two investors as an agent and you kind of started to think about making the leap from being an agent, which is a very specific set of skills to being an investor. And I wanna read you a quote and you are familiar with this quote, it's, it's from your website. It says Ali is extremely knowledgeable on the real estate business in Atlanta, listens to what her clients are looking for and does everything she can to arm her clients with the best possible offer. Not to mention she's extremely friendly and doesn't mind asking the hard questions to other agents in a professional manner. So obviously you are a great agent. What separates a good agent for investors from a less good one?

Ali Crook (36m 42s):

The short answer is brutal honesty. So, I've had a a license for five years and I've mostly sold properties to sphere of influence, which means friends, family, coworkers, people that know you personally. And the best way to build any business anywhere, especially real estate, is through relationships and trust. So my clients regularly accuse me of, do you actually want me to buy something because I walk into a property and immediately point out the things that are gonna come up in an inspection or be a problem. And having the historic preservation background, I know a little bit about building materials, I can point out You know this is good, this is bad, this is what an inspector's gonna say.

Ali Crook (37m 27s):

But then You know a contractor might say something different and giving a buyer and, and most of my business has been buyers up until this year. Now that the market has shifted, of course I'm sitting here with three listings and I'm begging my buyers to run out and look at them. But You know, just having the foresight to point those out instead of letting somebody go down the road of spending a lot of money on a home inspection and getting all excited to buy something that then has this bandaid problem, then You know it. It really does work out for you in the long run. It might take a little bit longer, but those people are gonna come back to you with every single question about, Hey, I saw a bug in my house today, what should I do?

Ali Crook (38m 10s):

You know everything from that simple to, I think I want to buy land and build on it myself. What should I do? Having You know conversations with people that then lead to listings and lead to long-term relationships. So, I think that that is what really sets a lot of agents apart because You know if you're just in it for this sale and then the next sale, you're not going to be able to build something that's sustainable. And You know I love what I do, I love it when people reach out to me and ask me questions about things that are like not even really real estate related because they know that they trust me and I, I just enjoy being helpful and that's what's been really special about the real estate investors that we've met through.

Ali Crook (38m 53s):

There's always somebody there that's willing to help, which is just phenomenal. And I found that in the brokerage side as well. I've got just a really awesome team of realtors that work at ERA Foster and Bond, my broker, his partner and David our office manager, our technology guys. I mean they're just all fantastic and I don't think that that's typical in all industries and I'm very grateful for it. So

Etinosa Agbonlahor (39m 19s):

What are some things people looking for an investor friendly agent should know or should ask about?

Ali Crook (39m 25s):

So number one, having an agent that is an investor herself is very helpful I would say. Because we know what it is that you're going through. The internal struggle of am I doing the right thing? Is this what I wanna do to having the resources? So not all agents are going to know to go to certain websites to run numbers. The way that I run a market analysis a lot of times is a little bit different than certain agents. I do have a lot of experience in just learning a market very quickly because of my experience as an agent in the relocation sphere. When I first got into real estate, I took a lot of relocation clients through third party services like Brookfield Global Relocation Services Home Story was a partner with like Chase Regions Bank, USAA, So I don't have people coming in from literally like Canada or the other side of the country that knew nothing about Acworth.

Ali Crook (40m 24s):

And that's like an hour and 10 minutes away from where I'm sitting. So I'd have to learn about the school districts and the local amenities and the county systems and all of that. Then look at the market analysis side of things like what is the house worth? What I think it will be worth You know how does it compare to other like properties and the area? And then from the investor perspective, you have to look at are you gonna rent it, are you gonna flip it, are you gonna hold it and You know tap dance on it for 10 years and then sell it? You know. And I'm starting to understand a tiny bit more about commercial real estate just through private research and things like that. The other day I was like, why are there so many car washes? And I listened to this great podcast that was talking about car wash investors don't really expect the car wash to pull in as much revenue as the appreciation of the lot it's sitting on because they're easy to build and easy to tear down and they're almost always at a really great four-way intersection.

Ali Crook (41m 18s):

I was like, that's so true because like here in my little town in Snuggle got like six brand new car washes and I'm like, this is stupid. But they're in great locations so in 10 years if somebody wants to turn it into whatever the next thing is, it'll be easy. They've got that real estate. So, but yeah, I, I would say working with people that know a little bit about seller finance is important subject to is the buzzword currently. I personally have not done anything in subject to, but I know people that have, so connecting them with the correct people or the correct attorneys can be super beneficial.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (41m 52s):

For me when I'm working with an agent on a investment property, it's always really helpful to me to know that this is somebody who has their own investment properties and understands what I'm looking for because I've worked with non investor friendly agents before and it just, it didn't work out. Like I had to just kind of say, this isn't working out. Thank you so much. And You know Yeah one because yeah, looking at it from a perspective of this is such a lovely house and so beautiful and You know, why wouldn't you want, right? And I'm looking at different perspective of like, this thing is not going to pay the rent, it's not gonna pay the mortgage. Right? Or Oh, this isn't a great school district, that's fantastic, but it's not gonna cash flow. And so the trade offs I at at the stage of my real estate journey is it has a cashflow.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (42m 36s):

I can't hold it in the hopes that it's gonna appreciate 10 years from Now. it needs to be making money today. And working with people who don't understand that can be a little bit frustrating and even working with people who don't have an opinion that is the worst. It's just they had this on a deal I was trying to like make happen here where I would ask the agent, so what do you think about this property? And it'd be like very non uncommit, very like it's kind of, okay, well it depends on what you're looking for. That's not what I'm, wow.

Ali Crook (43m 6s):

Yeah.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (43m 7s):

Opinion on if this is something I should buy or not. And then when I would make a decision around You know what I think, I'm not gonna go for that property, they would say, oh yeah, that's a good idea because of all of these reasons why it's a terrible idea. So I bought that house, why didn't you tell me? Right. Dollars on an inspection on the house.

Ali Crook (43m 25s):

Yeah, no I am very conscious of that because inspections are expensive and why waste that seller's time? You know, I try to be conscious of the other side too because being a realtor and knowing what it's like when you have your family's home for sale and you're relying on that sale closing and then you've got some investor which You know it's, it's, it's hard because on the investor side everybody thinks, oh the realtors, they don't know what I'm looking for. They don't, they don't care, they don't understand. And then on the other side, when you're a realtor working with home buyers in particular and you say, oh I'm sorry the seller accepted an investor's offer. Oh why would they pick this robot You know this hedge fund.

Ali Crook (44m 6s):

And that's not always the case. A lot of times people like you and me that are trying to build our financial security and future in real estate and You know that it's, it's hard. So there's definitely a lot of people that don't see both sides of the coin. And like you were saying, they're looking at the property from the perspective of you living there. Not You know a long term investment for You know cashflow purposes and sustainability. You know like is this an area that people are looking to come to to rent or is this a market that's way too far out that this is gonna sit empty for months on end? So

Etinosa Agbonlahor (44m 42s):

Exactly. I think my very first investment property, it was my agent who convinced me to buy it because I, we had looked at so many and she like points this one out and I'm like, I don't know, like for whatever reason I wasn't keen on it. And she was like, no, lemme tell you what, this is a great property to buy and let me do a viewing and I will show it to you and You know and we did a view and I really liked it and we went and ahead and ended up You know purchasing that property. But it was her who said, no, let me show you the comps, lemme talk to you about what the rent is going to be. Yeah. How this is a good area for you.

Ali Crook (45m 13s):

And so did that one work out well for you?

Etinosa Agbonlahor (45m 15s):

It worked out so well. It's still working out good.

Ali Crook (45m 18s):

That's wonderful. I'm, I'm happy to hear that because there are a lot of very helpful agents out there that know what they're talking about and that are in it to help people not just make a sale and move on. I think that's super important. Like I was saying, I have such a large market here in the Atlanta area that I do not claim to be an expert on all the submarkets. And that's one thing that differs across the country when I go to these national sales things with ERA or previously we were real living, which is a subsid of Berkshire Hathaway and Army agents that are in Massachusetts or New Jersey. They're like, so location specific If you like cross zip codes.

Ali Crook (45m 59s):

They're like, no, no, no, this is my territory. You make a referral. But here in Atlanta is so massive You know the urban sprawl is just kind of like reaching all the way from Chattanooga to Birmingham to You know whatever's happening over in South Carolina and you kind of just have to roll with it. You know when you've got a client that You know, knows and trusts you and have sold as far south as Hampton, which is like 40 miles south of the city. And then I do business up in Dahlonega and You know, just having the skillset to know what you're looking for is the main thing. You know. Yeah. Not just looking at the same five things, not all about bedroom count and proximity to the grocery store.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (46m 39s):

Of course Crunch drops.

Ali Crook (46m 41s):

Yeah, yeah. What's in the house doesn't matter a lot of times because you can change that for any amount of money.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (46m 47s):

So switching gears, I think in 2021, we both attended Dealmaker for the first time and I was in the room because I had found James Facebook group. I think I had just moved back to New York. I already had my first investment property and I wanted to learn more about being a real estate investor. And I knew that the way I would learn would be to be surrounded by people who were doing the thing that I wanted to do. And I just this casual energy of like, I don't care if I'm gonna be the only one in the room. I don't care if I'm gonna be the only one who like, I know who looks like me. I am just gonna rock up to Virginia and I'm gonna learn something. And I felt like you had a similar aspect of like, I'm just gonna show up.

Ali Crook (47m 22s):

Yeah.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (47m 24s):

In those rooms you've kind of like just grown this network. So tell them, tell me about growing your network in real estate. Like how have you done that?

Ali Crook (47m 32s):

Yeah, So I did exactly what you were describing. I went knowing people online, so through Lisa Inco Hart's teeny home mastermind that she was hosting at the time. There was probably like 10 people that were regularly getting on the calls and they were all over. Some were in Kentucky, some were in Alabama, Richmond. There was one lady that was out in Oregon. So You know, meeting them online is one thing and and sitting in a room of like 20 people, Jim Ingersol has that with the inner circle and, and that's, that's great. But then getting in a room and seeing people in real life and having conversations with them about their business and what they do on their day to day and seeing what their life is like is a whole other ballgame.

Ali Crook (48m 16s):

And then having the confidence to go back and talk to people again and say, oh, I met you before. How is that thing going? And then branching out to other events. And so like we were talking about meeting people at these investor network things and then kind of seeing where it is that they're going to learn from other people. I've seen you in Richmond a few times and then most recently in Tampa and then you've done a few other things. And Jackson, Mississippi, I'm going on the investor addicts cruise that's leaving out of Ca Canaveral in a little less than a month. Meeting people on that cruise really, really changed a lot in my life because I was connected with Augie and Audrey byot who are ambassadors for Cheer Love, which is just an amazing life changing charitable organization that raises money to buy wheelchairs for people that can't afford them and then they distribute them globally.

Ali Crook (49m 11s):

And that is just amazing because that's like a really cool group of people that just wants to help all the money that they raise goes directly to buying wheelchairs, which is what impressed me the most because you hear so much about charitable waste, You know, like there's certain organizations that raise all this money and then they spend it on office buildings and admins and fundraising and not actually helping people. So getting to know them on investor addicts in February and then traveling to Mexico with them this summer and spending a week with like 10 other like-minded investors that are also going through the same challenges. We are trying to figure out You know what's the next deal, how do I balance You, know my expenses, all of that. And then having those friendships grow is just like, I mean I couldn't have dreamt of a better scenario and then just continuing to look out for the next thing.

Ali Crook (49m 58s):

It's hard to know. 'cause like we were talking about the other day, there's a lot of big names that are on YouTube that drive flashy cars and have these cool like, I don't know, produced things with loud music. And that's great that that has a place. But at the end of the day, you need to be able to sit down and talk to people and You know, tell them your problems and be open to helping them with their problems. And we had a really awesome mastermind in Langa this year at the Tiny houses and at the lodge up the street from the tiny houses. It all was born out of deal maker and it was a charity event to raise money for charitable love. So we had 26 women that came to Dahlonega and we did a three day mastermind where people shared about their business, what their challenges are, what their goals are, and that was just like eye-opening and, and they've just scheduled the next one for September.

Ali Crook (50m 51s):

So just having a group of people to support you and reassure you that you're not crazy because a lot of times you're like, man, why am I doing this? I could have just been sitting there with this savings account instead of You know. But at the end of the day, seeing that it does work out and it makes sense and seeing people in all different stages of their investor journey. I'm still very new. There's some people in the room at these events. I've been doing this before we, either of us were alive. So that's pretty cool.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (51m 18s):

And I will say with James events, I don't know how he does it, I think it's 'cause Jim ist of himself like a, a good person, but he just really good people to his events. Because I've been to You know, we've both been to events around the country where the person who speak and the person who's organizing is a fantastic person, but there's a mix of people in the room. And so it's not You know there's some rules, there's some sharks, there's some foxes, You know it's, yeah, be careful with how you move around the room and who you tell your business to. But I feel like in places like Dealmaker, that's where you meet like the uggies of this world who are just like pure right and fantastic individuals and are like teaching you and like mentoring you and helping you like learn from them.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (52m 1s):

So it's incredible how Jim, I dunno how he's done it, but he really does attract good people. Yeah.

Ali Crook (52m 6s):

Yeah. I think it's kind of like the old saying like, like attracts like You know and he makes it clear that You know by helping other people that helps you get to what you wanna do. And explaining, I mean I love nothing more than talking to people that are like, Hey, I wanna start this or that in real estate. That's so enjoyable for me and I noticed for you and having like an event that gets together, 400 people that kind of wanna do that as pretty cool. I'm excited to see as the market changes kind of what people are doing. It's scary and interesting at the same time. You know this is an election year and I've been through presidential and gubernatorial cycles as a realtor and seeing how that's kind of affected things but not as an investor yet.

Ali Crook (52m 54s):

Hmm. So this will be interesting to see if people will slow down and sit and wait because that's kind of what happens with the retail market. Interesting. But there's a lot of people that know, hey there's opportunities and there's people out here that we can help with their real estate transactions that still need to sell and buy and live in places. So You know never stop.

Etinosa Agbonlahor (53m 16s):

So what is your motivation and vision? Why do you do all of this and what is the thing you're kind of trying to accomplish with your real estate investing?

Ali Crook (53m 26s):

Yeah. So, I have kind of like, I think three components to my business. I have the realtor component, which is how I eat and I pay for my phone and my car. And then I have the investor side, which I'm hoping in, in huddle in short term rentals, which is kind of my debut piece to this is who I am, this is my business, this is You know my stepping stone that will get me to doing more but also be the foundation of potentially a long-term moneymaking stream that can then supplement my income and hopefully be there for a long time because I am self-employed and You know I will be investing in IRAs and things like that.

Ali Crook (54m 11s):

But it's not like I'm my parents who have government backed pensions and government backed You know benefits and healthcare and all the things that come with it. And then the flipping side is new and that's to You know, build up some capital and and pay right Now it iss to pay down debt related to the construction because it was a massive undertaking and I had to tap into a lot of personal lines of credit to finish and to get started and You know sustain the first year. So You know, ultimately it's, it's the motivation of any self-employed person to keep going and You know pay the bills. But then long term it's just having this freedom of owning my own business, being able to do what I wanna do most days, not every day but most days.

Ali Crook (54m 57s):

And being there to hopefully have enough financial security to help support my family. So my parents are doing just fine. They're both retired from federal entities. My dad's retired from the FAA as an air traffic controller. And my mom's a retired teacher, but I have two cousins and unfortunately we lost their mother this year and their father has an A business and they're doing extremely well right now. But I wanna be there for them a hundred percent in any way I can in the future. One will be 12 on Wednesday and the other one's 16 and they're brilliant and I want 'em to be able to do absolutely anything they wanna do and life, whether that be education or starting their own businesses. We got to travel together to Europe over Christmas and so that planted the travel bug wanderlust that I have.

Ali Crook (55m 43s):

I love traveling and going to other countries. And then You know, like I was talking about earlier, having like this charitable organization that I'm now able to help is also just kind of like a extra thing that gives you fulfillment and in helping other people, which is just unbelievably special to me. So

Etinosa Agbonlahor (56m 2s):

I. Love that. That's amazing. Yeah. Where, who find you who want to connect with you.

Ali Crook (56m 7s):

So the first place is huddle tiny homes.com. So H-U-D-D-L-E-T-I-N-Y-H-O-M-E s.com. And then my social is at huddle Tiny homes. I'm Southern So I say homes kind of weird. And then my website is my name for my realtor page Ali A LI crook, CROO k.com. Full disclosure, I was born with that name. I didn't do anything to earn it. There's all kinds of theories about where it came from. My family's been in Appalachia and Detroit for hundreds of years, so who knows. But so my social there is also Ali Crook realtor at Ali Crook realtor on Instagram.

Ali Crook (56m 47s):

My name on Facebook is Ali Crook or Ali Crook realtor. And I would love to connect with anybody that has any questions about tiny homes getting started in real estate or the Atlanta Metro Market. I absolutely love what I do as a realtor and if anybody is looking for advice on You know property here, I can definitely help you with that.

3 (57m 6s):

Amazing, thank you so much, Ali. This was such

Ali Crook (57m 8s):

A thank you. I appreciate it. Well, good luck. I'm, I'm excited to see who else you have on.

3 (57m 14s):

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Remember to check us out on Her First House dot org and join the community for access to bimonthly calls with me and everyone else in the group, as well as loads of cool resources. Also, like, share this episode with two people and tell me what you liked or learned from the episode by tagging me on Instagram at realestate with etti. That's real estate with ETI. We'll see you in the community and on the next episode.