When you’re venturing out into real estate investing, it helps to work with a dedicated team who has complementary skills and shares the same goals and core values. With a dozen other female African American real estate investors, Mikala Martin found such a team in She Buys LLC, where she serves as the CEO. Mikala’s goal is for her team to achieve generational income, which will support not only the investors themselves, but also their children and grandchildren. When not investing in real estate, Mikala serves her community as an outreach specialist, connecting individuals with behavioral services and helping them achieve their desired goals. Listen in as she shares her story to Monick Halm on the podcast.
—
Watch the episode here:
Listen to the podcast here:
Achieving Generational Income For Female African American Investors With Mikala Martin
On this show, we interview badass female real estate investors, women that are crushing it in the real estate investing space, and my guest is certainly no exception. I am super excited to have with us, Mikala Martin. She’s a proud public service expert, real estate agent, and Boston mom, as she likes to call it. She’s worked in fields such as education and social work for over ten years and she serves as a mentor and tutor providing services to youth involved with the court system. She also works as an Outreach Specialist, connecting individuals with behavioral services and helping them achieve their desired goals. She’s definitely into serving the community, but she also thrives in the realm of real estate. She’s also an investor. She’s the CEO and owner of She Buys. We’re excited to have her with us. Welcome, Mikala.
Thank you so much for having me.
How did you get started in real estate investing?
Honestly, it stemmed from a few different places. My mom was a real estate agent at one point. My grandfather was an investor before he passed away. He was into buying property and owning land, so I had that knowledge and information, but in terms of creating and being or owning She Buys. My best friend is my broker. She’s a real estate agent. I had girlfriends from high school who we often had the conversation about real estate and investing and it was like a little light bulb that went off like, “We’re going to all do this together and we’re going to succeed at it.” It’s like family, friends, knowledge, and information all came together at the perfect timing and I decided I’m going to be a part of that. I’m going to be good at it.
Tell me more about She Buys. What is that exactly?
She Buys in the all-female African American investment team. We do have some real estate agents that are a part of our company. However, for the most part, we’re our own investors. We work as investors. We work with investors, wholesaling, fix and flipping, renting. Our ultimate goal is to own over 200 buildings together as She Buys LLC that we ranked as a part of our rental portfolio. The real goal is generational wealth. That’s what brought us all together.
Tell me about your first real estate investment purchase. What was that property?
My first real estate investment wasn’t necessarily a purchase. It was a wholesale deal that we did together as She Buys and it happened after about two months of being in business. It was the green light to go. It was a gentleman. He was in the process of facing foreclosure at the time. We came in and we were able to help him prevent the foreclosure. He also walked away with some money in his pocket, over $90,000 to get some equity in his home. That was the first deal for us and that was the yay moment for all of us. It’s like, “We can definitely do this. We don’t have to stop here.” By literally whatever we say we’re going to do, that’s what’s going to happen. That’s where we’ve been from there.
When did you start?
It's one thing to say you want to do something, and another to commit yourself to it. Share on XWe have been in business since 2018.
You’ve been wholesaling. Have you purchased anything yet?
We have not. Our goal is to make our first major purchase in 2020.
You’re looking to purchase in 2020. What are you looking to buy?
Our first purchase will be a fix and flip. We’ve done a lot of connecting investors to properties and playing that part of the game, building our capital, like a lot of investment companies do. We’ve been doing that heavily and we put ourselves in a position to make our first purchase together.
You’ve been at it a couple of years now and I love that you’re working with women and created this, which is I think how we most thrive. I always ask every guest I have, what was your biggest mistake, and what did you learn from it?
At this point, because we’re so soon, we haven’t faced our major mistake yet. It’s like everything we’ve written, planned, and manifested our goals to do, they have been aligned. We haven’t hit that and I don’t want to, I’m sure. I’m not going to claim it. We’re going to let that go but it’s been going as planned and on schedule for what our goals were. The biggest challenge probably would be like we’re thirteen women in one group. We’re all smart, opinionated, bright women, maybe always being on the same accord. It’s not a challenge. It’s more so what has helped us to grow, being able to communicate best and execute our plans and goals together.
How do you do it? You said there are thirteen different people. How do you make decisions? How did you structure it so that it’s not chaos?
We already had our identified leaders because two of us were knowledgeable at the time of the organization. As we all have grown and gained knowledge, we have one goal. It’s generational wealth and that keeps everything going and moving for us. We know what we came together to do and what our ultimate goal is as a team. We stay focused, we communicate effectively. We share information and knowledge with each other. If one of us fails, then we all fail. We know that. We’re a team.
Generational Income: The ultimate goal of She Buys LLC is generational income for female African-American real estate investors.
In terms of wholesaling, how do you work together as a team?
We all know what our best student roles are. That was the beginning of everything for us knowing where we stood and what our strongest suits were and what do you have to bring to this team so that we will flourish and thrive. Also, being very honest about where we stood. It’s one thing to say you want to be a part of the team or have the idea that you want to be a part of something, but to actually be involved with it and be committed to it and stick to that, that’s what keeps our momentum going. With any company or any business, there’s always not necessarily disagreements, but different opinions or different ideas about the way things should be done. As always, our main goal has always and will always be that we want to have generational wealth and have things that we are able to leave behind to our children and their children and those children. We keep that as our central focus for what we’re trying to do here.
That’s great that you have thirteen people that have all been showed up dedicated. What are you most proud of?
I’m proud of, She Buys. I’m proud of life. I’m proud of my amazing child. I’m proud of my ambition. It’s hard for me to put a cap on something as being the most.
How about with regards to your real estate investing?
That I’m still in the game, even during COVID. It hasn’t stopped. Things have continued to go and I think that that’s based off of my decision that I wasn’t going to allow COVID to stop what I was trying to do. I felt like I was very much in control of that and those powers that be. I’m happy and I’m proud that I didn’t allow a pandemic to stop the goals that I set for myself for my real estate company.
To what do you attribute your success?
I have an amazing team and I am truly blessed to have supportive people in my corner. Referrals are always your best friend. Knowing that the work that I’ve done, other people are pleased and satisfied with it to the point that they want to recommend me to someone else and say, “That’s the girl you want to go to.” Whether its real estate purchase for residential or investing, they know or they felt comfortable and pleased enough to recommend me to someone else. That’s always a big glass for me.
What advice do you have for a woman who’s starting out in this field?
Referrals are always your best friend. Share on XBet on yourself. That’s the best advice I can give you. You have to trust yourself. When I started in this, I was working for the government. I had a full-time, 9:00 to 5:00. I have a job that I actually wanted. Once I get this job, I’m going to be secure. I’m not going to need no other job. I’m going to be able to retire from this. I felt like it put a cap on what I could gain, be and provide for myself and my family. That’s exactly what I did. I bet on myself. There’s going to be some people questioning your decision that you’re making and asking, “Are you sure about that? Is that the route you want to go to? You got a good job. You’re not doing too bad.” That’s cool. Not bad as cool, but I want more than I could imagine and I feel like I’m deserving of that. Trust in yourself. Know that you are definitely capable of doing it. Not because you said it because you’re going to go and do it. You can come with some hustle and some grind too.
Two more questions before we come to our fame and the show trinity, but what do you wish you’d known at the beginning that you now know?
That I can do it, it was a new world for me. My mom had done that. I saw her doing it, but seeing her doing it and actually doing it are two different things. My best friend did it, but helping her do something or being there along the way, it’s totally different from doing it. Now it’s on me. I’m the person they’re relying on. They’re asking me questions. It would be that you got it. You can get this done. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Bet on yourself.
Before we get into the trinity, how can people reach you and find out more about what is She Buys and what you’re doing?
We have a website, which is, SheBuysLLC.com. We also an Instagram @SheBuysLLC. You can also find me on Instagram @MikalaMRealtor.
It’s time for the Trinity, which is a brag, a gratitude, and a desire. What’s one thing you’re celebrating with your brag?
My brag is that I’m still getting into the bag. It has not stopped. I’ve been asking. I’ve been receiving. I’ve been extremely blessed throughout this pandemic and that is my that’s my brag. The light’s still on. My ultimate brag is my blessings.
What’s one thing you’re grateful for?
For life, for the ability to be here and go after and achieve these goals. I’m grateful for my clients. I’m grateful for the people who believe in me. You said one thing, I’m not good with one thing. I like lots of things.
Generational Income: Communicating and executing your plans with your team will help your company grow and achieve its goals.
What’s one thing you desire?
One thing I desire is a bigger family to leave all these great things I’m accomplishing too. That’s my personal desire. It’s not like a real estate desire.
So shall your desire be or so much better than you can imagine.
Thank you so much and I receive that.
Thank you for coming on the show and sharing your beautiful energy.
Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing yours miles and miles away.
You can reach Mikala @SheBuysLLC on the social and @MikalaMRealtor on Instagram as well. You can reach me at REIGoddesses.com and @REIGoddesses on all social media, join us on there. You can get into our community of women from all over the world who are investing in real estate and supporting one another to join our sisterhood there. Subscribe to the show, like, share with your girls and join us next time for another episode.
Important Links:
- She Buys
- SheBuysLLC.com
- @SheBuysLLC – Instagram
- @MikalaMRealtor – Instagram
- @REIGoddesses – Instagram
About Mikala Martin
Meet Mikala Martin, a proud public service expert, real estate agent and bossin’ mom (as she likes to call it)!
Mikala has worked in fields such as education and social work for 10+ years and serves as a mentor and tutor providing services to youth involved with the court system. Mikala also works as on outreach specialists connecting individuals with behavioral services and helping them achieve their desired goals.
While serving her community comes as second nature, Mikala also thrives in the realms of Real Estate as a Real Estate Agent and Investor. She is the CEO/Owner of She Buys.
Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!
Join the Real Estate Investor Goddesses Community today:
