Knowledge is arguably one of the necessary foundations you need in order to succeed in anything you try to do. To secure your investments, getting an education with regards to real estate is definitely a must. Anette Talie, the President of Talie Investments, learned this the hard way. In this episode, she confides with Monick Halm to share her experience about her career’s biggest mistake and how it could’ve been avoided if only she educated herself beforehand. Highlighting the importance of grabbing every opportunity you come across and the need to start surrounding yourself with people in the same field as you, she also explains how being stubborn and persistent was the key factor contributing to her success with real estate investing.

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Real Estate Education: Securing Your Investments With Knowledge With Anette Talie

On this show, we interview badass amazing Real Estate Investor Goddesses women that are crushing it in the real estate investing space. My guest is no exception to that. I’m excited to have with us Anette Talie, who is an amazing woman and investor. I was honored to have been on her show and I’m thrilled to continue the conversation here and to share her with you. She’s from Lima, Peru. She was raised there, moved to Florida to get her Bachelor’s of Architecture. She started in architecture in 2010. She started looking for other options in order to reach financial freedom. She started a job managing properties for a foreign investor and in 2012, she acquired her first investment property.

She manages 31 units, including her personal portfolio of twelve units in Florida. She started investing out of state where she holds four units with a partner and under contract for 24 more. She is going fast and doing amazing things. Her goal is to continue to grow her portfolio and partner with other investors and larger deals. She has a podcast called the Real Estate Deal Closers that I was honored to be on. It focuses on different strategies to acquire real estate. It’s a great show which you should check out as well. In the meantime, let’s get started with Anette. Welcome, Anette.

Thank you for having me.

Thanks for coming on.

I’m excited to keep the conversation.

Me too. You came from Peru, you were here, you’re working at architecture. What made you get started in real estate investing?

 

It was a couple of things. My husband and I were both architects. With the recession in 2008, it hit us bad. The work stopped and it affected our income. We decided, at that point, that we couldn’t have all our eggs in one basket. We started looking at other options and we masterminded all these ideas about businesses, restaurants, products, this and that. We always came back to real estate because it was the most versatile, you could focus on different parts of real estate, you have the tax benefits, and it feeds my personality. We decided to go with real estate. When I started sharing with people that I wanted to acquire property, a friend of mine approached me and said, “My cousin needs somebody to manage his sixteen-unit property that he’s going to buy here in Florida. Are you interested?”

I was seven months pregnant. I was like, “Yes.” I have no idea what I’m doing but I can figure it out. It was an amazing opportunity to make money while I was learning. I took it and one thing that my stepdad, who I consider my dad taught me is that when you get an opportunity in front of you, you have to take it because the other opportunity may not happen again. That’s something that stuck with me one time that he offered me something that I didn’t care. All of a sudden, it became the thing. When I asked him to get it for me, he’s like, “I don’t have the money anymore.” I never got it. That made me realize that when there’s an opportunity, you got to take it.

You have to grab onto it. That’s such a brilliant way for you to learn. As you were saying, you got paid to learn how to manage property.

This investor became my mentor as well because he knew how to buy properties, so he showed me how to calculate the numbers. Many times, he came with us to look at property and point out to us what to look for. Being in the architectural field as well, I have experience in construction, so that helped but it’s not the same being at the office than being on the field. That also was an amazing opportunity to be able to renovate this building and see the construction at first hand, managing a team of construction people. It’s a different story than when you are working with a large hotel and you’re talking directly with the GC. You’re not talking with the workers, you’re not telling them exactly what to do. It was a totally different experience.

What was the first property you got?

When we decided to buy, early on, we decided we didn’t want to do houses. We realized that it was the same thing putting all our money in one basket. We couldn’t afford to do more than two units but at least two units gave us the flexibility of having 50% of the income if one of them wasn’t full. We decided to start with duplexes and we were looking for a year before we were able to buy one that we liked. It took us a year to realize what was that we wanted. We were looking at anything and everything at the beginning and then we started seeing a trend.

When you get an opportunity in front of you, you have to take it because it may not happen again. Share on X

In Florida, we don’t want frame construction, we want block construction. We stopped looking at anything that was framed because of the hurricanes. We started looking in an area and then we realized that area was transient. The utilities were expensive. We decided we’re going to keep looking in the broad area but not this specific little city. That whole first year, we looked at many properties, we pulled a bunch of offers. We lost one inspection money. We got the deposit back because we withdrew at the time of the inspection but we were looking and analyzing a lot of property.

Sometimes it takes a while and you have to find the right one. The first one that you got was a duplex. Did you remodel it?

That one was ready to go. We didn’t have to do anything but put it online. At that time, we used Craigslist to rent and it was empty. It was not a modern unit but it was in perfect condition. You don’t need to do anything. Even the grass was perfect. It didn’t last too long but it was perfect. We already knew exactly what we wanted. We saw it come on the market on a Friday around 5:00 PM. My husband left and went driving by around 7:00 PM. He came back and told me it’s good. We called our realtor at 8:00 PM and she prepared the contract. The next day at 8:00 AM, we already had an offer to the owner. It ended up being a bid war because they underpriced it to get a lot of interest.

They didn’t want to take any offers until Monday. They got eleven offers and then they ask the three highest offers to give them our best and final. At this point, we were asking our mentors like, “What do we do?” We ended up paying at least $10,000 more than our initial offer because we knew that we were competing with other experienced investors and that they were going to up it up, not just $1,000, they were going to up it up a little bit more because the property was worth that. We decided that we had to do our best price that still made sense and the numbers still worked so we were able to get it.

That’s exciting and fun.

Once we get to the person, we’re like, “What do I do now?” We rented it quickly. That property, after five years, when I refinanced, I ended up pulling out 150% of the cash that I used to buy it because when I bought it first, I bought it cash. We bought it and forgot about it. We didn’t look for more properties right away because we were saving for the next one. In the meantime, we also bought a house, our primary home. We bought this rental before we even owned a home for ourselves because we wanted to make sure that we were producing money before we were spending money. After we bought our house and we sell the lien then we decided to have another child. I told my husband, “We’re having another child. We need to buy another property.”

 

The property is initially we thought this could pay for our kids’ quality education. We either sell it or we use the cashflow to pay for college. That’s when we decided to buy a second duplex. By the time that we decided to buy, we already had a down payment for it. We bought the second one and we kept going. Once we bought the second one, we’re like, “What about a third one?” That’s when I started getting a little bit more educated about real estate because I knew the basics but I didn’t know a lot of strategies. I started learning about HELOCs, lines of credits, hard money, private money, all the things that you don’t know if you don’t invest.

Did you were buying your properties all cash at first? Are you still doing that? Did you change that strategy and you start any of these leverages?

At the time that we bought it cash, we cool by finance because of the economy. We were affected by it so our credit wasn’t good. We had to buy cash and it took us a year to find it. We were leading on one income and saving everything on the other income. In a year, we were able to save a lot of money and we were able to buy it cash. On the second one, we decided to start using the rents again because we were able to start buying with credit. The second one, we needed 25% for an investment property, multifamily. On the third one, we ended up getting a HELOC on our primary home. I used the money for the down payment. I kept studying. What else can I do? How can I acquire another property? I’m like, “I have that little property that I bought. I wonder how much it’s worth now.” I ended up doing a cashout refi on that first property. With the money that I cash out, I bought a six-unit.

You’ve had a tremendous amount of success. I want to ask you my favorite question. We learn so much from our mistakes than we do from the successes and when things are going well. What would you say was your biggest mistake? What did you learn from it?

My biggest mistake in real estate was buying something without educating myself before. This was even before I bought my first investment. When we were younger, we bought a condo. Some people told us don’t buy a condo but they never told us why. We went ahead, bought a condo, and it was a beautiful condo in a beautiful community until the HOA started spending money when they didn’t have any reserves. I realized that lien in a condo, you don’t have control of the finances of their building because the HOA will make decisions for you. I learned early that I had to educate myself and to have control. I decided I will never buy a condo again.

Maybe in the future I will but for now, it’s on our black list. Condos are no-no for us. If I was to buy now, I would know that I had to look at the reserves. I need to look at the financials of the condominium to see what they are spending money on. What are the projects that are coming up? They made a lot of decisions, not thinking of new buyers. It was a condominium where there were a lot of old people that own these condos outright. They didn’t care about replacing the roof. Special assessment, everybody can pay $2,000 a month, why not? They ruined that but it was our fault because we didn’t research it. Everybody was buying so we decided to try it too.

Surround yourself with people who are doing the same as you so you can learn and bounce ideas. Share on X

It was going to be worth much more in a year so we went ahead and bought it. That taught us so much. When we decided to go into real estate investing, we need to educate ourselves. I need to start a quality location. We only learned what we needed to learn to do that. Once I decided that I wanted to do it more as a business, that’s when I also realized you cannot do it by yourself. That’s the second lesson that I learned that the more that you talk to people about it and that you surround yourself with people that are doing the same, you learn so much, you are able to bounce ideas, “I have this. What do you think?” You find people that are talking the same language as you. Sometimes, I was at parties talking to my friends about real estate and they’re like, “What are your kids eating nowadays? What are you cooking?”

You find this group of friends that become your friends like your second family that you can share ideas and strategies. That’s one of the reasons that I started the podcast Real Estate Deal Closers because I wanted to learn and share with people different strategies that other investors used to acquire real estate because I didn’t know at the beginning. I paid 100% and my money was stuck for five years until I learned something else that I could do a cashout refi’s, take the money out, and reuse it. I decided that in my podcast, I wanted to focus on one deal per show. I want to go from the beginning to the end, how people found it, how they finance it, and everything until they exit that investment. It was a little bit of a selfish thing because I wanted to learn more about what others are doing and also get people the information. If they are starting and listening to the podcast, they could learn more.

That’s a big reason why I did my show too. It helps me learn. I get the goddesses like you and that is my people.

We get to know people that are doing what you like to do.

That’s such good advice. Getting educated because an uneducated investor is a money disaster waiting to happen.

It’s a gamble because you are hoping the price will go up and expenses won’t go up.

 

What are you most proud of?

I am an active person and I am always doing something. I’m always being a busy person. My friends know me, I’m always doing something but sometimes I don’t see it. At the end of 2019, I was down like I don’t feel I did anything. I decided I’m going to make a list of all the things that I’ve done in 2019. When I saw that list, I was amazed by all the progress that I had made in a year. What I’m most proud of is that I’m the type of person that when I put something in my mind, I go and do it even if I am scared or I may not be able to do it, I give it a go and I go after it. A lot of times, I get it.

Taking that advice or the lesson you learned from your stepfather. The property that comes, say yes and do it. To what do you attribute your success?

I am stubborn. That could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. Being stubborn also makes me be persistent in what I want to do. I don’t remember how I got this. It was on my mastermind but it was about doing small actions and it was the Atomic Habits book that it was saying that these small habits that you start adding to your routine, it will accumulate and you will get far before you know it. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed with all the things that I want to do and I decide, “Let me do one thing.” I focused on the one thing that I can do instead of not doing anything. I keep doing it until I can add something else that I can do and then it becomes a routine or you accomplished something and then you move to the next thing. If you focus on one little thing before you know it, you are going to be far from where you started.

I have a couple of questions for you before we get into our famed end of show trinity. What do you wish you’d known at the beginning that you now know?

I didn’t leverage it. I knew a little bit about leverage but I bought the first property cash. I think about it now. At that time when I started, the properties were low and they were starting to go up so I could have bought four different properties instead of one with the same amount of money if I knew how to do it. I wish I knew more strategies and that’s why I started the podcast because it’s so important to learn and it’s so easy like you’re driving and you can be listening to something. You can listen to it again. Sometimes, you don’t get 100% of what you hear compared to reading but if you listen to it again then things start stacking in your brain.

Be consistent and stubborn if you want to succeed. It makes you persistent with what you want to do. Share on X

Leverage and other strategies to acquire real estate. If I started doing all these strategies when I started, that’s in 2012 and we’re 2020 now, I will be much farther along the way, partnering with people, and not doing it by yourself. That was one of the things that I started and doing it by myself. I remember at some point asking my mentor because he always did everything by himself. Do you ever go to conferences? Do you ever partner with anybody? He’s like, “No, I like to do it all by myself.” He owns a lot of property. I’m like, “Okay.” A couple of years later, I started realizing that this was like a team sport and that you need to start talking to people.

It’s leverage with debt, being able to finance, there’s leverage with people, and being able to tap into their skills and relationships and knowledge. Before we get into the trinity, what is the best place for people to find you?

The best place for them to find me is my website, which is TalieInvestments.com and you can find all the information there and all my links. I have a Facebook group. I do a meetup. You can find my podcast in iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify as well as in YouTube. If you want to talk to me quickly, Facebook is the best place to find me. I’m as Anette Talie. I am active on Facebook so that’s how people can find me quickly.

It’s time for our famed end of show trinity which is a brag, a gratitude, and a desire. What is one thing you’re celebrating? What’s your brag?

My brag is that I’ve been working on trying to participate on a syndication on the general partnership side. After acquiring my last six units, I realized that I wanted something bigger. I was looking for partnering with other people with joint ventures and also participating in syndications. I joined a team to work on a syndication. I am super excited about that because for the longest time I was like, “I don’t think this is going to happen. It’s been so long. I’ve been working hard for people to work with me on syndication.” Finally, I was having a phone call where I’m going to be helping a team with syndication.

What’s one thing you’re grateful for?

My family. I have to say I’m grateful for my husband especially because he supports me in all my crazy ideas. He is the opposite of me. I’m outgoing, loud, and he’s quiet in and not outgoing, shy, you could say. He always supports me in anything that I want to do. Every once in a while, I have to convince him. For the most part, we’re having the interview and I’m like, “Why don’t you take the kids to the park? That’ll be fun.” He’s like, “It’s hot outside.” I’m like, “Come on.” He’s like, “Okay.” I don’t think I could be doing what I’m doing without him taking on a lot of stuff that he doesn’t like much.

Last but certainly not least, what’s one desire?

One desire, financial freedom. That’s one of the things that I’m working hard on. It’s being able to work if I want to and being able to spend more time with my family. The reason that I got into real estate was that. I don’t want to be a billionaire. It would be nice but I would like to be able to have a nice life and not worry about tomorrow in finances. Being able to work if I want to or have my investments, keep my lifestyle, and not worry about money.

So shall your desires be or so much better than you can imagine under grace and in a perfect place.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. Thank you for this awesome interview. You can find Anette at TalieInvestments.com or search her up on Facebook. You can connect with me at RealEstateInvestorGoddesses.com or @REIGoddesses on Instagram and Facebook. On the website, you can join our Investor Club and find out about passive investing opportunities and you can join our amazing sisterhood of women from all over the world that are joined together to invest in real estate. A lot of other resources we have there for you too. Check out RealEstateInvestorGoddesses.com and also don’t forget to subscribe to the show, give it some likes and reviews, we love five stars, and come back next time for another amazing Real Estate Investor Goddess interview. Thank you.

Important Links:

• Anette Talie
• Real Estate Deal Closers
• Atomic Habits
• Facebook group – South Florida Multifamily and More Investor Club
• iTunes – Real Estate Deal Closers
• Stitcher – Real Estate Deal Closers
• Spotify – Real Estate Deal Closers
• YouTube – Anette Talie
• Facebook – Talie Investments
• @REIGoddesses – Instagram
• Facebook – Real Estate Investor Goddesses

About Anette Talie

Born and raised in Lima, Perú, Anette Talie moved to Florida where she obtained her Bachelor of Architecture.

In 2010 Anette started looking for other options, besides Architecture, to reach financial freedom. She started a job managing properties for a foreign investor and in 2012 she acquired her first investment property.

Now-a-days, Anette manages 31 units including her personal portfolio of 12 units in Florida. She recently started investing out-of-state, where she holds 4 units with a partner and is under contract for 24 more. Her goal is to continue to grow her portfolio and partner with other investors in larger deals.

Anette Talie recently launched her Podcast “Real Estate Deal Closers Show” a show that focuses on different strategies to acquire real estate.

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