Our guest, Erin Clark, of Erin Clark homes walks us through how she got started in rehabbing homes for profit, mistakes she made along the way, and how she’s grown her network of investors who want to make money in real estate this way.

Erin is a Dallas native and never imagined she would be doing this for a living. Her undiagnosed ADHD and chronic entrepreneurial spirit led her into owning her own Sports therapy business, followed by fitness and wellness coaching for moms and finally, and reluctantly, into real estate.

Her path into renovations was an accident after a series of saying "yes, but (dot, dot, dot)" and she quickly realized, through trial and error, she was born for this.

Renovate and resale is her trademark process for taking unloved homes and making them new again, and she loves more than anything to teach and partner with women through this process.

When Erin isn't managing multiple projects at a time and hauling bathtubs in the SUV, you can find her carpooling kids to sports, sneaking in date nights with her husband, drinking coffee until it's appropriate to snag a glass of wine and building a women-centered community online.

Here are the key takeaways from today’s show:

1. Being willing to say, “yes,” to something you’ve never done before can unearth talents you didn’t know you had and lead you to a new way of making money in your business that you absolutely love.
2. Having the mindset of “How hard could it be?” helps overcome fear and builds confidence. Failure is inevitable along the way. It’s your ability to dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes, and move forward that matters.
3. Renovate and Resell projects take time and money. If you don’t yet have the money to fund the project, contributing time to oversee the project while partnering with someone who has the funds can be a way to get your foot in the door and build experience.
4. Really diving into the numbers is the key to success when renovating and reselling. Making sure there is plenty of margin to account for things that could go wrong, cost more, etc. is imperative. It’s also important to evaluate what went well, where you stayed on or below budget, and what went over in terms of time and money after each project. This will help inform better decisions on the next project.
5. Differentiating your project from other “flips” can and should pay big dividends. Erin spends a lot of time upfront imagining who is most likely going to be the buyer for the end product and then goes above and beyond to create that home.
6. Buyer beware! When purchasing a “flip” home, there are no warranties and no guarantees like there are with new construction, so it’s imperative to do your due diligence to make sure that the home is inspected well, and that anything that should have been permitted has a final permit with the local government.
7. For realtors that are partnering with investors to renovate and resell homes, it’s imperative to have separate contracts with those you partner with so it’s clear what your role is as the realtor and what it is as the project manager, financier, or any other role outside of your role as a realtor.
8. Some keys for success when starting to renovate and resell are: 1) know the neighborhoods for your projects inside and out, so you know how high you can push the resale price, and what buyers there are looking for in those neighborhoods, 2) Create an amazing team of contractors, 3) Make sure your margins run deep, taking into account, not only the material and labor costs of the renovation, but also the carrying costs of the loan.

You can find Erin on Instagram @erinclarkhomes

And online at erinclarkhomes.com