Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanine Best.
Jeanine, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, but my husband and I always wanted to move someplace warm! In 2013, I was working for an animal health company and took a promotion from sales into a sales trainer role at the headquarters in Duluth, GA. While reporting into an office, I would drop off our daughter at daycare at 8 am and pick her up at 6:30 pm, I hardly saw her and I knew that was not how I wanted her to grow up!
My husband and I were always interested in investing in Real Estate, but didn’t know how to start and of course wanted to do it the right way, so we didn’t lose our life savings we worked so hard for. I thought this would be a great way for me to have a more flexible schedule to be with our daughter, while still earning a good living. In 2016, my husband and I attended a weekend seminar that changed our lives! We paid a significant investment to get educated on investing in real estate the right way. We learned wholesaling, how to fix and flip a home, short term rentals and long term rentals.
In 2016, while we were both working full time jobs, we began to fix and flip houses at nights and on the weekends. We successfully completed three homes to flip and resale, but were getting burned out! In 2017, after I felt confident, we could make this work, I chose to leave my comfortable, stable corporate job to invest in real estate full time!
I knew I wanted to get my real estate license, so I could buy and sell my own houses, save on commission and get access to the MLS systems. So, the first accomplishment after going full time in real estate was to attend classes and study to take my real estate boards to earn my license. After successfully passing my boards, I joined an “investor friendly” brokerage who understood investing.
Between 2016-2019 we flipped and resold 21 single family homes, completed three wholesale transactions, purchased 1 short term rental on Lake Oconee and three long term rentals and a storage facility. Based on these deals, I came up with my 25 lessons learned:
1. If buying three bedrooms, one bath home, make sure you have room in existing footprint to convert to a 3/2, or do an addition
2. When doing a historic home, count on additional time for permit approval, UDC and materials will be significantly more expensive
3. Start small, don’t have to be the hero and do a large scale renovation at the start
4. No streets with double lines
5. Know how to sell a renovation to a home inspector and appraiser, if you don’t hire someone who does
6. If you have never heard of the lender, be very skeptical of the offer and Buyers qualifying
7. For new construction or additions, take your time during DD and go see the permitting office, understand any weird nuances
8. Make sure to hire licensed and insured contractors and if using a PM, make sure they hire licensed tradesmen for plumbing, electrical and HVAC who pull permits
9. Don’t trust anyone else’s ARV, pull the comps for yourself and be conservative, as the market is changing
10. Don’t over renovate – do the comps have new cabinets, or can you paint existing? What kind of flooring do the comps use? Do comps include all appliances?
11. Certain parts of the city, you will need a camera and an alarm, include these as project costs!
12. Don’t discount the hedge funds, sometimes they will give you a decent offer…
13. If a home warranty is agreed to…double check that it is included on the HUD and the attorney doesn’t miss it!
14. Suggest buyers to do final walk through a few days prior to closing, so if there are any issues, you can get contractors back to the house to correct
15. Make sure to think functionally about the space
o Can you access the backyard?
o If you didn’t include a microwave, is there room to put one?
o Where will they put all of their canned goods? towels? Coats? Pots and pans?
o When entertaining is the kitchen table close to the kitchen?
16. When in doubt get an engineer letter, won’t cost more than $350 or so and well worth it for peace of mind
17. Watch trends in an area, don’t renovate too trendy in an area that is more traditional
18. If you aren’t 100% positive on the ARV wait for the next deal!
19. Check comps, especially in the city, do they have a driveway, off street parking, or garage? If yours doesn’t need to budget to add, or reduce ARV if not possible to build
20. Always pay back your lenders, no questions asked, even if you don’t make any money!
21. Always have the best interest of the seller in mind, find a way to make all parties happy in the transaction… not always about $$
22. If you presell and let the Buyer choose finishes, make sure you a have a solid contract, get more than usual Earnest Money, if Buyer chooses something more expensive than your original budget, make them pay for it upfront
23. When buying from a wholesaler, ask for a redacted contract up front to be sure they own the rights to sell that contract
24. Make sure your PM, or GC is paying his sub-contractors!
25. ALWAYS, ALWAYS do a Notice of Commencement, get W9s, independent contractor agreement and lien waivers for every project… don’t get lazy after working together on a few projects with the same contractor!
After all these lessons learned, in 2020, I wanted to focus on what I LOVE about real estate and that was the design and the sale! This year, I have been focusing on being a listing and buyer’s agent for other investors, as well as regular home owners. Given my experience with contractors, budgeting, selling for top dollar, knowing what renovations are necessary, etc. my little niche has been very good to me! I have recently made the move to Atlanta Communities as my brokerage because I love all of the additional Marketing and office support I can now offer my Clients.
I continue to manage our short-term rental on Lake Oconee, as well as manage short term rentals for two clients, manage our storage facility and our three long terms rentals, in addition to my life as a Realtor. I am always open to discussing my story to anyone looking to get into really any facet of Real Estate. Follow me on FB @jeaninebestatlantarealtor or IG @jeaninebestatlantarealtor
Has it been a smooth road?
As you can see, I am constantly changing my path based on what I love to do, what I am really good at and trends in the industry. We did lose money on 2 of our flips, but we had enough capital and other projects to dig us out of those holes.
Also don’t believe everything you see on TV, as HGTV doesn’t tell you how stressful a flip can be! So many things can go wrong and so much is being controlled by other people that I was having a lot of sleepless nights. Contractors make or break you and I had been through at least 7 GC’s/PM’s and none of them were perfect, if they go over budget or extend their timeline, your profitability is up in the air.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As a Realtor, I am an individual agent, so if you are buying or selling, you will work directly with me. I have a full team of contractors and with my experience I can help guide you in necessary renovations and design to get your home market ready. Please visit www.jeaninebest.com for more information!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
As far as investing, there is both good and bad about investing in Atlanta vs the suburbs and visa versa. In Atlanta you can definitely do a unique style and try more trendy designs and houses in certain zip codes in Atlanta will still have multiple offer situations. But in Atlanta you have a lot of politics, you have long wait times for permits and inspections, you also have significantly older homes and have to do more full gut renovations.
Investing in the suburbs, you may need to do a more traditional style, depending on your buyer, you will likely only need to do a cosmetic renovation and there likely isn’t a lot of competition from other investors. The downfall in the suburbs you have to make sure you are in a good school district, days on market maybe higher, holding costs will be higher because prices also usually are higher in the suburbs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jeaninebest.com
- Phone: 7085579445
- Email: jeanine@bestpropertypartners.com
- Instagram: @jeaninebestatlantarealtor
- Facebook: @jeaninebestatlantarealtor
- Other: www.beststoragesolution.com
Image Credit:
Mimi Erickson
Svetlana Kretova Chapman
Jarrod Brock
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