Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitlei Neal.
Whitlei, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am from the small town of Fort Valley, GA. Fort Valley is the type of place where you can drive down the street and see someone walking and just pull over and ask them if they need a ride home. It is just that SMALL of a town; everyone knows everyone. As much as I love Fort Valley and am proud to be from there, I knew as early as the age of 10 that Fort Valley that I was not built for a small town and couldn’t wait to experience big city life.
In high school, I soared. I was heavily involved in academics and sports. Because as far as I knew, getting a scholarship and going to college was my only way out of Fort Valley. I attended Georgia State University and graduated with a BA in Finance. During undergrad, I pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc, affording me the opportunity to bond with 23 other young women like myself and serve my community at large. My early years in Atlanta taught me so much. I was a green, young country girl with no understanding of how tough or amazing the city could be. By the time I graduated from undergrad, I had thick skin, knew how to take care of myself by myself, a passion for art and culture, and a team of the type of friends that last a lifetime. Looking back, I feel so blessed, because as green as I was, I could have easily had a different story.
After college, I worked in various retail environments between Georgia and Alabama as a merchandising manager. To be honest, I hated it. There was no math involved, nothing challenged me, and I had no desire to lead/develop others. After a few years of that, I said forget it and moved to NY to pursue my lifelong dream of being a television actress.
NY was fun. I made some amazing friends and learned a lot about myself. As most people who move to NY will tell you, you don’t move to NY to find yourself because you will get lost. And I got lost in the sauce. I attended an acting conservatory for the summer but after that, I waitressed and bartended and hung out every other day. Being super goal-oriented, after a year, I decided to move back to Atlanta to attend grad school as I quickly realized I had no plan and no tangible assets. Even though I didn’t pursue acting much in NY, I will never regret my time spent there. Moving to NY taught me a lot about being resilient and hustling to get what I needed.
When I moved back to Atlanta, I waitressed and went to graduate school. I received an MS in Information systems. From there, I started a corporate career as a data analyst leading to a role in product development for a healthcare company. If corporate life has taught me anything, it’s that I will NEVER achieve financial freedom or be able to leave generational wealth working for someone else.
With all my experiences, I have learned to value my time, trust my gut, be disciplined, and only spend time on things that will matter 10-20 years from now. Everything that I have encountered has prepared me to lead Accounting and Finance for 365 Properties ATL, which I lead with my two business partners, Erin and Chelsea.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has been a bumpy road. Even though one of our partners is a real estate agent and manages her own real estate LLC outside of 365, we all came into this business with no understanding of how real estate investing works. We had no understanding of how structure contracts, generate leads, or how to structure our internal business processes. What has been our greatest strength as a unit is that we all came to the table with solid relationships with people in the real estate industry, very entrepreneurial spirits (2 out of 3 of us have multiple businesses), and the willingness to learn and make mistakes. We are constantly refining our processes to be more efficient as well as continuously expanding our network of investors and partners. We are not afraid to meet new people and ask questions. Which is key to starting a business in a new industry.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
365 Properties ATL is a real estate investment group. We specialize in wholesaling deals through assignment contracts. We serve as lead generators for real estate investors, which means that we find off market properties, put them under contract and then assign the contract to a real estate investor to renovate and flip the property for profit.
What sets us apart from other wholesalers in Atlanta is that we all bring unique perspectives and skills to the business. Together, we pool our understanding of marketing, analytics, and finance to market great deals to investors while getting sellers cash very quickly for their properties. Unlike most wholesalers, we don’t play “secretary” for investors or sellers. In each deal, our parameters are defined on the buy and sell-side, our deals are well-vetted and easy, and everyone wins.
What we are most proud of is that we are committed to making real estate investments beneficial to both the buyer and the seller. Although everyone in the deal is there to make a profit, we don’t con inexperienced sellers into selling their home way below market and we don’t soak up all of our investor’s profit with our assignment fee. We are fair and we believe in karma.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I absolutely feel like Atlanta is a good place for real estate investing. Although more and more people are starting to do the exact same thing that we do, Atlanta is big enough for everyone to make significant profit for at least the next 20 years. Economic development plans are projecting that Atlanta needs 100k new units in the next 5-10 years and as a city, we are not close to making that number. This is the time to be in real estate in Atlanta.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.365propertiesatl.com
- Phone: 404-496-5474
- Email: support@365propertiesatl.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/365propertiesatl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/365PropertiesATL/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/65284187/
Image Credit:
E.Leigh Realty
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