The School of Greatness - Should You Still Be Investing in Real Estate? They Don’t Want You to Know THIS About Buying a House

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Summit tickets are ON SALE FOR 20% OFF!!! Get them before they sell out at lewishowes.com/tickets. Sale ends Thursday, 8/8/2024 at midnight.In this episode of The School of Greatness, Lewis sits down with Glennda Baker, a seasoned real estate expert with over 30 years of experience. They dive deep into the intricacies of real estate investment, focusing on how to create generational wealth through strategic property purchases. Glennda emphasizes the importance of buying property as soon as possible, even with minimal down payments, to avoid being sidelined by large institutional buyers. She shares invaluable advice on avoiding ego-driven purchases, the pitfalls of HOAs, and the significance of patience in wealth building. Glennda also discusses the critical soft skills needed in real estate, such as patience, and warns against being swayed by vanity. She opens up about her personal experiences, including past mistakes and the lessons learned from them, providing listeners with a candid and inspiring look at achieving financial freedom.In this episode you will learnHow to strategically invest in real estate to build generational wealth.The importance of avoiding ego-driven purchases and focusing on practical investments.Why buying a property, even with minimal down payment, is crucial in today's market.Key soft skills for real estate success, including patience and avoiding distractions.Glennda's personal experiences and lessons learned in the real estate industry.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1651For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Jaspreet Singh – https://link.chtbl.com/1644-podPatrick Bet-David – https://link.chtbl.com/1547-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod

I am the average Joe. I was raised by a single mother. I've been a single mother. I bought houses for my kids so that my children, they'll have a place to live. Don't be distracted from something you should be devoted to. And building your generational wealth, building your future should be your focus. Glenda Baker, everybody's favorite real estate expert, host of Glenda's Guru podcast. The Michael Jordan of real estate. Industry sensation, Glenda Baker. I've been distracted by the shiny penny. I've been distracted by feeling like

that I needed to be married to somebody, to be somebody. Stop looking for somebody else to give you a life that you can make yourself. What turns me on is helping people, inspiring them. I just say to myself every single day, my name is Glenda Baker. Only amazing things happen to me. I am a woman of action.

Everybody's going to know my name. I don't need anything from anybody, so I can basically do whatever I want to. It doesn't matter who I piss off. You are not going to believe this. I want you to listen to me. I want you to write it down that Glenda Baker said this. Okay. Okay?

My name is Lewis Howes. Thanks so much for being here. I want to remind you about the Summit of Greatness, our annual conference happening this September in Los Angeles. With David Goggins, Dr. Joe Dispenza, and many more incredible speakers and performers, There will be so many live attendees there that you can meet with, you can network with, and you can help transform your life. I can't wait to see you at the Summit of Greatness here in Los Angeles.

Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Glenda Baker in the house. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. Very excited. You have been grabbing my attention with your content online.

And there's a few things I want to talk about today. One is figuring out how and what to invest in, how to create generational wealth, how to use our mind to really overcome the challenges and obstacles that will come our way when it comes to building wealth. And also just really figuring out what steps we should be taking. Because right now in 2024, it seems like it's very confusing around real estate investing, around the stock market. And there's a whole World Economic Forum movement that's talking about in 2030, we will own nothing and we'll all be happy. I read that on their site recently.

And I think it's because it's going to be so expensive to own properties and to build wealth, especially the younger generation. So I'm curious, before we get into your backstory, which I'm fascinated by, what would you say is something that people should be thinking about today, 2024 going into 2025, on how to frame on the right steps to do I invest in real estate? Do I buy properties? Do I just rent for the next seven years and try to save cash? What would you be doing and teaching people in their 20s and 30s about how to invest in real estate today? I would buy as soon as possible.

Really? With as little money as you can. The least amount of money that you can put down, go ahead and buy. I just want you to buy two bedrooms and two bathrooms. That's the only thing I say because I want you to be able to rent that out when you want to, whether it's when you're living in it or if you turn it into an investment property. But listen to me now, because if Wall Street is buying all of the houses and that's the same person who's going to tell you, oh, you don't want to buy anything. You're going to all be renters by 2030. That to me is that's like they're leading you to the slaughter. I really, truly believe that. In Atlanta, over 60% of the homes that are zero to 500,000. So keep this in mind, the houses that

the teacher buys, the houses that the police officer buys, the houses that the veteran buys, those houses are being gobbled up by Wall Street. Yes. Over 60% of zero to 500,000 in Atlanta, Georgia, is purchased by an institutionalized buyer. Wow. Is that similar to around the whole country or is it just Atlanta? The Sunbelt is where it is really, really, really popular. But anywhere that there is a working class, we're in LA. You're not buying zero to 500,000 in LA unless it's some hut on the side of the 405. But in Atlanta, Georgia, you can buy three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms all day,

every day for $300,000, $400,000, $500,000. And what they're doing is they're buying so much that number one, you can't afford to buy it because they're paying cash. So they outdo you on terms. They pay more than the value is worth. And so Bobby and Susie and the average Joe, the everyday buyer, is really getting outbid and out-termed for these houses. And then they're turning around and telling you, oh, you're going to enjoy rent tank. market rent, the landlord. And if they own everything, then they're keeping you as the hamster on the wheel inevitably. Wow. Now, you've been in real estate for over 30 years. Yeah. As a realtor, real estate investor, flipping homes, different things like that. You also still own properties that you manage. What would you say are the three most important skills when it comes to building generational wealth that you've learned in the last 30 plus years? Don't buy based on your ego. That is the number one thing. Buy based on what is the least expensive and the

most expensive neighborhood. What you want to do is you want to buy, you want to get in, in the least expensive. That way you have more room for equity. Number two, do not ever buy in an HOA because if you buy in an HOA, somebody else controls your destiny. And number three, And number three, don't pick handbags over houses. I see so many people trying to keep up with the Joneses, buying a $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 pocketbook, and they're living in an apartment. They got a $2,000 lease on some fancy-ass car, and they're driving it to an apartment. Like, do you understand on a $300,000 purchase, you could get in for as little as $9,000. So you take your car payment, take three months of your car payment. You're in a house. Take three pocketbooks. You're in a house. Like, that's what I want people to understand is like that $7 cup of coffee.

Every time that you go to spend money, every single time that you go to spend money, I want you to stop and take that money and transfer it into an account that is at another bank. And at the end of the year, I want you to look and see how much money you have. And I promise you, you'll have enough to buy your first property. Really? Wow. Absolutely. Maybe not in LA, but in certain areas. Not in LA, but really in a regular, everyday, average Joe, Bobby and Susie, buyer and seller

market, you can buy a house. Wow. and Susie, buyer and seller market, you can buy a house. And what you don't realize is I think about the first investment property I bought was $72,000. I put $50,000 in it. So let's say I'm in it at 125, right? And I sold it for 195. I made $70,000. That house today is now worth $400,000. I could have rented it for all these years. I could have made all of that money and I would be your homegrown mom and pop renter. That's how you build generational wealth. And that's what I want to see people do. Yeah. I love this quote of yours. He said, the things you're buying today are keeping you from the future you want,

which kind of goes with your- Absolutely. Houses over handbags. Houses over handbags, right? Yeah. And why do you think so many people psychologically want the shiny thing now versus the generational wealth later? You can't see, touch, feel the future. And we are a society, we are a generation of get it now, get it new now. Don't buy it used, you can lease it. You can even lease the pocketbook. That's the thing. And we've been so skewed by, and this is what blows my mind, is that by seeing like the Kardashians, I'm not hating on them. I think they have an amazing business model.

I mean, they don't buy anything except real estate. Like literally every single thing, they're bartering out and trading out for influence. Like all of their money is in real estate. They see it. And that's what I want people to understand is don't go buy that fancy car, that fancy pocketbook. I want you to get a house. And what would you say, you kind of talked about kind of the hard skills in terms of building generational wealth. But what would you say we do? You kind of talked about kind of the hard skills in terms of building generational wealth. But what would you say are the soft skills for you that you've learned over the last 30 years in building generational wealth? Patience is the essence of true virtue. Be patient and don't get caught up in your ego.

Don't think about, oh, I've got to have the most beautiful house. It's got to be perfect. You want the ugliest, nastiest house. You want grandma's house that has the avocado appliances, that has the shag carpet, that has that wood trim from 1950. I'm telling you, grandma's not living there with bad windows. She's not living there with a bad roof. She's not living there with bad electrical. She's not living there with bad plumbing. But grandma's got every single thing from the 1950s in that house. Buy grandma's house because it has integrity, four-sided brick ranch, 1,500 square feet.

Anywhere that you can buy it, buy it. Buy it all day and every day because that you can easily rent it. It's not going to fall down. If the air conditioner goes out, it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg. And don't get me wrong. I know these people. Glenda, you only talk about single family residential because that's all you know about. You should be telling people to buy multifamily. Well, the thing about it is, is that the everyday buyer, the average Joe, if the roof goes out on that fourplex, that is a truckload of money. And I don't know if you are aware, but insurance, if the roof is over 15 years old,

there's an exclusion on your homeowner's insurance now because insurance is a for-profit business. So that hailstorm that came through Atlanta, they're not covering the roof. Joe is covering that roof. And what you don't understand is that Joe also has a primary residence where his family lives. So he doesn't have the money to stroke the check for $15,000 for a roof. He doesn't have the money to stroke the check for $8,000 for a new HVAC. On grandma's house, three bedrooms, two baths, 1,500 square feet. Something goes wrong with that. You can fix that. Right, right.

So that's number one. Be patient. What would you say the next two? I would say, remember, don't be persuaded by shiny objects. Don't think that the condo is better because the condo has an HOA. It's going to kill you. But more than anything, I want people to think about what is this going to do for your future? I made a statement. I was on a podcast about if you don't buy a house for your child, your four-year-old child today, when your child is 18 years old, your child won't be able

to buy a house. And I got so much flack on that video. Don't invest in a 529. Buy your kid a house. Make it an investment property. When they turn 18, they can do what they want to. If they want to go to college, they can sell it. They want to take the income, go to college. They don't want to go to college. Maybe they want a house. Maybe they want to live there and be an artist, whatever. And Rachel Cruz, Dave Ramsey's daughter, says, oh, that's just for views. She doesn't know what she's talking about.

Like, I am the average Joe. Like, I was raised by a single mother. I've been a single mother. I bought houses for my kids so that my children, like, that they'll have a place to live. The house I'm under contract with now is for my little son who's 23 years old because I want to make sure he has a place to live. It's for my little son who's 23 years old because I want to make sure he has a place to live. So I think that a lot of times what people get distracted by, don't be distracted from something you should be devoted to. And building your generational wealth, building your future should be your focus.

Yeah. There's really been, I guess, three different things historically that have allowed people to build amassed sums of wealth. Real estate is one. I guess investing in companies or the stock market is another. And then starting a business would be a third. Correct. But I think it's 80% of businesses fail within the first five years and the other 20% barely are holding on or struggling. It's really rare to succeed in business and it takes a lot of luck and timing and all these different things. But a lot of people, you hear horror stories in the stock market as well as in real estate for people. They went out and bought their first home and they lost all their money

or it took so much time and energy, it just exhausted them that they gave up. They got excited in the stock market, but they got in at the wrong time. Two-year downswing, they got scared, they lost most of their money. Business, maybe they tried to start a business, it failed and they just feel like, God, every angle I go to try to earn money, I struggle, I spend so much time and I get defeated. What wisdom can you share to someone today on whichever route they want to take on how to emotionally and mentally overcome the obstacles that may come their way? Don't ever put yourself in a position to have to sell. If you never put yourself in a position to have to sell, you're never losing money on real

estate. I haven't sold a house in the last 30 years that hasn't sold for more if the person was able to wait and sell it when they wanted to. When you put yourself in a position, you over leverage. You buy in an area that is transitioning or that is high crime, that is a gamble. Those people, you're going to lose money. But when you put yourself in a position to never, ever have to sell, you're always going to make money in real estate. Now, I don't know about you, but those people who bought Blockbuster, it doesn't matter how long they wait. They're never getting that money back, are they? No. And that's the difference between real estate and stock. People say, oh, well, you know,

Glenda, if I put $130,000 in this stock, it would be worth a zillion dollars. Correct. But if you put down $6,500 on a $130,000 house, you only have $6,500 in it. Right. If you lost it, you only lost $6,500. You didn't lose $135,000. That blockbuster stock, you lost all $135,000. People don't think about it from that perspective. You talk about appreciation.

You bought a $150 thousand dollar house in 1975. That house is now worth a million dollars. Guess what? You also had a place to live. OK. Or you had an income generating generating rent. So that's the thing is like the last time I checked, those stocks aren't doing that for you. And and I all I know is real estate. I'm old. I want to see, touch, feel my money. When I want to be able to get my money out, I want to be able to get my money out. I don't want to be at the mercy of the stock market. So while I have stock market investments, that is not where I keep my money. I keep my money in houses

where I can see, touch, and feel it. And the worst case scenario is that you have it rented out and it's renting for less than your payment. Okay. So this is the worst case scenario. Your payment is $2,000 a month and you're only getting $1,500. That's a $500 savings deposit that you're making per year into that account. And if you keep that house and you sell when the market is high, you're going to make all of the money that you put back in it. Right. Right. What about if someone says, well, what if, you know, I've got to fix all these things and there's all these extra costs and expenses that I have in the house over a few years and it's just maybe I chose it wrong or maybe the realtor, I didn't see these

things. The inspector missed something, whatever it is. And I got to pay $20,000 for a new AC, the roof, the this, the bathroom. And it's like, I'm in tens of thousands of dollars more, $100,000 more than I have or wanted to be. And now I've got to hold on to this for 20 years to make a profit. How does someone wrap their mind around that and not feeling like they're losing money, they don't have access to that cash, and they have energy invested into a house versus kind of just that money in the bank or in an index fund? Right. Exactly.

So what happens is it's critical to understand what you're buying. It's critical to do your homework on what you're buying, not just having a great real estate agent, not just having a great inspector, but getting in the weeds with it. And what I mean by that is driving through the neighborhood, getting lost in the neighborhood? Did you do your own recon in the neighborhood? And that's what I want people to do is don't depend on somebody else to tell you everything. I want you to understand how to do it. And so a lot of times when I'm with buyers, I'll put them in the car and we'll just drive around, get lost, turn off the GPS, eat in the restaurants, shop in the grocery stores. And this is such a simple thing that

a lot of people don't think about. If the grocery store has great produce, that means that people are spending money in that grocery store. That means that people are concerned about what they're eating. They're probably going to take care of their house. Nobody ever talks about stuff like that. You probably never thought that if I have good grapes at my grocery store, it probably means I'm living in a neighborhood that's well kept. If you're concerned about the food that you're eating, what you're putting in your body, you're probably concerned about how you're taking care of your house. What would you say are five things people should look for when finding a great deal or an investment in real estate?

The best investment in real estate, grandma's house. Okay. Something that needs cosmetics, not infrastructure. Infrastructure may not sound sexy, but infrastructure is a wonderful thing to have. But infrastructure is a wonderful thing to have. Number two, look for an area that is not at the top, but that is growing, that you can kind of see like, oh, wait a minute, they're doing work here. There's a dumpster in the driveway here. And do that kind of research.

Understand like what direction is the neighborhood going in. Number three, I would probably say when you're looking to invest, make sure that you understand what you're buying. A lot of people don't understand, like, is this house on a two-lane street? Is that a problem? Does this back up to the retention pond? Are there mosquitoes? It's Atlanta, Georgia. It's hot as hell. There's all kinds of mosquitoes. Do you understand how much less you're going to take for a house that's on a retention pond? So that's why I always want people to understand exactly what it is that they're buying. I hammer on that a lot. And again, I don't want you to get caught up in your ego. A lot of people buy for

vanity. Really? Oh, what are they? What's the ego mean when they invest in ego? Because they want, they want you to drive up, pull in the driveway and say, Oh, what a nice home. Oh, my stars. Look at your fancy ass house. You don't want that. Literally. Unless you're living in it, you don't want that literally unless you're living in it maybe not you don't even want to when you're living in it literally you want to live in the house that works the best for you and your family like do you want to like out here in LA it's a little bit different but in regular markets like think about it and I'll talk about Trey Young. I love basketball. Trey Young bought a $20 million house out here in L.A., signed a contract for $215 million. Praise the Lord and pass the money, right?

Do you know how much the taxes on that house are? $600,000 a year. Do you know how many houses, investment properties you could buy with $20 million? Wow. So you could have bought a fancy $5 million house in Atlanta, Georgia, which would have been the same as a $20 million house out here, for God's sake. Then you could have bought some investment properties and built generational wealth. Not that his $215 million isn't going to be generational, but ask Evander Holyfield how that works out. That's the thing. You look at Evander Holyfield, a fighter who sacrificed his body, his well-being, his quality of life, made hundreds of millions of dollars in his career and loses his house

to foreclosure. And think about that. So that's when I talk about vanity. Anytime that you're trying to impress somebody else with what you have, I'm just going to ask you, let's just rethink that. Just for a second. Wow. What about, when did you really learn about how to manifest in your life? Was there a time or a season or a decade where you started to think a certain way when it came to either attracting the right clientele as a realtor in terms of attracting the right homes that you wanted to buy and invest in, in terms of business deals that you wanted

to do? Was there a season or a time that you learned about manifestation? Making mistakes was probably the biggest teacher for me. Really? Not just making mistakes in my real estate business, but making mistakes in my personal life cost me so much time and so much money. Because and I think the reason that I'm passionate about it is because like I went out and bought the Mercedes. I made one hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars on one house.

I went out and bought a Mercedes. I went on a shopping spree. And within 12 months, I was selling my Rolex at a pawn shop. Really? Yes. Really. I was selling my car, my Mercedes. I was selling that Mercedes and buying. No, no, no. I didn't sell it first. I didn't sell it at first. At first, sit down. It was paid off because I made all that money. What you really don't realize- That went down in half after a few months. Well, what you don't realize is that you got off because I made all that money. What you really don't realize- That went down in half after a few months. Well, what you don't realize is that you got to pay taxes on all that money.

But anyway, so I buy the car and I realize I have a cashflow issue. So what do I do? I go get a tote the note at 27%. So you want to talk about, oh, Glenda, what would you do? When I talk to you, I'm just telling you straight from the horse's mouth. I made this mistake. Don't make the same mistake I did. I went out and bought the fancy Rolex. That's why I have the $130 ring from Ross Simons. I mean, it looks fancy. It looks nice. It works and matches my outfit today. So that's what I want people to focus on is like is like the mistakes that I made. Don't don't do what I did. Learn, learn from me. How do you manifest it? When I see when I never will forget, I saw this agent who sucked as a real estate agent.

And that guy was making more money than he could count. Really? What was the secret? He was a good talker, but he was investing in POS houses. He was investing in these little houses and he was fixing them up and selling them and fixing them up and renting them. And I remember thinking to myself, somebody that is not as good as I am at real estate is doing a thousand times better than me. And every time I thought about going out and pissing the money away, I thought about that guy and it pissed me off. It made me so mad. It just made me crazy. And every time that I think about doing something that's probably, you know, impulsive or ego driven.

you know, impulsive or ego driven. And I think that a lot of times you get caught up in being ego driven because it feels good when everybody looks at you and they think that you're successful. But for me, every single day, I focus on what moves me from here to there. And here is freedom for me. Freedom with my children, freedom with my family, freedom with my little grandchildren. My one and only goal is to be able to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it and not have to worry about going up another set of steps, not worrying about what next house I have to sell. And what turns me on is helping people, inspiring them. And so I just say to myself every single day, my name is Glenda Baker. Only amazing things happen to me. My name is Glenda Baker. I'm a woman of action. And my name is Glenda Baker. And everybody's going to know my name. And all I want to do is just help people build generational wealth through real estate.

Wow. That's beautiful. And inspire them through my mistakes. Sure. Because we don't all need to make the same mistake. Let me have been the guinea pig. What would you say are the three most painful mistakes in business that you've made over the last 30 plus years that really taught you an important lesson.

Maybe you had to learn it over and over again. I didn't pay my taxes. That was probably the most eye-opening thing because I grew up with a single mother. I didn't have anybody explain. I didn't even know that when you only got paid when you sold a house. I'm in real estate school, and the teacher says, now, when you sell a house, you make this much money. And I'm like, you don't get paid on Friday? You have to sell to make money. I mean, I didn't know that. And I even tried to get a job as an assistant. Nobody would even hire me because I mean, I'm barely out of high school, didn't go to college. And so, you know, I didn't understand about paying taxes. I mean, I made $137,000 on that one house, for God's sakes. Like, how much could the taxes be? Right. A lot. A lot. Had no clue. So the biggest financial

mistakes in business I have made have been I didn't pay my taxes. I made purchases based on ego. And I let people that didn't matter influence me to make purchases that I shouldn't have. Really? Yeah. Because... You mean people you knew or people you didn't know? I think it was a little bit of both.

People that I knew and I thought, oh, well, they're doing well and they're putting all of their money in this. Maybe I should do that. Or I believed all of the bullshit. I believed all of the hype. And I think that that was a huge mistake. Just believing all of the hype that wasn't really the truth. Not being able to discern well enough.

But being distracted. Probably one of the biggest money sucks of. Yeah. But being distracted. Probably one of the biggest money sucks of my life has been being distracted. What type of distractions over the last 30 years did you find? All kinds of distractions. But mostly for me, I've been distracted by the shiny penny. I've been distracted by feeling like that I needed to be married to somebody to be somebody. For many, I mean, I remember it so like vividly in my head that I wasn't going to be worth anything unless I was married to somebody. Really?

Some big person like, you big person like Ted Turner. I'm thinking like, oh, I should be married to some big shot person. I wouldn't be worth anything without that. Where did that come from? I don't know. I think child in my school whose parents were divorced. Really? And I remember seeing Mr. and Mrs. Myers and Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois. And I remember seeing them and thinking, you know, they had the two kids, the three kids, the dog, the house with the swimming pool. Like the mama stayed at home and the daddy took care of everything. And I remember thinking to myself that I was so cheated that I didn't have that life.

And here was my mother. First off, she was old because she was 44 when I was born. So my mom was the oldest mom. She was the only divorced mom, single mom. My dad wasn't really in my life. And so here I am. And then on top of that, I have to have this back surgery. I'm in a body cast for a year in seventh grade and just everything.

It just I've got this big accent, which I don't think I have, but lots of people think I do. But it just I mean, there was just so many things. And I kept thinking that I was like the odd man out. I was like I was different than everybody else. else. And rather than appreciating that difference, I worked so hard to be like everybody else. People pleasing, trying to fit in, doing whatever others do. Oh, yeah. Trying to fit in. I mean, I, you know, here was the last kid picked on the playground and I wanted to fit in so bad. Yeah. And I couldn't ever figure out how to get those pieces of the puzzle together.

I was, and back when I was in school, I mean, I graduated from high school in 1984, you didn't call it bullying. Like today, you would say, oh, she was bullied as a child. She didn't call it that then.

What did you call it then? You didn't call it anything. Toughen up. Just ruin the life? Yeah, she was bullied as a child. She didn't call it that then. You wouldn't call it that. You didn't call it anything. Toughen up. It's normal life. Yeah, suck it up, buttercup. You know, and I think that for me, a lot of the distractions were just trying to be like everybody else, get somebody's attention, and prove that I was worthy. I know that feeling. And you felt like you only had worth based on who you were with, it sounded like.

Yeah. Or who you were friends with, or who you were dating, or who you were married to. Who I was associated with. Who I was attached to was what defined my worth. Wow. And I think that that was huge. Once I realized that my value was determined by me, was a turning point in my life. When did you learn that? 2017. Really?

Yeah. Not that long ago. What made you think that? And what made you realize and actually start to believe that? I stopped. I struggled with drinking and I stopped drinking at the end of 2015. And I think that that really started giving me a lot of clarity. I think that that alcohol had been had had disguised a lot of issues that I had. But I think that when I stopped drinking and I was focused on being my best self, that helped. And then I went to a Tony Robbins event and he talked about just being present

and these moments, just being present, building these moments. And I went with my son. My son was really struggling at that time. How old was he then? He was 16 years old. Wow. And he was really kind of going through a difficult season of his own life. And I took him to the UPW for him.

You're right. You got more out of it than he did probably. And we're there four days. And at the end, and my son's tall and he puts his arms around me and my ear is right at his heart and I can hear his heartbeat. And he leans down and he says, I'm never going to forget these four days with you. Wow. And I remembered in that very second, that moment. Like, here was this child watching. Like you, he deserves it. He deserves your value.

He deserves you to be worthy. Wow. And so I left that moment and I said, my life's goal is to string together moments of a lifetime. Just like that one. That I could just feel. And I just, everything I do, every single thing I do is built around how I can build a moment in time

for like my life, my children, and the things that, the people that I love. That's beautiful, Gwendolyn. You know, when I was 16, my mom took me to a Tony Robbins event as well. No joke. When you said that, I got chills because my dad actually bought tickets for us. They were going through a divorce at that time, but he sent my mom and me. It was in St. Louis, 16 years old. I'll never forget it. It wasn't UPW because I'd been to UPW later in my life,

but it was another event that he was doing. It was interesting. It wasn't UPW because I'd been to UPW later in my life, but it was another event that he was doing. It was interesting. It was actually Donald Trump was there. It was like Larry King was there, a bunch of like sports coaches. It was a multiple day event that he was doing back in the day, different than UPW. But I'll never forget the moment he actually walked off stage and he came and like stood right next to me at one point. And I was like really far back in the arena, but he walked down and he stopped right next to me. And I was just like, whoa, it's like big energy, you know? And I don't remember exactly what he said,

but I remember the way he made me feel. And that memory, that emotion of being there with my mom and just, I think about it so frequently. And I've met Tony many times. I've had him on the show many times. And I always tell him the story because I think he just doesn't remember. So I just always tell him. And I think about it because what you did with your son and what my parents did for me there, and also many other moments

of my life, I would not be here doing what I'm doing without those specific moments and memories. And I think it's powerful that you did that for your son, but really you probably got more out of it than your son did. It sounds like, because you owned your worth in that moment. Yeah. And it, you know, at that point in time, I was all caught up into post to be perfect. Like every like every comment, you know, 2017, you know, I remember I'm old, I'm on Facebook and you're fed by all of that. And I remember walking away from that event and thinking to myself, it is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. Your destiny is shaped. And I decided from that moment forward, the only thing that I was going to do was have moments like that with the people that I love. And I think that understanding and everybody in Trent Shelton, he's he's I just love to listen to him. And he says, remember, everybody in your circle isn't in your corner.

And just really being able to understand who who is your front row, like who is your front row and pouring into those people. Like who is your front row and pouring into those people? And I always go back to don't be distracted from something you should be devoted to something or someone. Yeah, it's interesting. What does he say? The people in your circle are not always in your corner. Yeah. Always remember that the people in your circle aren't always the people that are in your corner. And I think we should be, the faster you can figure out who's in your corner,

the better your life will be. And I've had so many seasons of life where I've had lots of friends or acquaintances or partners in business or relationships that I thought were in my corner, but really weren't when something challenging would happen or whatever that I might have been going through. And when you can kind of select the right people in your corner and start to move the others out of your life so you don't have to please them or show up for them in certain ways and feel taken advantage of, it gives you back so much more energy and freedom and peace in your life. Yeah. And in the last six to 12 months, I have just created so many emotional and physical boundaries with people in my circle who I thought were in my corner.

And you're going to upset a lot of people when you create these boundaries or when you just have the courage to speak up and say, hey, I didn't like this thing. Here's what I want to create moving forward. Or I need to create a boundary here. You're going to upset some people. And you're also going to create freedom because you're going to tighten the people in your corner and have a stronger circle. Right.

I think that's a powerful lesson I've learned in the last year. Yeah. Who you surround yourself with is more critical to your success than you realize. And that's your personal success, your business success, your family success. Again, I go back thinking about myself as an example and the people that I surrounded myself with and how I let that distort my view of what I should be doing and what direction I should be going. So I think that looking and looking, you know, we live in such a fast paced, chaotic world that a lot of times you don't think that peace, like, I don't want to sit at home, like, you're thinking that peace is like, you're being quiet, like, you're not doing anything.

That's not what peace is. Peace is that inside of you, like, in your very core, where you can be alone without any other person or any other thing or doing anything and feel that comfort in yourself. And I think that once you have that, once you're comfortable with yourself, that was another thing is I was so uncomfortable with me. Really? When did you start to feel comfortable with you? Well, again, it probably started when I stopped drinking. Getting that clarity and certainty in my head of who I was and the direction I was going in really helped me. But when I started making these videos, I took so much heat because people were like, you know, you say bad words and you talk about

the mistakes that you made and you sold the wrong house. Like, like nobody wants to see your mistakes. And I think that when I stopped trying to be perfect and I stopped trying to be what everybody else wanted and expected and I just started being me and was like, like, what's the worst case scenario here? Like, nobody wants to be my friend. OK. Like. Like, OK. Nobody else is paying these bills. Right.

Like, like, it's just me. Like, I don't I don't need to be nice to you to get something out of you. And that's also very freeing. Like, I don't need anything from anybody so I can basically do whatever I want to. It doesn't matter who I piss off. Like, and I'm not seeking somebody else's approval. The only thing I'm trying to do is live my truth, live honestly, and help people understand through the mistakes I've made how to do life better. Right. And if just one person says, if that 57-year-old real estate agent from Atlanta, Georgia can do that, then I can do it. Wow. Speaking of, I guess, lessons, I feel like I've been through,

my audience has heard me share this a lot. So if this is your first time here, I've been in many different previous intimate relationships, long-term relationships with different women in my life that I felt in the moment and when they ended that they were losses. But as I reflect back now, they were all beautiful lessons that I got to learn and what I got to overcome and repeating certain mistakes within myself over and over again, getting to a place of peace and looking back at those, not as mistakes, but as beautiful lessons that I can share with others now. That's the way I try to look at it. So I'm going to hold on to any resentment from those things, even though they were painful and challenging at times, some of them. We were talking beforehand, you've been married and

divorced three times. Correct. And so you've got probably a lot of lessons. I try not to call out losses or mistakes, any type of relationships, although some can be very traumatic, very damaging, painful, emotionally, psychologically, sexually abusing in different relationships. All these bad things can happen. But I think if we can find the wisdom and the lessons in them, we don't beat ourselves up as much for saying, why was I in that? Why did I choose poorly? Why did I see the red flags? Why, why, why me? Why was I such an idiot in choosing this person? Because I did that for a long time. Why didn't I get out sooner? Why did I allow them to treat me poorly? Why did I have such low self-esteem? All these things we could talk about. But what would you say are the three biggest lessons you learned about yourself and how to better yourself going through marriage and divorce three different times?

Stop looking for somebody else to please you. Stop looking for somebody else to complete you. And stop looking for somebody else to give you a life that you can make yourself. Wow. And I will tell you, don't look back with regret. Look forward with reflection. You're in business. You've learned much more, I would guess, from your failures or your losses or your mistakes than you ever learned from getting it right every time. Because when you get it right, when it's easy, when you it just red carpet just rolls out and you are looking phenomenal and everything comes together.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. That's not where you learn. That's not where you dig in. That's not where you understand what you're made of. It is in your moments of despair. It is in the worst moments of your life that you learn more about yourself and you learn how to help yourself. And for me, you know, while my marriages failed for different reasons every time. I learned so much about myself every time. And a lot of people think, oh, my God, you know, she's been married three times. She's, you know, a loser. And I was in a marriage the third time. And he said,

what are you going to do, divorce me and be a three time loser? Who's going to want you? me and be a three-time loser? Who's going to want you? You'll be a three-time loser. Oh, man. And I thought to myself, I bought that. I bought that hook, line, and sinker. And I kept saying to myself, and I remember my daughter's 32. And I remember sitting down with my daughter, and she said, you're not happy.

And I said, no, I'm not. She goes, but it's deeper than that. She goes, you're not yourself. Your light is gone. Your sparkle is gone. And I said to her, I will never forget this as long as I live. I said, Victoria, I'm 52 years old. I have less life to live than I have lived. Who is going to want me at this point? Why not just ride out the rest of the years? I'm not in an abusive situation. No, I'm not the happiest person in the world. But, you know, I have a good life. I have a normal life. Everything's going to be fine.

And I never will forget. She looked at me and she goes, that is a sad way to live. Wow. And I just remember thinking to myself, this is my little daughter. And she sees me that I'm going to give up. She sees I'm going to give up in that moment. And she told me, she goes,

your life is not half over. The best years of your life are in front of you. You're doing so great and you're not drinking and you're pulling everything together. You're stronger now than you've ever been. That's true. And it was those words when she said that to me and me thinking to myself, like, I'm giving up on me. Like, how can I expect anybody else to believe in me? And so I look back on every single one of those losses.

And I look at where I am today and I think to myself, if you had told me on November 20th of 2020 that I would be sitting here with you today, I would have thought you had lost your mind. I would have. I would have thought. I mean, I talk about my life from my heart unapologetically. You asked me, you said, is there anything off limits? my life from my heart unapologetically. You asked me, you said, is there anything off limits? No, because I don't know what piece of my whose mate is saying mean things to them or who's not doing good in their business or whose children are waiting for them to stand up and be Wonder Woman.

And I want to, I want to be the inspiration to that for them. Wow, that's beautiful. Wow. I'm curious what you've learned about money and marriage. Huh. Huh. Well, I've learned that I'm about 50% less rich than I was. But no, go ahead.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. I guess what, you know, women today are making way more money than they were making 20, 30, 50, 100 years ago, obviously, right? Absolutely. We've had a lot of different, you know, financially free women on the show who say, you know, 20 years ago, maybe I wouldn't have had a prenuptial agreement, but actually today I'm like, I would have one stuff like that. You know, that now that I'm making more than my male partner or some, some individuals, what's your, just your thought on

money and marriage in general, what conversations should couples be having based on your lessons? And what do you wish you would have done differently around either the questions to ask, the infrastructure of how money is used and shared with each marriage that you've been in. Yeah. So I never realized that my Mother's Day gift that I received during my marriage was marital property. So I got these four Adirondack chairs for Mother's Day. We lived on this golf course, got the four Adirondack chairs, watching the golfers go by.

They were a Mother's Day gift. They were received during the marriage. They are now marital property. Those $249 Adirondack chairs probably cost me $10,000 to argue over them. Really? Yes. Because they weren't yours, even if it was a gift. They were marital property. Interesting. Yeah. What about a ring then, like a diamond ring or something? The diamond ring that was given during the marriage is marital property. The value of it is part of the marital estate. What about the engagement ring before the marriage? He wanted it back, but he didn't get that.

Technically, that's not marital property because it was given before you were married. Wow. But any gift given during marriage, it's not yours, it's 50-50. It's 50-50. And in Georgia, it's 50-50 until the day you're divorced. So not the date of separation, it's the date of divorce.

Wow. So, you know, I think probably the biggest lesson that I learned was that and I guess I learned it because he said it to me to my face. And that was I knew when I married you that in a worst case scenario, you were a net neutral. You could pay for yourself and your kids. Wow. So what I would say to anybody, not just women, but anyone, that number one, you need to understand each other's financial situation and you need to understand each other's financial goals and financial values. Number one.

Situation, goals, and values. Exactly. And Glenda Baker and Associates was a company that I had before I got married, but all of the value that Glenda Baker and Associates gained during the marriage was marital property. I'm like, what are you talking about? I had this company before I married you. like, what are you talking about? Like, I had this company before I married you. Like, why would you be entitled to any of it? Like, you never put a chair at a concert. You never, you know, did anything with this company. Like, why would you be entitled to any of it? So understand that your business, unless you protect it, becomes part of that marital estate. Do I think that you should have a prenup? Absolutely. A hundred percent. Just so everybody understands what the expectation is. Not because you're going to get divorced, but because I want you to understand what the

expectation is. And I work with people to buy and sell real estate during divorce. Oh, Glenda, it's amicable. We're friends. It's going to be fine. No problem. Whatever I need him to sign, he's going to sign. It's okay. The reason you're getting divorced is because you can't get along. Period. And when the next Mrs. Whatever comes along, when he starts seeing her, any money that you're getting, any house that you're living in automatically is going to be a problem. And it's just- She's going to say, give me that money. Why are you paying this tax? Yeah. Why is she living in the $2 million house? Because we're only living in this one. because we're only living in this one.

So, and I mean, that's the thing is like, it is money and relationships, money and marriage, money and friendships. If somebody wants to borrow money from you, just give them the money. If you can't just give it to them. I've learned that the hard way many times. If you, oh. Or just don't give it to them and say,

hey, I don't give money away to friends. Yeah, exactly. I'll don't give it to them and say, hey, I don't give money away to friends. Yeah, exactly. I'll help you in some other way. Yeah. I'm here to, you have to be prepared that any money that you make or any money that you loan, you might as well write it off. Yeah. I mean, I don't have certain relationships anymore based on giving people money that

made promises that never filled it and paid it back. And I'm just like, how can I trust you if you made this promise? Now, if I said, I'm going to give this to you and you don't have to pay it back, then cool. Yeah. And whatever you do with it, you go right ahead and do with it. Oh, I need this money for this. And then you see them here and they're not spending, you're thinking, wait, they didn't have money for this, but now they're- Why are you buying these concert tickets and paying for this? Exactly. But in marriage, whether you, and this is, you're young, you have no money. I mean, I married my high school sweetheart. We had no money. Zero, negative zero. Would you still create a prenup if you both are

young? Absolutely. A hundred percent. Because I think that everybody needs a blueprint for success when it comes to money. And it's not necessarily like what you make is yours and what they make is theirs. It's not that. But understanding how you're going to allocate that money. Like, does he like to buy cars? Do you like to buy handbags? Does he like to buy houses? Do you like to buy handbags? It all goes back to where are your financial values? And when you have children, and if you're bringing children into it, like I never ever will. I mean, I remember I had an ex-husband that tried to claim that my son's truck was a marital asset because I had given him my 2012 Toyota Highlander that was four or five years old to him when he turned

16 or 17 years old. And then he traded that to get his truck and he claims the truck is a marital asset. And I'm like, are you kidding? And then his basketball goal that my kid got for Christmas, it's a marital asset. So people are mean with money. They're mean with money. People, money makes people crazy. Especially if breakup yeah and the more and the more you have the crazier they are really oh god yeah when you when you're helping people buy a new home because they're leaving a relationship yeah what are you know what are some lessons you've learned from them that whether they say like oh everything's gonna be fine but really like blows up later three months later, like, nevermind.

It's been a horrible experience. So like, what are some things you see? Yeah, we're contract to closing. She's in the middle of a divorce from the husband and she's like, oh, we don't have any kids. Very amicable. No problem. We've got separate accounts, whatever.

It's all going to be fine. We're going to split it 50-50. We'll be able to talk it out easily. You know, I have an attorney. He's handling everything. It's all going to be fine. We're going to split it 50-50. We'll be able to talk it out easily. Yeah, we don't, you know, I have an attorney. He's handling everything. It's okay, Glenda. Three days prior to closing, the ex-husband's like, yeah, I'm not signing those documents. To buy the home or?

She needed him to sign off on the final decree before she closed on the house because the house then becomes marital property if you're still married. Right. Then she, he says, yeah, I'm not going to do that. Out of spite. Out of spite. I mean, that's the thing is like there's so much that happens out of like getting the other person back or getting even or you feel like you were wronged.

The other thing is, is like selling the house. The other thing is, is like selling the house. I met with a couple and they need to sell their house. They are going through a divorce. They're in financial straits. The wife thinks that the house is worth much more than the house is worth. And she puts a very high ticket, refuses to, doesn't want to do business with me because of my numbers. She lists the house with some else. Well, that was nothing more than to drag out this divorce, nothing more than to get to live in the house longer. And that house is still on the market for sale and she's still in the marriage. And so that's the... Scott trapped her in the marriage too a little bit. Well, he's trapped in the marriage. He can't get out because his name's attached to the loan.

And I mean, it's just... And that's the thing is like your credit, I mean, all that stuff. Oh, yeah, I'm going to take 50% of the debt. You take 50% of the debt. You take 50% of the debt. You walk out and go into bankruptcy court. And guess what? All that 50% comes back to me. So that's the thing. I just want people to have an agreement in writing. You don't even need to call it a prenup. Call it a financial blueprint for your marriage. And really, if you just put together a financial blueprint for your marriage, I'm going to pay for all the travel. I'm going to pay for all of the housing expenses. You want to understand that we all agree to this. Because that was the

other thing. And I thought I was so smart because I paid for all the Hawks tickets and all the concerts and all the vacations. Well, those were consumables. No asset in that. No asset in that. He paid for all the housing expenses. So then we go through divorce. He's like, she's never even made a house payment. And I'm like. Technically I haven't, but in other ways. Yeah. You would have. Yeah. How'd you know? Yeah.

And understand is that person paying their taxes? Wow. I mean, just thought there's, there are a lot, like, like there's a tax lien on the house. Nobody knew there was a tax lien. Husband hadn't been paying the taxes. Wow. That kind of stuff. Yeah.

I've seen it all. What do you, um, so many people talk about predictions of like the housing market. Where are we at currently in the housing market? Is there going to be a boom or a bust coming up? You know, what do you think is going to be happening over the next few years, especially with an election season? What has historically happened during or after an election season? Or does any of that even matter?

Just have a plan, invest whenever you want to, and just hold it long-term. People buy and sell real estate 365 days a year. They typically buy for one of five reasons, license, diamonds, diapers, divorce, debt. I know the five, diamonds, divorce, debt, death. Diapers and death. Yeah. And that's the thing is like those five things happen all of the time. So people are going to buy and sell real estate 365 days a year. Number one. Number two, if you thought that 2% interest rate was normal, you were wrong. That was not a normal interest rate. Okay. The fact that the interest rate is 6, 7, 8%, that's actually pretty normal.

Okay. 18 is not normal and neither is two. Okay. But somewhere in the middle is where we're going to be. It's where it's going to shake out. As long as you never put yourself in a position to have to sell, you're never, ever going to lose money. The presidential election. And I wonder if I should say this, but I would say it no matter what.

In my lifetime, I've never, ever been in a political season where there wasn't a front runner. There wasn't a favorite. I've also never, ever been in a political season where either of them could either be in jail or dead. Right. And I mean, like, I don't say that in jest. I mean, just the odds. Okay. But it is normal for it to get quiet during an election season. The housing market. Yes. Because people get distracted.

Yes. The closer we get to the election, the quieter it will be. So should you be trying to invest and buy before then? Sit down. I'm getting to that. You are not going to believe this. I want you to listen to me. I want you to write it down that Glenda Baker said this.

Okay. Okay. October 31st to New Year's Day, I want you to store all of your money away so you can buy from Halloween to New Year's Day. I want you to store all of your money away so you can buy from Halloween to New Year's Day. From Halloween to New Year's Day, anybody who has their house on the market, you're going to be able to negotiate the pants off that person. Really? Seriously, are you putting your house on the market between Halloween and New Year's Day in a presidential election cycle? I wouldn't.

No, because you don't have to sell your house. So they really need to sell. They really need to sell. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And they are really going to have, you're going to be able to negotiate against those people like nobody's business. Wow. Why would they need to sell one of these five main reasons? Diamonds, diapers, death, divorce, and debt. Wow. Interesting. I'm telling you.

You just go ahead and write it down that I said it. I'm telling you because I've been through a lot of this. And there are normal ebbs and flows of the market. Interest rates go up. Interest rates go down. Supply goes up. Supply goes up, supply goes down. But ultimately, right now, there is such opportunity, I believe. Because let me ask you a question. If grandma passes away in August, are you going to wait until next spring to sell

her house? No. Try to get rid of it as soon as you can. You're going to go ahead and sell it as soon as you can. If you have a baby and you are in a one-bedroom condo, you're just going to sit there and stay, wait until that baby's five years old? No, you're not. You're going to start nesting. You're going to look for something larger. If you're getting married and you're in a rental, are you looking to buy that white picket fence all day, every day, and twice on Sunday? So that's what I say. Those five reasons

people do life, and that goes on every single day. But if you are looking to invest, I'm telling you right now, there's not going to be any time better between the presidential election, between the cost of insurance. A lot of people don't even talk about the cost of insurance and how insurance companies are excluding roofs. They're not doing it. I mean, to get insurance in Florida, you could pull teeth out of a rattlesnake faster. So that's it's the truth. a snake faster. So that's, it's the truth. And I'm telling you, I have a friend, they built a $5 million house. They got a loan with Bank of America. Bank of America sends them a letter and says, we're going to force insure you because you don't have insurance. You got to have insurance. And the guy goes, go right ahead. Please force insure me. I can't find anybody to write insurance because he's on the coast of Florida. Right. Hurricanes, this, that. Absolutely. Insurance are a for-profit business.

Now roofs in Atlanta, that's the thing. If it's over 15 years old, they won't do it. Insurance doesn't cover it. So you got to put a new roof up to insure. Yeah, that's right. So that's the thing. And I think that that's what, that's kind of like this, this silent undercurrent is cost of insurance because that's your total cost to own. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I'm curious if there, if you could give advice with, based on everything you've learned in the last 30 years, if you could give advice to someone in their 20s and 30s who are making between $70,000 and $120,000 a year, let's say, what advice would you say for them if they wanted to go all in real estate for the next 30 years? Yeah. What would you say they should start looking to do now and every year for the next 30 years to build their wealth? Knowing where the market might go,

knowing where the housing costs are going through the roof, all these different things. But think about it. You're 22 years old. You can buy one, two, three banana street, two bedrooms, two baths. You can get a roommate. That roommate is going to cover a significant portion of your mortgage. Okay. If you stay in it two years, you've got a $250,000 taxable tax deduction. You're not going to be taxed on that gain. Anything that it gains up to $250,000. So think about it. Two years you stay there, you're single.

You got your roommate. Okay. You sell that and look at all the equity that you have. You flip that into two houses. Don't go thinking that you're rich now and go buy a fancy house. Take that profit and buy two houses. And that's what I want you to think. And then your primary, you could sell it every two years at 22. You could do 24, 26 28, and 30. So by the time that you're 30 years old, you could have capitalized on that tax exemption four times. And you're not even married. You didn't have to share the money with anybody. And if you got a roommate, they paid for half of it. So like, praise the Lord and pass the money. So there's so much opportunity right there. That's

what I want you to do. So buy the first one, stay there two years, sell it and pass the money. So there's so much opportunity right there. That's what I want you to do. So buy the first one, stay there two years, sell it and buy two more. And then sell the one that you lived in and buy two more. So now you've got three. And so every time, just buy two. I just want you to buy two every time you sell that one primary. And if you did that for 10 years. And you're only putting 10% down on these or? As little as you can, 3%, 5%. If you're a veteran, my God, you could do 100%

financing. So that's what I'm saying is just put a little bit down and then make those little rental properties. If you did that for 10 properties, you never have to work another day in your life. Wow. You literally could be 32 years old. You could retire if you lived modestly. Yeah, below your means. Yeah. Now, I mean, if you're driving a Maserati. Yeah, you're screwed. Yeah.

Yeah. Because it has a very high total cost to own. I mean, it's very expensive to fix that. Yeah. So that's what I'm saying. And that's what people don't think. The total cost to own is really key. And when you're young, you don't think about, oh, I've got to pay the gas, electric, water. If you're not going to mow the yard, then you got to hire somebody to mow the yard. I mean, that's the thing is like, and you don't think about like

capital improvements to have that money for that. So you're thinking, oh, I can afford a $3,000 house payment. And guess what your house payment is? $5,000. $5,000. Or even if you were conservative, it was $2,995. But then you don't have any money to pay gas, electric, water. Plus you're sitting at home. You can't even go out. You can't even meet your friends. So that's the thing that I want people to really think about is if you don't buy based on vanity, if you buy the least expensive thing, you buy two bedrooms, two bathrooms. The two bedroom, two bath is just my absolute favorite. I mean, if you could do three bedrooms, two baths, yes. But the most important thing to me is that you're not stretched, that you're not uncomfortable, because when you get uncomfortable in your payment, you won't buy more.

Right. You'll get scared. And I don't want to follow that model, but they'd saved 50 to 100 grand in the bank over most of their 20s, right? And they're like, okay, I just rented for a bit and I've just been stacking cash. But now I'm ready to get into real estate. I've been researching more, I've been reading books, I've been going to seminars, I've been watching conversations like this, and I've got 50 to 100 grand, what should I do? And I don't want to live in it with a roommate. I just want to rent for now, but what would I do? Just buy- Just buy five of them. Five of them. Well, you've got $100,000. Think about it. If you put $20,000 down,

I mean, come on now. You could do that all day, every day, and twice on Sunday too. And then you could rent them out. What about the management of managing tenants and the breakdowns and people calling you? I'm so glad you asked that question. Because it's the energy cost of investing. It's not just, okay, I put it in and now I don't have to think about it. You've got to manage the taxes. Again, the people coming to mow the lawns, the tenants that are screaming at you. Whatever it is, it's like there's a lot of time now in five homes that you're managing.

Okay. And all the bookkeeping and all the legal fees and whatever it is, closing costs and real estate, it's like, this is chaos. If you have a property management company, they're probably going to charge you somewhere between 6% and 10%. So you don't make any margin then at the end of the day, right? So a portion of your profit is going to go to that. But being handy will serve you well, number one. But number two, the key to success with rentals is the tenant, the quality of the tenant. How do you find the right tenant?

Okay. So a lot of it depends on where you buy. That's why it's critical to go to the grocery store and check the fruit. Because somebody who's taking care of their body is probably taking care of your rental house. Okay. So you want up and coming neighborhoods. If you buy, so there's this one guy who took shots at me on TikTok because he does section eight. Well, section eight, that, I mean,

that's a struggle. That's a lot to manage. You got to have a company to manage that. For your average person, your everyday Bobby and Susie. I just want you to buy Middle America, Sunbelt, Grandma's house in an older, traditional neighborhood. If you could buy close to Georgia Tech, you could make more money. Grace Bowman, I've known her since I was two years old. Our children, I mean, her children and me went to kindergarten together. And that woman, she bought little $14,000 houses next to Georgia Tech. She's 92 years old now. And Lord, she's had people in those houses every single night.

You can buy it close to a college. That's all day, every day, because their parents will co-sign on it and they'll pay the deposit. So to me, I love buying close to schools. I also love, if you're going to do short-term rentals, love buying close to schools. I also love if you're going to do short term rentals to buy close to hospitals. Hospitals that have long term treatment facilities, because typically if you're going to come and you're going to stay with somebody who's in a long term treatment, you're not going to stay in a hotel. You're going to do a short-term rental. So if you're close to a hospital, that's good. But what I don't want you to be afraid of is don't buy anything that doesn't have great

infrastructure. Be very conscientious of what you buy. Be very conscientious of the tenant that you put in it, the tenant that you're going to attract. And then also take great care of them. Your tenants. Of your tenant and your house. So what I find where landlords struggle is when they have a POS property. If you don't take care of it, it doesn't inspire the tenant to take care of it.

Right. If you don't take care of it, it doesn't inspire the tenant to take care of it. Okay. And if you're always a pain in the ass when the tenant calls, do you think they're going to leave the water on when they leave? They don't care about you. They don't care. So you got to build this kind of very cohesive relationship. Those cohesive relationships will treat you well in real estate, no matter whether you're a real estate agent, you're a landlord, you're a tenant, you're a buyer, you're a seller.

The cohesiveness of a relationship, the collaboration in a relationship, you will make money hand over fist like that. Wow, that's beautiful. This has been powerful, Glenn. I'm so glad that you have shared a lot of your wisdom and your lessons here. How can people find you online? Where can we follow and support you? Do you know what?

Hashtag Google Glenda. You could just put in G-L-E-N-N-D-A and anywhere you feel comfortable, you can follow me. Okay. But it's Glenda Baker. And it's just, I just, I've been teaching Google that Glenda is G-L-E-N-N-D-A. And literally, if you Google Glenda, everything that comes up will be me. That's great. Where do you like to hang out the most?

Oh, my stars and stripes. Well, I'm really loving Instagram right now. You know, my account got stolen in February. Instagram? Yes. Oh, man. For three weeks. I had a nervous breakdown. Instagram? Yes. Oh, man. For three weeks. I had a nervous breakdown.

Oh, man. That's not fun. No, but I got it back. That's good. Intact. And I think I was like shadow banned or something. I couldn't grow. Nobody was watching anything.

That happened. But then all of a sudden, I put out this video and I had so much hate on this video that it brought my engagement up 632%. And from that point forward, it has been just rocking and rolling. But I love Instagram. I love TikTok. I know that people think that TikTok is going to go away. I don't think that that's true because I think that the algorithm of TikTok, it just helps people find what they love. And if you love real estate, you can find me easily. Where have you gotten the most opportunities from in your business with TikTok or Instagram? helps people find what they love. And if you love real estate, you can find me easily.

Where have you got the most opportunities from in your business with TikTok or Instagram? Like you've got deals or business flow or people booked you as your agent or whatever it might be. Oh, great question. So the people who have never, ever heard of me are the people who contact me from TikTok and the people who know of me, like I'm somewhere out there, like I've crossed their path. They're like, oh yeah, I know her. Those people are on Instagram. So probably my, I have no idea who you are. And I always talk about Joe, who was 53 days from TikTok to closing on his $700,000 condo in Midtown Atlanta. So it's not a product. He had no idea who you were. He saw a TikTok video. And I had no idea who he was. But he reached out to you.

And he reached out to me and I said, I'll ask everybody what triggered your call to me today. And he's like, I follow you on TikTok. He called you direct. Yeah, called me. Picked up the phone and called me. Clayton and Cole picked up the phone and called me. So that's the thing that Cole picked up the phone and called me. So that's the thing that's really kind of cool to me is that people I would never, ever have had the opportunity to meet. I've been exposed to them on TikTok. That's cool. But you think like who's calling a real estate agent from social media?

And I think that that's one thing about social media is like I walked in here like I feel like I know you. And I'm sure that many of the people that you meet or the interview you or come up to you, they're like, oh, my gosh, I know you. And you have no idea who they are. And that's the great thing about being yourself on social media, because everybody knows I love basketball. Everybody knows how I drink my coffee and that I put too much sugar in it and my makeup and the stuff. They know all that about me from my social media. And they know about Lucas. It's so funny. They'll go to where Lucas works and they're like, aren't you Glenda's son? So it's so cool like that. But yeah, but anywhere where people feel

comfortable is where I want them to find me. So whether it's Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or YouTube or whatever, just Google Glenda and you can find me. That's great. Well, I want to acknowledge you, Glenda, for putting yourself out there so authentically. I found one of your videos and I just started watching more and I was like, I really like the way you show up for yourself and for others. So I want to acknowledge you for your honesty, your realness, and your ability to teach and share all the lessons you've learned your entire life. It's really inspiring to watch. So I acknowledge you for that, Glenda. It's called three truths. So imagine you get to live as long as you want to live in this life. And you get to accomplish everything you want to accomplish from this moment until your last day. But for whatever reason on the last day, everything you've ever created, this interview, your content, whatever you make from this moving forward, we don't have access to anymore.

The world doesn't have access to. It has to go somewhere else. Go with you when you pass or some other world. But your information and content is gone. Videos, audios, all that stuff. But in the last day, you got to leave behind three final truths. And this is all we would have to be remembered by your information and your content. What would those three truths be for you? your information and your content. What would those three truths be for you? I would probably say that my children knew

how much they inspired me and how much they were loved and that everything I did was just for them. I would say that I was an inspiration to help somebody go from what was a difficult situation into being able to live their life. And that I never looked back with regret. That I loved with my whole heart

and I only looked forward with reflection. That's beautiful. Final question. What's your definition of greatness? The ability to impact, inspire and inform people and leave a lasting, leave them with a lasting moment of your presence. Thank you so much.

I appreciate you. Thank you. Amazing. I hope you enjoyed Thank you. Amazing. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter.

And now it's time to go out there and do something great.