On our last Getting Real episode, I had an incredible conversation with Amy Johnson, a values-based consultant and coach, and I’m excited to share what we uncovered. If you’re a real estate investor—or thinking about getting into it—there’s something crucial that’s often overlooked. It could be the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. What’s the secret? Aligning your investments with your core values.

Most of us go through life making decisions without fully realizing what’s driving them. We think we know what we want, but when we dig deeper, we often find we’ve been guided by values we weren’t even aware of. Amy explained it beautifully: if you’re not in touch with your true values, it’s like trying to navigate life blindfolded. You’re guessing and hoping to hit the mark, but you often feel off track.

Check out this episode of Getting Real Live where I chat with values-based consultant Amy Johnson...

 Picture this: You’re watching the Olympics, and these athletes are blowing your mind. Their grit, focus, and refusal to quit—it’s beyond inspiring. But here’s the thing: their journey isn’t just about gold medals. What has contributed to their success provides lessons that we can use to win in the real estate game, too.  In this blog post I break it down. Here are six Olympic lessons that’ll help you crush it in your investing game.

1. Preparation and Training: No Shortcuts, No Excuses

Look, success doesn’t just land in your lap. Olympic athletes train like their lives depend on it. Early mornings, long hours, and a relentless drive—that’s what it takes. They’re not messing around.

In real estate, you also need to prepare and train. You’ve got to put in the hours—learning, researching, and sharpening your skills. Think of it as your training ground. There’s no magic formula here, just a whole...

I often hear people say that they feel more comfortable investing in the stock market or keeping their money in a bank account. To them, this choice feels safer and more reliable. But this is a myth. I believe that they say this because they have not done the work of comparing how money grows in different investments. So I’ve broken it down for you.

Let’s say you start with $50,000. Now if you put that money in a bank account, where it compounds at 1% interest, after 20 years you will have made a profit of $11,009.50.

Now let’s say you want to invest that money and you choose to invest that $50,000 in the stock market, which averages a 7% annual return on investment. So after 20 years compounding at 7% you will make a profit of $143,484.

Now let’s compare those two options to real estate investing. Let’s say you purchase five 3/2 single-family houses in Cleveland, OH for $50,000 down (20% of value - $250,000 total in assets). The average rent for that...

There are three main reasons I believe why more women aren’t investing in real estate:

1) Many simply have not considered the incredible advantages of real estate, or that they could ever participate as a real estate investor.
Perhaps they haven’t considered that there is an option for creating income other than trading their time for money. Or maybe they just think it’s something that “very rich” people do, and it’s not something they could ever afford.

2) They understand real estate investing in the abstract but do not know how to apply those concepts to their own work or investing.
They understand the concepts of real estate investment, but they don’t know how to do it. They don’t know what steps to take, or where to go in order to gain the necessary knowledge.

3) Last but certainly not least, they understand how it works, but they’re afraid they’re going to lose money.

They have heard of people making lots of money in...

I have to admit I was scared.

I took a deep breath as I signed the check request for $75,000.  If we didn’t get the $3,075,000 we needed to purchase this 77-unit building plus the $500,000 to renovate it, we would lose the $75,000 earnest money.  

We had never bought an apartment building before.  Up to this date, the largest thing we’d ever managed was a duplex.  I looked at my husband.  He seemed a little pale.  I’m sure I did too.  I took his hand in mine.  “Let’s do this,”  I said.

A week later we put in an offer for another building – 51 units, selling for $1,800,000.

Three months later, we sat toasting at an elegant restaurant in Albuquerque on the day we closed escrow and became the owners. That week we bought two buildings in Albuquerque – 128 units total.  We raised over $2.2 million dollars from private investors and got bank loans totaling...

Do you ever think "I'd love to invest in real estate, but I just don't have the money yet?" Well, it's possible you are actually sitting on tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars available for investing and you don't even know it!

That's how I was - I was pretty blown away when I found this out.

When my husband and I went to a real estate conference - the Real Estate Guys' Secrets of Successful Syndication seminar, we first learned that we had way more access to cash than we thought about - via our retirement accounts. 

Most people have IRAs or 401k's in plans offered through their employers or through one of the bigger financial institutions - Fidelity, Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, etc.  In these accounts is a set of options of what you can invest in - generally a somewhat limited menu of mutual funds and bonds.

I remember being very annoyed at one point because I wanted to put the bulk of my money in a low-fee...

For better or for worse, your success in real estate will be determined by who you know.  Real Estate is a relationship business.  Who you know and who you are working with can make all the difference in what deals you get and how much money you have access to.  

You need relationships with great service providers (agents/brokers, lenders, property managers, CPAs, contractors, attorneys, etc.) and with great potential partners (deal and investment partners).  Without these right relationships you either:
(a) can’t get a good cash flowing property deal at all (especially in a competitive market), or
(b) you can’t run it well if/when you do acquire it.

A lot of people think that’s not fair.  It’s true, it’s not fair.  Fair or not, that’s the way it is.

There is something you can do about it though…

You absolutely can get yourself some of those right relationships!

So how do you do that?...