17 | From Homeless to Real Estate Investor | Jasmine Paul

Connect with the Investor Mama Tribe Looking for ways to boost your income? Check out these resources to help you with your money journey. Check out the Investor Mama’s Money Mindset-Mini Course! January 5-7, 8:00 PM EST Bio Jasmine is the host of the Find & Sustain Podcast, where she aids leaders in finding the truth and sustaining purpose. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communications from High Point University and a Master’s in Entrepreneurship from Oklahoma State University. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry and is a full-time government budget and policy officer. When she’s not executing multi-million dollar budgets, she’s teaching financial stewardship curriculum to organizations and individual clients. After purchasing her first house at 23 and paying back $37,500 in student loans by the age of 24 and buying a rental property shortly thereafter, she realized her niche for creative financial wellness. In 2014 she launched a financial training program that has eliminated over $188,000 student loan debt for 38 clients. In and out of uniform, Jasmine continues to speak to young people about passion, purpose, and development. She wants to be the voice to those who think they may not have one. “Don’t let anyone stop your greatness, God created you for such a time as this.” She truly believes, she can and will do ALL things through Christ who strengthens her. Tips for Investing Out of State * I use Cozy.co, which is a property management software to screen my tenants and to input my lease. * I use EZ Landlord Forms to create my lease. I also use lawyers to make sure that my lease adheres to state landlord-tenant law. * I had a separate business account, to keep my personal and business finances separate. At the end of the year,  I had my accountant look over all of my expenses to make sure they make sense and that I’m paying my taxes accordingly. * I’m learning that I can’t do it all excellent., and that’s what I want to do. I want to be excellent in every business venture in my job, my career, and to be excellent, there are things that I have to take off my plate and be willing to give to someone else.  I believe that me going through that not-so-great experience with the first property manager and doing property management myself for the last three years, I’ve been able to establish a baseline where I know what to look for in a property manager. I now give them my expectations upfront and say this is what I am willing to accept, and this is what I won’t accept. I expect you in this relationship, in this partnership to agree with me, and if you’re not, then I need to find somebody else. * I’ve learned that the contract with a property manager is very important. You need to spell out everything that you desire in the contract so you are both 100% clear of expectations and are on the same page. * I also learned that some property managers don’t inspect the property as often as I thought it should be inspected. Some inspect a lot more and in addition to maintenance visits, inspect the property quarterly.  However, what people desire is a place that’s not a rental, that they desire a home. They desire a safe place for their family. So if you’re constantly doing quarterly checkups,