How Community Led to Buying Land Overseas with O'Licia Parker-Smith

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In this episode of the Open House Podcast, host Kristina Modares interviews O'Licia Parker-Smith, who shares her inspiring journey from house hacking her first property to purchasing land in Ghana. The conversation highlights the challenges and triumphs of navigating the real estate landscape, particularly for women, and emphasizes the value of collaboration and mentorship in achieving success. O'Licia, discusses the challenges and learning opportunities that come with investing internationally and emphasizes the value of collaboration and support among women in the industry.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to O'Licia's Journey
03:09 Building a Supportive Community for Women in Real Estate
04:32 O'Licia's Background and Move to Texas
05:50 First Property Purchase: The Sneaky Duplex
11:39 Creative Financing and Family Support
17:29 Managing Tenants and Property Management Insights
23:49 Transitioning from Homeowner to Investor
24:59 Building Confidence as a Landlord
25:52 Exploring New Opportunities in Real Estate
27:02 Investing in Ghana: A Unique Experience
30:30 Navigating International Real Estate Transactions
34:08 Long-Term Plans for the Ghanaian Land
39:32 Overcoming Fear in Real Estate Investments
46:07 The Importance of Community in Real Estate

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Transcript

0:02

Welcome back to the open house podcast where women talk real estate. I'm Christina Moderas. And today we're diving into a really unique journey with one of our community members, Alicia Parker Smith. So we talk about her leap from house hacking her first property to actually purchasing land in Ghana after a super inspiring trip with her friends. So her story is super cool and a testament to creativity and courage in real estate. So as we release this episode, we're just three days away from closing our community membership until mid 2025. So if you've been wanting to make some big real estate moves, you whether that's buying your first property or house hacking, exploring international investments or joining forces with a friend, this is your chance to find the support, the resources and connections to make it happen. A reminder that open house education is a nationwide community where women can learn, connect and get inspired to pursue real estate creatively. So what do we all have in common? You know, I started this group in August with a hundred founding members and really was blown away at who joined. So everyone here is driven, but really kind and thoughtful in the way that they approach real estate. Everyone is committed to learning and building wealth. together in a fun and supportive space. Many of these women are exploring partnerships with real estate and are open to the possibility of actually meeting a woman in this space to partner with as well. So we use the platform Circle and it's really easy to navigate and we have a handful of forum channels as well as a space in there to watch old event recordings and to download other resources as well. And we host two to three monthly events. next one is actually this week, tomorrow actually. So it's November 20th and led by community member Kara. She recently sold a short-term rental property management company and is going to give us like all her tips and tricks and also talk to us kind of about how the process of selling that business went. I think she got top dollar for her system. So I'm really interested in learning from her. We also are rolling out an accountability partner program. So that will be regular check-ins to keep you on track with your real estate goals. I have had an accountability partner for the last eight years of my life on and off. And it's really the only way that I'm able to accomplish any like big goal that I have personal and business and real estate. So we will be rolling that out very soon. So like I said, I started this group in August and have seen the women in there already get super tangible results. you know, within, I'd say like the first one to three months, members are either buying a property, finding a partner, or starting to implement their real estate strategies and also figuring out what their real estate strategy is. So yeah, I hope to see you in there this week and at the event with Kara tomorrow. One more thing before we dive into the episode, I've been getting a lot of good questions about our online community on our Instagram page. So one woman just asked me, she's curious if it makes sense financially for her right now to join the community because she's not actively looking to make any more investments at the moment. And I responded with, yeah, totally fair. I'm honestly, this is true. Like I'm not. either. Like I'm not in a place in my life where I'm like actively searching for property. Like I have my little nest egg and I'm happy with it growing it. But it's been a really nice place to be around like minded women and share when things come up at my current properties or in my even just like my own house if something comes up. I like to share. I like to also I like to see the deals that come through because sometimes I'm like, maybe I could throw so many at that. to be a part of this property or this deal or this collaboration. I really like to stay in the loop and keep my real estate brain fresh, if that makes sense. Okay, let's jump into today's episode with Alicia. Okay, hi, Alicia, how's it going? It's going well. Thank you for having me on this show. Very excited for our conversation today. Yeah, me too. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Yeah, of course. So my name is Alicia. I live in Dallas, Texas currently. I moved here earlier this year from Austin, Texas for a job opportunity. And Austin is where I got connected with Open House. But before living and moving to Texas, I was in North Carolina. I grew up in a military family. So I did the whole moving around quite a few times in my younger years and went to school in North Carolina as well. what's your, I guess, what's your background before jumping in like for work? I work in communications, corporate communications, doing PR. That's my background. That's what I went to school for. I originally thought I would open my own PR agency one day. So the idea of like entrepreneurship has always been there. I have since realized I do not want the lack of work-life balance that comes with owning an agency. And I've since looked for other options, which we're going to naturally talk about in our episode today. But yeah, so. Corporate Communications, Yeah, let's jump into the real estate side of things. Do you want to talk about your first property? I know it's a duplex, but I'm just interested in what drew you to that as your first property. A little bit of backstory really quick. When I moved to Austin, I was living in a house hack that I didn't even know was a house hack. And when the pandemic happened, my friend and I just started wanting to learn about real estate. That's when I came, actually a coworker of mine recommended your podcast to me. started listening to your podcast. There's another podcast I found and I was just learning all about real estate investing and the process of buying a house and the different ways you can do it. And through that process is when I realized I was in a house. Wait, was it cause your friend owned the house and she was renting it out to you? I hear like, wait a second. Yeah. I was like, wait. I can totally do this. I'm like on the other side of it right now. So that was definitely like a boost of confidence. And then yeah, I got connected with Jen, one of the agents at Open House and she became my real estate agent and walked me through process of buying my first property, which was a layout wise, it's like a duplex, it's like an in-law suite. So I guess you would call it more of a sneaky duplex situation, but I just refer to it as a duplex. And then also on paper it's referred to as a condo. So it's just a very like. Strange setup, but we've made it work, a freestanding condo. So I don't have to pay for the roof repairs, which was nice because it got repaired earlier this year. And the external walls you don't have to cover through the HOA, but you just have to worry about the external and the internal part for like insurance and things of that nature. So it's been a really interesting learning process, just learning about how that works on paper when you have to like get things done, like a HELOC and insurance and all of that stuff. Yeah, that's the first property I bought a sneaky duplex in a tertiary market. So it's actually in a college town that is now really growing and expanding because Texas is really on the up and up when you think of like Austin going south towards San Antonio. And yeah, when I was in the process of looking for a property, my first house, I was on the MLS daily. Every listing that Jen sent me, I was like scrolling through and rolling the numbers, running the numbers and really came like a student of just the process in that regard. And when we found this listing, I was like, my gosh, something about it just really stood out. And I know you're not supposed to get emotional about listings, but there was a little bit of emotional component there, but more so of like a peace and a calmness that I didn't necessarily feel when I was looking at other properties and analyzing other potential deals. And so we went toward it. I still had that feeling. It made sense on paper. We did the offer and things of that nature, which we'll probably talk about. And my offer was accepted. So we went under contract and that became my first Amazing. Okay. I didn't realize it was a sneaky duplex. Okay. So, and you have an HOA and you're still able to house hack. So this is, this is good because I love showcasing all the different ways that you can make your first home an investment. So yeah. So what did you do to make this like a duplex, I guess? I actually forgot to mention too, I closed on my house, I think it was like just a week before my birthday too. So that was like my big birthday present to myself. It was a year a cool like personal, think it was my 24th 24th birthday, that's even better. 21, yeah. Wow. So it yeah, it was just like a really cool like little personal milestone moment. But yeah, I... As far as the layout of the house, it's three full bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and it has two kitchens with like a full kitchen, really. It's stove, stove, sink, and fridge. It is 1,600 square feet, and that includes the garage. So it's a top, bottom duplex. So on the bottom floor is the garage for the top unit. And then there is a one bedroom, one bath. That's about 500-ish square feet. And then there's like a really thin like side hallway that will take you upstairs from the garage. And that's where you have the other two bedrooms, the two baths. The master is considered upstairs, even though the bottom bedroom I think is technically bigger. But the master's upstairs and then it has this really cool like wraparound porch. But yeah, it's about 1600 square feet. And I was staying in the smaller portion because I had this really... interesting phase where I was like obsessed with tiny houses and if you're familiar with like the fire movement there's people in the fire movement who like did the tiny house so they're debt-free and things of that nature and that's how I kind of got interested in it and so I thought I made more business sense and I was also comfortable living in smaller spaces so I ended up living in the smaller space and then renting out the larger space where I was able to make more money. Wow this is amazing okay so I I'm trying to wrap my head around this property because so also it is basically a true duplex because a sneaky duplex is when you section off part of your home and usually that part that you section off doesn't have a kitchen. It's usually acting as like a hotel room. I mean, you can always add a kitchen, but it's just harder. when you bought this property, had the people before you set this up like that, like they had added this kitchen and everything. So that was the floor plan of the property, like how the house was built. And the person I bought the house from, were investors, they're investors that moved to California and they're just offloading it. So there's like this door that connects both sides of the houses together, the top and bottom side. And so what I did was just seal it off with like some soundproofing and things of that nature, which was like maybe like a $200 investment or less. And I didn't, yeah, I didn't have like any heavy capital I had to put in because the floor plan already worked out. to make it a duplex and it was already operating as a duplex with the previous owners. Wow. so when you bought the property, was it with financing and stuff, was it seen as a single family home or a duplex? Single family? On paper, it's a single family home, which is really weird. Again, it's been a really weird learning process with this property on paper. Okay, interesting. This is like a curveball for even me. I love it. I love how creative you can truly be with real estate. Do you mind sharing some of the numbers? How much was this property? How much did it cost for the mortgage? Yes. So in the offer and my closing documents, because I took a look at them before our conversation, so I did a conventional loan for about $241. And I remember the lender I work with, which was recommended through you all, and she was a phenomenal lender. She recommended a conventional loan for my financial situation over doing a FHA. So we did that. We did 3 % down that I could take advantage of as first time home buyer. I had a 3 % interest rate. And when we did the offer, Jim was also really creative about how we did the offer. So we include an escalation cause because when I bought this house, was during the frantic craziness of the housing market. This was in 2021. And Austin was one of those cities being mentioned in the news frequently with how insane it was and how... impossible it felt to buy a house. So we had to get really creative to make it work. And so we had an escalation clause. I think the offer was 300 and then the escalation was up to 310. And then the second offer, I remember when Jen called me to tell me that my offer was accepted. Good thing we did the escalation clause because if I would have just did 300, I probably would have lost the deal because the second highest offer was 305. But because we had that escalation clause, we were able to get the deal. Interesting. OK, cool. Yeah. That's definitely a strategy that was being used a lot during that time. I would say now the market's cooled down, which honestly I think is way better. You can get even better deals. I just don't like making an offer when there's like 20 other people who are doing it too. It just feels, it doesn't feel great. It's stressful. But yeah, I love that you were able to get something during that time and something within your budget, something that you have made like a true investment. Because I really, I don't think just buying a house and just like, sometimes I don't think it's always an investment, you know, like you can buy something that will make you quote unquote house poor. Your mortgage is high. It's kind of like a burden, but you definitely didn't go down that route and you are house hacking. How long did you live in that property? before moving? So I had just moved out earlier this year so about three to a little under three full years and I moved just when I moved out of the property because I was moving out of Austin and I do want to caveat going back to like the numbers of my deal and something that I thought was out of reach for me but didn't really know was actually available for people who are listening and probably like researching real estate, a lot of people talk about like OPM, other people's money. And one of the ways people often talk about us like asking family members. And I remember when I was going through the process of learning how to buy like, going through the process of learning how to buy a house and just learning about the real estate market. I did not think OPM. be a family member was an option for me at all. I was like, I do not come from that kind of family. Like, I don't have someone who's just gonna give me $100,000 or whatever the case may be. But my parents really saw my dedication to see this through and find a deal. And it just so happened that the timing lined up where my parents could start accessing their retirement funds without the age penalty. And because that timing aligned perfectly, my parents were willing to take out, willing and able to take some money out of their for their retirement fund to give toward gifting this house. And so I was able to, again, going back to like how insane the market was at the time and all these cash offers, I was able to present that type of cash incentive, right? Because I bought the house for way more than it was appraising for at the time. And I did get, know, everything ended up balancing out with appraisals for the property now. But. Yeah, that was an interesting situation that I didn't think was possibility but really was and for people who that truly might not be a possibility There are programs out there and companies you can work with that kind of act as like the rich uncle Like I used to call it where they're able to help present offers ash cast as cash offers again We're not really in a market where that's needed anymore. Thankfully Yeah, but it is it is an option for some people where that doesn't make sense. I love that you brought that up because Yeah, like I and that's exactly what we're doing at our in our community in the open house education community. Like I want women to meet other women and, you know, potentially buy together because you just never know. You never know who's in your back pocket, who you could potentially partner with. And if you don't ask and you're not even like in that right, I guess, like headspace to know what to ask or like how to ask or whatever you're you. you might not think it's for you. And I'm glad that you brought that up because I think a lot of people, when they hear people like, I partnered, like my parents helped or like I'm partnering with my parents, I presented that to them. They kind of write it off and they're like, well, I couldn't do that. But you're like, well, did you, you know, did you ask? Like, did you present it in a way that they could see the benefit for them as well? You know, did you try even before that? like, so they could see that, like, take you seriously, like you said. They saw how hard you were working and yeah, it was a, I'm sure, benefit for them as well. you know, yeah, so I love that you brought that up. Yeah. And that actually, so, yeah, before we move on from numbers, do you, how much was your monthly mortgage payment? My first year, it was about $1,500. Under 1600 just under 1600 and I was renting out the unit for that price so the way I structured the Expenses for this duplexes because both units are on the same utilities I have like a utility stipend basically so as long as utilities stay under $400 a month I would pay for that out of pocket along with the HOA fee and then if it goes above to Above$400 a month. There was like a percentage big down on the on the square footage of each unit to cover that extra cost. that helped. So when I was living there and house hacking, I was basically only paying like 500 bucks to live in my house. was the $400 of utilities and the HOA. And then now that I've moved out, I'm cash flowing about $500. That's great. That's amazing. So long-term renting are both units now? Yes, this is kind of, guess, a con of HOAs. My HOA doesn't allow STRs at the moment. So I'm, you know, limited to the long term rental situation. But it's been a really cool process finding long term tenants and building relationships with them. I've really started to enjoy the property management side, which we'll talk about a little bit later. But yeah, it's been it's been a fun process. Do you mind sharing like how you found tenants and like how that whole process goes. feel like people might hear your story and be like, wow, she just like went from, you know, renting and then like being a homeowner and then she also had to find tenants. Like, so when you were living there, you kind of had to find tenants pretty quickly, right? Yeah, I think the same month I closed, I was looking for tenants that same month. Also, I closed in July and again, I mentioned a college town, like July was like ending the hot season to really find or have the biggest batch of tenants available. So I was kind of working against the clock. I learned a lot about finding tenants in my time owning this property. I remember my realtor, she told me when I was closing on the house, she was like, you don't really need to use a property management to find companies. There's a whole community, there's resources, there's people to support you. You can look at stuff online. There's, you know, certain, like, additional rights you have when you live at the house versus just, you know, renting it out completely. And kind of what you were saying earlier, alluding to earlier, I was so overwhelmed with just the home buying process. And I just, kind of threw myself in there and was just learning so much. was like, I don't know if I can tackle, like, property manager on top of that and learning the laws and everything. So. I definitely psyched myself out, hindsight being 2020. I definitely could have, did both on my own. And I worked for the property management company a first year, did not work with them again. And I started finding tenants on my own and using listings. There's different listing sites and some property management software companies have listing components to them. So you can kind of do your research and figure out what site works the best for you and your situation. There's Facebook posts and then communities like Open House have been really helpful in giving tips about posting, listings for the post, the copy you're using, advice when you're of like screening for tenants, so you're making sure you're doing it in an ethical way. But it's definitely something that you can self-manage. And then I used a listing locator kind of sort of company this last time around when I was renting out the... The second part of my house, just because I was already moving, I was already in Dallas at that point and I couldn't do the back and forth to do open houses. So from a convenience standpoint, I outsourced that, but I had a great relationship with them and they found some really great tenants and it was a really good partnership. So in the cases where you do have to work with someone like a, a realtor or a, property locator company, property management company who does locating, just finding a really good relationship where you work well together. But in other cases, you can really do this on your own, especially with community. Yeah, that's totally fair. Yeah, I've used like Zillow before in Facebook. think Facebook's like the best now to find people because you can like check on their profile. I don't know who uses Facebook still though. It's like, know, I of listings on Facebook. Okay. But okay. So yeah, how did you find I okay, I think property management companies, it's a really hard job, but they're, they get a bad rep. But it's also really hard to find a good property management company. So you said you found like a, almost like a, like they help you find tenants, like a locator. How did you find like a reputable company? Trellin Errer. My first experience was so sour. I just happened to learn a lot from it. And that gave me a lot of wisdom moving forward. And then also just like asking folks questions about like, what questions should I be asking a locator? How do you know if they're going to really go the extra mile? When you're signing contracts with different locators, there's normally a percentage of rent that they're going to take. Normally people who have a higher percentage of rent tend to take your listing more seriously. That's kind of just how it happens sometimes. So negotiating a deal that works for both parties. But I think there's an intuitiveness. I don't know if you can relate to this as well, or maybe it's just me being alone here. There's this intuitiveness instinct I've just felt a lot through the real estate buying process and being a landlord. And you just know. You know what I mean? I think we just know. Trust your intuition. You do have to get your hands dirty a little and make some quote unquote errors. But you learn so much from that. And then next time you're like, I'm going to ask. this question now or like, I'm getting a weird vibe from this person in the attitude they're giving or like the way they're communicating. And I totally agree that, yeah, trust your instincts there. Okay, so when you were moving to Dallas and, you know, you had to go from living in the space to fully renting it out, was that hard to let go of your like personal space? Or were you just like, ready to move on and have it become like a full investment property? Yeah, I knew when I bought this property, I was eventually going to move out completely. When I bought it, I thought I would move out sooner, but life happened. Especially in subsequent years when layoffs became a bigger thing and I was impacted by that. And that kind of just changed up my timeline a little bit. So when I was thinking about moving out completely, that was the same time I actually got the job. So I was like, okay, well, this kind of answers the question for me. I can't really track my feet here. And I was excited about it, but also a little anxious and getting in my own head. think one of the things for me, one of my biggest hurdles has been like the mental hurdles of just like the unknown and, taking risks. but yeah, I. I needed that push to get out of that property because I really wanted to buy something new and start looking at other things, but I would keep psyching myself out and it just elongated the process. And so this was something that really shocked my system. One thing I was afraid of was like, okay, what if I move out and I have this mortgage and maybe I have a vacancy and the tenant rent is not paying for all of it. And then I have another mortgage. What am I going do? Am I going to go bankrupt and all those. But things work itself out. There's numbers to run. can conserve, you know, can contingency plan essentially for these and have a good amount of reserve. So I try to stick to the numbers when I get really emotionally overwhelmed in my head. And you know, since moving out completely, I think it's given me that boost of confidence to really see being a landlord and building my portfolio as something that's more achievable to scale because I'm not so emotionally. tied to it, like, you know, an example of living under the roof that I'm renting out as well. From moving to Austin to Dallas, what did you buy something else or what was your next move from there? Yeah, so because it was a very quick move, I started renting again, which is interesting. At first I was like, kind of whatever about it, but I'm learning to enjoy the process. so I'm looking at options to buy multifamilies when my lease is up. So that is the next goal is to continue buying or I've even started getting interested in studying business acquisitions. So I think those are my two options when my lease is up, either buying a company that's kind of in the real estate industry because I really think ultimately I'm going to be in the real estate industry in some capacity. Or if I find a really, really good multifamily deal here or a deal that I can structure to be a good deal. I'm doing that. kind of two course, two paths I can take. Yeah. But I'm pretty sure that you like kind of went, didn't skipped over this land situation. Definitely. When did that happen? You're like, yeah, I didn't buy anything. like, what about the overseas land that you said you bought? Yes. OK. So this was very interesting. So there is an organization, an old coworker of mine started called Black Women Invest. And it's a networking group where they talk about real estate, stock investments, a whole bunch of different things. I've heard of this. Yeah. Shello, she's awesome. And so she does trips overseas, real estate investing trips. And so I went to one of her brunches last year. She mentioned that she was going to Ghana in the summer of 2024. I had always wanted to go to West Africa. And it was hard to find people who wanted to go to West Africa with me. I was like, well, I don't want to go alone. So when I was at this brunch and she was talking about the trip, I was like, my gosh, this is my ticket to go. And I get to learn about real estate. so in the process of going for the trip, Before we even left to go to Ghana, we were meeting with lawyers and their versions of real estate agents, brokers, and just learning about the real estate market there. And even during all of this research, I didn't think I was going to buy anything. I was like, this is going to be a really cool learning experience. I'm going to enjoy my time in Ghana, and I'm going to come back to the US. And so when we got there, we toured a ton of different. and attended different areas in Accra, on the coast, just all over. And we ended up finding toward the end of trip some raw land that was available. it's outside the city of Accra, but it's kind of going out into the hills. The best way can describe it for people who live in Texas is like the equivalent of buying something in Wimmerly, like the Hill Country, and its proximity to Austin, but a little bit closer because you can still see like the skyline and stuff like that. So it was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking and yeah, raw land there and that area is kind of more of an affluent area anyways. And so we got some, we heard about a really good deal on plots of land being sold by a developer and... We literally all jumped on it. I was the last person to jump on this. So there was four other women who bought plots. So we all bought plots of land in the same area. So we're going to be in the same neighborhood and neighbors when it's all said and done. They all got two plots. There was only one available. I only had one Wow. We're like FOMO I just got my one. I know. We're doing this. my gosh. And so yeah, it was a... The plot of land was equivalent of about $5,500 American dollars. And it's about 1.16 acres, so roughly a little under 7,000 square feet. So a smaller plot of land, but still able to work some construction there for potential investing opportunities, or if I just want to hold the land for a couple years and sell it back and flip it. The transaction process for them, it's mainly a lawyer that you're working with. in the States where you have like your agent and your lender, since we were essentially doing all cash for these deals, didn't need lending options. We just worked with a lawyer who was in direct contact with the developer for the contracts. The lawyer cost about 3000 American dollars and then some miscellaneous expenses with contractors surveying the land, getting some people to do some quotes for fencing and things of that nature, which is probably... going to be about an additional $2,500 when it's all said and done. yeah, just a little over $10,000 to have a piece of land internationally. I have so many questions and I don't even know where to start with this. Like, how did they pick Ghana? why did she have ties to Ghana? Like, how did she like pick Ghana? So she had a relationship with a Essentially the equivalent of a real estate brokerage in the area and one of their main points of pushing and doing business with is people of diaspora, the African diaspora, because we're all over the country. Ghana has also made a really big effort to bring more members of the diaspora home for tourism. They did a really big tourism push a handful of years ago. And so there's been a really big interest in people investing. There's also lot of American celebrities that invest in Ghana. think Jay-Z owns quite a bit of land there and there's a lot of American developers starting to go there to do projects similar to like, you know, either selling plots of raw land or developing townhouses or condos or really, it's a very cool process to get to be involved in. And I feel like it's kind of an early enough stage where you're seeing the results that people are having, but it's not super crowded and congested. And it's a really cool opportunity to learn about Yeah, what real estate looks like in other countries. my gosh. 100%. Like what a cool opportunity and like seemingly kind of like cheap grad school for you to real estate grad school for you to like really learn about something that like who else is going to be teaching you this? Like you got to go there. You got to learn from the people there and like, yeah, that's, that's really cool. what was, you know, when, how did they convince you to buy like? I feel like a lot of women are like, okay, I want to buy a house with my friend, but I don't even know where to like, how do I get them to take me seriously? So when these women were like, okay, we're buying this land. Were you just like, I'm in or were you like, what did you hear to be like, I'm in? Yeah, I think it's so interesting because to be completely honest with you going back to like the confidence you have when you when you partner with people on deals and you buy a house with friends or a family member and things that we talk about in the open house. I don't think I would have bought the land if it was just me. I think I would have been way too scared and intimidated and just overwhelmed with the experience. But the fact I had other people who were going to be with me during the process, we used the same lawyers, we got on Zoom calls together and chatted with each other. We made sure that we were all comfortable, though at the end of the day, we were all buying individual plots of land for ourselves, we were in it together. And that kind of camaraderie, I think, was the confidence we all needed to really go through with the deal. just the value of the land, that's a crazy cheap deal to be able to get. I mean, I don't know what a plot of land in Wimberley, Texas would cost, but. It would be a lot of money. Not 56, or how much did you say? 5,500, yeah. Not 5,500. Yeah. So yeah. It made sense. The math made sense. then having people who were going to be alongside you in that process, who you weren't doing alone, really make the difference. God, I love, this is so cool. And I love your attitude towards it. It's so true. All these women were doing this, and you could share the resources. It's like, why not jump in? together and do this. Like you're on this trip, this real estate investing trip. And yeah, I love that so much. my gosh. Okay. So what now? Like what did you all buy this? Like I heard you said, you know, you might hold it for a couple of years. Did you have immediate plans? we like, this just seems like a cool thing to do a good idea long term. I'm going to buy it, figure it out as I go. Or did you have a plan? I had generally a sense of option A is I would just flip it and hold it for a while. And option B, I would just take my time to build on it. Another thing in the culture, they don't really believe in debt the same way Americans do. And so what you'll have people do oftentimes is they'll buy land, they'll fence it. And then when they have money to start building the foundation, then they'll build the foundation. When they have money to start building the next phase of the house, then they'll build the next phase. You know, a house would take maybe five to 10 years to build there versus, you know, here where we just, you know, take out loans for things. So the idea, even if I want to hold and build on a long-term is something that's already a part of their culture. So that's something I don't feel like I'm necessarily like losing out on or missing out on taking a longer process if I decide to hold it long-term. But option A is definitely to hold it for a couple of years and then evaluate if it makes sense to sell and potentially buy something else in the area. Wow, cool. So I am assuming then you didn't really look into how much it would cost to build house or did you hear around how much it is? Depending on the developer you use, probably we were getting different quotes like smaller houses, probably about $86,000 American dollars. And if you want bigger houses, probably $180,000 to $200,000 American dollars. Okay, got it. So way more affordable than Texas to do. Okay, cool. Well, so were the other women also in the same boat as you like that they were probably just going to hold it? I think most of them are planning to build. And eventually retire there or or like, it down to children? my gosh. So cool. yeah, the all the creative things you could do. with this. absolutely. And I always knew I wanted to eventually buy something overseas. I had no idea truly that I would be doing it so soon. But when opportunities happen and you have the resources and availability to do it, just kind of go for it. totally. The amount of houses in Italy my friend sends me and I'm like, wait, but what does that mean? Like, how do we do it? Like these castles that are like $10,000 and you're like, but wait, what? I can't comprehend, like, yeah, what kind of option to buy over there? Is it way different? You know, it's so cool that you were able to go over there and all figure it out together. Because, I'm baffled by this. I want to hear more stories of people buying in different countries because it's such a new territory for me as well. But yeah, I'm interested to keep... like hearing the updates because, you did have an update. Tell us what was going on. You said there was a little bit of a drama with the developer. my gosh. So a good learning lesson when you think of like buying land internationally, the legal implications of you not being a citizen of that country. so in a situation with Ghana, only Ghanaians can own land freehold. anyone else who's not a citizen of the country, you basically have land leases that last about 50 years. So every 50 years you have to get it renewed. There's situation, there's some essentially high level, there's some workarounds to that. And we were told we could do a workaround. And so we all were going through this deal with the idea that we would have a workaround and when it was time for the workaround to happen. They didn't want to do the work around anymore. So that caused some drama about like some people, some of the ladies weren't even sure if they still wanted to go through with the deal. For me, because like I mentioned, I would probably flip it. That's my primary exit strategy right now. I didn't really care as much about it. But if you're going to invest in the land, build a house, kind of capital and then... either retire there or want to give it to your children at some point, it does have an implication. So we were able to work it out. Literally, I got an email update today. So very thankful that it looks like all of this is over with. And so we'll look at the contract signed the leasing contract portion sign. But the land is already ours. Thankfully, I've had the land since I think early mid October now. So are they agreeing to the workaround then? And so then Okay, awesome. essentially, you know, the other women who bought and if they want to like retire there, whatever, they're, they're all set. Okay. Awesome. Yeah, I want you're you got to share in in in our circle community in our open house community of like, I'm going to definitely post this episode in there. But you're you're gonna have to keep us updated in there of like, what's going on? Because I'm so so curious. Absolutely. I would love to do a lunch and learn to probably after I get it. So I have a a better picture to show. yeah, let's do a linch and learn on this. Yes, you should. Okay, let's see where I'm like, what else? Where do we even go from here? It's like that was I feel like you have such a good attitude towards everything that's kind of come your way with with real estate in general, even talking about this developer situation. It seems like you've had like a pretty good attitude towards it. And I know real estate can be very stressful at times like There's a lot of new things, like you said, like that you have to deal with and you know, you're not taught this in school. It's really you have to like go in and jump in and, you know, do it. So what like what would you tell someone who's about to jump in and they're too scared? Like I think a lot of us are like, we're going to do that in two years. It's always a two year timeline. And I'm like, what you know, what would you tell someone who's like Waiting for two years for the next 10 years, like how do you get them to like make a move? Yeah, I think, I think as someone there are definitely deals I could have acted on that I didn't act on out of fear. And I definitely kick myself about that now. And I think that's probably a shared experience with a lot of people when they're starting out and maybe even more, you know, seasoned experience people in the real estate industry. And I think that pain of what if has been part of the reason to springboard me into taking action when a deal makes sense. This is going to sound extreme, one thing I think about is like, but did I die though? It's been really crazy. Like I have cried. I have lost thousands of dollars. I had had tenants who were insane personality wise and, and you know, do crazy things to your property. And those are some really dark moments where you're like, my gosh, this is really for me. But even in those moments, I was like, I'm not going to let this get the best of me. I'm not going to let this scare me away because there's something about just owning property, being a landlord, being in this process and being in the real estate industry that I really feel like a calling toward, you know, and I really feel like my strengths show up well here. And so one thing I think about also as from a perspective standpoint is what Decisions can I make today that my future self will be proud of and thankful for. And I use that insight daily when making decisions. I am so happy and thankful that the Olicia in 2021 bought that house because it gave me so many opportunities that I would not have today. And I've told all my friends and I joke with people I'm like if we become friends you're gonna end up buying a house. Yes, I talk about Home ownership so much because it's such a beautiful thing and there's so many ways to become a homeowner You don't have to do it the traditional way where you buy a house and you live in that same house for 30 years There's so many pathways to home ownership now and so many benefits of it And so for people who want to do and have an interest in it. I love educating them about about the process. I'm always telling them about open house. I'm like, follow them, listen to their podcast. This is who I am. I want people to have the experience or the feeling that I feel that that sense of pride and thankfulness and gratitude knowing, yeah, I made the right decision a couple years ago. I'm super grateful for that now. And the confidence that you get from just doing that first jumping into that first property, it's, you know, it's mind blowing. I was like a totally different person. And I know that comes with age as well, but like it also comes with the experiences you put yourself in right? And if I can be like super honest when I like I I bought my first house and tending to be a landlord I did all the research and knowing like there's gonna have to be fixes and you're have to be like have a reserves prepared and all these things I'm gonna be honest with y'all. I did not know how to install a fan. I did not know how to do basic like handy work around the house But I learned it. And so if you're listening to this and you're like, OK, well, if I buy a house and something breaks, what am I going to do? Well, you can have money and pay for someone to do it. But you can also learn these things yourself. And that's a whole other empowerment journey, knowing that you know your house. You get to learn the quirks about your house and the intricacies of your house and just have the confidence to know, OK, if my tenant calls me up because the toilet is having an issue. I can go over there and fix it or have someone go over that same day and get it resolved. And so those things also help add to the building blocks of confidence as a landlord and investor. my gosh. I love that you said that because I too did not know how to change a ceiling fan. I am going to be honest that I still don't. And when I bought my house, I was like YouTubing everything, even how to install blinds. Then I literally the day like a week later, I met my partner He's so handy he I literally started putting work I was like, can you install this like dishwasher? Can you do this that and then like now I feel Now I have a handy man who lives with me But before that like, you I was trying to do, I YouTube'd it, you you can, you can YouTube anything, you can do it. And also if you don't want to do that, you can hire that out. Like you just need to know, you need, that's why our community is so good because you need to know like what is actually expensive and what is worth me like trying to figure out. And you can do that, you can know that before jumping into a project. But God, I just, I think that, you know, everything you've been doing, Alicia is just like so cool and I'm so thankful that you're in our community and have, you you're just like bringing up experiences that like I don't even know about like, right? I can't know everything. You can't know everything. We are here to learn from each other. And yeah, I'm just so thankful that you came on the podcast. Absolutely. And I would just add to the community aspect. There are masterminds that I paid for. like thousands of dollars for shame that do not amount to like some of the knowledge I've learned and just being a part of the open house education. And thank you so much for starting the founders member group, just even being a founding member. And I remember when we were doing like all the introductions and I saw all of these women who like own STRs and land and have all these cool investments. it was. so inspiring and challenging at the same time and also refreshing to see all these women out here already doing it. think sometimes when you don't have your group yet within the real estate industry or just any industry or hobby or interest you have, it can feel very lonely. But when I was scrolling through all the people and hearing their backgrounds, was like, my gosh, my people, where have you all been? Literally. It's been amazing to see people doing it, being able to ask questions. Being in a community where it's safe to ask questions, because yeah, you can pop your question on a Facebook page that's free, but you're probably gonna get some people talking to you sideways. Let's just be honest. my gosh, Having that safe experience to be able to get an answer and get helpful resources and learn the cool things that people are doing, the projects that they're working on. I think a big part of this journey, because it's not like a job, it's not like going to school, being in real estate is... it's all another thing and when you don't have community, I feel like, at least for me, I've moved slower. I've questioned myself more and I've gotten stuck more, but having community, having people around you who have done it or are doing it that you can learn from, learn together, dream bigger, think bigger. There's so many things I didn't think, like you were saying, that I didn't think were even possibilities that I now know are possibilities and know people who are doing them. It's been such a tremendous help. and yeah, I just, love you guys. thank you so much. I'm like in a launch and I wasn't even going to ask you about the community and like, sorry, my brain, but yeah, like I, I'm, I was blown away by like who joined and everyone's stories. And I was like, this is what my 22 year old self was like desperately wanting and have been desperately wanting ever since. And, you know, you know, I was. totally blown away by who joined and everyone is just very kind, thoughtful in the way that they are approaching being a landlord, that they're approaching homeownership. And that's exactly what I'm looking for and have been looking for. And I'm glad that you're a part of this founding group and more women are joining. And it's just, it's incredible. Thank you so much. One more last plug. have to add one more thing about the culture that I've noticed too that is so different from from other real estate communities I've been a part of, I think people here are good people. You know what I mean? You can meet some people in this industry where it feels so transactional, it's almost like off-putting, but I'm seeing so many smart businesswomen who are also just kind and mindful. They wanna have a good experience for their tenants or their guests, and just the level of detail and thoughtfulness is... something that really also that's very special about the community. So anyways, I'm done. Thank you so much. It's been a great experience. Thank you. I yeah, I so appreciate you. Yeah, it's just been lovely to learn from you and chat with you. There's so many women that you have on the show and I love listening to those interviews and learning about the other things that people are doing through the community as well. Again, I think my biggest thing is like, what can you do today that the future version of yourself is going to be proud of? And I think me holding to that has helped me take risks, knowing that you don't have to do it alone, that there's people out there in the thick of it who have already done it, and literally a community right here that's helpful in a very empathetic and smart and kind way. Yeah, just finding your tribe and making decisions that the future version of you will be proud I love that. Well, thank you. Yeah.