This post was supposed to look a lot different. I’ve been waiting 6 months to write the post I had intended for today. Actually longer than that! Since I started this blog I’ve been dreaming of the day I could post about my biggest goal becoming a reality. And today was supposed to be that day. Today was the day I was supposed to announce that we were officially searching the market for a house to flip.
Not a house for us to live in and flip, no, I mean an additional property. Like the real deal! Risky business and all! The kind of flip where you hire a contractor to do all the work because time is money. The kind of flip where you transform an entire house within 4 months. The kind of flip that allows me to quit my day job.
Flipping houses has always been attractive to me, but ever since we turned a quick profit with our first home in a time where we needed the money, I’ve been dreaming of the day I could quit my job and flip houses full time. When we moved to AZ I decided I’d give myself 2 more years in the workforce. 2 years of safety and comfort. 2 years to do another little test run on my own home. 2 years to save up money, study, and research everything I could. All with the goal of being able to quit my job at the 2-year mark and flip houses full time. April 2022 was the deadline of that goal, April 1st to be exact.
I never lost sight of that goal. I spent the first year planning, saving, and executing a few test-run renovations on our own home all while researching in my spare time anything related to flipping houses.
When Jane was born in May of 2021, I had 11 months left and the adrenalin kicked in. It’s now or never baby! I was hyped! Once I felt recovered enough to leave the house comfortably (AKA shower and get presentable), I took a local flipper/real estate investor out to lunch to pick her brain and ask all my "dumb" questions that HGTV never answered or Google confused me on. From that point forward I worked tirelessly to get all our ducks in line. And let me tell you, when you're planning your first house flip, there are a LOT of ducks! Whew! Some ducks take a lot of time; like saving money, and making the right connections with the right people, and financial applications. (I walk you through exactly what we did to prepare for this moment in another blog post HERE).
The last piece of the puzzle was finally put in place a few days before we left to visit family for Christmas. Tyson and I went on a Zupas date to celebrate and I actually got emotional in the car ride home! I did it. We were ready. What a humbling and joyful experience that was.
Our plan was to enjoy some time with family for the holidays and pull the trigger when we got home! Monday, January 3rd, 2022 we would start actively searching for a house to purchase with the goal of obtaining keys to our first flipper before the end of the month.
Unfortunately, and ironically, on the morning of January 3rd, 2022 I received a very melancholy call from my boss informing me that the company was closing and as a result, I was being let go from my job.
Before I speak to anything regarding this news, I must address that I had a wonderful job at a wonderful company, my boss was the best boss I had ever had post-college in the "real world," and I have no hard feelings. I didn't do anything wrong, and without divulging into company details, I truly understand and agree with the decisions that had to be made.
Now, I know what you're thinking, but Jessica, weren't you going to quit in 4 months anyway? Yes. Yes, I was. Though I never let it affect my work and performance, I was growing very emotionally detached from the job as I have been prepping for this first house flip. You wouldn't know it considering my most profitable sales months were ironically the last 5 months! So, when I put two and two together on the phone call that I was being let go I had no ill feelings, I wasn't hurt or mad. In fact, I felt a sense of relief! I felt released from something that was holding me back! I felt FREE! Literally, while I was listening to my boss explain the changes, all I was thinking was, "Let's go flip some houses, baby! It's go-time!" This sweet release would give me so much more time and more freedom - exactly what I needed and have been craving!
But before the phone call even ended, reality set in and I remembered that my ongoing income is what would give us the wiggle room to live (and breathe) comfortably through our first house flip; it would be too risky to pursue without it. We are talking about a MICROSCOPIC monthly financial deficit that would make this flip almost impossible. Not to mention the lack of extra financial cushion my job would also provide.
I also remembered that we were granted a 1% interest rate for the first 6 months on one of our financial ducks that we had all lined up. After month 6, it goes up to 4%. This 1% interest rate is a killer deal and would be silly to not take advantage of! But January 2022 is month 1 of 6; the clock is literally ticking away on our 6-month time frame we planned and banked on (literally). That's when the panic began to set in.
By the end of the call, the tears began to well in my eyes, and the very dream that was placed IN THE PALM OF MY HAND that very morning was completely obliterated within a few hours.
I was devastated.
I was so close.
I was THERE!
I was RIGHT THERE!!
I was at the starting line, ready more than EVER to race my little heart out, the gun went off, and WAIT - I'm told I can't race. The race is still going, the clock is still ticking, but I have to stay at the starting line for who knows how long while I see my dreams flying past me at lightyear speed.
After allowing myself a couple of hours to mourn and be comforted, the hustler in me started to kick in (also special thanks to my cheerleader of a husband!). We decided that this is just a bump in the road and we need to get more creative. I was hoping for a little more time to bridge the gap between career moves, but since that time was cut short I've decided that I'm still going to take the plunge and only accept job opportunities in my new field of work: Real Estate.
This might be a step back financially, but it's now or never. The door has been closed (my job kinda beat me to the punch on that one haha), and I'm not looking back. I'm ready for this fully immersed baptism by fire!
There are many ways that this could all pan out, and as I put myself out there every day I see a different story and timeline of possibilities. But for now, my dreams will always remain my dreams and we are going to do everything we can to reach them (again)! I can't wait to look back on this moment with gratitude for my current circumstances.
There are three things that I'm already grateful for and these circumstances reiterated to me that this is all happening for a very specific reason:
1) What if we purchased a house this week (and looking at the plethora of properties our wholesaler sent us this week, that could have been very likely!), and then I got let go next week. Now THAT would have been catastrophic! Though the timing felt like it couldn't have been worse, it actually couldn't have been better.
2) Being more available for my girls this week reminded me of why I'm even doing this. I've never been a happier and more patient mom than I have been the last few days. Not feeling like parenting comes second to my work's agenda is the best feeling ever. I want to own my time and not feel apologetic about how I spend it.
3) In the couple of hours I let myself mourn and be comforted I thought about giving up. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe it was an unrealistic crazy dream. Maybe I should just stop being so audacious and work 8-5 like everybody else. But then Tyson reminded me of who I am. I remembered and resurfaced the strengths and skills inside of me that are just ITCHING to be put to the test! I can feel myself bursting at the seams! I studied entrepreneurship with full intentions of being an entrepreneur (even though I still can't spell the dang word without spell check!). It's WHO I AM! I'm a risk-taker and a hustler and I love it. This setback ignited a fire in me and kicked my butt into a gear I didn't even know existed. Give me an opportunity and I'll succeed. Set me up for failure and I'll figure out a way to be more successful than I would have been without the setbacks. Bring it on.
I still deeply wish I could be writing about the house we bought this week instead of the job I lost and how it set me back in finally reaching my dreams. But, reflecting on this change reminds me that there really is no perfect plan. From our limited perspectives, we think we have it all figured out. But there are always things we can't control and that's ok. These change orders are what push us to be better, try harder, and get more creative. It's these change orders that make us stronger, wiser, and more prepared than we thought we needed to be in the first place. I hope to my core that the hustler in me can find the perfect opportunity that will bridge the gap that I'm currently standing in so we can quickly move forward with our goals. However, the perspective is different from down here, and I'm grateful for it! Either way, it will all work out. It always does!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2022 started off as great as mine did; full of gratitude for what we have and who we are. Here's to a year full of fearlessly and relentlessly chasing our goals and dreams. Cheers!
Sincerely,
