Charisse Walker - From Food Stamps & 400k In Debt To Financial Freedom
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Prepare to be inspired by Charisse Walker's extraordinary story of triumph over adversity. Rising from the depths of financial struggle, Charisse transformed her life from relying on food stamps and facing $400k in debt to achieving true financial freedom. Through unwavering determination and grit, she embarked on a journey into real estate investing, leveraging her experiences to pave a path to success. Today, Charisse not only resides in a home funded by her passive income but has also empowered over 100 clients to pursue their own wealth creation journeys. With a bold mission to empower 100,000 real estate investors to generate at least $5,000 per month in passive income within the next decade, Charisse is on a mission to change lives and redefine what's possible. As the host of the Unbreakable Mompreneurs podcast and the author of the upcoming book "Flipping the Iceberg", Charisse continues to inspire and uplift others with her transformative story and invaluable insights. Join us as Charisse shares her wisdom and strategies for overcoming obstacles and achieving financial freedom through real estate. Whether you're facing financial challenges or seeking inspiration on your own journey, Charisse's story offers hope, guidance, and practical advice for turning dreams into reality.
In this episode, you will be able to:
- Achieve financial freedom through real estate by implementing proven strategies for wealth building.
- Overcome debt with real estate investing by learning practical techniques to leverage assets and reduce financial liabilities.
- Benefit from hiring a real estate coach to gain personalized guidance and insights for accelerating your investment success.
- Implement successful real estate investing strategies to maximize profitability and minimize risks.
- Incorporate multiple income streams in real estate by exploring diversified investment opportunities and passive income options.
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Overcoming Financial Struggles
00:04:27 - Taking Action in Real Estate
00:11:57 - The Cost of Experience and Coaching
00:13:11 - Importance of Experience in Real Estate
00:17:34 - Pursuing Entrepreneurial Goals
00:21:13 - Designing Your Future in Real Estate
00:23:12 - Setting Boundaries in Real Estate
00:25:54 - Choosing Clients and Building Business
00:26:56 - Investing in Yourself and Multiple Income Streams
00:27:08 - Connecting with Charisse and Upcoming Book Release
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Charisse Walker
Long story short, we lost our shirts. Like, we, we took a HelOC out on our home. And if you don't know what a heloc, it's called a home equity line of credit. So it was a huge amount of money. And long story short, things were not disclosed to us that we were told in the beginning, and so we lost it and we ended up having to make payments. Well, at the time, we were on food stamps because I had quit my job and we weren't making enough. I have five kids at that point, and so it was tough.
Mike Swenson
Welcome to the REL Freedom show, where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities and real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. Let's get some REL Freedom together. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of REL Freedom, real estate leveraged Freedom, where we talk about building time and financial freedom through opportunities and real estate. I am your host, Mike Swenson. And if you are interested in getting starting on your real estate journey, check out our website, freedomthroughrealestate.com. It's a great way to just read up, learn, study, educate yourself and get started. And so it's a great website. So, freedomthroughrealestate.com and check it out. So for today's guest, like we talk about, often people in real estate have their hands in a few different things. You have that flexibility to decide how to spend your time, and you can dabble in a few different things. And so our guest today has that, and we have Charisse Walker, and she's based out of Utah and she has quite a few things happening. So she's an agent, an investor, a loan officer, has a podcast on breakable mompreneurs and also has a book coming out here shortly. So we have a lot of stuff to cover. But really, her story is started. $400,000 in debt and on food stamps and through working in real estate, has worked her way out and built that time and financial freedom that we're talking about. And so excited for you, Sharice, to share your journey with us. So welcome to the show.
Charisse Walker
Thanks for having me. I appreciate that.
Mike Swenson
So give us that background and talk about that story and kind of where things started for you.
Charisse Walker
Yeah. So I actually, I see that you're timber timberwolves. I actually worked for a company where the parent company was in Minnesota, or as we said, minnesota. And so I was the college director and I'd open several colleges in the valley and ended up getting divorced and then got remarried a couple years later and decided when I had my first kid that I was going to stay home and be a stay at home mom because I finally had the opportunity. But before that happened, it was interesting because my brother came to me. Well, about during that time, my brother came and said, hey, do you want to invest in real estate down in Honduras? And I'm like, oh. He goes, I have this great family opportunity. And, you know, you want to do everything for family, right? And especially because he and I had kind of grown apart, so I wanted to build a better relationship with him. Okay, so number one, don't do business with family, right? Number two, don't do business with friends. Like, hear that? Unless you have very specific documents in place, which we didn't. So long story short, we lost our shirts. Like, we took a heloc out on our home. And if you don't know what a heloc, it's called a home equity line of credit. So it was a huge amount of money. And long story short, things were not disclosed to us that we were told in the beginning, and so we lost it and we ended up having to make payments. Well, at the time, we were on food stamps because I had quit my job and we weren't making enough. I have five kids at that point, and so it was tough, but I had two special needs kids, so I really, it wasn't that I just wanted to quit. I needed to because of my kids. And so we were like, what are we going to do? And fortunately, real estate's always been a passion. So I spent about a year and a half studying and teaching myself, and I remember going to a Rhea meeting. It's a real estate investor association. They're like, stop. Just stop. Just go do it. Take action. So I remember leaving that meeting and going to. Because I was, I just got my license as a real estate agent, and I drove to a house, and then I made an offer. They accepted it. So I'm like, oh, shoot, now what? I didn't have any money in place. I didn't have anything. But, you know, it worked out. We called it the Blair witch project. I named all my homes. And so that one turned out really well. So before we closed, I ended up buying a different house again, went and saw it, made an offer, and they, they accepted it. And so it just kind of morphed. And so we figured out ways. Cause there's ways that you can get money if you don't have any, and people are willing to invest. And so we did that, and it paid off. And then we ended up buying Betty, which is another house. And so it just kind of kept going. And biddy Betty so very quickly, like it was about $175,000 plus interest is about 200,000. We had almost paid that off. And then my best friend comes to me and it's like, hey, I have this great idea. And then all of a sudden, next thing I know, we're $200,000 in the hole again. And so it was tough. It was really tough. And the fact that my husband is still with me today is a testament, especially second marriage. And so instead of sitting there and wallowing in self pity and thinking, oh, my gosh, how are we going to afford our bills? You just have to get to work. And because of real estate, it has set us on a trajectory where my husband actually was able to retire, like a year and a half ago, and he worked with me full time. And so to go from being on food stamps and so far in the hole to him being able to quit a job that was making very good money because we were doing well enough was pretty remarkable.
Mike Swenson
And I like what you said about taking action. You know, I think earlier in my journey, I didn't want to say the wrong thing, like make sure it's a good deal. Right? Because you can make money and you can lose money, and you don't want to lose money. So make sure it's a good deal. But the further along I get, the more I encourage people. You've got to start somewhere, because you're not going to learn. You're not going to know how to get better, not going to know how to adjust and learn from your mistakes until you do it. And so the perfect property, the perfect opportunity doesn't exist, and things can still go wrong that you don't anticipate. And so you've got to figure out how to problem solve and how to manage through those challenges that come up, too. And you're not going to be able to do that from reading a book or listening to a podcast. Those are important to help set the information and hopefully help verify things as you go and help you learn and grow. But there's nothing like being in it and doing it to really figure out how to get better at it.
Charisse Walker
Well, and I 100% agree. And you're a realtor, right? So we could probably talk about every single deal. There is not a single deal that we do that is the same. Every single deal is different. So no matter how much you try to study and learn, every deal is going to be different. And so you cannot foresee. I wish we all had a crystal ball, but you don't. So you just have to take action because analysis paralysis is horrible. I talk with one person, if you're going to look at a deal, write an offer, right? And it might not mean that it's full price. It might mean that it's $100,000 less. But you never know with a situation that person. So write the offer.
Mike Swenson
So talk a little bit about your investing journey, how that has accumulated, or maybe how you strategically shifted and changed things, or maybe pursued some new avenues that popped up as you got into things.
Charisse Walker
So tons of new avenues. And you have to keep your networking. Is everything, right? Because you don't really know who is out there and who's ready. And so as a realtor, I kind of have a, I don't recommend, like, you don't have to have a realtor license. That's not something you need to do. And a lot of people I know don't. And so it started where I talked to somebody who talked to somebody who talked to somebody. So we actually flipped several homes for my clients as well to sell their house. But there's a few that we decided that we got emotionally attached or we decided not to sell for whatever reason. And so we decided to do buy and hold. And so we did flip several, but we have also bought and hold. And so because of that, we've been able to accumulate several, like multimillion dollars worth of homes. And so in addition to that, we were open to moving. So, you know, there's a thing out there where you can move into a house, live in it for a year or two, and then move into another house and so forth. And so for us, we've been able to, because of the flipping and because of the other stuff, you have enough money for a down payment on a different house. And like this house we're living in right now, I probably shouldn't say this, don't tell my husband, because he's very private, but, you know, it's a 7000 square foot home and I think we, I gave up some of my commission, but we didn't come in with any money out of pocket like we borrowed from our HELoC or, and it's expensive right now, so be careful of that. But we didn't really have to do anything. And it's, it's a very large house with a very large mortgage, but our rentals are paying the mortgage, so we've been open to that in addition to that hard money lending. I've had some people where they're in some financial destitute places. They were going to lose their house in a couple weeks. So I got them current on their payments, and they paid me for that. And then we turned around and found a buyer for their home. And so they were able to sell that and buy a different home. So it's called hard money lending. Wholesaling is something else where you kind of are the middle person, and so then you can sell it to somebody else who does want to flip the home, because I don't necessarily want to do that. I think the best one was a lady who was her father. Her stepfather passed away, and she was left everything. But she lived in a different state, actually, by you. And she didn't want anyone in her home because her dad was a hoarder and her daughter was schizophrenic. And if you would have seen it, the pictures, like, it was velvet on the wall, like, that thick of it was an inch thick of just dust and stuff that the daughter lived in. And so the house was just horrific. Plus, he had cats that he didn't clean up after. So she's like, I don't want anyone else to come into my house. I just want you. You buy it. And because it was cash, I'm like, okay, well, how about you be the lender, and we go into business with each other? We'll pay you this amount. And anything over that, I'll give you 20%. She's like, dill, okay, great. So she thinks we walked on water because she took everything she wanted. She went back home, and we spent months cleaning it up, flipping it, and then we resold it. And so that one was a great deal that we didn't really. Yeah, we came in with some money down. Like, I gave her a chunk of change so she could pay off her dad's bills, but it was like 40 grand. It wasn't much at all compared to what it could have been. So I could have easily wholesaled that one. But we did better flipping well.
Mike Swenson
And I think for people listening, maybe that it's somebody who has done a deal or two, wants to scale, or maybe is on the sideline and waiting to get in all these opportunities that you're talking about, you learn as you go and you get better and sharper as you go, and so, you know, had that porterhouse or whatever come up early in your career, you maybe wouldn't have known what to do with it, or you would have just wholesale it or whatever. But I think the important thing for people to understand is, yeah, you're going to understand the strategies more. And I sometimes tell people, like, the strategy kind of speaks to you based on the situation, the purchase price, the potential sale price, the potential rents, and you kind of look at, okay, what can I do here? Is it a flip? Is it a buy and hold? Is it a whole tail where you kind of just fix it up a little bit or wholesale or other things? And so you learn those things once you get into it. And so you've had the ability to have these opportunities come your way because of what you've done in the past and the knowledge you've gained through being in the game.
Charisse Walker
Yeah. And I think that if I were to do it over again, because a lot of people, they want, time is money, right? And so if you like, I went and got my master's degree, right? And I'd love to get my PhD, but it's a six year program or it's a three year program, or it's, you know, for me, I studied for a year and a half before I actually went and did anything because at the time, I wasn't planning to get into real estate. Right. And I didn't need to at the time, but that was a year and a half of my time. Like, if I could tell you how much I'd make in a year and a half, I mean, that was an incredibly expensive year and a half had I just gone and hired a coach, the amount of money that it would cost me for that coach. And there's different ways you can do coaching as well, that they can totally fast track you and their experience so they can warn you of things. I mean, why do you hire a real estate agent? Because they're experienced in the field, and so they're worth it. So why would you not hire a coach to get you through and be able to bounce ideas back on, or at least join a community where you can ask people questions.
Mike Swenson
I've heard that analogy of you hire some sort of vendor. I don't remember what, what the analogy is, but they talk about how this guy came into a house, spent ten minutes, fixed it and left. And, you know, let's just say the bill is $1,000. And they're like, well, you're only here for ten minutes. And it's like, well, you know, $950 of it is like knowing where to hit with a hammer and what tool to use. And then the $50 was the time itself. And so that's kind of the thing for real estate investing to think about is all of that knowledge you're gaining. It's an MBA. It's going back for another degree. Doing it through investing. And all that educational expense is going to lead to future profits based on the knowledge that you have in doing it.
Charisse Walker
Incredibly accurate, because, I mean, you can draw from so much more experience. And I was listening to a lady, because, again, the community is everything, too. And she was telling us about this whole situation that she bought a home, didn't know it had termites. Okay, right there. Ouch. And then, like, there's a whole bunch of other issues. Like, it was just thing after thing after thing after thing. And she wasn't very experienced, and so she didn't ask anybody questions. So it. When you're flipping a home, if you don't know what you're doing, that's a problem. And so if you're like, okay, great, I bought this house. But now you don't have a team of people. You don't know who to ask or you don't know what to do. It's like, okay, now how do you do that? And so if you're hiring an expert, they need to know what they're doing. And the same thing with real estate. Like, you could buy a house and end up losing your shirt, which would not be a good thing.
Mike Swenson
I remember I had a client that this was the second investment property that they were buying. The first one was in a different state. And a lot of times when getting ready to put in the offer, we talk about the inspection process. And for out of state investors, you know, termites as an example, like, we don't have to worry about termites in Minnesota because they don't like the cold, and so we don't do that. So usually I kind of give a rundown of the types of inspections and all that, and we got to talking about the sewer line inspection. And for some people, it's like, oh, it's $200, it's $250. What if I don't have to spend that? And I remember this one client had told me, well, the first house we bought, we didn't do it, and it ended up costing us $13,000 because we had to put in a new sewer line. So now you better believe every time I'm happily spending that 200, $250 to do the sewer inspection because I want to know now instead of having that stuff happen later. And so, yeah, at the beginning, that was a very negative experience for them, but now they're going to be able to be more conscious moving forward and make sure that they do get those sewer line inspections. And then we had a string last spring where it was like, three or four houses had sewer line issues. And so now I could then tell my clients, hey, for $250, would you rather have the peace of mind of knowing you may not have to spend 510 or 15 grand later? That's that value of experience.
Charisse Walker
And I think, like, for us, Radon is something which. It's this second leading cause of lung cancer, and people don't know about that. And so it's becoming pretty popular here in Utah. And so, like, that system is about $1,600, $1,700, but it's free to test. Why wouldn't you do that? You know, and so. But a lot of people don't know. They don't know those things. And so that's why working with an experienced person, real estate agent or coach, that can help you get through those things. And, yeah, we've learned that when you try to cut costs because somebody is a little better, they might be $500 less, but they're not very reputable. Like, I would say, we call the adoption department of occupational professional licensing, whatever your state is. I don't know what it's called, but you need to. If you're going to hire some contractors, it is worth taking the time to look up on the website and see if they're licensed, bonded, insured, and then when they're all going to say, oh, yeah, yeah, we are. Okay, well, where's your proof? Like, show me it. I want to actually see it, because there's been a few times where this one guy, we hired a plumber, and it was a nightmare. And so you end up. It gets more expensive because you have to pay twice for somebody to come fix it. So just making sure that you don't try to cut corners all the time, because a lot of times we've learned it might be better to go a little more expensive.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, I know. For me, we can look up in certain areas, you know, rental licensing. Do they have their rental license as a current, and what permits have been pulled in the past? And to be able to have that information to help verify things, that's the importance of agents and why we hopefully add value for our clients real estate agents.
Mike Swenson
So talk a little bit about some of the other stuff between the lending, you know, being an author as well as as a podcast host, I'd love to kind of hear how those things fit into the stuff that we've already talked about being an agent and an investor.
Charisse Walker
Well, I think, you know, we are programmed, or pre programmed, if you didn't have entrepreneurial appearance, we're pre programmed to have the nine to five job, go to college, get the job, and be happy with what you make, right? And so, at least that's my experience. So I never, until this whole Chebacle happened with me, I never realized that, oh my gosh, like, there's a different world out there and that I don't have to live paycheck to paycheck. And I've been blessed. I've never had to do that until we're on food stamps. But, and I want to say the food stamps was a short lived. It's not like we relied on it, but it was a time we did use it. And so anyway, I realized that people can achieve their dreams. And I used to teach college and then run colleges where a lot of those people, they just more working class, lower class and student mentality. A lot of them were more. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to amount to anything. That's what they were told. You're a loser. They drop out of high school, they dropped out of college, whatever it may be. And it just broke my heart to see these stories. But for me, the changing period was when I saw that they walked across the graduation stage and had accomplished their dreams. So because of that, and when I was going through the divorce that I never thought I'd go through, I realized that people, you know, life doesn't go as planned. And because of that, I wanted to help moms in particular, because it's hard to be a single mom and it's hard to be a mom, period. And so when I realized that I want moms who have been through divorce or that are starting a new business, that they can accomplish anything they want. And so unbreakable mompreneurs is a podcast that talks about, and I interview lots of other people, and I give my own opinions and insights as well. So it's not always interviewing people, but on different techniques and tips to get through the day or to deal with your kids or to deal with a business or what you need to think about. So that's what that's about. And then, obviously, I'm on a mission to teach people the importance of healing yourself, because we're all screwed up, right? As a child, I had a great childhood, I think, but still, there were issues in my life that affected who I am today, good and bad, right? And so I think that that carried into my first marriage. I don't take hundred percent responsibility for it, but it is two people are involved. And so I think that had I been a little healthier, truth be told, I probably never would have married the person I did. But, and I don't regret that because I have four kids. But the second thing is, I didn't realize the person I was marrying, a mask was unveiled that I was totally unaware of. So those two things, we heal from our trauma, and then we unveil the mask. And so I liken it to an iceberg. An iceberg sits 10% above the water, 90% below the water. So if we can flip the iceberg, and so it'll be out May 6. If we can flip it now, we can deal with our traumas, and we can make good decisions. And then before we say, I do, we know the person. So there's a work with accompanies it. And it's a whole bunch of activities and conversations that I hope people will have prior to saying I do. Because that way you know who you're marrying. That way you have expectations with each other. That way you, you know who each other is, because there are pretty in depth conversations that you can go through. So with that, again, it's making sure that we, like the overall goal is happy, healthy, living in peace, and living your best life. So all of these things tied together with real estate, it's flyfreeretiree.com, because, you know, let's create passive income so you can retire. And so that's, that's how it all ties together.
Mike Swenson
No, I love it. And the beauty of being in real estate is you can design what your future looks like. You can design how much time you spend on certain things. And as your business gets busy, you still have to manage a life. You know, I've got three boys, and we're right in the thick of, you know, sports season is going to be kicking off here, and we've got to activities to go to and to do that. And it's like, my kids know that, you know, if we're leaving the house at 05:00 dad's gonna probably be working up until 458, 459, and then I stop, I walk upstairs, and at 05:00 I'm out the door to do the thing with them. I work up until that last point, but then I have the freedom to go do what I need to do to be able to be a coach or be able to go attend all of their games, which is fascinating. And then two, a lot of the stuff really can fit well together. I mean, I hear all the time we talk about as, you know, as realtors, we feel like therapists sometimes because you're handling so many situations, right. If it's. It's more than one person involved with buying or selling a house, they don't all think the same or agree on the same house or want to sell for the same price. And so whatever that situation is, you still have to navigate that. So you're trying to achieve your objective of buy or sell the house or get that property, and yet there's people and there's relationships and there's feelings involved. And so my wife is actually a therapist, and so it works out well to have those conversations and talk about that. Like, how do we navigate these situations to be the best agent that we can be for our clients? And then, you know, talking about building wealth, there's a lot that's involved in that. You know what your goals are, making sure it aligns with a spouse or family members, because you are taking time to pour into building that future life. And so it's time away from other things. And so making sure you've got the right priorities and it's a match, it's.
Charisse Walker
A big deal, you know, that's so true. And I think the one of the best advice that I've got a couple years ago, okay, I get a lot of good advice because I take everything and I am like a sponge. But it's. If you're going to say yes to this, you're saying no to something else. And so I love that you've set boundaries for yourself within that comes to your family, because as a realtor, it is so easy to just eat, breathe, sleep. If someone calls you drop it and everything you're doing and you run to go to the client. And I've learned over the years that absolutely, I will do that for a client. However, I now have boundaries for myself. And so if somebody, you know, you have to figure out what those are and you have to make sure that you set clear expectations with each other, you know, on both sides. But I think it's fantastic that you're, you're doing that with your kids. They're only growing up one time and you don't get a do over.
Mike Swenson
I remember when I first got into real estate full time. This is back in 2014, I watched a video and they were interviewing some agent, and he had told this story about how the previous year, I think he'd only worked one Saturday outside of kind of normal business hours. And this person that was interviewing him said, how are you able to do that? I think he had sold like, 100 homes that year. And they're like, how are you able to have such a big business and do that? And his response was, you know, it's amazing what'll happen if you just ask. And so you can just share, hey, I've got a meeting. I prefer to share the personal stuff, like, hey, I'm doing this. I know some people, a school of thought is like, don't tell them about what you're doing. Be like, I have a kid's baseball game. You know, I tend to share, I have a kid's baseball game, not I have a meeting or a prior engagement or whatever that is. But at the same time, I think people are okay with that because they want the same work life balance to themselves. And so if you're upfront and honest about your availability and when you're able to help them, make no mistake, I'm going to help you get this house. And, and I think we have to have the intuition to know. Depending on our schedule and depending on, you know, if it's a hot house that's going to go right away, maybe we do have to flex a little bit. But for the most part, we can set those boundaries and still hopefully make family life happy as well as work life happy.
Charisse Walker
I agree. And, you know, you think of a specialist. I've had multiple surgeries. Right. Um, I'm going to go to the best specialist I possibly can. So if that means I have to wait for a couple weeks, because I've had three hip surgeries, three soldier shoulder. Um, it didn't always work out. So you better believe that I'm not going to just go to somebody that I, that my primary care taught me because he gets paid, you know, whatever it is. And so the same thing. If somebody, if you created your value, they're going to wait. And so, yeah, they're flexible, I think. And if they're not, do you really want to work with that person? And that's your boundaries again. Right?
Mike Swenson
Right. Yeah. I just got off of a meeting and they were talking about a certain situation where it was a difficult client. And the team owner had said, like, remember, we get to choose the clients we work with. Like, sometimes I think we feel like we have to take the business. And so it's that balance between building enough business that you can have more of a choice. But we also don't have to work with people that are negative towards us or put us down. Like, we can choose to go spend time finding the people that do respect our time and our value and what we do.
Charisse Walker
I totally agree. There was a lady that she only wanted to sign a buyer's agency agreement with me if for this one house, and she goes, because I want to see if I really even want to work with you. And I said, that's great, because I have to decide if I want to work with you, too. And she goes, you know, and it's like, no, it's a two way street here. You know, I don't need to be beat up by you. And I think, you know, it's a key thing is that you have to, and you have to be doing a few extra things. You can't just expect and wait for the phone to ring because then you are going to be desperate and then you can't do that. But I think it's also important that we have multiple income streams, you know, and I think that that's why I do all the things that I do is the market's kind of took a hit and for people who invest in themselves, because I've spent hundreds of thousands now on myself and my journey with education and various different aspects that you're going to be okay because you know what you need to do. But it's still good to have your eggs in more than one basket.
Mike Swenson
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and your journey and what you're doing. If people want to reach out to you and chat with you, how can they do so.
Charisse Walker
Good question. So I would give you the website, but it's down right now. So I'll just say it's flyfreeretiree.com, and then you can you'll find out more information.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. And then to your book. Flipping the iceberg comes out May 6.
Charisse Walker
Yeah, it does. We'll be on Amazon live next month, but it will officially release May 6. So you could go to flippingthe iceberg.com and just enter your email, and then I'll keep you posted when it, when we get more information and it gets closer.
Mike Swenson
Well, thank you so much, shree, for coming on and sharing your story. And best of luck to you with your book and your podcast and all your business.
