Joanne Bolt: Empowering Women In Real Estate
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Joanne first started in real estate back in 2003, after moving over from the corporate world. During her time, she's been a solo agent, started and ran her own real estate team, done some real estate investing, and is now focusing her time on maximizing her impact - by helping others to grow their real estate businesses. Joanne has built her business through social media and referrals. She has not done cold calling, for sale by owners, or some of the other methods agents have used. She's passionate about helping women and moms be successful in real estate. Hear her story!
In this episode, hosted by Mike Swenson, we discussed:
- She started her real estate career last 2003 when she left her consulting job.
- She got her license and started flipping houses in the real estate world.
- Joanne started marketing with postcards in her four neighborhoods.
- Joanne started building a team to expand her business.
- Joanne and her agent started a strategic plan by accident to make her work easier.
- It took her 6 years in the business and was named as one of Atlanta's top agents
- Joanne started a podcast named Tina & Jo show. 's on all the major podcast players.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and overview of Joanne’s career
01:12 When did she started her real estate career.
03:18 Talking about her early years in the real estate industry.
07:09 Explaining how Joanne started her business.
08:01 How did she built her team.
21:05 How did Joanne empower her team to make good decisions.
25:36 Explaining the freedom piece.
28:54 How did her dad taught her about real estate.
35:00 Introducing her podcast
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Full transcript here:
Mike Swenson
Welcome to the REL freedom podcast where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. Let's get some real freedom together.
Mike Swenson
All right, welcome, everybody to another episode of the real freedom podcast. And today, I'm excited to share I have Joanne Bolt here, and she is the CEO of the Bolt Group. And you are based out of Atlanta, Georgia area. Right. And, and so she's been in real estate for a long time. And also is the host of the Tina and Joe podcast, which you guys just recently started. So we'd love to hear you share more about that. And, and, you know, the the why behind that and the growth. So welcome, Joanne, we're so excited to have you. And why don't you just share a little bit more about yourself?
Joanne Bolt
Sure. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. I am an Atlanta native. So I'm a very rare breed, I did not move into the area I was actually born and raised here though. I've moved around the 45 miles circumference of Atlanta over the over the last couple of years. But I got into real estate in 2003, when I left my consulting job, because at the time, I was a newlywed. And my husband and I were both traveling me with my consulting and him with his sales. And about eight months into being married, we looked each other and realize we'd never even unpack some of our moving boxes into the house we lived in together or use anything from the kitchen. Because we traveled so much.
Joanne Bolt
We saw each other like in the Delta crowned room. I mean, that was date night on a Friday night. And so I said, Well, this is not the life I really envisioned for myself. And if I don't want to continue being up the levels of Accenture, from junior analysts to you know, partner, like, let me just find something else. And so at the time, I looked around, and I did what most people, I think do. And I said, Well, I'll just get my real estate license while I figure out what I want to do in my big girl world. And 18 years later, I'm still flipping houses and in the real estate world. So it went from being that let me get this as a career while I figure out what I want to do to be in something I truly loved.
Joanne Bolt
And so I stayed in, you know, in it over the last couple years. I've been in it in the foreclosure market, I've been in the seller's market. I've seen all the ups and downs over the years, I've run a big team, you know, and now, now I'm kind of live in life and run in a whole different type of organization. And it's been kind of really been really fun over the last 18 years to explore who I am as an agent and kind of get to grow this career kind of lets you
Mike Swenson
Yeah, yeah. Well, and one of the reasons why I love highlighting people in real estate is that you know, I often say it's, it's like an entrepreneurial playground, there's so many different opportunities, there's so many different ways that you can pursue your passion and, and mix it with the the gifts and what you want to do. So for people that maybe haven't thought about real estate, or just new into real estate, talk about the early years for a little bit, it's it's a challenge, right? There's a lot of turnover, a lot of people don't realize how difficult it truly is to to get your footing in real estate. So talk about the early years a little bit for you, and how you were able to kind of get a foothold.
Joanne Bolt
So the early years for me, I mean, I was 23, 24 years old, so I was very, very young. And back then the only really avenues that that were open to you that I perceived, where you were either an agent, or you were an admin for someone, or you had a team with like your mom or your spouse, and I didn't have my spouse or my mom in real estate, and I wasn't going to be an admin because paperwork is just not my jam. And so I was like, well, then I'll just I'll be an agent, I don't have enough experience to be a broker. So I'll just be an agent and my broker at the time told me, You need to come in every single day, you need to practice scripts for two hours and then cold call. Here's the Yellow Pages back when that existed, just start calling for appointments.
Joanne Bolt
Okay, well, I was 23, 24 years old. Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen for me. A year even back then they said listings were King. Well, I didn't feel like I had enough experience, even in homes to list homes. I mean, I've only bought one. And my family growing up, like we never moved. And so I had no experience whatsoever. And so I said, Well, I'm not going to cold call, because that just makes me feel like a used car salesman, and I'm just not gonna go down that path. This is not when I got into real estate for. So I was like, well, I'll just call my friends instead. And my broker legitimately was like, I'm your sphere is never going to be a sustainable global business.
Joanne Bolt
It can only accommodate about a quarter of what you're going to do throughout the year. And I was like, Well, let me let me bump that to at least half of what I'm going to do. And let's see where we can go with this. I mean, this was 18 or so years ago, before hyperlocal And really work in your sphere was the thing to do and the only person you had to listen to was maybe Brian Buffini. He came onto the scene at some point around in that time, so no one really could tell you how to work your sphere on a big and high level. And then he didn't have social media. He didn't have social media, I have nothing. And quite frankly, I grew up in Kennesaw, Georgia. My husband, I moved to Swanee, which is still right outside of Atlanta, but it's a good 25 minutes in the other direction. And so my friends from where I grew up, thought I might as well move to Mississippi for all they cared. I mean, they were not going through Atlanta traffic to get to me.
Joanne Bolt
So I started out by figuring out in the neighborhood that I was in what school those kids would go to. And then I figured out what middle school, elementary and high school all of those kids would go to. And I found four different subdivisions in the various price points to move up and down within those districts. And I started marketing with postcards, those four neighborhoods, and I would do garage sales in those four neighborhoods, or I would go to the local coffee shop where those women and the men would go and have a cup of coffee at. And I just inundated myself in that little area. Because my theory was if you lived in the $200,000 neighborhood, and you saw one for sale sign of mine, or you've been getting my postcards, and you decided to move up to the 350 house, you were probably most likely going to stay within the school district because you might have children.
Joanne Bolt
And if you've been seeing my postcards in one neighborhood, and you drove through the other and saw one for sale sign of mine, and that's really all it would take, then you would think I was the only agent to use in the area. Because all you really saw was me, right? Like I didn't have to go and expand out in 50 different miles, I just needed four different neighborhoods. And so a very selectively figured out where people were moving to and from, you know, I didn't just randomly pick the the neighborhoods, there might be four in the 350 range. But I asked enough people in my current neighborhood, where would you guys move if you had the opportunity. And I went and marketed that one because I knew it was the premier one. And that's really how I started my business. And everyone thought that I did 120 homes a year. And I think my first year I did 18 I mean like, which is still better than your average agent.
Mike Swenson
Right, that's a great number.
Joanne Bolt
And I did it without cold calling without door knocking. All I did was postcards and just being visible in the community. I mean, God, if we didn't have social media back there, back then I can't even imagine what I would have. So that's how I started my business. And then probably within 18 months, so starting the business, I hired an admin I did what every other real estate agent that gets busy does, I hired an admin because I made it to leverage out that aspect of the business because me calling attorneys to schedule closings or handing in the paperwork. That was not where my efforts needed to be. And I knew that really, really early on.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Okay. So then talk about, you know, the next phase though, you know, I think one of the important things as we talk about, you know, pursuing your your financial goals, and all that is, is it takes great people and leverage, whether it's building your own team, or whether it's partnering with great people, that takes time and great people and trust and great relationships are hard to come by to So talk about the kind of the next step of your journey of building, building your team out.
Joanne Bolt
The next step of my journey really involved. It kind of happened by accident, actually, um, I had an agent walk into my office, she was a newer agent, and she said, Do you have any listings that I can do open houses on? I said, No, unfortunately, I'm really buyer heavy. Like, I'm just not a massive listing agent, I'm buyer heavy. And she said, Do you have any buyers that I could take out and show homes after you've consulted with them? And before you write the offer so that you can, you know, have Friday date night with your husband, without it being in the Delta crowned room, you know, but like, actually have your life back and I thought, God, that's brilliant. Because Yeah, the showing agent concept. I didn't know anything about it wasn't any books I had read.
Joanne Bolt
Nobody was really utilizing that. I said, you don't want my buyers completely as a buyer's agent. She said, No, I'm not ready for that. You work your sphere, they're your people. So I can't be your buyer's agent. Why don't I take a smaller cut and just show them the homes? Right? So that's what that was my next step. And it leveraged back my time and gave me the freedom again to you know, go to Georgia football games on Saturday with my husband because I wasn't out singing 25 homes and, you know, go to dinner on Friday night with our friends because I really wasn't trying to schedule homes to see the only time I got super busy on a weekend was when an offer needed to be written and then I wrote it myself. And so when I got back my weekends all of a sudden like why looks a lot different. And I started realizing the power of a team.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Well, I think too, you know, realizing a lot of people talk about, you know, thinking about your dollar per hour activity. You know, the the highest and best use of your time is leveraging your ability to, to write deals, negotiate deals, and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, naturally, by growing, you're allowing somebody else to come in underneath you and figure things out. And that pushes you kind of up the chain, to where you can, you can focus your time, and you get a little bit more freedom back. Because you have that great leverage.
Joanne Bolt
Absolutely. And I loved it, you know, I love to be able to have my weekends back, which most agents my office, you know, they would look at me and they were like, how do you not work on Sundays? Well, a the clients I do take out, I'm very firm with I don't work with you on Sundays, I'm going to church, and then I'm going to spend the time with my family. So you need to look at homes on Saturdays, you know, we're going to do this around my schedule. And the ones that had to look on Sundays, I gave them out to my showing assistant, and she took care of them. And when you script it, right, your clients, even your sphere clients, they're okay with it. Mm hmm. And that was one thing I learned early on was how to script my best friends into not working with me, but with someone in my team.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Well, I think too, I mean, people, people are flexible. I remember, you know, listening to a training early on where there was an agent, and he had only worked, I think, one night in the past year, and he was a million dollar agent. And the phrase that he said that always stuck with me is, you know, people are flexible as long as you ask. Yeah. And if you just tell them, you know, I have clients that I love showing homes to at about between eight and 9am, on a Thursday or Friday morning, because that's what works for their schedule. And so I don't have to go show them houses on weekends, because we'll go out at 8am on Thursday.
Mike Swenson
And so I think just you know, now we're right on the ball, as soon as that house pops up, because now we kind of have the little bit of a cycle happening where it's it goes live on Thursday, or Friday offers are due by Sunday, and then you know, everything is coming right now. Yeah, it's a little bit different. But at the same time, like, yeah, I can be Johnny on the spot on Thursday or Friday. And then I don't have to show homes on Saturday or Sunday, because now we're drafting the offer and getting ready to submit an offer before Sunday night.
Joanne Bolt
that's around and really, you know, a lot of real estate agents, they live in such a scarcity mindset. Oh, my gosh, I cannot tell my client that I had other plans on Saturday afternoon, because they may go on a different agent. But you're right, like if you just set expectations up front with them, of what your schedule looks like, and why it looks like that. I found early on that when you give them the why they don't really question the what if you say I'm not going to look on Sunday mornings from nine until two because I go to church, then we go lunch as a family. You've given them the solid reason and then they're okay with it versus just and yeah, just don't want to work on Sunday mornings, then they look at you and go, Well, why not? But if you give them a why they're okay with it.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, well, and I think at the end of the day, if you show your you're worthy for that they need to work with you or that you're of great value versus, you know, you have to show up and know your stuff. You've got to guide them along the way provide, you know, come from contribution, explain the process. Here's why you want to work with a sharpshooter, like me versus the average agent. I mean, you you have to show that first to show like, I'm an agent that's worth waiting for, you know, and this is why we're going to go out at these times versus like, I don't know anything. And by the way, don't you know, I can't help you on the weekends. But I that's okay, I'd really don't know my stuff. You know, you're
Joanne Bolt
just like a part time agent who is flying by the seat of their pants and has no clue and that that's when your clients will leave you. You're right, right.
Mike Swenson
Yep. So yeah, so Okay, so you've got you've got a buyer's agent. Now, what's what's next.
Joanne Bolt
So this, so I had that buyer's agent, and then we actually shifted out of that particular market center into one that was closer to where I lived, because it was, you know, I, when I first went into Keller Williams at the time, I did not mind driving 40 minutes to the market center that I was at, because I had come out of a consulting world where we sat in Atlanta traffic for two hours, three hours a day anyway, so this was a break for me. And after three or four years in the business, I looked around and went, um, kW is on every corner. They're kind of like Starbucks here in Atlanta, you will pass one every five miles. Let me go interview the offices closer to my house, so that I can go into the office on a more regular basis and get back my time from being in the car. And so we swapped offices, got to know that office and the next thing I know, I was teaching in the market center, and I have three more agents again, knock on my door and say, hey, you're building a team.
Joanne Bolt
We like your philosophies. We like what you teach, can we join in? And I've always looked at them and said, Well, you know, I don't give leads, right? Like, if you're looking for the team that's gonna hand you 20 to 30 leads that you can work a month, I work my sphere of my database, I'll teach you how to work your sphere in your database. But, you know, I'm not the team for you, if you're looking for automatic leads, there's other teams down the hall. And every one of those agents said, No, we've already talked to those teams, and we want to work our sphere in our database. And so they just pretty much walk themselves onto my team without me really having to do a whole lot of like asking, it was just Are you a fit? Do we work together? Can you work my systems? Does it make sense? And that's how I grew the team. You know, we grew to about five to six agents pretty quickly in my fifth or sixth year.
Mike Swenson
Okay, so that would have been late. Before 2010-ish.
Joanne Bolt
Right, actually, right is the foreclosure stuff was really kind of kicking in is when I had the most agents on my team. Ironically,
Mike Swenson
Well, and I think, yeah, you're, you're showing that you're, you're providing value that meets what they want. You know, a lot of times people ask me, you know, I had an agent that was at same, you know, they were in another state, and they said, Hey, you know, I'm on a team, I'm not sure if it's the right fit, I don't really know what to do. And I tell people, you know, and I've, gosh, probably over six years, talked and worked with two to 300 agents, on our various teams that we had in our expansion group. And I said, team is not for everybody. Because you have to be, you have to want what the team provides. Like that's like, there's, there's a certain part of the population that just doesn't want that.
Mike Swenson
So obviously, a team's not a good fit. But then yeah, you want your what you're looking for to be what that what that team happens to provide. And every team is different. They've got different pay structures, they've got different value adds. And so you're really truly looking for a good fit of I'm, I'm passing out what what you want. And financially, it works for us to work together because then you don't have to feel like you have to convince them of your value. If they don't see your value. That's okay, that means you're probably not the right fit for them. But it was great that you had people coming to you saying I don't I don't want what those other teams are providing. I want what you provide, because it fits with what I want.
Joanne Bolt
Well, and that's interesting that you say that because another thing that I always tell people when they're looking at teams is and be okay with the team for two to three years. You know, you're not signing up for a lifetime team members are okay, if you come and go. And know that if you're, if you're helping the Rainmaker leverage their time to do what they're best at, they're going to grow as an agent. And so some of the structures, some of the concepts may evolve over time as the team grows. And if they become an organization that isn't quite what you want, then go find a different one or learn to grow with it, because that is really a team that stays stagnant is never going to get anywhere for anyone.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Okay, so now you've you've got a few agents or team foreclosures happening. What what what happens after that?
Joanne Bolt
What happens after that is I took a six year hiatus from the business, I was I was named as one of Atlanta's top agents in my 20s. And as a result of some of the publicity, I had a very bad experience with a potential buyer. And it's, you know, it's one of those things in real estate, women are always a little fearful of is having someone who is it with good intentions with you. And so that happened, and I walked away from real estate for about six years. And you know, I said, it's just not worth it. It's okay, you know, I kind of figured my database was so strong, I'll keep getting referrals. And what I learned during those six years is something that nobody ever really wants to talk about in real estate, it's when the last for sale sign goes in the yard, it really is the last, like your database may get you referrals that you can send out for the next 12 to 18 months.
Joanne Bolt
But after that they're gonna quit calling you for referrals, because they know you haven't been in the business, right? And so after about six or seven years, when I decided I wanted back in the game, because I really did miss it. And I loved it. You know, my husband and I said, Well, you'll never work with clients again. So I said, Okay, well then how do I find the freedom to do the career I want the gives the finances I want, and yet never work a client again. And so I immediately walked back in and built a team, almost like that. The problem this time around for me though, was I had now entered into a world where Zillow existed realtor.com existed, social media had become a thing. And so I was learning real estate almost from the ground up and trying to run a team at the same time.
Joanne Bolt
So for the first two years, I probably didn't have the same success I did before I took my break. And it's really because I, as I built it the first time around, I was learning it and doing it at the same time. And what I figured out this time around is I was learning it with the agents on my team, which didn't really give you the leadership that you needed. Right. You know, and so that was kind of a failback for me for you know, for about two years until I finally looked around and said you know what, I I don't actually enjoy running a team anymore. This is not fun for me like having these agents who are constantly looking at me with failure in their eyes or success. And the minute they get success, they go somewhere else. And then it's just a wrap reel I was on. And I kept hitting, you know, glass ceilings everywhere I want to do this, I want to do that I was starting to see in the real estate world, other opportunities come up.
Joanne Bolt
So from the time I started in Oh, three to now in like 2014, all of a sudden, you had massive operations, people coming out. And I think it's really due to social media, as we started seeing that there are more opportunities in the real estate career world than just running a team and being an agent, I started coaching, I was coaching agents, because that was an option now. And I found that was really darn good at it. So that was another way for me to earn income, aside from having my you know, my sales team. And I just started looking around and realizing like, you actually can have a really fruitful real estate career and never sell a home. And that was eye opening. And that's kind of where we are.
Joanne Bolt
So fast forward from 2014 to 2021. That's kind of where I am right now is I'm now running a team here at ESP and I loosely term team, right, it's more of a network, because none of these agents have a split with me anymore, I'm not providing leads, what I do provide is coaching, consulting and guidance to them. Because now, you don't have to just circle prospect, you don't have to just send postcards, there's 1000 different ways of working your sphere, work on your database, work in the business, and all of them have their own personalities. And so I just get to like, pop into their personalities and help them problem solve, you know, to get them to the next level. And that is so fulfilling for me. And with the XPS model. You know, I earn revenue share. So I'm still getting my financial freedom that way. But now I have the freedom to travel with my husband, because he travels for, you know, a living, I don't I'm not tethered to the Atlanta area any longer. And I'm not tethered to my office any longer, and the world kind of just opened.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, well, and I think that's a key piece, like going back to, like, you know, being an agent on a team versus like a coaching relationship is, you know, it's it's a lot like people say, you know, when they when they invest in real estate, it's well, I don't really want to invest in real estate, because I don't want to get the clog toilet call at 2am. You know, exactly when you're, when you're leading a team, you're getting that clogged toilet call at 2am from your agent, because you're the team leader, you're the one that they're going to for that when you're coaching relationship, you still will get some of those, I need help more urgent type calls.
Mike Swenson
But really, what you're doing is you're empowering them to make great decisions that they then go and execute, and you kind of get to turn off as soon as that phone hangs up, you know, from your coaching call, now they get to go run with it. And you don't get that to a toilet clog call from them, unless it's a big emergency. But that is the difference between coaching you get to use all your wisdom and experience that you've gained to help them. But you also get to turn it off in a way that you don't when you're running your team.
Joanne Bolt
And it's so much it's more fun for me. And it's more challenging at the same time. Because now you're right, like instead of getting the phone calls at 9:30 at night on a Saturday night because we're trying to write an offer and the deadline is 10pm. And we cannot find the wording for the special stipulation and Joanne, you know, every step in your head, what is it? I'm not answering contract questions any longer. You know, I'm not like a qualified broker any longer. Basically, now it's on Friday afternoon as an agent is sitting. I've got three strong, strong female teams in my organization right now. So I get a lot of phone calls from those agents. They're like, Hey, I'm sitting with my buyer's agent. And this is the struggle we're going through. Could you give us advice and guidance? Heck yeah. And so now I'm getting to like live in that world of strategy, which is really, really appealing to me a whole lot more than just everyday like check the box and dot the i's and cross the T question.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, it's funny that you said that we have an agent on the team that was writing their first purchase agreement I think it was two weeks ago or maybe three weeks ago and we did a screen share call at I think 930 at night on a Saturday night and it's like okay, here's where you go through this here's what you put in this box here's how you do that and I get it I'm okay with that you know having been an operations for six or seven years like I like the kind of the frontline work is a little bit different for me it's it's new and because I've been in real estate for so long like I understand how to do it even though I'm newer in the ancient world but it's it's nice to have those calls because I I do enjoy helping you know, seeing the light bulb come on and helping them get you know, this first which moves to this first which moves to this first as they move down their chain which ultimately ends up in their first closing like that stuff's exciting. But But yeah, it's nice when you can strategize, and really have a bigger impact. Because when you're impacting leaders that are impacting their teams, it really impact it really magnifies the impact that you have through your, your coaching relationship.
Joanne Bolt
Yeah, and then and I can still celebrate those first, you know, like, your buyer's agent gets their first ever closing and, and I'm going to celebrate that I'm going to shout out on social media to the world for you. And with you, they cap the icon, they earned their first stop, they, you know, they find their first listing at whatever it is like I'm, I get to still celebrate that stuff, just in a different way.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about the, the freedom piece. So you shared how you, you know, earn income, because of their production, you get to travel a little bit more with your husband now. You're you're not answering the the late night phone calls from the agents talk about kind of that freedom piece of where you're at today. And then maybe over the next couple years, what that looks like for you, as you know, kind of where you want to go here after after today.
Joanne Bolt
Yeah, so the freedom piece for me, you know, everyone looks at freedom a little bit different, right, like, whether it's time or finances, or not having a boss, you know, to clock in and out of, for me, it's the freedom of being able to explore where I want to go with this career, because I love what I do, there's no reason to retire because I love what I do. And now when I'm seeing the other opportunities, I'm not bogged down for lack of better words to one office, you know, for agents all looking at me at the same time, every single day, you know, I have the freedom to look around and go, I met an amazing woman named Tina. And she and I both have a passion for women, real estate agents. And we're gonna start a podcast where we talk about that, like, now I've got the time to do that, and the freedom to go and look into that avenue of of that part of a career or, you know, like I said, my husband works, he works internationally.
Joanne Bolt
The hardest two years we had when I was in a traditional real estate role was 2018, and 2019. Because he works in London, I am in Atlanta, that makes life quite difficult. So you know, Now granted, for the last 12 months, he's not been allowed to fly, but we're gonna assume that that's going to start again soon. And with the way I'm running things, now, I could fly over to London with him for five or six days. And it's okay, because I can still hop onto my zoom calls. I have like three consistent with members of my organization. So all I really have to do is make sure either those are covered, or I'm hopping on to them. And I'm good to go to travel. And I can do that from anywhere.
Joanne Bolt
So now I have that freedom to you know, if he's walks in the door this afternoon and says, The Queen opened the doors again in London to fight and travel. Like, let's go, I'm like, heck yeah, I need 20 minutes to pack. Where's my passport? And I didn't have that before? Yeah, you know, and so like that, for me is super big freedom. Now financially, I've also gotten to explore things like investing, purchase rental homes. Now, you know, I'm taking a look at real estate in all kinds of different ways than just the commission and what you get off each commission check.
Mike Swenson
Yeah, and, you know, we always used to say a lot, you know, running with the wind behind you versus feeling like you're running into the wind, you know, if you're a track star, and you've got that huge headwind, it's like, you're just gonna get so much more fatigue. But when you, you plant these different seeds, and you have these different streams of income and your growing opportunities. Now, you know, next year, it gets easier than this year. Now, you still have lots of responsibilities, you still have problems that come up, it doesn't mean it's perfect, but but you can you can truly build year over year. So share a little bit about your investments.
Joanne Bolt
Um, so I will tell you that one thing my dad taught me growing up was that you make your millions in real estate, not in any other career that you ever have. And he was a top salesman at State Farm for, I don't know, 30 years. And he still said it wasn't State Farm. It was real estate, and he bought and flipped rentals all the time. So a couple years ago, I looked around and said, Okay, well, we have our primary home, and we have now purchased a condo in Florida. But why don't I have actual rental properties here in the Atlanta area? You know, it's one of those things that you're like the I'm a real estate agent, why am I not buying real estate, but we don't think about it on ourselves at the same time. So I found one of our listings, that would have been I mean, it was a great rental, had great ROI for rent, and I use the Commission on it.
Joanne Bolt
As the downpayment, got a loan on it, bought the house and use it as my first rental and opened up you know, a bank account and LLC for it and everything had its own p&l and did its own thing. And after about 13 months, I looked at that bank account and said, I think I have enough to combine with my commission on another home and, you know, take a better loan out and buy my second one. And so I've been on a path that we buy, we buy two or three rentals now a year, because the rental incomes that come in combined with my commission, make it to where I can take a loan out on a property without actually putting physical passion. And as long as the rent covers, you know, the mortgage, the taxes, the insurance, the HOA, all the kind of mess that comes up with having it and I have a property manager because I don't touch any of them. I don't want the toilet phone calls.
Joanne Bolt
It's you I am. You know, and as long as we stay profitable on that, I, I'm not your typical investor, I'm not looking for that certain percentage off every home. What I'm looking for is, and I learned this from some of the investors on bigger pockets. If you're familiar with that podcast, I listen to them a lot to what I'm really looking for is are all my expenses covered. And is there about 100 to $300 per rental every month, that gets put into the bank account. Because if there is and they're steady money coming in, then they're just buying that house for you. And then when you go sell it you're looking for, you know, the Delta on the sell. So we actually have got three of our rentals under contract right now to sell and we're gonna use a 1031 to exchange them into different rental properties. Hmm, yeah, that's kind of fun to play playing Monopoly.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. And yeah, you get to, you get to experience the power of, of leveraged money, and all the appreciation and stuff that goes along with it. Now, I know a lot of times people are talking about Yeah, you know, what if the, what if we see another dip in the in the real estate market? Well, when you're playing the long game, yep. 10 years, 20 years, it's gonna work out over time. And so, you know, if you had let's just say, for clean numbers, $100,000 property and it appreciated by 10%? Well, you made $10,000. But if you had a million dollar properties, million dollars worth of properties, whether it's one or two, or three, or however many, and it appreciates by 10%. Now you've made $100,000, right? And so it's just building, it's like pushing a snowball down a hill, it's just going to gain more and more momentum as you go. And the hardest part for so many investors is just getting started. It is a lot of times people say, Well, I've always thought about that. But I just haven't I don't know what to do, you know, or in at some point, you just got to take the risk, right? Just like anything big in life, you're not going to get the reward unless you take the risk.
Joanne Bolt
It's okay to take a loan out, a lot of investors don't realize that, especially on your first one. In fact, I like to keep a loan on half of our properties, because that's a taxable event that I can use, you know, to write off on taxes. But you know, you're right, like, yes, it real estate can go down, it will come back up eventually. But you know, and here's my kind of theory on it. You buy $100,000 house, you never actually write a mortgage payment, because your renters do that. And then you end up selling it in five years at 90,000 really haven't lost 10 grand because you never paid for the house. Right? So anything you walk away with at that closing table, and hopefully there is a Delta there is actually profit. And if you run it that way, I don't worry about the market dipping down. Right, what I worry about is do I need to flip that house before it gets expensive. You know, like before the roof caves in and the new h backs need to go? Well, I don't mind doing a certain amount of repairs every year. But you know, when it hits that point where you're like, oh, every appliance is about to tank, the roofs about the tank. All the H backs are about to tank. Yeah, I'm out at that point. That's when I put it on the market and sell it.
Mike Swenson
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, it's it's exciting to see all the growth that you've had, and to be able to utilize all your wisdom and experience that you've gained through the years to have a bigger impact on people to have a big impact on women in real estate. Because I know there's a lot of people that love hearing other moms explain what it's like to be a mom in real estate, right? And so I love that you you're sharing that and Tina is going to be a new mom, here pretty soon too
Joanne Bolt
Oh I keep messing with her. And she's like, no, don't tell me I have pregnancy brain. I'm like, honey, it's a thing. And then you're gonna have new mom brain and we're okay. And I'll help you get through that. But yeah, she's about to be a new mom and monitor 11 and 13. Now, so I'm kind of on cruising altitude, but it's a whole different world when you've got two full time jobs. One is a real estate agent and one is a mom. And so I you know, that's one of the things I do a lot of consulting with the women in my group is okay, your husband may go to work from nine to five, but you actually only have nap time. So make it powerful.
Mike Swenson
Yep. So yeah. So for those folks that have you know, heard, heard your story and it's been impactful. How can people reach out to you with questions or just want to learn more or listen to your podcast?
Joanne Bolt
The podcast is the Tina & Jo show and the word and is actually the ampersand sign. So it's Tina & Jo show. It's on all the major podcast players, Stitcher, apple, you know, you can pretty much find it anywhere. You might just have to search because a lot of people spell it wrong is what I'm discovering. But other than that, I'm on most of the major socials. My favorite one is Instagram. My handle is it's Joanne Bolt. That is where I spend most of my time. It's where I answer all the DMS myself, I don't have an admin answer those dm. So, if you're on the Instagram, that's the best way to get ahold of me. Otherwise, yep, you can find me on Facebook, Joanne ball, me or my admin will answer those direct messages. But you'll get a hold of one of us and so we can we can point you in the right direction.
Mike Swenson
Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on and sharing your story. It was was great to hear more about your journey real estate.
Joanne Bolt
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
