Ep17: Leveraging Real Estate to Travel the World with Pennie Carroll

[00:00:00] We didn't want to band-aid anything, and I appreciate investors that don't band-aid anything, but the baseboards don't have to be exactly perfect or you don't have to have the most modern updated fixture in there. We decided that flipping is not for us. We'd rather just hold, build the equity that way, and then sell eventually.

[00:00:17] From cornfields to high-rises, office to industrial, houses to hotels, and every other asset class in real estate, we cover the people, the projects, and the profit.

[00:00:27] Welcome to the Investing in Iowa Show. This show is for go-doers, action takers, and business owners. It's for people like you who are sick of Uncle Sam taking a huge bite of your apple.

[00:00:40] If you're looking to get ahead of what's taking place in Iowa, learn who is doing what and how you can get in on the action. You're in the right place.

[00:00:48] This show is hosted by Neil Timmins, an Iowa native who has been involved in over $300 million in real estate right here in Iowa.

[00:00:56] Recording in studio from West Des Moines. Here's your host, Neil Timmins.

[00:01:02] Penny Carroll's here.

[00:01:03] Yeah, hi. Good to see you, Neil.

[00:01:05] Good to see you. Thanks for being here. Say, for the audience's sake, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

[00:01:09] My name is Penny Carroll. I'm a broker, owner, real estate agent of PCA Real Estate.

[00:01:14] And I help people buy, sell, and invest in real estate. And I also help train agents so they can be successful in real estate as well.

[00:01:20] You've been doing this a long time here.

[00:01:21] Well, do we want to age ourselves, Neil?

[00:01:23] No.

[00:01:23] Okay. I think I just finished my 23rd year in real estate.

[00:01:29] Yeah.

[00:01:29] So how about you?

[00:01:30] Yeah, 20 a year. This is year 20 in December.

[00:01:33] Yeah, I think I remember when you came on, we were in the same office.

[00:01:35] Yes, we were.

[00:01:36] Yes. So before real estate, I'm sure everybody wants to know what I've done before real estate.

[00:01:41] Yes, I do.

[00:01:41] Let's see. I was a front desk person at PepsiCo Real Estate. Or not real estate. I was a front desk person at PepsiCo in Urbandale. Then I started a family and I was perfectly happy cleaning homes. And I thought I'd do that the rest of my life.

[00:01:56] My back gave out on me. I had met some real estate agents, thought if they could sell a house, then I could probably sell one a month to replace my income, right?

[00:02:06] Yep.

[00:02:07] So I called my two sons. One of them wanted to come over. He came over and helped mama. And we grew a little bit. Then my next son came over. I have two sons, by the way, Neil. One's good looking and one's smart. So you can decide.

[00:02:21] Anyway, we started this brokerage and attracted more agents and it just kind of grew into a boutique brokerage over on 3232 Hubble. We're small, but we're very mighty.

[00:02:33] And we enjoy what we do. We really like helping families buy, sell and invest in real estate.

[00:02:38] Well, let's talk about that agent piece and then we'll get into the investment piece.

[00:02:41] Sure.

[00:02:41] You and I both know what it takes, but what did it take for you to start and start small and then build a machine?

[00:02:47] It would probably, it starts out just caring about the customer. It's about the customer. And you want to help them with their purchase, knowing that they're going to be selling again with you. So you want to make sure that they buy correctly. That's the key to investing in any type of real estate, whether it's your residential home or whether it's an investment to gain wealth.

[00:03:09] You always make the best decision on your buy. And then when you sell, that's when you're going to profit from it, of course. And then repeat referral business, just taking care of your clients.

[00:03:20] And you and I have been in long enough that we'll meet people and say, well, who was your real estate agent? Well, let me think about it. We do not want people thinking about it. If they've used us and our brokerage, I want them to be able to know who helped them get where they are.

[00:03:33] And so we have a lot of things that we do during the transaction and after the transaction that keep those people within our brokerage.

[00:03:41] Yeah. It's about that fundamental relationship.

[00:03:43] Right.

[00:03:43] At the core.

[00:03:44] Right.

[00:03:45] Give me one or two nuggets. Don't we don't need to go too deep, but one or two nuggets. What do you do that helps build a relationship and then ongoing helps solidify the relationship?

[00:03:53] The biggest thing is trust. And so if they know that you've got their best interest in mind, I would say my son, Lauren, he's probably more frank and direct about it.

[00:04:02] So they'll pull up to a house and he'll say, we're not looking at this one. It's a turd.

[00:04:06] I'm like, Lauren, did you really say that? I said, they might think that you don't want to work. And he said, no, I'm working for them. I'm not going to waste their time or my time.

[00:04:16] Have they looked at the homes around this house? Have they seen how the foundation, everything rolls towards the foundation?

[00:04:22] He goes to the mechanicals. He goes up really caring. It's not about the transaction. It's about the family and if they're making a very good decision.

[00:04:29] And that's one of the things that we do that I think brings people back to us all the time.

[00:04:33] Hi, it's Ava Baukamp, the investment relations manager for Neil's firm, Legacy Impact Investors.

[00:04:39] I'm inviting you to join us for our next investor workshop, our monthly legacy briefings.

[00:04:44] In these tactical Zoom calls, we cover topics and case studies for subjects such as taxes and depreciation,

[00:04:51] navigating macroeconomic shifts and evaluating deals as a passive investor.

[00:04:55] At each virtual workshop, we are joined by an industry guest who covers their topic in 45 minutes or less.

[00:05:02] No fluff, no pitches, just education and conversation with an expert each month.

[00:05:07] Every workshop ends with live Q&A from Neil and our guest.

[00:05:11] All briefings happen on the last Tuesday of the month at 3 p.m. Central.

[00:05:15] If you can't make it live, recordings are sent out exclusively to those who've registered in advance.

[00:05:21] To join us on the last Tuesday of this month, visit LegacyBriefing.com.

[00:05:26] Go to LegacyBriefing.com to register.

[00:05:29] If you're a first-time registrant, I'll send you a free resource at signup.

[00:05:33] Head to LegacyBriefing.com and I'll see you soon.

[00:05:36] Fast forward here and let's talk about investing.

[00:05:39] What was your first investment property?

[00:05:41] It was a mistake.

[00:05:43] How's that, Neil?

[00:05:44] So like everybody else, you think, oh, I'm going to buy a property.

[00:05:47] We're going to flip it.

[00:05:48] It's going to be wonderful.

[00:05:49] We're going to pocket all this money.

[00:05:50] So my daughter was going off to college and I thought, this is easy.

[00:05:53] I've watched other investors.

[00:05:54] We're going to buy this two-story on the east side.

[00:05:57] We're going to put some money into it and then we'll sell it in two months and it will be for her second semester of her freshman year of college.

[00:06:04] She was a junior, Neil, before I think we finished that and got it done.

[00:06:10] So speed to the end is very important in investing.

[00:06:14] I would like to say my partner, it's really my husband.

[00:06:17] I didn't want to call him out.

[00:06:18] He was way too slow.

[00:06:19] And I was way too impatient.

[00:06:22] And so at one point when he wanted to have the perfect appliances in the house and the most beautiful ceiling fans said, no, you take my appliances from our old house and my ceiling fans, put it over there and give me the new ones.

[00:06:32] But we learned from that very first, it was probably five years before we did that again and we weren't doing flips then.

[00:06:39] We're holding.

[00:06:40] Holding.

[00:06:40] Yes.

[00:06:41] Why hold versus flip?

[00:06:42] Because we weren't good flippers.

[00:06:44] We are too picky.

[00:06:45] We didn't want to band-aid anything.

[00:06:47] And I appreciate investors that don't band-aid anything.

[00:06:50] But it doesn't have to be exactly, the baseboards don't have to be exactly perfect or you don't have to have the most modern updated fixture in there.

[00:07:00] So I think we decided that flipping is not for us.

[00:07:03] We'd rather just hold, build the equity that way, and then sell eventually.

[00:07:08] Yeah.

[00:07:08] And so you've built a rental portfolio.

[00:07:10] We have.

[00:07:11] It's a smaller one, I'd say.

[00:07:12] But we're slow and steady.

[00:07:14] Some of it has to do with our age.

[00:07:16] And I would say if I was in my 30s again, I would probably buy as many as I could if the price was right.

[00:07:22] So we have an apartment building out in Mitchellville, an eight-plex.

[00:07:27] Very interesting to have eight tenants under one roof.

[00:07:30] It kind of makes it simple, but it also creates a headache sometimes because you've got lots of squeaky wheels under the same roof.

[00:07:36] But at least we don't have to travel far for it.

[00:07:38] Is that due to their interactions with one another?

[00:07:40] Once in a while, and then we became more choosy about we'd rather have a vacancy than have the right person in there eventually.

[00:07:47] We have a commercial property on Hubble, and that's been a lot of fun.

[00:07:51] I think that's been my biggest joy is seeing that remodeled.

[00:07:54] Part of that joy might be because it's our now houses PCA real estate.

[00:07:58] So that's a lot of fun and having events there.

[00:08:01] We've got a couple properties that are on 8th Street in Altoona,

[00:08:05] and we bought those because the land we think is really valuable on 8th Street.

[00:08:08] Those are the ones that we have in Des Moines.

[00:08:10] Yeah.

[00:08:11] I'm curious on the management side.

[00:08:13] You guys manage the eight-plex then yourself?

[00:08:15] Yeah, right now we do.

[00:08:16] Yeah, yeah.

[00:08:16] How's that?

[00:08:17] It challenges a marriage, I would say.

[00:08:20] It's okay.

[00:08:22] We want to keep as much profit in our pocket, and my husband's retired, so that helps that he can take care of that.

[00:08:28] And then being choosy with our tenants is a big, big thing.

[00:08:32] And Neil, there's tons of, what would you call it?

[00:08:35] You have to be very careful because of a lot of tenant rights and landlord rights and knowing those.

[00:08:40] There is a place in Des Moines that you can call.

[00:08:43] Her name's Pam.

[00:08:44] I can't think of the name.

[00:08:45] Do you know the name over on Ingersoll?

[00:08:46] I don't know.

[00:08:47] I don't know.

[00:08:47] Anyway, she will help a lot with the forms and the proper things that you need to do.

[00:08:51] Yeah.

[00:08:52] You mentioned that's what you have in-state.

[00:08:54] You've got a few things out of state.

[00:08:55] What's out of state?

[00:08:56] So this, Neil, this is better than real estate.

[00:08:59] All right.

[00:08:59] This is better than the 23 years that I've put into real estate.

[00:09:03] So what happened here is we had a commercial property downtown Des Moines.

[00:09:07] We own 25% of the block, and some investors came in, wanted the whole block.

[00:09:12] Yep.

[00:09:12] But I only wanted to sell for a certain price.

[00:09:15] So as I was in the Popeye's drive-through window ordering my chicken tenders, they decided to come to the price that I wanted.

[00:09:21] I was thrilled.

[00:09:22] So we took that.

[00:09:24] I never had done a 1031 exchange.

[00:09:26] You've probably done lots of them.

[00:09:27] A few.

[00:09:28] Okay, a few.

[00:09:28] So we took the money, put it down in Florida.

[00:09:31] It just had to be a like property.

[00:09:33] So we got a rental here, and we took it down to Florida and got a rental there.

[00:09:37] The good thing about that, we do a short-term rental on that through Airbnb.

[00:09:41] So we have Airbnb takes care of all our rentals and collecting the money, paying the taxes, all that.

[00:09:46] I highly recommend that.

[00:09:47] I don't want to try to know that.

[00:09:49] And then we also have a condo down there.

[00:09:51] They're all close by.

[00:09:52] I do not recommend investors going too far from where their footprint is.

[00:09:59] In this case, we vacation a lot in Florida and we were tired of paying rent.

[00:10:02] So we did that, did the Airbnb.

[00:10:04] Cash flow is fine.

[00:10:05] But more importantly, we leverage that investment property to travel all over the world.

[00:10:12] So we find people, it's through home exchange.

[00:10:15] We find people that want to swap homes with us.

[00:10:17] We've gone to Belgium, France, Hawaii a couple times, Italy, Colombia, Switzerland, just a whole bunch of places.

[00:10:25] That gets me more excited than real estate.

[00:10:27] Yeah, because that property you leverage into your travel experiences elsewhere.

[00:10:31] Correct.

[00:10:32] Just having, ultimately, just having the property, it, a rental in Des Moines probably wouldn't allow you to do that.

[00:10:37] More importantly, I don't think there's a lot of people internationally that want to travel to Des Moines.

[00:10:43] Right.

[00:10:43] Florida's a draw.

[00:10:44] But at the end of the day, it all started here with a quarter block.

[00:10:47] Right.

[00:10:48] And then into a tax-free exchange.

[00:10:50] Yes.

[00:10:50] Into traveling the world.

[00:10:51] Right.

[00:10:52] Yeah.

[00:10:52] You just never know where that next step will lead you.

[00:10:56] Remember, my beginnings was a housekeeper in Des Moines, and I didn't want to give that up.

[00:11:02] And just because of a backache, I was able to get into real estate.

[00:11:05] And I did tell my one lady, I'll never stop cleaning for you.

[00:11:09] I quit after two months because real estate was so intriguing.

[00:11:13] And it's more, you know, as a real estate agent, that's great.

[00:11:17] And I love, I still love putting a buyer and seller together.

[00:11:21] But the way that you can pivot in real estate and use your knowledge of real estate, I'm very comfortable.

[00:11:27] You're very comfortable with real estate.

[00:11:28] So for us to buy a home or go down in Florida and buy a home and understand what to do and what it looks like, I think it's wonderful.

[00:11:35] My financial planner wishes I wouldn't be so invested in real estate.

[00:11:40] Well, that's because I don't give a fee.

[00:11:41] Oh, there you go.

[00:11:42] There you go.

[00:11:43] But anyway, that's kind of what makes me tick.

[00:11:46] Why Iowa?

[00:11:47] You could live in Florida.

[00:11:48] You could live anywhere.

[00:11:48] You could run your business from afar.

[00:11:50] Why here?

[00:11:51] I like the Midwest values.

[00:11:52] I like our pace.

[00:11:54] I like the kindness.

[00:11:56] I have experienced real estate in Florida.

[00:11:59] And I don't know if it was just a rotten experience my first time, but they weren't as kind.

[00:12:05] I don't like to be shoved around, Neil.

[00:12:07] And I think that's what maybe when you go back to what attracts our buyers and sellers to our brokerage,

[00:12:12] we're kind and we want their best interests.

[00:12:16] And I didn't always feel that in Florida.

[00:12:17] Yeah.

[00:12:18] It has to do with the core values you've built inside the brokers there and that ultimately you live.

[00:12:22] Now, I will tell you, I did get my license in Florida.

[00:12:25] Okay.

[00:12:25] So now I can buy, sell, and invest and help people buy, sell, and invest.

[00:12:29] So the snowbirds that have gone down to Florida probably helped about nine families.

[00:12:33] And that's exciting for me too because we have so much fun down there.

[00:12:36] I want everybody else to experience that.

[00:12:38] I want you to go to Columbia, Neil.

[00:12:40] It's a beautiful, beautiful country.

[00:12:42] Been there.

[00:12:42] Okay.

[00:12:43] Good.

[00:12:43] My brother was married there.

[00:12:45] Really?

[00:12:45] Isn't it just shockingly gorgeous?

[00:12:48] Yes, it is.

[00:12:48] Did you go up to Cartagena?

[00:12:50] Is that how you say it?

[00:12:51] Yes, that's right.

[00:12:51] Okay.

[00:12:52] Isn't it pretty?

[00:12:53] Yes.

[00:12:53] But then you go to the other places that aren't as-

[00:12:56] Yeah, it's developed.

[00:12:57] Right.

[00:12:57] Yeah.

[00:12:58] And that's just beautiful too.

[00:12:59] The colors.

[00:13:00] Yes.

[00:13:01] The food.

[00:13:01] So green actually.

[00:13:03] I'm getting hungry.

[00:13:05] What are you most excited about this year?

[00:13:07] This year I'm excited about, okay, so back to the Florida thing.

[00:13:11] We were there four months to rebuild because of Hurricane Ian.

[00:13:14] And I think I got a little bit of a fever about slowing down a little bit.

[00:13:19] My husband's a little older than me.

[00:13:20] And so this year I'd like to concentrate on making sure our systems are in play and passing

[00:13:25] some of the responsibility onto leadership within our team.

[00:13:29] I'm also looking forward to navigating through some of the changes that are coming to our

[00:13:34] real estate market.

[00:13:35] I think it's going to clean up a lot of things and I'm excited about that.

[00:13:39] Let's do this.

[00:13:40] I want to move on to final three.

[00:13:41] What piece of advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

[00:13:44] Not what you now know.

[00:13:45] Slow and steady.

[00:13:47] Not everyone's going to buy and sell and invest with you, Penny, and it's okay.

[00:13:51] I would probably say, so the third thing, is that what we need?

[00:13:55] Something three?

[00:13:56] One piece of advice to give to your 20-year-old self.

[00:13:57] You can give as many pieces of advice to your 20-year-old self as you like.

[00:14:00] Oh gosh, my 20-year-old self.

[00:14:02] I mean, I might not come across like this, but I have a really low self-esteem and I did

[00:14:07] not have much confidence as a 20-year-old.

[00:14:10] And I think that as a 20-year-old, I would say, Penny, follow your gut and don't worry

[00:14:14] about what people are saying or thinking around you.

[00:14:17] If you're a house clipper, execute the birth strategy or do double closings and are in need

[00:14:22] of money.

[00:14:23] Little Guy Loans is your go-to lender here in the Des Moines area.

[00:14:26] Time is money.

[00:14:28] Loan approvals in 24 hours.

[00:14:30] Closings in five days.

[00:14:32] Little Guy Loans was founded by Neil Timmons, an investor just like you.

[00:14:37] Since he has been in over 10,000 homes in Des Moines, there's never an appraisal.

[00:14:41] Houses, multifamily and commercial property loans up to $1 million.

[00:14:46] Check out www.littleguyloans.com.

[00:14:50] I'm curious.

[00:14:51] I'm going to sidebar here.

[00:14:52] What had to change?

[00:14:53] What did change ultimately for that to be eliminated from you?

[00:14:58] You are an incredible powerhouse in real estate.

[00:15:02] And so something changed over a period of time for you to ultimately become who you are today.

[00:15:06] I would say that one conversation that I had was with a broker that I was interviewing with.

[00:15:13] And I was visiting with him.

[00:15:14] And when he walked out, when he introduced me, we were at a coffee shop.

[00:15:18] And he introduced me to somebody as this is Penny Carroll.

[00:15:21] She's one of the top 10 realtors in the Des Moines market.

[00:15:24] And we talked.

[00:15:25] He left.

[00:15:26] I looked at my assistant.

[00:15:28] And I said, did he just say that we're in the top 10?

[00:15:31] And she said, yeah.

[00:15:33] And I said, how does he know that?

[00:15:36] How do we know that?

[00:15:37] When did that happen?

[00:15:38] And we were totally floored.

[00:15:40] It was like, wow, I just met Penny Carroll.

[00:15:43] She's in the top 10.

[00:15:44] And I happen to be her.

[00:15:46] So that was probably eye-opening experience.

[00:15:49] Because we work with just, we put our head down.

[00:15:51] We do what's right.

[00:15:52] We engage in the community a lot.

[00:15:54] I would say that comes back to how we built our business is just our involvement in the community

[00:15:59] and giving back to the community.

[00:16:01] Just brings me no greater joy.

[00:16:03] Two books that changed your life.

[00:16:04] The Million Dollar Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller and The Bible.

[00:16:09] If you were cast away on an island for a year, you only get three pieces of information each month about your business.

[00:16:15] What three things must you know about your business every month to know how it's running?

[00:16:19] Wow.

[00:16:20] I want to know that my team is doing okay and that they're having transactions or selling homes.

[00:16:26] Not necessarily for the health of our business, but for the health of them.

[00:16:29] Because they're covering a lot while I'm gone.

[00:16:31] And I might be on that island a long time.

[00:16:33] Yes.

[00:16:34] Was there three things that I needed to?

[00:16:36] Yeah.

[00:16:37] Okay.

[00:16:37] If you only need to know one, that's okay.

[00:16:40] I'm just curious.

[00:16:40] Yeah, that was probably, that'd be probably the biggest thing.

[00:16:43] Yeah.

[00:16:43] Is that the team's doing okay and that PCA is healthy and strong.

[00:16:47] And I guess that I've given them the skills and the systems to equip them that I could be on the island for a real long time.

[00:16:54] This is a great conversation.

[00:16:55] You know what?

[00:16:55] I could talk for hours, I'm sure.

[00:16:57] For people, they want to find you.

[00:16:58] They want to follow you.

[00:16:59] They want to connect with you.

[00:17:00] Where can they go?

[00:17:01] What should they do?

[00:17:02] Sure.

[00:17:02] They can go to our Facebook, Penny Carol.

[00:17:05] I don't even know what my Facebook is, Neil.

[00:17:07] Let's see.

[00:17:08] Where could they go?

[00:17:09] They could go to-

[00:17:10] Just say, then go to Facebook.

[00:17:11] And what we'll do is we'll follow up with a link.

[00:17:13] I'll put in the show notes in the end and I'll reference.

[00:17:15] Cool.

[00:17:15] Okay.

[00:17:16] Well, they can call me.

[00:17:17] That's easy enough.

[00:17:18] 515-490-8025.

[00:17:20] They can email me, penny at pennycarol.com.

[00:17:24] Thank you for putting up how to spell my name because that sometimes is difficult.

[00:17:28] And then Instagram account, Facebook, social media.

[00:17:31] We do a lot of that.

[00:17:32] They can come to our office.

[00:17:34] I'd love to show off this commercial property that we renovated.

[00:17:37] And that's at 3232 Hubble Avenue.

[00:17:40] Perfect.

[00:17:40] For all the social links, we'll put them below in the show notes for everybody.

[00:17:43] Last question, Penny.

[00:17:44] I asked a lot of things.

[00:17:46] What question?

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:46] It cannot be my age or weight.

[00:17:48] I'll walk out of this room.

[00:17:50] Okay.

[00:17:51] I wouldn't dare.

[00:17:53] What one question should I have asked that I did not ask?

[00:17:56] Oh, gosh.

[00:17:57] You didn't ask how many grandkids I have.

[00:17:59] Oh.

[00:17:59] We've known each other for almost 25 years.

[00:18:02] That's why I want to slow down.

[00:18:04] Yes.

[00:18:05] And you've got a lot of reasons.

[00:18:06] And how many are there?

[00:18:06] There are five.

[00:18:07] Five.

[00:18:07] Five grandchildren right now.

[00:18:09] And I spend one day a week with them.

[00:18:11] I turn off the business or try to.

[00:18:14] And they are just...

[00:18:15] I don't know if you have grandchildren yet.

[00:18:17] No.

[00:18:18] Not yet.

[00:18:18] I'm telling you, they'll change you.

[00:18:20] Change it.

[00:18:20] Yes.

[00:18:21] Yeah.

[00:18:21] Well, that's incredible.

[00:18:22] Well, I appreciate you being here.

[00:18:24] No problem.

[00:18:24] Thank you, Neil.

[00:18:25] Thanks for listening.

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