Ep55 Resilience, Real Estate, and Reinvention: How Nikki Snyder Built a Life of Freedom

[00:00:00] Make more money. I like to put everything into something else so that I'm still motivated to make more money when you have what it takes for you to be comfortable.

[00:00:09] 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. Welcome to the Investing in Iowa Show.

[00:00:22] 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.

[00:00:32] 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.

[00:00:40] Hosted by Neil Timmins, an Iowa native who has been involved in over $300 million in real estate right here in Iowa.

[00:00:49] Recording in studio from West Des Moines, here's your host, Neil Timmins.

[00:00:54] I've got Nikki Snyder here on the show. Nikki, welcome.

[00:00:57] Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

[00:01:00] Thanks for being here. Say, for the audience's sake, who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?

[00:01:03] I am Nikki Snyder. I'm from Des Moines, originally from Florida, but I am grown up in Des Moines.

[00:01:10] Went to Roosevelt, but I'm a realtor in the Des Moines area with Keller Williams currently.

[00:01:16] But that's really what I do. I'm an investor. I'm a mom of grown kids.

[00:01:21] And I'm a social media expert is what I would say. I'd probably say that I'm an expert.

[00:01:26] An expert in social media. All right, we're going to come back to that.

[00:01:29] But tell me, how did you enter real estate?

[00:01:32] So I was in restaurant leadership. There's a lot of things.

[00:01:37] So you said you can cut all this out. Let's talk about it.

[00:01:40] How about the outline? How far back?

[00:01:41] Let me set it up and we'll go back. Yeah, perfect.

[00:01:45] All right. So Rough Riders graduated from Roosevelt High School.

[00:01:48] What'd you do after? I did.

[00:01:49] Crime? No.

[00:01:51] Amazing.

[00:01:52] So after high school, I had done a little bit.

[00:01:54] I went to college for a very short amount of time, but then I majorly went into the service industry.

[00:02:00] Taking this off.

[00:02:02] I'm stripping for this book.

[00:02:03] But yeah, so...

[00:02:04] We are audio only.

[00:02:05] I know. Sorry, audience. Sorry, audience.

[00:02:07] So yeah, after high school, I went to college. I went to Northwest Missouri State.

[00:02:11] Just for a little bit. I majored in broadcasting.

[00:02:14] I came up here for an internship. I was on Laser 103.3.

[00:02:20] Oh yeah.

[00:02:20] So yeah, I went to my radio group. So that was pretty short lived. I was pretty immature.

[00:02:24] And then I got into the service industry. Pretty heavy. So service industry...

[00:02:29] Specifically restaurants.

[00:02:30] Restaurants. Yeah. I was serving bartending. It was just about every restaurant and bar you can think of downtown.

[00:02:36] Okay.

[00:02:36] For years. Yeah. That's what I did for right after college.

[00:02:40] How long were you in that service industry?

[00:02:42] I was in the service industry on and off for 25 years. Yeah. Since I was 15.

[00:02:48] What'd you like about that?

[00:02:50] So it depends on what part of it.

[00:02:52] Sure.

[00:02:52] Obviously, the canned answer is, oh, I really like to help people, but I really like the money.

[00:02:57] Let's be honest about it.

[00:02:58] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:59] It was something that didn't require a college degree, which I didn't have. But going into the service industry and being in it for so long, I recognized I had some leadership qualities other people saw in me too.

[00:03:10] And so I went into management in like 2012.

[00:03:13] Okay.

[00:03:15] And favorite place you worked at?

[00:03:18] So I don't know if I could say a favorite.

[00:03:21] I worked for a lot of different hospitality groups.

[00:03:23] I worked for orchestrate.

[00:03:24] I worked for Folk World Press.

[00:03:26] I worked for Jethro's for a long time.

[00:03:28] I think my favorite, if I had to really say a favorite, it would have been, so I managed all of the restaurants in the airport for the last four years of my service industry career.

[00:03:38] And the only reason I liked that, number one, it's really fun to work in the airport.

[00:03:42] I didn't know working at the airport would be actually really interesting and fun.

[00:03:46] You see a lot of really interesting people come in and out.

[00:03:48] What made that fun?

[00:03:50] Because I worked at Budget Rent-A-Car for a blink of an eye in the Omaha airport.

[00:03:55] And fun was not a word that would have been utilized there.

[00:03:57] I don't think it would be fun working at Budget Rent-A-Car.

[00:04:00] I think working in the rental car space would be awful and people would be jerks.

[00:04:05] A lot of celebrities.

[00:04:06] I saw a lot of political figures come in and out actually during the 2016, when Kamala Harris was running for president.

[00:04:15] Oh, okay.

[00:04:16] So we had Bernie Sanders come through quite a bit.

[00:04:18] Sure.

[00:04:18] And who knew?

[00:04:19] He's as tall as he is.

[00:04:20] He's super tall.

[00:04:22] Really?

[00:04:22] Yeah, he's really tall.

[00:04:23] And we had no idea who's the guy from Ohio.

[00:04:26] Ryan.

[00:04:28] I can't remember his name.

[00:04:29] But we would play little games like, guess what they're going to drink.

[00:04:32] Kamala Harris was a cab.

[00:04:34] Okay.

[00:04:34] She was Cabernet.

[00:04:35] And the guy from Ohio, he was just a local beer guy and Bernie didn't drink at all.

[00:04:41] Sure.

[00:04:41] So it was just fun.

[00:04:43] And you just see some F.

[00:04:45] Some Martin Short come through.

[00:04:46] He didn't want to talk to anybody.

[00:04:48] So yeah, that's pretty cool.

[00:04:50] But the thing about me working there was we were changing over groups who were running

[00:04:55] all the restaurants in the airport at the time.

[00:04:57] So I got to start everything from the ground up.

[00:04:59] So there's not a place that I would say that I like to work the most because I don't like

[00:05:05] to work at all.

[00:05:07] But I do growing things from the ground up.

[00:05:09] And so there were multiple bars and restaurants that I did that with.

[00:05:14] Sure.

[00:05:14] All of the ones in the airport was just one of them.

[00:05:16] It was multiple concepts.

[00:05:18] The snack shop we did from the ground up, the main restaurant we did from the ground up,

[00:05:22] and just did the menu and the whole concept.

[00:05:25] Wow.

[00:05:26] All right.

[00:05:26] 25 years.

[00:05:27] And then you're like, maybe something new.

[00:05:30] Maybe it's time.

[00:05:31] COVID.

[00:05:32] That's what I knew.

[00:05:33] I was wondering what the catalyst was.

[00:05:35] Yes, the catalyst was COVID.

[00:05:35] That makes total sense.

[00:05:36] I had been passed over for a promotion a couple of times by people who were less qualified

[00:05:43] than me at the time.

[00:05:44] And then COVID happened.

[00:05:45] I just feel like this is a sign to bet on myself.

[00:05:48] And that was the biggest thing.

[00:05:50] We had to lay everyone off because of COVID.

[00:05:51] I remember the day.

[00:05:52] I think it was March 7th, 2020.

[00:05:55] So we had to go upstairs and lay everybody off for the time being.

[00:05:57] And then it was just me and four other managers who were sitting there 15 hour days running

[00:06:04] every spot in the airport.

[00:06:07] We were spread really thin, but there were no people flying at the time.

[00:06:09] Right.

[00:06:09] So yeah, that was really what did it.

[00:06:11] So during that time, we had that downtime.

[00:06:13] While I was there, I would do my real estate classes online.

[00:06:16] I'm like, let's just see if I can make this work.

[00:06:19] I think I'm capable.

[00:06:21] I had obviously done in restaurants and sales a lot.

[00:06:25] I'm getting anxious.

[00:06:26] Why real estate though?

[00:06:27] What popped up that you're like, yeah, this is...

[00:06:29] I had just bought a house.

[00:06:30] Okay.

[00:06:31] So going through that process, and I had purchased a house I'd been married before.

[00:06:36] And I didn't know a thing.

[00:06:37] I don't remember anything from it.

[00:06:39] And then the second time that I bought a house, I knew nothing again.

[00:06:44] And I was in my 30s and I felt like things just weren't told to me.

[00:06:48] And that was part of it.

[00:06:50] And then I had another friend who was having a tough time getting a house.

[00:06:54] She was a person of color.

[00:06:55] And I was like, I think there's a hole here.

[00:06:58] So that actually was like, oh, I think I can make this better.

[00:07:01] I can do something with this, make it so that people really understand the process.

[00:07:04] The education piece is really important to me because I didn't have it.

[00:07:08] So that's what made me like, I think I can fill a gap here.

[00:07:12] There's a problem here that needs to be solved.

[00:07:13] And I feel like I can probably solve it.

[00:07:15] So you get into real estate and it fit like a glove.

[00:07:20] I took off.

[00:07:21] So I was dual career.

[00:07:23] I worked at the airport for nine months before I decided to go full time.

[00:07:28] But during that time, I consumed as much information, podcast books, social media on not just real estate, but marketing as I possibly could.

[00:07:40] And so I was like a sponge.

[00:07:42] So I did everything that they say to do.

[00:07:44] And then I did things that they said wouldn't work.

[00:07:48] So I did the launch and all of those things where I let everyone know on social media.

[00:07:54] I had somebody during my real estate classes had said, and she's a big agent.

[00:07:59] And she had made a comment that social media is not a touch and the 36 times.

[00:08:07] Sure.

[00:08:07] It's not a touch.

[00:08:08] It doesn't count as contact with people.

[00:08:10] And I just did not see it that way because I talked to people.

[00:08:14] So it really is the catalyst for a lot of conversations.

[00:08:17] It might just be a small, a little like, a share, a comment here, but they're calling or they're sending me private messages asking questions.

[00:08:26] So I just, I didn't see that as not a thing.

[00:08:29] So I tripled down on it.

[00:08:30] And that's how I built that my business before I even left the airport.

[00:08:36] I did a Google business page.

[00:08:39] I set up all of my social media platforms.

[00:08:41] I'd already been on social media, but I didn't have as many followers then.

[00:08:46] So that's what it was.

[00:08:47] I prepared.

[00:08:48] And then right when I got done with the airport, I closed six deals in the first month that I was, that I was an agent and I was Keller Williams, you know, the cap or cappers.

[00:08:56] So I capped in 64 days.

[00:08:58] Wow.

[00:08:59] That was pretty cool.

[00:09:00] But I also had a big network from being 25 years in the service industry.

[00:09:03] You don't not know people.

[00:09:05] Sure.

[00:09:05] You know everybody or they know somebody who knows you.

[00:09:08] Yeah.

[00:09:09] And so you're on social media, you're active on social media.

[00:09:11] What types of things do you put out there?

[00:09:13] Right now.

[00:09:14] How about let's go back to then and then now.

[00:09:17] So then I would start with, I didn't know a lot.

[00:09:21] So really dealing with first time home buyers is typically when you start your real estate career is where you're at.

[00:09:27] You don't get a ton of listings right off the bat.

[00:09:29] So that's where I focus my education, my posts, my information.

[00:09:36] And then I realized that real estate is extremely boring.

[00:09:39] I wasn't getting the engagement that is necessary.

[00:09:43] And I started studying how algorithms work.

[00:09:45] I went to a couple of conferences.

[00:09:47] I did some social media boot camps.

[00:09:49] I've studied Neil Patel.

[00:09:52] I went to the forward event in Vegas.

[00:09:54] I just, yeah, like I just have been a sponge for it.

[00:09:56] I take a little bit of everything and focus most of my content.

[00:10:01] Now, if it's real estate related, it is educational, but it's geared towards sellers.

[00:10:06] First time home buyer content is super easy.

[00:10:08] It's like low hanging fruit, super easy to produce, super easy to make, come up with and make it interesting because people are searching that a lot.

[00:10:16] They're not sellers are not searching a lot.

[00:10:18] So you really have to just change your tech.

[00:10:20] But right.

[00:10:21] My viral videos have all been personal stuff, things that are really relatable.

[00:10:27] I have a sorted history.

[00:10:30] So when I put a little snippet of that out, that just goes like crazy.

[00:10:35] It increases my engagement.

[00:10:36] I get a ton of followers and then I can snowball that into other things.

[00:10:42] Yeah.

[00:10:42] Hey, Iowa investors.

[00:10:43] This is Ava Bowkamp, chief of staff at Legacy Impact Investors.

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[00:11:09] They just share in the income, appreciation and tax benefits.

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[00:11:22] All right.

[00:11:23] When you say sorted history, give me a snippet because I will hear from the audience based on you just using the words if I don't ask.

[00:11:32] Okay.

[00:11:32] Um, so I guess I don't really know where to start.

[00:11:35] So I can tell you my viral video right now.

[00:11:38] That's I don't even know where we're at.

[00:11:40] Almost 400,000 views on it is it's actually about my dad.

[00:11:44] My dad just retired like today.

[00:11:46] Actually, I think it's his actual last day.

[00:11:48] Yeah.

[00:11:49] So my dad was a single dad.

[00:11:50] He was 19.

[00:11:51] My mom was on drugs and she left.

[00:11:55] And he took my baby sister and I were Irish twins.

[00:11:59] I was born in January.

[00:12:00] She was born in December.

[00:12:02] He's 19 years old, fresh out of the army, tried to go into the army and had to leave, obviously, to take care of us.

[00:12:07] He didn't have college or any of that.

[00:12:10] It was the early 80s.

[00:12:11] Like it was a recession.

[00:12:13] The economy was terrible.

[00:12:15] And he worked odd jobs and the whole thing.

[00:12:18] He's been married a couple of times since then.

[00:12:20] His wife now he's been with for 30 years.

[00:12:23] And she adopted my sister and I.

[00:12:25] My biological mom committed suicide when I was nine.

[00:12:29] And then my sister committed suicide when I was 25.

[00:12:32] It was the beginning of Jewish trauma.

[00:12:35] And the things I've worked through, I dove headfirst into drug addiction, almost losing my kids.

[00:12:42] I was homeless.

[00:12:44] I was incarcerated for almost eight and a half months in 2014.

[00:12:49] It's wild that you go from that.

[00:12:53] And I'm like, I'm better than this.

[00:12:55] I can do better than this.

[00:12:56] To literally clawing and scratching your way out of it.

[00:13:02] So at that time, like I said, I was homeless.

[00:13:04] I was just now getting a visitation with my kids again.

[00:13:10] And I didn't have a license.

[00:13:12] I didn't have a car.

[00:13:14] I lost everything.

[00:13:15] Right.

[00:13:16] It seems so simple for people.

[00:13:18] At the time I was depressed and just getting out of bed and even paying a bill sometimes is the win.

[00:13:23] Sometimes getting out of bed and taking a shower is the win.

[00:13:26] When you're going through some stuff like that.

[00:13:28] So for me, there was like a very, I would talk to my dad and he would say, all you have to do is this and this and this and this.

[00:13:34] You know, he met and I'm like, Dad, all I can do right now is this right here.

[00:13:39] And so I've used that over the years.

[00:13:41] That's how I play everything.

[00:13:43] It has to be one step at a time or I will get nothing done.

[00:13:46] I think that's relatable for most neurodivergence.

[00:13:51] Who anybody who has ADD where it's things seem so simple, but it's like a mountain to us.

[00:13:58] So you just have to take it one step at a time.

[00:13:59] That's what I did.

[00:14:00] I broke everything down as small steps.

[00:14:02] It was get the job.

[00:14:04] So I was taking a bus to and from like I said, I was working in restaurants.

[00:14:07] I'm taking a bus and I'm managing a restaurant downtown and no one knew that I didn't drive or anything.

[00:14:13] I just kept all that really quiet and I kept work was my focus.

[00:14:17] It was just making enough money to get to the next goal, to the next goal.

[00:14:21] I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my kids at the time.

[00:14:24] And that's how I just pulled myself out a little bit more money to get to the next goal.

[00:14:29] Then I was saving $100 bills at a time in a ramen box in my closet because I didn't, I was terrified.

[00:14:36] I didn't have a bank account in 2015.

[00:14:38] I had no bank account.

[00:14:39] And I was terrified that I had bills out there that I hadn't paid that somehow someone was going to come and take anything that I did have.

[00:14:46] So that's how I just did it.

[00:14:48] I did a little $100 bill at a time in a ramen box, basically.

[00:14:51] So it builds everything back up.

[00:14:53] And then I got the job at the airport managing all of those restaurants.

[00:14:57] And then 2020 happened.

[00:14:59] And I'm like, let's see how far I can go.

[00:15:02] Hats off to you for climbing the mountain.

[00:15:04] And at that time, what got you out of that hole?

[00:15:07] Meaning I understand you can do step by step and break it down, but you have to choose to.

[00:15:12] Yep.

[00:15:12] A hundred percent.

[00:15:13] Yeah.

[00:15:13] So what was that, that eventually you decided I'm now making this choice?

[00:15:18] Yeah, it was the kid.

[00:15:19] It was my kids.

[00:15:20] And so I actually, I feel real sympathy for people who don't have that.

[00:15:25] Why?

[00:15:25] Who don't.

[00:15:26] There are people I have.

[00:15:28] I know people right now who are spiraling into an addictive patterns and their kids are actually grown and they don't have a significant other or parents or.

[00:15:40] So, man, where do you find it then?

[00:15:43] I have no idea.

[00:15:44] But I can tell you from my perspective, I fought so hard to make sure I didn't lose my kids.

[00:15:50] And when I got clean and sober and I fought so hard to make sure that they never thought that they weren't worth fighting for.

[00:15:57] And that was it.

[00:15:58] I was like, I never want them to think that they weren't worth it.

[00:16:00] So that's what it was that they were my trigger, my catalyst.

[00:16:03] I was like, we're just not going out this way.

[00:16:05] Like there's a better life out there.

[00:16:08] So it's faith that there's more out there.

[00:16:12] I'm not a religious person in any way, but man, I saw other people doing it.

[00:16:17] And again, I say this all the time, like dumber people than me do it.

[00:16:21] So that's what does it for me.

[00:16:23] Yeah.

[00:16:24] When you look forward, what's life look like?

[00:16:26] What are you most excited about when you look forward to next year and the next five years and the next 10 years?

[00:16:31] Right now, we've done a lot in the last.

[00:16:35] Like I didn't go full time in real estate till 2021.

[00:16:38] Hmm.

[00:16:38] And my biggest thing is I've just doubled down on my skills.

[00:16:42] Anytime it gets scary or bumpy, I doubled down on my skill set.

[00:16:47] So I got my brokerage license.

[00:16:49] When things were down, I absorb as much information as I can about the market.

[00:16:53] I'm not a market numbers person in any way, but I am like a hope person.

[00:17:01] And so the biggest thing is focusing heavily on freedom for us and what that means.

[00:17:09] Success means something different to everybody.

[00:17:10] Right.

[00:17:10] And for me, it's the ability to choose to get up early in the morning or not get up early in the morning and being able to be there for my kids.

[00:17:21] I know how bumpy it was for me in my early 20s.

[00:17:23] And so I'm just prepared for them to have they won't have the same bumps, but I'm prepared for them to have bumps.

[00:17:30] And so I didn't have that kind of support.

[00:17:33] My dad can do so much.

[00:17:34] So when I was down, like I was down and I was really isolated by myself on that for them.

[00:17:39] My kids won't have that same experience.

[00:17:41] They will have at least the financial support because I love working like I'm sober every single day.

[00:17:49] And it is something that I love to do.

[00:17:52] My next couple of years is just growing.

[00:17:55] We are opening a brokerage that will be next month.

[00:17:58] We've decided to go out on our own.

[00:18:00] I feel like I'm smart enough to do it.

[00:18:02] I have been trained by the best broker, in my opinion, in the business.

[00:18:06] I'm a genie.

[00:18:07] Glazer is the best.

[00:18:09] And I have good intentions and integrity.

[00:18:11] And so I think no matter what I do, I'm just going to come out on top because of that.

[00:18:15] Five years from now, I'd like to have a lot more investment properties.

[00:18:20] Right now we have two.

[00:18:21] So let's pivot.

[00:18:22] You're in full time in real estate and it does a lot of things.

[00:18:25] You're going to meet a lot of people, do a lot of things and see a lot of property.

[00:18:27] Educate yourself and you're a sponge.

[00:18:29] You just soak it all up.

[00:18:30] And you're like, cool, we've got a couple of dollars.

[00:18:32] It needs to go someplace and real estate feels really comfortable.

[00:18:35] Tell me about that.

[00:18:36] The first one.

[00:18:37] I feel like I have a really good idea when I walk into a property because we see them every day.

[00:18:43] I'm really intuitive.

[00:18:45] And so I walk in and I look at it if it's good bones.

[00:18:48] And I know we have some skills and we can do.

[00:18:52] The first one that we did was just a little two bedroom, one bath.

[00:18:55] And it's right off of MLK.

[00:18:57] Okay.

[00:18:58] We found out after we purchased it that it had been an investment property already.

[00:19:03] It had a rental certificate, which is great.

[00:19:05] Yep.

[00:19:05] We didn't have any experience with rental inspections yet.

[00:19:07] We definitely got some later.

[00:19:08] Yeah.

[00:19:09] They're not fun.

[00:19:10] So what we found out later that there had been an unattended death in the living room.

[00:19:15] We started looking back at some old pictures and I'm like, I wonder if we have hardwood floors under these carpets.

[00:19:20] Sure enough, there's a big rug in the middle of one of the old historic photos of it.

[00:19:26] And so I called the agent and I'm like, Hey, what's the story on this?

[00:19:31] And he goes, Oh, there is a hundred percent of body outline.

[00:19:35] Oh, they're under the pad.

[00:19:38] And he goes, Hey, I've still talked to this guy a little bit.

[00:19:41] The family of this guy, he was a recluse.

[00:19:44] It was an unattended death in the middle of summer with no air conditioning.

[00:19:48] Yep.

[00:19:50] So it smelled really bad before, but just so you know, if you ever do decide to redo the floors, his family would like to go to the floor.

[00:19:56] Like if you cut that out, they'd like it back.

[00:19:58] And I'm like, what are they going to do?

[00:20:00] Stand it up in the corner at Thanksgiving?

[00:20:02] Why?

[00:20:03] Because I don't, I just don't think that they want it in a landfill somewhere.

[00:20:06] And I'm like, okay.

[00:20:07] So we have not redone the floors yet.

[00:20:10] We have a renter in there.

[00:20:12] We've had her in there for the last year or so, but eventually I don't even know that we will.

[00:20:17] We have to take out the, the hard, original hardwood floors and, or you can't sand them down.

[00:20:23] I don't, I think you sand them down to nothing in order to get rid of it.

[00:20:27] So that was our first one.

[00:20:29] That is a heck of a first one.

[00:20:30] Yeah.

[00:20:31] So for sure.

[00:20:32] Second one, actually my brothers, they both have cerebral palsy.

[00:20:36] I have twin brothers.

[00:20:37] And so they had been renting for 10 years and because of disability, like they can't have assets.

[00:20:44] So they, we bought one on the South side, which was five minutes from me at the time.

[00:20:49] My parents were living in Georgia.

[00:20:50] So having somebody that was close to them made sense.

[00:20:55] So we just bought it and they rent from us right now.

[00:20:57] Again, it's technically a one bedroom, but it's got a non-conforming downstairs.

[00:21:02] That's, I don't know.

[00:21:04] Those are the two that we have right now.

[00:21:05] I would love to get into a duplex, but every duplex I tend to see is really rough.

[00:21:12] So that's why we're starting to look outside of town.

[00:21:15] We had never thought to do that before, but you need a lot more for your money outside of

[00:21:19] town within 30 minutes.

[00:21:21] Most people will still rent.

[00:21:23] What I hear saying is a pencil a little better.

[00:21:25] They what?

[00:21:25] They're pencil a little better.

[00:21:26] You can, the investment makes more sense.

[00:21:28] It's just been challenging to get the cash flow here in town, given the prices.

[00:21:33] Yeah.

[00:21:34] And that's the thing we don't, we never, again, I got into this not for cash flow.

[00:21:38] I really was looking for security, but it was the tax benefits.

[00:21:41] Sure.

[00:21:41] I did enough research that I knew depreciation was the real reason to do this.

[00:21:47] Right.

[00:21:47] I don't know everything.

[00:21:48] Again, I don't know everything, but $200 a month per door is not going to make or break

[00:21:55] me.

[00:21:55] Right.

[00:21:56] So it's the rest of it.

[00:21:58] And it's a forced savings account.

[00:21:59] Right.

[00:22:00] So I think about that for my kids.

[00:22:02] And by the time my, my daughter actually owns her condo now, she bought it last year and

[00:22:05] she's 21.

[00:22:06] So she started that process, but I have twins that are 18.

[00:22:09] By the time they are ready to buy something, what are prices going to look like?

[00:22:13] Right.

[00:22:13] And so that's the goal.

[00:22:15] Even if I have to buy the next one is a, another single family, little two bedroom, whatever

[00:22:21] is, I'm just going to keep buying them up.

[00:22:23] I think, and I know that sounds crappy.

[00:22:25] I catch a lot of crap on online from people when I talk about investing because investors

[00:22:31] get a bad name for really the wrong reasons.

[00:22:34] And just it's lack of education.

[00:22:35] Sure.

[00:22:36] So that's why I've started doing video of the properties.

[00:22:39] Sure.

[00:22:40] Especially when they're not livable so that people have a better understanding.

[00:22:45] We're not just buying these beautiful houses.

[00:22:47] We're buying things that you don't want to live.

[00:22:51] And if you wanted to buy it.

[00:22:52] You're spot on.

[00:22:53] And the best investors transform communities.

[00:22:56] Yes.

[00:22:56] $4 in cents and fees makes the homes habitable in many cases.

[00:23:01] You know this from your experience in going through any rental certificate process.

[00:23:05] Doesn't matter what city you're in, but we're held to a higher standard than a homeowner.

[00:23:09] Cool.

[00:23:09] We actually have to have the homes inspected.

[00:23:12] How many homes have you driven by?

[00:23:13] And you're like, holy crap.

[00:23:15] Yep.

[00:23:15] That place looks like it's going to be torn down.

[00:23:17] Maybe it's a foreclosure.

[00:23:18] Nobody lives there.

[00:23:19] And then sooner or later, somebody pulls out of that front of the house with their car.

[00:23:22] And you're like, no, somebody lives there and they've lived there forever.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] And the city can't and won't do anything.

[00:23:27] They have to be gone in order for anything to happen.

[00:23:30] That's right.

[00:23:31] Yeah.

[00:23:31] We just did.

[00:23:32] We just saw one that was a cat hoarding situation.

[00:23:34] People inherit these houses that they don't know what to do with.

[00:23:37] Our client said, grandma really loved her cats.

[00:23:40] And he wasn't kidding.

[00:23:42] He wasn't kidding.

[00:23:43] There's pictures of cats everywhere.

[00:23:45] It is.

[00:23:45] It's all about education.

[00:23:46] And that's the biggest thing that I do on social media.

[00:23:49] There's very little financial education for kids.

[00:23:52] Sure.

[00:23:52] And then as far as the wealth building part of it, I'm not a wealth building expert, but

[00:23:57] I know enough to be dangerous probably.

[00:24:00] So, but I'm a trigger puller.

[00:24:02] Like I am really decisive.

[00:24:05] I don't overthink.

[00:24:06] I try not to overanalyze.

[00:24:08] I feel like every single thing is going to be a lesson.

[00:24:11] It's never going to be a loss.

[00:24:12] It will always be a lesson or it's going to turn out great.

[00:24:15] Just live in this bubble.

[00:24:18] We got capitalism and the real estate, certainly on the property side rewards action.

[00:24:22] Yes.

[00:24:23] Yeah.

[00:24:23] So you sit there, the longer you sit there, the less likely you are to do anything ever.

[00:24:28] So I am a, I think the most successful people that I've ever met in life have been quick decision makers.

[00:24:34] And that's where I live mentally always.

[00:24:39] Yeah.

[00:24:39] That's incredible.

[00:24:40] What's your goal on the, on the real estate side?

[00:24:41] Do you have a specific investment specifically?

[00:24:45] Do you want to accumulate so many per year?

[00:24:47] You just want to get to a certain number?

[00:24:49] So in, in, I would prefer to make the goal.

[00:24:53] I don't actually want to be selling real estate.

[00:24:55] I know that sounds crazy.

[00:24:56] I don't want to be selling real estate in 10 years.

[00:24:58] I would like to just continue to build a flipping and flip houses, renovate, restore.

[00:25:06] It just gives you a little bit more freedom and it's a lot less emotion in that part of real estate.

[00:25:11] Oh, sure.

[00:25:11] And it's not that I, that I don't, I play therapist way more than I probably should.

[00:25:18] Buying a house is an emotion.

[00:25:20] It's an emotional process.

[00:25:21] No doubt.

[00:25:21] And it's an investment for me too.

[00:25:24] Like it's an emotional investment for me that sometimes I don't really have the bandwidth for.

[00:25:27] And I know that the expectation is that you do.

[00:25:31] My husband is pretty, you've met him.

[00:25:33] Yes.

[00:25:34] He's a very stoic guy.

[00:25:36] He doesn't have, people don't come to him with their personal problems.

[00:25:39] I know that's, might be shocking.

[00:25:41] They don't really come to him with their personal problems and, but they do with me.

[00:25:44] And I'm grateful that people trust me, but it takes a toll on me mentally.

[00:25:50] And so I know that eventually I'm not going to have that anymore.

[00:25:53] And going into just the fix and flip side and investment side, not part of my business out takes me out of that part of it.

[00:26:02] Yeah.

[00:26:03] It's a, it's a unique balance between those two worlds because although you're in real estate, they are 90 day different.

[00:26:10] Oh, a hundred percent.

[00:26:11] Yeah.

[00:26:11] A hundred.

[00:26:12] And I know a lot of people who like that.

[00:26:14] They love being the cheerleader.

[00:26:16] And I think everybody does.

[00:26:17] And in the beginning of it, you could spend a necessity when you're getting into a state and when you're building your business.

[00:26:22] And that's how you build trust with people.

[00:26:24] But then when every single second of your day is taken up by somebody's questions or whatever, and it gets to it, like I said, it can be, it takes a toll.

[00:26:34] It takes toll from your personal life.

[00:26:36] You're not able to just really unplug.

[00:26:38] So even if I went on vacation, like I'm still getting people don't know you're getting these random questions.

[00:26:43] You're getting them in the middle of the night.

[00:26:44] Somebody has a panic attack because they're worried about their purchase or they're worried about their sale in this world of instant access that we have with people.

[00:26:52] They're in your phone.

[00:26:54] I hear it go off and I'm probably answering back.

[00:26:56] I suspect that the amplified for you because of your presence on social media.

[00:27:00] You just nail mail on the key.

[00:27:02] Yeah, it makes me.

[00:27:03] You'll just get a, you'll just get a panic attack in two weeks.

[00:27:05] I know.

[00:27:05] I would love a panic attack in two weeks.

[00:27:08] By then I might have the bandwidth to deal with it.

[00:27:10] Yeah.

[00:27:10] At noon.

[00:27:11] Yeah.

[00:27:12] During the day when your mail is delivered.

[00:27:13] At least six times a week.

[00:27:16] I understand it.

[00:27:17] It takes its toll after a while, but there's good and bad to the social media aspect of it.

[00:27:22] People feel like they are connected to you.

[00:27:25] They know you.

[00:27:26] It has gotten me deals.

[00:27:28] I didn't have to interview for.

[00:27:30] I didn't have to compete for.

[00:27:31] People can read energy through video really easily.

[00:27:34] If you're full of crap, they can tell.

[00:27:37] Or they'll think that you're full of crap even if you're not.

[00:27:40] But it also makes you extremely accessible to people.

[00:27:43] Hey, Iowa investors.

[00:27:44] This is Ava Bowkamp, Chief of Staff at Legacy Impact Investors.

[00:27:47] Have you thought about adding real estate to your portfolio, but don't have the time or desire to play landlord?

[00:27:53] At Legacy Impact Investors, we do the heavy lifting.

[00:27:56] Our team finds the deals, manages the properties and handles all the day-to-day operations.

[00:28:02] Our select group of qualified investors co-invest with us, gaining ownership equity without opening a tenant email or responding to a maintenance call.

[00:28:10] They just share in the income, appreciation and tax benefits.

[00:28:13] These opportunities aren't for everyone.

[00:28:15] They are for qualified, accredited investors only.

[00:28:18] If you want to learn more, please visit LegacyImpactInvestors.com to apply.

[00:28:23] I'm going to ask a personal question.

[00:28:25] Yeah.

[00:28:25] Going back to that 2014-15 era made me think of this.

[00:28:28] Would you say you have an addicted personality?

[00:28:31] Yes.

[00:28:32] And therefore today, that outlet is work.

[00:28:35] Work.

[00:28:35] Yeah.

[00:28:36] So where I'm going with that is what does that, and I think it doesn't matter what, if somebody has that personality, these things that show up on the spectrum, whatever it may be, are just outlets.

[00:28:47] Yeah.

[00:28:47] With the underlying item being that addicted personality, which I can share this from the work side.

[00:28:54] Yeah.

[00:28:54] Do you have an addictive personality?

[00:28:55] Oh, for sure.

[00:28:56] My outlet is always mine.

[00:28:57] Is that your home has it forever?

[00:28:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:29:00] I remember when I started my Remax, maybe the first few years in my real estate business, I'll go back to the first year specifically, I worked 355 days.

[00:29:09] Ah.

[00:29:10] So it showed up in a hurry.

[00:29:13] But you have to know, or it took 10 days off, 355 days out of 365.

[00:29:18] The first listing I took was at 1130 PM.

[00:29:21] It was the first time I ever understood you couldn't open that blue lockbox.

[00:29:24] Right.

[00:29:24] Oh, yeah.

[00:29:25] And I didn't figure that.

[00:29:26] I didn't know that until the next day when I got the office and I was like, this stupid thing doesn't work.

[00:29:31] I just took a listing.

[00:29:32] What time?

[00:29:33] 1130.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:34] It's not going to work.

[00:29:35] But you must know thyself and then understand, okay, if this is true about me, how do you cope with it?

[00:29:41] How do you manage it?

[00:29:42] How do you make sure that it works for you and your loved ones to find outlets?

[00:29:47] And it's become easier for me over the years.

[00:29:49] So I'm curious as to five, 10 years from now, let's call it 10 years from now.

[00:29:53] You don't have that, the dopamine hits associated with that little thing on your phone for all the social media feedback and all the phone calls and the people asking of you, what's that look like?

[00:30:03] But for me, years from now, I will be mid fifties.

[00:30:09] I want to travel.

[00:30:10] I've never, I want to go see the Pacific Northwest.

[00:30:12] I've never been there.

[00:30:13] There are things that I want to do.

[00:30:15] I think at that point I'll probably have grandkids.

[00:30:17] I'm pretty sure of it.

[00:30:19] My kids are older.

[00:30:20] So that might be my dopamine hit the way it is right now.

[00:30:24] I literally, I'm a dog person.

[00:30:25] I have foster dogs.

[00:30:27] I help other dogs get rescued.

[00:30:29] That's a dopamine hit giving to the community, always looking for ways.

[00:30:33] To do right by other people.

[00:30:37] You don't get what you want to get in life without making someone else get what they want.

[00:30:41] So that is my dopamine at this point.

[00:30:44] I'm sober.

[00:30:45] I've been clean for a long time, but sobriety is 10 months new to me.

[00:30:50] I thought the other day, I was like, I think I'm addicted to sobriety.

[00:30:54] If you can be addicted to sobriety, it's just that the good feeling.

[00:30:59] I'm so addicted to that now that the thought of anything else is, I feel like it'll take my entire life.

[00:31:06] Like the drinking has never been the major problem for me, but I just got really tired of feeling tired and unmotivated and unproductive.

[00:31:15] So yeah, I think I'm addicted to sobriety.

[00:31:18] I think I'm addicted to helping people.

[00:31:20] There might be a selfish power aspect to being the person that people call on all the time.

[00:31:25] While I say there's definitely a mental toll that it takes, being the trusted source of information, I might be addicted to that.

[00:31:33] There's nothing wrong with feeling valued.

[00:31:35] There's a part of me that thinks I'm being selfish, but at the same time, you're right.

[00:31:38] It's okay to feel that.

[00:31:40] That might just be my dopamine help helping people for a really long time.

[00:31:45] At least just getting my family to where I don't have to worry.

[00:31:48] I came from something where I didn't have anything.

[00:31:50] Yeah.

[00:31:51] So that will always be in my brain as a possibility.

[00:31:54] But then I also look at everything is better than that.

[00:31:57] So there's so much hope out there for me and for my kids.

[00:32:02] It's really just getting everybody set up the right way so that if I leave this planet, everybody's good without me.

[00:32:12] Iowa.

[00:32:12] Why Iowa?

[00:32:13] You could do what you do anywhere.

[00:32:14] Choose to be here.

[00:32:15] Why?

[00:32:15] I love Iowa.

[00:32:16] Yeah.

[00:32:16] I actually was born in St. Pete in Florida.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:20] My dad.

[00:32:20] That's where my biological mom was.

[00:32:23] And I've been here my whole life since I was like two years old.

[00:32:26] Yeah.

[00:32:27] I've been to almost every elementary school.

[00:32:29] We moved around a lot.

[00:32:30] We were poor.

[00:32:31] So we think we're dodging rent quite a bit.

[00:32:33] I know so many people have been able to see over the years, very different versions of

[00:32:40] me throughout Des Moines.

[00:32:41] And only recently have I really started to appreciate Des Moines for what it is.

[00:32:47] Number one, how beautiful it is.

[00:32:49] Number two, how great the people are.

[00:32:50] I know it sounds so cheesy and it might sound cheesy to somebody who hasn't seen it yet

[00:32:54] or thinks that Des Moines is boring or thinks that Iowa is boring.

[00:32:58] Once you have just been through complete darkness, you really start to value really simple stuff.

[00:33:05] And that's what Iowa is.

[00:33:07] No matter what, it's definitely pretty fundamentally simple.

[00:33:11] Yeah.

[00:33:12] Do good things.

[00:33:13] Be nice to people.

[00:33:14] It's so basic.

[00:33:15] Yeah.

[00:33:16] Ready for the final three questions?

[00:33:17] Sure.

[00:33:18] One piece of advice that you would have given your 20 year old self.

[00:33:22] I probably should have prepared for this.

[00:33:26] People are not paying as much attention to you as you think they are.

[00:33:32] Yep.

[00:33:32] It's a huge one.

[00:33:34] And that helps with people in social media too, that you get over themselves when they're

[00:33:40] doing video and marketing their business and putting themselves out there.

[00:33:44] And if you knew how little people thought of you, you wouldn't worry about what they think

[00:33:47] of you.

[00:33:48] It reminds me of a quote I heard years ago.

[00:33:50] All day, every day, all of us have a movie running in our minds and we're all the main

[00:33:55] character.

[00:33:55] Yes.

[00:33:56] Yeah.

[00:33:57] I've said to my kids, you're not the main character in my story.

[00:34:01] I am.

[00:34:01] I've said that to other people too.

[00:34:03] You're not the main character in so-and-so story.

[00:34:05] As much as you think that you are, you're not.

[00:34:08] Two books that changed your life.

[00:34:09] Rich Dad Poor Dad changed my whole life.

[00:34:12] When did you read it?

[00:34:12] That was what I read in 2020.

[00:34:14] It changed my complete viewpoint on money.

[00:34:16] I expected it to turn out much differently than it did.

[00:34:19] I think everybody starts the book thinking corporate dad is the rich dad.

[00:34:23] Right.

[00:34:24] That one definitely changed my money perspective.

[00:34:27] The Gap and the Gain is another one.

[00:34:31] Dan Sullivan.

[00:34:32] Yep.

[00:34:32] And that one really helped when I start to worry about the progress that I've made or where

[00:34:37] I'm at compared to other people or I compare it to other, it reminds me to compare my

[00:34:42] progress to myself.

[00:34:44] You're required to reflect back.

[00:34:45] At backwards.

[00:34:46] Progress is measured backwards.

[00:34:47] Yep.

[00:34:48] Yep.

[00:34:49] If you were cast away on an island for a year, you can only get three pieces of data about

[00:34:54] your business each and every month.

[00:34:56] What three things must you know every month to know how your business is running?

[00:35:01] Oh, that's so interesting.

[00:35:03] Three pieces of data would be who is in my pipeline.

[00:35:08] I definitely need to know that.

[00:35:10] I think timelines of where they're at in their process is something that I would need to know.

[00:35:16] And then for my investment properties, I'd need to know if I have a runner, when's the

[00:35:20] release up?

[00:35:21] Those kinds of things.

[00:35:22] Rental.

[00:35:23] I've asked lots of questions.

[00:35:24] What's one question I did not ask that I should have asked?

[00:35:27] Oh, I don't know about questions, but as far as you could probably go into more tactical

[00:35:36] stuff, I think people could probably benefit from it.

[00:35:39] I know my story is weird.

[00:35:40] The background is not a normal thing.

[00:35:42] And that's actually not like what your podcast normally does.

[00:35:45] So I was like, I can't wait to see how you edit this thing.

[00:35:47] We're not going to edit any of this.

[00:35:49] Oh, well, I'm curious.

[00:35:51] Not even the words I just said.

[00:35:53] Oh, great.

[00:35:53] It's fantastic.

[00:35:54] Yeah.

[00:35:55] I think people, especially anybody new in the business, what I hear a lot from investors

[00:36:01] on this podcast and others, it's sometimes it's a very cumulative.

[00:36:05] It's a very overall broad zoomed out because they're used to it.

[00:36:10] They're used to what's happening now.

[00:36:11] But if they could just get back into what it felt like in the very beginning when they

[00:36:17] wanted to do their very first deal and they had no idea how to do it, that's something

[00:36:21] that I think would be beneficial.

[00:36:23] I'm still very new to this.

[00:36:25] Yes.

[00:36:25] Unpack it for me.

[00:36:26] Let's give the audience some of the tactics.

[00:36:29] Yeah.

[00:36:29] So the very first one we did, like I said, I had done six deals when I first went full

[00:36:34] time.

[00:36:34] I had also saved six months of bills at the time to go into real estate.

[00:36:39] And it's something that you have to do.

[00:36:41] A lot of people think that you can just jump right in.

[00:36:43] I think you can't, especially now.

[00:36:46] So because I had saved up money, that first six deals that I had, I put every single one

[00:36:52] of those into a down payment on my first, the dead body investment.

[00:36:56] Yes.

[00:36:57] So that's where we started.

[00:36:58] And then going for the next one was a HELOC off of my house, my current house.

[00:37:04] Yep.

[00:37:04] We didn't use all of that.

[00:37:06] So we still have that key lock available for the next deal.

[00:37:10] And we have not taken anything out off of our two investment properties that we have.

[00:37:15] So we've got flexibility, some access to capital to roll into something else.

[00:37:20] So what I hear you say is budget, right?

[00:37:24] Budget for the downside.

[00:37:25] Yeah.

[00:37:26] Save your money.

[00:37:27] And then you put it into the properties and save as you go.

[00:37:31] Yeah.

[00:37:32] With the idea being it's going to get deployed.

[00:37:34] 100%.

[00:37:34] To accumulate more properties.

[00:37:36] Biggest thing is make more money.

[00:37:39] I like to put everything into something else so that I'm still motivated to make more money.

[00:37:46] When you have what it takes for you to be comfortable, you don't tend to be as hungry.

[00:37:50] Right.

[00:37:50] I like to try and keep myself as hungry as possible.

[00:37:53] But yeah, budgeting, making sure that I have backup plans for when things go wrong.

[00:37:58] Because sewers happen in Des Moines.

[00:38:00] Things like that.

[00:38:01] Just being really prepared for that stuff so that it doesn't tank you.

[00:38:05] I think I've seen a lot of first time investors, new investors, within the last year, list their properties and they didn't buy them that long ago.

[00:38:14] There's a glorified perspective of what it's like to be an investor and how easy it is.

[00:38:19] It isn't.

[00:38:20] There's a lot more to it than, oh, let's rent out my house.

[00:38:24] Right.

[00:38:24] No big deal.

[00:38:24] I'm going to buy a new house.

[00:38:25] I'm just going to rent it out.

[00:38:26] Are you, like, we're chasing down rent.

[00:38:29] Right.

[00:38:29] As we speak right now, it happens all the time.

[00:38:32] And then when things go wrong, it's on you.

[00:38:36] And people don't really prepare for that.

[00:38:37] And I think that they started listing their houses because they thought they'd be, like, rich.

[00:38:42] That's just not how it is.

[00:38:43] It's a long game.

[00:38:44] It's a long game, no doubt.

[00:38:46] If you watch HGTV, all this stuff happens in 23 minutes.

[00:38:50] Yeah.

[00:38:50] Fast forward through the course.

[00:38:51] Yes.

[00:38:51] They don't have the major bumps.

[00:38:53] They have manufactured bumps in the road.

[00:38:55] Yes, exactly.

[00:38:56] It's not a, it's, I've said it often, it's not a get rich business, the accumulation of real estate.

[00:39:01] It's a wealthy business.

[00:39:03] Yeah.

[00:39:03] And the wealth accumulation takes time.

[00:39:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:39:07] And from that's, I don't care about me being wealthy.

[00:39:10] I just want freedom.

[00:39:12] Yes.

[00:39:12] I just want options and that's it.

[00:39:14] And I want to set my kids.

[00:39:16] I'm not asking for the world.

[00:39:18] And it is, it's wealth.

[00:39:20] It's a long game.

[00:39:21] And I'm looking for them when they're 40, 50 years old, not me in my forties and fifties,

[00:39:26] because I feel like that ship has sailed.

[00:39:27] I plan further ahead of them.

[00:39:28] That's the goal in the lives.

[00:39:30] Nicky, I love this conversation.

[00:39:31] I appreciate you being here.

[00:39:32] So the audience, they want to find you.

[00:39:33] They want to follow you.

[00:39:34] They want to check with you.

[00:39:35] Where can they go?

[00:39:35] What should they do?

[00:39:36] Oh, I'm everywhere.

[00:39:37] So I am on Facebook.

[00:39:38] It's Nicky Payne Snyder.

[00:39:40] Payne was my evading.

[00:39:41] Snyder Real Estate Group is our business page.

[00:39:47] www.snydersellsdsm.com is our website.

[00:39:50] I am on TikTok heavily.

[00:39:52] So Iowa Realtor Nicky Snyder.

[00:39:54] I am also that on Instagram.

[00:39:56] I've got all the links in the show notes below for everybody.

[00:39:59] Nikki, thanks for being here.

[00:40:01] Thank you for having me.

[00:40:02] It was fun.

[00:40:02] Bye, buddy.

[00:40:03] Thanks for listening.

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[00:40:29] Visit Investing in Iowa to fill out an application or recommend a guest.

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[00:40:47] Until next time, keep investing in Iowa.

[00:40:51] Bye.