Buddy and Kimberly run a real estate investment company called White Feather Investments. Buddy is the CEO and Kimberly is the Chief Brand Officer. Their mission at White feather Investments is to educate and empower military members to achieve financial freedom through real estate investing. They do this through education, access to deals and their accelerator class with the ultimate goal of creating generation wealth.
In the past 6 years White Feather Investments has been involved with the purchase over 1,700 properties with a staggering 1.2 Billion dollar value and over 118 Million dollars of rental income to date. White Feather Investments now has over 600 members and 350 graduates from the Accelerator class. 30 of which have gone on to become millionaires.
Prior to White Feather Investments, Buddy was a Marine Officer at Camp Pendleton, Ca. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Kimberly studied Business Management and Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania.
They reside in the San Diego area with 2 young kids and a fur baby.
In this episode:
The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669. For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.
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Buddy and Kimberly run a real estate investment company called White Feather Investments. Buddy is the CEO and Kimberly is the Chief Brand Officer. Their mission at White feather Investments is to educate and empower military members to achieve financial freedom through real estate investing. They do this through education, access to deals and their accelerator class with the ultimate goal of creating generation wealth.
In the past 6 years White Feather Investments has been involved with the purchase over 1,700 properties with a staggering 1.2 Billion dollar value and over 118 Million dollars of rental income to date. White Feather Investments now has over 600 members and 350 graduates from the Accelerator class. 30 of which have gone on to become millionaires.
Prior to White Feather Investments, Buddy was a Marine Officer at Camp Pendleton, Ca. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Kimberly studied Business Management and Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania.
They reside in the San Diego area with 2 young kids and a fur baby.
In this episode:
The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669. For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.
Video Link
Radio Show
Welcome to The Norris Group real estate podcast, a show committed to bringing you insights from thought leaders shaping the real estate industry. In each episode, we'll dive into conversations with industry experts and local insiders, all aimed at helping you thrive in an ever-changing real estate market. continuing the legacy that Bruce Norris created, sharing valuable knowledge, and empowering you on your real estate journey. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a newcomer, this is your go-to source for insider tips, market trends and success strategies. Here's your host, Craig Evans.
Craig Evans:I am so excited to be on this week. We've got a great power couple with us. We have Buddy and Kimberly rushing with us this week. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about him buddy and Kimberly run a real estate investment called White Feather investments. But he is the CEO and Kimberly is the Chief Brand Officer. The mission at White Feather Investments is to educate and empower military members to achieve financial freedom through real estate investing. They do this through education, access to deals and their accelerator class with the ultimate goal of creating generational wealth. In the past six years, White Feather Investments has been involved with the purchase of over 1700 properties with a staggering$1.2 billion value, over $118 million of rental income to date. White Feather Investments now has over 600 members 350 graduates from the accelerator class, 30 which have gone on to become millionaires. Prior to White Feather Investment Buddy was a Marine Officer at Camp Pendleton, California. He graduated from the US Naval Academy with a degree in aerospace engineering. Kimberly studied Business Management and Marketing at St. Joseph's University in Pennsylvania. They now reside in the San Diego area with two young kids and a fur baby. Buddy and Kimberly, it is so good to have you on today. Kimberly, I'm gonna tell you as a husband that's married and has two kids. In my opinion, you and Buddy are the real estate investing power couple, but I'm gonna be honest and from what I understand your own admission, you have been for the most part in the background. So my goal today, Buddy, I love you. But my goal today is I want to help bring Kimberly to the forefront and let's change that today. So listen, buddy, again, it is so good to see you again. Kimberly, it is great to meet you and see you. So I'm so grateful and honored that you are on today and willing to spend some time with us and tell our listeners you know about your story, right. So first of all, let me ask you, how are you guys doing? I know I saw you in November. It's been a while since I've seen you since I Survived Real Estate. How are things been going since then?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, take this one, last year was the, well, last year was the I would say the funnest and the wildest year that we've ever had.
Kimberly Rushing:Yeah.
Buddy Rushing:Right? 'CauseI mean, it was, you know, the pandemic hit. I don't know if you knew this, but I got out of the Marine Corps. Right during the pandemic, like, right in the middle of it, it was October of 2020. And so, you know, didn't have another job lined up, we were just gonna do real estate. And so we're like, alright, well, we've, you know, we've decided to jump off this cliff into the unknown and then a pandemic hits, right.
Kimberly Rushing:And I had my second kid.
Buddy Rushing:And she just had, yeah, our son. And so brand new parents basically. And jobless for the first time in my adult life. And so yeah, that was...
Kimberly Rushing:Great time ago.
Buddy Rushing:That was our pandemic story worked out, but yeah.
Craig Evans:It's needless to say that it's been an interesting few years for you growing through that process. So let me start on some background and I want to set up you guys because I want to make sure our viewers, you know, I know you know, buddy, you were up and did a few things with us at I Survived Real Estate, you know, I really my goal is especially what you're doing for the military background, and for that culture is very dear to my heart. I've got a lot of military in my background, my father, my sister, my wife's parents, grandparents, it just long history of military. So, I love what you're doing for people coming out of the military. So but so really what I want to do is I want people to start knowing who you guys are as people and individuals, right. So let me ask you, Buddy, so if I understand correctly, you're originally from Tennessee, and from what I understand, a pretty humble beginning. So, when I when I look back through that there's some people that are born into those situations, and the reality is that can't ever get out. And there are some who refuse to let that be their story. My question to you as how did growing up in that position affect you and how did you turn that and say 'that's not going to be my story?'
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, you're absolutely right. Someone told me a story one time that has stuck with me forever, and they said, you know, and I don't know if the story is true or not. But it's like a parable, I guess. It says that... it sounds great. It said there were two twin boys that were born into a household where they grew up in the household was filled with abuse and alcoholism. And one went on to become a doctor and to build a beautiful family and the other spent his life going in and out of prison. And when they interviewed both of them, they said, 'You guys are identical twins, you grew up in the exact same household? How did your lives turn out so differently?' and they both had the exact same answer, 'I grew up with an abusive alcoholic father.' So if that doesn't give you chills, then you haven't had enough pain in your life as my father. And so, you know, in growing up, we had the combination of being poor, and of dealing with all the adversity of being poor, but at the same time, you know, our parents in their own way, all in, they encouraged us to break that cycle and to do whatever we could to live our dreams. And so, you know, and for me, it was a combination of, and I tell people this all the time, there are two primary motivators that can motivate somebody to do something that's uncomfortable, pain or pleasure, either seeking pleasure, or mitigating pain, pain works better, right? Your fill, if your current situation is filled with that kind of pain, any kind of pain that you want to get rid of that you want to break, then use that as fuel as motivation to do it. And that's what I did it was it for me, it wasn't was anything more romantic than I need to get the heck out of here, right?
Craig Evans:Right.
Buddy Rushing:Getting the heck out of there for me, led me into the military.
Craig Evans:Well, so I guess that's really I was gonna ask you, and maybe you're answering tha, but I want to hear maybe there's another more direct side of that. But, you know, I know you've hung up the combat boots, so to speak. And I'll tell you, again, I did not serve, but I've got so much service in my background of my family, my wife's family, I want to first of all, I do want to say to Buddy, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your service. That means a lot to meet more people that have chosen to give of their life so that I and other people can do what we do, so that your wife can sit there and did what she did. You know, so I, Buddy, I really appreciate that. So, but in that process, you know, the reality is you're always going to be a Marine. I mean, that's in your blood, you know, but so how is it really, that you came to serve in the Marine Corps?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, you know, it was hilarious, because my dad was drafted into the army during Vietnam and he said, I would rather join the Marine Corps, if I'm going to have to serve, then I would rather serve in the Marine Corps than the army. And so then he went on to have what he would describe to you as a So, from the relationship of you, and Kimberly, did you meet terrible career, like he got but my dad was a three time Lance Corporal. And if you don't know what that means, you get promoted from private to Private First Class to Lance Corporal to Corporal and then beyond, right. You shouldn't hit Lance Corporal three times, you should hit it once. Unless you're the corporal and get busted down. And then you get promoted again to get busted down again, right. So my dad was a three peat, Lance Corporal. And, and you know, he served in Vietnam, right. And so when those guys, when they came back from Vietnam, regardless of how honorably they served, they were split off, and they were shun the people that were supposed to love them the most. And I want to say this about us, you mentioned that you have a family of service that you never served. And I want to tell you this, the way that I feel about this beautiful dream that is America, in my mind, the greatest freest country on Earth and I've lived that the reason that it is yes, is because of the military. But it's also because there's 300 million non military Americans that are just as patriotic and doing their part as well. And so, like, I absolutely believe that to my core, and so imagine my dad coming back from Vietnam and the 300 million or so turning against him and saying, you know, right, so my dad had massive scars, psychological scars from that. He told me not to join the military, right. Well, I remember him saying that he would describe what it meant to be a Marine. And even though my dad was a three time Lance Corporal, he still had that burning pride inside of him that every Marine has, even if they didn't have a successful career as injury. I met a guy one time who had a $200 million law firm, and I sat in his office and behind him was his law degree and his promotion to Lance Corporal whose promotion was to Lance Corporal when he was back when he served in the Marine Corps, right. So he's a $200 million law firm, and he's proud of his law degree and as a promotional Lance Corporal, right. That's how you framed it becomes inside of you. And so, my dad did, regardless of him telling me I shouldn't join the Kimberly, before after you entered the military? military. He couldn't hide the fact that he was forever proud Yes.
Kimberly Rushing:I was 17. to wear that UGA. And so that stuck with me. And so when I
Buddy Rushing:So the answer is yes. Before and after. So I, I joined the Naval Academy you know, there was never really any. I toyed with the idea of being a Navy Seal or being a pilot like Tom Cruise, right and Top Gun, Top Gun is the greatest Navy Recruiting tool in history. It is. Yeah. And that's not anecdotal like that there's metrics that back that up is hilarious. But yeah, so we're not so, but then when I was a sophomore, you know, called a youngster at the Naval Academy when 911 happened. And I was on duty when we watch the planes flying to the World Trade Center. And they put up a combat air patrol from the Roosevelt group out over the naval camp because he thought we were going to be a target as well. And instantly that night, I was like, there's absolutely no way I can do anything but be a Marine, because I need to take the fight to them. I need to leave Marines on the ground. And so that's what led me to try to become a Marine. was at the Naval Academy. I was a second class midshipmen, so Junior. And, you know, I'm,so technically in the military in your ID, you're student, right, so brainy Naval Academy midshipmen listening out there, you're not in the military yet, bro. So but we all thought we were and so...
Kimberly Rushing:They definitely...
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, so, I, they opened up this little DVD movie store in a tiny little part of the campus. And it was a little closet, basically. And I saw that it opened and I walked in, and I saw this, you'd look basically the same as she did then I saw her sitting behind the counter. And I was like, you know, my life will never be the same. Looking diehard.
Kimberly Rushing:...he did bug me every single day.
Buddy Rushing:I did.
Kimberly Rushing:Never once rented a thing.
Buddy Rushing:Every single day. Yeah, I got a couple of them for free. But I never rented any. Yeah. She refused to date me. She literally refused. I tried for a year and a half over a year and a half to get her to go out to like, you know, I don't know Red Robin to get a bacon burger. And she refused to date me. She said she would never date a military guy. She said she would never ever date a military guy.
Craig Evans:She's really thinking if all he has to do is watch movies? This is gonna be those boring guy in the world, right? I gotta find somebody... While at some point you either won her heart over or your mom paid her enough money to say yes to go out with you. So wanted her to happen. So, did it really happen after you were in the military? And when did you guys really, actually connect? And what did that look like?
Kimberly Rushing:MySpace.
Buddy Rushing:MySpace.
Kimberly Rushing:The beauty of MySpace.
Buddy Rushing:Tom was everybody's friend.I love Tom.
Kimberly Rushing:So obviously, it's Buddy. And we were really good friends. So my stepmom worked at the Naval Academy she had since I was three years old. So there was like a strict no dating policy if I was going to work there. So there was a reason and so we were just friends. And so anyway, he left to Okinawa deployed. And he was, I guess, operating out of a Toughbook. While being like...
Buddy Rushing:When I was in Afghanistan. Yeah.
Kimberly Rushing:And, I found him on MySpace. It's been three years I couldn't reach him. I miss him. And I was like, 'Is this the Buddy I used to know?' And then that started a conversation that led to reconnecting a cup. I think, like, what was it a year later, you came back?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, I was in Afghanistan. I was in Paktika Province. And I was, I had, I was attached to a special forces unit with for the army called OTA 171. And I had a little Toughbook like, laptop, like a ruggedized laptop, and I had MySpace. And, you know, that was my link to the real world, right? And yeah, so I see this, I see this picture come in of her. And you know, this 'is this the buddy I used to know.' And it just, all flooded back because I had we hadn't spoken in what a year?
Kimberly Rushing:No, it was three years.
Buddy Rushing:Well, I graduated in 2004. And then this was in 2005. So it was a year later. Yeah, so we hadn't spoken because I went to Okinawa, and I mean, there was no interconnectivity at that time is 2004, 2005. That was all just starting to come out. And so yeah, we completely lost touch and I filed her in, you know, the memory banks as the one that got away, you know, and in Afghanistan, this comes back in and so yeah, it was from my part Fast and Furious from that on I was like, if I'm getting another chance at this girl that you know, I have wanted to and then I've wanted in my life since the day that I met her. And so I'm going to give it everything I got. And so I was flirting madly, and, you know, trying to be as impressive as I possibly could. And I'll see if that work. It did.
Kimberly Rushing:It did.
Craig Evans:This was so you kind of hinted at a few of the things already that I wanted to know about you and your life. So, but you've mentioned Afghanistan, things like that. So alright, so you've had some deployments? How many deployments have you been on in your caree, in your military career? How many have you been on and then, you know, out of those were any of those combat deployments? Well, give me a little of that story of who the Buddy Rushing of that, that time of your life and marine give me a little who that is?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, I did. So I guess we'll take it from least combative to most the I did a stint with the British Royal Marines for a little while over in UK. And then I went to Southeast Asia on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and that's a Southeast Asia deployment. So Thailand, Guam, Philippines, Korea. And then I went to Afghanistan three times. So three combat deployments to Afghanistan.
Craig Evans:Okay. All right. So, you definitely spent your time abroad moving around? How many? Were you on back to backs with those? What was that? What did that look like?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, I did my first Afghan pump in '05. And that was, you know, that was the the one that we just talked about. And then, and then I joined first combat engineer battalion. And then by that time, Kimberly and I were already married. And so I did two back to back. So I did Bridgeport, and then Afghanistan. And then I came back and in Bridgeport and Afghanistan, and that was all in a two year period. So yeah, we I was gone almost the whole time. That's when she was doing the most of the work building our real estate busines, actually, she wouldn't she was holding down the real estate business while I was Afghanistan.
Craig Evans:Well, so that's I actually want to say, I mean, I guess really, I mean, I want to get as I said earlier, I want to get on to the most important part of who this story is gonna be with writers. And that's the woman next to you. And Kimberly, I'll say realistically, again, from having military, my family. Again, no disrespect to Buddy, we, I've given him his praise, and thanks for being in the military. But as he said, I'll say as well, I thank you for your service as well. Being that wife and mother that is home by yourself, trying to figure out how to keep bills paid and keep a household going, while your mates on the other side of the world not know if he comes back, I appreciate your service that is often overlooked by many people. So I appreciate that. So if I understand correctly...
Buddy Rushing:A lot of tears.
Craig Evans:Well, I do I really appreciate that. As Buddy said best earlier, most people overlook the amount of women and families that are completely alone and trying to figure out how to get by without their man. So I appreciate your service and what you did for our country as well. So now in kind of following your history, because again, this the, I know we spoke at about real estate said hello, and but I'm excited to get to know more about you. But if I'm understanding correctly, you're originally from Annapolis, is that correct? And do you come from a military family as well? Or is that was this new to you?
Kimberly Rushing:My dad served briefly but I didn't grow up in that. I am from Annapolis. And then my parents divorced right after I was born basically and just kind of went further apart. But I came back to Annapolis for college so I can put myself through school. And then that's why I was working at the Naval Academy 80 hours a week and I met him.
Craig Evans:So I guess growing up you know, because things obviously switch for you. You're trying to figure out how to how to work through life things like that. Growing up did you ever see yourself as a real estate investor or what was your dream as the little girl you know, I've got as a dad of two daughters I, real estate investment is not my daughter's...What was what was Kimberly's? You know, dream growing up? What did you want to be?
Kimberly Rushing:You know, this is gonna sound terrible, but I just, I knew that I wanted to do something special. I didn't know what that was. Like, we had kind of a hard upbringing. Let's just leave it there. Like just with a lot of brokenness. And so I just felt I wanted to do something special and do something for myself. And I was just grasping at straws. So my mom was a real estate agent. So I would see her on that side, and just the joy of helping people find a home. And then my stepdad used to work on historic homes. And so he would take me with him and show me this old house that he was gutting and wanted to renovate and he would let me help. I was like five six years old a hammering nails into wood and this old beat up Alison, Norfolk, Virginia, and I had an absolute blast so I was that girl with a hammer and nails instead of the Barbie dolls and others that made it their mission to beat me up at all times. So I was very much tomboy, but that's what I enjoy doing. And then my dad, in all intents and purposes could have been a contractor. So he at this point kind of built his house from the ground up. So I've had a lot of that in my history and my background, but there was never a call for that. There was never a desire for that. I think it started with college when I lived by myself, and I worked so much I had no friends. And I watched HGTV.
Craig Evans:Except for buddy that was coming to rent movies from you.
Kimberly Rushing:...No, I just work too much didn't have any money or time. I mean, Philadelphia was so expensive. I had five jobs and was going to school. So the little bit of free time I had, I would just watch the one channel that I could get in my apartment. It was HGTV.
Buddy Rushing:No heat.
Kimberly Rushing:No, I couldn't afford heat. He offered to pay my heat bill but when he come visit.
Buddy Rushing:I came to visti her and it was freezing, and she was like, 'just put on another blanket.' And I'm like, 'no, just pay your heat bill.' She was like, 'I can't afford my heat bill,' I was like, 'I'll pay it' so I paid her heat bill so we could turn the heat on. She made me, what was it eggs, scrambled eggs mixed with like oat bran cereal like that. She had no food. She had no food. She was so poor. And so...
Kimberly Rushing:It actually is really tasty.
Buddy Rushing:It was not tasty at all.
Kimberly Rushing:Cereal and Honey...
Buddy Rushing:It's as bad as it sounds. It does carmelize...
Craig Evans:Kimberly, really appreciate all you've done for your country. But listen, yeah but don't make me breakfast. These are the things that I want people to see in life, you know. So oftentimes, I think people think that, you know, as real estate investors, so many people start out like a Donald Trump or somebody that, hey, their dad has handed him money and they have this pool. And, you know, people don't always get to hear that, 'hey I couldn't pay my heat bill.' And I had to eat, okay, no offense, 'but gross things because I didn't afford anything else.' You know, I was trying to rub two pennies to make $1. You know, people don't always hear that. And especially in a lot of our culture today so many people just think it should be instantaneous. And that's part of why I really want to hear about who you guys are as people, what do you, what did you fight through to get to be who you are. So, so buddy, let me jump back to you real quick. From a from a work history and education if I remember, right, you had told me one time you got a degree in aerospace engineering. Is that correct?
Buddy Rushing:Yeah, that's what I'm, you know, I so at the Naval Academy, you have to declare a major, right? You can't just, you know, get a basket weaving right? Or whatever. Like you have to it's a STEM school, right? So you have to get some kind of, you can't do like, get a like a bachelor of fine arts and like piano or something. They're like, no, you need to study science, right? And so I was...
Craig Evans:Get a major like flight or being a Tom Cruise flight..
Buddy Rushing:...being cool. I tried. You know, so it was like Chemistry, Organic Chemistry or like differential equations. All this super nerd super hard stuff. By the way, the academics, there's so hard. And so I was just scraping to get by. And I was like, You know what? Aerospace Engineering sounds awesome. That's like the guys that shoot rockets into space. And they fly planes and flying planes is awesome. Rockets are awesome. Give me aerospace. That's how I chose it. That's the amount of intellectual rigor I put into choosing my and, it was the hardest major ever, and I've barely barely made it. And so yes, you have an aerospace undergrad, but don't think for a second that I'm a rocket scientist, because I'm not.
Craig Evans:Actually, I was gonna ask you, did you ever consider working in that kind of field? But I think you've already answered that for me. It's like, I don't even got the job in there., right?
Kimberly Rushing:He would love it.
Buddy Rushing:I don't I could have gotten a job No, I you know, I'm not the, you don't want like SpaceX Elon is not going to call me and be like,'Hey, can you help me design the car?' Right?
Craig Evans:Either of you. How did the journey start? How did the real estate journey start and and who kind of got the first edge between you?
Buddy Rushing:Um, so I did. I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad when I was in Afghanistan, actually. And it was like, Oh, wow. So you buy a house, you renovate it, you sell it and you're rich. Okay. That's the formula. And so I come in and I take full responsibility for this. The first decision we made, I made, because she wasn't out there yet was to buy a house, unrenovated and then spend my days and you know, weekends and stuff renovating it myself, right. Which, you know, that sounds like a great idea, except I closed escrow on the property June 5 of 2007 And so I bought an unrent...let that sink in for everybody for a second. I bought an unrenovated property in June 5 of 2007, with the intent to renovate it over the course of a year or two, and then sell it. And she came out about halfway through the process where I'd already sunk a lot of money into it. We had books from Home Depot and YouTube videos to learn how to renovate a house, which I will tell you...
Kimberly Rushing:You can learn a lot from youtube.
Buddy Rushing:Technically, you can do that, we did. The only thing we didn't do was the electrical and the plumbing.
Kimberly Rushing:Oh no, you tried to tried the plumbing.
Buddy Rushing:Tried plumbing. I was yeah, I remember it. So I was it. That's another story altogether. But I was like trying to... you're supposed to stick bread down into a pipe and solder it so it holds. And then the bread will come out. And I'm sitting here solder and water pressure was the bread to like release and it just hit me right in the face, right.
Kimberly Rushing:It was like maybe...
Buddy Rushing:It was raining bread. It was stuck on the ceiling. It was coming down. I was in my uniform by the way. I was completely covered in...
Kimberly Rushing:So it's the it's the kitchen wall. So he's doing splits. So all I do is I walk in, but he's doing split against the wall. And I see this volcanic eruption of red water, just playing him in the chin and...
Buddy Rushing:She was useless to help. I was floundering drowning even my life was in danger. And I was like, Please, someone helped me and she was doing this. She was...unhelpful, wildly unhealpful. We painted over...
Craig Evans:You guys know I own one of the companies. I got on a plumbing company, right. And I think I'm gonna play this clip at our next safety toolbox talk... I'm hiring a new a new department manager and I want you to meet your new department manager. It'll be great.
Buddy Rushing:Yeah.
Craig Evans:So Kimberly, let me ask you, can you talk about the early years, you know, buddy's deployed your mom their house, I don't know how soon it is that you were having children things like that. But you're stateside and you're running, in essence, the business right? So kind of walk me through how, how that process because buddy's already thrown you into this by buying the first house and you're going through it and now he's deployed. And now you're CEO, CFO, chief bottle washer and hammer and husband and wife and mom and and anything else you can be, how did that kind of work for you?
Kimberly Rushing:Well, the deployments, we didn't have kids yet. So I will say that that definitely on my end made it easy. So we just went to school. And then we moved to San Diego, which we'd never been like neither of us ever been, we didn't even have an address we just showed up. And we're like, okay, where are we going? Where are we going to live?
Buddy Rushing:Drive around and look for for rent signs.
Kimberly Rushing:Drove around. That's what we did. And we found one and told the moving company where to drop our stuff off now that we finally had a place. And pretty much right after that he starts training. And then right after that he deploys. And I was working for Jenny Craig at the time, and they have only a lottery system. So if you want to take time off, you have to ask to be in the lottery. And they basically effectively told me I could not take leave, or I couldn't take off to spend time with him before he left for deployment. And I was like, Okay, I guess I'm not coming back to Jenny Craig when I'm done. So we spent a week just spending time together. It was it was the hardest. Obviously, it's the first like real deployment that I had been with him from the beginning. And I've never experienced anything like that. It was hard. It was special, obviously.
Craig Evans:Let me ask you this Buddy. So we now know that Kimberly, I interrupt there, because I have now heard that Kimberly is really the brains behind how you were getting there. So how you're only literally on the other side of the world fighting for our country, right? How are you getting houses done? What was happening?
Buddy Rushing:So he would send me the numbers and that was basically my goal, right? It was like, Okay, go and he's like, if you can get it for this guy have at it. And so we would make the offers and then they would say yes, eventually. And that was it. And so as soon as they would say yes, I started interviewing contractors, and we finally got a couple under our belt, because that was local. And so then I would meet with a contractor. And yeah... These are Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley contractors, by the way. So Craig, you're in the contracting world, and you're in Florida, right. So you know that contractors come in all shapes and sizes, and some of them are hard drinkers hard fighters. They'll get get sent to jail over the weekend and get bailed out on Monday and come to work right now. So, So Kimberly is dealing with these contractors, right? And they loved her. And she was, I mean, it would be like, it would be like, no, no, I'm sorry, we're not gonna be able to meet that timeline. And then, you know, somehow or another, she would cajole them into like, oh, well, can you finish by this time? And, and...
Kimberly Rushing:You know why? Because I was really nice, okay, you make it seem like a take advantage of them. We have fun. And oftentimes, when they would do their thing, I would be in there doing stuff too, because I had a budget and Buddy would give me a very hard budget. And I was like, if we went over on this, and we don't have room for that, guess who gets to do? And so we just made it work, honestly. And I was like, I am going to make this happen, because what are we doing? If we're not if we're not moving forward, right. And I want him to come back from deployment and see that I could do it and be proud of me.
Craig Evans:So what do you think's the craziest thing that you've done? Personally, that you had to dive in? Get your hands dirty. That Kimberly you've had to do to meet budget and get a house over the finish line to make that deal happen and finish and be rentable or sellable.
Buddy Rushing:I think it had to be the 40 hour painting stretch and sleeping in the closet?
Kimberly Rushing:Oh, yeah. So yeah, that was fun. That was fun, z's. So
Buddy Rushing:Yeah. the contract. That was the guy who did not know what to do with me, because he was like, Oh, we just you know, we can't seem to get it done in time. And I was there physically there watching them eating, talking on the phone, and I'm painting and sweating and then like, I would run fast food, come back eat french fries, like while painting. So I think like they just realized, like when I say timeline, like we have to, right like our numbers are here for a reason. Because now we have to free up our money and get a renter. We couldn't afford to have it professionally painted because the price and I think at the time it was like they bid like $3,000 to paint the whole house. That's crazy. Oh my god Kimberly's like,'Oh'..,
Kimberly Rushing:That's a bedroom out here.
Buddy Rushing:Yeah. Like 'To heck with that. I'm gonna go to Home Depot, buy a bunch of paints and rollers and paint the whole house myself in 40 hours', and she did.
Kimberly Rushing:In a 120 degree heat because you don't have air conditioners there wtih my dog and the contractor took off the front door handle and so the door wouldn't lock. And so I thought it was a good idea, which is totally unsafe. We couldn't afford a hotel. And so I was like, 'Well, okay, so if someone breaks in, where are they going to? What are they going to steal? There's nothing in here.' And so I was like,'Okay, well, I'll sleep in the closet who's gonna look from the closet?' Well, I didn't realize the closet, like this . And I brought my dog with me and I had to close the doors. Because why are you gonna be in the closet, doors aren't shut. And so then I really like this. And then my dog just like sits on. So I got about two hours of sleep... That's probably the worst.
Buddy Rushing:And got back up. And then finish the paint.
Craig Evans:You can't make these stories up. And this is part of what I want people to hear the journey sometimes it's a battle, right? You've got to be creative. You got to be willing to commit. You know, buddy, you said it early, you got to take action. You didn't pay contractors to do everything you dove in to meet budgets and hit timelines. You sweated, you slept at night on the floor, you did the things to get it done. That's some many times what you got to do to be successful and push through. So, let me ask you this, you know, do you believe that the real estate business that you guys were building at that time? You know, Kimberly, do you think that helped you get through the deployment?
Kimberly Rushing:Oh, 100%, I would have absolutely lost my mind. Because it's not just the fact that they're gone. It's the fact that you don't know if they're coming home. And if I was just left to sit and think about that every day I would have I can't I'm way too emotional for that I don't want to talk about like I still staying busy and doing something and that, like back and forth like was such a cool team effort that we had, I felt so much more connected to him than I ever would have felt any other way. And my favorite part was being excited not just for him to come home. But for him to come home and see it all.
Buddy Rushing:Yeah.
Kimberly Rushing:And getting to take them to the houses that he's never set foot on. And he's only seen the before photos and see all of the work that was done and what it looks like and the look on his face that made it all worth it. And I don't think I've ever felt that feeling before that was yeah, that it so yes, it does. Your question. Absolutely got me through.
Craig Evans:I'm sure you're hyper aware, you know, you were in that position. You're aware of the risks that you're taking being in the military. Let me ask you as the husband did that give you a little peace of mind. This is a tough question. The emotional question, but did that give you any peace of mind knowing that Kimberly was there building a business. Yes for you too. But if the worst case scenario were to happen, you were building a business that would have provided for Kimberly and that she would have been okay?
Buddy Rushing:I don't think I thought about it in terms of that. simply because you can't at least for me, I, death was everywhere. And it, you can't dwell on it. Otherwise you're just petrified you're scared all the time. Interestingly enough, I wasn't nearly as scared of my first deployment when I wasn't married when we weren't together, it was way more what we call kinetic so violent, but I was way more afraid for, you know, for the loss, right, I had more to lose, right. And so I was way more afraid to second and third combat deployments. But what I'll tell you is, it wasn't, 'Oh, she's gonna be okay. Because, you know, she's got this business', I've never doubted that Kimberly would be okay, like, she's so resourceful. She's so intelligent. And like, I actually believe way more than her than she believes in herself, which is not an uncommon phenomenon when it comes to husbands and wives, like this, right? She's petrified to come on here. And I knew she'd be phenomenal. But she, you know, but I mean, that's the fact that she's willing to take action, in spite of her natural sort of fears and everything, it's even more remarkable. And so I didn't fear for her. But what I loved about the fact that we were doing this together was it gave us a complete other dimension, have something to talk about, besides, 'I miss you, oh, I miss you'. Because if that's all you talk about, then it like, it just drains your soul, right? Because it's just you're just focusing on what you don't have, and the loss. Whereas when we can shift ourselves to something that's less pure, you know, emotion and more practical. I would tell you, you want to survive traumatic experiences, route yourself in the practical, put one foot in front of the other, go out on patrol, do your job, focus on the things you can control. And I promise you, it makes it a lot easier to deal with really extreme situations like your husband being over in Afghanistan, or literally being there in that place of extreme violence. So yeah, I mean, it was when I talked to her and we talked about running the numbers and things like that there's when you look at a spreadsheet and run the numbers, your brain is not thinking about, 'Oh, I could lose my legs tomorrow', right? It's therapeutic. Like, I haven't even thought about that until just now. But like that's, that was a really big place of peace that we, you know, we grew a lot closer because of that. So it's wild to say that a business can bring you closer as a married couple, but it did.
Craig Evans:Well, and it's interesting as you're sitting here talking, I'm, you know, as a dad of two I'm thinking about how I teach my daughters. I'm thinking about when I'm teaching classes, what do I talk about how I'm teaching, and it hit me that as you're describing what you're talking about, you're going on and you're you're standing that line, you're walking in line, you're doing your job day in and day out, right? You run the numbers you and Kimberly are having a plan. And I think so many people forget that sometimes to get through the beginning phases of their life or the hard phase of their life. Sometimes you've just got to stand up and do your job. Okay, that's gonna do it for part one of our interview with Kimberly and Buddy with White Feather Investments. Stay tuned next week for the second half of that is going to be great.
Narrator:For more information on hard money loans, trust deed investing, and upcoming events with The Norris group. Check out thenorrisgroup.com. For more information on passive investing through the DBL Capital Real Estate Investment Fund, please visit dblapital.com.
Joey Romero:The Norris group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE license 01219911. Florida mortgage lender license 1577 and NMLS license 1623669. For more information on hard money lending go to thenorrisgroup.com and click the hard money tab.