42. How a Respiratory Therapist Built Financial Independence With Fix and Flips | Yenny Alfaro

How a Respiratory Therapist Gained Financial Independence With Fix and Flips| Yenny Alfaro

Buying your first investment property can be exciting—but what happens when your very first deal doesn't go as planned?

In this episode of Real Estate Chisme, Violeta sits down with respiratory therapist, entrepreneur, and real estate investor Yenny Alfaro to discuss how she went from working hospital shifts to building wealth through fix-and-flip investing. Yenny shares the honest story behind her first flip, the costly mistakes she made, and how those lessons helped her achieve financial freedom without leaving the career she loves.

From saving every extra dollar to fund her first investment to navigating contractors, hard money loans, and unexpected renovation costs, Yenny offers practical advice for anyone thinking about getting started in real estate. She also shares how investing has given her more time with her children and why she believes anyone willing to learn can build wealth through real estate.

Whether you're dreaming about your first flip, considering rental properties, or simply looking for inspiration to take your first step, this conversation is filled with valuable lessons from someone who's been exactly where you are.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Why Yenny decided to invest in real estate while keeping her full-time healthcare career
• How she saved enough money to fund her first fix-and-flip project
• The biggest mistakes she made on her first investment property
• What happened when a wholesaler overestimated the property's value
• How she overcame fear after realizing her first deal was much harder than expected
• What to know before using hard money lenders to finance a flip
• Why taking rehab funds may be smarter than paying renovation costs yourself
• Common renovation surprises, including foundation issues and termites
• How to avoid being taken advantage of by contractors
• The importance of studying your local market before buying a property
• Why your first investment should be viewed as an education, not just a payday
• How Yenny balances motherhood, healthcare, and real estate investing
• What financial freedom looks like for her today—and why she still chooses to work as a respiratory therapist
• Encouragement and practical advice for Latinas who want to start investing in real estate

Links Mentioned: 

Join the  Latinas in Real Estate Community

More on the Blog!

https://moneychisme.com/from-respiratory-therapist-to-real-estate-investor-yennys-journey/

Connect with Yenny Alfaro:

TikTok: @yenrealestateinvestor

Instagram: @yenrealestateinvestor

Transcript

Meet Yenny Alfaro and her journey into real estate investing

Yenny 0:00

On the day that I find that into the purchase, I remember I didn't want to speak to anybody. I just started crying because I thought, what did I get myself into? This guy's making $28,000 for me. He took advantage of me. That's what I thought. You know, he took advantage of me. How am I going to do this? And then the property, it needed a lot of work. So it is very challenging. The first time was very challenging. Financially, emotionally.

Violeta 0:27

Hola, hola, welcome to another episode. Today I have a special guest that is using her career to fund her investments in real estate. She is a respiratory therapist, entrepreneur, and real estate investor. And she's over here sharing and showing how you don't have to leave your career to build wealth with real estate. She's over here balancing hospital shifts, saving lives while also managing all these fix and flip projects that she has. So I have with me Jenny Alfaro, and she's going to be sharing about her real investing journey because you know Latinas are out here investing. Like you just gotta go out there and find us where you are out here investing in real estate. So hola Yenny, thank you so much for joining. Hola, hola. Yeah, so I found Jenny like where I find most of people like on TikTok. I saw that she's over here investing, like in Houston. I'm in San Antonio, and so I invited her so that way she could share like her strategy, her lessons learned. So we're gonna be talking about how she got started in real estate. I mentioned that she does fix and flips, so she's gonna be talking

Why she chose real estate while keeping her healthcare career

Violeta 1:45

a little bit about that strategy, and we're also going to do some lessons learned because it's not always rainbows and sunshine. So we're gonna also share, you know, some of the obstacles that she had to navigate and how she overcame that. So I think we'll start with that and start with what is your real estate. We talked about that you're doing fix and flips and um, yeah, a little bit about that.

Yenny 2:10

So I'm not being a respiratory therapist for 10 more than 10 years. But I always thought, you know, education is everything. I worked very hard, you know, to go to college. I was first generation going to college. I didn't have any help, so I thought this is it, this is a dream. And I landed on that. But then I realized that the hospital has so much control over my time. I still had to work weekends, I still had to work holidays, and I didn't like that. I didn't like that, so I thought I need to invest my money in something else. And I always I was always very curious about real estate, fixing flipping. So I started saving every single penny I had. Every single penny I've had. I mean, resell things for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. I would sell flowers and plushes on the streets. I don't know if that happens to San Antonio, like maybe San Antonio comments to make extra money. Okay, to make extra money to be able to fund my first on Twitter. So then I started doing a lot of research. I watched a ton of videos on TikTok, YouTube, I would read comments so I could get advice, you know, learning how to do it. I started researching in my era, in my zip code, how much the houses were selling for, how much could I pay for? I've had no experience in construction, in remodeling, zero experience. All I had was unwill to be able to do it and manage my own time. I do have uh two kids, Sasha and Leonardo, they're seven, and nine now. So for me, it was so important to have free time so I could be able to drop them off to school, pick them up from school, have my weekends quit then. So that's how it started.

Violeta 4:02

So you found out about real estate investing like online and you saw like the picks and flips, and you're like, I'm gonna go for that. And I like that you found a way. I think that's one of the barriers is like, how am I gonna get

How she found and financed her first fix-and-flip

Violeta 4:15

the money to buy my first, you know, real estate investment? And you just showed some different creative ways to get there. It's like, you know, you could go raise money different ways, you just gotta go out there and find it and find something that you're able to do and things like that. So I want to go into a little bit of how did you find your first investment? You'd you invest locally in Houston right now. Is that how you got started still?

Yenny 4:43

Yes. So I spent about six months going to showings, studying the market, the ARV of the properties, and just going to showings, okay? I didn't make them move. I was just I just kept going for about six months. And then finally there was a property that came up in my neighborhood. The wholesaler had it for $160,000. And I thought, you know, this is perfect. He said that the ARV was $265, you know, and I had done my research, but I was still, I had no experience, you know. So I was hoping that that was going to be the ARV. Honestly, the for the first property, I made a lot of mistakes. I was hoping that that's what the property was gonna go for, but once I got in, actually that was not the ARV, it was much lower than that. So I ended up buying it for $160,000. I start on the day that I sold it, I got like four different contractors come and look at it so someone could take on the job. And that's how it started. That that was my first property.

Violeta 5:45

How did you fund it? Did you buy it like cash or did you like did you use a loan, or how did you fund it?

Yenny 5:52

So I used hard money. I used hard money, and they funded the purchase, not the rehab. So that was another thing. I should have taken the rehab money, but I thought, you know, I'm going to save myself that interest. But in reality, it's not that big of a difference. You learn along the way that I didn't have to be so broke. Because it was very hard. It was very the first property was very hard.

Violeta 6:21

Yeah, that's what some of my properties that I first bought, they're still teaching me lessons because those lessons were delayed because I had tenants in there that kind of just were paying. But now, after a few years, like things are starting to come up, and I was like, dang, I should have like now in hindsight, now that I have more experience that I should have taken care of at the beginning. But when you're like new, you don't you don't realize these things. So that's why I like to share, like, you know, it's not always smooth sailing, and especially at the beginning, there's gonna be a cost that you have to account for as well. Like, you're gonna get into real estate, and obviously the goal, you want to make some income, you want to make some money, but like sometimes it's going to be a cost for that education. And you mentioned it a little bit earlier with the wholesaler. That was one thing as well. Like, I haven't had to buy, I haven't bought from a wholesaler, but I do see them on like real estate investment groups, and I do see that, you know, now I've been doing it for some time, how they will do the ARV, they don't calculate it correctly because sometimes they don't know how to do it themselves. People get into becoming a wholesaler because you know it's they're like, Oh yeah, you know, go out there, look for a rehab property, get it under contract and sell it to somebody else, right? And so with me, I keep them for long-term rentals. So with mine, I always see them that they do the cash flow wrong. And so because

The costly mistake she made on her first investment

Violeta 7:45

they just do like the basic. And I was like, How did you say that they're gonna get like 600 or whatever amounts, but then you actually do the calculations like that's nowhere near.

Yenny 7:56

So yeah, I don't know how they did their the ARV for that property, but yeah, for this property, the ARV was inflated for like $15,000 and that was names. And when I bought the property, I discovered that he made $28,000 from that sale. Yeah, so I was I was very afraid on the day that I signed that into the purchase. I remember I didn't want to speak to anybody. I didn't just study crying because I thought, what did I get myself into? This guy's needing $28,000 for me, needs to advantage from me. That's what I thought, you know, took advantage of me. How am I gonna do this? And then the property it needed a lot of work. So it is very challenging. The first time was very challenging financially, emotionally, and then once I got the property, I got four contractors that came, right? And then these people don't believe in you. Like you are a woman dealing with them, and honestly, uh, they took advantage of me.

Violeta 8:58

Yeah.

Yenny 8:58

But you know, uh after all, I'm very grateful because that was my school. I needed to go through that, I needed to learn. So nowadays they don't take advantage of me anymore.

Violeta 9:10

Yeah, that's one thing that we also like mention a little bit is that I do notice this recent property I did more hands-on. Usually I had my property manager, so I did notice a little bit of that. But throughout, you know, my real estate investments when I go buy or whatever, like, yeah, there's also costs for being a woman because they will try to pull one over you. And yeah, unfortunately, you had to deal with that as well. And I did want to mention, like, we're talking about ARV. For those who don't know, it's after repair value. And so the goal is that she's buying a property at a lower cost. And then did the wholesaler told you the ARV? Did they tell you? Because sometimes they'll give you like an estimated rehab amount, like, oh, it's a rehab. So I was just curious to see like if they had given you one and how close to that was it?

Yenny 10:02

And for the rehab, no, it didn't, he didn't give me one. Yeah, I thought I was going to spend fifty thousand dollars and no, I'm sorry, forty thousand dollars. Yeah, so I ended up doing over eleven thousand dollars on that rehab. Yeah, it needed

What to know before using hard money lenders

Yenny 10:20

a lava work, the house needed, it needed windows, foundation, roof, and interior remodelation.

Violeta 10:26

Yeah, yeah. So I'm also curious to know for because for those that haven't done a hard money lender, and I haven't like done one, but I have some hard money lenders that I know. I'm just waiting for the right property to go over there with them. But can you explain how that process was? Like, what did they ask for you? Because I know as a new investor, they're probably like asked you for more down, or or how was the process for you as a new investor? Because I think that's one thing that intimidates a lot of people is like they're scared of like the lender or they feel like oh I'm just so new, like they're not going to let me borrow money or or anything like that. So, how was the process for you?

Yenny 11:07

So they knew that I was new in the business. Honestly, they just went by the property value. The ARB worked, so that's what they went by. What can I tell you? I mean, they didn't ask me for more money, not the specific lender, they didn't treat me differently because that was the first time. Now their paper worked. So when you go with high money, the first thing I always do is go shop for high risk insurance. Because they do offer one that is usually higher. You're gonna get a closing, so you have high risk insurance. Then you're going to pay for an appraisal. They do their own appraisal to see if they have matches to what you're saying. And then you give your bank statements, you do two months of bank statements, and showing that you have funds, that you have savings. And you need about 30% of what the ARB is. That's how much money you need for closing. And then they'll let you know, they'll give you a quote to let you know what will be their fees, how much you can borrow, and then you accept it, or if you don't accept it, you know. And you can chat with different lenders. That's fine.

Violeta 12:14

Yeah, that's about what it is for me. It'll be yeah, a little bit higher, 30%. And then once I get a few under my belt, they're gonna drop it down to lower. So I just gotta get the few ones. This one will count because it was kind of a rehab, but I kept it as a rental. So yeah, so that's all the stuff that like is things that you have to learn about and not be afraid to ask. Like, they're just gonna they're gonna tell you upfront everything and how it works and all that. But you didn't take the rehab portion because usually they're gonna give you the money to purchase the property and then they'll fund also.

Yenny 12:49

Yeah, you can also you can also request their rehab funds with them. So your interest payment will go up by maybe $200 a month, is not that much.

Why funding your rehab can save you stress

Yenny 13:00

I highly recommend it. Don't do it like me on the first time. I actually did three properties like that. Okay, during the process, it was very challenging financially because I have my regular house payment, and then you also have, you know, the interest payment and you're funding all the rehabs. So I don't recommend it. I mean, if you have the money, but you're only saving yourself maybe like $100 or $200 a month. So I don't even recommend that you do it, that you get the rehab money with them.

Violeta 13:27

So were you just using like your W2 or were you using like credit cards, or how were you using it?

Yenny 13:32

I think no, I had never had credit cards. I only have one personal credit card. I never got into debt. So I didn't even get credit cards. It was just all my money. All my hard working money. Thank you. So you're fine. But after my third property, my brother whispered to me, hey, you should get a credit card. You're not gonna have interest for the first 12 months. And I was very negative about it because I'm like, no, I don't want to have any any more deaths. But I didn't get a taking his word and I tried it, and yeah, I mean, it was great because you were not using all your money.

Violeta 14:09

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I had to do with this recent one because I was waiting on some money. It didn't arrive in time, it still hasn't arrived. And I was gonna use most of that to fund the rehab, so I just started using my credit cards that I have, and yeah, and just the rents are just paying the card off.

Yenny 14:28

Yeah, to me to mute, you can open a personal credit card and then open one under your LLC, and there's so many different companies. I mean, you can work with it for many years where you don't have to pay interest at least for the first year.

Violeta 14:42

Yeah, yeah, there's definitely some cards. Matter of fact, the one that I just opened, they have that option where if I use like one card, then I bring over the balance to this new card, then I have that I think it's like 12 months of zero interest. So that's a strategy probably in the future,

Foundation issues, termites, and renovation fears

Violeta 15:00

but we'll see how it works because I haven't done uh fix and flips. I want to challenge myself to do one, but like we'll see. We'll see. I just I have too many projects right now going on to kind of go.

Yenny 15:10

And I want to tell people that are starting a lot. I remember the things that I was very afraid of was the foundation and permits. I was I had this fear, you know. Oh my goodness, this property has bad foundation. Here in Houston, almost every property will have foundation problems. Okay, almost every property. So don't be afraid of that. All you have to do is hire a foundation company that will come and repair it, make sure you get a lifetime warranty. That's it. And if you got teramites, your general contractor will come and cut the bad wood and just replace it with good one and has it treat it, and that's it. But I was very afraid of that because it was like, wow, it's foundation. And it's like it can be repair.

Violeta 15:53

And that's one of the things that is with most of Texas, because I just got into the San Antonio market, and every house that I would go to, yeah, I had foundation issues. And you know, now because I have more experience like that didn't necessarily scare me off. It was just that freaking sellers didn't want to come down on the price, they wanted it up here, like top dollar. I don't know, the San Antonio market. The sellers were still a little bit stubborn on how they were pricing their houses. Even this one, I was like, they wanted like way up there, and I was like, no, but yeah, so foundations I've been seeing, but I'm not gonna let, like you said, scare me off as well. Yeah. The numbers were and all that. This recent one, I did have to deal with termites, so they weren't in the property anymore, but they had been in the walls, and I had termite guy come in, he assessed the property, they were just mostly on the outer walls, just looks like they were just hiding from the heat or something. But they had already moved out, so he treated the whole house and looks good. This is the older property, so this one is like the Pier and Beam type, so there's a little bit of shifting, but not too much. And so it's good for now and in the future. I'll probably just save up to level it again at some point.

Yenny 17:12

Uh yeah, and then you just put it in your expenses, you know.

Violeta 17:16

Yeah.

Yenny 17:18

But yeah, it's something like to not be afraid of. I at least I will be afraid of the foundation and the termites. But it's nothing to be afraid of. You have to deal with your parents and make sure you have it accounted on your expenses. Yeah, and then it will work.

Violeta 17:33

Yeah, it's a learning experience. That one I did freak out with the termites, and then the termite guy came out, and he's like, it's okay, like checked it out, you're fine. We're just gonna treat it so they don't come back. They look like they were here a while ago, so they moved right back out, and so that was it. Sprayed it, and I'm good. And not a big deal. Yeah, and it was a big deal. I was stressing, but I originally thought it was gonna be mold because it like it looked like moisture, and I have some videos that I'll link that episode if people are curious to look at how it looked, but yeah, it looked like moisture damage to me because with this property, I'm assuming it was the tenant now. They cut out a hole on the wall to put an AC unit, like a window AC unit, because they couldn't put it on the window because it was too big, or it's a weird type of window, it's not like these where you could easily put it. So instead they cut through the wall, and so I thought that was it. Then I pulled it back, and then I saw like some stuff, and we freaked out thinking it was gonna be mold. And when I pulled out more, I saw the tunnels, like, oh, it's termites, and so then that's when I freaked out. And it didn't end up being two termites, both are terrible. Yeah, yeah. But I'm over here thinking, you know, we we were mentioning it kind of offline that uh like you know, my background is in industrial hygiene, which is just occupational health and safety. So I'm thinking mode and I'm running all this stuff in my head, and you're respiratory, so you can kind of relate and stuff. So I was thinking that because we didn't have the mask on at that time. So we just ran out of the house and we're like, ah, and then put the mask on, went back in, and but no, it was just termites. So and I think it ended up being I think it was just like $2,000 for the remediation. They went around, did all that stuff. And then I have credit towards a different thing because I asked them for a discount. They're like, Well, we can't give you always ask for a discount too, because they'll give it to you most of the time, especially like the other ones.

Yenny 19:44

They always do this, yeah. Yeah, and you know, and for me, I had to disclose that I had turnmines on the property. Yeah, for my first property, I did have turn mines, so I had to disclose it. But all you might show it was treated. Here's a warranty, they give your warranty for five years. If anything happens, then your owner can call. So it's great. It's great.

Violeta 20:06

I think that's what I want people to take away. Like, don't freak out. There's things that you have to do. So I got an older property, but I'm curious since you are a fix and flipper, what kind of like age range do you go for your houses?

Yenny 20:19

So here in Houston, I like to give properties that was built above 1975. Because properties prior to that, you have to change the electrical system, the electrical wiring. So I avoid that. And the properties after 1975 will pass.

Violeta 20:37

Yeah.

Yenny 20:37

So for older property, you have to change the electrical wire.

Violeta 20:40

Yeah, those are things to keep into account because this property, this one's from like 1940s, 1950s, around there. And yeah, it has older, a little bit older wiring. They most of it got replaced, uh, but there's still some older one that maybe in the future we'll have to get fully replaced. But right now, as long as I don't do like a full remodel, it's fine. I had the electrician just test the electro outlets, make sure they're, you know, not open or anything like that. Yeah. And the other thing too is was like asbestos. I had to deal with that one here. I could have left it, but I knew I would be managing this property myself, meaning I would be doing the maintenance and stuff. And I was like, I'm not gonna expose myself to go up there and disturb the asbestos because they had asbestos, like that rock insulation. And I'm assuming there's some lead paint somewhere. So those are like the three things to look out for in these older properties. This one was my learning one because this was more of a rehab turning

How much she actually made on her first flip

Violeta 21:45

into a long term rental. So it was an interesting experience. Yeah, they teach you a lot. Yeah, yeah, it was interesting. So now what I'm curious to know like your mindset because did you still like make money off that first deal or like how did it go?

Yenny 22:03

So I ended up maybe maybe four thousand dollars. Yeah, but I was just grateful to get all my money back for the first property. I was able to get four thousand dollars. I didn't lose money because thank God I didn't I'm very grateful for that. But I didn't I went in knowing that I was going to lose money. But I wanted to learn. You know, I wanted to learn and that's what was important to me.

Violeta 22:28

Yeah. And so you were doing it all just yourself. You went in you're like all right I'm gonna get this property. You had contractors so you had like experts that knew how to do things.

Yenny 22:37

I no I didn't know anybody. Oh no I just wanted it's like I threw myself in the ocean and I'm like reporting now you have to now you have to swing girl.

Violeta 22:47

So this that's how that you do it. Like you know like I just always like mention like yeah you you know I mean ideally but sometimes some people just work that way and I kinda am a little bit of both a little bit of planning but sometimes I'm just like you know what I'm just gonna go do it. So that's what you ended up doing.

Yenny 23:03

Yeah I knew I just I was willing to lose money. I thought if I lose five thousand dollars I'll be okay I didn't want to lose more than five thousand dollars but I did go in with that mindset that I was going to lose money. Yeah but I was going to learn that's all I wanted to learn

Why your first investment should be viewed as your education

Yenny 23:20

because I knew that I was not going to make the same mistakes the second time.

Violeta 23:24

Yeah and so like after that obviously you decided to keep going and like how long after that did you go for a second property?

Yenny 23:32

I sold a property in mid December and I went under contract with the second property in early January.

Violeta 23:39

Oh nice nice you were like all right I'm off to the next one. I guess I want to go into a little bit of your goals right now like what is your real estate investment goals? Like how many are you aiming to flip per year and like what's in store for you in the future like are you just going to continue fixing flips or are you interested in other strategies?

Yenny 23:59

So for so

Her goals for growing a successful fix-and-flip business

Yenny 24:00

far fix and flip is working and I would like to do well usually it takes about three to four months. If you do numbers right and you sell the property price correctly will take three to four months. So I would like to have two at the same time I will probably be able to do probably nine or ten in one year. So that's my goal that's my goal right now I am looking into new construction I'm learning about it. Hopefully I can do that in the future but right now I mean fixing flipping is very profitable. But I hear the new construction and you can make more profit. So I'm looking into that as well.

Violeta 24:40

Oh okay and I've been seeing at least in the San Antonio market since I started shopping around I've been seeing like kind of maybe a little bit of not necessarily a correction but I'm just seeing kind of like the housing market going more into a buyer's market. Wondering like how's yeah buyers market used to be a little bit more competitive and then now you have more leeway where you can negotiate some houses that I was looking at like they definitely drop down in price. Now mind you these are like distress properties and you're fixing them up already. So I'm just seeing like how's your market doing we are definitely in buyer's market.

Yenny 25:15

Right now buyers can buy whatever they want and they'll get it yes so I went into a buyer's market we're still in it so right now you just have to focus on giving good quality and impressing them so they can go with your house. But we are in the buyer's market right now they can request whatever they want and they'll get it.

Violeta 25:38

Okay so you went in already with that kind of market where you're already kind of running a little bit more conservative numbers because you know you have to account for like fire requests whatever they decide to ask for and how long how long I didn't know when you started?

Yenny 25:55

I started in September of 2024.

Violeta 25:58

Oh okay yeah nice

Protecting vacant properties during renovations

Violeta 26:00

yeah so you've had a quite a few clips since then and right now you're looking you're still looking to grow in the Houston are you looking to go into other markets or you're just gonna stick with Houston right now?

Yenny 26:12

Right now I mean here in my area there's a lot of potential here. So I'm staying in the area especially because I supervise my rehab so it has to be close to me. So I buy here in my same crypto I don't go out I know there's people that you know they go whenever there's potential I don't I wait until properties come up in my area because I'm handling this all on my own and I need to be a little bit yeah also in case anything happens on my first property I had someone trying to break in but I saw the guy with a camera and I told him hey I'm telling the police get out of my property but I but he had intentions of breaking it and I also have I now I have friends that they're also doing the same thing I do. You get break ins I had a friend that two of his properties got someone broken and they stole their stove is the stove that they want oh wow yeah so I have cameras and I get notifications if anything happens and I mean we live really close by so I will drive right away I would drive and hopefully not let it happen. It hasn't happened to me only that time for the first time that that guy tried to break in but other than that I haven't had any other bad experiences. But I'm always mindful always I always put locks I close all my blinds whenever I have showings usually I go afterwards to close my blinds so people don't see that I have any an even stove which is what they're going for. There is a dark market here there is a dark market here about with those stoves they go and steal them from basic properties.

Violeta 27:48

Oh that's interesting yeah I mean yeah I guess I could see that because like appliances are expensive so yeah I could see that happening yeah if you buy an island stove that's $800 $900 dang yeah yeah since mine are more like for rentals I go for like the more used ones now I I almost went for new appliances here and when I went to like a local area they're like no just to rental like they're gonna you know like use appliances. So if they steal it is not like I didn't spend too much I mean it sucks but yeah the last thing I want to ask you is kind of like some maybe some words of wisdom or encouragement for you know any Latinas that maybe are kind of on the fence right

Advice for first-time real estate investors

Violeta 28:30

now. Because a lot of them yeah they definitely you know want to invest but it's like something they're just hesitant about it. So going back to like when you were first thinking about getting into real estate like you know what's your tips advice or any encouragement for those to actually go out there and take the first step.

Yenny 28:48

I would just tell you guys to study the market if you want to go on if you want to do this study the market see how much films are selling for the score footage what upgrades are getting done so you have an idea but I honestly think you just have to have been real for it. You may lose on the first one but that's going to be your school I am doing this all alone and I've been doing I have two little ones I'm very grateful I've been successful with it and so I know you can do it safe money don't stay where you are fixing flippy can give you freedom of your time financial freedom so I would say just go for it study the market and talk to people talk to people that have done this already it helps a lot.

Violeta 29:36

Yeah and my last question is like since we were talking about you're staying in your career are there any plans in the future is there like a certain you know like how some people have like a certain goal when they hit a certain number they're going to leave their job or do you other people love their career so like what's the plan for you are you going to continue with your career or are you planning to like once you hit a certain point you're gonna walk away so I have gotten to the point right now I only work once a week

How real estate gave her financial freedom without leaving healthcare

Violeta 30:10

right now for summertime and when my kids go back to school I will work maybe once or twice a week.

Yenny 30:15

I don't have to work anymore but I do it because I love working in the hospital that's where my heart is but I have that say now that financial freedom where I don't have to go to work. Yeah so you know yeah and I at some point I wanted to go for nursing but now I don't I want to travel the world with my kids I want to be with them I want to be able to be with them every day.

Violeta 30:39

So and I'm there I'm there that is yeah I have a two year old oh sorry yeah I have a two year old and yeah I I just am at home and I was kind of in the similar like you know do I want to like continue because I did like my career it's just it's so time consuming for some of the things whenever I have to go out there and track somebody and sample like I have to be there through their whole shift and a lot of the workers they have 12 hour shifts and I have to be there before and stay after and you know these are like industrial type jobs and it's like it's very exhausting. So I'm right now figuring out like can I still use like my degree and find something and one thing that I'm trying to see is like can I use that I'm investing in these older properties that have asbestos lead and other things right how can I use that to kind of like obviously I'm using that for my rehab and my properties but I would like to do more community work and see if I can work with the local governments and find a way to help these properties yeah to get these hazards out of there because a lot of these are in the low income communities in the Latino communities that's the ones that I target and they always have all these hazards so I think that's the route I'm looking at and brainstorming how I can help. So yeah that's awesome that's awesome I hope you achieve it yeah yeah it's gonna be painful because I know how the government is they're slow I'm still even waiting for the landlord training for this one I did the one in my other market but this one is like they're just slack slacking off so gonna have to probably go in person so which is typical with local government so yeah it's gonna be fun but I'm so excited that you're financially free that's what it's about like you know you can leave your job or if you have a career you know your career that you could still want to be part because we still need you know our community out there in these medical fields as well so but you don't have to give up all your time and still stick around with your family and stuff so you can still have a little bit of both financial freedom and still have an impact.

Yenny 32:57

So I'm excited for that and yes

Why being present for her children is her greatest success

Yenny 33:00

and my greatest gift is being a mom being a mom to slash I enjoy being a mom and I just wanted to find a way to be with them and I am very grateful that I found this. I am very grateful for all the people that put advice this on TikTok on YouTube because that's what I use and you know it's just the gift of being able to be for them. And also at the same time I look because I'm doing fix and flips here in my neighborhood and you see these ugly properties and then you turn it into a beautiful home.

Violeta 33:35

Yeah.

Yenny 33:35

So I'm so grateful.

Violeta 33:37

I feel very blessed for that I have yeah that's what's awesome and so I found you on TikTok and I'm following your journey there and following your clips where you could like shout out your TikTok or your Instagram so people could find you and follow your journey as well.

Yenny 33:53

Yeah so on both on TikTok I'm again real estate investor and also for Instagram. I also post on my Facebook but I think there we have to be friends for you to be able to see it. Probably TikTok is the best area where you can watch my work but I do post videos on my rehabs how I found the properties how I remodeled them and the end. So yeah you guys are welcome to watch it there.

Violeta 34:17

Yeah yeah and I'll have all your information down in the show notes so you could go and follow her and don't forget I have the Latina real estate investing school community that I'm growing. If you want to be a founding member it's free to join and the goal with that is just create a network of Latinas who are investing or interested in investing so that way we can network and support each other and you know throughout our real estate investing journey. So all that will be down below as well. Thank you so much Yenny for coming on here and sharing your story and yeah don't forget to follow thank you so much Violeta thank you. All right and I will see everyone in the next one bye all right bye bye