Journey from Fear to Fortune and the Spirit of Real Estate with Karina Pacific

Transcript

[Jeune Ortiz]
Welcome to the United States women in real estate investing podcast. My name is Jeune Ortiz. I’m the founder of REISocial and I get to be the host of this amazing podcast where I get to interview rockstar women who are in the world of real estate investing, like my next guest, Karina Pacific.

Hello Karina. Hi. Happy Tuesday.

Yay. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope that you’ve been having a good week.

Karina and I were just backstage a little bit before I hit record and we were talking about a recent deal that she’s putting together. She is a fix and flipper who has a ton of experience doing many different exit strategies including just selling her flips but also doing Airbnbs and things like that. Right now Karina, you were telling me that you’re really kind of focused right now on this specific deal where you’re trying to get some funds pulled together to finish this out.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah. It just happens. Thanks for having me.

This is wonderful. You’re doing for women. Love that.

Yeah. Literally, we were just catching up with a dear friend of 30 years who is an investor himself and all of a sudden comes to the call and says, so and so is looking for 500K. Well, we started with 300 and now she needs 500.

I knew exactly where to go and it was just digging the information. Why do they need it? What’s the collateral?

For how long? What’s the interest? And then the why.

What does that look like? What’s the home? What are you doing with it?

What’s the value of it? So it’s just all this information while I’m having Mexican food and just trying to find the right person to take it to. And it’s fun.

It’s fun because you get to get creative with all the pieces, all the little pieces together and it doesn’t matter when you’re asking somebody for six digits, you know?

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. So let’s talk a little bit about that. Let’s kind of dig in a little bit because I know for investors everywhere, using private money is going to be one of the best ways to fund their deals.

And so how long have you been kind of, I guess in your business that would be maybe one of your most primary responsibilities is raising capital so that you can do these deals.

[Karina Pacific]
That’s become, that actually I started that in COVID. I’ve been in real estate on the retail end, luxury South Bay here in just south of LAX for 13 years. But I always knew that I was missing a big chunk of real estate, like the behind the scenes, you know, just not the grabbing a listing, marketing it, doing the video and pictures and stuff like that.

So I knew there was like a big sort of world out there. And I got a coach, I came across this wonderful man, he’s now a friend who has been doing it for many years and he’s gone through two, three recessions, he calls it. And he’s taught me sort of just how to look for things differently, bank owned and foreclosures, notice the defaults, how to reach out to builders that are just sitting on product they can’t finish, finding the money for all those different things.

So does that answer your question?

[Jeune Ortiz]
I mean, there’s a lot there. So what sort of, I guess, because you’re focused on the money end of things, why, what landed you there? Was it just like out of necessity, like, hey, I, you know, for the business, this is something I have to do?

Or did you already have a list of potential people that put you in a, I guess, maybe a really good position to find the money?

[Karina Pacific]
So I think it happened by just, I think one of my favorite things in life is to be curious. If we’re curious, we learn and you expand your mind and your business. And I just kept listening to clients of mine that on the retail end, that they were now putting their money on new builds and new constructions, giving 500, a million dollars for a certain amount of time, for a certain amount of percentage.

And I was like, well, how does that work? And so we’re successful. And, you know, if a new build is the money, 500, a million is needed for the building at the time, you know, a year, year and a half.

Some, they’re very happy with their, with their profits, some are not, because that build was not well marketed or whatever. And so they, I had a recent client say, my money could have gone, made more profit elsewhere. I’m not really happy with what happened there.

I’m going to look for a different scenario, maybe less. And so it’s just like hearing that information and how to get creative with, with, you know, a big chunk of money. So there’s a lot of money here.

So, for instance, as we were talking about this, this lunch today, I said, OK, who would have $300,000 right now? And being where the network that I have here in the South Bay and the networks that I have on my networks that I meet with twice a week, I’m able to sort of put it out there and go, this is the scenario. This is what’s needed for this long.

This is the product, this is the final product. This is how soon we need it, you know, pass or you lose it. And it could be a really good, it could be a really good investment opportunity.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yes, 100 percent. So for an investor who may be just starting out and they’re, you know, they want to find this private money. What would your advice be to give them?

Like, how do you begin this process? For like somebody like me looking for private money or. Just any investor who may be starting out and hasn’t maybe even developed a list of private money yet.

What is the best advice you could give them to start that process of finding people who have money to give?

[Karina Pacific]
Network, network, like just literally just get out there and network and be with those people that are doing it. And just listen, go to meetups and and look for those sort of events and those meetings that where people are getting together for those that those topics in different areas. Because there’s a ton of people out there with all kinds of live from 30 to 50 thousand all the way to millions.

So just kind of get out there. And then from there, you then you meet more people and you hop on on sort of Zoom meetings with that with, you know, and you hear it’s just kind of being in the mix of it. And just it’s I mean, it’s all networking.

Right. It’s all people and the right people. And I’d say just get out there in different facets of demographics, because you may need very little.

You may need a lot. And that’s a very that’s a very different demographic, very, very different investor.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Right. Right. OK.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
So Ria’s meetups. Do you do any kind of virtual networking at all?

[Karina Pacific]
Do you do anything like six o’clock Wednesday meeting every Wednesday for like. About years since before covid, not my Wednesdays are my my busiest ones, and I have two back to back with my national people that, you know, are doing a lot of investing to doing flips in Chicago, doing flips in Colorado. And everybody’s sort of pitching in their money.

So it’s very much teamwork. And yeah. And which ones?

I don’t know why they all happen to be on Wednesday. But yes, at the end of the Wednesday, I’m like cross-eyed with all the Zoom meetings.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, I can imagine. We’re not even in covid anymore. There’s still so many Zoom meetings like us right now.

[Karina Pacific]
We get to collaborate with people all over the nation and and help one another and advise one another. Here are their scenarios of how they invested, what they found, what they’re finding, the trends. Yeah.

Right.

[Jeune Ortiz]
OK. So speaking of trends, California is kind of a tricky place to do real estate. You know, house values.

We’ve got like I feel like we have really diverse house values, right? Anything by the coast is exorbitant. And then after that, it just kind of plummets and ends up getting pretty low.

The further east you go. Yes. So tell me, do you enjoy doing business in California?

Has it been profitable for you? Has been good? It’s been good to me.

[Karina Pacific]
Yes. And I’ve been very blessed in that I live in what we call the South Bay of L.A. is called the bubble. It’s such a little it’s like three or four cities in Manhattan.

Beaches, you know, all the cities are very affluent. We have homes from the entry level is barely a million. I mean, you get lucky if you get a million.

And we have strand homes on the beach that go all the way to 30 million. So it’s a it’s a very profitable pocket. I do manage some rentals and rent them from time to time.

And they’re furnished, they’re executive. So there’s that sort of little income that comes in throughout. And sometimes they like to sell.

So, yes, it’s been doing business here. It’s been great for me. Plus, I’m by the beach, so I cannot complain.

I’d like to do more business, more inland, like Colorado, Chicago, like where my colleagues are really doing some great work and just kind of follow where where people are moving to.

[Jeune Ortiz]
OK, when they’re leaving California.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah, there’s a lot of leaving. There’s a lot of coming in still. Yeah, it’s interesting.

Yeah, there’s a lot of East Coasters that are coming our way. The grandparents wanting to be with the kids and their grandkids. Yeah, there’s all kinds of scenarios.

Families wanting to be back together. And they all choose a beach city. All right.

So what brought you to California? Are you a native? I was born and raised in Mexico.

I was yeah, I was I was came to America in 85. We went to Houston, Texas first for a couple of years and then in 87 came to Los Angeles and I lived in Los Feliz, mainly by the Dodger Stadium area. And then in 99, I moved to the South Bay.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
Oh, wow. OK. So are you fluent in Spanish?

Oh, my God, I’ve lost it. I’ve lost not all of it, but I certainly am an embarrassment to my own language.

[Jeune Ortiz]
That’s OK. So am I. My last name is Ortiz.

And, you know, I I speak Mexican menu really well. That’s about as far as it goes. That’s awesome.

So let me ask you this. What are your favorite types of projects to work on? Because I know that you’ve I mean, you talked about doing some very expensive sales.

I don’t know if you do any luxury flips at all or commercial kind of where do you land there?

[Karina Pacific]
I’ve never done commercial. I think I probably won’t go there anytime soon unless I’m really called to it. It’s such a different animal.

And so, I mean, I love the retail and I do love, you know, selling and I’ve come across a couple of sales in Manhattan Beach where it needed a lot of work, just a lot of sadly, a lot of sort of parents passing, a lot of trust happening. So it’s the last few projects I was able to to suggest to my clients, let’s clean it up, this big clutter, empty it out, clean the carpet, paint, do some minor stuff that, you know, maybe put in fifty, eighty thousand dollars in there that will make the house more desirable. And the last one, what they if they had not done anything, they would it would have sold for two point one.

They put in about somewhere around 70, I think, and we were able to sell it for two point nine.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Well, it was an investment.

[Karina Pacific]
I mean, a very nice return.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
And at two point one, two point two was based on the appraisal that they had initially, but it was really low. I mean, and that would have been if they wouldn’t have done the work, it just would not have presented itself well. And it’s just about presentation.

My people need to see that they can they don’t have to do a lot. They don’t it’s it takes time. It takes money.

It takes effort and resources. So those are fun. Those are fun kind of making it, you know, do this, do that or the other and having their trust.

That’s very valuable to me. That’s and then having them happy that they were like, oh, that was really worth it. That was a good return on investment.

Those are fun. I love I used to do when I first started real estate, I did the first three years short term rentals. And we handled about 20 plus properties, which kind of, you know, distracted me from real estate.

But I learned a lot about we would rent homes for like ten thousand a weekend. And, you know, or it were all kinds of different sizes and prices. And that was really interesting to kind of filter through people on VRBO and and making sure that I was matching the right visitors, the right guests with the right house, the contract, welcoming them, asking them where they’re here from and turning those into potential clients if they had somebody that was moving to this area or not or themselves.

So that was really fun as well. Yeah. And just the relationships at all.

I mean, I love people, love good people, good, reasonable people. So anytime you’re working with somebody in any project can be great because you’re ultimately helping them.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And and I know one of your more recent things that you enjoy is actually talking to the motivated sellers themselves and offering assistance and being of help.

Yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
Which is something that I just found through my coach. He’s model and he doesn’t believe in retail real estate, which is what I do. So I have to take the backseat of what my experience is.

He loves just finding those properties that are left behind by banks are left behind by by the builders, which is happening a lot in the various areas of mid-America, packaging things together. So that’s really interesting. But for what he’s he is having as my my colleague here, Vera and I is kind of going to those notice of the falls that are popping up.

They’re really on the rise a little bit and knocking on the door, sending them notes and go, you know, it’s a sensitive subject. But let’s sit down and talk. How did you get here?

How can we help? Like, what would what would you like to do? What would you like to see?

Do you want to just leave it all together? And I say this after like somebody else or, you know, they’re defaulted 50 grand plus, you know, there’s some that defaulted all the way to a million and they know how to work the system. So it’s like, OK, you know how to work the system.

OK, but how far do you think that’s going to carry you on? And, you know, what do you want to do? What’s your ultimate game plan?

So, for example, it’s one of my colleagues has helped two elderly couples in I think it was Illinois, somewhere, everywhere it was. And they were about to just they had to get out. They were defaulting.

They were way under. And he just went in there and said, you know, this is kind of what I can give you. And he gave a fare.

It’s not like you want to steal the property for somebody you want to kind of, you know, you’re helping them out, but you also trying to find the right formula. Right. What can you what can you afford?

You want to stay here? Do you want to move somewhere else? Do you need assistance?

So he got it for a really good number. They’re staying put and they’re able to pay a certain amount of money and everybody’s happy. And now he now takes care of the property.

They weren’t able to take care of the property before. So it’s just finding the right. Let’s have a conversation.

How do we help you? And do you want to be helped? You know, right.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, they need to they need to recognize that they need the help in the first place.

[Karina Pacific]
It’s hard. It’s so hard because it’s a very sensitive, almost embarrassing place to be. So I would tell if there’s somebody out there that is, you know, kind of in hardship in some way or another, just find the right person.

Just go with your gut feeling. Somebody that you think this really has the right intentions because there are people out there that want to help. And I just can’t keep people out.

There’s a reason why somebody’s defaulting. And yeah, yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
So did I hear you say correctly earlier that you actually do door knocking? So you. Yeah, yeah.

We have. Have you done that yourself? Door knocking?

Yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah. OK, yeah. I’ll doorknock.

I just went. I’ve been going to this one house several times and it happens to be a friend of a friend. And I said, hey, tell your friend that we mean well, we want to help.

And I’ve been knocking and I know he’s getting the notes and he’s just not calling. So I think he’s just going to let it go to the bank. So we’re just going to wait for it to hit the bank and maybe auction.

But yeah. But we’re not sure. And we did another one.

Yeah, I don’t particularly like it, but, you know, it has to be done.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, yeah. I know door knocking is not a favorite really of anybody, but I know it can be really effective. And also, I think, you know, as women, that’s something that we’re just so I don’t know.

There’s there’s a little bit of fear and trepidation there, right? Going and knocking on somebody’s door. You don’t know how you’re going to be received.

You don’t know if they’re going to be angry with you. And that can be very frightening. Do you have any advice to give to women just to to help them be safe or just like just go for it and knock on the door?

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah, I would go with a buddy. I wouldn’t go alone. So I have my dear friend Vera and we go and we have two or three that we hit once a week.

Sometimes we skip a week depending on kind of like where we are in the process with those properties. But just go with a buddy. I mean, we’ve been yelled at and we’ve been, you know, people are nice, too.

And we’ve been we got to people to we had a scenario where we were very welcome and they were actually really bummed that we were there two days too late because somebody had just taken advantage of them. And they were like in this scenario, we’re like, so it’s just you just never know. Before on the retail end, I was door knocking with a friend trying to get over the hump with door knocking.

And I was just kind of like shadowing her. And a man walked out with or just opened the door naked. So you just never know.

That’s why you got to go with a buddy. Wow.

[Jeune Ortiz]
OK, well, you know, your door, put a towel on or something. I mean, we thought that would be frightening enough. Oh, my goodness.

[Karina Pacific]
But that’s part of the fun.

[Jeune Ortiz]
So I know you’ve you’ve done a lot. And what what would you say is one of the things that you wish you had known sooner that maybe, you know, now?

[Karina Pacific]
I wish. I wish I would have gotten a mentor or coaching earlier.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Mm hmm.

[Karina Pacific]
So then my first three years I got distracted and I made a lot of money. But I was distracted by the short term rental business that I was asked to kind of help with. And it was so lucrative.

I stayed in it a little bit longer than I should have. I’m like, oh, my God, I’m two, three something years into real estate and I haven’t done any real estate. But I learned a lot.

And then after those three years, I went solo into real estate. I should have gone into a team and or really kind of quested for a few mentors and coaching and just dove in. So that would have been my advice to my younger realtor self.

Just, you know, and I’d say interview the right coach, the right mentor, the right team. Like not everybody’s for everybody. Like interview them because it’s got to be cohesive.

It’s got to be good, you know?

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, yeah. That’s great advice. I think getting mentoring is so important.

You know, there are there’s only so much that you can do just studying and reading. Yeah. You actually have to have somebody help you weave all of the different pieces together because it no two deals are going to be the same.

And the more you know, the better you’re going to be. And then, you know, there’s also so many complicated transactions, too. When you have a mentor by your side, they can help walk you through the different paperwork.

They can let you know, you know, where to be careful and things like that. So I think that’s really solid advice.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah, of course. I did see it because of my curiosity. There are some colleagues, there’s dear, dear colleagues that they don’t even know they were mentoring me.

I was just watching and listening. So and so it’s just if you’re not finding it, just just be with those people and watch and listen. And yeah, and just ask.

And maybe I just didn’t ask as well, you know.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Great advice. Now, let me ask you this. What would you say is maybe your biggest failure or disappointment along the lines of real estate investing?

Investing?

[Karina Pacific]
Not having invested earlier and just thinking that I that I was not sort of good enough or that wasn’t my part to do it. My job was to actually just be the the professional, the realtor, but not thinking that I could actually get my hands wet as an investor. You know, OK, I think it’s a little just like anything is imposter syndrome.

Just on the retail end, one of my biggest failures is somebody said to me, there’s a referral and they wouldn’t want us. They don’t want to sign a contract for the listing, but said, if you bring me a buyer, I’ll sell it. And it would have been a 15 million dollar property.

And I just didn’t think that I could do it. And now I know I could have because I have the network and I know how to do it. I just wasn’t it was just coming out of short term rental.

So I think I was just I didn’t switch my head quickly, but I think it was a little bit of imposter syndrome, too. So I would just like just we can do anything. Just ask for help.

Yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
So that that would be the advice that you’d give to other women who are perhaps sitting on the sidelines and having their own imposter syndrome moments. Yeah. Get some help.

Surround yourself with the right people.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah, absolutely. And know that if somebody’s throwing you an opportunity out there, don’t take it for granted that that is that’s out there for a reason. It’s being thrown out there for a reason.

Do not like. Take it for granted, just explore it and just ask for details. OK, so you’re saying that if I bring you a buyer, you would sell it with me, like have more clarity about it, like reiterate what they’re offering or what the opportunity is and then just sort of carry with it and see where you can go with it.

Go to somebody. There’s always somebody you can reach out to go online, you know, wherever there’s all kinds of networks. I don’t.

Sometimes our opportunities are thrown out to us and we don’t think they belong to us or we could do it. And I, you know, I don’t know if it’s a combination of imposter syndrome or. We’re too busy, I don’t know, I just whenever an opportunity comes to your way.

Don’t take it for granted.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. You know, I think that’s one of the reasons why this podcast is so important, I think, because there are a lot of men who are doing the business and they’re doing it wonderfully. But there are not a lot of women who are doing it.

And I think there are not a lot of role models and examples of women who are in the business and being successful and doing the hard things like the door knocking, because it’s incredibly scary, especially when you have naked people answering the door.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah, I mean, you know, out of those uncomfortable things that we have to do in life, whatever personal business or what have you, those are like the ones where you have the best stories and the best lessons.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yes. Yes. Story.

There are a lot of stories in real estate investing, that’s for sure. You get to meet so many different people from all walks of life doing all kinds of amazing and crazy things with real estate. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
And I would just, you know, I think I definitely have come out of my shell a lot more now than doing more of the investor stuff and doing more of finding the money and stuff like that. But it’s intimidating because you think, oh, what are the right questions to ask to the lender or to the investor? And are they going to take me serious?

Is this much money? And, you know, I’ve never been intimidated by people with money, but maybe a little bit just like not asking the right questions when I’m in that scenario. So I’ve learned to just step outside of that and just go, listen, teach me, guide me, help me here, help me understand this so then we can kind of put this together.

And if they’re not willing to to be collaborative or teaching, then that’s probably not the right person you want to work with.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Great advice. Yeah. And I think you said something like that earlier where, you know, you have to have that curiosity mindset and that that enables you to grow.

Because if you have if you have an expert mindset, then you should know everything. Right. But if you are curious, then that that opens yourself or doesn’t open you up.

Maybe it does. It allows you to ask questions of the people that you’re with. And I think that’s another place where I don’t know where I get stopped sometimes is feeling like I should know something because I’ve been in the business for, you know, six years.

And so I should know everything.

[Karina Pacific]
But we can’t because we realize it is so complex. It’s just like you said, no one deals the same. And you get the retail line, you get the bank stuff, you get the foreclosure, there’s so much that we could not possibly know everything.

And even the most knowledgeable person, well, my broker where I hang my license, he’s a very smart, knowledgeable person and a great almost father figure, a great mentor, great professional. And he still goes there, I don’t know this. He’ll just go and Google and call the tourney.

And so he’s he’s open to not know. I mean, we don’t know anything. We don’t know everything.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So let me ask you this. How do you stay motivated?

What keeps you so positive and energized?

[Karina Pacific]
Well, I love people I love. I consider myself very blessed just coming from Mexico. I come from very, very humble beginnings.

And one of the reasons I got into real estate, it was nagging at me. Even I didn’t start with that. I was mainly in the wellness, skin care, beauty industry.

My mother in Mexico, she she worked a lot, very hard to own her own property and she bought a duplex. She rented one and we lived in the other. And when we were here in America, she rented both.

And now she’s back in Mexico, just living off of the income that she collected along the years back in her home. So it’s so sort of that thing of like in the honor that she garnered from owning her own piece of property, her land, you know, that was her hard work. That is motivating.

My daughter is very much. I have a 22 year old who is a pretty cool kid and I just like helping people. I like the process.

I love the collaboration of different people in any transaction, you know, in retail, talking to the plumber, to the stager, to the photographer and organizing it all, putting it together and building those relationships to the investor. And, you know, just that kind of thing, getting creative and learning from them, because those are very smart people. When you’re asking people for money, you know, they obviously have money and they have money.

They’re obviously they’re smart. So, yeah, that’s just fun. That keeps me motivated.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. You love every aspect and enjoy every part of it. That’s good.

[Karina Pacific]
Absolutely. And just always kind of having something call you in the call and like, you know, I’m looking for this. It’s just it’s just nice.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. Are there any podcasts or books that you listen to on a regular basis to help keep you energized and keep your mind set? A ton.

[Karina Pacific]
Oh, my God. A ton. On the real estate end, Big Pockets.

Have you heard of Big Pockets? Bigger Pockets? Yeah.

Bigger Pockets. Oh, my gosh. And Tristan, this is actually a really good one.

Let me look at it here. But there’s a ton of them. Oh, my gosh.

Forgive me.

[Jeune Ortiz]
The Palms. The Meditation Minis podcast.

[Karina Pacific]
Sorry. Meditation. Meditation, too.

So this one I just found. R.E.L. Freedom is R.E.L. Freedom. And this podcast is all real estate stuff as well.

Housing Wire Daily is really, really good. Yeah. All kinds of what else?

Oh, the real estate rock stars. Pump the Pump podcast. P.O.M.P. Yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff. There’s a local guy here that’s actually really good. The Richard Haynes. And but he’s more local centric here.

Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah.

Good. There’s a wealth of resources right there. Oh, my.

There’s another one that I love. Oh, obviously. Oh, my God.

I’m having brain farts. Tom Ferry. Tom Ferry is really good.

Yeah, he’s great. Isn’t he great? Yeah, he is.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yes, there’s a bunch of stuff. That’s good stuff. That’s a that’s an incredible list of resources.

So I appreciate you sharing that. And obviously you do some meditations as well.

[Karina Pacific]
Well, I just started like it’s been like I keep on getting just hit in my gut. Like you got to meditate. You got to meditate.

Things keep on happening. And I just I think two days ago, I’m like, I have to find a podcast to meditate. And my girlfriend and I were having dinner and it came up in a conversation which sort of further enhanced that gut feeling that I needed to do it.

So I got to do it. It’s only like 10 minutes. Yeah.

OK.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. Meditation. I mean, just just making sure that you keep your mind set in the right place.

Yeah, it’s it’s it’s so important. It’s so beneficial because I mean, this business is hard.

[Karina Pacific]
You know, it’s hard. One thing I do every day is work out every day. Monday through Friday, I go to the gym and I get my workout in.

And then I feel like that’s the one thing I can control, because in real estate, so many things are out of your control. Right.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, absolutely.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
And I think that’s where kind of that mindset in the meditation come in. Just acknowledging that you can’t control everything. And, you know, there’s there’s risk and you have to just kind of learn how to balance it, but you have to know how to insulate yourself well enough.

And then you just let things kind of unfold and deal with them as they happen.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah. And yeah, just not just be flexible with it. Yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
That’s good advice. So let me ask you this. Where where do you see yourself going from here?

Like, what are your aspirations, your big goals? Well, business wise. Yes.

Business wise, otherwise as well.

[Karina Pacific]
I would like to own like, you know, just more more doors, you know, along the way, just find properties that I can kind of put a little bit of my touch in it, do some light renovations. That’s not something crazy. But it’s going to entail lots of time and permits, put a little bit of time in it and then and in rent them have doors that just have, you know, recurring money coming in.

I would like to do a good big sort of new construction project here in the South Bay at some point. And which it’s that’s been a tough one because a lot of the new construction stuff entails a lot, a lot of money. Like, you know, we’re talking for I can imagine.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah, I was going to ask you, is that going to be maybe multifamily? Is that what you’re kind of thinking? No, single family.

[Karina Pacific]
Oh, OK.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah.

[Karina Pacific]
Yeah. There’s a lot of land that is just popping up and in when you construction, it’s just and I have a couple of builders that I love, like they’re reputable. You know how you walk these properties.

You’re like, oh, so and so build it. You know, it’s good or bad. So, you know, make it something good.

And so, yeah, there’s a bunch of different little things. Yeah. Very cool.

[Jeune Ortiz]
And what’s kind of your timeline? Is this like five years out there, 10 years out there? Three, five years.

OK. That’s great. Yeah.

Yeah. So we could be taking a tour, a virtual tour. What’s kind of a lot of your new builds?

[Karina Pacific]
That would be amazing. That would be amazing. I mean, yeah, I mean, we can all do it.

It’s just, you know, having the resources and the drive and the confidence for it. Absolutely.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. I’ve asked you a lot of questions today, Karina. Is there anything that you wish I would have asked you that I didn’t ask?

[Karina Pacific]
I would. Say this a little on our side, it could be a funny story. I don’t know.

Am I right? And it actually happened to me twice in two homes being in the wellness industry and just being us. So we women are very intuitive.

We’re in tune with, you know, space and energy. Whether you’re in tune with it a little bit, not at all or a lot. It’s, you know, it’s in us.

There was I had a income property, a fourplex that it just would not sell. It would not sell. We were a little bit overpriced, but it just there was crickets.

OK, and I had to remember that my client told me that somebody had passed in the property many years ago. So it was past disclosure time. And I said to him, I feel that the spirit is still in that room.

I feel like she’s in that room. One of the four bedrooms, the four individual one bedrooms. And I feel she’s here and she’s not letting go.

And I said, I’m going to have the house cleared. And he had no idea what I meant. He’s like, I don’t know what you mean.

You do what you need to do. Get it done. So the properties were, you know, tenant occupied.

I go and I asked the tenant to let me in her unit and let me my my house whisperer, the house clear. She’s like, I didn’t do it. And we’re going through there every single room.

And I knew it would be this one. But she were almost at the end of the session and no spirit comes through. She clears spaces and the spirit is not coming in.

We’re almost walking out and she says, wait, I’m being called. Wait. And I’m going, I’m just sitting there.

She goes to the room and she says, she’s she’s here. I feel somebody here. So spirit.

And she she says she’s she’s saying thank you for acknowledging her. Thank you for taking care of the tenants. And she’s ready to go.

There was a little bit more involved. You know, she’s I guess she sends her off. She goes in the spirit moves out.

And three days later. Two of the tenants give their their 30 day notice. Now my client’s upset.

What did you do? Now we don’t have two tenants. There was just realized they’ve been living with a ghost.

They really need to get rid of the spirit. You got rid of tenants. Yeah.

Two days after that, we got the perfect offer. We got the offer in and there were so many different issues in the property that we needed those tenants to be out of those units to get a bunch of the work done. So it just it just kind of like how energy works and how just one thing can just turn into another.

And just I guess the moral of the story is feel the energy just like you feel people. You know, we kind of have to listen to each other to kind of fulfill their needs. And that includes the house.

I mean, we’re tending to homes, real estate that kind of inhabit the energy of the people, the occupants that were there. So that this happened to you twice. Did you say another one?

The other one was she actually died peacefully in the property. And I kind of pursued the property. So I felt a little bit bad because I knew them and I’m here to help.

But still, like I feel like I was being a little push. I don’t want to be that sort of salesperson. So I just had my clear gal come in and say, just make sure Sue is OK that you’re selling her house respectfully.

And yeah, she’s like, she’s good. She’s good. And it sold within that weekend.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Fascinating. Yeah. That’s really incredible.

When I feel it, it doesn’t happen every property or every project. But when I feel it calls like there’s something here, then I will go that route.

[Jeune Ortiz]
How do you even find a house whisperer person?

[Karina Pacific]
You would find them easily in California. We are very much into sort of that wellness, intuitive, higher, pure spirit, that kind of stuff. Yes.

Yeah. And she would actually marry Beth does virtually. So if anybody can.

So we are surely true. Yeah, she would. She can.

She does them virtually as well. Yeah. As long as you have a video or picture, if you’re going to do a video so you can kind of see the property through.

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. Fascinating. Well, I didn’t even know that was a thing.

So you have just enlightened me.

[Karina Pacific]
Anybody has any questions on that? Reach out, reach out, which is an area I’m actually going to try and learn, because we go into these homes and we’re kind of like kind of probably the energy of the properties or we’re kind of becoming one with them. So just be careful.

You come out of the home or the grocery store and stuff, and there’s just too much energy and it just sucks you in. Just make sure you kind of like clean it off your body. And that’s part of why we have to meditate and make sure we’re in line.

So we’re not being that’s the sort of the energetic field doesn’t kind of get attached to us, because sometimes you’re like, what the hell was that? And then you’re like drained, you know? Right.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting.

And I know there’s you know, there’s obviously a lot of energy. That’s why we meditate. That’s why we, you know, think about what we want instead of what we don’t want and things like that.

So that makes sense. Yeah. All right, Karina, this has been a lot of fun.

Thank you for enlightening me, for telling me about your business and for helping all of our viewers just be more emboldened women to, you know, just get in the business. Just do it. Right.

[Karina Pacific]
Just do it. Listen to podcasts and read about it or just be with the people that are doing it and ask questions. Yeah.

Thank you for doing this is wonderful. Like women helping women. We need that.

We need to support each other.

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yes, 100 percent. And that’s part of the reason why I love doing this show to meet people like you and hopefully to inspire other women to to just get into this this business. It can be so fulfilling.

And, you know, it’s it’s a business that helps a lot of people, too.

[Karina Pacific]
It is. It is. I mean, that’s the goal is for it to service above self, you know?

[Jeune Ortiz]
Yeah. All right. Well, let’s go ahead and close this out.

I want to thank everybody here who has joined us for this episode of United States Women in Real Estate Investing. And remember to subscribe to the show on your favorite app. And if you want other podcasts and more industry news and information, head over to United States Real Estate Investor dot com.

And I will see you in the next episode.

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