Cutting Costs Without Cutting Corners
By Christina El Moussa
I love seeing women—and especially moms—come to our Success Path Education seminars to learn about real estate investing. Whether you’re a single mom, a stay-at-home mom, or you’re a new mom on an extended maternity leave, house flipping could be the best option for making a great living without missing out on any time with your kids.
Tarek and I both chose to work in real estate before we ever met or thought about getting married because we loved the lifestyle it gave us. When we met and fell in love, we loved that it let us have time for fun dates and outings in the middle of the day, too. And now that we’re a family of four, we couldn’t see ourselves living any other way. And I never had to quit working or really take any maternity leave to spend time with our kids. That’s why I think real estate investing is such a great opportunity for moms—you really can have it all!
With that said, being a new mom definitely has a few unique challenges, and it can be difficult to juggle having a baby and flipping houses. Fortunately, with a few simple tips, you can make your job a lot easier and much less stressful so that you can focus on the joy of watching your baby grow into a little person.
Take Advantage of Nap Time
As a new mom, your baby depends on you for everything right now. That means, when your baby is awake, you need to be awake. It also means that you can’t just tune out your child and get some work done on your laptop. They need your attention more than the MLS does.
That’s why, whenever I put my baby son Brayden down for a nap, I always use that time. I put the baby monitor in his room and make sure that I’ll know if he wakes up or needs anything, and then I go to work. Usually, I spend this time searching for new leads on the MLS or researching specific properties to make sure that they don’t have any unpleasant surprises (like tax liens) waiting for us.
Or Take a Nap, Yourself
Sometimes, though, when I’m really tired from getting up every few hours to feed him, I’ll take a nap right along with him. When you’re exhausted, you’re not going to do great work. Sometimes you can do more for your real estate investing business by taking a short nap than you can by pushing through and trying to keep yourself awake.
Fussy Baby? Take a Drive
My mom still tells stories about how she and my dad would pack me into the car and take me for a drive to get me to go to sleep when I was fussy. I bet your mom has some similar stories, too, right? Well, you can use the same trick to get your baby to sleep, but instead of driving aimlessly, you can take a drive around neighborhoods where you want to flip houses and get some research done. I’ve found more than a few great flip houses while driving the kids to get lunch or driving to get Brayden to go to sleep, and you can, too.
These are just three of my favorite tips for new moms getting into house flipping. Can you think of more ways that you can do double-duty as Mom and real estate investor to get more out of your time with your kids?
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Tarek and Christina El Moussa have over a decade of professional real estate experience and have been featured in national print publications, online media outlets, and a popular real estate reality TV show. Christina is known for her exceptional design and aesthetic talent.
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