Today's Guest: Dominique Gunderson
Dominique is co-founder with her husband Mitch of Gunderson Homes and has been involved in real estate since graduating high school at age 17. She started her career as an agent and then transitioned into wholesaling to build experience and capital, but her main interest was always in owning and investing in fix and flip properties. After building the right relationships and doing a lot of deals through wholesaling, Dominique was able to start her own fix and flip business at age 21. Today she still runs that house flipping business in New Orleans, all while living in Colorado. Her mission is to transform houses into beautiful and affordable spaces for new buyers and tenants and help as many families as possible to solve problems such as foreclosure, large repairs or structural damage, unpaid liens, bankruptcy, and problem tenants.
Highlights From The Show:
We begin the episode with Dominique sharing her background story and how she ended up in real estate. Dominique shares she is currently 24 years old and has been investing in real estate since she was able to work. She started investing in her teens after graduating from high school. Dominique started by learning about real estate, contracts, and what it meant to buy and sell houses to get her feet on the ground. She became an agent as soon as she could, at 18 years, to get some experience and one year later jumped into wholesaling. She did that for a couple of years before transitioning into what she is doing today, flipping houses to revitalize neighborhoods and add value.
We then talk about what inspired Dominique into real estate at an early age. She shares that neither of her parents was in real estate, they didn’t own a home, and she didn’t know what real estate was until she started learning about it in high school. Seeing her parents struggling while growing up, always in debt, trying to figure out their finances, and working 9-5 jobs, Dominique wanted to do something different. She shares that she heard about real estate at fourteen when her mom finally figured out how to save up and qualify for a loan to purchase a townhome. This was in 2012, and the market was very low, but they bought a home that needed renovation. The whole process of buying and renovating the house was fascinating, and it sparked her interest in real estate investing and value addition.
Next, we talk about Dominique's experience as an agent and her perspective on the real estate agent track. Dominique shares that after her first day working for the most successful agent in their area, she knew she did not want to be an agent. It was so transactional, had a lot of paperwork, and had nothing to do with buying and selling real estate. According to Dominique, that was 0% of the work she wanted, but she knew it would be a pivotal part of her journey.
We then talk about why Dominique started with wholesaling first. She shares that she knew from the beginning that house flipping was her goal but felt like she didn’t know enough yet. Dominique was 19 years old, had no money, and had never done an investment deal. As an agent, there were many things she didn’t know from the buyer and seller standpoint, such as going through the escrow or title search, and she wanted to learn all that. Dominique also shares that she wanted to have her own money and not depend on other people all the time. According to her, being young was the hardest thing when she was starting out because people immediately didn't trust her because they thought she didn’t know what she was doing.
Next, we talk about Dominique's strategy of finding deals. Dominique shares that back in 2016/2017, when she started investing, she was part of a wholesale team, which was the key to her success in different ways. First, it was working with a small team of people. The team was similar to the real estate agent, where everyone was on their own, doing their own deals. Being in an office surrounded by people doing the same thing enabled her to learn very quickly what was working and what wasn’t. She was also able to do JV deals and work together with others on contracts to split the fee. Second, it was getting creative and trying everything to see what worked.
Lastly, we talk about how she went from wholesaling in LA to flipping in Louisiana and how she finds deals. Dominique shares that the transition from Los Angeles to New Orleans was based on affordability. After doing a range of 40 to 45 wholesale transaction deals in a year and a half, she had the experience, was able to save up, and was ready to follow her passion in flipping. Dominique could have done it in LA because she already had her network, but her savings were just enough for a downpayment. She had two options: bring in hard money and get investors involved, or take what she had and go to a different market where she could pay for the rental, purchase, and fee costs without risking owing somebody a lot of money if anything goes wrong. Dominique chose a cheaper and more affordable market to start out, which turned out to be New Orleans. She also shares that her strategy of finding deals there is through relationships, networking with wholesalers, foreclosures, and direct sale marketing.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dominique Gunderson and get valuable information on how to flip houses remotely full-time!
Notable Quotes:
“Sometimes, when you are the one putting your money at risk, you want to know everything that is going on.”
“Finding and building a loyal team is critical to success in any investment in real estate.”
“Real estate is a career, and just like anything else you go to school to learn. It takes time and requires work and effort, but it will pay off.“
Thank You for Listening!
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