INTERVIEW

Emma Powell is the owner& operator of Highrise Group and is passionate about real estate being the best investment available. Along with her husband Troy Powell, she has experience partnering in a variety of deals as a lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator, and property manager. Emma has been a former real estate photographer. Emma specializes in small business project management with a BS in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing Design.

Emma & Vinki chat about

- Creating the freedom to design the dream the work-life

- From branding & content management to real estate

- Developing an eye for design

- Playing rugby and investing in a rugby sports team

- What building legacy truly is

- Doing what you are good at

Meet Emma Powell, a Queen in the real estate investment industry. She is the owner/operator of Highrise Group and has partnered on nearly 500 units since relocating to Salt Lake City 2018. She also manages thehttps://www.highrise.group/join ( Commercial Real Estate Investing Club), a place for new and experienced investors alike to pool funds to purchase large properties together for a lower barrier of entry and with less work.

With extensive property and construction management experience, Emma specializes in small businesses. Emma's favorite part of investing, other than passive cash flow, is building teams to creatively get transactions to the finish line.

On today’s episode, Chaz and Emma discuss what it takes to follow your own path, what’s possible when you think bigger, and the mindset necessary to succeed when everything goes wrong. Tune in now and start growing your own real estate investment business with these tips and words of wisdom!

During this episode, you will learn about;

[1:49] Introduction to Emma and her business

[5:51] Why does Emma continue to push?

[8:18] Emma’s ultimate endgame

[10:10] A good decision that Emma made inside of her business

[13:23] A bad decision Emma made inside of her business

[16:04] Why high level entrepreneurs don’t have regrets

[17:41] How to avoid doing what everyone else is doing

[18:32] Emma’s decision making process

[20:26] One metric Emma would track forever

[23:49] Does Emma intentionally network with other entrepreneurs?

[24:35] If she lost it all, what would Emma do?

[28:28] An optimistic mindset

[31:45] Honesty with investors

[32:19] How to connect with Emma

Notable Quotes

“We don't have a shopping problem. We're very frugal. We don't have debt addiction. I mean, those things are very real. But if that's not you, then why not use the leverage?” - Emma Powell

“I realized that that's the guy who makes all the money. Is the creative problem solver.” - Emma Powell

“You're hanging out with these really high energy, high achieving, big thinker, positive, positive people, and they're doing some cool stuff and, and they just inspire you to do cool stuff. And sometimes you're doing the wrong cool stuff.” - Emma Powell

“Even at this point I still suffer from imposter syndrome a little bit.” - Emma Powell

“If you can track your margin. All the other KPIs are subordinate to that.” - Emma Powell

“When you're leveraging other people's money, you're leveraging other people's skills, leveraging their time, you better be really, really good at putting teams together.” - Emma Powell

“I don't care what business you're in. You have to raise capital.” - Emma Powell

“I know a lot of people who have lost everything. Real estate can be a fickle mistress and they only lose everything if they quit.” - Emma Powell

“Money is the measuring stick, but even if it goes to zero, it doesn't mean that it steals from the bank of all these other things that you've been able to acquire and press into as an entrepreneur and a successful entrepreneur.” -Chaz Wolfe (Host)

“People who are stuck who wanna achieve high levels, usually aren't that open minded, I've found,” - Chaz Wolfe - Host

Books and Resources Recommended:

“Multipliers,” by Liz Wiseman

Let’s Connect!

Emma Powell

Website: https://www.highrise.group

Emma Powell is the owner/operator of Highrise Group which has partnered on nearly 500 units. Emma and I discuss how real estate helped to protect her family after her husband was laid off from his job.

Do you want to grow your income without taking on extra work? Investing in real estate could be your answer. In this episode, Emma Powell, founder of the real estate firm Powell Ventures, shares the strategies she used to build a commercial real estate business from the ground up.

Emma first started in real estate as a side hustle to supplement her family’s income. After she shifted gears into real estate investing, she realized she was making more money and putting in fewer hours, leaving her more time to homeschool her kids. Within 18 months of starting Powell Ventures, she had acquired nearly 100 units in partnerships. Today, she has 400 units across 6 commercial properties and is well on her way toward her goal of turning the business into 100% passive income.

Financing is the biggest obstacle most people face when they want to start investing in real estate. Emma will give her tips for how to acquire your first properties with limited financial resources and use those to catapult your next buys. She’ll also share advice on how to find partners, gain industry knowledge, and establish smart systems that will help grow your investment.

Resources UpFlip - Find businesses to buy

UpFlip Academy - More resources and tips on how to start and grow a business

This episode of the Niche Website Builders podcast is a bit different, as host James de Lacey talks with Emma Powell. Emma is a real estate investor with a huge portfolio of properties to her name.

Firstly on the podcast, Emma and James talk briefly about niche website marketing, specifically focused on how to identify your customer’s “avatar”, which is a working profile of who they are, where and how they spend their money, what they’re looking for, and how you can find them. Emma shares a tip for the “About” page on your niche website, and how you can use that to draw in your audience in the most effective way.

Later on, Emma and James talk about revenue diversification. Emma is a real estate expert, and she tells us about how to get started with real estate investment, and why you would want to. They talk about scalability, profitability, and the different benefits you can enjoy from real estate investment, including tax benefits.

Emma talks us through basic terminology, what kind of capital is required up front, and how you manage a large portfolio of properties effectively.

If you’re a niche website marketer with additional capital you’re looking to invest in a new revenue stream, then this is the episode for you.

Links:

Highrise Group Website - https://www.highrise.group/

Niche Website Builders: Aged Domains – https://www.nichewebsite.builders/domains

Niche Website Builders: Resources – https://www.nichewebsite.builders/resources

Niche Website Builders – https://www.nichewebsite.builders/

Niche Website Builders Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/niche-website-builders/id1548013326

Niche Website Builders on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDX_rVwDP_IQVx1tjn_h8dQ

Niche Website Builders on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nichewebsitebuilders/

Niche Website Builders’ Email – team@nichewebsite.builders

Buying your own house is like investing on real estate. It's the best way to start building up your wealth and invest in a stable future. In this episode we'll go over how buying a house can help you to save money, increase your net worth, build equity, and learn how to invest in real estate using the power of network, people and automation. Every week we publish episodes where you can learn how to start your financial freedom with real estate and build your first profitable network.

Emma Powell is the owner/operator of Highrise Group along with her husband of 25 years, Troy Powell, who has partnered on nearly 500 units since relocating to Salt Lake City in 2018 after 20 years in Austin TX, as either general manager, capital raisers, or loan guarantors. They are parents of six homeschooled children ages 24 to 10.

They have extensive property and construction management experience. Emma specializes in small businesses with a BS in Business Administration and Entrepreneurial Management, and a certificate in Marketing Graphic Design. Emma's favorite part of investing, other than passive cash flow, is building teams to creatively get transactions to the finish line.

Follow her on his Social Media

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3OWksie

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3afcPoi

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ybFOkI

BiggerPockets: https://bit.ly/3nJmwyx

We will help you build wealth through real estate, reach us at through thefinanciallyfreeinvestor@gmail.com

Be inspired and we will guide you on your journey into Financial Freedom!

Looking to retire on passive income?

Just a few years ago, this was not in the cards for Emma Powell. But when her husband suddenly got laid off from his tech job, Emma made the jump to real estate and started her own business. Now, she’s working on building her passive income portfolio and is well on her way to financial freedom.

She’s here to share her story of being a stay-at-home-mom-photographer turned real estate investor and her unique perspective on raising capital and finding deals.

[00:01 - 06:52] Bouncing Back and Getting into Real Estate

After her husband was laid off, they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah She went to real estate just to have a new source of income and to have a hedge for unemployment Emma soon realized the bigger possibilities with real estate

[06:53 - 13:41] Transitioning from Active to Passive Investor

Here’s where Emma is getting ideas and inspiration from Shortening their timeline She breaks down the 4% and 8% rule Diversification is key

[13:42 - 18:24] Creating An Investment Club

Emma was struggling to find limited partners Learn how she overcame this challenge She explains the investment club model More than raising capital, it’s become a place of resource and mentorship

[18:25 - 19:55] Closing Segment

Reach out to Emma!  Links Below Final Words

Tweetable Quotes

“You can retire on passive income, just from being a passive investor. You don't ever actually have to own your own real estate.” - Emma Powell

“Just being well-diversified, sticking to your lane, and letting other people do what they do best but trusting them with some of your money so that your money can be working for you as well as you're working for yourself.” - Emma Powell

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Connect with Emma for passive commercial real estate investment opportunities! Visit the Highrise Group website now.

Connect with me:

I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.

Like, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you listen on.  Thank you for tuning in!

Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com

Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below:

Emma Powell  00:00

It doesn't matter what you're doing. You could be doing anything to make money. It doesn't have to be real estate-related. For me, I chose real estate because it was a high-earning type of job that I could do without having to go get a professional degree like a medical degree. And also because I just like real estate. I mean, I was a real estate photographer. I like houses. I like buildings. I like architecture. I like business. For me. I actually like it. Some people in this business don't really like real estate. And I feel like do what you like that can make money and then anything that you make, you invest. You can retire on passive income, just from being a passive investor. You don't ever actually have to own your own real estate.

Intro  00:33

Welcome to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we'll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.

Sam Wilson  00:45

Emma Powell is a stay-at-home mom of four, photographer, and a multifamily syndicator and capital raiser working on financial independence. Emma, welcome to the show.

Emma Powell  00:54

Hey, thanks for having me on.

Sam Wilson  00:56

Pleasure is mine. Same three questions I ask every guest who comes on the show: in 90 seconds or less, can you tell me where did you start? Where are you now? And how did you get there?

Emma Powell  01:04

Well, the stay-at-home mom-photographer describes it pretty well.

Welcome Emma Powell to the podcast! Emma is the owner/operator of Highrise Group and is passionate about real estate being the best investment available. Along with her husband of 25 years, they now live in Salt Lake City UT after 20 years in Austin TX, and are parents of six homeschooled children ages 24 to 10. They have experience partnering in a variety of deals as a lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator, property manager, and Emma is a former real estate photographer. Today, she joins me to talk about her real estate investing journey and the lessons she has learned along the way. She also touches on passive investing, raising capital through her investing club, and the importance of networking and utilizing your local REIA. Emma has a story that so many of us can relate to. Don't miss it!

Connect with Emma at:

Website: https://www.highrise.group/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmapowell28

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmapowell28/

Emma's Prayer Request: Wisdom and opportunities for her children to give-back and learn the benefits of serving the needy around them.

Connect with Lee: Website: THREEFOLD - Real Estate Investing (threefoldrei.com), Email: info@threefoldrei.com, Facebook: Threefold Real Estate Investing | Facebook, LinkedIn: Lee Yoder | LinkedIn

Check out our Free E-book! https://threefoldrei.ac-page.com/5-steps-to-passive-income-for-the-full-time-dad

Move over, baby boomers. It's time for gen X, Y, and Z. 

It's time to stop waiting on the world to change. It's time to be the change. 

Join Zach Winner and Mark Rios every week in our new podcast as we learn how others had the grit, determination, and conviction to 10X their lives. 

In this episode, we talk with Emma Powell, the owner/operator of Highrise Group and passionate about real estate being the best investment available. Along with her husband of 25 years, Troy Powell, they now live in Salt Lake City UT, after 20 years in Austin TX, and are parents of six homeschooled children ages 24 to 10. 

They have experience partnering in a variety of deals as a lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator, and property manager, and Emma is a former real estate photographer. Emma specializes in small business project management with a BS in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing Design. Troy is the IT guy keeping the operations running smoothly with his background in early tech startups. 

As Key Credit Partners with agency loan experience and owners of several properties, they have experience getting transactions to the finish line through relationships with lenders, property managers, attorneys, and escrow teams.

Emma talks about how being a homeschool mom helped her build better partnerships, and better businesses and how upfront expectations and mature communication help across every aspect of life.

She also discusses the benefits of using a KP to exponentially grow your business and the importance of using a KP you can trust.

Finally, she talks about her investor club and how they compare to the "clubs" that investor gurus claim to have. She tells us how we can grow our portfolio and gain access to incredible opportunities by joining her investment club. 

Join us on this new episode as we explore ways that can help you 10X your life.

Learn about how to ramp up quickly in multifamily, tips for working with a spouse (do you have a ticket?), what it is like to invest in a rugby team, and how she made the jump to high-rise multifamily redevelopment space.

Emma also has some amazing mindset tips like 1) realizing that people that are more successful aren't necessarily smarter than you, they did it - so can you! and 2) Why you need to hang around people who are actually "getting things done"

Find Emma on the Web

https://www.highrise.group

For VIP subscribers only, Emma speaks on using psychology, personality science, and IT tools to meet, connect, manage, and follow up with potential partners, service providers, and investors.

You won’t have all the skills necessary to run a real estate business, but you can build strategic partnerships to have an efficient team who can help your business take off. Lisa Hylton’s guest today is Emma Powell, the owner/operator of Highrise Group. In this episode, you’ll learn valuable, straightforward strategies for building the right partnerships. The first step is to identify your strengths and stick to them. You need to know what you can do so you’ll know who to look for in making up for what you can’t do. Itching to find and connect with potential future partners for your dream team? Then you definitely have to listen to this episode!

It’s a great thing to learn from other people’s mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we have to stay in fear. Today’s guest, Emma Powell, talks about that in this episode. Emma is the owner/operator of Highrise Group along with her husband of 23 years, Troy Powell, acquiring 92 units in their first 18 months. They have extensive property management and construction management experience, as well as partnering in a variety of deals as a private lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator. Emma is also a former real estate photographer. Emma specializes in small business project management with a BS in Business Administration and Entrepreneurial Management with a certificate in Marketing Graphic Design. As key credit partners and owners on several properties, Emma and her husband have experience building teams to creatively get transactions to the finish line.

In this episode, Emma shares her thoughts on parenting, decision-making, and dealing with fear. She talks about why we should keep a balance between learning from other people’s mistakes and staying in our fear zone. She expounds on how why you should consider other people’s mistakes as lessons, and not as a hindrance to growth. Join us and listen in!

[00:01 - 09:06] Opening Segment

We introduce Emma to the show
Emma shares her background
Starting out as a real estate photographer
Being into graphic design
How she got into real estate investing[09:07 - 27:37]
Learn from Other People’s Mistakes, But Don’t Stay in Fear

Emma talks about being a mom and a real estate investor at the same time
How she is as a parent
What she teaches her kids about decision-making
Setting an example
Being an expert vs. being an advisor
The importance of learning from other people’s mistakes
Being motivated by fear
‘Packing your fears’
Why you still have to evaluate every situation
Overniching yourself
Don’t judge people, but judge decisions[27:38 - 35:47] Closing Segment

Asking Emma the Adventurous Four
How you can connect with Emma
Closing words

Emma Powell is a former real estate photographer for ten years with a degree in entrepreneur and management. She started bringing in a decent income with her family through investing in their homes that led her into doing real estate business. As a stay-at-home mother of six, Emma joggled her time taking care of them and running her business. She started owning and building up multi-family properties and found partners to go bigger with commercial apartment buildings where she found her niche.

In this episode, Emma talks about how she managed to do the real estate business while taking care of and homeschooling her six kids. She will also talk about her experiences, what lessons she got from them, and how she rose from her failures to become big in the business by finding the right people to help her. Emma also shared about the FIRE movement and how it works.

This episode is what aspiring business people and mothers should hear to finally take a step to start a business in real estate and be successful!

Key Takeaways

[02:01] About Emma and how she got into the real estate business

[09:54] What pushed her to pursue the business

[12:59] The lessons learned from her renting experience

[15:18] On starting as a hard money lender and learning how to do the business

[19:02] Her best and worst deals in doing real estate and what it taught her

[23:36] Dealing with business failures with her husband

[28:23] Moving on with her business and getting bigger deals

[31:33] Earning big in investing in class D properties

[33:37] Finding her partners remotely through social media

[38:08] Her view on property management and managing the manager

[40:18] The FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Movement and its approaches

[41:49] What the lean FIRE approach is

[52:08] Her focus on spending less and earning more in reaching her goal

[53:55] Her bits of advice for those who are planning to pursue the real estate business

Emma Powell is the owner/operator of Highrise Group and passionate about real estate being the best investment available. Along with her husband, they have experience partnering in various deals as a lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator, property manager, and Emma is a former real estate photographer. Emma specializes in small business project management with a BS in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing Design.

[00:01 – 04:13] Opening Segment

Emma shares what keeps her busy these days[04:14 – 18:15] Who is Emma Powell?

Emma talks about her backgroundShe speaks about her love for Rugby
Investing in a Rugby TeamShe talks about her family[18:16 – 22:19]
Creating a Buzz in the Real Estate Space

Emma talks about her current real estate projects[22:20 – 33:39]
THE FINAL FOUR

What's the worst job that you ever had?
Working at Kmart
What's a book you've read that has given you a paradigm shift? Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
What is a skill or talent that you would like to learn?
If I want to learn something, I just go learn it. There's nothing on the list right now.
What does success mean to you? Freedom.

Tweetable Quotes:

"If I want to learn something, I just go do it. I don't have things waiting like someday I'll go learn that. If I want to do something, I just go do it." – Emma Powell

On this episode of The HyperFast Agent Podcast, host Dan Lesniak interviews Emma Powell, a real estate photographer turned investor that manages commercial real estate properties. Listen to hear how Emma’s previous experience with photography and marketing are assisting her success in managing her large real estate portfolio. Emma also details why the payoff of managing large commercial properties is worth the increase in effort, and how she’s working towards her investing goal of passive income.

Emma Powell, the owner of Highrise Group, naturally gravitated toward real estate after watching her childhood home be built from the ground up.

To build her empire, Powell employed a strategy she referred to as the "slow flip."

Today, Powell owns 93 units spread across Arkansas, Idaho, and Utah, and has another 122 new construction units under contract in downtown Salt Lake City.

From an early age, Emma Powell, the owner of Highrise Group, was enamored by real estate. In her formative years, her family constructed their ideal dwelling from start to finish.

"They built the whole thing, a 5,000 square foot — my mom's dream home," she told Business Insider. "And I realized that was the source of my interest in real estate."

Still, Powell's journey into the real-estate-investing arena wasn't a clear-cut path.

Years before she pulled the trigger on her first purchase, Powell worked as a photographer and graphic-design teacher. It was during this time she learned that the best profit margins for photography were embedded within photos of residential and commercial properties. After years of putting real estate on the back burner, she found herself infatuated with the space again.

In her spare time, Powell began networking with investors, attending real-estate investment conferences, and scouring YouTube to increase her education. During this period, Powell scooped up a few single-family rentals to test the waters.

But it wasn't until later on that she'd learn about the benefits of multifamily investing.

"So when I came to the REIA — the second REIA that I ever went to — I was sitting there listening to them talking about how they were raising capital and how they found their first apartment deal," she said, referring to the Real Estate Investor Association. "And he said he was basically walking through this process and he said, 'If you can just go straight to commercial, skip the residential.'"

That advice was all Powell needed. From that point on, she would focus on multifamily apartment buildings.

Shortly after Powell received that advice, a 50-unit apartment deal fell into her lap via a connection on Facebook. After she thoroughly vetted the deal and brought in partners to help finance the property, Powell made her first multifamily investment.

It was the first of many.

Fast-forward to today, and Powell is the proud owner of 93 units spread across Arkansas, Idaho, and Utah, with another 122 new construction units under contract in downtown Salt Lake City. Her portfolio is made up of single-family rentals, duplexes, and multifamily apartment buildings.

Here's how she's doing it.

The 'slow flip'

"I call it a slow flip, or if you're familiar with the term BRRRR," she said.

For the uninitiated, "BRRRR" is a common real-estate investing strategy that stands for buy, rehab, rent, refinance, and repeat.

Since Powell is hoping for high returns — generally a 14 to 16% internal rate of return and between 8 and 10% in cash-on-cash returns — her main focus centers around value-add properties. Put differently, Powell is looking for buildings erected in the '80s and '90s that are in need of some serious tender loving care.

Her analysis starts with the value-add component, moves to financials, shifts to property management, and then to negotiations. It's a methodology she's used to build the bulk of her portfolio.

Flooring, cabinets, and countertops top the list of components she's vetting to see if a deal is worth her while. If she sees a value-add opportunity — meaning she can force equity into the property through renovations — she'll move on to the financials.

Powell will pull the trailing 12-month financials on a building to forecast a property's net operating income. From there, she can break down current rents and forecast future rent increases. That gives her a better grasp of a deal's feasibility and profitability.

"I think a good ballpark starting number, and in a secondary market in a Class C property, is probably about $6,500 per unit for the interiors and another $1,500, $2,000 per unit for the exterior — paint roof, full resurfacing, all of those things that's done on the outside," she said.

But that's not where her analysis stops.

Once Powell has vetted the market, building, financials, and renovation costs, she shifts gears to focus on property management. It's a crucial component of her vetting process that needs to be properly accounted for. As a rule of thumb, Powell tries to keep costs for management around 3 to 5% of gross income. To ensure her estimates have a margin of safety, she'll usually apply a "vacancy factor" of 10% to her calculations.

"If the owner agrees, you go back and forth, you negotiate, you put it under contract, and that's when the real work starts because now you have to go prove every single assumption that you've put into your spreadsheet: inspectors, appraisers going and checking all of the structural stuff," she said. "It's like a forensic job to go through all of this."

Emma Powell is the owner/operator of Highrise Group along with her husband of 23 years, Troy Powell, acquiring 92 units in their first 18 months. They currently live in Salt Lake City UT after 20 years in Austin TX and are parents of six homeschooled children ages 22 to 8. Recently, she has 66 more units under contract in a new development mid-rise in a downtown Salt Lake opportunity zone.

They have extensive construction management experience, as well as partnering in a variety of deals as a private lender, deal sponsor, co-owner, syndicator, property manager, and Emma is a former real estate photographer. Emma specializes in small business project management with a BS in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing Design. Troy is the IT guy keeping the operations running smoothly with his background in early tech startups. As Key Credit Partners and owners on several properties, they have experience in creatively getting transactions to the finish line through relationships with lenders, attorneys, and contractors, while building both in-house and third-party property and asset management teams.

Often the biggest hurdle you have at the beginning is the belief that you can do something. For Emma Powell and her husband, the first step was remodeling their house on their own after her husband was laid off from his tech startup. Realizing how it could be a great moneymaker for them, Emma seriously dove into real estate investing. She is now a passionate real estate investor and the owner of Highrise Group. Today, she joins Monick Halm to talk about her real estate investing journey and the lessons she learned along the way. She also touches on passive investing, raising capital, and the importance of communication, accountability, and coming clean with your investors.

Emma Powell is a multifamily investor with 58 unit portfolio, 50-unit reposition in Idaho, 34 units under contract. She went from 0-92 units in only 18 months.

Emma Powell joins Tate and John along with Carl York for a rich discussion that touches on getting started in apartments, the power (and downside) of mindset, finding funds right under your nose in the form of HELOC's, and much more.