Day in the life of
Real Estate Developers – Jennie Berger
We are residential redevelopers and licensed general contractors with 20+ years of experience. I believe we provide a unique perspective on the real estate industry that you won’t find with a typical agent or broker. As a real-life couple and business partners, you can imagine some days can be challenging. No two are ever alike, however, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
My fiancé and I split roles. While Gregory is out overseeing multiple rehabs and new construction on site. I am blessed to stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Michigan in the Windy City, as I maintain and continue to grow our business from our home office. My duties include designing homes, managing operations, marketing, networking, raising capital, acquisitions, sales, and everything in between.
8:00 am: Work day begins! I try to start by 7:45 am, if possible, to get a head start on the day. Morning hours are most productive and I’m sharpest, physically and mentally, at this time. I brew a cup of hot steaming chai tea with oat milk and sit down at my desk at my home office overlooking magnificent Lake Michigan. Take a few deep breaths and find gratitude for this amazing moment.
8:00 – 9:30 am: Respond to pressing emails from the day/evening prior; Review any new and/or relevant property listings on the MLS (multiple listing services), PLN (private listing network), FSBO (for sale by owner), Craigslist, and any new listings that come directly to my inbox via our acquisitions team members; Review any relevant HARO queries, write up & submit my pitches.
9:30 – 10:30 am: Follow up on (non-urgent) emails and phone calls with vendors, suppliers, our attorney, architect (for permits and plans), and realtors; Review current/pending projects and select materials we want to order from suppliers, schedule deliveries, and coordinate with our boots-on-the-ground rehab management department, project coordinator, and contractors.
10:30 – 11:45 am: Social Media! Check all platforms to respond to comments, messages, and post new content. I don’t post on every platform every day, except Facebook and Instagram (4-5 day/week). I sift through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Houzz, Pinterest, and YouTube looking for ways to interact with our followers. We don’t have a ton of followers, and it really isn’t our goal to build a huge social media fan base. However, we like to stay as authentic as possible with the people who are connected to us. We share photos, videos, lives, boomerangs, reels, stories—often many where I am in front of the camera. I like to share our experiences, insights, and questions; Sometimes we walk through a new property we are considering buying or a current project to show the progress. Though I’m not on-site regularly at our rehabs, I typically do a check-in once a week on-site to see how things are coming together. I really love to see my designs come to life. In real life!
Social media can be a catch 22. We are people who truly love people and want to do the best we can for our communities, and humanity on the whole. Always trying to do what’s right and stay true to who we are, this core belief is reflected in the properties we renovate and build. When we share information on social media it isn’t all lollipops and roses. We show the ups and downs, the good and bad, the right and wrong. And not everyone agrees with our work. There is a lot of history in Chicago homes and some people find renovating or tearing down a hundred plus year old bungalow a mortal sin. It isn’t always possible to keep the original bungalow intact, or salvage materials and restore it to its former glory. Sometimes the most cost-effective, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing way to create a home that is relevant to today’s discerning home buyer is to remove the old and install the new.
12 – 1 pm: I don’t often take lunch breaks because I eat every 3 hours or so. Thus, I may prepare a small healthy dish and work in front of my computer while I’m eating/snacking. During this time I tend to do more passive things, like listening to a podcast or audiobook, read and respond to forum posts on Bigger Pockets, and peruse articles from ‘Google Alerts’ that are relevant to our business. I have several alerts set up to come to my inbox once a day (any more than that and I get overwhelmed). Lately, Google alerts seem to be more irrelevant than ever. I often flag them as irrelevant because, although they contained my ‘keywords’, they didn’t serve their intended purpose. I’m not sure how those algorithms operate, but it’s so frustrating! Once or twice a month, I’ll sit down and write a new blog post for our blog: House Flipping Duo!
1 – 3 pm: We’re in the process of revamping/tweaking our website and optimizing it for SEO. I’m finalizing topic pages as we speak and getting ready to begin a few Facebook marketing campaigns within the next 30-45 days. Every day I work on this as well as prepare the copy we plan to use. Then I revise it. And revise it again. (They say writing is rewriting. ?) And then, after our first campaigns launch, I will continue to tweak them as we get feedback from leads to ensure we are providing our readers with the most valuable information possible.
3 – 5 pm: A variety of miscellaneous tasks that need following up on. Examples:
- Designing a new house – choosing a theme as the foundation for the house, picking out electrical and plumbing fixtures, hardware (for kitchen drawers, cabinets, doors, vanities, etc.), choosing tile and flooring, gathering quotes for kitchen cabinets and appliances, reviewing paint colors, and more!
- Reconciling our bank accounts and charges.
- Reviewing our Google Drive to ensure all folders and files are organized properly.
- Updating spreadsheets, contact sheets, buyers lists, and miscellaneous documents and spreadsheets that are shared internally with our team to ensure they’re streamlined and easy to find and follow.
- Finding new ways to raise capital and connecting with private money lenders.
- We buy and renovate properties with a blend of financing—our own cash, hard money lenders, local banks, and private money lenders. One goal we have over the next 3-6 months is to expand our team of private money lenders. As a private money lender, you act as the bank, lending a certain amount of money for a specific length of time at a certain interest rate. Your investment is considered passive (we do all the dirty work while you sit back and do whatever you want!) and protected by a tangible asset, the property itself. You receive a promissory note (i.e. the contract), a deed of trust recorded with the county, and you are added as loss payee to our hazard/builder’s risk insurance policy.
6:30 – 8:30 pm (or 11 am – 1 pm):
- Note this is 1-2x/week: Networking 1-2x per week for our business specifically. I think it’s important to also network outside of the business. Meaning, not in a business environment or with the purpose of talking business. Outside, non-traditional networking helps us build rapport on a deeper, more meaningful level where nobody feels like they’re being ‘sold’ anything. People buy people. And people choose to do business with people they like and can relate to in some way.
- With regards to traditional business networking—I am a member of several local REIAs and a Mastermind community of real estate investors all over the country. Our REIA events take place 2-4x/month. And the mastermind is 2x/month. Both are via Zoom currently.
Pros
Having the flexibility to start and stop work whenever I want is the single most beneficial feature to owning our own business. And working in an industry that is essentially recession-proof—everyone needs a place to live—is exciting and inspiring. We love having a positive impact on people’s lives—whether it’s a potential buyer walking through one of our recently completed projects. Or helping a distressed homeowner out of a crappy situation by buying their house for cash, as-is, and closing on their timeline.
My partner/fiancé and I split roles. That being said, I get to touch almost every aspect of this business since we’re still a relatively smaller company with 3 employees. This can be overwhelming sometimes, feeling like I’m being pulled (or pulling myself?) in a hundred different directions. But more often it’s exciting, inspiring, and incredibly educational because I get to play multiple roles and learn all the ins-and-outs of how our business operates so we can better scale and grow. Wearing various hats has given me a deeper level of tolerance and understanding for others. Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is truly the greatest teacher of all time.
Cons
I sit a lot, which can be very unhealthy for the body! So I try to take breaks throughout the day, walk around, do some squats and pushups to get the blood flowing, eat lunch standing up, take the dog out, and maybe even hop on the bike for a Peloton ride mid-day.
One of the trickiest parts of owning your own business is knowing where to draw the line between business and personal time. It is against my nature to NOT respond to people. I check my phone and email constantly. Sometimes I have to force myself to WAIT until the next morning (does 3:30 am count as the next day?) to respond to an email just to prove a point. Whom am I proving this to, myself? Or the person on the receiving end? I don’t know honestly. As much as I ADORE what I do, it just feels better & more sustainable to establish healthy patterns that keep my business separate from the rest of my life.
