From Personal Struggles to Property Success with Jennifer Falloon

Foreign. Hi there.

Jenny Bolling here with Pivotal Real Estate Investments. And today I have Jen Balloon available with us. Yes, thank you for coming, Jen.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate that.

And your company is Vorsa. Is that how you pronounce it?

Yeah. Vorsa Investment.

I should have checked that, but yes. Yeah, super. I love the. The name in the back. Is there a story actually behind the name?

There is a little bit of a story. So we are big Game of Thrones fans and we were like, let's do something like edgy and, and fun and. And so we just kind of went through like this Game of Thrones dictionary and Borsa meant fire and royalty. And I was like, that's it. That's our name. And then our emblem is actually a mock up of the House Martel in the Game of Thrones. And so most of our properties have been named after, you know, mock ups of Game of Thrones.

There are some addicted players I know, or user viewers. I did not get to be one, so I'm a little out of it, but. Yeah, that's cool. So, Jen, I was talking with you a little before we came on, and I really want you to share with the audience how you ended up getting into real estate.

Yeah, so this is not my jam. I mean, it is now, but it wasn't. My husband wanted to do real estate. We had just moved to San Antonio. It was a student, super hot area. And so we started going to RIAs. He drugged me to Rias. And one of the rias was having like this three day boot camp and he wanted to go and I said, fine, let's, we'll get the vip. And so did that. But I ended up having to work that weekend. And so while all this was going on, my son is trying to get into the military and the Navy cut his contract, so he was trying to get into the marines and the army. And it just was this big fiasco. And so one day he came downstairs and he said, you know, I if I don't get into the military this round, because it had been like two years of fighting to get him in. He said, I am going to kill myself because I will not have had a purpose in my life. There's, you know, and I'm not telling you this for attention. I'm telling you this so you can get my affairs in order. So if you need to get a life insurance policy or a burial plan, whatever that needs to look like, I need you to be working on that. And so when I couldn't go to the three day boot camp. I made him go because we paid for VIP tickets. Somebody was going to this boot camp with my husband and by the end of the first day, he was calling me and he was like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is. This is my purpose. We're going to help people who are going through foreclosure. This is going to be our ministry. And we were all in. So I probably stayed at my job another month, maybe two months, maybe. I ended up leaving my job. He quit college. He was getting his associates, and we just went all in.

Wow, big move. And what year was that?

2017. 20. I'm sorry, 2018. They all start to run together. I'm like, has it been that long already? But yeah, 2018.

Right, right. Okay. And so tell us the next things that happened after that.

Well, he was actually the first one to get our first deal. Door knocking and we. That was something that we bought subject to, wrapped it, and then owner financed it to another family. And then we just kind of rinsed and repeat. We did several flips, some.

Now let me back you up so that the audience can follow what you're saying when you wrapped it.

Oh, okay. So we bought this with the mortgage intact. So we kept the mortgage that the previous owner had had. So. So, but she was going through foreclosure. Her husband had just died, he was in the military. They had a great interest rate. So we bought it, we kept the loan in place. We gave her like $10,000. And then what we did is we bumped the interest rate up a couple points and sold it to another family who did owner finance. So kind of like a rent to own, but that's illegal in Texas, so they call it on our finance. And yeah, and so they came in with like $20,000 down and they paid monthly. And then we ended up putting like a two year balloon on it. And so in that two years, they were able to fix their credit enough to refinance and, and purchase it.

Exact prototype of how to, how to do it. Oh, it's awesome.

Yeah, because we got that chunk up front, which is great. And then when you get residual income, passive income, and you're not a landlord. Right. So if something broke, that's on them. They own that house.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, so that was kind of a rinse and repeat for us. And then we would do the occasional flip. We bought a portfolio. The portfolio story is fun because we. It was a five house portfolio portfolio and the owner really wanted us to come with A hundred thousand dollar down. And he. And again they were all owner finance, super low interest rates, 0% interest for as long as we held them. I think we had them for like 10 years. So I knew I was going to contract these and so I pre sold one of the houses that I hadn't even owned yet for $100,000. So I took that hundred thousand dollars that to closing to, to buy the other homes.

Wow.

Good job. Creative. It's all about creativity.

Good for you. And, and a lot of door knocking. Was that the norm? Did you.

Yeah, yeah. And I hate that. I hate door knocking. We kind of backed up a little bit. Somebody pulled a gun on my son one time and I lost my mind. I wanted to drive over there, yank her out and beat her in her yard. And my son would not give me the address because he knew I was so furious. I was like, that's so unnecessary. Right. Because it's not like he's aggressive, he's a very gentle giant. You know, he would have been very polite, dressed very nicely and I thought that's just so uncalled for. Um, and so anyway, he saved her life. But, but we kind of backed up from then at that point because I was like, you know, Texans are crazy and you know, they're not good people. So I was like, let's just go to Mailers. So we really just started moving to Mailers and we would door knock some, but mostly we went to cold calling and, and mailers.

Gotcha. Okay, okay. And, and that's funny because we were just talking offline a little bit about. Your son is a world champ, it sounds like.

Right. He's not run, he hasn't won Worlds yet. So you know, there's stages you can't, you know, but he's a three time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion who's getting ready to go to Worlds. Like he's preparing for the world and like that's like Joe Rogan says your name level. And so. Yeah, so I think he's probably about a year away from that. But yeah, so three time champion. Yeah, he probably could have taken off, but he would never do that.

Yeah, yeah. So that's why I was just trying to show the. He could have easily, you know, taken that gun away, I'm sure.

Yes. Yeah. If he felt that threatened, he would have. But you know, yeah, he's, he's certainly capable of defending himself.

Wow.

So.

And I didn't think to ask you this. Do you have a picture of him?

I don't know if you'll be able to see it. Got a picture of him. That's my world.

So he's the reason you're into this business then, huh?

Yeah, well, really, him and my husband, you know, they. They bought this package, real estate package that they lied to me about. We had $50,000, and I knew we had $50,000, and I was going to use this $50,000 to buy, you know, our first home to flip. And I kept going to my husband. I kept saying, I found a house. Give me my $50,000. He was like, no, we can do better. You know, find it. You can't just buy the house for $50,000 because then we have to have rehab money. Go find a cheaper house. And so I found a $30,000 house, and I was like, this is more than enough money. You know, we. We have it. And yeah, after I left my job, my six figure job, I got an email that said receipt on it. And I was like, that's weird, because they gave me a receipt when we bought the package, the VIP. And I opened that sucker up and it was $50,000. And I was like, those fools so spent my money, and they were both gone at the time, so I couldn't kill anybody. And my husband was the first one home, and I was like. I met him at the door and I was like, you spent my $50,000? And he was like, it was Cameron's fault. Cameron did it. You know, Cameron made me do it. And so. But really, you know, I was upset about it, but at the end of the day, how much money would you pay to save your son's life, to save your child's life? I would spend that $50,000 every day. I would find it. I would sell my kidneys for $50,000. Right. To save his life. I don't regret it at all. It was just shock. It was like, why would you take me? And they were like, we knew you would never let us do this, so. Yeah. But it obviously all worked out. Like, we have more than made our money back. It saved my son. I honestly believe it saved my son's life. And it just put us on this amazing path that we didn't even know existed when we signed up for this boot camp or when we started. Like, there's so many facets to this business and, you know, I totally distracted you. I'm sorry. That's okay. I'm determined to find a picture of my son, and I don't even know if you're going to be able to see it. Hold it up to the camera. Closer.

Can you go closer?

Well, my ring light is. Oh, there he is.

Okay. I probably should do. I could probably find him on your website, too.

Okay, I can see him. Yeah. I'll send you some pictures. You can plug them in.

Yeah, right, right. There we go. And your husband, we could put all three of you on the announcement.

Yeah. And they're on my website. I don't think Cameron is, because I can't ever get him to do a decent headshot, but my husband certainly is.

Okay, so take it forward from those single families to your next realization.

Well, my next realization was, you know, we were helping people in foreclosure. And the problem with San Antonio is there was already a housing shortage. So one of the things we tried to do is find people who, you know, we would rescue from foreclosure and find them somewhere of more affordable, safe, clean, pretty to live. And there was. There wasn't. There were no houses to be had. And so I was like, if we could just get a small apartment complex, we would have somewhere to put these people. And so while that was kind of going on, I met Shelby and Corey Peterson, and Shelly invited me to their. Their boardroom that is called the boardroom, which is just basically Apartments 101 and everything you need to know. And I said, oh, I can't buy apartments. Like, we're not millionaires yet. You know, we. You know, there's just no way. And she said. I said, we're not even accredited. My husband would be accredited if we weren't married. But because we're married. And she was like, does it matter? Like, you have to come to this. This is where you learn. And sure enough, I went, only, you know, because I wanted to be friends with her. And it did. It blew my mind. I'm like, this is where we're supposed to be. My husband is a CPA by trade. He's very numbers, very spreadsheet, very, you know. And I was like, this is his jam. This is where our lives change. And so their next event. So I went to one in July. Their next event was in October, and it was the same week that we had a vacation to Jamaica. And I said, okay, this is where a decision has to be made. Do we play and go on our vacation, or do we change our lives, cancel our vacation, and. And go to this boot camp? And so we went. So we. We canceled our Jamaica trip, and we went to the boardroom and again, changed our lives. He was like, yep, I get it. I'm on It. And that was in October. And by June, we were closing on a 324 unit apartment complex in Slide Out, Louisiana.

Terrific. Terrific. That's. Yeah.

And.

And then since. And that Was what year?

2020. So. Covid. Yeah, Covid. I didn't stop Covid. I actually, look, I have no complaints against Covid. Like, we made more money in 2020 than we had made up to that point. 2020 was our year, and I did not let up off the gas. I was still underwriting. I was sourcing deals. I was raising money. And, Yeah, I did not stop.

Yep. And that was. I remember getting off a boat in March, March 8, 2020. And we weren't sure we'd be able to get off the boat because Covid was hitting and they were talking, shutting things down.

Yeah.

And I thought, ooh, if people aren't going to be paying rent, because there was talk on that, too. Well, shortly thereafter, there was. I wasn't sure if I should get into multifamily, so. You were brave. You were brave. That was terrific. All those that bought in 2020 had terrific performance, too. Nobody knew there would be so much government money.

Right. And the apartment complex we bought were so grossly under rent that nobody was going anywhere. There was nowhere to go. We didn't have any deficiencies at all. We had no evictions. Everybody, in fact, we raised our rent $250 day one across the board, and nobody could move because we were still, like, $200 under rent. And. And so we had been telling them for months, like, hey, your rent's going to go up. So if you need to move, this is. You know, we're not. We were doing month to month. There was nowhere to go. And so they knew. They knew the rent was coming. Nobody left. And. Yeah. So we're just now getting to where rents are. We're still just a smidge under, so. But nobody's. Nobody's leaving. You know, we are. We have a waiting list. Yeah.

And that's the interesting thing.

So.

So tell the audience where you are located now.

So right now I am in Christmas Florida, which is a suburb of Orlando, right?

Yeah. You're not far from me. You're even closer than I thought.

Really? To them.

Yeah.

Our next biggest city is Titusville, so. And which has great beaches. We're super close to Coco Beach.

Yeah.

This is my happy place.

And we're going to be talking about doing some business together for sure.

Yes. Yes, we are.

Yes. So what brought you to Christmas?

Well, in 2022, we bought 29 houses and in Port Charlotte, Florida. So it's about three and a half hours south west, southwest. And two weeks later they were hit by Hurricane Ian. And so the timing could not have been worse. So I was back and forth, back and forth, and I was like, this is madness. I can't be flying back and forth all the time. So I bought an RV and drove that sucker by myself across the country and was staying in it while we rehabbed our houses in Port Charlotte. And then I bought a condo there because I couldn't stand living in the rv, bought a condo, was living in the condo. And then my husband, who was, he's a comptroller of five dealerships around Texas. And so we were apart a lot. And so he went to his corporate, corporate supervisor and said, look, can I start working from home? I'd really like to be in Florida with my wife. And he's like, oh, that's perfect. You can move to Orlando and work out of the corporate office. And he's like, yeah, that's still three and a half hours away. And he was like, well, that's the best I can do. So I was back and forth, back and forth. And. And for the most part, I'm. I pretty much here in Orlando with him.

So you still own those properties too?

I do, yes. We do have the condo on the market, but yeah, the other 29 we do still own.

And how did you fare through the hurricane? How bad was. Did you have damages?

It was bad.

Bad, yeah. You did? Yeah. Did you have insurance in place on all of them?

Most of them, yes. But that's a whole nother fight and that's a whole nother podcast. Right?

Yeah. We sometimes have to do this self insurance type of decision when, when it's just us, but. Yeah, and then we'll leapfrog into the topic of when you're doing a syndication, buying a bigger property. And then now let's talk about how.

Difficult that is now because of insurance and taxes. Taxes. Insurance and taxes. They're breaking deals. They're, you know, we have a very conservative underwriting. Very conservative. So if there's an oops, if there's another Covid, we're going to be okay. We're going to be able to get through that. And we'd rather have more profit on the back end, you know, like surprise profit, than to have to do a capital call. Because we did it. We didn't judge. Right. So.

Right.

And we won't do a deal just for the sake of doing a deal. That's not how we do business. I am very mama bear protective of my investors money, like way more protective of their money than I ever would be of my own. So if it's not a good deal, we're not going to do it. And there are lots of skinny deals out there. But the thing that's killing it is, yeah, taxes and insurance killing the deals. And you know, I have several insurance brokers that I will shoot these two and it's just across the board and it's in most states, like really about that.

You will shoot these two, hold your thought. Meaning you'll send them the information for a quote.

For a quote, for an insurance quote. Yes, because they'll shot many, many companies and. And then I'm like, oh, well, this broker isn't as good as this other broker. They're the same. They really are. And it's high. I think that really if you're going to buy where insurance isn't crazy, it's the Midwest, you know, right now. Because we really were focused on this. I love the Midwest too, by the way. Very focused on the Sun Belt because it's where we want to be. It's killing us. Insurance is just devastating right now.

I didn't tell you. I'm part of the Florida Apartment association leadership group that got involved with lobbying in Tallahassee this last year to not only pass the live local legislation that got passed, but also there was a lot of insurance legislation that we got, you know, we helped to get passed. And the tort reform and all the other things that were passed were supposed to bring down rates. But between drafting and passage of that legislation, there was over 100,000 more cases filed.

Yeah.

So what they're telling us now, we just had a meeting last month again to talk about what to advocate for next legislative session. And insurance was a big discussion and they are telling us because of those cases, it will be another two years probably before premiums will really come down.

Oh my gosh. And that's also hoping that there's not another hurricane or storm. Right. Because then that changes everything.

Yeah, yeah. The secondary, the. Yeah, all the reinsurance, all of those. We are bringing some new ones in because of those changes. But yeah, it's. It needs to be major revamp.

Yeah, yeah, it's. Yeah, it's tough. So, yeah, so we didn't do a single deal in 2023 because nothing penciled. And we underwrite hundreds of deals. And I just, you know, I kind of wanted to move on a couple skinny ones. But at the End of the day, I'm like, you know, I just. I can't do it. Right.

I'm with you. Same here. Exactly. Well, and I'm seeing a lot more opportunities come across my desk now, and I'm hopeful that. That there will be something that jars loose some. Some of the connections, especially with bankers and whatnot.

Yeah.

Will help hopefully prove to. To bring some opportunity. But, yeah, I'm starting to look in the Midwest a bit, too, so we'll have to talk about that some more.

And, yeah, I love the Midwest, but this is the time to. Yes. Make friends with lots of brokers and make friends with lots of bankers.

Yeah. Yeah. So when you say Midwest, where. Why don't you elaborate where you're talking?

Oh, not Illinois, but I love Missouri. I love Tennessee. I love Kentucky. I love Arkansas, Oklahoma. So that kind of Midwest. Love those states.

Good to know. Good to know. Okay, well, so we're coming up on our time here, too. I need to ask you, what would you say was probably the most pivotal person or moment or event that has brought you to where you are today?

Yeah, so besides my son, which got us into, you know, real estate, that was very pivotal. The second most pivotal is we. My husband went to another conference. And one. In this conference, you had to pick three people. There were, like, I don't know, 20 speakers. So you only got to pick three. And he picked John Jackson, which was not his original pick. He already had his three lined up. And then the speakers got to come on stage and do a little blurb to help you pick. And he had such a personality that my husband was like, I have to go to this guy's vet. So went and came home, and he was like, we're gonna go to this, another boot camp, but you're gonna love this guy. Like, he's. He's hilarious. Like, you guys could be like siblings. You have so much of the same personality. And so we went, and sure enough, we hit it off and we became great friends. I bought his package and. Which again, changed our lives. Like, John Jackson is the king of lease options. And so that was. Who that was, is John Jackson. And I hate to say his name because they. He's going to watch this and blow. But because I signed up for his. His coaching, like, I was on a lot of the coaching calls, and we just became great friends. He came to San Antonio with his mastermind, and so we met him for dinner, and again, we just solidified that friendship. He introduced us to, like, all the gurus. Like, if there's a high, you know, a high guru name out there. Like, we're probably friends with them. And it all stems from, you know, John Jackson and those introductions. And we forged, my husband and I and Cameron, my son, those relationships. We built the relationships. But the initial introduction was absolutely John Jackson. And so he put us on the map. You know, we really owe the base of our success to him.

That's terrific. And, you know, to that end, that's where we really help, I think, our investors so much. We spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars going to these masterminds, these boot camps, all these trainings. And, and, and somebody that's got another job just can't do as much as. As we can if we quit working with regular jobs and do it. And so there's definitely value that we're able to bring from those. And I just love it. I thrive in those environments, too, so I totally get it. Very good. Well, so if someone wants to reach you, if you would tell the audience how they can reach you.

Yeah, so, I mean, you can reach me, can email me at Jen J E Norse Investments. My website is forsainvestments.com I'm easy to find on Facebook. Morse Investments is our. We have a Vorse Investments page. Instagram. I'm Jennifer Fallon on LinkedIn. I'm easy to find.

Okay. And we'll put all that in the show notes too, so that people can find you. And I want to thank you so much. This was fun.

Thank you, Jenny. This was fun. It was so great to connect and I can't wait to do some business with you in the future.

Yeah, we're going to talk about that as soon as we stop recording. Thank you again.

Thank you.