Brett: 

Welcome to the expert care secrets podcast where we believe most commercial real estate agents, luxury realtors, and realtors, struggle with clarifying their passive income options. Not having a clear plan is the enemy and using a proven brokerage model such as the ESP commercial model is the best way to grow your wealth as well as owning investment real estate. Hey, I'm your host, Brett Swarts. In each episode, I'm joined by some of the best commercial real estate brokers, agents, luxury realtors, and passive income Wealth Advisors in the world where they share their ideas, deal stories, and inspiration. So together we can make broken complex broker strategies simple and passive income plans achievable. I'm excited about our next guest. She's out of the great state of Oregon, but originally from Southern California, and she has a passion for helping people buy and sell real estate. And I like to say, creating a lifestyle. While you're doing that, I've had the privilege of working directly with another kind of co-client. We're gonna dive more into that. But I love her attention to detail her passion for what she does, and also her background in investment real estate herself. And with her family and property management, please welcome to the show with me, Kristina Horning. Hey, Kristina, how are you doing?

Kristina:

Good. How are you?

Brett:

Hey, I am better than I deserve to be excited to have you on the show. For our listeners getting to know you for the first time. Would you give us a little bit more about your background and your current focus?

Kristina:

Sure, absolutely. So I've been in a mix of commercial real estate, residential real estate, vacation rentals, self-storage facilities, a little bit of not selling commercial, but asset management and leasing for the past 10 years or so probably going on more like 14 to 16 years. But I've done a little bit of everything on my rentals, helped my family with their rentals, and kind of had my head myself involved in every aspect of real estate.

Brett:

That is amazing. And I think you mentioned when I first met you it was Southern California property management, right? Where you kind of learn the commercial side of things as well. Give us a little bit more about that background. Cuz I think that'll be interesting for our conversation.

Kristina:

Absolutely. So when I was involved in commercial real estate, it was when the market was turning in about 2008, 2007, 2008. And our office buildings were going dark. I had seven office buildings in Northern California and another five to seven in Southern California I was overseeing. And we were going dark. So at the time, that's when web works were kind of developing. So we went in toward a bunch of web works and started copying their model and dividing real estate spaces into smaller spaces to get them rented. At the time, real estate was changing commercially, especially commercial real estate, like doctors, they wanted to drive up clinics, they didn't want to have to walk inside a building. To get to a clinic or an elevator, we were having people with accidents in buildings because of the medical features. So what we had to do is go in and tie spaces, which is kind of a tenant improvement to spaces, and divide them up into smaller spaces so that people would rent them because our office buildings were going dark. So it was a very hard time to be in a commercial. The only thing that did well was a self-storage facility because everybody was moving out of their big houses. They were losing their homes, and they're moving into smaller houses and everybody put their stuff in storage. So it's kind of interesting.

Brett:

Yeah, no, I think it's a great way to learn the business of writing. You had to think outside the box, you had to be creative. I guess it's the time I started the business about 2006. So I had just a little bit of the tail end of a good market and brokers and then everything just hit the fan. But I learned through the fires I like to say because it forced us to think outside the box. Craig adds more value, shift, and pivot. I can't and we'll talk about that with COVID-19 how you've pivoted and helped help your clients in Oregon, here in a minute. But before we go there, I want to focus and help our listeners get to know you a little bit better Kristina. And I believe we've all been given certain gifts in this life. And I believe these gifts and people call them strengths or superpowers. I believe these gifts are given to us to be a blessing and help to others. So I want you to go back to maybe you know, the college days or the high school days. And maybe what are those one or two gifts that you believe you were given? And how does that help? How do you help and bless people today?

Kristina:

It's a great question that puts on your thinking cap. So back in high school, I had an opportunity because I was doing so well in high school to leave school at about noon every day. So I started work. So I started work at about 13 and I continued working throughout high school. I was working in a commercial at the time we were trying to figure out how to run up office buildings. I kind of got hands-on with development. I was learning from my dad at the time. And then in college, I continued to work and I took night classes so that I could go to school, go to work 8:30 to five every day, and then I went to night school at six o'clock. So it's kind of how I got through college. I paid through college from working in a commercial I flew to Colorado. First Self Storage conference. I was like 19 and flew there and met all these super big Self Storage people and went to this big conference and kind of got my feet wet at the time. And you know, it just taught me that hard work pays off. And I have a large skill set. Because of it, I kind of got my hands wet and everything my feet wet, and everything that I've done Self Storage, commercial vacation rentals, I was over there. I flew to Hawaii when I was about 16. And we had a vacation rental over there. And I was there scrubbing the carpet scrubbing floors, scrubbing walls, cleaning, you know, meeting with the guests, really high-end people from all over the country. And so it just kind of taught me a lot from the hands-on stuff as far as and then I had to manage employees. And I just learned a lot at a young age. And it was nerve-wracking. But learn a lot.

Brett:

You grew up fast and you matured, you matured quickly. Wow. I mean, incredible at 13 you start working. And then you were able to, you know, do well in school as well to be able to do both. And then fast forward by, by 19. you're attending these big conferences. So you're getting more done for people that might take until they're 25 or 30. Is that a fair summary?

Kristina:

Oh, yeah. And it was great. I mean, I learned a lot at a young age. And I'm glad I did because it taught me to work. And it taught me to stay focused.

Brett:

Were your parents always pretty entrepreneurial, or pushing you or you did it kind of, you know, a mixture of both? Or what was what did that come from that drive to go further faster.

Kristina:

I was always somewhat self-motivated, especially in school. But I think the biggest thing is I remember one time, my dad took my car away, I think I was 16. At the time, I just got my license, my dad took my car away. And he said the only way you're going to earn your privileges back is if you show me that you can. And I was so motivated to get my car back. I have just gotten it taken away. I don't remember why but probably something I did.

Brett:

I think he's an iPad, right? You know, I mean, I just turned that thing. And like all of a sudden, they're just like, oh, whatever you want me to do, right, you know?

Kristina:

Weren't in existence. At that time. We didn't even know what an iPad was. But the car thing, I couldn't do anything I couldn't you know, I was having to walk to school or ride my bike. And he's like, the only way you can earn it back is by showing me that you know, show me that you really can.

Brett:

Yeah, sounds like a great dad. So that's shifting to real estate now. And when did you become fascinated and or obsessed with helping others kind of achieve their, you know, their lifestyle and owning real estate?

Kristina:

It's a great question. I bought my first property when I was 20. I was in college at the time, and a friend of mine had bought it, he was a few years older. And I was so motivated to own my property because my landlord was not taking care of the property I was renting. And I wanted something that would offset my mortgage because I was going to school full time not making a lot of money, and I decided to buy a triplex and the two units in the back I found would pay almost all my mortgage. I mean, I still had to pay taxes still and maintenance and everything. But I bought my first property and kind of fixed it up. And I ended up not knowing anything about rental property. And my mom was very sick at the time my dad was working far away. And so I was kind of on my own. I bought this property. I moved in with some tenants and I didn't know anything about screening and nobody had taught me about screening. And first of all, the realtor that I bought from did some things that weren't, I didn't think were right. So that motivated me to get my real estate license to help people and not be that person. And then the other thing was taking care of that triplex was interesting because I didn't screen as well as I could. And I believed people too much. I believed what they told me. So when I went in there and rented out one of the units, I found out that my tenants had destroyed the property. And I couldn't evict them, I had to go to court. And it just taught me a lot. And now today when I have people with multifamily property, I stress how important screening is because I've been through it personally. And the fact that I've had that experience, you always say you want to learn from others, but I learned the hard way. So I try to teach people that and tell them, the screening is probably the most important thing when renting to tenants.

Brett:

Excellent. By the way, you can learn more about Kristina at your lifestyleliving.com that's your lifestyle living.com. I think it's so true, right? until you've had or you know, close friends or families have that experience. And by the way, I grew up in rentals and custom homes developed with my dad. So very similar. I think your family owns real estate as well. And as a part of that you get first-hand experience of things like the horror stories, right? Or you do it yourself and you're like, oh man. And now you have that with you that you can take that experience for your clients. So now let's apply that to your clients who are working with you, right? So I may walk through an example of just that firsthand experience of how you're going to help somebody either buy a rental, you know, or buy their first house, negotiate to look for those things that otherwise they might not be finding out. And that's the value of representation, right? Being a realtor. So walk us through maybe an example of how that's played out maybe in your career so far.

Kristina:

Absolutely. So just because I've had that experience, when I talk to people that are doing so, especially their first-time investments, and I'm looking and due to a duplex, I'm like, that is a great idea. The second property I bought was also a duplex. And I tell people, it's a wonderful idea. And you just have to be careful with screening, you have the option to self-manage or hire a property management company. When you get into three or more units. It's probably wise, especially in the Portland area to have a property management company because the rental laws keep changing. And they are hard to figure out. They're very strict laws, and they are kind of all over the place. Oregon has statewide rent control. And I believe California does too. Is that right, Brett?