At the age of 19, South Philadelphia native Jamisa Mclvor was living a simple life working as a cashier. Today, Mclvor is the owner of Rosebud’s Investments, which manages 23 properties.
She recently sat down with us to share her story.
How did you get your start in real estate?
An opportunity to transfer ownership of my grandmother’s property to me presented itself. I was reluctant because at the time I had no clue about homeownership or fixing up a home. Once I agreed, the title company drafted a dollar deed transfer, which we both signed and notarized. We then returned the signed documents to the title company with $1 along with the $400 title insurance fee. The transfer was recorded with the city, and the rest is history.
What are the key things you need to be a successful real estate investor?
You need to learn how to analyze deals by crunching numbers and evaluating properties [as well as] learning how to determine how much work a property needs and identifying market comparisons.
How do you define wealth, and why is it important that you empower other people to attain it?
To me, wealth is having options, being able to do what you want, have what you want, go where you want whenever you want. Wealth attainment is possible for all of us. I was once a cashier at a supermarket, but today I’m the first millionaire in my family, and I’ve laid out a path to make sure that I am not the last.
What is the biggest challenge people face in the beginning stages of real estate investing?
The biggest challenge is getting over the fear of failing. Making mistakes is inevitable, but I see people stunt their growth because they are afraid to get it “wrong.” Once you become comfortable with the process of failing forward, everything else works itself out. Investing is really a super simple process.
Read about Mclvor’s investor program and more on the next page.
