Realty411 Magazine Featuring Missy McCall-Hammonds | Page 30

does, it’s obvious that she is not your average real estate investor, but rather a shot of adrenaline in a challenging, slowly recovering market. orn and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Missy focuses on properties in her home area: Butler County, Ohio, and close surrounding communities. Her target market is strategi- cally located between the two large cities of Cincinnati and Dayton. When asked about her choice to invest right where she lives, she said the numbers make great sense and then quoted Mark Twain, saying “when the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always twenty years behind the times.” The joke here, obviously, is that Missy and her version of investing are anything but behind the times. Boring but brilliant, low-hassle real estate is her aim. She believes exciting real estate markets can be costly. Employing what can best be described as “automated real estate,” she has perfected the formula for purchas- ing property, yielding maximum return on investments, and even the tenant-finding process. One of her web- sites, www.RetireWithRealEstate.biz, offers access to Missy’s latest offerings — complete with a “Crazy Cash Sheet” that presents the numbers in a straightforward manor, just the way Missy believes investing should be. No mysteries or hidden costs. This brand of upfront, honest, low-risk investment is a defining characteristic of Missy’s strategy and has helped forge strong relation- ships with all of her investors. Another example of this visionary’s brilliance? When it comes time to fill properties with qualified tenants, Missy once again turns to automation by using lock box- es to show properties. This practice allows both landlord and tenant to avoid “feelings over facts,” as prospec- tive tenants can inspect the property on their own, and landlords pick tenants strictly on unbiased data, such as employment, rental history and income, rather than on their personal impressions. This also avoids the possibil- ity of discrimination. She also found another ingenious use for the lockbox, Missy has found that placing empty lock boxes on the doors of tenants with delinquent rent balances helps to kick start communication and avoid the dreaded phone dodge game — tenants are quick to contact landlords when there’s a fear of being locked B Realty411Guide.com out. The locks are never changed, the lock box is empty, but the tenant avoiding collection calls doesn’t know that! Combined with the exceptional systematic approach to landlording, buying and selling properties, and managing over 700 rental units, Missy McCall-Hammonds is also author of Landlording Without Losing Your Mind and The Ultimate Business Guide for Real Estate Entrepreneurs (with Vena Jones-Cox). It makes sense that Missy is also a highly sought after public speaker at conferences and investment property showcases. For Missy, these speaking engagements offer her additional platforms for her goal of raising the standards of turnkey investing and teaching landlording professionalism. Her success in such endeavors can be traced to her commitment to honesty and transpar- ency. McCall-Hammonds’ strong work ethic, reflected in her writing and speeches, has helped cultivate relationships with long-distance investors. She is able to share with them the ability to create positive cash flow and avoid the typical costs of rental properties, such as vacancies, maintenance, and management fees, all of which equates to worry-free rental property ownership.. ne big question remains, of course: crunching actual numbers. How much money is at stake here? How much does it take, on average, to buy into Butler County, Ohio? According to McCall-Hammonds, the average property purchase price is $120k, while the average monthly rental income is $1200. Fannie Mae financing is available to maximize leverage. Compared to similar areas, these numbers are quite im- pressive and show the relative stability and affordability of Ohio’s housing market. Like a modern-day Willy Wonka who saw a glass box in the corporate world, Missy McCall-Hammonds fused inven- tive thinking with a quality product and skyrocketed above the rest in an epic fashion. By designing her own glass box with inspiring and innovative methods, she didn’t just break the glass ceiling, but shattered it and in the process has rocketed herself and her investors sideways, slantways, long ways, and any other ways you can think of to take the lead in today’s market. Missy is a true visionary in the real estate world, helping secure financial success and freedom for those savvy and willing enough to utilize the wealth and information that she so generously shares. v O PAGE 30 • 2014 ~ Article by Hannah Ash reWEALTHmag.com