Realty411 Magazine The Future of Real Estate is Here | Page 65

Lisa Hoegler
Builds Her California Dream Team
H
By Hannah Ash
aving recently returned to Southern California this
summer, Lisa Hoegler is still pinching herself every
day. After 15 years in the Southeast, her excitement at
being back home again is still palpable. Yet the real reason this
accomplished woman is grinning from ear-to-ear is because, at
43, she has recently retired from a career as a corporate finance
executive and is now a full-time real estate investor and serving
as Executive Director of the newly-launched LA South Real
Estate Investors Association (REIA). According to Hoegler,
she is finally living her dream.
Hoegler’s escape from Corporate America did not happen
overnight. If fact, it was not even what she set out to do when she
began volunteering nights and weekends with a local Habitat for
Humanity affiliate in 2000. New to Atlanta at the time, Hoegler
says she got involved as a way of meeting people outside of
her day job. Yet nearly four years and 4,000 volunteer hours
later, including a term as affiliate President, she had learned the
nuts and bolts of real estate development and received a crash
course in running a small business. Hoegler had been bitten
by the entrepreneurial bug.
When a job transfer relocated
her to Charlotte, NC, Hoegler
transitioned her real estate
career from non-profit to for
profit. The rest is history.
Though she continued to scale
the corporate ladder of Fortune
500 companies over the next 10
years, Hoegler never stopped
moonlighting as an active real
estate investor. Now, nearly
150 residential transactions
later, there is no doubt why
this hard-working woman has
been a success. Just as some
fans will gush about baseball,
Hoegler spiritedly discusses her
work as an investor. It’s clear
that for her, real estate is more
than just work: it’s an absolute
passion. She sums it up by
saying, “Even my worst day in
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real estate was better than my best day in Corporate America.”
And she means it. For all of her successes, Hoegler has not
forgotten how it all started. Though she credits finding her love
for real estate during her Habitat experience, she undoubtedly
credits Metrolina REIA in Charlotte for making her, as she calls
it, “a player in the sport of investing.” By networking with other
investors and vendors at the Metrolina REIA, Hoegler was able
to quickly get the right education, learn the rules of the game, and
start hitting home runs with her fledgling rehab business.
Whether you invest by yourself or not, smart investors know
this is a team sport. Your main goal is to build your team with
the best players (tradespeople, bankers and fellow investors)
you can find. Your team is often the difference between a deal
turning into a win or a loss,” Hoegler proclaims. But networking
with other investors means more than just doing deals to Hoegler.
For her, it is about being part of a community where like-minded
people come together to support and encourage each other during
the highs and the lows. “For me, the last 10 years have felt like
an investing rollercoaster at times.” Hoegler explains, “When
I got started in this business, I underestimated how difficult that
can be emotionally.” As a single person, with family and friends
that didn’t fully embrace her same
enthusiasm for real estate, Hoegler
attributes her perseverance in this
sport to the camaraderie and sound
business advice she received from
fellow REIA members, or “fans”
as she calls them. Originally from
Orange County, Hoegler has dreamed
of returning to Southern California
since leaving to pursue her MBA at the
University of North Carolina in 1998.
Hoegler’s retirement from Corporate
America offered perfect timing to
turn that dream into reality. This past
July she settled in the Los Angeles
area and, according to Hoegler, “I’ve
been smiling ever since.” When asked
what she loves about being back home,
Hoegler enthusiastically responds,
“Everything…even the traffic!” Her
excitement is about more than low
“
PAGE 65 • 2014
Continued on pg. 70

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