Flipping Friendship into Fortune: How Grace and Amelia Took Over Iowa’s Market!

Welcome to the Jake & Gino Podcast! Today’s episode features two powerhouse women in real estate, Grace Gudenkauf and Amelia McGee. Both hailing from Iowa, they’ve built impressive careers in real estate, becoming self-managing landlords and co-authors of The Self-Managing Landlord through BiggerPockets. Grace and Amelia share their inspiring journey from sliding into each other's DMs on Instagram to creating WIRE (Women Invest in Real Estate)—a thriving community for female investors.

Grace, a former mechanical engineer, and Amelia, a former project manager, have since left their 9-to-5 jobs, turned passion into profit, and grown their rental portfolios. Together, they’ve managed midterm rental properties, flipped homes, and run meetups and retreats for women in real estate. In this episode, we discuss:

Key Takeaways:

• How Grace and Amelia met and built a friendship over Instagram DMs.
• Why starting with small properties can lead to long-term financial freedom.
• The power of community in real estate, especially for women investors.
• The value of self-management and systemizing your property portfolio.
• Real-life stories from the trenches of property management—overflowing toilets and all!

Resource Mentioned: Get their book: The Self-Managing Landlord Book — Women Invest In Real Estate

Topics Covered:

• How Grace and Amelia broke into real estate.
• Transitioning from corporate jobs to full-time investors.
• Starting WIRE (Women Invest in Real Estate) and building a network.
• The highs and lows of being self-managing landlords.
• Tips for growing your own real estate portfolio with limited capital.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 00:56 - Meeting through Instagram & Their Real Estate Journey
• 02:01 - Their First Real Estate Deals and Career Transitions
• 10:34 - The Importance of Creating a Real Estate Community for Women
• 11:51 - Major Challenges Women Face in Real Estate
• 12:59 - Systems and Processes for Self-Managing Properties
• 16:46 - Real-Life Crazy Landlord Stories
• 37:36 - Best Deal and Why
• 42:26 - Fun or Exciting Insights to Share with the Audience
• 43:37 - Gino Wraps it Up

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