Starting Small, Thinking Big launched in 2022 as a re-imagination of my previous blog over at Four Elements Design. Four Elements Design launched in 2010 to chronicle my journeys in learning how to design and build alternative buildings. Over time, I realized that I am fascinated by real estate, and the process of “recycling” both reused materials into new buildings, and existing houses through the process of renovation and renewal.
If you have a secret love of watching HGTV, are interested in real estate as an avenue for investment, or are interested in projects the involve being scrappy, designing buildings, or designing farmsteads, you’ll find my real-life experiences here.
Although I spent the last 14 years in professional web design and web engineering roles, I had a 3 year stint in-between where I worked and lived on small farms with my partner, living in a yurt we built. It drew me to want to learn what other ways we could define where we live.
Along the way, when I returned to work, we rented a small house on a farm. We continued to grow vegetables for small CSAs, and dream about some day owning our own farm while working full time. We realized after a few years that selling our veggies on the side wouldn’t get us to the point of building our own farm. Being an engineer, studying the process of “buying a farm” really got me deep into the weeds of evaluating houses, evaluating land, and learning how real estate can be reimagined and improved to help revitalize communities.
Today, using the skills I’ve learned working hard on farms and solving problems in my engineering role, I am a co-owner in a full-service home-buying company that buys houses in “as-is” condition and provides a quick sale for home sellers. We spend time analyzing properties, getting repair quotes, and understanding what it will take to bring a property back to market value. We then make offers based on our analysis and when we come to an agreement, we take care of the process all the way through closing for the seller - they don’t have to clean up, fix anything, or spend another cent on the property. I’ll be featuring some of our renovation projects that we purchase from sellers through our home buying business, Shero Home Buyers.
If you’d like to follow along this journey, subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on Instagram at @persainvests, and leave a comment on the posts that you’ve enjoyed on this blog!