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Bio
Jasmine is the host of the Find & Sustain Podcast, where she aids leaders in finding the truth and sustaining purpose. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communications from High Point University and a Master’s in Entrepreneurship from Oklahoma State University. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry and is a full-time government budget and policy officer.
When she’s not executing multi-million dollar budgets, she’s teaching financial stewardship curriculum to organizations and individual clients. After purchasing her first house at 23 and paying back $37,500 in student loans by the age of 24 and buying a rental property shortly thereafter, she realized her niche for creative financial wellness. In 2014 she launched a financial training program that has eliminated over $188,000 student loan debt for 38 clients.
In and out of uniform, Jasmine continues to speak to young people about passion, purpose, and development. She wants to be the voice to those who think they may not have one. “Don’t let anyone stop your greatness, God created you for such a time as this.” She truly believes, she can and will do ALL things through Christ who strengthens her.
Tips for Investing Out of State
- I use Cozy.co, which is a property management software to screen my tenants and to input my lease.
- I use EZ Landlord Forms to create my lease. I also use lawyers to make sure that my lease adheres to state landlord-tenant law.
- I had a separate business account, to keep my personal and business finances separate. At the end of the year, I had my accountant look over all of my expenses to make sure they make sense and that I’m paying my taxes accordingly.
- I’m learning that I can’t do it all excellent., and that’s what I want to do. I want to be excellent in every business venture in my job, my career, and to be excellent, there are things that I have to take off my plate and be willing to give to someone else. I believe that me going through that not-so-great experience with the first property manager and doing property management myself for the last three years, I’ve been able to establish a baseline where I know what to look for in a property manager. I now give them my expectations upfront and say this is what I am willing to accept, and this is what I won’t accept. I expect you in this relationship, in this partnership to agree with me, and if you’re not, then I need to find somebody else.
- I’ve learned that the contract with a property manager is very important. You need to spell out everything that you desire in the contract so you are both 100% clear of expectations and are on the same page.
- I also learned that some property managers don’t inspect the property as often as I thought it should be inspected. Some inspect a lot more and in addition to maintenance visits, inspect the property quarterly. However, what people desire is a place that’s not a rental, that they desire a home. They desire a safe place for their family. So if you’re constantly doing quarterly checkups, it’s more likely that they won’t want to live there. It won’t feel like home since someone is constantly checking up on you. While managing the property myself, I learned that the maintenance visit versus the quarterly inspection is much better and had less turnover.
- The tenant vetting process, in the beginning, is extremely important. That’s where you can see where people are at so if you have someone difficult in the beginning, they’re probably going to be difficult in the process and shouldn’t choose them.
- One of the hardest parts of out of state investing is showing the home. To overcome this I did two things
- I hired someone who does real estate photography to take professional photos and had a strong description when listing the property for rent.
- I hired a Millie Scout (resources for a military professional), which is someone who is a military spouse in your local area that will go out and inspect a property for you to help you find a home. They can make sure the property is up-to-date, take pictures/video tour for you, and show a property for you. It’s a contracted service.
Lightning Round
1. What is one fun fact about you that not that many people know?
I know how to speak Arabic, Japanese, and Dari
2. Who inspires you the most and why?
My mom. She is truly an inspiration. Just her story of coming to America and making a life for herself, joining the military, having other jobs. She worked three jobs when she was raising me. It was so encouraging to see her passion and her will to want to help people. She is truly passionate about bringing the best out of people and that’s something that I love about her and that’s something that I feel I want to continue her legacy. Making sure that I’m not only being my best, but I’m able to bring out the best in others. I think that that’s so important. She’s amazing, she doesn’t even know it. if I can be just half of the woman that she is when I’m her age, that would be a blessing.
3. What books are you reading now or have read and loved that you’d recommend?
Master of One: Find and Focus on the Work You Were Created to Do by Jordan Raynor
4. What is one actionable tip or piece of advice that you can tell our moms out there to help them on their financial independence journey?
Just go for it! I think we spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, researching, etc. While it’s necessary. to be aware of what’s going on and know what you’re getting into, what you qualify for, the market, the structure of the home, and all the other things around buying an investment, as a 29 year old looking back when I was 23, I did not have any of the technology that we have now. Some calculators will calculate a great deal for you, there are Zillow and Redfin and all these different apps that will help you out. I didn’t have all that information.
I had a dream to not be homeless and to get out of debt. I went after it, by any means necessary. Of course, legally, morally, and ethically, but it was by any means necessary. I was hungry to do it. And so I challenge people out there to write their goals down, and really understand what they are trying to do in the next two months, in the next six months, the next year?
What is it that they really want to do? They talk about smart goals, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic time-specific, make that smart goal, and then go after it. So often we have these vision boards and we really want to do things. For instance, it would be awesome to go to South Africa Well, if you want to go to South Africa, then make a plan, write it down, hang that, plan up somewhere in your house and then do it.
If something does happen, cause life happens, be okay with the changes, and adjust accordingly. but I feel I want to tell somebody to just go after it, whatever dream that is. My dream was to write a book, that was my absolute biggest dream ever. Now, I’m able to see that dream actually come to life. It took about seven years. It took a while to get to the end product, But, it was a goal of mine. I mean, on every goal for, the New Year, every goal plan that I had, writing a book was one of them.
The last thing I want to leave your guests is one of my great friends, who is an entrepreneur taught me. She taught me is to speak your goals as if it’s already here. What I mean by that is when I was writing my book, she said you need to tell people you’re an author. I thought, no, no, the book’s not done. She said, “No, no, you need to tell people you’re an author so that people will see that gift inside of you and start asking you questions about your project. It will help you gain more confidence.”
I remember I went to a conference and I told people I was an author and they were like, “Oh my God, what’s your book about, we have to hear about the book what’s connected.” I met publishers. I met people who owned bookstores. If you’re an investor or an up and coming investor, as I said before, jump in, just do it. But if you’re still on that fence, start telling people you’re an investor. I bet you, you will have people who are looking to put their money somewhere and maybe you’re that conduit to seal the deal. It’s been successful in my life.
Additional Resources
- Check out Jasmine’s new book! In her book, Set Your Truth Free: A Twenty Somethings Guide to Living A Truth-Filled Life, Jasmine empowers the reader to regain their power back and introduces innovative ideas like house hacking, living under their means, dating above the standard, the promotion of self-care, financial planning, faith, and more. This book will challenge, embrace, and develop the reader’s search for finding their truth. This book centers around a millennial struggle with finances, dating, insecurities, faith, homelessness, brokenness, shame, self-care, mentors, and more.
- The best holiday gift to get your kids this year!
Connect with Jasmine
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