Abby Tillman
Listen to Nathan Brooks tell his story and you may feel a bit like you’re on a rocket ship watching a blur of lives pass by. As a kid, he displayed an aptitude for music, picking up a variety of instruments including string base, piano, and guitar and developing a ...
Glutton for Punishment or Naive DIY’er?
Abby Tillman and her husband chronicled their first foray into real estate investing, buying a rental property, in Think Realty’s “Rookie Investor” blog series. The following article is excerpted from that blog. You know those things that everyone tells you not to do, but you think, “It won’t be like ...
When my husband Lucas and I decided to take the leap into real estate investing, it was with the reassurance that Lucas is handy, motivated, reliable and a true “do-it-yourselfer.” He knows all kinds of useful things, like the difference between a miter saw and a circular saw, where a ...
Last you heard from me, I was flying high—like, serious cloud-nine status. My husband Lucas and I had just finished flipping our very first investment property; we had our renters moved in (with rent checks clearing on time), and we had run the final numbers on our renovation and found ...
Renovation Success: No Longer a Rookie
Exactly two months after we closed on our rental property, Lucas and I welcomed our renters into their new home. I felt emotional as we drove away from the house that day because (1), we had spent the morning there doing final cleaning and capturing the “after” photos of the ...
Warning: Read the Fine Print Before You Sign
I married a paramedic/firefighter, so I’m not exaggerating when I say that “safety first” is something my husband and I take seriously. When it came to purchasing our rental property, we drove through the neighborhood, got to know the neighbors, and determined our home was on a safe street. We ...
3 Tips for Landing the Perfect Renter
One of the scariest parts of flipping a rental property is wondering whether or not you’ll find a good renter. Thankfully, I got great advice on this topic while attending the Think Realty event in San Diego in February. At the time Lucas and I were halfway through our renovation ...
Glutton for Punishment or Naive DIY’er?
You know those things that everyone tells you not to do, but you think, “It won’t be like that for me!” and you do it anyway. Like, when your parents tell you not to get a dog. They tell you, “It’s a lot of responsibility,” “It’s like having a child,” ...
Classically Simple Design Choices are Best
In last week’s column, I discussed my lack of design skills and how Lucas and I called in our talented friend, Jess, to help us choose aesthetically pleasing choices for our rental home. We talked mainly about exterior last week (take a look here!), so this week we’ll attack the ...
Hope for the Design-challenged Renovator
It became clear pretty quickly that the one area where we were ill-equipped for this renovation was in the area of DESIGN. While I love to watch HGTV, it overwhelmed me to have to pick out paint colors for the rental house, and because neither my husband, Lucas, nor I ...
Know Your Deal. Price is only part of it.
If you’ve met me in person it’s likely my height and nose already tipped you off, but for those of you that haven’t, I’ll fill you in: I am Dutch. Because of this, by both nature and stereotype, I LOVE a good deal. Yes, it’s true, we Dutch are tall ...
When it Gets Real: 4 “Must-haves” Before Buying your First Investment Property
Growing up, my mom and I spent our Sundays at open houses around our Midwestern hometown. We were never actually looking to buy a home; we honestly just loved walking around and dreaming (and yes, Dad, being a little bit nosy). We’d walk through a home and talk about which ...
I still remember the night I made the list. I was babysitting for Tyler and Charlie while their parents went out for dinner and a movie, and after putting the boys to bed, I got to do every middle-school babysitter’s favorite thing: get paid $7/hour to watch TV. I quickly ...
