Carl and Peggy Mullin have made it their mission to provide real estate solutions. “Whether you are selling a house, buying a home or looking for investments, we provide solutions that are moral, ethical, legal and provide win-win-win results,” they state proudly.
That’s a tall order in any investing sector, but it can be particularly difficult when it comes from such a diverse population of buyers, sellers and investors, all of whom tend to have different goals and perspectives on what a “win” means for them. That doesn’t stop the Mullins, however, who simply do it all from “traditional” representation of buyers and sellers to providing hard money loans, deals and cash-flowing turnkey rental properties to real estate investors.
With all this going on, one thing that remains a “common denominator” for Carl and Peggy is their membership in the Greater Orlando Real Estate Investors Association (GOREIA). “GOREIA not only has the things that most REIAs offer in terms of vendors offering goods and services to help you build your business, it also has something unique in [its leader], Robyn Thomas,” Carl said. “She introduces her members to her personal coaches, teaches the highlights of her investing boot camps to the membership for free and brings in speakers for the membership who actually help us grow personally as well as professionally.”
“Our experience with GOREIA is probably best summed up by our experience with an investment we nicknamed ‘The Cat House,’” Carl said. The couple first spotted the property while they were out “driving for dollars” in a neighborhood known for its ideal location near The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community, and its excellent educational opportunities. “We actually learned about the across-the-board A-rated schools in that area at GOREIA,” Carl noted. On paper, not only was the location good, but the 1,800-square-foot property had a popular layout and appeared to be a great find. When they went inside, however, things changed.
“You could smell the house from the street even with the windows closed,” Carl recalled, adding, “The owner went inside like it was no big deal. I had to stop after about four steps because my eyes, ears and lungs were burning from the smell of ammonia and all the filth in the house. And my white socks were turning black from the fleas.” If you guessed “cat hoarder,” you were right. Deterred from entry but not from purchasing, the Mullins made a low offer ($20,000) and started leveraging the connections and materials available to them through GOREIA.
“We not only knew to purchase protective gear for our laborers, but we also had them sign liability waivers provided by the REIA to its members,” Carl said. He added that Robyn was also responsible for ultimately recommending the product and service kits that eventually enabled them to get rid of the smell that lingered after nine dumpsters of trash, 21 live cats and 17 dead and mummified felines were removed from the property. They sold the property for $185,000 less than six months later. Despite the expense of getting the smell out of the house and holding the property longer than they would have preferred, “we still got a pretty good paycheck,” they said.
Carl and Peggy credit GOREIA with giving them the tools they needed not just to flip “The Cat House,” but also for helping them turn their flipping “hobby” into “an actual business.”
“Having the information from GOREIA, access to the pre-screened vendors we needed and the process all laid out was invaluable,” Carl said.
He added, “Robyn said it best when we presented the deal for sale at GOREIA: ‘After that, you’re not afraid of anything!’ And now, they’re really not, thanks to ongoing support from GOREIA.”
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