It was winter, probably right around Christmas of 2016.
Joe and I were on one of our typical date nights at The Revelry in Rochester, New York. The kind of night we tried to protect back then. I had a glass of rosé (or maybe a cabernet—those were my favorites), and Joe was unwinding from another long week at the dealership.
At the time, life looked good on paper.
We owned five rental properties. Joe was making well over six figures. I was home with our babies. We were grateful—truly. But we were also exhausted in a way you don’t always talk about.
The cost wasn’t money.
The cost was time.
Most mornings, Joe would quietly get dressed while the kids were still asleep. Ironed clothes. A warm breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, whatever we had. Then he was out the door before the house really woke up.
And some nights?
He wouldn’t walk back in until after 9 PM.
I’d boil fresh pasta and stay up just to see him, knowing he’d do it all again the next day. Saturdays included. Two weeks off a year. That was the deal.
And that night over drinks, Joe said something that changed everything.
He told me he believed that if we were ever going to reach the vision we had—dozens and dozens of properties—we couldn’t keep relying on banks.
He said we needed to learn something called terms.
Seller financing.
Buying beautiful, turnkey houses without traditional loans.
Not to be flashy.
Not to be risky.
But to create leverage.
So eventually, one day, he could walk away from the dealership.
We loved the income. We appreciated what it allowed me to do as a mom.
But we both knew it came at a price and that price was time with our family.
There was just one problem.
Taking over someone else’s mortgage?
Structuring deals correctly?
Doing this the right way?
That felt too important to “figure out as we went.”
Joe told me he believed we needed a mentor, someone who could walk us through every step, tell us what to do and what not to do, and make sure we didn’t miss anything critical.
And honestly?
I couldn’t imagine not hiring someone in a situation like that.
So I said yes.
We financed the coaching program.
For the next six months, we showed up every single week for a 30-minute call with our mentor. That didn’t include the videos, the scripts, the agreements—or all the things we didn’t even know we needed yet.
It definitely didn’t include marketing.
Or a virtual assistant.
Or the confidence we’d have to build along the way.
But it was the beginning.
And that decision, made over wine on a winter night, set everything else in motion.
