Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Green.
Hi Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Ashley Green, I am a mom to 3 boys, nurse & co-owner of Russ Green Properties LLC which I run with my mother. My journey began in 2019, I was burned out with nursing & just looking for more. My children & I would leave home in the mornings in the dark & return home in the evenings in the dark. It seemed like we were always in the car & it was never time for anything else. One afternoon I searched passive income on YouTube just looking for that “more” & came across Max Maxwell’s podcast where he was interviewing Brian Iregbu. Brian talked about real estate & how it allowed him to eventually quit his full time job & have more time with his family. That was all I needed to hear!
From that interview, I watched every podcast Max Maxwell had prior to this. I then began binge watching every podcast & interview Brian had after that. When anyone asks me now I will confidently tell them I graduated with my PhD in Real Estate from Youtube because that’s what it felt like. I studied & took notes everyday, from Brian Iregbu to his partner Byron Holman, I also started following Noelle Randall & Gerald Harris. I was closest with Brian & Byron because they are local here in Houston and I was able to attend every event or someone they knew in real estate was having. I even won their driving for dollars challenge that they had that allowed me to get in front of them personally & win $500.
While still studying on YouTube, I came across Danielle Pierce from Gerald Harris’ podcast where she talked about property preservation which is the repair & maintenance of bank owned properties. I was even more intrigued about this additional avenue into real estate. From this podcast with Danielle I was able to create our LLC, obtain our EIN, DUNS & insurance for doing preservation work. We started off doing minor rehab repairs, lock changes but our main income was grass cuts. or.
At the end of 2019, we bought what was supposed to be our first investment property, “The Flea House” this property was going into foreclosure & it was a for sale by the owner. We learned a lot from this project as it took a year to complete. By this time, it’s 2020 & COVID 19 is in full effect and my full time nursing job is threatening of temporary layoffs for 3-6mths. When I sit & look back I’m grateful for the property preservation work (even though cutting 10+ properties a day in 90-degree weather was no joke) it got us through a tough time & we were prepared before we even knew what we were preparing for. So we did the preservation work all 2020 while still posting everyday & getting out there that we were looking to buy vacant houses. At the end of 2020, I received my first lead of a property going into foreclosure from one of my Facebook posts.
From getting the lead to closing & helping this family sell a property that they’d been trying to sell for a few years took about 5months. But just the joy they expressed from finally being able to sell & getting money from the property confirmed to me that this is exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Also at the end of 2020, we accidentally purchased two investment properties. I say accidentally because we placed a bid on one property earlier in the year & once we didn’t hear back we forgot about it! This property that we also forgot about was going into foreclosure also. But we didn’t find this information out until after closing when we went to go look at the property because no one had keys to it. Oh, I forgot to mention we purchased this property sight unseen! We arrived to the property the day after closing to find that the previous owner was still living there & he didn’t know the property was sold! We worked with this homeowner to obtain his birth certificate and social security card to assist in helping him find somewhere to move. We found him a senior apartment complex nearby to move to along with helping him move his things into his new apartment.
Beginning of 2021, I met Andre Beraud in Earn Your Leisure (EYL) Facebook group. Every day I would see him posting about something real estate related & I would comment on everything because I was so inspired in what he was doing. He offered myself & my mom to tour one of his current flips & his welcoming & humbling attitude was contagious! He answered all of our questions and did not see us as a threat to him or his business like most we’d come across. Andre helped me to sell my first deal that I received on Facebook & from there we purchased a property together that was going into foreclosure. We were able to help that family get from under that property & put money into their pockets. We closed out 2021 with several properties under contract where we will be working with homeowners to help them get from under properties that are going into foreclosure. It’s been an honor saying Yes To Real Estate! At the beginning of 2022, I obtained my real estate license & joined the top real estate brokerage in Houston, Cultured Realty. It’s been such an honor to be part of an awesome team! Russ Green Properties is looking forward to helping as many families as possible in 2022!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. As I mentioned before most of my general knowledge of real estate came from Youtube so trying to narrow down a niche, figure out how to remove myself from distractions & being present as a mother & trying to juggle life in itself. But my children are my reason why & my motivation to keep going no matter what. I thank God for my village… I definitely couldn’t do it without my mother & my youngest son’s Dad, Corey!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I was working as a full time nurse but transitioning to contract nursing to allow more flexibility in my schedule. Real estate at this point requires a lot of my time & I specialize in preforeclosures & probates. I don’t know what is it but I enjoy the complexities & how each family’s story is different but the end goal is the same. What sets me apart is that I’m willing to dig to find out why you couldn’t sell before & find a solution. We are able to help them get to the closing table on a property that they may have been trying to sell for years. That brings me so much joy!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We will still be in real estate of course but I’m looking to add multi-family developments to my portfolio. My goal with this is to start a non-profit for boys & girls to come learn a trade. So while we are building we would have teenagers being able to complete an apprenticeship type program. Our children need activities to keep them busy & to help them learn skills to earn an income. Our goal is to continue to add value to our community!
Contact Info:
- Email: Contact@russgreenproperties.com
- Instagram: @russ_greenproperties
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RussGreenProperties/
- Youtube: @Russ Green Properties
