Meet Melissa Elizondo | Marketing Guru & Apartment Investor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Elizondo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I have two businesses. My primary business is a Marketing Agency, my secondary (and just as important business) is investing in apartment complexes for passive income.

When I started the Apartment Investing venture over a year ago, I was already working 60 hours a week doing Marketing. A few months into this new adventure I found out I was going to be a grandma and I wanted to make sure when the time came that I had margin in my life to be able to do both businesses and be a very present, very active, grandparent.

That meant making decisions. After talking to my mentor, he in the best way possible told me saying “no” to things was going to be the best thing for me.

First, I started to delegate responsibilities to others on my team. Then I started to draw boundaries around what I would say yes to and what I would automatically say no to. If it didn’t have anything to do with marketing, apartments, or my family (and my new grandson), the answer would be no.

I have held true to that boundary. That has meant saying no to non-profits asking me to serve on boards, say no to new adventures, say no to people in my life who were takers and not givers.

That also meant saying yes to blocked out family time, like getting my grandson all to myself on Fridays. That of course means, I don’t work on Fridays.

Now I find myself working 20 or less hours per week on marketing, and 10 hours or so a week on apartment investing and all that entails.

I somehow work less hours a week and get more done! I love it.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My company, 1 Vision Capital, LLC, was founded in 2019 with my real estate partner Casey Purvis and my uncle Curtis Schrader. The business was formed as a syndication group. Essentially we partner with investors to buy an apartment complex (that they normally couldn’t afford alone) that provides them true passive income. Most investors have purchased single-family homes already as part of the portfolios, but along with those rentals comes the typical headaches of being a Landlord.

We found a way to help them have all the benefits of being real estate owners (passive income), but without the headaches of typical single-family rentals.

We went from ground zero to owning 386 doors and are working actively on adding 2 more complexes for another 98 doors to our holdings.

No, it was not easy. I had to put in work every single day into this business. And about 6 months in I wanted to give up. We had underwritten over 120 deals and my goal of owning our first 150 units in 6 months came and went.

I called up a mentor of mine in the apartment realm and she gave me a swift kick in the butt. Basically, she said I needed to make more contacts and underwrite 40 deals a month. So we kicked it up a notch. It took another 6 months but we finally were able to team up with a group and we closed our first 114 units in Augusta, GA.

Within weeks deals started flowing our way and we closed the next 272 units within a month.

The biggest lesson I learned along the way was “We underestimate what we can do in 10 years and overestimate what we can accomplish in 1 year”. It takes consistent action every day – even when you’re not motivated.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a sucker for Aquariums, so I would visit Georgia Aquarium first. Then we’d enjoy the beautiful Atlanta Beltline and tour Krog Street market and Ponce City market. Definitely want to visit Sun Dial Restaurant.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A book that changed my life was “The Energy of Money” by Dr. Maria Nemeth. I read that book last year and it helped me work through issues and insecurities around money.

Also, there is a group headed up by Tyler Deveraux called Multifamily Mindset that provided the training, mentorship, and all-around guidance in the apartment investment world.

Website: www.1visioncapital.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/therealmelissaelizondo

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/therealmelissaelizondo/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/therealmelissaelizondo