🏠 Save money AND the planet 🌎

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fell like dominos this week.

ICYMI: The 16th largest bank in the United States — which primarily works with startups and tech companies — collapsed on Friday.

Founders and VCs with insured deposits were told they will have access to their money on Monday morning. BUT, here's the real kicker. Of the bank's $161 billion in deposits, more than 93% were uninsured.

SPILLING THE (REAL)TEA

Mo money, mo taxes.💰Biden is proposing a 25% minimum tax on billionaires and large corporations.

You can't buy your way out of this one, either. Starting this April, a mansion tax will roll out in Los Angeles on real estate valued over $5 million. The tax revenue — anywhere from $600 million to $1.1 billion — will go toward affordable housing and tenant assistance programs across the county.

Our parents bought homes. Meanwhile, our generation can only afford co-ownership. Fractional real estate investing is a rising trend that makes home ownership more attainable, but nonexclusive.

A family from France is suing Airbnb for the death of their 1-year-old. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be fentanyl toxicity, and investigators are linking the incident to previous guests who admitted to having cocaine on the property.

It's OK if you fall asleep at the bar. Ted Lasso fans can stay overnight at the Crown & Anchor Pub in London. Set your alarms ⏰ — bookings on Airbnb will be available starting March 21 at 1 p.m. EST on a first-come, first-serve basis.

TIP OF THE WEEK

A new law could help you save money on your taxes and save the planet. 🌎

Congress passed a climate and energy bill over the summer that will begin to roll out rebates and refunds this year to homeowners who take the following actions to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions:

01 — Getting a home energy audit: A licensed professional will do a walkthrough of the house to assess energy usage for about $150. The federal tax credit you receive will cover about 30% of the audit.

02 — Installing solar panels: If you're ready to take the plunge and start powering your property with sunlight, you can get a 30% tax credit on qualifying purchases to cover labor, permits, and inspections.

03 — Renovating for energy efficiency: Replace old water heaters, central AC, and boilers for a 30% tax credit on appliances — up to $600. You can also improve insulation, air leaks, doors, and windows for additional savings.

04 — Installing a heat pump: A heat pump can heat and cool your home, and you'll be covered on 30% of the costs (up to $2,000) to purchase and install one.

Remember two things: 1) You won't get a refund on these upgrades unless you owe in federal taxes during next tax season. 2) Most of these tax breaks are only available until 2032, so make moves during the next decade or miss out!

WHAT'S BREWING

📚 What we're reading: Even if you're not talented in the kitchen, Joanna Stevens Gaines' Magnolia Table Cookbook Volume 3 will still look great on your shelf. The book will be released in May, but you can preorder it now.

👀 What we're watching: Cole Sprouse on the Call Her Daddy podcast (with video). Sure, it's fun to reminisce about the actor's starring role on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," but more interestingly, he shares the role money played in his family dynamic while growing up on screen.

🎧 What we're listening to: A candid convo with Tracy Tutor of "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast.

🛒 What we're adding to our shopping cart: Happy Daylight Savings! Longer evenings means less light for early risers who are getting up before the sun. If you're struggling to get out of bed, try a sunrise alarm clock.

PROPERTY CRUSH

Ah, the Hollywood Hills, where the A-listers live... and now, the $2 billion California Powerball winner. The celebs' new neighbor dropped $25.5 million on a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom mansion, and it barely even made a dent in his loot.

WOMEN OF THE HOUSE

Dominique Gunderson, a seasoned real estate investor and flipper, shares how she finds and evaluates investment properties in different states, what she looks for when finding the "right" investment property, and the challenges and opportunities of investing in a different market.

Tell us about your first flipping experience and what you learned from it?

When I bought that first house there were some things I definitely overlooked that ended up being very important to my end buyers, and therefore my resale value. For example, it was only a two-bedroom home, and one of the rooms didn't have a closet. All the other surrounding comps had plenty of storage space and that drove buyers away from my house and drove the resale price down.

How do you approach fixing up a property and making it market-ready?

I invest in the entry-level, first-time home buyer segment of the New Orleans market. My resale values are usually $200,000 and under. My end product is not a super high-end, luxury home. So I design and spend on my rehab with that in mind.

The buyers in this price point are looking for functionality over anything. Most people would rather have a new roof or AC system than the highest quality of tile, so those are the things I try to focus on. I will also use small design details to make the home feel higher end than it is. For example, if I'm painting the kitchen cabinets, I will usually use a dark blue color instead of white to give a more custom feel. Or if I'm choosing a bathroom floor tile, I might choose something with a nice pop of color vs a plain grey or white. Or when choosing fixtures (door knobs, cabinet pulls, lighting, etc) it's always nice to use a dark colored fixture with light colored walls, ie. black fixtures, light grey walls.

Can you give us more insight into the financials of one of your flips? Including all your costs and what you ended up selling it for.

Here is an example deal: Purchase: $70,000Renovation: $57,053.03Holding Costs: $6,875Closing Costs/Realtor: $14,023.42Resale: $169,000PROFIT: $22,013.87 / 17% ROI

Share a time when you faced a challenge in your real estate investments and how you overcame it.

I think one of the biggest challenges any out-of-state investor will face is building the right team on the ground.

Since you are not there to physically manage things, the people who run the operation on the ground are the sole key to your success. But building a rockstar team doesn't happen over night. It takes a lot of trial and error, figuring out what works and doesn't work, what type of people you need on your team, and who you work well with. It took me awhile until I narrowed in on my dream team that I work with now, so my best advice when you are in that building phase is to just keep going.

Keep trying new things and new people until it is perfect. It will take time but you have to keep pushing through in order to ultimately land on who you are searching for. Ask for local referrals, set your standards upfront, don't rush the "interview/trial phase," and talk to everyone about what you are looking for. People know people!

How do you handle risk and uncertainty in your investments?

The segment of the market I work in is a choice to specifically mitigate risk. The entry-level price point of any market is always one of the safest to work in for flipping houses. There will always be the most amount of buyers looking for the least expensive, nice house they can find. Having a lot of market activity helps eliminate long hold times, large holding costs, and price reductions, which are the main things that will kill your profit on a flip and make it risky.

What advice would you give to others who are just starting out?

Try to apprentice under someone who has a lot of experience, even if you have to work for free for a little bit. The things you can learn will save you so much time and money in the long run, rather than learning from your own mistakes. Make sure to ask all the very specific questions or ask that person to show you even the smallest details of what they do on the day to day, because those little things can often times be some of the biggest lessons to learn!

What are your goals for the future of your real estate investment career?

My goals are to continue flipping houses at scale out of state (if I can continue to buy two to three houses per month to flip I will be very happy!). I also want to start adding more passive income to my portfolio, so starting this year, one of my big goals is to buy a few multifamily buildings each year and start building my rental portfolio.