Homes Of The Future: “The tiny homes phenomenon illustrates how to do less with more” With Noelle Randall of FDR Horizon Enterprises

I am in love with the tiny home phenomenon. It is SO cool to me. I can sit and watch those shows on HGTV day in and out. I love them because they illustrate how to do less with more. With the cost of building materials going up and also scarcity of housing and millennial not purchasing traditional homes as people in their age bracket did in the past, these tiny home communities are creating a demand we never knew we needed.

As a part of our series about “Homes Of The Future”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Noelle Randall.

Noelle Randall’s real estate experience has been instrumental in her personal success, as well as the success of countless professionals throughout the United States. Noelle is the founder and president of FDR Horizon Enterprises, a private real estate equity firm and brand manager. The company owns a diverse portfolio of real estate and is considered an industry leader. Noelle proudly boasts two advanced degrees — a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in Urban Planning and a Master’s degree in Economic Development from Penn State, and most recently a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Baylor University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Thank you for having me. I had been in the banking and mortgage industry for some years and I noticed that my clients who were investors were cashing out big checks. Bigger than I was making even in my six-figure VP position. So I asked one of them one day what he was doing and he explained to me that he was flipping homes and wholesaling. That’s what lit the fire to start my investing career.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

The tipping point in my career started after I invested in coaching. Prior to that, I had failed at real estate investing and was forced to move my family back into my parents’ basement — so humbling. Once I got a coach, he taught me different investing methods to hedge myself better and showed me ways to make money in real estate that I never knew existed. It was an eye-opening experience and it’s honestly what inspired me to start coaching others. I knew if my life was changed, I wanted to give back to others in the same way. Good coaching is the cheat code. You are able to leverage all of the wisdom and mistakes of someone else so that you don’t have to make them.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My goodness, YES! I am so grateful for my very first coach. He helped me climb out of a very dark place. As an achiever, it is hard being knocked off of your square. I was at my lowest point, even though I was a VP earning a decent salary. I was used to winning, but my first try at real estate investing took me out the game. Meeting him and being taught not only how to invest in myself but how to wholesale and do some other things in real estate other than be a landlord or flip was the key to me getting to the place where I am today. I can’t put into words what that relationship means to me. That one connection has not only helped me and my family, but the hundreds of students I have coached, people who have worked for me, and so many others.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

I absolutely love Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I’ve read it numerous times and it has been a guide for me in my career. In the book, Hill speaks on the mindset that it takes to succeed. He gives these stories about powerhouses we read about like Rockefeller and Carnegie and brings them eye level with you. It resonates with me so much because mindset is honestly the bulk of what it takes to win. Once you make up your mind that you’re determined not to be defeated, you find ways to attract success to yourself. Your eyes open and you see things differently. It all starts in the mind.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The first life lesson quote that comes to mind is “scared money don’t make money”. I know its improper grammar, but it is so true. If you are waiting for everything to line up perfectly, you’ll miss every opportunity. It’s relevant to me because after I lost everything my first go-round with real estate, I was so afraid to try again. I had my family’s life in my hands. It wasn’t just me. Everything I did mattered. And mind you, I was making 6-figures as a bank VP at the time. So I had a decent income. But I was still afraid to bet on myself again. Once I realized I had nothing to lose — I was in a basement with a husband and 3 kids — I just started taking chances on myself and they paid off. Now my mindset is, how much will this make me? Not, how much will this cost me?

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Homebuilding in the US has grown tremendously. We’d love to hear about some of the new trends and techniques that are being used to build the homes of the future.

I am in love with the tiny home phenomenon. It is SO cool to me. I can sit and watch those shows on HGTV day in and out. I love them because they illustrate how to do less with more. With the cost of building materials going up and also scarcity of housing and millennial not purchasing traditional homes as people in their age bracket did in the past, these tiny home communities are creating a demand we never knew we needed.

Can you share with us a few of the methods that are being used to make homes more sustainable and more water and energy efficient?

Solar is the biggest thing going right now as far as energy efficiency is concerned. More and more I’m seeing homes take advantage of that technology and I think it is great. A family friend has harvested so much energy that she is only paying a servicing fee for her energy, which prompted me to install panels at my residence. And as for water conservation, I’m seeing a trend with new builds to install water recycling systems and low flow toilets. Especially in water challenged areas like Texas.

There is a lot of talk about Smart Homes. Can you tell our readers a bit about what that is, what that looks like, and how that might help people?

I live in a smart home and I love it. Smart homes integrate a lot of the functions that we used to manually do and make it easier to manage via voice command or mobile phone. From my Ring doorbell to my digital deadbolts, my security system that is tied to my thermostat, and even Alexa. I love all of these tools because everything is right at the tip of my finger. I even have scenes set up for different times of the day so that I’m not wasting energy with lights being on or the air or heat being on the wrong temperature.

Aside from Smart Homes, can you talk about other interesting tech innovations that are being incorporated into homes today?

A tech innovation I’ve been eyeing for my next home is smart glass. I just learned of it earlier this year and I am obsessed with it. Basically, the windows change from clear to frosted to partially block the sun when it detects the rays are beaming through. You can also program it to go translucent at night instead of closing the blinds. For someone like me who isn’t always home when it is time to close all of the shades, this is a game-changer.

For someone looking to invest in the real estate industry, are there exciting growth opportunities that you think people should look at more carefully?

For those interested in investing in real estate, there is so much opportunity. You just have to know what to look for. People are afraid to invest now that we are in a global pandemic. But the truth is, this is one of the best seasons to invest. People who invested in 2008 during the last recession are now millionaires. I think people should most definitely look into short term rentals. Because once the restrictions on evicting people are lifted, people are going to need someplace to stay. And a short-term rental can provide housing for someone in transition who may be getting back on their feet with their credit without a long-term commitment from either party. Not only that, people are going to be ready to travel and move around in the Spring and Summer of 2021. Truthfully, people are already moving around but they are less apt to stay in a hotel because of safety and health reasons. My short-term rentals are still being booked even though people are traveling a bit less. So short-term rentals are the way to go, in my opinion.

Let’s talk a bit about housing availability and affordable housing. Homelessness has been a problem for a long time in the United States. But it seems that it has gotten a lot worse over the past five years, particularly in the large cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. Can you explain to our readers what brought us to this place? Where did this crisis come from?

Homelessness is one of the issues that is near to my heart. I believe the issue has grown for a number of reasons. Until recently, economically we had been in a very long upswing. The demand for housing in concentrated areas caused prices to rise. The housing market is consistently appreciating. But when you have long seasons of appreciation and very little depression, it doesn’t allow for the market to balance itself. Not to mention, while housing costs rose, incomes have remained relatively the same over the past 5–10 years so people couldn’t always afford the increase. Especially with gentrification in our inner cities. Areas where families could once live comfortably started to price them out. Coastal cities like LA, NYC, Seattle and San Francisco are high in demand because of location and high paying jobs. So people who aren’t high earners get squeezed out a lot easier than in the middle of the country where there is more space to sprawl.

Is there anything that home builders can do to further help address these problems?

Homebuilders could definitely take into account the need for moderately priced homes. Many of them focus on suburbs and what used to be rural areas because there is cheap, abundant land there. It works for their business model. But while people are flocking to the suburbs, there are inner cities being left alone where there could be opportunity to rebuild smaller, more efficient homes for less. The tiny home communities or even building vertically in the inner cities where land is scarcer could provide for a variety of inventory that helps to balance the market out. The average income in the US is $65,000. Someone with this income cannot afford a $500,000 home in the ‘burbs. But they can afford a nicely priced condo, townhome or flat.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

If I could inspire a movement to bring about the most amount of good, I would usher women into financial freedom. There are so many avenues to make money and close the wage gap but people need to be exposed to them. Real estate is one way and it is the #1 way to build wealth.

How can our readers follow you online?

Readers can follow me online at NoelleRandall.com or on Instagram at @NoelleRandallCoaching or on my Youtube channel under “Noelle Randall” — and be sure to subscribe!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!