An Interview With Rehabber Ashley Childers
Great fix-and-flip investors, as a category, are ambitious. You don’t easily back down to a challenge—in fact, you probably enjoy it. And if you’re really good at what you do, you’re able to create and leverage a network of trustworthy partners to meet your goals, come any roadblock.
Ashley Childers, a high-volume real estate investor in Ashville, North Carolina, has done just that. Keep scrolling to read his story and step inside the properties he’s successfully flipped during the chaos of COVID-19.
First, Some Background on Ashley
Ashley Childers purchased his first investment property at the young age of 19. By 21, he contacted HomeVestors, seeking to franchise. HomeVestors was impressed with his moxie, but ultimately instructed him to return after getting a few more real estate investment deals under his belt.
Ashley doubled down on his goal, working hard to expand his portfolio. He delved into spec home building for a time. Then, purchased and flipped restaurants and residential properties. And the skills he gained through his experiences investing in a diverse group of assets paid off—today, Ashley Childers is the president of the HomeVestors advertising counsel in the greater Ashville, North Carolina Area. He now averages 40 flips per year and counting.
Why Ashley Chooses Residential Capital Partners
Ashley came to Residential Capital Partners years ago, after his previous lender went out of business. Since then, he’s funded 12 fix-and-flips through Residential Capital Partners, and cites a high caliber of customer service as his top reason for coming back time and time again. “I’m very loyal,” he says, “I’m not big on shopping around if someone takes care of me.”
“Residential Capital Partners has boots on the ground in the areas they serve.”
– Ashley Childers
One key differentiator between Residential Capital Partners and competing lenders is the use of local appraisers. In Ashley’s words, “Residential Capital Partners has boots on the ground in the areas they serve. Other lenders are often on the other side of the country, and don’t understand that in places like Ashville, you can have a mobile home sitting next to a mansion! They won’t give great properties a second look because they don’t understand the area.”
Ashley’s Struggle With Securing Funds During COVID-19
COVID-19 threw a few curveballs at the fix-and-flip community. Perhaps the biggest disruption for investors was the sudden loss of their hard money lender. At that time, Ashley broke from his usual funding process and spoke with a couple different hard money lenders about his most recent investment opportunities, only to come up empty handed.
“I have not, and will not, pursue another lender again.”
– Ashley Childers
Ashley recalls, “When COVID-19 hit, almost all lenders pulled their funding, or required you to put more money down… or jacked up the interest rates, changed their terms, etc.”
After coming up empty handed, Ashley turned to Residential Capital Partners to see if they might be able to help him. Residential Capital Partners’ response to his predicament floored him.
Ashley reports, “[Residential Capital Partners] not only kept their terms the same, they raised my credit limit in order to fund the loans that my other lender had dropped. They could have taken advantage of the situation, changed their terms or asked for more cash reserves like other lenders. They didn’t. My terms stayed the same.”
He concludes, “I have not, and will not, pursue another lender again.”
Residential Capital Partners approved him for three deals in one day. Take a look inside the properties yourself:
