A 55-year-old retired police officer explains how she rebuilt her credit after filing for bankruptcy — and has done over 20 real estate deals, from flips to long-term rentals
She lived through the housing market crash of 2007 and was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2012.Brenda Stroud joined the Prince George's County, Maryland police department in 1990. She was 22 years old and raising a toddler at the time.
Over the past three decades, she's experimented with buying foreclosures, setting up long-term rentals, hosting Airbnb units, and flipping properties. There have been highs — she was the first in her family to become a homeowner — and lows: she had to rebuild her credit after filing for bankruptcy in 2012.
In her 30s, Stroud jumped back in with her partner at the time, she recalled:"We sold both of our townhouses and lived in apartments for a year as we prepared to get married. We had what were called rent deals — because we were police officers we were able to live in apartments at a discounted rate — so we decided to do that to save our money in preparation of getting married."
"I constantly watch the value of properties that I own and monitor if it goes up or down," said Stroud."During the 2007 real estate crash, values dipped everywhere but our property didn't dip as low as others did. So we just sat on it until the market came back up — and it did.
She made out okay, partly thanks to a rule in Georgia that allows you to strip off your second mortgage if you have one, which Stroud did. After about a year of building credit on her secured card, Stroud was able to convert it to a traditional card. That freed up more time for her to pursue real estate investing. Plus, even though she was getting a pension, she figured it wouldn't hurt to diversify her income streams.
Since purchasing their first rental in Tuskegee, she and her son have done more than 15 deals in the area over the last two and a half years.
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