Four years ago, Lee Ripma was brand new to real estate. She vowed she'd one day appear on the BiggerPockets Podcast. That day has come.And we're all better off for it!In this action-packed episode, Lee traces her journey from full-time field biologist to newbie who jumped straight into long-distance multifamily (wait 'til you hear about her first deal!) to developing apartment buildings in the high-end Los Angeles market.You'll learn how she formed relationships with local, "boots-on-the-ground" partners on her BRRRR deals in Kansas City, why she came to prefer value-add multifamily deals over BRRRR, and how she's able to find higher and better uses for properties in Southern California.From looking at our podcast stats, we know a LOT of you are in hot markets like L.A., New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. If you've ever thought to yourself, "My market's so expensive... How can I invest in real estate?"—look no further.This episode will get you motivated, and it may just ignite your real estate investing career!Be sure to subscribe to the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, sample the other BiggerPockets podcasts in our network (just search "BiggerPockets" in your favorite podcast app), and as always, if you appreciate this content, please give us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts.In This Episode We Cover:Why she abandoned the idea of building a tiny house empireHow her career as an environmental consultant prepared her for real estate investingWhy innovation can be overratedHow she screwed up her first deal and still made 28% cash-on-cashWhy choosing a “submarkets” is more important than the general market you chooseWhy she shifted from BRRRR to value-add multifamily investingHow she unlocks value in rundown apartment buildingsFinding “boots-on-the-ground” partners for out-of-state dealsHow she learned the development game by apprenticing under an experienced investorHow real estate development creates money out of thin airTearing down single-family homes and building 4-unit apartment buildingsHow she moves projects more quickly by using “prefabricated construction”Why “value-add” drives the biggest returns on investmentAnd SO much more!Links from the ShowBiggerPockets ForumsBiggerPockets WebinarBiggerPockets Money PodcastHow to Find Overlooked Opportunities in a Hot Market with Andrew CushmanBiggerPocketsTask RabbitBiggerPockets Podcast 092: No (and Low) Money Down Real Estate Investing with Brandon TurnerPodcast MovementBiggerPockets MoneyTiktokCheck the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/show373See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.