During this episode of the Lab Coat Agents Podcast, Jeff is looking forward to learning from  Richelle Delia, who is a chemical engineer who has now shifted to the real-estate world.  She is the co-founder of a platform called Housing Joint Venture, where she helps professionals explore income property ownership as a safety net to diversify or create wealth. There is a lot to learn today!  Episode Highlights:  Richelle says her profile is not as disjointed as it sounds; it is actually a very cohesive story. She studied chemical engineering. She completed undergrad and her Ph.D. Her dad told her that one should have their own financial resiliency.  Initially, she didn't have big real estate goals. Her idea was to earn money as a professional engineer and buy a few houses along the way. She imagined having about  10 houses by the time she retired. After completing grad school, her job was to look behind a microscope at water building materials, roofing shingles, insulation, all the materials used to make a building. She achieved professional growth early in her career and had 14 units within two years of starting her first-yard sale. Since she had reached her goal early, she had to re-evaluate her plans. She changed her vision and launched Housing Joint Venture. Jeff curiously asks, "How did you manage finance and then paying for rehab?" Richelle shares detailed excerpts about how she got commercial financing. Richelle highlights how climate change disrupts the supply and demand chain and ultimately increases building costs. Shining light on the state of our ecosystem, Richelle says "We are seeing severe weather patterns, more fire, more flooding." "We can't harvest, so when the demand increases, prices go up."  "With increase in digitization, labor cost is going up", says Richelle. She further adds, "We are all in a digital environment. We like to make money via podcast as opposed to with our hands. That means labor costs are much more expensive, and because it's hard to get people to want to do that work, it's just hard to find actual labor and skilled laborers." Jeff asks Richelle's prediction on the costs of material. Richelle says baby boomers are living longer, which is an absolute blessing. The flip side of that means that they are staying in their properties longer. So, where there normally would have been a turnover, selling and purchasing a property that's not happening at the pace that we normally would have liked to have seen it. Landlords are business owners, and when supply rates go up, you pass those additional costs on to the end consumer, hence the rent goes up. We all are trying to figure out where there is opportunity and where the leading-edge is. How do you handle the second-guessing and emotional drivers?  Richelle loves the concept of buying and holding property. She adds her valuable insights on ultimate net worth, cashflow, and upward trajectories. After hearing about the return on investments and business value achievement, Jeff asks, "Is that real estate what coaches specify when they talk about investment? Or is that what they're teaching?" Everybody wants to get rich very quickly, and they haven't done the proper diligence beforehand. She gives suggestions on how to make sure you know what you are looking for and maximize your time doing so. Jeff asks, "What would be the two or three things that you would recommend educating realtors about?" People don't necessarily appreciate what depreciation is and its ability to drive down your adjusted gross income. You can differentiate yourself by really offering a whole perspective that no one else has and no one else is talking about. Richelle's firm takes existing properties, renovates them, and then puts them on the market. They are not into affordable housing space but their renovated houses are budget friendly. She says their duty is to help other people learn how they can do well, and that's how they decided to focus on the education side of the busine