About Me

Hello, and Welcome to my About Me page, and my website. My name is Sharon Hiebing, and I am the creator, writer, editor, and fact checker of this site.

First, a little bit about me. I was born and raised in the Oakland, CA Bay Area. My father was a business owner, and from a very early age I had a wicked entrepreneurial streak in me. School never really interested me, although I did manage to graduate high school with a "C" average. I then went to Heald Business College and got my secretarial degree, and proceed to work in the administrative field for the next ten years.

One thing about me, is I was never afraid of change. So when the technological field was booming in Silicon Valley at the time, I jumped in and became a project manager, designing and installing telephone and voice mail systems, as well as training end users (guess that's where I developed my love of teaching others), while at the same time getting my AA from the local college. After six years of that, and right before the bottom fell out of tech, my love affair with real estate began.

At the time, in 1998, you could still buy a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home for under $200K, and I just knew if I didn't buy right now, then I'd never be able to. Being a single woman living in one of the most expensive areas of the country, I was quite proud to receive the keys to my first home all by myself. But I still couldn't stop thinking about real estate. So, I did what any normal person would do - I went and got my real estate license, quit my W-2 job, and became a sales agent for one of the top brokers in town (don't ask my friends and family what they thought about me doing that - I'm definitely the risk taker in the group!).

I did that for almost four years, averaging 2-3 home sales a month, winning awards, and making a lot of money. At the same time, I met and married my husband, Dale, and we bought a bigger home together, but decided to convert my first home into a rental. And this is where I first ventured into real estate investing.

Managing my rental home for almost five years taught me a lot. I learned how to advertise for tenants, screen them, make sure they took care of my home, and turn a house around as quickly as possible once they were gone. In the end, we decided to sell the home and use the proceeds for another business venture, but the main lesson I got from this experience was I hated being a landlord. So how could I be a real estate investor if I hate landlording? I vowed to myself never to buy another piece of rental property if it didn't cash flow with a property manager - and I've stuck to that agreement ever since.

Back to about me and my life story, after selling real estate for four years, I loved looking at property, negotiating deals, and running escrows, but I hated the hours. Lots of nights and weekends. So when another business opportunity came along that both my husband and I could run together, we both made the leap together. This company has been quite profitable for us, and we've learned a lot about running a corporation, having a strong P&L, managing employees, and providing outstanding customer service.

We still live in Oakland, with our dog, Annabelle, our cat, Isabel, and our iguana, Wilbur. We are blessed with three wonderful grandsons, and lots of great family and friends who have always supported us in all we do.

In 2007, we took a look at our assets and realized we had a lot of lazy ones, so we liquidated them and began our foray back into real estate investing again. This time it was so much more fun. But I did things differently. I found a coach who had been there, done that. And I created a company to put my investments in, running it like a business this time, so that I always remained profitable.

So why did I create this website you might ask? Simply put, I wanted a place that people new to investing, or even people who have a few years of investing under their belt but still like to keep learning and are interested in seeing what others are doing, could come to and get advice, tips, and strategies to help them succeed. If you receive just one tidbit off this site that helps you make a smart investment, or saves you time and money, or gives you a sense of relief, then I've accomplished my goal.

Thanks for taking the time to read about me. There's a lot of information on this site, so take your time. Come back often. Sign up for my blog and newsletter so you're always up to date on anything new I post here. And enjoy!