How Rachel Dunham Built a Commercial Real Estate Career Through Resilience, Leadership & Grit

Rachel Dunham (00:00)

You know, I feel that the most important thing that I have learned throughout this career is to be able to never give up because no matter what you do, there are days and especially in the line of work that I’m in right now, I am managing properties, residential commercial and the.

people that you’re dealing with are just not quite as understanding,

And so what has this business taught me? It teaches me that we all as people need to go back to the basics.

Q Edmonds (02:09)

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I am excited about my guest. Now listen, this is no disrespect to anybody. Please hear me clearly, no disrespect. But I know a lot of us talk about leadership. A lot of us talk about being leaders. This lady right here has a credentials. She is a leader. This is what she does. Like she has…

put time and sweat equity in and getting at certain positions in our life where she is being called and really is a leader. And so I’m really excited for her to share some of her leadership skills with us and just her journey in general with us. And so I’m really excited about who’s here today. And so let me introduce you all to Ms. Rachel Dunham. Ms. Rachel, how you doing today, ma’am?

Rachel Dunham (03:01)

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. I’m doing wonderful.

Q Edmonds (03:05)

Absolutely. I’m so glad you’re here today. And listen, it was my job to brag on you, you know, because I know who I have in front of me. But I want you to, if you don’t mind, I want you to tell the people what your main focus is these days. I would love if you give us a little bit of an origin story of kind of how you got into where you are today. We love origin stories. And if you don’t mind, tell us where you are demographically, you know. And so, Ms. Rachel, ma’am, you have the floor.

Rachel Dunham (03:34)

Thank you very much. First of all, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to present myself to you as well as to the public. And my journey really started back in 1994 when I graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in finance and real estate. And at the time I was a single mom, I knew that I had to do something

to make sure that my child, that I took care of my child and that I gave him a good life. And so that’s a little bit part of my original struggle. And I did very well in choosing a career in finance and real estate because as a result of that career, it’s shaped the life that I’ve been able to have.

was also very fortunate that this the university that I went to was the University of Cincinnati Cincinnati. And at the time that was in Ohio, by the way, and at the time they had a program that was for students to participate in a professional real estate fraternity. Now that real estate fraternity introduced us the students to the

major players in real estate at the time. And as a result of it, I was able to get a job literally right before I graduated from college. So I was hired by a developer. And that developer immediately put me at and gave me the position of property manager in charge of over a million square feet of real estate. And it was a very daunting

opportunity, but at the same time, very scary because I didn’t really know what I was doing. Although with the training that I had had from the university and in my real estate studies, I knew most of the questions that I had to ask because as part of the fraternity, we were introduced to the major players and we visited with them and they did a little bit of mentoring. So they told us the different facets of real estate that we could actually go into.

So I was with them for about three years. And then after that, I went to work for another commercial real estate firm, same, same line of work, real estate management. Now, while I was doing that immediately right after college and going back to my, my training, I had purchased a small apartment building. And so I became a landlord and that

of being a landlord at that time because today is a little different. That passion led me to become an investor and to just basically continue to pursue different opportunities throughout my entire career. I am originally from Texas. I moved back to Texas in the late 1990s.

right before the year 2000, I moved to Texas and I was able to go work for other real estate companies. At that time, I became introduced in the multi-family, which was a jump from managing shopping centers to working in a different asset class. And it was a very good experience.

I went to work for them at the corporate office and my job, my original job was to teach other property managers how to generate budgets, how to basically manage their employees as well. So I was their trainer and you know, while working at the corporate office. The multifamily was not something that I really wanted to do.

time. And so I ended up going to work for another commercial firm. Brad Freels is somebody that probably everybody knows he owns City Center. And I went to work with him as a property manager. You know, there’s a lot of things that life happens and getting extremely personal. I was trying to have a baby with my husband, we couldn’t. And I just had to exit the

commercial property management for a while and I literally just pivoted into a completely different line of business, but related. So I went to work for a mortgage company and I became a loan officer. Now, you, this entire time I have also been investing in real estate. We’ve been rehabbing. My husband and I have rehabbed probably over 500 homes and

shopping centers and you name it, everything, we’ve done it. And so as a result of that, I just feel that I have been able to also inspire a lot of other clients that have come to me because of the diversity in the things that I have done with real estate. I don’t just sell a house, you know, like most real estate agents, no disrespect, but

my career started completely different. I learned how to sell a house much later in life. And that’s what I still do. I mean, I still help clients. I still help friends and other colleagues that come to me and ask for advice. So that’s just a little bit of a, in a short summary, my career and you know, how I’ve landed here in the commercial real estate world.

Q Edmonds (10:26)

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ms. Rachel. Thank you for what I call the gift of your vulnerability, right? You told us things that you did not have to tell us, but I thank you because it enriches your story and it makes people along their journey really stop and really sense the connectivity. Like, you know, I may not be going to do the exact same thing, but wow, I am going to do something and somebody could relate to where I am. And so I thank you. Thank you for

Walking us through listen, I was as you was talking I was writing down your resume I Graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1994 The career and finance that led you to a career in finance and real estate It was a program for students that put you kind of head of the game You got a job right before graduating college. You was in charge of 1 million square feet of real estate I mean and I can go on and on about the things that you said

But I often say this, probably maybe every podcast, I say destiny has no wasted moments. I mean, no matter what you go through in life, destiny has a way to teach you something about yourself that you kind of hold onto and it makes you who you are today. And so impressive resume, just, you talked about it, I talked about it. I would love to know what has destiny taught you? The moments of going through your life.

Now that you’re successful in real estate, you carved out a niche, you learned how to be an agent, of, know, hands on, right? What has destiny taught you about yourself? Has it taught you consistency, resiliency? What has it taught you about you?

Rachel Dunham (12:05)

You know, I feel that the most important thing that I have learned throughout this career is to be able to never give up because no matter what you do, there are days and especially in the line of work that I’m in right now, I am managing properties, residential commercial and the.

people that you’re dealing with are just not quite as understanding, people become so entitled. going back to my beginnings, when you rented a home, when you rented a space for a business, you respected it, you took care of it. And now the people don’t follow those same rules.

I mean, I’m going to just have to say this because I was so upset yesterday and I’ll just share this story. had someone in front of my building had their dog right in front of a sign come and do their business. And I walked out and I said, this is an office building. Can you please take them? You have plenty of lawn in that other place. And he’s response is like, this is a public place. And I said, it is not a public place. It is actually.

a business and it is a private business. You cannot do that. And so we kind of had a little bit of a conversation and, back and forth. And I said, you know what? And I said, you’re going to do what you’re going to do. I can’t teach you how to respect other people. And I walked away. And so what has this business taught me? It teaches me that we all as people need to go back to the basics.

We need to honestly try to be more respectful of other people, of other people’s properties. And, know, I try to, you know, talk to people and try to explain why things are wrong, but you know, that is just my own personal opinion. So this business now has taught me to just be resilient and sometimes just to keep your mouth shut because you cannot teach people how to behave anymore.

And I just wish parents, and I know I was raised in a very strict environment. You disrespected your mom and the hand went out. And so that’s just the way we were taught. And so now to even say something that is correct, you’re looked at as if you’re the one that is in the wrong.

Q Edmonds (14:33)

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that’s an awful message. And I stand with you. Please know I stand with you. I come from those old audits where it says, do unto others if you have them, do unto you. Right? Meaning treat people the way you want to be treated. Or another one would stand like, love your neighbor, respect your neighbor as you would love and respect yourself. Right? Like, I want to treat people the way I want to be treated. If I’m renting out a building, I am renting that like,

I’m treating like I own it because this is my space. And then one day, who knows? You would be in a place of ownership. And so you want to treat people the way you want to be treated. And so please know, I am on the same page with you. And I think that’s a powerful message to send. Ms. Rachel, let me ask you this. What is your next real goal? What are you looking to solve at scale next?

Rachel Dunham (16:03)

⁓ So my next career goal is I’m actually Looking into a completely different line of business that deals more with AI You know, I love real estate however AI is really it’s not just a buzzword. It’s going to be the next way of life and so I

probably going to start pivoting into a different realm. It’s a little bit unfamiliar. And the good thing about it is that you don’t have to be techie because I’m not. I’m not techie. But I am teaching myself on a daily basis how to be more efficient and how to utilize just different platforms that are out there that can help you basically duplicate yourself.

That could be for another podcast.

Q Edmonds (16:50)

I love it. No, I appreciate that. I love that. And you write AI is here is not it’s been here is not going anywhere. And if you use it right, like you said, you can literally duplicate yourself. It speeds you up. It makes things so much more efficient. And so using that correctly and pivoting to that is wise. Now I want to ask you, I have to talk a little bit about relationships. I want to know your perspective when it comes to building healthy business relationships. Are they important to you?

What’s your aspect on it? How do you go about doing it? So if you don’t mind, Ms. Rachel, talk to me a little bit about building relationships.

Rachel Dunham (17:25)

Well, I feel that I have and continue to build business relationships just by the involvement that I have with the different.

organizations, leadership organizations. I’m very involved right now. I am the vice president of the CCIM, it’s the Gulf Coast CCIM chapter in Houston, Texas. I am also involved with the Houston Association of Realtors, part of the risk management division. relationships is what makes you better.

at what you’re doing in your job, and especially us in the commercial realm, without those relationships, you’re not able to service your clients in the same way. And not just that, but you’re also giving back to the community some of the things that you have learned. There’s only so many hours in the day, and I happen to be involved with two major organizations. And sometimes people ask, why are you involved, or why would you give up your time?

But what they don’t understand that any time that you give something, you get a lot more back. And that’s just the way that I feel. I’m getting a lot more back. I’m getting love. I’m getting recognition. And you know what the most important thing that I’m getting? Knowledge. that I would not be able to get by even, you know, just reading a book. And knowledge from the people that I am around, knowledge from just

Q Edmonds (18:45)

No

Rachel Dunham (18:58)

learning from other people’s successes as well as mistakes.

Q Edmonds (19:02)

Yeah, yeah. ⁓ I love it. I love it. Again, I love your messaging. I love the nuggets that you are given. I really know people are going to get a ton of value from this episode. And so, Ms. Rachel, I have to ask, because you’re giving so many nuggets, if someone wanted to reach out to you, if someone wanted to connect with you, collaborate with you, or learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, Ms. Rachel?

Rachel Dunham (19:27)

The best way to get a hold of me is to send me an email, my phone number. Do you want me to give my email is Rachel R A C H E L at Rachel invest.com. That’s the best way to get a hold of me.

Q Edmonds (19:34)

Yes, ma’am. ⁓

Yeah, I love it. So, Ms. Rachel, let me say three things to you. First, let me say thank you for your time because time is our most precious commodity. You could have been anywhere in the world, but you gave us your time. So definitely thank you for your time. Two, thank you for your story. Again, thank you for your gift of vulnerability, transparency, authenticity. I appreciate you leading with integrity. Stories have a way, our stories have a way of planting a seed in other people.

that could be nourished in so many different ways. So thank you so much for your story. And lastly, thank you for your perspective. Thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you being here today, Ms. Rachel.

Rachel Dunham (20:27)

Thank you. I thank everyone.

Q Edmonds (20:30)

Absolutely. So listen, y’all heard Ms. Rachel. You got the nuggets. Check the show notes, get in contact with her, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I promise you we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Ms. Rachel. So thank you again, Ms. Dunham and to everyone else. Y’all have a fantastic day.