Hidden Gems: Meet Jen Narragon of Narragon Investments

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jen Narragon.

Hi Jen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From the time I was a kid, I had the gift of manifestation. I’m not exactly sure where to begin because I have a lot of miraculous experiences of saying I want something and how it’s manifested. So because we all can say that the Covid era has been one of the most intense experiences, I’ll start there.

It began with the dream of owning an Airstream. My dad bought one ions ago for around $2k and it was collecting dust in his driveway. My husband had the idea of buying it from him and turning it into an Airbnb in our backyard. I thought it was a brilliant idea and I became obsessed.

The one thing about being a manifestor is that you obsess over things and “what you focus on expands” I couldn’t let the vision go after my dad didn’t agree to sell it to us. I scoured Craigslist to find a trailer to restore and turn into an Airbnb. My husband became over the idea and I was really disheartened.

Right at that same time, the year of lockdowns began. We made the decision that since we were home 24-7 that we’d remodel our bathrooms so our home was actually an inspiring space. Soon after, once the boredom of being home constantly, we landscaped our front yard.

The magic of the universe transpired as we unknowingly were preparing the house to go on the market also without knowing. I woke up one morning to find a crazy Victorian mansion on the market and I DM’d my husband the listing. He excitedly wanted to see it. I had been a realtor and was licensed in Hawaii and California but I was not active at the time. I called my friend who was active and asked if we could preview the home. In my mind, it was simply something to do and we had no intentions of buying it whatsoever. We had just made our home beautiful and buying a $1.25 million dollar home was not in my consciousness.

We went to look at the property and it was outrageous. You walk in and were disoriented. Picture the Winchester mystery house but completely run down. The yard was overgrown, the foundation completely shot, you walk in the basement and surely there must be dead bodies in the cabinets. It was four stories and had many apartments, bathrooms, and bedrooms. You had toilets and sinks from my guess is the 1800s.

We left the showing and I thought nothing of it other than “What a great morning getting out of the house to go see a jacked-up old historic mansion.”

A few days later, I got a spreadsheet emailed to me from my husband. He’d outlined how we could buy it, all numbers, all scenarios. I was an immediate “hell to the no.” We had just spent our blood, sweat and tears renovating our house after two years of living in a dumpy fixer upper and it was finally so nice.

He became obsessive. We went back to look at the house and his excitement finally sparked the vision, I finally got it his vision and jumped on board. Our neighbor’s home had just sold right at the same time and Covid had turned the central coast on its head with people fleeing the cities driving up home prices unlike anything we had seen. It was all a perfect storm. We decided we wanted this old mansion and we were going for it.

Right as we went to make an offer, the house went under contract with another buyer. It became kind of like my airstream vision that my husband had, I was not into it and then became obsessed again. Fortunately, my friend called me one day to say, “Hey just so you know, my buddy is the one who’s under contract on that property and he’s backing out” We let our realtor know and she put our offer together and once it went active again, we jumped.

With a little negotiation, we had our offer excepted. We listed our home at the same time and used strategy and the power of the Covid frenzy to receive multiple over-asking offers. We had purchased that house for $700k and we sold it for $950k. Covid was such a crazy time in the real estate market on the Central Coast.

We ended up closing escrow and moving into the unhaunted Winchester mystery-esque home in March of 2020. Everybody said we were crazy. We were oblivious. Now, nearly two years later, we’re nearing the completion of renovations and in hindsight, we were absolutely crazy. I can’t begin to shed light on the amount of work we’ve put into this place. My little Airstream BNB dream manifested into becoming a landlady, an investor, and an Airbnb host.

The renovation process was absolutely insane. Not for the faint of heart. There was a period of time when I moved into the front unit because I wasn’t sure I would stay married. They say that renovations can tax a marriage. Ours was certainly tested.

It’s all been very worth it despite the insane level of stress. Transforming homes is my passion. We’ve always found the most hideous homes and transformed them back to their former glory. This place was very huge and when we got in, we had no idea how we’d break it up. We’ve learned a lot about city ordinances, zoning, renting, Airbnb’ing, and renovating.

It’s now a quadplex. We renovated the three other units while living in total squalor. We’ve made it into a stunning property after years of back-to-back grinding. I learned that I was never really taught I could be an investor as a minority woman. I always thought of investors as being men only. I started WiiRE (Women Investing in Real Estate) in San Luis Obispo to inspire more women to #dreambigger. Investing is not unattainable. I want to spread awareness that women CAN do it.

I wish more young women would begin to take the steps to invest at an early age because the amount of freedom and flexibility you have is inconceivable. Building generational wealth through real estate can be done and especially today, there are so many resources for attaining home ownership.

It’s been a crazy couple of years but well worth it. #yesshecan

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No. AND we have been so crazy fortunate. I look back at all of the ways we could have lost our asses on this place. We took on a massive project thinking we knew what we were doing. In hindsight, it was a huge gamble.

My husband is an engineer and is very gifted with a high level of intelligence. I am extremely intuitive. Together we navigated this with our shared gifts and narrowly evaded a lot of disasters. Budget was a huge factor in a lot of near-project-death experiences.

There were so many unforeseen issues that came up that we didn’t anticipate and also that we did anticipate. We’re currently renovating our unit after living with no kitchen and in very unfavorable conditions. Resilience is something we have a lot of. We started demo in our unit which was pure chaos and at the same time had a teen who was struggling with her mental health, our dog was diagnosed with diabetes, and we had five family and friends pass.

It was really tough and we got through it. Today we just passed inspections which is a huge milestone. We’re designing the unit to be high-end and bougie AF.

As you know, we’re big fans of Narragon Investments, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My husband and I started Narragon Investments, LLC with the intention that we had just become investors with plans to continue to acquire, renovate, and rent multiple properties. I got into real estate in Hawaii in 2012 and moved back to CA in 2014. I went to India with the founder of UGG Boots and The sash bag, Brian Smith and Nichole Macdonald. One night at dinner, they suggested I become a life coach. I came back and trained to become a life coach. I got back into real estate after the purchase of our complex and have sort of merged the two businesses.

I’m technically a landlady and Airbnb host that’s an investor/flipper/DIY’er.

My services lie in the area of helping people learn the art of law and attraction. I created a course called Eat Pray F* Being Broke where I help people heal their relationship with money. My rentals mostly run themselves and I’m passionate about teaching people how they can have anything they want in their lives through the art of manifestation.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck has played a big role in my life along with being very clear on what I want. I have a formula for creating

Clarity: be clear and know what you want in all areas of your life.
Trust: trust yourself to be able to create anything.
Surrender: surrender to the process of creation.
The how is not your business
Be in inspired action
Self-care is essential
Visualize
Be in gratitude
Allow yourself to receive

This is the simple formula I’ve used to be a master manifestor and help others slay in life and manifest the $%^$ out of life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jennnarragon.com
• Instagram: @shesgotgreatbones
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1556622974839349
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-narragon-life-coach-0a9a9a239/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-narragon-life-coach-0a9a9a239/

Image Credits
Jen Narragon