Flipping with faith

Tina Tyus bought her first house, sight unseen, on her credit card.

“And it wasn’t just one credit card. It was my card, my husband’s card and if you would have given me your card, I’d have used it,” said Tyus, a Hoover resident and real estate agent.

That was 31 years ago. She bought the home for $10,000 at an auction.

“It ended up being a really, really good and very smart investment for me,” Tyus said. “But I don’t recommend anyone do that.”

Her method of investing and flipping homes was wrong for several years, she said, but through faith and a lot of research, she has seen success in purchasing, re-selling or renting properties. Now, she’s taking some of that knowledge and sharing it through her new book, “So You Want to Flip Houses? Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom.”

The book started with a journal, where Tyus wrote down notes to help her daughters if they entered the real estate industry. 

“Now my children are both in the industry with me, and when I started to share information, they said, ‘Wow, mom, you should tell everybody,’” Tyus said. So she started writing her book, which includes information on credit, different taxes and decorating on a budget, among other lessons, in addition to personal stories and messages of faith.

“The book is not just about flipping houses,” Tyus said. “The book is also built and based on so many spiritual practices that could help you in any business, any walk of life.”

One story Tyus shares in the book is when she wallpapered a house for someone who was not her client. The couple had considered three homes, with Tyus as their agent, but backed out in all three instances. In that process, she had offered to help wallpaper a potential new home.

That couple, however, did not take her up on the offer until they bought another home — without Tyus as their agent.

“They call me a few months later and say, ‘Remember you told me you’d help wallpaper my house?’” Tyus said. She was upset, but had loved the house and decided to help. “In my regular real estate business, I believe in people before profit. I believe in helping people, going beyond the call.”

She spent all day wallpapering the house, Tyus said. A year later, the couple sold her the house. 

“My love for the people, my real, live joy for them made me operate in that aspect,” Tyus said. “Had I not, look at what I would have lost. … I did those services for them, but they ended up being for me.”

Incorporating biblical principles in her book was a no-brainer, Tyus said, because those are the lessons by which she lives her day-to-day life. Every piece of her life’s path, she said, was shown to her by God. Once she began to see success, in her career and financially, she said it also changed her ability to give back.

“Thirty-one years later, I now have a lot of assets, and I don’t have those liabilities. And it changes your walk, especially as a Christian, because when you’re broke, who do you think about?” Tyus said. Having financial freedom means having the freedom to give back, something Tyus said she wants more people to have.

“I want to free a lot of people. The good that God has done for me, if I take that little good and push it out to others, they have that one little seed to sow,” Tyus said.

Tyus’ book is available on Amazon and through her website, tinatyus.com.