Why Stephanie Finally Bought a Building for Her Cleaning Business

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Introduction

Stephanie: Hello, my friends. Welcome or welcome back to the Filthy Rich Cleaners podcast. I am your host, Stephanie from Serene Clean. And today I wanna talk about something that I am very excited about, something that was not on my bingo card whatsoever for Serene Clean in 2026, or really even in the near future. It just wasn’t even on my radar whatsoever.

And that is, by the time that this episode goes live — I’m recording it a week ahead — Serene Clean bought a commercial building. And I totally did not expect to do that this year. And it was just a very quick, kind of whirlwind process. And I want to talk to you guys through that opportunity. Not that I’m an MLM. We don’t do that here, okay? We run real businesses. Somebody just got offended by me saying that, and that’s fine. I’m good with that.

So I wanna talk to you guys about how this came about, the decision-making process to move forward with it, and why now, and why I haven’t done this until seven and a half years into business. That’s right. We have rented all of our office spaces for seven and a half years. We got our first office pretty early on. Actually, it was just a little shoe box, very affordable. I think it was like $350 or $400 a month. So affordable. Since that moment, I have been renting, and we now have three office spaces in our three locations.

As you guys know — or maybe you don’t, maybe it’s your first time here and you’re like, who the hell is this beautiful-haired redhead talking to me right now? And hello, I own a cleaning business, Serene Clean. It has three regional locations in Western Wisconsin. I have between 28 and 30 staff members, depending on the day, currently. And I run it from Savannah, Georgia.

So here we are, seven and a half years in, and for all intents and purposes, we bought the building, right? We close on Monday. So let me walk you through why we haven’t done this until now. And let me walk you through why I thought this was a good idea, because historically I have been pretty leery of buying any commercial space in Serene Clean.

And I also wanna talk to you guys about preparing to — I should say, to be prepared for — opportunities that kind of get thrown at you. And we’re gonna talk a lot about financial, fiscal responsibility. I know it’s so sexy, and you guys are probably like, Stephanie, that’s boring. I don’t wanna talk about that. But this is how we are able to make decisions like this when they fall into our lap. So I wanna talk a little bit about how I was able to do this at such short notice.

How the Building Opportunity Came Up

Okay, so let’s rewind to two months ago. I believe it was two months ago. Maybe — yeah, two months ago, I get a message from my managers. And I’m down here in Savannah living my life, and they send me this. And they’re like, hey, look at this listing. It just went online. There’s not even a sign out front yet. What do you think?

And I was like, well, go look at it. I’m not opposed. I’m not opposed. The price is really good. The location is really good, all of that. And so I was very much, I would say, neutral about it. And then my managers went and saw it. They immediately start just spamming me about how amazing it is, sending me the videos and, like, how they would lay it out and all of these things, right? And I was like, okay. And we went through it. And here we are a couple months later, and closing’s about to happen.

All right, that’s the episode, guys. I’ll see you later. Just kidding. Okay, there is a lot more that goes into this. But that’s honestly kind of how the process feels. Like, I keep forgetting it’s happening, honestly. And that’s why I haven’t talked about it in any episode in the past couple months, because I didn’t know it was happening until, like, for sure, like, this was happening. We got the financing in place, all of that. A lot of things have to be aligned in order for it to actually go through.

And I didn’t want to speak publicly about it until it was a sure thing. And if you’re seeing this episode, it’s because it went through, right? Otherwise I’m pulling this thing. So you guys wouldn’t even know. But it is going through as of right now. So everything is lined up and organized.

Why Serene Clean Has Rented Until Now

When it comes to why we have rented, let’s start there. Why have we resisted any opportunities for buying buildings? Because it is actually something that I looked at probably four to five years ago. I think I actually was looking at some commercial spaces in Black River Falls, and I was really into the idea, right? Like, I was actively searching for a commercial space.

And so why we did not make that decision then was, one, none of the spaces that we looked at really made sense. It was like forcing a square peg into a round hole. It did not make sense. Either they were way too big, or it was like I was having to force it, if you will, especially considering where we were renting was just fine. There were no true negatives to it. I mean, obviously I could have used a little bit more space. That’s why we eventually moved offices again at the time that I was looking at this. But for all intents and purposes, we were very content with how much we were spending, where we were, and truly the low — the risk of renting.

And so I liked the idea of buying until I started to dig into it at that time. And none of the places we were looking at really made sense. It felt very risky, despite having the money to do the down payment and all of that. It just did not make sense with the things I was looking at.

And then once I started going through the divorce process — I know I talk about this a lot, guys, but it does affect the business decision-making in so many ways. And so once that started, there was absolutely no way that buying a business or having any type of asset in that manner would benefit me or the business, because all of a sudden now that is marital property. And that is something that I would have to potentially pay up to half of. And that’s where businesses get sunk, is when they have to liquidate assets in order to pay either a partner off or an ex-spouse, right?

So once I started getting divorced, I was so glad that I had only been renting, right? Because now there’s no asset that he could get his grubby little paws on. No offense, I wish him well. I truly do. I know he’s remarried. I’m sure they had a beautiful, fabulous wedding, and his retirement is well-stocked because of me. So you’re welcome. I’m not bitter, it’s fine, it’s fine. It’s all good. There’s more money to be made. So all is well here. But I’m so glad that I did not buy a building and go through that process.

So after my divorce, it just was kind of off the table. I was like — one, we were pretty cash poor, and I had just gotten, like — doing that payout was not something that I was immediately like, cool, let’s spend a bunch of money on a down payment and insert a lot of risk that we could just avoid, right? Because we had moved to a newer office — a bigger office, I should say — which is our current office in Black River Falls. And it was good. And the landlord at the time had been good, and he said he was going to be making all of these improvements that needed to be made, because the building itself was kind of crummy in a lot of ways. But we were being told that these repairs would be happening, right?

And so fast forward, we’d been there for a couple of years. And so there’s just really — especially since I’ve moved to Savannah, it just didn’t feel like there was any sense of urgency or true benefit to even considering this. After 2024 — we had a good year. We had a good year, it was profitable. But last year, it was rough, guys. You know, I’ve talked about this a ton on the show, that it was not a good year, and we did not end up being super profitable last year. So then to invest in a property — like, not once did this thought enter my mind last year. Not once. Like, I was just, keep the lights on, Stephanie. Like, that is your focus.

We had our three offices, which is a decent amount of rent. And I was not in the headspace to make any type of decision like that. And there were just a lot of things going on in my personal life as well, where I don’t think I was of true — not sound mind, but my decision-making abilities were very augmented last year, I would say. And even the beginning of this year, for a variety of reasons. Just things that, you know, mental health issues, those types of things. I wasn’t crazy, I promise. But, like, I was really, really struggling a lot of last year and this year.

So there were things that I’m really grateful that I did not make decisions on, because it wouldn’t have been made in the way that I would want it to be made. So not to be vague and also, like, whatever. But I just wanna say, like, I’m really grateful that this opportunity did not come last year, because I wouldn’t have taken it. And I’m really glad. Like, I feel 99% confident. I never feel 100% confident, probably, but 99% confident that this is the right move at the right time. And so we’ll get into that more.

But anyway, it didn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense in a financial sense or a risk sense, because the beautiful thing about renting is it’s somebody else’s problem when the furnace goes out. It’s somebody else’s problem when X, Y, Z happens, or the floors need to be redone, or the toilet’s not working, or the sink’s clogged, or whatever. Like, that’s not our fucking problem, because it’s the landlord’s problem. And so that has worked out really swimmingly, honestly. Every time there’s been an issue, it’s like, go to the landlord. And we haven’t had to necessarily pay for those things. But of course, you’re not building equity, all of the benefits there.

But another thing I was really hesitant about, and that still made me a bit gun-shy to make this call this year — I’ve worked through that in my mind — was the resale potential of a commercial space. Because in the small town that we’re in, commercial spaces sit for a long time when they’re for sale. And so when I thought about, like, is this a wise long-term financial — is this thing going to actually go up in value? Is it going to appreciate? I had seen with my own eyes how long commercial spaces would sit for sale. And that scared me.

And I know that may seem bizarre, to, like, think of it — and that, like, well, you’re not even buying it yet, why are you thinking of selling it? Well, I think it’s a smart thing to do. You know, I’m sure we have some real estate listeners who either have been realtors in the past or currently are, because those things go along really well, cleaning and real estate. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on that, if that’s something that you see in your town. But it’s certainly something that we see, especially post-COVID. I feel that commercial spaces are really hard to move sometimes and justify the price, right? And so renting felt very safe, because it was really safe.

I think that this all makes sense — why this is happening now and why this is the right time to do this. So truly, the business was, I would say, growing fast, but volatile. And then it was divorcee time. And then after divorcee time, we had a bad year, which was last year. And so now finally we’re, like, in a place where things — you know, profit has really settled in at a reasonable amount. You know, we’re always looking, of course, to increase it, but there is profit. We’re able to buff up the savings accounts. The financial side of things was in a sound place.

Like I just described to you, literally, my managers out of the blue sent me a message, and they went and saw it the next day. Like, literally, that’s what it was like. So it’s not like I was even seeking this out or anything like that.

So anyway, fast forward to the past, you know, year in our current space. And I’m not going to bad-mouth anybody publicly, but there were issues. There were some issues that were not being resolved in a timely manner in the space that we were in. And it was really frustrating. It was getting increasingly more frustrating. And honestly, like, we need more space. We do, to do all the things that we want to do — to have the office space that we would like, to have the kids separated more and have more space for them.

Because as many of you know, we allow our employees, if it is convenient for them, when necessary, to have their kids at the office. And my managers can bring their children too, at any time. So on any day, there is a high likelihood that there is a child or multiple children in the office. There’s also almost always dogs in the office. So, like, it’s just a very cool atmosphere, and more space would be great so that the kids could separate.

Additionally, when we are training somebody new and they’re having their orientation, currently, like, there is no separate space for them to, like, sit and go through that. They have to stay in the main office, and that’s really distracting. It’s also hard for us if we’re trying to have, like, any type of meeting or conversation. So does that happen often? No. But it is something to consider, of, like, it would be really great to have a fully private space — either for the tech to go in and train and be separate, or vice versa, for the managers to be able to have those conversations, frankly, even if techs are in the building. That would be really nice.

More storage space too, just in general, for our tools and supplies. Like, we’re a growing business, guys. More space would be nice. But the spaces I had looked at previously were, like, gargantuan — like airplane hangars, it felt like. And it would have been insane, absolutely insane, to buy them, the couple that I had looked at. Anywho, that’s kind of the background on why we haven’t bought up until this point.

Why You Need Your Books in Order

However, I wanna talk about being in the right space financially in order to make these kinds of decisions. And I am going to get on my soapbox right now. I promise it will be for a short time. Guys, this is why we must bookkeep. This is why we need to do things on the up-and-up with the money in the business.

Please, if you are hearing this episode, and this is something you ever, ever, ever could consider, even desiring — for you to be able to contemplate making a commercial space purchase, or even any loans at all in the business, whether that’s vehicles or what have you — we have to have our books in order. We have to be able to have a paper trail that is organized and showcases that a bank should trust us with a loan, okay? Because getting commercial property loans is, I would say, more challenging than personal. I think so, at least.

For me to get a personal loan, meaning this home loan — that’s very challenging too. It was very hard for me to get this home loan. I actually got denied the first time, and then I just fucking forced it. And I was like, no, look at this, this, this. And it was just so — it was bullshit. It was bullshit when they denied me at first. Again, I could go on a rant about it, of being self-employed and getting a mortgage. Really, really hard, guys. And so it’s also hard to do it for your business. Like, it’s so hard.

And so that is somebody who has done the books correctly from day fucking one saying it’s still hard. It is still hard. That is somebody who has been on payroll for years, meaning getting a paycheck, not just doing owner’s draws. And that was specifically so that, one, we could do our taxes. We are an LLC, but we wanted to do them as an S-corp, because that is more tax-advantaged, according to my accountant. And so in order to do that, I would need to be getting paychecks. And additionally, then it helps when you are trying to get loans.

So all of that to be said, please, guys — like, I know you may be ashamed. I know you may be totally confused, or whatever negative feeling you are having about getting the books in order and starting to run your business above board, and not doing it by cash, not paying people in cash and under the table. This is not me judging. I’m not judging you whatsoever. I know you gotta do what you gotta do, but please think about your future self here. Think about the vision that you have for the business. And if it is any sort of level of success, whatever that means to you, that version of the business is not going to be doing things under the table. They are not going to be not paying their taxes or not having their books done.

If you can’t do bookkeeping, hire a bookkeeper. Shout out Dan at Best Damn Bookkeeping, okay? This is me. Not sponsored or affiliated in any way. He is so knowledgeable. I highly recommend you go listen to our episode. We’ll link it down below, and reach out. And if you don’t use him, just a bookkeeper, right? And getting an accountant, and just vowing to yourself, this is going to be — 2027 is the year that I am going to do everything above board.

And it might be painful, and you might have some lack of instant gratification, because all of a sudden we’re paying our taxes, or your staff members are going to be pissed. Some of them may leave. They may leave, I say. They might leave because they don’t want to pay taxes, right? You may be saying that you’re running them as independent contractors. They might not be paying their taxes, guys.

All of this to say, please let this episode be the boost that you need to get your shit together there, because there is no such thing as a long-term, legacy, successful business without having this shit in place. Having an accountant, paying your taxes, paying people above board, and doing the books, okay? Making sure that that is organized.

Getting the Commercial Loan

And so when I’ve said that this is how it’s been run since day one, that makes it a lot easier when a banker, a loan officer, is like, cool, send me this, this, this — because that’s exactly what happened, right? I reached out to a couple lenders in our area. We ended up going with the bank that we’ve banked at since the beginning. It’s just a local bank, guys. It literally has, I think, what, two locations? It’s actually the bank that I have banked at since I was six years old. That’s how old I was when I opened that savings account there. And it’s wonderful. And my manager’s mom has worked there for, like, 50 years — 50-plus, I think. So that’s crazy.

Yeah, I don’t bank there personally anymore, but we still bank there for the business. And yeah, small towns, guys. But I really wanted to get the mortgage there. So what I did was I reached out to two lenders, both local there, and the other lender actually had the better rate. And so then I reached out to ours, like, hey, I really want to work with you guys. Can you match this slightly lower rate? And they were able to make that happen. So that was really cool.

But anyways, what happens is, of course, they’re going to start asking for lots and lots of paperwork and proof that the business can actually afford this. So they asked for three years, I believe, of both the business taxes and my personal taxes. They asked for balance sheets. They asked for P&Ls. They asked for all sorts of things, basically to prove that we can make good, and that this is not a risk on their end. Like, it’s a low-risk thing for them to lend us the money, and we’re actually going to be able to afford it.

So this is why you need to be in a place where, at the drop of a hat — one day I wasn’t doing this. The next day I was considering this. And in order to make that happen, we need to have a loan.

That was another thing that made me a bit nervous. I would say one of my biggest points of anxiety with this whole thing is that we are now going to have a loan, and I have made it through the life of the business — we did get the EIDL loan, whatever that thing was. They turned it into a grant, right? So we never even had to pay that. That was just, like, eight grand of free money. I think it was eight or 18. I can’t remember. It was wonderful, though, to get that.

We actually do currently have a car loan, like, for our current vehicle, which we could pay off, but the interest is so low. I was like, I’d rather have that cash flow elsewhere. So we had one small car loan for one of the work cars, and then that’s it. Like, very, very minor. So I’m very comfortable with not having any liabilities in that form. And so that makes me nervous. It doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t do it, but it was, like, kind of my biggest, like, is this the right choice? And just running through everything. But I do feel like it is a sound investment. I think it’s smart. And we’ll go into the details of the property shortly.

Saving for the Down Payment

When it comes to just being prepared to take these opportunities, and for us to also have enough for a down payment sitting there — we are doing 20% down on this. And because this building is — wait till you hear the price, guys. You’re going to fucking hate me when I tell you the price of this, because it is a deal. It is such a good price. It’s a beautiful space. But either way, we still needed to have that business savings.

So shout out to Profit First. Every single week, I am putting into our business savings. Every single week. It’s not a ton of money, no, but I’m just continually adding. No matter what, we are adding to business savings, we’re adding to the savings for taxes, so that the money is there when we need it. And so, you know, we have enough for this. The down payment is not that big, because the loan itself is not very big. But that was just really, like, oh shit, this can actually happen. And I did think, like, if I had to, I could lend the business some money personally.

I’m not saying these things to brag, and I really hope it doesn’t come across that way. But, like, this is what I want for every single one of you guys. I want you to be able to seriously consider things like this and actually make it a reality, if that is what you want, because you have set yourself up for financial success. And I mean, the damn podcast is named Filthy Rich Cleaners, guys. The elephant in the room is, like, we’re going to talk about money here. And I think it’s really important that we have these conversations about money and talk about what does this look like when I am making big financial decisions for the business? Because it makes me nervous. It does.

Because I could just as easily not do this, and we could rent for the rest of the business’s life. That could absolutely happen. So it’s like, okay, why now? What’s changed? It really came down to the perfect storm with this particular building, for this price, in this location, at this time when we have the money and the business is doing well.

You know, our lease was going to be done in — you know, no matter what, we were month to month, but we had to give — it was so dumb. We would have to give, like, six months’ notice. So we have to buy out the lease regardless for our rent. We went back and forth, but we came to a resolution. So we are going to be buying out a couple months and kind of meeting in the middle of what we both want.

The Location, Parking, and Yard

Let’s backtrack now to the building itself. Let me tell you about this place. My manager sent me it. I look at the photos. It’s clearly an older building, but the location is absolutely sickening. It’s less than five minutes from our current office — and our current office is a good location. So let me talk about this location. It is right off of the interstate. It is a main road in Black River Falls, which is not saying much, because it’s a town of 5,000, but it’s one of the, like, two main roads. And so tons of traffic in that manner.

The parking situation is absolutely wonderful. That is still, I would argue, not ideal in our current location, because we’re in, like — what do you call them? Like a strip mall kind of building, where there’s, like, a bunch of different suites. This is a standalone building with its own big yard, where you can pull around. There’s, like, a pull-through, so you can park and come around, load up there. Like, many, many doors to go in. So however we end up putting the supplies and stuff for cleaners, when it is raining or shitty weather, they will be able to not have to haul shit in the rain. They will be able to park really, really close, and that’s going to be better for them. Also, we’ll be able to fit a lot of vehicles there too.

And the yard — oh my gosh, this yard for the dogs. We already have plans for, like, a jungle gym, a gazebo for my managers if they want to eat lunch outside, or work outside if it’s really nice. So, like, just spend more time outside. I think that’s going to be wonderful for them, and just be an enjoyable place. We can put some picnic tables up. So yeah, it’s a dream come true. I cannot believe this space.

And so externally, it is fabulous. Great location. And the driving and parking situation is fantastic. So there are certain non-negotiables where it would be a no for me, dog, if this building did not have them, and really, really excellent parking is one of them, where it’s very convenient for our teams to come in, get their supplies, get in and out like they need to. So that was awesome. The yard was definitely a bonus. Like, that was not a non-negotiable for me. That was just like, holy shit, this makes it even better. So that is the exterior.

The Interior and Meeting the Sellers

On to the interior. So like I said, this is an older building, and it has been owned by a couple who own an upholstery business. And they have been in business since the 70s. And I ended up meeting this couple because, after the walkthrough, we did an offer — I’ll talk about that — and they accepted. And then I was up in Wisconsin for my best friend’s wedding, and that is when I took the opportunity. I had already offered — like, I already was buying this building, and I hadn’t even seen it yet. What a flex, right? Or also stupid, potentially. I don’t know.

But I trust my managers. Like, I trust my managers. I trust what they were saying. We got an inspection. Everything was good. Like, we did our due diligence, despite me not seeing it. So I know that that sounds crazy, but I trust those eyes. They’re the eyes that are running my business while I’m across the country. So if I don’t trust their judgment now, years in, what am I even doing here? So anywho, I trust their judgment. We got the inspection. I went and saw it.

And I got to meet the couple who own the business. And oh my gosh, you could not find better people. You could not find more kind people. You could not find people who are so devoted to what they do and to the building that they have had. Oh, I have never seen a cleaner basement. This place has a whole basement. I’ve never seen a cleaner basement. This place has been meticulously maintained. It is beautiful. Everything — it feels like fucking perfect, considering the age of the building. It’s absolutely wild how well-maintained it was.

The space itself, it’s gorgeous. Just so much space. There is a workshop that is where he did all of, like, the woodworking for the furniture. And then there’s the big space where she would do the actual upholstery. There’s, like, a back area. Like, this place is huge. It feels huge. Like, even despite, like, considering how big this place feels — the other places that I looked at several years ago would have been stupid. Just stupid, wasted space. Whereas this, like, it’s fantastic. Multiple bathrooms. It just makes sense. We can completely visualize how we are going to lay this thing out to make sense.

Where the washer and dryer is going to go, which is going to be another thing. If you are renting, you have to have washer and dryer hookups, or you need to be across the street from a laundromat, right? Like, that’s literally how convenient it has to be, because it’s such a big deal to have a washer and dryer in your office space. Otherwise it’s just very challenging. And obviously I have talked about using things like storage containers, et cetera, for your office space. And that can work, if you do your office that way, or do your supply place that way. Let me know in the comments how you guys handle the washing and drying of, like, rags and mop heads and stuff.

There are creative solutions. You can, you know, pay a tech to do it. You can pay all of your techs to do it. You can do it and just be hauling it back and forth. But truly the ideal — and especially if you’re going to buy — is going to be to have that in place. And so of course you can always add laundry hookups. They already exist in this space, which is wonderful. Additionally, it is across from a laundromat. Like, I’m telling you guys this — like, this is why I made this decision, because everything fell into place. And again, we’ll get to the price. So it’s literally across the street from the laundromat. So if something happens with our washer and dryer, we still have that option. Not super convenient, but more convenient than having to haul it somewhere else. So that is fantastic.

My managers are going to be able to have more space and not be, like, shoved together with all of their desks together. Right now, Crystal’s the only one who has a private office. I think that that will be good. Of course, they don’t want to be, like, too far away from each other, but just to be able to, like, think straight, have conversations, have meetings, and not be all on top of each other, and on top of, like, just being constantly interrupted as people are coming in and out. So I think that that’s going to be fantastic. Storage for supplies — I mean, I could fit a warehouse of cleaning supplies in here, so that’s really exciting. We’re going to be able to have a big conference room, which is really cool, where the workshop is.

And get this — this lovely couple, you know, they do not have to be doing any of the things that they are doing. He painted the workshop all white. He’s touching up paint around the outside. Like, he wants this place to be — I just cannot believe how lucky we are. Like, these people are amazing. I can’t wait for us to have them back for coffee when we get all moved in, and we told them, you guys can stop by anytime. And I think it makes them really happy to hear about the business. Like, the girls told them, like, the history of the business and how I opened it. And I think they really like that the building is going to a company that’s going to really respect it and is in it for the long run, right?

And so it’s crazy, because the owner — the wife — she talked about, like, owning a business back, you know, in the 70s and 80s as a woman, and that people wouldn’t even come to her because she was a woman, and, like, all of this crazy sexism and things that she went against. And so I think it was like — she’s a badass. She’s a total badass. Which is really inspiring. But then I think for her to be passing on the building’s legacy to a completely female-owned and -run business was probably — I’m just assuming here, but I hope that makes her happy.

The husband is an absolute delight too. And just, I mean, just fixing every possible little thing that he can. They have these gorgeous, like, climbing plants that they’re giving us. Oh, they’re giving us all of their lawn equipment and maintenance equipment. And he has all of the paint organized for touch-up paint, and the filters. And, like, I can’t — it’s fucking crazy. I’m like, whose grandpa is this? Can I adopt this man? Because he’s amazing. It’s just truly spectacular what they are doing for us. I mean, whatever the opposite of the bare minimum is, is what is occurring with this building. And I’m just blown away. It’s just shocking. And that’s what I mean, of, like, this is amazing.

So anyways, from a space and location standpoint, everything about it is fantastic. We got our insurance policy back, because obviously we have to get insurance on it for the mortgage to go through. And we just got the price back this morning, and it’s so good. Oh my gosh, it’s so affordable. Yeah, I’m so happy with how all that’s coming together.

The Price

And so, yeah, let me get into the prices, guys. I have no problem sharing this, because it’s a smoking hot deal. It’s like when people compliment you on, like, a piece of clothing, and you’re like, thanks, I got it for, like, $10 at a thrift store. Like, that’s the feeling I have with this building. Okay, it is incredible. It was listed for $145,000. And I offered them $140K, and they took it. So that’s crazy.

There was nobody else really interested in it. I did not want to offer anything less — that felt insulting. And we also had not had, of course, the appraisal happen or anything like that. But I was like, okay, this feels really, like, appropriate. Our realtor was like, this is a really good deal. So I was like, well, let’s go in just a little bit under, because I think, as a rule, we should do that. You know, unless there’s a shit ton of offers and you’re having, like, a bidding war, right? I would have absolutely paid the asking price, especially once the bank appraisal came back.

But yeah, they accepted it, and it’s gone so well. Like, every step of the way has gone so well, and it feels almost effortless. And to me, when something feels like that, it very much feels like I am on the right track. This has happened many times in my life, where things, like, they just fall into place. And it’s because I believe that it’s the right path to be on. And obviously it doesn’t mean that when I have to struggle for something, it is not the right path. I’ve struggled a lot in a lot of different areas for the right decision and have had to work very hard for things. But sometimes, when it’s just like this — maybe it’s not the right thing you should be doing right now. So just wanted to throw that out there.

I’m not particularly woo-woo, but there are times like this, and this opportunity and this entire situation, where I’m like — it’s almost unreal how it has fallen into place. Like, literally — let’s see, when was — a month and a half ago to now? Like, yeah, 45 days. That’s the closing period, I believe. So yeah, literally less than two months that this whole thing has just, like, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then just to go above and beyond from the seller’s perspective, and just to be such wonderful people, and everything to be in really good shape.

It’s gonna need a roof in the next couple of years, for sure. But my best friend’s family is a roofing family. That’s fine. I’ve got plenty of connections there. So everything else looked fabulous. It’s been so well-maintained. It’s perfect. We got the bank appraisal, and it came back appraising at, like, $185,000, I think. So well, well, well over what the accepted offer was. And that’s fucking crazy. So I know any of you listening who are in a city are literally like this right now. Like, fuck you, Stephanie. Small towns, man. Small towns.

Why This Feels Like the Right Time

So our mortgage is going to be, like, almost equal to what we were paying in rent, and we’re building equity, right? Which is nice, but it’s not always the way to think about it, right? Because you’re also like — I was most concerned about the furnace. And so when the inspector went and looked, I was like, please, like, look at the — there’s two furnaces. I was like, look at them. And he’s like, they’ve been beautifully maintained. You’ll get this much time out of it still, like, if all goes well. And so everything that I was worried about, risk-wise — like, that has been answered and mitigated.

And of course something could — like, the day after we close, the whole thing could fucking burn down, right? Like, that could happen. But I can’t think like that and be completely risk-averse 100%, because then why have a business, right? But I feel like this has been a very sound decision-making process. The financing makes sense. How much it’s going to cost us makes sense. There’s everything — the utilities, all of it.

Like, I think, you know, our internet’s gonna be better, because we’re actually gonna run the fiber internet, or whatever it’s called. And so my managers — like, the internet has been a huge issue at our current office. That has been one of the longstanding issues, is we cannot get good internet in there. And I don’t know why that is. I mean, I do know, but I’ve forgotten, because it’s just been something we’ve dealt with, and nothing we do has been able to make it fast. And so when your whole business runs on the internet being quick, and your phone systems and everything, it’s really frustrating. And that makes my managers way less efficient when the internets are — the internets, the internets are down. Or just really slow. So I’m very excited. We’re gonna get that run, and so they’ll have really good internet too.

And just all in all, like, everything about it feels right. Otherwise I would not have made this decision. So all of that to be said, I am so glad that I have not done this till this point. This is when it feels right, right? The business is established. We are really having a lot of steady months now. You know, there’s definitely hiccups here and there, but I know from a financial perspective it is in a good place, that we can afford this. We’re already paying that in rent, and now we’re gonna be building equity.

As for, like, resale, hearing how it has valued okay — that helps me feel better too. Of course, you know, eventually, if there was a reason to sell, it would be — I’d be selling the whole business, and the building would come with it, right? So that would be the thought process there. It would be very unusual for me to sell the building and not sell the business. But that is not even on — again, not on the radar, and, like, really not on the radar for, I mean, hopefully, like, decades, or till I die, I suppose. So that’s just not something I need to worry about. So I think that this is a really great long-term home for Serene Clean.

And we’re not going to be looking at buying buildings for the other locations, because nobody works out of those. Those are truly just storage places, and somehow a way to show up on the Google map. So, like, whatever is convenient for our cleaners to get in and out and get their shit and go — like, that’s what that is for us. So I am not loyal to those locations. We don’t care about those in the manner of, like — it doesn’t matter what it even looks like on the inside or anything like that. Obviously we want it clean and nice for our staff members, but, like, customers aren’t going in those buildings, whereas this is going to be a little beautiful gem, more so than our current one is. And I think we’ll feel better about, like, investing in things, because we’re not renting, right? And, like, cool, if we want to do this or change this thing, right? Like, it’s going to be good.

Building a Bigger Emergency Fund

So what I will say: I do want to hammer up Serene Clean’s savings a lot more and have an actual emergency fund. So we have never had what I would consider a robust emergency fund for Serene Clean, because it hasn’t felt like — well, we don’t have any assets. And, like, if we’re not bringing in money, that means that people aren’t working, so our biggest cost, which is payroll, is going to go down. So it just hasn’t felt, like, super necessary to have a bunch of cash tied up in an emergency fund. Now it does.

And so I definitely am going to dedicate to, like, getting the savings percentage up more — meaning, like, move up our Profit First method, where we’re putting a certain percentage every week into savings. I’m going to bump that up until, like, we hit where I feel comfortable, which is going to be several months of savings, at least to cover, like, the mortgage and things like that. I want a big old juicy emergency fund now. Like, that changes how I feel. That’s exactly what I did when I got this house — like, cool, I have a juicy emergency fund in case something goes wrong or I need to repair things, because that’s what happens when you buy a place, right?

So anyways, I know that many of you may be listening and be like, that’s great for you, Stephanie. Like, that could never be me, blah, blah, blah. And it’s like, I understand that we all have — absolutely, there’s a lot of privilege that I am speaking from. I just want to be honest and share what’s going on, guys. And I get it. Like, things are not fair, right? Like, things are not always fair. Things are actually never fair. That’s not, I think, something that we can aspire to.

However, what I do want to say is, by me being honest and transparent with, like, how all of these things came to be, I hope to allow you to learn and get the tools in order to make what you are aspiring for closer to reality, right? And to lay out what that looks like. Because yes, you have challenges, most likely, that I have never faced, right? And I have challenges that you haven’t faced. And there’s a lot of things that have gone really right for me in a lot of ways. So I do want to give that caveat of, again, this episode is not about bragging. It’s just — it’s a big deal. And I like to share the wins, just like I like to share the losses with you guys.

Wrapping Up

So anywho, if you’ve listened all the way through, please leave a little building emoji down below to let me know that you made it all the way through. I would love if you hit that like and hit the hype button on YouTube. If you are on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and you leave us a review, that really helps other owners find us, so that they can learn along with us and join our wonderful community.

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And finally, if you are not signed up for the weekly newsletter, there’s tons of practical advice for cleaning business owners that comes out every single week. And again, you don’t have to be a ZenMaid customer to subscribe. There are over, I think, 35 — at least 30,000 subscribers to that newsletter. And we are constantly getting feedback where people are like, oh my gosh, this is really helpful and practical. And that is where you can respond and ask me questions, if you want me to cover something.

We just got a really good question actually sent to the newsletter, or sent to customer support, that I’m gonna probably do a full episode on, talking about being a woman business owner, and when your partner maybe is not aligned with that, and what that looks like as your success grows. And I need to think a lot about it, actually, before I make that episode, because I wanna give a really thoughtful response. And I think I have a lot to talk about on that topic.

So all of that being said, we are getting your questions, guys. The best way to ask your question is going to be to respond to the newsletter. And we literally have a list that I can pull from to make episodes off of. So please go and subscribe to that.

I’m just so happy to have you guys all here. I’m excited about this new chapter of Serene Clean, and to see how it goes. And I can’t wait for us to get in there and get things decorated how we want and organized. It’s just really exciting. Let me know any questions you have down in the comments, and I will see you in the next episode of Filthy Rich Cleaners. Bye, guys.