Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: Big Deals and Bigger Momentum

This week was one of those weeks where everything seems to be clicking at once.

6900 Barrington went under contract in three days of going live (See listing here!). Three days. That kind of velocity tells you a lot about where the market is and what the right product at the right price point can do. Really exciting to see that one move so fast!

But honestly, that might not even be the biggest news this week. We also got our biggest project yet under contract. Another triplex scrape and build. We're buying the land, tearing down what's there, and going straight new construction from the ground up. This is a new level for Tide and Timber Ventures and I'm genuinely fired up about it.

The mailer campaign is producing too. We're seeing about 10 new inbound leads come in from the latest drop within the week and the pipeline keeps growing. The systems are working. My business partner Brian took over handling the inbound leads so I can focus on the back end processes, employee leveraging, as well as lining up our capital via Flip Fuel Lending and raising additional capital from passive investors (if you are interested in investing with us, give me a shout!). This has been working great so far so we do not miss a step!

On the lending side, Flip Fuel Lending had a solid week. Four new leads came in and we closed a fix and flip loan. That's exactly what we've been building toward as we grow the LO team and sharpen our lead generation strategy.

And on the personal portfolio front, our house hack Airbnb bookings are getting more consistent. That passive income stream is finally finding its rhythm, which is really good to see.

Lots of momentum right now. The machine is running!

💨 Whiff of the Week: The Cost of Deal Flow Season

The wins were real this week, but so was the cost.

The week got completely consumed by deal flow and lead activity, which sounds like a good problem to have and honestly it is. But when your calendar fills up with reactive work, the proactive stuff gets pushed to the side. The Go High Level CRM buildout got zero traction this week. The investor capital raise list that needs to be built is still sitting there. These are assets that compound over time and every week I don't build them is a week of compounding I don't get back.

The fitness and diet took a hit too. Workouts were slightly better than recent weeks, but not where they needed to be, and the diet was off. When I'm running at this pace and feeling burned out, I tend to treat myself with food. I recognize that pattern. Not proud of it, but I'd rather name it than ignore it.

This is what happens when you're building multiple businesses at the same time. It's not a complaint, it's the season. But the goal has always been to build systems that eventually remove the grind, not just survive it. That work still has to happen even in the busy weeks.

Identifying it. Adjusting. Moving forward.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: Go Far Together

There's a saying I think about a lot in this business.

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

In real estate and in any business, strategic partnerships are one of the most underrated growth levers available to you. The right partner doesn't just double your capacity. They bring strengths where you have gaps, capital where you need it, relationships you haven't built yet, and accountability you wouldn't have on your own.

At Tide and Timber Ventures, our partnership model is built on this. We're able to take on more deals, move faster, and manage larger projects because we're not doing it alone. Driftwood Dream Development LLC may just be the next evolution of that principle in action. Two operations combining their strengths to go after bigger projects than either could tackle alone.

The key to making partnerships work is pretty simple. Make sure the incentives are aligned, make sure the skills are complementary, and get everything in writing before you're in the deal. And always communicate consistently, not just when there's a problem.

Find people who push you forward. Structure it correctly. Go far together.

👉 Action Step: This week, identify one person in your network who has a skill set that complements yours. Have a conversation. Not about a deal, just about vision and purpose. You might be surprised where it leads.

🔦 From the Field: When the Shortcut Becomes the Setback

This week gave us a real one straight from the trenches.

We had a sewer line that needed to go in on one of our active flips. We brought in a subcontractor we had used before down in South Carolina and made it crystal clear that this project is permitted, the new build next door is permitted, and everything needs to be done by the book. He agreed and said he would pull the permits and let us know when it was done.

He never pulled the permits. When we saw the finished work, we knew immediately something was wrong. The sewer line was running from 4 inch pipe to 3 inch pipe and back without the proper fittings. That is not up to county code, not even close. And on top of that, he is only licensed in South Carolina. This project is in North Carolina. He is not even licensed to be doing the work here!

We sent him a check for the work, but thankfully caught it in time and voided it. The whole line is getting ripped out and our main GC is stepping in to fix it correctly.

The lesson here is one we know well and got reminded of the hard way.

You make your money on the purchase. Don't give it back trying to save on labor.

Licensed GCs cost more, but that premium buys you accountability, proper workmanship, and protection when things go sideways. When you try to save a few dollars with unlicensed or out of state subs, you inherit their risk. Always verify licensure for the state where the work is happening, even with people you have worked with before.

If this contractor had just been upfront and told us he couldn't pull NC permits, we could have gone another direction. Instead he tried to be sneaky, wasted everyone's time including his own, and lost a $5k job over it. We'll pay him a couple hundred dollars for his time because that's the respectable thing to do, but this may have just cost him the relationship for good.

Check the license. Pull the permits. Protect the buyer. That's how we operate.

[Photos below showing the 4 inch to 3 inch pipe reduction without proper fittings. All of it is getting redone.]

🎤 Final Word

This week had real wins and real friction, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Two new build deals under contract, one we're selling and one we're buying, which happens to be our biggest project yet. Flip Fuel Lending closing loans and building pipeline. Mailers generating leads. Airbnb stabilizing. That is the business moving in the right direction.

And on the other side, Go High Level CRM still needs work. The investor capital raise list still needs to be built. Fitness and diet are a work in progress. And a sewer line is getting ripped out because someone tried to cut a corner. That is real too.

What I keep coming back to is this. The right partnerships allow you to extend your reach beyond what you could ever do alone. We built Tide and Timber Ventures on that principle. The goal was never just to do more deals. It's to build something that outlasts any single one of them.

We finish what we start. We learn from the hard ones. We keep going.

The machine is growing. Hold on tight and let's GOOO!! 💥

Keep growing or die,