Terrica Smith Is One Of The Youngest Real Estate Investors In Louisiana With A Multimillion-Dollar Development

Terrica Lynn Smith went from being homeless to being one of the youngest Black real estate investors in Louisiana.

Terrica Smith sits in front of a map of Harriet Tubman’s route. It’s positioned in her office as a reminder of where she’s been and where she’s going and to bring people along for the journey. She has made millions from real estate investing. But statistically, this wasn’t supposed to be her story. She was a foster child in Louisiana -– escaping whenever she could. She remembers being homeless and living under the highway with her son -– the same son with a street named after him in the development she helped create in Lafayette.

Real estate happened by chance—maybe even fate. At 17, she worked in the magazine business and traveled the country, knocking on doors to sell magazines.

“I ended up in California knocking on some of Hollywood’s wealthiest people’s doors. I would always ask, ‘What do you do for a living?’ and they would respond, ‘I’m in real estate,’” Terrica Smith tells Black Enterprise.

The seed was planted.

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Terrica Smith says she committed herself to God and made a promise she would never be homeless again after she found herself stranded in New Orleans with her child after Hurricane Katrina. It took them days to leave the city before moving to Lafayette, northwest of New Orleans. She started working at a mall when she became intrigued by a gentleman and his daughter. She asked him what he did for a living, and he replied, “Real estate,” before giving her the name of an excellent real estate school to attend. That was her confirmation to dive into the industry in full force.

From Knowing Nothing About The Industry To Building a Million-Dollar Complex

When Smith enrolled in the class, she knew nothing about real estate, including terms like mortgage and lien.

“No one in my family had ownership. I’ve always heard people talking about making rental payments.”

It took her seven attempts to pass the real estate exam, and by the time she was a licensed real estate agent, she only made $5,000 in her first year. Smith says it was the worst year in her career, but it inspired her to think outside the box.

“Every other real estate agent was focused on buyers and sellers, so I went toward investors,” she says. “Investors would buy different things and get a return on it. Eventually, they would hire me to find, design, or sell the property.”

An attorney handed her a folder with what she thought was her 3% commission after closing on a property for an investor. She remembered seeing a six-figure check, but the attorney immediately took it away because he mixed the checks. She was amazed by the numbers on the check. From then on, she told investors she would charge them 50% for the work she was already doing for them at a lower rate. She lost all her clients except one and decided to start from scratch.

“I gave that investor all of my attention, and he made so much money that year,” says Smith. “The thing I believe is true is that one rich person knows another rich person. He told all of his friends about me, so when they approached me, they all knew I charged 50%.”

At the same time, Smith began working with a builder constructing new homes in older neighborhoods throughout Lafayette. This planted another seed of building, and she began doing just that, one by one.

After running into a white woman who built a community of homes with streets named after her grandchildren, Smith decided she was ready for her next endeavor. However, despite her success as a real estate agent and building single-family homes, banks and investors did not want to initially lend her the money to create the development.

However, she was determined to build in her community and became her own bank with a real estate crowdfund in Louisiana.

“I made hundreds of thousands of dollars for my investors, and they just didn’t see the vision,” Smith recalls. “I got three people to tell me yes. We put all of our money into the first development. I put my son’s name on the street sign and named the community. Now, it’s a $21 million mixed-use community.”

Smith says the key to success is understanding that it’s OK to fail and believing in your vision. The same banks that denied her the first time eventually came back around.

“We have over 200 doors in this community with single-family, multi-family homes, townhomes, commercial complexes, and now we’re looking to bring a grocery store in,” says Smith. “In this industry, I’ve learned you can’t take anything personally because if I did, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now as a Black woman developer and one of the youngest from Louisiana.”

As Terrica Smith continues to build community across the state, she is also on a mission to build the next generation of real estate investors. Her new goal is to teach over a billion people to invest in real estate.

“If I can overcome being homeless up under a bridge, a teenage mom trapped in the city for three days, unsure if I’m going to live and having to start completely over in a foreign place, then other people can do it, too,” she says. “If you look at this map behind me, that’s Harriet Tubman’s route. It reminds me every day that I have to continue walking.”