Exploring Life & Business with Karrina Rotter of Krafted Renovations

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karrina Rotter.

Hi Karrina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Thank you so much for speaking with me again! I am honored!

In 2013, when I was 18 I moved from the small town of Williams Arizona down to Phoenix to go to college, I went to Grand Canyon University. I got my degree in business marketing and graduated in three years because I quickly realized I was ready to “get out into the real world“, so I took summer courses throughout college and graduated in three years instead of the four. The same day I graduated. I purchased my first home in Scottsdale. It was a big day…However, I’m not sure what my big rush was because when I graduated I did not have a plan. I tried to get a job that my degree was in, marketing. But nothing was sticking and nothing that was lighting me up. My boyfriend now fiancé Marshall, mentioned me getting my real estate license because of how much I enjoyed looking and talking about real estate especially since I just had my first experience with purchasing my first home and loved it so much. So I did! I put my head down and went to real estate school and not even two months later I was a licensed realtor. However, the same thing, I didn’t feel like it was lighting me up either. I wanted something with more creativity than just showing houses and writing up contracts.

I started to scheme up other business plans, and trust me I had a good amount of them! One of the ones I thought was going to stick, was designing this mobile bar bus that would eventually become a brick-and-mortar type of coffee shop/restaurant. I got pretty far with the planning and development of that business until my mom helped me realize that all I truly was enjoying was just the designing of the business/bus and not really focusing on what the day-to-day of running that coffee shop/restaurant business would be like. My family comes from the hotel and restaurant industry. That’s what I was raised in and all I thought I really knew but she was right thinking about the day-to-day of running a coffee shop, having employees calling out, dealing with food orders, and customers, all of that…didn’t seem like the path I wanted to head down again.

A couple of years have passed by now, and I was still trying to find “myself” and what I wanted to do. I started walking these flip properties, thinking about maybe getting into the Airbnb business. But as I was walking them once again, I realized I was only focusing on the design of these homes, and not the business side. I was tired of seeing how cheap and unthoughtful these homes were and felt like “I could do this” but felt like I could do it to a different standard!

So I sold my first home, moved back in with my parents, secured and got a loan on my first flip property, and used the equity from the sell of my first home to pay for the remodel. And just like that, I designed, flipped, and sold my first property which has now grown into multiple investments remodels as well am now doing fully custom spec homes, as well as taking on private client design work for private residences and other investor as well!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been smooth, no. But it is an interesting thing when you find a passion that can also be your job. All things don’t always run smoothly, but in a weird way things do feel “easy”, in the sense that it feels like everything aligns and I believe it’s because when you are in your element, doing what you love, I feel like the universe just lines things up for you in a way that it does not when you are not in your element trying to make a square peg fit in a circle. When you’re in your element things seem to just align.

But with that said- Yes, I have to work every single day at this career. I have had major ups and downs, many sleepless nights, and I still constantly worry that this is all too good to be true and fear the rug being pulled out from underneath me. But all I know is I just have to keep pushing forward and keep doing what I’m doing and keep being grateful and loving every second of it!

The struggles are what make you appreciate what you have! If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

We’ve been impressed with Krafted Renovations, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a small real estate investing and boutique home design firm.

We specialize in our renovate-to-resell projects or custom spec homes, that we resell to new buyers providing them, with one-of-a-kind, thoughtfully designed, and quality-crafted homes.

We take that same philosophy and apply it to our client jobs as well, so it’s safe to say that we now also specialize in delivering the same unique design and quality built remodels, or new homes for our clients.

We are able to offer a one-stop shop type of experience with all of the connections that have been built over the last 5-6 years, with having architects, contractors, trade-only sources, and of course, being the designers, we are able to offer clients an all in one service for their homes from start to finish.

We don’t specialize in one particular design style but rather enjoy the challenge of working with multiple clients who wish to have different design styles. However, I would say that the design style that comes easily to us is a more modern spin on classic designs- Warmth, earthy/organic materials and vibe with touches of European, and even a bit “luxe” at times. We are still working on our signature “design style name” but for now, that’s the best way I can describe it.

What do you think about luck?
I would say “luck” has played a major role in my life and business. We can call it luck or we can call it fate. As I mentioned earlier when you find the passion that you can turn into your career it all feels like it is “easy” and I could see how that could also feel or seem like luck to others.

But I also think about the choices I made early on without even knowing or having a plan and seeing how those choices now put me where I am today. If I wouldn’t have purchased that home in Scottsdale the day I graduated college, I wouldn’t have been in the financial position to flip that first house. And I remember thinking when I bought that home with no real career plan that it could’ve been “the biggest mistake of my life” and “how was I going to pay for it” especially when I got out into the working fields and was struggling to find a job. The house started to feel scary. But I put two other roommates in the other two bedrooms, which significantly brought down my mortgage, made it very comfortable for me to live, and kept me pushing through, plus- not selling that home out of fear.

And I look back and see how that fear could have driven my life in a whole different direction. But keeping that house and selling it when I did, when I did have a plan and goal in mind, is one of the driving forces that got me where I am today. So in this case, I’m not sure if it was luck, fate, or just smart decisions at a young age. But whichever it is, I think it’s important for whoever is reading this to know, you can step in and make decisions today that can help change your “luck” for the future!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.KraftedRenovations.com
• Instagram: @Krafted_Renovations
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KraftedRenovations?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Karlie Colleen Photography