Today we’d like to introduce you to Marci Preheim.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I got my bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from MTSU years ago, but I’ve always been interested in Real Estate investing. I read some books on how to get started and my husband Arnie and I started out by renting out our first home in South Nashville. A year later we bought another home in that same neighborhood out of foreclosure and flipped it. This became like a part-time job for me when we were raising our two children. We found distressed homes, bought them with bank money, and I did a lot of the cleaning, painting and remodeling myself. Then we would sell them. I was HGTV-ing before it was popular. Back then it wasn’t super cool and savvy–it was a lot of hard work and financial highs and lows. When the mortgage crisis of 2008 hit, I became a landlord instead of a house flipper, and had to rent out the two houses in our portfolio that we had remodeled to sell. I learned that over the long term, this was a great strategy for building wealth as I didn’t have to pay half of my profits to the government in capital gains. These two properties became my “seed” properties and I could cash out refinance them to buy more properties, while still receiving monthly income from rents. In 2016 I got my Real Estate License so I could negotiate my own deals, but I got very busy working with customers to buy and sell their homes. Because I was an investor myself, I attracted a lot of clients who wanted to get started in Real Estate investing and that became my specialty–helping people get their Real Estate Portfolio going. Many of these clients have become good friends and repeat customers. In 2025, I decided to buy a business that would be Real Estate adjacent–but would diversify my income stream. I asked some of my friends at Title Companies what company they use for Courier service. All of them told me they use Quick-It Courier. I applied for a job at Quick-It Courier as a driver to make sure it was the kind of business I could and wanted to run. I got to know the previous owner, the customers, and the great team of employees–many who had been with Quick-It for years. After months of due diligence, my husband and I bought Quick-It Courier in June of 2025 and we just celebrated our one year anniversary as owners. In my spare time, I love to walk my two dogs Bodie and Violet, travel the world (I just got back from a trip to Iceland) and spend time with my adult children Brock (now 30 and an ER doctor at Georgetown in Washington DC) and Paige (now 27 and working in Hollywood in the TV and Movie Industry).
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 been a smooth road, but it is a rewarding one. I love an adventure and I am a risk taker–but even someone with a high risk tolerance can be paralyzed by fear. I think there are two extremes and I have been both extremes. There are times when faced with an opportunity that you analyze and over-analyze to the point where you never pull the trigger on a great deal. The other extreme is just jumping in without doing enough due diligence to make sure it’s a good investment. I am probably more of the latter but the good thing about Real Estate investing is that you have an asset that can’t be stolen or lost, and you can pivot if needed, like I did when the mortgage crisis hit. There are other obvious obstacles like getting financing, getting accurate quotes on repairs, and finding a trustworthy team of lenders, title attorneys, contractors, and property managers. HOA’s and local government rules can also be huge obstacles. It is important to find out what rules are in place for renting in the neighborhood. I think it’s important to start out small and learn the business without too much risk. Many of the “Get Rich Quick” Real Estate Gurus are telling people to get started with Multi-family deals and they are plopping down their life-savings based on a theory and they are not given step by step instructions on how to get a return on their Investment. There are a lot of scammers out there that would love to sell you these big deals, and it’s really important to not bite off more than you can chew in the beginning. I also have guardrails in place so that I will not lose the shirt off my back. I buy one property at a time, set it up for it’s highest and best use, and keep everything leveraged to 50%. These are lessons learned after working in this business in the Nashville market for the last 25 years.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
A year ago on June 2, 2025, my husband and I bought Quick-It Courier. The previous owner started this business in 2008 with a car, a phone and a tablet of paper. The business grew over the years and he eventually had to buy some vans, hire more drivers, two dispatchers, and a bookkeeper. When we took over the business last year, the lion’s share of our business was Title documents. We work with almost every Title company in this town, but we also deliver flowers, tires, medical supplies, skin care, computer equipment, tools, real estate signs/lockboxes, and gift baskets–anything that needs to be delivered same day and in the Middle Tennessee area. Our goal is to complete delivery within two hours of the order being placed–thus our name Quick-It Courier. Since I’m in Real Estate myself, I understand the urgency to deliver Title documents quickly and before the wire cut-off at the Banks. Since we have taken over the company, we have grown our customer base, hired more drivers, promoted the lead dispatcher (Stacia Smith) to Operations Manager, and opened for business on Saturdays to accommodate our growing tire delivery service. We are really excited to have found such a gem of a company with amazing employees, who have been with the company for many years, and we are excited to make it even better. Of course, I am still very involved in Real Estate Networking, Investing (I’m always looking for my next opportunity), and helping others buy and sell their homes in Middle TN
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
As I mentioned earlier, finding trustworthy people is one of the obstacles I have faced over the years. It’s one of the reasons I am hesitant to enter into partnerships. You never know who is trustworthy until you work with them. Over the years I have found a great team of contractors, attorneys, and lenders that I also refer to my clients. I think finding a mentor could be really helpful, but there are a lot of scammers out there who want to separate you from your money and promise to be mentors, but don’t stick around after the transaction has closed. I attend a weekly Real Estate Investment Association (TNREIA) every Monday. They have many networking events and great content, and they offer mentorship as well. I have met a lot of great people at those weekly meetings, which gives the opportunity to get to know people before you work with them. I have worked with several of the lenders that I met there, one contractor, and a few Real Estate clients. I have never had a mentor myself for Real Estate Investing–but my Brokers at United Real Estate | Middle TN have been wonderful mentors in Real Estate Transactions. Early on, I read a lot of books and started out small. My husband is a banker which allowed us to pay our bills while we took small risks in the beginning to get started. I have mentored several new Real Estate Agents, and helped many clients starting out with their first Real Estate Investment properties. The great thing about having Real Estate Investors for clients is that they keep coming back to me every time they want to buy another investment property. Helping them helps me to fund my own Real Estate addiction and we enjoy each other’s company because of our similar interests. I don’t know about other markets, but Nashville has been a very exciting town to be involved in Real Estate over the last 25 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.quick-itcourier.com
- LinkedIn: Marci Preheim
