How to Real Estate Today
Raw, unfiltered real estate conversations about how to win in real estate today. We're here for real estate agents, investors, flippers, buyers and sellers.
How to Real Estate Today
19: Real Estate Investing + Federal Prison with Portia Louder
As real estate agents or investors, we’re often focused on the next deal—but what happens when the pursuit of success takes you down a path you never expected? This episode offers a powerful reminder of the importance of decision-making, adaptability, and long-term perspective. Portia Louder’s story provides valuable lessons on the risks and realities behind high-stakes deals—and how personal growth can emerge from even the toughest challenges.
In this episode, Portia Louder opens up about her incredible journey through navigating hard money loans and equity deals to spending five years in federal prison. Now an author of two powerful books, Living Louder: A Compassionate Journey Through Federal Prison and Born to Be Brave: A Compassionate Journey Through Life, Portia shares insights on resilience, personal growth, and the importance of integrity. Her story is a raw and inspiring testament to the power of family, the strength of the human spirit, and the impact of authentic storytelling.
Rebecca Green + Co. -https://www.rebeccagreen.co
Kim Borcherding- @heykimborcherding
Portia Louder- https://www.portialouder.com
Takeaways:
- The experience of prison led to a profound personal transformation.
- She realized the importance of facing her mistakes and taking responsibility for her actions.
- Portia found purpose in teaching and supporting other women in prison.
- Portia learned that money is not as important as relationships and moments.
- Sharing her story is a way to inspire others and break the stigma around incarceration.
- Portia's journey highlights the power of resilience and personal growth.
- Reflection on past mistakes can lead to personal growth.
Rebecca Green (00:01.922)
there, this is Rebecca Green with How to Real Estate Today. I'm flying solo without my co-host Kim Borcharding today, but I'm super excited because we have Portia Louder here as a guest and Portia has a really interesting real estate story that we wanted to share with you. Portia also exemplifies resilience and authenticity and those are two topics that Kim and I speak to frequently.
So welcome, Portia. Thank you so much for joining us.
Portia Louder (00:32.45)
Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.
Rebecca Green (00:34.732)
Yeah, Portia, can you tell me a little bit about your real estate story? Because I'm sure a lot of our listeners may not be familiar with.
Portia Louder (00:44.088)
Sure. Yeah. So, my name is Portia Louder and there aren't a lot of Portia Louder's. think I'm the only one I've been able to find on Google. So you can Google me. my, and you'll see all kinds of things. My real estate journey. First of I'm the oldest of seven children and my parents had regular businesses and always invested in real estate on the side. So we moved a lot and I just grew up in that type of environment where they were always looking for a deal. Right. And.
Rebecca Green (00:51.522)
Cat.
Portia Louder (01:14.446)
My career prior to getting involved in real estate was photography. I had a large photography company and then about 2004, I started building a new home to accommodate my photography company and the real estate market was booming. So I bought a lot in a neighborhood that was up and coming in Utah and the lots behind my lot were going up so fast in value.
that people were buying them and then flipping them, right? And so I just wanted to do that. So I went and bought a couple of lots. put the earnest money down. And I remember my husband was so nervous. He was like, we could lose that money. You you only have 30 days to close on that. And so I went and asked if I could have the money back and I got the money back and the lots doubled in value. then I went.
I was so mad about it. I was like, I will not listen to what you tell me to do again. So I jumped back in, started looking for lots and flipping lots and there's nothing wrong with that. think I made 10,000 on my first flip and then I made like 30,000 on a flip, which was super exciting. yeah, and then a lot of our neighbors were buying lots and building spec homes in our neighborhood. And I thought, well, I can do that, you know? And so,
Rebecca Green (02:24.353)
testing.
Rebecca Green (02:30.605)
Mm-hmm.
Portia Louder (02:35.68)
I bought a few lots and started the process of building spec homes and construction loans are harder to get than I thought they would be. Like it just takes time, right? And so now I'm, I had to close on the lots prior to getting them closed in construction. So I purchased them with hard money and my interest payment was high. It was like 30, 40,000 to try to keep these, all these lots locked up. They were high end, it was a high end neighborhood. And
Rebecca Green (02:44.139)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rebecca Green (02:58.157)
Mm-hmm.
Rebecca Green (03:01.997)
Wow.
Portia Louder (03:05.365)
I was in Turkey.
Rebecca Green (03:05.645)
So let me interrupt for one second and just say for anyone listening that doesn't understand what hard money is. Hard money is private investment money. It comes at a very high premium, often with not a lot of qualification required. They are investors that are, they're making their money on the high interest, but also from a default standpoint, they have great security.
because it is tied directly to property. So I just wanted to spit that out there. Okay. So you had a lot, how many lots at that time when you were paying 30 to 40? Okay.
Portia Louder (03:39.564)
Right.
At that point, think I had eight lots. I had like eight lots and I had to put down probably 20 grand on each lot. So like I had my own skin in the game, right? Because like you say, they want to know that if they foreclose, they're totally covered. So not only were the lots a good deal, but I have all of our equity and everything tied up in that. And now I have to pay these crazy interest payments. And it ended up that...
Rebecca Green (03:52.397)
Okay.
Portia Louder (04:14.572)
I started to sink. Like it was just super scary for me. And I decided that I was going to...
Rebecca Green (04:19.649)
Mm-hmm.
Portia Louder (04:26.286)
I started looking outside for other investors to come in and kind of help pick up the weight. And I met some investors that were doing what's called equity deals. And I will try to explain it. The first deal that they showed me was a home that they said they had an appraisal for over $5 million, but they could pick up the house for 2.8 million. So these are high numbers, right? But you can do the ratios down to a $500,000 house. And I remember going,
Rebecca Green (04:36.439)
Mm-hmm.
Portia Louder (04:56.258)
Well, why would you sell me the house for 2.8 if the house appraises for five, right? Like, why wouldn't somebody just buy it for four or five million? Why wouldn't you sell it to And they said, well, the purpose of this home is to pull the cash out. yeah, so you buy it at a low price, you get an equity loan on it, right? And so, but I remember going back and telling my husband, I was like, why would I ever do that? Like, that doesn't make sense for me to overborrow and...
Rebecca Green (05:10.613)
Yes, the equity loan, yes.
Portia Louder (05:23.886)
But they were explaining it in a way where like the cash is a lot cheaper for you. Like you're paying these hard money loans. You can get a traditional loan. at this point you could get like a neg am loan. You could get like a loan without any, you didn't have to put verification of assets or anything. So, but it had to be closed with the joint venture, which means that the title company holds this agreement and says, we'll kick you back this much money. Well.
Rebecca Green (05:48.726)
So let's time out for a second there and just like recap the loan process. So hard money, super expensive, right? Easy to get, super expensive. When you have equity in a property, the money comes cheaper, right? And you're leveraging and it's just like as home values increase, our homes become worth more. We still have the same loan amount. So.
an equity loan could be a HELOC, a home equity line of credit. could be, yeah, it could be lots of different ways to cash out of the home, but there are negatives to that, right? And so I'm sure you're gonna talk about that as you go forward.
Portia Louder (06:19.502)
I did a lot of thoughts.
Portia Louder (06:33.23)
So there's lots of concerns. One is, is the house really worth what? $5 million. First big red flag is if the appraisal says it's worth something, but you can't sell it for that or even close to that, then there's some problems, right? Within a few months, I bought that. I got into that house with a partner and
Rebecca Green (06:58.689)
You bought the $2.8 million property that had an appraised value at five, and you did it so you could cash the equity out to make the rest of everything you had going on stay afloat. Okay.
Portia Louder (07:06.146)
for five million correct.
Portia Louder (07:10.726)
If cash is correct.
Portia Louder (07:15.822)
Correct. The problem with that deal is that when you get up into that range, lenders don't lend 80 or 90%. They might lend 50 or 60. So really what I had done is just purchased a house that I couldn't end up getting a HELOC on it. So now I just have a debt. So now I'm really upside down. And basically I ended up getting, learning more like, well, there's a sweet spot here. If it's under $3 million,
Rebecca Green (07:32.111)
Portia Louder (07:44.694)
And at the time, banks were kind of in on the deal. I mean, they aren't so much now, but then I would send over, I'd lock up a house for a million five and I'd send a $3 million appraisal over to the bank. And we were building in areas where we knew that if we build this square footage, we're going to get a high appraisal. Even though the house is kind of stripped down, like it's not really worth that. It's not a luxury home. It should be at a $3 million appraisal, but it has the square footage.
to give us an appraisal at $3 million. So I would, yeah. So there's definitely some problems with these. And so I send it over to the bank and the bank looks at it and says, we'll appraise it for even more. Like they were doing these kinds of crazy loans, right? And so in my mind, there's not a fraud with the bank because the bank isn't on the deal. But that's not the way the government saw it because the bank is FDIC insured. So regardless of the bank knows about the deal,
I got involved in a lot of these deals. We're not talking a lot.
Rebecca Green (08:44.397)
Okay, so let me back up a little bit for listeners. So Portia is starting to tell a little bit more about her story with these particular properties, these particular loans, and how she actually ended up in court and ultimately in jail over it. And that is what I think our listeners might not realize. you were, you had, and you had partners in these transactions as well? Okay.
Portia Louder (09:11.17)
Yeah. Right. Well, so the way that it worked was I was kind of in the middle of a lot of these deals. At first, I did a few for myself, right, to get cash. And that worked. When I finally got the numbers right, I'm like, okay, so now I have these two homes, these three homes, they appraised at three million, I closed them at a million five, I got half a million dollars per house out. So now I'm
Rebecca Green (09:19.618)
Bye.
Rebecca Green (09:31.755)
Were you taking that half a million dollars and were you putting it into your other investment properties to get them completed and sold? So you weren't pocketing the money, you were actually rolling the money into the other investments and the other investments, were those paying off?
Portia Louder (09:39.896)
Right.
Portia Louder (09:48.84)
Not yet. They wouldn't have, mean, there were, you know, it was a lot going on, right? So I have these houses that I'm trying to build. I have these houses now that I have to rent and try to pay for because I have equity out of these houses paying for these projects. And, yeah, I've got a lot going on. And then I hear that I'm under federal investigation. And just to give you an, I mean, people have asked, how did that happen? Right. Because
Rebecca Green (09:50.187)
Not yet.
Rebecca Green (09:54.614)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (10:06.273)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (10:14.507)
Yeah, because that's my first question. There's a tipping point in everything we do. What was the tipping point there? How did that happen? Did somebody turn you in? Was it a bank? Do you know? Okay.
Portia Louder (10:19.597)
Right?
Portia Louder (10:24.546)
Yes. Yes, I do know. So there was a realtor that was doing a lot of these high-end properties, kind of like that's the person you go to in this neighborhood, right? But I wasn't working with that realtor. I was just doing my own thing. I'm not a licensed realtor. I'm an investor. And so.
Rebecca Green (10:42.189)
Okay, so you weren't licensed. You weren't a licensed broker. Interesting. Okay.
Portia Louder (10:47.48)
But it made that licensed broker mad. So that licensed broker filed a complaint with the division of real estate, which doesn't have any like jurisdiction over me, right? So that was the first like red flag for me was I got a letter from the division of real estate saying that a complaint had been filed and cease and desist. If you're basically kind of accusing me of being a real estate broker without a license, which I wasn't, I'm just buying and selling houses.
Rebecca Green (10:57.527)
jurisdiction.
Portia Louder (11:16.344)
This realtor kind of basically said, Hey, if you want to use me and pay me a commission for everything you're doing, then we could probably make this go away. And I was like, So, so there was definitely some things going on there, but that wasn't the biggest problem that I had. went to an attorney, I went to a real estate attorney and said, this is what I'm doing. Am I safe? First, they said it was brilliant. Then they called me back and said, we should probably have you talk to a criminal defense attorney and see if there's, if this is all legal. The criminal defense attorney said, I don't really see any.
Rebecca Green (11:24.108)
out.
Portia Louder (11:46.19)
major problems. You're not that big of a player. also, because now I was brokering these kind of, I you could say brokering, like I was in the middle of them. So I would lock them up and other people were buying them to get the cash out. And I would just make 50 grand or whatever, or try to. Sometimes I lost money, but so now I
Rebecca Green (12:04.109)
So you were like an investor. You were like, I mean, we see them, they're like investor flips, right? Like they will purchase or wholesalers is something that some of our listeners might hear. Wholesalers, you were purchasing maybe in bulk, maybe not in bulk, but then you were turning it around to another investor, pulling another investor in and they were taking that project and running with it. Okay.
Portia Louder (12:24.526)
Correct. So I'm involved in these deals. So I'm closing a lot of deals. I probably closed least 60 houses, like a lot. And I heard that there was a grand jury investigation surrounding me. So at this point, I'm nervous, right? So I reached back out to my attorney. Well, a couple of things happened. One, Porsche is a pretty unique name and I live in Utah. Well, there happened to be another Porsche.
Rebecca Green (12:28.641)
Okay.
Portia Louder (12:50.422)
who was a hard money lender who was under federal investigation. So I had been flagged as a alias of hers. Like when I would go to title company. Yeah. So bad luck, right? So, and so they're investigating me in terms of being a alias of hers, which I wasn't. She was indicted and ended up going to prison. But nonetheless, once I'm under investigation and they start digging into my deals and they're like, wait a minute.
Rebecca Green (12:59.045)
Yes.
Portia Louder (13:16.11)
You know, it just doesn't make sense that she is buying it for a million five and closing it for 3 million. And that, and it's problematic. And by the time we got to a place where, um, I mean, now we're at about 2007, 2008, and the market starts to crash. And I have a lot of houses locked up and I'm making payments on houses and I'm trying to still build on these construction loans. And I am under federal investigation now at this point, there's a federal investigation.
I'm hiring attorneys. I'm basically trying to say, Hey, market is going down rapidly. And so my lots are worth less. Everything's worth less. can't close. How, you know, the banks have now changed their restrictions on loans. And I'm telling the FBI, like, look, I'm telling my attorneys, I will keep making payments. Like I'm going to make the payments. Like I'm not defaulting, know, whatever it takes. And they're like, it won't matter at this point, regardless of whether you make the payments or not.
Rebecca Green (13:48.781)
And the market's going like this. The market is going down rapidly, rapidly at that time.
Portia Louder (14:16.234)
you're going to basically, you're going to get indicted. Like they're going to indict you. They have created a mortgage task force, a mortgage fraud task force with the FBI and you're one of their top people. You're going to, which is so fascinating, right?
Rebecca Green (14:29.613)
Okay, so let me ask a couple of questions. So where were you getting the appraisals?
Portia Louder (14:39.66)
There were four or five appraisers that kind of specialized in these high-end properties, real estate properties. It wasn't a huge problem because there were so many comps that backed up the value.
Rebecca Green (14:51.57)
The appraisals weren't fraudulent appraisals.
Portia Louder (14:54.892)
Well, they said they were because, I mean, it's tricky because they didn't indict the appraisers, right? Yeah.
Rebecca Green (15:00.781)
My next question, how is it that if it was a handful of appraisers, how is it that there weren't red flags there because they are highly regulated and they are highly sanctionable and there is a licensing there? There's so much that goes into that. So I guess, I immediately, when you think about the real estate crash and you think about over leveraging, a lot of the problems came from appraisers.
Portia Louder (15:17.163)
Refin.
Rebecca Green (15:29.821)
right? You a lot of problems came where they were over evaluating homes and, you know, the appraisal industry dramatically changed after that crash and the lending standards changed. okay, so no, so you were right in the middle of this, but you had
Portia Louder (15:47.31)
I was right in the middle of it and a lot of my argument and why it dragged on so long was I said exactly what you're saying, which is, a minute, the appraisers valued it this and the banks were fully aware. So there's a big conspiracy. We all need to go down or none of us go down. Like, I don't understand why I'm the one, but they decided that I was the leader organizer and it really didn't go with the narrative with
Rebecca Green (15:49.911)
Okay.
Portia Louder (16:15.575)
to indict the appraisers. And this is how it worked. I closed a lot of deals, so I get it, in a high-end neighborhood.
The way that they decided to charge it was even though they were frustrated about these joint venture agreements and this cash going back, but it was somewhat legal even though they hated it. But what they got me on, what they ended up charging me on, and everybody should be aware of this, in the end, if you make a false statement on a loan application, if you say you're gonna move into the house and you don't, it's a fraud. And I did that. I bought homes owner-occupied.
Rebecca Green (16:51.487)
Yes, yes.
Portia Louder (16:55.33)
So these are, you think minor infractions, but if they decide they want you for something else, they can come in and get you for that. The other thing that they got me on was I had stated income, verified asset loans, but I didn't state my income right. Like even though the banks, even no income, no asset loans, you have to state it. And so when it came down to it, all they had to do is look and say, you can't verify this income through taxes. And so they indicted me on misrepresentations on loan app.
applications.
Rebecca Green (17:25.195)
loan applications. Okay, so let's back up to that owner occupied. when you were, because that was my other, I was going there too. When you were completing the loan applications, you were stating that you were moving into these houses, which was not accurate. It was not. Okay. So that was, that was not accurate. And then your stated income, I understand the stated income as an independent contractor, you know, when you,
Portia Louder (17:36.952)
Yes? Right. Correct.
Portia Louder (17:49.954)
You write things up.
Rebecca Green (17:49.998)
I mean, the credit card application, what is your yearly income? Well, last year it was $580, $580,000. Will it be $580,000 this year? I don't know because it's April, right? I don't really know, but be careful. Yeah.
Portia Louder (17:56.504)
Thanks.
Portia Louder (18:01.39)
Correct. But be careful because even because there's a little thing at the bottom that says that if it's inaccurate, it's a fraud. And if it's a federally insured institution, now it's a federal crime. You know that and most people aren't going to get bothered by them. But I did a lot of these deals. I had a series of unfortunate events. So I ended up. Yeah, I ended up face and then I handled it really bad. So like when the FBI showed up,
Rebecca Green (18:13.365)
Yes. Yeah.
Rebecca Green (18:21.867)
Yeah.
Portia Louder (18:31.38)
know, this would have been a different outcome if I would have said, okay, I made some mistakes. Let's take a look at them. How can I make it right? That's a totally different outcome. Cause they kind of gave me that opportunity to say, all right, what did you, you know, how, how can we make this? Yeah. I hired attorneys. I told them I didn't do anything wrong. There's a million other people doing worse things wrong. And I was pretty belligerent. was scared.
Rebecca Green (18:45.143)
this work? Yeah, how did this work? Tell us. Okay, what did you do?
Portia Louder (18:57.774)
I couldn't imagine going to prison. I'm gonna lose everything, not just financially, but my husband's not gonna stay, my family. To me, it was such an overwhelming, scary feeling. And I had already, I mean, I was a young single mom. I'd already fought my way out of hard things to build what I had. And so this loss seemed devastating to me. I just couldn't really get my arms around that I was gonna have to go to prison. And so I was.
Rebecca Green (19:19.437)
So you went into fight mode and you were like, I'm going to fight this. I'm going to fight this. When in fact, the mortgage fraud component of it was fairly black and white, everything else surrounding it was not. Okay. That's from an outsider's perspective looking in, I can say, I get it. I get where you were coming from. I definitely know of situations that go on still in all marketplaces. Right? And I also,
Portia Louder (19:28.984)
Right, right Correct, so I'm yes
Rebecca Green (19:48.738)
fully, fully understand that fight mode, right? You know, that is a personality trait of drivers. That's a personality trait of certain people. So I respect and appreciate that. But as you've been able to unpackage it, can attach that to that was your mistake. This could have had a different outcome. That was your downfall.
Portia Louder (19:51.331)
Right.
Portia Louder (20:06.286)
My downfall. eventually, yeah, I ended up going, I mean, the deals happened in 2005. I spent every dime we had fighting, I hired attorneys, and in the end, indicted me anyway in 2011. I continued to fight and spent every dime and then borrowed every dime we could, lost everything, and I didn't even go to prison until 2015. So I made this a 20-year process. didn't have to be.
Rebecca Green (20:33.741)
Well.
Portia Louder (20:34.894)
By the time I walked into the federal courthouse, I was facing zero to seven years and I had made everyone so mad. He masked me. He gave me the seven years. And so people look at it and go, you got seven years for a nonviolent crime, a money crime. And I'm like, well, it didn't have to be that high. I mean, I reckon it took time. Believe me, it took it. I served close to five years in federal prison and yeah.
Rebecca Green (20:45.069)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (20:57.729)
Wow. Okay, we're gonna come back to that real quick. I mean, not real quick, but in a hot second, we're gonna come back to that because it's not a lot of people that can turn and say, I spent five years in federal prison, right? And survived and are thriving. So a couple of things to unpackage. Did you lose your husband? Did you lose everything?
Portia Louder (21:01.57)
Yeah. OK. OK.
Portia Louder (21:18.594)
My husband is amazing. We'll celebrate 28 years of marriage this year. Yeah, he's still.
Rebecca Green (21:22.979)
my God, and so that gives me chills. Like God bless that, right? Because that had to have been a fear. How do I face this?
Portia Louder (21:31.4)
yeah. And my husband and we're happier than we've ever been. So it's a huge. Yeah. One of my greatest blessings is our marriage. Yeah. Yeah. And our children.
Rebecca Green (21:36.32)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (21:39.789)
accomplishments too.
My husband and I just celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. It is not, I mean, just last weekend, it is not easy, right? It is not being married.
Portia Louder (21:47.182)
Aww.
Portia Louder (21:52.194)
or we can work anyway, but let alone to go through these things. Yeah.
Rebecca Green (21:55.264)
Yes, yes. And I was going to say, we've not been through that. And we've had times where we're like, whoa, what are we doing here? And how do we fix that? And do we want to fix it? Do I even like you anymore? I'm not sure. I'll always love you. I have three beautiful children, but like, what's happening here? Right. So, but, add something like the situation you were in and, you know, God bless both of you for, for figuring that out. That is very, that's really inspiring.
Portia Louder (22:05.39)
I love those things.
Rebecca Green (22:24.789)
I really love that. That is the till death do us part component. You know, it's super inspiring. Okay. So you go in, you get seven years, you've lost all your money. You are facing prison. You weren't sure at that point what you could have done differently, but looking back, don't you just believe that all things happen for a reason as crazy as what they are? And there is...
Portia Louder (22:47.808)
yeah.
Portia Louder (22:53.704)
no, it was, yeah. So for me, the day of sentencing was a death of my former self and I would never undo it. you know, my view, remember I got eight weeks to say goodbye to my family and I remember driving home and I couldn't even talk because I was in such shock. I looked at my husband and I said, how could I have been such a fool? Like, how could I, I mean, I just could see things so much clearer like.
Rebecca Green (22:55.167)
Okay, let's talk about that.
Portia Louder (23:21.954)
How could I have traded everything important for something as foolish as money? Like, how could I have done that? And it just, the world has never looked the same for me. I think that day my heart broke and I also felt liberated. had all, everything I'd ever been afraid of, I faced that day and I was still standing, you know? I was still standing. And then things started to happen in a beautiful way, a very painful and beautiful way. We lived in a nice neighborhood. We couldn't afford, we were, our home was foreclosed on.
A neighbor who was a doctor that was very wealthy had a basement that she said, let me finish it. So your husband and kids can move in while you go to prison. Like people reached out my case. Yeah. On the news and people, actually reached out on social media and said, I'm going to prison. Please support my, my family while I'm gone, just show them compassion. They're not at fault. I am. And people reached out and really offered so much love and compassion. so that was a huge blessing for two years while he.
tried to rebuild with kids and work and all those things. He lived there. my youngest was seven. I had a 12 year old and a 14 year old, really hard ages, really hard ages. My kids, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I remember that day looking at my daughter, she was seven years old and I was sentenced to as many years as she'd been alive, you know, the day that I was sentenced. It was devastating.
Rebecca Green (24:25.165)
How old were your children? How old were your children?
Rebecca Green (24:30.943)
I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that. Okay.
Portia Louder (24:48.664)
Like you can't even really, there aren't words. I spent the last eight weeks of my time at home watching them sleep and driving them to school. wondering how I could have missed everything beautiful, how I could have traded it all, you know? So yeah, it was.
Rebecca Green (25:00.717)
So one of the things that you said like how could I have traded everything for money and that is wow that's something that people do every day every day every day and it's part of just like looping it back to real estate and looping it back to you know our journey on the podcast and
Portia Louder (25:08.834)
Right.
Portia Louder (25:12.514)
Right.
Rebecca Green (25:22.477)
what I coached to and my own personal journey, I've been there, right? Made bad decisions just to get to the next dollar amount thinking that if everyone has more money and more security, everything's gonna be better. Everything's gonna be better. Doesn't always pan out like that, right? It doesn't always work that way. And also at the end of the day, the people are so much more important than the things. But it's often,
Portia Louder (25:33.516)
That will
Portia Louder (25:40.856)
Right.
Portia Louder (25:47.234)
yeah.
Rebecca Green (25:51.394)
you have to go through heart-wrenching situations and yours is unlike anyone's I've ever spoken to. So you go to prison, what is federal prison like on a daily basis?
Portia Louder (26:00.718)
Well, I went, because of the length of my sentence, I went to a higher security federal prison. So it wasn't a camp. walked into, and keep in mind when you go to federal prison, they don't have federal prisons in your state often. So I had to go to Oakland, California. I walked into a prison with a thousand women and I was devastated. Here's the thing that I learned right away. The kindness and compassion of the women.
Rebecca Green (26:16.589)
Mmm.
Rebecca Green (26:27.777)
Really.
Portia Louder (26:28.764)
yeah, people see these shows on TV and I'm like, like my, spent three days just so brokenhearted. I couldn't even breathe. And then I went out to a table in the day room and I sat there with a picture of my family crying. I'm like, and this girl that I don't even know her. I mean, she went by bubbles. Everyone has a nickname in prison. So she goes by bubbles and she's sitting there watching TV and she looks over at me she goes, it's okay, baby. Just keep breathing. The pain will go away. Breathing.
And I mean, this is a woman I've never met that understood that this is so painful, but it will pass. Like you'll survive this. it, I mean, I would say my first year was total denial. I kept, I would, I kept thinking, get out something I won't have to do all this time. know, after a year I was transferred to Minnesota. So I was even further away from my family. And that's a whole nother story.
Rebecca Green (27:10.752)
Sure!
Rebecca Green (27:22.081)
So do you get to see your family at all? Do you get to see them in person at all?
Portia Louder (27:26.294)
Yeah, but I mean, it's a huge expense. And it was like once a year, like once a year, they could fly out and see me and imagine teenagers every time I saw them, they're six inches taller. Like it was so devastating and heartbreaking. But I'm telling you that pain drove me to a place of understanding what really matters. And I surrendered in ways like people say, well, what did you miss the most? The food, the clothes? I'm like, hell no.
Rebecca Green (27:29.453)
Totally.
Portia Louder (27:53.58)
Like I did not care about any of that. is none. It became so clear to me. It was just the moments. It was just being in their prisons, you know, combing my hair.
Rebecca Green (28:01.261)
Oh, God. This is why I reached out to you. Everything I've heard you speak to or every social media post, there is such resilience in everything that you say. like, it's palpable. Like, I can see it. I can feel it. Like, the resilience component and the change is what was so inspiring to me. You know, and thank you for being willing to share that. So you're in federal prison. You have had this epiphany that none of that matters.
and it's the moments, it's the people, it's the, I'm sure, like the hugs, the smells, the sounds, you know, all of those familiar things that must be replaying in your mind on overdrive, right? So when, so you've written two books now?
Portia Louder (28:36.398)
Yep. Right.
Portia Louder (28:49.454)
Yeah, so at about two years, think the most, the biggest turning point for me in prison was this. I had to take a look at it and say, Porsche, you 100 % did this to yourself. That was hard because I could, I could say, well, the judge gave me the maximum sentence and that was harsh and banks got away with it and other investors got away with it. And it was unfair, but there was this point about halfway through my sentence. remember sitting outside under a tree and just saying it out loud. You did this Porsche. This was you.
Rebecca Green (29:00.845)
Mm-hmm.
Portia Louder (29:19.66)
And that's freedom when you say 100 % I did this to myself and now I can do something different. I chose this. I'm gonna choose a different path. And I reached out and I looked at my kids and I said, you need to know this was me. You need to tell me how I hurt you. This was not that judge. This was not the government. This was your mother. Tell me how I hurt you. And I remember my children were really struggling and that is very painful as a mother to know I did this to my kids, you know?
Rebecca Green (29:46.061)
And you're away and you're not even there to help fix it. Okay.
Portia Louder (29:49.858)
Devastating, so painful. I spent the last two years of my sentence, it was much freer for me. I felt very connected to the women. started, I found my purpose right where I was. started, I wrote a curriculum. started teaching classes and supporting the women that were there. I reached out to my kids and started, you can do a lot right where you are. That's what you need to know when people ask, well, how did you decide to write a book? did, I didn't know I was going to do any of these things. I just showed up in the moment every day.
Rebecca Green (30:11.597)
Mm-hmm.
Rebecca Green (30:18.925)
Showed Showed up in the moment. We need to capture that one. Showed up in the moment. Isn't that the truth? Like sometimes that's all that it takes, regardless of where you are or your situation, like the best version of yourself just showing up.
Portia Louder (30:19.703)
Yeah, I did.
Portia Louder (30:34.69)
show up that day and in the process of connecting with these women and really listening to their stories, my view changed. My whole view changed of the world and what prison really was. And by the time I got out of prison, I will tell you this, I really liked myself and that was beautiful. I remember looking in the mirror and saying, I feel really good about me and that's liberation. You don't care what anyone else thinks, because my integrity was intact. I felt like I...
had my integrity had been restored with myself. And I walked out of that prison, happy, joyous and free and my husband was standing there with flowers.
Rebecca Green (31:12.129)
Hmm. I can't believe. So, so just you saying like you looked at yourself and you liked yourself and that was so empowering and I love that. When you were going through the building and the buying and the selling and the, you know, renovating all of that, like when you were going through that, what was the goal? Like why, what was the why? Like were you doing that to build security under the premise that you were building security? Were you a competitive person? Was it the fact that you were, had seven siblings and maybe no one had?
Portia Louder (31:32.982)
I mean, yeah.
Rebecca Green (31:41.961)
is what you wanted to have for your kids. Because sometimes we trade the important things for the money because we have past trauma. Right? What was the goal? Or is it just something you fell into?
Portia Louder (31:53.71)
Well, that's no, I mean, I felt like because of some younger year trauma and things that I've been through, I was trying to prove myself to the world. I really did. Like I've got to make more money. I've got to be more successful. And there was this need to where I had young children and I'm like, I don't want to, I mean, my photography business, was photographing 200 weddings a year. I've, I'm a goer. Like I already had this company that was going crazy. And then I thought, well, I'll make money in real estate and I won't have to work. So I had nannies babysitting the kids.
It all just made sense until I like until after I was sentenced and I looked around and thought I was working so hard so I'd have more time with my kids and I traded all my time with my kids for money. Like it all was so twisted and backwards. But then I'm sitting in prison and I have time and I see how valuable time really is. And when I left, I've never felt richer. All I had was a box of letters and I've never felt more full and richer. And when I walked off that compound, all the women came running out and cheering for me. They were all, they like,
Rebecca Green (32:51.063)
Portia Louder (32:51.854)
You know, they love me and I thought I've done more good in here than I have in my entire life. Like I never needed to make money to do good. I could do good right where I was just by listening and caring about others. And that's what drove me and drives me still. I came home and I wrote the first book just to connect with the women that I met. Their stories and my story. And that was about a year after I got out.
Rebecca Green (33:04.429)
Rebecca Green (33:13.173)
Okay, so you didn't write until you got out. You started writing, okay.
Portia Louder (33:19.554)
I was actually working in a drug treatment program and the girls loved my prison stories. Like I would share the, they're like, you have to write a book. So I started writing a book at night and I, they would read my chapters and I'd send them into girls in prison and they loved it. And so I published my first book and no, okay, living loud. Yeah. Living louder is my first book in it. And then born to be brave is my second book and living louder is just the whole prison journey.
Rebecca Green (33:35.745)
And is that the born to be alive? Born to be brave, excuse me.
Portia Louder (33:48.086)
It really is. It's like, then Born to Be Brave is people that I've met since, and it's my childhood. And I talk more about what got me into the, so it's in a way it's a prequel, but it also, it kind of wraps around it. but yeah. And who knew? Like I wasn't a writer. Who knew? I'm a reader. I mean, I've always been a reader and I probably read 14 hours a day in prison. So I'm a reader, but really when you find your path and you're in that flow, things just show up for you.
I had a meeting last night and I'm going to be doing a tour across the country and different college campuses talking about these experiences. I would have never, I just showed up in the moment and the next thing shows up, show up in the moment and the next thing shows up. And that's the beauty of living a life of integrity, right? Things show up for you.
Rebecca Green (34:33.813)
Yeah, well, and also like, you know, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, part of the hard part can be, I didn't get where I wanted to go today. Do I quit? I didn't get where I wanted to go again. Do I keep going? Right? You know, I think the corner's right there, but I'm not sure, right? Like, I talk a lot about, you know, consistency in everything that you're doing.
And you have to have that drive not to give up. And you are such a testament to boy, you just did not give up. You just embraced it all. You figured it all out. so when you, it's not easy, even without your situation, your struggle and strife, like from an entrepreneur standpoint, like it's not easy. It's not easy to get right back up every day and say, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep doing it. You've done it at levels that so many of us will never experience. Right. But that,
Portia Louder (35:09.676)
Yeah.
And that's not easy. It's not easy.
Rebecca Green (35:33.184)
just showing up because you never know. And I talk about like small incremental situations lead to big things, right? Like small, one meeting leads to this. And if you didn't show up, you would never have that opportunity. And so, know, gosh, I commend that, that whole messaging so much, right? You you never know what's right around the corner and you just cannot give up if this is really your path. You can't give up. Now,
Portia Louder (35:42.594)
They do. Yep.
Rebecca Green (36:01.963)
I mean, going back to the whole situation that led you here, like maybe you should have given that up.
Portia Louder (36:04.632)
Right. Well, I've learned, right. When I, yes, that's where it's so important to get your integrity lined up. Right. I've had people reach out to me since I got out that are like, do you want to do this? Nope. I feel it. Like my integrity is in line. I feel when it's not the path, but also when things get really hard, that means something really good is right around the corner. You know, so you have to keep showing up. I'm afraid not to show up because I don't want to miss anything. Like, so I,
Rebecca Green (36:13.697)
Yes.
Rebecca Green (36:32.033)
Because every no leads to the right yes, right? Every time it's a no, you're closer to the yes, right? That's just the law of averages and the way things work. Gosh, I am so grateful for the conversation. I am so completely impressed with your story. resilience is the thing that I started with. Resilience was what I picked up on right away, the resilience.
Portia Louder (36:34.658)
Great, great.
Portia Louder (36:43.107)
Yes.
Rebecca Green (36:58.987)
And the willingness to share a lot of people in your shoes, I think would have gone through this and faded away. They would never have come out and said, hey, let me tell you my story, right?
Portia Louder (37:06.636)
Yeah.
Portia Louder (37:12.49)
I think for me, I knew that, but at the same time, I thought something remarkable has happened in my life. Why wouldn't I share it? yeah, I thought, I mean, I get it that people may feel uncomfortable because I came home and I was just like, thanks for cheering me on guys. You know, everybody's like, we're supposed to talk about prison. And I'm like, yep, we're going to talk about it. And for me, it was like, if you went to college for four years, you wouldn't pretend you didn't go. If you went to prison and your whole life changed and your whole view for the better.
Rebecca Green (37:21.025)
Why not?
Portia Louder (37:41.144)
Why are you gonna pretend it didn't happen, you know?
Rebecca Green (37:43.241)
Yeah, yeah, but you know, that takes courage. That takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of courage, your own courage. takes courage for your family. It takes courage for your husband, your kids. I mean, that takes courage. Yeah, and that is such a blessing and also, I think, a testament to coming full circle with who you were as a person because I'm sure that without that, the relationships would have been very different.
Portia Louder (37:46.978)
Yeah.
Portia Louder (37:53.174)
Yes. They're amazing. Yeah.
Portia Louder (38:12.718)
Correct. Yes. I'm so proud of my kids. They're amazing. And we, the restoration, they're 24, 22 and 17. So one of them's still home. She's doing, you know, they've, they've faced a lot of hard things and I'm really proud of them. And it's,
Rebecca Green (38:13.879)
Right?
How old are they now?
Rebecca Green (38:30.349)
So you were in prison for five years or all seven? Five, you got out at five, right, for good behavior. And now you've been home for five years. Wow, you've done so much in five years. So where can, I'm assuming your books can be found, where can people learn more about you? Where can people reach out if they want to connect?
Portia Louder (38:33.422)
Five, yeah. Yeah, I've been home for five years now, so. Yes.
Portia Louder (38:47.438)
They're awesome. Yeah.
Yeah, I have a website, porchalouder.com, but I'm also on all the platforms, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and I think Amazon and Audible. I read the books on Audible and on Amazon. So anyone that's interested, reach out. I'm pretty good at responding on social media too, so.
Rebecca Green (39:03.786)
your best.
Rebecca Green (39:08.877)
Yes, very good. Portia, thank you so much for your time. I've loved getting to know you. I hope we stay in touch. I'm so curious about the rest of your journey. I'm interested to hear what's gonna happen with you speaking at colleges around the country. What an amazing opportunity to help share your story and keep people on a...
a positive path and keep them moving in the right direction. So thank you again. Thanks for everyone who's listening. Again, this is how to real estate today and we'll see you next week. Thanks again, Portia.
Portia Louder (39:43.416)
Thank you.
