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The Truth About Real Estate Investing... for Canadians

For Canadians by Canadians sharing the truths about generating wealth through real estate investing. This show is about getting rich slowly, investing is a marathon, no get rich quick methods will be discussed here hosted by award winning investor and three time Realtor of the Year Erwin Szeto aka Mr. Hamilton
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Now displaying: 2020
Jun 13, 2020

SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR OBSESSED WITH EMPOWERING ENTREPRENEURS AROUND THEIR BUSINESS FINANCES. 

Her track record speaks volumes: she has built a highly profitable 7 figure company, been on Dragon's Den (the Canadian version of Shark's Tank), done a successful crowdsourcing campaign and sold two businesses in the e-commerce space. 

She now works with a fellow entrepreneur, her husband on FFV Capital and Fast Forward Ventures, our real estate companies focussed on private financing and commercial real estate investing. 

She’s been featured as one of the top female entrepreneurs in Canada by the w100 and also recognized as a top 20 under 40 entrepreneur by Business London.

Jun 2, 2020

We have Victoria Masucci 

  • Very happily married mother of two
  • Self employed for over 20 years and former business owner
  • Voted Insurance Business Canada’s top 10 Women of Distinction
  • Huge life change resulting from the diagnosis of a life threatening illness of a child
  • Became a real estate investor at 53 years of age and a stock hacker at 56 years of age to ensure financial freedom (better late than never!)
  • Working towards bigger goals including letting others know about our journey to ultimate financial freedom (maybe a book, blog or speaking engagements – or all three!) and the eventual setting up of a charity

What I also found fascinating is the insurance program Victoria designed for folks like us – entrepreneurs and investors, and how she successfully included her children in her business. So without further ado, I give you Victoria.

 

May 23, 2020

On to this week’s guest, my friend, client, iWIN member, real estate investor, Captain Manny Cabral.  He’s a great guy, for years he owned and operated a large scale construction company that even took on government contracts.  One day Manny hurt his back and got a desk job running a car dealership.  Manny loves cars and he’s got some good stories to share as he turned his passion into a successful side hustle importing luxury sports cars.

Manny eventually made the leap to leave his great job to be full time in contracting and investing in real estate.  What I really enjoy about Manny’s application of buying private sales is even doesn’t squeeze the seller for every last dime and instead shares what price he needs for the deal to make sense for the work and risk he’s assuming. So without further do, I give you Manny Cabral of Simcoe House Buyers.

May 16, 2020

On the real estate front, can we stand down the red alert on real estate?

Not to say challenges are not ahead but much more is known about the problems we as real estate investors face compared to two months ago pre-march break.

Commercial is a sore spot both residential and non residential.  Student rentals will be a challenge as McGill and UBC announced many classes will be online.  What that means for our student tenants remains to be seen as many programs require labs, group work, in hospital rotations, etc…

For tenants who are looking to rent something, the timing couldn’t be much better.  Same for those who have cash and credit to buy.  There will always be opportunities for some so take advantage while you can.  For example, I have a family member looking to sell a starter home in the suburbs and buy a bigger condo downtown Toronto.  The timing could not be better.  Again, opportunity will always come to those who know where to find it.

Speaking of chasing opportunities, we have a legit wealth hacker as our guest on this week’s show in Tim Hong.

Tim house hacked his first home, a 2+1 bedroom condo by renting out 1+1 bedrooms to students as his first taste of investing in real estate, then did rent to owns, an apartment building, student rentals, got licensed in real estate and coaches investors, started a property management business, had a tenant offer non monetary rent compensation, I’ll let Tim explain that, and Tim’s has been trading foreign exchange currencies for 5+ years.  How’s that for a wealth hacker? I’ve also convinced Tim to do some stock hacking with his TFSA’s 😊.  If there is an efficient means to make income, Tim is into it.

Tim is also a coach on my team at IWIN Real Estate and has been with me since I can’t remember, maybe 2012? It’s been a long time and without further ado, I give you Tim Hong.

May 9, 2020

On to this week’s show!

We have with us today real estate investor and private lending specialist Susan Flanagan!

Susan Flanagan is a seasoned real estate investor of over 25 years’ experience. She has done everything from regular buy and holds, student rentals, rent to own, flips and along the way added creative financing strategies to build her portfolio. 

She has also been lending her own funds for mortgages for more than 12 years, as well as using private funds for her various real estate projects. That experience has led her to becoming a Mortgage Agent and then a Mortgage Broker, specializing in "Private Money 4 Mortgages" which is also the name of her website. 

Susan services two types of clients.... the person who needs a Private Mortgage and the Investor who has money to lend out for a mortgage. 

She considers herself a “matchmaker”, connecting lender’s and borrower’s for a WIN-WIN scenario.

May 2, 2020

On to this week’s show!

As a real estate nerd, I do enjoy reviewing real estate market stats however, we wealth hackers know, the stats are great for general consumption however none of us are investing in average real estate and the smart money invests in investment grade real estate.  This is why I reached out to some of the best Investor agents I know in the top markets for investing just outside the GTA since we all focus primarily on cash flow.

On this market update show we have agents from London in the west, Justin Konikow of Prime Real Estate, Rob Break who works the same real estate brokerage I do, Rock Star Real Estate all the way from the East in Durham and Peterborough, most of you know him from the Break Through Podcast.

To the great white north of Barrie, we have John Beddome.

Representing Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, from my own iWIN Real Estate Team: Tim Hong.

And finally, the duplex queen, from Hamilton, Tammy Ditomaso.

To me this episode is a special treat as these are the agents I call when I want to know what’s going on, on the street in regards to real estate for investors.  There is a lot of fear out there which is why I brought this group together to update you all on what’s happening on the front lines of real estate and property management.

I hope you enjoy the show!  Without further ado, I give you Justin, John, Rob, Tim and Tammy!

Apr 23, 2020

This episode is with my friends Ping and Andrew of Spotted Properties Property Management in Hamilton Ontario.  They are good guys and here to share show they are handling managing their tenants across their 6 or 800 door portfolio, they have a unique perspective as well and they do manage quite a few student rentals as well.  The letter they sent out to tenants is on our website at http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/ or you are one of the clever ones, we would have sent you an email with this episode and a link to that same letter.  All you need to do to make sure you get these episodes and resources we are sharing, simply go to that same website: http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/ and enter your name and email on the right.

Apr 18, 2020

On to this week’s guest: Kathleen van den Berg, MBA, CLU, CFP. I think she’s great because she’s one of the rate Certified Financial Planners who recommends owning real estate and she owns a fair amount of real estate too.  I invited Kathleen to come on the show asking her to share what advice she has for her clients during these historic times.

Kathleen’s bio:

I have the best job in the world ... and I have a ton of fun doing it.
I specialize in working with individuals and families to improve their monthly cash flow and build significantly greater wealth compared to their current approach.

Unlike most other wealth strategists, I include real estate strategies as one of the 6 key components in clients' wealth building plans.

I implement a 6 step wealth strategy system with clients and routinely am able to create over a million dollars of additonal income in retirement. 

Apr 8, 2020

Hello Wealth Hackers!!

As you may know, I was dabbling in stock options, had a lot of early success, took a deeper dive, hired a coach who in turn is my stock hacking mentor as he loves to share and teach me outside of my coaching time.  He’s is an ex Wall St, options pits trader as a career for seven years, he left to move to Hawaii and trade from home in paradise. Lee now has been full time trading for 30 years, he is the best selling author of Get Rich With Options author Lee “the Godfather of Stock Options” Lowell.  You may recognize Lee’s book as it was required reading for the original Stock Hacker Academy before attending the course. He literally wrote the book of the subject that became foundational reference material for all past and future Stock Hackers.

It only made logical sense we partner with Lee to bring all you Wealth Hackers the all new Stock Hacker Academy version 2.0!! To register go to  www.stockhackeracademy.ca/specialoffer all the details are there and prices go up April 22nd so don’t delay. The timing couldn’t be any better as Lee predicts the bottom of the stock market at only a few weeks away.

Needless to say, my Stock Hacking game has improved 10X, the skills I’ve learnt, the strategies that I’ve refined while dialing down my risk.  Lee loves to teach and share his experience and he’s invested through THREE major economic meltdowns and recoveries before the Covid19 related correction we’re in now. I honestly don’t know anyone I’d rather learn from right now.

In real estate, I’ve always said, a real estate expert has invested through a full cycle.  I’ve been through the credit crisis 12 years ago. Lee has been through THREE economic cycles hence his experience in managing risk through the current down turn and how to maximize returns during the eventual recovery has me beyond excited to maximize returns during this recession.

Yes I love real estate and it’s the best investment in the world however the stock market dropped by close to a third, the real estate market in my target areas are on pause as physical showings and open houses have virtually stopped.  Personally I’m taking this social distancing time to learn a new skill that will make me money from home. We’re all stuck at home anyways, may as well learn how to maximize returns while we’re here. I can’t even mow the lawn at my investment property right now if I wanted to. 

As always, I love learning something new and sharing, especially with stock prices being so cheap right now and I’m beyond excited to announce the all new Stock Hacker Academy version 2.0 in partnership with Lee Lowell.  The course is entirely rebuilt from scratch in my vision, I’ve taken in all the feedback and lessons from the first course and 10X’d the new 12 month program in order to give our students the highest probability of success.

This isn’t for everyone, those who want to learn and willing to commit some time to learning and practicing will succeed. Lee and I are here to provide the education.  Only those willing should enroll but knowing many of you came a long way in your real estate journeys, Stock Hacking is a brilliant complement. My wife Cherry and I are trading HELOC monies from our investment properties.  All you need to do is take the course and own a smart phone.

As part of the 12 month program you get:

  • A two day live streamed course with Lee Lowell
  • All the recordings so you may re-watch whenever you want
  • Eight weeks of webinars where Lee will continue to teach new strategies and take your questions.
  • Lee’s Newsletter that he’s been writing for 15 years (I’m a paid subscriber and it’s truly excellent, the writing is in plain English, Lee is transparent with his trades). You can really tell he cares about his subscribers and has the skills and experience to limit their risks.
  • Monthly meetups at my offices for the year. I (Erwin) love to network and share, in person is best so we can all network with like minded Stock Hackers, look over the shoulder of a fellow stock hacker to get help, ask your questions live and in person.  Nothing beats in person meetings.
  • Private online support group. We have months of questions and answers and interviews with Derek and Lee posted there. Stay in touch with your community 24/7!!
  • Quick Start Guide my team designed for Stock Hacking purposes! We will take weeks off your learning curve using the mobile app!!

The timing really couldn’t get better, the market is down around 30% and just look at your other opportunities, the real estate market is on pause till the virus goes away, private lending rates don’t interest me when I can stock hack high yielding dividend paying companies, some of my favourite stocks are cash flowing via dividends of 7-10% with equity upside, why would I private lend… we’ll cover this too in the course.  We’re all stuck at home anyways so may as well learn a side hustle that requires little time and effort.  

To register it’s www.stockhackeracademy.ca/specialoffer

You’re stuck at home anyways, may as well learn how to make money from home and the timing couldn’t be better with the bottom of the market only weeks away.  The last correction was 12 years ago, don’t wait another 12 years for the next opportunity.

www.stockhackeracademy.ca/specialoffer

By the way, speaking of the Godfather of Stock Options, I proudly present to you my mentor, best selling author of “Get Rich With Options,” Lee Lowell.

Mar 28, 2020

Tenants under financial distress and ability to pay rent is the subject of this week’s interview, the first in a series of emergency webinars as I’m asking friends who are leading experts in the community for favours to come on my webinar and podcast to share what they are doing starting with multifamily expert and investor Sarah Coupland.

She is a talented multifamily investor, owner of https://tagproperties.ca/ with over 10 years experience, she’s a friend, my regular go to for tenant challenges and when you listen to this interview you’ll understand why.  Email subscribers to my podcast will receive the tenant letters she mentions that were sent to her own tenants, they are excellent, if you’re not already subscribed, well that’s just silly. Go to www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca, enter your name and email on the right hand side.

Without further ado, I give you Sarah Coupland.

Mar 21, 2020

On to this week’s show!

We have good friends of mine Andy Tran who I’ve been friends with since 2008, Charles Wah I was in his wedding party, and Steve Ford who is a newer friend, client and he’s the general contractor for our new office!! What a coincidence that they happen to be real estate investors too!

They are a team of three who are passionate about infill development projects, and are currently involved in several projects in the Golden Horseshoe. Each one of us brings a unique set of skills and experiences in development, design and home construction that can help you bring your project to reality.

Andy Tran has designed over 160 income suite conversions

Charles has developed land including over 150 houses

Steve has supervised the construction of over 1,000 houses.

They know their stuff, personally invested in small residential developments and are here to share how including the #1 question: the cost to build per square foot plus all the fun soft costs.

Here’s the infill boys!

 

Mar 14, 2020

On to this week’s show!

Jamie and Leslie and Aaron Collard 

Jamie and Leslie Collard are a husband and wife team who have spent the last few years building financial freedom through real estate acquisitions.  Their focus in the past year has been on apartment buildings with an acquired 73 units.

They were able to “retire” before turning 40 years of age and now, they have the freedom to spend more time as a family, travel when they choose to and have no worries about their financial future.

Throughout their journey, they have become passionate about sharing with others how they used real estate to build their wealth. Because it was a challenge for them to learn the high level investment strategies in the business, they have created their own education series that will allow others to learn from the experts in the field.

Aaron Collard is their 11 year old son and wait till you hear what he’s up to.

Without further ado, Jamie, Leslie and Aaron Collard!

To follow the Collards:

Web: https://www.collardproperties.ca/

ADVANCED COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT CONFERENCE:  https://www.collardproperties.ca/seminars

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/665392684003319/

Mar 3, 2020

On to this week’s show!

“Mike Rosehart is Canada's Youngest Early Retiree, an Ivey Business Graduate, Youtube Social Media Influencer, Entrepreneur, and a Real Estate Investor in London, Ontario with an 8-Figure real estate portfolio comprising of over 50 buildings.

Mike is an expert Joint Venture Strategist with a wealth of experience in finding off market private deals, flipping, renovating, and managing the bottom line – focused on cost control and maximized return on investment.

Starting from humble beginnings without a dollar to his name, Mike bought his first property at 19 and built his portfolio up to over 17 properties by the age 24, using the BRRRR Real Estate Snowball Method. He retired from his day job as a Senior Analyst in IT Business Consulting in 2017 and has been enjoying Financial Independence ever since. Mike believes ANYONE can unlock F.I.R.E. and that Real Estate is one of the best vehicles to expedite the journey to freedom and maximize returns through leverage (cheap debt). Mike believes the secret to building wealth is simple: Spend Less, Earn More, and Maximize Returns on the difference.”

Feb 22, 2020

Speaking of #1 Investment strategies, this week’s guest has done plenty of basement apartments, probably a few dozen over the last few years.  Ryan Carr is a full time real estate investor who’s big on the math of real estate. What folks may not know is the way he runs his business is highly calculated hence I wanted Ryan on the show to share: from leaving his job as a mechanic to be a full time investor, to hiring several full time staff, to scaling up his business to around a dozen or more property acquisitions per year.  Properties including multi-family, in fill development, tiny homes, coach houses, and vertically split duplexes. Ryan’s has a great business I think many could model how to build and scale their own businesses so without further ado, I give you Ryan Carr.

Feb 15, 2020

This week’s guest is friend, real estate client, Stock Hacker, iWIN Member Karen Cumming

You may remember Karen Cumming from the decade she spent as a television reporter at CH-tv - a station based in Hamilton that also serves Niagara and the GTA.  Years before that, she worked as a radio newscaster and talk show producer everywhere from Hamilton to Toronto to Montreal with CHUM Radio and Corus.  

There’s a good chance you may have heard her name thanks to something that has nothing to do with media, though, and everything to do with space. A project, in fact, that is literally “out of this world”.

Karen is one of what’s known as “The Mars 100” - 100 people from around the world who have made it to the final round of astronaut selection in a legitimate mission to colonise the red planet with a company out of the Netherlands known as Mars One. 

Long before her space adventures, Karen became involved in real estate investing back in 2008.  You remember - the year the markets tanked. The year “the experts” would have said no one should be putting their money into property.

Despite all of that, she bought a single family home in the Old South neighbourhood of London, Ontario.  Soon after, she joined the Real Estate Investment Network - “REIN” - in order to learn what she needed to know about becoming a successful landlord.  Almost twelve years later, she now also owns a freehold townhouse on Hamilton mountain, and a single family home in the lower city of Hamilton… and is one of the original members if iWIN.

Today, Karen is a freelance journalist, health promoter and teacher who writes about mindful living, meditation and self-care at karencumming.com.

Here’s where things really get interesting.  Karen has an extra special reason for investing in real estate now, thanks to a life experience she recently went through.

She has seen the inside of Ontario’s long-term care system up close and personal, and understands more clearly than ever the need to be financially proactive and prepared for the final stage of life. 

Earlier this year, she and her sister Pat guided their mother Verna through that system, and were stunned to realise how little they knew about how it works.

They felt ill-informed and ill-equipped to make the decisions that had to be made.  And they knew that they weren’t alone. Thousands of baby boomers across

Ontario are in the same boat.

In the end, they decided to write a book designed to help other families on their own journey with an elderly parent.    

It’s called “The Indispensable Survival Guide to Ontario’s Long-Term Care System” - now available on Amazon.ca, chapters.indigo.ca, Kindle, Kobo and Smashwords.

 

Karen …. Welcome to the podcast.

Feb 8, 2020

Today’s guest is Chris “The Captain” Hook, our friend and client since he met him back in 2012 when started investing in real estate.  His journey in Real Estate Investing began by being fear stricken at purchasing a Stoney Creek Townhouse for $214,000 because it would only cash flow $100-$200.  Fast forward to today and this same townhouse is selling for $399,000. The moral of the story, don’t be stricken by fear as it will cost you. Since then he has tried several different real estate investment strategies, such as: RTO, flipping, regular buy and hold, legal second suites and student rentals.  His current portfolio consists of 2 legal duplexes and 1 in the final stages of being converted. Real Estate has allowed his wife to stay home and raise the kids, while trying to start a business of her own. As he looks to continue to grow his portfolio through joint ventures and one day getting involved in a development opportunity, he is also looking at alternate ways to generate income with the ultimate goal of being able to leave his corporate job so that he can spend more time with his family, travel more and play more golf.  Some of the other methods of generating income are through options hacking, launching an EComm business and getting his real estate license.

Feb 1, 2020

Speaking of successful clients we have Kaush Nanubhai returning to the podcast.  When we first met Kaush years ago, he had a full time job in Toronto and was stuck in analysis paralysis for close to two years before buying his 3rd investment property after a long hiatus from buying two condos in downtown Toronto.  Fast forward to today, he’s quit his day job and gone full time real estate investor and here to share about the transition to full time investor and his latest project: an infill development where he bought a house, renovated the basement for a legal basement apartment then severed half of the lot to build on it a modular home that took only 30 days to deliver.  The house is currently being finished on the inside including adding a basement apartment.

This basement apartment strategy sure is popular!!

Without further ado, I give you Kaush Nanubhai.

Jan 25, 2020

Elizabeth is a friend, Real estate investor for 15 years, specializing in Buy, Rent and Hold, Rent to Own and Flipping strategies.  Legacy Trainer for 8 years, Investment Coach for 4 years, Founder of Sandstone Property Management (Kirkland Lake), Member of the Executive Advisory Council for Ontario Landlords Watch

Jan 18, 2020

On to this week’s guest, he’s an old friend from REIN and his name is Ming Lim.  He’s a real estate developer, investor in Waterloo and Toronto, Realtor, smart guy who just left his full time job to be in real estate full time.  I know a lot of you out there are looking for a path out of your full time job and Ming is here to share his along with how he’s able to cash flow in Toronto.

Ming and his friends are also hosting a conference that’s coming up really soon: February 1st and he’s here to share about that too. Details are in the show notes so go check them out. Website is www.volitionprop.com/quickstart

Jan 11, 2020

This week’s guest knows all about maximizing return on investment and just as important return on time.  John is an old friend, a very successful part time investor in Hamilton and the Niagara Region as he has a full time job in Toronto that he loves.  This recording was originally done in 2017 and is the #1 downloaded episode of all time for this show. For those who want real estate as a side hustle, that’s totally fine. So without further ado, I give you John Roumanis.

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