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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: 2021
Jun 26, 2021

To celebrate 200 episodes, I have my real estate team here today because they’re the ones who got us here today to share some lessons from the last five years and 200 episodes.  Five years is a milestone as we all have five year goals and the team is here to share some investor stories from the last five years.

So today we have our biggest podcast in history in terms of people on the show and we have:

Tammy “the Duplex Queen” Ditomaso

James “Money Baggs” Maggs

Tim “Clap Back” Hong.  Tim is Clap Back as he has the wittiest comebacks.

Joel Arndt, and

Chris “The Captain” Hook

Special mention to Meaghan Robidas who has been my Operations Manager for the last 7 years but she’s too shy to come on the show but that does not discount the importance she has in our success.

If you’re not sure what you can accomplish over the next five years or my 200 episodes then this episode is for you to inspire some ideas.  Want to be a top 1% podcast? Host your own event to 1,600 people? Own 10 or more investment properties?  It’s all possible. It starts with the guts to do it, then the know-how, and surrounding yourself with positive people.  And I’ll always be here cheering for you.

Before we start the show, just a friendly reminder, we are hiring for more investment Realtors who want a full time challenge to help our clients, regular everyday people, mostly from the GTA invest in the top investment towns West of the GTA.  This is for driven folks who want to multiply their current incomes a couple of times like James and Tammy have.

Please enjoy the show!

Jun 19, 2021

On to this week’s show!!

We have architects and innovators of laneway housing Ryan Fernandes and Craig Race from www.Lanescape.ca

Young Ryan reached out via my website to let me know he’s been a long time listener, more recently investor and what he’s going going on workwise with Landscape designing laneway homes which are like laneway garages repurposed into apartments or a new build tiny house on a laneway behind the house.  The progressive Toronto government makes laneway housing attractive investments hence we have Ryan and Craig here on today’s show to share how the investment works.

Ryan and Craig have 50 laneway houses at various stages under their belt and they’re here to share hard and soft costs, rents, tenant profiles, and where to find such opportunities.

Hopefully the next phase will be garden suites so we investors may create much more housing supply to improve housing affordability.

For free property reviews and resources: www.lanescape.ca

Jun 12, 2021

Soon after they shot out of a cannon buying a lot of property over a short period of time. I remember meeting Matt at a Rock Star VIP dinner event (remember having dinner in a restaurant with friends?) and I remember him sharing how he was concerned about paying the double land transfer tax for a house in north Toronto. That was 11 years ago, thankfully they did the deal and I’m sure the house has tripled in value. 

Funny how investing in real estate can change lives.

11 Years later, Matt Spada is no longer the 23 year old I met in 2010.  He’s now a gym owner, father of two, owner of as many as 12 properties, now holding seven houses.  

Matt also took our Stock Hacker Academy program this past fall and shares he’s really enjoying it which is awesome because I love hearing client success stories and Matt and his dad Gino are gym owners.  I’m quite confident they could beat me up without breaking a sweat.

Anyways, here is the story about how a 19 year old Matt Spada got started investing in real estate.

To Reach Out to Matt:

Web: http://gandmfitness.ca/

Free book, “eat Smart, eat Often, eat Small” http://gandmfitness.ca/sos-book/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gandmfitness/

Jun 5, 2021

Today we have my friend Jayson Lowe of Ascendent Financial who is kind enough to provide Cherry and I whole life insurance.

If you never heard of whole life insurance and how it fits into the Infinite Banking concept, that’s ok. Like learning how to invest in real estate, it wasn’t anyone's job to teach you and I only got first interested when several of my wealthy real estate investor friends shared with me, whole life insurance was their path to more mortgages. 

There is a right and wrong way to invest, I know quite a few who did it wrong so I’m glad to have Jayson being a real estate investor and private lender here today explain the strategy.

To Follow Jayson:

The And Asset Book: www.andasset.ca

Free Full Overview Video: https://www.ascendantfinancial.ca/

May 29, 2021

On to this week’s show! How To Small Scale Develop A Property Using Free Land With the Infill Boys

Before I introduce the guys, we are quickly approaching our two hundredth episode and I want to thank all 16-17 of you listeners for being a part of this journey for us.  This all started as a weekly blog in 2010 (and it’s still going) then we started this podcast in 2016 to discuss the realities and learning lessons of real estate investing.  

Including how not to lose money, which is a great segway into next month’s iWIN Meeting on Saturday morning, June 12th.  Our team will be sharing what to look for from a wholesale and the top 5 questions to ask.  We too receive emailed wholesale deals and as this is an unregulated market… well… let’s just say some of these wholesalers are pitching what they consider “deals” while wearing rose coloured glasses.

Don’t be a sucker and overpay for a lemon and stay for our 2nd presentation on how to build a backyard suite in Brantford, one of the more affordable and newest markets to allow the backyard suite strategy.  Friend of iWIN Andy Tran will be in the house to share the latest on his own investment property.

Speaking of Andy, he’s one of three real estate experts on the show: Andy Tran, Charles Wah, and Steve Ford. What a special treat!!

We discussed where to find ideal properties, financing, construction financing, who’s needed on your team, soft costs, how developing a property unlocks hidden equity, whether to hire a general contractor or not. We cover tons of tips and pitfalls to avoid. It’s a pretty awesome episode if I say so myself.

I’ve done a considerable amount of business with each Andy, Charles and Steve and can safely say they’re good people.

May 22, 2021

This week we have my controversial friend Corrie George Elief and just a heads up, while Corrie has invested in real estate, done a flip, plans to invest in apartment buildings, that’s not why he’s here today and we barely talk about real estate.

Why Corrie is here is because the truth about real estate is, the majority of real estate investors have great paying day jobs. That’s how they can convince the bank to lend them hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But first, having a six figure income helps and Corrie has a track record of developing those who are young at heart into successful sales professionals.

That is why Corrie is here and to share his crazy ass story building his $8 million dollar businesses by the time he was 30 year old. How he met his idol at 26 and completely blew it and was laughed at Grant Cardone’s staff meeting of 50 people, heavy drug use as a teenager, quitting cold turkey to move out west and live in a warehouse for eight months. 

Almost dying from organ failure, stem cells from Columbia, losing $1 million last year, how he’s bouncing back in 2021 and most importantly, how his company competes with post secondary schools for higher education, giving young people quality sales training.

My apologies in advance if you’re offended by anything Corrie says, if you offend easily please don’t listen.  Corrie and I don’t agree on everything and we don’t have to because in the end, it’s the results that matter and I’d like to say, we both help people.

Please enjoy the show!

May 15, 2021

Today, I got to podcast with my real estate client Gillian Irving and because we are working, as in helping her maximize her return while listing a couple of her investment properties, I hope it’s legal that we also had lunch together to catch up then record this podcast where we got to talk about several of my favourite subjects.

We talk about hacking fitness and exercise, investing in real estate, specifically student rentals, the methodical journey to success, stock hacking, investing in crypto currency and charity.

Gillian Irving, is a full time, successful entrepreneur, stock hacker, real estate & cryptocurrency investor and mom of four kids.  

Needless to say, I’m proud to have played a small part in Gillian’s massive success.

If you too want help in starting a journey similar to Gillian’s, feel free to check out my free video where I explain how I invest in real estate for my kids, go to www.investortraining.ca once you register to access the video, you’ll be invited to our next 90 minute, free training webinar where we show you the secrets to the #1 investment strategy in real estate: legal basement apartments which is by far the most popular investment strategy in today’s market.

FYI Gillian has been my client and friend since 2013. Please enjoy the show, go forth and be the change you want to see in the world.

To Follow Gillian:

Web: http://investinstudentrentals.com/

Training: https://more-confident-investor-training.thinkific.com/courses/more-confident-real-estate-investor-training

May 8, 2021

One of my real estate lawyers Hussein Kudrati is here today to share his own experiences in the family business where among many things, they invest in real estate with the long term in mind including what’s called land banking.  Hussein and family have benefitted from generations of entrepreneurship and he’s here to share what it’s like and even though he was born into privilege, how he was raised to be humble and hustle.

Hussein has a ton of experience which comes in handy when they bring that to your team including for estate planning purposes as he has experience working with folks who have assets they want to pass onto their kids paying as little tax as possible.  Hussein was kind enough to share some of those stories today including why his family could have immigrated anywhere but chose to live and invest in Canada, the abuse his parents put him through to ground and humble him, and how one can start land banking today.

Please enjoy the show!

To contact Hussein at HSK Law Firm:

https://hsklawfirm.ca/

289-266-0553

HSK Law Firm Professional Corporation

107- 1001 Champlain Ave 

Burlington, ON L7L 5Z4

May 1, 2021

This week we have returning guest Shane Melanson who is one of the most active commercial real estate investors I know. He’s pretty big time having bought 100’s of units, he’s developed tens of thousands of square feet of commercial/industrial properties and now he’s involved in skilled nursing facilities which is kind of like less urgent hospitals so the operating costs are much less than hospitals. 

Shane is here today to share lessons from investing during a crash and the time it took to recover, how he structures these multimillion-dollar development projects, the difference in getting commercial lending in Canada vs the US.

We cover a ton of stuff so for anyone who likes to geek out on commercial real estate, I hope you enjoy the show!

Apr 24, 2021

This week we have my old friend Michael Dominguez as our guest here to share about his journey and lessons to accumulate 11 duplexes and a couple apartment buildings.  I know we’ve had some past guests share aggressive, full time, active investing strategies so it’s a nice change to hear from someone who relied on investing smart and letting time invested in the market do all the heavy lifting for him.

 

Michael is here to share how he obtained financial freedom, and not so fun experiences with tenants which explain how he shaped his portfolio, how he’s a serial investor with multiple streams of income which has enabled Michael to pursue his dream of road tripping in his convertible and taking in a baseball game at all 30 major league baseball stadiums.

 

Michael also spent the pandemic, after recovering from the Coronavirus, writing a book called “Armchair Real Estate Millionaire” meant for the beginner investor.

Apr 19, 2021

On to this week’s show!

This week we have real estate influencer and multifamily/apartment building investor Seth Ferguson. Seth shares lessons from his nightmare joint venture, his journey from local, small residential investor to apartment buildings in the 150 unit range in the US. The structure of these types of private equity investments and how even passive investors may participate. Seth also shares his motivations for hosting a multi family investor conference in 2022, you can find details at https://multifamilyconference.ca/ and the discount code for friends of this show is iwin.

To my friends, please enjoy the show.

To Follow Seth: 

Conference: https://multifamilyconference.ca/, discount code iwin

Web: https://sethferguson.ca/

Real Estate Simplified: https://www.yourtv.tv/node/255026

Youtube, Multifamily Real Estate Investing: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFJbKpP0PKd1YT0PF_WNnQ

Apr 10, 2021

Now on to this week’s guest, my wife, Real Estate Accountant Cherry Chan, CPA, CA and we covered a wide range of topics, eg. what investments work based on the tax returns her team is preparing, how to maximize tax savings on mortgage interest on your home, why buying an electric vehicle like a Tesla makes financial sense from a tax standpoint, what’s it’s like being a crazy entrepreneur married to a crazy entrepreneur and so much more.

FYI Cherry will be our May iWIN Meeting keynote speaker presenting in detail how to maximize your returns using the Smith Maneuver as requested.  Hope to see you there!

To Follow Cherry: 

Web: https://realestatetaxtips.ca/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realestatetaxtips/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeF071nDgWkbpm4J65uLbmA

Apr 3, 2021

On to this week’s show!!

This week we have a former AirBnb Executive who was responsible for much the North East of North America but he left his dream job to start Life at Key where he is making a difference by making real estate, specifically condos available to folks with as little as 2.5% down.  This is not the traditional rent to own investor strategy either.  I’ve never heard anything like this before so for you social capitalists like me, I hope you enjoy this show.

Daniel Dubois shares his journey with his own startup in the sharing economy before joining AirBnb.  He has some tips on operating a short term rental business as well.  This is easily one of my favorite episodes of the year. 

Daniel will also be our guest speaker at the April 17th iWIN meeting to share how Life at Key, his democratization of real estate business works.  If you’re on my email list, you’ll be receiving the invite!

Mar 27, 2021

On to this week’s show!

This week we have my friend the lovely Susan White Livermore who’s here share about her upcoming book, how she changed her eating to get back to her high school weight, the homework she gives her coaching clients so they feel comfortable investing other people’s money, how she’s stock hacking to a 50% return, doing four real estate deals in the first 9 weeks of 2021 while sticking to a 15 hour work week.

And for fun, I asked Susan what dating apps she’s using…

Please enjoy the show!!!

Mar 20, 2021

This week we have one of our clients, Tony Cheung who just recently moved to Canada from China so his two young kids may have more opportunity. Tony’s journey to here has not been the smoothest: from being just born then being raised by his grandmother while his parents moved without Tony to a different country for opportunity.  To growing up working in the family chinese take out restaurant in small town Scotland, to working a difficult corporate job with long hours to investing in houses with basement apartments for long term wealth.

Just another friendly reminder we live in the greatest country in the world.

Please enjoy the show!

Mar 13, 2021

A young man, Adnan, a university student from the University of Western Ontario, my alma mater reached out asking me if I would be his subject for a school project on personal finance.  I’m not a great educator nor story tell but I can share my experience on what has worked for me so that’s what this episode is.  The tables are turned and Adnan asks the questions.

Maybe this episode isn’t for you but maybe it would help someone on the younger side.

Please enjoy!

Mar 6, 2021

On to this week’s guest Andrew Hines!

Andrew is a builder, invests in student rentals, he has his own podcast the Andrew Hines Real Estate Investing Podcast. Andrew is on the show today sharing how he started investing in real estate including the time he went to the US to invest, how that experience didn’t go so well but Andrew took responsibility to learn from that experience to become a better investor and how he’s become an indemand builder of investment properties.

On the show, Andrew shares how build costs have changed, his findings in researching the starting of a real estate investment trust, the changes he’s made to his investing in a pandemic, etc…. I hope you all have as much fun listening as I did having Andrew over for lunch and chatting about investing and money.

Enjoy! 

Feb 27, 2021

Speaking of my favourite hedge against inflation, real estate, I don’t know many people who own more real estate than today’s guest in Russell Westcott. He’s been through a lot of economic cycles being an Edmonton, Alberta real estate investor.  Russell is an old and good friend of mine so it’s always great to catch up on what he’s up to to help people out.  He’s possibly the top real estate investor coach out there and it helps that he’s owned over 100 properties and co-authored the best selling book “Joint Venture Secrets.”

Admittedly, I don’t invest in Alberta and my outlook is bearish on the oil industry.  With the growing popularity of electric vehicles and carbon taxes, I don’t see the demand for oil keeping up, not with Ford and GM planning to be all electric by 2035.  But I’m not an expert and I’m always keen on listening to opinions different from mine.

Feb 20, 2021

I’ve been friends with Aaron Moore for quite some time. What most don’t know is he’s very successful and an even nicer guy.  Most don’t know who he is because he doesn’t have a huge social media presence, he’s quietly doing deals and crushing it.

In 2020 alone, Aaron did 36 deals including 10 flips. In this episode Aaron is kind enough to share some tips for those new to wholesaling and his path to build out his team. I know I took a ton of notes and I hope you do too.

Feb 13, 2021

This week we have Joe Morden who recently retired from his sweet paying government/union job to invest in Windsor real estate and Stock Hacking to make a living, but more importantly to spend a lot more time with his wife and three children.

Joe shares the networks he belongs to help him on his journey, some of his numbers for his flips and duplex conversions and what life is like retiring from the career he’s had for over a decade.

Feb 6, 2021

On this week’s guest, we have nationwide apartment building investors Michael Ponte! I first met Michael at a real estate conference many years ago where he was collecting his award as apartment building investor of the year. Michael invests all across Canada and more recently in the maritimes provinces and he has a unique strategy, one I can’t recall I’ve heard of before in the multifamily space.

Michael also shares some tips on how he’s able to invest in real estate on the other side of the country as he lives in British Columbia but invests as far away as Moncton, New Brunswick.  I give you Michael Ponte.

Jan 30, 2021

On to this week’s returning guest and it’s only been a five short years since episode 1 featuring Julie Broad. Well she’s back and not much has changed!! Except she left her dominant position in the real estate influencer space in Canada to move to California and open a new business.

She still invests in real estate in Nanaimo, BC but she’s here today to share about her new book coming out, share why everyone needs to write a book and a few how to’s to make your book a good one.

She’s the author of “More Than Cash Flow” which is still a top 3-5 real estate book IMHO.

So without further ado, I give you Julie Broad.

Jan 23, 2021

Now we recorded this interview almost a month ago so I’ve asked Wayne for a quote on the pending Keystone pipeline cancellation.  He says it sucks. LOL.  Another good friend of mine tells me Alberta invests heavily into renewable energy so do your own research and decide for yourself.

Wayne Hillier has been investing in Edmonton and Leduc since 2015.  He’s a dad, husband, landlord. He’s the host of his own podcast the Real Estate Investor Dad Podcast. He’s starting his own bank, I think that’s a first for this podcast, and he’s got a great story how it all got started while he was living in a basement and pumping gas for a living.

Jan 16, 2021

On to this week’s show, we have old friend Kathleen Van Den Berg

Kathleen van den Berg, MBA, CLU, CFP. I think she’s great because she’s one of the few Certified Financial Planners who recommends owning real estate and she owns a fair amount of real estate too.  I invited Kathleen to return to the show asking her to share what lessons she’s sharing with her financial planning clients.

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 additional income in retirement. 

Jan 9, 2021

John owns over 10 investment properties including single family duplex conversions, small apartment buildings, he’s well known in the investment real estate community as a Realtor in Barrie, Ontario and surrounding areas.  I first met John at a real estate networking group about ten years ago because he loves to learn and network just like I do.  

Last year, John took the beta version of Stock Hacker Academy and in 2020, his return at the time of recording was 57%. If you would like to see a free demonstration of Stock Hacking via Zoom, I’ll do doing one or two of them this January.  As many past guests have shared, this skill is a game changer hence I’m on a mission to share this knowledge with as many people as possible, no different than real estate. 

This is a new year in 2021.  2020 did a pretty good job letting us know what the best investments are.  Real Estate for building wealth. Stock Hacking for cash flow.  You need both. If you’re not sure which one is best for you that’s OK, we offer free trainings on both.

For Stock Hacking for those who want more cash flow in their lives go to www.stockhackeracademy.ca/demo 

For a free investment training, 90 minute class via Zoom, please register at www.investortraining.ca

Everyone needs both, I do both and many successful folks do both.  Check it out, they cost you nothing but what you learn could be a game changer no different than real estate investing and Stock Hacking has been for our guest, my friend John Beddome

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