Every investors greatest fear is buying a lemon of a property. A money pit if you will.
I made that mistakes way back when I started, we were offered what every investor wants, an off market deal! We made an offer well below what the seller’s Realtor thought they could get and boom. We got ourselves a money pit. The house had a log foundation, the driveway was sloped to direct water into the basement window and onto the dirt floor of the cellar.
The water that came out of the taps was brown time to time… I learned a lot from that house.
Mistake #1 - we didn’t get an inspection. The brown tap water is a symptom of galvanized steel plumbing. An old type of plumbing known to leak hence today’s insurance companies I use won’t insure it, hence you find it, you better have a plan to replace. No insurance equals no mortgage.
So if you were going to renovate a house with galvanized steel would you get permits and update the plumbing to today’s standards when renovating the bathrooms and kitchen or would you leave the old plumbing and just replace the bathroom and kitchen?
Well as mastermind member of mine, let’s call him Brian, called me and asked my opinion. He had an accepted offer conditional on home inspection, on a nicely renovated property BUT the home inspector found some improper electrical and the bathroom and kitchen fixtures were connected to galvanized steel plumbing. The same stuff I mentioned earlier that insurance companies will not insure. There were no permits taken out obviously.
What would you do? You bought a house you thought would not need renovation with new kitchen and bathrooms now you find out the electrical is problematic and the plumbing all has to be redone. Doesn’t that feel like bait and switch?
I told Brian what I thought his options were:
A couple lessons here. Trust no ones’ renovations and workmanship, always get an inspection unless you plan on gutting the place anyways. Even brand new, I had my new construction houses in Brantford inspected, they had passed their electrical inspection but my inspector found a mistake in the arc fault circuit interrupter that should not have passed inspection. The seller fixed it at their expense. My inspector also pointed out how the step was missing off the rear patio door, something required to obtain an occupancy permit allowing people to actually move in.
Houses are a big investment, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Get an inspection.
On the other side, when you renovate, don’t cut corners. You don’t want that as your reputation as the investor community is a tiny one.
As Warren Buffet said, It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
Our next Infinity Wealth Investment Network, or iWIN for short, meeting is here in Toronto on March 28th. If you’d like to come, you have to act fast as these events sell out.
You can grab your ticket here: https://iwinmonthly.com/optin
On to this week’s show!!
While my wife Cherry and I were on a cruise ship in the Caribbean working the whole time, we fit in a podcast with our new friends Kristy and Brady Mcdonald. With partners who contribute both the cash for down payment and renovation plus getting the mortgage, they have been able to acquire over 80 properties in just a few years. Some were flips so they only still own 60+ properties depending on when you talk to them.
Pay special attention on how they are able to manage both the acquisition, renovations and all those tenants. Also note the Mcdonalds now spend a lot of time on their 50 foot boat in Florida and the Bahamas cruising and exploring uninhabited islands. Their boat is called living the dream.
Kristy also survived a tragic boating accident as a teenager and lost her arm in the process. She’s no victim though as she practices a positive mindset.
Anyways, I give you Kristy and Brady Mcdonald.
What can I say, as any of you regular listeners know I’m far from normal but you know what I’ve learnt about spending time around successful people? We’re all sort of crazy.
Anyways, Cherry had a glass of wine, a shot of tequila, loosened up and felt like asking me whatever she wanted.
If you still trust me afterwards to help you build your wealth through real estate, I’ll be at the next monthly #iWIN meeting on Feb 28th near Pearson Airport. We have two of the nicest people in Stuart and Denise MacPherson coming all the way from Ottawa to share how to raise money with RSP’s and master of raising capital, Russell Westcott will be in the house answering your toughest questions on the subject.
Russell walks the walk too having raised 7 figures just last week and that’s capital, not mortgage money as some people on the social media are including in their definition of other people’s money. We only bring the best of the best guests speakers to #iWIN and Russell qualifies as the best selling co-author of Real Estate Joint Ventures: The Canadian Investors’ Guide to Raising Money and Getting Deals Done.
These are the things you CAN’T learn in a book or podcast . . . These are the things we bring to the table for our Freedom 45 people. My goal for our clients is not to teach them more stuff . . . it’s to make them more wealth. Anyway, if you’ve have an interest in real estate let me know, because I’ve got a killer Freedom by 45 blueprint.
Don’t worry if you’re over age 45 or close to 45, our blueprint works for anyone looking to make more money and build wealth, even if you think it’s too late for you, we can help you help your children and grandchildren to building more wealth.
Our next Infinity Wealth Investment Network or iWIN for short meeting is here in Toronto on Feb 28th and four weeks later on March 28th. If you’d like to come, you have to act fast as these events sell out.
You can register here: iwinmonthly.com/meeting
Without further ado, I give you my lovely wife Cherry Chan of www.realestatetaxtips.ca, asking me crazy questions.
Cherry on the web
To register for iWIN’s monthly meetings
Russell Westcott’s best selling book
Erwin on the web
I get this question a lot from recent graduates and folks switching careers. “I want to be an investors, should I become a Realtor?”
I get it so often, I invited a young gentleman named Tim to ask me his questions and record it so I may share this for anyone in the same boat as Tim.
For those wanted to get a real estate license to get access to the data available to Realtors, over 50% of agents do 0-1 transactions per year. Don’t you think you could hire one as your assistant to send you reports on the data you need? That would be considerably less expensive than the hundreds of study needed to obtain your license plus the couple thousand dollars per year in fees to maintain your license.
Food for thought and by the way, don’t listen to me for career advice or legal advice, these are merely my two cents on the subject.
Secondly, I learned in the methods of business, not following one’s passions. The market does not care if you’re passionate about real estate. I got my real estate license back in 2010 because there was a gap in the market, there was no one focussed on guiding investors in Hamilton at the time. I was part of a fair sized investor network at the time and investors there were demanding the same.
I am a Hamilton investor, I was good at it, I’m a pretty good Realtor too hence the awards you can see behind me. There was demand and no one was supplying the service to fill such demand. That’s how I made the business decision.
If you’re looking to practice as a Realtor, I suggest a similar approach to evaluating the supply, demand, competition in your target market.
A great place to start would be like I did, becoming a member of group of like minded real estate investors and my own group, the Infinity Wealth Investment Group meets on Feb 28th and four weeks later on March 28th. If you want to be a investor, I can’t recommend enough that you spend time around local, successful investors.
If you want to take an even deeper dive into our Freedom 45 program, we can create for you a business plan that can truly give you time and freedom to do other things you love.
If that interests you, come to the next iWIN event, you can register here: iwinmonthly.com/meeting
If you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme, this isn’t for you. Building wealth is a marathon, not a sprint and playing for the long-term takes a lot of the risks out of investing. No different than the Casino but I despise risks to my money.
If you’re looking for a “work hard and build an awesome portfolio” scheme, then I’m your man!
Enough from me, I give you Tim, a 23 year old, recent graduate with a Psychology degree, $40,000 of student debt with big aspirations for what’s next.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (I can immediately tell when people contacting me, asking questions, asking for my time if they’re read this book or not)
Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy
Psychology of Achievement by Brian Tracy
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Renos to Riches by Ian Szabo
This week’s guest is excellent as always, he’s a coach, a real estate business owner with both property management, home construction businesses with 18 staff, and he’s transacted on over 200+ properties since 2003. His name is Jared Hope of Tilt Property Group and he’s seen it all, from boom, to bust and 18.5% vacancy rates in the Alberta real estate market.
Jared even shares the moment where he almost lost it all to bankruptcy, having to rely on a stranger to pay for his family’s grocery bill.
Listeners, especially those in Ontario and BC, we’ve been on a very good run since 2008, there will be a downturn and Jared is here to share lessons on where he went wrong in the early days building a massive portfolio, what he would do different to insulate himself from six figure cash calls, what experts to listen to… i have five pages on notes and know I would have 10X that if I were listening and not interviewing.
Enough from me, I give you Jared Hope.
On to this week’s guest who is NOT a real estate investor but a remarkable human being nonetheless. Not all lessons are learnt in the world of investing and my conversation with Dan Thiessen, owner of RAdix Performance Centre in Oakville, Ontario, my Crossfit gym has parallels to the business/investing world.
You want to be elite? The path is quite similar in athletics when compared to investing and Dan is an elite athlete. He’s grown up playing sports at the triple A level, he’s competed at the provincial and national level in different sports, fast forward to today, he can handstand walk for 100 feet and lift a 280 lbs barbell from the floor to over his head in one movement.
In this episode, Dan has advice for how to get started and many best practices to maintain health, fitness and performance. The perfect thing to listen to right now if you’re suffering from the winter blahs and need motivation.
Personally, I’m near the best shape of my life. The best was a few months ago before my November holidays but I can still beat up any previous version of myself.
Web: https://radixperformance.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radixgym
Before our interview, I invited Steve to lunch at a fabulous restaurant on King William St, they just so happen to be one of Steve’s tenants. I also invited along with Luke Wywrot who is building a 30 storey apartment building around the corner as Luke and Steve have never met before. Luke will be by the show when’s he’s less busy. We had an awesome lunch, I was the old guy among the three of us, lots of ideas were shared on advanced real estate topics and that’s what cool about so many investors I know. Many are open to sharing how to.
Just like this episode, Steve shares what motivates him, tips and strategies to attract commercial tenants, a Field of Dreams strategy if you will in a market with double digit commercial vacancy and low rents, going from residential to commercial and on and on. Hopefully we can get Steve to give a talk at the April iWIN Meeting.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreurbaninc/
Website: http://www.coreurban.ca/
I first met Anna after seeing a piece by CTV Barrie on how an area student landlord was switching gears and renting to seniors instead, link below. Anna has been in the student rental business for 25 years and after the straw that broke the camel’s back, another abused rental property by the student tenants and thousands of repairs and clean up bills, she switched gears in renting to seniors.
As a student rental investor myself, I immediately reached out to AMR Property Management to speak to owner Anna Moore and here is our recorded discussion.
Anna is a veteran business owner with a successful printing company, she currently manages 200 doors, many are her own investments, and she vacations much of the winter in the Bahamas and Europe in the summer.
Yet another lifestyle success story for you listeners as it’s not about the investment, it’s about what our investments afford us in lifestyles and Anna is living the dream plus her business is every improving as she goes from five senior rentals to offering as many as 50 this spring.
Without further ado, I give you Anna Moore of AMR Property Management
Link to CTV coverage of Anna: Company turning student homes into shared housing for seniors
Website: www.amrpropertymanagement.com
Craig Ballantyne is the first influencer I followed back in early 2000’s before influencer was a term to describe some with a significant following.
I knew Craig, he didn’t know me from his highly successful online fitness training program. Craig’s clients would sign up online to learn how to exercise and diet to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle. Craig also taught his business and marketing methods and produced many other successful online fitness entrepreneurs. He is the real deal.
Fast forward to 2019 and Craig is still crushing it, two personal friends of mine are enjoying his personal coaching and I’m enjoying Craig’s Perfect Day Formula as seen below. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: https://perfectdayformula.com/
Craig Ballantyne is the first influencer I followed back in early 2000’s before influencer was a term to describe some with a significant following.
I knew Craig, he didn’t know me from his highly successful online fitness training program. Craig’s clients would sign up online to learn how to exercise and diet to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle. Craig also taught his business and marketing methods and produced many other successful online fitness entrepreneurs. He is the real deal.
Fast forward to 2019 and Craig is still crushing it, two personal friends of mine are enjoying his personal coaching and I’m enjoying Craig’s Perfect Day Formula as seen below. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: https://perfectdayformula.com/
On to this week’s guest, Tom Sullivan, he is a Cancer survivor and when he learned of his Cancer, it served as a reminder how short and precious life is and went on a tear to acquire over 10 investment properties and earn him the Real Estate Investment Network’s award for Rookie of the Year in 2015.
Tom is a smart guy holding his Masters in Business and Chartered Professional Accountant designation, investing in the Durham Regions and places east of Toronto. He’s also one of the nicest, most sharing people you’ll ever meet which is why it’s awful how another investor did not live up to their contractual, joint venture obligations when the partner profited so massively above projections from the deal.
As always, this is the Truth About Real Estate Investing show so we bring you real stories including those of headaches and financial losses so you may learn how to avoid similar mistakes.
As the saying goes, a fool learns from their own mistakes, a smart person learns from someone else’s mistakes.
Do have your note taking implements handy as Tom is full of great tips and thanks to him, I just loaded up with tons of extended warranties. Without further ado, I give you Tom Sullivan.
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-sullivan-mba-cma-cpa-471604/
Our keynote speakers Andy Tran, Charles Wah and Construction Manager Steve Ford are currently building two houses from the ground up on a lot they already own and had severed. Basically they got free so the returns are quite significant when you have next to zero land acquisition costs, especially the cash flow once the basements are legally suited. Andy Tran knows a thing or two about that too. Two houses >> four units, brand new.
This is an ideal strategy for investors new to developing and we are very lucky to have Charles Wah and Andy Tran to share how they are doing it.
To get on the invite list: http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting
Hello investors!!
What a great time it is to be alive!! One of the secrets of happiness is the practice gratitude and I do this a couple times a week in my journal. One of the secrets of motivation is to have a purpose beyond just you.
I bring this up today because I received a rather nasty email from someone I know. He challenged the purpose of why I post what I do, saying it’s for self affirmation, states my humility is false, and are making assumptions about me.
As someone who has done a lot of self introspection and studied human psychology, I have learnt a few things. Among them is we are all human, we are all flawed, there is no such thing as normal. I am no different, I knowingly admit I am crazy in many ways. Just this morning I signed up for a martial arts tournament to fight other adult men. I am scared, scared of losing, scared of being embarrassed. I have been choked unconscious before in competition in front of my teammates and coaches. I am crazy. I do chase excitement. I am not normal.
Many things we all do is about our nature, we as humans enjoy challenges, we’re territorial, we have egos, we all seek approval and want to be loved. So no judgement here if anyone wants to publicly share their wins and successes, I personally welcome it. By witness others successes, that motivates me to be successful with you. If you remember the story about the 4 minute mile. A running race to complete a mile, 1600m in under 4 minutes was first done by Roger Bannister in 1954. How long have humans been racing for? FYI the first Olympics was in the 600’s BC. Two months after Roger Bannister’s record feat, he did it again, a sub four minute along with Australian John Landy. Once John Landy knew it was possible to run sub four, he believed in himself and made it reality.
This is the same reason I’ll continue to share my journey to freedom 45. My success was not overnight nor without sacrifice. I have more grey hair than my dad and scars on my face from Shingles exactly seven years ago due to stress. I want to be a living case study of what is possible and the rewards that come so you the listener or friend or client (not mutually exclusive) may believe in yourself to do the same.
For the same reason I belong to a mastermind with Michelle Gauthier, Susan White, Ryan Carr, Aaron Moore - our guest this week, Luke Wywrot, Tasha Monaghan and Sarah Coupland to hear others successes to motivate me and to them the same.
If anyone is interested, I’ll share more about what drives me in hopes YOU may be more motivated to make 2019 your best. Because to answer my hater, I’m not at peace with myself at 3am, my mind gets on a hamster wheel when I wake up in the middle of the night how I can do more, be more. That is who I am and how I arrived to where I am today and take me to places including a multi million dollar charitable foundation for my charity the Hamilton Basket Brigade to ensure hundreds of families will receive the best Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas ever for decades long after I’m gone.
If people want to hate me for chasing my goals then go ahead. Because a good life for my kids, grandkids and giving underprivileged families their best Christmas ever mean a hell of a lot more to me than one person’s feelings.
If you’d like to spend more time with fellow world changers and investors, save the date for my networking meeting Wednesday evening on January 23rd. We are still working on a venue but to get on the invite list go to www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting and register to get on the invite list.
Our guest speakers Charles Wah and Andy Tran will be sharing the how tos on small in-fill real estate developments as they are building two houses from scratch that will each be a duplex. This is the ideal starter development investment for folks as the land came included with the initial investment that already cash flows thus reducing the risks. Most of my mastermind will be in attendance as well in cash you want to meet someone who’s transacted on 70 properties or buys 12-24 properties per year or is building a 30 storey condo building or owns/manages over 200 apartment doors and of course, this week’s guest Aaron Moore.
Again that’s www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting to get on the invite list.
Americans call him the “Canadian Investor” as Aaron embodies the Canadian stereotypes as he both helps and invests. Aaron is a past winner of REIN’s Leslie Cuff Player of the Year award, that’s the big award only given to investor each year. He’s won renovator of the year as well.
Aaron left his corporate job in the early 2000’s to make investing a full time gig. He’s also one of the best I’ve seen at incorporating online, paid traffic strategies to source off market properties and he’s been a big help in me getting started as well.
I give you Aaron Moore.
Web: https://www.housedealsgta.ca/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmoore1
The DOW plunged 800 points yesterday so I asked Invest Like Mike's Mike Iuliano what's going on in the markets, how he's investing (since he consistently beats the markets) and how it relates to real estate.
I hope you enjoy! If you do, please like and share so I know you want to hear more of these interviews with Mike!
To follow Mike, his group on Facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/InvestLikeMike
I’m back from vacation!!
Yes I know, I was back like two weeks ago from Hong Kong, China but this time I’m back from our cruise trip we had booked before our Hong Kong trip!!
We took a Norwegian Bliss cruise out of Miami with stops in St. Thomas USVI, Tortola BVI (my personal favourite for the lovely views of rainforest and coast line, and one of the nicest beaches I’ve been too), and Bahamas.
We did some amazing snorkeling right off the beach in Magens Bay, St Thomas. I was snorkeling with land developer Charles’ Wah’s dad, he goes by Wah and my brother Tony. My brother is an advanced diver, I’m a recreational diver, we both like to dive but when travelling with kids, snorkelling will have to do. We saw lots of tropical fish, some the size of my forearm, a school of cuttlefish and the highlight was an octopus. We hung out with our eight legged friend for a bit and were treated to a show as it changed colours to an almost white.
Snorkelling brought back memories of my brother and I snorkelling in Bahamas as kids. This event and the whole trip was a great bonding experience for us.
On the trip was my wife and kids, Tony’s wife and kid, my mom, friends of the show Charles Wah, land developer and Andy Tran best known for his basement suite consulting business. They both brought their families including parents. Our total group was 26 and it was so much fun!!! I call this having multiple flavours of cake and eating it too!!
Charles and Andy are my friends who were at first clients of mine then became close friends. We’re all young and ambitious entrepreneurs so it’s great we can get together like family to enjoy a pleasure cruise. We get each other whereas many of you investors know, not many people “get you.”
I love cruising so much, I already booked my next cruise in early 2019. You see, I’m turning 40, I thought things were downhill at 30 so even more so now. Cherry and I are attending the 10X Growth Conference by Grant Cardone in Miami so why not hope on a 4 night cruise i in the Caribbean since we’re already in Miami and it’s so much cheaper than staying in Miami LOL :P
A couple real estate friends look to be coming too. How great is that, a motivation conference followed by a week with fellow entrepreneurs to mastermind and have a good time. I truly love mixing business with pleasure!!!!
Quick announcement before we get to our guest, I’m still getting questions on almost a daily basis on timing real estate, the future of real estate, blockchain and real estate, am I worried about interest rates and bubbles, the recently announcement of the GM plant closing in Oshawa etc… so come January at my monthly networking meeting I will go over how I see the world and how the research drives my decisions. I am not an economist however I am a multi millionaire investor, I’ve coached multiple multi millionaire investors, and I spend a lot of time around other real estate multi millionaires so hopefully I’ve learnt something along the way. I’ll share the research anyways so you may make your own decisions. So go to http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting/ to get on the invite list.
Our January guest speakers are currently developing a small piece of land and building from scratch two houses on a lot they bought with already two properties. Pretty cool eh? Take two properties and sever the lot, build for a total of four properties and 8 units. How did they do it? Andy Tran and Charles Wah will be at my networking meeting to share how they went about doing it.
Have you met Doug and Anna Scott? No? They are at every networking event. They will even split up to divide and conquer if there are events going on at the same time. I last saw Doug at the Ontario Landlord Watch Annual Conference but no Anna, she was at Scott McGilvrey’s Keyspire event in Toronto where they are member coaches.
Doug and Anna also host their own networking group in Cambridge, Ontario. I’ve been before, it’s a great, energetic group of action takers. My wife has spoken their twice, I spoke there just a few months ago. Highly recommend you check them out if you’re in the area… or not from the area as Doug and Anna will tell you. No great event is too far as they live in Waterloo but are regulars and members of the Durham REI meetings all the way in Whitby, Ontario so that’s 90 minutes in no traffic or five hours in Toronto traffic.
Anyways, here is their story on how even while starting late in life, investing in just a few properties allowed Doug to retire five years early, how retirement/full time investing really means spending more time doing what they want to do. How they got started, how to be great networkers, and as always, advice for the new investor.
To follow Doug and Anna:
While on vacation, I didn’t get much work done, just a little bit of emails and communicating with my team over instant messaging. I’m on vacation with my kids so no hard core work was getting done but I did do some light thinking.
Such as how so many people are working for the weekend. My family and I were in Hong Kong for my brother in law’s wedding so there was sufficient notice to all we were coming. This is partly cultural and partly being an entrepreneur as both of my wife Cherry’s parents have their own businesses but they each took maybe one or two days off during our two week stay.
My in laws only see their daughter and grandkids once per year but could only afford 1-2 days off between the wedding of their son and visit from their grandkids.
They did not join us for any of our activities site seeing or the two days we spent at Disney.
On the flip side, my cousin’s wife who retired a year ago from her executive position at one of the big banks. She spent a whole day driving us around, sight seeing, taking us to the beach. She doesn’t have kids but is crazy about kids. She had a job offer from another big bank for an executive position with salary in the 300k zone. Her competing offer was to be a personal chauffeur to her teenage niece who is a competitive swimmer who needs to get to practice before and after school with dreams of going to the Olympics.
Which would you choose? What if money was no object?
She turned the bank down informing them she had a better offer. No stress, no long hours or responsibilities defined by others, no greed.
To me, that’s what investing is all about. Her and my cousin invest in 2nd mortgages. Making money passively so you can do whatever your heart desires. To me that’s living the dream.
Quick announcement before we get to our business buying guest, I’m still getting questions on almost a daily basis on timing real estate, the future of real estate, blockchain and real estate, am I worried about interest rates and bubbles, etc… so come January at my monthly networking meeting I will go over how I see the world and how the research drives my decisions. I am not an economist however I am a multi millionaire investor, I’ve coached multiple multi millionaire investors, and I spend a lot of time around other real estate multi millionaires so hopefully I’ve learnt something along the way. I’ll share the research anyways so you may make your own decisions. So go to http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting/ to get on the invite list.
It seems we’ve all read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, if you haven’t, please do so before continuing listening :)
Robert Kiyosaki wrote about starting or buying a business instead of getting a job hence I sought out an expert on buying businesses which is how my friend and client Ajay Jain got on the show.
Ajay has his Chartered Accountant designation from India, his MBA from Rotman’s School of Business from the University of Toronto, he’s worked in Merger’s and Acquisitions at CIBC (the department at a bank whose role is grow the business through acquisition for example often time when you see a Canadian Bank in the States, it’s because they bought the local bank).
Ajay is also licensed to work as an agent in brokering the purchase and sale of businesses so he’s here today to share how that works, how he values businesses, and structures deals.
If you’re an existing business owner, pay special attention as Ajay is giving guidance how to increase the value of your business and how to get paid out faster.
To Follow Ajay:
Connect on LinkedIn
Ajay's Email Address: ajay@aldrin.ca
Website: www.aldrin.ca
I’m back!! My family and I landed back in Canada 12 hours ago after a two week vacation in Hong Kong to witness the marriage of my brother in law Vick to his lovely bride Kitty. Hong Kong in the real estate world is known as the least affordable real estate in the world and as a real estate nerd, it was fascinating to me to be able to witness it first hand.
I know Hong Kong is not Canada but as a real estate nerd, I’m always interested in how real estate markets behave, both for sale and rent for ideas how my tribe and I may too invest to capitalize. For many of you listeners, you may recall the massive influx of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong in the 90’s and today it’s more the mandarin speaking folks. I hear it all the time from my friends in Vancouver and around Toronto.
If you’ve spent any time in China like Hong Kong you’ll understand why and it starts with prices. The condo I stayed at, only a few years old, on the suburban, terminal end of the train line to the north East. The GTA equivalent, this would be Barrie or Stouville. For a recent listing, the asking was just under $2,000,000 Canadian for…. Wait for it… almost 800 square feet, two bed, two bath apartment condo… Just think what $2,000,000 gets you in Canada. $2,000,000 gets you into a decent house West Vancouver, the most expensive neighbourhood in Canada.
Another way to think about the price is per square foot which is almost $2,500 per square foot. Compare that to 1 Bloor West in Toronto, which is one of the most premier, most expensive condos in Toronto priced at around $1,500 per square foot.
Do you still wonder why we are seeing so much foreign investment from China?
On the rent side, not as crazy as this same condo rents for just over $3,000 per month. On the other hand, we have a family friend paying over $11,000 per month for her 1,100 square foot, ocean facing condo. Something to keep in mind as condo investing will become synonymous with single family home investing, condos with views will rent for above market prices.
Canada sounds pretty cheap doesn’t it? Affordability is a concern for every Canadian, just know how much better we have it than many.
On a socialist front, 28% of Hong Kong’s population or over 2,000,000 people live in public housing. In comparison, Toronto Public Housing just 164,000 tenants.
Some other fun facts of Hong Kong:
Quick announcement before we get to our World Champion guest, I’m still getting questions on almost a daily basis on timing real estate, the future of real estate, blockchain and real estate, am I worried about interest rates and bubbles, etc… so come January at my monthly networking meeting I will go over how I see the world and how the research drives my decisions. I am not an economist however I am a multi millionaire investor and I spend a lot of time around other real estate multi millionaires so hopefully I’ve learnt something along the say. So go to http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting/ to get on the invite list.
Barbie is living the dream. No there is no Ken or pink corvette but she does what she wants with her time when she wants to. Barbie chooses to train and teach martial arts several times per day and she’s quite good at it including having won at the Abu Dhabi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championships. She is the first world champion I’ve had on this show but she won’t be the last.
Most of us have day jobs. Barbie’s day job is that of a self sponsored professional athlete thanks to having started investing at the age of 18. 17 years later that same property now makes up half of the income she earns today.
Barbie shares about what it takes to be a world champion, what life is like as a successful investor, her recent trip to China to start her ecommerce business. Really I’m just jealous she has fun all day and doesn’t have to work aka living the dream.
Show Notes:
Driving down country roads near Hamilton Mountain, top down, in a 600 horsepower, v10, 5.something litre engine in a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder. They cost around $350,000 to own but I’m no investor of cars therefore we rented :P
The experience was amazing, the handling, braking and acceleration is unreal. The experience was made better by sharing it with my fellow real estate entrepreneurs and my new Marketing person Darren Cabral. He knows cars like I know houses. Darren would buy one of these if he was in my financial situation which I think is interesting. Whenever Cherry and I have capital available, it gets invested. I do drive a decent German sedan but that’s the norm for my line of work.
To me, I would much rather vacation with the kids and acquire a vacation property. One idea is to buy one of those Pier 8 condos in Hamilton as it will be quiet with no major roads nearby and we will be on the water yet close to a mid sized city with all the hottest cafes and restaurants.
It’s just one idea but I’m sharing because I do want you all to think bigger. I’ve had some great ideas that were born while networking and masterminding with many great investors, many well ahead of me in their careers.
If you have any trouble finding folks who will raise you up, a good place to start is my own HaltonREI.ca meetings. We have the wonderful Jay Gabrani as our guest speaker on November 24th at the prestigious Sheridan College in Oakville his lessons on preparedness from the sudden loss of his wife and mother of his three young children and the investments he made to support his life as a stay at home, single dad.
Investing saved his life including investing in stock options and private lending so you don’t want to miss this keynote talk.
The experience was amazing, the handling, braking and acceleration is unreal. The experience was made better by sharing it with my fellow real estate entrepreneurs and my new Marketing person Darren Cabral. He knows cars like I know houses. Darren would buy one of these if he was in my financial situation which I think is interesting. Whenever Cherry and I have capital available, it gets invested. I do drive a decent German sedan but that’s the norm for my line of work.
To me, I would much rather vacation with the kids and acquire a vacation property. One idea is to buy one of those Pier 8 condos in Hamilton as it will be quiet with no major roads nearby and we will be on the water yet close to a mid sized city with all the hottest cafes and restaurants.
It’s just one idea but I’m sharing because I do want you all to think bigger. I’ve had some great ideas that were born while networking and masterminding with many great investors, many well ahead of me in their careers.
If you have any trouble finding folks who will raise you up, a good place to start is my own HaltonREI.ca meetings. We have the wonderful Jay Gabrani as our guest speaker on November 24th at the prestigious Sheridan College in Oakville his lessons on preparedness from the sudden loss of his wife and mother of his three young children and the investments he made to support his life as a stay at home, single dad.
Investing saved his life including investing in stock options and private lending so you don’t want to miss this keynote talk.
The real estate investing industry has exploded with coaches. I get it, my team and I coach investors too. It is highly rewarding work to teach others to become successful investors, we have many multi millionaire clients who started with nothing. They are crazy grateful, doing amazing things with their families, favourite charities, and living life to the fullest.
But who is a good coach? Personally, I always want to work with the best of the best hence when I first sought out a coach, I asked several winners who the best coach was. That is how I found my coach since 2011, Mary-Anne Gillespie. At the time, she was head trainer for a very large brokerage. She is also coach to many top level real estate entrepreneurs who are household names in my industry.
I have no idea what she saw in me when she took me on but here we are.
Maybe because we’re both a little nuts as Mary-Anne finds marathons boring and is no preparing for an Ironman triathlon. She is also an exclusive member of the Forbes Coaching Network. To summarize, she’s a winner, coaches winners, and one can never spend enough time among winners.
To follow Mary-Anne:
Never stop learning, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with so I choose to be with these top real estate entrepreneurs who are all on track to do big things. #mastermind
I shared with them my big ideas and they encouraged me to keep going. I’ll of course need their help and I’ll be there for them when they need mine.
So many big things coming in 2019 and I can’t wait to share them all with you in due time!!!!
After lunch at my mastermind meeting, I passed my phone around for a casual conversation about everyone’s nightmare investor story. I know some of the stories are really scary but we all survived and the returns were more than enough to compensate us for our efforts.
Just this week I was speaking to a client looking to exit their investment where their capital return is around $200,000 for one property. Just think how many hours per day, per week, per year it takes for you to earn that kind of money they decide if investing is worth it for you.
My first job out of university right after September 11th, 2001 paid me a whopping $35,000 per year. You don’t need a calculator to figure who’s hourly rate was better.
Happy Hallowe’en!!
Show notes and Thank you to:
Susan White Livermore: https://libertypropertysolutions.ca/
Michelle Gauthier: http://www.greenridgeproperties.com/
Sarah Coupland - Apartment building specialist: https://tagproperties.ca/
Aaron Moore: https://www.gtahousebuyers.ca
And Ryan Carr: http://rwcarrinvestment.com/
Every morning the first content I consume is business or self development books. I’m loving the app Blinkist right now (thank you @tashamonaghan71 for the recommedation). Super cheap and summarizes much of the greatest books in history. The screen capture is Eat That Frog by one of my favourites @thebriantracy. Pretty much the perfect book to start the day.
I just downloaded “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie as it’s been a while since I last read it and the book keeps coming up in my coaching of other investors and coaches on my team. The lessons from this book have enabled me to attract mentors, be a better leader to clients and employees, build relationships with contractors and celebrities in our industry.
Getting guests on this podcast to deliver you all the best information is no cake walk either as everyone’s time is precious. Many guests need some coaxing and cajoling as we have no budget to offer speaking fees LOL.
Speaking of budgets and celebrities, if I were to hire a guest speaker, a real estate personality to come speak at my event, come on the podcast. Who would you want that to be? E.g. a panel member of Dragon’s Den, Brian Balmer, Mike Holmes, the Property Brothers, or someone unrelated to real estate. Please let me know! Reply to one of my emails or hit me on social media. I’m on Instagram and Facebook mostly.
If you’d like to take a deeper dive, meet and see myself and other guests of this show live and in person then get on the invite list for the Halton REI networking meetings at Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario. Past and most talked about guest Jay Gabrani will be our keynote speaker sharing how real estate saved his life and the strategies he implemented to do so including option trading and private lending. To get on the invite list go to www.HaltonREI.ca, will out the form and you’ll receive our monthly invitations.
Also, if you would like to receive our new episode notifications to your email inbox you can do so by going to TruthAboutRealEstateInvesting.ca and input your name and email. Simple as that!
We are all over the map in attempting to catch up to what Quentin D’Sousa is up to in life and investing. That’s what happens to full time investors, one does not need to focus as much on one geographic location or strategy when you have a 40-50 hour week to grow a real estate business.
Quentin shares on a bunch of topics including how and what he looks for when doing deals, tips on renovating from having done 50-70 major renos, his fitness and weight loss journey, he’s already lost 90 pounds this year with a 10km race coming up.
Q’s monthly networking group: https://durhamrei.com/
Q’s coaching program: https://durhamrei.com/coaching/
Ben is among the best natural sales people I’ve met. Sales may sound like a yucky skill or profession but to steal a joke from the legend Brian Tracy, the oldest profession is not what you think it is but rather it is a form of Sales :)
Ben will share his lessons from starting out to where he is today. Ben started out as a new agent like anyone else but he earned $400,000 in commissions in his first year and not long after that $800,000.
Ben shares how he started off working for free to build a name for himself and how he today is always looking to blow people's’ minds so they send him referral business. Plus his lessons on mindset for his team for them to break through their own perceived barriers.
I even took some of Ben’s advice and the next day we were able to help out a friend in serious need due to a nasty divorce. That’s actually a good lesson if you want to be a good mentee, let the mentor know which I did and it made Ben’s day. The mentor will then know you take action and continue to mentor.
Ben has an event coming up for Realtors in Edmonton and in Toronto. I’ll be attending the Toronto event with my team and I hope to see you there: the url is https://agentfromwithin.com/
Thanksgiving Hamilton Basket Brigade Edition Complete!! 40 underprivileged families have a lot more warm clothing, winter boots, toys, games, food.
As the President I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this happen. Our board of governors, our donors and volunteers. The Hamilton elementary public and catholic school boards for your support. They are the ones who identify for us which families need the most help and allow us to be proactive vs. reactive.
For Thanksgiving we changed up our format to deliver more quality instead of quantity by spending the same budget we do for 300 families for a Thanksgiving dinner to 40 of the most impoverished families in Hamilton. We asked the school boards for their worst and they definitely delivered. We have lots of single mom families, a single dad family who just moved to a trailer park after the loss of mom to cancer, a single mom who just sold the family car to make rent.
This time we asked the parents what they wanted and they asked for warm clothing, winter jackets and boots, toys, games, arts stuffs and food. Parents asked for some essentials like deodorant, toilet paper and clothes but nothing else. We budgeted $100 per person.
It’s hard to explain the impact of what we do so instead I’ll read to what volunteer Kara wrote me:
“I just delivered my suv full off stuff for the Willows (not their real name) family. It was amazing to see the joy on the 7 kids faces and mothers gratitude for everything. 6 boys screaming with excitement over new clothes, snow pants, running shoes, hats, gloves and new sweatpants/sweatshirts was absolutely amazing to witness. The mother was so grateful for everything and was so happy with the amount of useful stuff she received. The kids couldn’t believe all of the new stuff they received and one of the boys was yelling “this is the best thanksgiving everrrrrr”. The grandmother said I had esp because they received everything they were in need of (especially all of the snow pants). This truly was an amazing experience for both the family and myself. Thank you team for all of your hard work and dedication to the community. It was greatly appreciated.
I look forward to Christmas!!
Happy thanksgiving to you and your families.”
If you would like to support us, the three best ways are:
On to this week’s show!!
Returning guest and it’s been way too long is Tahani. She is a baller but she didn’t start that way, born into a Jordanian refugee camp, she came to Canada for an arranged marriage that later dissolved leaving Tahani a single mom in the frozen tundra of Canada who barely spoke English.
She now drives premium German import cars, she trades in developments, Tahani was just on the Marilyn Dennis Show and has an upcoming TEDx talk in Toronto on the subject of resilience.
Tahani is hosting a women’s only conference in November on the subject of real estate. She shares on the show how 90% of her clients are men and why she’s giving some attention to the ladies.
We also talk about her son’s experience on Big Brother Canada, how she’s raising her kids to be leaders, and how she won’t spoil them with guaranteed inheritance. Funny enough, raising rich kids is a coming topic among my investor friends so you don’t want to miss this.
Like Madonna, Tahani only goes by one name so without further ado, I give you Tahani!!
You as the CEO of your life and business. If you were to take a third person view, say you’re the chairman and have a look at the CEO you have employed to run your life and business. Would you want them to have high energy and eat a healthy diet or would you want someone sluggish who considered french fries a vegetable?
In masterminding with many entrepreneurs, health and weight are concerns for many as they should be. Much of your health and weight depend on your inputs meaning what you eat and here to help us all with what the heck should we be eating is my performance Dr, Dr Callum Cowan. If you follow him on Instagram (@phenom_doc), you’ll notice his patients include many elite athletes whether Canadian Olympians, to NHL’ers such as local Hamilton boy and defenceman for the Nashville Predators, Ryan Ellis to UFC Champion Max Holloway.
Dr Cowan answers my millions of questions on what to eat vs. not to eat: e.g. coffee, chocolate, a glass of wine a day, most science backed optimum diet, the fastest path to gaining more energy and health. If you don’t believe in functional medicine, that’s cool too, I just know I’ve gone from needing regular naps in afternoons to having the best mental clarity I’ve ever had, I’m pushing new personal bests in the weight room, my abs are popping, and I know I could beat up any previous version of me. I’m not looking to impress but rather share my results from my lifestyle changes.
If you hear me mention Tom, that’s my friend, mentor, gym buddy Tom Karadza, co-owner of Rock Star Real Estate. He’s the one who introduced me to Dr. Cowan.
Anyways, without further ado, Dr Callum Cowan.
Hello Investors!!!
What a great weekend of weather!!! The weather man has been way off, it’s been way hotter than forecast these last few days and of course we spent Saturday morning indoors at our Halton Real Estate Investors group meeting talking about ecommerce businesses with Greg Kowalcyk and Brian Zammit. It was great to see so many investors taking interest in becoming more entrepreneurial with side hustle because we all know having a single source of income from a job is not the fastest path to financial freedom. I’ve actually had a number of clients who recently lost their employment and are now going full steam into eCommerce and real estate so I wish them all luck!
We have a big announcement, have you heard of that other real estate podcast out there called the Breakthrough REI Podcast with Rob Break? It happens to be among the top rated real estate investing and possibly the most downloaded podcast on the subject. I know, I haven’t heard of them either….
To tell you the truth when I started podcasting, I looked up to Rob, and have been trying to get the message out to as many as possible. Rob has interviewed 70 of the best Canadian investors. I’ve interviewed around 70 of the best Canadian investors as well. We are both accomplished investors and we’ve helped local investors from in and around the GTA acquire somewhere north of $200 million in real estate.
So we came up with this crazy idea. Why don’t the two of us put together a Master Class on investing for beginners, an investing 101 course for folks who are just starting out, those who need a refresher or your friends and family that you care about and need more financial stability in their lives.
So we want to hear from you. What city would you like us to come to? We are happy to share the secrets to the success our clients investments that have earned them over 400% from their investments in 2012 and a meager 342% for our clients who started in 2013.
Please email me at admin@mrhamilton.ca or direct message me on social media.
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
Our guest this week is Kayla Andrade, founder of Ontario Landlord Watch, and grassroots landlord advocacy group called the Ontario Landlord Watch, feel free to use the google to check them out.
This all started when the Kayla’s city tried to download unpaid water bills to landlords and not even bothering to try and collect from the tenants whose names were on the bill and used said water. Kayla is now trying to spread word about the issues facing home service providers on the provincial scale with Ontario Landlord Watch and is getting political so have a listen on what she’s up to.
Show notes:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/818378618219840/
Conference details: http://ontariolandlordswatch.com/2018-ontario-landlords-watch-conference/
Hello investor!
I hope you all had as great a weekend as I did!!! My Friday and Saturday were spent with my wife Cherry and friend James Maggs at the Archangel Summit: a business and self development conference and it was excellent!! I’m fired up to do more, be more, help more!! I will summarize my notes and present them to you all at a later time.
Happy birthday to my mom, the lovely woman who gave me life. A blessed life that I lead where I can take my mom to lunch on a Monday afternoon in a near empty restaurant as if it were a private, chefs table, just mom and I.
We had a great meal but more importantly I had time to reconnect with mom about what it was like coming to Canada.
My dad’s brother was the first to immigrate who then brought my dad to Saskatoon. Thank the powers that be he soon decided to move to Toronto as he found Saskatoon to be too cold. My mom followed on a student visa a few months later at the age of 19. For my fellow Canadians, imagine uprooting your life from a tropical climate to the frozen tundra that is Canada :P
From a language barrier standpoint, we Canadians learn French much like students from Hong Kong learn English. It’s a start but if you’ve been to Quebec, you know how challenging it is to communicate.
Anyways, thank goodness for real estate. My grandpa was able to provide my parents a downpayment on our first house in Scarborough, Ontario. The house was only $61,000 but my parents still had three mortgages. I don’t even know anyone personally who’s had a third mortgage. Seconds on primary residence are quite uncommon.
At the time, my dad was still in University, I know because I was in the family pictures at dad’s graduation. They were quite broke.
Out of necessity to pay the bills, my mom was the first real estate investor in the family. She AirBnb’d rooms in our home (before AirBnb even existed) for $50 per month plus $50 for food. Mom was cooking and cleaning for up to four house guests at a time.
My mom has sacrificed and hustled a lot resulting the blessed lives my family and my kids now lead.
Mom is now retired and can enjoy to the fruits of her labour and I get to now share my successes with her.
What greater definition of success is there than giving back to your family? This November we’re bringing mom on a Caribbean cruise with us on a brand new ship in a room with a balcony. Paid for by our real estate. Not bad for a child of immigrants.
Yes it’s actually possible and Cindy is doing it.
Cindy is a full time Real Estate Investor, Owner of Oro Properties and Consultant specializing in Toronto's South East End. With 17+ years experience in the rental and investment properties arena under her belt.
Cindy is an old friend from REIN, the Real Estate Investment Network, she’s most famous for targeting high end tenants and renovating her properties accordingly to charge precedent setting, above market rents.
We talk about how it all started, sweat equity, the Toronto market, mistakes, the earlier than expected transition from corporate to full time investor and lessons learned plus how and where she would invest today if she were to start all over.
So without further ado, I give you Cindy Wennerstrom.
Today I’m a bag of mixed emotions. My daughter is off to her first day of school, as in no more daycare (saving $500/month in daycare fees is a big win! Like gaining cash flowing property!! HAHA) , she’s going to a real school, junior kindergarten to be specific. I was choked up watching her get on the school bus for the 2.1 km commute. Cherry, my wife told me I’m silly and I am.
Here is how just one example of how nuts I am. I’m reading Wonder Woman comic to my daughter (I’ve purchased many childrens’ books showcasing strong female characters where a female is the main protagonist) and we come to the last page of her book and here it is below.
I read the page quickly as I’m getting choked up. Too often I’m looking for lessons in meaning in all aspects of life. This time I’m reading the story from a parents’ perspective, instead of “I would use all my training with the Amazons to make the world a better place.” As it is written, I rephrased the words and turned it around to my perspective, “I will use all my training to teach Robin to make the world a better place.”
Yeah, I’m nuts but she’s been out of the house a whole two hours and I can’t stop thinking about how her first day is going.
And people think real estate investing is hard. Parenting is infinitely harder….
Speaking of real estate investing, check out the new boat belonging to Mike and Evelyn!! Life is good when investing starts at age 26 and 10 properties later and being well on their way to Freedom 45.
Our show guest is none other than best selling author Russell Westcott who co-authored the book “Real Estate Joint Ventures” with Don R Campbell.
I met Russell back in 2008 as a green investor at the Real Estate Investment Network’s weekend workshop called ACRE and he’s always been one of my favourite real estate educators.
He’s on the show to share how he got started, this mistakes and lessons from building a portfolio at its peak size of 60 properties. Russell was buying a property once per month even while having a full time job as the Vice President of the Real Estate Investment Network.
I even put Russell on the spot to pitch me his latest project he’s raising capital for and it’s just as awesome as you’d expect.
Without further ado, I give you Russell Westcott, the Joint Venture Jedi.
Life is too short to not have more fun, more often. I was thinking this after a night out on Friday with a bunch of buddies who all happen to be real estate investors, to celebrate a friend’s birthday doing axe throwing, indulging in an adult beverage or ten, gambling, clubbing, and more gambling.
Then on the following Tuesday, I was reminded how short life is as I was driving home from my colonoscopy appointment. My family doctor requested the procedure because we lost my uncle at 51 to colon Cancer and the emotional toll it cause. My cousin was ten when he lost his father, he’s a good man now having turned 18 and is apprenticing as a car mechanic at Honda. But I’ll never forget the image of my cousin after the coffin was in the ground and buried how he ran back to place his hand on the mound of dirt to say one final goodbye.
My friends, life is short, go have more fun, stay away from negative people, make lots of money while you’re young so you can enjoy it.
Last week I made the decision that on my 45th birthday, I’m taking most of the year off to travel the world with my wife and kids. Anyone can do the same with our Freedom 45 program. Don’t know what that is? That’s ok, we at Titan Investment Real Estate will be rolling it out soon. For our existing clients, you’re already a part of it, we’re just finally giving it a name now.
This week we have part 3 of my interview with Jay Gabrani. Parts 1 and 2 had a lot more about investing passively so that you don’t have to work but part 3 is the most important part. Personally, I’d rather have my wife and mother of my children than my real estate. A real estate portfolio is easy to build with the right team and education, I can’t replace Cherry.
So you’ve been warned, this episode is less about making money and more about Jay’s lessons and story of living with someone suffering from mental illness and what he would have done differently. This may be the most important episode of the podcast and I hope we make a difference in a few lives.
I give you, Jay Gabrani