Investing in Rural Real Estate Outside Winnipeg, MB with Candice Bakx-Friesen

 

I was talking to my friend Stephen Jones at the May REIN meeting about the affordability crisis in the Golden Horseshoe’s real estate market.  Stephen lives in the East, I in the West but the challenges are no different, where will the next generation live?

 

Stephen theorized if our kids did not have investor parents, they would have to move to Winnipeg for affordability reasons.  I countered, “no, they will be living with you!” to which we both laughed, could you imagine? He’s got four kids too, imagine if all the kids got married and moved back home with their spouses and started having kids.

 

Speaking of Winnipeg, this week’s guest on the show is Candice Bakx-Friesen, a rural investor since 2001, Realtor, Trainer to Realtors, Coach to investor, speaker, mother and wife.

 

 

If you’ve never been exposed to investing in rural real estate investing, you are in for a treat as we have a professional in guest Candice. On this episode we talk about speculative investing as in she developed a lot of land, built a house and put it up for sale. What separates mature investors from amateurs. Kids stealing rent cash, what training looks like for Realtors, the challenges of working with investors, and general lessons in business, investing, and raising kids.

 

So without further a do I present to you Candice Bakx-Friesen

 

 

To connect with Candice

204-392-6406 or email candice@cbfteam.ca

FB: https://www.facebook.com/CandiceBakxFriesen

 

Why would anyone want to build a $1 Million RSP? With Kathleen Van Den Berg

 

It all started with an article I sent CFP, MBA Kathleen Van Den Berg, an article titled How to build a million dollar RRSP — it isn't as hard to get there as you think and she corrected me in stating "think they are asking the wrong question.   Why would anyone want to build a $1M RSP?” To which I responded, I don’t know! Let’s flush it out on the podcast!! hahaha

 

We also cover some hot topics such as how much we need to retire, financial advice for folks at different stages of their lives, and for having trouble getting their 6th or 11th or 15th mortgage, you will want to hear about the benefits of whole life insurance as I personally know folks who were out of credit who not have credit thanks to a little known insurance called whole life.

 

 

 

To Connect with Kathleen:

web: http://www.kavwealthstrategies.com/

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-van-den-berg-mba-cfp-clu-7b20b258/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/KAVWealthStrategies

 

If you’ve heard our previous interview, you know listening to Oliver Manalese will expand your mind and today’s interview is no different. He was co-owner of Rent Busters, a leading Rent To Own company and he gave it all up to pursue more fulfilling work as a personal performance coach.  We talk about business, investing, how he was a catalyst for a mutual friend (a successful real estate investor) who ended their divorce and got back together with his wife making his kids the happiest kids in the world.  The stuff that really matters. This same friend is travelling the world with the whole family including Trinidad, Croatia, Australia, Thailand, more places than I can count.

Pretty cool eh?

 

Former CMHC Underwriter for apartment buildings Pierre-Paul Turgeon is a veteran apartment building investor and the country’s best teacher in multifamily investing is back on the show.  Not only is he a leading expert on investing, he is a philanthropist who offered vacant units in his buildings rent free to victims of the Fort McMurray Fires plus food and clothing.  He is exactly the type of guest we enjoy having on the show for an update on the Alberta market, lessons on apartment building investing, mindset for success and if you stay to the end, we get a bit controversial talking politics and pipelines.  Interesting and informative stuffs.  Pierre even keeps it real revealing he’s had recent cash calls, something most investors do not talk about.

 

Pierre Paul is back in Ontario later in May to give an all weekend workshop May 25th-27th and you can quickly learn and obtain the tools to be a professional apartment investor. 

 

For more information and register go to: https://www.multifamilyinvestingcanada.com/a/8483/RDSYz2i5

Note: this is an affiliate link but I am not receiving any sort of personal compensation, I simply want more investors to have good information so they can take care of themselves and their loved ones.  

 

Pierre Paul has kindly offered to support my charity the Hamilton Basket Brigade so feel free to use my affiliate link or not, either way is totally cool, just promise me you will grow your wealth and support your own favourite charity or church.

 

Show Notes:

Pierre Paul’s rental website: https://www.matterhorn.apartments/

and his website: https://www.multifamilyinvestingcanada.com/a/8483/RDSYz2i5, check it out for more information and testimonials from friends of the show Jules Mackenzie, Rene Masse, and Charles Wah

 

 

My friend Mike Iuliano is many things, a backyard gardener, a foodie expert of restaurants in the Niagara Region, same with apartment buildings in the Niagara Region.

 

Mike lead a coalition of Niagara landlords to fight the city of St. Catharines in Ontario Superior Court and won thus allowing all us student rental investors to operate our safe, clean rental properties for young adults.  Mike’s advice and lessons are now more important than ever as a couple Niagara Region towns are implementing licensing as well as St. Catharines which is getting started with theirs.

 

Mike is also a savvy stock investor who consistently outperforms the market and when folks know how to make money, that always peaks my interest.  He also trades Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin so if that interests you, you will want to have a listen on how he does it.

 

Finally he is a Cancer survivor and it has shaped how he now lives his life.  You don't want to miss this episode!!

 

To get in touch with Mike:

linkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ppmniagara/

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOpOaEqGLrY

 

This episode is brought to you by my networking group the Halton REI.  We meet in Oakville (part of the Halton Region) but mainly invest in the top investment towns west of Halton: Brantford, Hamilton, Niagara Region.

 

We regularly feature the top speakers from our industry and the vast majority of our attendees are seasoned investors so you will want to spend more time around these folks as you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.  Your net worth is your network so choose how you spend your time wisely.

 

Knowledge is power, every meeting we share the latest in market rents and prices in the top neighbourhoods and strategies for investment.  We share the best property available as our Best Buy Property of the Month. We share the best tips and tricks for you to implement immediately to your investment businesses to fast track YOU on your journey to financial freedom.  It's up to you if you'd like to be on said journey.

 

To get on the invite list please register at http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/meeting/ and you will receive an invite to the next Halton REI meeting once announced.

 

But don't listen to me, here's what members of our community are saying about the Halton REI!!

 

 

Rob Break is the newest member of the Rock Star family as a real estate agent and coach, and we are happy to have him!! Rob has invested in countless investment properties and guided investor clients through the same in the Durham region.

 

As Rob is the host of possibly the top real estate podcast in Canada, we are in for a treat as he shares tips on podcasting, favourites guests, tips on investing in the Durham region and wholesaling real estate.

 

our mic of choice AudioTechnica ATR2100

 

To Listen:

 

 

 

Tony is many things, a father, husband, real estate investor, real estate agent, and not just any real estate agent but rather the preferred agent for Ottawa by both Keyspire and the Real Estate Investment Network

 

He has also literally been homeless and lived on the streets of Ottawa when he was a teenager but turned it around including a long stint working for the Government of Canada with great pay and one those wonderful defined benefit pensions we all envy but don’t forget, you have to trade a good portion of your life for that guaranteed money.  The wasn’t good enough for Tony who decided to leave the steady job and pension to purse real estate as a full time endeavour.

 

Tony and I discuss his recent solo week long vacation, how the market is fairing in Ottawa, Ontario and his recommended investment strategies.  So without further ado, I give you Tony Mr Ottawa Miller

 

Understanding your personality is essential to success and will advance your business and career.  That is why we invited Leadership Coach and Consultant with 20 year experience as a Corporate Leader and Executive Lisa Mitchell on the show to explain the types of personalities, the preferences for each personality and the areas to develop for improvement.

 

If possible, I would suggest you pause this episode and if you’ve never done a personality test before, go to www.TonyRobbins.com/disc and complete the personality test.  The results are almost instant, have a read then continue to listen to my discussion with Lisa.

 

To Follow Lisa:

 

website:  www.greenappleconsulting.ca

contact info:  lisa@greenappleconsulting.ca   or 647-988-4003

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lisa-mitchell-7437636 

Everyone’s favourite combination Property Manager, Paralegal, licensed Realtor Diane Digiandomenico is back for round 2 at my request to explain her thoughts on the new standardized lease that comes into effect at the end of April.

 

Before we start, so that no one sues Diane or I...

 

The content on this web site and podcast is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice or an opinion of any kind. Users of this web site and podcast are advised to seek specific legal advice by contacting their own legal counsel or Diane regarding any specific legal issues. Erwin and my companies do not warrant or guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of any information on this web site and podcast. The articles published on this web site and podcast are current as of their original date of publication, but should not be relied upon as accurate, timely or fit for any particular purpose.

 

Please seek professional advice as you should in any real estate or business transaction.

 

That said, I’ve come across many property managers and paralegals in my lengthy experience as a professional real estate investor and as you know, our community is a small one.  Everyone heres the good and bad on everyone and there is a vast amount of good references for Diane’s work hence I reached out to her for this interview we recorded shortly after the new standardized lease was announced.

 

I’ve known Ian Szabo for a very long time, since about 2008 when I first joined REIN and there was a lot more of him.  He’s since lost 40-50 pounds and written two best selling books: Reno to Riches and Fix & Flip.  At the time he’d started his transformation already from his renovation business to full time investing for himself.  Ian then wanted to give back to the community by starting his flip school and his current focus, Ian’s short bus talks where he video logs from a refurbished, pimped out short school bus.  You see, Ian rode the short bus in school with the other kids with learning disabilities giving him limited beliefs about himself.  Ian has since purchased a short bus, repainted it a deep orange, installed a roof top patio, installed new benches complete with flat screen TV and Play Station gaming console.  Ian just recently interviewed Gary Vayneychuk the media baron who LOVED the short bus.  I’ll include a link in the show notes.  Ian is one of the super successful yet humble good guys in the real estate world so without further ado, I give you Ian Szabo

 

 

Flip school: http://www.flipschool.ca/

Ian on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flipschools

Short Bus Talks: https://www.facebook.com/ShortBusTalk/

Short Bus Talk featuring Gary Vaynerchuk: https://www.facebook.com/ShortBusTalk/videos/1683274645098908/

Haste and Hustle: http://hasteandhustle.com/

Ian’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Ian+Szabo&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Ian+Szabo&sort=relevancerank

All Time Best Selling Canadian Real Estate Author Don R Campbell ep3

 

This week’s guest is none other than all time best selling Canadian real estate author Don R Campbell and spoiler alert, he’s a fan of the show!!

 

"I like your podcast, I think it’s real, it’s fresh, you have got good guests that area real life guests, it’s awesome” Don R Campbell; All Time, Best Selling, Canadian Real Estate Author

 

We cover a lot of subjects: politics, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investing, stock investing strategy, we throw back to when Don wrote his first book and what major re-write he did, being real, the dangers of the real estate investing industry, who the best economist is (it’s not who you think), and so much more.

 

I hope you enjoy hearing my interview of one of the greatest minds in real estate as much as I enjoyed giving the interview.

 

If you would like to learn from Don and attend ACRE, short for Authentic Canadian Real Estate just north of Toronto on March 2-4th then Google Toronto ACRE (A-C-R-E). Discount code is Erwinsguest. The adjacent hotel is already sold out so make sure to register ASAP with my discount code to avoid disappointment!!  

 

link: http://info.reincanada.com/toronto-acre-2018 

Discount code Erwinsguest

Ryan Hindmarsh was referred to me by my then client James Maggs over six years ago.  James is now the VP of my Coaching Services team and it’s funny how much can change in six years… For Ryan, he wrote a goal six years ago to buy investment property outside of his two family home in Toronto in order to make money in his sleep.  He then reached out to his BFF James Maggs because he knew he was already investing and the result is assets minus liabilities equals $2 million without investing a dime of Ryan’s own money.

 

Ryan is a driven individual.  He starred on his varsity basketball team for the University of Saskatchewan graduating in Kinesiology, training elite athletes including NHL’ers.  Moved to Toronto to become an in demand personal trainer earning the highest fees I’ve heard of.  Started a sports clinic business with zero clients and building it up to be one of Toronto’s leading clinics.  

 

Then Ryan wanted a new challenge, after personally witnessing the transformation of his own business via leadership development courses, he joined the same leadership development company to inspire, motivate, lead and coach other entrepreneurs and their leadership teams.

 

Ryan is also our guest speaker this February 24th and he’s giving us a taste of what to expect.  You too can attend by registering at www.HaltonREI.ca

 

Ryan’s coordinates:

Web: http://www.lmicanada.ca/Members/RyanHindmarsh.aspx

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanhindmarsh/

and no he’s not a fan of the distraction that is social media :D

The Certified Financial Planner Who Recommends Real Estate

 

Kathleen Van Den Berg, aside from having a long name has an alphabet of academic designations after her name: MBA, Master of Business Administration; CFP, Certified Financial Planner; CLU, Certified Life Underwriter; I may be missing some other letters but I know Kathleen also has her mortgage license.

 

I first met Kathleen through an introduction by a mutual friend and I find her presentations and our conversations fascinating as she is the only fee based CFP who will talk to me hahaha.  The fee based CFP’s I’ve been referred to simply don’t have time for me.  First of all, the ones I’ve reached out to require 1-2 million of investable assets, typically not real estate since they don’t make money on real estate.

 

That’s where Kathleen is different, she’s open about her own real estate portfolio, the fantastic returns she’s getting and recommends some real estate to everyone even though she doesn’t directly make money selling real estate.  She’s also highly educated and can apply financial planning theory and products that make sense to real estate investors hence the reasons we’re hired Kathleen for a portfolio review.

 

She has also agreed to come present at a future Halton REI event after snowmobiling season is over so make sure to register as live, in person presentations and meetings are best.  To register, go to www.HaltonREI.ca

 

Without further ado, I give you Katheen Van Den Berg.

 

I was talking to one of my fellow students during a break during Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class who is still a student.  He’s in electrical engineering so as always, I’m rhyming off unsolicited advice on fields of study to make money. I recommended learning about SEO (search engine optimization) and Block Chain as that’s the future right?

 

Why is SEO a big deal? Search engine optimization may be the reason you found me or one of my websites, but I’m merely a student of the subject, that’s why I sought out the teacher in Hamilton real estate investor and client of ours John Vuong.  He’s an ultra successful entrepreneur because his firm, Local SEO Search is providing tons of value to small and medium sized businesses in driving traffic to their websites and landing pages to translate into more sales.  John’s time is really expensive too, so he doesn’t even see the houses he’s buying as he has that kind of track record and success rate with his real estate team.  John was kind enough to spare us an hour of his time to share his story here and give us advice on how we can all grow our businesses with search engine optimization.

 

Who is John Vuong? He’s a 15 year veteran of Sales and internet marketing, a hard worker and track record of being a top performer in every work position he’s held until a business opportunity presented itself and John took action in starting a new business in 2013 that is Local Seo Search Inc.  He too attended the best University in Canada which happens to be the same as my alma matter, the University of Western Ontario, he’s a young dad and John started his own charity providing school materials to local schools for underprivileged kids.

 

So without further ado, I give you Hamilton real estate investor and SEO expert, John Vuong.

We are BAAACKKK!  And we survived FOUR days and three nights in Las Vegas!!! LOL

 

I have a group of real estate buddies I hang out with for several reasons, we all like to have fun, we have flexible work schedules to meet during the week so we can reserve weekends for work and family, and most importantly we love to talk business and real estate.  Business and pleasure wrapped into one, dropped in the middle of the Las Vegas strip for some masterminding and fun.

 

The masterminding could have been better as it took much of a back seat to the fun HAHAHA.  The initial plan was to block off six hours allotting 30 mins for each member to share their 2017 accomplishments and 2018 goals.  Unfortunately, like the vodka we were drinking, those 30 minutes were distilled down to 5-6 minutes each. That was all the time we had to spare.  Those who presented first enjoyed a how you say, more sober audience...

 

We hit a club, gambled, ate many great $15 steaks, saw O: the Cirque de Soleil show, shot some automatic machine guns, raced some exotic cars, mine was a Lamborghini Huracan, zip lined  the length of Freemont St., rode ATV’s in the Nevada desert, dined at the Heart Attack Grill, we fought zombies in a live urban warfare simulation, enjoyed a libation or twenty, etc… what we didn’t do was sleep much so I personally slept about 25 of the next 48 hours when we got home.

 

It all started with Westjet announcing direct flights to Las Vegas from Hamilton Airport and our return flight was only $300!!!  We then price shopped everything and Groupon’d almost of the activities.

 

The real estate investor in me enjoyed touring through the hotels thinking how grateful I was other gamblers were paying for me to enjoy the beautiful casinos as my gambling losings only totalled $15.  I don’t gamble. I mean it’s fun but I’m more interested in earning returns like investing in real estate.

 

The trip was simply epic.  We shared a ton of laughs and a very, very memorable trip. I can’t recommend Hamilton Airport enough and I thought our hotel New York, New York was great for our frugal purposes.

 

On to this week’s podcast!

 

The Millennial Retirement Plan: Seven Houses at Age 33 w Sarah Larbi

 

Welcome ladies and gentlemen investors across Canada, the greatest country in the world.  My name is Erwin Szeto, aka Mr. Hamilton bringing you the Truth About Real Estate Investing show for Canadians where it is my job to bring you the tactics, education and lessons of real estate multi-millionaires. What makes these people successful? These world class entrepreneurs don’t have superpowers so let’s find out together how they are killing it so we too may reproduce their results to create financial freedom for ourselves and those closest to us. So lets get to it!

 

Sarah Larbi, is technically a millennial but is a contradiction to the stereotypes as she’s always working at her job, portfolio or self development AND she doesn’t have any social media accounts.  She’s a long term buy and hold investor whom focuses on cash flowing properties and buying under market value whenever possible. She has done this by being a market expert in one specific area; Brantford Ontario, and building a solid team of qualified professionals around her.

Sarah is also the co-founder of the SO REIT Club which holds monthly networking and real estate education meetings for investors. Sarah was also featured on the cover of the Toronto Star in June 2017 for being a young millennial building a portfolio of properties through hard work, dedication and commitment without the help of parents or relatives.

 

Show notes:

SOREITClub https://www.facebook.com/SoReitClub/

REIN’s ACRE (Erwin’s $300 discount code ERWINSGUEST): http://info.reincanada.com/toronto-acre-2018

Brantford Paralegal Wenda Allicock: http://www.wendaallicock.com/

Sarah’s website: https://sarahlarbi.com/ and email Sarah@sarahlarbi.com

 

Hello real estate investors!!

 

Welcome to another episode of the truth about real estate investing show.

 

Happy New Years to you all! We have many terrific guests lined up for 2018 so make sure to subscribe so you may learn their lessons to ensure you achieve your new years resolutions and I’m sure they include increased financial security and freedom!!

 

In case anyone is interested, the Real Estate Investment Network is hosting it’s annual weekend workshop call the Authentic Canadian Real Estate Systems (or ACRE for short) on March 2nd - 4th near Toronto Pearson Airport at the Pearson Convention Centre.  For my friends and listeners to the show, REIN has provided me a discount code and I tested it just now to save you $300 per guest.  If you’ve been to other events that are out there, the full retail price of $687 which has never gone up to my recollection, I’m a REIN member so my admission is included in my monthly fee…. but anyways, the full retail price is a fantastic deal already and my discount code of ERWINSGUEST will save you $300. Link: http://info.reincanada.com/toronto-acre-2018

 

If you want the full ACRE experience, I recommend you plan to attend the informal evening festivities to network with the other attendees.  To me, it’s a great time to reconnect with my out of town real estate friends who don’t make it to all the events but they make the time for ACRE because it’s such a great event.

 

Anyways, on to my 2017 Year in Review

 

The Real Estate Market:

From January to May, the market rocketed up. It was near impossible to purchase a property in Hamilton as it was a regular occurrence to compete with double digit offers on the same property with limited supply and demand through the roof from Toronto folks and locals.  St. Catharines grew in popularity for us as investors as competition was still fierce but nothing like Hamilton and we were renting at rates close to Hamilton’s.  KWC was crazy hot as well and continues to be hot as multiple offers there are a regular occurrence.  After May, and after the Foreign buyer tax becoming effective, the market slowed considerably for Hamilton and St. Catharines, exactly what us investors wanted though we noted less interest from investors in Summer and Fall.  Oddly enough, that is when I purchased two properties, in the summer and fall, both as discounts from the Spring market.  Right now the market feels more balance but prices remain up around 7-8% in our target markets compared to this time last year.

 

The Rental Market:

As a real estate investor we have two real estate markets to monitor: real estate prices as that determines the value of our portfolio and acquisition costs.  Then there is the rental market and 2017 was very good to investors.  From January to May, our investors were obtaining the highest rents we’ve ever seen in the markets we operate: mainly Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge, Hamilton, Brantford, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara Region.  In the Spring we were consistently seen rents of 1650 plus utilities for renovated three bedroom apartments and 1300+ for basement two bedrooms.  Keep in mind about five-six years ago, we rented entire three bedroom houses for 1300+.  The summer saw reduced demand as kijiji ad views and showings were way down and returned to a moderate level in the Fall.  Myself, I like to review my rental ads and prices every two weeks.  If I need to make an adjustment I will, most often to price or tweaking of the headline or ad copy.  For the property we purchased in the summer, I needed to reduce the rent 3-4 times by $25-50 increments till we found a great tenant.  For the property we closed on December 1st, knowing we were approaching the holidays and winter, the slowest market, I was ultra aggressive by advertising our rent $50 below market value.  Evaluating a $50/month discount vs. being vacant for three months, an opportunity cost of $4,800, I chose the $50 discount and we rented to a customer who attended the first showing.

 

On the business side, we’ve grown considerably helping investors transact on over 100 properties in 2017.  We’ve undergone many changes moving away from the Mr. Hamilton brand to the Halton Real Estate Investment Group as a necessity as we expanded our geographic coverage of top towns for investment in pursuit of cash flow.  Our team has grown considerably as well in order to support the number of clients we support, apparently good news travels fast and when you do a great job helping to coach clients to financial success, they compliment you with referrals of friends and family for which we are forever grateful.  Erika Spencer joined our team in late 2016 and has been a force to reckon with even with the birth of baby Owen in October and was back to work in November.  Koukun Unosawa, Han Wang, Tammy Ditomaso all joined us in 2017 plus Paisley Mackenzie is coming onboard in early 2018 all as Junior Coaches.  To ensure our newest team members received the same or better training I had given, James Tiberius Maggs was promoted to Vice President of Coaching Services with all of our coaches reporting directly to him.

 

On the Personal side of 2017, improving my health and energy levels took main stage.  After years of pushing myself mentally and physically for years, I was burnt out.  My body was giving up yet I continued to get by on excessive caffeine (coffee) and sheer will power.  I took a couple tests while seeing a new doctor, Dr Callum Cowan, a high performance health specialist who works with pro athletes like NHL’ers, UFC fighters, high level executives, to repair the damage I’ve inflicted on myself to get to where I am today.  I did a very restrictive cleanse in February and March avoiding my food sensitivities and to take care of a parasitic bacteria I picked up somewhere all the while competing in the Crossfit Open.  I also started going to bed earlier.  As you parents and entrepreneurs know, we can only control what we can control and I’ve found my mood and energy level is simply better with more sleep.  My kids and family, my clients, my business deserve the best me so I started tracking my sleep with my wearable technology called a Whoop and app to ensure my peak performance.  With all these changes, the quality of my work has improved as my mind is rested and more clear. I’m able to train more often which I love without having to take as many afternoon naps.  The best part is I’m less cranky with my wife and kids so everyone wins with more sleep.

 

Dr Cowan is one of our guest speakers for the January Halton REI Group meeting on January 13th. His talk is titled "Feel Better, Function Better, Become a Phenom” and if you’ve seen him present before, don’t worry, the doctor has promised updates as the science of health is ever evolving!!

We will also be hosting a guest panel of investors on the subject of raising successful kids featuring Carol Dias, Margaret Plut, Rob Watson, Charles Wah and Mary Clements.  All are successful in their careers and as investors, and they are happy to share the lessons so we can all achieve one of our ultimate goals, parents to successful children.

 

Hello Halton, Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, St. Catharines, Niagara, Welland, Thorold real estate investors!!!

 

It’s December so we’re into full swing holiday mode!!!! Christmas lights are clipped into our eavestroughs, our light up Santa got blown over on our front lawn, the usual stuffs! This year we started a new tradition, the Royal Botanical Garden’s Santa’s Signature Experience.  My wife booked it after reading the raving views on a Facebook mom’s group and the experience lived up to the hype.

 

included is a return trip on The RBG Express (a train ride), hot chocolate and a cookie, storytelling and crafting with Santa’s helpers, admission to RBG for the day's activities, and of course your visit with Santa.

 

Santa’s Cabin was just off the hook, it had beautifully decorated fireplace, giant tree, the room in general and the star of the show, Santa!!!!!!!! Santa asked my kids if they knew they had brought Christmas magic with them. My kids had no clue what he was talking about then Santa reached behind my daughters ear and illuminated a light within his glove between his index finger and thumb.  The look of astonishment on my kids faces made me nearly lose my composure. I couldn’t have been happier with the experience but my daughter had more for us in store.

 

A few days later, we asked my daughter what she wanted for Christmas and she said “I want a Lego Cookie Monster to give away at the Basket Brigade.” 

 

Mission accomplished!!!!! Christmas can end now and I’d be happy. Part of our objective with our charity is to teach the kids to be selfless and I believe the best teaching is done by showing, not telling.  My daughter is not even 4 years old and she knows the meaning of Christmas. Proud parent moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Here she is with Anna and Elsa dolls (from the Frozen movie) we bought with our own money to give away on our personal deliveries.

 

In case you’re interested in an opportunity to teach your kids and to give back, we need a few more packers and in need of 25 more delivery drivers.  For packers, we have 85 registered and we are capping at 100 so to avoid disappointment, please register ASAP.  

 

My Favourite Financial Planner

 

 

This week we have something different, like we do every week! This week a very special and exciting guest in my favourite financial planner, Kathleen Van De Berg, a Certified Financial Planner Wealth Strategist who actually invests in real estate and maybe the only one I know who includes investing in real estate in strategizing her clients portfolios for significantly great wealth.  Have you heard of permanent cash value insurance?  Before meeting Kathleen, I had not either so stay tuned on why we investors need it and other tips and secrets Kathleen normally only shares with the smart, rich money.

 

 

To Listen:

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn

On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

 

Till next time, Just do it, I believe in you.

Erwin

Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto, Land Development, Halton Real Estate Investor

 

This podcast is brought to you by the Halton Real Estate Investors Group. The goal of the Halton REI is to entice would-be real estate entrepreneurs to get off the couch, make things happen, and replicate the success of our multi-millionaire clients such as podcast guests Charles Wah, Andy Tran, Evelyn, Kaush, Cherry Chan, Michal Wywrot and Tim Collins.  Our track record of coaching highly successful investors is extensive and we share our secrets, tips and tricks at Halton REI meetings.  So if you are interested in travelling the path of least resistance to real estate wealth without ever swinging a hammer than this is the place for you. Go to HaltonREI.ca/signup to register and do so quickly to avoid disappointment as we have waitlisted folks many times and seats are limited.  One of the secrets of success is to surround oneself with successful people and in my ten plus years of attending workshops and networking events, this is one of the best places to be and I hope to see you soon.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Hello Halton, Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, St. Catharines, Niagara, Welland, Thorold real estate investors!!!

 

This week we close on another investment property, our 2nd this year with plans to buy our third hopefully in December.  Last week was November’s REIN meeting and I finally remembered to update and submit my list of properties I had purchased as a REIN member.  Lucky enough, Don Campbell was in town to present live and I awarded my gold pin for 17 properties.  Don and the whole REIN executive and members have been a huge part of my journey and REIN just announced ACRE, the best weekend of real estate training on March 2-3rd, link: http://info.reincanada.com/toronto-acre-2018. The price is a rock bottom $687 plus tax but hopefully I can get you listeners a discount code so hang tight! For those of you’ve been around, you know $687 is a great return on investment knowing other organizations charge $1,500 for a weekend event and I’ve invested thousands more for other business events.

 

Funny story about the REIN meeting, as I was getting ready and heading out the door to drive with my buddy Charles Wah to the REIN meeting, normally, without a second thought I wear dress shoes.  For some reason I wanted to wear my all red Nikes, specifically Kobe Bryant’s knowing that Richard Dolan, President of REIN wears equally funky shoes some days.  Later that night, as Richard called me to stage to accept my award, he jokingly accused me of raiding his closet and stealing his shoes :P Unprofessional of me to wear basketball shoes? Maybe but fellow members and Don Campbell were complimenting me on both my shoe game and award so whatever.  I’m not sure there is a lesson there but I was just being me, a big basketball fan and wearing comfortable shoes.

 

Richard Dolan asked me what my secret was and if anyone can accomplish the same.  Yes, anyone can do this, being a REIN member has helped me, and the secret to success? Anyone who makes investing a priority will succeed.

 

Economic Update

Welcome ladies and gentlemen investors across the greatest country in the world.  My name is Erwin Szeto aka Mr. Hamilton bringing you the Truth About Real Estate Investing show for Canadians where it is my job to bring you experts in the world of investing.  We will learn from their experience, pick out the lessons, tips and tricks, and figure out what makes them tick so you too can replicate their success to enhance your real estate investor’s life of health, wealth, friends, family and fun.  

 

This week we have something different, like we do every week! This week we have the economic update presentation I delivered in October to my Halton Real Estate Investors Group.  I did it in one take so it’s not quite polished but if you wanted insight into what drives my decision making to continue to acquire investment property while having very little diversity in my portfolio, in my opinion, those with assets will create the most the wealth and if I don’t, well that’s a scary alternate ending I’m doing everything in my power to avoid.

 

 

 

To Listen:

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn

On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

Download as an MP3 by right clicking here and choosing “save as”

 

Till next time, Just do it, I believe in you.

Erwin

Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto Real Estate, Land Development Investor

 

This podcast is brought to you by the Halton Real Estate Investors Group. The goal of the Halton REI is to entice would-be real estate entrepreneurs to get off the couch, make things happen, and replicate the success of our multi-millionaire clients such as podcast guests Charles Wah, Andy Tran, Evelyn, Kaush, Cherry Chan, Michal Wywrot and Tim Collins.  Our track record of coaching highly successful investors is extensive and we share our secrets, tips and tricks at Halton REI meetings.  So if you are interested in travelling the path of least resistance to real estate wealth without ever swinging a hammer than this is the place for you. Go to HaltonREI.ca/signup to register and do so quickly to avoid disappointment as we have waitlisted folks many times and seats are limited.  One of the secrets of success is to surround oneself with successful people and in my ten plus years of attending workshops and networking events, this is one of the best places to be and I hope to see you soon.

Hello Halton, Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, St. Catharines, Niagara, Welland, Thorold real estate investors!!!

 

Who doesn’t like live music especially when they put on THE BEST live performance.  My credo is, life is all about experiences and I recommend you catch USS if they’re ever playing a gig near you.  The both shows in Hamilton and my friends Mike Gillespie, St Catharines investor extraordinaire; John Roumanis, Hamilton investor of $600,000 in 6 Years fame; and Steve had a great time.  

 

Here is a youtube from one of their lives shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3KZIE27xo

 

With life being so short and everyone being so busy, I find my social circle continually distills down to just awesome people who are also successful in business which makes for great conversations. So keeping with living your real estate investor’s life of health, wealth, family and fun; for those who enjoy having fun along side successful real estate investors, a group of us including: Andy Tran (second suite guy), Charles Wah (land developer guy), James Maggs (10 property guy), Roger Auger (property management guy), Zach Twose (contractor guy), John Roumanis ($600k in 6 years guy), me (Chinese guy); we are planning a social get together of fun and adult beverages at Dave and Busters in Oakville which is basically Chucky Cheese for adults with a liquor license. Since there is no Halton REI Meeting for December, we figured we’d put out an open invite to everyone for an Xmas social. No tickets or passes, just pay your own way.

 

Welcome ladies and gentlemen investors across the greatest country in the world.  My name is Erwin Szeto aka Mr. Hamilton bringing you the Truth About Real Estate Investing show for Canadians where it is my job to bring you experts in the world of investing.  We will learn from their experience, pick out the lessons, tips and tricks, and figure out what makes them tick so you too can replicate their success to enhance your real estate investor’s life of health, wealth, friends, family and fun.  

 

This week we have something different, like we do every week! In last week’s episode Ryan Carr and I were stumped on the principle residence capital gains exemption Ryan is entitled to after he recently sold his current principle residence.  This area of real estate tax is not well known and of course I didn’t have the answer so I did what any investor would do: walk down the hall to my wife’s office and ask her.  It just so happens I’m married to the Cherry Chan of www.realestatetaxtips.ca who this month was published in the CPA Magazine, where she goes on to educate Chartered Professional Accountants on taxation of investment real estate.  

 

Anyways, I walk back to my office, called my wife, clicked record and asked her how to properly maximize one's returns by declaring a rental property as one’s principle residence along with some additional difficult follow-on questions.  I hope you all enjoy this as I know how difficult it is to find answers to these very specific questions without paying Accounting fees.  And as always, everyones’ situation is different so do please contact your professional Chartered Accountant specializing in real estate investments.

 

To Listen:

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn

On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

Download as an MP3 by right clicking here and choosing “save as”

 

 

To reach out to Cherry:

website: www.realestatetaxtips.ca 

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

 

Till next time, Just do it, I believe in you.

Erwin

Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto Real Estate, Land Development Investor

Hello Halton, Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, St. Catharines, Niagara, Welland, Thorold real estate investors!!!

 

What a terrific weekend in sports for Canadian sports!! My Saturday started with spectating a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament to support my teammates from http://www.mnunesbjj.com/ who competing.  I’m still a beginner at the sport so I was there to be a cheerleader and to experience a competition as a spectator before I sign up to fight grown men in 2018.  Yup, I’m committed to competing at least once and like everything I do, I’ll take a pragmatic approach to training in both the sport, my strength and conditioning, my diet as I’ll need to lose pounds to ensure I’ll be the largest competitor in my weight class.  Just like my real estate, I prefer to have every advantage in my favour especially when I turn 40 and will be the youngest in the Seniors, 40 year old and above division :D.  

 

Speaking of having every advantage, my clients hired me to sell their flip property, a gorgeous 2,600 square foot house on one acre.  To best present the property we recruited the best stager, best photographer, true tour video so you feel like you’re there and drone pictures to properly capture what a lovely property this flip is. Check it out here: http://virtualviewing.ca/mm16b/4078-aberdeen-rd-beamsville-u/

 

Saturday night of course was the return of the greatest of all time in combat sports, Georges St. Pierre who won the Middleweight Championship in shocking form.  You can’t tell from the picture but we were all jumping up and down when Georges connected with that short left hook.  We were so loud we woke up Cherry 😛 

 

In attendance were some of my investor friends: Mike Iuliano, Andy Tran, Charles Wah and Mary Clements.  Can you tell I enjoy mixing business and pleasure?  Makes for more interesting conversations and they’re all great company.  Special thanks to Mike I from bring nacho ingredients from his garden for some of the best nachos I’ve ever had.  It made a great night even better.

 

Sunday at the TFC Eastern playoffs semi final, second leg was a crazy game, Toronto had all the best scoring chances in the 1st half then gave up trying on offence in the 2nd half.  There was a million penalty cards handed out, the crowd was all over the ref including beers being thrown in his direction.  We lost the game but move on to the eastern final due to away goals tie breaker.  Can’t wait for that game!

 

This week we have something different, we have a returning guest in Ryan Carr because him and I were masterminding two weeks ago and he was explaining to me how he is bearish on the market.  We both agree a correction is coming or we may have already hit bottom based on some of the headlines but Ryan is believing the correction will be worse than I expect.  With doomsayers, the strategy is obvious, sell all your real estate and rent.  Not many people put their money where their mouth is like for MP Garth Turner who correct called a correction in 2008 but we all know where the market has gone since then. He may have been incorrect but at least he practiced what he preached.

 

That brings us to Ryan Carr, he’s back on the show to share with all of us how he’s preparing for a steep correction in the short term and as always, the show is Truth About Real Estate Investing and I want to bring you all opinions and experts so you too may maximize your financial success, have kids that graduate university debt free, support your favourite church and charities etc… Ryan  is a bright young man investing in 20 properties in the last 2 years and his only formal training is in being a mechanic.

 

For the long version story of Ryan, simply rewind back two episodes or click here: http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/mechanic-invested-20-properties-two-years/

 

So without further ado, I give you Ryan Carr

 

To Listen:

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn

On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

Download as an MP3 by right clicking here and choosing “save as”

 

To reach out to Ryan:

website: https://rwcarrinvestment.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010830488618

 

 

Till next time, Just do it, I believe in you.

Erwin

Hamilton, St. Catharines, Toronto Real Estate, Land Development Investor

We have a very interesting guest this week with my friend THE JAY WONG, who is a real estate investor but he’s more well known for his ultra successful, rated #1 Self-Help podcast theinnerchangemaker.com on iTunes.  I know if you’re listening, you may enjoy my podcast, however Jay gets 50-60 times as many downloads as I do so you can just imagine how good the theinnerchangemaker.com is.  Jay’s mission is to create empowering media that summarizes all of these great lessons covered in on his show by other successful Change makers, in hopes that these combined journeys will help business owners grow their business through online marketing and elevating their leadership.

 

If you’re a real estate entrepreneur or an entrepreneur in general, I know you’ll find Jay’s lessons useful in helping to build your authority and raise joint venture capital.

 

Jay’s past guests include leading educators in self development: Bob Proctor, Grant Cardone, and Philip Mckernan.  From the feature image for this episode, you can see Jay and his podcast were featured at Toronto Downtown’s busiest intersection,Yonge and Dundas square,so without further ado, I give you The Jay Wong.

 

To reach out or follow Jay:

website: theinnerchangemaker.com

YouTube Channel: JayWongTV, link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeR0FLjRFFLqY5nLPAmc0dA

 

I’m excited to bring to you, all the way from Oshawa, Ontario, Ryan Carr, a trained Mechanic who was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and turned to real estate at first renovating his own investment properties and when he couldn’t scale himself working on the tools, he hired full time contractors.  If you’ve been renovating or looking to renovate like I have, you know how hard it is to get the attention of contractors with this housing boom going on.  Ryan’s solution is to hire folks full time and he’s keeping them busy as he’s purchased 20 houses in the last two years, all requiring varying degrees of renovations including the vertical duplex split.  A horizontal split would be the traditional basement apartment duplex whereas Ryan will install a vertical wall/s to divide a property to increase cash flow by $300-500/month.  Ryan will share some tips on when to vertical split and how to source 20 properties, mostly private deals not on MLS.

 

This interview with Ryan was an eye opener to me as are all of our guests but this is the first time my podcast has been required listening for my team the Halton REI Team.

 

So without further ado, I give you Ryan Carr

 

website: https://rwcarrinvestment.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010830488618

This week I’m excited to bring to you, all the way from Kingston, Ontario, Rene Masse who was been working with tenants for over 20 years as he did grow up along side them living in his home. Rene has invested for 10 years having reached the significant milestone of earning $5,000 cash flow per month from student rentals after six years and he did so investing only $14,000 of his own money!  That is a pretty good return on investment considering Rene quit his teaching job three months giving up the steady paycheque and pension and job security for the entrepreneurial life.  This is after years of University and Teacher’s College at Queen’s University and graduating with debt!!  Rene definitely has no interest in being average and is truly living life to his fullest as you’ll see from the interview where I did not ask one single question that I had prepared.  Rene also produces a series of entertaining and educational videos on the subject of real estate investing and he has extensive experience in hiring university students to work in his business and video production and he’ll share how he does it.  So without further ado, I present to you, Rene Masse

 

Website: https://www.getbetterreturns.ca/

on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getbetterreturns.ca/

 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoy the podcast please subscribe on stitcher, Google Play or iTunes OR I can send you an email when each episode is published right to your inbox!  Simply go to TruthAboutRealEstateInvesting.ca and enter your email address and I will continue to deliver to you stories of inspiration, success, lessons to help you on your journey to financial freedom.  Till next time, this is Erwin Szeto telling you to just do it and I believe in you.

 

This podcast is brought to you by the Halton Real Estate Investors Group. Since 2010, I helped many people including first time investors make millions of dollars with their side hustle of investing in nice homes in the nicer areas west of Toronto such as Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara Region, Brantford, and Cambridge, Ontario. The goal of the Halton REI is to entice would-be real estate entrepreneurs to get off the couch, make things happen, and replicate the success of our multi-millionaire clients.  Those who choose to work with the Halton REI Team will have the opportunity to be coached by a highly skilled and highly successful investor coach who has walked the walk having owned numerous properties, earning thousands in cash flow each month who is licensed to trade in real estate.  Listeners to this show can go to www.haltonrei.ca/signup to register but when I checked this morning, we have only 8 seats left so do register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.  One of the secrets of success is to surround oneself with successful people and in my ten plus years of attending workshops and networking events, this is one of the best places to be and I hope to see you soon.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

This week I’m excited to bring to you my friend and client Roger Auger who grew up in a poor and less than ideal household in a bad part of town.  From an early age, Roger learned he had to hustle to make money to pay his parents’ mortgage because what else should a 13 year old be doing. But he struggled in school and resorted to blackmailing his high school teachers to allow him to graduate or endure another year him back.  Roger tried college but that didn’t work out but he never stopped working hard to earn enough to buy investment property.  Now at 13 properties, he’s done quite well for himself amassing considerably more wealth than many people I know with Masters degrees and on top of that, he has a heart of gold as Roger is the co-founder of the HamiltonBasketBrigade.com, wait till you hear the story about him and Josh delivering Christmas dinners.  So without further ado, I give your Roger Auger 

 

Web: http://www.augerproperties.ca/

Email: roger@augerproperties.ca

 

Sorry for the interruption during the introduction, that was my daughter bursting into my office to inform me the electricians were finished installing our new hot tub.  A new hot tub paid for by one of our investment properties.  That is the dream after all, to have your assets pay for your liabilities.  If you enjoyed the show, please click subscribe and I really appreciate 5 star reviews on iTunes.  I read every comment and and grateful for all the fans of the show, thank you for the kind words from everyone who has left reviews or emailed me. If you’d like new episodes delivered to your email as soon as they are available, simply go to http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/ and type in your email address. Till next time. Just do it! And I believe in you.

This week I’m excited to bring to you my friend and client Kaush Nanubhai (pronounced Koh-shh Na-new-bye) who started off buying condos in downtown Toronto as a young professional Accountant as he described buying a condo better use of his disposable income than drinking and partying.  Many years later and having bigger goals in mind including more income and improved lifestyle, he’s now built himself a sizeable portfolio now at 11 investment properties, acquiring eight of them in the last four years with plans and joint venture partners for many more.  Learn about what Kaush wishes he could go back and do over, what drives an already successful professional like Kaush to do even more, how he’s created more time for what’s important, time with family and taking care of his health.  Kaush invests in student rentals and legal basement suites in Hamilton, St Catharines, Welland, and Niagara On the Lake.

 

Links to stuffs mentioned

Durham REI: https://durhamrei.com/

Action Taker Program: https://durhamrei.com/coaching/ (I’ve checked with Quentin, he has room for one so if you need an introduction please let me know)

REIN http://www.reincanada.com/

Halton REI (Erwin’s networking group) www.HaltonREI.ca

 

To get in touch with Kaush, email is best: knanubhai@gmail.com

 

I’d like to say thanks again to Kaush for taking time out of his busy schedule to hang out and talk to us, and to welcome you all back from the summer (the season, not the weather).  If you enjoyed the show, please let me know and I really appreciate 5 star reviews on iTunes or Google Play or Stitcher.  I read every comment and and grateful for all the fans of the show, thank you for the kind words who have already posted. If you’d like to be notified of new episodes in your email, simply go to http://www.truthaboutrealestateinvesting.ca/ and type in your email address. Till next time. Just do it! And I believe in you.