Sharing a stage with Brandon Turner of Bigger Pockets Fame at the Aligned Life Conference, lessons from losing one’s life savings, telling it like it is with often censored, former real estate coaches Marty & Amanda Gordon.

Greetings from cottage country my fellow truth seekers. This is the Truth About Real Estate investing show, I’m your host, producer since 2016 and over 300 episodes where we tell it like it is.  

In my experience, real estate when done right is a sure path to getting rich slowly. Unfortunately there are those who have challenges scaling and executing which to me is no surprise.  I’ve shared on this show several times how someone I know had a pretty great portfolio of 50+ properties in Hamilton but a series of unfortunate events, his car getting broken into and rent cheques getting stolen (this is back in 2007 when post dated cheques was the most popular means for paying rent), he was getting in over his head with so many renovation projects on the go: mostly cosmetic as those days, you could cash flow with single family, these weren’t basement apartment conversions, the credit crisis hit, the investor went bankrupt, the properties went to power of sale. His investors got wacked and investor buyers at the time were picking up deals if they had capital and credit.  I personally know many who were affected which is why we coach our clients to be both offensive and defensive with their portfolios, to not over leverage including next to no private money.  B lender money on occasion as a short term solution but no hard money loans like promissory notes in our close to half a billion in income property transactions.

Then this new wave and I literally mean new investors, folks with maybe five years experience who failed to learn from history.  This Robby Clark who’s all over the news with Dylan Suitor and Claire Drage.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-former-child-tv-star-robby-clarks-crumbling-real-estate-empire-has/

They were operating in small markets, bigger volumes, expensive hard money, duplex conversions are totally doable but the timelines and budgets can’t always be predictable hence my clients almost never did more than one conversion at the time. Plus these were small cities, finding quality contractors would be difficult and liquidity would be poor. As someone who despises risk, I wouldn’t recommend any of this to my clients.

I had a bad feeling about Epic Alliance, I don’t know Robby Clark or Dylan Suitor let alone their investment strategy.  The stuff written about them in the news is just sad as well, especially all those who invested with them via promissory notes.

On a positive note, I’ll be presenting at the Aligned Life Conference alongside huge names such as Brandon Turner of Bigger Pockets fame, Dan Martell, hosted by Caleb West who’s a super cool guy with tons of experience in commercial development, management and construction.  Caleb will be next week’s episode guest and he’ll share his journey to the Aligned Life Conference and what role real estate investing played in his own family and allowed previous generations the freedom of time to spend with their kids and grandkids. For those about intergenerational wealth, you’ll like this episode!

20 Years of Investing: Duplexes, to Apartment Buildings, Now A REIT with Amanda & Marty Gordon

But first we have my friends returning to the show, Marty and Amanda who’ve been renovating and investing for nearly 20 years, Amanda Bouck has managed properties for nearly 20 years, Marty her husband is a carpenter by trade and personally much of their 15+ duplex conversions in Guelph.  They are a power couple: they get numbers, execution, cash flow and hate vacancy. They drank the same Kool Aid I did. They’re reward is a country acreage and building the custom home of their dreams they’re too humble to talk about with all the gurus out there flaunting Rolex watches, Lamborghinis, private jets and yachts.

Amanda & Marty scaled up as well in small multis likes six plexes, small apartment buildings to their current project, both a REIT: real estate investment trust called Legend Real Estate Trust and a 60 unit building in Waterloo.

Amanda and Marty are here today to share their experience including coaching, retiring from coaching for possibly the biggest real estate education company in Canada.  As always, we share both the negative and positive of real estate investing including all the losses going on in the community, over leverage with expensive hard money loans and their own investment philosophies where none of their investors have lost any money.

The honest truth about real estate investing is, speculative investments can work until they don’t and also I don’t endorse any product or offering of Marty and Amanda nor do I receive any compensation from Marty and Amanda nor from their businesses. This episode is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Please do your own due diligence. If you read the article about Robby Clark, you see how some of the property used to secure financing had fires and were torn down by the city. If any lender, broker, investor had simply driven by the property, they would have known the deal was no good. 

For my house in San Antonio, Texas I have a termite inspection, home inspection including pictures and video walkthrough, a quote from the property manager for renovations and maintenance. My cousin is in San Antonio next week for work and doing a drive by.

Diligence people, trust but VERIFY. That goes for all guests of this show. I do my best hence Epic Alliance and Robby Clark never made it on this show or any of my platforms.  I learnt my lesson from Paramount Equity.

Back to this week’s guests, Amanda and Marty, just to note, they have been censored on other platforms and Facebook groups for trying to warn people about gurus losing other people’s money. They going to offend some so be warned.  

www.LegendRealEstateTrust.ca

Amanda@Legendinvestments.ca

Marty@Legendinvestments.ca

Please enjoy the show!

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HELP US OUT!

BEFORE YOU GO…

Before you go, if you’re interested in what kind of properties I am looking at in the landlord friendly states of the USA please go to iwin.sharesfr.com for what I consider the best investment for most Canadians, most of the time.

I’ve been investing in Ontario since 2005 and while it’s been a great, great run. I started out buying properties in the 100,000s and now it’s $800,000 to $1,000,000.  How much higher can it go? I don’t know

To me, the remaining potential for appreciation does not match the risk hence I’m advising my clients to look to where one can find rental properties that are affordable range of $150,000 to $350,000 US$, with rents that range from $1,400 to 2,600/month plus utilities.   As many Canadians recognize, these numbers will be positive cash flow and are night and day compared to anything locally. Plus the landlord has all of the rights, no rent control, and income is US dollars which are better than Canadian dollars.

If you don’t believe me, US dollars are better than Canadian dollars, go ask 100 non-Canadians which currency they prefer to be paid in.

So to regain control of your retirement planning.  Go to iwin.sharesfr.com and check out what great cash flow properties are available in the USA.  

The best part is, my US investments will be much more passive compared to by local investments as I’m hiring an asset manager called SHARE to hand hold me through the entire process.  As their client and shareholder, Share will source me quality income properties, help me with legal structure and taxes, they manage the property manager and insurance provider while passing down to me preferred rates so I save both time and money.  

Share will even tell me when to strategically refinance or sell.  SHARE can even support investors all over the country for proper diversification hence my plan is to own in Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas.  Share is like my joint venture partner but I only have to pay them fees while I keep 100% ownership and control.

If your goal in investing is to increase cash flow, I don’t know of a better strategy for most Canadians most of the time.  One last time that’s iwin.sharesfr.com to see what boring, cash flowing real estate investing can look like on your path towards financial peace.

This is how I’m going to make real estate investing great again for my family and hope you choose the same.  Till next time!

Sponsored by:

This episode is brought to you by me! We don’t have sponsors for this show. I only share with you services owned by my wife Cherry and me.  Real estate investing is a staple in my life and allowed me to build wealth and, more importantly, achieve financial peace about the future, knowing our retirement is taken care of and my kids will be able to afford a home when they grow up.  If you, too, are interested in my systematic strategy to implement the #1 investment strategy, the same one pretty much all my guests are doing themselves, then go visit www.infinitywealth.ca/events and register for our next event.

Till next time, just do it because I believe in you.

Erwin

W: erwinszeto.com
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Disclaimer:

As a committed advocate for transparent and responsible real estate investment, I want to openly share my involvement with SHARE SFR (Single Family Rental) as an Advisor. I hold an equity position in this company and receive a referral commission for clients I introduce to their services. My endorsement of their business model – focusing on direct ownership of positive cash flow income properties – is consistent with my own personal investing since 2005, is based not only on a professional assessment but also on my personal experience and belief in their approach. Please note that while I stand behind my recommendations, it is crucial for each individual to conduct their own due diligence and consider their unique circumstances before making any investment decisions. As always, my priority is to provide you with honest, insightful, and practical real estate investment education.