Hello fellow wealth hackers!! How do you convince someone to invest in real estate? This was a question I was asked while on a podcast, which caught me off guard, as I generally don’t try to convince anyone actively. I don’t tell someone to their face they should invest in real estate, but maybe I […]
Hello Wealth Hackers and welcome to another episode of the truth about real estate investing.
Happy birthday to my partner in business and life Cherry Chan!! She’s a Super Woman in how she raises our kids, keeps me and my businesses in order and has her own thriving practice.
Quick funny story about Cherry: While she was still working in the corporate world, we were dating then, and she would surf the MLS at work when bored (which was often) looking for investment properties, but she only owned her own home. After getting to know my business, we discussed investing in a student rental near Brock University in St. Catharines. My credit wasn’t great at the time as I was a new agent, so the house would be in Cherry’s name.
I called Cherry while she was at work after I found a house in my target location, next to the only major mall in St. Catharines that doubles as a major public transit hub. I gave some vague details about the property to Cherry over the phone and we wrote the offer. We paid the owner exactly her asking as she was already discussing listing the house with a Realtor. The location and condition was A++ and any investor would want the same house because the annual rent would be over 1% of the after-renovation value.
Cherry didn’t see the house until after we took possession and was happy with our purchase. A year later we were reminiscing about how Cherry joint ventured on a property without even seeing it, with her boyfriend she only knew less than a year, but she wasn’t concerned at all. Her contingency was that if things didn’t work out between us… she technically owned the house 🤣.
That was seven years ago. There were bumps. That basement flooded, a student snowboarded off the roof (he was on ODSP nonetheless), but otherwise it’s been an excellent investment having doubled in value and the rents have gone up and there’s been zero vacancy the whole time.
Happy birthday again to my wealth hacker wife, to infinity and beyond. Together. 😘🥰😍
On the subject of real estate…
A kind gentleman who left a 5 star review on itunes asked me this: “My commute is 2 hours and I am taking courses to become a licensed real estate professional, what audio books would you recommend?”
My two cents: “If you’re not first, you’re last” by Grant Cardone. The very same book, forms the teachings presented in part of Cardone University that he sells for a lot of money, hence there is a lot of value in the book. I generally find we can all improve our sales skills. Sales is not what most think. The vast majority of sales people don’t take the profession as seriously as folks like yourselves do.
No different than how the amateur invests in real estate vs. how a professional does. If you’ve ever been a secret shopper as a tenant viewing properties for rent or for sale vs. toured our clients’ properties, you would see a big difference. Professionals invest more in their properties to attract the best tenants who pay the best rents knowing tenants all want clean and safe. Investing more includes time and effort in marketing and screening tenants. If you read about tenant nightmare stories in the news, you’ll note the landlords never ran credit checks or a Naborly report on the prospective tenant.
You all know the hoops we must jump through to get a mortgage. It would be advisable to screen tenants similarly, as a bad tenant is a very expensive mistake when you are trusting them with a half a million dollar asset.
If you’re looking to get started in becoming a wealth hacker, someone on the most efficient path to building wealth, let us know. We offer property tours in each of the top towns around the GTA which upcoming tours in Collingwood.
We have the Wealth Hacker conference on Nov 9th, a master class on the most efficient paths to success in small business, real estate and stock options. Go to www.wealthhacker.ca for details, discount code: iamawealthhacker
For those who are very serious about their success, we have my membership group called iWIN, short for the Infinity Wealth Investment Network. We are a close knit group that meets monthly to share best practices on investing in real estate, staying up on the latest strategies. We meet up quarterly for a mastermind, iWIN style. We do something fun together then we mastermind over a meal. So far this summer we did a Niagara Wine Tour on bike and a separate event on powerboats on a lake up north. Both were followed by lunch and everyone had an amazing time networking with like minded people and coming away with actionable advice. For details, go to www.infinitywealth.ca
Hello Wealth Hackers!!
If you missed the last episode, I shared how family and I were enjoying the weather on our back deck then we stood there powerless to watch a family of five skunks scramble to hide under my shed.
I love animals as much as the next person, I’ve had two dogs before, I teach my kids to respect all life, when an electrician was upgrade the service to my home, they left a space the size of a quarter in my wall leading to mice moving into my house. We live trapped over a dozen mice. Each morning I would get the kids all excited to check the live trap, they would ask if we could keep the mouse as a pet and the answer is no. We would then release the mouse in the ravine as a family. As we kept catching mice, we got less ambitious and simply release the mice to our yard.
Anyways, to successfully get rid of the skunks, we didn’t hire professionals, if any of you are regularly having to hire folks to care for your properties, you know how the cost of labour is way up, we paid $100 for an appliance person to just look at my stove. A fridge repair was $350…
Back on topic, to get the skunks out, our fences and gates already keep out critters, it’s rare for me to find a rabbit in our rear yard but my kids left the gate open the night the skunks moved in.
So step 1 was to leave the gate open so the skunks could escape.
Step 2, as shown on my instagram I ran the hose to flood the space under my shelf
Step 3, I play kids song on repeat in the shed so the skunks would have no peace. Specifically “Old Macdonald had a farm….”
Step 4, to check if the skunks were even still there, I placed a chunk of watermelon by the opening to the hole the skunks dug to see if they were still there.
Step 5, now day three, no sign or smell the skunks were still there, I blocked the opening with rocks.
It’s been a week and a half now and now sign of skunks but while I was running last night, I smelled skunk and if anyone was watching me, I looked like an idiot because I stopped cold in my tracks and ran off the sidewalk to the road to avoid the shadows and possible retribution from the skunk family. I know I would be pissed off if sprayed with cold water and forced to listen to Old Mcdonald for 24hrs straight.
Hello Wealth Hackers and welcome to another episode of the truth about real estate investing.
You may already know this about me, I’m not the most eloquent or well spoken person. It’s always hard for me to explain what it is I do.
Then yesterday, a gentleman messaged me and told me his story how his family is in debt from his wife losing her job when she was pregnant with their son and how he’s on a mission to learn about investing in real estate.
His question is, how does he come up with a downpayment for an investment property?
To many of you, this is a no brainer. Almost everyone I know I using a home equity line of credit, or they’ve refinanced their home for their first down payment or more. After they ran out of equity in their homes for down payments, they either went the joint venture route, partnering with friends or family. Or they waited for the market to do its thing, tenants to pay down mortgages and, voila, more equity to refinance for more down payments and more investment properties.
If this is not an option for you, then invest in yourself and look for opportunities in your current employment to add value. For me personally, I studied sales because that is the easiest way to create value. If you are revenue generating in your business, you are invaluable. Same if you save your company money or you can raise money, hence why you see many company CFO’s as the 2nd highest paid. What also happens is the company’s top sales people make more money than the president does.
In my last job, my boss was a workaholic and a genius, so no way I could fill her shoes. I focused on Sales training and investing in real estate when I was not working my day job.
On to my unwanted tenant… No, not the one who vandalized my AirBnb house before it became an AirBnb – but skunks!
Yes, the black furred rodents with the white stripe down their back.
My nanny alerted me to seeing five of them in our backyard. They were likely attracted to my vegetable garden and kick ass sweet peppers. I sprinted to the backyard only to see a tail disappear under my shed. I’ve been documenting what I call, Skunk vs DIY Skunk removal. Thank you to all who have sent me home remedies. So far I have filled the space under my shed with water. I have played for the skunks “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” on loop with my old iPhone to annoy the crap out of them, because I know it works on me when taking the kids on road trips. I’ve dusted the area at the opening of their hole with flour to track if they are in there or not, then it immediately rained.
I’ve even gone on to mark the territory, but didn’t record that video.
Anyways, the video is all there on my instagram @erwinszeto for you to laugh at me. Yes, I know I should just hire a pest relocation professional, and I would for any of my tenants, but this is my home and as of right now it gets the least $$ allocated to it because it’s not an asset! It’s a liability!! All you fellow, wealth hacking, frugal investors know what I’m talking about.View this post on Instagram
I think my son who just turned four has his first crush on his hair stylist… our friend Monica has a new hair salon in Hamilton that shares a space with an excellent coffee shop.
I needed a haircut and so did Bruce, so we booked an hour with Monica to get prettied up.
Normally my son hates getting his hair cut. We used to bribe him with an iPad and Paw Patrol to get him to sit still. At first he would only sit still for 5 minutes before running away when we cut his hair at home. Last time he sat the whole time for Monica, but again with his eyes glued to Paw Patrol.
This time, no screen time was needed. Bruce sat still the whole time participating in small talk with Monica. Before our appointment, Bruce was even on my case as I was recording a podcast, yelling at the top of his lungs he wanted to go see Monica to get his haircut three hours ahead of schedule. Appears Monica has a customer for life. LOL
What’s also neat about drinking excellent coffee and getting my hair cut is these businesses are within a commercial investment property of my friend Charles, Andy and Steve. Steve is this week’s guest. It’s one storey for now, but this group of investors have plans to tear down the existing property and build a six storey, purpose-built student rental residence, as it is located very closely to the local university.
Universities are growing in popularity and students need a clean, safe and affordable place to stay, hence this investment property could very well be a wonderful wealth hack for generations to come.
If you want to find out different ways to build your wealth, pay for your children’s education, and maybe your own retirement as well, make sure you come to the first Wealth Hacker Conference in November.
We will share everything we know, and more. Visit www.wealthhacker.ca before tickets are all sold out. For being a loyal listener of my podcast, I’d like to offer you a special discount code: iamawealthhacker
Many wealth hackers, like the ones on this podcast from all over the country, have already confirmed attendance. The energy in the room will be electric and my friends are the most sharing people I know. You don’t want to miss the event of the year for investors!!
iamawealthhacker – one word, all lower case. You will see the coupon code option in the top-right when you choose which level of attendee access you want.
Happy Canada Day and hope you had a great long weekend as the summer kicks off!!
Are your summer BBQ’s like mine? We had a bunch of friends and family over Sunday and Monday and the conversation was about the Leafs, Raptors, and of course real estate, but it wasn’t initiated by me!! It seems more and more real estate is becoming a more and more popular asset class. Note these are friends and family, not from my real estate world, but what surprised me was how bullish everyone was thinking. The worst from the spring of 2017 Housing Fairness Plan correction is past us and my friends and family are all looking to increase their real estate for either where they live or for investment.
I’m hoping it’s the right decision. My wife and I are having one ugly property renovated and we recently had one of our existing rental houses switch to AirBnb. I’ll detail some of our own investing in a separate episode, or else this one will be a really long one. On a sad note, as the child of Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, the civil unrest and protests back home are the worst it’s been from my recollection. Yet another reminder how grateful my family is to live in the greatest country in the world. Canada is not perfect by any means, but look at our freedoms, low crime, opportunity, clean environment and quality education system. It’s good to call this place home and to own property here. Is it any surprise Canada remains a top destination for immigration?? Immigration to Canada looks to stay strong. If you have developer friends like I do, developing is getting more restrictive and more expensive, which puts upward pressure on housing prices. Owning property or more appropriately, positive cash flow income properties whichever way your prefer: Airbnb, basement suited houses, apartment buildings, developing land, student rentals. It’s all great and area dependent. For the Wealth Hacker, I can’t recommend enough that you learn about each strategy to have the skills and knowledge to make a decision. For example, one investor I know switched up his strategy from student rental to AirBnb back to student rental as the service levels required for AirBnb proved to be too much for this investor. Wealth Hacking update on my part, I am committed to learn how to sell stock options. I’ve ignored my friend Omar Khan for too long, who’s been encouraging me to learn and implement the strategy he’s used for over ten years to earn himself six figures selling stock options on blue chip stocks that pay dividends. This isn’t a get rich quick thing and Omar is going to show me how, after he’s already taught over 50 of his friends how to, including my electrician. Omar and I have the same electrician, he re-wired the upstairs of my house that I’m AirBnb’ing. Our electrician has made around six figures in the last 18 months using this little known strategy. There are books on this strategy e.g. “Get Rich With Options” by Lee Lowell, but no different than any subject you plan on mastering, some hands on learning with ongoing coaching from an expert goes a long way. Omar is our keynote speaker at our next iWIN members’ meeting as a warm up for the big stage at iWIN’s Wealth Hacker Conference on Nov 9th, for which you can get your tickets at wealthhacker.ca. This is an all day event bringing together all the greatest wealth hackers I know who have taken the shortest path to financial success: investing in real estate with other people’s money for 100+ properties, Airbnb, stock options with Omar, making money like the bank, start a small business from zero to $100,000 and from $100,000 to $500,000. Everything I’ve learned on my entrepreneurial and investor journey, the best subject matter experts, the best lessons from my own investing and business building. We are bringing you all my bests for one day, November 9th, including the most in demand business trainer in the world in Grant Cardone in Toronto. The networking alone is worth the price of admission. My friend Susan White did multiple joint venture real estate deals from people she met in the VIP at a similar event. It was an event similar to the Wealth Hacker Conference that was the catalyst for myself to go from amateur to professional Wealth Hacker. This will arm you with the tools to take a shorter and faster path to financial freedom. Tickets at WealthHacker.ca
Do you golf?
I used to think golf was an inefficient use of time and poor exercise. I used to think of golf like fishing, or darts. It’s a great hobby to do with friends. But my investor friends more and more have convinced me golf is great for networking and meeting fellow entrepreneurs, so I bought a set of clubs and am giving it a go.
🏌️♂️But I suck at golf. Even with a few mulligans, I shot at 139 including at 76 on the back nine at the lovely Hamilton Golf and Country Club this past Friday. Thank you to Charles Wah for inviting me out. I suck at many things, golf especially as I only golf 18 holes once per year, but now I want to learn so I set aside time to practice. I took a lesson and will take even more. Trying new things is a challenge and as a teacher of #investinginrealestate I can draw parallels on the most direct path to success: 1️⃣ do it with friends: I’m golfing with friends who happen to be successful entrepreneurs, including my wife. This makes the experience and journey that much more fun. Tomorrow I’m golfing with a successful stock investor who sells options and owns 60 units of investment real estate. His name is Omar and he’s teaching me to trade and he will be one of our speakers at the Wealth Hacker Conference in Toronto on November 9th. Omar made $500,000 in 2018 from utilizing a little known strategy, and has made a living doing so for over a decade. 2️⃣ take lessons: you don’t know what you don’t know, so take advice from a professional that has a track record of successfully coaching others to success. Almost every investor I meet wants cash flow and that’s pretty much impossible to do where they live, so they are relying on local experts to guide them to the correct investment decisions. 3️⃣ don’t be afraid to try new things. Five or ten years from now will look back and laugh at how you started from the bottom, now you’re here. None of my multimillionaire clients expected to be here so fast in five-seven years. The next five-ten years will go by no matter what, how you spend them, or rather invest in them, is what will matter most. With excellent guidance and coaching, you can really minimize your mistakes and maximize your returns. Reach out if you don’t know how to get started, as I may suck at golf but few others have a system and team of coaches that produces #realestatemillionaires like we do. This episode is brought to you by iWIN’s Wealth Hacker Conference: On November 9th, 2019 at the Toronto Congress Center, we will be sharing the best secrets of the rich including:View this post on Instagram
Congratulations Toronto and Canada, we are the champions!! We did it!!
History was made, so I may have taken more liberties than I normally do in my conservative, boring life. I like boring. I like being at home and going to bed early, and I’m glad life can finally get back to normal with less late nights and stress replaced by more family time, more sleep, more martials arts and Crossfit. Life isn’t always boring though, I’m getting a new car next week, my challenge to my mastermind group was to CN Tower Edgewalk (that’s walking around the outside of CN Tower at 1,168 feet high or 116 storeys). Nothing beats a low risk thrill for team building, followed by a mastermind lunch in the 360 Restaurant for blue sky dreaming ideas of wealth hacking. Speaking of Wealth Hacking, while I scroll through the pictures on my phone from the last week, its been busy:
Have you been following the Raptors? Secretly, I’m hoping all the hoopla ends soon so my early to bed lifestyle can get back to normal. 🙂
Speaking of Raptors, my all time favourite Raptor player, Vince Carter, has some kind words to share about our upcoming Wealth Hacker Conference:
On November 9th, 2019 at the Toronto Congress Center we, along with Grant Cardone, will be sharing the best secrets of the rich including:
Hello wealth hacker nation!
As our regulars know, I converted one of my single family homes from being rented to students to AirBnb after an awful experience with one tenant and then dealing with the pro-tenant, Landlord Tenant Board Tribunal.
Good friends of mine who have much experience with short term rentals told me how great the tenant profile is vs. long term tenants. Guests of short term rentals, or STR’s for short, are happy because they are on vacation and they have budget, otherwise they wouldn’t be taking vacation. My property is inspected more frequently, as my cleaners are there every week to inspect for maintenance and damage issues. Plus damages are paid for by the guest via their damage deposit vs. a long term rental landlord has to collect themselves, it comes out of pocket, possibly goes to small claims court, which can put the tenant into collections, and you’ll possibly not get paid, etc…
So is the grass greener on the other side? We will see, but so far in less than 72 hours we have $3,500 expected revenue for the month of June. Note, that’s inclusive of HST. Our first guests arrived yesterday and we had our first complaint already, LOL. Our grass is too long, as the grass growing conditions have been perfect and as a student rental, we had the house mowed every two weeks. Note, I raised the rent for this weekend from $250/night to $850/night because the Canadian Golf Championship is in town, so the rent is high but the lesson is to be aware of your market!! Many of my friends with STR’s did not adjust their rents as they weren’t aware of this major tourist event. Fun, useless fact of the day, my guests who booked golf week are from Florida. Also to note – the upfront investment is significant for time and capital to prepare a house for short-term renting, but I outsourced it all from renovations, cleaners, Property Management, and furnishing the house. I’ll be sharing how we did things from beginning to end at a future iWIN members meeting, plus all the technology involved to make the process completely automated. This episode is sponsored by our Wealth Hacker Conference on November 9th, and we just announced is our venue: the Toronto Congress Center – North Building next to Pearson Airport in Toronto. We also announced Pierre Paul Turgeon as one of our many Wealth Hacking Speakers. Pierre Paul is an old friend, the best teacher of apartment building investing, and he grew his own portfolio from zero to 22 million in only a few years. He walks the walk and talks the talk and he’s a good person as he donated several of his apartments to those who lost their homes in the Fort McMurray Fires in Alberta just a few years ago. Our keynote speaker is none other than New York Times Best Selling Author and leader of the 10X movement, owner of Cardone Capital with over $1 billion in real estate under management, our #1 pick and ultimate Wealth Hacker, Grant Cardone. To register go to www.wealthhacker.ca, the sooner you register the better the tickets and better the prices, so please don’t delay. Like many iWIN events, this one will sell out too.