This week we are talking to Steve Kulakowsky, co-owner of Core Urban Inc., where him and partner Dave have renovated and converted a 26 unit apartment building into condos, turned a former school into 36 condos, and transformed a few other dated and rough buildings into attractive, interesting places for people to call home in and around downtown Hamilton. Steve’s story in his rise to fame and success contains many lessons for new and old investors, so I’m really excited to share his story with you. Do make sure to check out Steve’s portfolio on his website at www.coreurban.ca/projects/ as words do not do justice to what Steve means by “interesting places”

Check out this article as well on Why restaurant veterans are ditching Toronto for Hamilton. The article mentions several restaurants located in Steve’s buildings on King William in downtown Hamilton.  The article says a lot about why people from all walks of life are moving to Hamilton. Quoting the article “$25-a-day parking, brutal traffic, high prices, miserable people and the money-rules corporate restaurant scene.”

Reading between the lines, these restaurant professionals are quitting their jobs to start their own ventures in Hamilton partly because the spaces, rent, renovation costs are so much less.

If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a review on which ever platform you’re using. If you’d like to say thanks to Steve, I’m sure he’d appreciate you dining at one of his tenant’s restaurants, or if you know a commercial property coming up for sale please let Steve know!

To reach out to Steve, you can contact him through his website here: http://www.coreurban.ca/general-inquiries/

On twitter: https://twitter.com/coreurban

Podcast available here:

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

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

Thanks for listening! Until next time!

Charles Wah was born and raised in Hamilton where he invests in many forms of real estate, from rent to own, long term hold, a commercial building and, for the topic of today’s discussion, land development where they have two proposed developments for a total of 150 townhouses.  Charles is a full time entrepreneur and co-founder of the Gateway Group, his real estate and development company.

Charles was a finalist for Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine’s newcomer of the year, he is a proud member of the Real Estate Investment Network, a Rock Star VIP member, Hamilton-Halton Builders’ Association, and Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. Charles is always looking to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs to network and raise each other up.

In his personal life, Charles is a sports fanatic, especially soccer. We’re actually attending Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference Final tonight to cheer on the Toronto Football Club and depending on when you’re listening to this, hopefully we won! So without further ado, I give you Land Developer, Charles Wah.

Podcast available here:

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

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

In this episode we discuss:

• The family real estate business
• Why Canada over Malaysia, I heard the beaches there are lovely
• The decision to go full time real estate entrepreneur
• Feedback on the different networks he belongs to: REIN, Rock Star, etc…
• Why focus on land development?
• Financing land acquisition
• What’s a vendor take back mortgage?
• Starting out
• Target return on investment
• Stage of land development
• What to look for in a parcel of land
  • Location (transit, infrastructure, schools, shopping, other amenities, is the surrounding area mature or being developed?, etc)
  • Is the surrounding area mature or being developed?
  • Are there subdivisions in the area? If so, are they single family houses, townhouses, etc?
  • Sources of noise (commercial, industrial, road, highway, etc
  • Access to a highway
  • Lot size and layout (square, rectangle, pie shape, irregular, etc)
  • Lot grading (flat, sloped, etc) including any topographical constraints (e.g. steep slopes)
  • Zoning
  • Designation under the municipality's Official Plan (may differ from zoning)
  • What density is allowed in the current zoning and designation? What is the existing density in the surrounding area? Does your proposal fit the character of the neighbourhood?
  • Are there any environmentally sensitive features such as woodland, watercourses, etc? If so, are they regulated by any
  • local conservation authorities? What setbacks will be required from these features and how much of the property can be developed?
  • Are there municipal services (sanitary and water) available at the street?
  • Are there any existing buildings? If so, can they be rented out to mitigate costs in the short term? Are the buildings on septic or sewers, well water or municipal water? Are there any heritage designations?
  • Is the property on a major road or side road?
  • History of the site
  • Any possibilities of contamination in the soil?
• Costs for development
  • Land Acquisition
  • Development Soft Costs and Professional Fees
    • Legal
    • Planner
    • Architectural
    • Landscape Architect
    • Traffic
    • Environmental
    • Geotechnical/Soil Tests
    • Noise/Vibration
    • Stormwater Management
    • Archaeological
    • Marketing
    • Financial Consultants
    • Engineering
    • Surveying
  • Servicing Costs (i.e. Hard Costs)
    • Demolition
    • Tree Removal
    • Silt Fencing
    • Signage
    • Earthworks
    • Miscellaneous Site Works
    • Stripping/Grading
    • Fill Requirement
    • Hydro
    • Street Lighting
    • Road Works
    • Sanitary
    • Water
    • Stormwater
    • Lots/Street Trees
    • Landscaping
    • Entry Features
    • Retaining Walls
    • Fencing
    • Parks
  • Municipal Costs
    • Application Fees
    • Engineering Fees
    • Utility Fees
    • City Development Charges
    • Regional Development Charges
    • Park Levies
    • Special Area Levies
    • Credits/Recoveries
    • Local Improvement Charges
  • Finance Costs
• Skills a developer needs
• Tools and resources
  • Google Earth Pro
  • Hamilton Maps (http://map.hamilton.ca/)
    • City Of Hamilton’s online interactive mapping tool which contains lots of useful information. For example, not only can you see zoning but you can also view infrastructure on the map such as sanitary and water to see if the land is serviced.
  • MPAC (https://www.aboutmyproperty.ca/)
• Advise for novices

Diane is possibly the most highly rated Property Manager that I personally know.  Diane operates a highly successful property management company in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge and every referral I’ve ever sent her has glowing feedback.  Each year, her company manages over 600-700 tenants across student rentals, apartment buildings, small multi-family, rent-to-own, and single family homes. It also helps that Diane is a practicing Paralegal who takes tenants to court when needed. She can practically recite the entire Landlord Tenant Act so tenants know not to question her authority.

In this episode we discuss:

• The truth about appearances on social media
• Diane’s most recent acquisition and the numbers
• Who shouldn’t invest in real estate
• How to spot bed bugs
• How to avoid getting fleas on you
• Ideal neighbourhoods in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
• What happens to a market when rental licensing is introduced
• Tips on managing tenants
• Type of property for maximum appreciation
• Ease of permitting basement suiting between different towns
• Are student condos good investments?
• Advice on choosing locations for student rental properties
• Dealing with asbestos in your building

If you would like to reach out to Diane, here is her email: acso@rogers.com and website: http://www.thehome4u.ca/

Podcast available here:

Google Play: http://goo.gl/CAM5Mn
On itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

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

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Truth About Real Estate Investing for Canadians where it is my pleasure to deliver to you lessons and stories of inspiration to assist you in your journey to financial freedom. This week we have Rock Star investor Chris Tan who was born in the Philippines, moved to Canada in 2010 with little money, yet he bought his first investment property before his 2^nd anniversary of immigrating to Canada. Chris and his wife, Alou, even bought their 2^nd investment property before buying a home or a car for themselves.

No car? Then how did he get from his home in Mississauga, ON to Kitchener, ON? Chris and his wife would rent a car for each trip to view properties in Kitchener, ON.  After closing on the house, Chris and his wife would rent a car to clean the property and sleep over in the vacant house for tenant showings the next day. They did this each week for a few months as the house did not rent right away and they did it again when they bought their 2^nd investment property.  At no time did they ever complain. No one even knew they didn’t own a car until Chris asked Mike, his Rock Star coach, advice about buying his first car.

I’m inspired by Chris and Alou’s story because they had every excuse in the world to not try to get ahead in life through investing in real estate. They just arrived in Canada, they didn’t own their home or a car, yet they got things done. No complaints, no excuses, just get it done.

I am honoured and humbled to share their story with you.

In this episode we discuss:

• Searching for the right real estate training
• A reminder how lucky we are to be Canadians
• Lessons from multi-level marketing
• Close to $1,000 in car rental fees as part of Chris’ investing
• The Marshmallow Test: delayed satisfaction
• Chris’ worst case scenario
• Rent to own investing in Kitchener, Ontario
• The importance of one-on-one Coaching with Coach Mike Desormeaux (Mike@rockstarbrokerage.com) and how it made all the difference
• Advice for those just starting out

If you’d like to reach out to Chris, here’s his email catanrto (at) gmail.com

Podcast available here:

On itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

Or direct:

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

 

For this week’s episode we have Police Constable, Jules Mckenzie, successful real estate entrepreneur in the Barrie/Orillia area of Ontario. Jules has held an interest in 50 separate real estate properties and is the operations manager in over 12 joint venture partnerships

The truth about Jules’ rise to success as an investor is that back in 2001 he took some unsophisticated real estate investing courses not specific to Canada. Jules was taught to call his creditors to extend lines of credit and apply for more credit card capacity to be used to finance down payments and renovations on run down rental properties. Unfortunately, the strategy did not work out and Jules had accumulated over $140,000 in expensive credit card and line of credit debt.

How did he climb out of this hole to become an ultra-successful investor? Have a listen to this week’s episode titled, the Jules of Real Estate Investing. Without further ado, I introduce to you, Jules Mckenzie.

 

Podcast available here:

On itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/truth-about-real-estate-investing…/id1100488294
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=87335&refid=stpr

or direct:

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

If you would like to reach out to Jules, you can do so here:

Web: http://www.mckenzieproperties.ca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jules.mckenzie.50/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjulesmckenzie

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julesmckenzie

 

Happy real estate investing everyone!