Years ago, I spent several months backpacking around Guatemala. As my Spanish improved, I enjoyed going to markets to bargain for Mayan souvenirs or fresh fruit. My goal was to pay the same price as a local. I was having fun playing this little game until my new Australian friend witnessed me in action, bargaining for a beautiful hammock. As I was walking away because the vendor wouldn’t lower her price a little more, my friend said, “You realize that you are getting all worked up over what is about 10 cents. At home, you would pay 50 times that ...
I almost missed out on making $100,000! My husband took me to see a rental property he wanted to buy - and though we could buy it without spending a penny of our own money, I didn’t really want it.
My husband and I recently turned down a tenant’s request for blinds in the living room of one unit of a triplex. (They were unhappy with the “dirty curtains” on the window.) At the same time, we agreed to put a new toilet in another unit.
Real estate investing has given my husband and me a great deal of freedom to do what we want with our lives. Whether we decide to putter around the yard, go mountain biking, or focus on our Internet business, we are making money from our properties. Many would say we’re earning passive income, but we no longer do.
When you start looking for a rental property to buy, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all of the places that are on the market. Your realtor may be sending you a bunch of listings, and you may have a list of properties you’ve found on websites like Realtor.com. How do you know which ones are worth looking at further?
Real estate can be an instant wealth creator… as long as you learn a critical lesson about deal making. When my husband and I purchased a duplex, we instantly added $20,000 to our net worth and $500/month positive cash flow to our pockets. And we did it simply by getting to the heart of the seller’s problem and offering a perfect solution.
Thanks to low interest rates and increasing rental rates, my husband and I are enjoying more cash flow from our rental properties than ever before. Sure, our properties aren’t worth quite as much as they were last year. But they are still making us money. And because we purchased in desirable areas, we know they will increase in value over time.
The main reason my husband and I were able to build a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio in less than eight years is because we found a few trustworthy partners...
We felt swindled. We’d spent nearly $20,000 on several instructional programs, on a mentor for our real estate investments, and to incorporate. Despite all of that, my husband and I found ourselves in court trying to defend fire code violation charges for a six-unit property we’d purchased.
Thanks to real estate investing, I no longer have to work full-time. If I want to go hiking in the mountains with my dog in the middle of the day, I can. If my husband and I want to pop up to Whistler to ski, we do it mid-week to avoid the crowds.
Owning and managing rental properties can be very profitable. (From just two rental properties, my husband and I make $1,200/month in positive cash flow.) As a rental property owner, you may find yourself dealing one-on-one with tenants. Make sure you handle these encounters as business transactions, and don’t let your emotions - or your desire to fill a unit - prevent you from making sound business choices.
Just as The Joker is to Batman and Dr. Evil is to Austin Powers, rent control is the landlord’s enemy. Supporters of rent control claim that without it many people couldn’t afford housing. But what happened to the basics of economics? The law of supply and demand should determine what your rental unit is worth, not the government.
Renting out your real estate properties is a great way to make money - in almost any market. But if you’re just starting out, there are some pitfalls you need to be aware of. One of the costliest is tenant turnover.
You might think that the best way to sell your house in a slumping market is to price it low and then just get it listed on every website you can. But you may find, like many of my neighbors have, that is not enough.
Seven years ago, the real estate market where I live - the west coast of Canada - was in a serious slump. Crushed by the Asian crisis of the late 1990s, the Greater Vancouver area just couldn’t seem to rally back. Houses languished on the market, and often slipped into foreclosure. Price reductions were the norm. It was a tough time.
In Stephen Covey’s best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he recommends that you “begin with the end in mind.” And the same goes for real estate investments. It doesn’t matter if you plan to live in the property, rent it out, or renovate and flip it… before you buy, envision yourself selling it.
When you’re just starting out in the real estate business, take advantage of what others have already learned through experience… without sacrificing your own time and money. Here, for example, is a scam that you can sidestep by learning from my own mistake.
The Canadian real estate market isn't just for Canadians. Americans may wish to find shelter from the faltering housing market in the U.S. by making some Canadian investments. But first, there are some things you need to know.
When you get to know an area intimately, you can spot deals and snap up a property before anyone else.