First Rental Property

2008 – The Year of The Investment Group

At the very end of 2007, I finally realized that my true interest in real estate was with real estate investment and not real estate sales. It was at this point that I began to start reading a lot more about real estate investing. As I continued to real more about real estate investing I began to learn how little I knew about the topic. I also discovered that there were so many real estate investors out there in the real world. I committed to myself to seek out and learn from these people.

The more I read about real estate investing, the more I kept on coming across different real estate investment groups.

Joining a real estate investment group seemed like the next logical step for me, as I found that it was very difficult for me to come across and meet real estate investors any other way.

In April 2008 I joined my first real estate investment group. I was meeting as I had never before very impressed with the first meeting as I found myself in a room full of real estate investors…approximately 500 in total.

Heading into the meeting I was a bit sceptical as to how many true real estate investors would actually be in attendance. I also had my back up, as I thought that the real estate investors meeting would just be a high powered sales pitch in order to get you to join the group and pay membership fees.

Despite having a terrible memory, I can remember that first meeting like it was yesterday. I was sitting at a round table with 5 other people. We all took turns introducing ourselves. At this time, I had one investment property. I introduced myself and described my property. By reading my About Page, you know that my first rental property was a freehold townhouse in my hometown of Oakville, Ontario.

I was amazed when I found out that everyone else sitting at the table all owned at least one rental property.

There were 3 people that I remember from my table very clearly. They each had an interesting real estate investing history.

There was one guy who owned a six-plex in a suburb east of Toronto. The building was owned by his family. He managed the property, and collected the rent. His brother helped with the management as well, and mainly looked after the repair of the building. This particular gentleman found managing the property difficult at times, but he was committed to the investment, and understood that the benefits to real estate investing are realized over time.

There was another lady who had purchased a large home in downtown Toronto as a rental property. It was a very expensive purchase, and after hearing her tell her story, her analysis of the investment property did not make any sense to me. It seemed to me, by her explanation that she was not realizing a positive cash flow with the property. It was evident to me that she had purchased the property without doing much due diligence. It was definitely an emotional purchase.

There was another lady who owned a condo in a suburb west of Toronto and another multi-unit building southwest of Toronto.

This lady was very concerned as she was trying to sell her condo, as she was not realizing a positive monthly cash flow from this property. She was trying to be a little bit cheap as well, as she was not willing to hire the services of a real estate agent, and she was trying to sell the property herself.

About 2 years after this initial meeting, bring us to today. 2 of these 3 people are still members of the real estate investment group. I have not seen the guy with the six-plex in several months, which leads me to believe that he has left the group.

Joining a real estate investment group was definitely very instrumental for me. I joined the group at a time when I was ready to learn and embrace the teachings of other real estate investors.

The most important take away that I had from joining this real estate investment group can be explained in a few sentences.

I felt that if other people were investing in real estate and were successful doing it, there was no reason that I could not do the same!

Actually, I explained that in one sentence.  A run on sentence…

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Business Life Story Part One
Business Life Story Part Two
Business Life Story Part Three
Business Life Story Part Four
Business Life Story Part Six