Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well.
It has been quite some time indeed since my last installment of my Business Life Story. It has been so long that many of you probably don’t remember the previous posts, or have not been subscribed long enough to receive them.
Fortunately, I am able to share all installments with you, with just a simple click of your mouse, you can relive my ‘story’ by checking out the previous installments below. By reading through the articles, you can learn how I became a real estate investor, and learn about the path that I took in order to get to where I am today.
Business Life Story Part Three
Business Life Story Part Five
Business Life Story Part Six
In the Business Life Story Part Six, I discussed the first 2 property purchases. In this installment, I am going to describe the remainder of the property purchases.
After my second property purchase in October 2008, I went on to buy 3 more properties between October 2008 until August 2010.
At the time of writing, it is November 12th 2010 and I own 5 rental properties in total.
The three properties that I purchased between October 2008 and August 2010 have all been located in Hamilton, Ontario Canada.
The fact that I purchased these properties in this particular market had a lot to do with the education I received from my real estate investment group, which is called The Real Estate Investment Network, more affectionately referred to by it’s members as REIN.
My association with REIN allowed me to and continually allows me to meet very smart entrepreneurs, business owners, and savvy real estate investors. Many of these people have helped in making me smarter. I have become smarter as an investor simply by observing what other more successful people are doing and trying to recreate what they are doing to the best of my ability.
My three Hamilton properties are all generating positive monthly cash flow. To the novice investor this means that with the monthly rent that I collect, I am able to pay for all of the monthly expenses and still have some money left over as my profit each month. The fact that I could buy these properties in Hamilton and cash flow them monthly was a big selling feature which resulted in me buying these properties.
A number of years ago, Hamilton was identified as a region in Ontario with a very bright future. Jobs are being created in this area, and where there is job growth, real estate values are always effected in a positive manner.
My plans are to continue to grow my portfolio of rental properties. I am keeping a careful eye on the management of these properties. I am always looking to move forward and acquire more properties by partnering up with the right joint venture partner.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, it is good to exercise extreme due diligence when selecting joint venture partners.
Through my association with REIN and after meeting a large number of real estate investors, I began to notice that a good number of these members had different types of products and services related to real estate that they sold.
Some people were Realtors, some people offered real estate services at a cost, and some people sold real estate informational products.
Watching all these people essentially ‘monetize’ real estate products and services really got me thinking as to how I could do this myself.
After some careful thought and some research on my end, I decided that I would establish my own real estate blog. It was at this time that First Rental Property was born!
Picking the focus for the blog was easy for me. I have always been genuinely interested in helping other people. Therefore the theme of providing knowledge and confidence to new and aspiring real estate investors made complete sense to me. I knew that this was a topic that I could write about with great ease.
Although my intent was to monetize First Rental Property from day one, I have yet to do so. The blog has been in existence for about one year now and I have not generated any revenue from the blog.
I have enjoyed building a large readership, however, the monetization of the blog has always been the plan. As the blog continues to grow, I will be incorporating different monetization strategies into the blog.
The Future
As far as the future is concerned, I plan to continue to actively manage my real estate portfolio. I will continue to acquire more properties with joint venture partners, and continue to produce quality content for First Rental Property, as well as to incorporate monetization strategies as the blog continues to develop.
Best Regards,
Neil Uttamsingh
PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog. To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog. In the newsletter experienced real estate investors will share with you tips and tricks on how to buy your first rental property.
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