If you are reading this and have not yet completed your business plan for 2011, STOP!

Stop everything you are doing this instant, and go and start you business plan now.  Don’t walk away from this planning exercise until you have finished it.  It is important to spend some focused time planning for the year ahead.  This is one of the most important tasks you can do….  Most successful people do this.  If you want to become successful, or become more successful than you currently are, you need to get into the habit of doing this

…Now that you have finished your business plan, let’s take a look at what happened at good ol First Rental Property this week!

Monday

Build a Real Estate Team You Can Be Proud Of

I thought that the graphic on this article might cause some controversy, as did the graphic on one of my posts at the myREINspace Forum.  Nevertheless, real estate teams in my opinion are what make or break an investor.  Check out how I draw multiple comparisons between Baseball and real estate in this creative post.

Check out the full article here

Wednesday

67 Reasons Why You Should Have Subscribed To First Rental Property months ago

When I sat down to write this post, I didn’t think it could be done.  I sat and stared blankly at the headline of the post, which I had written first.  I always write my headlines first. My empty stare lasted for about 60 seconds and then the juices started to flow.  I had toyed with the idea of coming up with 93 reasons.  I guess I can always do a ‘Part Two‘.  Chris Davies referred to my post as an ‘epic list’.  It definitely was!

Check out the full article here

Saturday (Christmas Day)

Why Every Real Estate Investor Should Celebrate Christmas

I thought twice about writing this post on Christmas Day.  Simply because I figured that a decreased number of people would be online and reading this blog.  Man, was I wrong!  The Internet never sleeps.  That is for sure.  Every real estate investor should celebrate Christmas or some form of it.  No IFs, ANDs or BUTs.  Period.

Check out the full article here

This week’s cool links:

How to Become Successful:  I thought that this article was great.  It was very well written, and it is a timely read especially at this time of the year, when we are planning for the upcoming year.  Kudos to Rita Putatunda for writing such a fantastic article.  Every real estate investor, whether experienced or novice can benefit from reading this article.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

PS: Get the First Rental Property Weekly Wrap delivered straight to your Inbox by subscribing to the blog.  Enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.

The most unsettling feeling you will have as a landlord is the first time you find out that your tenant is not going to pay you rent.  I have been there before, and I would compare this feeling to an adrenaline rush.  You become really fired up, and ready to take action.  I had to calm myself down the first time this happened to me, as I could feel my heart beating faster the moment I discovered that they were not going to pay their rent. 

I once heard an experienced real estate investor say, “If you have never had a tenant not pay you rent, you have not been investing in real estate long enough.” 

These words are very true.  The longer you spend as a real estate investor, and the more properties you potentially acquire results in your odds increasing that a tenant will be late with rent, or that a tenant will decide not to pay you at all.  Fellow REIN member and real estate investor, Chris Davies knows all about kicking out dead beat tenants. 

Tenants not paying rent is by far one of the biggest fears that newbie real estate investors have.  I would have to say that this fear ranks number 1, second to the fear of property management.

As a new or aspiring real estate investor, there is one thing that you need to understand very clearly.  If a tenant is not paying you rent, you have to be ready to kick some ass. 

This may seem like a harsh statement.  I don’t mean to come off as an aggressive or mean person, clearly I am not.  However, there is one thing that I do understand, and I understand this very well, and that is, no one is going to take v9 rolex day date m118348 0090 mens rolex calibre 2836 champagne jubilee dial gold tone advantage of me and compromise my real estate business.

As real estate investors, you have a lot on the line.  You have invested your money and time in order to buy real estate.  You have hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.  Your rental properties are assets that you have to take care of.  If you don’t take care of them, no one else will.

So what do you do if a you are a new real estate investor and your tenant decides not to pay you?

Here are some suggestions:

1) Leverage on your property manager

Despite what some people might tell you, I believe that having a good property manager is very important.  Your property manager should know the ins and outs of the rules of your local Real Estate and Tenant Board.  When the you know what hits the fan and your tenants decide not to pay you, your property manger can step in and issue all of the appropriate forms and documents to the tenant pertaining to their non-payment of rent.  The property manager is your ally.  Leverage on them.  They are experts in dealing with this type of situation.

2) Don’t be a wimp

I have heard so many stories from real estate investors who didn’t have the heart to evict their tenants because it was the winter.  I have heard of a couple of occasions in which Små Vapes real estate investors did not evict their tenants because they “did not have another place to live”. 

Plain and simple, you can’t be a wimp.  If you do, you will get eaten alive.  You are running a business.  You are not running a charity.  If tenants have not payed you, it is costing you money out of your pocket, and they are living for free in your rental property.  When the time comes, in which you are legally able to evict them, do it.  It doesn’t matter what the time of the year is and it doesn’t matter what excuse they have given you.  If they have not paid you, you get them out of there!

Real estate investors run into big problems when they lose sight that they are running a business. 

It is fine to be a nice person, but business is business.  Don’t get being nice confused with being a smart business operator.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: If you want to learn about other challenges that new and aspiring real estate investors face, subscribe to my blog.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

Before I dive into today’s blog post, I would like to thank fellow Canadian Real Estate Investor and Blogger Chris Davies.  I was chatting with Chris this week, and he gave me some great tips as to how I can improve my blog.  One of the blogs that he recommended to me that I am going to be leveraging in order to improve my blog is SEOmoz.  The SEOmoz blog has nothing to do with real estate investing, however, everything to do with Search Engine Optimization — which is something that I am going to be learning more about and integrating with First Rental Property.  Thanks again Chris!

Now for today’s blog post…

Today’s post was inspired by fellow Canadian Real Estate Investors and Bloggers Julie Broad and Dave Peniuk of Rev N You.

In Julie and Dave’s recent Rev N You Newsletter, they talked about figuring out your ‘why’ when you are buying rental property.

Over the past couple of years, they have met a number of real estate investors who have purchased 30 or more properties in a very short period of time.

Despite these large portfolios that these investors have accumulated in a very short period of time, they are not satisfied.  They are not satisfied because they never took the time to figure out WHY they were investing in the first place.

When I read this in Julie and Dave’s Newsletter, I knew exactly what they were talking about, because I see this happening as well with real estate investors that I know, or hear about.

It has been my observation that some real estate investors become obsessed with buying as many properties that they can.  Some investors ‘explode’ onto the real estate investing scene and buy a lot of properties REALLY fast.  Before the dust has settled, some find that they are in a situation in which they despise….very unhappy, and holding a large portfolio of rental properties.

For instance, they now have a lot of additional stress with the management of these properties and with dealing with all of their tenants.

Why it pays to be self aware…

Most Real Estate Investors just like most of the general population are not overly self aware.  Due to this lack of self awareness, people do things without really thinking why they are doing it.

Fortunately, I have always had a high degree of self awareness.  This has helped to guide me through my real estate investing career.  If and when I begin to question what I am doing, I have to stop and ask myself the reason why I am investing in real estate.

As a new real estate investor, being self aware is crucially important.  Generally speaking, the more self aware you are, the less stress you will cause yourself down the road.

Here is an example of what I mean…

Some new real estate estate investors think investing is all about money, and all about how many properties you can buy and how fast.

Fortunately, I came to realize early in my real estate investing career that it is not all about that.

This past year, I  had to turn down an individual who wanted to joint venture with me.  He was a guy with access to a large amount of capital and with experience in real estate.

When he first asked to joint venture with me, I struggled slightly with the decision making process, as all I saw were ‘dollar signs’, as I did not want to turn down this guy’s money.

Being the extremely self aware individual that I am, it did not take me long to figure out that I had to listen to my gut and not joint venture with this guy.

He was someone that did not have the same core values as myself.  He viewed life and business much differently than I did.  His time horizon for investing did not match up with mine.  Due to all these factors, my decision to turn him down was very easy.

Having only been investing in real estate for a little over 5 years now, I know well enough never to venture with someone who does not share the same core values that I do.  This in my mind is a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, there are so many investors who do not realize this and jump into partnerships with anyone, just because that other person has money to invest.  They get blinded by the dollar signs, and more often than not, are left cleaning up a mess and/or are completely miserable.

What I have learned by observing others…

I have been fortunate to learn a lot by watching what other investors do.

What I have learned is that in this point in my real estate investing career, I would only joint venture with family members (people that I am related to) or with people who have core values that match up closely with mine. (this could be close friends, friends or acquaintances — however, there has to be an alignment of core values)

Due to this decision on my part, it may take me longer to build my real estate portfolio, however, I will be much happier and will not be adding any unnecessary stress to my life by partnering with people just because they have money to invest.

So how many rental properties do you need to retire rich?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question.

This all comes down to your own personal goals.

As you can see from my example, I am choosing to grow my portfolio more organically…

It is perfectly okay to grow your portfolio in this manner.

If you are a new real estate investor, you may only need one rental property to meet your real estate investing goals.

Let’s say for example, you chose to purchase 3 properties.   Depending on your individual circumstance, there is no reason why you cannot do this on you own.  For some it may take a number of years to acquire 3 properties by yourself.  Whereas with others, it may only take a few months in order to achieve this.

At the end of the day it is important to remember:

• There is no ‘secret’ number of properties required to retire rich.
• It is completely fine to grow your portfolio organically (by yourself)
• If you do joint venture with someone, make sure that you are not doing it just for the money, and that your partner and yourself are well suited for one another.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your email 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 First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will be sharing how they purchased their first rental property.  They will also share with you some ‘tips’ and ‘tricks’ as to how to buy rental properties.

Greetings Everybody,

There are many skills that new real estate investors have to pick up quickly as soon as they start investing in real estate.

I have talked about the importance of organization as one of these skills in a previous article.

Another very important skill that a new real estate investor has to become good at fast is Marketing.

A real estate investor will have to market in the following ways:

1) Market the property as a rental to prospective tenants
2) Market the features of the property to prospective tenants
3) Market the property again in the event that the property goes vacant
4) Market the property for sale to prospective buyers, once the investor is looking to sell the property

In point number 4 above, the real estate investor may use the service of a Real Estate Agent in order to sell the property.  However, the real estate investor needs to understand the fundamentals of how a property is marketed for sale.  By knowing the fundamentals of how a property is sold, the investor will be able to determine if their Real Estate Agent is doing an adequate job or not.

Viral Marketing has increased dramatically with the birth of social media.

Real Estate Investors use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in order to market their properties for rent or for sale.

If these advertisements go ‘viral’, this is great for the real estate investor as a tremendous amount of people will view the particular advertisement.

At the bottom of this article, I have included a video that had gone viral over the Internet.  It was a commercial that was created by Old Spice that I first saw on Chris Davies’ Blog.

Watch this video and write a comment in the section below.  Why do you think this video was so popular?  Why do you think so many people liked the video?  Why would people be willing to ‘share’ this video versus the thousands upon thousands of other videos out there?

Here is the video:  (don’t forget to leave a comment)  🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE[/youtube]