6 sleeps until Christmas.  This usually means one of 2 things for me…

1) I still have presents to buy for family and friends, or:

2) I have completed all of my shopping.

This year, I am happy to say that I have completed all of my shopping.  Which means that I will be able to avoid the hectic shopping malls during the home stretch of the Christmas shopping season.

This was a busy week for First Rental Property. Video content was re-introduced to the blog.

Monday

What Everybody Ought To Know About The World’s Richest Man

Making money is not important to the world’s richest man.  The most important thing to him is his family.  There are some great lessons that aspiring real estate investors can learn from this remarkable man.

Read the full post here

Wednesday

How To Find Tenants That Pay You On Time

If you have been in the real estate investing game long enough, you will have tenants that won’t pay you.  This is a reality of the life as a real estate investor.  You can however minimize the chances of non payment of rent.  It takes a little bit of planning, but it CAN be done…

Read the full post here

Thursday

How I Became A Successful Real Estate Investor

I became a successful real estate investor because I refused to think like everybody else.  Aspiring real estate investors can become successful as well.  It takes a disciplined approach.  Find out exactly what you need to do to become successful by reading this post.

Read the full post here

Friday

Who Else Wants Birthday Cake?

First Rental Property celebrated it’s first birthday this past Friday. There are going to be some big changes for the blog during  it’s second year.  Read this article to find out what is in store for the blog in the coming year.

Read the full post here

This week’s cool links:

Donald Trump’s Top Three Tips For Dominating Your Niche: Donald Trump is in a league of his own. He is a real estate developer extraordinaire. He has specific strategies that he executes with great precision. These strategies have helped to make him a real estate giant.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: If you like First Rental Property, don’t keep it a secret!  Tweet this article or share it on Facebook.

PPS: Subscribe to First Rental Property and sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter.

“Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday Dear First Rental Propertyyyyyyy.  Happy Birthday to you!”

Guess how old First Rental Property is?

One year old, as of today.

The first article that I posted to First Rental Property was on December 17th 2009.

The blog has come a long way thanks to all of it’s great readers!

The next year for First Rental Property is going to be very exciting.

Check out my video in order to find out what is in store for First Rental Property in it’s second year.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps:  You will also want to check out the first five blog posts ever written for First Rental Property.  Here they are:

How To Find The Money To Buy A Rental Property

4 Crucial Tips When Selecting A Mortgage Broker

How To Become A Better Real Estate Investor

Real Estate Investors Are Liars

What Is A Transitional Area?

pps: Be a part of the excitement of First Rental Property during it’s second year.  Don’t miss out! Subscribe to the blog today!

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You are defeated and wondering how this all happened to you.  Your tenants have not paid you for 2 months.  They are showing no signs that they will ever pay you again.  You are now out of pocket and paying the mortgage on your rental property from your personal savings.  You are wondering how long this can go on for.  Your ROI is diminishing and so are your spirits.  You are questioning why you ever became a real estate investor…

If this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone.  Any veteran real estate investor has more than likely experienced non payment of rent.  Non payment of rent, whether deliberate or accidental is a reality that real estate investors face.

You might be happy to hear that you can stack the odds in your favour and find tenants who are more likely to pay you on time.

This can be accomplished by following these simple rules:

1) Be strategic in WHERE you buy your first rental property

New real estate investors are guilty of ‘following the crowd’.  As a new real estate investor, you can learn a tremendous amount from experienced real estate investors who are members of real estate investment clubs.  The knowledge that you gain from them is invaluable.  However, do not confuse knowledge with awareness.  Let me explain…

Some real estate investors tend to buy properties located in specific towns, neighbourhoods, and even specific streets.  Areas become well known within real estate investor circles for having a ‘high density’ of rental properties.

Enter Mistake #1 made by new real estate investors

These areas may not have the tenant profile that you personally want to attract.  For instance, located in these areas could exist a transient tenant population that generally pays their rent, however is always late in doing so.  A questions you must ask yourself now is:  Were you aware of this before you invested in this area, or did you just simply follow the crowd because everyone was investing there?

2) Know what type of tenant profile you want to deal with before you buy your first rental property

Sounds simple, right?!  You would think so, but it is not common sense to new real estate investors.  Before you invest in real estate, you have to ask yourself what your comfort level is in dealing with people from different socio-economic backgrounds.  Are you comfortable in dealing with white collar workers, or do you feel more comfortable and relaxed when dealing with blue collar workers?

Knowing what type of tenant profile you prefer dealing with helps.  However, what is most important is to understand the financial stability of that tenant profile before you buy your first rental property is essential.

For example, the first rental property that I bought is located in a middle class area of town in a suburb of Toronto.  In the neighbourhood there lives middle to high income earners.  As such, the renters in this area for the most part are all middle to high income earners. In over 5 years, I have not had any issue with non payment of rent at this property.

For my first rental property, I knew that I wanted to attract a higher income earning tenant profile.  As a result, I bought my property in a nice area, that was experiencing population growth, and where higher income earners were living and wanted to move to…

Finding tenants that pay you on time may seem easier said than done.  However, if you are a self aware individual you will know that the location where you buy your rental property and the tenant profile that you are attracting will determine whether or not you get paid on time consistently or not.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS:  Do you want your rent paid on time?  Stack the odds in your favour.  Subscribe to my blog today!

This week it got COLD in Toronto, especially today.  I guess I should not complain as some parts of South Western Ontario got upwards of 90 centimeters of snow in less than a week.  For my American friends, 90 centimeters is approximately 35 inches!

Instead of heading out today and braving the cold, I am hiding out in the warm indoors and writing the First Rental Property’s Weekly Wrap.

Contrary to popular belief, it does not snow all year round in Canada.  We actually DO have a summer.

There’s nothing like Toronto smog on a humid August afternoon!

Monday:

Who else Wants Their Rent Paid on Time?

If all landlords followed the advice in this article, they would save themselves a lot of pain and agony.  Unfortunately, some people like to suffer, and chose not to be proactive.  Landlords included.  Join the increasing number of landlords that are dropping the gloves when their rent is not paid on time.

Read the full post here

Tuesday:

Who else Wants Multiple Streams of Income?

Modern day real estate investors are making money in so many different ways.  Gone are the days of relying just on cash flow generated from rental properties.  Real estate investors are collecting multiple streams of income through Internet marketing.  Want to learn how you can do this yourself?  Read this post…

Read the full post here

This week’s cool links:

Diva Money Club: If you want to learn how you can take real estate investing to the next level, you need to check out this link.  Some of my fellow real estate bloggers share their secrets as to how they generated multiple streams of income through their real estate business.

The Secrets of a Baseball Ironman: Cal Ripken Jr. – Every veteran real estate investor knows “The Secret”.  The “secret” to surviving as a real estate investor over the long term is perseverance.  No one knows perseverance better than the baseball great, Cal Ripken Jr.  This is a great article written by The Karadza Brothers.  You need to check this one out.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: If you liked this blog post, or any of the links contained in it, please do the following:

1) Share this post via Facebook or Twitter.

2) Subscribe to my blog.

Cash flow from real estate is only the beginning when creating multiple streams of income.   We now live in an age in which multiple streams of income can be derived through methods such as monetization and affiliate marketing programs. If you are a new or aspiring real estate investor, it is never too early for you to start learning about how to generate multiple streams of income.

The truth of the matter is that the new age real estate investor generates cash flow not only from their real estate holdings, however, also from a variety of different forms.   

I myself am a student of creating multiple streams of income, and this is something that I am continually working towards achieving with my real estate business. 

For over a year now, I have been fortunate to follow and watch the best practices of fellow real estate entrepreneurs, Julie Broad, Shae Bynes and Steph Davis.

I became familiar with Julie, Shae, and Steph via the BiggerPockets Real Estate Blog. As fellow real estate bloggers, we all would frequent this site and leave comments on articles.  A common marketing strategy used by bloggers. 

Julie, Shae and Steph write blog articles for BiggerPockets.  One of my goals is to become a contributor to this real estate blog created by Josh Dorkin.

On the topic of multiple streams of income and the business of real estate, I was very happy to learn of a new initiative that Julie, Shae, and Steph are working on.

These ladies are disclosing for the first time publicly the steps that they all took in creating their multiple streams of income as it relates to the business of real estate. 

They are all full time real estate investors, and have named this new initiative The Diva Money Club. 

As the 3 ladies mention, this program was created for the ladies. However, there is a great deal that they guys can learn by following the methods that they each have taken.

I personally am going to be following their Diva Money Club and learning about the different paths that they took.

If you are a new or aspiring real estate investor, you must check this out as well. 

Creating multiple streams of income is what the business of real estate investing is all about.

Check out the Diva Money Club now.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: To learn more about earning multiple streams of income through real estate, subscribe to my 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.

…I told him that I knew a number of property managers that would be able to help him.  As  result of my brief 10 minute conversation with him, he is now considering taking on a property manager.  He was formerly considering selling his rental property and paying a mortgage penalty of over $15,000.  By taking on a property manager, he will not have to sell his property, and as a result pay this mortgage penalty.  I was able to save him $15,000 instantly, just because I knew somebody that he did not know…

As a new real estate investor looking to buy your first rental property, you may be hearing experienced real estate investors tell you that you need to have a strong network around you in order to succeed.

This network should consist of a strong Realtor, property manager, mortgage broker, real estate accountant, and real estate lawyer just to name a few.

There is no question that a strong network will help you to succeed as a real estate investor.  The network will help you out at times when you feel like completely giving up.

How do you establish a network?

1)  You need to have people in your life that support you.

First, it is important to have a supportive network of people around you  that know nothing about real estate. This network of people serve more as your supporters, rather than real estate investment advisers.  They support you in everything that you do.  They do not judge you or hold you back.  You can have friends and or family members as your supporters.  It is important to note here, that you cannot survive just with a network of supporters that know nothing about real estate investing.  You will also need a network of people to support you that know a lot about real estate investing…

2) You need to join a Real Estate Investment Club

Real Estate Investors that fail, have no one to support them with their real estate business when the going gets tough.  I have met many landlords that get burnt out and sell their rental properties out of frustration.  If they had simply hired a quality property manager, this could have helped them out significantly, by taking a lot of stress ‘off of their plate’.  At a time in which they may have felt like throwing in the towel all together, the property manager would be able to provide a lot of support by dealing with a lot of the issues that would be stressful to the landlord.

You will also need a separate group of supporters in your life that have specialized real estate knowledge.  Many of these supports you can meet by attending real estate investment club meetings.  A great real estate investment club that I am a part of is The Real Estate Investment Network.  I have met many fellow real estate investors here that have become great supporters of mine.

3)  You cannot invest in a silo

Real estate investing is a team support.  Someone who gets started as an investor, and thinks that they can tackle everything on their own is in for a rude awakening.  You cannot do everything yourself.  I was speaking to someone this week that owned a rental property in Ontario, Canada  however, lives in Alberta, Canada.  For those of you not familiar with the geography of Canada, take a look to see how far apart these provinces are…

He currently has NO property management for his rental property, so he has to fly to Ontario to show his property to prospective tenants when it is vacant and to deal with any tenant issues.  He is currently dealing with some tenant issues now, and has to take some days off of work in order to handle this problem.  This can only go on for so long, until the stress takes him over completely.  I am getting him in touch with property management, that will be able to help him with the management of his property while he is in Alberta. 

Surviving as a real estate investor is simple.  The secret is that you need people to support you.

If it wasn’t for key members on my real estate team, I probably would have given up when the going got tough for me.  I would not have been able to make it this far without a supportive network.

What provided me with the strength to get through the tough times, and what will provide you with the strength to get through tough times will be your network of people.

So what do you do if you are a new real estate investor or an aspiring real estate investor, and you do not have a strong network of people around you?

1. The first thing I can suggest, is to post your comment at the bottom of this post, let us know where you are and what problem you are facing.  Are you looking for property management, are you looking for a Realtor that deals with real estate investors?  Do you need a real estate lawyer?  We have enough people following this blog that will be able to help you out.  So post your comment, and I will encourage others to chime in and help you out by providing a response.
2. If you do not feel comfortable posing your name, issue or problem in the comments section, feel free to e-mail me.  I know real estate investors primarily in North America and Europe.  As a result, if you are in a certain State in the US, and need a recommendation for a property manager, I am sure that we can get you in touch with someone that will be able to help you.  Also, depending upon which country you live in, in Europe, we may be able to help you as well.

One of the points I hope that I have expressed in this post is that real estate investors fail because they don’t have support.

If you don’t have it already, you will be amazed at what a little support can do for you and your real estate business.  Start surrounding yourself with supportive people.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: My blog is awesome!  Follow me by entering your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.   To receive the famous 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 share with you how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks to help you get started.

You know you are good when the media is always contacting you for interviews. 

This is the life of Don R. Campbell.  Don is the President of The Real Estate Investment Network.

I am a proud member of The Real Estate Investment Network and I have previously spoken about the many advantages of becoming a REIN member .  I have also spoken about reasons  not to become a REIN Member.

The media, especially the Canadian media loves Don R. Campbell, because he is an authority on the real estate investment world.

Today is an important day for you if you are a new real estate investor.

Don will be featured on the hit TV Show Inside Toronto Real Estate. 

My friend and fellow real estate investor, Brian Persaud of Real Experts Inc. will be speaking to Don in detail about the real estate investing landscape.

If you are in the Toronto area, tune in to Rogers TV tonight at 7pm. 

If you are outside of the Toronto area, check your local listings for the availability of this show.

Hopefully soon, there will be online streaming of Brian’s shows on the web.  As a result, you will be able to get caught up with all of the great episodes and guests that Brian has had on the show. 

So once again, if you are in the Toronto area, tune in tonight at 7pm to Rogers TV.  If you are outside of this area, check your local listings.

I will keep you all up to date when full episodes of Inside Toronto Real Estate become available on the web.

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 First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they purchased their first rental property.  They will also share with you tips and tricks in order to help you get started.

Just because someone talks the talk, doesn’t mean that they walk the walk. 

Many new real estate investors believe that in order to be successful, they have to ride on the coat tails of other real estate investors that are more successful than they are. This is an absolutely true statement.  In order to become a better real estate investor, you need to learn from those that are better than you.

However, you have to be very careful about this.

Just because someone has more experience than you with real estate investing, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best person that you should be dealing with or learning from.

How do I know this?

• Over my real estate investing career, I have tried to learn from more experienced real estate investors that were not interested in teaching me.
• In the past, I have been associated with real estate investors, who had become a part of my real estate investing team, that did not have my best interest at heart.
• I have had to deal with real estate professionals that have lied to me, in order to cover up mistakes on their part.
• I have dealt with real estate professionals and investors that just wanted to take from me, and had nothing to offer in return.
• I have been associated with negative real estate investors and professionals who brought my spirits down, simply because I was associated with them.  Their negativity wore off on me.

Your  Real Estate Team will consist of very important people such as your real estate accountant, real estate lawyer, Realtor, and property manager and mortgage broker just to name some. 

Further, your real estate team can also consist of other real estate investors.  These people serve as a great resource for you, as you can often go to them and ask them for advice on how to deal with real estate related problems.  One of my real estate investing buddies is Todor Yordanov of Proactive Investments.  We often bounce ideas off one another, which really helps both of us to learn.  He is a stand up guy.  He and I share similar values, and I am happy to have him on my team. 

As a new real estate investor, it is imperative that you only deal with real estate investors or real estate professionals that share the same values that you do.

The statement that I just made is so important, and I believe in it so much, that I am going to repeat it again…

As a new real estate investor, it is imperative that you only deal with real estate investors or real estate professionals that share the same values that you do.

If you are a respectful, loyal and honest person, it is important that all the real estate professionals and real estate investors that you deal with and surround yourself with share these same values.

It is a tremendously uncomfortable feeling when you have a real estate team member that does not share the same values that you do.  This creates a lot of tension, and it is a recipe for disaster in the long term.  It is a recipe for disaster because issues will arise that the 2 of you do not see eye to eye on.  If they have a completely different approach and are perhaps dishonest with how they deal with things, it is going to get on your nerves!  Ask me how I know this?

Further, I strongly believe that you should never have real estate professionals on your team that lie to you.  If honesty is a value that you hold high, why would you want to have a team member that is always lying to you?

It just doesn’t make sense.  Not only does it not make sense, it is also extremely frustrating as I mentioned above.  It personally drives me nuts!

New real estate investors or experienced real estate investors should never let their real estate team hold them down. 

Get rid of people that do not share the same set of values that you do.

Life will become a lot easier….

Real estate investing will become a lot easier, once you only surround yourself by team members that share the same values that you do.

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 First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you tips and tricks to help you get started.

Keeping up to date with our real estate education can be increasingly difficult at times.  As a new real estate investor you have to constantly educate yourself on the topic of real estate.  There are a lot of real estate blogs being read today.  This  can be a both good and bad.  It is important to know what information and blogs are credible, and what information is worth spending your time reading.   On the flip side, it is important to know what blogs and information to steer clear of, due to the fact that these blogs may have inaccurate information or due to the fact that some of the information on them may be misleading. 

In this post I am going to highlight 2 very important blogs.

I am not providing you with an exhaustive list,  however, what I am providing you with are two of the most important blogs that I believe exist right now for real estate entrepreneurs. 

When I use the words ‘real estate entrepreneur’, I am referring both to new and aspiring real estate investors, in addition, I am also referring to experienced real estate investors who operate blogs as part of their  real estate business.  

As you all know, I normally focus just on the new and aspiring real estate investor.  However, in today’s post I am going to be speaking directly to some experienced real estate investors as well.  I hope you don’t mind.  Leave me a comment in the section below to let me know what you thought of me addressing the experienced real estate investors as well…

First and Foremost, to the new and aspiring real estate investors, I want you to know 2 important things… 

YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE REI NEWSWATCH BLOG

If you are not following this blog already, I want you to do so.  The blog is called Real Estate Investing News Watch.  More commonly referred to asREI Newswatch, this blog provides content on a daily basis, highlighting the work of a number of different real estate bloggers. 

I have followed this blog for some time, as they very often highlight many of my articles and share these articles with their readers. 

I would like you to follow this blog, because there is a lot that you can learn from reading the content there. 

Much like I do, I would suggest that you visit this blog regularly and scroll through the different articles and click on the ones that interest you the most, and read them. 

The quality of the writers on this blog is high, and I have seen some of my fellow real estate blogging buddies like Shae Bynes featured on their blog as well.

Please note that there is content on REI Newswatch that applies to both Canadian real estate investors and American real estate investors.Since most of you that follow my blog are from Canada and the US, pay close attention as to what articles you are reading and make sure that the articles are relevant to you.

For my readers from other parts of the world, mainly Africa and Europe, I recommend that you read the articles written by the Canadian authors, as some of the investing strategies in the US may not be relevant to you and your real estate market.

Before, I move on and talk about the next very important Blog for real estate entrepreneurs, I would like to thank the people over at REI Newswatch for following my blog and supporting me in the way that you have.  Thank you!

…and now for the real estate entrepreneurs!

YOU NEED TO FOLLOW COPYBLOGGER

Copyblogger is one of the most popular blogs in the world.  As a real estate investor/blogger, there are tonnes of things that you can learn from following this blog, in order to better your writing skills and your own personal real estate blog.

I myself  am studying this blog, and learning the best practices of  some of the best bloggers in the world.

I am doing this so that I can provide great content and tremendous value to my readers.

The fact that my blog is dramatically increasing in popularity by the day is no accident.  It is because I am learning from the best over at Copyblogger.

To my new and aspiring real estate investors.  Thank you for letting me indulge and address the experienced real estate investors in today’s post.  Let me know what you thought of this?  Do you want me to speak more to the experienced investors in future posts, or do you prefer that I focus directly on issues that face new real estate investors?  Please leave your comments below.

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 First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they purchased their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks to help you get started.