Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

The picture you see below is a picture of me!  This was taken on top of a “Harvester”.  A “Harvester” is a $300,000 dollar machine used by Wine Makers to ‘harvest’ grapes.  This Harvester was being driven by the son of the Owner of this Winery!  Hang on!

Here I am…

Here is what a ‘Harvester’ looks like…

This past weekend I attended a wine tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

For those of you not familiar with this area, this is an area in Southern Ontario, Canada, where a lot of grapes are grown and a lot of wine is produced. (This area is very well known for ‘Ontario Ice Wines’)

Regardless of where I am and what I am doing, I have reached the point where my eyes and ears are always looking and listening for anything “real estate”.

Even when I am here, I am thinking real estate…

Primarily, what I was thinking about when I stood here and took the picture above, was how much the land I was standing on must be worth.

Wine is produced off of hundreds upon hundreds of acres of farm land in this region.

Land values have historically proven that they go up in value with time.  In a stable political and economic country, if you buy land and hold it for the long term you will prosper as the land increases in value.

My interest was peaked during this wine tour when I got an opportunity to speak with one of the owners of a Winery.

The owner was a very vibrant and well spoken lady at 77 years young!

Since I was taking the tour with a large group (approximately 30 people in total), we had an opportunity to sit down with the owner and taste a number of wines.  She told us about the history of the region as well as the history of her winery.

After she addressed the group, we were then guided into the store, where we were able to purchase some of the wines that we had been tasting.

Since I always try to capitalize on interviewing successful business people, I took this opportunity to speak to the owner of the Winery in further detail and in an impromptu fashion while in the store.

Here she mentioned some amazing things that we can all learn from.

• She said that in 1955, when her and her husband were 22 years old, they bought 26 acres of farmland there for $13,000 Canadian Dollars.
• I asked her what she thought was the single thing that had contributed to her success and the success of her Winery over the years….She responded that she had been able to remain successful for so many years because she always focused on the quality of her product (wine).  She always produced the best product possible.

If we examine the 2 points above, we can obviously realize the tremendous benefits that result from buying and holding real estate long term.  Today’s value of that land surely is worth many times over what the land was bought for in 1955.

If this wine maker were every to sell her land, it would be bought in a heartbeat.  I would not be surprised if the selling price was in the “millions”.

So what were the lessons learned from this Ontario Wine Maker?

1. Buy and hold real estate long term, and
2. Always focus on producing the best quality product you possibly can (no matter what your line of work is)

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 received 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 how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks in order to help you get started.

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are doing well.

Today’s blog post is inspired by 2 stories.  One of these stories I experienced about 3 years ago.  The other story I heard today.  Hearing today’s story, made me think back to the story from 3 years ago.  Both of these stories have something to do with the element of ‘luck’.

Here is story number one:

In 2007 I had my real estate license and I was working as a Realtor.  During this time, I had come across a lady who owned a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow in an upper to middle class suburb of Toronto.  She was selling her home at this time and downsizing because her husband was very ill.  They needed to move somewhere where he would have better access to help and health care.

Admittedly, she knew nothing about business, investing, or how to be savvy with money.  However, her net worth led me to believe that perhaps she did know a thing or two about investing, and here is why:

• She initially bought her house for $200,000
• She was selling her house for $950,000
• She had lived in her house for 20 years
• She had done absolutely no upgrades to the house at all.  In fact, the house was extremely ugly inside.  I still remember quite vividly the bright orange 1970s shag carpet in the bedrooms.
• Real Estate Developers were buying houses on her street for approximately $900,000 each and building multi-million dollar homes on the land

A few years after this transaction took place, I looked back to this situation and thought to myself, “Man, was that lady every lucky that he house appreciated so much.”  However, in years gone by, I came to realize that there is no such thing as ‘luck’.  I will explain why I believe this to be the case at the end of the post…

Here is story number two:

Today, I was having a conversation with a very smart entrepreneur.  She immigrated to Canada several years ago and quickly found a home in Toronto.  Like many immigrants that move to Canada, she bought real estate as soon as she was able to afford it. Over the course of a number of years, she was able to purchase 2 investment properties close by to one another.  At the time, she purchased these 2 properties because the cash flow being generated from these properties was “good”.  These properties were purchased in 1998.  Each one was purchased for approximately $215,000.

Fast forward 12 years later and these properties are each worth approximately $625,000.  Not to mention that they are both located in an area of Toronto that is undergoing incredible revitalization.  This was once an area riddled with drugs, crime, and prostitution.  Now it is a vibrant, upcoming area.  Probably one the hottest areas in Toronto.

Man…what a ‘lucky’ lady.  Her properties appreciated so much!

What’s ‘luck’ got to do with it?

There are 2 ways to interpret the above mentioned stories.

1) We can read each story and think to ourselves how ‘lucky’ these people were that they prospered in the way that they did.

or

2) We can read each story and look for the common clues that led to their individual successes.

I personally look at these 2 stories and find the common clues that led to their success.  In no way, shape of form do I believe that ‘luck’ exists when it comes to business and investing.

I am a firm believer that nothing is ever ‘handed’ to you.  You have to work hard for what you want.

In the 2 stories mentioned above, in my view, these are the actions that led to the success of these 2 investors:

• First, they took action and bought real estate.  If they had not bought real estate some years back, I would not be writing this and you would not be reading this, as there would be nothing to write or read about.  Taking action is a crucial step to becoming successful…period.
• They held their real estate long term.  Many investors, when the going gets tough bail on their investments.  It is easy to give up.  Giving up gets you no where.  Had they given up years ago and sold their real estate, they would no longer own the properties and therefore would not have benefited from the price gains.

So, how can you be lucky with money?

In my view, you can be lucky with money, when you believe that luck does not exist.

1. Work hard and don’t believe in luck.
2. Take action
3. Buy real estate
4. Hold it for the long term.

If you do this, you will be surprised how ‘lucky’ you will  become!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, you can 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 how they purchased their first rental property.

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

In the early days of my blog, I talked about what transitional areas were.

Over the years I have noticed a handful of people do exceptionally well by investing in transitional areas.

A few of these people were not real estate investors in the traditional sense.  Rather, they were people that saw opportunity in a market that was changing.

As you can read from my previous post on transitional areas, these small pockets in the market, that are going through or have gone through tremendous change.

Pride of ownership has increased in these areas, and these are areas that people want to move to.

• If we look at transitional areas as a real estate investment strategy…you can really win BIG with this strategy.

Investing ‘early’ in transitional areas will contribute to you getting the biggest payout down the road…

For example, if you are looking to buy your first rental property, you can consider buying this property in a transitional area. The benefits of doing this would be:

• Property values will increase (because it is a transitional area)
• You will have a great exit strategy, as you will be able to sell your property at a time in which the area is much improved.

As mentioned above, due to the fact that transitional areas area going through significant change (for the better), property values increase in these areas.

As an example, I purchased a property in a transitional area of Toronto in October 2008.
I had done my homework, as I researched this area thoroughly. As well, I studied the research conducted by extremely reputable sources such as Don R. Campbell’s Real Estate Investment Network.

(Oh and by the way, Don has one of the best Canadian real estate blogs.  Check out Don R. Campbell’s Blog.)

After conducting all of my research in this area, I knew that I would realize some good appreciation with this property.

This property, is located in a new development and is scheduled for completion in the middle of 2011.  I estimate the market value of this property to be $40,000 to $70,000 higher than what I paid for it in October 2008.

In my view, this was not speculation, rather a well thought out purchase in an area going through significant revitalization.

As you can see from the example above, if you adopt a strategy in which you are buying your first rental property in an area of transition, you can win big with equity appreciation.

In fact, why stop there?

Why not adopt a strategy of buying your first, second, third rental property all in transitional areas?  Within a matter of years, you will have created a significant amount of equity.

Happy Investing!

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 how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks to help you get started!

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

I am trying to keep up with my catchy titles for my blog posts.  What do you think about today’s?  If you like it, Tweet the article now.  I can usually tell if people like an article or not depending on the number of tweets.  So if you like this one, Tweet away!

Like many of the topics I write about, today’s topic is quite simple.  Simplicity is often overlooked though. I find that I don’t like to complicate things by talking about confusing real estate topics.

Rather, I like to focus on topics that are relevant to new and aspiring real estate investors.

Now for today’s topic…

One of the greatest mental battles  that you will ever engage in with regards to real estate investing, will be the battle around dealing with CHANGE.

As with life, change is the only constant we can rely on when we are investing in real estate.

The extremely successful real estate investors are the ones who are able to embrace change, and not lose focus in the face of change.

Here is an examples to illustrate exactly what I am talking about…

• Throughout the course of a real estate investor’s career, the investor experiences many thoughts.  There can be times in which the real estate investor could be very motivated to grow their real estate portfolio, and they do so by acquiring a number of properties.  This could be their dominating thought at the time.

• Furthermore, during this same real estate investor’s career, there could come a time in which the real estate investor is no longer interested in acquiring any more properties.  As such, they enter a ‘holding period’ in which they are simply managing the portfolio of rental properties, and have no desire to buy anymore properties.

What happens though if and when a real estate investor hits a slump?  A slump in which they find that they are disinterested in real estate, and that they no longer want to invest in real estate?

What do they do now?  What has changed?

Do they sell of their portfolio all together, and get out of real estate completely?  Or do they just stick with it, despite the fact that they feel they have lost all of their interest in investing?

These seem like a bunch of questions a dummy would ask, don’t they?

Well my dear real estate investors, these are not dumb questions at all. These very questions go through the mind of many experienced real estate investors at some point.

How do I know this?

I know this because I have asked myself these very same questions.

The point I am trying to make is this…

When times change for us as real estate investors, and we feel that we are in a spot in which perhaps we don’t want to invest anymore, or perhaps we have lost interest in real estate investing, what do we do?

We keep on investing!

We keep on investing for 2 reasons:

1) The first reason is because as I mentioned above, change is the only constant we can rely on.  As such, our levels of motivation with respect to investing in real estate may fluctuate…this is normal.  One year, we may feel super motivated in invest, whereas the next year, we may want to quit investing in real estate all together.  We know that we are going to have a changing attitude, as we go through life.  Accept that this is normal, and persevere and continue to invest.

2) Reason number 2 as to why we keep on investing, despite our changing attitude is because all the successful real estate investors are the ones who persevere.  If you give up and throw in the towel, plain and simple, you have given up.  In order to be the best at your game…the real estate investing game, you have to keep on forging ahead.  Giving up early is not going to benefit you.  Accept the fact that your attitude towards real estate investing may change…however….

Don’t give up!!!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

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 how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks that will help you get started!

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

It is the Labour Day long weekend here in Ontario, Canada.

This of course is the last weekend, before kids go back to school, and many people return to work from their summer vacation.

With this extra day off, I had some time to stop by and visit with my property manager, Dan of ADP Property Management.  (I work with Donna also at ADP Property Management and she is great.  However, in this post, for simplicity, I will be referring only to Dan.)

Dan and I were going over some details of the renovations that were completed on my recent rental property purchase in Hamilton, Ontario.

This recent property purchase was my fifth rental property purchase. As well, it was the fourth property purchase within less than two years. The new acquisition did however come with some anxiety.

The anxiety I experienced was around the topic of property management. I knew that with this purchase, I was reaching the point in which more time would be required from myself in order to properly manage these properties.

You see, up until today, I have always self managed all of my rental properties. I have referred to Dan as my property manager before in previous blog posts. He was working as my property manager to locate tenants for the properties and to look after repairs that I had brought to his attention.

So in essence, he was not completely the property manager. I was self managing the properties, and I would contact him for his expertise on an ad hoc basis.

Today however this changed, as I finally accepted the fact that I need to leverage more on my property manager and the expertise that he provides.

As such, we are going to make him the full time property manager of the newest rental property purchase in Hamilton.

So how did I finally come to this decision and why is it such a big deal?

I decided to make the decision of using a full time property manager, simply because I have been listening to the advice of smarter, more successful real estate investors.  Real Estate investors that hold a number of properties, usually well over 3 (some of them hold properties in the double digits and even triple digits), had been giving me advice to use a property manager on a full time basis, after I exceeded 3 properties.

When I had 3 properties, things were manageable.  I could deal with anything that came up, no problem.

Even now, if I wanted to, I could deal with managing 5 properties.  However, my key realization was that just because I can do something, doesn’t mean that I should.

Let me repeat myself here…

“My key realization was that just because I can do something, doesn’t mean that I should.”

As you continue to grow as a real estate investor, you need to leverage on the strengths of the people on your real estate team.

• As an individual, and as an investor, when you learn to focus on the things that you are really good at, things become a lot easier.

My decision to have Dan manage this property on a full time basis simply came down to the question of….’What do I want to be doing with my time?”

I could be focusing my time on actively managing a portfolio of rental properties, or I could be focusing my time on growing my real estate portfolio by attracting and working with joint venture partners.  Currently my focus is on the later, so I need to free up my time so that I can focus on that priority — the priority of growing my real estate portfolio by working with joint venture partners.

As a new investor looking to buy your first rental property, you need to be aware that you cannot do everything yourself.  There comes a time in which you have to leverage upon people on your real estate team who have a different skill set from you.

I often see that real estate investors sometimes try to hold onto everything and do everything themselves.  This often happens to investors that hold between 3 and 8 properties.  Investors who hold these many properties are still at a stage in which, perhaps they are still able to balance things, and continue self managing their units…

There does come a time though in which you have to learn to let go.

The cool thing is that many of the super successful real estate investors completely embrace this concept.

This being the concept of learning to let go, and leveraging on the strengths of the people on your real estate team.

Only focus on what you are great at!

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.  To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In the Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they bought their first rental property.  You will also be able to pick up some tips and tricks from these experienced real estate investors. Sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter today!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

Today I would like to share with you some observations that I have made with regards to land lording.

Many people looking to invest in real estate never end up doing so because they become terrified of the concept of becoming a ‘landlord’.

Some of these aspiring real estate investors believe that once they become a ‘landlord’, they will become a hated person.  A hated person by their tenants, and perhaps a hated person by their friends and family (so they think).

There is a belief out there that all landlords are unappreciative, wealthy Land Barons, who do not have their tenants’ best interests at heart.

I can dispel that myth for you right now.

As with any walk of life, there are bad apples out there that ruin the reputation of the good.

Of course there are some terrible landlords out there that do the unspeakable of things.

We do not care about that group of people, because we are the ones that have to focus on ourselves, and what we are doing in order to create and maintain a good relationship with our tenants. After all, we cannot control other people’s actions, we can only control ourselves!

Personally, as I look back over the past 5 years, in which I have been a landlord, I can confidently say that I have taken serious initiative in order to maintain a good relationship with all of my tenants.

Becoming a landlord that your tenants both like and respect is not hard…

…It does however take effort and consistency.  You also have to be coming from a place of authenticity.  If you are not genuine in what your are doing, it is better to replace yourself with someone who is.

Here are some of the actions that I have taken over the past 5 years as a landlord.  I am continually learning myself and adjusting and tweaking what I do as time goes on.  You can use this list as a guide. Use this list as a resource as well.  These are things that have worked for me.  Maybe you can add to this list, or speak to other experienced and good landlords who will be able to add to the list.  Also, feel free to make recommendations to me as well, so I can add these to my list!

How to become the nicest landlord your tenants will ever have

• When interacting with them, listen 80% of the time, talk 20% of the time
• Do what you say you are going to do
• Return their phone calls and e-mails promptly (same day)
• Smile
• Be proactive — (contact them on a regular basis)
• Don’t let maintenance issues get out of control – deal with them. (now)
• When they first move into your property, give them a nice welcome present (I give a Welcome Basket)
• Around Christmas (a.k.a. ‘The Holiday Season”), drop off to them a present (again, I like giving a good ‘basket’ or a gift certificate)
• Don’t be reactive — (if you are a reactive landlord, in my opinion, you are not doing your job)
• In order to gain respect, you have to show respect.  –(show respect to your tenants)
• It is better to over communicate with them than under communicate

So there you have it!

The above list is by no means an exhaustive list, however, these are the things that I have done over the past 5 years, which have helped me to continually become a better landlord.  Again, feel free to add to the list with some of your recommendations!

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.  In order to receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In the Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some valuable tips and tricks on how to get started as a real estate investor!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

It seems that lately, the topic of ‘fear’ has been on my mind, and for good reason as well.

As an active real estate investor, ‘fear’ should constantly surrounds you.

In my last post, I talked about how fear is constantly felt by experienced real estate investors. I described how these experienced real estate investors are able to decipher a secret to success. It is this very secret that gives them the confidence, focus and follow through in order to invest in real estate.

Today I want to talk about why I dislike fear so much.

I dislike fear so much because I have seen first hand how fear smothers the dreams of aspiring real estate investors.

I cannot count how many times, I have been contacted or approached by people that are interested in investing in real estate.  They come to me with such hesitation.

They are hesitant because they are afraid.

With this hesitation, they also show some excitement.  They are excited about the opportunities that investing in real estate will one day provide them with.

By nature, I thoroughly enjoy helping others, and I never turn down an opportunity to talk to someone about real estate investment, and share my knowledge with them.

I always pour my heart out and give them as much advice as I possibly can. I always share all the knowledge that I have, and I don’t keep any secrets as to how one can get started.

However, I know in the back of my mind, that the chances of this person’s success in real estate investment, lies only with them.  Time after time when I have conversations with people about getting started, despite how much time I have spent encouraging them and despite how much knowledge I have given them, I never know if they will ever succeed.

The reason why I dislike fear so much is that fear stops most of these people from ever doing anything.

Every single person that comes to me for advice, I tell them the same thing.

“You have to surround yourself with people that are investing in real estate, so that you can learn from them.”

This is a simple enough suggestion, right?

Wrong!

It is disappointing as to how few people take this advice.  The people that do take this advice (the minority) are the ones that forge ahead, become smarter, more confident, and become successful at investing in real estate.

The people that do not take this advice, are the ones that usually never get started.  They constantly stay limited with their knowledge of real estate, because they have no one to learn from. The people that they are surrounded by may be fantastic people, however, they may have no clue about anything related to real estate, business, or wealth creation.

When someone finally comes to the realization that the closest people in their lives, the ones that they love the most, may not have all the answers for them..that is when change starts to happen.

Aspiring real estate investors have to realize that you have to bring into your lives people with knowledge of real estate, people that you can learn from, and people that will push you to achieve more.

I can tell you this from experience, as I have learned so much from my friends and fellow colleagues at The Real Estate Investment Network. (REIN)

In my opinion, REIN  is the best network of real estate investors in North America.  I would be surprised if there was a group of equal integrity found anywhere else in the world.

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.

To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In this newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you their experience of when they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks as to how to get started investing in real estate.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

This week I closed on a rental property in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Yay!

The process of purchasing rental properties is becoming very familiar to me now.  The process almost feels automatic.  However, it wasn’t always that way…

One of the biggest discoveries that I have made recently, that I would like to share with new and prospective real estate investors is this…

There is a secret to becoming a successful real estate investor.

This ‘secret’ as I like to call it, may not seem obvious at first.  The secret is however the linchpin to all future success in real estate investing.

Once you understand what this secret is, it is easy to see how some people become very good and experienced at real estate investing, while others who attempt to become successful, fail.

The secret is simply this…

Successful real estate investors are afraid of investing in real estate, however, they are able to manage this fear.

This may seem like a confusing statement.  It is however not confusing at all.  Let me explain…

No matter how successful a real estate investor becomes, the individual always experiences a degree of fear with regards to real estate investing.

This fear may be centered around having a vacant rental unit, selecting tenants, obtaining financing, or growing their real estate portfolio.

I know all about this fear because I experience it.

Here is where this blog post gets interesting… (if it has not already)

• Successful and experienced real estate investors are able to manage this fear.

The key to success is being able to manage this fear.

For example, as I mentioned above, I closed on a townhouse in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada this week.  With every property purchase that I have made, I have experienced a degree of fear.  More appropriately put, this fear has more so been anxiety that I have experienced.

I think that every experienced real estate investor feels some sort of anxiety or fear with each property acquisition, no matter how many properties they may have.

For myself, I was experiencing anxiety with regards to finding tenants for this property.  I was concerned that due to the time of the year (the end of summer), the property may sit vacant for a couple of months, as the rental market that I invest in, tends to slow down a bit come September.

New and aspiring real estate investors allow this fear to consume them.  Fear paralyzes them, and because of this, they end up never taking any action!  Which translates into….

NEVER BUYING THEIR FIRST RENTAL PROPERTY!!!

Experienced real estate investors are able to manage this fear because they are resourceful, and they know where to get answers when they need them.

For example, I am resourceful, and I rely on my real estate team.  Members of my real estate team have strengths that I do not.

I am become more confident about real estate investing because I know that my real estate team is good at what they do.

For example, my fear of having a vacant unit was quickly reduced when the property manager that I work with ADP Property Management, contacted me 2 days after my closing date, with a tenant that wants to move in September 1st.  If this works out with the tenant, they will move in simply 7 days after I closed on the property.  Not bad in my books!

Once again, I was able to manage this anxiety  by working with the right people.  My property manager has the knowledge and the network, in order to provide me with a list of potential tenants that I can chose from.

So as you can see, although I keep on plugging away as a real estate investor, there are still things that I am afraid of, or that I experience anxiety over.  In this example, it was the anxiety of having a vacant unit for 2 months plus…

I know how to eliminate and reduce this fear, because I know where to get answers.

This is the biggest difference between the experienced real estate investors and the investors just starting out.

The new investors trying to get things going, often do not know where to get the answers to their important questions.  They often do not know who the right people are to network with.  It is because of this, that many of the new investors fail at real estate investing, or don’t even start investing because they are too overwhelmed.

In order to become better as  a real estate investor, you have to understand and embrace the fact that you will be afraid of certain things, however, you have to forge ahead and manage those fears.

Your resourcefulness and the people you know in your real estate network will help you to manage and or eliminate these fears.

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address  on the LEFT hand said of my blog.

To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In this newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you what they went through when they purchased their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks that you can implement when you buy your first rental property.

Best Regards,

Neil.

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

It has been some time since my last blog post.

I have spent some time enjoying the summer and travelling with my family.

Now that the summer is coming to an end here in Toronto, it is back to the ‘grind’.

Today I would like to talk to you a little bit about an age old debate that never seems to go away in the real estate investment world.  Quite frankly, this debate will never go away…

It is the debate surrounding:

Cash flow versus Appreciation.

More specifically, the question at hand is:

Is it better to buy investment real estate for cash flow or appreciation?

If you ask this question to any experienced real estate investor, who has been around for some time, and has invested in different stages of the market cycle, they will most likely tell you that they invest for cash flow.

I would like to turn this discussion on it’s head, and say that the most successful real estate investors are the ones that purchase for appreciation, not for cash flow.

When I first began my real estate investing career, I purchased for appreciation, simply because I did not know any better.  Purchasing for appreciation I thought was the only reason anyone would purchase real estate as an investment.

As time went on and I started to learn more about real estate, real estate investment, and the methods required in order to obtain financing on investment real estate, I started to buy for cash flow.

I started to buy for cash flow because I wanted to grow my real estate portfolio.

I wanted to buy property after property, and quickly discovered that I was only able to do this if in fact I purchased cash flowing properties.

Thanks to my amazing mortgage broker, Kevin Boughen, we were able to obtain financing on 4 properties within about a 2 year span.

As of August 2010, I have a portfolio of 5 single family residential homes.  3 of the homes I have purchased for cash flow, and the other 2 I have purchased for appreciation.

The largest gains in terms of equity appreciation that have occured have come from the properties that I have purchased for appreciation.

Today I was speaking with a very experienced real estate investor (who may be reading this).  Over the past 5 years, he has made 4 strategic purchases for appreciation.  After the 5 years, he currently still holds all 5 properties and has realized an appreciation gain of $500,000 from these 4 properties.

After a detailed discussion with him today, he really got me thinking.  Why would anyone buy for cash flow, when they could buy for appreciation and have much greater returns?

What do you think?

As a new real estate investor, should you buy for cash flow, or should you buy for appreciation?

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Best Regards,

Neil.

Hi Everyone,

Today I am going to talk about, How to increase your chances of success as a real estate investor.

Sounds cool, does it not?!

In reality, increasing your chances of success as a real estate investor is quite simple.

Is that a bold statement for me to make?

Perhaps.

However, I can confidently make that statement as I have observed some very successful real estate investors over the past 5 years and have been able to learn from their mistakes. In addition, I have made some mistakes of my own that I have been able to learn from.

Rather that providing your with an extensive list on the “things that you can do in order to be more successful as a real estate investor”, I am going to discuss one topic.  This topic, again, may seem quite basic, but then again, everything is quite basic at the end of the day.

Here we go…

The number one way that I believe that you can increase your chances of success as a real estate investor is by…

Explaning to people what you do.

Some of you might be thinking at this point…”Neil, are you serious?!  Is that it?”

Well yes my dear real estate investors, that is it.

Here is how I have come to this conclusion.

1) The most successful real estate investors explain to other people very well what it is that they do.

Over the past five plus years as a real estate investor, I have met and been associated with probably hundreds of real estate investors.  Some of the most successful, in terms of numbers of properties purchased, can explain clearly to people what it is that they do.

Many people have coined this as the ‘Elevator Speech’, which is esentially explaining to people in a few short sentences what it is that you do.

For example, my short elevator speech would be,

“Hi my name is Neil.  I am a professional real estate investor.  I purchase positive cash flow condo townhouses on the ‘Mountain’ in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with joint venture partners.”

I don’t want to talk about the elevator speech here because I have noticed that the elevator speech is what trips up a lot of real estate investors who are just starting out.

These new investors worry so much about the perfect words to say when someone asks them about what they do.

I have witnessed and spoken to a number of real estate investors that stress out so much about this… the dreaded elevator speech.

Here is where I want to simplify things.

I am not an anti-elevator speech guy by any means.  However, what I do believe is important, especially for the new real estate investors is to…

CLEARLY explain to others what it is that you do.

Why is it important to CLEARLY explain to others what is is that you do?

If you are an experienced real estate investor reading this, you know that 99% of the time when you tell someone that you are a real estate investor, they think that you are a Realtor.

This is an understandable assumption on the part of the person that you are speaking to.  They have assumed that you a Realtor because you have not explained to them clearly what it is that you do.  (I know because I have been guilty of this many times!)

Sure at the beginning, they may ask you…”You are a real estate investor?  Does that mean that you are a Realtor?  This is your cue to jump in there and explain to them clearly the difference between a real estate investor and a realtor, and specifically what it is that you do.

Personally, I was not that good at explaining what I did when I first started investing.  I would give people a brief explanation and expect them to fully understand what it is that I did.

After I was getting so many confused looks when I told people what I did, I began to realize that I was not CLEARLY explaining myself.

This experience has served as a great lesson for me.  If there is one piece of advice that I can give those of you just starting out as a real estate investor, it is this…

Be very good at explaining to others what it is that you do.  Being good at this will open up doors for you down the road.

The more people that know what you are doing means, the more people who may one day wish to participate with you in some capacity with your real estate investing.

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the LEFT side of the blog.

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your name and e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In this newsletter, you will be able to read about and hear from experienced real estate investors and their experience when they purchased their first rental property.

Best Regards,

Neil.