First Rental Property

Hello Friend,

I have some exciting news for you.

Effective immediately, First Rental Property will now be representing people worldwide with the purchase and sale of real estate.

I, Neil Uttamsingh, the Creator of First Rental Property am now a Realtor and will personally be helping people buy their first rental property worldwide.

I will be looking after the purchase and sale of real estate for First Rental Property in Ontario, Canada.

For all of my readers all over the world, I have a team of Realtors with investment knowledge who will be able to work directly with you and help you buy your first rental property.

If you are a reader from Alberta, New York, Texas, West Virginia, New Jersey, England, Australia, or South Africa, or anywhere else in the world, First Rental Property will represent you with the purchase and sale of real estate, and most importantly, with the purchase and or sale of your first rental property.

Since it’s inception in 2009, First Rental Property has evolved from an educational blog to an entity that will now represent people world wide with the purchase and sale of real estate.

I encourage you to continue to send your questions in to me, and I will continue to answer them.

If you are looking to buy your first rental property, send me a message at neil@firstrentalproperty.com,  Tell me where you are located and when you are looking to buy your first rental property.  I will get you in touch with an expert Realtor with real estate investing knowledge.  This person will be able to guide you step by step with the purchase of your first rental property!

Happy Investing!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: Don’t forget to email me at neil@firstrentalproperty.com if you are looking to buy your first rental property.  Tell me where you are located and I will get you in touch with a hand selected Realtor who will be able to help you buy your first rental property!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZrgzpmUvAo&feature=channel&list=UL[/youtube]

Hi Friend,

I hope you are doing well.

Earlier this month I wrote a blog post called, First Rental Property To Make A Huge Announcement In September.

The rumors are true.

First Rental Property will be making it’s BIGGEST announcement EVER, today at 8pm EST.

The news is going to be very significant for those of you who are new real estate investors or who are looking for advice on how to buy your first rental property.

Stay tuned!  The news is going to be GROUND BREAKING!

Best Regards,

Neil.

Hello Friend,

I hope that you are doing well.

I have a short post for you today, but a very important one.

I first learned about state management from the very famous Anthony Robbins.

I attended one of Tony’s live events in New Jersey, USA, called Unleash the Power Within.

State Management is a very important concept for you to know about if you are going to purchase your first rental property.

More importantly, if you are going to be successful as a real estate investor over the long term, you need to know what state management is and how to master it.

The important thing to realize about state management is that as a real estate investor, if you do not develop the ability to control and master your state, you could very well fail.

Without state management mastery, you can fail very easily…

With a lack of awareness of state management and how it effects the human mind, you could decide to quit real estate investing once and for all, and sell all of your properties after one bad day.

With real estate investing, you will come to learn, if you have not already that there are many ups and downs that you will go through.

It is your responsibility to manage those ups and downs.  Overall, it is important to not remain too excited when experiencing the highs, and not to remain too down and out when experiencing the lows.

If you are feeling down and out on one particular day, and you don’t know how to snap out of it, you could be moments away from throwing in the towel once and for all with real estate investing.  You may make a rash decision when you are feeling too low.

Therefore, the importance of state management is critically important for you the real estate investor.  You need to maintain a level and balanced state throughout the duration of your real estate investing career.  There will be happy and sad experiences that you will go through as a landlord.  Whether it is a happy or sad experienced, it is important to maintain a consistent state.

Check out the videos below on State Management.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a big announcement soon.  Check back into the blog frequently for the upcoming news! You don’t want to miss it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6V75B_K2kM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0XE8-pcy1Y[/youtube]

Hello Friend,

I hope you are doing well today.

I received one of the most important pieces of advice a few years ago from one of my real estate mentors.  I have known this real estate mentor for years, long before I ever bought my first rental property.

On the surface, this piece of advise seems very insignificant.  However, in actuality, it is extremely important advice.

Obeying this advice can ensure that you succeed as a real estate investor over the long term.  Going against this advice can result in you crashing and burning and failing very fast.

The funny thing about it (if you want to call it funny) is that obeying this advice is a lot more difficult than going against it.

Meaning that, it is human nature to want to naturally go against this advice.  Whereas, it takes significant effort and discipline to obey this advice, as it is one’s natural tendency to not want to obey the advice.

I know that you are now probably itching for the answer…

You are wondering what advice my real estate mentor gave me that is so important, are you not?

The advice is simple.

The advice is that you must:

Bat 1000% as a real estate investor in the beginning.

I know that most of you follow baseball and as such know the rules of baseball.

For those of you that do not follow baseball, and do not know the rules, I will give you a simple example to help explain.

In Baseball…

In the game of Baseball a team will take turns with being on offense and defense.  With offense, a batter will try to successfully hit the ball where the defensive players are not standing.  If the offensive player (batter) hits the ball where the defensive players are not standing, this is a good thing.  If the batter is able to run to first base before a defensive player has obtained the baseball and throws it to or touches first base, then the batter is safe, and the batter has what we call ‘a hit’.

This was a very simple explanation, and there are many other variables and details that come into play.  Any knowledgeable baseball fan will know that by reading my example above.

The point that I am trying to make is that if the batter successfully reaches first base before a defensive player gets him ‘out’ then the batter has a ‘hit’.  This is good.

Generally speaking, it is much easier for batters to hit a ‘single’ and run to first base than it is for them to hit an extra base hit.

An extra base hit occurs when the batter hits the ball (generally harder) to a part of the playing field (diamond) in which there is no defensive player.  The batter then has the ability to run (advance) to bases beyond first base. (second, third, home plate)

With extra base hits, there is an inherent degree of risk involved.  Due to the fact that an extra base hit involves the batter taking risks in advancing to subsequent bases, there is a chance that the batter could be thrown or tagged out by a defensive player.

If the batter is thrown or tagged out, this is not a good thing. (for the team that is currently on offense)

How are Baseball and Real Estate Investing The Same?

If we examine the advice of my real estate mentor we can see that this advice is very simple yet extremely insightful.

He said you need to…

Bat 1000% as a real estate investor in the beginning.

 What does this mean?

This means that as a new real estate investor, you need to have a series of successes.  It means that there is no room to make error.

This also means that as a new real estate investor, you should not be taking too much risk.

Breaking the statement down further, it means that in the beginning you need to be successful.  You need to purchase properties that will have good cash flow and decent appreciation.  You cannot take a gamble at the beginning of your real estate investing career by purchasing high risk properties.  Your capital is very important, and you should be very careful with it.  Don’t take huge risks with your capital because if you lose it, it will be gone!

My real estate mentor also told me…

My real estate mentor also told me a very important thing. He explained to me that the reason WHY we must…

“Bat 1000% as a real estate investor in the beginning”

He explained that it is because when we do make mistakes as  experienced real estate investors and we do lose money on high risks projects, we will still end up batting .750 or .900, which all baseball fans know is insane!

Insane = Very good!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property is going to be making a HUGE announcement soon.   Check back into the blog on a regular basis for the upcoming  news!

Hello Friend,

Do you know how to select a good area in which to buy investment real estate?

Have you ever tried researching a particular area of a town that you were interested in buying real estate in?

These are questions that you should be pondering if you are a new real estate investor, and you are looking to purchase your first rental property.

In my opinion, the best way to gain insight into a particular area that you are interested in investing in is to simply walk around in this area.

By ‘walking the streets’ you learn the most that you possibly can about that given area.

You are able to observe many things.  The key things that you may see during your ‘walk-about’ of the area are:

• 1) Homes for sale
• 2) The condition of homes
• 3) Tenant profile (good or bad)
• 4) Close by amenities (shopping malls, Doctor’s offices, restaurants)
• 5) The general age of the people living in the area
• 6) The types of cars they have in their driveways

Walking the streets is the number one thing that you can do in order to get a true ‘feel’ for a particular area.

So if you are a new real estate investor and you are considering investing in a particular area.  If you have not done so already, take the time to walk the streets.  You will be truly amazed at what you will find.

At the bottom of this article, I have included a video that I recorded back in 2009.  In the video, I was ‘walking the streets’ and I share some of the insights that I found.

Check out the video below.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a HUGE announcement within the next few days.  Check back into the blog on a regular basis for the GROUND BREAKING news…

Now here is the video…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id2-2oajXq8&feature=g-upl[/youtube]

Hi Folks,

I hope that all is well with you.

The reality is that many new real estate investors know absolutely nothing about business.

This can be a great disadvantage to newbie investors.

Knowing how businesses operate is very important information to know when you are entering into the real estate investing arena.

If you do not know how businesses operate, there is a good chance that you will fail as a real estate investor.

After all, real estate investing is just like running a business.

A fundamental component of any successful business is the…

‘Operating Line’

I have talked about the operating line before in previous posts, however, this is such an important concept that I feel that it needs to be talked about again!

What is an Operating Line?

In simple terms, an operating line is almost like a Line of Credit.  It is a revolving credit facility.  For example, a business could have an operating line in the amount of $100,000.  If a business uses $20,000 of their operating line, they will then have $80,000 still available to use.  However, the moment the business pays off the $20,000 that they owe, they will immediately have a full $100,000 available to use again.

Why are Operating Lines Important for Businesses?

Operating Lines are very important for businesses because they allow businesses to pay for things.  The cash flow of a business may be such that they do not have the necessary funds available to pay for items at a given time.  The purchase of these items may be crucial for the business to have.  Since the items are crucial for the business to have, they must purchase them.  If the business does not have sufficient funds on hand required to purchase the items, they have to then use their Operating Line in order to make the purchase!

What are the rules for using an operating line?

The rules for using an operating line are important to know.  In Canada, where I am located, major Canadian banks lend to businesses between 10 to 15% of their gross annual sales for their operating lines.

Using this percentage, if a business does $1 million dollars in gross annual sales per year, the amount that a (Canadian) bank will lend the business will be between $100,000 and $150,000.

How do I implement this information into my real estate business?

With this knowledge of how Operating Lines work, we can now begin to figure out how much of an operating line someone should use for their real estate investing business.

Let’s say that someone owns 2 rental properties.  The rent that they obtain on a monthly basis is $1,500 per property.  Therefore, they are receiving $3000 ($1,500 * 2) in monthly rent.

We now have to multiply $3000 by 12 months of the year in order to give us the gross annual rent collected.

$3000 * 12 = $36,000.

Therefore, as you can see from above, $36,000 is the gross annual rent collected.

If we take this number ($36,000) and multiply it by 10 or 15% as mentioned above, we get…

$3,600 to $5,400

This means that the recommended operating line amount (as per Canadian banks) is between $3,600 to $5,400.

Let’s look at a real life example…

OH Boy!!!  You just bought your first rental property and….your Air Conditioner just broke down.  It is the middle of the summer and it is HOT outside.  You need to replace the air conditioner ASAP for your tenants!  What do you do???

You get a bunch of different quotes to repair the air conditioner. You find out that it is going to cost you $2,500.

You don’t have the money saved up in order to pay for this repair.  What do you do??

You use your operating line

In this scenario, the max amount that you can spend on your operating line is $5,400.

The expense for the air conditioner is $2,500, so it is well within the budget of what you can spend.

Is using an operating line this easy?

For the most part yes. However there are some complications that can arise when you use an operating line.

I will address those complications in Part II of this post.

Stay tuned!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a HUGE announcement later this month.  Check back in frequently to the blog.  You will not want to miss this news!!!!

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well on your end.

All new real estate investors want to figure out what type of property they should buy as their first rental property.

Over the years, I have seen people buy as their first rental property:

• single family homes
• duplexes
• triplexes
• multi-unit buildings
• condos

If you are an eager new real estate investor, you are probably ‘dying’ for me to tell you what the answer is.

The answer is….
…there is no right answer!

If you as a new investor posses the necessary motivation and skill, you can successfully own and manage any type of rental property.

Which is the easiest to own?

In my opinion, the easiest property to buy and manage as your first rental property is a single family home.  By definition, a single family home is any type of dwelling in which one and only one family is residing in.

Why are single family homes the easiest?

Once again in my opinion, single family homes are the easiest to purchase and manage based on 2 major factors.

1) Cost

The cost to purchase a single family home as a rental property is generally cheaper than it is to purchase a multi-unit building.  Due to the fact that a multi unit building contains multiple units, the price to purchase the building is often higher than the price to purchase a simple single family home.

Because the price to purchase a single family home is cheaper, the barrier of entry is lower. Therefore, more people are able to get started in real estate investing by purchasing their first rental property.

2) Management

Generally, single family homes are easier to manage than multi-unit buildings.  It is easier to manage one set of tenants, as opposed to a large number of tenants.  This is especially true for new real estate investors.  When you are new and just starting out, you won’t know how to manage tenants very well.  Managing tenants is something that you become better at with the more experience you have as a landlord.

So there you have it!

Single family homes are the easier option for new real estate investors when compared to multi-unit buildings.  However, as mentioned above, if you have the necessary skill, desire and FUNDING not to mention, you can successfully purchase and manage even multi-unit buildings.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a HUGE announcement later this month.  Check back in often for the announcement!

Hello Everyone,

I hope that all is well on your end.

Today, I have a very short post for you.  There is no educational content for today…for a change  :).  Rather, this post is to inform you of an upcoming announcement that First Rental Property will be making in the month of September!  (this month)

Please check back in regularly to the blog as you definitely do not want to miss this news.

This is especially true if you are a new real estate investor who is looking to buy your first rental property!

Stay tuned for the big news!

Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

Resourcefulness is an important skill to have if you are considering buying your first rental property.

If you take a look at the general population, there is a very small percentage of people who own investment real estate.  Due to the fact that there are very few people that own investment real estate, very often, it is difficult to obtain information on the topic of real estate investing.  Especially when it comes down to finding out information on the legal side of things.

For example…

…If a tenant decides to not pay rent on the day that it is due….what do you do?  If you are a new real estate investor and you are dealing with this particular situation, you may have no idea what to do, or who to go to, to ask for help.

Fortunately in most places, there is a set of rules in which Landlords and Tenants need to abide by.  Where I am from (Ontario, Canada) this set of rules is called the, Residential Tenancies Act, 2006

The reality for most real estate investors is that when you first start out and when you first buy a rental property, you have no knowledge of the Landlord and Tenant rules. You will have no knowledge of the rules because you will have no need to at this point in time..

There are lots of blogs that tell you that you need to understand the Residential Tenancies Act relevant for the area that you live in.  In theory this is true.  However, in reality, 99% of new real estate investors do not do this… They do not do this (take time to understand the Landlord and Tenant rules) because at the beginning, nothing may be going wrong with your rental property and with your tenant.

The Moment Things Change…

The moment that things change for real estate investors is the second something starts to go wrong with you rental property, or with your tenant.

When this occurs, the Residential Tenancies Act for the city that you live in becomes extremely valuable to you.  It becomes valuable to you because it is the ‘rule book’ of the do’s and dont’s of Landlords and Tenants.  When things are going wrong with your rental property, you as an investor have to follow all of the rules in order to ensure that you are doing everything by the book, and that you are not ‘breaking the law’.

For example, if a tenant decides not to pay rent, there are many uneducated landlords out there that think they can take this matter into their own hands and ‘ask the tenant to leave’.  Unfortunately in many cities, it is not this easy.  In situations like this, there is a long, drawn out process that you need to follow step by step in order to collect the rent that is owned to you…

There is a reason why there is a rule book in place.  It is there to ensure that people behave themselves and don’t take extreme measures when trying to rectify a problem.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property will be making a HUGE announcement later on this month.  Stay tuned!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all doing great.

One of the most important things you need to consider when you become a real estate investor, if not THE most important thing to consider is how you are going to pick the right tenants. (wow, that was a long sentence!)

When most people first begin investing in real estate, they have no idea what to look for in a tenant and how to select the right tenant.

There are 2 simple rules that you MUST follow when you are selecting tenants for your rental property.  If you fail to obey these rules, you could end up in big trouble. When I say big trouble, you name it…

If you chose the wrong tenants you could have:

• Vandalism to your property
• Drug use in your property
• Non payment of rent
• Loud parties held at your property
• Random people moving into your rental property without your permission
• Failure to move out upon eviction
• The list goes on…

That is a scary list, isn’t it!?

Well you know what?

You don’t need to be scared if you do things the right way.

The following 2 rules that you will obey EVERY TIME you are selecting tenants will help you in selecting the right tenants.  The rules are…

1) Do Not Settle

Do not settle for the first prospective tenant that comes along.  Just because your rental property is vacant does not mean that the first people that come along are the right choice.  Don’t feel rushed.  It is truly better to have your rental property sit vacant for a few more months than to pick the wrong tenants.  If you pick the wrong tenants, because you want to fill your unit, this move will surely cost you more in the long run than if the property was vacant.  For example, if you rush the process and pick the wrong tenants, they could move into the house and immediately stop paying your rent.  You would then have to go through the eviction process with your local Landlord and Tenant Board.  Save yourself this aggravation.  Don’t rush the process.  Pick the right tenants from the very beginning.

2) Meet your prospective tenants in person before they move in

I cannot stress this point enough.  This is an absolute MUST!  You need to meet with your prospective tenants in order to see how they are in person.  If you cannot do this yourself, you can have a trusted thrid party do this for you.  I caution you here, as it is very difficult to find someone who can do this as well as you would.  The bottom line is that if you don’t meet your tenants in person, and you end up not getting along with them, of if they turn out to be a poor choice, you have NO ONE to blame buy yourself.

The biggest mistake I have ever made as a real estate investor was when I did not meet a prospective tenant in person.  I outsourced this job to a property manager.  The tenant moved in and it was a disaster.  Obviously, those are all the details I can give you due to privacy.  However, in this scenario, I did not blame anybody but myself.  I was the one that was supposed to screen the tenants. The buck stopped with me…and the buck will stop with you!

In summary, these are 2 very simple rules that you must obey when selecting tenants for your rental property. By following these rules you will ensure that you are doing everything in your power so that you can have the right tenants for your rental property!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: First Rental Property is going to be making a HUGE announcement in September. Check back in September for details!