Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing well.

I am happy to let you know that the First Edition of The Canadian Real Estate Carnival is available.

Fellow Canadian Real Estate Blogger Rachelle from Landlord Rescue has done a fantastic job in putting this carnival together.  There you can read a collection of articles by fellow real estate investors and bloggers such as Julie Broad and Wade Graham.  Check it out!

Every successful real estate investor realizes at some point that they have to think differently from everyone else.

I have found that there are a couple of common traits that super successful real estate investors have.  These traits are:

1. They think differently (from everyone else)
2. They only act on advice from people that have ‘gone’ before them

Think Differently

Very successful business people and real estate investors have become wealthy because they do not ‘follow the crowd’.

In fact, if there is one single piece of advice I can ever give someone starting out as a real estate investor, it is exactly that, ‘never follow the crowd’.

Successful business people and real estate investors have an ability to mentally block out all of the ‘noise’, and ‘opinions’ that are given to them by the rest of society.

If everyone knew how to become rich, don’t you think the majority of the people would attempt to do so?

You see the thing is, the majority of people do not know how to become wealthy, yet many people who are not wealthy give their opinions as to how someone can become wealthy…

There is a small minority of the population that does know how to become wealthy, and they achieve this by working towards their goals and ‘thinking differently’.

The point I am trying to make here is that successful real estate investors become wealthy partly because they think differently!

They don’t follow the crowd because the crowd is a collection of average people.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not saying that there is anything wrong with being average…

What I am saying is that super successful people know that to become GREAT, you can’t be average.

Thinking differently is the first step towards achieving MORE!

Only act on advice from people that have ‘gone’ before you

What does this mean?

Simply put, do not take the advice from people who have not accomplished what you are trying to accomplish.

Here is a classic example that I see time and time again.

A new real estate investor is considering purchasing their first rental property.  They are doing their homework on their selected investment area and property type.  They have built up *just enough* confidence in order for them to ‘pull the trigger’ and make the purchase.

Their dream of buying their first rental property gets shattered when they receive “advice” from a friend or family member stating that:

• “buying a rental property is a too risky.”
• “the real estate market is in a bubble “. —  (I personally can’t stand this one!)
• “how are you going to manage the property?  You are not a handy person!”
• “there is NO WAY that you are going to be able to pay for 2 mortgages.”

In most cases, these potential real estate investors take all of this ‘advice’ to heart and end up ‘throwing in the towel’…

…never to attempt purchasing a rental property again.

Here is what successful people do

Really successful real estate investors get to the point in which they never act on the advice of others, who have not achieved what they are trying to achieve.

Notice here that I have used the words…”never ACT on the advice”, rather than, “never LISTEN to the advice”

There is an important distinction to be made here because successful real estate investors can LISTEN to the advice from these inexperienced people.  It is hard not to LISTEN to the advice when people are trying to give it to you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, even when you don’t ask for it!

It is okay to LISTEN, however, the super successful do not ACT on this advice.  The successful know that the only advice that they should be ACTING on is the advice given to them by those that are MORE successful than them.

Once a novice real estate investor realizes this distinction, everything starts to ‘click’ and making decisions becomes a lot easier!

You must THINK DIFFERENTLY and only ACT on the advice from people more successful than you!

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 tips and tricks in order to help you get started!

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.

I am trying to come up with some more catchy titles for my blog posts these days.  What do you think of today’s title?

I titled today’s article, Real Estate Investing for Dummies in order to impress upon people how easy investing in real estate can be…

Let it be know that you do not have to be an intellectual or have a very high IQ in order to invest in real estate and become successful at it.  I will be the first t admit that I am not an academic (although I tried to force myself to become one for a long time).  For a long time, I was hard on myself for not being a great academic…

However, as time went on and I started to become more successful in the real estate game, I became at peace with the fact that I wasn’t a smart academic.

A person with average academic intelligence, can become a super successful real estate investor, there is no question about that!

Your success as a  real estate investor has nothing to do with your academic intelligence, rather it has everything to do with your specialized knowledge.

In one of my favourite books, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, the topic of general knowledge and specialized knowledge is discussed.

Napoleon had studied the most successful business people of his time and had found a common trait within the most successful people.  The common trait that these successful people had was that they were very rich in specialized knowledge, not general knowledge.

What this means, as it relates to real estate investing is that you are increasing your chances of success, and you are becoming a smarter real estate investor, when you read and study about real estate investing.  You do not need to concern yourself too much with filling your brain with a lot of general knowledge.

I will repeat that just in case you missed it…

You do not need to concern yourself too much with filling your brain with a lot of general knowledge.

This has been one of my greatest discoveries, as there was a time in which I used to try to fill my brain with as much information as I could.  I thought that one’s measure of intelligence was directly related to how much ‘stuff’ I knew.  I could not have been more wrong, and I am glad that I came across and read Think and Grow Rich when I did.

So, to summarize my rant, which I hope has not been too confusing, here is what you need to do…

As a new or aspiring real estate investor:

• Do not get down on yourself if you are not smart academically (you do not need to be in order to become a successful real estate investor).

• Focus on acquiring specialized knowledge, not general knowledge. (this means read as much as you can about real estate, learn strategies, talk to other experience investors, fill your brain with ‘everything’ real estate)

The more you begin to take a proactive approach with regards to real estate investing, the more knowledgeable you will become and the less AFRAID you will be as well!

A lot of people are never able to shake the fears that they have about investing in real estate simply because they do not have any knowledge on the topic.

It is their  lack of knowledge which results in them becoming uncertain.  When someone is uncertain about something, they often experience anxiety which results in PARALYSIS in many cases. (Paralysis simply means people do not end up taking any action at all)

Become less afraid and more knowledgeable by acquiring specialized knowledge on real estate!

Don’t be a Dummy!

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

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 bought their first rental property.  In addition, they will share some tips and tricks as to how you can get started!

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?

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, I will be interviewing experienced real estate investors.  They will describe their first rental property purchase and share with you some of the secrets to becoming a successful real estate investor!

Best Regards,

Neil.

Hi Everybody,

I hope you are all doing well.

Today I want to talk to you about your real estate network, and how powerful it truly can be.

When you are first starting out as a real estate investor, chances are that you have not established a solid network of like minded people.

The more time you spend involved with real estate investing, the more real estate investor meetings and investment groups you attend, the larger your network will become.

While you are attending all of these meetings, you are no doubt meeting a lot of people, who potentially will be able to help you down the road.

You are not going to stay in touch with all of the real estate investors that you meet along the way, rather, if you are able to make a handful of strong relationships with other investors, this in my belief is all you need at the end of the day.

Personally, I leverage from time to time on my network of fellow real estate investors. I have a small group of  real estate investors that I go to for advice whenever I do not know how to deal with an issue. (some of whom will be reading this post!)

The interesting observation I have made with this group is that, I consider most if not all of the people in the group to be smarter than  I am.  They are smarter than me when it comes to running a business, they have great instincts, and they are very smart entrepreneurs.

I feel no shame due to the fact that they are smarter than I am.  This is  because I know that whenever I need help with something and I go to one of these people for help, I am going to get very valuable feedback, which will help me to solve my problem.

As a new real estate investor just starting off, you want to establish a network of people that know more than you do, and who have more experience than you do investing in real estate.

Many novice investors make the mistake of establishing a network of fellow investors who have the same skill set as they do, or who have the same level of experience.

Although, you might be able to learn a thing or two from one another, when you are faced with a very difficult problem, chances are that no one in your network will be able to help you.

In summary, the greatest discovery that I have made about building an effective network of fellow real estate investors is to…

Surround yourself with a network of people that are smarter than you

It will take a while for you to realize the benefits of doing this.  For me, it took me over 2 years to realize how important and valuable the network was that I had established.

For example, today I was dealing with a challenging real estate investing issue.  As a result, I sent an e-mail out to a small group of fellow real estate investors, who have also become my friends.

Within a few hours, I recieved responses from them as to how I should deal with the issue that I was facing.

The advice that they provided me with, I am going to implement.  In addition, the advice that they provided will help me to effectively solve the current problem that I am facing.

The Power of your network is incredible.  Build it well, and take care of it.

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 e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In the newsletter, you will hear from experienced real estate investors as they describe their experience when they bought their first rental property.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for reading the first part of this two part blog post.

Here is Part I, in case you missed it…

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part I

In this post we will finish off what we started.  In Part I, I shared with you one recommendation that you can take in order to find a real estate mentor.  Below, I have included my second recommendation.  Enjoy the post, and as always, feel free to leave your comments in the comments section below.

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor

2) Follow People on-line

In today’s market, one of the best ways to find a real estate mentor is by following the online real estate community. Clearly, there are many real estate investing forums that real estate investors visit on a consistent basis. 2 very popular and very good forums are Josh Dorkin’s Bigger Pockets and Don R. Campbell’s MyReinSpace.

On these online real estate forums you will often read about real estate investors who are taking a lot of action, and actively buying real estate.

Keep note of the people that you meet on these forums that are putting their money where their mouth is and investing in real estate.

It is these investors that you will be able to go to in the future and ask many of the real estate questions that you have.

Also, there are real estate entrepreneurs who frequently visit these forums that offer mentor-ship for a certain fee. As part of this fee, they may also offer you workshops and specific training courses.

If you are a new real estate investor, it is very important to know that you do not have to pay for mentor-ship. There are many real estate investors out there with experience who would gladly share their advice and experiences with you free of charge.

On the other hand, there are some great real estate investors and real estate entrepreneurs out there that offer excellent mentor-ship programs.

Tom and Nick Karadza of Rock Star Real Estate Inc. are very well known within the online real estate community. They are brothers who are very down to earth and who offer excellent mentor-ship programs to new real estate investors, among many other things. If you are new to real estate investing, I highly recommend that you check out Tom and Nick Karadza.

So the next time you visit these real estate forums mentioned above (Bigger Pockets and MyReinSpace), take some time to read the comments of other real estate investors.

If you like what you are reading from a certain individual on a particular real estate forum, take the leap of faith and ask them some real estate related questions. Most people are more than willing to help, and would gladly answer any questions that you may have.

It is within these online real estate forums where a lot of mentoring takes place.

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

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your name and e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.

As a subscriber to the Newsletter, you will receive interviews that I have conducted with experienced real estate investors. In these interviews, they will be sharing with you their experiences when they bought their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh.

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part I

Hi Everyone,

One of the realizations that you must make early on in your real estate investing career is that you will need a mentor.

Every real estate investor who has achieved any sort of success has had a mentor at some point.

Mentors play a huge role in the development of a novice real estate investor.

A mentor is someone that you can watch, listen, and learn from their experience.  You can take away certain tidbits of information from them, that help you to become a better real estate investor.

Also, the relationship that you develop with your mentor can take on a more formal arrangement.  This arrangement can be one in which you meet with and discuss your goals and challenges on a more formal basis.

When investors are first staring out, they may not have a mentor, or even know how to go about locating one.

When I began my real estate investing career back in 2005, I did not have a mentor.  As time went on, I realized that in order to get better, I needed to search out a mentor who would be able to answer many of the questions that I had.

As my interest in real estate continued to develop, I began to have so many  questions that no one was able to answer for me.  As such, I realized that  a real estate mentor would be the only individual who would be able to answer these questions.

My first real estate mentor turned out to be the father of one of my friend’s.  At the time, he was the only person that I knew that had invested heavily in real estate, and who had achieved success doing so.

The important thing to note is that as a beginner to real estate investing, you have to be proactive and go out and find a real estate mentor.  A real estate mentor is not just going to fall out of the sky for you.  It is also important to note that finding a real estate mentor  is not the easiest thing to do, if you don’t know how.

To help you with the journey of finding a mentor, I have provided you with 2 recommendations to consider when seeking a mentor.

How to Find a Trustworthy Real Estate Mentor

1)  Word of Mouth

Ask people you know if they know of anyone investing in real estate.  You never know who might be an experienced real estate investor.  These experienced people are a wealth of knowledge.  It is important to ask around, because sometimes real estate investors are very secretive.  Believe it or not, but there is a breed of real estate investors that don’t openly share with people that they invest in real estate.  It has been my observation that these people are sometimes the older real estate investors, who have adopted an old school train of thought.  This old school train of thought is to not share with people what they do.  Sometimes these investors, if you get chatting with them and show an interest in real estate, can really open up.  These investors can often be the most knowledgeable of all real estate investors. This is because they have been investing in real estate over the long term, and have weathered the ups and downs of the economic cycle.  These investors are a great asset.  Get them on your side.

To read Part II of How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor, click on the link at the bottom of this blog post.

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In the First Rental Property Newsletter, I will be providing you with interviews that I have conducted with experienced real estate investors.  In these interviews, they will share the experiences and challenges they had buying their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards,

Neil Uttamsingh

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part II

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOA5Mn4loBc[/youtube]