First Rental Property

Hi Everyone,

Believe it or not, some people become obsessed with real estate investing.

This obsession often begins at the early stages when an investor is just starting out.

What does the obsession look like?

1. An individual obsessed with real estate investing may always be reading books related to real estate investing.  Not only would they be reading these such books.  These books would in fact be the only type of books that they would be reading.
2. An individual obsessed with real estate investing would also constantly be thinking about investing, and how they can increase the scope of their investing.  Once again, this would be the dominating thoughts in their head, and they would not give much thought to anything else other than real estate investing.
3. An individual obsessed with real estate investing would always be talking about real estate investing with others.  Perhaps they would be discussing their current real estate investments, or pitching joint venture ideas to people they know.  Again, the topic of real estate would be the only topic that they would want to talk about.

The only way to make sure that you don’t become obsessed with real estate investing is to obtain balance in your life.

How do you obtain balance in you life?

The only sure way to obtain balance in your life is to find something that you are equally  passionate about as real estate investing.

If you love real estate investing, find something that you love just as much.

How do you find something that you love just as much as real estate?

This is the tricky part because this ‘something’ is sometimes not easily found.  The only way that I believe you can find this other ‘thing’ is to try many different things.

Perhaps you like to draw.  If so, focus some time each and every day to drawing. Try to become better with each passing day.

If you like sports, spend some time each day playing a particular sport, until you find a sport that you really, really enjoy.

If music is your interest, allocate some time each day to listen to music, or learn how to play an instrument.

Maybe you like to garden.  If so, spend time working in and improving your garden.

Why do you need balance in life?

I have concluded that being overly obsessed with real estate investing is not good.  I see a lot of people, both new and experienced investors who are obsessed with real estate investing.

In my books, this is not a good idea.

It is not a good idea because these people tend to derive their sense of self worth from their real estate investments.

If one day, they lost all of the rental properties they had, they would be left feeling very empty inside.

This void would be felt because they would have nothing else left in their lives that brought them the same level of fulfillment that their real estate investments did.

They would feel lifeless and discontent simply because they had put all their eggs in one basket.

The benefit of having balance

When we learn to put our eggs in more than one basket, we become happier and more focused.

For example, if you learn to both enjoy real estate investing and painting art work just as equally, if one of these interests departed your life for good (your rental property burns down in a fire), you would have another interest to fall back on (painting artwork), which would be able to bring you the same amount of joy.

If you don’t have balance in your life currently, search for something that brings you joy.

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

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address and name on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In this Newsletter, you will be able to read about the experiences of seasoned real estate investors, as they will take you through step-by-step how they bought their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh

Hi Everyone,

Would you believe it if I told you that novice real estate investors are bullied by members of their real estate team?

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

This is an unfortunate situation that some aspiring real estate investors find themselves in when they are first starting out investing in real estate.

These new real estate investors find themselves in this difficult situation when they are surrounded by a real estate team that does not have their best interest at heart.

When a new real estate investor is first selecting their  real estate team, they have to be careful.  If they are not careful  the people that they select to their team may not be compatible with them.  Even worse, these members of the team could create a hostile learning environment for the aspiring real estate investor.

In previous posts I have talked about your Real Estate Team, and the importance of picking a solid team of great people that you can count on.

It is incredibly important for a real estate investor to select people that they are ‘in harmony’ with.

What does ‘in harmony’ mean?

‘In harmony’ means, selecting people to one’s team that have the your best interest at heart.

From my personal experience, I have always selected people who:

1. Know more than I do
2. I like
3. I can trust
4. I feel comfortable around
5. Who are ‘good people’.
6. I can get along with
7. Who treat others with respect

Why do new real estate investors end up getting bullied by members of their team?

Many new real estate investors when they are first starting out are not confident.  They are not confident  about their real estate knowledge, or they may not be confident about their abilities.

Due to this lack of confidence, novice investors will often listen to any advice that is presented to them.

Advice is often free, and because of this, new investors have to be careful who they are listening to.  Just because advice is free, does not mean it is good advice.   There are real estate ‘professionals’ out there that are looking to take advantage of new, unsuspecting real estate investors.

In the real estate investing world, there are many great Realtors, Lawyers, Accountants, and Mortgage Brokers who all offer advice to the aspiring investor.  At the same time, there are also very poor Realtors, Lawyers and Mortgage Brokers who offer terrible advice to the novice investor.

These poor professionals who lack integrity often prey upon new investors just starting out. These poor professionals can bully new investors in the following ways:

1)  Mortgage Broker – A poor mortgage broker can bully a new real estate investor into selecting a certain type of mortgage product that may not suit the needs of the investor.

Further a poor mortgage broker may convince a novice investor that it is ‘okay’ to commit mortgage fraud by lying about details on their mortgage application.

2) Real Estate Lawyer – A poor real estate lawyer can  bully the new investor into paying increased fees for no good reason.

3) Realtor – A poor Realtor may bully the new investor into buying a rental property that is overall a poor choice.  The property may not be a good cash flowing property, or it may be located in a poor location.

How to get rid of the real estate bully.

As a real estate investor, at some point in your investing career, you may end up with someone on your team that should not be there.   Somehow people that you do not totally ‘jive’ with will find their way onto your team.  Perhaps initially when you were selecting them to your team, you thought that they were someone completely different to the person they turned out to be.

At the end of the day, if this person does not have your best interest at heart, it is okay to get rid of them.

Attention New investors…avoid the real estate bully by always selecting to your team, real estate members that you are ‘in harmony’ with you.

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

In the First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will be sharing their personal stories of when they bought their first rental property.  Learn from these experienced investors by signing up for the Newsletter.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo-gJRevzv4[/youtube]

Hi Everybody,

I made an observation some time ago that people are afraid of real estate investors.

To the average person, real estate investing is like a mysterious black magic.  People don’t understand how real estate investors do what they do.

I had always noticed and come to accept that not everyone is interested in real estate or real estate investing.  That is fine, and I am cool with that.  People have different interests in life, and that is the way the world should be.

• However, one observation that I have made is that sometimes people who ARE interested in real estate investing,  aspiring real estate investors if you will, are afraid of experienced real estate investors.

Why is it that aspiring real estate investors are sometimes afraid of experienced real estate investors?

Truthfully, I have not been able to fully figure this out yet, however, I do have a number of ideas as to why this is the case.

Here they are in no particular order:

People are afraid of the unknown

A real estate investor has travelled a path that not many other people have travelled.  As an example, in Canada, less than 3% of the Canadian population owns more than one property, which means that less than 3% of the population also has more than one mortgage.  (reference: Peter Kinch)

That means that less than 3 out of 100 people would have ever owned more than one property at any given time, and had more than one mortgage.

Given the example above, clearly real estate investors are in the minority.

Since real estate investors in the MINORITY…

They are often not understood by the MAJORITY.

As such, aspiring real estate investors sometimes are intimidated to ask questions of more experienced real estate investors.

This intimidation can simply come from the fact that newer real estate investors don’t fully understand how the experienced investors were able to get started as an investor, or how they were able to build a large portfolio of rental properties.

People are afraid of rejection

Aspiring real estate investors often have a lot of hope and conviction that they will one day become a successful real estate investor.

These newer real estate investors sometimes follow more experienced real estate investors, in order to see what they are doing.  (As an example, I have a lot of new and aspiring real estate investors who are following this blog, in order to see what I am up to.)

Sometimes newer real estate investors never end up asking experienced real estate investors any questions or for any advice.

I believe this is the case because sometimes newer real estate investors are concerned as to how the experienced real estate investor will react.

Aspiring real estate investors sometimes have the fear that if they ask experienced real estate investors for help, the experienced real estate investor will refuse to help them.

This could be because the experienced real estate investors is too ‘busy’, or because they have no desire to help those in need.

Nothing Ventured.  Nothing Gained.

If you are a new real estate investor, and you need help getting started, you must leverage upon the  experienced real estate investors.

It is true, that at the beginning, there are going to be a lot of things you do not know about real estate investing.  That is normal and that is okay.

• There are a lot of things that I don’t know.  What I do know is that I will continue to grow and become a better real estate investor by seeking the guidance of real estate investors who have more experience than I do. 
  

Not Everyone is Willing to Help You

New real estate investors, take note.

Just because someone is an experienced real estate investor, this does not mean that they will be willing to help you.

All is not lost though if you encounter an unhelpful and experienced real estate investor.

If you approach experienced investors with questions and for help, and you do not get a warm response from them, do not be concerned.  There are so many people out there who have experience with real estate investing who would be more than happy to help you.  So don’t lose any sleep if someone IS NOT willing to help you.

These People Are Willing To Help You

If you do not follow them already, you really should because they are very nice, down to earth, genuine real estate investors and educators.  They are fellow Canadians, Julie Broad and Dave Peniuk.  They are two people who are doing a great job helping and educating new real estate investors.

To keep up to date with my blog, 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 our name and e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uej4CYpya68[/youtube]

Hi Everyone,

Being a real estate investor can be a difficult task at times…

I always hear people talk about real estate and how they will one day invest in real estate and purchase their first rental property.

I should really keep track of how many people I have talked to who have been interested in real estate investing, and the amount of people that have actually taken the leap, and invested in real estate.

I have always found the the percentage of people that end up investing in real estate, compared to those that just talk about it, is quite small.

I think that this percentage is small because people have no faith or lose faith in their ability to follow through and purchase real estate.

Whether you are a new or an experienced real estate investor you always have to KEEP THE FAITH.

What does ‘KEEP THE FAITH’ mean?

“Keep the Faith” means constantly believing in yourself AND believing that you will eventually purchase real estate and create wealth through this vehicle.

How do you believe in yourself?

The truth here is that people are not taught how to do this.  If people are not taught how to believe in themselves… how is an individual supposed to believe in oneself?  Again, learning how to believe in yourself is not taught, it is a learned behaviour that the minority of the population benefit from.

You learn how to believe in yourself by reading books

I have learned by watching and studying successful people in real estate that in order to BELIEVE in yourself,  you need to read books.  These would be books related to real estate and books related to personal development.  Not only does reading these types of books increase your own knowledge of real estate, they also help you to become inspired, become more motivated and confident.

How have I come to the conclusion that reading books help you to believe in yourself?

Truthfully, this took me a while to discover.  One day, I did however start to notice a commonality among the top performing real estate investors and real estate entrepreneurs.  This commonality was simply that they all read books on real estate and books on personal development.

A tip for new real estate investors

Don’t just go out and buy any book on real estate or personal development.  Rather, pay close attention to what experienced real estate investors and real estate entrepreneurs are reading.  Don’t re-create the wheel.  Start to read the books that have been read by others that have come before you.

One of the first books that I read that has helped me so much in business and in real estate was:

Think and Grow Rich

If you have not read this book, I highly recommend that you do.  All of the successful real estate investors that I know have read this book.

Are you an experienced real estate investor?  If so, what books do you recommend for the new real estate investors to read?  Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

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 name and e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIr_qeO4JXQ[/youtube]

Hi Everyone,

Many new real estate investors ask themselves the following question when they first start out investing…

“Should I invest in my first rental property by myself, or should I partner with someone MORE experienced?”

Sometimes new real estate investors fear ‘going it alone’ and purchasing their first rental property by themselves.  As such, they partner with someone just for the sake of having a partner.  In many of these newly formed partnerships, there may not be any value that either partner brings to the transaction.

For example, let’s take a look at the following scenario.

We have 2 independent real estate investors.  Each investor is too afraid to invest by themselves in a rental property, and as a result, they form a partnership and invest together.  Further, the level of knowledge of these 2 investors is about the same, as they are both at a novice level.

This is an example of a real estate partnership in which there is no value brought to the table by either of the investors.

When considering getting involved in real estate partnerships, one has to examine what REAL value they bring to the table.

Value in real estate partnerships can come in 3 forms.

They are…

TIME

KNOWLEDGE

MONEY

Time

Time is an important variable in effective real estate partnerships.  Simply put, in an effective real estate partnership, you have one partner who does not have any time, yet wants to invest in real estate.  The other partner will have available time on their hands to manage every aspect of the real estate transaction.  This person is often referred to as the real estate expert.  (As an example, I am the ‘real estate expert’  in my real estate joint venture partnerships.)

Knowledge

Knowledge is an equally important variable in good real estate partnerships.  There will often be one partner who wants to invest in real estate, however may know very little about real estate.

The other partner, will have a great deal of knowledge in a specific real estate market.  They will know the prices of houses and the market rents inside and out in that geographical area.  They will also have a  solid real estate team working for them, consisting of a mortgage broker, real estate lawyer, and quality Realtor, just to name a few.  (As an example, I posses all of the knowledge as the ‘real estate expert’ in my real estate joint venture partnerships)

Money

Money is without question an important variable in effective real estate partnerships.  Using the traditional example, there will often be one partner with the money to invest in real estate, but no time or knowledge.

On the other hand, there will be the other partner (real estate expert) who invests the partner’s money into the real estate transaction, and has all of the time required to successfully manage the investment as well, they will possess all of the knowledge required in order to pick great rental properties in excellent locations.  (As an example, I take on the role of the ‘real estate expert’ and I invest my partners’ money in our real estate transactions)

What other variables make an effective real estate partnership?

You can leave your comments in the comments section below.

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.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKQfbQOq5E[/youtube]

ps: Thank you to The Versatile Investor, Mark Loeffler for giving me the idea for this blog post.

What’s up Everybody?

I am always speaking with new and aspiring real estate investors.

I love chatting with people and hearing about how they are starting to get involved with real estate investing.

Most conversations I have are very positive.  However, I had a couple of recent conversations that I found somewhat concerning.

A small hand full of aspiring real estate investors were doing all the wrong things, in that they were setting themselves up for eventual failure.

When I spoke with these new and aspiring investors they were not in good spots in their real estate investing careers. Some of these people had been investing for a few years, while some others had just started to invest.

In speaking with them, I could easily tell that they did not have what it takes to make it as professional real estate investors.

It was easy to notice this, as there were commonalities shared among these investors.

These investors shared 2 ‘traits’ that will eventually lead, in my opinion to the destruction of their real estate investing careers.  These traits were:

1) Greed

There is no good way to sugar coat what I am about to say, and that is:

Humans are greedy.

As a new or aspiring real estate investor, if you are motivated by greed, or you allow greed to continualy influence your decision making process, chances are that you will get your rear end handed to you at some point in your real estate investing career.

Greed clouds judgement and it forces individuals to make poor decisions.  If you are a real estate investor, and you are continually making poor decisions as influenced by greed, sooner or later, one of these poor decisions will end up costing you financially.

2) Lack of due diligence

The second trait that these investors shared was that they exercised a lack of due diligence. Simply put, these wannabe investors did not do any of their homework, and got involved in real estate transactions that they had no business getting involved with in the first place.

Personally, I cannot fathom how people invest in real estate without doing their homework first.  Buying a rental property is often times one of the biggest investments one can make.  If you are making a big investment, surely one would think that you would do your homework first.  Right?

People take so much time researching what type of flat screen TV or car to buy.  Sometimes people take years doing this research.  Why isn’t the same due diligence exercised when people buy real estate?

I know the answer to this.

It is because Greed will often cloud their judgement.

If as a new real estate investor, you are constantly suppressing your desire to be greedy, and you are completing necessary due diligence before investing, you are two steps ahead of those individuals that are not.

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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. (All the cool people are doing it)

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0j7F5wQzfE[/youtube]

ps: learn how to make it as a real estate investor by following Don R. Campbell’s Blog

1999-2003
Bigger and Better Things

I applied to four universities and got accepted to all four of them. I applied to McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario, Canada.  Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario.  Wilfred Laurier in Kitchener, Ontario and The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.

My older brother was attending McMaster University. I didn’t really like McMaster, so I ruled that school out from the start.  Also, I didn’t want to go to McMaster JUST BECAUSE my brother was going there.  I think that was the main reason why I did not like McMaster.  🙂

Brock University was my last choice, so I did not want to go there.  In the event that I did not get in anywhere else, I would have gone to Brock.

My decision was between Wilfred Laurier and The University of Western Ontario. Although I liked the Wilfred Laurier campus, I thought that the school was too small.  It almost felt to me like another high school.  I ended up choosing The University of Western Ontario, because I liked the campus.  The campus was huge and it looked kind of like a golf course.  In addition  I knew so many people from my graduating class that were attending school there. There were 20 people in total from my high school graduating class that chose Western.

While in University, I was laser focused on studying and getting high marks. My game plan was to achieve really high grades and then apply to graduate school. I was either going to go to law school or business school…that was the plan.

I had never studied harder in my life, than I did in my first year of university. After a few of my first exams in university, I received sub par grades, and I realized quickly that this could not continue. As a result, I increased the amount of time I spent studying in order to increase my grades. The increased time that I spent studying did not translate into increased grades, rather I was getting the same results.

I struggled academically throughout University.   I invested a lot of time studying but never got the results that I was aiming for. All was not lost in University, as I really hit my stride with social networking and again involvement with the University Students Council.

I ran for the President of the University Student’s Council in my final year of University.  One of my closest friends, Parag Shah of Garage Living convinced me to run in the election.

With this experience, I had a campaign team of over 40 students working hard for me, and we had a target audience of 26,000 undergraduate students.  Throughout this campaign, I made some really great friends who were very unselfish and who helped me every step of the way.  I could not have succeeded in the campaign, if it was not for the hard work from these friends.  At the time that I am writing this article, it has been 7 years since the campaign, and I am still very good friends with many of the people that helped me.  This was an amazing experience because it showed my how unselfish and helpful people can be when you need them.  It also showed me that sometimes people that you think that you can rely on disappear when you need them the most.

For the first 23 years of my life, I did not think much about real estate at all, in fact I was not interested in it at all.  It was not until after University that my interest began to develop in real estate.  I also have a very good theory why this interest developed in the way that it did…

Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s Business Life Story Part One
Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s Business Life Story Part Three
Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s Business Life Story Part Four
Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s Business Life Story Part Five
Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s Business Life Story Part Six

Click here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s

1980-1999
The Beginning

I was born on June 5th 1980 in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Growing up I was a pretty talkative and fun loving kid with my family. Once I began attending school, I took on a much different personality. Throughout all of my elementary school days, I was a fairly quite kid, who was not much of an attention seeker.

Things changed for me quite dramatically in high school where I became very involved with the Student Council. Looking back, when I look at my years in high school, I realize that the saying, ‘success leaves clues’ is very true. I began to accomplish many things in high school that I am still very proud of today.

I was voted Student Council President during my final two years of high school. I was elected Valedictorian by my graduating class, and I was also voted as the nicest person by my graduating class.  In addition, I received the Principals Award upon graduation.  It was an award given to only 2 members of the graduating class who had demonstrated student excellence throughout their years in high school.

I left high school excited about the possibilities that existed out in the real world. Although I was sad to be graduating, I was looking forward to going onto bigger and better things.  At this point, I had absolutely no interest in real estate.  If anything, I thought that I was going to become a lawyer…

Click Here to read Neil Uttamsingh’s  Business Life Story Part Two

Related Articles:
Business Life Story Part Two
Business Life Story Part Three
Business Life Story Part Four
Business Life Story Part Five
Business Life Story Part Six

Greetings Everyone,

Today I had to  write a biography for myself. I thought that this would be a hard task for me to complete, but I was surprised at how easy it was for me to write.

I have been invited to guest speak at a real estate investment conference on February 23rd 2010, put on by Leslie Quinsay and Rick McKinnon of W & B Academy.

As outlined on the Wealth and Business Academy website:

They are a training and educational company focused on providing their clients with the knowledge and tools they need to create lasting wealth. They provide workshops, seminars, expos, books, home study courses, and other educational products all aimed at promoting financial literacy and wealth creation.

Below I have included the biography that I have provided to the W & B Academy.

I chose to post this on my blog as well, so that you are able to gain a further insight into my background.

Further to this biography, I will also be releasing shortly my Life Story, which I will cover in a series of blog posts.

Here is the biography… And as always, you can enter your e-mail address on the left hand side or click on the orange RSS button at the top right hand corner in order to keep up to date with my blog.

Neil Uttamsingh’s Biography

Neil Uttamsingh grew up in Oakville, Ontario where he attended High School.  He was elected Student Council President two years running and was nominated by his peers as the 1999 graduating class Valedictorian.

Neil Uttamsingh was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from The University of Western Ontario where he majored in Psychology. He was voted Freshman of the year in 1999, and his fellow students elected him as the Resident’s Council President in 2000.

Neil spent 3 years working at one of Canada’s Big Five Banks, first as a Personal Banker, and then as The Regional Manager of Donations for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  As the Regional Manager of Donations, Neil oversaw the donations made by the charitable giving arm of the bank to various charities located in the GTA.

Neil later on went to become one of the youngest Real Estate agents hired by Re/Max Aboutowne in Oakville, Ontario.  There he specialized in residential re-sale.

Neil currently is employed by another one of Canada’s Big Five Banks, working as a Commercial Account Manager Deposits.  Neil is one of a few key relationship managers for the bank working in a city north of Toronto with the bank’s most profitable commercial clients. Neil manages a portfolio of approximately $70 million dollars.

Neil began his real estate investing career in 2005.  Since his first property purchase in 2005, Neil has raised over $100,000 in joint venture capital.

Not only a successful real estate investor, Neil also blogs extensively at, First Rental Property.com. (www.firstrentalproperty.com)

Neil saw the need for starting this blog, as various people who liked the idea of real estate investing were approaching him with many questions.  Neil noticed that these people were too afraid to invest themselves, and did not know where to begin.

As a result, Neil has geared his blog towards providing people with knowledge and confidence so that they can buy their first rental property.

Neil continues to actively invest in positive cash flow townhouses in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with joint venture partners.