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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let me repeat myself here…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only focus on what you are great at!

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

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.