What’s up Everybody,

So often we hear about the real estate buzz word ‘leverage’.

Leverage is a very important concept when it comes to real estate investing.

Leverage is a great thing because, ‘leverage’ allows you to buy real estate.

To those that do not know, simply put, leverage is using money (other than your own) in order to assist you in purchasing a piece of real estate.  ***This is not an official definition, rather, my own definition off the top of my head.

In order to see leverage at work, let’s check out an example…

Let’s say that you are purchasing a house valued at:

$100,000

If you have $100,000 cash saved and you use up all of this cash to buy this house, you are using no leverage, as you have used up all of your own money to buy the house.

Now let’s say that you purchase this same house valued at $100,000, but this time, you use your own personal savings in the amount of:

$25,000

Since you have put down $25,000 towards this property, you will need to get a mortgage in the amount of:

$75,000

This is an example of using leverage.  You have used leverage here because you have used money other than your own (mortgage) in order to buy this piece of real estate.

Why do people use leverage?

One can argue that there are a number of reason’s that people use leverage.  However, the main reason I believe people use leverage is because of the higher Return on Investment (ROI) that is generated when leverage is used, as opposed to when it is not used.

If we look at the examples above, the eventual ROI would potentially be greater when you put down $25,000 in order to purchase the property, as opposed to using the full amount of $100,000 in order to purchase the property.   This is because you have used less capital in order to purchase the same property.

When is it time to de-leverage your portfolio?

If you own a number of properties, when is it time to de-leverage your portfolio?  When I say ‘de-leverage’, I mean…when is it time to get rid of some of that leverage by potentially selling a property or two that are over leveraged?

If you do not own a portfolio of rental properties, and you are looking to purchase your first rental property, when should you decided NOT to use any leverage?

These are important questions to ponder, because if you do not pay special attention to how much you are leveraged as a real estate investor, you can become over leveraged quite easily

Who cares if you are over leveraged?

You should care, and in a major way. Being over leveraged can cause you to be making payments on a mortgage or on borrowed money that you cannot afford.  Some might argue that you become over leveraged when your payments going out for a mortgage are greater than the income coming in.

But seriously, how do I know if I am over leveraged?

If you are looking for conventional wisdom here, you are not going to get it.  Personally, I have learned that people know how much leverage they can tolerate by listening to their gut instinct.  Further, people have different levels of tolerance for leverage.  As such, some people are able to stomach a lot more ‘leverage’ than others.

This may not be the the answer that you were looking for, but it is the truth.  At least, it is the truth that I have come to realize.

If you have a gut feeling that you should not take on any more debt with respect to real estate, or if you feel that you already have too much real estate debt… you will know this — just listen to your gut.  No one can tell you this.  This is something that you will realize for yourself.

If you push the boundaries and try to over leverage yourself, and if you don’t listen to you gut instinct, this is when you can get into trouble.

Debt can be manageable…no question.  Many successful real estate investors have tonnes and tonnes of debt.  However, the super successful ones are able to carefully manage this debt, a.k.a. leverage very effectively.

Is leverage good or bad?  What do you think?  Leave your comments in the comments section below.

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What’s up Everybody,

It is the first day of the month today.

The first day of the month is always a very important day for real estate investors.

If you are a real estate investor, then it is more than likely that you have also acted as a landlord for some period of time.

It goes without saying that there are good and bad landlords out there.

As a new real estate investor, it is important that you become a good landlord, and not a bad one.

But how do you become a good landlord?

Well, I will share with you some key points that I believe help to contribute to someone being a good landlord.  These are all things that I do, that I believe have helped me to stay proactive as a landlord.

Here is my list.  Feel free to add to the list in the comments section below…

How to be a proactive landlord

• Contact your tenants at least once a month.

I always make it a point to contact my tenants on the first of each month.  I do this because I understand that I am in the customer service business as a landlord.  My tenants are my customers, and I want to ensure that my customers are happy.  If there is anything that is bothering my customers, I want to know about it, so that I can proactively take steps in order to fix this.

• respond to customer requests promptly

Don’t you hate it when you have a customer service issue, you need something taken care of right away, you call a customer service rep, and you never get a call back? Or maybe you do get a call back, but the call back comes a week or more later…  During this time, the issue that you had called about has been frustrating you to no end!  I hate it when this happens to me.  That is why whenever, I have a request from one of my tenants (customers), I do my best to address the issue as fast as I can.  It may be that I personally won’t be able to solve the issue for them, but what I do is ensure that I give them the necessary resources so that the problem can be addressed and quickly solved.  One of my greatest resources that I can provide to my customers is my trusty handyman.

• maintain a good working relationship with your handyman

If you are not using the services of a property management company, you will have to have a trusty handyman that you can rely on.  Whenever you have an issue come up with your customers, that you cannot handle yourself, and that requires the services of a handyman, you need to contact your handyman right away so that he/she will be able to fix the problem in a timely manner. Thanks to our partners, you can find online to suit every preference and budget, from budget to top-of-the-range super stylish models.

• Provide periodic gifts to good tenants to show your appreciation

Providing periodic gifts to tenants/customers throughout the year is a great way to show them that you appreciate them.  I am a fan of sending something out to my customers during Christmas time.  In addition, sending a gift to them at certain anniversary dates (such as the one year anniversary date) of them renting from you is a smart idea.  This generosity on your end is essential in maintaining a high level of customer service.  Just as large corporations acknowledge their valued customers, so should you be acknowledging your valued customers.

Add to the conversation.  Let me know what things you are doing in order to be proactive as a landlord.  If you are not a landlord yet, what are some of the things that you will implement once you do become one?

I have included a short video clip of a property that I will be closing on later this year.  Check out the video below.  You can also subscribe to my You Tube Channel, where I will be posting more videos like this one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6cArIuN2F0[/youtube]

Keep up to date with my blog.  Enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog.  Or you can click on the orange RSS button on the top right hand corner of the blog.

Hi Everyone,

I thought that I would change things up a bit with today’s post.

I have attached a video that I recorded today.

The video is of a new condo development going up in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

I have had my eye on this development for the past few months.

I would like you to analyze this deal based on the information I presented in the video.

Put yourself in the shoes of a new real estate investor…

When considering whether or not to buy into this project, what are some of the key questions that you should ask yourself with regards to this project?

I intentionally left out a lot of details with respect to this new condo development.

Let me know your thoughts.  If you were or are a new real estate investor, what are the key questions that you have to ask yourself, prior to purchasing in this development, or prior to purchasing your first rental property in general?

Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

Also, on the topic of new construction, I encourage you to check out the most recent update of the Rock Star Mansion.

To keep up to date with my blog, please enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog.  Or, you can click on the orange RSS button at the top right hand corner of the blog.

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

I began investing in real estate about 5 years ago.  It was at this time that I purchased my first rental property.

Since I started investing, I have spoken to many experienced real estate investors.  Many of these investors currently own, or did own at one point multiple properties.

Since I started investing, I have also spoken to many people who have expressed interest in investing in real estate.  I have noticed that there are a number of factors that prevent these people from investing in real estate.

No matter how much they may say that, “One day, I am going to invest in real estate”, I know that the vast majority of these people never will.

So, why is this the case?  Why do so many people want to invest in real estate, however, never end up doing so?

I could probably write a book on why people don’t end up investing in real estate (hint – hint), however for the purposes of this article, I am going to focus on ONE of the factors that prevent people from investing in real estate.

Arguably the number one reason why people don’t invest in real estate is that they are afraid of the repairs and maintenance that they will have to perform on the property.

This fear is real, and I have witnessed it stop would be real estate investors dead in their tracks!

I know from personal experience that this fear lessens as time goes on, and as the real estate investor gains more experience.

Here is a personal example to help illustrate this point:

When I first began investing in real estate 5 years ago, repairs and maintenance issues were one of my biggest fears.  I was never really a handy person, nor am I a very handy person today (I have gotten better over the years though).

As a result, when repairs and maintenance issues would come up, I would feel anxiety because I did not know how to handle it.  I did not know whether I should repair the item myself, or whether I should hire a handy man who could come in and do the job.

One of my greatest fears was that one of my rental properties would get a leaky toilet and that I would not know how to repair it.

I am very proud to say that I have come a long way in 5 years, and here is why.

Just yesterday, I was visiting my newest rental property.  I had met my new tenants at the property, and we were doing a walk through of the property.  We were doing a final walk through of the property, as the tenants were moving in the following month .  As we were walking through the property, we were testing the toilets by flushing them, in order to make sure that they were working properly.

As soon as we flushed the toilet in the upstairs bathroom, a stream of water began to flow out of the back of the toilet.  The stream of water was steady, almost like the water coming out of a slow running tap.

My property manager was also there with me.  So when this happened, we jumped into action and turned the water off.  We cleaned up the water quickly so that there was no damage to the floor.

As we were cleaning up the water, the property manager and I were sticking our heads underneath the toilet and  discussing the problem with the toilet.  We identified the problem and concluded that the best remedy would be a brand new toilet.

This all happened pretty fast, and when everything was over and done, I was pretty happy with how I was feeling about the situation.

I had always feared this type of repair the most — the leaky toilet that is.  I had always experienced the most anxiety around the thought of this type of repair.  However, while the toilet was leaking, while we were cleaning it up, and after the situation was under control, I realized that I had experienced no anxiety at all.  I was pretty calm throughout the whole ordeal.

The fact that I was so calm I believe is a direct result of the Real Estate Team I have in place.

I have confidence in my Real Estate team and their ability to get things done for me.

As an example, my property manager is going to be replacing the toilet with a brand new one in a few days.  Which means…. problem solved!

The number one way in which you can eliminate all of the fears you have with respect to real estate investing, is to have a strong Real Estate Team that you can rely on.

This team can sometimes take some time to assemble.  However, once the team is assembled, nothing will be able to get in your way of real estate investment success!

Please keep up to date with my blog.  You can do this by entering your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog.  Or, you can click on the orange RSS button at the top right hand corner of the blog.

To check out some of the members of my Real Estate Team, click on the following links:

Mortgage Broker
Real Estate Lawyer
Realtor

Hi Everybody,

I have an interesting story to share with you today.  Before I begin telling the story, I want you to pay attention to the following points as you read this article.  As a real estate investor you must:

• Always protect your money
• Never blindly trust anyone
• Always get second opinions
• Make sure you have detailed and valid joint venture documentation
• Always be careful with regards to all aspects of real estate investing

The story that I am about to share is currently a very controversial topic that many real estate investors in Ontario and Alberta Canada are learning about.  I have noticed that no one yet has talked about this on real estate blogs for whatever reason, even those who know what is going on.  I wanted to explain what is going on because I think that this story can serve as an example and help to educate aspiring real estate investors.  If I can help some of you reading this to learn from this example, then I am doing a good thing.

Here is the story…

There is a well know real estate investor based out of Ontario, Canada that is in deep trouble right now.  This investor managed to purchase approximately 50 properties. 30 of these properties being located in Ontario and 20 of the properties being located in Alberta.

These properties were primarily purchased using joint venture money.

This means that the real estate investor arranged a first mortgage on the property, and the joint venture money served as the down payment during the purchase.

This investor re-created this 50 times.  During this time, this investor became very well know and was considered a ‘big player’ in the real estate investment circles in Ontario and Alberta.

The you know what is hitting the fan right now as this real estate investor’s portfolio is collapsing, and all of the investor’s wrong doing are being exposed.

Here is what is happening:

All of the real estate investor’s joint venture partners were never registered on the title of the property.  It is not clear at this point how this detail was missed.  Some observers are speculating that it was wrong doing on the part of the real estate lawyer involved with the closings.  Again,it is not clear at this point how this detail was missed.  However, this detail was missed on the majority of this portfolio.  Which means that on paper, the Joint Venture Partners who supplied the money to the real estate investor has NO ownership in the property.  When I say ‘missed’, this was no accident on the part of the real estate investor.  Rather this detail was missed on purpose.

Observers who are following this situation, such as some real estate lawyers, are commenting that the real estate investor in question then put 2nd mortgages onto the properties.  The investor was able to do this without getting the permission of the joint venture partners because on paper the joint venture partners have no ownership interest in the properties.  Some are saying that the real estate investor then pocketed this money from the 2nd mortgages.

If this was not enough, the real estate investor then went onto put a 3rd mortgage over the entire portfolio of properties (a blanket mortgage).  Observers are also commenting that this real estate investor pocketed the money from the 3rd mortgage.

Since this real estate investor was so highly leveraged now, a few vacancies and non payment of rent by tenants caused their house of cards to come tumbling down.

What has the impact been of this fraudulent activity:

• Some observers, such as real estate lawyers believe that if this entire portfolio collapses, it will result in the Canadian Government stepping in and beginning to regulate joint venture agreements in Canada.

• The joint venture partners who invested with this real estate investor have more than likely lost all of their money.  Their equity was deleted the moment the real estate investor put a 2nd mortgage on their respective property without the permission of the JV partner.

• Observers of this situation, and some real estate lawyers anticipate that this real estate investor will serve jail time for this.

What lesson can we learn from this:

When something like this happens there are always so many lessons that we can learn from this.  The one thing I would like to stress to those people looking to get started with investing in real estate is to:

• Always be careful in all aspects of real estate investment
• Always protect your money
• Never blindly trust anyone
• Always get second opinions
• Make sure you have detailed and valid joint venture documentation

Again, there is much more information that is going to be coming out with respect to this story.  Some of the information that I have presented may not be 100% accurate.

I would rather share with you the information that I have thus far so that you might benefit in some way by reading this.

What are some of your thoughts with respect to this real estate investor and the fraudulent activity? What sort of punishment do you think this act deserves?  You can place your comments below.

As an aspiring real estate investor, it is so important that you educate yourself and learn from experienced and trustworthy people.  I know a lot of real estate educators and bloggers.  However, two of the most sincere and straight forward real estate investors and educators that I have met thus far are Julie and Dave from Rev N You.

Keep up to date with my blog.  Enter your your e-mail address on the left hand side of the screen.  Or you can click on the RSS button on the top right hand corner of the blog.

Greetings Everyone,

There was a time, not too long ago that I thought that people who intentionally chose not to keep a  Television in their home were absolutely weird.

I felt that if someone had the financial means to own a TV, they should.  No questions asked.

Whenever I came across the occasional person who did not own one, by default, I thought that they were some sort of hippie. I could not understand why someone would chose NOT to have a TV.

Over the years, the more I stared to network with successful real estate investors and successful people in general, and the more I started to learn about their habits.  As such, it started to  become clear to me why some people don’t chose to own a television set.

A common belief that these successful people would express was that,

“There is no shortcut to success.”

Because there is no shortcut to success, one has to use up all of the time in their day very wisely.   Afterall, there is an equal amount of time in the day for every single person.

It goes without saying that most real estate investors, and aspiring real estate investors are ‘cut from the same mold.’

These are people that generally try to overachieve and obtain ‘more’ than they currently have.

When you look at the population on the whole, these people are definitely in the minority.  In fact, it is not uncommon that these people feel that they are outcasts.

Personally, I feel like an outcast a lot of the time, as my level of motivation and overall ambition is quite high.  This often intimidates people, OR, this makes people think that something may be wrong with me…

Have no fear my fellow and aspiring highly motivated real estate investors because,

It’s Okay To Be Weird

So much of whether we become successful as real estate investors, or not, depends on how we are using our spare time.

In order to achieve success, we always have to be making the decision to work during our spare time, as opposed to relaxing during this spare time.

It is obviously okay to relax now and then, but if you are always relaxing and never working, success is not just going to fall into you lap while you are on the couch.

My fellow blogger and real estate investor, John Fedro, a.k.a. J-Fed, hit the nail right on the head with a blog post earlier this week on this very topic.

J-Fed is a hard working man and because of his hard work, he has realized much success investing in mobile homes.  I really encourage you to read his thought provoking article titled, What Will You Do For Success In Real Estate?

So what do you think?  Are there any exceptions to the rule?  Does success only come to those who work hard?  Or, do you know of a shortcut to achieve success?

Keep up date with my blog First Rental Property.  Enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the page, or, you can click on the orange RSS button on the top right hand corner of the blog.

Greetings Everyone,

Today I had a very interesting conversation with a fellow real estate investor. Our conversation was by chance, as neither one of us knew that the other was involved with investing in real estate.

I was very fascinated by this individual and the way in which he was investing in condo units in downtown Toronto.

In point form, here is a quick summary of his investment strategy:

• He is currently a part time real estate investor

• He works full time in the entertainment industry (on the set of movies, commercials, etc.)

• Specifically, he buys pre-construction condos in downtown Toronto, and flips them once the unit has been constructed.

As an aside, I know that investors with deep pockets do this. Instead of purchasing single condo units in a building, these deep pocket investors will buy entire floors in a condo building. Or they will buy a specific type of unit in the building. For instance, they may buy all of the bachelor units in a particular building and then flip them at a later date.

• This particular investor was just buying single units in a given building

• His long term strategy is to eventually invest in pre-construction condos as his full time job
  

What I found interested about this Condo Flipper was that he initially started out as a traditional real estate investor, buying and holding properties long term.

He told me that he started out investing in buy and hold properties approximately 15 to 20 years ago.

He also added that he moved into purchasing pre-construction condos because he wanted to invest his money in a ‘different’ way.  I got the feeling that perhaps he became bored of the buy and hold strategy.

Here are some important take aways that I got from my conversation with this investor.  This is the most important part of my article, as this gives an insight as to what is really going on ‘in the head’ of this particular investor.

• As fascinated as I was talking to him, and asking questions about how he was investing…he was equally as fascinated about how I was investing.

This insight led me to believe that as cool as condo flipping must be, there was a part of him that still wished he was buying and holding properties for the long run.

• He was very bullish about certain condo developments in downtown Toronto that a lot of traditional real estate investors would run screaming from.

His perspective here made me realize that opportunity truly exists everywhere.  Whether you are buying properties to hold for the long term, or pre-construction condos to flip, there is an opportunity to make a profit with both scenarios.

Often, I find that many traditional buy and hold real estate investors don’t like certain ideas.  For instance, they tend not to like the ‘buying pre-construction condos and flipping them’ strategy.  Many of them disregard this idea completely as a money making strategy.

*Neil’s Wisdom* — Sometimes when we have our eyes closed (to certain investment strategies) we tend to miss these opportunities, as we are in the dark and we don’t see them.

Just some food for thought for my traditional buy and hold investors/readers.  🙂

In closing, there was one other point that this Condo Flipper made that I found fascinating.  Anyone who has been watching the Downtown Toronto condo market knows that parking spots are now selling for a premium.  A few years back $25,000 for a parking spot was the going rate.  This going rate, depending on where you buy a condo in Toronto could now be $35,000 a spot.

The Condo Flipper told me that with his recent condo unit that he purchased at Front St. and Jarvis St. in Toronto…

…he bought a parking spot for $41,000 one year ago.  A year later, the same parking spot was selling for $50,000.

$50,000 for a parking spot?!

As the kids say… OMG!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this Condo Flipper’s Investment Strategy. Do you like it?  Do you hate it?  Do tell.

Also, keep up to date with my blog.  Enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog, or click on the orange RSS button at the top right hand corner of the blog.

Greetings Everybody,

There are many skills that new real estate investors have to pick up quickly as soon as they start investing in real estate.

I have talked about the importance of organization as one of these skills in a previous article.

Another very important skill that a new real estate investor has to become good at fast is Marketing.

A real estate investor will have to market in the following ways:

1) Market the property as a rental to prospective tenants
2) Market the features of the property to prospective tenants
3) Market the property again in the event that the property goes vacant
4) Market the property for sale to prospective buyers, once the investor is looking to sell the property

In point number 4 above, the real estate investor may use the service of a Real Estate Agent in order to sell the property.  However, the real estate investor needs to understand the fundamentals of how a property is marketed for sale.  By knowing the fundamentals of how a property is sold, the investor will be able to determine if their Real Estate Agent is doing an adequate job or not.

Viral Marketing has increased dramatically with the birth of social media.

Real Estate Investors use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in order to market their properties for rent or for sale.

If these advertisements go ‘viral’, this is great for the real estate investor as a tremendous amount of people will view the particular advertisement.

At the bottom of this article, I have included a video that had gone viral over the Internet.  It was a commercial that was created by Old Spice that I first saw on Chris Davies’ Blog.

Watch this video and write a comment in the section below.  Why do you think this video was so popular?  Why do you think so many people liked the video?  Why would people be willing to ‘share’ this video versus the thousands upon thousands of other videos out there?

Here is the video:  (don’t forget to leave a comment)  🙂

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

2008 – The Year of The Investment Group

At the very end of 2007, I finally realized that my true interest in real estate was with real estate investment and not real estate sales. It was at this point that I began to start reading a lot more about real estate investing. As I continued to real more about real estate investing I began to learn how little I knew about the topic. I also discovered that there were so many real estate investors out there in the real world. I committed to myself to seek out and learn from these people.

The more I read about real estate investing, the more I kept on coming across different real estate investment groups.

Joining a real estate investment group seemed like the next logical step for me, as I found that it was very difficult for me to come across and meet real estate investors any other way.

In April 2008 I joined my first real estate investment group. I was meeting as I had never before very impressed with the first meeting as I found myself in a room full of real estate investors…approximately 500 in total.

Heading into the meeting I was a bit sceptical as to how many true real estate investors would actually be in attendance. I also had my back up, as I thought that the real estate investors meeting would just be a high powered sales pitch in order to get you to join the group and pay membership fees.

Despite having a terrible memory, I can remember that first meeting like it was yesterday. I was sitting at a round table with 5 other people. We all took turns introducing ourselves. At this time, I had one investment property. I introduced myself and described my property. By reading my About Page, you know that my first rental property was a freehold townhouse in my hometown of Oakville, Ontario.

I was amazed when I found out that everyone else sitting at the table all owned at least one rental property.

There were 3 people that I remember from my table very clearly. They each had an interesting real estate investing history.

There was one guy who owned a six-plex in a suburb east of Toronto. The building was owned by his family. He managed the property, and collected the rent. His brother helped with the management as well, and mainly looked after the repair of the building. This particular gentleman found managing the property difficult at times, but he was committed to the investment, and understood that the benefits to real estate investing are realized over time.

There was another lady who had purchased a large home in downtown Toronto as a rental property. It was a very expensive purchase, and after hearing her tell her story, her analysis of the investment property did not make any sense to me. It seemed to me, by her explanation that she was not realizing a positive cash flow with the property. It was evident to me that she had purchased the property without doing much due diligence. It was definitely an emotional purchase.

There was another lady who owned a condo in a suburb west of Toronto and another multi-unit building southwest of Toronto.

This lady was very concerned as she was trying to sell her condo, as she was not realizing a positive monthly cash flow from this property. She was trying to be a little bit cheap as well, as she was not willing to hire the services of a real estate agent, and she was trying to sell the property herself.

About 2 years after this initial meeting, bring us to today. 2 of these 3 people are still members of the real estate investment group. I have not seen the guy with the six-plex in several months, which leads me to believe that he has left the group.

Joining a real estate investment group was definitely very instrumental for me. I joined the group at a time when I was ready to learn and embrace the teachings of other real estate investors.

The most important take away that I had from joining this real estate investment group can be explained in a few sentences.

I felt that if other people were investing in real estate and were successful doing it, there was no reason that I could not do the same!

Actually, I explained that in one sentence.  A run on sentence…

To keep up to date with my blog, you can enter your e-mail address on the left hand side of the blog.  Or, you can click on the orange RSS button at the top right hand corner of the blog!

Business Life Story Part One
Business Life Story Part Two
Business Life Story Part Three
Business Life Story Part Four
Business Life Story Part Six

Greetings Everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing well today.

I have a very important tip that I would like to share with all of you.

Any experienced real estate investor will tell you that the true learning with respect to real estate investing only begins after you have purchased your first rental property.

The more properties that you acquire, the more ‘things’ you will have going on that you need to stay on top of.

Even if you only ever purchase one rental property, there are many ‘things’ that you need to deal with. An inability to deal with these ‘things’ can be detrimental. In the worst case scenario, not staying on top of these things can even result in you losing your rental property.

So what is this valuable tip that I am talking about?

It really is quite simple. In fact, it is so simple, you would think that it should be common sense. However, unfortunately it is not. I am going to tell you what the tip is and then I am going to give you examples as to why you need to take this advice. I will also give you some personal examples that I have with regards to practicing this tip.

The tip is…

“As a real estate investor, you have to be organized. “

This sounds like ridiculous advice, does it not?  On the contrary, it is very important advice, and here’s why…

A lack of organization will defeat real estate investors, EVERY TIME!

A lack of organization can often be the begining of the end for a real estate investor.  When you have no organizational skills, little problems very quickly become bigger problems.  If these big problems are not dealt with properly, the impact to you as the real estate investor can be severe.

Example

With my most recent rental property purchase, I obtained a rental policy through my insurance company.  This rental policy covers me in the event that anything terrible happened to the house. (house fire, natural disaster, etc.)

I gave my insurance company the necessary details for the property that they had requested.  Since this was the 3rd rental property that I had insured through this company, I thought that everything was ‘smooth sailing’ after I had submitted my information to them.

I thought wrong, as I got a call from the insurance company saying that I had not submitted the necessary details.

I knew that I had submitted the details that they had requested.  So instead of getting mad at them, I simply decided to reproduce the documents that they were requesting.

Fortunately, I was able to do this with ease, as I had kept very good records.

In this example, even though the insurance company was the one that made the error, at the end of the day, if I was late in producing these documents a second time to them, or if I decided not to produce the documents again to them, I would be in big trouble.

I did not want to run the risk of my insurance company being discontent and challenging my insurance coverage. So, I jumped into action and produced the documents that they needed.

My organization skills helped me to deal with this problem quickly.

As a real estate investor, it is so important to be orgnized.  I have learned the importance of being organized, the longer I have been investing.

My advice to new investors is to get organized from the very beginning.  Keep good records, and know where to find things when you need to.  This will save you a lot of frustration down the road.

If you are just starting out as a real estate investor, I encourage you to sign up for the Rev N You with Real Estate newsletter. Julie and Dave do a very good job explaining the fundamentals of investing to new investors.  Check them out!

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Happy investing everyone!