There are many strong reasons to be investing in real estate today. Property values in many regional markets are still growing – Canada has a healthy immigrant population that needs and will need a place to live – and of course my favorite – mortgage interest rates are still sitting at historical lows. But for the average Canadian who hasn’t considered the wealth potential of this vehicle – the prospect can be daunting. Here is how you can go from real estate ‘dummy’ to a savvy property investor:
Dummies Need A Plan
‘Pieter and Elfrieda’ came referred to me through a realtor. They were your typical ‘dummies’ when it came to real estate. They owned their own home for the past 15 years and paid their mortgage off early by working inside the bank’s ‘mortgage box’. They did not understand the power of using the bank’s money to finance their retirement. Through a conversation over a round of lattes – I extrapolated the essence of the philosophy of the real estate investor. Now that our couple was in the know – we had work to do. The first step in the progressive evolution of our ‘dummies’ was to hash out a rock solid plan to reach their investment goals within their proposed timeline. To accomplish this we did a very simple exercise of reverse engineering the amount of money they desired to enjoy on a monthly basis from their investment real estate and found how many units they would need to acquire to achieve this new income. Quick example: $3,000/month = 30 units @ $100/month income per unit or a combination of multi family units to reach the goal.
Real Estate Education Makes Not So Dummy
Next – Pieter and Elfrieda went into the simulator. No this is not your flight simulator where you will experience high altitude cabin pressure and G Force that will make your nose bleed. In real estate investing – we learn by simulating stepping out into the real world through interactive educational experiences like those we host at our free monthly events through The Mortgage Station. The most transitional experience our investors needed was what it was like to step into another real estate investor’s shoes and utilize their income, debts, and the opportunities that came their way on a periodic basis to learn without the risk of failing in a safe and educational environment. Pieter’s experience was that he came to understand that through his upbringing and culture that he was taught that taking risks were bad as there was the possibility of failure and that was wrong. Elfrieda was quick to chime in that she learned that some of the spending choices they had made were making them comfortable – but were getting them no closer to their retirement goals. This is the essence of the process of real estate education – it gets the sometimes ‘dumb’ preconceived ideas out of our thinking.
Savvy Investors Make Smart Decisions
Now that our new investors have taken the time to write out and commit to a plan of action and have invested in themselves through education – it is time to put some meat on the bone. Every successful real estate investor will tell you that they only succeeded through surrounding themselves with the best team of professionals that money could buy. This would include but is not limited to appraisers, realtors, mortgage brokers, lawyers, accountants, and tax professionals. In order for Pieter and Elfrieda to accomplish accumulating the necessary real estate assets to reach the income that will assist them in achieving their lifestyle goal – having the expertise of the right professionals is essential. They realized that leveraging is not only done with the bank’s money – but also with the experience that comes from years in the industry. My extensive time spent learning real estate investing for myself as well as assisting in facilitating many fledgling ‘dummies’ become savvy investors is there for you to leverage on your behalf. When it is time for your family to begin reaching for a better life than your job has prescribed – drop me a note below and I will answer all of your questions promptly.
