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 Wow, it is getting hotter and more humid than Orlando in Southern Ontario. Are you enjoying your summer yet? The summer days are getting longer and we are navigating to a new focus for our specific region. We have driven around town to identify decent neighborhoods with good anchors. We have found the 12+ unit apartment buildings we like. We talk to the tenants, talk to a few owners, and pull titles on some buildings that we have identified as being buildings we were interested in. We have talked to a senior planner in the city to get a more solid picture of their budgets and plans. We have requested traffic counts from the engineering department for a couple of different mixed use buildings we were looking at. There’s one area we encountered where the whole neighborhood was bad, with undesirable tenants and unkempt yards. Many American real estate gurus advocate buying properties unseen. We suggest reconsidering that proposition.
We are grateful for a few of our readers interested in taking assignment deals from us. Once again, we are here to support each other in our mutual goal to achieve financial freedom. We are analyzing more and more potential deals. Anyone who is interested to know more about our projects, please email our acquisitions department.
The Lynes’ Lion Safari Adventure
Daniel intentionally surprises Julia by taking her to the African Lion Safari on their anniversary. Daniel drags Julia out of bed bright and early and tells Julia not to wear red clothes??? Driving through a few little towns and some farm fields, they arrive to a gate which reads, “Do not leave your windows open, or you will be eaten alive.” Julia screams out in fear and refuses to enter the two storey tall gate. Daniel drives through the second gate, laughing like a hyena. A big sign says, “close your windows and lock your doors.” Following the small winding trails, their car comes to a sudden halt near a big tree. Three big baboons jump right up to the windshield and one of them started urinating and defecating on the side mirror. At a blink, you can see a few dozen of them jumping out from some tree tops. These animals are quite vicious fighters against each other.
Here comes a shocked driver with his rooftop luggage container popped open by the curious baboons. (Wouldn’t they make great customs inspectors?) The best part is the thrill you get from watching ten elephants forming a bee line by clinging their trunks to tails one after the other; heading down to the lake for their leisure swim. Well, we will let you explore the ferocious looking lions and other animals yourself.
Daniel’s New Blog
Hey, Daniel is stepping out of his comfort zone by starting a blog. He takes an article that captivates him and share his opinion with you. It is only an opinion; you don’t need to agree with a single word he says.
You can read his blog entries by clicking on the archives, ordered by month, on the righthand column of our Website. If you’re looking for an article on a particular date, you can also click on the day on the calendar object in the righthand column.
If you find something interesting, there is an option on the Website to comment on the particular article. We’ll stay current with economic developments and industry news in the region, Canada, and the U.S.A. to give you a heads up for any new changes. We cover off topics such as new regulations affecting the industry, LEED happenings, building industry, economics, retail industry, service industry, toxic materials, and other related issues affecting real estate investment and/or property management.
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Bill Bartmann has a Gift For You
We thank Jack Canfield, who emailed us about his friend, Bill Bartmann. Bill Bartmann is most famously known for going from flat broke to becoming a billionaire! Bill left home and joined a traveling carnival when he was 14 years old. He became a teenage alcoholic and gang member. His life changed when he learned to think better of himself and realized his true potential. He learned how to take his dreams and turn them into reality. Ultimately, Bill received his GED and eventually graduated from law school. He went on to build seven successful businesses in seven different industries.
Let’s listen to a billionaire’s “9 Steps to Achieve any Goal.”
The One Little Golden Goose
Julia feels fortunate to have  started using credit cards at very early stages of her working career. At the time, a co-worker graciously introduced her to use dividend credit cards; Julia ended up getting paid dividends annually. The best side effect was she had built up her credit score, unknowingly. When you have a good credit score, the credit card companies will mail out extremely low interest rate offers to you. Would you like to make use of credit cards like a small golden goose? Some benefits are huge: build up credit line, increase credit score, get paid up to 1% cash back, accumulate air miles to fly free, and get free groceries if you use the President’s Choice credit card. Needless to say, some investors use it to finance fix & flip single family homes. Just one small way to build wealth.
A Business Plan is The Start
We are finally writing up our business plan. Our procrastination! The real value of creating a business plan lies in the process of researching and thinking about your business in a systematic way. The act of planning helps you to think through your ideas thoroughly to avoid costly, perhaps disastrous mistakes later. The most time consuming is in the research part. The two great helpful sites we have found for drafting a business plan are: Industry Canada and the US Small Business Administration.
The Power of Leverage – Your House
Assets are something that put money into your pocket vs Liabilities which are something that take money out of your pocket. Is your house an asset or liability? The answer is No and Yes. Most of us were brought up to believe that our house is an asset. Actually, it’s the equity in the house that is the asset portion. The equity belongs to you. If you carry a mortgage on your house, the property is technically the bank’s asset. Yes, your house doesn’t become a true asset until you sell your house and realize the capital gains (convert the equity into cash). If you understand that, the next question is why not leverage the value of the equity in your house and put it into higher yielding investments?
Most banks currently loan up to 75% of the equity (HELOC) in your house at a rate of around 4%. Some stock savvy investors then put this money into high yielding funds in the stock market. Some novice real estate investors would prefer to buy an apartment building to create passive income. eg. If you own a mortgage free house worth $650,000 in Vancouver, you can use a $400,000 HELOC to buy a decent 8 unit apartment building in Southern Ontario. If you can rent each unit for $700, based on a 45% expense ratio, you realize a net rental income of $385 x 8=$3,080/month. After paying a HELOC interest only payment of $1,333/month, you are putting a net passive income of $1,747 into your pocket every month. Would you see how this would benefit you by turning your house into a money making machine?
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
- Madame Marie Curie
Daniel Lynes and Julia Lee |
