If you follow the Real Estate markets or own rental property it is incredibly easy to get depressed about the current market situation. As you scan the Real Estate headlines and find out sales have dropped 41% from the last year. Or as you can talk to Realtors, who will tell you about the huge amount of inventory currently for sale or you can even talk to your tenants about how they feel you need to lower rents because there are so many vacancies out there. The last trap was the one I fell into with my tenants help.

With this many options and this many negatives, it’s easy to get worried and it’s important to understand where your sources of information come from. My mistake began with talking to a tenant of mine, who was requesting a rent reduction due to the changing market. I am aware there are more vacancies and I know the market is a bit more competitive, I also know what a headache it can be to move. But they were good people so I caved in and ended up offering her a $75 reduction, which wasn’t good enough for her. So I agreed to switch to month to month while they explored their options, without doing any rent reduction!!.So now, here is how the trap unfolded.

When I collected the last monthly rent check, I listened to her story about how she felt bad for landlords like me, since there were so many vacancies out there and so many choices for renters, I may be vacant for quite a while. It was all rather depressing really.

To help elevate the potential depression, I also had another property that was just getting some renovations completed and was currently vacant, plus two more vacancies coming up. It all looked rather glum.

Next, came the reality versus what I had been told by the wrong source, or at least a source with a different agenda. Late one evening as I stressed about how long I would have empty properties, I finally had my ads all written and proceeded to post them online with less than stellar expectations. Much to my surprise by mid morning, I already had my first viewing booked for that day. Then another one came for the following day. Then two more for the other property, then a friend’s son came out of the woodwork interested in the third.

The response took me off guard as I was expecting a disappointing response, but it quickly became better and better. Now the key from my viewpoint is as follows, we like to keep our properties well maintained and updated and this is an example of this tactic paying off. Here we are not even a week later and I have all three properties lined up with new tenants. One will be vacant for less than 24 hours!

When chatting with the actual tenants looking for new places, the real view of the market emerged versus the one I was fed by the current tenant. Yes, there are a significant amount of rental properties out there, many at very low monthly rates. However, it appears there is a reason many of them are languishing on the market and steadily reducing rates and it has nothing to do with an over abundance of vacancies. Rather it has to do with tenants having options of where they want to live and they don’t want to live in dumps!

Resoundingly the tenants informed me that a majority of the “cost effective” properties were not places they would choose to live if they had options. During the economic boom earlier in the decade, people took what they could get, now the landlord and property owners that took advantage of tenants and just pocketed all the profits are feeling the results of their decisions.

So the real message behind this article? You really need to talk to the right people to get the real answers. The neighbour, or the tenant or the Realtor may have an opinion, but you have to do your own research to find out how valid their opinion really is and what is actually happening in the market.

It appears as I look back through previous posts I throw in quite a few references to motivation and trying to stay positive. This ultimately stems from my endeavours to stay in a positive mindset and look towards all the positive things happening for us.

But I tell you, some days (and some weeks and some months) are harder than others are!  Ultimately though, by staying more positively focused, people and companies can evolve into winners. Not to say this is true in all cases, as you cannot thrive and grow just on good intent or hopeful dreams, somewhere action is required as well. I believe it’s this action that helps separate the eventual winners and losers.

The problem with action though, is what action is required to make these strides forward? What makes winners stand out? It’s easy for many individuals to stay incredibly busy throughout their whole day, week and life, yet at the end of these terms, they have really accomplished nothing. As I reflect back, many former co-workers during my employee days actually turned this into an art. These individuals were always busy, yet never seemed to really accomplish anything.

So to be a winner you need action that moves you forward. It’s defining this forward moving action that causes the real issue. In the last couple of years I have dealt with several individuals who have once again turned the activity of staying busy into an art form, yet at the end of the day, no real forward momentum is ever gained, it’s just another day completed. What’s the point then?

Unfortunately, quite often as I look through my week, I too get caught in this trap of never ending tasks that need to be completed, yet never move me forward. A prime example for me is our collection of weekly rental properties. It seems I am continually coming and going from property to property signing in tenants, signing out tenants, showing rooms and cleaning up rooms.

While all these activities result in a steady flow of incoming cash and mange to keep me very busy, they typically don’t allow us to move forward. This week’s example was a potential tenant who wasted my time, but also incented me to write this post. The full story would bore you, the short story is he left a deposit and wasted my time because he found a cheaper place.

This ended up costing me about two hours of driving around, left me irritable and didn’t help move me forward, until the story evolved into this post. How many activities in your week create the same situation of just spinning your wheels or causing frustration, and what can you do to take these situations, turn them around and help them make a positive forward movement in your day, your business and your life?

The alternative is to stay focused on these roadblocks, waste time and energy and never win. Or if you do, it’s only short lived and at the expense of someone else. Winner or loser, the great thing is you really can be whatever you choose, so just make sure you make wise choices.

I’m a huge Will Smith fan. I really admire what he has done and how he has grown from his start as a rapper to a fantastic actor and obviously great person. In the following video are some excerpts from various interviews he has done over the years that provide you with some insights into how and why he has become who he has become.

His positive outlook, his drive and his motivation are a great example of what you can do if you set your mind to it and have the right attitude. If you want to move to the next level in whatever you do, perhaps this little bit of inspiration will help.

I’ve recently been emailing back and forth with a reader who has some dreams and finding this video seems to be a rather nice coincidence. Big J, pay special attention to the last 40 seconds and may the chocolate gods smile on you!

I found this originally on Frank Kern’s site, so Kudos’s to him for posting it.

I’ve been off the posting wagon here for the last little bit and haven’t put anything up new for a whole week, don’t worry, I haven’t disappeared, I’ve just been busy. It appears that over the last month, more and more people are getting on the Real Estate bandwagon and this has taken some of my time up.

We have met with six different sets of people who are starting to get the Real Estate bug and have either been referred to us as people who are easy to talk to and helpful. It’s great to see the enthusiasm from people out there just looking to get started and it helps to light a little bit of a fire under us as well.

If you have just been lurking on the pages and reading along, it’s really not a problem contacting us if you ever have questions. I try to answer everyone’s questions and perhaps I meet with too many people, but it’s all working out so far. Some of you are already starting to read some of these posts and adding to some of the discussions with your comments and observations which I really appreciate.

If you have any topics you would like me to touch on here send me an email or a comment and I will do my best to provide you with some helpful information to guide you along.

I have a few topics to cover all of a sudden and after an email from a subscriber last week, I will start with spam.

Strangely enough, when people subscribe to the blog, they get updates on new posts. True I filled in many of you automatically from my contacts when I first started up the blog, and many have requested to be removed over the years, but many have also been added on, my statistics show me that many of you read them and some never read them. Also, there have been a few glitches, where people received the same blog posting email two, three or four times and I apologize for that. Technology isn’t perfect, we all seem to understand that, we resent it, but we understand it, or at least I hope we all do?
Anyway, I have previously updated people on how to be removed, and it’s simple, just email me and ask to be removed. My point here is don’t be surprised if you register and get emails from me, really what did you think you were registering for? Sending me an email saying Stop The Spam is not necessarily the correct tact. Don’t worry, if you do, you won’t be getting anymore of the updates as soon as I can get to this computer and delete you, so on that account I guess it is effective. Anyway, there is that little rant, thank you for following along.

Rich Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, if you haven’t heard of him you haven’t looked at your front door in the last year or read any of the junk mail you receive from the post office. Rich Dad Poor Dad endorses a series of seminar’s that appear around the country and show you how to become wealthy. Or at least that is the premise of why you should attend.

Recently, CBC’s Marketplace had an expose on the seminars which you can watch here, Who’s getting rich off Rich Dad? Anyone considering attending one of these to become wealthy really should watch this. Now having said that, I am a big believer in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series of books and the concept Richard Kiyosaki is pushing. It has changed our lives definitely for the better.

You just have to take much of it with a grain of salt. Some of the techniques they talk about may or may not work. Mobile homes scare the hell out of me, they are a depreciating asset much like a vehicle and are not really Real Estate and it appears may not be as profitable as portrayed (you need to watch the video to understand). On the other hand, we have managed to make a considerable amount of money off of pre-foreclosures over the years, but it isn’t necessarily easy!

I really believe it’s true that anyone can become rich, but there is far more to becoming rich than just going to one of these seminars and then signing up for more and expensive courses as these types of seminars are famous for. To really become successful, you really have to buy into the idea that you can do anything you set your mind to, to find a real purpose that drives you. Yet the mindset of many of the folks attending these types of events is to attend the course, discover the secret code of the wealthy and watch their life change. Kind of like getting the winning lottery ticket, which is the ultimate seminar that people keep signing up for on a weekly basis.

I’ve actually attended some of the events like this and there is nothing you get from them that you cannot find in many of the books out there, except for the opportunity to meet many other people looking to change their lives. The opportunity to hang around like minded people, how golden is that?

We even started out by attending a three day weekend event that cost us $5,000. Sure enough, they had a few people selling things and surprise, we bought into several of them, but that was when we were just searching for the winning lottery ticket. We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, how we were going to get there and what it was going to look like. We just knew we were going to become rich through Real Estate.

Since that time we have learned a tad bit more, attended a few more events, and put a few miles on in the Real Estate business and the game of life. We have learned to plan a bit better (we still need plenty of work on this), we have seen how setting goals for ourselves works and more importantly how not setting goals provides you with exactly what you planned for. We have even met some people who have become great friends and inspirations for us. So is there a lesson buried in here about seminars, or is this another rant?

As much as I like to ramble, there is a point, the seminars may not be the answer for you, but they could be the catalyst to help you move forward. It could be that one ingredient to help push you to look for more answers and more solutions to get what you want or perhaps it allows you to meet the one person who can help guide you along. Most importantly, that solution may not involve the $5,000 three day course that you can purchase from the back of the room, or perhaps it does, it all depends on where you are in your life.

Perhaps many of you remember the book and the video called The Secret? It was all the rage and applauded by many as the ticket to changing your life. Unfortunately, too many people took the boiled down message to mean sit at home and focus on what you want in life and it will come true. Needless to say many people were very disappointed in the results as they were missing one of the key ingredients, taking action.

What are your thoughts? Have you attended any of these events and if so, did it work for you?

Wow, am I ever grateful it’s 2010. 2009 was a pretty brutal year economically, business wise and action wise for us. We still have a few headaches that have followed us over into 2010, but with some strong action and forward movement on our part, instead of waiting to see how it plays out this time, we should be on a much stronger footing for 2010.

What I have realized as I reviewed some of the mistakes and shortcomings of 2009 was how far we have actually come. Yes, we lost money in 2009 on Real Estate, in fact a considerable amount which pains me every time I reflect on it. However, Real Estate also put us in a position so we had money to lose. If we hadn’t have started purchasing properties back in 2003 I would probably still be working at my old job, making a comfortable living, but not very happy. This life is so much better!

Financially we are twenty years ahead of where we were back then, even after the slowdown. Lifestyle wise we have the ability to show up to our children’s recitals in the middle of the morning, pick up our children after school and make our work fit around our hours. Sure, I had flexibility at work due to a great boss and plenty of seniority, but nothing like this.

None of this would have happened originally though if we didn’t start crawling and make that initial purchase that started us moving forward.  That initial purchase led to the next one and the one after that and so on. Much like a baby learning to crawl, there are struggles and surprises as you learn. Unlike a baby, these struggles and surprises can be bumps and bruises on your finances instead of your body.

Surprisingly many people who run into these setbacks in Real Estate tuck in their tails and become the loudest mouthpieces about how Real Estate can wipe you out and what a bad investment it can be. It’s amazing these people are able to walk. If they had the same mindset when they initially started crawling, they would have never left the safe spot they started at on the floor. Obviously, they didn’t stop trying to crawl though and managed to not only overcome crawling, but also learned to walk, talk and run.

So what changes our mindset as we grow older and potentially wiser? If we really had acquired wisdom as we aged, wouldn’t we realize we need to crawl before we walk or run in many of life’s adventures? Do we simply get too caught up in the fear of making mistakes that could cost us money or could damage our pride? Why do we lose the gusto to reach for that brass ring that appears to be just out of our reach?

As more people come to me for guidance and mentorship about Real Estate investing, I am seeing a colossal difference between the people worn out by day jobs and the people just entering the Real Estate business. The excitement they bring, the willingness to not only learn to crawl with their Real Estate investments, but the desire to learn to walk the talk to move forward can be an adrenaline rush to me. It reminds me of how when we initially started we ate, talked and dreamed of Real Estate almost 24 hours a day and how crawling eventually leads to walking and running. So remember, you gotta crawl before you start running!

mmmm Coffee!

I had a few inquiries yesterday whether I was packing it in, this is far from what is happening. We are actually simplifying and this involves getting rid of quite a few of our current properties.

Most of them are rooming houses which although they have been a huge source of income for us over the last five years, have also been a drag on our morale. Originally there was three of us working together doing all the required work, but over the last nine months I have been dealing with all the tenants basically alone and it has just worn me out.

So we are simplifying things by getting out of all but three of these units currently. For someone willing to put in the work and eager to get some great cash flow it will be a tremendous opportunity. I just wouldn’t recommend renting out 48 rooms to tenants all on your own!

As for some of our other properties, perhaps we are just getting lazy, but we have the one property in the NE (Marlborough Park) we are selling and then we have another couple coming up over in Bowness as well. These properties are both about a 45 minute commute for us, we have made our money off of them and are ready to pass them on to someone else looking for a great deal and who will profit for many years to come.

We will spend the next several months re-balancing our lives,  simplifying and/or removing our headaches and then come back harder and faster than ever. We have some fairly simple plans for 2010 which involve getting back to our original business model which allowed us to be successful for so long.

2010 will involve plenty of Real Estate and there will be many new opportunities for people to become involved with us for short term investments and more Joint Venture partnerships. If you want to jump on our bandwagon and come along for the ride be sure to contact us, be sure to follow my postings and be sure to buy me a coffee!

Let’s start 2010 off with a bang. For you investors reading this I have two properties I need to sell. One is a traditional rental with an upper suite and a non-conforming lower suite along with a detached garage. It is located over in Marlborough Park and currently has tenants in the upper unit and for the garage.

The upper suite has three bedrooms and one bath, while the lower is a single bedroom with bath. There is a shared laundry setup and along with the street parking, there are two gravelled spots in the back beside the garage.

The fence between the properties should be replaced in the spring or summer and it will need a new roof within the next couple of years. Those are the only major expenditures coming up. There is some work to be completed in the basement, apparently a couple hours worth of painting and sanding. Pricing is still being confirmed, but currently I believe it will be around the $325,000 mark which puts it as the second lowest priced property in the neighbourhood which would give someone a heck of a deal. If this interests you, contact me right away.

The second property is all about the cash flow. It is our biggest rooming house. Now this property has been a source of pain and suffering for me over the last six months, but it has also been our largest source of pure cash flow. With the ability to generate over $2,000 cash flow per month with vacancies or almost $4,000 when completely full, you can see why it is attractive and so lucrative.

This property is located in Ogden, has eleven furnished rooms and will include not only all of the furnishings, but we will also provide all of our systems to the lucky purchaser. We originally bought this property from another person running it as a rooming house and had to bring all of our systems in to make it work. You will be able to skip this step.

It is a full duplex with six rooms on one side and five rooms on the other. All rooms are furnished with beds, dressers, TV’s and linens. The two full kitchens and two partial kitchens are all complete with everything one needs to prepare meals, cook meals and serve meals. Also, the living rooms come complete with furniture and TV’s. To supply just the furnishings for the property would run close to $15,000 without taking into account the time and energy required to acquire and install them.

The property also is one title and is not currently subdivided. This will allow the owner to have a secondary exit plan of building a couple of infills or potentially a newer fourplex which they can sell off once they decide to sell, or they can pass on the building as a rooming house to the next individual.

We are looking at a purchase price of $525,000 currently on this. It was appraised at $500,000 for the building only, a year ago and you are aware prices have managed to crawl upwards from then, plus we are including furniture and our unique systems to streamline your operation. Once again, if this is of interest, please contact me as soon as possible. We will also have a couple smaller rooming properties coming up as we move forward this quarter so this could be the door to having your own fleet of shared accommodations and the accompanying cash flow.

I can be reached via email at bill@housez.ca or via phone at 403-870-4663, I look forward to hearing from you!

Another year has flown by and this particular year has had its share of headaches, heartache and economic impact virtually everywhere on the planet. Although hindsight is 20/20, reflecting back on this past year I have become mindfully aware of my biggest mistake of the year, have you?

For anyone hoping to change their life, improve their successes and just make things better it is critical to look back and perhaps review what he or she could have possibly done differently.

For me this year was a financial nightmare. The losses we took will impact us for several years, but in hindsight, if we didn’t take chances originally, we would never have been in a solid enough position to weather this setback.

We have had some very successful years and we owe those years to taking some very significant action. When we started over six years ago there were many months of using advances on our credit cards to cover mortgage payments, hoping, begging, pleading that a property would sell before we ran out of room on the card! Knowing we had to take action to get things done.

During 2009 and even most of 2008, we never felt that same pressure, we never took enough of the action to get things done. Sure, we have had bursts of it, but we never ramped it up to the point where we were taking massive action.

In my mind and in my review of the year, this lack of massive action is directly responsible for our lack of forward momentum this last year and for us moving backwards rather than forwards. Our biggest mistake was simply a lack of massive action.

Historically the downturn of the economy has resulted in the creation of some of the biggest strongest companies out there. Companies like Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, GE and FedEx all began during downturns.

Many much smaller companies also started up during the downturn and have also succeeded. Much of this in part to the owner not being able to get a job and having to fall back upon him or herself to put food on the table. Failure simply wasn’t an option!

If you haven’t reflected on this past year yet, take a minute to look back, reminisce about how things could have been instead of how they are. Think about what you can do and must do in 2010 to make it a success.

This upcoming year will be a turning point. A time when things finally are starting to get back on track. So you can just roll along for the ride or you can step up and ensure you make things happen.

I know I have personally let tenants and partners take control of my life and our business, but this year will be different, it has to!

As a side note, I put a post up yesterday that I didn’t send out to everyone. If you aren’t aware, Jim Rohn passed away earlier this month. Jim Rohn was an incredible influence on many people’s lives with his incredible views on everything from motivation to success.

I found a video of one of his seminars on Frank Kern’s blog and enjoyed it so much I thought I should share it with my readers. The post is available here, Jim Rohn Video

Tell me what you think, both about the Jim Rohn video and this post. Tell me your stories about 2009 and any stories you may have about your successes or what you hope to change to make 2010 successful! I look forward to your comments.