100% Vacancy vs 50% vacancy

Two (or 3 or 4) are better than one!
When you're buying investment property look for buildings that have more than one space to rent out.

Rather than a single family house where you have to pay 100% of the mortgage payment if it is vacant; buy a unit where there is a basement suite as well. That way if one suite is empty you only have to pay a portion of the payment.

I once bought a fourplex and with the cash flow I could have one unit empty at all times and still make the payment. It made for a low stress purchase.

So keep your eyes open for units with extra space to rent out. A suited house with a garage is even better because it has 3 parts (the upstairs, the downstairs, and the garage) from which you could earn income.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE to all buyers and sellers...                 
After speaking with 4 different insurance agents, they all confirmed that if a hot water tank is over 15 years old most insurance companies will require it to be replaced either before they will give you coverage or within a very short timeframe following the purchase of a house. We have had two transactions in the last month where this has been proven true.

This is important to know as you wouldn't want to be a buyer within a few days of possession date trying to get insurance and need to spend $1000 to put in a new hot water tank before they'll give you your letter of coverage.

Or for sellers...if this happens to you and the buyer doesn't have the money for a replacement you could lose the whole transaction.

As a seller you may want to be proactive and replace an old hot water tank before listing.

As a buyer you may want to write in the offer that if the tank is found to be that old you will need a new one installed before possession and negotiate it into the price.

Since it seems that this is the rule rather than the exception it would be much better to be safe than sorry!  @TEAMKANDER

FIVE Things That Will Make You "RICH"!

FIVE Things That Will Make You "RICH"!
1. VISION: Have a big vision for your future that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning. A vision will keep you focused on where you want to end up. Make sure your decisions are in line with your intended target.
2. MARRY: If you marry... find someone you love so deeply that it motivates you to work hard to make their dreams come true. Marry someone that is also supportive of your work, your goals, and your dreams.
3. SURROUND: Surround yourself with successful, motivated people that will support you in your goals and also share their time and wisdom with you. "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future" (Prov. 13:20)
4. GIVE: Sow good into the world and you will reap greatness.
5. LEARN:Be a life long learner. Read books. Attend seminars. Listen to CD's, Podcasts, & TED talks. Be inquisitive. Find people who you want to be like and go for coffee with them. Ask questions. Listen to wise counsel.

P.S. Remember that being "rich" is not defined by your net worth. It is a combination of all those things that make life feel grand!

Creative negotiating

Sometimes in life you have to get creative to get what you want!
My favourite negotiation story happened almost 20 years ago...
If you bought one item at McDonald's you could get one tiny beanie baby.
OK, I'll admit we were obsessed with them and went to McDonald's often (sometimes several times a day). I would go through the drive-through and make one purchase and Cole would run inside and make another order so that we could get more beanies.

On one trip, Cole asked for a cheeseburger happy meal and then said he would like 3 beanie babies. The cashier said "no that's just one item so you can only have one beanie baby".
So Cole said "OK I'll have one hamburger..one french fry...and one pop."
The guy shook his head and gave him a happy meal and the 3 beanie babies.
Sometimes in order to get what you want, you just have to "think outside the Bag"!

Changes in 38 years of real estate.

When I started my real estate career in 1979 I worked for a man named Glenn Buchwald. He always talked about how when changes occur in the economy (like interest rate increases or new mortgage rules) realtors freak out and think no one is ever going to buy anything and they are going to starve to death! In other words, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling"!

He said that back in the day when people didn't have a lot of money, realtors actually took chickens on trade to barter for real estate services. That's one of my favourite sayings to this day , "I'll even take chickens on trade".
He said that one time when interest rates went up a whole percent (to 6%) a realtor walked in to his office and slapped down his keys and said "I quit! People will never buy houses at these interest rates."

In the 80's, interest rates went from there to 12.5% and stayed there for a very long time. They went as high as 22% and people kept buying houses! Sometimes you just have to relax and go with the flow. The only thing constant in life is change. Hang in there… The sky is not falling!

Don't buy a car buy a house and it will pay for the car

They say that this generation will inherit more money than any of the previous generations to date.

So what should you do in case you inherit some money...even $10-$50K?

In the past 7 or 8 years we have interacted with a couple different young people who both inherited $40,000.

In one scenario, someone convinced them to lend all the money for an investment that was unproven and sadly they lost it all.

Bryce sat down to have a financial discussion with the second one. As is the case with the majority of young people who come into money, this person wanted to go out and buy a new car.

Bryce explained that instead of buying a car that will just depreciate, they could buy a house with a basement suite and a garage and rent them out and the house would pay for the car. They said emphatically, "Bryce it just doesn't work like that!"

But it actually IT DOES...

Cole and Bryce actually both bought houses that did just that.

This is how it works...

They bought a house then for $245,000 and put down $12,500 as downpayment. Then they rented it out for $1200 up and $800 down and that's not even including the garage! Their rental income less payment, (including principal, interest, taxes, insurance) worked out that they would have cash flow of $363 a month. There is the car payment!
Over the seven years since then, they have paid down their mortgage from $232,500 to $155,200. Therefore they had $363 a month cash flow each and every month for seven years. They would have had some improvements here or there but they have also paid down an average of $1100 a month over those seven years.

So instead of buying a car for $10,000-$15,000 that would have been worth nothing 7 years later, they bought a house that appreciated $80,000 and they have paid off $77,300 PLUS have cash flow of $30,492 over the seven years.

Summary:
If those that inherit money had bought a car for $10,000 and just let it depreciate, in seven years they would have zero to show for it and probably be needing another new car.

BUT If they bought the house and invested $12,500, they would've had a total gain of $187,792.
What would you rather have... $0 or $187,792?

This just goes to show that you don't need to start with a lot of money to create wealth very quickly.
The younger you start, the better and you're not getting any younger so lets get you started!

Walking on the beach is definitely more exciting than shovelling snow! Easier on the back as well.
I don't know if you've ever heard of wholesaling deals so let me explain.

Let's say that you were checking out the market and you ran across this house that was a fantastic price and you were able to make an offer (subject to financing and due diligence).
Then, you turned around and found someone else that would buy that property from you without you actually "buying" it. This is called assigning a contract.

For example: If you found a house that's worth 400,000 but you were able to secure it under contract for 380,000...
You could turn around and sell that contract to somebody else for 390,000. They're still getting it for 10,000 less than it's worth but they would give you $10,000 for finding that house for them.
This is the way you could have an extra $10,000 and go to Hawaii and you would not have to shovel snow. Just a thought…