Where are you at in terms of the 100K month goal?

What else are you including in that number besides RE income, if anything.

Well it is hard to say where I am. I used to think of number of doors as the goal. 100 doors (100 units paying rent)
but that went out the window when I swapped part ownership of a 97 unit complex to a single warehouse and some office space.
in that equation 97 residential doors = 1 industrial+1 commercial so the measurement by doors no longer worked.
In a similar fashion, I recently sold a warehouse and a second warehouse is under contract for sale.
The rental income dropped by $16k/month but in its place I am sitting on a pile of cash in 1y term cashable GIC's at 5%.
I do not measure that because the payout with interest does not show up monthly. You just get a pile of cash when
at the end of 1y or when you cash out.
I think I mentioned an alternate version in #13 where a great replacement goal would be to get to 100M net worth.
I estimate under the current conditions a 50M net worth invested mostly in Real Estate would generate that 100k per month net income.

Lastly there is a tradeoff in capital appreciation vs. cashflow.
I live in a city where property investment that will produce positive monthly income is not possible.
900k USD will buy an empty lot in my city with $0 cashflow.
In most cities, there is a tradeoff of cashflow for appreciation. If you invest in a suburb, of a city, you will get
more cashflow and less appreciation. If you bought the same unit in a growing (ie. not San Francisco) city center, you would likely get
very little cashflow and much more appreciation over time. I have a mix of both locations as well as adding commercial and industrial to the residential mix.
For the low cash flow properties, the capital appreciation is only realized when you sell the property.
If I wanted to really hit that goal of 100k/m I would only be investing in 0% appreciation high cashflow places like Detroit.
The mix protects against a targeted drop in one area of the economy.
ie. it helps to spread the risk. When office values are way down because of covid, warehouse space became really high in demand.

I would estimate i am at 7/50 with a good portion of the 7 sitting in cash, waiting to buy property at a discount.
By cashflow only, I am collecting under $10k/m in rent now.
Not sure if that helps, but that is how I think of it.

The problem with property as an investment is properties only have a useful life off about 70 years. If you take an extreme example, any property you own will be rubble 500 years from now.

The real estate agents and the builders make the money on property. If the properties were excellent investments the banks and the builders would just keep them and rent them out themselves.

Stocks are better investments, as depreciation is already subtracted, from the net profit line.

500 years from now Coca Cola will still be here, paying dividends, their factories will be in tip top shape and it will be far more profitable. You're property will be bulldozed to the ground.

Thank you Maximus for the comment/thesis. One of the key reasons that I post here is to allow anyone and everyone to comment and tell me where I am wrong in my thinking and make me defend my thinking and actions OR have to reconsider my thinking. I hope you come back with a much more solid argument why RE is a bad investment in comparison to Equities and Smash on the idea with a much bigger hammer.
Let me help you out by trying to smash on my plans by Taking your position.
I will break my reply into 3 sections. 1) Why RE is a bad investment, (this post) 2) Why Equities are good investments, 3) why RE is a good investment (for some)
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‘stocks are better investments’ Definitely true for most investors, but not for all and not for the reason(s) you state.
Here are a few Negatives for Real Estate Investments in no particular order:

1) High barrier (down payment) to entry. I have several small properties (under 100k) that generate 7-800/per month and have owned them for over 10 years. One or two of the tenants are older (mid went from mid 40’s to 50’s and working) If they could see that they were staying, they could have saved up for 2 years and had a down payment and made a mortgage payment instead of a rent payment for the last 8 years and be close to owning the properties outright today. Their problem is that they cannot see past their next paycheque.

2) Risk of ruin. On an Investment property, If you need to collect rent to pay your mortgage, one bad tenant or professional squatter can stop you from collecting rent for a year And cause you to have to pay 5k for legal and Bailiff fees. IF (mortgage is underwater) and you are forced to sell at a bad time in the real estate cycle your entire investment can go to 0. You can get downgraded to a bad credit rating if it was a bank foreclosure and/or property tax was still owing. This compounds the problem as lower credit rating individuals pay higher interest rates on the same loan amount because the bank considers them a higher risk of non-payment.

3) Maintenance and repairs are required annually on the property. You should have CapX funds to deal with this, but most first time investors think that the tenants will love and take care of your property for you…. Sorry NO! Hot water tanks, dishwashers, fridges do wear out and fail over time.

4) Requires a minimum level of disagreeableness. If you are starting out and have the personality type that would dread firing a co-worker, you would also likely dread evicting a tenant. You can have professionals do it, but it costs way more. Sometimes you have to fight with a tenant when they complain the toilet is not working and you send a plumber. The plumber’s report comes back and says a hair clip was jammed in the drain line. A hair clip is not wear and tear. The plumber’s fee is the tenant’s responsibility.

5) Illiquid nature of Real estate. Need cash for an emergency? Selling a property may take 3-6 months. Even at the best of times, you cannot get that number under 2 months unless you are buying with cash and no subjects. (subject to inspection/financing etc.) Banks/Lawyers/building inspectors/Title companies need time to process. Banks also need extra time to assess you as a risk and the value of the property.

6) Transaction costs rules out quick gains. Your comment on real estate agents making money on deals is legitimate. If you are planning to hold the building for less than say 10 years, profit on a normal property can be eaten by the bank/legal/assessor/inspector/realtor/transfer tax fees on both buying AND selling the property. You have 0% chance of gaining 20% on your investment in under a year. (as opposed to an individual stock.)

7) Requires lots of self study and advanced planning. You need to think about your personal and investment needs. This statement can mean a lot of things. Personally because of the illiquid nature of RE, if you can foresee that you will need large amounts of money in the future, say to pay for a car/wedding/kid’s university, you may need alternate sources of funds.
Locationally, you also want to have a good Idea (need to study and plan) that you are investing in a place that is growing and will have a reasonable chance of capital appreciation. Ie. Invest in a location where jobs are moving like Texas and not California. On a more local note, if your city is planning a transit stop or new bridge to improve traffic in that area or a new ‘development zone/revitalization zone’ that gives the investor certain privileges or tax exemptions. I am a big believer in ‘free infrastructure’ plays. Ie. The city has a better idea of where transit demand is high and will forecast for you where the growth in the city is going to be.

8) It takes patience even when things are good. When the city starts building a new transit stop at location X and you decide to buy a condo in the tower right at that location, you will have to suffer during the construction and 100% guaranteed protests and delays that come with such infrastructure development before you see that large lift in property prices when new retail restaurants and services move in to take advantage of the new transit. 400yards/meters is a good gauge of where to buy and what gets a lift. That is roughly a 3-5 minute walk to transit.

9) Capital gains are taxed all in one year. Generally this leads to a maximum tax in the year that you sell a property.

10) Can be hit by natural disasters and uninsurable events. Terrorism or vandalism by vexatious tenants are not insurable and will be money right out of your pocket. In some places where you can buy insurance vs. large natural disasters, your premium could jump as much as 100% after such an event. Think of Florida hurricanes and the threat of insurance companies to pull out entirely from the state if they are not allowed (by law) to raise insurance premiums by market rates.

11) You can do everything right and still have your property value decrease. Having the wrong neighbors is a good example. (don’t cut their grass/rake leaves/park wrecked vehicles on their lot/neighbor house becomes a drug house or is occupied by gang members)

I am sure there are more, but that is what I came up with this morning. I also limited myself to buying single family homes or Condos. There is a whole separate list of negatives I have for Limited Partnerships and Syndications where you own less than 100% of a property.

Thanks for the detailed responses Mindflayer.

Getting into RE investing / landlord status is something I’m looking at trying to do as a 3-5 year goal, so it’s informative to hear the mindset of someone in that game.

Any advice on how to go about finding a good property manager for SFH in suburban areas? My dad owns two homes outright in CA and has been been doing all the landlord/ maintenance stuff himself for 20+ years but is looking to just straight up retire soon. Wants either my sister or me to move back and take care of it for him, but don’t think either of us are up for it.

If you are in the US, I would start with Bigger Pockets and start asking questions there. It is a site = all things real estate.
get an account and start asking questions. if you are serious, post at least one question every few days. If you ask here, I can only give you one opinion and mine has a Canadian Tilt to it.
Most of my holdings are in Canada and only a few in the US. Ie. we do not have things like 1030 Exchanges to delay Capital Gains in Canada. So when you get down to the nitty gritty and state specific laws, you need a state specific answer. Bigger Pockets is your first place to ask.

Here is a more targeted page for you on Property Managers.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/p...B%20Premium%5D

I am also sure you can do a keyword search for Property Managers and find the last 10 articles or a couple of discussions on what to look for in a PM.
I used to work for a PM company called Associa. They are HQ in Dallas Tx. and have offices all over the US. They have 7 offices in CA.
Pleasanton, Stockton, Redding, Roseville, Los Gatos and 2 in San Francisco. Not the best, but not the worst. Depends on who they assign to your property.

500 years from now Coca Cola will not exist. Of the many 1000's that have been started and closed, the only companies in the +300year old range that I can think of are the Hudson Bay Company (trading in North American furs) and Lloyds (insurance)

Part 2. Why Stocks are better investments.

In no particular order

1) Low barrier to entry. If you have a spare $1k you can buy your favourite stock. The ‘friction’ to buy your sock is now as low as ? $7 per transaction. When I first started investing, you had to have a brokerage account, call your broker, and place an order, they would have runners on the floor to execute your trade! Minimum cost to make a trade was $200 + a per stock certificate fee, about another 2-3% of the stocks you were buying.
2) You can set an exact amount to offset capital gains and losses. Have some Enron stock that went to $0 and lost $20k in your portfolio? You can offset the losses with an exact amount of sales in a stock that totals $20k in gains. = 0 Tax on your gains in that year.
3) You can spread your capital gains over a period of time to minimize the tax. You bought some Nvidia stock? You can go on vacation for a year or two and sell just enough stock to replace your income for a year and pay minimal (capital gains) tax.
4) Equities are liquid. Need cash for X? Equities are not part of M1, M2 but are ‘near cash’ and can easily be converted into Cash when needed.
5) Long term good returns (long run +-7% minus inflation) as long as you can ignore the short term ups and downs in the market. If you are prone to overreaction due to emotion and news headlines, try dollar cost averaging.
6) You can pick your area of expertise and invest where you have an ‘edge.’ I have a good friend who is a Geologist and he invests in mining companies. I know nothing about mining and own 0% outside of my index funds. (for me, I would consider REITs if I did not own physical Real Estate)
7) You can leverage your investing if you have strong conviction by using a margin account.
8) You can spread risk on three levels.
a. Individual stocks 80% in say a utility stock that pays dividends. And 20% in a high risk stock like Nvidia.
b. Individual Industries: Don’t want to buy a specific stock, but believe in an ‘industry’ concept? Invest in an index of Crypto, AI, Real Estate, Green Tech, EV’s, Marijuana stocks, plant based protein etc.
c. Whole Index: Don’t know anything about any industries but believe in the stock market in general, buy a general S&P500 index or similar with a low MER.
9) If you want a steady stream of income, you can buy dividend stocks as opposed to growth stocks.
10) The cycles for bust in the stock market are generally shorter than RE. This can easily be argued about in the short term, but the longer the time frame when looking at each, the closer the actual converges to the expected outcome. I have three interesting graphs for when I talk about cycles, EV's and length of observation. One for each of 1) Gambling, 2)Equities investing, 3) RE investing. Each have distinct properties. I can give a detailed explanation of each graph/diagram if you want.
11) There are lots of tax advantages for buying equities especially in ‘Registered’ accounts.
(US 401k, Roth IRA- CAN: RRSP, spousal RRSP,RESP, TFSA, FTHB accounts.) If you are UK or other country not US/Can .. sorry I can't help there.
12) Many employers have matching retirement savings payments as financial incentives that allow you to invest at any level described in #8.

I've never understood why people invest in RE when you can put money into an SP500 fund and have it double every 7 years over the long run with complete passivity. RE is from passive - sure you can hire PM's but now you're hurting your minimal cash flow and relying on someone else who will inevitably make mistakes costing you money. The annual wear and tear on a rental is massive - tenants for the most part are animals especially the lower level ones in multi families. Just have one of them stop paying and destroy your house will erase your cash flow for years. The lack of liquidity is a major turn off as well - I think there's much more consistency that a stock will go up X over 10 years then RE, as RE can fluctuate heavily.

Apologies for the very long post ahead of time.

If you have read my posts in the past you will realize that I am a heavy RE investor and have overcome all reasons why RE is a bad investment and even better than Equities.
Please recognize that this is from my point of view and your conditions are different than mine. I also have a different skillset and personality type that fits well with RE investment. Everyone is obviously different and will have different time horizons, risk profile, investable cash, tolerance to everyday complaints, need for cash etc.

+Twenty reasons why RE is a good investment. (this is NOT the home you live in.. There are additional reasons for owning your own home pro and con, but that is a different discussion)
Please note that I generally utilize all of the allowable tax incentives for Equities before RE. In Canada that would be RRSPs,Spousal RRSP, TFSA, .. for younger people FHSA and RESP. Then move on to RE investments. (as opposed to non tax advantaged Equities investments.. ie. normal trading or margin accounts)

1) You can leverage way more than a margin account. Margin 2 to 1 --- Mortgage say 4 to 1. This is your typical 25% deposit.

2) When the value of your RE investment dips below your initial cash down payment the bank will NOT call your mortgage to be paid in full and foreclose on your house. You just need to keep making your mortgage payments. I have had margin calls on my accounts before, but never a call from the bank saying you are underwater on your mortgage and we are going to sell your house and make you take a loss.

3) After a number of years of owning a property, you can do a cash out re-finance and get your deposit amount back and be in the ‘infinite return’ on investment column. Ask me if you need a more detailed description of what this means.

4) You can improve the return on your investment by having more knowledge and taking action. This can be forced appreciation or just tenant management and capital expenditure management. Again, I can write a whole chapter on this topic.

5) Capital expenditures on your RE investment are deductible.

6) Capital expenditures on your RE investment increase the value of your investment and allow you to charge higher rents. (new hot water tank maybe not; new kitchen or new flooring .. for sure)

7) Travelling to and from your RE investment can be tax deductible. This is very nice if you have at least one property in LV and like to make a trip there once per year and meet with your PM as part of your 3-4 day stay in LV.

8) There are endless tours that are 50-100% tax deductible (depends). There used to be LV bus tours of condos for sale during the great housing recession. In the last two months (2024-7 and 2024-8), I have been invited to look at RE in Thailand, Real Estate Investors Summit at Sea 2025 Florida-Mexico-Honduras Cruise, Edmonton Bus Tour, BPCon in Cancn. I got to write off part of my trip to Toronto, by going to Niagara Falls to look at Air BNB properties.

9) You can make money in RE in 4-5 different ways on a single unit. Equity paydown (forced savings), tax deductions, cash flow, capital appreciation, forced appreciation (by installing washer/dryers, or generally upgrading older units upon turnover)

10) When you make it to the commercial level of RE (+5 units residential or retail, industrial etc.). you no longer borrow money based on your income. The amount you can borrow is based on the Cash Flow or NOI. If you get to this level, you are always on the lookout for commercial property that meet your investment criteria.

11) US only, You can use a 1030 Exchange to defer Capital Gains tax when you ‘upgrade’ from your current property to a higher costing investment. (think… going from a single family home to a duplex) or a 300k single family home to a larger 500k SFH with a secondary/basement suite.

12) US only, you can lock in long term mortgage rates of up to 25years. I locked in several mortgages in Canada at around 2% but the maximum term allowed here was 5 years. In the US, you could have gotten a 25 year term at 4.5% 3 years ago.

13) Interest on investment mortgages are tax deductible. In Canada and USA this is true. It used to be true for USA primary residences but in 2023 Publication 936 – changed that. Please ask your tax accountant for the latest info. In Canada you can use HELOCs to get around primary residence interest payments on the HELOC parts. (good to check with your Tax accountant again) For primary residences in Canada only, lookup the Smith Manoeuvre. It is an advanced tax strategy for investors.

14) You begin to cascade your investments using #3 and #10 and the wealth curve becomes exponential if you keep at it. When I began investing in RE, it took 6 years before my second investment. My 3rd investment took 5 years after that. My 4th was 3 years after that. Now I am buying or selling a property every year, and each successive property is larger than the one just sold.

15) The risk of ruin decreases with each successive purchase. At the beginning, fixed accounting and legal filings are a minimum $ (couple thousand) the risk of ruin from one bad tenant goes down when you have more ‘doors’ Ie. In Detroit I almost always had one or even two bad tenant(s) not paying. If you have many units 2 not paying is not so bad. If you have 2 units and 2 are not paying = major stress! This scenario will make many normal people quit the game.

16) There are several investor development programs that were designed to encourage investors to develop more rental units. Currently that is what we call ‘infill’ units in Canada. In my province we have changed zoning to allow up to SIX units on a property where previously only ONE was allowed. In the US, the local municipal government usually assigns an area as a 'economic development area/opportunity zone' and gives tax breaks and discounts for developers with projects within the boundaries.

17) There are many energy efficiency programs that give you huge discounts if you make an upgrade from an old unit to a high efficiency version. There are also free ‘assessment’ programs provided by our utility companies. Then they give you free hardware to upgrade if you ask for it. i.e. low flow toilets and shower heads. Pipe insulation etc. We do not have solar programs here(Canada), but that was the case for a multi unit complex in Kansas City that I was involved in 5 years ago.

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Specifically for me
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18) I have the right personality for RE. I have written 1000’s of replies to complaining tenants when I was a professional property manager. With me it is all business now. I do start all my letters with understanding but have solid reasons for everything. When a rent cheque bounces, we have a $35 fee. Non waivable. I tell the tenant, I will give you the number of our bank and if you can get them to waive the NSF fee, so will we. Etc. When the plumber’s report comes back that the toilet was backed up because they pulled a hair clip was stuck in the drain, I tell them to call the plumber and ask them to change the report. I typically use embarrassment as a tool against them. They never call.

19) I have the right training for RE. I am licensed in PM, HOA/Strata management and have a trading agent’s license. I have fixed everything from roof leaks, to break ins, to HVAC systems, to elevators. I have done enough insurance claims to know the process.
When dealing with problem tenants, I usually overload them with the correct paperwork. I have never had a tenant say you gave me too much paperwork. I give it to them and tell them what line in the tenancy they have breached and explain the procedure.., always written. If I meet them in person, I always wear a tie and carry a soft leather document holder. Tenants fight less if you talk and look like you know exactly what to to.

20) I have enough spare cash waiting on the side that I can move quickly to put a property under contract. I look at enough target properties that I know when a good deal comes up.

21) I assume that I have enough credibility with the local RE investing community that if I needed to raise funds, I could do so. I have listened to and can give a 2 minute ‘elevator’ pitch for a property that I am interested in.

22) I enjoy learning and talking about RE. I go to several monthly RE investor meet ups and have developed a general strategy that works. It is nothing new, just my own version of bits and pieces I have read in my collection of RE books and courses. My last course I took this week was “Court ordered sales, Foreclosures and Tax Sales.”

1) Third job application, no reply. Sent a 4th application in two weeks ago.
Job title is Senior Development Analyst. Same job as the previous one called Senior Acquisition Analyst. I figured I had a 5% chance at the job as well.
I already assuming that I did not make the cut as I was not even asked for an interview.
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2) Delta Warehouse: Tenant has made their 1st payment of 4. So progress. only about $2200 outstanding.
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3) Equities Investing. No Action. Same Just sitting on GIC's waiting for a good investing opportunity.
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4) Hamilton House. Approved tenant backed out and now I am looking for a new tenant again.
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5) Edmonton RE. Las Vegas RE. No Action. RE prices seem pretty sticky. Patiently waiting. I came up with an interesting option that may come to pass next year. Everything will depend on my
younger son and what he does in the next 10 months.
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6) No change: Education future has definitely changed. Tried to register for Econometrics. They have about 4 different classes and every one of them is 75/75 full.. with waiting list. ?!?
In addition, to get priority to take the class, you have to be in one of the degree specialties that i think has this course as a prerequisite, like International Macroeconomics. If I can't take it, not sure what I am going to do. Maybe visit the prof in person and see if they allow me to audit the class.... and make it 76/75 students.
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7) RE meetups: Going to a 4 different meetups per month now. The latest, seems just to be a social group, but is all local RE investors that network over drinks.
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8) Detroit homes: Nothing of note to report. Rents all being collected on time.
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9) Vancouver Warehouse. Subject removal on August 26, Closing Oct 30.
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10) Wainwright Storage. Nothing to report.
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#11) Sarnia Ontario. Apartment. Next meeting is in Sept 14 or so. Nothing to report.
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#12 Finished reading Finished reading 'Ego is the Enemy' by Holiday. Read 'Break Your Wealth Ceiling' Dy. A local RE investor. Currently reading 'Dune Messiah' Herbert and 'Your Next 5 Moves' by Patrick Bet-David.
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#13 Future Authoring program. My long term goals have not changed, My medium term goal that Is helping me a lot (and I didn't even know it) is mentoring others in business and RE investing.
A 4th business person has asked me to help/advise them on a RE development. Even though I can tell from the start, by the quality of the individuals answers, (or lack of understanding of the question) that they are way over their head, I do not tell that person, you are being foolish, . I just keep asking them questions, from the point of a contractor, investor, bank loan officer, city inspector, etc. and hope they realize they have bitten off too much as a first project. I started off in an email chain with 101 questions about xxxxx development. When I am asking these questions, I am simultaneously running through the answer in my head with regards to my potential next investment; item 5 of this list.
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#14 Real Estate Agent's license. Still looking at local properties with my 1st son. We have expanded his search to look at appartements within 2k walking distance to his current work.

1) Looks like I will put looking for a job on the side burner. I have come up with an alternate plan if my second son does not get a job in the next 3-4 months.
(in my mind, I will propose something to him after my first son buys his first home. This will actually require me to be free to travel and spend days/weeks away from home. It is just one possibility that I am keeping open but will have to explain more in upcoming posts.
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2) Delta Warehouse: Tenant contacted me about their 2nd payment. Still about $2200 outstanding.
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3) Equities Investing. Same:No Action. Same Just sitting on GIC's waiting for a good investing opportunity.
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4) Hamilton House. Still looking for a new tenant. Will contact the PM company early tomorrow and see if I can figure out what is going on. The unit has been empty for +5 months now.
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5) Edmonton RE. Las Vegas RE. I have started to study Edmonton and added Calgary to the mix now.
RE prices seem pretty sticky. Patiently waiting. I came up with an interesting option that may come to pass next year. Everything will depend on my
younger son and what he does in the next 5 months. I am having lunch this Thursday with a couple that is maybe 5-10 years older than me that owns/manages multi family in Calgary.
Talking with these types of people is Key for me to taking a step in at the next level.
I have also started to read the daily news for Edmonton and Calgary; and look weekly at apartment buildings for sale again. More on that in my future updates.
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6) No change: Education future has definitely changed. Decided to look at AI classes. Not how to program but to use AI in general business applications. I think this will be the most useful step in getting to my final goal.
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7) RE meetups: Still going to a 4 different meetups per month now. I am adding about 4-5 people to my network every month. The key people that I am looking or are people that are 1 or two steps ahead of me in their investing career.
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8) Detroit homes: Same Nothing of note to report. Rents all being collected on time.
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9) Vancouver Warehouse. Subjects removed. Yaa. Closing is Oct 30 but the buyer has aske for an extension on the closing date. I wrote a thoughtful reply asking for 30k for the extension.
15k to cover costs and 15K for the actual extension.
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10) Wainwright Storage. Had a 1/2 year meeting/barbeque with the other investors. General partner answered questions and outlined rest of the year's plans.
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#11) Sarnia Ontario. Apartment. Next meeting is in Sept 14 or so. Nothing to report.
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#12 Finished reading Finished reading Break your Wealth Ceiling, Dune Messiah and 'Your Next 5 Moves. Also started and finished reading the 620 man by Balducci. A very well written murder mystery.
Currently reading: 'Never Split the Difference' by Chris Voss (negotiating) and The 'Story is Everything' by Loizou. (from my perspective, how to make your sales pitch more convincing.. tell them a story!)
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#13 Future Authoring program. I am trying to find mentors that will grill me on my process and next steps and who will ask me questions that will point out my blind spots. Even if I have a good idea of who I am now and who I want to be in the future, there are people who can get me there more quickly and/or with less friction.
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#14 Real Estate Agent's license. Still looking at local properties with my 1st son. We have been to over 20 open houses and know what he is looking for. A property came up this weekend that we knew was a good deal. I wanted to go see it, but my son did not want to. He said by the time we want to make an offer (Jan or Feb 2025) the place will not be available. He is 99% correct. On a follow up meeting with him, I pointed out that he needs to start the process of getting a pre approved mortgage in October 2024. When It comes time to make an offer, he will be ready.

I will try to post once every 2 weeks to keep myself on track. There may not be much to report as the items are very long term, but I will post whatever comes up.
Next post I will write about a total loss in one of my investments that I have not mentioned before. I got this information this last week.

1a) Doing my so called regular job as a RE agent and going to open houses with my older son.
We found a home that would be a good deal, but it will not be on the market 3 months from now. It should sell right away.
1b)Mentioned that He has to get a preapproved mortgage with 2-3 banks
1c) He also has to make his RRSP contribution this month. In Canada, there is a program (one of several for first time buyers)
that allows you to withdraw some RRSP money to make a down payment. The catch is that there is a 90 day waiting period to withdraw the money. So if he wants to withdraw money on Jan 8th 2025 from that account, the money has to be deposited into his RRSP today.
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2) Delta Warehouse: Several back and forth messages. Tenant contacted me again about their 2nd payment. Supposedly coming soon. Still about $2200 outstanding. Will see what happens.
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3) Equities Investing. Same: No Action. Same Just sitting on GIC's waiting for a good investing opportunity.
Am looking into expanding my HELOC with a larger amount.
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4) Hamilton House. Signed a lease with a new tenant. Hope this one sticks.
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5) Edmonton RE. Las Vegas RE. I have started to study Edmonton and added Calgary to the mix now.
Interesting lunch with other Calgary investors. They have 3 developments on the burners. 2x 4 units and one 20 unit development. It is super interesting to hear how people go from
investors to builders. In Canada now, there is a huge push to build more. When i say huge push, it means that 3 levels of government are trying to make it easier to develop new property/homes. The bleeding edge is happening right now. Those first in are getting running over and smoothing the rough edges for the followers. I plan to follow (depends on Son #2's decisions) if possible.
Continuing to read the daily news for Edmonton and Calgary; and look weekly at apartment buildings for sale again. It is a weird feeling to see the country from that point of view.
Back in the day, when I was reading Detroit news, it was like reading news from a warzone. This is different, the news is the same national news, but is written from a more conservative point of view. More hard news/facts, less squishy feely stuff.
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6) PhD possibility is close to 0 now. I went to a RE Broker meeting that updated the news on Community Amenity Contribution funds required for multi family developments. My proposal to study the effects of a jump in fees from one side of the city to the other has been foreseen by the Municipality and has been readjusted. My study predicted that all new developments would happen east of this line and none or few west of the line. I assume that the city received very few development permit requests on the west side and realized what was happening.
Fee on West side $900,000!, fee on East side $600,000.
The municipality preemptively changed the fees and zones. They now have 3 zones and two sizes (SQF), making six different levels of payment. This should spread the multiplex homes evenly across the city.
Since the original criteria for my study has now been changed, there is no need for that study anymore. I wrote the Prof and said my study is on hold unless something else that interests me pops up.

AI class starts in November.
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7) RE meetups: Still going to a 4 different meetups per month now. Went to a talk yesterday. Added 4 more RE investors to my network. All nice ambitious people, but none above me in their investing career.
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8) Detroit homes: Same Nothing of note to report. Rents all being collected on time.
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9) Vancouver Warehouse. Closing is Oct 30. Buyer was just taking a free shot at 15k last post. Hopefully this will close with no issues.
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10) Wainwright Storage. Nothing to report. Slow steady growth, adding new interior storage units as the funds allow. (the agreed conservative method)
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#11) Sarnia Ontario. Nothing to report.
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#12 Currently reading: 'Never Split the Difference' by Chris Voss (negotiating) and The 'Story is Everything' by Loizou. (from my perspective, how to make your sales pitch more convincing.. tell them a story!) Is slow, as I have added two things to my activity list. One is to create my pitch story. I don't need it now, but I am crafting my "why invest with me' story. It is nice to see the story follow a successful pattern. Hero is at X, Hero has a terrible loss (or the hero already starts as a loser/Rocky) , Hero makes a plan/hard plan. Hero suffers but endures, hero emerges on the other side with his/her 'victory' This is Rocky/Luke Skywalker/any Kung-Fu movie. For women, this is Ripley or Sara Connor. This is definitely NOT the Woke crap boss babe is boss because she is a woman that does not have to 'develop.'
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#13 Future Authoring program. Oddly, I get help from doing in depth discussions with people who are behind me (that are ambitious and want to start above my level) but have no skills nor experience in this area. I essentially ask them questions or email them questions that I, as an investor, would ask them if they were asking me to sign an expression of interest.
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#14 Real Estate Agent's license. Completed my 18 hours of continuing education required every 2 years. There is an additional 2 courses I need to take again in Spring 2025. Legal update and Money Laundering.
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So this special post is about a total loss in one of my investments that I have not previously mentioned.

The reason that I do not mention it in my list 1-15 of things ongoing is that I have very little input into the project.
I was an A shares investor in a Large property BRRR. (typical qualified investors only +5M net worth etc.)
The General Partner was Western Wealth Capital and the project was their Station at Plano TX development.
I will give you the simple version.

I lost $152k Canadian dollars invested in that project. (approx $110k USD)

Being a limited partner is similar to being early investor in a stock offering, I have zero input as to what the company actually does.
WWC formed a unique limited partnership much like a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) and purchased a +200 residential complex in Plano TX.
Besides investors, they also took out a large mortgage to buy the property.
The general strategy of doing a BRRR is to turn over and ‘stabilize’ the property with higher rents and lower vacancy rates. This Raises the NOI and the property value. After 4-5 years all units (or 90%) should be turned over and updated. The company then does a Cash out Refinance and pays back the original investors. The investors still own the property but they have been paid back their initial investment and now have a continuous ‘infinite’ return.

One of my online heroes Ken McElroy uses this strategy all the time and gives talks about it all the time. You can google one of his you-tube videos for infinite return on RE.

This strategy works in an environment that has steady, dropping or slowly rising interest rates. The one condition that puts this method into jeopardy is one of rapidly rising interest rates.
The property generates +300k in income each month, but when its mortgage resets in March 2025, the bank has (pre-emptively)re-evaluated the property as having a much lower value due to the higher interest rate -> higher CAP rate.
Ask me to explain CAP rates if you are not sure what that means or how that works.

Two years ago the property was valued at X (say 50M)and the company borrowed 75% of that on a mortgage to pay the previous owner. (Say 37.5M) The bank requiring the new owner to have 25% equity in the property. Investors and WWC put in say 10-12M
Once interest rates rose and CAP rates expanded; Now the property is valued much lower at say only 75%X… = 37.5M if the bank only allows 75% loan to value, then the limit of what they can loan on this property is 37.5 x 0.75 = 28.125M
Well this is exactly what happened and the bank has now said.. we still only allow 75% loan to value on any mortgage and in March 2025 you have to lower the amount that you owe the bank from 37.5M to 28M.. to maintain that max 75% loan to property value.
WWC does not believe that a cash call to the investors will be able to raise the 10M to pay back to the bank… So WWC put the property up for sale and a buyer has made a deal to buy the property for less that the 37.5M owed to the bank. The bank will be taking a small loss and the investors lose 100%.

I am not upset or mad at all. I know the risks and this investment with WWC was at the tail end of 80-90 or so projects that all went well under ‘normal’ circumstances.
In truth, Janet LePage is still one of my heroes and I am excited in that I know there are great deals out there for investors with cash sitting on the side. Heck if I had 28M I would have made an offer on this property myself!! It is 10x too large for me solo but this is a perfect pick up property for a guy like Ken McElroy.

In the + column is: I do get to write this entire loss off against my gains in #9 (Warehouse sale) of my regular posts. I will still have a small capital loss that I get to carry forward in 2025.

You can ask me anything about this or other plans. I will be modifying my 20y plan again ($100k NIPM) due to Canadian Tax code changes and will explain why and how in my next post.
Cheers.

1a) Doing my so called regular job as a RE agent and going to open houses with my older son.

Son did get preapproved mortgages (on his own) with 2 banks, needs 3rd.
This is the money game that so few people learn the rules of. The sooner you learn them, the better you will do in that game.
Has made RRSP contributions and can withdraw those funds on Jan 20th or so for a down payment.
The underlying lesson here is that speed in making offers is key and having the funds ready to go and knowing
what your limit is helps tremendously.
PBD, a youtuber, that I watch made an excellent video on speed and knowing your number.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azA-CpfyxJE
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2) Delta Warehouse: Messaged the ex tenant two days ago. Still waiting for the next payment. Still about $2200 outstanding.
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3) Equities Investing. Same: No Action. Will have to buy something soon. I have additional RRSP and TFSA room.
Will not buy more Tesla, had a big run up lately and I already have lots of it. Will likely just buy a high dividend paying stock. BCE is at the top of my list with a 8% dividend.
Other than that, still sitting on GIC's waiting for a good investing opportunity in RE.
Am looking into expanding my HELOC with a larger amount. Will start on this paperwork on Monday.
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4) Hamilton House. Tennant did not take the unit. 3rd fail. PM called me about a 4th tenant wanting to rent but CR was sub 600.
I said no. Don't need to explain much. To get a sub 600, you are really bad with finances, never learned the money game (see point #1) and have way too much debt.
The tenant may pay for first 3-6 months, but then will stop and I would have to endure 6 months of paperwork and extra fees to kick them out.
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5) Edmonton RE. Las Vegas RE. I have started to study Edmonton and added Calgary to the mix now.
Reading Calgary and Edmonton news daily.
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6) Tried to register for AI class. New website connected to University, for some reason seems to put me in a loop instead of accepting payment and registering me. Will try again this next week.
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7) RE meetups: Adding 5-10 new Linkedin people every month.
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8) Detroit homes: Same Nothing of note to report. Rents all being collected on time.
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9) Vancouver Warehouse. Closing is Oct 30. Issue has come up. Took about +20h over the last 4 days to arrange and obtain correct course of action. I will write a separate report for this.
***It is an interesting story and we are midway thru it** Reminds me of one of those What do you do books.. Attempt to rescue the girl.. turn to page 15, chase the villain .. turn to page 30.
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10) Wainwright Storage. Nothing to report.
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#11) Sarnia Ontario. Nothing to report.
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#12 Currently reading: Finished reading a fiction novel 'Dragons of the Fallen Sun' , Finished reading The 'Story is Everything' by Loizou. Out of this is my pitch story, but even more is the story/set of facts that I have to present my 2nd son as an option for his future career. I am writing about 30 minutes every day on this 'Possible' plan. It works for a 20 unit building that I would buy. It works for a 5-8 unit that I would help my 2nd son buy and it also works for a 200 unit building. Very interestingly is that he has a 2nd interview with a RE company and came to ask me an interview question....if this company was looking to acquire a 200 unit building in Alberta, what would I be looking for in that property. I had the answer and was writing about it Ahead of time!!!
... so it was super easy to discuss. I could lecture on it if necessary.
Still reading 'Never Split the Difference' by Chris Voss (negotiating) Added Gullivers Travels by Swift.
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#13 Future Authoring program. From #7 I invite new people that I meet, to coffee or lunch. They have to be experienced RE investors with many properties that can exchange strategies and stories of difficult situations. It really helps if they have property in a city that I am interested in. I shortcut my quest to find good contacts and boots on the ground in those cities. Who is your property manager, who is your handyman, who is your general contractor.. etc.
Will meet or discuss RE with other less experienced investors, but they have to take the initiative and ask me!
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#14 Real Estate Agent's license. No Action.
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Detailed story of #9 this week.
So I have already written a summary of events to my investing partners as well as a review of our discussions, so this is just a redacted version.
with the other investors names XXX ed out and some additional commentary to make the story 'interesting' because #12.. 'The Story is Everything'
When I write to my partners, they are already vested an need to read it all, so I leave out any color and just stick to facts of events and our options.
==================
On 2024-10-22 the buyer's agent notified us that the buyer is having difficulties with finance and may not be able to close on time.
The investors met on 2024-10-23 to discuss whether to accept a closing date extension, if yes, what the conditions would be.
I began the meeting with an explanation and likely scenario of what is about to unfold. After the explanation, the next steps and the offer that was just emailed to us were discussed.

This is a summary and (commentary in brackets) of that meeting and what I wrote to the other investors. Apologies in advance for the semi English lists and point form of notes.
=================
Review of my meeting with lawyer.
We cannot anticipate a breach of contract
We must assume that the buyer is doing everything to arrange alternate financing and will complete.
We do not have to do anything except wait.

My lawyer pointed me to this defining Canadian article on Buyers that do not close on deals. The property/investors/buyer are in Canada.
https://canliiconnects.org/en/commentaries/67901

Good

99% chance we get all of the deposit monies. Only in an exceptional case would we get less.
(We could get more in the instance where the deal is accepted for 2.5M.. and fails. We keep the 200k deposit, we relist for 2.5M and it only sells for 2.0M.
We have the right and would likely win a lawsuit against the original buyer for damages of an additional 300K) (If it sells for 3M to a different buyer, we still get to keep the 200K original deposit and 3M sale to new buyer)

We do not have to show damages or prove any losses.
(According to the case Tang vs. Zhang, the deposit is to guarantee closing and for nothing else.)

Real Estate contract law is not kind to buyers who fail to carry through.
This is NOT residential RE where the buyer was under pressure in a multiple offer situation to make an offer without subjects.
The buyer had a subject removal clause, and it was removed as laid out in the contract.
The buyer is a sophisticated buyer with a “complex business structure.”
The buyer cannot rely on the sale of another property for not completing as outlined in the canlii example. The court will not have any sympathy for the buyer.

Next steps:

1) Wait
We maintain the assumption that the buyer has or will obtain alternate financing (a rich relative) or a bridge loan and we will close on time.
If we receive a formal request for an extension…

2) Then we need to discuss taking action.
We will have to decide whether we accept any extension with consideration, or, whether we counter with our own offer for extension.

Why consider an extension? It looks good in the eyes of a Judge in case it goes to court. You were reasonable and gave them an ‘out’ when we are not required to do anything.
Why do we need any more ‘looking good points’ from a Judge to rule in our favor? We do not.
We will get 100% of the deposit .. may be different if the deposit is over 10%. But in our case 200/2500 = 8%

I want my managing broker to read the amendment to extend the closing date and approve before signing. I need to know if we need a separate contract for the extension.

Why should we counter? It is extra money ‘at a premium’
What do we counter with?
50K minimum for December 19th and 1k for every CALENDAR day over Dec 19. NO discounts for closing any sooner. We are acting as a bridge loan facility with a 2.5M loan for 7 weeks.

A Class Lenders (5 big banks) B Class lenders, 30 or so Trusts and credit unions. C lenders or private financing companies that making bridge loans for 2.5M with security. Bridge loans are short term loans made at high interest for construction, renovations and to ‘bridge’ the time necessary to obtain a mortgage from an A Class lender. This is very common with CMHC.

I Randomly called two bridge loan companies….
XXXX Smith (Mortgage Broker) 604-XXX-XXXX . The going rate is 12-14% on the loan PLUS 2-3% in Setup fees.

YYYY Lending 604-YYY-YYYY
YYYY Depending on 1st or 2nd position and residential/commercial property as the security 11.25-14.25 PLUS 1-3% broker fee.

The buyer is asking us to act as his bridge loan facility.
14% of 2.5M for 7 weeks is approximately $50,000

This is logical, but again we do not need to show any damages or logic. The deposit is there to guarantee completion. We are in the driver's seat.
What is the alternative?
The offer collapses and there is a breach of contract.
There are two main paths here as well.

1) Negotiation for a quick release
2) Supreme Court to get a court order to release the deposit.

The bad.
If the buyer fights this, I estimate the Supreme Court will take 1y and 10K legal fees. At worst it will be 2Y and 20K fees. In the end we will get 200k minus legal fees.
If we get here, I would advise we get the Trust to place the funds in an interest bearing account.

(one of the key concepts that I went over with my managing broker was to confirm that we 'the seller' is able and willing to close on October 31. If for any reason, the buyer can claim we wanted the extension because we were not ready, they may be able to get some deposit money back. I wrote in my email to my agent, specifically on the list of requirements that this exchange of extension for consideration in no way indicates that we are not ready to close on Oct 31. )

I recommend to make an offer to the seller for a quick release of his deposit. In exchange for a mutual release, we only take 185K. The 15K is the legal fees between average and worst case. I.e. the Seller loses 185k instead of fighting in Court and losing the 200k plus 15K legal fees.

I would also recommend the we pay the realtor their proportion of realtor fees in proportion to 43,750 x Negotiated amount/200K or 1.75% of the commission on 2.5M x Negotiated amount/200K (see Disclosure of expected remuneration document) i.e. if the negotiate amount we settle on is 180K or 180/200 = 90% of the full deposit, then the realtor gets 90% of $43,750 or $39,375. And we get $140,625.

The realtor can then get paid twice! If we re-sign with ZZZZ again and he manages to sell it. I would recommend a ‘no holdover’ clause in the new listing agreement.
Also the payout of monies to our Broker will encourage our Agent/Broker to immediately release all funds.
None of the 'breach of contract' activities were finalized and will only be discussed if it does fail.
End of review
---------------------

(During the meeting we received the request for Closing date extension.
After some discussion we rejected the buyer’s offer to increase the sales price by $30,000 in consideration for a Closing date extension and agreed on setting our own conditions for an extension.

(So a funny exchange happened during the discussion. I always write my letters and proposals by standing in all parties shoes. Despite the fact that our lawyer says 'we are in the driver's seat' I think about what a reasonable buyer would accept. In addition if a Judge or arbitrator looks at this later, they can see that we have acted reasonably and not out of malice. Again, this is not necessary but I do it just the same, so the other side has some reason to accept.
In this case, I put forth an interest rate of 14% on 2.5M for 7 weeks because it was what I could get from a C class lender on short notice. My example to my own realtor was that my son got a bridge loan for 500K for 6 months at 9.5% to do his fix and flip 2.5 Years ago. This was a first position loan on residential real estate.
In any case, when I proposed this to my own investing partners, Investor A said "No, just let it fail! What is $50,000 to me?!?" Investor B said ' We are all not rich like you A." Investor C said "I would like that $50,000" I also added, that if we are in financial trouble, we cannot all just call a family member or friend and get 2.5M in two days. I laughed (quietly) to myself.
It was on A's desire that we agreed not to a further extension.)
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Summary of conditions.

1) We would need a 50k Bank Draft made out to 123ABC Holdings in consideration for extending the closing date to December 18 Wednesday not 19, 2024 and possession to December 19th. (The 50K will not be added to the contract price and is completely separate from the Contract for purchase and Sale. This will also keep the Capital gains tax the same)

I was instructed to wait until Oct 24 noon so that B can confer with a RE lawyer if we should/can keep the adjustment date as Oct 31, 2024. B does not want to pay for an extra seven weeks of Strata Fees, insurance and Property Taxes. ***

2) The bank draft will be delivered in person at QQQQ at the time of the signing of the extension. ZZZ can make copies and witness the extension and exchange.
3) There will be no extension beyond December 18, 2024 as various parties will be on vacation and the chance for us to meet and discuss is slim.
4) This is not a negotiation. So the buyer knows not to come back and ask for 6 weeks and 40K or something else. We will ignore any counters.

*** On Thursday morning B notified the group via WhatsApp that the adjustment date should also be moved with the Closing date. I.e. to December 19th, the day after Closing. I replied that we would bump the 50k to $52,500 to help cover the cost of Taxes, insurance and Property tax for the seven weeks.

I have a meeting scheduled with my managing broker to review this outline on Oct 25, Friday morning and will email ZZZ shortly after that meeting with the details.

I have also emailed my RE lawyer to ask if they use a separate contract for the exchange of ‘closing date extension for consideration.’ If yes, I will add another $500 to the amount for legal fees.
---------------------
I have emailed the list of requirements to ZZZ and that is where we are currently. Will post if anything interesting happens on this.

Quick Update on Closing date extension.
The buyer paid $52,500 for the extension. (this equates to about 14% interest on 2.5M for 7 weeks)
During the signing, the buyer's agent said that the buyer could have gotten the loan for 11%, but the
hard money lender wanted a 50K setup fee to complete the paperwork on such short notice. .. 5 days.
Closing is now December 18.
Will see what happens.

really interesting seeing your perspective on that - ty for posting that

did you stop RE investments and mgmt?

sorry for grunch

For this reason people who want to invest with leverage in the stock market should just buy long dated ITM options. For example I bought SPY options for September 2025 with a strike price of 415 when SPY was at 545-ish. The risk-free cost of capital is built into that (I paid 15000 for the option, not 13000), but on the other hand you can't get margin-called if the option goes out of the money, you have a floor on the potential losses and you can do leverage like 4x too*

*If do more than 4x than that it starts to behave more like a normal option than simply using leverage, though that depends on the term to maturity - for tax reasons I personally need to hold to maturity then hold the underlying ETF for 366 days, so I need long dates.

No. Yes.
Real estate investments are not stopped. I am constantly looking for investments and trying to find good deals.
Think of now (end of 2024) as a time similar to end of 2008 or mid 2009. You can't tell where the bottom is, but it is close.
Depending on what you are looking for, you can keep track of certain metrics. For investments, I keep an eye on cap rates,
inventory and Dollars per square foot.
Depending on where you look, prices are in general still falling BUT should bottom out soon. This has a lot to do
with the declining interest rates.
It is a race between investors that have to renew a mortgage (maybe a 4year term) that is about to renew now: old rate 2.5% .. new rate 5%
(must list the property for sale OR suffer negative cash flow for a year)
and the dropping interest rate. If they had a 5 year term instead of a 4 year term, they can renew it after a few more drops at 4% and
do not have to list the property for sale.
I think RE investing is 95% waiting and looking for good deals and doing tons of home work and research. I think of it very much like Warren Buffet views
buying companies. You only have to make one decision each year, but that decision has to be a good/the right one.

I quit my property management job about 18 months ago. I went from managing 300 residential units to only managing my own
local property. That will go from 1 warehouse to 0 in December. Everything else is managed by other PM companies.

1a) Went to a few more open houses with my older son. Saturday I viewed a unit with him. The sellers had it on the market for 60 days with no offers, so they dropped the price the day before we saw it. (if they did have an offer recently, it fell thru see ** below) It is the right unit to make an offer on. Went back to see it again Sunday. Today I am meeting with my managing broker to discuss some finer nuances. Will likely put an offer on it tomorrow.
This is the advantage of speed. It has only been showing for 2 days at the new lower price and we will put an offer on it tomorrow.
Patrick Bet David
PBD, a youtuber, that I watch made an excellent video on speed and knowing your number.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azA-CpfyxJE
This is how you make your own luck. Ie. I have been preparing by going to open houses for 6 months, getting my son to have preapproved mortgages, and his first time home buyers and RRSP accounts in order and 'knowing our Price.' (and location)

It is a 2+2+den. Located in a great location for a young adult; close to transit and all the 'cool restaurants and bars.' The price is right, especially for an investor. Enough updates that you don’t have to upgrade anything to make it a very nice apartment. It just needs some nice coordinated and stylish furniture.
Other + is that they have 3 new elevators with safety features, and have redone/renovated their swimming pool/change rooms amenities. If/when my son does not live in the unit, it has great renting potential. I estimate $3900- $4100/month.
An extra + is that the seller is not in a rush to sell. They own several properties and are dual US/CDN citizens and are currently living in LA. This means the offer I put in will have an extended closing date of Feb 4th .. a few days after the Jan 29, 2025 Bank of Canada interest rate announcement. I would expect that there is a ¼ % cut on Dec 9th and ¼ % cut on Jan 29.


The negatives about this unit.
** It has a large special levy upcoming in the next 4 years to replace all of the exterior windows of the building. If you are US, consider this a HOA fee for major repairs. The building is 29 stories tall and the work is estimated at $18,000,000 for the entire project or around $100,000 per unit! What is good is that even with the extra $100,000 cost, the unit is at the lowest cost per square foot to buy (a Real estate investor metric)
The building is also being sued by Otis elevators. I assume for amounts unpaid when they upgraded the 3 elevators recently.
All of the information described here is from reading the last few years of Council minutes and reviewing the Building Depreciation report. (if this was a house, that is equivalent to a building inspection report)
I will need to get the last 3 months of Strata Council meeting minutes to see if the Otis issue has been resolved.
I am meeting my managing broker TODAY to discuss this property and hope to put an offer on it tomorrow.

Will see how this goes.
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2) Delta Warehouse: Messaged the ex tenant two days ago. Still waiting for the next payment. Still about $2200 outstanding.
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3) Equities Investing. Same: submitted paperwork for expanding my HELOC with a larger amount. Will take some time to get approved.
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4) Hamilton House. Got a new PM experienced working on the empty unit two weeks ago. 18 years as a PM. We talked for 10 minutes and have a slightly more refined strategy to get the unit rented to qualified applicants.
(update) He got the unit already rented out. $50 less, but the renters are qualified. He gave an excellent description of how and why it worked. Individuals look at the monthly number and skip everything else if your asking number does not match what they can afford. Etc.
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5) Edmonton RE. Las Vegas RE. Continuing to study Edmonton and added Calgary to the mix now. Continuing to Read about Calgary and Edmonton news daily. Unlikely in conjunction with my younger son now as he has accepted a job with a RE company.
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6) Registered for the AI class, but the December one was cancelled. (not enough interest?!?) I will start January 28, 2024. I intend to try to immerse myself in AI.
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7) RE meetups: Went to a few more meetups and had breakfast with one of the more experienced RE investors. Individually owns many duplexes, triplexes and two apartment buildings. He likes the “own 100% of the deal so I don’t have to answer to anyone” philosophy. The control is there, but growth is much slower. Asked tons of questions and got some great tips on how to raise prices in a city with government regulated rent increases. His advice was to use Cash for keys. Ask me if you want to know what that means.
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8) Detroit homes: Same Nothing of note to report. Rents all being collected on time.
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9) Vancouver Warehouse. Waiting for the Dec 18th close.
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10) Wainwright Storage. Nothing to report.
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#11) Sarnia Ontario. Nothing to report.
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#12 Currently reading: Re reading ‘Never Spit the Difference’ by Voss because I am putting an offer on a unit in the next few days. Still reading Gullivers Travels by Swift. Still reading: ‘Buy It, Rent It, Profit!’ By Chavis was a gift from my wife. It is a beginners book. From my point of view it has several flaws, because it makes many assumptions about the reader.
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#13 Future Authoring program. Still meeting and talking to people about how they got to the next level. There are many possible future ‘me’s’ out there. One of them is totally retired and only works on maintaining health. This future version of me happens if/when I get bad news from my doctor.
Currently I am doing fine. I had a phone meeting with my dermatologist and he reviewed my bloodwork and gave me the thumbs up.. reducing my skin meds to the lowest dosage before going to 0.
I say this version (me totally retired) took up a bunch of my thinking because I saw a friend of mine who is 5 years older than me at a party this month. I have not seen him in about 3 years but he looks, talks and acts like a really old, old guy. He is telling me that he has problems walking straight and sometimes ends up walking into walls and off the sidewalk into the bushes! His has lost a lot of hair and what he does have is scraggly and gray. He is seeing his doctor about brain scans etc.
Talking to him, made me realize that I do not have much time left on this earth. I am hoping for 17 more good years.
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#14 Real Estate Agent's license. No Action. Will have to take two mandatory courses in 2025.
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Update on #1.

Put an offer on a property. Got a counter offer yesterday. Working on a counter-counter offer today.
we are only 1.76% off in price so I think this will go through.
Will let you know in my next update.