It's been an eventful week to say the least, geez. I'm not one to complain and I usually keep my problems to myself, mostly. In this case I wanted to share why rental properties and the horror stories you have heard can and do happen. It sucks when it does, but you need to keep your chin  up and keep going. Always look at the big picture (you own a property that you can keep forever), you have a cash machine that makes $1000s per month regardless of where you are. Cash flow baby $$$$$$$$$.

Now The Negative

Back in July, one set of my tenants moved out so I needed to get it rented before I left for Vegas for 6 weeks. The tenants gave me little notice and I should have kept their damage deposit for that little stunt but I didn't (last time I do that…). I showed the place numerous times and no one wanted to rent it, for whatever reason. I ended up getting renters, two 20something year old males. They weren't my first choice, they were my only choice, since I had to go to Vegas in a few days and it was nearing the end of the month. I ended up giving the place to them…

Everything seems fine for all of August, and the tenant Adam calls me on my cell phone in Vegas and asks me to tell him what day I am coming back so he can have rental money in his account when I deposit the September rental check. I got back to Vancouver roughly September 4 then I called Adam my tenant, and ask him if I can deposit the rental check now. Really, the rental check is meant to be deposited on the first of every month, if it is not deposited on the first of every month then legally you are allowed to send your tenant documentation stating that they are late with the rent and they have five days to pay it or they have to move out.

I let him get away with not paying me the rent when I got back, he said on the phone that if I could give him a couple of days that he would have it all together. I agreed being the nice guy that I am then I called him back a few days later asking if he had the rent money and he said he was just waiting for a check to come in from his former employer and the checks were random and there is no set time when he would be getting the check, now I started to worry. I told him that I would give him four more days to get me a check and if he didn't have the money ready I would be coming to the condo to talk to him in person and getting the money in person. I told him I would be coming down to the condo to visit him that evening (September 14) at 7 PM. He then texted me back saying that if I could come at 9 PM, I didn't respond. Now I realized that Adam is taking me for a ride.

I went down to the condo just as I stated at 7 PM on the dot. Surprisingly Adam open the door, and the other tenants was walking out of the condo with a huge dog. They never told me they had a dog. This was not in the agreement, another problem to deal with. Anyways the condo reeks of booze and there is long dog hair all over the new maple laminate floors. Now I am super pissed, but I didn't say anything.

I listened to Adam's BS story, about why he didn't have the money. Apparently, he lost his job and now he was scrambling to find friends or family to lend him cash. He says he applied for a credit card which he was denied (surprise) and he was going to use the credit card to pay the rent. At that point I had had enough of the lies and excuses. I need to pay my mortgage I told him and this can't go on any longer it's September 14 and you haven't paid your rent this month. I told him to give me the keys and the remote controls for the condo. I then told him they had to leave now, "you cannot stay here the night" and they could call my cell phone tomorrow morning I would meet them back at the condo, and they can start moving out all their crap.

Back to the state of the condo. The condo was only used by them for one month and a half. The condo went from being a really nice place, to smelling like a nightclub after midnight. There was black dog here everywhere. I have no clue what kind of dog they had but that fucking dog was shedding dog hair like a madman. They told me that they apologize for the situation that happened and they would be cleaning up the mess and they would prove to me that they were responsible, lol. Yeah right….

Well the next three days, me and my wife had to clean up 99% of their mess, touch of the walls, vacuum all the dot hair, throw out three black large garbage bags full of beer cans and beer bottles. It was a nightmare that consumed the bulk of four days last week.

  I  told them that they had to get all of their furnishings out of the building. This never happened, me and my wife had to clean up all their mess and they left some personal belongings in the parkade that the strata council charged me with a $200 fine to get rid of.

These scumbags have little respect for other people and other people's property. The lesson I learned was, two males should never be chosen as tenants. Men are generally dirtier than women and if you have 2 together it's even worse. Do not rent to people in their early 20s unless they seem responsible. References can be faked (their friends can pretend to be their landlord reference).

  In this province, renters have too many rights. I wasn't about to let these scumbags stay in my condo for three months free, while I took them to the arbitration board. Sometimes you need to put the law in your own hands because many laws are in favor of the people creating all the problems.

Now I can say my condo is completely cleaned I touched up with paint in the places that needed touching up and I should be securing new renters this evening. They're meeting me with the damage deposit as well as 12 months post dated checks I am renting it to two women and one of their boyfriends. Women are always better to have as renters than men, because they are cleaner usually and from my experience they seem more responsible.

Has this scared me in any way? Hell no! When you rent properties to people there is always going to be something, however if you look at the big picture rent will pay your mortgage and in the long run will give you thousands of dollars per month for ever. You can then give this rental property to your children and they can get thousands of dollars per month forever. This can go on forever and ever. How can you beat that?

So, keep on smiling and keep buying rental properties they will make you rich and you'll be able to have a great life because of them. Don't look at the small things, look at the big picture. No pain, no gain. If you want to have a life where you never have to worry about anything, then keep your job and work until you're 65 like an idiot. Life isn't meant to be full of work. Work hard now, and retire early later.

On another note I have been busy putting offers on over 30 condos down in Las Vegas. I don't plan on buying 30 condos, but I am putting offers and low balling on many of the condos to see which condos I will choose. I should be purchasing another two or even maybe three condos within the next week. This will keep me on my goal of purchasing two or three condos before the end of September. I wrote down that goal when I was in Vegas, and now it will happen.

Anyways, that's all for now. I've been buying up real estate, and cleaning up real estate and now I can rest and go back to Internet marketing.

If you don't know what Google Voice, it's a free service that enables you to do long distance calls throughout the USA, and now its free to call Canada. You need to be in the U.S. to use this service, it will be for Canadians in the future but not yet. Since I'm a Canadian in Las Vegas I can use the service, and I can call friends and family back in Canada for 100% free! I was paying about 0.05 per minute which is nothing, however the long distance calls to Canada would add to about $10-$15 per month. If I can save that money, why the hell not? I tried it out today, and it works perfectly.

Google Voice evens give you the option of getting a new U.S. phone number for free. The power behind this is that you can forward calls from your new Google Voice number to your home phone, mobile phone, work phone etc. You can add as many phone numbers  as you want, and have them ALL ring when people call your Google Voice phone. So people can tell people your Google number and it will call all of the phone numbers you have added as forwarders. There are a ton of option to choose from. You can choose to have certain numbers work only on weekends, or just weekdays and certain times of the day.

You also get free texting, and free voice mail, which is all managed online through your free Google Voice account. Pretty slick stuff.

It looks like the fun is coming to an end. I only have a few more days in this desert dream land. I have offers on 16 places, but my goal is to buy 3  condos out of the 16 that I put offers on. I am waiting to hear back from many of the offers I put in, then I will choose exactly which condos I want to buy. Las Vegas real estate is crazy at this point and you need to put in a bunch of offers, because many times there are multiple offers, so if you only put an offer on 1 place unless you want to pay asking price then you may lose it. I'm not paying asking price that's for sure, lol. I'm low balling on many places and others I am putting offers $5,000 to $7,000 less than asking price. Asking price is usually about $75,000 for a two bedroom with a 1 car garage condo, so it will cash flow even at that price.

My friend Paul is down here (from Vancouver), he just bought a 2 bedroom condo near the strip and is doing some touch ups to it before he gets a property management company to do the rental managing  for it. Good to see some people taking my advice.

Hopefully I know the result of the others offers I put today. I need to leave Vegas this week, but not before I see these places in person.

And if my fucking hosting provider (IValueHost.net) doesn't get there shit together, I am going to find new web hosting, this is complete bullshit. I can't even call you assholes on the phone because you never pick up the phone! I want reliable service please, you jackasses!. Moving wordpress blogs takes a  bit of time and that is the only reason I haven't moved it over yet, dickheads!

I snapped some photos of random stuff, as well…

I painted 2 walls in the condo a yellow, these will be the accent walls. I will come back in October and paint the rest of the condo a pale yellow I'm thinking..

Driving to Red Rock Canyon

Driving to Red Rock Canyon

brother feeding big sister…

Sad because they have to go home, no more pool….

I'm still here in sunny Las Vegas, working by the pool everyday. Life is good. The temperatures are hot but it's a dry heat so you don't sweat much at all, unlike Vancouver that get's humid heat in the summer.  I snapped some shots of random shit , that has been added below. Taking photos costs me nothing, and it's a great way  to preserve memories.

I've been putting offers on more condos down here. The prices are too cheap for me to resist. If you can get 2 bedrooms condos in the $55,000 range and rent them for $800-$900, it won't be long before I retire completely and let the rental cheques do all the income earning for me, lol. I'm not going to preach about why you should buy here, it will be more for me to buy so stay away!

Tommorow night were going to the Olive Garden, I have been there only once ever in Langley. They're having  an all you can eat pasta deal for $9. We have gone out only once since beening here for 3 weeks, so that's ok if I have some fat ass carbs for once night..  I can't even recall the last time I had pasta, and I'm Italian…. Ma Che cazzo!

The weather is still hot, palm trees are growing and prices are still cheap. That's all I have to report kiddies. Stay tuned for more from Sin City!

Harley Davidson on Las Vegas Blvd (the strip)

Hang Over movie anyone, ring a bell?!?

self explanatory…

80's music Cheap Trick!

After a rain storm…

Caesars Palace Bhuda thingy

Caesars Palace..

Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

she's a jumper now!

New York, New York

crazy looking clouds

at the MGM hotel,trainer with tiger…

I do love to fart!

With all the gloom and doom about foreclosures going on in Las Vegas, I still think it’s a good time to buy. Why is it that when prices are high and EVERYONE is buying, that people make it seem like it’s the right time to buy? I have learned following the crowd isn’t usually the smart choice. Yes unemployment is at 15% and foreclosures are still  happening, so what? Do you think Las Vegas is going to disappear? Personally, I don’t.

The US is in a recession, but prices are so damn cheap! I put offers only some places and have low balled them and gotten accepted offers on a 2 bedroom with 1 car garage for $58,000, in the same complex I own my vacation home! You can’t even buy a new Escalade for $58,000! But you think it’s going to go down even more  right? Well let me say this, waiting to buy when the “magical bottom” hits is a mistake. This 2 bedroom cant rent anywhere from $750 to $900 per month! Don’t you think that is a great return on your money, I do!

But it’s risky right? Don’t you think it’s riskier when you buy a place in  Vancouver for $250,000 and can only rent it for $1,000 a month?  All the real risk is gone in a market like this. This condo will rent for $750 to $900 and if it didn’t then I could drop the rent to even $600 and I will still come out ahead, but the rent won’t go that low. The foreclosure market in Vegas reminds alot of  my internet marketing. The opportunity to make money in both sectors is big, but when the rules and landscapes change then those doors will be shut forever. When you see an opportunity you need to decide, then act on it. You can work until you’re 65 or have the life you really want to have, it is your choice! Sure I get scared but I analyze the situation then act on what I think is right.

Could I go bankrupt by purchasing a few properties and $55,000 to $65,000, no way. The mortgage payment on those is small, it’s not a $1,500 monthly payment, just a few hundred dollars. It’s much safer than buying condos for $350,000 and then you need to put a couple hundred of your own money into that Vancouver condo every month to make it cash flow. Every property you buy needs to cover itself and if possible make you a few hundred per month, per property. This is the way to do real estate investing, then you can go far. If you need to dip into your wallet for every property you buy on a monthly basis, how many condos can you buy? Not too many right?! Enough said on this. I just needed to get this out. Everyone thinks real estate is so difficult, not as hard as you think.