At the moment I am dealing with a hangover and a cold which kinda sucks but oh well. Today we go for a full 1 hour massage which should be a great way to relax and chill out. Tonight we have another dinner where we will drink some more, meet more affiliates and eat. Anyways I’m gonna go sit down, I hate typing while standing up.

Ciao,
C.V

I will be visiting Alcatraz, doing a city tour as well as having a full spa treatment all paid for, which is pretty cool. I have never gotten a spa treatment, it feels creepy for some reason. The hotel looks pretty swanks, we are staying at the Hotel Griffon.

I’m not bringing my laptop because I don’t trust U.S. customs officials. I have read horror stories online of officials seizing laptops and not giving them back, or if they do it’s many months later. No thanks, I don’t need that type of headache. I will just let my pay per click campaigns run themselves, and maybe check in on them from an Internet cafe from time to time if possible.

I’m heading down to San Fran with Rob and Angela, the guy who got me hyped on affiliate marketing in the first place many years. I’ve been to San Francisco 2 times before this trip, it’s a neat city to visit. Most of the big web companies are from around the Bay Area, that place is ground zero for Internet companies.

I’ll be back Thursday and then need to get the 2 bedroom condo in Burnaby I bought inspected to make sure there are no hidden problems. I will probably start looking for condo #3 when I get back as well. Near Christmas is always a great time to buy, because no one else is thinking about buying real estate. That means less competition and better real estate investment deals for me, weeee.

Oh well I better start packing my carry on, it’s 8:30 AM and my ride (Rob’s dad) get here at 11:10 AM. It’s a 2 hour flight to S.F. and Vancouver is on the same time zone so I won’t be having that wonderful jet lag feeling.

If you  haven’t tried Shabusen I really recommend it, the place is awesome. You can eat all the sushi you want and you can also order as much meat to grill as you like. They bring you the meat raw and you cook it right on your table on the built in grill, mmmmm.

By the way I am at 174 lbs down rom 188 lbs,  when I weighed myself on May 6, 2008. My weight loss has been Mostly due to eating few carbs (no bread, pizza or pasta!) and bike riding to the coffee shop daily.

Today we sign the papers for the second condo, and then I am off to work from the coffee shop. Tonight it’s dinner at my mother in laws and tommorow it’s Shabusen. Bada boom, that’s about it for now.

What the hell does the 0.75% do?

If you can get rent of 0.75% of the purchase price then the rent will be able to cover all costs, such as taxes, strata fee and monthly mortgage. So you put your down payment and the renters will over time pay your condo in full, all you do is put down the down payment of 25% and the rent does the rest. Once again 0.75% of $185,000 is $1,385.00. Get rent of $1,385.00 or better and your investment covers itself nicely.

This my friends is how to build a real estate portfolio the RIGHT WAY. I don’t care if the real estate market goes down or up because my rents will cover all my expenses, through good and bad economic situations. As long as I can find renters then I am safe. This is a bullet proof way of retiring early, nevermind the B.S stock market. And f*ck RRSPS, just another scam if you ask me.

I lost $5,000 in the dot com stock crash back in 2000 and I learned my lesson for good. I will ALWAYS stick with real estate. Being a landlord might sound boring but it will make you wealthy in the long run, and it’s the safest investment as long as you have a clue what you are doing. It’s not that hard, all you need is a good realtor and they will do all the work for you. This condo gets me 1 step closer of my goal of having $20,000 in rental income per month.

And if you’re one of those people who thinka that renters will ruin your house and burn it to the ground it can happen. But don’t come crying to me when you’re 64 years old and still working for the man. Nothing in life is a cake walk, but realistically this is probably the quickest and safest way to get to financial freedom. Everyone needs a place to live and they always will.  Don’t tell me about the economic depression either, blah, blah, blah.  If you believe every word of the news then you’re the BIGGEST SUCKER out there………………

Get off your ass and make your life what you want it to be!

Anyways I am tired this evening, my daughter kept me up in the wee hours of the morning. It’s time to go relax and take a bath. Let the stress wash itself away.

C.V

When I first started with rental properties I used to advertise in the Vancouver Sun, this was before Craigslist existed. The Vancouver Sun is a dinosaur like all newspaper classifieds. The Vancouver Sun was expensive and lame, now I advertise for 100% online. Craiglist is the best way to get tenants hands down. I placed over 30 images in my Craigslist rental ad (the ones from this site), so the tenant knows EXACTLY what the place will look like even before they call me. What I did before Craigslist I don’t know, wasted lots of money I guess.

And there you go, bought a condo and rented it all in under 7 days, you have to love the Internet once again. Now onward and upward to the next investment property.  I hate moving slowly, once I find something I like then I move like lightning to get it done. If you waste to much time analysing, then opportunities will pass you by. You make a decision and stick with it, simple.

I also placed the ad on Craigslist and have rental showings today and tomorrow. I like to move fast and get it rented ASAP, so then I have one less thought on my mind. By Monday everything should be done and then we just sit and wait for the closing date when I get the keys. From there it’s off to the next one, bada boom!

The reasons I am liking condos more is a few reasons:

1. I don’t have to worry about the exterior of the building (painting, cutting grass, landscape, draining, gutters, etc…)
2. The prices of houses is too much now for them to be able to cover any type of mortgage you have.
3. I plan on having at least another 10 rental properties and if they are all houses it’s WAY more work than owning 10 condos. I want my rental income to come easy not hard.

I really want to get things moving for me in my real estate portfolio, so I plan on probably putting a low ball offer on another 2 bedroom condo in Burnaby for $170,000 (asking price is $208,000). It’s not as nice as this penthouse loft however it is still updated nicely with laminate flooring and modern colored walls.  Low ball offers are usually rejected but some people are very motivated to sell and sometimes they will take your offer even if its way below asking prices ($208,000).

I put it on Craigslist last night, asking $1600 for rent. I got 1 email so far, I reposted the ad this morning so my ad can appear at the top of the list.  I have to get the place inspected as well, but it should all be fine. We went through the condo “minutes” (a log of all meetings of the strata council), to see if they discussed any problems with the building at strata council meetings. The minutes were fine, nothing wrong with the building (no leaky condo problems especially).

One thing I found out that was interesting, is that since this a penthouse suite, we can actually build a bedroom where the outdoor patio area is located (see pics in my last post). I have NO intention to build another bedroom, way too much work however it’s good to know that it is allowed for.

A couple things I plan on doing to the loft:

• install laminate flooring where the carpet is now (carpet is a bit rough)
• paint the walls with some light modern colors

The better shape your rental unit is in, the better type of renters you will attract. If you place looks like hell you will be in for hell from your tenants. A good rule of thumb is to decorate as you would your own home, treat it as if you were going to move in.

I already told my realtor to be on the lookout for another 2 bedroom but there is nothing else out there compared to what we just bought. I mentioned looking into Surrey for condos (they are cheaper there), however she said that the quality of tenants are worse in Surrey, hmm. We will see, I have this on my plate for now. Next month is Christmas, we will see if we find something before Christmas. Anyways that’s all to report for now.

Now my realtor is going to check the minutes of the stra council (to see if there are any problems in the buildings). The last thing you want to do is buy a leaky condo, so you need to check the strata minutes to see what was discussed at strata meetings.

Some people reading this probably think I’m crazy to buy right now, but sitting on the sidelines for the bottom of the market to happen is even more crazy. As long as the rent covers everything, then it’s a NO BRAINER. Real estate is simple either you buy it or you don’t. If you don’t buy it and sit on the side lines I can promise you that you will regret in the years to come (ask your parents).

A couple times I got nervous about buying houses but I bought them anyways and they have appreciate 100% in the past 5 years. Fear is normal but you need to control it, don’t let it control you. It’s easy to get scared trust me, but you need to be logical about things. Don’t let your emotions run your life.

That’s all for now folks.

Tomorrow this Burnaby 2 bedroom condo will be our first stop,  then we start checking other condos around Burnaby in New West after that showing, as I mentioned in a previous post. Most people get excited buying a new computer or a car but I really love buying real estate. I guess for me I think about how much that condo will help me and my family for the rest of life. I will get monthly rent forever, who needs mutual funds? My retirement income will be my rental income, safer and way more stable than mutual funds, RRSP or the Canadian pension (will there be a Canadian pension when I am 65?).

A cool real estate quote I heard from Ralph Case:

“buy real estate and wait, don’t wait to buy real estate.”