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.

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….