Monthly Archives: June 2008

How Positive Real Estate Cash Flow Can Turn Into Negative Cash Flow

I have sold my properties in Winnipeg but the closing date is the end of this month and in the meantime I am still getting bills. This is a great one, I got a nice bill for broken windows. All I can say is Thank God that money pit is sold. You would think you could make good cash with a 4plex you bought for $108,000 that rents for $2200 right? No………….. If you buy real estate in the wrong place all your profits go into fixing problems, such as broken windows, drywall damage. So your positive cash flow can turn into negative cash flow really damn fast. Learn from my mistake, sometimes cash flow numbers are deceiving. I recommend buying in local markets unless you have a TRUSTED source that can give you honest information about the area you are buying into. If these sources lie or skew the information, then you are into problems when you own any property out of town.

Property managers are a another problem. They are there to take care of your investment. Usually they get 10% of gross rental income. Here is the problem, they usually do repairs when your building needs fixing. This is another way they make money off of you. So, it is in their best interest to have repairs to do on your investment property, they make more money this way. So I don’t really trust property manager 100% for that reason. And……… You have to go on their word, if they are lying about damages how do you know? For all I know they could have gotten friends to break windows or damage drywall. Then they need to fix the drywall and windows using their own people to fix these repairs, and they can get cash kickbacks for choosing certain contractors to fix your property. You will never know, so trusting your property manager is important. Obviously not all property managers are the same, but you can see where the problems can happen. Your investment income can go down the hole if you run into greedy property managers very quickly. You can always switch managers, but you need to find out who the good property managers are and that seems pretty tough if you don’t live in that particular city.

Oh well after this month no more broken windows bills. I have spent almost $5,000 on broken windows in a 1 year time span, is that insane or what? I am just grateful both properties have been sold, very, very grateful. Now I can focus on building my real estate portfolio once again, but here in Vancouver for now.

New West Condos, Here I Come – The Road To Riches

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[ad#ad-1]I’d like to welcome back Rob, who was a way for a 3 week breakation. You got back for the good Vancouver weather, lucky for you. I was on Mls.ca this morning and there are tons of older, NON LEAKY condo apartments in New West that are for sale under $200,000. Actually you can even find condos in Burnaby for around $200,000, obviously they aren’t brand new but some paint and laminate flooring and they look brand new. Some of the condos come remodelled. I just need to check rents and see how it will cash flow. Seems like it should cover the rent with 25% down on the condo. Time to start doing some research and I will be calling my local Vancouver realtor today so we can get the ball rolling.

I really want to get those 20 investment properties, I expect to pick up at least 2 or 3 before the end of this year maybe even more. But, I don’t want to go too fast, it’s better to be safe than sorry right. With prices dropping and a very low vacancy you can’t go wring with buying investment condos in the Vancouver area. Obviously they don’t cash flow as good as Winnipeg, but when you factors all the repairs my properties in Winnipeg had, then actually Vancouver cash flows better than Winnipeg. Especially when the property gets fire damaged. Renters in Winnipeg seem to LOVE to vandalize. All those Winnipeg street gangs, such the Manitoba Warriors are great to have in neighbourhood….

Anyhoo….. Time to work on my Google AdWords campaigns to make some more cash to buy more real estate.

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random Yaletown pictures

Yaletown, Vancouver – Pacific Boulevard & Davie area

Lazy Sunday afternoon – view of False Creek, Taken from YaleTown, Vancouver

Shot of Burrard Steet Bridge[ad#ad-1]

The History Of Diaper Hill in Renfrew Heights, East Vancouver

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Yesterday afternoon, I took the family for a walk to Fallaise Park in East Vancouver, which is located in our neighbourhood in Vancouver. We live in an area called “Diaper Hill”, to many of the older residents of the area. This area of East Van is located in Renfrew Heights that encompasses the area north of East 22 Avenue down to Grandview Highway, and from Boundary Road west to Rupert Street, this is my neighbourhood called “Diaper Hill”.

Why The Name Diaper Hill?

This area of Renfrew Heights in East Vancouver is named Diaper Hill for a very interesting reason. Houses were built in the 1940s in Diaper Hill for the World War 2 veterans coming home from the war. As the plaque below states diapers were hung on the clothing lines to dry and this area is on a hill (Renfrew Heights), the area became known as “Diaper Hill”, and there you have it.

Most of the WW2 vets have passed away or moved away, all that remains are a few old 2 bedroom rancher homes, the rest of the homes have been torn down to make way from new 3 level 7 bedroom homes selling for $800,000 +. I am a newer resident to Diaper Hill living here only for the past 3.5 years. It was interesting to me to find out about the colorful history of my neighborhood and thought I would share it.

Many of the streets in Diaper Hill are named after World War 2 cities such as Normandy, Anzio and Dieppe, to name only a few of them.

Falaise Park Vancouver

Falaise Park In Renfrew Heights, East Vancouver

History Of Diaper Hill in Renfrew Heights, Vancouver

The History Of Diaper Hill Written On A Plaque In Falaise Park In Renfrew Heights, East Vancouver

Mural Commemorating Diaper Hill

Recent Important Developments In My Life – Ooooh

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Ok, the title is dramatic, sue me, lol.I had a few minutes to spare before I head over to my parents place for Saturday night BBQ.

What has been going on with me the last few days?

I sold my 4plex in Winnipeg, so I celebrated last night by buying a bag of Doritos chips and a bag of that Smart food popcorn stuff from 7-11, yah, yah, yah!
I planted grass seeds 15 days ago and they are growing and filling in the blank spots I had on my lawn, yah!
I have the SpiderMan 3 move as well as the Fantastic 4 movie downloaded and ready to be watched tonight, yah!

Next Weeks Agenda:

Start checking out investment condos in New Westminster next week for under $220,000 (Ozzie Jurock recommended New West condos as a good buy, I agree) Ozzie says, “We particularly favour New Westminster, but investors have to be careful. There is a lot happening in the Royal City and despite a “benchmark” price of a typical condominium at $304,000 in May, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, we had little trouble finding condos for $200,000 or just slightly above. Warning: you will see listings in New West for condos as low as the $150,000, but most of these are clustered in three leaky condo buildings. (Eg: low-rise 312 Carnarvon – $1.5-$2 million in repairs needed – realtor’s estimate) and two high-rises on Agnes St. (assessments to $100,000 per suite for repairs).” But there are renovated older New West condo buildings (watch for listings on Ginger Street) that offer good value in the $200,000 and less range, according to veteran area realtor Doris Gee of ReMax Central (604-432-7888). Example: 340 Ginger Ave. 830 sq. ft. 1 bedroom, no restrictions, strata fees $159 per month: Asking price $189,000.“
Increase sales on my pay per click campaigns, I will not be stopped! I want my 20 investment properties, 17 more to go. Big dream maybe, but even bigger reality.
Pray for more sun (Today is sunny, but will it remain???)

Random pictures I took while were downtown this morning:

Joe Fortes Car on Robson St & Thurlow St, Vancouver – June 14, 2008

city/sky shot on Hornby Street / Smithe Street, Vancouver – June 14, 2008

How To Save Some Cash When Buying Vancouver Gas

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With gas prices going higher every day, I thought I would share how you can save 6.5 cents on every litre you purchase. In Vancouver, B.C., SuperStore has gas stations located on two of their properties, one at the Grandview SuperStore and one at the Marine Drive SuperStore. You buy your gas at the SuperStore “Gas Bar” and then you get a redeemable receipt that you can use you get free groceries inside SuperStore. So if you buy groceries already then why not save a few bucks? I ended up saving $5.22, it’s not much but it’s right there so why not take it.

Save 6.5 cents for every liter of gas you buy at SuperStore

Save 6.5 cents for every liter you buy at SuperStore

These gas companies are posting record profits but the price just goes higher and higher. I see a few things happening from this situation. Obviously people won’t be travelling long distance vacations in there cars nearly as much. Prices of food and everything else will go up. There will be full scale truck strikes like they had in Portugal. Once trucks stop running then everything stops moving, no food, electronics, and anything else that get shipped, basically everything.

All of this can be avoided with a REAL push for hybrid cars and trucks, that are priced the same as regular cars, not $10,000 more expensive. But there is no push for these type of engines for one reason that we all know, oil companies still wants your money. Hybrid cars mean less profit for oil companies and they are in bed with the car manufacturers. Will this change, I think it has to eventually.

Oh and guess how much it costs to fill up my Escalade on June 12, 2008, $114.75. Luckily just like the gas companies I am making record profits as well, so their gas prices don’t mean anything to me. But it still pisses me off. I hate being ripped off, like everyone else.

$114 to fill up my Cadillac Escalade

$114.75 cents to fill up my Cadillac SUV

Vancouver gas prices at $14.2 a liter now

$1.42 a liter for gas in Vancouver at SuperStore on June 12, 2008

Oh and stay away from the Esso on Grandview Highway and Rupert Street, they are always more expensive than SuperStore GasBar, which is right across the street. Today there were charging 4 cents more just for all the suckers who like to pay more.

Esso On Grandview HighWay

A great example of Esso greed