Monthly Archives: September 2008

Work At Home & Wait For The Cable Guy

Shaw Cable is coming in to see why one of the digital cable boxes isn’t working so I am at home today, waiting for the “Cable Guy”. Initially I did have Bell Express Vu however every time it rained hard, was windy or it snowed then my TV programming wasn’t available. Basically I got tired of the bugs in having a satellite TV system. Digital tv runs through cable wires so I don’t need to worry about bad reception from any satellite.

Anyways I am at home and have a few minutes to kill and had to post this photo of the little guy surrounded by his stuffed animals.

The cable guy is supposed to be here between 10 am – 12 pm it’s 11:56 right now. I wonder if he will make it on time, NOT. Luckily I can work from anywhere including my home and time hasn’t been completely wasted.

Matteo surrounded by stuffed animals

Matteo surrounded by stuffed animals

What To Buy In The Vancouver Real Estate Market Now

As I mentioned in a previous post that when Winnipeg was finally gone then I would start buying here in Vancouver. Well the time has come and I have started looking online at the moment. Even though Vancouver doesn’t cash flow like Winnipeg does you can still find properties that can cover themselves if you can put down 25 – 35% of the price  At least this way I can manage the properties myself and I know I will not run into the bullshit that the property manager in Winnipeg had me go through.

What To Buy?

From my own research personally I think that used condos are the way to go. Used condos are cheaper than new condos and they can cover themselves more easily with rent. The price range I am looking at it is $175,000 to $225,000 roughly. I prefer 2 bedrooms over 1 bedroom condos, people will stay longer if they have that extra room.

The best time to buy real estate if you ask me is in the winter because less people tend to buy in the winter months (less competition). The aboslute best time is in December, people are thinking of Christmas not real estate. This factor means less people are buying which will give you the upper hand on negotiating cheaper deals. January is also pretty good, spring is the worst time to buy if you ask me. If you want to sell, then Spring is the best time, obviously.

Goal

I plan on buying 3-5 condos within the next year. Even though prices are going down, 10 years from now they will be higher, so who cares if you pay $10,000 more? As long as the property can cover itself after the initial down payment then you are rocking. My all time goal is to have $20,000 per month in gross rental income, I’m 25% of the way there right now.

Robson Steet In Downtown Vancouver

I’m not quite sure what’s so fun about snapping  photos of people when they don’t expect it but it’s neat. I guess you get more natural expressions when people aren’t fake smiling and all that B.S. Rob put me on to snapping pics of random people doing everyday stuff. I was in downtown Vancouver on Robson Street  and I took a bunch of random shots, lots came out blurry but some didn’t and the results are below.
What the hell it’s free entertainment right? I take photos while my wife spends my money on Robson Street, haha.. Just kidding wifey!
Robson street VancouverRobson street crowd
Robson street Vancouver

busy, busy on Robson Street

Bada beep, bada bop, bada boop, that’s all for now folks……. 8:24 Pm Thursday night

Taking The Day Off To Enjoy The Life I Have

Sometimes I get too caught up in “making money” that I forget how it would be if it all stopped it. Yesterday it seemed like that almost was going to happen, but thank God it didn’t. I promised myself if the situation fixed itself I would be taking a day off today to spend with the family. I had thought of going somewhere, but I’m not to sure where that would be.

A few Ideas I had:

  1. Take the family to the Vancouver Aquarium.
  2. Take my kids wife and my own parents out for dinner and a nice walk before down at Granville Island.
  3. Pay for everyone’s trip to Mexico, I would do that and have planned on that for a while. That isn’t something I can do tomorrow though, lol.

When big events happen that can change your life for the worse you become pretty damn grateful for what you have. I have always felt lucky and generally grateful for everything that has come my way. Events like this just put everything in perspective even more so. Now I can breathe easy and take the day and enjoy myself without biting my nails like yesterday. It’s only 6:51 am but I couldn’t sleep anymore, time for a nice cappuccino and then figure out exactly what we are going to do today.

Random Thoughts For September 13

I don’t have to much to report from my end. I’m still working from the coffee shop on Kingsway in Burnaby. Trying to make my next million, lol. I guess here are a few odds and ends I can think of .

  1. I am down to 176 lbs for my high of 188 lbs, so I lost about 12 lbs! I did it by bike riding 5 days a week for 30 mins (15 mins to and from the coffee shop).
  2. We are taking Stefania to dance class today at 10 am (yeah she’s only 2 years old), it should be soo cute to see her dancing with the other little kids.
  3. Yesterday was the starting day for Righteous Kill starring none other than Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I haven’t seen it yet but I plan on it next week.
  4. I love Zorros Pizza on Boundary Road in Vancouver. He’s a funny, crazy, crusty, Greek guy named Tony and has great tasting pizza.
wrong-side-of-tracks

Taken right behind La Casa Gelato on Venables Street in East Vancouver, the place with over 200 different flavors of ice cream