Author Archives: CV

About CV

Real estate investor & online entrepreneur. From cabinet making to internet marketing.

The Condo Is Coming Along

I’ve been working on my laptop from my condo in Burnaby while it’s getting renovated. I made the mistake of giving student painters the go ahead to paint my rental house in Burnaby a few years back and they were so pathetic it made me sick. Now whenever I get people to do work for me, I bring my laptop, my chair and a small table and do my online business while I watch them work. There is a less chance of people trying to fuck you around if you are right next to them. Some people try to sneak the wool over your eyes any chance they get, but they can’t do that if you’re right there to point out any problems that you see. Having the Rogers Rocket Stick has enabled me to work from anywhere and everywhere, perfect for renovations!

The floors are now in, as well as the white baseboards and the painters started doing prep work this afternoon and they will be painting tomorrow and completely done by Friday. I did pretty good time on this quick renovation, since I only got the keys to the place last Thursday!

I could have done the laminate flooring myself I’m sure as well as the baseboards, but I don’t have the tools, so it makes way more sense to hire someone who does it everyday. Besides, the laminate floor installer is fast, reasonably priced and very reliable. The painters started today and they are awesome as well. I found the painters on Kijiji.ca, and they are reliable and came it at 1/2 the price of the other painters quote! The other painters quoted me at $3600 and this other company is doing it for under $1700, for the same amount of work! Always get at least 2 quotes for any job you plan to hire for.

I will be there watching them work so, there is no problems or any type of miscommunication (like painting the place the wrong color…).

I snapped some pics after I ripped out the carpets (I hate carpets big time!):

just painting the walls and the kitchen cabinets, no demolitioning here..

bare bones or what!?

laying down the sound proofing foam before the laminate gets installed.

my office on the patio..

I will post more photos after the place is 100% done. I’m not going all out, just new paint and laminate flooring but that should be enough to update the 2 bedroom with a fresh modern look. Buying old condos and fixing them to rent may not sound glamorous but people will always need a place to live in and I fill that gap…

C.V.

3 Weeks Absent & Here I am

Leave a reply

So here I am, 3 weeks since my last post (maybe more). Why the lag in blogging, you ask? I had no feeling to post on my blog for a few reasons such as:

lack of motivation
nothing that I wanted to write about
lost interest
kinda down because my earnings have slipped…

I really didn’t feel like even blogging today, but for some reason after I put a blog post up I feel better. I guess it’s a good way to vent my frustrations, clear my head and help me focus on what needs to be done. It’s strange how writing down your feelings can make such a huge impact. I have been writing down my goals since I was 12 years old on and off.

I have been trying to get my daily earnings back to where they have been for about the last year. My friends over at the big search engine (G), are making it tougher and tougher to advertise through their system. I have never seen a company that doesn’t want to take your money, as bad as G does. This probably doesn’t make sense to most people but that’s alright this is a blog about me and my successes and hardships. If you don’t get it, don’t worry…

I am trying to build my business in a manor so I won’t have to go through these silly ups and downs on online marketing that seem to happen time after time for the past 7 years of my online marketing career. Luckily I am financially set for life, but don’t let that kid you. It still drives me insane with the ups and down of profit after one of G’s famous “slaps”. Anyways they have been chipping away at my online empire all this year little by little, and it’s tough to swallow let me tell you. I am a fighter and don’t give up easily, so I am in the process on reinventing myself once again. Ta da!

Besides the online marketing escapades I have been renovating, or should I say finding people to renovate my 2 bedroom condo in Burnaby that I bought this month. So far the new laminate floors have been installed in 2 rooms (one room left and it’s done). The painting is next on the list and should be completed by Friday or Saturday this coming week. After that’s done I put my ad on Craigslist.com and wait for the tenants to come, bada bing.

I think that’s about it for today. See now I’m feeling better already, lol. I can feel the positive vibes flowing through my brain, gotta love blogging.

I have been snapping some photos here and there and I snapped a few pics at the Children’s Festival at Vanier Park (located at the Planetarium in Vancouver).

“X” in the sky made from aircraft flying

downtown Vancouver taken from Vanier Park

train bridge in North Vancouver

“Vers 2” graffitit piece found under Second Narrows Bridge in North Vancouver

Friday Wrap Up – Las Vegas Condos & More

3 Replies

The Friday wrap up! Oh yeah it’s the weekend, and the sun is shining. It’s been an eventful week and I am jumping back into the real estate game again with the purchase of a 2 bedroom condo in Burnaby in the same complex as this 2 bed room condo. The vendor was asking for $215,000 but I got it for $200,000, so not a bad deal. This unit needs some paint and maybe I will pullout the carpet and put some nice dark laminate flooring to give it a modern look to it. So another one under my belt which means more tenants to deal with, lol.[ad#ad-1]

Also I was checking out my favorite Vancouver real estate gurus site, Ozzie Jurock. And I saw some “hot properties” from Las Vegas. I talked about how I wanted to buy a condo down in Phoenix, Arizona because of the hot climate and super cheap deals. I never went through with it because even though the condo was cheap $150,000 for a 3 bedroom, it wasn’t cheap enough to buy down there. Well Ozzie Jurock posted about the amazing deals down in Vegas, and they are amazing.

You can get 1500 square feet 3 bedroom 2 level condos/townhouses for roughly $75,000 to $85,000 US. So that works out to about $95,000 to $105,000 Canadian for a 3 bedroom condo in Vegas!! Oh and these places are brand new! I contacted the realtor in charge of the Las Vegas condos and we spoke last night. He sent me a bunch of word docs with all the pricing of various condos, from 2 bedroom for $55,000 and 3 bedrooms going up to $85,000. The photos are sweet, I have one at the bottom of this post. I figured with such low prices they would be out pretty far (30 minutes from the strip), but they are 15 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip, so that was wicked. I’m to a gambler or anything, but a nice warm climate is what I am seeking. The great thign is Vegas is only a 2 hour flight from Vancouver.

I am seriously tired of the weather here in Vancouver, especially the rain in the winter. This will be my second home, especially with these discounted prices. Prices in Vegas have dropped roughly 66%!!! These deals are completely unreal, anyways I am very excited and can’t wait to get my ass on a plane down to Las Vegas to see them in person. And the temperature in Las Vegas was a smoking 32 celsius yesterday!

It will be damn nice to have the option to jump on a plane when the weather turns to hell here, and chill in Vegas for a month or so. Obviously you can rent them out as well for some great cash flow. Anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself and all hyped up.

vegas-condo

This is only one of them, I’m too lazy to upload all the pics. All the condos are in gated communities and come with community swimming pool, close to mountains and walking trails etc. Really nice photos the realtor sent me of the condos, but I will be seeing them in person to see how great they really are. Who knows they may be right next to a nuclear power plant! It’s always smart to go visit these places in person. I learned my lesson the hard way, lol…[ad#ad-1]

I also took a bunch of photos this week:

I hate wolf spiders (but the pic is cool)

I hate all spiders..

Nephew running away..

Closeup of rose thorn bush

mother in laws garden in the back yard

Cool flower closeup

my mother in laws lasagna from my son’s birthday

Bruschetta from my son’s birthday

That’s all for now folks. Time to get ready to bike ride to the Metrotown library.

The Weekend Wrap Up

Leave a reply

Last night wifey and myself along with friends, Remo and Mirella went to the Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby. We had a few beers and played the famous penny slots. I ended up loosing a whopping $2.37. I don’t go to casinos to make money or barely spend money. Pure mindless entertainment is what a slot machine can offer…

[ad#ad-1]

Remo playing the penny slots at the Grand Villa Casino. He’s more a poker player, me on the other hand? Meh, I don’t play poker. I tried it a few times with the helper cards and it was fun though.

The slot machine I played for about 15 minutes. After the casino we went back to my place and watched “Bride Wars” (chick flick), with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. We started falling asleep during the movie so I paused it and will watch the rest tonight with wifey. We can barely ever watch a whole movie, we end up falling asleep or the kids wake up and cry or whatever…

Under video survaillance? Oh really and looks what was next to this warning (see pic below). Right next to Petcetera (parking lot) on Grandview Highway and Rupert Street. Nice surveillance, someone’s sleeping…

“Copy”

Read above..

After waiting in the car for my wife to buy a few things at SuperStore we went to the Tim Horton’s drive thru in North Van, on the way to Deep Cove.

Arrive at Deep Cove and I snap a few more pics…

Deep Cove is such a relaxing place, it feels like I’m on vacation every time I am there. And it’s only about 15 minutes away from where I live….

This made me have a little chuckle. I guess someone in the District Of North Vancouver Parks Department has a sense of humor, good for you!

A pic of The downtown East Side Fire Department mural located right across from the Number 5 Orange in downtown Vancouver. That’s all for the updates folks.[ad#ad-1]

10 Pairs Of Puma Shoes Or An $1100 Chateau Wine Bottle

Leave a reply

Holy sh*t, I forgot all about this song, until I was driving back from The Number 5 Orange. This is some 80’s Canadian rock, that kicks some ass. Harlequin! “Thinking Of You” from 1980, I was 10 years old in 1980. Oh how the years fly by and the grey hairs creep in, but good music is always good music. Enough on that…

As usual I have my digital camera close by, being nerd that I am. I snapped photos of some of the ugliest Puma shoes I have ever seen. I am a Puma fan but these are a little far out for me, but then again I’m kinda vanilla. Photos taken at the Granville Street Puma store.

[ad#ad-1]

Funky sneakerz….

Puma sales girl..

Granville street / Robson Street

Gianni wanted to check out the most expensive bottles of wine, and he saw that they had a bottl e going for about $5,500. We had to see it in person so we rolled down to the B.C. liquor store on Alberni street. We didn’t find any wine bottles selling for that much, but I saw a bottle of Chateau selling for $1,100 (see picture below). I like my wine but WTF, $1,1000 for a bottle of crushed grapes?! Umm, no thanks buddy…

Anyhoo, if you want to spend your 2 week paycheck on one bottle of Chateau wine go down to the B.C. liquor store on Alberni street. Bada bing!

$1100 a bottle for Chateau Mouton RothsChild……

Seems cheap compared to the bottle of Chateau in the picture above, ha ha.

Enough of this computer crap for tonight, it’s 12:07 pm. Nighty, night folks.

C.V.[ad#ad-1]