Author Archives: CV

About CV

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

Heading Down To San Francisco For Affiliate Appreciation Gathering

Today I am off to San Francisco, California for the affiliate appreciation gathering that one of the companies I promote is holding for it’s top affiliates. They are flying 30 affiliates (and guests) for 3 days in San Francisco. Since the weather is all gloom in Vancouver  this will be a great getaway, free of charge. The current temperature in S.F. is 16°C and clear and here in Vancouver it’s 9°C and cloudy/foggy/drizzle, blah!

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.

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Today I Am 38 years Old, Happy BirthDay To Me

Today I hit the big 38 years old. I never thought I would ever be 38 years old, seemed so far away when I was in my 20’s and now here I am. So happy birthday to me, I’m 38 today. Tommorow I’m going to the Shabusen Yakiniku House on Granville street on the West Side of Vancouver. Shabusen is a mix of Japanese sushi food and Korean BBQ, and it’s all you can eat. Usually I stick to very few carbs to keep my weight down however tommorrow I will bend my own rules just a wee bit.

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.

We Bought Another 2 Bedroom Investment Condo, In Burnaby This Time

Well, either I’m completely nuts or I just made another smart move? I bought another 2 bedroom condo  (this one is closer to home) in Burnaby near the Lougheed Mall area.  Rent for this 2 bedroom should be between $1300 – $1400, and I bought it for $185,000. Personally I follow what Ozzie Jurock preaches which is the 0.75% rule. Your rent should be 0.75% of the purchase price. If you do the math 0.75% of $185,000 is $1,385.00.  If I get rent of $1300 – $1400, then I am following the rule.

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 think 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.

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Craigslist Finds Me Another Great Tenant

Craigslist does it’s magic once again and gives me a great tenant. 3 different people came out to look at it and I ended up choosing a young family with little girls. I called their references and everything seems fine. It’s better to judge people in person because they can use anyone as a reference. So far my personal judgement of tenants has been good, and I have had few problems overall.

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.

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Inspection on The Poco Condo Today

Today is inspection day. I hired an inspector (something every home buyer should do) to do a inspection of the condo. I don’t want any surprises after I own the place, so I do my home work before hand.  It costs about $400 but it’s worth just for peace of mind. I already went through the strata minutes and everything seems fine but it’s better to be 100% safe than sorry.

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).

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