As Dave left me in his dust racing to the Inn to grab the cheques I called ahead and asked if they would kindly have a cab ready to rush him back down to the Post Office the minute he arrived. There was tons of chaos and tons of adrenalin but Dave arrived at the post office with a few minutes to spare! The work was far from over at that point ... we still had an inspection report to review, a few more things to do to finalize our financing, and we had to get our partners up to speed on what was going on. Not every deal we've done has been this stress filled, but we are working in a very conservative lending environment. The banks have pulled the programs that used to be the best ones for financing rental properties. And, even the private lenders we spoke with are taking extra measures to cover their investments. Our deals aren't done yet. But we're close. And we'd never have come this close if we'd given up. Many people would have given up at the first glitch we encountered with our partner. They would have let anger or disappointment or frustration take over and played the blame game. This happens to so many real estate investors - new and seasoned. It happens because someone told them real estate investing is the easy way to get rich. A book they read told them that it can be done with no money down and no effort. The reality is that real estate investing WILL make you rich but you're going to have to work hard to find the deals that will make you money. You WILL have to find ways to overcome the challenges and the barriers you encounter. AND you WILL have days where you seriously consider selling everything and moving to Mexico. We didn't become millionaires overnight - nor did we do it without effort - but we did it. And we did it in our spare time. We didn't start with a ton of cash ... $16,000 got us started .... and not every deal went well. But we didn't stop. We never gave up - even when we were charged in court for fire code violations or we discovered our property manager had robbed rent money from us. We cursed and cried but we kept going. We have a goal in our minds and everyday we keep moving towards that goal. The best part about real estate investing is that once you get the deal done the hard work IS behind you. There's still work to be done ... you can count on needing an average of about 5 hours a month to oversee a property ... but the nail biting adrenalin pumping chaos is behind you. You can sit back and enjoy yourself while your wealth grows. And it will grow ... sometimes quickly as the markets go up and other times just slow and steady as your tenants pay down your mortgage and you collect a few hundred dollars a month extra for your pocket. The bottom line is that real estate investing IS simple - there are basic principles to follow for success and just about anyone can do it. But, it's not easy. And if anyone tries to tell you that their program or their system is as easy as having a machine that prints cash they are probably lying. And, if they aren't lying, please let me know!! I'm exhausted after our 'vacation' .... **If you want to learn more about investing in St. John's real estate - visit our blog post on the subject.** Published on August 19th, 2009
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Find an Article by Julie Broad in the September 2010 Issue of Canadian Real Estate Magazine
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Burnaby, BC, Canada
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