DO YOU MAKE RESOLUTIONS OR PLANS? LET US GET PREPARED FOR 2023

 

As we go from the old year to the new year many of us make resolutions or plans. Things we wish to achieve in the new year. The challenge with resolutions is that most of them are not worth the paper they are written on as we mostly fall short. While our plans are what we work on continually adjusting as the environment around us changes. Plans are usually what gets us to our goals and are usually over an extremely specific time period. Like planning to learn to ride a motorcycle by spring. Or learning to speak Spanish by August. Or buying a small multi family property by summer. These are predetermined goals that involve planning.

For many of us who are real estate investors or those planning to start investing in real estate this year, 2022 has been a year of highs and lows – higher interest rates and lower house prices. This has happened both in the US and Canada as both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada made upward rate adjustments to slow down a runaway real estate sector and inflation. Has it worked? The jury is still out. But what it has undoubtedly done is create opportunities in the real estate sector in many urban centres to purchase properties at prices today that are significantly lower than they were in spring 2022, but perhaps more importantly it has also removed the highly competitive buying environment where buyers were forced to remove conditions in order to even get a place at the vendors' table.

So, what are you going to do about it? Time to put your team of advisors together and start looking at opportunities to buy in those major urban centres and build your real estate portfolio one door at a time, There are several ways to do this. You can invest in single family residential homes, small multifamily homes or condominiums and townhomes across a variety of price ranges. Working the numbers is critical – down payment in relation to purchase price and rental income in relation to mortgage payments, property taxes and other expenses. Positive cashflow should always be the aim along with property appreciation either passively or forced by property upgrades or rezoning.

So let us not procrastinate but get the search engines revved up and start looking for opportunities that fit your short and long term real estate investment goals. Remember we are making plans not resolutions.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND TO YOUR PURPOSE IN 2023

Since you are already here subscribe to my YouTube page and check out our videos

Let Us Get Acquainted Since I Have A Few Things To Share With You

 

Welcome to my blog – The Beginner’s Playbook to Successful Real Estate Investing (One Door at A Time) This blog was birthed out of my experience or rather lack of experience as a novice real estate investor and the many mistakes I made and the losses I incurred as a result. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I graduated from university in 1989 with a degree in Geography and Economics with an emphasis on social and urban geography and demographics.

After graduating, I migrated from the Caribbean (Guyana to be exact) to Toronto, Canada. Quite a culture shock. High-rises, highways, and subways welcomed me to this busy, vibrant, and cosmopolitan city which moved at a pace I had never experienced before. I found me a job in retail and quickly got into management at the store level but was hungry for more. So, I got licensed as an insurance and investment advisor, joined an investment and insurance company got me two nice suits, some crisp white cotton shirts, a few paisley print silk ties, a pair of ox blood Cole Haans, a gold watch with a Cartier band and I was on my way to success. Alas if only it was that easy. I failed miserably, had my brand-new leased car voluntarily repossessed and had to go back to the drawing board.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I had fallen in love with wearing nice suits, so going back to the drudgery of working retail definitely was not part of my master plan.  The McMillan Group was founded in 1995 by me as an investment, insurance, and financial planning consultancy. We had no clients and no revenue, so I opted for a job with one of Canada’s largest banks. Great move at the time. I spent two years there and it was time well spent. Why? They trained me very well. Not only by providing a thorough understanding of financial products and markets but by coaching me on how to deal with high net worth and high value clients and making me aware of the power of branding. 

In 1999, I left the bank got licensed as a mortgage broker and set up shop, focusing on real estate financing, working primarily with residential and small commercial property buyers. As the clients evolved, so did their need for professional advice. As they began investing in real estate, their service needs changed. To meet the needs of our changing client base, I began providing consultancy services in the residential and commercial real estate market. This involves helping clients convert single-family homes to multi-family homes, land development and purchasing properties for long term, short term and vacation rentals in Canada, parts of the U.S. and the Caribbean.

So now with all that I have learned over the almost three decades. And with the amount of insight, I have gleaned from the cross section of clients I have dealt with, I am thinking it is a good time to start blogging to share my journey – the good, the bad and the real bad of real estate investing and how as new investors, your journey can be easier and more enjoyable with guidance and mentorship. So come along for the ride as I share my journey with you.

Since you are already here subscribe to my YouTube page and check out our videos