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.
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