On to this week’s show! We have one of my oldest real estate investor friends Andy Tran who was among my first clients and home inspectors.

I’ll always remember the first deal we did together, a detached house in Hamilton for $216,000. The house had been sitting for nearly two months before we came along and during our appointment to see the property, I noticed there was something not right. The owners listed a man and woman’s name but while inspecting in the fridge and closets, I could tell only the father and kids lived in the house.

In speaking with the listing agent to gather information for our offer, the agent informed me the sellers were divorcing and hated each other. Knowing we had a motivated seller, our offer was a low one and was promptly accepted to our surprise. Note that we also included our closing costs to be paid for by the sellers. This was back in 2010 and we’ve both come a long way.

Fast forward to the present, Andy is the market leader in secondary and tertiary suite additions. In plain language, that’s basement apartments, additions for self contained apartments and garage or garden suites which are also apartments.

Andy is a master of maximising the rental income that can be generated from one property. Andy has consulted and designed over 100 apartment conversions between my clients and I including land severances.

If you’d like to learn more about Andy’s services available at Suite additions, simply go to www.suiteadditions.com where he has checklists and beginner guides to secondary suiting plus his in person training program Andy mentions on the show which sold out in April but expect another this fall.

Andy’s a good guy and that’s the truth about real estate investing. Please enjoy the show!

My friend Shawn Bedard who I first met at REIN over ten years ago and our real estate investing paths were quite different. Back in 2010, Shawn couldn’t find deals that make sense in Ontario so he went to landlord friendly USA and bought 4 houses in Atlanta and 10 in Memphis, Georgia. His experience and investment went…. I’ll let him SHARE.

Other than real estate investing, I’ve invited Shawn on the show to discuss his volunteer work at a non-profit organization called Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), specifically the Accelerator program where Shawn leads the initiative to guide entrepreneurs with $250,000 to 999,999 in revenue USD to get over a $1 million USD and become a full member of EO.

EO has been an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs like Shawn and I. I luv it hence I joined the board of our Toronto chapter. What I luv about EO members is they’re kind, successful people who all want to make their mark in the world.

Our values are:

• Trust and Respect. Each of us is unique and equal. ...

• Thirst for Learning. We have an insatiable curiosity. ...

• Think big, be bold. We innovate, take risks and see opportunity in a challenge.

• Together we grow. We are committed to each other's growth and well-being.

To learn more about EO’s Accelerator program

https://eocanada.com/accelerator/

To connect with Shawn:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-bedard-65a3/?originalSubdomain=ca

Web: https://jigtechnologies.com/

We have my friend Adam Kitchener back on the show as we get along because he keeps it so real. No pictures of him on a private plane, or luxury vehicle or luxury watches. Well he does actually but they’re obviously photoshopped as he’s poking fun at the phonies out there.

Don’t get me wrong, luxury stuffs great. I personally luv it when folks celebrate their success and reward themselves. Keep in mind, most successful people in my experience don’t brag about their wealth, read “the Millionaire Next Door” if you don’t believe me. The book describes 99% of my millionaire clients exactly. Why would anyone brag about their cars and watches or gold chains, on social media? That would make them a target for robbery. Adam actually rips people who do such things and turn out to be frauds on his social media accounts.

On today’s show, Adam recounts his trials and tribulations of being a full time, active investor. He shares how he finances deals including private money, the numbers on the deals he’s done, why they are deals, how cash flow and timely execution is paramount to survival and he pulls no punches, it’s not sexy.

He’s been assaulted and harassed by tenants, arrested by police, bought houses with backyards littered with used syringes from drug dealers.

Investment wise, he’s doing excellent and well setup for the future but it was far from sunshine and rainbow getting here. Feel free to reach out to Adam on social media, he’s happy to take a question or two for anyone who needs a second opinion on anything real estate related.

https://www.instagram.com/mradamkitchener/

https://www.facebook.com/adamrkitchener

Please enjoy the show!