Success Stories...share your stories and Win Some Great Prizes

[Patrick]

Dear REIN Members


Congratulations to all of you who have been taking action in growing your real estate portfolio, and then sharing your wins with the rest of the Members here on this forum along the way.






Your stories are inspiring, and provide insights and confidence for other Members in the REIN community. Success stories support others in seeing that being a successful real estate investor is possible!






We want to hear from even more of you in sharing your wins!






Post your success story on this forum or send it directly to the office at [email protected] with success story as the subject line and it could be used in an upcoming issue of the REIN Report.






Prizes for submitting your story will range from FREE guest passes, to meetings or events, or any number of books, you could even win 6 months of FREE REIN Membership!






Whether it's your first property or your 10th, share with us how it was a WIN for you and WHY...it is not about how big the deal was or how many doors, but we do want you to share what it took for you to get the WIN, as well as how it has, or how you think it will impact you and your family.






I, along with the entire REIN Team ( and other REIN Members) look forward to reading your success stories!



Best!

Patrick

 

[DonCampbell]

What a fun project. Celebrating wins, large and small throughout the REIN Community.



Sometimes, as the investing process feels long, we forget the wins along the way. Let's share our wins together.



Be proud, be bold. It doesn't matter what the win is - throw it out there. It isn't really for the prizes (although there will be some nice surprises not mentioned in the above post) - it's to help bring perspective to the journey.



Closed on your first property? EXCELLENT!



Received your Gold 17 Property Award? SUPERB!



Completed your Mortgage paydown calculation for the last 12 months and you're excited? I BET!



Decided to buy your first Multi-Family or Student Housing - and got the deal done? BOOM!



Finally got rid of a problem property and can feel the weight lifting? RUN FORREST RUN!



Received a positive surprise from one of your tenants? HUGE SMILE!



Spent 2 months on your boat or traveling or sitting in your back yard because you now can? YELL IT OUT LOUD!



Whatever you would like to call you own personal success (or successes). Share it here, it will help you celebrate, it will also be a great support for your fellow members who are also on their journey.



I look forward to reading them. (Oh ya - Pictures are great too, but not necessary. But hopefully you are taking photos of your properties on possession day with your big smiling mug in front of it!).

 

[Dan Golby]

Great idea!



By far my favourite articles in the REIN report are the success stories, no matter how big or small it is great to hear how others are taking action and achieving their goals.





Really looking forward to reading them!

 

[Sherilynn]

My favourite success so far this year was (is) being part of the Focus Team for Barry and Donna McGuire's "Rapid Cash Program."



The 3-day event was loads of fun, and it was incredibly rewarding to share my successes, insights, and challenges with such an engaged group of Real Estate investors (both current and future). I have heard excellent feedback about the entire event, including this comment: "I could listen to Sherilynn all day!" That made my month!



Getting that win took a lot of education (partly from Barry's other events), careful planning, stepping out of my comfort zone and asking for JV money, and trial and error, to get the experience needed to effectively contribute to the event. It also required the support of family, friends, mentors, and colleagues.



As for the impact of the win...I feel awesome that I am able to help people (and amuse them)! If anything more comes of it, that will just be a bonus.

 

[alaas1977]

Hey everyone



My moment of realizing success was when my father in law sat me down and asked "How do I get in on the action with you" (He came to us, we hadn't approached him) This was a huge moment for me, not because of the opportunity, but because he had such faith in me, this brought tears to my eyes.



Its this moment that we realized how far we have come in such a short period of time. To be able to retire if I wanted at 37, work for me is by choice not by necessity.



Lisa

 

[Ally]

We liked
Lisa's success story so much, we asked her to expand on it. Here's what she has
to say about her real estate journey:




















"Hi everyone


Here`s
our journey on creating a portfolio of $4,300,000 consisting of 12 houses in
Edmonton in 7 years.





A little bit about me, Lisa, I am currently a Self employed
Plumber Gasfitter, co-owner of Alaas Plumbing and Gas fitting, have a diploma
in Hotel Management having worked at the Four Seasons and the Pan Pacific, I
later decided I was going to be a psychologist but soon my accounting brain
discovered Plumbing paid me to learn and allowed us to jump into real estate.





My husband Glen is a retired military member, Plumber Gasfitter
and also co-owner of our plumbing service company.





In late 2006 I used the college money I had saved to buy my
first house, and now today just 7 years later at the age of 37 my husband and I
are able to successfully live off our real estate cash flow and have our
employees work for us, while we relax and enjoy life.





When we first started investing I stumbled upon a news article
written by Ozzie Jurock which spoke of how to retire with $4,000 monthly income
and $1,000,000 in cash in 20 years. It was simple:




`If the goal is to have $1 million in cash in 20 years, here is
how you can achieve it:`

[*]

Buy five condominiums in growing urban areas, remember urban
real estate will always have a use and as such will always have value.


[*]

Buy into a good building (research it) and pay no more than
$100,000 for each unit.


[*]

Get a rental income of about $800 for each condominium.




Finance the purchase 100 per cent (or so)




Own them in 17 to 20 years, clear title.



Even if they never go up in value and the rental income never
were to go up - you will get $4,000 per month income forever (and then your
kids - forever). An income of $4,000 per month today would pay off a $1 million
dollar mortgage. Presto! You are a millionaire!




This
article changed my life, it just made sense, we used the same methods as above,
but instead of condominiums we purchased single-family homes and added basement
suites. This increased our cash flow protected us against market
downturns. Each property purchase we found
undervalued properties, fixed them up, refinanced almost all of our invested
funds out (leaving 20 percent in the property) and then used the funds for the
next deal





During
the beginning I purchased every real estate book I could find, in particular
Don Campbell`s books, I discovered how to get the banks to say yes, it was
simple, the ten percent rule, If we bought a property and achieved ten percent
in yearly rents of the purchase price, we could get financing, create more cash
flow each month to weather market storms. When we ran into roadblocks we
researched solutions





When
the real estate market crashed in late 2008, it really didn`t matter to us as
our intentions have always been to hold long term, with strong positive cash
flow. In fact we took this opportunity
to purchase several more, our theory is the same as Ozzie Jurock`s, even if the
properties never go up in value, we`ll still have a fully paid for property by
the tenants in 17 years and cash flow for life.





Some
would say we`re risk takers, we disagree, the math of real estate simply worked. Everything boiled down to the numbers; if the
numbers didn`t work we didn`t buy the property. Each property was a business
and treated as such, without emotion.




We
decided to manage our properties, purchased in older neighborhoods, the key to
our success has been pets, yes at times they have created some headaches, but the
financial upside in rents and an almost zero vacancy rate even in down times
really paid off, so again the math made sense. By doing this we were able to
attract great tenants in older areas they might not normally have looked.





When
Glen and I began we had a five year plan to be able to retire, to date we have
surpassed that goal and haven`t stopped. I think the best moment in our real
estate career was when Glen`s father approached us to Joint Venture, this was
incredibly emotional, for someone so close asking us to partner was the biggest
flattery of all time. During our real
estate career we have managed to do it with out partners, but invested a lot of
hours, which in the end, in such a short period of time created lasting wealth,
and peace of mind for the future.





When
we realized that REIN was a great place to network with other investors we
gladly joined and loves it. We highly recommend it to others starting out.





Well
I hope you enjoyed our journey.




style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Sincerely





Lisa
and Glen Baillargeon"