Property Sold. Thank you.
For other available properties, please check out www.vantagerei.com
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER - JULY 2008 -
Open Mind
I used to think foreclosed homes are bad. Now I specialize in buying foreclosed properties. Thanks to my mentor Jeff. The first time I heard him speak, he says something like if your glass is full, how can you learn new stuff? Empty your glass, have an open mind, and see what else are out there. I decided right there I was going to listen what he had to say and it changed my outlook on foreclosures. I didn’t know why I think foreclosures are bad, I just thought they were bad. It must be my past conditioning. I heard people talking negatively about foreclosures. It’s bad if they lose their homes, it’s bad if they trash the house, but it’s good if I can buy them cheap, it’s good if I fix them up and put a nice family in the house, it’s good that I am getting positive cash flow out of the house every month. So who to say foreclosures are bad, it just depends on how you see it and which side you are looking at.
Freedom vs Security
I quit my job and went out on my own to invest in real estate. Some people tell me it’s risky to invest in real estate. It is if you don’t know what you are doing. I spend a lot of time and money learning how to invest. Some people don’t so they think it’s risky. Some people think having a steady job is security. The banks like it if you have a steady job. But according to Robert Kiyosaki, having a job as your only source of income is risky. What if you get sick, get laid off? If you don’t show up at work, there’s no money coming in. Buying rental properties are different. Regardless of whether I work or not, the tenant has to pay rent every month. Now if I build up my rental cash flow to be equal or greater my monthly expenses, I am financially free, meaning I can choose not to work and the money still comes in passively. What’s more, the tenant eventually pays down my mortgage and I’ll have a debt free house plus increased cash flow. Awesome! I love passive income. I now have the time and money to do whatever I want. This is freedom and true security.
How Exactly Do We Invest?
Our friend usually ask us, how do you actually do the investment? Let me briefly describe it without going into too much details. We work with realtors to send us information on foreclosed properties. We then negotiate with the bank to get the best deal possible (usually we get 1 property for every 60 offers we send out). After having it under contract, we send out an inspector to inspect the house, take picture of the property and the neighborhood. We ask 3 contractors to give us bid on the rehab and choose one to work with. We have our property manager to go to the property to estimate how much it can be rented for after rehab. Then we close on the property, start the rehab, at the same time start looking for tenant. When rehab’s done, we have a project manager to inspect the rehab work to make sure it’s done right. Then put a tenant in there and start collecting rent. We have put together pictures of the latest project that we did. Hope you like it. By the way, we are selling this property too.
Better InvestmentAre you tired of losing money in the stock market? Getting low returns from mutual fund? Or is your money just sitting in the bank making you less than 3% interest and have the bank come around and charge you 20% on interest for using their credit card? Are you looking for an investment that’s guaranteed to give you income by the government, and is secured by real estate? Most importantly, are you interested in making at least 8~12% interest constantly? Here is your chance. We are selling one investment just like it. I have been talking about how to invest in real estate for several months, teaching people how to find the power team member. But what if you don’t have time to do that and is looking for a turn key solution? We have negotiated with the bank, qualified the area, rehabbed the house inside out, and found a qualified tenant in there. All you have to do is: nothing!!
So here are the numbers:
- 3Bed/1bath
- 1140 sqft
- Rent: $800/month
- Tax: $671
- Totally renovated
- insurance: $700
- Net operating income: $7,269
- Market value: $85,000
- Asking price: $64,900
Return on Investment: 11%
Here are some concerns people might have:
Q: I don't want to get phone calls from the tenant in the middle of the night to fix the toilet.
A: When we transfer the property to you, it’s already being managed by professional property manager. They will take care of the problem for you. Plus, the house has just been renovated, you will have a problem-free property when you buy it.
Q: What if tenant trash the house, or doesn’t pay the rent?
A: The tenant is sponsored by a government program called Section-8 Housing. The people who are in the program are typically low income or handicapped people. And because it’s not easy to be on the program, they want to stay in the program as long as possible. If they trash your property, you have the right to evict them, and they will be removed from the program. So it’s not their best intention to trash your house. Every month, the government sends a check to your property manager, and the property manager will send you the fund after deducting their fees.
Q: How do I know I am getting a good deal?
A: We provide you the sold comparison houses in the area. So you know how much the houses are sold for. We then deduct 20% off from the market value so we know you are clearly getting a great deal.
Q: What if I apply for a mortgage?
A: Even better! Believe it or not, you will be getting higher return by using other people’s money. Let’s say you borrow the money with a 30 year fixed, 7% interest, and 20% down payment. Your net operating income will decrease to $3177/year. But because you only invest 20% of $65000 in cash, which is $13000, your cash on cash return will then become 25%. Yes, that’s right. I actually have a term for this: Cha-Ching.
If you are interested in getting more information on this property, call me or email me. I will be happy to answer any questions for you. Don’t worry if you are not buying, we know it’s not for everyone. Besides, you will know better on what exactly we do.
For more information on this property and other great opportunities, check out our website at www.vantagerei.com
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2008 -
Wealth Retreat – Las Vegas
Last month we attended the wealth retreat held by Enlighten Wealth Institute in Las Vegas. We were excited to meet so many like minded people, and have received a lot of new information in real estate investment. During the event, Robert Allen, the founder of EWI, said something that inspired me a lot. He said in order to be successful in investing, or in anything, you have to have a big enough “WHY”. Why do you want to be rich, why do you want to have your own business? What do you really want? “Here is the thing, until you have a big enough reason of why you want to do this, your mind will always find you all kinds of excuse not to do it.” Reasons like: this will never work, I am too young, I am too old, I am too busy, I don’t have money, my English is not good, I am too fat, I am too this, too that. I need to tell you this: it’s all crap that came out of your “mind” and not your true self. So I encourage my friends to spend time with your self in a quiet place and really figure out what do you want in your life. Imagine what you can do when you become successful, try to see it, smell it, feel it, taste it and listen to it. Only when you do that, you can then realize that abundance of opportunities is all around you. The reason why you didn’t see it before is you never really paid attention to it.
How do you find a good buyer’s agent?
During the time we were in Kansas City, we spent a lot of time interviewing and working with several agents. We end up having 2 agents working for us, and it has been working very well from our experience. Since we invest out of town, and a lot of times we buy properties without even seeing it for ourselves. It’s really important to have a buyer’s agent to look out for you and help making the transaction smoother. But it wasn’t always that smooth. First problem that we see a lot is that the agent won’t present the offer for you because the price is too low. So during the initial interview with realtors, we ask them this question: do you feel comfortable making low ball offers for us? If they say “yes”, we keep going. If they say “no”, it’s no point wasting you and the realtor’s time by keep going with the interview. A lot of times we need to make low ball offer just to make the deal work. So the realtor will really need to understand that with every ten offers, only one will be accepted. Another key point to a good realtor is if they are investors themselves. Have an agent that is an investor too actually makes your life a lot easier. They will understand you way better as a client, so when they are looking for properties for you, they can look at it as investment, rather than a home. They will also be able to qualify the neighborhood for you, tell you the ball park range of how much the rehab would be, and could it be a good investment or no. One may ask, if the agent is a realtor, won’t they keep all the great deals for themselves? This might happen, but I rather have an agent that can find a good investment for me than finding me a good home. Besides, there are an abundance of great deals out there.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
Last month we attended the wealth retreat held by Enlighten Wealth Institute in Las Vegas. We were excited to meet so many like minded people, and have received a lot of new information in real estate investment. During the event, Robert Allen, the founder of EWI, said something that inspired me a lot. He said in order to be successful in investing, or in anything, you have to have a big enough “WHY”. Why do you want to be rich, why do you want to have your own business? What do you really want? “Here is the thing, until you have a big enough reason of why you want to do this, your mind will always find you all kinds of excuse not to do it.” Reasons like: this will never work, I am too young, I am too old, I am too busy, I don’t have money, my English is not good, I am too fat, I am too this, too that. I need to tell you this: it’s all crap that came out of your “mind” and not your true self. So I encourage my friends to spend time with your self in a quiet place and really figure out what do you want in your life. Imagine what you can do when you become successful, try to see it, smell it, feel it, taste it and listen to it. Only when you do that, you can then realize that abundance of opportunities is all around you. The reason why you didn’t see it before is you never really paid attention to it.
How do you find a good buyer’s agent?
During the time we were in Kansas City, we spent a lot of time interviewing and working with several agents. We end up having 2 agents working for us, and it has been working very well from our experience. Since we invest out of town, and a lot of times we buy properties without even seeing it for ourselves. It’s really important to have a buyer’s agent to look out for you and help making the transaction smoother. But it wasn’t always that smooth. First problem that we see a lot is that the agent won’t present the offer for you because the price is too low. So during the initial interview with realtors, we ask them this question: do you feel comfortable making low ball offers for us? If they say “yes”, we keep going. If they say “no”, it’s no point wasting you and the realtor’s time by keep going with the interview. A lot of times we need to make low ball offer just to make the deal work. So the realtor will really need to understand that with every ten offers, only one will be accepted. Another key point to a good realtor is if they are investors themselves. Have an agent that is an investor too actually makes your life a lot easier. They will understand you way better as a client, so when they are looking for properties for you, they can look at it as investment, rather than a home. They will also be able to qualify the neighborhood for you, tell you the ball park range of how much the rehab would be, and could it be a good investment or no. One may ask, if the agent is a realtor, won’t they keep all the great deals for themselves? This might happen, but I rather have an agent that can find a good investment for me than finding me a good home. Besides, there are an abundance of great deals out there.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER - MAY 2008
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER - MAY 2008
Las Vegas Here We Come!!!!
We want to let everyone know that we are going to attend the asset protection bootcamp & wealth retreat in Las Vegas from May 26th to June 1st. Last year we attended this exciting seminar and have met so many like minded people. We are looking forward to meet more people in the event. For my EWI friends, if you are attending the event too, please drop us an email so we can arrange and possibly meet again!!
The First Deal is Always the Hardest – by Jenny
I remember when we were doing our very first real estate deal which was a fix-and-flip in Vancouver, BC. After the initial excitement of getting the accepted offer, the reality set in. Are we going to buy this condo or not? It’s a $200,000 plus debt that we’ll go into. What if we cannot sell it in time (we would not be able to cover the mortgage payment even if we rent it out)? What if we go over the budget for fixing up the condo? On top of everything, I made a mistake in the calculation which means we’d not be able to sell the condo using a realtor. In other words, we either sell the condo ourselves or sacrifice all our profit to pay for the realtor’s commission. I immediately picked up the phone and called my mentor who was an experienced real estate investor. She said if we had to sell it ourselves, then that’s what we would have to do. Jordan and I decided to go ahead with the deal. Even if we didn’t make any money, we’d have already got our feet wet and learnt a lot by going through with it. Now looking back, I am glad we went through with it. I realized the first deal is always the hardest because I felt like I didn’t know much about flipping a property (because I had never done it before). Naturally I would want to know EVERYTHING before I attempt such a great endeavor. But after going through a number of real estate deals, I realized you can only learn so much from reading, going to seminars, etc. A lot of things we learn from actually DOING. A successful real estate investor said: you get READY, FIRE, AIM, fire, aim, fire, aim instead of ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…and never fires. Now I still don’t know everything about real estate investing but I know I can learn and ask investors with more experience along the way.
Cashflow Bootcamp – by Stacy Kennedy from Enlightened Wealth Institute
In the beginning of May we have attended another real estate investment seminar. It’s called Cashflow Bootcamp. From this bootcamp I have learnt a great deal about analyzing cashflow deals down to the very last detail. How to either manage your tenant or your property manager to make sure they are doing a great job, and creative ways that you can get funding for your deals. In my opinion, it’s a must go for all my EWI friends & investors. But keep it in mindthat you should attend the foreclosure bootcamp to get the foundation before you attend this one. Otherwise you will be just overwhelmed by the amount of information that Stacy presents.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
Las Vegas Here We Come!!!!
We want to let everyone know that we are going to attend the asset protection bootcamp & wealth retreat in Las Vegas from May 26th to June 1st. Last year we attended this exciting seminar and have met so many like minded people. We are looking forward to meet more people in the event. For my EWI friends, if you are attending the event too, please drop us an email so we can arrange and possibly meet again!!
The First Deal is Always the Hardest – by Jenny
I remember when we were doing our very first real estate deal which was a fix-and-flip in Vancouver, BC. After the initial excitement of getting the accepted offer, the reality set in. Are we going to buy this condo or not? It’s a $200,000 plus debt that we’ll go into. What if we cannot sell it in time (we would not be able to cover the mortgage payment even if we rent it out)? What if we go over the budget for fixing up the condo? On top of everything, I made a mistake in the calculation which means we’d not be able to sell the condo using a realtor. In other words, we either sell the condo ourselves or sacrifice all our profit to pay for the realtor’s commission. I immediately picked up the phone and called my mentor who was an experienced real estate investor. She said if we had to sell it ourselves, then that’s what we would have to do. Jordan and I decided to go ahead with the deal. Even if we didn’t make any money, we’d have already got our feet wet and learnt a lot by going through with it. Now looking back, I am glad we went through with it. I realized the first deal is always the hardest because I felt like I didn’t know much about flipping a property (because I had never done it before). Naturally I would want to know EVERYTHING before I attempt such a great endeavor. But after going through a number of real estate deals, I realized you can only learn so much from reading, going to seminars, etc. A lot of things we learn from actually DOING. A successful real estate investor said: you get READY, FIRE, AIM, fire, aim, fire, aim instead of ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…and never fires. Now I still don’t know everything about real estate investing but I know I can learn and ask investors with more experience along the way.
Cashflow Bootcamp – by Stacy Kennedy from Enlightened Wealth Institute
In the beginning of May we have attended another real estate investment seminar. It’s called Cashflow Bootcamp. From this bootcamp I have learnt a great deal about analyzing cashflow deals down to the very last detail. How to either manage your tenant or your property manager to make sure they are doing a great job, and creative ways that you can get funding for your deals. In my opinion, it’s a must go for all my EWI friends & investors. But keep it in mindthat you should attend the foreclosure bootcamp to get the foundation before you attend this one. Otherwise you will be just overwhelmed by the amount of information that Stacy presents.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER APRIL 2008
We are back to Vancouver!
Hi Everyone,
We are finally back to Vancouver now after being in Kansas City for 5 months. During this period, we have done a total of seven real estate deals. Two of them it’s already fixed up & rented out. Another two I have wholesaled to other investors. Two are under the contract and waiting for bank to close on it. One of it we are doing the rehab right now, or technically I should say the contractor is doing the rehab right now. When you have the right power team member, you can just lay back and let them do their thing, and be able to manage your business from virtually anywhere. Although I am in Vancouver right now, I am not worried about the progress of rehab at all. After all, they don’t get paid until they finished the work. And I have a project manager on site to make sure everything is done correctly. I am back to Vancouver this month because I can’t legally stay in US for more than six month. Therefore, I am treating the trip back to Vancouver like a long vacation and get back in touch with my friends over here.
Dallas Trip for Continuing Education
Before I came back to Vancouver, we went to Dallas Texas to take another real estate seminar to continue our education. The instructor is a local big time real estate investor. We were actually surprised to see that the market is doing pretty good there. The instructor mentioned a very important point: if you want to see how’s the market going to be, look for population growth & job growth. More demand, higher price. It’s that simple. Dallas Texas happens to be just like that. This is the city that’s worth investigating. In the US, people have misunderstood that the real estate market is bad. It’s not the real estate, it’s the financial market that is bad. The financial institutions had reached too far and giving money to anyone that is alive. That hurt them. And now they have tightened the rules up too much, so that people are having hard time to get a loan even with excellent credit score. People still want to buy houses, they just couldn’t get the loan to buy. So it drives the market down even further. But time will pass, it won’t take long before the banks realized they aren’t making any money and will eventually loosen up the rules to lend money to people again. After all, that’s how they make money. At the mean time, it’s just the greatest time ever for experienced investors to pick out the sweetest deals on the market and make a profit from it. At last, for my friends in Vancouver, if you are interested and want to know more about how we invest in the US, please feel free to call me or send me an email. ^^
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
Hi Everyone,
We are finally back to Vancouver now after being in Kansas City for 5 months. During this period, we have done a total of seven real estate deals. Two of them it’s already fixed up & rented out. Another two I have wholesaled to other investors. Two are under the contract and waiting for bank to close on it. One of it we are doing the rehab right now, or technically I should say the contractor is doing the rehab right now. When you have the right power team member, you can just lay back and let them do their thing, and be able to manage your business from virtually anywhere. Although I am in Vancouver right now, I am not worried about the progress of rehab at all. After all, they don’t get paid until they finished the work. And I have a project manager on site to make sure everything is done correctly. I am back to Vancouver this month because I can’t legally stay in US for more than six month. Therefore, I am treating the trip back to Vancouver like a long vacation and get back in touch with my friends over here.
Dallas Trip for Continuing Education
Before I came back to Vancouver, we went to Dallas Texas to take another real estate seminar to continue our education. The instructor is a local big time real estate investor. We were actually surprised to see that the market is doing pretty good there. The instructor mentioned a very important point: if you want to see how’s the market going to be, look for population growth & job growth. More demand, higher price. It’s that simple. Dallas Texas happens to be just like that. This is the city that’s worth investigating. In the US, people have misunderstood that the real estate market is bad. It’s not the real estate, it’s the financial market that is bad. The financial institutions had reached too far and giving money to anyone that is alive. That hurt them. And now they have tightened the rules up too much, so that people are having hard time to get a loan even with excellent credit score. People still want to buy houses, they just couldn’t get the loan to buy. So it drives the market down even further. But time will pass, it won’t take long before the banks realized they aren’t making any money and will eventually loosen up the rules to lend money to people again. After all, that’s how they make money. At the mean time, it’s just the greatest time ever for experienced investors to pick out the sweetest deals on the market and make a profit from it. At last, for my friends in Vancouver, if you are interested and want to know more about how we invest in the US, please feel free to call me or send me an email. ^^
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER MARCH 2008
Recently we have noticed a very interesting phenomenon, when we make offers to the bank, it take them longer and longer to reply. What our realtor told us is that because the amount of foreclosure houses is just piling up on the asset manager’s desk, and so they are just overwhelmed by it. I say this makes it an even better moment to buy foreclosure houses. That would explain why this month alone we had 6 accepted offers. 2 out of 6 we have never even been to that property. We ended up close on one property, wholesaling 2, and renegotiate 1 with the bank. Another 2 we just outright canceled the contract with the bank. You might ask, how crazy are you to make offers to properties you never been to? Well, my answer to that is you must have an inspection clause in your contract. When I make an offer to the bank, I will have a 10 day inspection period for me to hire a qualified inspector to examine the property to make sure there is no problem with it. Now here is the beauty, in Missouri, there is no licensing requirement to be a “qualified inspector.” You can be a contractor and you could be qualified to be an inspector. And a good realtor can easily help you cancel the contract for you once you found out any problem with the property that would bust your budget.
That’s the Importance of Inspection.
Inspection really works!! One of the properties we have had a contract with the bank, we ended up not closing on it. It was because during the inspection, a major problem with the foundation was discovered. This house we originally expect about $5000 cost to fix it up to rental condition. But the inspector found out there was extensive damage with the foundation, and will cost some where from 10~20K just to fix the foundation. Keep in mind that we even had contractors to take a look at the house before we arrange for the inspection. However, sometimes an experienced inspector can find out problems that you wouldn’t have dreamt of in a million years. Also, try don’t use the inspector that realtors recommend, because it would create a conflict of interest. Realtors want to have the transaction go through, that’s how they make their money. But inspectors can potentially ruin the deal. So it’s better to look for qualified inspector from somewhere else. A good tip to find a qualified inspector: go to www.superpages.ca and search for inspector. Call at least 10 of them and ask them 3 questions: Are you a licensed inspector? How many inspections have you done (minimum 1000 houses)? What’s your background (background in structural engineering, construction is good)? Can you send me a sample of what your inspection report (look for detailed report)? Sometimes calling 10 inspector might not be enough, in that case, call 20, or even 30 until you find the right one
Giving Back
Last month I mentioned the idea of being financially free. To me, being financially free is just a step, a step to free you to do what you are really supposed to do. There are so many great ideas and things that people can door create to improve the world. However, a lot of it didn’t come true or happen because of lack of money. Last year, I came across a very unique non-profit organization that uses very innovative ways to solve the problem global poverty, and it’s called "Unitus". There is an old saying that instead of giving people a fish, you show them how they can catch a fish. I am a very strong believer of show you how it’s done, instead of doing it for you. See people in third world aren’t all handicapped. They were all able people that can work. What they are lack of is the tools, knowledge, and that little start up money to have their own business and make a living. So the founder of Unitus came up with an idea to give out micro loans to people. They lend out money usually less than $100, and so people can use that money to buy weaving machines, raising chickens, or buy wholesale product and resell them in the market. They also have supporting groups that educate people the basics of financial education and how to run a business. To this day, they have helped millions of people so that they can stand up with their own feet. I think it surely beats just handing them bread and milk everyday. If you would like to know more information or to make a donation, just log on to www.unitus.com – unite us.
Our New Website – www.vantagerei.com
We have made another website for our business in the United States. Feel free to check it out, we have very good wholesale price houses that we want to pass the opportunity on to other people. We have included all of the information necessary for you to decide if it’s a good deal or not on the website, so you don’t need to dig around for other information. It would also show you the steps we go through to qualify if this property is a good deal or not. Because we are people with integrity and we like to sleep very well at night, all of the deals that we pass on to you are the ones that we would keep for ourselves. That way, I don’t have to worry you not liking the deal or me stuck with it, because a good deal is a good deal.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
That’s the Importance of Inspection.
Inspection really works!! One of the properties we have had a contract with the bank, we ended up not closing on it. It was because during the inspection, a major problem with the foundation was discovered. This house we originally expect about $5000 cost to fix it up to rental condition. But the inspector found out there was extensive damage with the foundation, and will cost some where from 10~20K just to fix the foundation. Keep in mind that we even had contractors to take a look at the house before we arrange for the inspection. However, sometimes an experienced inspector can find out problems that you wouldn’t have dreamt of in a million years. Also, try don’t use the inspector that realtors recommend, because it would create a conflict of interest. Realtors want to have the transaction go through, that’s how they make their money. But inspectors can potentially ruin the deal. So it’s better to look for qualified inspector from somewhere else. A good tip to find a qualified inspector: go to www.superpages.ca and search for inspector. Call at least 10 of them and ask them 3 questions: Are you a licensed inspector? How many inspections have you done (minimum 1000 houses)? What’s your background (background in structural engineering, construction is good)? Can you send me a sample of what your inspection report (look for detailed report)? Sometimes calling 10 inspector might not be enough, in that case, call 20, or even 30 until you find the right one
Giving Back
Last month I mentioned the idea of being financially free. To me, being financially free is just a step, a step to free you to do what you are really supposed to do. There are so many great ideas and things that people can door create to improve the world. However, a lot of it didn’t come true or happen because of lack of money. Last year, I came across a very unique non-profit organization that uses very innovative ways to solve the problem global poverty, and it’s called "Unitus". There is an old saying that instead of giving people a fish, you show them how they can catch a fish. I am a very strong believer of show you how it’s done, instead of doing it for you. See people in third world aren’t all handicapped. They were all able people that can work. What they are lack of is the tools, knowledge, and that little start up money to have their own business and make a living. So the founder of Unitus came up with an idea to give out micro loans to people. They lend out money usually less than $100, and so people can use that money to buy weaving machines, raising chickens, or buy wholesale product and resell them in the market. They also have supporting groups that educate people the basics of financial education and how to run a business. To this day, they have helped millions of people so that they can stand up with their own feet. I think it surely beats just handing them bread and milk everyday. If you would like to know more information or to make a donation, just log on to www.unitus.com – unite us.
Our New Website – www.vantagerei.com
We have made another website for our business in the United States. Feel free to check it out, we have very good wholesale price houses that we want to pass the opportunity on to other people. We have included all of the information necessary for you to decide if it’s a good deal or not on the website, so you don’t need to dig around for other information. It would also show you the steps we go through to qualify if this property is a good deal or not. Because we are people with integrity and we like to sleep very well at night, all of the deals that we pass on to you are the ones that we would keep for ourselves. That way, I don’t have to worry you not liking the deal or me stuck with it, because a good deal is a good deal.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
Jordan & Jenny Newsletter—February 2008
Hello everyone,
I was very surprised by the temperature difference in Kansas City. Over here, the average temperature in winter is around -5 degree. But there had been a few days that dropped to like -16 degree and the next day became 12 degrees Celsius. What a big change compared to Vancouver.
For this month, I am trying something new. I want to share with everyone what I am doing, what I know, and what I am interested. So I separated in to several little chapters that tells you my current progress in real estate, share with you my real estate knowledge, and my personal interest.
For the month of January, we have moved from the studio we rent to the house we own and moved again from the first house to the second house. It’s a very wonderful and satisfying feeling when the first time you step into the house you buy and actually live in it. It also feels much better that I am paying myself the rent than paying for other people’s mortgage and can’t even own the property. We didn’t realize how much time it can take to organize the rehab for two houses, and moving at the same time. My goal is to acquire one property every month. I still have 5 days to do it. ^^
Real Estate Knowledge Corner—Financial Freedom
My friend has asked me this question: what is financial freedom? My definition of financial freedom is: you have enough passive income every month to support your desired lifestyle.The next question would then be: what’s passive income? A passive income is the opposite of earned income like salary. Everyone has income from the job they have. Either you are paid by the time or by the work you did, you need to do something to earn that income. But what happens if you stop working? You don’t get any check from your boss. A passive income is money that comes in every month without you working for it. So it doesn’t matter if you are on vacation or you are sick or you are sleeping, the money still comes every month. A few examples of passive income are: vending machine, coin laundry, storage, real estate, loyalty, dividend from stock. These types of income only require you to spend the time to set it up for the first time. Once you set it up, you only need to spend maybe 10 minutes or less a week to maintain it. And for the rest of your life, unless you sell it to someone else, or something unforeseen has happened, the money will come to you whether you like it or not.Think about it, if you have enough money coming in every month to pay for all the expenses you have, what would you rather be doing right now? Who would you rather be with? Where would you rather be? That’s where the biggest difference is: When you are financially free, it FREES you to do whatever that you WANT to do, instead of what you NEED to do or HAVE to do. Even if you love your job, you can still do it, you will then become going to work everyday because you want to, not because you have to.
Our First “Cash Cow” in Kansas City
We bought this single family house back in December. It has already been fixed up really nicely and it’s going to be rent out in February. The listing price for this 2 bed 1 bath property was $49000 when it was just listed. But the bank dropped the price to $32000 after being on the market for 3 months. We made an offer for $15000, and got it for $18000. The cost to fix it up is $10000 (including painting the whole house, new roof, new plumbing, and buying used appliances). We have just rent it out for $650/ month. So all in cost (buying it, fixing it, closing cost, insurance, tax, utilities) ~ $31000. Even if I borrow all the money from the bank at 6.25% interest to do the whole deal, I still net about $280 of cash flow each month. Because this house actually worth $65000 at market price, I have made $34000 in equity. That’s more than what I made at Best Buy in a year!! For a deal that costs $31k and generates $280 a month for the rest of my life and $34000 instant equity, I’d say it’s a pretty good deal for me!! I try to make it as simple to understand as possible, but if you are interested in knowing more, feel free to contact me.
Martial Art – my interest (Jenny found it boring until she started using it to hit me)
All of my close friends know that I have a huge interest in martial art. Don’t know why, but I just like to fight. Noooooo, just kidding. I am a peaceful person who just happens to be fascinated by the art of Kung-Fu. As all of you knows, there are many styles of martial art. The one that I am particularly interested in and practice is a style called: Wing Chun. This style was said that it was developed by a female shao-lin monk back like 300 years ago. So the moves and theories behind it are all concentrating on ways to overcome a larger force with little or no force. Because women don’t have as much muscle as men do, you need to rely on other ways to generate a great amount of force without using plain muscle. That’s why I like it so much because it focuses on how to make each and every move as efficient as possible. Here is a video clip of my sigong (the teacher of my teacher) demonstrating how much power human body actually have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cJkJeKpGt8
I was very surprised by the temperature difference in Kansas City. Over here, the average temperature in winter is around -5 degree. But there had been a few days that dropped to like -16 degree and the next day became 12 degrees Celsius. What a big change compared to Vancouver.
For this month, I am trying something new. I want to share with everyone what I am doing, what I know, and what I am interested. So I separated in to several little chapters that tells you my current progress in real estate, share with you my real estate knowledge, and my personal interest.
For the month of January, we have moved from the studio we rent to the house we own and moved again from the first house to the second house. It’s a very wonderful and satisfying feeling when the first time you step into the house you buy and actually live in it. It also feels much better that I am paying myself the rent than paying for other people’s mortgage and can’t even own the property. We didn’t realize how much time it can take to organize the rehab for two houses, and moving at the same time. My goal is to acquire one property every month. I still have 5 days to do it. ^^
Real Estate Knowledge Corner—Financial Freedom
My friend has asked me this question: what is financial freedom? My definition of financial freedom is: you have enough passive income every month to support your desired lifestyle.The next question would then be: what’s passive income? A passive income is the opposite of earned income like salary. Everyone has income from the job they have. Either you are paid by the time or by the work you did, you need to do something to earn that income. But what happens if you stop working? You don’t get any check from your boss. A passive income is money that comes in every month without you working for it. So it doesn’t matter if you are on vacation or you are sick or you are sleeping, the money still comes every month. A few examples of passive income are: vending machine, coin laundry, storage, real estate, loyalty, dividend from stock. These types of income only require you to spend the time to set it up for the first time. Once you set it up, you only need to spend maybe 10 minutes or less a week to maintain it. And for the rest of your life, unless you sell it to someone else, or something unforeseen has happened, the money will come to you whether you like it or not.Think about it, if you have enough money coming in every month to pay for all the expenses you have, what would you rather be doing right now? Who would you rather be with? Where would you rather be? That’s where the biggest difference is: When you are financially free, it FREES you to do whatever that you WANT to do, instead of what you NEED to do or HAVE to do. Even if you love your job, you can still do it, you will then become going to work everyday because you want to, not because you have to.
Our First “Cash Cow” in Kansas City
We bought this single family house back in December. It has already been fixed up really nicely and it’s going to be rent out in February. The listing price for this 2 bed 1 bath property was $49000 when it was just listed. But the bank dropped the price to $32000 after being on the market for 3 months. We made an offer for $15000, and got it for $18000. The cost to fix it up is $10000 (including painting the whole house, new roof, new plumbing, and buying used appliances). We have just rent it out for $650/ month. So all in cost (buying it, fixing it, closing cost, insurance, tax, utilities) ~ $31000. Even if I borrow all the money from the bank at 6.25% interest to do the whole deal, I still net about $280 of cash flow each month. Because this house actually worth $65000 at market price, I have made $34000 in equity. That’s more than what I made at Best Buy in a year!! For a deal that costs $31k and generates $280 a month for the rest of my life and $34000 instant equity, I’d say it’s a pretty good deal for me!! I try to make it as simple to understand as possible, but if you are interested in knowing more, feel free to contact me.
Martial Art – my interest (Jenny found it boring until she started using it to hit me)
All of my close friends know that I have a huge interest in martial art. Don’t know why, but I just like to fight. Noooooo, just kidding. I am a peaceful person who just happens to be fascinated by the art of Kung-Fu. As all of you knows, there are many styles of martial art. The one that I am particularly interested in and practice is a style called: Wing Chun. This style was said that it was developed by a female shao-lin monk back like 300 years ago. So the moves and theories behind it are all concentrating on ways to overcome a larger force with little or no force. Because women don’t have as much muscle as men do, you need to rely on other ways to generate a great amount of force without using plain muscle. That’s why I like it so much because it focuses on how to make each and every move as efficient as possible. Here is a video clip of my sigong (the teacher of my teacher) demonstrating how much power human body actually have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cJkJeKpGt8
JORDAN & JENNY’S NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2008
Hello Friends,
Happy New Year to everyone!! Another year has gone by. What an exciting year it was for us. A lot of great things and challenging things happened this year. I have definitely learnt a lot this year. So here is my recap:
January – I have been promoted to be the supervisor in training at Best Buy. I tried to do my best as a sales person and supervisor not because I want to kiss ass or anything. I do it in a sense to prove to myself how good of supervisor you can be, and to learn as much as I can on how a big corporation operates. In my opinion, you will never learn anything unless you put your heart to it 100%.
February – We have closed on our first investment property in Vancouver. We spend about one and half month renovating it. We did tiling, painting, changing counter tops, laminate flooring, and dry walling. You might ask why we didn’t hire contractors to do it. It was because we want to experience and learn how it’s like to renovate a house, and also, we didn’t have the budget either. ^^
April – Our first investment was ready to put on the market. You can go to our website if you are interested on how it looks like. www.vantagecanada.com
September – Our property was finally sold after 4 month. We didn’t price it too high or anything. But rather, it was because there was a balcony that needs replacement since it was rotted and water leaking through. So when people go check out the property, they see a big blue tarp right on the roof where the balcony is. In Vancouver, there was a big problem with leaky condos. A lot of condos that were built around 1990~2000, the building code is not good enough for the new building techniques. And so those condos had bad roof and siding design and would eventually leak water into the building structure. A lot people lost money because of the amount of money needed to fix the building. So when people come to see our condo and saw that big blue tarp, they would be scared away because it might be a leaky condo. Even we priced it 5% below market price and offer to pay the fix up, it still took us 4 month to get it sold. Our lesson for this is you need to really be on top of what the management company is doing to your property and their schedule is like, so you know what to expect and you know when is the best time to sell. To replace a balcony for a condo like that, you should be looking at about $50000 and less than a month to finish it. But by the time we close on that property, it still looks like what it was 4 month ago – a blue tarp covering it.
October – we have attended the foreclosure boot camp & field training from EWI (Enlighten Wealth Institute) in Kansas City and Indianapolis. We have also FIRED OUR BOSSES and moved to Kansas City to establish our power team over here and start our real estate investment empire.
November – after a month of searching, analyzing, and making lots of offers (we sent out 45 offers) on properties, we finally have our first house accepted. I have written another column to cover this property. It will be on the newsletter for next month.
December - We have bought another house. This time, it’s a duplex, at a better location, and even better cash flow. This year was the year that Jenny and I both turned 30 years old. But in my mind, I am still 25, full of energy, just got a slightly bigger belly. Although I didn’t make my goal for this year (flip 5 properties and make $100k in real estate), we still managed to flip 1 property and make 20K cash and make 60k in equity. So my goal for next year is to at least assign 10 properties and acquire more properties so we have $2000/month cashflow or more.
Jenny’s Little Corner – How We Get Started
Some people began asking how we’ve gotten into real estate. It all started when my best friend Johnson persuaded me to read this book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki many years ago (before this, I stayed anyway from anything business). In his book, Robert introduced the idea “Financial Freedom”which can be achieved mainly by acquiring properties that produce positive cashflow. Although I liked my old research job but I found it harder and harder to do the 9 to 5 thing. I started to follow what Robert said in his book, I tried network marketing, quit my research job to go work for a company that was going public (to learn the stock side of business), tried to look for income properties in Vancouver (we later learned that Vancouver is more a flip market than a cashflow market), read as many books on real estateas I can get my hands on, went to free seminars on business, stock or real estate. We eventually have to pay tuition to get more advanced information and mentorship but at the beginning when you don’t know anything about real estate, there are so many free resources out there and you can pick and choose your mentors (the authors of those books), go to these authors’ websites and go to as many free seminars as possible. That’s how we get started.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTERS ON OUR WEBSITE: www.vantagerei.com
Jordan & Jenny’s Newsletter – NOV 2007
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for reading our very first newsletter (I am hoping that it won’t be the last one). The reason why you get this letter is because you have known Jordan or Jenny at some point in time. This newsletter is pretty much a tool for us to get back in contact with all of you, sort of like a periodic update from us, what’s been happening in our lives, what’s exciting, that kind of thing. Since it’s the first one, it might be a little rough, lots spelling, grammatical errors, etc.
Kansas City – Exciting City
Yes, we have moved to Kansas City, Missouri two weeks ago. This is our first stop in our real estate investing empire. We are here to buy rental properties to hold for cash flow or resell for quick cash. Since there are a lot of great things happening in this city and the housing price is still relatively low, we’ve decided to come over here for about 3 to 6 months, to set up our power team and buy some properties. Then we will move on to the next city and do the same thing. The city is actually putting a lot of money down, either in tax incentives or invests with private corporations in an effort to revitalize the city. Here are the few great things:
• A new sport stadium right inside downtown core called Sprint Center, a joint venture with Sprint, has just finished construction – about $250 million worth of investment. They are also trying to bring a NBA team or NHL team over here too.
• The Power & Light District, is currently under construction. When finished, it will be a commercial, residential, and entertainment mixed use area located at the west side of Sprint Center. H&R world headquarter is going to be there, bring about 2000 new jobs alone. Altogether, it’s a $2 billion project, estimated to bring 8000 new jobs, and 10000 new housing after completion.
• The city is also planning to have a new light weight rail going from north of Kansas City all the way to thePlaza area. The citizens have voted last year to support the building of the light weight train. But it’s still in the planning stage. After all, what we’ve seen here is somewhat like Vancouver in 2000, everything is breaking ground, and people are excited about new changes.
But because of the foreclosure problem from ARM mortgages, a lot of bank owned properties have flooded the market. To an investor point of view, it is a good time to BUY & HOLD. Since we are able to get houses at very discounted prices now, the monthly rental income can cover all taxes, insurance, property management fees, mortgage payments, and still generate positive cash flow, meaning cash in the pocket every month! Wait until the housingmarket returns to normal and add appreciation to the formula!
Until Next Time!
About Sprint Center, Power & Light District, Light Weight Rail
http://rewebportal.com/powerandlight/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=8
http://www.kcata.org/
Thank you for reading our very first newsletter (I am hoping that it won’t be the last one). The reason why you get this letter is because you have known Jordan or Jenny at some point in time. This newsletter is pretty much a tool for us to get back in contact with all of you, sort of like a periodic update from us, what’s been happening in our lives, what’s exciting, that kind of thing. Since it’s the first one, it might be a little rough, lots spelling, grammatical errors, etc.
Kansas City – Exciting City
Yes, we have moved to Kansas City, Missouri two weeks ago. This is our first stop in our real estate investing empire. We are here to buy rental properties to hold for cash flow or resell for quick cash. Since there are a lot of great things happening in this city and the housing price is still relatively low, we’ve decided to come over here for about 3 to 6 months, to set up our power team and buy some properties. Then we will move on to the next city and do the same thing. The city is actually putting a lot of money down, either in tax incentives or invests with private corporations in an effort to revitalize the city. Here are the few great things:
• A new sport stadium right inside downtown core called Sprint Center, a joint venture with Sprint, has just finished construction – about $250 million worth of investment. They are also trying to bring a NBA team or NHL team over here too.
• The Power & Light District, is currently under construction. When finished, it will be a commercial, residential, and entertainment mixed use area located at the west side of Sprint Center. H&R world headquarter is going to be there, bring about 2000 new jobs alone. Altogether, it’s a $2 billion project, estimated to bring 8000 new jobs, and 10000 new housing after completion.
• The city is also planning to have a new light weight rail going from north of Kansas City all the way to thePlaza area. The citizens have voted last year to support the building of the light weight train. But it’s still in the planning stage. After all, what we’ve seen here is somewhat like Vancouver in 2000, everything is breaking ground, and people are excited about new changes.
But because of the foreclosure problem from ARM mortgages, a lot of bank owned properties have flooded the market. To an investor point of view, it is a good time to BUY & HOLD. Since we are able to get houses at very discounted prices now, the monthly rental income can cover all taxes, insurance, property management fees, mortgage payments, and still generate positive cash flow, meaning cash in the pocket every month! Wait until the housingmarket returns to normal and add appreciation to the formula!
Until Next Time!
About Sprint Center, Power & Light District, Light Weight Rail
http://rewebportal.com/powerandlight/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=8
http://www.kcata.org/
Newsletters
Hey, I've decided to post the newsletters Jordan and I wrote since November 2007 on my blog. We usually only email the newsletters to our family, friends and associates but recently, I've realized that maybe the information on our newsletters may be of use to other beginning real estate investors. The newsletters are kind of like a diary of our investing journey, we've recorded our experience, lessons learnt, etc every month. So here they go...
Monday, July 14, 2008
I am back in Vancouver
I have been back in Vancouver since April this year. Although I still travel once or twice per month to the U.S. for real estate seminars. I am getting tired of flying now but am still excited about going places and meeting new people when I travel. I heard one of the check-in agent say the airline only guarantee to take you from one place to another. They don't guarantee you what time you will get there. I have had flights cancel twice now. That's the annoying part. OK. No more complaining.
I have been investing out of town since April. At first, I was nervous because I don't get to go look at the houses anymore. But luckily, we already have our power team set up in Kansas City, MO and we've been working with them for quite some time now. I trust them to be my eyes and ears. We have two houses that I didn't get to see the final renovated results in person. Both houses are rented out now so I don't think I will get to see it besides in pictures. We have a house under contract and I have never been to that property. But I feel OK, if the inspection pass, I will probably buy it. Check out my website at www.vantagerei.com for some of the houses we have for sale. I will be updating the site soon with more properties.
I have been investing out of town since April. At first, I was nervous because I don't get to go look at the houses anymore. But luckily, we already have our power team set up in Kansas City, MO and we've been working with them for quite some time now. I trust them to be my eyes and ears. We have two houses that I didn't get to see the final renovated results in person. Both houses are rented out now so I don't think I will get to see it besides in pictures. We have a house under contract and I have never been to that property. But I feel OK, if the inspection pass, I will probably buy it. Check out my website at www.vantagerei.com for some of the houses we have for sale. I will be updating the site soon with more properties.
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