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...

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.

Top 3 Most Interesting

Jordan and I came up with the Top 3 most interesting things in our real estate investing business.

#3. We drove by one of our properties and saw a bunch of people inside the house. There's a guy outside the house standing by a car with a lot of tools in the trunk. There were 2 or 3 guys standing around the front door. The lawn mower was moved from the back yard to the front yard. We though they were trying to steal our empty house and all they could get was the lawn mower. So we called our realtor, he told us to call the cops. We did. The next day, we found out they were just there to fix the front door. They were called in by the seller. They also removed our broken lawn mower. Oops. Sorry.

#2. Our offer was accepted on this property so we went look at the house for the first time. During the time we were there, the house across the street was quite busy with activities. I saw cars driving back and forth on the street. I saw a mom taking her toddler to that house. I thought to myself "what a family oriented neighborhood." Then after we checked out the house, everything was good and we thought we could go ahead and buy the house. As we were driving away, we saw there were a dozen of sneakers in a variety of colors hanging on the power line. Each color of shoes represented a type of drug. The house across the street was a drug house. We called the realtor and canceled the contract to buy the house.

#1. We got an counter offer, so we went check out the house with our buyer's agent. The house again looked not bad. The neighborhood was ok but as we toured down to the basement, there was a nice 2000 something Jeep Cherokee with leather interior and nice audio system in the garage. I naively asked the realtor if the car comes with the house. The realtor found the registration for the car lying on the garage floor and called the owner. It turned out the car was stolen 3 weeks ago. The teenager from across the street came over and ask if we wanted him to move his car from the back of the house (there was another older car in the back yard). We told him it's ok, we've alreay called the police.


Bonus: Young kids in trouble...we don't know what they did...I only heard the police yelled "get down on the ground" when he was chasing the kids. We saw this happen when we were checking out our investor friend's house.

Time goes by fast...

Wow, it's January 31st already!!! Time goes by so fast. I guess I am enjoying what I do now, hence time goes by quickly. I remember it was torture when I was an employee waiting to get off work, staring at the clock which moved oh so slowly. Donald Trump said something about people who can't wait for the weekend to come and something like he enjoys every second of everyday, no matter if it's weekend or weekday. I think I understand now. It was just the end of 2007 and now it's the end of January...I had an exciting two months...bought 2 rental properties (1 house + 1 duplex = 3 units total). Fixed them up nicely and all are rented out already except the unit we are living in right now. Now I am waiting for the contract on the 3rd house we are buying...I am so excited!!!

Canadians In America

I finished my field training one month ago today. We flied to KCMO the next day (actually, the day after that because of the flight delay). We found an loft to rent without any problem (found it the same day we started looking). Just have to pay $100 extra per month for not signing a lease. Easy to rent a car and drive. Got a Virgin pay as you go mobile phone so we don't have to sign a 2-year lease and pay $400 deposit. Getting a digital phone and internet take longer because they have to check our records (took about 2 days instead of on the spot qualification). Also we have to put down some deposit and pay $20 extra per month for not signing a 2-year contract. Opening a bank account is easy, just bring your passport and driver's license. All we can get is debit credit card because we don't have SSN. But I found out online banks could be fined for requesting our SSN if we file a lawsuit in small claim court. Our solution is to form a LLC so we have an EIN and build our business credit first. But we did get a LOC from RBC Centura using our Canadian credit. I haven't figure out how I want to use that LOC to build my personal credit. Maybe use it to rehab houses. Having an account with Gas and Electricity companies is just as easy as opening a bank account. Refinance a house is possible but will get better terms and rates if we have any kind of visa to stay here for 5 years or more. And I got a library card today just showing my Canadian driver's license and a piece of mail with my address and name on it.

goodbye j.o.b.

goodbye j.o.b.

goodbye, see you never...

no more job for me, ever.

i don't need you

i don't want you

i will be great without you...

the challenge

i was listening to breakfast with bob yesterday. he likes challenges and he has 100% success rate so far. he even says allen, his last name, is in the word challenge. so was my last name. then i was thinking, quiting my job here, leaving everything here, and going to a brand new city where i've never been to before in my life. it's even in a different country. i know no one there, knows nothing about that city, and to start doing something i've never done before, it's totally like a challenge. i am so excited about it. i know i am up to the challenge and i can do it because i am a warrior. no question about it. it's a new start, to the rest of my amazing life.