All Forum Posts by: Guillaume D.

Hey guys,

When I started getting interested in Real Estate 6 years ago, I loved to hear stories of successful RE investors as it provided me with incredible motivation to become financially free and a full-time RE investor myself. I hesitated a long time before writing this post since I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, but I feel like sharing my story with you guys today might help and motivate many others to achieve their most desired goals as well.

In a nutshell, I bought my first triplex at age 23 with two other partners, and then completed my first singe-family flip a year later at age 24 with two partners as well. Then, I partnered up with a high-school friend and we decided we would build a Real Estate empire so we could become financially free by the age of 35. At that time (2014), we were 25 years old so that meant we had 10 years to accomplish our ultimate goal. 

For the first two years, we had full-time jobs and we flipped houses on the side. We were both able to quit our jobs in 2016 after we made roughly 200k in profits from our flips. We could pretty much afford to live off these profits for 2 full years (based on the 50k annual salary we were making at our jobs). We officially became full-time RE investors from that moment.

Then, that's when we decided to start buying multi-family properties and to shift our focus on a new goal to buy 300 doors within 3 years (by 2019), while still doing some house flipping so we could continue to pay ourselves through the business. 

In the meantime, I decided I would have my own personal goal, which was to reach the MIGHTY million dollars in net worth within the next 3 years (by 2019). 

Now at age 29, I can officially announce that my goal of becoming a millionaire in net worth has been surpassed with our latest acquisitions :)!!! I am essentially a year before schedule, which is even sweeter. My partner and I now own over 100 doors, most of which have been bought in the last 18 months, and we're not planning to stop anytime soon!

It's important to note that I started with nothing. No money and nobody in the family with a business and/or Real Estate background. I built it all from the ground up myself, with the help of my partners of course, which is what makes me especially proud. It basically means that anybody can do it, you just have to do it! That's it. Stop finding excuses and take action. If you don't know how to accomplish something, then find a way to learn how because nobody will do it for you. I know it's cheesy, but it's true!

My 2 cents!

G

In order to have great returns in Montreal, you have to buy great deals which you are rarely going to find on the open market. You need to find off-market deals and very motivated sellers to make it work. You have to put in the time. The good deal VS bad deal ratio is about 1 for 100 here so you have to dig really deep. In other words, great deals do exist in every market, you just have to find them ;).

@Derek Dickson Check out LEVIC events during the summer. I'm attending the next one on June 21th.

@Derek Dickson Last event of the season was last Tuesday and yes I was there. Next one is in September, I should be there too. I might even be the main speaker at one of the upcoming events ;).

Hey @Lisa Lavie. Do you happen to speak French? If you do, I suggest you look at the CIIQ (Club Investisseurs Immobilier du Québec). Their training is way cheaper than what you are describing and could bring you everything you need. Always remember that what you need is just the basics of real estate. What you do with it will determine if you are going to succeed in RE or not. I'm pretty sure 90% of the people enrolling in these super expensive trainings never buy a real estate deal afterwards. Good luck!

Hey Peter! 

When looking at properties outside of major cities, the numbers always look attractive, but you have to be careful. First off, this property likely won't increase in value over time due to its location, so you have to base your decision solely on cashflow. From the pictures, the building looks quite old. Did you consider cost of upcoming repairs that can get quite expensive such as roofing, doors and windows, foundation/structural work (if needed), etc? Plus, vacancy rates can get very high in small markets so make sure you verify the bank deposits from the seller to make sure he really is collecting rent as he says he is on a monthly basis. Another problem you get with very small long distance markets like these is having to find a property manager. Typically, property managers like to do business in major cities rather than very small markets since there's usually not enough work for them to make a living. Do you have a backup plan if the property manager you are referring to decides to bail? Are you going to be able to manage it yourself? Collect rents if some tenants insist on paying cash? Doing visits when you have to rent an apartment? I know the broker probably tells you it's going to be easy and all that, but don't forget his job is to sell the building ;)! Hope this helps! Keep us posted. My 2 cents!

Welcome to BP from Montreal as well :)!

Hey @Sam McMillan! Everybody is right. Start by reading real-estate-specific books, read blogs here on BP, listen to the BP podcast and others. How you will invest your money depends on your objectives. If you only want to buy one property and sit on it for a while, then your strategy "could" make sense. But if you eventually want to become an active investor and buy many properties, your strategy really isn't the right one. In order to grow rapidly in RE, you have to use leverage as much as you can, which is exactly the opposite of the approach you described in your initial post ;). The less of your own money you can use, the better, given that you buy WISELY. You have to know how to run the numbers and run them yourselves. Please, don't ever trust expenses listed by brokers and it's an on-market property... Hope this helps and good luck for your first purchase! Get to know the MTL market first. Cheers.

@Pascal Lapointe Welcome to BP! See you tomorrow at CIIQ ;)!

Hey @Brenda Wilson! Thanks for sharing. I'm an active REI from Montreal and investing in the city. I'd love to take my business to the US eventually. Would love to get more details on how you set it up initially. I have completed about 20 flips here in Montreal and I own several apartment complexes. Hit me up!