The Duke Pod: Real Estate Stories

The Rat Race. A Book Review of Rich dad Poor dad. Legendary literature on personal finances and how you can become wealthy!

Hello Everyone.

 

Robert Kiyosaki wrote a very famous book on personal finance called, Rich dad Poor dad.  He had two fathers that gave him complete different advice.  One of them used that advice to become very wealthy and the other became poor.

 

This is a unique episode which we dive deep into this book I just read, we used examples to discuss the Rat race and how to acquire assets in real estate that will make you money, in the long term and in cash flow.   The rat race is a concept that your assets provide you with enough cash to cover your overall expenses.   If your monthly expenses are $3000, then you need enough assets to gain you $3000 a month in cash flow.  If you accomplish this you are weathly. It takes a lot of time so it's a race to accomplish this before you need to retire!

 

There are many, many people that have accomplished this and it takes A LOT of time, A LOT of hard work, A LOT of Education and A LOT of dedication.  I am going to give you guys some examples of how I gained a few assets and go over tips and suggestions on how to acquire real estate, what to do with it and how to acquire more over time.  

 

We also review Robert's 10 tips on how to get started

1. Find your Spirit (I call this finding your why)

2. Make Sound daily choices, educate yourself!

3. Master skills and then master others

4. Pay yourself first

5. Choice your friends carefully

6. Pay your Trades well

7. Get something for nothing 

8. Use Assets to buy luxuries 

9. Choose a hero

10.  Teacher others

 

Always remember: Fortune favours the bold!

We be talking about lighting!

Hi Everyone.

 

All of a sudden I feel like 10 Million dollars.  I would have said a million but with inflation, a million just does not seem like a lot anymore.  I just finished the David Goggins 4x4x48 Challenge which was March 5-7th, so it ended yesterday!  I ran 4 miles (6.5km) every 4 hours, including 4 am for 48 hours.  Overcoming this gruelling, difficult endurance test was incredible.   However, this is a real estate podcast, and while I was posting on social each run I finished, I also sold 2 homes by the time I ran my last mile Sunday evening!

In this episode, we take you through a townhouse in Mississauga yesterday.  The fact that we received a few offers and the home was sold for way more then the client's expectations tells nothing about what happened behind the scenes.  We had to do a lot of get it ready, such as tell the clients how to declutter, staging, cleaning and so on.  A lot of prep work went behind the scenes.

The lovely clients have 2 kids under 3, I have 2 under 4, so I know how it is to live like that.  Its a blessing but the house was a mess, clothes everywhere, so many extra items and so on.  One major, yet subtle change we suggested revolved around the lighting.  The house had a lot of old, builder-grade lights.  They made it look dated, while the home overall was nice.  By swapping a few out for Costco priced chandeliers, maybe $100 each, giving the house a better, brighter and illuminating feel.  It gave the home a flavour of elegance and in my opinion, helped make them a few thousand more at a fraction of their investment cost of those lights.  The home definitely looked amazing in the photos and video.  Find out more and how you should organize your home's lighting to make the home also look like 10 million dollars.

 

Here is a link to my website for the home we are discussing, including the video and some pictures.

 

https://dukerealtyhomes.com/property/37-35-ceremonial-dr-mississauga-for-sale-a-lovely-3-bed-4-baths-in-prime-location-by-huro-eglinton/

 

Enjoy!

75Hard and 3 instances a client purchased a home without looking at it!

Greetings friends,

This is my 8th day on the 75Hard program and my body, mind and soul are all feeling it.  Beat down like a coal miner working 16 hours shifts, I carry on, aiming for 75 straight days of gruelling, disciplined, good choices to make me the best version of myself.  It may also the best Covid Medicine out there, sort of.  What is 75 Hard? Let us talk about it briefly here!  It may blow your mind.

 

After that, we discuss how a client of mine purchased a home without looking at it, last week.  What is the ramification of doing something like that, how does that even happen, is it crazy or just nuts!?  I will tell you my thoughts from this experience and 2 other similar instances that have happened so far in my career.  The results may surprise you.  Tune in for some fun conversation and real estate stories!

With Milton's #1 Agent for 11 years in a row: Amy Flowers! Discussing building a successful team, how to maneuver in the current market and real estate innovations!

Greetings friends,

This week we had the honour to host special guest Amy Flowers​ from Milton's own Amy Flowers team who took some time in her business schedule to discuss some real estate!  

We had the pleasure of asking her about her Team along with tips on managing a real estate team as big as hers, and perhaps as small as yours!  One of her philosophies that has to lead to great success is having more admit staff than actually real estate agents!

Shifting into today's events, we discuss the current Real estate Seller's market.  We ask her is it the RIGHT time to sell?  What are some tips for buyers if they want to enter the market this year and where will this crazy market go?

Amy shares some innovation of how her team is battling Covid concerns. They are helping sellers with a place to go when there are seemingly hundreds of visitors at their house daily, the LOFT.

Finally, we discuss her insight into the best way to treat your real estate career, which is to treat it like a business!  She also provides some great advice on how a new agent can make it in this dog eat dog business!

Thank you, Amy, for coming on the show.

Enjoy the episode!

Joleen Constantis from Volumes of space joins us to discuss modern trends and what to know in the world of interior design,

Greetings 

This week we are joined by Joleen Constantis the owner of a very successful interior design company called Volumes of space. Check out their company and team on Instagram and on her website, volumesofspace.com!

In this episode we discuss

1.  What is volumes of space and what services they provide for interior and exterior Design

2. Her team design team

3. Her construction team along with recommending contractors that will make sure your renovation is done right as well as by code!

4. How to work well with other trades professionals.

5. What you didn't know: Designers know how to draw designs and to work with permits

6. Which renovations need permits and more!

7.  Which Colors to use to sell.  What colours they like in 2021!

8. Renovation trends for 2021.  These include

- Urgent need for home office space instead of rooms,

- Home gyms 

- Basement dwellings for homes with multifamilies. 

9. Designs that are common and which ones are not that designers would love to work on!

10. How to handle any budget for a project.

11.  When should you actually hire an interior designer for your renovation

12. Some fun stories and tips!

As always, stay tuned for the bloopers, this time for some behind the scene stuff!

Amazing Tenant Acquisition and Property management tips with Mike Penny from GMP Properties!

Greetings,

 

Mike Penny, a great colleague, friend and professional with GMP Properties made some time to come on the show and provide us wonderful property management tips as well as step by step instructions on how to best acquire a wonderful tenant.   We also go deep in the world of property management providing valuable advice for people who own rentals or want to own an investment property in the future.  

 

In this episode we discuss 

- GMP Properties: Their history and their company 

- How to Aquire the best tenant you can

- The 4 steps to successful Tenant Screening 

- How to advertise a unit for rent and where

- What do to when a tenant does not pay rent

- How to properly evict a tenant and how long can it take

- What to keep in mind with your properties in the long run

- Some insight into managing properties during the pandemic. 

- Advice for landlords

- Some great stories for everyone!

- And more!

Stay tuned to the end for a couple Bloopers!

 

 

A long 2 years of many tough lessons to swallow for these clients.

Greetings friends,

We are now knee-deep in 2021 and so far things look and feel exactly the same as in 2020.  Currently, the only difference is as I am writing this, Trump is no longer the president and after what happened in Washington a couple of weeks ago, that seems wonderful. 

The Great news, for us at least, is that we did not have to wait long to secure our first deal of the year.  It was a home purchase that was long overdue and finally bleed into the new year.   This is good business yes, however, the experience for the client was a long, long, tough, in fact very tough road, perhaps the toughest road of all to experience.  It took them 2 years to make this purchase, which they were potentially ready to purchase a home some 730 days ago.  Guaranteed, they experience the maximum amount of emotions in their home search possible.

 

This episode explores clients that take their time to purchase homes in the current market, often delaying or waiting.  How this thought process leads to many tough, challenging situations that in hindsight could have been avoided.    Strap in as we analyze two years ago all the way to this very day.  Enjoy the ride! 

The GTA Real Estate Market is currently Sheer Madness. Is it better to buy any home, even a fixer upper at this point?

Greetings friends,

 

Yesterday was my wife's birthday, happy birthday to her!

 

Over the weekend I met with a few people that made me think.  The real estate market has buyers scared since prices are so high while being very competitive. So what is the point of looking?  A tenant told me they can not seem to find anything they like for their buying budget and would rather just lease for a couple of years instead.  Is this a good idea?

We explore this concept: is worth waiting or better to just buy whatever you can actually afford, even if the home you can afford is not great.

Or stories include clients who bought and sold homes in a short amount of time, even being very apprehensive about their purchases.  We will review what happened and how much money they made if at all.

Clients who bought homes that looked terrible inside and others that bought homes that looked good inside and terrible outside!  A client that bought for a lot of money in competition a few years ago and how they feel now.  Finally my own example!

 

Enjoy!

Sometimes it will not work out. How to Handle troubling clients.

Greetings,

Even in a fantastic and fruitful year of success, there are always situations that do not work out!  2020 was a great year for us in terms of sales and business success but it did end with two clients that just could not find a home.  These clients even told us they are done, a "super" seller's market can have that effect. 

Here are some stories of when it did not work out recently, with new and old clients and how to handle those situations.  Mostly it comes down to staying positive and maintaining a professional approach for each client.  Even when things are not going well, you need to maintain professionalism and never make it seem like you are giving up on a client.  Your output on effort must be consistently high until the case is closed!

 

In this episode we discuss

- Issues when a home is not selling  to your client's expectations

- Hiccups with clients 

- when honeymoon phases end

- How maintaining a good attitude can circle back around even years later.

 

Enjoy!

 

Episode 2020, a Review of Real estate in 2020 and Wishing everyone a wonderful year!

Greetings,

 

2020 was hard for everyone. Saying that, you made it though as the new year is upon us, congratulations! However, it was actually a pretty good year for us with the addition of our daughter, good health and lots of real estate transactions to complete so you guys get lots of stories to digest!

Here is a thank you to everyone who supported us and many more great things to come in 2021.

Also lets review what happening in 2020 for our real estate market

 

1. Starting with a seller's market 

2. Full slow down once Covid hit

3. A slow revival in the spring (April- June)

4. A Summer busier than most Springs, full Seller's market.

5.  A busy yet steady fall market

6.  An explosion in Winter as prices spike 5-7% in days.

7. What is to come in 2021! 

 

Happy new year!