Guide 2 the Grind

It’s quite incredible how the hint of spring in the air really lifts people’s spirits. Just the anticipation of nice weather, and being able to spend time outside again, has people feeling better. 

But it’s not here yet. 

Now we know it’s going to happen eventually, but we don’t know exactly when. In anticipation of its arrival, we’re already doing things like booking campgrounds, buying summer stuff, and working on our beach bodies...(well some of us are working on them).

What I’m getting at is, having an emotional response to something that hasn’t actually happened. 

The mere expectation of something causes us to react in an emotional way. This can be a great thing when we’re expecting something good to happen, and it can be debilitating when we’re expecting something bad to happen. 

Unfortunately this is how many people make their decisions when it comes to investing. 

Some people put off investing for years, if not decades, because they’re afraid of losing their money. Others panic buy houses for fear that they’ll never be able to buy one if they don’t act now. 

The ability to respond instead of reacting, is the key skill that differentiates the most successful investors. 

Real estate investing is a long play. It’s not about quick profit, it’s about long term sustainability. Yes, I know there’s strategies like flipping, and RTO, which for the investor is a shorter term investment, but those strategies still need to have overall sustainability in order to make investors wealthy over the course of their life.

Real estate investing is not about “one and done”. 

There are always going to be fluctuations in the market. There’s always going to be a great deal to be found. There’s always going to be someone with a horror story about their uncle’s cousin’s friend who lost their shirt in a real estate deal. And goodness knows, there will always be people who tell you not to do it. 

Investing is a mathematical decision, not an emotional one. 

Because the long term trend of real estate has always been upward, with a long enough timeline, you simply have to do the math. This takes all of the emotion out of it. 

Obviously we’re talking about how emotions impact investing, and some of the tactics you can use to take the emotion out of it, on today’s episode of the “Investment Property Income” podcast. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

It’s no secret that the entire landscape of the real estate market has changed in the last year. Over 50,000 people left Toronto alone in 2020. 

So what does that mean for you?

Well, depending on your mindset, it either means a time doom and gloom, or a time of prosperity you may never experience again in your lifetime. 

One of my mentors taught me that real estate is a long play. 

There will always be fluctuations in the value of properties. There’s always going to be a push and pull between a “buyer’s market” and a “seller’s market”. But over time, the long term trend of real estate value has always gone up.

So how does one take advantage of tough times?

By being educated.

Whatever you’re hearing on TV or the radio, is just information being relayed after it’s already happened. Don’t get caught up in it. Learn first what your goals are. From there you can start to identify the opportunities that align with those goals. Never buy just to buy. 

Today on the “Investment Property Income” podcast, we’re talking about some of the advantages and disadvantages to owning condos and houses. We discuss some of the strategies around financing each, and which is a better option for you. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

Anyone with a long enough memory can remember the last days of the 1980’s, when mortgage interest rates were insanely high. Folks have told me that they were paying 18 or 19 percent interest on their homes.

Here we are some 30 years later, and obviously the entire landscape has changed. Not just in Canada, but the entire world. 

Now, more than ever, we feel the effects of what happens on the other side of the planet. Communication and industry have become global in a way that most couldn’t have even imagined back in the 80’s. 

It’s never been a better time for investors and homeowners alike to borrow money. 

The real question is, should you lock in at today’s rates, or go for the marginally cheaper variable rate mortgage?

As always, my answer to that “depends”.

There’s always variables for everyone’s personal situation, and here’s a general rule that I go by…

……. If you need predictability in your monthly payments, then choose the fixed rate. 

Especially right now, it’s unlikely that we’re ever going to see interest rates this low again in our life times, however…..there’s exceptions to every rule. 

I know that I hedge a lot on some of the things that I say when it comes to mortgages, but that’s because it really is a personal thing. A mortgage, like fine clothing, really needs to be tailored to the individual.

The real difference is, you can tell when someone is wearing a “one size fits all” suit off the rack, but it’s not so easy to spot when it comes to a mortgage. 

Today in the “Investment Property Income” podcast, we’re talking about variable vs. fixed rate mortgages, and how the interest rates actually get set by the Bank of Canada. 

This is a pretty interesting one.

www.guidetothegrind.com

Let’s talk turkey about commercial financing. 

There’s a lot to this topic, because there’s a lot of different types of commercial financing. There’s of course the straight up commercial building which we’re all familiar with, but what about mixed use properties, or multi-family residential, or if you own more than five properties as an investor. 

Of course you can drill down even further into all of those categories and find a ton more variables. It’s such a diverse subject that it takes years to truly understand how all of the different funding options work...and more importantly...what the lenders want to see.

We’re going to cover the broad strokes of commercial lending in today’s episode of the “Investment Property Income” podcast. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

The March 1st deadline for RSP contributions is coming up soon, and I thought this would be a good time to dispel some of the myths and legends around using your RSP to buy a home. 

I’m not going to talk about whether RSPs are good or bad, but there are a couple of things that we should definitely know. 

Let’s start with the first time home buyer program. That’s what most people think of when it comes to using your RSP. Yes you most certainly can use it to buy your first home, but that’s not the only time you can use it. 

If you’ve owned a home before, and don’t own one now, you can use your RSP for a downpayment. 

That’s right, it’s not just first time home buyers that can use their RSP. 

There are some limits on how you’re able to use it, like length of time since you’ve owned a home, but you can still use it. 

Second, there can be some major tax advantages using the right strategy. Depending on contribution limit, time of the contribution, and having a good team around you, there’s some major value in knowing how to use it to your advantage. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

I don’t get upset often, and confrontation really isn’t in my nature, but sometimes I just have to speak up when I see something misleading. 

I’ve seen numerous different companies advertising systems to help you pay your mortgage sooner, save tens of thousands of dollars in interest, make you sleep better, get better looking, lose weight, run faster, all for the low low price of………..

This really roasts my turkey!

First of all…..their math is either misleading or straight up wrong. And you know what, the majority of the time I believe it isn’t intentional, I believe they just don’t truly understand it. That doesn’t make it ok, but at least that’s not done with malicious intent…...usually. 

The second part is what really makes me upset. 

Charging people money to learn the “Secrets of the System”. 

I hate to tell ya…….there is no secret. 

There is no magic formula for paying off your mortgage sooner. There’s no magic pill, and certainly no magic beans. 

Don’t get suckered in. 

On today’s episode of the “Investment Property Income” podcast Geoff and I get into a, shall we say…..spirited conversation, about early mortgage repayment, and how the math really works. You’re not gonna want to miss this one. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

For years I remember seeing those commercials marketing the reverse mortgage to seniors. As my partner Geoff would say, they always seemed to play during re-runs of Matlock and Murder She Wrote. 

For a lot of people, this seemed to leave a bad taste in their mouth. 

Maybe it was the way it was marketed, maybe the face that it seemed to be targeting seniors, or maybe……….we just didn’t understand it at the time. 

Here’s the deal…….

Like any other mortgage product, if it’s good for your situation, then it’s a good product. 

There’s a lot of benefits to using this type of product to access the money in the home you’ve worked so hard for all these years. 

In today’s episode of the “Investment Property Income” podcast, we talk about the reverse mortgages, and how to make them work for you. 

This one is pretty darn informative. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

In this episode we talk about the ups and downs of private lending. Things to look out for, and how to use it properly as a part of your investing strategy. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

We designed the material around the “Investment Property Income” system to help folks thrive in regular times, and speed up their process exponentially in times of opportunity.

First we start with what you truly want, then naturally we see how easily the system works over time. 

www.guidetothegrind.com

Is it better to have bad credit, or no credit?  How long do bankruptcies and consumer proposals stay on your history? How do you repair your credit fast?

We'll talk about all these challenges and more on this episode of the Investment Property Income Podcast. 

www.InvestmentPropertyIncomeBook.com

www.guidetothegrind.com