The Truth About Financial Independence for Canadians

From RCMP to Developing 66 and 20 Unit Apartment Buildings: Marc Amyot's Journey of Strategic Development

• Strategic Partnerships Matter: How mentorship from industry experts transformed Marc's real estate investing approach
• Location, Location, Innovation: Marc reveals how strategic site selection, zoning knowledge, and maximizing land use can turn a $640,000 property into a $7 million development project
• Breaking Down the Numbers: Inside two projects - a 66-unit and 20-unit apartment development, revealing the power of creative financing and value engineering

Dive into the fascinating world of real estate development with Marc Amyot, a former RCMP officer who's transforming Ottawa's landscape one project at a time. Learn how strategic partnerships, creative financing, and a keen eye for opportunity can turn modest investments into multi-million dollar developments. Discover the insider secrets of navigating complex real estate projects, from sourcing materials to maximizing land use, in this eye-opening conversation that proves success is about who you know and how you think.

If you have aspirations of being a real estate developer, pay particular attention to how Marc structures his deals to minimize cash outflows. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcandre.amyot

Website: https://assera.ca/

OREIO - Ottawa Real Estate Investors Organization: https://www.oreio.org/

Please enjoy the show

On to this week’s show!  This week we have an amazing guest who’s been on a bumpy path. I’ve known Ryan Carr for quite some time but when I attended Truth Your Talent’s Awards Gala, the coach who had the most award winners and thank yous was Ryan hence I invited Ryan Carr onto the show which he gracefully accepted.

From household $400k income, Corporate Burnout to 200 door real estate portfolio and more importantly Financial Freedom: Ryan Carr's Remarkable Journey

What happens when a high-powered sales executive suffers a stress-induced heart attack at 38? For Ryan Carr, it was the wake-up call that transformed his life. In this raw and inspiring conversation, Ryan opens up about how he and his wife Shefali went from making nearly $400,000 a year to building a 200-door real estate portfolio, all while prioritizing health, family, and helping others achieve financial independence.

Hear how Ryan overcame personal health challenges, navigated massive investment setbacks including a $700,000 prom note write off, and became a sought-after mentor who's helped 32 people break free from the 9-to-5 grind. This episode is a masterclass in resilience, strategic investing, and creating a life by design.

Please enjoy the show!

On to this week’s guest! I’m thrilled to introduce Wei Ting, an unstoppable entrepreneur, speaker, and innovator reshaping the rental landscape in Ontario with plans to expand across Canada. After losing over $35K to non-paying tenants and spending countless hours navigating Ontario’s complex rental compliance laws, Wei Ting decided enough was enough. She co-founded Openroom, a bold step toward building a transparent and connected rental ecosystem for landlords and tenants alike.

And if that wasn’t enough, she’s also a 24/7 on-call mom to two little ones under two years old. Wei Ting describes parenthood as her most demanding role yet, with expertise in patience, roadmap planning, and improvisation.  Did we mention the co-founder of Openroom is her husband?  Mixing personal AND Business 😀

She’s been featured on major platforms like CBC, CTV, BlogTO, BNN, and Yahoo News, and her talks promise not just insights but also laughs and eyebrow-raising moments. If you’re looking for someone who’s obsessed with making life easier for landlords, while balancing humor and grit, you’re in the right place.

Let’s dive into Wei Ting’s incredible journey with Openroom and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

To connect with Weiting

email: [email protected]

@openroomhq on Instagram and TikTok

Web: openroom.ca

On to this week’s guest, Kevin Costain is the poster boy for reform being needed in Ontario and he’s doing something about it as the new Chair of SOLO: Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario.  He’s fighting for the small everyday investor like I do.

He is the author of the book “Rent To Ruin” where he documents his ordeal with his tormentor: the tenant living in Kevin’s house.

It is an all too common story where an everyday homeowner has a life change, makes what used to be a financially pragmatic decision to rent out his house to Barry instead of selling it. What proceeded to happen is easily among the worst I’ve ever heard and that is not hyperbole.

For a sneak peak, I fed the transcript of this interview to Chatgpt and asked what crimes the tenant could have been charged with.  Here’s the list:

• Arson
• Vandalism/theft
• Fraud
• Criminal harassment
• Illegal drug cultivation

Kevin walking through his burnt out house with the CBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwYXLdfeD4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sololandlord

Web: https://solo.ca/

Please enjoy the show, do your research, invest where it’s landlord friendly, make real estate investing profitable again.

On to this week’s show! We have my old friend Quentin D’Souza returning to the show at my request as I need a trustworthy real estate expert to share with you the listener about the multi family market who’s not going to sugar coat how tough the last few years have been and what and where the opportunity is going forward.

Quentin is going to share his journey, how he does hard things and involves his family to lead his best, most successful life possible.

Quentin is founder, Chief Education Officer of Durham Real Estate Investors, a private membership group of many excellent real estate investors and professionals.  If you’re in the GTA area, make sure to check out a Durham REI event, they meet monthly in Whtiby and you can learn more about them at https://durhamrei.com/

Quentin has authored several books I highly recommend on the BRRRR strategy, finding deals, scaling up, filling vacancies, property management. You can search Quentin D’Souza on Amazon or go to his website quentindsouza.com

Needless to say, please have a pen and paper ready to take notes and enjoy the show.

On to this week’s guest!

Again, Hart is a friend, I refer him clients all the time for tenant location services.  This may sound like a paid endorsement and full disclosure, Hart Pays me nothing. We receive zero compensation for me having Hart on this show and sending him referrals.  It’s too bad we’re selling the rest of our Ontario portfolio in the near future so I could have asked him for favours but no. Nothing LOL. Which I don’t mind so my judgement is not clouded.

We get a long because we’re both on a mission to help Canadians get a head in life without taking away too much time from their lives and families by streamlining their investments. Let them sleep at night and we both volunteer for non-profits that support landlords.

Hart’s company Rent Panda is an expert on rentals providing both property management and tenant location services while also using the same tools we recommend like SingleKey and Front Lobby.  Any Ontario landlord not using them is exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. Risks that honestly don’t exist in landlord friendly USA but I digress.

You can find Rent Panda along with a bunch of free online resources every Ontario landlord needs at www.rentpanda.ca

Cory is a 20 year investor who's been through rough times back in the financial crisis, from Toronto he was investing on the wrong side of the tracks in London, Ontario, sleeping inside the renovation project as he didn’t have funds for trades and to cut down on his commute from Toronto.

Fast forward to today, Cory’s been a full time investor for 2.5 years specializing in BRRRR investments, suiting basements, garden suites and an office to residential conversion that’s gone anything but smoothly. Cory funds his projects with silent, passive joint venture partners, and when there’s no cash flow… I’ll let Cory explain what he does.

Cory’s story is quite a journey of survival in terrible and good and difficult times.  Anyone new or old to real estate investing will have lessons to learn.  If you’re one of the good guys in real estate, you’ll appreciate how a good guy like Cory can thrive in an industry swimming with Sharks.

Website: www.coryfroc.com

Instagram: @coryfrocinvestments and @coryfroc on Facebook

Please enjoy the show!

Please welcome co-founder of Addy Stephen Jagger, I’m excited to have him, if you haven’t heard of Addy before, it’ll blow your mind.  If you have, the advancements in deal offerings, technology will surprise you along with one of their investment vendors who went belly up.

Oh yeah, this is the truth about real estate investing show so when deals go sideways, I’m going to ask about them, Stephen, kudos to him does not avoid my questions and better yet they’d already publicly addressed them.

https://addyinvest.ca/2024/07/19/strengthening-our-due-diligence-lessons-learned-and-steps-forward/

Or as the saying goes, a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure.  If they’d asked me for a reference check, they could have probably saved a bunch of headaches.

To connect with Stephen:

Twitter: @sjagger

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.addyinvest.com

Please enjoy the show!

In this episode, we sit down with Christine Traynor, from Victoria, BC, a seasoned real estate professional who has navigated the industry from multiple angles.  She started as a paralegal in mortgage enforcement/foreclosures, became an appraiser in 2002, worked in for a high end real estate developer then buying a real estate appraisal firm, buying two more with creative financing and in 2024, sold those businesses for a seven figure exit.

What’s now keeping Christine busy is her current ventures as an Edmonton, Alberta real estate developer, multifamily investor, Christine shares a wealth of knowledge and insights that are sure to inspire.

For those looking to raise capital, specifically registered funds like RRSP’s and TFSA’s, Christine is involved with a Mutual Fund Trust as part of a 94 unit build so you’ll want to hear about that.

Christine shares how and why she chose not to invest in local, tenant friendly, unaffordable Victoria, BC for landlord friendly Edmonton which is something pretty much every BC, Ontario, Quebec investor from a tenant friendly jurisdiction is considering.

Christine is an advocate for empowering women around investing and finances, and is the host of She Builds Wealth, a (free) online community where she leads women in conversation around real estate investing, business, money and mindset.  She is also the creator of She Builds Wealth: A Foundational Course for Women on Building Wealth in Real Estate.

To follow Christine:

Instagram: @Christine.traynor.reinvesting

Website: www.christinetraynor.com

Please enjoy the show

Now for those of you with deeper pockets and want to be developers closer to home, we have my old friend Pierre Paul Turgeon returning to the show.  A former industry insider as an underwriter at the CMHC, active investor, and real estate expert in the apartment building space, who has analyzed 100s of large, lucrative multifamily investment deals all over Canada.

As a good Canadian, Pierre Paul wants to help build more housing and believes it is developers in Canada who have the greatest potential for success and he’s here to share about the latest Federal programs for developers no one is talking about. I’d never heard about these programs so if you’re a developer, builder or plan to be, you’ll have to give this episode a listen.  Developers are who the federal government wants to support because they build housing we so desperately need. Landlords? Not so much. 

To connect with Pierre Paul, email him at  [email protected]

Or his website www.multifamilyinvestingcanada.com where he offers free resources and a paid, in depth detailed courses on apartment building investing.

Please enjoy the show!