First Rental Property

2003-2006
The Real World

Despite putting forth a tremendous effort towards my academics in University, I ended up with sub par grades.  Since my grades were nothing to write home about, I felt that the window of opportunity was closing for me with regards to attending a law or business school of my choice.

Nevertheless, one month after I graduated from university I began to study for my Law School Admission Test (LSAT).  I studied for 6 months and wrote the test in October of 2003.  I put in a great effort studying for this exam, however when all was said and done the grade that I got on the test was not good enough for me to be accepted to a school of my choice.

At this point in time, I was getting the hint that it was time to forget about law school and move on to something else. I decided to test the job market, and see what type of job I could find.
In early 2004 I landed a job with Canada’s largest bank.  The job that I got was an entry level role for new graduates.  It was a job as a personal banker.  In this role I was able to lend the bank’s money to people and invest people’s money in investment vehicles such as mutual funds and Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs).    It was maybe one month into my job at the bank that my interest in real estate began.

I had always been a very driven individual.  Not performing well on my LSAT or academically in University left me disappointed.

Finally realizing that perhaps I did not have the academic smarts in order to perform well on the standardized entrance exams (LSAT), I believe that I subconsciously focused a lot of effort into proving to myself and proving to others that I could succeed in life even though I did not attend law or business school.  It was at this same time seven years ago, when my interest in real estate started to develop.

Sometime in 2003…

…I became aware that a family friend purchased a new home in my home town.  They had purchased a pre-build home off of the plans from a Builder.  As a result, we witnessed this home being constructed.  They had actually purchased the home from the builder is 2002.  The home was completed in 2003 and that was the year that they moved into the home.

From the time that this friend had purchased the home until they moved in, the home had appreciated significantly in value.  They resided in the home for a while before they ended up selling it.  While they resided in the home, it continued to rise in value.

Watching this happen before my eyes, I thought to myself….

“Wait a minute. If they are doing this, and making money at it, why can’t I?!”

This is where the light bulb went off for me…

…It was through this realization that my interest in real estate was born.

I didn’t jump the gun

As interested as I was in real estate, it took me some time to build up the courage before I ended up purchasing a property.

For about one year, owning real estate as an investment was on the forefront of my mind.  I spent this entire time studying the real estate market in my home town, as this was the area that I decided I wanted to invest.  I exclusively focused my efforts on the new homes sales market.  As a result, I spent countless weekends visiting with Builders who were constructing new developments in my home town.  During this search period I was mainly interested in finding out what the prices were of these homes that were being sold, as well I was interested in the floor plan of these homes.  At the time, I thought that the floor plan was an important thing to consider.  However, looking back, it definitely wasn’t.  The most important factor was the location that I eventually bought in.

After about one year of research, I had located the Builder, and the style of home that I wanted to purchase.  I knew that I was ready to buy, it was now just a matter of figuring out how I would actually do it.

I was still working for Canada’s largest bank, as a result, I had made some contacts with people in the bank that were able to help me with this first purchase. Through a co-worker of mine, I was referred to a mortgage specialist that worked for the bank.

Not to be confused with a mortgage broker, mortgage specialists work exclusively for the bank that they are employed by and they only offer mortgage products from that particular bank.  A mortgage broker on the other hand can offer mortgage products from a multitude of differnet financial companies and lenders.

I was now linked in with the mortgage specialist who was helping me organize the financing for this property.  However, before all was said and done,  I encountered one major roadblock.

Based on the analysis that the mortgage specialist did, I was not able to qualify for a mortgage based on my income alone.

It was at this time that the mortgage specialist suggested that I have what she called “co-signers” on the mortgage.  The mortgage specialist recommended that I have some family members go onto the mortgage with me so that our collective incomes would be able to service the mortgage.

Both my Mum and Dad agreed to go onto the mortgage with me.  With their names on the mortgage, we were easily able to be approved for the mortgage.

I have been very fortunate and blessed, throughout my real estate investing career and throughout my life. I would not have been able to get started with real estate investing if it was not for the support of my parents.  My continued success in real estate investment has also been a direct result of their support, encouragement, and guidance.

With this initial property purchase under my belt, I began to think that I loved EVERYTHING real estate.  As a result, I thought that it made sense to obtain my real estate license and become a Realtor.

So I did exactly that.  While still working at Canada’s largest bank, I began to study for and I eventually obtained my Real Estate License.  I left the bank at the end of 2006 and started a new career as  a Real Estate Agent.  Little did I know at the time that this would be a very short lived career…

Business Life Story Part One
Business Life Story Part Two
Business Life Story Part Four
Business Life Story Part Five
Business Life Story Part Six