Monthly Archives: June 2010

An Interview with a Real Estate Expert Part I

Posted by neil on June 17, 2010
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Hi Everybody,

I am happy to announce that I have released the first audio podcast for First Rental Property in today’s blog post.

This audio podcast will be a first in a series of interviews with experienced real estate investors.

In each audio podcast, an experienced real estate investor will describe in detail their experience when they purchased their first rental property.

It is my intent that you will be able to pick up clues and tips from these investors, so that you can successfully take action and buy your first rental property.

These investors will have years of experience in real estate investing. The investment strategies that they use will differ. I encourage you to take notes while listening to these Podcast as well.  Learn as much as you can.

As time goes on, and the more Podcast you listen to, I guarantee you that you will begin to notice similarities among these investors.

In these audio podcasts, the following items will be discussed.

1) Where the investor purchased their first rental property?

The specific city or town, province or state, as well as country.

2) How much they paid for the property, and how much they put as a down payment?
This information will be important to know, so we can determine what their initial loan to value ratio was.


3) If the investor still owns the property.

In this first audio podcast, I have interviewed myself. I hope that you find value in listening to this interview. You can access the audio podcast by clicking on the following link…

Neil Uttamsingh’s First Rental Property Podcast

After listening to the podcast, if you have any questions, please leave your questions or comments in the comments section below.

As always, you can keep up to date with my blog by entering your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, you can enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog. Via The First Rental Property Newsletter, you will receive more interviews with real estate investors who have purchased their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards,
Neil Uttamsingh.

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How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part II

Posted by neil on June 07, 2010
General / 2 Comments

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for reading the first part of this two part blog post.

Here is Part I, in case you missed it…

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part I

In this post we will finish off what we started.  In Part I, I shared with you one recommendation that you can take in order to find a real estate mentor.  Below, I have included my second recommendation.  Enjoy the post, and as always, feel free to leave your comments in the comments section below.

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor

2) Follow People on-line

In today’s market, one of the best ways to find a real estate mentor is by following the online real estate community. Clearly, there are many real estate investing forums that real estate investors visit on a consistent basis. 2 very popular and very good forums are Josh Dorkin’s Bigger Pockets and Don R. Campbell’s MyReinSpace.

On these online real estate forums you will often read about real estate investors who are taking a lot of action, and actively buying real estate.

Keep note of the people that you meet on these forums that are putting their money where their mouth is and investing in real estate.

It is these investors that you will be able to go to in the future and ask many of the real estate questions that you have.

Also, there are real estate entrepreneurs who frequently visit these forums that offer mentor-ship for a certain fee. As part of this fee, they may also offer you workshops and specific training courses.

If you are a new real estate investor, it is very important to know that you do not have to pay for mentor-ship. There are many real estate investors out there with experience who would gladly share their advice and experiences with you free of charge.

On the other hand, there are some great real estate investors and real estate entrepreneurs out there that offer excellent mentor-ship programs.

Tom and Nick Karadza of Rock Star Real Estate Inc. are very well known within the online real estate community. They are brothers who are very down to earth and who offer excellent mentor-ship programs to new real estate investors, among many other things. If you are new to real estate investing, I highly recommend that you check out Tom and Nick Karadza.

So the next time you visit these real estate forums mentioned above (Bigger Pockets and MyReinSpace), take some time to read the comments of other real estate investors.

If you like what you are reading from a certain individual on a particular real estate forum, take the leap of faith and ask them some real estate related questions. Most people are more than willing to help, and would gladly answer any questions that you may have.

It is within these online real estate forums where a lot of mentoring takes place.

To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT side of the blog.

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your name and e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.

As a subscriber to the Newsletter, you will receive interviews that I have conducted with experienced real estate investors. In these interviews, they will be sharing with you their experiences when they bought their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards!

Neil Uttamsingh.



How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part I

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How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part I

Posted by neil on June 06, 2010
General / 3 Comments

Hi Everyone,

One of the realizations that you must make early on in your real estate investing career is that you will need a mentor.

Every real estate investor who has achieved any sort of success has had a mentor at some point.

Mentors play a huge role in the development of a novice real estate investor.

A mentor is someone that you can watch, listen, and learn from their experience.  You can take away certain tidbits of information from them, that help you to become a better real estate investor.

Also, the relationship that you develop with your mentor can take on a more formal arrangement.  This arrangement can be one in which you meet with and discuss your goals and challenges on a more formal basis.

When investors are first staring out, they may not have a mentor, or even know how to go about locating one.

When I began my real estate investing career back in 2005, I did not have a mentor.  As time went on, I realized that in order to get better, I needed to search out a mentor who would be able to answer many of the questions that I had.

As my interest in real estate continued to develop, I began to have so many  questions that no one was able to answer for me.  As such, I realized that  a real estate mentor would be the only individual who would be able to answer these questions.

My first real estate mentor turned out to be the father of one of my friend’s.  At the time, he was the only person that I knew that had invested heavily in real estate, and who had achieved success doing so.

The important thing to note is that as a beginner to real estate investing, you have to be proactive and go out and find a real estate mentor.  A real estate mentor is not just going to fall out of the sky for you.  It is also important to note that finding a real estate mentor  is not the easiest thing to do, if you don’t know how.

To help you with the journey of finding a mentor, I have provided you with 2 recommendations to consider when seeking a mentor.

How to Find a Trustworthy Real Estate Mentor

1)  Word of Mouth

Ask people you know if they know of anyone investing in real estate.  You never know who might be an experienced real estate investor.  These experienced people are a wealth of knowledge.  It is important to ask around, because sometimes real estate investors are very secretive.  Believe it or not, but there is a breed of real estate investors that don’t openly share with people that they invest in real estate.  It has been my observation that these people are sometimes the older real estate investors, who have adopted an old school train of thought.  This old school train of thought is to not share with people what they do.  Sometimes these investors, if you get chatting with them and show an interest in real estate, can really open up.  These investors can often be the most knowledgeable of all real estate investors. This is because they have been investing in real estate over the long term, and have weathered the ups and downs of the economic cycle.  These investors are a great asset.  Get them on your side.

To read Part II of How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor, click on the link at the bottom of this blog post.

To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.

To sign up for The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your name an e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.

In the First Rental Property Newsletter, I will be providing you with interviews that I have conducted with experienced real estate investors.  In these interviews, they will share the experiences and challenges they had buying their first rental property.

Onwards and Upwards,

Neil Uttamsingh

How to find a trustworthy real estate mentor Part II

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOA5Mn4loBc[/youtube]

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