See those three gentlemen in that picture?
They went on a quest for cash flow ... and we recorded it all!
Mike Desormeaux worked to hunt down an investment property for Christina, Jackie, and Anthony Molinaro.
Aidan, my son, recorded the whole adventure.
They checked out 5 different properties in the St. Catharines area to see if any of them could produce enough income to make a good purchase ... even in this interest-rate environment!!
And wait until you see what they found!
They go through the entire process of analyzing each property and then making an offer on one!!
You can check it out right here...
We've come a freaking long way.
You had to see how Nick and I bought our first student rental property together.
Nick had purchased one near McMaster University about 20 years ago.
He called me and explained that there was an open house down the street and he found what he thought was another winning property.
He shared that it had 7 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, and a second entrance off the back of the house.
I said, "OK great, sounds good, let's make an offer".
We then bought it for the full list price of $250K. We were both in our 20s at the time.
That was our full discussion, LOL!!!
How's that for a complete analysis?
After we bought it we realized it needed some urgent bathroom renovations (part of the problem was some live wires hanging above the shower tied to some HVAC ductwork).
But the property produced income. Each month those 7 students paid rent and we managed to hold that property to this day.
I think we've refinanced that one at least twice.
We started renting at $325 a room back then. Rent has now almost tripled in the area.
And the price of the property has more than tripled.
It's part of the reason we tell everyone...
...you don't make money "timing the market" in real estate. You make money with "time in" the market.
Even when we were flipping properties or doing shorter, three-year, rent-to-owns we would never buy a property that we wouldn't want to have owned for at least ten years.
Student rentals generally get a bad rap but they're excellent investments.
We have friends who own them as well and they were explaining how they have never had a missed rental payment in 30 years!!
And when students graduate and leave you're renting out again at current market rental rates. So your rent is always adjusting higher.
And with Universities just jamming more and more and more students into schools the demand has been incredible.
It's actually a sin how many students these Universities are accepting.
There's just not enough housing for even first-year students but it doesn't seem to stop them.
Universities and colleges in Canada have become a second immigration path that doesn't get enough attention.
Check out this chart from BMO...
Our investment in housing construction is actually decreasing further this year.
It's wild.
Our government has all sorts of policies to increase our population and they're manipulating the currency to such an extent that no entrepreneurial developers feel confident enough to build new homes.
We've always believed that student rentals are recession-proof.
When times are good people go to school.
When times are bad people stay in school longer.
Rent is often, but not always, backed up by the parents.
And if you respect the property and the students then they respect you and the property in return.
We may rebuild one of our student rentals in the next couple of years.
Let's see.
But for now, there are other important matters...
Nick is off to Europe with the family today!!
Our family leaves next week. Florence, Italy, then Croatia.
We're actually all meeting up in Rome for a few days too.
I freaking love my time in Europe, we're there for a month and good times will be had!
Ruben Furtado, part of the Rock Star team, is coming for a visit this year too.
We're going to take him and his wife on a boat excursion to an island that has our favorite winery on it.
Carol's sister and her whole family are joining us there this year too.
I'm sure we'll be doing some great pig and lamb roasts to celebrate!
Noha on our team will continue these weekly updates and I'll pop in for one or two of them as well.
Watch out Adriatic Sea ... here we come!!
Our multi-decade quest for cash flow has led to the quest for summer fun in the European sun!
Hope you're enjoying your summer!!
Tom & Nick
P.S. Don't forget to check out this epic video of Mike and Anthony searching for the perfect investment property!! You can watch it by clicking right here
P.P.S If you like this stuff hit the big red "Subscribe" button on YouTube to catch Part 2 when it comes out!
P.P.P.S. Congrats Christina, Jackie, and Anthony!! Real Estate is a bumpy ride but if you can survive it the rewards are meaningful.
