The Top 10 Mistakes Made On A Canadian Real Estate Investment

You can't get involved with a Canadian real estate investment and not expect to at least make one mistake.

But here's the thing, I never look at mistakes as a bad thing.

We always ask beginner investors to make as many mistakes as fast as possible. It's the only way to learn.

Let me put include a little caveat here... the beginner investors we work with are working with our team, following a system, and we're assisting in the selection of the Canadian real estate investment and advising on different strategies to use with the property.

So we know they've chosen a good property and the we know the strategy they'll be using to make money on the property because we are implementing it constantly.

So...when we ask beginners to make mistakes we're usually referring to the process of filling their property with a tenant.

You don't want to make too many mistakes on choosing your Canadian real estate investment or the strategy you use to profit with it - mistakes with that can have rather serious financial impacts on you quickly!

Most people are scared to make mistakes when showing their property to tenants or afraid that they'll say the wrong thing when talking to possible tenants. Or they're afraid they'll pick the wrong tenants.

You should know, that everyone feels this way.

It's 100% normal.

Don't freeze up... it's during this process that you should just go off and make as many mistakes as quickly as possible.

Here's why...

The more quickly you make the mistakes and screw up talking to possible tenants the more quickly you learn.

If you turn a tenant off because you present the property incorrectly or don't position the rent you are asking with confidence or if you don't create the property environment to rent out your property... big deal!

You've just learned what not to do.

Getting someone else to look at your Canadian real estate investment is not difficult. And now because you've made some mistakes you're better prepared for the next person you speak with.

Many beginners are so scared that they'll say the wrong thing when trying to rent out their Canadian real estate investment that they'll spend time on non-revenue producing activities.

This includes fixing things that don't need fixing. Or calling for quotes on a roof repair that still has 5 years life on it. Or running the numbers on their property for the 110th time.

To make money on a property you need to focus on the few activities that make you money. Read that again.

Fixing a door knob isn't one of them.

You need to get someone into your property so that you can collect cash.

With all that said let's jump into the top ten mistakes we see with investors and their Canadian real estate investment...

"And the Top 10 Canadian Real Estate Investment Mistakes Are..."

1. 1. Taking way too long to place ads for your property after it closes. Not creating momentum. Taking too long to call leads from your ads back. Calling leads one time and never calling them again!
   2. Focusing solely on the monthly cash flow only, instead of the big picture, which includes equity build-up, tax benefits, and possible appreciation.
   3. Getting scared off during a home inspection instead of working to negotiate a solution that works to your advantage.
   4. Making individual appointments with prospects instead of creating a competitive environment.
   5. Working with a mortgage broker who has no idea how to handle investment properties. Working with a lawyer who has no idea about investment properties, working with an accountant who has no idea about investment properties!
   6. Not having an experienced mentor to help you. A good mentor can save you a great deal of time, money and help you avoid mistakes.
   7. Not treating investing as a business.
   8. Not following a step-by-step system. Too many investors "wing it."
   9. Trying to find a deal vs. studying market demand. A good deal means nothing if there isn't any demand on for the property.
   10. And my personal favourite... trying to save a $100 negotiating a purchase and losing $30,000 in future profits!!

And there's something to note about this list. This is the general top 10 mistakes list.

There's a top 10 list for each step along the process and for each type of investment!

We'll get to all of them sooner or later.

Here's a quote that summarizes our thinking on making mistakes:

Now go out and makes some!