Thanks for all the great comments, everyone.  It has been an exciting year.  Planning on more great things to come.

Nik

Inspirational

This goes to everyone else too; these success stories really helps us little guys push forward!

Congrats!

 Hi Nik congratulation for one million dollars portfolio.

My name  is Hero I just join REIN last week May 10 2011.  I went to BC Fieldtrip on the weekend. Could you share your success with me how did you started invest in Realestate ? What did you learn ?  What was your challenge ? Do you have JV Partners? What area are you investing ?

Thank you kindly
Hero
luckygoldhirohina@gmail.com

Really inspirational stuff there!! Keep it up.  I am just finishing up uni and trying to start early on my real estate investments.  I remember several times I would look at properties rather than study for exams.  I really liked the idea of taking your team out to to meet! That's very important and something I look forward to doing soon.  Regarding the team making process what sort of things did you look for when interviewing your banker and lawyer?
Good luck in the future.... Hope to hear from you soon

Cheers

Ali Basmaci

Thanks for the great comments, guys!  Things are going well.  Incredibly busy, but busy is good.  I hear a lot of people saying that you don't want to add another job to your life and real estate investment is a way of creating a passive stream of income.  Although this is true in part, building a real estate portfolio is like building a business.  The first 3 to 5 years of building a business are going to be tough some days, and I have to remind myself of that daily.  Long term wealth is the goal.  Cash flow is positive, but expenses are high at this point.

I've managed to attract some partners along the way.  So far it has been word of mouth.  Friends and family have seen what I am doing and are interested and some of them have decided they would like to be more actively involved.  I have a number of people in mind that I'm considering approaching for larger projects requiring more capital.  That's a touchy one though.  I don't want to approach people for money until I have proved myself, first to myself, and then to them.  Nobody should expect people to invest with them until they have proven themself worthy.  Peter Kinch explains that pretty well in his book and in some recent interviews.

One of my earlier posts in this thread on page 1 details some of my strategies.  Here's a tip I got from my mortgage broker too, that I hadn't thought of.  My vehicle needs replacing and I was going to use some capital to buy one or possibly finance one.  His suggestion is to lease.  There are a lot of private auto brokers who least pre owned vehicles.  For $400 a month I can drive a 2008 Pacifica or similar on a lease.  The advantage is that I don't use my capital that could be used to finance a purchase.  Also, if I financed the vehicle through a car loan, it affects my TDSR.  A lease will not.  The lease also can be deducted as a business expense if the vehicle is used primarily for business purposes.  Something to think about before you go buy a new car and hurt your chances of building up you real estate portfolio.

Anyway, thanks again for the positive comments.  I will update on challenges and successes as time goes on.   Good luck with your ventures!

Nik