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Personal Belize Achieved !!!

jefferycarson

jefferycarson

0
REIN Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2007
Messages
23
It was April of 2007. My first ACRE weekend. In order to attend I had to call in sick to work and get my good friends at Visa to pay the price of admission :-) So there I was nervous and yet excited at the same time. There was so much information, so much to learn and do, my head was spinning!At the end of the weekend I left with a binder full of real estate information, and a vision for my future ( As Don calls it "My personal Belize")



For this post I will share the part of my Belize that pertains specifically to my real estate goals.



The first time I had heard Don speak about a personal Belize and creating a vision board I did not really see how it would help me become a sophisticated real estate investor.....How could cutting out pictures and pasting them on a piece of paper help? How could clearly writing out what I wanted in life help me buy a cash flow property?



After some consideration I decided to keep an open mind and give it a shot...after all, most of what I had been doing up to that point was not working so well!



Goals:



1) Build up a cash flow real estate portfolio large enough to support my life style.

***I bought back me FREEDOM in Oct 2010...and resigned from my J.O B (Just Over Broke)



2) Own a minimum of 100 rental units.

*** I own 106 as of April 2013. Based on where I come from, and my personal life experience at the time of writing my goals, this was a HUGE goal for me that I was not sure I could achieve. I now realize that I set my goal way to low! Fortunately we can adjust our goals as we go :-)



3) Build a successful management business to maintain my portfolio and help others.

*** As I write this post I have a successful company that has four foundational pillars. Real estate investing| Property Management | Renovation solutions | Real estate education| ( www.wamproperties.com )



Personal Belize Accomplished :-)



A few lessons that I learned throughout my last 6 year journey:



1) You MUST create a clearly defined, compelling future. If you do not know where you want to go and have action steps that you can implement on a consistent basis you will have a difficult time making your dreams a reality.



2)You need to have a strong reason WHY! If your reason for achieving your goals is not strong enough you may just give up when things get difficult.



3) You want to build a great team of amazing people around you. No one ever achieves greatness on their own!



In closing I would like to leave you with this quote.



"Most people fail in life not because they set their goals to high and miss, but because they set them to low and hit"



Dream BIG !!! You have endless potential !!!



Thanks REIN :-)



P.S The best investment you can make is NOT stocks, bonds, gold, business, or even real estate! The best investment you can make is in yourself!
 
Impressive ! 6 years - WOW !



CONGRATULATIONS !



Share some more of your detailed steps to buy the first 1-5 houses/properties ? How much money did you invest or start with ?

JV partners ?



How much did you work .. or still do to this day ?



Was there a particular time you thought you should quit due to so many problems or stress ?



Any failures, or "oops, this was stupid" along the road ?



You obviously have a strong work ethic, and assuming you have JV partners, a persuasive personality. What other attributes do you possess that made you successful in only 6 years ?
 
Wow, very impressive and a big congradulations as well. I would also love to hear the responses to Thomas's questions above. Cheers!
 
Thanks Thomas,



All very good questions...



Impressive ! 6 years - WOW !

6 years since my first REIN event....but not 6 years in real estate. I was stubborn and thought I could figure things out on my own for many years prior to joining REIN. I bought my first property at the age of 23 in August of 1998.



CONGRATULATIONS ! Thanks :-)



Share some more of your detailed steps to buy the first 1-5 houses/properties ?

I started out as many do....working hard and saving all my money for a down payment. I bought a beat up bank power of sale. I moved in with very few possessions to my name and slowly began to fix it up and rent it out by the room to college students. Once it was full I was cash flowing extremely well and thought I was a genius. (little did I know :-) I then proceeded to pull equity out of that property and bought my first duplex in 2000. Today I view this duplex as one of my best investments because it taught me so many valuable lessons. At The time however, it was my worst nightmare! The only thing I did correct was negotiate a good purchase price. I made so many mistakes with this property that I put it up for sale, sold it, and quickly went back to my comfort zone....never considering real estate again until 2005. I allowed my fear to hold me back!!! THAT IS A MISTAKE I WILL NEVER LET HAPPEN AGAIN!!!



How much money did you invest or start with ? I started with about $9,000 that I had saved up from my day job...not going out...living on no name kraft dinner...cutting all expenses that were not necessary. At that time I did not have any friends or family that could help as I come from humble beginnings and I was not educated in raising capital and other creative real estate strategies that I now use today.



JV partners ? Yes, I now have several J.V partners.



How much did you work .. or still do to this day ? In the beginning I worked relentlessly at my day job as well as building my real estate business. Now that I have my own company I still work a lot but there are 2 major differences. 1) I work because I enjoy what I do..not because I have to. 2) I work on my business not in my business.



Was there a particular time you thought you should quit due to so many problems or stress ? Yes, as I explained above...when I bought my duplex I had made so many mistakes and had a ton of issues with tenants, fire code, repairs, etc that it made me question my ability to be a real estate investor....So much so that I wasted 5 long years trying to build up the courage to get out of my comfort zone again. For any new investors reading this....that is why I stress in my previous post to get educated and build a team of people around you so that hopefully you do not make the mistakes I made. REIN has some amazing members that you can go to for help and guidance. Do not be afraid to ask for help.



Any failures, or "oops, this was stupid" long the road ? Yes, Thomas I have made many mistakes throughout the years...to list them all would take far to long.....but the key for me was learning to harness those mistakes and using them to push forward. Again for any new investors...Do not let fear hold you back like I did. Those are years I will never get back.



You obviously have a strong work ethic, and assuming you have JV partners, a persuasive personality. What other attributes do you possess that made you successful in only 6 years ? I would say I have a high AQ (The ability to harness adversity and use it to achieve my goals) as well as the confidence that I can do anything I put my mind too (of course I did not always feel that way...It is a result of many years of investing in myself)



I hope that adds some more clarity to my personal journey.
 
Thank you for sharing this Jeff. Reading this was very motivating for me. Congratulations!
 
Very inspiring... thanks for posting and should check this section more often. Also, amazing website - well done.

Michael
 
Thanks Thomas. Yes.... the Niagara region has many amazing things to see and do. If you get the opportunity to visit the Niagara region let me know....perhaps we could get together for a glass of wine and chat about real estate.
 
Hello:



I own a property downtown Niagara Falls. I bought it as a Rent to Own that went bad. I live in Toronto and I would really like to sell the property. According to my realestate agent it is priced well. I have not had any offers. I bought it for $165,000 two years ago. Put in $12,000 in renovations and I have it priced at $159,000. The municipal value is $170,000.



I am wondering if you can provide me with some help and advice. Thanks Jacqueline

You can reach me at j[email protected]
 
Hi Jeff,



First off "WOW!!" Congratulations, isn't it amazing what can be created when you have a strong and compelling goal to chase.



Secondly, and just as important: Thank You! for sharing your story. It is truly inspiring for so many - which in the big scheme of things will have a ripple effect that will help others get through the rough patches.



Looking forward to hearing what's next for you (after you take some time to celebrate and enjoy what you've already accomplished!)



Don
 
Thanks for the kind words Don. It sure is amazing what we can accomplish with a compelling goal and a great role model such as yourself! :-) Thanks for all your words of wisdom and paving they way for others to follow!



The next part of my journey is devoted to giving back and helping others (more). In addition to growing my real estate portfolio; I am coaching students, conducting workshops, doing presentations, and I am in the process of writing a book with 2 of my fellow REIN members. 2014 is going to be an amazing year!!!



Kind Regards,

Jeff
 
Hello:



I own a property downtown Niagara Falls. I bought it as a Rent to Own that went bad. I live in Toronto and I would really like to sell the property. According to my realestate agent it is priced well. I have not had any offers. I bought it for $165,000 two years ago. Put in $12,000 in renovations and I have it priced at $159,000. The municipal value is $170,000.



I am wondering if you can provide me with some help and advice. Thanks Jacqueline r: #ffffff;" />
You can reach me at j[email protected]





The Niagara Region is a challenging area for remote rental property management.



If you still haven't sold it, start a thread and a buyer will come to you..Cheers...





************************





To the OP congrats on your Belieze goal!
 
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