BiggerPockets

Who else Wants Multiple Streams of Income?

Sunday, December 12

Cash flow from real estate is only the beginning when creating multiple streams of income.   We now live in an age in which multiple streams of income can be derived through methods such as monetization and affiliate marketing programs. If you are a new or aspiring real estate investor, it is never too early for you to start learning about how to generate multiple streams of income.

The truth of the matter is that the new age real estate investor generates cash flow not only from their real estate holdings, however, also from a variety of different forms.   

I myself am a student of creating multiple streams of income, and this is something that I am continually working towards achieving with my real estate business. 

For over a year now, I have been fortunate to follow and watch the best practices of fellow real estate entrepreneurs, Julie Broad, Shae Bynes, and Steph Davis.  

I became familiar with Julie, Shae, and Steph via the BiggerPockets Real Estate Blog.  As fellow real estate bloggers, we all would frequent this site and leave comments on articles.  A common marketing strategy used by bloggers. 

Julie, Shae and Steph write blog articles for BiggerPockets.  One of my goals is to become a contributor to this real estate blog created by Josh Dorkin.  

On the topic of multiple streams of income and the business of real estate, I was very happy to learn of a new initiative that Julie, Shae, and Steph are working on.

These ladies are disclosing for the first time publicly the steps that they all took in creating their multiple streams of income as it relates to the business of real estate. 

They are all full time real estate investors, and have named this new initiative The Diva Money Club.  

As the 3 ladies mention, this program was created for the ladies. However, there is a great deal that they guys can learn by following the methods that they each have taken.

I personally am going to be following their Diva Money Club and learning about the different paths that they took.

If you are a new or aspiring real estate investor, you must check this out as well. 

Creating multiple streams of income is what the business of real estate investing is all about.

Check out the Diva Money Club now.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: To learn more about earning multiple streams of income through real estate, subscribe to my blog.

Who else Wants Their Rent Paid on Time?

Sunday, December 12

The most unsettling feeling you will have as a landlord is the first time you find out that your tenant is not going to pay you rent. I have been there before, and I would compare this feeling to an adrenaline rush. You become really fired up, and ready to take action. I had to calm myself down the first time this happened to me, as I could feel my heart beating faster the moment I discovered that they were not going to pay their rent.

I once heard an experienced real estate investor say, “If you have never had a tenant not pay you rent, you have not been investing in real estate long enough.”

These words are very true. The longer you spend as a real estate investor, and the more properties you potentially acquire results in your odds increasing that a tenant will be late with rent, or that a tenant will decide not to pay you at all. Fellow REIN member and real estate investor, Chris Davies knows all about kicking out dead beat tenants.

Tenants not paying rent is by far one of the biggest fears that newbie real estate investors have. I would have to say that this fear ranks number 1, second to the fear of property management.

As a new or aspiring real estate investor, there is one thing that you need to understand very clearly. If a tenant is not paying you rent, you have to be ready to kick some a$$.

This may seem like a harsh statement. I don’t mean to come off as an aggressive or mean person, clearly I am not. However, there is one thing that I do understand, and I understand this very well, and that is, no one is going to take advantage of me and compromise my real estate business.

As real estate investors, you have a lot on the line. You have invested your money and time in order to buy real estate. You have hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. Your rental properties are assets that you have to take care of. If you don’t take care of them, no one else will.

So what do you do if a you are a new real estate investor and your tenant decides not to pay you?

Here are some suggestions:

1) Leverage on your property manager

Despite what some people might tell you, I believe that having a good property manager is very important. Your property manager should know the ins and outs of the rules of your local Real Estate and Tenant Board. When the you know what hits the fan and your tenants decide not to pay you, your property manger can step in and issue all of the appropriate forms and documents to the tenant pertaining to their non-payment of rent. The property manager is your ally. Leverage on them. They are experts in dealing with this type of situation.

2) Don’t be a wimp

I have heard so many stories from real estate investors who didn’t have the heart to evict their tenants because it was the winter. I have heard of a couple of occasions in which real estate investors did not evict their tenants because they “did not have another place to live”.

Plain and simple, you can’t be a wimp. If you do, you will get eaten alive. You are running a business. You are not running a charity. If tenants have not payed you, it is costing you money out of your pocket, and they are living for free in your rental property. When the time comes, in which you are legally able to evict them, do it. It doesn’t matter what the time of the year is and it doesn’t matter what excuse they have given you. If they have not paid you, you get them out of there!

Real estate investors run into big problems when they lose sight that they are running a business.

It is fine to be a nice person, but business is business. Don’t get being nice confused with being a smart business operator.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: If you want to learn about other challenges that new and aspiring real estate investors face, subscribe to my blog.

How to Network Properly

Friday, December 10

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

As you begin your real estate investing career, the people that you surround yourself with become increasingly important as time goes on.

Throughout your investing career, you will have many different experiences and will face many different obstacles.

The people that you surround yourself with will either be able to help you during these tough times, or they won’t be able to help you a all.

It becomes increasingly important that you network with purpose, because as you encounter obstacles as a real estate investor, you want to be able to reach out to people that you have met along the way that will be able to help you.

As an aspiring real estate investor, the challenges that you face will be quite different than the challenges that someone who owns 5, 6, or 7 rental properties will face.

This is why it is also very important that you are meeting and networking with new real estate investors, with varying levels of experience.

You constantly need to be adding on people to your social network.  When I say social network here, I mean it in the context of people that you know that you can reach out to at any time.  Whether it be during a time of need, or just to simply say hello.

Birds of a feather flock together

I pay attention to detail and I have noticed some similarities within real estate investment groups.  In these groups, real estate investors with similar levels of experience tend to gravitate to one another.  They gravitate to one another because they have something in common.  For example, aspiring real estate investors who have not purchased their first rental property can often be seen associating with other aspiring real estate investors.

Further, real estate investors with one rental property may feel comfortable hanging out with others who have just bought their first rental property as well.

In addition, real estate investors with multiple rental properties often enjoy the company of others that have also achieved what they have accomplished.

Real Estate investors just like the rest of the population tent to gravitate toward and feel comfortable around people that share similarities with them.

It is your responsibility to know that in order to become a better real estate investor, you cannot always hang out with people that have the same level of experience that you do.

In order to get to the next level, you have to network and hang out with real estate investors who have accomplished more than you have.

So how does one network properly?

Networking properly is really quite simple.  It is something that I have been very good at, however, it came so naturally to me that I never even realized that I was good at it.  I began to realize that I was good at it, when people started to ask me for advice on how to network.

In my opinion, here is the most important thing that you need to do when networking:

YOU NEED TO LISTEN

Many people think that networking should be an intense experience where you go out to an event where you need to power through the room and talk to every single person in the room and exchange business cards with each and every person.  To some, this may be an ideal form of networking, however to me, it is a waste of time.

If you approach networking as an opportunity to listen to what people have to say, you will find it tremendously worthwhile.

SIMPLY APPROACH PEOPLE AND ASK THEM WHAT THEY DO

Students of Dale Carneige know that people like to talk about themselves.  The more you can master listening to others, and talking less about yourself, the more the other person will appreciate the conversation, and the more you will learn about the other person.  (I highly recommend trying this if you have not done this before — you will be very impressed with the outcome)

Be genuine.  Listen to what the other person has to say.  If you feel a good connection with this person take note.  Also, if they repulse you beyond believe, also take note.

IT IS NOT ABOUT TAKING, IT IS ABOUT GIVING

Another very important lesson that people have to learn is that you don’t enter into a networking event to take from others.  You enter into a networking event to give to others.  If you listen to what people have to say, and where appropriate you offer them help as to how they can improve their real estate business, you are providing them with real value.  You have to be genuine with your intentions.  If you cannot offer them any help, don’t.  Just listen to what they have to say, and perhaps follow up with them at a later date and time with any help that you can offer.

It is also a good idea to follow up with them at a later date, asking them to talk more about themselves.  For instance, if there was something that they had mentioned in their real estate business that you found particularly interesting, take a mental note of that.  Ask them further about this, and let them talk about it.

The bottom line is that people enjoy talking about themselves.  Allow people to talk about themselves and you in return will benefit a great deal.  You will learn a lot about them, and the other person will have appreciated the conversation the two of you had shared.

In summary, networking as a real estate investor is not that hard, you just need to focus on doing the right things.  If you approach every real estate investment group meeting with the same game plan, you will be very happy with the outcome.

To network properly you need to first listen.  Listen to what others have to say.  Let them talk.  You do not talk.  If you are talking more than they are, you are not listening.

You then need to simply ask people what they do.  Let them explain what they do, and let them tell you all about their real estate business.

Finally, never approach the activity of networking from the position that you are looking to take from others.  Always keep on the forefront of your mind that you are there to give something of value to others.  Look to help others with their real estate business.  Perhaps you can share with them the name of a good property manager, the name of a good painter, or you can share with them some of the key things that you have learned as a landlord.

Make these 3 changes to how you network, and you will notice a dramatic change in how people respond to you.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.  To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In the newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they purchased their first rental property.  They will also share with you some tips and tricks in order to help you get started.

Two of the Most Important Blogs for Real Estate Entrepreneurs

Sunday, December 05

Keeping up to date with our real estate education can be increasingly difficult at times. As a new real estate investor you have to constantly educate yourself on the topic of real estate. There are a lot of real estate blogs being read today. This can be a both good and bad. It is important to know what information and blogs are credible, and what information is worth spending your time reading. On the flip side, it is important to know what blogs and information to steer clear of, due to the fact that these blogs may have inaccurate information or due to the fact that some of the information on them may be misleading.

In this post I am going to highlight 2 very important blogs.

I am not providing you with an exhaustive list, however, what I am providing you with are two of the most important blogs that I believe exist right now for real estate entrepreneurs.

When I use the words ‘real estate entrepreneur’, I am referring both to new and aspiring real estate investors, in addition, I am also referring to experienced real estate investors who operate blogs as part of their real estate business.

As you all know, I normally focus just on the new and aspiring real estate investor. However, in today’s post I am going to be speaking directly to some experienced real estate investors as well. I hope you don’t mind. Leave me a comment in the section below to let me know what you thought of me addressing the experienced real estate investors as well…

First and Foremost, to the new and aspiring real estate investors, I want you to know 2 important things…

YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE REI NEWSWATCH BLOG

If you are not following this blog already, I want you to do so. The blog is called Real Estate Investing News Watch. More commonly referred to as REI Newswatch, this blog provides content on a daily basis, highlighting the work of a number of different real estate bloggers.

I have followed this blog for some time, as they very often highlight many of my articles and share these articles with their readers.

I would like you to follow this blog, because there is a lot that you can learn from reading the content there.

Much like I do, I would suggest that you visit this blog regularly and scroll through the different articles and click on the ones that interest you the most, and read them.

The quality of the writers on this blog is high, and I have seen some of my fellow real estate blogging buddies like Shae Bynes featured on their blog as well.

Please note that there is content on REI Newswatch that applies to both Canadian Real Estate Investors<!--coloro:#237fa1--><!--/coloro--> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->and American real estate investors. Since most of you that follow my blog are from Canada and the US, pay close attention as to what articles you are reading and make sure that the articles are relevant to you.

For my readers from other parts of the world, mainly Africa and Europe, I recommend that you read the articles written by the Canadian authors, as some of the investing strategies in the US may not be relevant to you and your real estate market.

Before, I move on and talk about the next very important Blog for real estate entrepreneurs, I would like to thank the people over at REI Newswatch for following my blog and supporting me in the way that you have. Thank you!

…and now for the real estate entrepreneurs!

YOU NEED TO FOLLOW COPYBLOGGER

Copyblogger is one of the most popular blogs in the world. As a real estate investor/blogger, there are tonnes of things that you can learn from following this blog, in order to better your writing skills and your own personal real estate blog.

I myself am studying this blog, and learning the best practices of some of the best bloggers in the world.

I am doing this so that I can provide great content and tremendous value to my readers.

The fact that my blog is dramatically increasing in popularity by the day is no accident. It is because I am learning from the best over at Copyblogger.

To my new and aspiring real estate investors. Thank you for letting me indulge and address the experienced real estate investors in today’s post. Let me know what you thought of this? Do you want me to speak more to the experienced investors in future posts, or do you prefer that I focus directly on issues that face new real estate investors? Please leave your comments below.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh.

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog. To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog. In The First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they purchased their first rental property. They will also share with you some tips and tricks to help you get started.

The Jay-Z Guide To Becoming A Real Estate Investor Extraordinaire

Sunday, December 05

Who would have thought that a kid raised in the projects of Brooklyn, New York would accomplish the unthinkable?

With the release of his album, Blueprint 3, Jay-Z passed the legendary Elvis Presley in number one albums sold.

Blueprint 3 was the 11th album to hit number one for Jay-Z.

Over a year ago, I stood in The Air Canada Centre in Toronto Ontario Canada among 15,000+ fans listening to Jay-Z perform.

People that follow the Hip Hop music industry know that Jay-Z is one of the greatest rappers alive today.

The man has unbelievable musical talent.

It was not his musical talent that struck me as the most impressive thing about him almost a year ago at the Air Canada Centre, however it was the message that he kept on repeating to this loyal fans in attendance.

Jay-Z is a true business man, and the message that he spread over a year ago was so powerful, it has stuck with me since

If you are a new or aspiring real estate investor, the message that Jay-Z was promoting applies directly to you.

There were 3 simple statements that he shared during his concert in Toronto in late October of last year.

I am going to share these three pieces of wisdom with you, and I will explain how you can use these insights to help you in your real estate investing career.

Three Pieces of Wisdom From Jay-Z

1) ALWAYS HAVE AMBITION

Jay-Z repeated this message over and over agin to his crowd. He was repeating it so much, I could tell how passionate he was about trying to make people understand the importance of his statement.

If you are someone just starting out investing in real estate, you need to have ambition. Buying your first rental property is only the begining. Ambition is required in order to get you to the stage in which you actuall end up purchasing your first rental property. Many will stop after buying their first rental. There is no problem with that. However, there will be a few of you that decide that you want to keep on buying. This is good news! Every successful real estate investor first started off with only one property. Everything beyond that point, depends a lot upon the ambition of the individual. Are you committed to continue to buy rental properties, or will you stop once you have one rental property? Again, if you stop at one, that is perfectly fine. A question to ask yourself at this point is, where will your ambition take you? If you chose to keep only one rental property, do you have an ambitions goal of paying off the mortgage on your rental property fast? Or does your ambitious goal center around maximizing the cash flow on your rental property? What ever your objective is, like Jay-Z so accurately put it, ALWAYS HAVE AMBITION.

2) HAVE A DREAM AND NEVER LET ANYONE DESTROY YOUR DREAM

Take a moment and re-read the statement above and let it sink it.

What an incredibly powerful statement this is. There is no wonder why Jay-Z became the super successful business man that he is today. As real estate investors, we need to adopt the same mindset that he has.

As an aspiring real estate investor, you will face many challenges during your real estate investing career. One of these many challenges will be dealing with people that don’t like or don’t agree with what you are doing. Often times these people are close friends and family members. Intentionally or unintentionally people try to derail us from our real estate investing paths. They do this because real estate investing is something that they do not understand, however, they try to give us advice and direction as to what we should be doing.

Like Jay-Z says, have a dream. Dream about real estate and dream about achieving all of your real estate goals. Don’t let anyone get in the way of you achieving your goals.

3) ANYONE HAS THE ABILITY TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND BECOME SUCCESSFUL, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE FROM, OR WHAT YOUR BACKGROUD IS.

These are very wise words coming from someone who grew up in a situation in which the odds were stacked against him.

How many of us hear people that we know continually giving excusing as to why they can’t do something?

Like Jay-Z says, if a person has the belief that they can achieve something, they can do it.

People can get around any roadblock that is placed in front of them if they truly have the desire to do so.

It doesn’t matter if someone is rich or poor, if they have a ‘fire in the belly’ and are committing to becoming successful, nothing will be able to stop them.

As an aspiring real estate investor, it is important that you take note of what Jay-Z is saying. Listen to people that have achieved something in life that you want to achieve. Listen to successful people. The advice that Jay-Z has given can be applied directly to you as you embark upon your real estate investing career.

Never forget what “Jay-Z” so passionately wants to you know:

1) ALWAYS HAVE AMBITION

2) HAVE A DREAM AND NEVER LET ANYONE DESTROY YOUR DREAM

3) ANYONE HAS THE ABILITY TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND BECOME SUCCESSFUL, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE FROM, OR WHAT YOUR BACKGROUD IS.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog. To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHThand side of the blog. In The First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they purchased theirfirst rental property. They will also share with you some tips and tricks to help you get started.

Why People Will Always Be More Valuable Than Real Estate

Sunday, December 05

As I glanced over my left shoulder, I could not believe how close the bus was to me. I was about 6 inches away from being hit by it. It was moving at a speed at which if I was hit, I probably would have been run over by it. It would have been lights out, game over for me.

This happened to me when I was in University. I was minding my business and walking along a sidewalk parallel to one of the main streets in my university town. I had my Walkman on and I had music playing which prevented me from hearing any other sounds around me.

I felt the urge to step down from the curb and onto the road, in anticipation of crossing over to the other side of the street. I had planned in my mind that once I had stepped down onto the road I would be taking off my Walkman, and looking behind me so that I would be able to hear the sounds and see the oncoming cars before I crossed the road.

The planned step would only have taken me 6 inches away from the curb and the sidewalk that I was walking on, and far out of reach any oncoming traffic....so I thought.

Little did I know that at the same time, there was a bus pulling up o the curb to make a stop and to drop off people.

For some reason, unknown to me to this very day...I hesitated in stepping down onto the road. Had I not hesitated and had I stepped down onto the road, the bus would have hit me and I would have been easily run over.

What does this have to do with buying your first rental property?


This has a lot to do with real estate and your first rental property.

Before I make the connection, I would like to thank Henrik Edberg of The Positivity Blog. Henrik made a great suggestion in one of his posts titled , How to build a somewhat successful blog: 16 Lessons I have learned.


Henrik made me realize how very important the first few lines of every blog post are. As a result, I am going to spend time making sure that I have an impactful introduction for every article that I write.

Thank you Henrik!

As many of you reading this embark upon your real estate investing careers, you will be faced with many tough decisions. Very honestly, some of you will succeed in buying your first rental property, and some of you will not. In fact, a number of you may chose to develop a real estate portfolio bigger than just one rental property. There will be a certain number of you that will put an extreme emphasis on buying real estate and growing your portfolio as much as possible or as fast as possible...

...This is completely fine and there is nothing wrong with that. However, I will caution you on one important matter, in the hopes of helping you identify a potential problem before it actually occurs.

My caution to you is to not lose focus of what really matters in life. It is great to be ambitious and it is great to invest in real estate. There is no better way at building wealth than by investing in real estate. However, never invest in real estate at the detriment of the people and relationships that are important to you.

People will always be more valuable than real estate, and you should never do things to compromise these people.

You never know how long you will have some people in your life, so you better make the most of it while they are still around.

Investing in real estate should be secondary to investing in people.

Don't lose focus of this. If you do, you will end up leading much of your life pursuing real estate goals while distancing yourself from the people that matter to you the most.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog. To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog. In the newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you tips and tricks in order to help you purchase your first rental property.