0 to 54 units in 12 months

0 to 54 units in 12 months

Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes

Hey guys,

I am a full-time real estate investor from Montreal, Canada. Almost 3 years ago, I started flipping single-family houses and subdividing land on a part-time basis. One year later, I was able to go at it full-time along with my business partner. To date, we have completed over 20 transactions. 

In September 2016, my partner and I decided to keep flipping, but to focus most of our attention on buying rental properties in order to build sustainable long-term wealth.

Fast forward 12 months later, we went from 0 unit to 54 units with a little over 1.7 million dollars in equity (along with 3 million in mortgage).

The key is simple: You just have to do it. Take action! Nobody else will do it for you. Everything you buy should ideally be off market, and you have to be very careful with your calculations in order to buy properties that will surely yield great returns. If you analyze the right way, you will decrease your risk drastically. 

No we are not rich, and we used OPM (other people's money) to complete all of our purchases.

If we could do it at 28 years old, so can you!

Let's go!!

G

85Reply
350 views

Most Popular Reply

Joshua ThompsonBusiness Member
Accountant · Melissa, TX (Remote) · Member since 2017 · 210 posts · 135 votes
9y

@Guillaume D.

You mentioned the best deals are the ones off the market. I would love to know how you're getting your deals?

Thompson Tax Group LLC550 Reviews
See this reply in the discussion

146 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2016 · 224 posts · 142 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Guillaume D.:

    @Thomas Lorini Hey Thomas! Do you live full-time in California now?

    Yes moved here a few years ago...miss home...but year-round sunshine bro! :)

    When we moved here 3 years ago we had only 3 doors....since then we are up to 21 units, did a really nice flip and wholesaled a deal...all in Canada....all from Cali.  

    If i can do it from another country, anyone can do!

  • Rental Property Investor · Farmington, MI · Member since 2013 · 36 posts · 6 votes
    9y
    We need to talk ASAP
  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y

    @Thomas Lorini We need to get in touch! I've always wanted to move to SoCal, but never had the courage to do it. I've been to California 5 times in the last 5 years. I absolutely love it!

    I want to hear your story so message me if you feel like sharing.

    Thanks!

  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y

    @Elijah Moore How can I help?

  • Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2016 · 224 posts · 142 votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Guillaume D.:

    @Thomas Lorini We need to get in touch! I've always wanted to move to SoCal, but never had the courage to do it. I've been to California 5 times in the last 5 years. I absolutely love it!

    I want to hear your story so message me if you feel like sharing.

    Thanks!

     Absolutely I'll private message you now!

  • Investor · Saint Nicolas, Québec · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 20 votes
    9y

    Honestly you just blew my mind. Very impressive, is this all in directly in Montreal? Fun to read about someone so close to me who's actually doing it.

    There is a lot of heat in montreal, you definitively need a special skillset to be able to find deals there. How do you find the owner of a property you found driving for dollars if it's owned by a company? 

    Do you buy single metered complexes ever? 

    I have a potential multifamily deal and I'm meeting a potential partner in 2 weeks to talk about it, are you open to giving me your opinion if I send you the numbers in private? 

  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y

    @Philippe Busque Nice to hear from a fellow Montrealer ;)! Here is a breakdown of what I currently own.

    Triplex in Mirabel

    8-unit in Verdun

    12-unit in Mirabel

    18-unit in Ste-Therese

    16-unit in Boisbriand

    To answer your question, I never bought a deal that was owned by a company. It always comes from individuals who usually own one or two properties maximum. 

    I haven't bought anything single metered to date. However, I bought my 18-unit on August 2nd and I have just finished converting the heating system this Friday from hot water central heating (owner used to pay for heating costs), to electrical heating (tenants pay for heating and electricity). As a result, I am cutting my annual expenses by 8k on this building which increases the value of the property by 120k. Conversion cost was 40k so we basically made an extra 80k in equity in less than 2 months. 

    Sure, send me the numbers and I'll quickly look at time. 

    G

  • Developer · Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    Congratulations, @Guillaume D. We hear it all the time. Just take action. But so many people don't. Hopefully your story will spur a few more along.

  • Investor · Saint Nicolas, Québec · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 20 votes
    9y

    There is so much value into converting from hot water to electrical in our market. Was the negotiation with the tenants hard? I also understand your market audience being casual landlords with 1 or 2 properties, makes senses. 

    Thank you for taking the time to make this thread and share your insight. I will send you some rough numbers tonight, check them out whenever you can there is no rush. Id just like your opinion on a few details that are very "quebec" specific.

  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y
    Philippe Busque In order to keep the same rent amounts even after the conversion, I offered tenants one month free rent. Turned out to be very interesting for them as 17 out of 18 accepted the offer.
  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y
    Michael Le Thanks! I was myself inspired by other entrepreneurs when I started in the industry so I'm happy to return the favor to other investors.
  • Youdo ThirakulPro Member
    Anchorage, AK · Member since 2017 · 96 posts · 26 votes
    9y

    I needed to read this. Thank you. For the past month I've been looking for deals (off market) I found one yesterday and bought a contractor to check it out with me. He said I could probably make 50k after the rehab (my analysis was more 40k) then I went looking for friends n family to invest with me and got shut down. Asking for over 150k on my first flip is scary to ask. So I kinda gave up this morning thinking I'm over my head on this RE investing. After reading this, it firing me up a little to keep asking people to partner up even if i make 3k or nothing (so I have the experiences) . Thanks for sharing your story! Sometime you just need that little nudge to keep you going when it hard. 

  • Investor · Northern Virginia · Member since 2017 · 159 posts · 59 votes
    9y

    Congrats!

  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y

    @Youdo Thirakul I understand where you are coming from. Don't be afraid to ask for money. The worst that's going to happen is that they are going to say no. 

    I personally think that the best way to ask for love money is to find people around you that have a mortgage line of credit on their house. You can ask to borrow money from this line of credit, so the person doesn't have to take out their own cash, and you offer them to pay for any interest associated with the line of credit + an extra return  such as % of profits, monthly interests, etc. 

    You need to give them an incentive to go into the project with you and it's definitely going to be easier for someone to lend you bank money rather than their own money. Get the point? They will basically act as the bank for your project. 

    Then, the only thing you have left to do is to factor in this new cost into your flip calculations and make sure your numbers still work. Always be more conservative than not enough because you WILL encounter problems while doing a flip. Renovations are always more expensive than expected, take my word for it. Make sure the projected selling price is BELOW market value in order to sell quickly and avoid long holding costs. Hope this helps!

    G 

  • Real Estate Agent · Windsor, Ontario · Member since 2017 · 835 posts · 214 votes
    9y
    Inspiring! Thanks for the post.
  • Aaron RayPro Member
    Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 21 votes
    9y

    @Guillaume D. Congrats man! Inspiring to say the least. Great post, and even better comments throughout your forum post. 

    Can you explain how to go about using other people's money for deals? More specifically, how do you get other people to give you money and who are these people mainly? I just graduated from college with an engineering degree in May, and I'm currently working as an engineer, but would really like to get into buy and holds, but with just graduating, I only have so much money saved up since I've only been working for about 3 months now.

  • Developer · Little Ferry, NJ · Member since 2016 · 426 posts · 226 votes
    9y

    @Guillaume D. Let's connect, we have some similar mindsets, I feel that we can learns great things from each other. Sent you a PM

  • Roselle, NJ · Member since 2015 · 75 posts · 16 votes
    9y
    Amazing story! Keep up the good work!
  • Real Estate Investor & Marketing Specialist · Montreal, QC · Member since 2013 · 182 posts · 367 votes
    9y

    @Aaron Ray As explained in a previous comment, I've always been using the same strategy since I started. I am using a combination of love money and private lending by approaching people around me whom I know probably have their house paid off. When they do, most of them have a mortgage line of credit on their house which is most of the time unused. Therefore, I offer these people to invest in my projects via their mortgage line of credit. I always pay for the interests associated with their line of credit so they don't have to take money out of their pockets, and I offer them a return on their investment in the form of interest when they invest in a flip, and in the form of equity in the building when they invest in long term buy and hold (between 33% and 50% depending on how much money they put in and how much risk they are taking). In my experience, it is always easier to convince a potential investor to lend you bank money rather than their own hard-earned cash. Hope this makes sense!

    G

  • Investor · Waterloo, Ontario · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    impressive. Can you teach me how to get good deals?

  • Real Estate Investor · Springfield, MO · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    I'm a skeptic by nature, so forgive me in advance.  My goal isn't to say you didn't do it and discredit to you...nor is my goal to say no one else should try it and be the wet blanket smothering the burning fire of entrepreneurial spirit.  But my 1st goal is to say, look more carefully at the phrase "the key is simple: you just have to do it."  As you noted: a lot of borrowed and/or private money was used to do this many deals this quickly.  Also my guess you're currently in an appreciating market, or at least a rock solid stable market.  There are a lot of local market conditions that could cause a deal like this to fail in another area, even if someone is as savvy and motivated as you and your partner.  simply not enough details to know for certain what really is the "key" to your success.  Was it luck?  Timing?  A series of life experiences that positioned you rather uniquely to take advantage of a rare opportunity?  Do you have 10 years of experience as a corporate negotiator?  I don't know.  Not enough info here to tell for sure.
    .
    So my 2nd and ultimate goal here is to make sure those who see this post and have dollar signs flashing in their eyes take a deep breath, do their homework, and have a back up plan (and a back up plan for their back up plan!).  "Just do it" is a catchy slogan for Nike.  Real estate investors need a more fleshed-out plan than "analyse the right way."  Especially newbies who don't know what the 1000 wrong ways are yet....  ;-)  
    .
    All the best to you and your partner.  Keep knockin' them out of the park!

  • Pompano Beach, FL · Member since 2017 · 93 posts · 59 votes
    9y

    Awesome to read this! Putting my first offer in on a Triplex today. "Take action" and "analysis paralysis" are two phrases I've kept repeating to myself over the past couple months after finding BP and making the decision to get involved in RE investing. All of my professional ventures have started with zero knowledge. Just gotta make moves! Thanks for sharing. @Guillaume D.

  • Brossard, Quebec · Member since 2017 · 4 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Wow Congrats Guillaume very inspiring since I am also from Montreal hearing your story really motivates me. I'm beginning in real estate investing and to be honest I felt overwhelm and not knowing where to start but hearing your story gives me the push I need to take action. You said you took some RE courses can you tell me where it was. 

    Merci Guillaume

  • Peter TverdovBusiness Member
    Developer · New Brunswick, NJ · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y
    Originally posted by @Guillaume D.:

    @Aaron Ray As explained in a previous comment, I've always been using the same strategy since I started. I am using a combination of love money and private lending by approaching people around me whom I know probably have their house paid off. When they do, most of them have a mortgage line of credit on their house which is most of the time unused. Therefore, I offer these people to invest in my projects via their mortgage line of credit. I always pay for the interests associated with their line of credit so they don't have to take money out of their pockets, and I offer them a return on their investment in the form of interest when they invest in a flip, and in the form of equity in the building when they invest in long term buy and hold (between 33% and 50% depending on how much money they put in and how much risk they are taking). In my experience, it is always easier to convince a potential investor to lend you bank money rather than their own hard-earned cash. Hope this makes sense!

    G

    So based on this, I am guessing the 1.7 million of equity is split between you, your partner and multiple investors? Not just you entirely, right? Regardless, nice way to build a company quickly. 

  • Bessemer, AL · Member since 2017 · 49 posts · 30 votes
    9y

    Interesting take on the MLS. I'm a 30 year old wannabe investor, HOPING to buy my first duplex this month for house hacking. Honestly, I have no idea how I would even begin trying to get deals off market. Even with using MLS, it has taken a year to even find a single duplex that wasn't in a horrible crime area. Plus, even if I knew what "driving for dollars" was, it doesn't sound like something an individual with 2 jobs already can do on the side. I'm definitely going to stick with ANY deal I can get at first. If it helps my cash flow, I don't care if it is 1%. It is something.

    In the meantime, I would love to hear more about finding these off market deals.  Any books you would suggest or tips you would give? I have zero clue how to use direct mailing, or even what driving for dollars is, etc, and how it would apply to finding deals. 

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.