A Big Hello to Everyone Here.
I'm Paul, An Australian who recently Moved to Canada ( Alberta to be precise ).
I'm turning 24 in a few weeks, I have not made the progress in life that I wish. I'm happy with just about every avenue of my life except Financial.
I work in Retail, BlockBuster to be exact. It's one of those jobs that's great fun, but it pays so so little. I find myself working hard, getting customers pumped up and visiting us on a regular basis, and yet Every pay cheque I look at myself and go ' how am I going to possibly survive this months rent '.
However working in BlockBuster is never going to grant me financial freedom.
I really really want to invest in Real Estate, I would love to be able to quit my job and spend my days working on houses, making them look beautiful, sell them, rent them, build up a property portfolio. This adventure has gotten me very excited, I'm prepared to work hard, work late nights, and I will move mountains to make this dream a possibility.
So here's the problem, I dont really have a mentor, I dont know really how to start.
There's a heap of Books on Amazon, and I probably own half of the real estate flipping ones, some advise to buy out failing real estate, some advise to get loans from the bank. Donald Trump always advises ' borrow borrow borrow, use the banks money to make your money ' Solid advice if a Bank will grant you a loan.
So I guess my question would be How do I start this venture?
Working at Blockbuster on a $19 000 salary means I can own a cheap piece of real estate in maybe 8 years IF I WAS TO SAVE EVERY PENNY, which is impossible ( rent, car ect ).
So lets change my approach here, My Power question is ' How can I start flipping real estate as fast as possible? '
3 things come to mind
– Find a Mentor
– Offer the Mentor a % of real estate earnings/profit in exchange for investment?
– Find some way to get a loan from the bank, study the market, buy a house, flip it, try make some kind of profit, even $10 000, pay back loan, pocket $10 000, Rinse, Repeat, Save for a House ( might be faster? )There's so many possibilities, and so many issues here, which I'm determined to overcome.
Anyone have any advice? Would anyone be willing to take a shot at mentoring and advising?
Should I go get a job as a Property Manager in the mean time? Should I go become a Tradesman?
How do I save for my First Property? My Wages Just dont Equal enough to ever own a house, I'm at the stage where I have to beg, borrow or steal.
– Paul
Zaul,
You are about to get the best advice anyone has ever got on this site. Take it wisely and absorb it thoroughly. Its not big and .. its very useful in your future day-to-day transactions.
3 words. Thats it. 3 words of useful information and if you carry them with you .. they'll save you time and again.
WORKING …… FOR …….. YOU ……
At the moment .. you are having the time of your life doing vids and stuff. But lets be real .. 19k dont pay the bills for dreams, and it also limits your future options. Money is nothing more than extended options at current day prices. Thats it .. there is no mystery or claim to that. So .. with 19k .. how many options are you allocating for yourself?
What it affects is your serviceability. And .. basically thats what all the banks .. thats what they are looking for. You are going to be working uphill at the moment to please banks .. and thats NEVER where you want to be. Banks are the worst best friends to have, but great when you need them.
There is no reason why you can't prepare for your ideal world .. your castle in the sky .. your extra holidays .. and your new flashy car. But, you have to set solid foundations for that first. That doesnt mean slogging it out on two or three jobs, it means working harder and smarter. Having your money … WORKING FOR YOU (did you just see those three words bounce back in again?)
My view against you doing flipping now, is that .. even having read all these wonderful property books .. you really dont have the efforts to cater for a loss. Its quite easy the first few times to make mistakes even if you've been careful. And you do learn from them. But it costs. And with no real financial backup yet, any losses you make would flatten you totally. You would have to be right literally from the first purchase. It would take lots of reading .. lots of investigating .. and lots of studying. But I'm sure its possible.
Write out your first set of investor .. investment goals. Give yourself a timeline. Look at a couple of property calculators to work out how much you can be borrowing. Work out how you can achieve your goals and work mix so that life is still good. Grab an extra job and keep focused on where you are going.
Serviceability will be a mix of your income .. your expenses .. your assets .. and your other sources of income (rentals). Keep that in mind when building your asset base .. and i'm sure you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
At the moment .. you are helping Mr Blockbuster succeed to greater heights .. at the moment he has your claim .. as far as he is concerned .. you are WORKING FOR HIM. So .. who is getting richer?
Hi Paul,
Is it really important for you to be in Canada? The minimum wage you can be earning in Australia is probably almost double what you are making now (including different currency valuations etc.).
You need more money to start off !!!
Good luck
Following on from the comments from morpheusbushy, who points out a very valid point, I might add…..
Let's pretend you stay in Canada earning your pittence, and somehow buy a cashflow postive property. Because you are currently not an Australian resident for tax purposes anyhow, you'll be taxed at 30c in every dollar that you make. On the other hand, if your property is making a bit of a loss, you've no Australian income to negative gear the loss against.
Point being, it might be worth revisiting where you are best to be residing and working, in light of your ambitious financial plans.
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Hi Guys,
One of the reasons I left Australia was I have a GIrlfriend here in Canada, I had thought that the Australian Real Estate Market was in a slump at the moment, and there are already way too many Millionaires and Home Owners there. Canada seems to be a bit slower, not as many millionaires, more real estate available.
That aside, Why would I get taxed more for being in Canada? I dont understand this 30 cents to the dollar thing, could you go into more detail please?
Are you implying I'll get taxed more for Australian Properties not living in Australia? Because I'm not actually interested in Investing in Australia's Market Per-say, I want to invest in Canada's. I would hope I dont get charged 30 cents for the dollar?
Hi Zaul,
This being the case, you should really tap into a Canadian property investing forum. As much as we’d all like to help, we are not familiar with Canada’s real estate market and Canadian tax laws.
Reading our comments here will confuse you because we always refer to Australian realities, which may not be applicable to Canada.
The way I see it, you have an immediate problem of finance. The first thing you need to do is get a higher paying job. Improve yourself, Mr Blockbuster is a dead-end job. You may have to earn a degree or a diploma or ask for a promotion if you’re happy where you are.
With the increased income, save. With a small saving, ask the bank for a loan, flip a house (if that’s what you want to do). Repeat your success over and over again.
It really is very unromantic and unadventurous in the beginning but once you gain momentum, you knows where you’ll be? The next Donald Trump?
Take care and good luck.
Angelina
The previous commenters are right. In Australia if you earn less than $30K most banks won’t even give you a credit card…let alone a home loan. Maybe it is different in Canada but I am guessing if you say that you can’t afford to pay your bills already then how are the banks going to see that you can afford a loan?
The banks want to know that you can afford a loan even if things go pear shaped.
Maybe you should get another job, or if you don’t want to do that then think about starting a business on the side to build up some money and some serviceability,
Good luck!!! I hope you can achieve you goal of retiring at 30.
Ryan McLean | On Property
http://onproperty.com.au
Email MeSome good points there
Just attended a Rich Dad Event, and one of the thing Robert goes through during the breakout session is the need to deal with the 'Past' and 'Present' in order to be able to predict the 'future'
The other breakout session by Monica about "Secrets of overcoming obstacles and taking action" also deals with the past, present, and future
- Where do you want to be? If you know you couldn't fail what would you do? What would your life look like in 5 years time? How much passive income do you need? What would you do with your free time? Where will you be living? What will your family look like? What will your social life look like? Who will you spend time with? What are your aspirations? What is your ideal time frame?
- Where are you now? What is your financial life like right now? You professional life? Your family? Are your relationships what you want them to be? Are you spending your time the way you want to, and with whom you want to? What are your current skill sets? How about your current habits? Do you have all the knowledge you need to have to do the things you want to do? What is your social life like?
- What has held you back? What has kept you from taking action?
- Answers/Steps/Solutions/Plan – based on knowledge + application + accountability + motivation over time
- Your Why – a personal why that will you make you do what you thought you couldn't do
For those interested in reviewing the replay of the Rich Dad Los Angeles Event:
@zaul.You might also want to think more about your statement. Do you want to retire or become financially independent? Retirement to me is like playing golf, or going to the beach, waiting for money to come and practically don't do much else.
Financial independence is simply your financial worries are taken care of and you can choose your own lifestyle. To me, if you really love what you do, why retire?
Anyway, good luck on your endeavour and hope you find mentor you can work with. Personally, I learn from everybody I meet (well, almost) so I consider most people, specially people that know more than me my mentor.
to be blunt you have zero chance at making it happen working your current job..
personally i would forget real estate (right now) and focus on your day job, study/get educated and move into a higher paying job then look to invest your earnings in real estate….
that doesn't stop you from educating yourself in all things real estate right now, however you really need a job that can support your investments
Zaul,
I think you have a great ambition and vision, which is where it all starts.
Whilst I think it'll be a challenge to obtain finance, it's still possible.
– Do you have family or friends who are willing to guarantee you on a loan?
– Can you take out some form of insurance product in Canada whereby the insurance company guarantees your mortgage (e.g surety bond like product or mortgage insurance)?
– Would you be able to develop a business plan and sell your idea to a bank or potential co-investors?
– Are you able to find a higher paying job and save save save?It's all still possible if you put yourself out there, work hard, do the research and go for it.
Goodluck and let me know if you have any questions.
JaseI would consider being shop assistent for the same pay as the old age pension, flipping houses in the hope of making 10k, needing a mentor and then wanting to retire in 6 years as a great lack of ambition and vision. Since when has looking a head only 6 years been great vision? Then wasting the next 60 years great ambition ?
@ Crusty – Give the kid a break…he is only 24.
Yes having a long term plan for your life would definitely make you someone with great vision. But for a 24 year old to even think about saving and investing in property is bizarre. He has more vision than 99% of people even though he is only looking towards the next 6 years.Ryan McLean | On Property
http://onproperty.com.au
Email MeRyan I think it is bizzare, that you think it is bizzare for a 24 year old to be saving or investing. I have known lots of kids probably most, saving money even at or before primary school. A lot of 24 yr old are buying houses running buisness. I know some people who were millionares at 24. I cant see what age has got to do with ambition and vision except that the younger yuo are the more you have . I just cant see how retirng at 30 way before you reach your potential shows any vision or ambition irrespective of what other 24 yr olds are doing.
Hello Everyone!
First thank you for the big welcome!
It has been quiet a week, I read everyone's responses here and I've made some progress.
First of All I've started looking for another job. $13 and paying Mr Blockbuster is never going to grant me financial freedom. That being said I'm not sure I'm in a position right now to open my own business, I wouldn't be able to offer anyone a service other than repairing and de-virusing PC's, and while I dont want to kill a dream before it starts I'm not sure if that would provide suitable income.
THAT being said I'm still looking into the idea and asking alot of questions, seeing if there's a market forgotten here in CanadaI joined the Canadian Real Estate Investors Club over the weekend, it seems to be full of like minded people and entrepreneurs.
The problem I'm facing is there's alot of money hungry mentors out there, claiming they know everything and for just a small sum of $5000 a day they will mentor me and promise I'll become rich.
It's my first lesson in Risk vs Reward. Personally I believe I can learn all the information for free, but at the cost of time and experience so I've chosen not to pay them for the time being.
So in response to your posts
@xdrew – I 100% Agree with everything you have said, I'm looking for a job at the moment that will pay me ALOT more than $13 an hour. I might have one that pays closer to $20 and offers full time hours. This would allow me to save a fair bit more but have very little spare time. It's either that or I go become say a Plumber or something along those lines, learn a trade. Then the money would fly in.
@morpheusbushy – No, I'm almost tempted to come back to Australia for that very reason. I moved here originally to be close to my Girlfriend, however it has been an uphill struggle the entire time. My Younger brother who has a disability earns $30 an hour at the ATO ( Australian Tax Office ) which makes me feel like total rubbish. Granted I'm sure there's a way to make similar money here.. just not in retail!
@jacm – I assume the 30% Tax is for an Australian Property and not a Canadian one, I do not intend on investing in Australia as of this moment. HOWEVER I might move back in the not to distant future.
@angelinsydney – I agree entirely. I don't suppose you'd be interested in some mentoring by any chance? I've read a lot of posts on the forum from yourself and I feel I would love to learn from you.
@ryan – Looking into another job now
@kong – We did some very similar stuff at Anthony Robbins UPW which I attended in Sydney a few years back. Very powerful stuff. I believe I've got the mindset you talked about, Hence why I do sound a little cocky and excited in most of my posts, Nothing is going to stop me
@foreverstudent – Interesting Question, I want to become financially dependent. I dont want to have to work for someone else and make them rich, I'd like to be able to start my own charity once I'm rich, do some volunteer work, work for the sake of working and not making money for others.
@scotts – It's looking like I might have to, I still cant figure out how all the single mums in Sydney earning less than $40 000 managed to make their millions. I always read and saw stories about the average joe single mum earning less than I do decided to flip properties and now she's a millionaire.
@jason – Thank you! You have given me some other options here to look into. To Answer your questions Yes I could absolutely do all or any of those. I'm very interested in talking more with you about potential roads.
@crusty – All im doing is setting myself a goal, If I say I'll be rich in 60 years then I will sit on my arse for the next 50
I figured being financially dependent by 30 is a great goal. Dont let my age worry you, I'm not the normal 24 year old. I dont drink, do drugs, go to parties, I'd rather be focusing on finances and making contacts to excel in life Totally agree with the post that state, that you will not be able to get advice here for investing in Canada. On the other hand, Australia is a goldmine of opportunities and there is enough money and business success for unlimited people. You belong here, mate, come back an we will help you. Bring your girlfriend, I am sure she will not regret it.
Good luck!
If I came back to Australia I'd want to guarantee some kind of mentorship, When I was in Australia people ignored me, I was alone and laughed at for having high ambitions.
Eventually I left Sydney in Tears that nobody wanted to help me or even listen to me, I hid away in Penrith till I could save up enough to come here.
First of all, I'd say that your level of motivation is excellent. You have the right frame of mind and that's a very good start.
It may have been mentioned above, but perhaps you could start by investing in shares. I'm not implying whether NOW is a right or wrong time to be in the sharemarket, however it's a very good start. With baby steps, even big dreams can be realised. I personally invested in the sharemarket for over a decade (starting with very small capital) to build up a deposit for my first home.
If you want to get started in the sharemarket, go to your local library and look for this book: 'How to make money in stocks' by William J. O'Neil. This book has been quite a big influence for me.
If you have skills with computers and are good with customers (a rare combination), earning much more should be entirely possible. Given your current position though, either do this as a side job for yourself as extra income, or look to be employed by someone else fulltime and take a better salary.
Definitely don’t do a $5k course. Spend time rather than money to learn. You will need your first $5k for investment.
If you are starting out with a small amount of money and are looking to grow it, US investments are a good option. Go for those with high cashflow and use this to help build your capital base.
I figured being financially dependent by 30 is a great goal. Dont let my age worry you, I'm not the normal 24 year old. I dont drink, do drugs, go to parties, I'd rather be focusing on finances and making contacts to excel in life 
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