Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: If you're looking for the skills and tools to succeed in real estate investing, you've come to the right place. This show is about breaking through barriers, breaking through limiting beliefs, and breaking through to the life that you want to live through the power of real estate investing. You're listening to the Breakthrough Real Estate Investing Podcast. And now here are your hosts, Rob brake and Quinton D'Souza.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Welcome to the show, everybody. Thanks for joining us again today. My name is Rob Break and with me is Mr. Quentin D'Souza.
[00:00:38] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Top selling author of like, I don't know, five books. Five real estate books, is it?
[00:00:45] Speaker C: Well, yeah, six, but who's counting?
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Let's six. Oh, I didn't get the newest one. Why didn't I get a copy?
[00:00:51] Speaker C: Yeah, I sent it to you because you never got it. It never got. I said it took like. Well, I, I sent it to Costa Rica and the mail service sucks, apparently, because you never got it, so.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Well, it does suck. Yeah, the mail service, if you're. I've, I told, I think I've told you this before. I've only gotten mail twice ever in like almost four years.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: And, and, and they come to your door or they come to your gate, right? Because you can't get into anybody's house because the gate, everyone has gates.
And if you're not there and if you don't hear them go, hey, hey. Or whistle or whatever they do outside the gate, then you don't get your mail.
[00:01:28] Speaker C: That's it.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: That's how it works.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Wow, that's crazy. Well, that's why you never got the book. And somebody is probably enjoying the book somewhere in Costa Rica, just not.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Using all that translatable knowledge on real estate investing. Okay, perfect. So what's, what's new with you?
[00:01:47] Speaker C: You know what I was just thinking about, you know, this podcast is coming out in the new year and all the different things that, you know, make up the, you know, the beginning of the year, which is, you know, about change, about improvement, thinking about your goals and goal setting. And one of the things that I like to do for planning purposes is I like to have like 10 year goals, but then I like to have three month goals. And, you know, those three month goals are how I actually get things achieved. Because if you start to think of your goals as just annual goals, oftentimes you set the goals at the beginning, you work on them in the first couple weeks, and then you look at them again in month 11, in month 12, and that really isn't helpful. But if you set quarterly goals, you're forced to look at them again at the end of the quarter and work on your new quarterly goals. And that actually helps to propel you forward. So I think that's, you know, that, that's really useful for me. So I'm thinking about that and, and working through those, those type of goals as well.
Sometimes, you know, there are hard things that, that you do, right? So whether it's like, maybe you, you're, you have an addictive personality, maybe you're addicted to alcohol, maybe you're addicted to drugs, maybe you're addicted to, I don't know, some online something or other. Okay. And you're not really, it's not good for you. So what do you do to help, to help you to improve yourself? Well, first of all, you know, you have an addictive personality because you're addicted to that, whatever that is, that adrenaline or the dopamine or the hits that you get from that addiction, whatever it is, you know that, why don't you use it to your advantage? And one of the terms that I heard recently that really stuck with me is the term slaying the dragon. So slaying the dragon is like doing the, like, if you're thinking about you have an addictive personality, then do something that is helpful to you and you, you do it. And when you're thinking about it, thinking about it, like slaying the dragon, doing something good for yourself, right? And, and then keep slay the dragon every day. Whether it's slaying the dragon by replacing alcohol with going for a walk, slay the dragon by, you know, replacing that dopamine hit you get from drugs by doing a, you know, a fitness workout or something like that, you know, replace it with something positive and slay the dragon every day. So I want people to leave off, you know, make sure at least one thing you get from this is that you go back and you slay the dragon. How's that, Rob?
[00:04:46] Speaker B: That's perfect. That's perfect. I like it. Can I ask you a question about your goal setting?
[00:04:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: So I noticed that you said, okay, you've got 10 big 10 year goals, right? And then you also focus right down to like three months or even probably two the month or whatever, right.
Do you sort of reverse engineer that by like breaking down that 10 year goal to something, you know, the smaller stepping stones to get you there. And then like, let's say there's, there's like a specific thing that you need to do within the next year to get you to that next point and then break that down even further. How do I get to there and that those become your three month goals.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: You know, it's interesting that you say that like what I do when I write my 3 month goals is I simply just review my 10 year goals. Because when you review them you're going to keep that top of mind because it's the last thing that you read. And then when you work on your three month goals, you're naturally going to add items in that help to take you to your 10 year goals, whatever they are. So it's really not about having to try to plan out every detail of what you want to do. It's about thinking about the big picture and then, you know, having action items, three big action items in a quarter because that's really what gets done, right? Three big action items in a quarter and make sure that you, you focus on that and, and that helps you to get your 10 year goals. This could be, you know, in, in multiple areas of your life. It doesn't have to be just real estate investing. It could be your relationships with your, with your wife and your kids or your spouse and your, your partner and your kids. It could be your, you know, a different area of your life. Maybe it's, you know, your, how you interact spiritually, you know, whatever that is. It could be in different areas because those, when I look at my 10 year goals, I breaking them down into eight areas and that's what I'm working on each quarter. And sometimes you know, I'm focusing on health, sometimes I'm focusing on business, sometimes I'm focusing on like family. So it just depends. We can't balance everything. A lot like people think, like I've heard this, you know, we, you have to be balanced. Nobody is balanced. There are times when you spend, if you're, if you're, if you have a family member that's ill, you're going to spend time with a family member. It doesn't matter what's going on. You're going to change what you're doing to help that family member. Right? If you're, you know, if starting a.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Business, you're gonna, yeah, there's not gonna be balance.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: There's no balance. Right. We, we have different times. That doesn't mean you have, you neglect parts of your life. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that, you know, when people think that it has to be even, you know, like 20, 20, 20, 20, like that's not, that's not how it works. Right. Life is. Takes us in different direct baby.
Everything changes. Right. Like all that stuff. So let's not worry about being balanced. Let's work work about moving forward, taking the next step. Right. Growing. Right.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: As long as that growth isn't obsessively in one of direction, you know, and, and it does neglect everything else that the, the other things are, are very important. But you're right, it's not going to be, it's not going to be balanced. It's not going to be 100% balanced.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: No.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Oh, Quinton.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Do you have a free goal sheet that we can offer to people listening?
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Yes, I do. The. And it's something that you can download from the Breakthrough real estate podcast website.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Very cool.
Wow. What a great gift.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: It's great for 2025.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome. Right? It's not there now you're going to add it, is that what you're saying?
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I just threw that at you and I was like, what? We had one there. I don't think we did.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: No, but we will. I'll make sure. Okay.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Well, by the time this comes out, it'll be there.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Yeah. And today we have an awesome guest. I'm really excited for our guest today.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: We do. Today we have Deep Singh with us to talk about his real estate investing challenges and experiences and his recent flipping project that was featured in the Toronto Star and also his flip buy and hold strategy. So that sounds interesting.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: I like to hear about that.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: So welcome.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: That's awesome. And Deep is. He is from ReMax Escarpment. He's a source of real estate investing. His 15 years of construction experience, he focuses on helping people find worthwhile properties that many Realtors may overlook. His goal is to provide valuable insights and guidance to help confidently navigate the real estate market. And you can. We'll put his contact details at the end of the podcast so you can talk to him about, you know, real estate investing and, and talk about his real estate investing journey with with him. All right.
So Deep, maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:10:26] Speaker D: Yeah.
Hey guys, first of all, thanks for having me here. I'm so excited to to share my little bit experience.
You guys are really big if we talk about investing. So my name is Deep Singh work a full time broker and investor with REMAX Escarpment. I live in Hamilton area and my services are from Burlington, Oakville, all the way to Niagara Fall or even Brantford and Paris.
I have a construction background. I started off my career with that. And since Then I still enjoy construction on the side and I love doing different projects and, and I'm full time Realtor now which is a part of construction industry.
Proudly father of two kids. The. My daughter's eight and boys four and they both go to French school.
Yeah. So I would love to share more, more my experience down there or whatever. You guys have any question?
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Oh, do we have some questions? Yeah.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: So I guess let's start out with, you know, how you got started in real estate investing and what type of properties that you, how that you know, evolved into where you are now.
[00:11:49] Speaker D: Well, as I said, I was doing construction in terms of like doing basements and other type of residential projects.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: And so other people were hiring you to do basement apartments or just basement renovations.
[00:12:01] Speaker D: Basement renovations and even like a full house renovation.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:06] Speaker D: And then I also. Sorry. I also have my electrical license. I'm, I'm red seal electrical licensed. I used to do that and then started doing construction. And while doing this I saw the opportunity in, in real estate. I saw people not looking the way I looked. Real estate in term of creating wealth, creating more living spaces, creating more kind of more opportunity where you can add more value in the real estate. So then I jumped into real estate and, and then started flippings and all that.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: What, what year was that when you started flipping properties?
[00:12:49] Speaker D: 2019.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: So 2019 you started to flip properties and what. Describe some of your flip projects, like how much like would you buy it for? What did you put into it? What were you selling it for? What was the spread you're looking at?
[00:13:04] Speaker D: So very simple. When I, when I see any, any project I have to have, first of all, at least over 200,000 margin between purchase price and my, what they call like selling price that you, you cannot say like 100, I will sell that price. But that's your expectation around third projection. Yeah, yeah. So there are a couple of things that I personally see in, in the projects I love doing bungalows. First of all.
[00:13:36] Speaker C: Right.
[00:13:37] Speaker D: Bunglers are. They are very easy to, to convert into a second dwelling.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: So that was that what you're doing in 2019 you were doing bungo bungalow conversions.
[00:13:46] Speaker D: Bungalows.
[00:13:47] Speaker C: Yeah. And so you're buying it for what.
[00:13:51] Speaker D: In 19 the prices were around 5 mid 5.
[00:13:55] Speaker C: Okay. 550, let's say. And then how much were you putting into it?
[00:14:00] Speaker D: So any flip, you're looking around 100,000.
[00:14:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:14:05] Speaker D: If you, if you, if you really want to make it money. Some, some people don't put enough money just to. I'm not saying that it's cheap not to do that, but I do different things. I like putting money into it. Make something really nice and be compatible with other flippers because I know my product will sell. So this, this is like some sort of experience that I'm, I'm still gaining because when I see other, other people, what they're doing, I, I was like, no, I don't want to do that. The, the. Some people out of Toronto, they come here in my area, they buy like 300, 350 that range and then they put a little bit and then they're stuck. They can't even sell it because it's not about amount money. You, you purchase or put into flip. You have to watch the neighborhood, you have to watch the market as well.
[00:14:57] Speaker C: This is, you're targeting like a specific quality finish that is like above what would be considered the market or at market or. And what you're saying is that most of these flippers, when they flip a project, they're actually, their finishes are below market is correct.
[00:15:17] Speaker D: Because me, I mostly target anywhere from above 750 to 859 range those type of people.
Just because in my experience, we have two type of buyers in that range. Number one, big family. They are looking somewhere that they can put their in law suite because you know, it's big family, they need the finished basement or the second investors, they love two units. They, they love like two finish unit where they don't need to do anything is like finished product.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: So they. So you're buying it for how much? So back then you're buying it for 550. You're putting 100 into it. So you're selling it for 750 is what you're saying.
[00:16:05] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: Okay. Today you're buying it between 750 and 900.
[00:16:11] Speaker D: No, now I'm ranging anywhere below 650.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: So buying it for less than 650.
[00:16:19] Speaker D: Less than 650. Yeah. I'm currently working on a project which I purchased for 500,000.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: 500. How much are you putting into it, do you think?
[00:16:29] Speaker D: I'm putting around 100, 110 around that.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: And how much do you think it'll sell for?
[00:16:34] Speaker D: I think I can sell anytime. 750. Like below 750. Around 730. 750, that range. Wow.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: Okay, so you've got a spread there. Plus you're a realtor, so you can take the fees on the, the. On at least one part of it, right?
[00:16:50] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Are you doing a lot of the work in the project as well. Or. No, you're not. No, no, just your, your construction background is more so that you can watch what's going on and know, you know.
[00:17:03] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean it's really good things to have knowledge in construction. Even you don't do it. Your guys, like whoever doing the project, they know that, that, you know, they, they can't do like stupid things. Like, they know that if they do that I'm gonna catch it like in one minute. Guys, they know my expectation, they know what I want and they know what type of finishing I want. I go in the corners and, and touch the caulking. This is not good work, guys. So, so this is what I, I think really helping me as a realtor to do investments. And I do the same thing for my, for my partners, like investors, like whoever want to work with me. I, I do the same type of criteria, same type of mentality.
But yes, guys are doing. I don't do anything now. I have a full, full team.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: See, Quinn's obsessed with the numbers. He's gonna, like, he's gonna keep pulling them out of you. Yeah, for all, for each one.
He wants to know how much money you're making.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: Well, no, no, I know I've talked to Deep before, actually. I've got, I've known him for a couple years and I've like, the reason why I, I wanted him here is because he's been successful. But the, the way that he's done it in the past may not be the way that he's will do it in the future. Right. So maybe without going into the numbers so that I can just prove Rob wrong. Because I, I like doing that.
Why don't you tell us the, the strategies that you use to purchase those properties in the past and how that's changed. Without going into numbers.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: Very simple. I would say there are, there are still investors, they are still realtors who underrated some properties. They don't see the real value.
Not everybody, I would say, but they are still there.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:09] Speaker D: So I, I check when I check the market, I check different type of my criteria. I will check like what's now in the market and what's sitting over 30 days. What is sitting over 60 days? Ah, so sometime I do over 90 days too. Especially in this market. There are so many homes are not selling. They are probably overpriced.
Well, talking about that Toronto Star house, I would like to share that. That, that can be a good story to share. That house was sitting over two and a half month in the market.
[00:19:48] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:48] Speaker D: They listed for 799.
[00:19:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:52] Speaker D: At that point, nobody's looking at the listings.
So this is other realtors fault. That why they don't do anything. The sitting listing is not doing anything. No showings at all, because first of all, it's overpriced. And the second is they did not even relist or relist or drop the price or did not do anything.
I was doing research. I had. I had a kind of need to purchase a second pro, another project. So when I did the research, over two months, close to two months of sitting properties in the market. I saw that one.
I talked to the agent. I said, listen, I think you overpriced this. I know the neighborhood, but I cannot pay you that much. First of all, she said she was so happy that I'm calling about that property. And she said, they are very desperate to sell. I said, okay, thank you for telling me that. Now let's talk.
So I said, hey, I can offer you only 650. That's all I have because this house needs so much, so much work. And she said, yes, I know. And then you could not. Quentin, you could not walk into the basement. It was that bad. I mean, and people were living there. So, I mean, I don't know. Everybody's different, but I see. I see as an opportunity. So long story short, I said 650, no condition, and you pick your closing date that I'm offering. This is my offer. She said, no, it's too low. Come a little bit up. And finally, we closed at 667.
[00:21:38] Speaker C: Okay. That's still close to, you know, 130 below, correct? Right.
[00:21:46] Speaker D: You won't believe when I did that deal in next two days, how many realtors called me. They said, you are crazy, motherfucker. Can you do that? I said, listen, it was sitting there, guys. I mean, I. I offered them. They were desperate, and we got it. Because I'm being very honest. There are so many realtors or investors we are shying to. To put something on the paper. We.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: We.
[00:22:12] Speaker D: We are lazy to. To draw offer. We. We are sometimes lazy to. To say, maybe they. They need those numbers. Let's try. So I trust. So that was a. That was a four level side split. Beautiful house facing towards escarpment. When I bought it, I already knew that it's gonna finish close to summer. And in summer, you can see the escarpment all green with different colors. I'll do that. This type of landscape, I like planned everything.
So, yeah, it sold989.80.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: How much did you put into it? I couldn't. I can't help myself, Rob. I can't help myself.
[00:22:56] Speaker D: So here's the thing. I put so much money into it, I. I went close to like over close to 200. Like around 170. Around that.
[00:23:07] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:23:07] Speaker D: Just because I never put that amount of money in any flip. I did it because I knew that I can make it something out of it.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: How much do you say it sold for? 980.
[00:23:20] Speaker D: 980. I listed for 999.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Still over a hundred thousand dollars.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:26] Speaker D: I listed for 9.99.
In this tough market, it sold in four days.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:23:34] Speaker D: Non stop showings.
And, and it, it happened to like they called me, like my broker called me. Apparently he was talking to somebody in Toronto Star. They, they, they supposed to make an article about flipping. Is this still working?
Are the people still investing in these type of properties? And my broker know me. He said you are the guy, you can talk to them. So I thought like maybe one day they're gonna call or is it real? Whatever. So I went for golfing. And then they called me, they said we really want to do it. We really want to like make an article out of it. The cast, can you send us some pictures and, and talk. And talk me for five minutes? So I talked to the lady for five, 10 minutes, explained then everything what I did and went for golfing. She said send me some pictures. I send the picture that we took with my phone because we just staged it, right. So we took some pictures. They saw the picture. They said no, we have to send somebody because this house is something.
So they sent this and the same day they are professional photographer. He came all the way from Toronto and then, and then next two days it was in Toronto Star.
[00:24:48] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Can you send us some before and after so we can.
[00:24:51] Speaker D: Yeah. I have so many pictures I will definitely share with you. I sent to Quentin and he was so happy. He's like unexpected. You know, think something. Sometimes things happen out of the way that, that you never imagined.
I don't know. I just.
I think you have to be like positive. Do whatever you are doing with your heart.
The universal definitely helps you.
[00:25:17] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. And can I. Is it okay if you kind of share like how you were able to purchase these properties before because you had a different type of structure that mo that most people wouldn't necessarily think of and it was able to get you to the point of where you are now now. So you, you partnered in order to purchase and sell properties. But, and, but now maybe what you're looking for, right?
[00:25:47] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:25:48] Speaker C: So how did you do it before?
[00:25:50] Speaker D: Before I was with the team, first of all.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: Okay, so who, how did people put in the money in order to, to, to do the purchase of the flip?
[00:26:01] Speaker D: We had a corporation together.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:26:03] Speaker D: The 33.33 share.
[00:26:07] Speaker C: And everybody put 33, like, of the money into the project.
[00:26:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:26:12] Speaker C: And then, and then you did all the work.
[00:26:15] Speaker D: No, everybody put a little bit, like, a little bit amount of work.
Again, we were not doing ourselves. We had, we had people to do.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: So. Okay, so you had a third party manager. So everybody put the same amount in. You had like a project manager that handled it, and everybody did the same amount of work.
[00:26:35] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: Oh, okay. That's fine.
[00:26:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:26:38] Speaker C: And who's finding all the deals?
[00:26:43] Speaker D: I would say in the beginning, when I started my career, they were able to find. But I would really like to thank you, Quinton, in that much, because since I'm with you in your meetings, I expand my, my range in order to find properties, even on MLS or out of mls. So I recently were doing, I was the one who was finding good deals.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Lucrative deals in the last year or two. It's mostly you.
[00:27:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:27:13] Speaker C: Okay, so you're finding the deals, you're bringing it to the team. The team is splitting the money, and then at the end of the project, you guys are splitting the profits together.
[00:27:24] Speaker D: Correct.
[00:27:25] Speaker C: Okay. And, and going forward, what, what are you going to be doing that's different?
[00:27:33] Speaker D: Well, I, I always wanted to do things differently. And again, I'm not criticizing anybody. I feel like whatever time spent in a partnership is a good time spent. You learn good and bad things. And, and then from there, I, I, I started doing my on my own because I kind of, I was confident. First of all, you have to be confident that you can do it. And I'm always, I'm that kind of guy who like the challenges, and I, I talk to you on the same time. And then it was pretty easy. I don't, I, Sometimes I feel like why I was not doing it and now I did it. It's like, oh, what is that?
It's always like that.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: When you so explain how the mindset, how you ch. Like your mind shut, your mindset shifted, because I don't think everybody understands that. And it would be helpful to people. Right?
[00:28:35] Speaker D: Yes.
First of all, I started thinking, okay, so let's say how can, if I'm doing the amount of work here now with them, is that something that I could do? By myself.
So I separated that amount of work and then I was like, yes, I can do it. First of all, finding the deal, I break, break, break it down. Right? Finding the deal. I'm the one who's finding deals. Now the second part, money, which is very important because not everybody has money to, to put on the project because you need to put everything from your pocket and then you make money when it's sold or when it's closed, actually.
So I had, I had a contact with the private lenders and all that. I had enough, I had enough money to do at least one project. So I jumped into it.
But before, before even I started, I increased my gym time. I don't know if it's relevant or not. I was like crazy time spender in the gym. And I was just doing the gym like two hours, two and a half hour. And then challenging myself to, to make, gain some muscles and all that. And on the mentally, it really helped me. I really feel like anybody have any challenge, just go to the gym. Even you don't do anything, just go to the gym. You will see you would be productive. The rest of your problems, they won't be there. It's happening with me. I share with Quentin time to time, what's going on. I think this is really helpful for anybody who want to do anything. Plus, I really believe in that. You really don't need to wait for January 1, 2025. You can start your goal even now. Because we are living now.
I'm working on my goals for 2025. I wrote down every single thing I shared with Quinton. I said, listen, I wrote down so many because I'm not only investor, I'm an investor. I'm a realtor. And also I'm doing flips. So there are three type of businesses that I would like to run in parallel. So I wrote down so many things and we need to filter them. Big rocks, small rocks. That's what he said.
[00:31:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:00] Speaker D: So that's really helpful. This is, I really pumped up for 2025. This is, this year is going to be something that's.
[00:31:07] Speaker C: That, that's, that's really awesome. So now you figured out you can get money from private investors. You don't need to have your partners bring the capital.
[00:31:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:31:16] Speaker C: What else did you. And now it's only you that's doing the work. So are you spending a lot more time doing the projects than you were before? Less time because you're at the gym? So. Right.
[00:31:29] Speaker D: So in time wise, I did a little bit differently on My personal projects. Now I can give you an example.
The that house that I did, which sold, which was featured in Toronto Star. I did hardwood flooring.
I did heated flooring, electrical heated flooring in the washrooms. I did certain things that I have never done in any flip. Actually nobody did it. All the people I know in my area, nobody did it before. I did it because I know it's worth doing it. So I started doing different things. Accent wall, like really nice wood looking floating shelves.
Shiplap black fixtures with the Addison bulbs. Something that people were not doing it. I started doing it. So it was a little bit time consuming. But now we have pattern.
So that really helped me to stand out and sell fast rather than others. Properties are still sitting.
[00:32:38] Speaker C: Okay, so your mindset shifted because now you're doing a little bit more work but you're not doing the work. You're hiring somebody else. You didn't do any of the electrical work. You didn't do it.
[00:32:50] Speaker D: I don't that. No.
[00:32:51] Speaker C: Okay. Okay. So.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: But yeah, right. Like I mean not every house is the same, but once you plan that first one or whatever, maybe not the first one but that, that baseline model that you did there the way that you want to do the rest and you can decide, okay, it's going to be the same but no heated floors. Maybe in this one or whatever it.
[00:33:10] Speaker D: Is that 100 because different, different price point, different type of finishing. I'm not saying that finishing in sense of bad painting or like bad trimming or crooked whatever the, the bulkheads or anything. Not that but less amount of money you are spending on that house because the, the price point is different. Right. And the other thing is I know what's selling. I know what people liking now the colors, color scheme like a flooring, color tiling, colors like what type of kitchens. It has to be what people like. There are so many small things. Like there's a thing called pot filler. It's very popular now. Nobody's doing it. It costs like 100 bucks, maybe less than 100. It's just something that you put on top of the stove and you can fill the water directly in the pot.
This is like 75 thing. But the moment you walk into the house, like women's love that. Oh my God, look at that, look at this, look at that. Probably spend like 3, 5 or 3 to 500 extra on like small things. But people notice that.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: Interesting.
[00:34:25] Speaker D: That comes with little experience I would say.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: So can I ask you about this flip buy and hold strategy?
[00:34:34] Speaker D: What's that Buy and hold.
I'm gonna start doing it now because I kind of, I already reached to that level where people, you know, everybody has like you start your journey with flipping and then you start doing buy and hold and then from there you go to multifamily. From there you go to next level and next level.
So from now I think I'm gonna set a ratio that after that many flip one hold, that many flip one hold. So this is because I when I see my previous flips that like 2, 3 years old now if I could have kept them, you you would have made more money. I mean that's always like that. So set a ratio for buy and hold. And also I would like to share. I have more and more people call me and, and, and ask me if I can. If they can partner with me for, for buy and hold strategy. So I'm working on it on, on that one.
[00:35:40] Speaker C: Now why would you partner with somebody on a buying hole? Why not just borrow the money and give them a fixed return?
[00:35:48] Speaker D: We can do that but everybody's mindset is different.
I just, I think I need to run my numbers. Which way is better for both parties? Because I think certain strategies changes with certain type of market.
For example now you cannot pull 100. Your, your car like a money out on refi. So we still need a little bit time to, to do those type of things.
[00:36:22] Speaker C: Right? Sure.
[00:36:23] Speaker D: Because. Because market is still not there, interest rates are high.
So it's hard to pull out every single penny.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Now have you considered rent to own for any of your flips? Because that might increase your sale price too and get you sort of familiar with the buy and hold.
You know, the way that things work.
[00:36:47] Speaker D: I. To be honest, I never thought about rent to own and all that because I since couple of years I had only one strategy to make to build the capital a little bit.
That's like easy access to money with the flipping. I mean, you know that. So I think now I'm at that point where I can start doing different things at least with the ratio as I said.
Yeah.
[00:37:17] Speaker C: So I just curious. So now that you've been in it for a few years, what big investment opportunities do you see in southern Ontario?
[00:37:31] Speaker D: I still see we have lots of bungalows here.
They are really good opportunities to convert into second dwelling, especially Hamilton. Now this even city is helping. We have less time involved in the permits and they're really easy to convert.
There are so many people do like pre construction now. You know what's happening with that type of strategy. They booked in high market and now they can't even close. So I tell people that you, you want like easy money, you just want to book it, don't do anything and now you want to flip it and cash it out. That's not working anymore. We can still work on buy, flip, buy and hold because what, what's going to happen in worst case if it's not selling, we're going to put on rent, we're going to still make money.
So I see so many opportunities in, in Hamilton where you can still make money in these bungalows story and half easy to convert type of properties.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: So and, and, and I guess like you, you mentioned that there's things that other realtors might overlook that you're able to see. So what kind of things are those in those properties?
[00:38:54] Speaker D: I'll give you an example. Like 2 months ago I had a buyer, first time home buyer, they wanted to purchase their first house. Two story, I mean pretty standard.
We went out a couple of times and he was pre approved like up to 900,000.
We started looking at homes and then I was telling them this is good but there's nothing to add. So he was not kind of understanding what I'm talking about. For me every buyer is a future investor. So I kind of tell them don't, don't think you, you bought your first house and it's end of the game. You are the future investor. You're gonna pull out the equity in two, three years and then we're gonna do it again. So Finally I saw one house. It had side entrance, 60, 70% basement finished. I told him, I said listen, come here, this is already roughed in this, this part. We're gonna make it a kitchen. You can add the laundry there on the different area and then we have enough space to put like a stackable laundry and they had like a big closet we can convert into a complete full shower. So when I explained him everything, he said I love the idea. And he said oh yeah, I can rent it out and maybe we can get 2200 dollar per month. I said absolutely. So we closed that deal. Instead of make him purchase a 900,000 house like a normal realtor would do it, I made a transaction of 850 because I know that once we finish the basement he's going to get $2,200 per month out of the basement. Plus since we finished it in a year or two, this house has more value rather than the purchase of 900,000. So this is where my construction experience comes with me. I Don't bring any general contractor with me. When buyers comes with me out, they already know how can they create more living space? How can they increase the value of their property? Not every realtor has that experience to explain people what we can do with their house. So that's, that's what I'm meant with overlooking properties.
[00:41:16] Speaker C: Yeah. And I've seen that, I've seen that a ton of times with realtors who come in and say, oh yeah, it's going to cost you this. And it's not even close.
Right. Because they're just guessing. That's not what they do. Exactly. They don't, they don't do construction, right?
[00:41:31] Speaker D: Yes. And I love, I love talking about construction. When I go out with the buyers, I explain them, guys, this is behind the wall. This is like a copper, it's not copper wire. This is aluminum wires. This is that, this is, we talk about 10, 15 minutes there, they're like, how do you know all that? I said, this is what I did in my entire life. And they are more convinced and more comfortable working with me when it comes.
[00:41:55] Speaker C: Yeah. If you're going to do like construction projects, you want somebody who's done construction before. Right, Right. I, I just like how you're evolving the way that you're flipping projects. Like you're, you went from one, one specific way of flipping. Now you're looking more like, you know, the, the private lending or you know, b lenders or things like that where you can still do what you're doing before, but now you're doing it more yourself. Now you're thinking about people on projects. Why not? If you're planning on keeping them, why not do the same sort of style on the project that you keep and take on a partner with, with them on that. Like a long term partner rather than these short term partners. Partners. Yeah, short term money.
Like you can get short term money anywhere because private lending, that's what they do. But long term partners are the ones that will be there with you like for five years, for 10 years. Why not consider like that on the flip? So you're doing the same thing, but you're flipping it to yourself or you just pull all your capital out, you hold it yourself.
[00:43:08] Speaker D: Yes, 100, 100. And first of all, I think before what my mindset and the way of I'm running the business is changing, as you said, with time, it changed a lot.
And the big involvement or the big cause of that is being surrounded by, with like people who are already doing it. Like you. I learned A lot from the meetings, what other people are doing. And it makes me more comfortable to do the same thing that other people are doing. And I'm ready for that now, as you said, like partnering with people who are okay to hold for three to five years, and then I think it can work. And that's exactly. I was telling before that more and more people now calling me or talking to me and ask, how can we make it happen this way?
And doing refinancing myself, I think I can do only a few, because you know how it works. And then you need more partners, money partners, to, To. To increase the, the portfolio. And I'm, I'm ready for that. I will definitely do that. And, and then you are the one who's, who's there to guide me.
[00:44:30] Speaker C: Well, you know what? I think it's important that you always try in different ways. Right. And sometimes you have to be uncomfortable. And once you, you do something that's uncomfortable, you get comfortable, and then you never knew that you couldn't do it in the first place. Right, right. That's. It happens with everybody. And, you know, in everything, like, we're oftentimes we. We dwell in things that are comfortable. And, and it's only through putting ourselves through challenges or having to overcome a business obstacle, figuring out a problem that we realized that, man, I could always do this.
I just, I just never. I never, I never put myself into the position where I needed to solve it. And then once you solve it, then all of a sudden you start to grow. And then he's. Then you start to think, what else can I do?
Right. Which is really cool. And.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: Well, it's interesting. They say that in general, ideas don't come to you unless you have the ability to be able to, to successfully do it.
[00:45:42] Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's very cool. And I mean, you're working out, like, sometimes, like, when you're healthy, your other parts of your life improve, too. I'm sure your, Your wife is very impressed with the way you look now as compared to, you know, how you were before if you're going to the gym. Right, right.
[00:46:04] Speaker D: She is really helpful.
[00:46:07] Speaker C: Don't avoid the question, man.
[00:46:09] Speaker D: No, no. Especially now.
I would like. I would love to share that since I'm doing by myself, like, all by myself. She's on board with me now. She's. She's like, doing a lot in the back end.
And then to be honest, and I never thought this way that we could do it together. They say that, like, every successful man has a, like a woman Behind. I think that's somehow true because I see the growth and I see like we could always do that. I don't know why I waited so many years to.
It's funny.
[00:46:48] Speaker C: Yeah, no it's, it's good. That's good insights that you're learning. Yeah, I know that, you know, it's the same for, for me. I'm sure it's the same for Rob too.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: Well, you know it is. Yeah.
[00:47:00] Speaker C: No, it's cool. Very cool.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: Okay, so. So I guess let's, let's maybe you could share some of your big goals or some of those. What's next for you? You know, what are we going to see you doing in the next year or so?
[00:47:16] Speaker D: I would like to differentiate certain things different, like differently.
I will break it down. I have goals that we are writing now. We are working on it. I, I have 10 years goal and then I was reading Quinton's book Action Taker and then from there I took so many golden nuggets. So we are working on that one.
Plus I got an office, my independent office in my, in my like office at. Here in, in Hamilton. I'm going to hire assistant, full time assistant because more I'm doing things I kind of believing now that you want to go big, you need more people with you. You want to do big things, you need big people. Not a bit like you need help.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And also if your best value is looking for properties and finding the deal but you're being pulled away doing something else.
[00:48:21] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: And you know that can fall off.
[00:48:22] Speaker D: Quickly and, and, and with, with the experience and time, I think the way you see things it does change. I have written down marketing goals that I will definitely spend that much money to market myself as a realtor.
And when I say you see things differently, I pretty much see like okay, this is going to cost me 15,000. What. What is 15,000 now it's just one transaction. So when you see things like this definitely you, you motivate yourself to do more transaction to put more money towards marketing. I'm doing more and more socials now, more videos like creating more content. So that's what's the, the goals for 25.
Doing more, making more transactions and work on portfolio where we're gonna add more properties every, every, every year.
[00:49:24] Speaker C: Very cool. That's awesome.
So if you're going to pass on advice to people, what's something that's stuck with you and how has it helped?
[00:49:37] Speaker D: It's funny and weird but I say go to gym, just do exercise because your Physical health is going to bring every single things or every single aspect. You won't even realize it's. It will come automatic because it's just you're putting efforts and time on your body. That's the biggest investments. You are already doing it. There's nothing else.
And physically fit. Your mind is physic, mind is automatically fit. You always think positive things. You are feeding just positive things. You are saying positive things so that you're. Your ears can listen positive things and then that goes to the mind and then from there it's all automatic.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just going to agree to you on that. Now I get up like really early in the morning, night, I pretty much start work right away.
But if there's something that's bothering me or I don't know how to handle it, I always say, okay, don't worry about that until after you get home from the gym because it does have a way of just clearing your mind and letting you like it takes away a lot of mental burdens or roadblocks that might be there and then you're able to think more clearly. I've found that over the years.
[00:51:05] Speaker D: And then I go, I look, I wake up at 5am Since a couple of years now. My, my boy, he turned four and he started doing school. And then my wife said you have to change the timing. You have to do something with your gym time because I need help to, to get ready these two and, and it's a little bit too much. And you know boys, they are not like girls. So he, he, he's very like a aggressive guy. So I changed my time from before. I used to start like 6am or wake up at 5, get ready and go to gym. Hit at 6 to 8, two hours. But now from 5 I wake up, I like a rush a little bit, but I come home around 7 still doing the gym because this is not. I'm gonna stop. That's it. This is only the time, which is my time. For me, the rest is all others, families, children's, whatever business. But I'm not, I'm not, I'm not compromising with my time. That's it. And when I go to the gym in the morning, I never listen music. Now I just listen, podcast, anything with the real estate, I just listen, listen, listen.
[00:52:22] Speaker C: And that helps you in all the other areas too, right?
[00:52:25] Speaker D: So yeah, yeah, this is something I'm doing since a couple of months now. And any podcast I listen, I have my notes open on the side. So I just quickly write down what they talked about and then come back and try to apply if I can.
[00:52:41] Speaker C: Very good.
That's great.
[00:52:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:52:44] Speaker C: Well, this, this has been an awesome podcast. It really enjoyed the conversation here.
What are some ways that people could get in touch with you?
[00:52:56] Speaker D: I have social media. I'm. I'm on Instagram, Facebook. Less on Facebook, but Instagram. But currently I increase a little bit more time on Tick Tock. It's funny because it's actually working for Realtors.
Yeah. And then my website, which is GoDeep CA.
[00:53:17] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:53:18] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: That's a good website name.
[00:53:20] Speaker D: Thank you. I appreciate that.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: You know what? People kept saying that I'm on Instagram and Facebook and I, and I don't really. I don't even use them as much as I should. I really should figure out how to be on there more.
That's a new goal. But you know, we had our guest on, I think it remember she was talking about her hotel in Ontario.
[00:53:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: And, and, and how Tick Tock, I believe was helping a lot with that.
[00:53:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:53:50] Speaker B: And so I went, okay, I'm gonna get on Tick Tock. So I, I made an account. I did absolutely nothing with it. And then like three days later I open it and it says you're banned.
[00:54:01] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:54:02] Speaker C: And.
[00:54:02] Speaker B: And, and that was it. And then I just put it down. Didn't touch it again.
[00:54:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I guess they have, they have a. Policies like community violation, whatever. I got a couple of videos. They got deleted, but.
[00:54:18] Speaker B: Really? Yeah, yeah. You know, Facebook does that anytime I advertise my hotel. It says you're violent. We just removed your post.
[00:54:25] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:54:25] Speaker B: You're violating the terms. And I'm like, I'm not violating the terms. They're like, it's misleading. Whatever you're saying is misleading. I'm like, I've said absolutely nothing.
[00:54:35] Speaker D: But personally I, I think Tick Tock is, is working. It's.
[00:54:39] Speaker C: Yeah, that's good.
[00:54:40] Speaker D: It's working. Like, I mean, it's working. Not for me. It's work. I listen other people and they are saying you can definitely generate. Generate lots of leads in any business you are. And, and it gives you ability to even go live and then answer the questions.
I, I do like a live sessions marketing. I believe like it's a very important in any business. And I'm, I'm doing a lot. Like even radio. I have my ad on the radio.
[00:55:10] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: That's. Yeah. If anyone listening out there wants to get in touch with Deep help.
Like if you've listened to this and you want to learn how to unlock that hidden value or if you want.
[00:55:23] Speaker C: To go deep, go to go deep Cat yeah.
[00:55:27] Speaker B: Yeah. So reach out all of his all of his contact info is going to be in the show notes and Quinton how can people get in touch with you?
[00:55:36] Speaker C: You can go to quentintosouza.com book a 15 minute call. Happy to chat. Real estate or wealth building, anything along those lines. Or you can check out Durham REI CA and you can join our real estate club. They've got we've got monthly events and Q A calls. You can ask whatever questions you want and the events are great for networking and you can meet people like Deep at them every month. And how about you Rob? How do people get a hold of you?
[00:56:09] Speaker B: Just email me robert Mr.breakthrough ca ask me anything, whatever you want to talk.
[00:56:14] Speaker C: About and check out Manta Ray Lodge.
[00:56:17] Speaker B: Check out manta raylodgecr.com all right. Thanks everybody for listening. Have a great day.
[00:56:22] Speaker C: Bye.
