Speaker 0 00:00:01 Unlock More to life with Adriannene Penoza Real Estate Investing podcast, where we broadcast interviews with successful real estate investors across North America to empower you on your journey to unlocking more to life with real estate investing. Now, now, here's your host, Adrian Penoza.
Speaker 1 00:00:27 Hey everyone. It's Adrian Peno here with the Mor Life Real Estate Investing podcast, where we help you get more to life through the power of real estate investing. Um, believe it or not, everyone, we're on episode number 53 and wow, how time flies. I remember, you know, starting this, uh, more life podcast. So about a year and almost a year and a half ago now. And, uh, we have completed, well, 52 now, our 53rd episode. So thank you, uh, to all our listeners who continue to support us and leaving us reviews and comments and whatnot. We read everything we get, believe me, and, uh, we're always trying to improve our content and have continued great speakers on board. That being said, I wanted to touch upon a couple things we've been working on here at E P C, um, kind of exciting, uh, and the month of December, we, uh, uh, got under contract.
Speaker 1 00:01:29 I know most people were considering or, or concentrating on Christmas shopping, but we were still out there, buy stuff. And, um, yeah, we managed to lock up, uh, an 11 unit apartment building, uh, out in Welland. Um, it'll be our first acquisition out in Welland, Ontario. And, um, uh, a really solid purpose build building. Um, we just, uh, finished the appraisal and we, um, the lender wanted to see a phase one, so we're going through that right now, having that phase one environmental done. But yeah, I was kind of excited to finish off an incredible year. We had, um, with, uh, a final 11 unit acquisition, uh, out in Welling. So that was kind of exciting. Um, we're working on a couple, believe it or not. We're already, uh, onto the next, and we're working on a couple other, uh, Carmen building deals, um, in the gta.
Speaker 1 00:02:26 Uh, if you wanna learn more about that guys, or you wanna know what we're working on in detail and maybe how you can get involved, please don't hesitate. Send me a message, email, whatever, and I can definitely share some of that with you. And before we get to our amazing guest today, I got one more thing to tell you, um, epc, I dunno if you've seen through our social media. We're launching a lunch and learn program, uh, this year, this month actually, uh, where we'll come out to your workplace, uh, your home, your, your work office and whatnot. And, uh, provide lunch, uh, hence the lunch and learn. But, uh, yeah, provide lunch up to 10 people, friends, family, colleagues, work, work colleagues, um, and give you a free presentation on everything to do with multi-family real estate investing completely free. We'll supply the lunch, uh, up to 10 people, uh, on that forefront.
Speaker 1 00:03:27 And, and yeah, just kind of educate you and your, your group on how multi-family can change your life and the successes and, uh, everything surrounding that. So if you're interested in that as well, follow us on social media. Um, reach out to me, I can send you a link, how to register for that completely free lunch is free on eep C and yeah, we'll take it from there. So, without further delay, I just wanted to get those kind of two quick things out there. But without further delaying, I'm honored today to be joined by James Fernandez, who's been patiently waiting there for us to get going. <laugh>, James, uh, thank you for taking the time to come on our show, and as usual, we're very excited to have you. So thanks again.
Speaker 2 00:04:13 Yeah, thanks for having me, Adrian. I, uh, appreciate, um, you reaching out and I'm looking forward to talking to you today.
Speaker 1 00:04:19 Awesome. Um, you may recognize James from his appearances on the Rise Real Estate Investing podcast, or his feature article on C B C News. <laugh> James started his very first rental property in February, 2020, right at the start of Covid, when everybody thought the world was gonna end. During that time, James was working as a full-time engineer, and in his spare time, renovated that property, refinanced that property, and ultimately got hooked on real estate investing. Now over two years, two years later, James runs his own business, left his full-time engineering job. He owned several properties in both Canada and the usa. Pardon the, uh, fire engine driving by our building.
Speaker 2 00:05:18 It's a hint of what's coming here. <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:05:22 He owned several properties across the BTA and the USA for that matter. And lastly, his primary investing strategies, as we all know, and love, especially me, the Burr strategy, Airbnb and self storage. So, James, welcome to the show. How you doing today?
Speaker 2 00:05:41 Doing fantastic. Um, it's been a little bit of a climb out of that initial <laugh>, uh, purchase in, uh, February, 2020, um, where the world was, uh, kind of ending as far as we knew. Um, it was kind of silly at the time, I guess, but, um, I didn't, uh, know any better. So, <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:06:02 Well, we'll get into it, but it sounds like obviously you've done well since then, and we'll, we'll kind of dive into that throughout the episode here. But, um, I guess maybe we can start with, for everybody who's not really familiar with your story, um, we'd love to hear more, I guess, uh, how it started, um, what your mindset was, how it started, and essentially how it led to you leaving your career and where you are today.
Speaker 2 00:06:29 Sure, yeah. Um, I've always been very good with my money in the sense of the, the traditional, you know, don't spend, don't overspend and save, and, you know, one day you'll retire 60 years later. That type of traditional mindset, that's how I was raised. And, uh, feared debt and paid off and that type of stuff. I went with a friend very begrudgingly to the, uh, Ontario Real Estate, uh, conference that was held in London in, uh, 2019. And, um, I, I didn't want to go, I didn't wanna pay the $300 that <laugh>, you know, I, I didn't really think there'd be any value there. Um, but I went and my life was forever change. So I, I really do appreciate my friend Daryl for bringing me there. Um, I learned about Airbnb there for the first time, and I realized, like I, I was living in, um, the place where I'm living in now, which is, uh, just a, a bungalow.
Speaker 2 00:07:25 Um, but two units that I, I converted it into two units, and most of the space was unused. And I was just, I got home from that conference and I was looking around, I'm like, what the hell am I doing? Ha, more than half of the space is just wasted. I should be renting it out. And it just, um, kind of coincided with, uh, a friend of mine needing a place to live. Um, so she had the entire basement unit, and I had the upstairs unit. And, um, one of my goals at that time also also was to buy a Tesla model three, which, um, it, it was not something I wanted to pay out of pocket, so in my head, the, the income from the real estate would pay for the car. And, um, that was the goal. That was what I worked towards.
Speaker 2 00:08:09 And, um, that's how it started. Uh, after, of course, learning, I had looked <laugh> back at my, my little notebook. Um, I, this one, my mom got me this vehicle bigger <laugh>. Um, but let flipping back through there, um, my notes from the conference now just look hilarious. Uh, what does bur stand for? Um, like the ba, like the most basic notes that I just scribble down furiously as I heard, I heard all these people talk about this stuff that seemed like magic. And after I did my first refinance, um, and I was holding a check for like $150,000, which at that time was about two years of salary for me. Um, my like, how can you go back? How can you, uh, unlearn <laugh>? What is possible there? So, um, then I got addicted to that. And here we are, uh, a few years later here. Almost three years now.
Speaker 1 00:09:05 Yeah. So, um, how old are you now?
Speaker 2 00:09:10 I'm 32 right now.
Speaker 1 00:09:12 So you started, I guess again, pre covid. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> would've been what you would've been what, 29?
Speaker 2 00:09:19 Yeah, like, uh, I'll be 32 in April, so, um, yeah, 28, 29. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 Okay. So you're 29 years old, COVID hits, you decide you're gonna get into real estate and start investing mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And from there you never look back, obviously. And I've had some success, but that's how it originally started. Tell me about how you felt. Was it intimidating? Were you nervous to, to leave your nine to five?
Speaker 2 00:09:47 So, I left my job in July of 2021. Um, at that point I already had a decent size portfolio and I was about to close on my 33 unit apartment building. Um, I just couldn't do it all. And I had to choose, and I, the, the kind of the path forward, um, that I saw for myself, uh, was clearly real estate in terms of income generation, as well as, um, the time freedom that I wanted. I don't have kids right now, but that's something that I want in my future. And I figured, um, my job is never gonna give me more free time, um, but real estate could if I do this properly. And, uh, that was basically where I made the decision, um, to leave my job. And that was actually a really, really hard decision for me because it was a job that I loved that I was getting paid well. Um, it wasn't like some shitty job that I hated with shitty people and shitty bosses. It was, it was my dream job, you know, like something that I'd worked since I was 15 years old to achieve. And, uh, it was, it was bittersweet leaving that, but I had to choose. And, uh, yeah, definitely hadn't looked back, um, because of what we're able to do, uh, with real estate. Um, but, uh, it was a hard decision at the time.
Speaker 1 00:11:06 Very similar to me. I mean, my dream job ever since I was in junior kindergarten, I wanted to be a police officer and it was my dream job. That's all I ever wanted to do since I was, you know, two feet tall, <laugh>, um, so to speak. So I'm, I can definitely resonate with how that feels. Uh, and, you know, I like the way you said bittersweet cuz it was very, as much as you loved it, it was time to move on to something, you know, potentially bigger and better and spread your wings and go. So I like the way you put that. Cause I can a hundred percent relate. Been there, done that. Yeah. Um, but this, this is not about me. This episode's about you,
Speaker 2 00:11:49 It's all
Speaker 1 00:11:51 Go on that topic for another hour. Just all the feelings I had when I made the decision.
Speaker 2 00:11:57 It, it was a hard decision for sure. And I, I can, I can definitely see that you, uh, resonate with that
Speaker 1 00:12:02 A hundred percent. So you start buying, uh, investing in properties, right as covid hit the world.
Speaker 2 00:12:10 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 1 00:12:12 How did you overcome when everybody thought, you know, that mindset challenge, everybody thought, are you crazy? You're gonna buy real estate now. Meanwhile, that's when you, you got into it. It,
Speaker 2 00:12:25 It's a simple answer. It's a simple answer and it's stupidity. <laugh>, I just didn't have, um, enough information to be scared. And I think, um, at some point, um, people have enough information that they can talk themselves ahead of anything. So it was, I, I had enough information at the time to see that I could make this work if I executed properly. And that was basically eliminating all the other variables so that the only variable was me to control. And if I could control myself, then the project would be successful. So an an example of that, um, was buying, uh, cheap enough real estate that even if I messed everything up, so again, my, my variable, even if I messed everything up, I could still break even or suffer very few losses. Um, that was one example. Another is having a really strong team around me that I could bounce ideas off of or get comparables or, um, have a refinancing lined up like pr like the exit kind of lined up, um, ahead of time, multiple exits lined up ahead of time. So that, again, I'm eliminating those, uh, scary variables. And then again, the only variable comes down to did I do my job? Um, and that was it. I bought a bunch of properties in 2020, um, with and without partners. Um, and basically just utilizing the burr as fast as possible. Um, Scotia product, a step, step product, um, again and again. Um, did, yeah, did a bunch, uh, bunch of building in 2020.
Speaker 1 00:14:07 Amazing. So, well, why don't we touch on that before we get to the next topic. Tell us what your portfolio consists of now since 2020.
Speaker 2 00:14:17 Sure. Um, now, uh, my biggest asset is the 33 unit apartment building in London, Ontario. Um, there's several other properties in, uh, London, Sarnia area and Chatham that are consists of, uh, like fourplexes, triplexes, duplexes, um, some townhome condos. Uh, and then outside of residential real estate, I also have some self storage facilities in, uh, Perry Sound, um, near Ottawa, uh, like Martin Town area and in the States in Illinois. Um, so that's kind of where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1 00:14:55 Awesome. Wow. And you're 32?
Speaker 2 00:14:59 30? Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 00:15:00 <laugh>. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. And you know, I always tell everybody it's the earlier, the sooner you get started, the better. I mean, for, for me, I bought my first property when I was 37. You're 32 and you've already done so much. That's incredible. Congratulations.
Speaker 2 00:15:19 But I'm, but I mean, like now we have so much access to information. We have so many mentors out there. We have so many people willing to help. Um, like I know some of my mentors, like one of them as an example, um, Matt McKeever, who I watched a lot of his videos and, um, like learned as much as I could from, from him and what he, whatever he was able to share, there was no one that taught him that stuff necessarily. Right. So the pace of learning that we are able to, to achieve because of, uh, people like yourself making this podcast or producing content in general is just, uh, the unfair advantage that we have now. So absolutely, we can just absorb, um, your mistakes and your successes, uh, so that we don't have to make them ourselves, which takes years of time. So,
Speaker 1 00:16:07 Absolutely. All right. Awesome. I wanna talk a little bit about your c C BBC article feature. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So how did you feel when CBC reached out to you to do a story on your journey in real estate investing, I guess back in 2022? How did, like, tell me how that all came about. How did you feel about that, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 00:16:30 Sure. Yeah. It was actually very sneaky. Um, it was just an Instagram dm, like, oh my God, this is really cool what you're doing. Um, we'd love to hear more about it. Uh, and I was like, all right, sure. Like we can have a chat, just gimme a call. Um, we had the phone call while I was at the gym, like I was completely off guard. I was like on the treadmill, like huffing and puffing and, uh, we, we chatted, but, um, she's like, can I record it? I was like, sure. Like, whatever, that's fine. But it turns out that the entire article was based off of that casual conversation. So very frustrating. And, um, the article itself, um, I think portrayed both myself and the, the opposing, cuz they, I again, didn't know that they were pitting me against this housing advocate. Um, they portor I think that article portrayed both myself and that other lady in kind of a negative light.
Speaker 2 00:17:24 Um, but if you listen to the audio clips on both sides, uh, it is like, initially when I read it, I was very angry at that housing advocate because I was like, you don't understand anything. What the hell are you talking about? You can't just give away this and do this. Like, that's not how the market works. But when I listened to what she's saying, she actually had some great ideas mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and one of them was talking to people like yourself and myself and say, the city becomes our tenant with a master lease and they become responsible for the damages, the arrears, everything, and provide a solution That's phenomenal. I do that all day long because it mitigates my risk. But it was frustrating to see the article. But again, um, in this case, uh, any publicity is good publicity. So I had a lot of people reaching out, including, um, just random people that just knew me, um, that weren't involved in or didn't know I was in real estate. And, uh, it, it helped me collect a lot of investors. <laugh>, it helped me. Um, it helped me talk to my existing investors, uh, about how, um, effective this strategy is to improve their financial success as well. And overall it was a very positive, uh, thing for my company, even though the article itself pissed me off. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:18:43 Right. So the article states that home ownership is out of reach for many people mm-hmm. <affirmative> or you say that the neighbors on the blocks you buy houses at actually appreciate your transforming, uh, near unlivable houses mm-hmm. <affirmative> into nice rental properties and at the same time raising the value of that neighborhood per se. Yeah. Ex touch a little bit on that. Explain that a little bit.
Speaker 2 00:19:10 Sure. Yeah. I have, uh, probably 20 examples I can give you of that exact scenario. 20 neighborhoods that are, have been positively affected like that. Um, just in 2020, um, let alone 2021, we can whatever, figure out that. But, uh, an example, um, and I'm going to call it appropriately what it was, it was a crack house, just disgusting. Um, the amount of needles that we pulled out of there, uh, I, I can't like help you picture it other than this way. It was like six grocery carts filled with like the, the stacking the bins full of needles is, it ended up being about 6,000 or so needles. This plumbing stack that we cut out and replaced was clogged of needles cuz it kept flushing them down the toilet. Our neighbors on either side, whenever they mowed the grass, um, needles would fly into the fence or into their belongings. Like, it was just, that's the, the lifestyle of that house and the, and the unfortunately the people surrounding it. So when I took it over and was able to negotiate, um, these people
Speaker 1 00:20:17 Believe in city, by the way,
Speaker 2 00:20:18 Sorry, London City. London.
Speaker 1 00:20:21 London, okay. Sorry,
Speaker 2 00:20:22 Go ahead. Most of my, most of my crack house stories are in London, um, in general <laugh>. Okay. But, um, the, that's just, uh, that's just how bad it was before. It's, that particular property has been in the newspaper for gunshots and stabbings and drug overdoses and like, a hundred times. And, um, my friends in the police force, when a guy posted, Hey, I bought this house. They reached out. They're like, what the hell? Hell are you doing? <laugh>. We know that house. We've been there. Like, I basically lived there for a year camping out front. Um, and compared to what it is now, um, it's insane. Like, there was a like almost a, like a parade of neighbors coming by and dropping off food for the contractors and, um, even like food for the, the current residents and stuff like that. Like, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 00:21:09 This is amazing. Like, that's what people don't see, um, people, uh, like this who have, um, like kind of just this, oh, they're just gentrifying this neighborhood. I I mean, according to the definition, maybe, um, by taking something and kicking those people out and making it nicer so that other people will pay much more and live there. Um, technically, yeah. But that house was gutted to the studs and the subfloor was removed. Like, that's how bad it was. It was empty, empty bear and had to be redone, um, because of the feces inside the urine, the needles. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the rats, the cockroaches, the bedbugs. Like that's what people aren't seeing. Right. The amount of work that it takes to do.
Speaker 1 00:21:55 Awesome. So, and again, I can resonate with that because I've done the exact same thing, um, dozens of times, um, in all different neighborhoods here in the city of Hamilton where we've, yeah. You, you wanna have a shower when you come out of that house after Oh,
Speaker 2 00:22:15 I had a change of clothes. Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1 00:22:18 Absolutely revolting and disgusting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So again, I can relate to that. And that's the value of the bird, right? At the end of the day, you're creating really nice spaces for people to live in, but at the same time, it's very beneficial for you too, because that bur when you nail it, like it's very lucrative, obviously.
Speaker 2 00:22:38 So definitely, yeah. I mean, you gotta get paid for your work as well. Like, there's, there's something, um, to be said about that. Um, people have asked me multiple times, like, how could you do this? Like, how can you like go into places like this? And, and when I share the numbers with them and I say, well, this is my, like, share, this is my portion of that profit. If I paid you this money, would you walk inside that house? You probably would. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:23:04 Absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:23:05 So, um, but yeah, like the struggle is real as, you know, like duct tape your pants to your boots and, and head in <laugh>. Um, yeah, that's part of the game.
Speaker 1 00:23:14 Awesome. So let's talk a little bit about, now we're kind of segueing into the bur, um, as we touched upon it, let's kind of get into that a little bit more. How did you, and I'm, I'm gonna assume it's through research, but I'll let you answer. How did you first discover the burr and start incorporating the strategy in your properties?
Speaker 2 00:23:35 So that conference that I went to, people kept mentioning bur bur bur. And I was like, what the hell does this even stand for? Uh, and those YouTube videos, um, that I was, was mentioning Matt McKeever, Mike Shart, um, bigger Pockets, uh, the, I stumbled across those and I watched them all. Um, I do something I guess that maybe is kind of weird for most people, but it's normal for me now. I can sp I speed up the pa the playback on these videos so I can consume the videos a lot faster. Okay. And that helps me like kind of consume that content and learn, um, much quicker than, um, I normally would be able to. So I was able to finish pretty much all the videos I could find that had burned the title <laugh>. And at that point I, I knew, uh, in theory what I should be doing because I didn't even, at that point I didn't even understand like, do you just add another mortgage? Or like, how does the other, the first mortgage get paid off? Like, I didn't, there was, there was no knowledge. I had nothing, um, until those videos like helped me figure it out. And then, um, at some point you just have to do it. Right. Like there's, there's a tipping point of too much knowledge and I think there's a lot of people
Speaker 1 00:24:48 Sis
Speaker 2 00:24:49 Yeah, yeah. You just got, so like, what book should I read next? Or what podcast should I listen to next? Cause I finished all these 500 podcasts. Um, it's like, no man, just, just shut the help and do it. Because you know more than any of us at this point in theory, but you have no practical experience in the practical experiences. What gets you the, the light year, uh, furthest than, than reading 10 books could do. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:25:11 <affirmative>. Yeah. Amazing.
Speaker 2 00:25:13 Amazing. That's where I was kind of, um, you did a lot. That's where I, I started. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:25:17 And that obviously it's evolved a lot since I started, but yeah, you did a lot of research on your own, essentially, and mm-hmm. <affirmative> gave you that headstart or I guess the confidence to, to leverage that and get going.
Speaker 2 00:25:32 So the, the network is key though. Like, being around people that are doing what you're doing and like you mentioned the lunch and learn thing and, um, at, at no cost. That's insane. Uh, the amount of value that people will get from that. Um, we, we had, like London luckily for, for me again, was a very big hub for real estate investors in general. Young, hungry people that were just wanting more. Um, so there was like four meetups a month maybe, um, every now and then, uh, like maybe three to four meetups a month that you could attend in London and just be around people doing crazy stuff. Like, um, hearing like Za as an example who's like, oh, I'm gonna retire. I'm 24 years old or 25 years old. Um, Matt, I'm 30, I'm retired, Dylan, I'm 28, I'm retired. Like, those weren't real numbers, um, in my head right?
Speaker 2 00:26:24 Until I met these guys and talked to them and see what they're doing, you know, like, um, but then once, just like that, uh, I think it's three minute mile or four minute mile or I can't remember exactly, but as soon as someone realized like that's a possible thing, like even teenagers and like high school students are running that time now, which was once believed to be, be considered absolutely impossible in the human, uh, capacity. So, right. It's, it's really neat to just be around people that are doing that stuff and then you realize it's possible for yourself and you give yourself permission to succeed in that.
Speaker 1 00:26:55 Amazing. So if you could do one thing differently, looking now three years have gone by or so to where you started, if you could do one thing differently in your real estate journey, what do you think that would be and why?
Speaker 2 00:27:13 I, I feel like, um, this answer you might get from pretty much everyone and it's by way more <laugh>. That's what I would do everywhere. <laugh>. Yeah. It was, um, like looking back at, um, the 2020 prices and everything seemed so expensive and I was being very cautious, especially with Covid and everything like that, but knowing like this is what's gonna happen. And like, if, if I was given that opportunity, um, yeah, it would be, it, there would be no hesitation. Um, there's a few deals that, uh, like I could have bought my neighbor's house as an example for 275, $300,000. And I was like nickel and dimming her for like, I wanted it at two 50 cuz that's where the numbers made sense, uh, for me. Cuz I had to spend maybe a hundred grand on the rental and conversion to a duplex. And, um, then I passed on it and it's probably worth 700 now, like three years later. And, uh, not examples like that. Um, knowing what I know now and the timeline of what is to come <laugh> in 2020, um, I would've been much more aggressive.
Speaker 1 00:28:18 I can, we got a lot in common, man, because had I bought twice as much 11 years ago when I started <laugh>, I would really be sailing off to the sunset right now, sort of speaking <laugh> because the purchase, imagine the purchase prices.
Speaker 2 00:28:35 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:28:36 Uh, I was paying 11 years ago.
Speaker 2 00:28:39 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:28:39 Like, they've more than those purchase prices. Some in some areas have tripled now to what I was paying 10 years ago. And I always say to investors, everybody out there knows somebody that has tripled their money on a property they bought 10, 15 years ago. Everybody knows somebody that says, oh, he bought that for 400 and now it's worth 1.1 million. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, everybody knows somebody that has something like that in real estate. Yeah. Everybody. So I always say to them, who do you know in your circle that has tripled their money on a property that they bought several years back? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, think about it. Right?
Speaker 2 00:29:24 Yeah. So that, that would be my like, easy, uh, easy answer. Um, the like, kind of maybe a, a harder answer to that question would be, um, just forcing myself to go out and, um, go to these networking events a little bit more. I I don't, don't typically like attending them, um, I just, that's just how I am <laugh>. But, uh, going, going out and attending them more, uh, in general because you just start seeing more and more and more of what's possible. Like my partner, uh, my wife Petra is not involved in real estate investing at all. Um, but as she's attended, uh, more of these events and like seeing other women in real estate doing, um, various, uh, amazing things, um, she starts thinking about it a little bit more and more and more. And like that, that's what I, it's just that like that slow creep in that just slides in and then it's in your head and you can't get rid of it. Right. So
Speaker 1 00:30:21 It it's addictive.
Speaker 2 00:30:22 Yeah. Well, that, that is the exact accurate word, <laugh>, where you're, you're up at night just thinking about it nonstop and that's how you know you found something you really love. So. Absolutely. It's, uh, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 00:30:37 All right. So let's segue into the machete house.
Speaker 2 00:30:42 Yeah. <laugh> in your c another London crack house. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:30:46 In your CBC article, you talk about your self proclaimed machete house. What exactly is this property?
Speaker 2 00:30:53 Yeah, so, um, just a, like a kind of precursor to that. Um, when I had first started in real estate, I had been bidding on houses, uh, as regular, you know, on m l s and being overbid and just pissed off by getting, losing all these, I think I put in like 50 offers, um, and got overbid on every single one, but I was bidding on the numbers, not on emotion. Um, versus at that point everyone was just like, let's buy houses at any price necessary, similar to early 2022. Um, but uh, at that point I was just like, you know, screw this. I'm not playing this game anymore. I'm just gonna buy this shit no one else wants and see if I can make it work. And that's how I found that first crack house. And, uh, then I just kind of, because of social media got kind of got the, the reputation in that niche for fixing these shitty, shitty properties.
Speaker 2 00:31:44 So I kept buying them. Um, my first three properties pretty much were these crack house things that no one wanted. And, um, I bought a few nicer things in between that just need a little bit of work. Um, but, uh, basically that's how I started getting calls, like, Hey, there's this crack house over here, what do you think? There's theracos over here, what do you think? I was like, I'll buy it. I'll buy it. Because it's, it's, I know that system now. Like I know pretty much everything needs to be replaced. I know it's gonna cost me x amount per square foot roughly. Um, and, uh, I know my teams, um, like I have the needle cleanup crew, I have the demo crew, I have these guys, I have these guys and like they've worked with me enough that they know the drill. I standardized everything.
Speaker 2 00:32:26 So when it came to <laugh>, the, um, machete house, I actually owned the property beside it as well, and I did not want to, um, in, in London, I'm maybe in your area is the same, but when you buy two properties beside each other under the same name that the titles merge. And I did not want that to happen. So I bought it, uh, 50% with my wife and, uh, we weren't married at the time, we just got engaged. So I was like, kind of jokingly saying like, happy engagement present. Here's half a house. Um, it's a crack house, but nonetheless, you know, yeah. Happy engagement. And then literally four days after we closed, um, there was an attack in that house. Um, some guy with a machete went in and like chopped up all the tenants, um, no deaths or anything, but it was gruesome.
Speaker 2 00:33:12 And the like newspaper article about it, uh, was how I found out. Um, because people kept saying like, isn't this your property? Uh, <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. I found out from the freaking newspaper article saying like, machete attack, whatever, London, Ontario, it was, it was insane. So I go over, um, to the property to check on the tenants and they had vacated it. Um, they took all their stuff and just left and there. This was four days after closing and there's blood everywhere. It was disgusting. Um, so yeah, that's why it's called a machete house <laugh>, um, because of this machete attack. And yes, I do have the machete, it was on site, and I also found a spear, which I've never even seen in real life before. But, um, that's, every house of mine has some sort of nickname, um, that the machete one I think is the most famous, um, because of its, uh, crazy events. But, um, it's scheduled to be demolished very soon. <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:34:15 I can say you'd have one up on me. I've boughten a lot of pardon in my French. I've gotten a lot of shit, um, and made it beautiful. But I can honestly say I've never had the experience of buying a machete house where people
Speaker 2 00:34:30 <laugh>, I, my wife was horrified. I can tell you that <laugh>, it was not what, uh, what we were expecting at all. I, I can laugh about it now, but it was, it was very, um, it, it was not a great experience at the time. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:34:45 Yeah, I can <laugh> a little bit over, uh, definitely not a, something maybe a novice investor should get involved in little at least. But
Speaker 2 00:34:57 Yeah, definitely not what was expected.
Speaker 1 00:34:59 I'm sure at the end of the day you're gonna do very well, uh, at the exit and whatnot on that, uh
Speaker 2 00:35:06 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that's part of a land massing deal, uh, to build, uh, like develop that, that plot those two plots of land and build up. So it, it should be, uh, worth it in the end. Um, just that short term pain of course is something that, uh, our as investors we're all too familiar with, um, term pain, especially like
Speaker 1 00:35:27 For long-term gain.
Speaker 2 00:35:29 Oh yeah. Like, um, every, my, my poor wife has had to hear me say this again and again. Um, when I come, I come home. I'm super excited about the steel that I just locked up and I haven't, I'm about to firm up on. And, um, my, my go-to sentence to her is, we're about to be very rich or very, very poor <laugh>. So just like, we'll see how this goes. And she's like, oh, well. Like, good thing I'm still working. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:35:56 Yeah. Good for you, man. Um, so we're coming to the end of our interview. We try to keep it for that, you know, 40 minute, 35, 40 minute drive into
Speaker 2 00:36:06 <crosstalk>. No worries. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:36:07 And whatnot. So I want to get, um, without going to overboard, I want to get into, um, our closing topics here and Sure. Um, so the first one is, um, what is your why? Why do you do what you do? What's your why? Like, why are you doing this real estate investing thing and everything else that's coming by Yeah. Houses and all this stuff in between. What's your why?
Speaker 2 00:36:38 That's a, that's a great question. Um, initially it was, um, to have that financial freedom, not just for myself, but for my, my family as well. Um, like I wanted to be able to have my mom retire early and that type of thing. Um, that kind of stages is set at this point. It's more to ensure that, um, my future growing family, um, has the capacity to, to do what they want as well. Like, I am a first generation immigrant in Canada. Um, I was born in, um, Mumbai, India and came here when I was like four or five years old. Um, so like I see the struggles that my, my parents had, um, and I don't want my kids to have the same, uh, struggles that they had or that I had. Um, but one thing that, that, so that's my why, the, the generational wealth and, and knowledge transfer.
Speaker 2 00:37:35 Um, but one thing that I'm still struggling with and, and I keep kind of interviewing my wealthy friends who have children is how do I teach those kids the value of money and work when they don't need money or to work? Um, so that's something that I still need to figure out. I don't have kids. Um, but it's something I think about a lot because, uh, I've seen, I, I went to school at the University of Waterloo and I've seen the, uh, perils of having everything, um, without having to work for it. And it's not pretty. So I would, I would be devastated if my kids turned out like that. Like shitty spoiled Yeah. Useless kids.
Speaker 1 00:38:17 Yeah, for sure. For sure. Um, so you're obviously very successful now relative to how the world views success, but do you think there is still more to life for you? And when you picture more to life, what do you see?
Speaker 2 00:38:43 So that, that's, uh, another really great question. Um, I have always wanted the time freedom, which I have now. It's like the middle of the day right now. We're just chatting on, uh, on a computer. Um, I've always wanted that, but I guess the, the kind of next thing that I'd like to have is the location freedom as well. Um, I see a few of my friends that are spending several months at a time working from places like Thailand and Bali and Indonesia and, um, anywhere really like, uh, I, I would love to have that for myself and my family as well. Um, not quite at the stage where I can walk away like that in my businesses. It's still, uh, like I'm still needed. I'm, I don't have everything ironed out yet where I can just, you know, it's gonna, it's gonna do everything by itself. I'm not there yet. So that's kind of what my next few years look like is trying to stabilize everything, automate things, create my, my systems processes, and um, and people in the right seats to get that location freedom as well so that I don't have to necessarily be in Canada, uh, to attend that. Right.
Speaker 1 00:39:55 Right. So geographical location freedom, work anywhere in this world and make mm-hmm. <affirmative> 3 million a year per se. And I, you know, I think most of us real estate investors are really after those two things. You know, uh, financial freedom, time freedom are actually three things. Financial freedom, time freedom, and geographical freedom. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> at the end of the day. And if you can achieve those things, and it's definitely possible. I'm an advocate and I'm living proof it's possible to achieve those three things through the power of real estate investing.
Speaker 2 00:40:33 A hundred percent. Right. I see the path forward and it's just a matter of time that that goal is inevitable. Um, I, I strongly believe that it's, uh, it's just a matter of time, so.
Speaker 1 00:40:44 Awesome. So if you could give one last piece of advice, one last parting word of advice to all of our listeners watching this episode or listening to this episode, what would that be?
Speaker 2 00:40:58 You said this is your 53rd episode. Um, so for anyone who's listening to this and has listened to the other 52 so far and has not bought anything or done anything, stop this episode right now and start doing some goddamn work. You are procrastinating your own success. You need to do stuff. You can't just listen and sit on the sidelines.
Speaker 1 00:41:21 Take action,
Speaker 2 00:41:23 Take action,
Speaker 1 00:41:24 Pull the trigger. Right.
Speaker 2 00:41:27 Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:41:28 Awesome. Well, listen, James, it's been a pleasure having you on the Motor Life Real Estate Investing podcast. I am very impressed at what you've been able to accomplish <laugh> all in, what, three years or so and you're still so young. That's incredible. Uh, so everybody out there who's my age or close to my age, you're in their late thirties and whatever, and they're still procrastinating, take action. Cuz you're another example of living proof that real estate investing works. How do our listeners connect with you if they want to reach out to you, chat with you, where, how do they, how do they go about doing that? Social media? What, talk about your social media presence, uh, how did they get ahold of you? Sure.
Speaker 2 00:42:14 Um, yeah, first of all, I, I really do appreciate that. Um, it, it really just comes down to, um, having access to information like this. It, it's so, so helpful and it allows that learning curve to just, just go, right. Um, the, uh, way to access me best is through Instagram. Um, just DM me on Instagram. It's at james dot f e r n z. And, um, my say that slowly, you
Speaker 1 00:42:38 Just raced through that.
Speaker 2 00:42:38 Say it again. Oh yeah, sorry. My, my first name James, and then a period and then an abbreviation of my last name, F e r n Z. And, uh, that's on Instagram. And, uh, I have a website and, uh, like Facebook and, um, LinkedIn and TikTok and all the other stuff. I don't know, my, my VA handles all the, all the socials <laugh>, but, uh, Instagram's the best way to get ahold of me in the dms and, um, uh, they can schedule calls me through my Calendly link and that type of thing, so.
Speaker 1 00:43:06 Awesome. Yeah. So everybody reach out. I mean, here's a prime example of a guy who's accomplished a lot in such a short time and at a young age, reach out, send him a message, connect with him, um, maybe do business together, who knows? Uh, for everybody listening who still hasn't reached out to me and wants to pick my brain about a project you're working on, what we have on the go, how you can get involved with us, shoot me an email, Adrian Adr, I
[email protected]. And yeah, even like we mentioned at the start of the show, our lunch and learn program that, uh, is up and running now. More than happy to talk to you about that too, if you guys want to reach out, um, and go from there. So on that note, James, enjoy the rest of your day. It's been a pleasure. I wish you continued success, uh, likewise. And again, such a young age. And, um, yeah, thanks again, pal.
Speaker 2 00:44:08 Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 00:44:10 Cheers.
