I LOVE YOU. Say these three simple words every day to the people you love and you will have magic in your life. I used to take love for granted and assumed my loved ones knew they were loved so why would I have to say it every day. The answer is that we need to say “I love you” to stay connected to heart and other people need to hear those words to feel your connection. I used feel stupid saying those words because it caused me discomfort. One of my mentors challenged me to look in the mirror every day and say to myself “I love you”. The secret to this technique is that you need to love yourself first before you can love others. It is through the abundance of love that you have that the overflow is easy to share. Valentine’s Day is not one special day of the year reserved to show, give, say, feel that special loving. Valentine’s Day is every day of the year.

DINNER IN ORLANDO

Steve planned our trip to Disney World a month ago and it coincided with an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) course hosted by Richard Bandler that Julie Zhu, Will Chen, Andy Barrett and Selena Cheung were attending. In between their course and theme parks, we met up for dinner at Big Fin Seafood Restaurant for a delectable meal. And as an additional bonus, Steve and I were able to watch the Olympics in the evenings. Since we don’t have cable at home, it was a treat to watch tv in our hotel. Way to go Canada!

PROPERTY MANAGER-IN-TRAINING

We have hired a resident manager for the Ontario portfolio; actually a full time manager and a part-time assistant manager. All of the resumes we received were heavy on the maintenance work with minimal administrative experience. The key to effective property management is not maintaining the buildings although that is important. The key is in your communication and documentation. We decided to train a newbie with no property management experience. The great thing is that he has no bad habits to unlearn. The exhilarating part is watching our new team implement the systems put in to place. Laying the foundation for a successful business takes the most time and effort. Once it is operating as designed, you have taken yourself out of active management. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

INVESTOR SAVVY: CREATING VALUE

This is Al & Shelley DeMelo from Kamloops. We joint ventured on a 6-plex in Thunder Bay. They decided to visit us for a week as their way of creating value for me. We hosted them on our air mattress in the living room and they got to experience what it’s like being a resident property manager. After we inspected their lovely property, they helped us with an eviction in our Lakehead portfolio. It was an eye opening process and we had a lot of fun discovering the how-to’s.

CALLING IN THE SHERIFF

My property management staff had a wonderful learning experience on how to process a sheriff enforced eviction. We were dealing with a professional tenant who knew how to use the tenancies act to their advantage. As a result, this person was able to live in their unit for four and a half months without paying rent. The eviction process usually takes two months. Please note that in Ontario the Landlord Tenant Board will not process any hearings in the month of December. For details about how an eviction is processed in Ontario, please go to my blog.

FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTORS ONLY

My business coach Andrew Barber-Starkey is hosting an exclusive seminar in Calgary, Alberta on March 15th from 6:30pm to 10:00pm. I know from personal experience that being able to analyze deals, knowing contract law, being motivated are not enough to help you become successful. Why do you think so many real estate investors fail? It is not for lack of training or education. It is because of their lack of a plan and the system to implement that plan. Andrew has an exceptional program designed for entrepreneurs to help you achieve your goals. He states double your income, double your time off and double your speed to financial freedom in less than three years. In 3 years I was able to go from $40,000 in debt to multi-millionaire and I continue using his program. It was less than easy for me to unlearn all of my bad habits from years of doing it the wrong way. That’s why it is a 3-year program. Why stop using a winning formula? That’s the other half of my secret. When most people achieve their initial goal, they stop using the system that got them there. If you are looking for a way to be a more successful real estate investor, you can check out what Andrew and I have been up to Here.

Never forget: the secret of creating riches for oneself is to create them for others. Sir John Templeton.

July Ono

You can go to the Ontario Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) website at www.ltb.gov.on.ca to view these forms.

As corporate policy, all tenants who do not pay their full rent on the 1^st day of the month are automatically served a Form N4 on the second day of the month. I give tenants a grace period until 12:00pm noon of the second day. The reason for acting so swiftly does two things: (1) it trains your tenants that you want your rent paid on time, and (2) the sooner the notice is served, the sooner you can process the eviction if it is required.

The Form N4 is a legal notice that could lead to you being evicted from your home. The operative word here is “could” and does not necessarily mean it will happen. The notice has a termination date which is the deadline date for the tenant to pay their rent before the landlord can apply to the LTB for an eviction hearing. The operative wording here is “apply”.

The termination date is calculated 14 days after the landlord gives the tenant the notice. So on the 2^nd day of the month, fourteen days after is the 16^th day of the month. This is the day that the landlord can apply to the LTB for a hearing.

If by the 16^th day of the month, the tenant has not paid their rent, we fill out a Form L1 Application to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and to collect rent the tenant owes. The form is 7 pages and the landlord must include a copy of the Form N4 that was served which is 2 pages. The application fee is $170.00. The application is faxed to the nearest branch that services the area which is listed under Regional Offices and Locations on their website.

And then you wait anywhere from two days to two weeks for a response from the LTB. When you receive the Notice of Hearing, your application is assigned a 7-digit NOL number with the date, time and location of the hearing.

You must attend the hearing in person or send an authorized representative. The representative must have written authorization to act on your behalf.

The hearing is scheduled anywhere from two weeks to two months. It is usually within two to three weeks. In the case of the Christmas season, it can be as long as two months to get a hearing scheduled.

The tenant that we evicted on February 10^th started with an L1 application submitted on November 17, 2009. We received the Notice of Hearing on November 24, 2010. The hearing was scheduled for January 12, 2010.

All hearings begin at 9:00 a.m. and go all day. The files are called up in numerical order by NOL number.

In about half the cases, the tenant shows up to plead their case to the adjudicator. In these instances, the adjudicator favors the tenant and will recommend the landlord give the tenant the option to pay installment payments on their back rent. However, if the tenant has a history of non-payment of rent, this is where your previous Form N4’s on file are proof that the tenant is a risk. The landlord can plead their case to proceed with the eviction.

In my case, the tenant did not show up and I won the application. The judge approved an Order Under Section 69 of the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, 2006. The Order is mailed out to the landlord. Two originals of the Order was received on January 18, 2010. One original is for the landlord’s file. The second original is delivered to the tenant.

The Order stipulates that the tenant must move out of the rental unit on or before January 25, 2010, along with other information about the amount of rent and compensation that is owed.

The tenant remained in the rental unit on January 25. The Landlord is then allowed to file the Order with the Court Enforcement Office (Sheriff) to enforce the Order on the following day. I filed the Court Enforcement Order at the court house on January 27. They mail out the Notice To Vacate; one gets mailed to the landlord and one gets mailed to the tenant.

We received our copy of the Notice To Vacate from the Superior Court of Justice on February 1, 2010. The eviction date was scheduled for February 10, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

The tenant failed to vacate the premises. The Sheriff arrived at 10:00 a.m. on February 10 to evict the tenant. The tenant was not home so the Sheriff posted the notice on the door. The rental unit is now technically in the landlord’s possession. However, the tenant has an additional 72 hours to remove their personal belongings. The tenant is permitted access to their unit between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. but cannot stay in the unit overnight.

The 72 hour period ended on February 13, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. The tenant pleaded for thirty more minutes. I arrived back at 10:30 a.m. and the tenant pleaded for more time. When I refused, the tenant demanded more time and refused to leave. This is when you call the police. The police arrived within five minutes to escort the tenant off the premises.

If you feel the tenant is a disturbance and a continuing threat to the building and the other residents, you may fill out a Trespass Notice to Prohibited Person available at the police station. This Notice must be served to the tenant prior to their vacating their unit and prohibits them from entering the building or else they will be arrested and fined.

On February 13, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. I took possession of the rental unit. All of the contents now legally belongs to the landlord to dispose of as they see fit. And that’s how an eviction process works from beginning to end.

This incident was a worst case scenario. The LTB does not schedule any hearings during the month of December so delinquent tenants are given a month grace. In a portfolio of 243 rental units, this is the only eviction we have had to process to this extent. The majority of our tenants pay on time and issuing the Form N4’s ensures compliance.

HIRING A RESIDENT MANAGER
Now that our systems are almost completed, we are in hiring mode. There is a position for a Resident Property Manager who will oversee a 243 unit portfolio spread over 7 buildings. The technical aspects: excellent administrative and management skills, computer-literate, fluent use of English grammar in correspondence required. The psychological aspects: self-motivated team leader, resourceful, forward-thinking, looking to settle down for the long term. This is a great opportunity for a self-starter to manage a multi-million dollar portfolio. Tell me why you think you are the perfect fit? Resumes to info@lakeheadapartments.com

AND THAT’S A RRAP
In January 2009, I purchased a 28-unit apartment building with a single investor. This is a lower income building that requires managing up. It meets the requirements to qualify for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Residential Rehabilitation Assistant Program aka CMHC RRAP. We accepted an invitation for assistance from one of my former Real Estate Network Group members, Chris Veale. He was a tremendous help in breaking down the units so that contractors could easily identify what needed upgrading and provide complete bids. The application process started in February 2009 and we got approval to proceed with bids in October. We just finished the electrical safety inspection and fixed all the deficiencies. This is a federal grant program targeting older buildings with low income tenants. The government offers owners assistance with upgrading their buildings. It takes patience to fill out all the paperwork but it’s free money. Upgrading buildings to handicap access is also available.

WHEN CONDO CONVERSION MAKES SENSE
This is a buy and hold strategy for certain buildings. The mill rate for residential properties is lower in Ontario than it is for commercial properties. For example, the property taxes on a 48-unit multi-family apartment is $18,000 versus a 48-unit multi-family apartment that has been condo converted is $9,000, this is a $9,000 savings per year. It’s easy to figure out the break even point when you will recoup the cost of converting and if it fits in to your exit strategy. This is a value add for this building and increases the attractiveness to a potential future buyer.

INVESTOR SAVVY: CREATING VALUE
Have you taken the time to think about an investment from your Investor’s point of view? How would you rate your investment? How do you create a wow experience? If you want to attract investors, what would they want to hear? The bottom line is important and it’s how you achieve that bottom line. Investors want to hear that you are continually increasing the value and performance of their investment, whatever the economic climate. Every month, every year, the revenue in your portfolio should continue to increase even in a down market. It’s easy to make money in an up market. The aphorism goes, all ships rise with the tide. The people who make money during a down market are the savvy investors. It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked as Warren Buffett says. This is your opportunity to provide intrinsic value on top of financial value.

SUCCESS BLUEPRINT WORKSHOP
My business coach Andrew Barber-Starkey with www.ProCoachSystem.com is putting on one of his exceptional workshops. There’s no obligation to buy anything except to enjoy the day and learn lots.
Jan 19 in Burnaby; Jan 25 Edmonton; Jan 26 Calgary
Click here to download the Annual Progress review, an exercise that we use in his coaching program, as a free gift from Andrew.

PRO-ACTIVE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT - PART 4
When managing multiple turn overs at month end, give tenants an incentive to move out early and to move in late by pro-rating their rent and bonusing it back to them. This way you can manage multiple turnovers and spread it out over a week or two instead of doing it all on the last day of the month. This tip is part of my “How can I create a fail-safe, fool-proof property management system that is easy to use?” system.

Never forget: the secret of creating riches for oneself is to create them for others. Sir John Templeton.

July Ono

CHRISTMAS BLESSING
I would like to save some trees this year instead of sending out cards. You are all, every one of you, a special blessing to me.
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2007134554829&source=jl999

MAKE A LIFE CHANGING DIFFERENCE
Can you spare $25 this month? Perhaps drink less Starbucks? And give an entrepreneur at KIVA.org an opportunity to thrive. When that loan is repaid, you can recycle the donation to another entrepreneur.

DATE WITH DESTINY
This is an awesome event put on by Anthony Robbins.  Amazing. Transformational. Words cannot describe. It is to be experienced. There are 6 human needs: Certainty, Significance, Uncertainty, Variety, Love/Connection, Growth. At DWD you learn how all relationships are based on these 6 needs. Tony gives you the tools so you can use it for your own personal growth and to help others. He has also incorporated new relationship material that is fascinating. You can read more about the Meadow Report on my Blog. My caveat: as with all of his events, there are no official breaks so come prepared with water, snacks and food.

MY NEW LOGO

I love it and I hope you do too. The On The Beach logo has been eluding me since 2003. Finally, thanks to my brilliant media designer, Bojan (pronounced “boy-yan”), he intuited my description into this wonderful logo. Bojan is the head of our new OTBEC Media Group. He does graphic and web design, newsletter templates, videography, audio engineering, photography, storyboarding, image manipulation, business cards, brochures. He’s one talented boy (pun intended) and he is available to serve your needs if you are looking for unique and creative design work. He can be reached at bojan@otbec.com for a consultation.

PRO-ACTIVE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT – PART 3

Training tenants. It starts at the beginning from that first phone call to when they vacate the premises. Be aware of your voice; the timbre, inflection, tonality speak more than your words. If you end your sentences with a vocal inflection going up as you would ask a question, this creates uncertainty in the listener. Consciously choose to end your sentences with a downward inflection as this creates certainty. For this reason, I hired a vocal coach, Jesai Jayhmes, before I launched my first seminar. It’s all about communication. Make sure that your expectations are understood and that the tenants are made aware of the consequences for non-compliance. Verbal communication alone is not enough. You must have your expectations written down on paper and explain it to them. Even something as simple as paying rent on the first of each and every month must be reinforced. Get them to sign a separate addendum that they promise to pay on time. When tenants are ready to vacate, give them a move out checklist including instructions on what to clean, how much it will cost if they don’t clean it, where to dump their unused furniture, instead of leaving it behind for maintenance to clean up. (to be continued next issue)

Money is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow. Thornton Wilder.

July Ono

This type of decision does not come lightly. It comes from having a clearly defined vision, mission statement and purpose for your life and business. Answers come easily when you know who you are, who you are serving, what your purpose is, why you are on this planet and how you are going to implement it.

These past twelve weeks has been a priceless learning experience: a gift from God. These types of gifts are often challenging to accept and receive because it’s pretty damn hard work and it requires a lot of stretching out of your comfort zone.

This is the gift. Challenges create perseverance, patience, resourcefulness, flexibility, determination and fortitude. Where in the world do you get these wonderful gifts? You could say that fortitude is having the guts to go for your dreams even when it requires you to walk through shit to get to the roses. Because that’s what it feels like for me right now. Steve is from a different planet. He’s always happy and enjoying himself. Put him in a sewer and he’d find a way to play in it. It’s a mixed blessing. I always react this way and I don’t want to feel this way whenever I am stretched. It happens when I am growing and learning. It’s not comfortable. Que sera sera whatever will be will be.

The other side of the coin is to stop growing and retreat to my comfortable life and play golf every day. Been there done that. It’s a dead end. No wonder people die within five years of retiring. There is no more purpose for them to continue, no more challenges for them to solve, no more growing and learning to the next level.

It was pretty cool to retire at 41 and it lasted about three months. So I renegotiated my dreams and realized they weren’t big enough. Now I have an 80 year plan and a $2.224 Trillion dollar goal. This kind of manifesting requires a lot of growth, on my part, which I don’t like by the way, but its part of building character, experience, wisdom. You just can’t skip this part. It’s mandatory. It’s a pre-requisite for the next level. No skipping grades.

I just wanted to share with you that life is what you make it. I can make this a horrible experience or I can make this a glorious experience. It’s all in my interpretation. My excitement and enthusiasm comes from knowing that my gains through these experiences will serve me for the rest of my life. That puts things into perspective. And isn’t it always rosy when you’re looking back with 20/20 hindsight? That comes after the fact, not during it.

I’ve seen in my daily experiences why people give up. They don’t have the fortitude to keep going. They quit. Fortitude will keep you going through the tough times, when you don’t feel like it, but you do it anyway. Fortitude is when you’re doing it for the right cause even in the face of sacrifice. Fortitude is having the patience to wait for your desired outcome. Fortitude rewards you with riches beyond measure. This is not something that can be taught. This is something that must be experienced. So embrace your opportunity right now and have the fortitude to see it through.

So here is my letter of exhortation which means to persuade, inspire, encourage. I consider myself rather dense and stubborn. Why else did it take nine years for me to get the lesson? Between August to December 1986, I experienced one of the most traumatic and despicable acts of betrayal that one person can perpetrate on another. It sent me into a clinical depression. I was having nervous breakdowns. My body would have shaking fits and I’d go temporarily blind. It got to the point where I could not function. I couldn’t even go shopping. Every day I wanted to die. I didn’t want to live. But there was one thing that kept me going every day, day after day. I lived in the moment because that’s all I had and this is the promise that I kept repeating to myself…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11. This one promise kept me alive.

You see, at the time, in the morass of my despair, depression and inconsolable pain, I could not see the work that was being wrought by invisible Hands. I could not see the promise in my non-existent future. I had no future. There was no future. It did not exist for me. There was only pain, an excruciating indescribably delicious pain. Because if you can feel pain, then you are feeling. And if you are feeling, that means you are alive. And that makes you rare and unique.

To be able to feel such intense emotions is a wonderful gift. We are the only creatures with the ability to feel and reason. And my reasoning at the time was “why is this happening to me?” which is the wrong question. Every thing happens all the time to every one. It’s how we interpret it.

It took a very long time for me to figure that out because I was stubborn and refused help. But eventually there came a day…  that day … DD-Day. I call it the Do or Die Day.

It’s hard to imagine that I allowed myself to suffer for six years before I sought professional help. I had been terribly hurt by a “counselor” who wanted to heal me. Now I had to make a conscious decision to accept the help of a counselor because I really couldn’t help myself. That decision was frightening. To be vulnerable and exposed to even worse injury. But there was something far worse that drove me forward: survival is not living. I felt dead and I needed to be alive. I couldn’t stand being the walking dead any more. I would rather die trying to live than pretend wanting to die. If I had to be hurt again, so be it. It really couldn’t have gotten any worse than it was.

Because deep down inside you, there is a Truth. I call it a Knowing. You know that you are Loved; that you are Cherished; that you are Precious; that you are so much more resourceful than you can ever know. Every cell in your body is a miracle. You are a miracle.

Our problem is that we take everything for granted. Every thing has a purpose, a teaching, a lesson. The universal design is all about increase, expansion, growth. It’s the law of life: if you are not growing, you are automatically dying. Take a lesson from any plant. And when a plant dies, there is a re-birth. There is new seed, new roots, new blossoms, new fruit.

You know that you are part of a Grand Design do you not. You feel it. And it’s really hard to describe. Yucky is a temporary stage. It is but for a season. I thought that seasons ran in three month intervals. That’s the weather seasons for the planet Earth. There is an experiential season for your soul and the time frame varies. You don’t have to go through nine years of your own personal hell to get the lesson. I was just extra stubborn. And my reward … extra love, extra joy, extra energy.

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you come out the other side a far wiser, stronger, brilliant, compassionate soul. It’s not something you can read about or think about. It is an experience that fortifies your character and strengthens your resolve beyond anything imaginable. You enter the valley like a dirty lump of coal. Add a little heat, pressure and time. You exit the valley as the brilliant diamond that you are. Because your true calling is to be a light unto the world. And this is how I stand in the gap for our hurting brothers and sisters. Look beyond the hurt. You are being groomed by the Supreme Intelligence to answer your calling. You are the Chosen One. You are not given any experience that you cannot bear. It just feels like you can’t take it but believe me. You can. You are more resilient than you can ever know. God knows it. I know it.

Today, I am a testament to my pain, my tears and my fears. I thank my ashes for out of them I have created beauty.

Isaiah 61:3 “To give them beauty for ashes”

Looking back and reflecting on my life, it would certainly have been shameful to let all that despair go to waste. I wish for you to see the beauty that awaits you; the promises to be fulfilled. You need to stay for the pay off.

Not in a thousand years could I have imagined the rewards that my Heavenly Father would bestow upon me today. I am truly blessed. The richest blessing of all is the connection that I have with you, my network. Thank you for being you. I have gifted each and every one of you a special blessing from my heart to yours. Namaste.

Humans have an animal part of the brain, the limbic system, which is responsible for the fight or flight response. This is hard-wired in to us as a survival mechanism.

Early in our history, we can delineate two types of people: hunters and gatherers.

Hunters were male. They were physically stronger. Their brains developed to focus on the hunt. They seek prey, hunt prey and bring food back to the tribe. The tribe survives. Their primary mandate is to solve a problem and fix it. They really can only think one thing at a time. Mental distractions were costly to the hunt. The more distracted they became, the less efficient they were at catching game. The more they fixated, the more successful they were in the hunt.

Gatherers were female. They took care of the tribe. Their brains developed to multi-task on many different things simultaneously. Gatherers would be on the look out for berry markers. They seek out forage, reconnoiter the meadow for viable fruit, nuts and berries. They would mark each bush or tree and take detailed notes on the stage of ripeness, including which berries were good to eat and which berries were poisonous. The more detailed notes they retained, the better they ensured the survival of the tribe. After a berry marking trip, the gatherers would return to the tribe and give each other a Meadow Report. Gatherers were also preyed upon by larger animals and were especially vulnerable when the hunters were out. The Meadow Report ensured that everyone knew where the berries were in case something happened to that gatherer.

In today’s modern world, relationships are still based on the basic hunter/gatherer primal instincts. A couple has a discussion. The woman goes on and on and on with her grocery trip “meadow report”. The man’s version of the grocery trip is, “Went to the store, got milk.” The report is concise, focused and to the point which is what men are designed for. And he also solved a problem and fixed it by bringing the milk home. In his animal brain, he’s a hero. The woman’s version of the same grocery trip is about five minutes long and includes how she was feeling, tangents, related bits and pieces that don’t quite seem to fit into the description but relevant, why she needed the butter, and it goes on. The man is going insane. He wants her to get to the point.

And the point is … the Meadow Report is the point.

It’s what women do. Men don’t have to understand it. Just know that there’s nothing to solve or fix. Women just want to “meadow report” and it’s very natural for them. All men have to do is sit/stand patiently and listen. You don’t have to understand. Just be there and listen. And you’ll have a happy wife/girlfriend.

Men like to solve problems and fix things, especially for women. It’s what they’re designed to do so let them. When they do something for you, no matter how small, praise your man and tell him he’s your hero. Watch how it makes him feel. A kind word can make a man move mountains.

It’s pretty cool to see this in action in a room full of 2000 people. I highly recommend attending a Date With Destiny when you can. This is definitely an event worth re-attending in a few years.

December 22, 2009

Honestly, I really can’t answer questions like that. I know what I’d like to buy, when to buy and where to buy because I’ve been doing research and due diligence specific to my investment criteria. I have a plan, a written plan with a ten year time line. Actually, it’s an eighty year plan broken into ten year increments, broken into yearly goals, broken into quarterly intentions, broken into weekly tasks, broken into daily action steps where I can monitor my specific and measurable results. All I can say for sure is that if you don’t have a written plan, you really don’t know what you want. It’s all milling around in your head and you need to get it on paper.

My research is designed for me and my investors. This means that my investing style and investment criteria may not match your investing style or investment criteria. Imagine that!

What’s good for me is not necessarily the right thing for you. The hard thing is to do the work to find out what kind of lifestyle you desire in ten years, twenty years, thirty years, a hundred years from now, for yourself, your family, your inner circle, the world. That end goal is the magnet pulling you forwards. It will determine your short term goals and your long term intentions. You will start to plan things from a different perspective.

Invest the time in yourself to study the market: the real estate market, the stock market, the global economy, the local economy. Look for trends and be a contrarian. The trend is your friend as long as the trend is going your way. When the trend is nuclear fallout, everybody gets contaminated. The work comes in doing the research to find out when to pull out, or when to buy at the right time, or when to sell at the right time, or when to wait.

There are so many factors involved in such a simple question. In my earlier private sessions with clients, it would take on average 3 to 4 hours to discern an intelligent answer and the implementation would take up to a year.

I’ve seen too many people get into trouble by running after a seemingly good deal. It may appear to be a good deal from the other person’s perspective but is it really the best investment for you at your current stage. If a deal is going to be a winner, make sure it’s in your best interest.

December 22, 2009

7 Profit Centers - Part 2
with July Ono