Victoria Real Estate Investors Club Newsletter
November 2010
Meeting on Tuesday November 30, 7pm
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VREIC
Breakfast Meeting
| Next Breakfast meeting:
Sat, Dec 11, 9:30am
Brannigans (by the Accent Inn)
Corner of Blanshard and Finlayson
reserved under Real Estate Club
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 Cheri Crause
Royal LePage Coast Capital Realty
1933 OAK BAY, Victoria
250-592-4422
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HOLMES
CONSTRUCTION
250-508-7032
250-588-4684
New Constr, Renovations,
Retrofit Old Windows with Thermal Units,
Project Management and Consulting
Serving the Island since 1982
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Hi Folks!
Welcome to winter on the west coast! By the time you read this the white stuff should be almost gone. Our properties' heating systems are being tested by the below-zero temps and so far, no complaints. Our own condo has a wacky heating system that doesn't really mesh well with the loft setup. The wall of windows, 20 ft high, transmit heat out and coolness in. For the first time we're closing all the blinds! An electric, heating, fireplace may be in our future.
Speaking of heating, check the little article on Heating Systems in the RE News section to the left. A little knowledge can lead to wiser decisions.
For you data-eaters, a couple of news items on home sales/starts/prices are also to the left. The Price Drop article has an interesting perspective. Check it out. To me, the overall message is that we are starting the upswing of the larger RE prices cycle, good news for RE investors. IMO, this is the time to position yourself to buy.
The next monthly meeting is Tuesday November 30, 2010. The speaker is the ever-popular me. My topic will be Joint-Venture Agreements. One could speak for a full day on the details of a good agreement to be used by partners in a real estate project. Therefore my talk will be a summary. I welcome your opinions/experiences during the meeting. Using in a partner can get you the deal of a life-time. Having a faulty agreement can ruin things badly. See article below for the details.
We attended the 2nd monthly REAG meeting last week. Ralph Case delivered more great education. He brought a speaker, Janet LePage, who gave us her method of acquiring, fixing and marketing Phoenix foreclosures. I'm not condoning buying in Phoenix AND her system is well thought out and works for her.
Take care,
Gord Knox
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Meeting Nov 30, 2010 - Joint Venture Agreements
|  Speaker: Gord Knox
Having done 3 co-ownership or joint-venture agreements over the last 5 years and been exposed to many variations, Gord will share his lessons on the why, how, what of putting down on paper how a real estate partnership will function with the goals of clarity, comfort, profit and ending cleanly.
7 - 9 pm
Tuesday November 30, 2010
Comfort Hotel
3020 Blanshard St
$15 at the door (no charge for annual or REAG members)
There's always an after-meeting meeting at Redd's down the hall for networking, socializing, eating, etc.
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Mike Patterson
When you need a trustable, reliable, and reasonable
Plumber who can do the job right the first time.
250-880-0104
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| 5 Simple Success Secrets For Landlords | By Julie A Broad
One of the best way to find great deals as a real estate investor is to find a tired and worn out landlord, and offer to rid him or her of their misery by buying their property. But, if you're going to be taking over other people's problems, and fixing them then you need to know how to succeed where the other landlord has been failing. You need to be prepared. You need to be relaxed and ready to roll with what is thrown at you.
You need to know the 5 secrets to succeed as a property manager where others have failed:
Be Prepared: Your tenants will call you with toilet troubles, furnace issues and other maintenance requests. Unless you want to be rushing out to the property to handle every little issue it's a good idea to find a good handyman that you can rely on. If you aren't sure how to find a good handyman, ask your neighbours. Go to the local real estate investors club meetings and ask them. Or fire up your computer and check online. We found our handyman by asking around.
Remember - your customer is your tenant. It's so easy to forget that your tenant is your customer when they are calling you on Saturday night in the middle of a romantic dinner with your spouse requesting you to fix the pilot light on the furnace (this happened to us!). If you owned a restaurant and someone complained about your service, if you care about your business at all, you'd listen carefully to their concerns and try to fix the issue. As a landlord you should treat your tenants with the same courtesy. Remember they probably have options and can move somewhere else. If you always remember that the tenant is your customer and that it's your tenant paying your bills then I think that everything will be a lot easier to handle as a landlord.
The keys to success are in the systems you implement. Find simple systems for managing the emails, voicemails, paperwork and even the keys to the properties. A simple system for the regular things you handle as a landlord will save you time, money and stress. Let's take keys for example. The keys to enter each property need to be labeled and stored in an easy to use way. I can't take credit for this idea (I got it from Robert Elder of Quick Start Landlord), but I can tell you that even with just a handful of properties you are going to want to pay close attention to this little trick. It will save you time and money. The trick is to label every key with some sort of code that allows you to identify the address as well as to indicate the date. And, while you're at it, why don't you go to your local hardware store and buy a little container that is normally used for organizing nails and screws and use it to store the keys for each of your properties? Ahhhh simplicity.
Master the art of marketing. The bottom line is that you need to understand what the tenants in your area want. What are the features and what are the benefits of your property as they relate to the wants and needs of your tenants? This is often things like proximity to a good school, ease of access to public transportation or market specific needs like air conditioning or covered parking with plug ins for vehicles. When you understand what your tenants want you will have no problem composing compelling advertising that fills your inbox and voicemail with messages from prospective tenants.
Do whatever you can to reduce tenant turnover - it's your biggest ongoing expense! Cutting corners will eventually cut your profits. If you try to show a unit without first getting it ready to be viewed, you'll struggle to attract good tenants. In the end you'll end up with lower rent rates and a more troublesome tenant renting from you. But the biggest thing you'll find hurting you in the long run is tenant turnover. It's almost always better to charge slightly lower than market rent to keep a tenant in there longer than it is to squeeze every dollar of possible rent out of the property but have tenants leaving annually. It's also better to address tenant requests and concerns as quickly as possible. Keeping your tenants happy in their home and comfortable with you can result in loyal residents. Plus, we've found, our tenants are often the best source of other high quality renters. Because they are happy renting from us they tell their friends and we often get emails asking if we have any places available for rent because our current or former tenants have recommended us as landlords.
Many worn-out landlords look at their tenants as a pain in the butt. They weren't prepared for the calls. They forget that their tenants are in fact the ones paying their bills and should be treated like the valuable customers that they are. They also don't realize that simple systems like the one I mentioned for keys will make all the difference in streamlining and simplifying your business to make it easy. And finally, inexperienced or tired landlords probably have never taken the time to master the art of marketing to attract new tenants nor have they taken the time to try and keep the good tenants happy in their home.
If you tackle these five success secrets I am confident you'll find yourself succeeding as a property manager where other landlords have failed.
Julie Broad is a real estate investor with a free newsletter on real estate investing. Learn the insider secrets to building a seven-figure real estate portfolio while so many properties present once-in-a-lifetime opportunities... Get the free Rev N You with Real Estate newsletter and start realizing your dreams today. http://www.revnyou.com.
Article Source: 5 Simple Success Secrets For Landlords
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| The Nuts and Bolts of a Joint Venture Contract | By Christian Fea
When you head into any type of joint venture partnership, a written contract is a must. This document will protect your interests and the interests of your partner for as long as the partnership is in effect.
Some business owners are intimidated by the prospect of designing a joint venture contract, especially if they have never had experience with legal documents before. While you can hire an attorney for this purpose, you can also easily design your own agreement by keeping these key components in mind.
Purpose
The first component to put into your JV contract is the purpose of the joint venture. You and your partners should head into this agreement with similar goals in mind, and these should be clearly spelled out in your contract. The method by which you will achieve these goals should also be carefully outlined, ensuring all parties head into the agreement with full knowledge of what their responsibilities will be.
Benefits
Most JV partnerships are formed because each entity hopes to benefit from the agreement in some way. For newer businesses, this often means obtaining email lists and link traffic from a larger, more established company. Bigger companies usually enter into a JV partnership because they can reap commissions on the sales their partners make. No matter what your benefits will be, list them fully in the contract so no one is disappointed by the outcome of the agreement and no disputes arise after the fact.
Strategy
This is the process that will be utilized by both companies to achieve their goals. It will provide the brass tacks of the marketing concept that will be used to promote all the businesses involved. It may also involve the specific responsibilities each company will have to ensure the final outcome takes place. Since unrealized expectations can be the source of many lawsuits, make sure your expectations of one another are realistic by outlining them precisely in your contract.
Time Frame
Many JV partnerships are set for a specific amount of time and come complete with a due date when the partnership will terminate. Even if you want your partnership to be more open-ended, it is a good idea to agree on a date when you will revisit the agreement to ensure it's still working for the benefits of all involved.
By providing a specific timeline for your JV partnership, you give all partners the chance to bow out of the agreement if it is not sufficiently beneficial. If the partnership is going well and you want more time, you can renegotiate your time frame when the initial deadline arrives.
JV partnerships are legally binding ventures, and the right contract will make all the difference in protecting your interests and offering an out if the agreement does not work. Whether you choose to hire an attorney to draft an agreement for you or use a template you find on the Internet to draw up your own, the contract is the key ingredient to a successful joint venture.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability. To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on []Joint Venture Marketing.
Article Source: The Nuts and Bolts of a Joint Venture Contract
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