This Example May Change Your Life!

By Brenda King

Aside from a foray into real estate investing by accident in the early 80’s (which is an incredible story for another time of how I was actually PAID to buy 10 duplexes) my first investment, on purpose, was a joint venture with none other than my (then) 18 year old son.

I was looking for a way to house him affordably so that he could live in Edmonton and go to college, and I suspect he was simply looking for a way to get the heck out of our small town where he felt trapped. We had a down payment of about $10,000 burning a hole in our pocket- the settlement from an insurance claim on a vehicle wrote off in the fog one evening. (It’s a teenage son kind of thing- you can relate if you’ve ever had one!)

Without even thinking about using the services of an agent to help with the daunting task, we drove around the bowels of Millwood one weekend where things seemed to be “reasonably priced”. Houses here were situated closer to our rural home and to the South campus of Grant McEwen College.

The plan?

Get as many bedrooms as possible so that my son could mine his friendships for possible roommates and thereby come up with enough cash to cover the mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Brilliant? Hardly. Gutsy? Perhaps- if ignorance is a prerequisite for bravery! What did he know about running a rooming house? What did I know about giving him free reign to actually make the scenario work?

In the end, we stumbled upon a 5 bedroom split-level townhome that we both thought had possibilities. I called the list agent and we made an appointment to view it. We made an offer the next day with absolutely zero idea on how the financing would come together.

Through a series of persistent next steps and an excellent relationship with our small town banker, we somehow pulled the purchase off. We would not have obtained the financing without using my son’s part-time income from his job at a beer store in order to qualify.

Some of the details are fuzzy now – I’ve invested in many income properties since then. What is not fuzzy was the time that we didn’t screen one of his “tenants” and we ended up trying to evict a questionable type from the downstairs bedroom. There was a show down one evening and police were involved and it got rather unsavory. (You need those kinds of experiences though, in order to appreciate what good landlording practices as taught by REIN can do for you as you build a portfolio.)

Much more memorable than this occasion was when my son refinanced the property in order to buy his fiancée a diamond ring and a new townhome in the much nicer area of Summerside. He purchased that one at list with no conditions in the crazy market that existed in 2007. That practice is not recommended- though in his case it all turned out fine.

I became a REIN member in the Fall of 2004 when I had no idea how I would afford the membership. It was a time of great upheaval for me. I made a decision that investing in real estate was going to change my life. The education that I got from and REIN was the catalyst that made that change possible.

Two years later, my younger son also needed a townhome so that he could go to school. I purchased it using methods taught at the ACRE event I attended in Calgary. It was the 2nd of ten properties bought in just a couple of years, and the most gratifying way to jump-start both of my sons’ independence.

They eventually each took out equity and built brand new homes in Leduc.

Both of them are now financially independent and successful in their chosen careers. Seek a path to financial improvement through real estate- the ripple you create starts close to home but then spreads out to unknown corners of the pond that is your life.

Leave your stories below in the comment section! 

Brenda King is a member of the Real Estate Investment Network, a Real estate investor, and a REALTOR with Re/Max River City in Edmonton.