December 2007

FREE Millionaire Real Estate Investor Workshop in Kitchener Waterloo

I’m proud to announce registration is now open for the January 10th Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop.

There are only 25 seats, and the workshop will be full. Translation: ACT NOW, SEATS GOING FAST

The last workshop was packed – wall to wall – and people drove from over 250 kilometres away to learn proven models for building a Millionaire Real Estate Investor’s portfolio.

Watch the full announcement below (in my first featured video ever)

Denis Caron had this to say after the December real estate investment workshop:

“After meeting with Benjamin at his workshop, I knew he was going to be an important member of my wealth building “dream team”. It was definitely worth the 280km drive I took to attend this night. Thanks for showing me how I can make my money work for me!”

WHEN: Thursday January 10th, 7:00-8:30pm

WHERE: 871 Victoria Street North, Kitchener Ontario. Click here for a map

You must register to attend, and registration is FREE. You can register by calling me at 519 570 4447 or emailing me at Benjamin(AT)BenjaminBach.com

A $5 charge at the door will apply if you have not registered in advance, but the workshop is free with registration (so email me to register already!).

Kitchener Waterloo and Cambridge are Attractive Cities

A new report just released by the Conference Board of Canada has ranked Waterloo Region as one of the most attractive mid sized metropolitan areas in the Country.  Canada’s Technology Triangle put out this news release with a comprehensive summary of the report:

Canada’s Technology Triangle, Waterloo Region, December 12, 2007… The area known as Canada’s Technology Triangle (CTT) – Waterloo Region, Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo – today was ranked high among mid-sized metropolitan areas in the Conference Board of Canada’s first ever report, “City Magnets: Benchmarking the Attractiveness of Canada’s CMAs”.

The report seeks to measure the attractiveness to people of each of Canada’s CMAs on the premise that attracting talent and the business investment they encourage is critical to Canada’s competitiveness in the decades ahead.

The Kitchener CMA – the Waterloo Region minus Wilmot and Wellesley – ranked high among Canada’s mid-sized metropolitan areas and ninth overall out of 27 CMAs. The Kitchener CMA (Waterloo Region) is especially favourable for offering a wide range of employment opportunities within its communities. It is also an area known for being a strategic and competitive location in which to invest.

The Waterloo Region ranked in the top five in many individual categories including number of innovations patented, quality of housing stock, lowest crime rate based on drug crimes and criminal code violations per 100,000 people, household access to recycling, density of population per square kilometer, highest productivity, best employment rate, and Gross Domestic Product per capita.

The Waterloo Region also has an excellent track record in attracting new people and talent. As noted in the report, the Kitchener CMA attracted the sixth strongest flow of net new migrants per capita between 2002 and 2006. Also in terms of population growth between 2002 and 2006, Waterloo Region ranked fifth among the 27 CMAs with the Kitchener CMAs population growth at 8.9% versus a national average of 5.4%.

The report also acknowledges that the larger CMA’s – especially the ‘Big Six” with populations over a million – are much more likely to score highly based on the survey’s metrics.

Combined with the recent CMHC report showing that the vacancy rate in Waterloo fell to 0.9%, it’s no wonder investors from across Canada are turning their attention to this region. 

I’m just helping a client of mine from British Columbia put his second rental home in Kitchener Waterloo under contract.  Instead of buying a condo for $500,000 or  $1,000,000 in Vancouver or Whistler, he’s decided to buy condo’s for $120,000 and $160,000 in Waterloo and Kitchener.

I have helped him put together a Wealth Building team here in Waterloo Region, including a property management firm that looks after screening & qualifying tenants, and dealing with maintenance issues. 

If you have always known you should be investing in an area with more growth but hesitated because you didn’t live close enough to a growth region, contact me today to discuss how my Wealth Building team can help you acquire property here.  You’ll be a property owner, instead of a landlord. 

I always tell my clients "Live where you want, but invest where the numbers make sense."  Call me today to discuss how your equity can be working harder for you in snowy Waterloo Region, while you’re lounging comfortably by the water or the mountains.

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Kitchener Waterloo’s Favourite Real Estate Agent* wants to show you how Real Estate Investing can make you wealthy. Benjamin works with people from across Ontario, Canada, and North America helping them build wealth through smart real estate investments.

Benjamin is hosting a FREE Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop January 10th, 2007 from 7-8:30PM. Registration is free in advance, or $5 at the door. Call or email Benjamin Bach today to register, and learn how you can start your Real Estate Investment portfolio.

Benjamin is a Sales Representative with Keller Williams Golden Triangle Realty in Kitchener Waterloo and would love to answer any questions about buying or selling a rental, income or investment property.

You can reach Benjamin at Benjamin(AT)BenjaminBach.com or call him at 519 570 4447

Facebook for the over-65 crowd

Seth Godin shares this image, originally found via Daan.

Related Reading: Facebook, Friend or Foe ?

Vacancy Rate in Kitchener Waterloo Falls

One question many investors ask me before they purchase a rental property in Kitchener Waterloo, especially if the client is from out of town (I work with many investors from Toronto and the West Coast), is what is the local vacancy rate. 

Until this morning, I was providing them with 2006 statistics, since that was the most current, comprehensive, reliable data I had.  This morning that all changed.

CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) released their Fall 2007 Rental Market Statistics for markets across Canada.  The report is about 60 pages and has a ton of great data.  If you’d like a copy, email me.

I am combing through the report this morning, and already one statistic in particular stands out.

The vacancy rate in "Privately Initiated Rental Apartment Structures of Three Units and Over" in the Kitchener Waterloo area fell from 3.3% in October 2006 to 2.7% in October 2007.

No wonder so many people are investing their equity in Waterloo Region!  Call me today at 519.570.4447 to learn how you can start building wealth.

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Kitchener Waterloo’s Favourite Real Estate Agent* wants to show you how Real Estate Investing can make you wealthy. Benjamin works with people from across Ontario, Canada, and North America helping them build wealth through smart real estate investments.

Benjamin is hosting a FREE Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop January 10th, 2007 from 7-8:30PM. Registration is free in advance, or $5 at the door. Call or email Benjamin Bach today to register, and learn how you can start your Real Estate Investment portfolio.

Benjamin is a Sales Representative with Keller Williams Golden Triangle Realty in Kitchener Waterloo and would love to answer any questions about buying or selling a rental, income or investment property.

You can reach Benjamin at Benjamin(AT)BenjaminBach.com or call him at 519 570 4447

*Gold Award, Kitchener Waterloo Record Readers Select Awards 2007 – 2008

Is a Student House a Good Investment for You ?

A probable client just emailed me.  She is from Calgary, Alberta, and she’s looking to invest in the Kitchener-Waterloo Cambridge, Ontario area.   She asks:

"Would you recommend us to purchase properties for student housing?"

Most investors I meet with have a curious interest in student property – although not all purchase student rental houses, lodging houses or multiplexes.

The biggest reason people like student houses, is that student properties tend to have higher revenue per unit, or more cash flow.

Student tend to pay ‘by-the room’ – $400 a room for a 3br unit would bring in $1200, whereas a family renting a 3br apartment would likely not pay more than 900 or 1000 for the unit. 

Students tend to ‘turnover’ much more regularly than other tenants, often staying in a unit for only a year (as I did when I was in university).  This means that every year you are looking for a new tenants, and often 5 or 10, depending on how many student rooms you own. 

Student also tend to require more ‘hands-on’ management – they may call you when the lights need fixing or the toilet is plugged.  This is likely the first time these students are living away from home, so they don’t all know how to do stuff like that They way to solve this issue is to have a great network in place, including a property manager to look after your tenants.

If you are looking at a student property, location and condition are key.  Properties in rough shape, and further from campus get harder and harder to rent every year.  My clients who are buying student properties are looking at properties built within the last 5 years, within 1-2 blocks of campus and near major amenities.  Student love properties like this, and they can be great investments.

A student property can add a healthy amount of positive cash flow to your real estate portfolio.  With a great management team in place (ask me about mine!) it can be a great, hard working asset.

If you’re interested in seeing if a student property in Kitchener Waterloo would be a great investment for you, call or email me and we will set up a free, no obligation Wealth Building consultation.

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Kitchener Waterloo’s Favourite Real Estate Agent (Gold Award, Kitchener Waterloo Record Readers Select Awards 2007 – 2008) wants to show you how Real Estate Investing can make you wealthy. Benjamin works with people from across Ontario, Canada, and North America helping them build wealth through smart real estate investments.

Benjamin is hosting a FREE Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop January 10th, 2007 from 7-8:30PM. Registration is free in advance. $5 at the door. Call or email Benjamin Bach today to register, and learn how you can start your Real Estate Investment portfolio.

Benjamin is a Sales Representative with Keller Williams Golden Triangle Realty in Kitchener Waterloo and would love to answer any questions about buying or selling a rental, income or investment property.

You can reach Benjamin at Benjamin(AT)BenjaminBach.com or call him at 519 570 4447

Entourage Clush Lists California Home for Sale

Anna Farris has put her lower Nichols Canyon (in Los Angeles, California) home on the market for $ 1.995 million USD.  Anna most recently played herself in a 3 episode arc in Season 4 of Entourage where she was Eric’s "clush" – a client crush. 

The virtual tour can be found here.

Investors come from far to hear the Wealth Building Guy

WOW What a great night! 

We just finished our best Millionaire Real Estate Investing workshop yet. 

We had a full room – tightly packed – and people drove into Kitchener Waterloo from all over South Western Ontario – and then some: Sandra Morris and Ken Eaton from Stratford, Jerry and Barb Dwyer from London, several people from Toronto, and my new friend Denny from Belleville – a whopping 280 kilometres away !

We covered a wide range of topics related to how you can build wealth in residential real estate, and we looked at the mind set you need to have to build wealth, how to make money work for you, strategies for investing, putting together your real estate wealth building team, how to evaluate a deal, and even talked about flips!

There will be another Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop January 10th, at 7pm at my offices.  Email or call me to reserve your spot – otherwise you get to stand in the back with the real estate agents

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Kitchener Waterloo’s Favourite Real Estate Agent (Gold Award, Kitchener Waterloo Record Readers Select Awards 2007 – 2008) wants to show you how Real Estate Investing can make you wealthy. Benjamin works with people from across Ontario, Canada, and North America helping them build wealth through smart real estate investments.

Benjamin is hosting a FREE Millionaire Real Estate Investor workshop January 10th, 2007 from 7-8:30PM. Registration is free in advance. $5 at the door. Call or email Benjamin Bach today to register, and learn how you can start your Real Estate Investment portfolio.

Benjamin is a Sales Representative with Keller Williams Golden Triangle Realty in Kitchener Waterloo and would love to answer any questions about buying or selling a rental, income or investment property.

You can reach Benjamin at Benjamin(AT)BenjaminBach.com or call him at 519 570 4447

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