WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.720 Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. This is the weekly focusing 2 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:15.280 call. I'm going to give everyone just a moment to trickle in a little bit more than that. 3 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:20.480 Good morning, Prue, April, Alina. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm so happy to see 4 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:32.320 you guys are here. I see Carlos, Lisa. Perfect. Hi, Candice. Thank you so much for joining 5 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:39.760 us. Deanna, as always. Kyle. Good morning, everyone. Hi, Sal. All right, let's get started. 6 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:45.680 I love the enthusiasm we have this morning. Today is Monday, April 14th, and I am Gabrielle 7 00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:51.120 Kane, Program Advisor here at Keyspire. I want to thank you so much for joining us on our weekly 8 00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:56.720 focusing call. This is a great opportunity to get those creative juices flowing at the beginning of 9 00:00:56.720 --> 00:01:02.640 the week, to set your intentions and check in with yourself. What have you accomplished in the last 10 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:09.040 seven days, and what do you plan to accomplish in the next seven? For me, as many of you know, 11 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.200 I love to email myself. It keeps it neatly organized. It has a date and timestamp on there, 12 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:20.400 and I can check back with myself in the last several months or years if I want, and I can see 13 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:27.360 my accomplishments. See if my journey has changed or my intentions have changed. How have I changed 14 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:32.880 and grown? It makes it so much easier to give myself credit for all those wins, no matter how 15 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:39.440 big or how small. So please feel free to take out a pen and pencil or whatever it is that you want 16 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:46.240 to write with on a pad of paper, email yourself, and let's get started. So I'm going to start by 17 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:52.160 telling you what I've been up to in the last seven days. As many of you know, me and my team have been 18 00:01:52.160 --> 00:01:57.360 working for the last several months trying to find properties that cash flow. We are staying out of 19 00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:05.920 Ontario, Canada, and we're looking elsewhere. So we've looked in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, 20 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:13.760 and Saskatchewan. So far, we did find a place that we wanted to do an inspection on. We had 21 00:02:13.760 --> 00:02:19.200 a 12 unit that we did an inspection. The numbers looked good. They looked positive. We loved it. 22 00:02:19.200 --> 00:02:25.440 Let's take the next step, and we did that. And then upon inspection, we found that more needed, 23 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:31.200 more work needed to be done and updates needed to be done, which unfortunately altered our numbers 24 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:35.920 to the point where it didn't cash flow. And as excited as we were, we did have to set aside our 25 00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:41.840 emotions, and we had to decide to walk away from that. But that's okay. We're still getting closer 26 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:48.320 and closer every single time. Coming from sales and the automotive industry previously, 27 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:55.440 you have to get a hundred no's before you even get one yes. So I'm so excited to get all the 28 00:02:55.440 --> 00:03:02.320 no's out of the way before we find a yes. And I'm really proud of our team for how hard we've 29 00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:09.680 been working, and we have not, we've not lost our motivation or anything. We're still working 30 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:18.800 really hard. In the next seven days, I know that I have had a lot of inquiries. My inbox is 31 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:25.760 overflowing. I've been doing check-in calls with our members and a lot of inquiries on the 32 00:03:25.760 --> 00:03:31.600 multifamily that Stephen had done last week. He did a preview for the multifamily course that he is 33 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:38.640 doing, and I'm getting a lot of inquiries. So I can foresee myself this whole week touching on that a 34 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:44.560 lot and having a lot of conversations. I'm really excited about it. He did a fantastic job, as always. 35 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:50.160 Who doesn't love Stephen? And I'm excited to have those conversations and to help you all 36 00:03:50.160 --> 00:03:54.000 on your journey and help you decide what direction it is that you want to move in. 37 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.600 Having said that, when we're talking about the direction we want to move in 38 00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:08.640 and working with our team, that brings me to my lovely guest this week. I have a wonderful friend 39 00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:14.960 who is a coach, a content creator, also one of the funniest guys I think I've ever met. 40 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:20.640 Everyone, I am so happy to introduce you to Mr. Jason Witzel. Jason, good morning. 41 00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:25.920 That's high praise. Thank you. I'm glad to join. Funniest guy you've ever met. I try my best. 42 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.640 Well, you're approachable, you're funny, you're knowledgeable. 43 00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:32.720 Humor is the best medicine. 44 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:40.000 Honestly, you are just a ray of sunshine. I love seeing you in the office. For those of you who 45 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:46.000 don't know, Jason does come in the office every day. It wasn't always that way, but he has just 46 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:52.320 totally brightened our week by coming in every week. He's got this awesome sense of humor. It 47 00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:57.840 just seems effortless. They asked for it. I said I would be a major disruptor. 48 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.040 You get what you ask for. 49 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.840 Well, keep it coming. 50 00:05:04.840 --> 00:05:11.200 I just, so Jason, my question to you is we're talking about our 14 day radar. 51 00:05:11.200 --> 00:05:14.400 Would you like to share with us what you've been up to for the last seven days and what 52 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:17.000 your goals are for the next seven? 53 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:18.000 Sure. 54 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.840 The goal is to get this latest project done on the next seven, although I think it's going 55 00:05:22.840 --> 00:05:24.800 to be more like 14. 56 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:32.360 But the latest project I'm working on is the, I guess I'm changing the layout. 57 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:39.960 It's a, it was a three plus one and I'm taking it to, so a two unit, a three bedroom up and 58 00:05:39.960 --> 00:05:41.200 a one bedroom down. 59 00:05:41.200 --> 00:05:49.040 And I'm taking it to a three plus either one or rec room for the upper and converting what 60 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.640 was the one bedroom to a bachelor. 61 00:05:52.640 --> 00:05:55.560 And there's reasons for that. 62 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:56.560 Okay. 63 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:00.800 So what made you decide to change the layout? 64 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:02.960 Something I saw trending. 65 00:06:02.960 --> 00:06:04.080 So a couple of things. 66 00:06:04.080 --> 00:06:15.920 So we had a less than ideal tenant and you know, if you own investment properties, there's 67 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.400 going to be at some point where you're going to get a crappy tenant. 68 00:06:18.400 --> 00:06:20.080 It's not an if, it's a when. 69 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:26.240 So that's one thing that anyone out there, you need to wrap your head around that for 70 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:27.240 sure. 71 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:32.080 And it sucks, but it's the, it's, you know, part of the pros and cons and part of the, 72 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:36.200 part of the learning curve, mostly, you know, what tenant to place. 73 00:06:36.200 --> 00:06:41.400 And this is one of those things where a big learning, not a big learning lesson, but I 74 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:46.280 knew the tenant didn't sit well with me and it was that gut instinct thing. 75 00:06:46.280 --> 00:06:53.200 And I knew I shouldn't have, but I was kind of pressed at the time for different reasons. 76 00:06:53.200 --> 00:07:00.760 So anyways you know, the outcome a few years later is when I went into the unit there, 77 00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:05.600 it was, it wasn't clean, there was a lot to do. 78 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:11.240 We tried to make things work, like tried to save things like the toilet, cause we were 79 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:13.800 redoing the bathroom floor. 80 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:17.040 Tried to save the kitchen cupboards, they were all okay. 81 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.320 Tried to save the stove, which they cook with oil. 82 00:07:19.320 --> 00:07:21.000 So then we had to replace the fan. 83 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.400 Like it was, it was one thing after another. 84 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:26.520 And that was the big learning lesson is like, I should have looked at it as a whole and 85 00:07:26.520 --> 00:07:28.040 be like, you know what? 86 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:29.840 Time for a redo anyways. 87 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:32.200 It's been at least 10 years. 88 00:07:32.200 --> 00:07:40.440 So a remodel was probably in order, although we were really like, it just looks newer. 89 00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:41.480 Right. 90 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:48.440 But still, you know, we put in, I said this before, expensive toilets, expensive taps. 91 00:07:48.440 --> 00:07:49.960 Don't cheap out. 92 00:07:49.960 --> 00:07:55.360 And you'll learn a lesson if you put cheap toilets or cheap taps in your units. 93 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:04.400 So yeah, reasons why I looked at what rental vacancies, where rental rates were trending. 94 00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:07.760 So that was a big part of it. 95 00:08:07.760 --> 00:08:08.880 I'll jump back to that. 96 00:08:08.880 --> 00:08:14.920 So I'll just talk about right now, what's happening in both the US and Canadian markets. 97 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:19.080 We'll start with the US rental markets and where it's been trending. 98 00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:25.240 So ever since the Great Recession of 2008, although I wouldn't call it great here, it 99 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:32.720 was less of an impact here in Canada than it was in the US. 100 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:33.720 Much bigger impact in the US. 101 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:37.880 It was a bit of a slowdown or a blip in Canada. 102 00:08:37.880 --> 00:08:47.320 But ever since then, purpose-built rental multifamily housing construction activity 103 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:49.480 was declining. 104 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:53.640 And that was declining probably right up until 2021. 105 00:08:53.640 --> 00:08:59.140 As we know, the pandemic changed quite a few things, including spurring on construction. 106 00:08:59.140 --> 00:09:06.760 So ever since 2008, you've had, and I'll say even long before that, I'll say a decade before 107 00:09:06.760 --> 00:09:13.640 that in Canada, construction was trending downwards and the rental vacancy declining 108 00:09:13.640 --> 00:09:17.940 even further, quite a bit further actually, than even the US. 109 00:09:17.940 --> 00:09:25.560 But in the US, long-term vacancy average is about 7.2. 110 00:09:25.560 --> 00:09:27.280 Currently it's about 6.9. 111 00:09:27.280 --> 00:09:34.560 So it's still longer than the average, but that historic low was observed at 5.6 in 2021. 112 00:09:34.560 --> 00:09:40.560 So what's happening is there's more construction that's coming onto the market. 113 00:09:40.560 --> 00:09:44.640 So you're seeing, and this is going to go region from region, province to province, 114 00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:50.440 state to state, city to city, of course, always, but this is talking on the average and I'm 115 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:56.080 seeing it in quite a few cities and that's why you're seeing the average increase. 116 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.840 So what's happening is two bedrooms, which is... 117 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.520 usually the, what construction starts and units are mostly made up of are considerably 118 00:10:07.520 --> 00:10:09.340 higher than they were. 119 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:15.440 So then you've seen an increase in the vacancy naturally, and that's going to be different 120 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:20.680 in your three, in your one bedrooms and in your bachelors, the vacancies are going to 121 00:10:20.680 --> 00:10:25.560 be different through those, but there's almost a ripple effect or there, or there can be 122 00:10:25.560 --> 00:10:30.520 anyways, uh, because you've got, you know, bachelor, maybe they want a bigger property. 123 00:10:30.520 --> 00:10:31.520 They've met someone. 124 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:35.020 They want to go into a two or they're coming from a one to a two or two to a three. 125 00:10:35.020 --> 00:10:41.200 So there's that big gap in the twos and eventually it's kind of started there first and eventually 126 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.880 it impacts, um, all of the different bedroom makeup. 127 00:10:44.880 --> 00:10:52.760 So that's what you're seeing in the U S I see stability, um, kind of moving forward 128 00:10:52.760 --> 00:11:01.120 because when you look at the actual, uh, rental rates, they're there right now, I'd 129 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:04.840 say they're, um, they're level, uh, stable. 130 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:05.840 That's the word I meant to use. 131 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.440 So they're stable right now. 132 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:13.760 Um, but there's still, they still remain quite high, higher than pre pandemic levels. 133 00:11:13.760 --> 00:11:17.600 So affordability for some is, is a challenge for many renters. 134 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.480 So the good news in all of that is we're, we're, you know, as investors, we're still 135 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:28.000 getting quite good rental rates for our units. 136 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.720 What you need to be aware of is that if you were used to, you know, easily being able 137 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:38.760 to rent out your unit, especially if you've got maybe a two, you might have a bit more 138 00:11:38.760 --> 00:11:40.520 challenge, more traditional. 139 00:11:40.520 --> 00:11:45.720 So I know before for me, I'd get, you know, 20, 30 plus emails. 140 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:46.720 It was easy. 141 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:52.560 Um, so we'll, we'll see what happens with this next one, but before I get to that Canada 142 00:11:52.560 --> 00:11:54.640 rental vacancy rates. 143 00:11:54.640 --> 00:12:01.000 So again, they're climbing, uh, if you look at it, what it was when it reached a record 144 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.800 low of 1.5, which is insane. 145 00:12:03.800 --> 00:12:09.720 So that means there is almost not almost, there was 0% vacancies in many cities. 146 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:15.600 And I know that goes for places like Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Kitchener, Waterloo, you, 147 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:16.600 you name it. 148 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:23.880 Some of these in some smaller cities, but, um, the average rate now is trending upwards 149 00:12:23.880 --> 00:12:25.480 for sure. 150 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:33.280 Um, so the trend since then it's increased to 2.2, um, and that's going back a bit. 151 00:12:33.280 --> 00:12:40.120 I think the latest is it's, it's going to be closer to, to over three, um, which is 152 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:44.520 kind of where you want it to be honest, call it market balance, right? 153 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:51.960 Between somewhere between three and 4% for vacancies is what I call kind of decent, um, 154 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:54.320 rental growth has been accelerating. 155 00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:00.840 Uh, and again, average rental rates are still high stabilizing, but they are coming down 156 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:06.000 in some markets and that's because of building and construction. 157 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:12.200 Now again, there's going to be, so there was a spur of construction and now in some cities, 158 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:17.720 there's actually a record low of new construction permits being put out. 159 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:23.440 So we're going to go through this, I think a little bit of a, a roller coaster in Canada 160 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:27.460 and anyways, a little bit over the next, say probably five to 10. 161 00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:31.940 So what's important is just to just keep your eye on the ball on that. 162 00:13:31.940 --> 00:13:37.060 You should always understand what's happening in your market, especially obviously if you 163 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:39.520 own rentals in those markets. 164 00:13:39.520 --> 00:13:48.220 So with all that long winded stead, the reason coming back to why I decided to convert this 165 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:51.620 to unit is in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. 166 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:55.820 What I've noticed is signs and a sign is a sign. 167 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:56.820 Can I say that? 168 00:13:57.180 --> 00:13:58.180 Sign is a sign. 169 00:13:58.180 --> 00:13:59.180 Where's your sign? 170 00:13:59.180 --> 00:14:05.900 So when a sign is a sign and you're looking for signs, um, that the, the rental rate or 171 00:14:05.900 --> 00:14:10.780 the market's changing is I'm seeing open house signs on apartment building. 172 00:14:10.780 --> 00:14:11.780 You live in the region. 173 00:14:11.780 --> 00:14:12.780 I don't know if you've seen them. 174 00:14:12.780 --> 00:14:13.780 I have. 175 00:14:13.780 --> 00:14:14.780 It's very noticeable. 176 00:14:14.780 --> 00:14:17.540 You'll notice now that I've told you that, my name's going to pop in your head. 177 00:14:17.540 --> 00:14:18.940 You're programming my rest. 178 00:14:18.940 --> 00:14:19.940 Yes, exactly. 179 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:24.780 Every time you go, you're going to be, damn it, Jason. 180 00:14:24.780 --> 00:14:29.940 So if I'm understanding you correctly, there's going to be more vacancy for two bedrooms 181 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:34.860 as opposed to the one in three bedrooms based on people upsizing and downsizing. 182 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:35.860 Is this correct? 183 00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:36.860 Yeah. 184 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:37.860 Yeah. 185 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:39.340 That that's what I'm, that's the trend I'm seeing now. 186 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:47.780 The reason, um, with the three bedrooms, there's, there's, there is a demand there. 187 00:14:47.780 --> 00:14:52.100 So the demand, there's less demand for two, which is going to have an impact on your rental 188 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:53.100 rates. 189 00:14:53.100 --> 00:14:58.380 Um, and the vacancy in those twos are going to be higher. 190 00:14:58.380 --> 00:14:59.980 Now there's a. 191 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.680 different reasons for that. Some of what I just explained, construction, but the pullback on 192 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:15.120 students coming into the country is a big one. So that's had a major impact on any city where 193 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:20.400 there's schools and anywhere where there's rental rates around those schools. And this is that whole 194 00:15:20.400 --> 00:15:25.440 trickle down effect. So when those are impacted, they're impacted. They eventually will impact 195 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:32.400 elsewhere in the market. So you can talk to anybody that's renting lately or has new units 196 00:15:32.400 --> 00:15:40.000 coming online. This is what they're experiencing. So with that said, when I saw that as I started 197 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:45.360 this renovation, which by the way, this is something else you should weigh and consider. 198 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:50.000 So I've got a friend who's helping me. We're just doing it on Saturdays and he's obviously, 199 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:57.360 he's giving me the friend's discount on it and I'm helping him. However, with the amount of months 200 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:02.720 of vacancy, I'll have to go back and do the math to see if I'm really saving money or would it have 201 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:07.600 been more efficient just to hire somebody to get all that work done? Because honestly, all that 202 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:14.960 work would have been probably less than a week. But when you add that up in Saturdays, it's not 203 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:20.400 all a Saturday. We're well over two months now. So there's two months worth of vacancies. 204 00:16:20.400 --> 00:16:23.680 Yeah. You have to take into consideration all your carrying costs. 205 00:16:23.680 --> 00:16:31.360 Yeah. So the thought was there, but at the end of the day, I think I'll come out the same. 206 00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:38.160 Now what's good is I know the quality of the work. I'm there to oversee it. And I get to hang out 207 00:16:38.160 --> 00:16:44.320 with my friends. So it's not such a bad thing. But it'll be interesting to see what the final bill, 208 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:56.240 the two look like. So yeah, when we started this project, I decided to do a three up and possibly 209 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:01.600 what could be a fourth down. So it could act as a bedroom. It's already got the ego size window down 210 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:10.240 there. And it's just really putting up a wall. It gave better access to the garage for the upper. 211 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:15.280 Whereas before the lower had access to it and I had to tell them to lock that door and don't go 212 00:17:15.280 --> 00:17:22.880 in. So the layout totally made sense. It's going to be a nice size bachelor. So with that additional 213 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:27.839 plus one or a rec room, it gives the upper more space. It gives them a yard, gives them a deck, 214 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:33.280 gives them a garage, gives them a lot of things that renters could be looking for in a three 215 00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:41.520 bedroom. And then the lower unit was a great size, one bedroom. It's got a small kind of galley 216 00:17:41.520 --> 00:17:48.880 kitchen. What was a large bedroom that kind of furnace utility storage area, which was a good 217 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:56.080 size and a really, really large kind of rec room area. So large bedroom. So when I looked at it, 218 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:01.920 I'm like, man, this could still be a pretty decent size bachelor and affordability. I mentioned that 219 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:08.560 both US, Canada, I'm seeing like, so looking at where my rents have gone with, with what was a one, 220 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:16.080 I'm only going to get like maybe a hundred to 150 less for the bachelor. 221 00:18:17.760 --> 00:18:25.200 But I'm going to gain probably an additional 300, making a net gain of like 150. 222 00:18:25.760 --> 00:18:30.320 And it could be more on the upper. I love that. I love how you're running 223 00:18:30.320 --> 00:18:35.760 the numbers to see all these different scenarios and how you can make that work for you, how you 224 00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:41.840 can make it work with the ever fluctuating market. All these things are constantly changing and then 225 00:18:41.840 --> 00:18:47.120 how it coincides with the surrounding area. So your rental is in Kitchener, is that right? 226 00:18:47.120 --> 00:18:53.600 Kitchener, Ontario and Kitchener is in a hub for those of you who don't know the KW area, 227 00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:58.720 which is Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge. That's just outside of Guelph. There's a lot of colleges 228 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:06.800 and universities. Universities, one college, 500,000 population. Precisely. So you're actually 229 00:19:06.800 --> 00:19:13.120 making these changes based on the surroundings and the tenant profile that you're trying to attract. 230 00:19:13.120 --> 00:19:20.560 I love that. Yeah. And like I said, it was the biggest, the light bulb moment was driving around 231 00:19:20.560 --> 00:19:25.200 and I'm seeing these, you know, open house come in and look at our brand new rentals. These are 232 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:34.000 brand new on the market, um, you know, mid to high rise rental properties that are, have these 233 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:40.080 gigantic billboard signs that are out there. And I'm like, what is going on? So, so I knew right 234 00:19:40.080 --> 00:19:44.880 away with it, you know, I keep up on stats and stuff just, but I don't pay as much attention 235 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:50.320 necessarily until I get an upcoming vacancy. And then I started looking at the rental rates, right? 236 00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:55.360 I got an idea of what's going on, but when you start to dive in, which is what I did when I saw 237 00:19:55.360 --> 00:19:59.920 that sign, uh, that's when I, I, then I dove right in the head first into this. 238 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.400 stats right which is fun um and to see and to and and then to 239 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:06.560 open up conversations with other people say hey 240 00:20:06.560 --> 00:20:10.800 like what are you seeing in the market what what is going on with your rentals 241 00:20:10.800 --> 00:20:13.680 and that's when i started to look at the rate so 242 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:16.960 like realistically i know i say i'm getting 243 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.080 uh 100 150 less but i'm i'm getting the same 244 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:26.000 as what i did from a bachelor uh three years ago uh that i was getting 245 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.520 from the one bedroom that's how much the one bedrooms had increased in that 246 00:20:29.520 --> 00:20:31.760 time so they've i think ones have a level off 247 00:20:31.760 --> 00:20:35.680 twos have definitely either come down or leveled off if you 248 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.880 if you look at the stats so that's the reasoning 249 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:46.160 um the other kind of reasoning is with a bachelor i know i'm not gonna 250 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:50.480 get a um not likely to get two people 251 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.560 it's probably going to be you know i doubt it's i doubt a student i mean it 252 00:20:54.560 --> 00:20:58.320 could be a student i'll look at that um there's parking there's enough 253 00:20:58.320 --> 00:21:02.160 parking for three uh three spaces so two for the up one 254 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.680 for the down and bonus you know if there's not 255 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.360 another because it is tight but if it if it's a person that is a 256 00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:14.000 student that doesn't have a car or you know it's on a bus line it's it's on 257 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.760 a transportation line it's close to college it's not that far to 258 00:21:17.760 --> 00:21:23.360 take a bus here so it all totally um made sense and uh 259 00:21:23.360 --> 00:21:26.400 i love it when a plan comes together that's 260 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:28.880 awesome i love the way that you're thinking and you're taking everything 261 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:32.800 into consideration uh being on a bus route um and having 262 00:21:32.800 --> 00:21:36.320 access to public transit like that uh my question 263 00:21:36.320 --> 00:21:43.200 um i burning question is when you are working on a project uh how far into 264 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.440 this project were you before you decided to change 265 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:51.760 and did that affect uh any costs um 266 00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:58.160 not far so when i started to realize that 267 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:04.960 um the renovation was going to be not just a facelift and you know it's 268 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:09.360 still not a crazy crazy crazy rental because of the size 269 00:22:09.360 --> 00:22:11.520 like i'm redoing the kitchen but i mean the 270 00:22:11.520 --> 00:22:16.240 kitchen's small it's like a an eight foot galley so there's all told 271 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:20.640 there's maybe one two three maybe four or five cabinets that had to 272 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:25.840 go in full size stove um so as i was 273 00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:29.760 as we were discussing as i was discussing it with my contractor 274 00:22:29.760 --> 00:22:34.240 and my wife she was pointing out things like the garage they still have 275 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:37.440 access the lower unit saws access that's stupid 276 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:42.000 and then um so then i started to think about it like he had already started you 277 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.000 know we started removing stuff right tearing stuff out so it was it was in 278 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:51.360 that tear down stage that i started thinking i'm like i said 279 00:22:51.360 --> 00:22:54.160 in my contract how easy is it to throw out the wall he goes 280 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:58.560 easy goes here there's the smoke and fire alarm so it sat on the other side 281 00:22:58.560 --> 00:23:00.800 of the wall that gave him access to the garage and 282 00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:05.200 i'm like okay let me we can keep going but keep this in 283 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.320 mind and then we had to move a door so he's like you got to move this 284 00:23:08.320 --> 00:23:11.280 bathroom door swing it over here because it would have been on the other side of 285 00:23:11.280 --> 00:23:14.400 the unit but um other than that that was the biggest 286 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.080 kind of major change so the wall moving door 287 00:23:18.080 --> 00:23:23.600 um was really the biggest kind of thing layout change that we had to make and 288 00:23:23.600 --> 00:23:26.960 and the wall when i say wall it's the size of a hallway so 289 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:31.120 i mean it's you know a few two by fours and drywall and soundproofing that's it 290 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:36.240 so yeah it was early it didn't i mean the only impact on 291 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:40.800 um budget would have been the materials obviously 292 00:23:40.800 --> 00:23:45.440 for that wall the time for the contractor that moved the door so not a 293 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.680 lot um less than a thousand i would say 294 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.600 when it's all said and done and you know it's still gonna 295 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:57.040 result in the same rent i had a few years ago 296 00:23:57.040 --> 00:24:01.520 and more rent from the upper oh that's great i love that you're able to pivot 297 00:24:01.520 --> 00:24:05.760 and think logically about the situation what am i getting myself into 298 00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:09.360 how much sense does this make things the market will change when you're in the 299 00:24:09.360 --> 00:24:12.320 middle of renovations that you didn't plan for 300 00:24:12.320 --> 00:24:15.760 and you're still able to pivot you're still able to say okay i'm 301 00:24:15.760 --> 00:24:19.920 open-minded and receptive to different possibilities 302 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:25.520 um does do you and your wife work together on these projects regularly 303 00:24:25.520 --> 00:24:32.880 yes i'm chuckling because she's got some uh some ideas that i'm 304 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:38.000 that i in my head i immediately shoot down the contractor who's my friend he's 305 00:24:38.320 --> 00:24:42.000 very close to us he comes on holidays with us there's four of us that go together 306 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:48.720 anyways um he's correct he's like don't say anything he's he's going shush 307 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.320 let her let her um put the idea out there and 308 00:24:52.320 --> 00:24:54.480 let's talk it out because i've learned that 309 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:58.240 i need to be a little bit better listener when she's got ideas 310 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.320 because she did have there's a few really good 311 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.200 But automatically, no, wait, that's too much money, 312 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:03.840 too much work. 313 00:25:03.840 --> 00:25:06.040 I already know, and I go off on a rant. 314 00:25:06.040 --> 00:25:08.720 And my friend's like, just relax. 315 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:13.680 So yeah, she manages the budget. 316 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:17.600 I hate working with the accounting, and the budgeting, 317 00:25:17.600 --> 00:25:22.640 and the paying, the design. 318 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:26.800 So coordinating the project, that's where I excel. 319 00:25:26.800 --> 00:25:32.280 So that's where we kind of, our duties are like, right? 320 00:25:32.280 --> 00:25:34.920 But yeah, we got together and discussed it. 321 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.520 And all three of us agreed. 322 00:25:37.520 --> 00:25:39.480 It just totally made sense. 323 00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:40.640 Oh, I love that. 324 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.680 I've experienced the same thing from your wife's perspective, 325 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:46.360 just to let you know. 326 00:25:46.360 --> 00:25:49.200 We were driving through Windsor a couple of years ago 327 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:50.880 and taking a look at properties. 328 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:53.920 We had set aside an entire day to just look at properties. 329 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:57.040 And my partner was asking, oh, what would you do with this one? 330 00:25:57.040 --> 00:25:58.520 And what would you do with this one? 331 00:25:58.520 --> 00:26:01.520 And we kind of did a pre-drive around before we actually 332 00:26:01.520 --> 00:26:02.040 visited them. 333 00:26:02.040 --> 00:26:03.880 And I was like, oh, well, I like that one. 334 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:04.600 It's really small. 335 00:26:04.600 --> 00:26:05.800 I like the size of the lot. 336 00:26:05.800 --> 00:26:06.380 You know what? 337 00:26:06.380 --> 00:26:07.840 I would tear off the roof. 338 00:26:07.840 --> 00:26:10.000 I would put a second level on, and maybe something 339 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.000 in the back as well. 340 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:12.880 And then you could get three units out of it. 341 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:14.920 He shut it down instantly. 342 00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:16.000 Nope. 343 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.640 And then we drove around with Mike Seale. 344 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:22.280 And he said the exact same thing. 345 00:26:22.280 --> 00:26:24.800 And I was sitting in the backseat of Mike's car. 346 00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:27.400 And I was like, oh, I'm sorry, Mike, can you repeat that again? 347 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:28.440 At least three more times. 348 00:26:28.440 --> 00:26:30.880 I didn't quite get that. 349 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.320 And the look on his face, the look on my partner's face, just shock. 350 00:26:34.320 --> 00:26:36.840 I was like, hmm, man, I wish I was clever enough 351 00:26:36.840 --> 00:26:38.040 to come up with that idea. 352 00:26:38.040 --> 00:26:41.720 That is a great story. 353 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:42.440 Oh, goodness. 354 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:45.880 Well, thank you so much for joining us, Jason. 355 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:46.800 Pleasure as always. 356 00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:51.240 I absolutely love that you've got your radar on the go. 357 00:26:51.760 --> 00:26:52.880 You have your plan set. 358 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.800 You know what you're going to do. 359 00:26:54.800 --> 00:26:57.000 But so you're going to finish this project that's 360 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.400 planned between 7 and 14 days from now? 361 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:00.640 It should be done? 362 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:04.760 Yeah, I mean, I would love to have it rented May 1st. 363 00:27:04.760 --> 00:27:06.200 I think that might be a strategy. 364 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:08.040 It might be possible. 365 00:27:08.040 --> 00:27:10.840 I'm going to try and do everything in my, 366 00:27:10.840 --> 00:27:15.760 even if there's some things like, I've got the pictures, pictures, 367 00:27:15.760 --> 00:27:16.680 that's another thing. 368 00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:18.280 Like, if you've got a rental unit, 369 00:27:18.280 --> 00:27:23.360 and you've already taken stage pictures, always save those. 370 00:27:23.360 --> 00:27:25.520 And that way, you don't have to do them again, 371 00:27:25.520 --> 00:27:27.720 unless there's major changes to the unit. 372 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.520 As far as color, flooring, everything's 373 00:27:29.520 --> 00:27:30.960 going to pretty much be the same. 374 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:34.640 So I've got the photos ready to go. 375 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.680 We're two weeks-ish away from May 1st. 376 00:27:40.800 --> 00:27:42.120 I don't know. 377 00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:43.880 I think I'll put the ad out before that. 378 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:45.160 That's what I was going to say. 379 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.960 Like, there might be some small finishing things to do. 380 00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:50.120 Like, if I'm looking at it, and some of it 381 00:27:50.120 --> 00:27:51.720 might be on the other side. 382 00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:54.200 So I might just practice that when 383 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.800 I'm taking the tenants through to say, hey, 384 00:27:56.800 --> 00:27:59.720 if you want this this soon here, maybe I'll 385 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:02.680 discount it or something for the inconvenience of us 386 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:06.360 trying to finish a few things in the unit. 387 00:28:06.360 --> 00:28:08.480 The biggest thing is paint, paint, and ZVZ, though. 388 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.680 It's about 500 square feet, and not even that worth of paint. 389 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.760 So you can get that done the day before, 390 00:28:16.760 --> 00:28:17.960 two days before they move in. 391 00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:19.720 I mean, ideally, the week before. 392 00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:21.760 Did you post anything for the- 393 00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:23.160 Not yet. 394 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:23.920 Ooh. 395 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:26.960 So how long before May 1st? 396 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:27.880 I think I'm going to- 397 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:31.000 I was seriously considering posting this weekend 398 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:32.840 and seeing what the- 399 00:28:32.840 --> 00:28:35.800 just to say, hey, this unit is going 400 00:28:35.800 --> 00:28:37.840 to be ready around May 1st. 401 00:28:37.840 --> 00:28:40.680 We're open for showings the following weekend, which would 402 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:42.520 be the week before May 1st. 403 00:28:42.520 --> 00:28:43.240 Ooh. 404 00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:45.120 That's cutting it tight. 405 00:28:45.120 --> 00:28:47.760 It's cutting it tight. 406 00:28:47.760 --> 00:28:51.160 But I mean, worst case, I'm getting 407 00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:55.160 leads of people who can jump in right away. 408 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:58.800 If not June 1st, I'm sure there's- 409 00:28:58.800 --> 00:29:00.480 I want them for May 1st, because I 410 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.960 feel like there's going to be people that want to move May 411 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.280 1st or June 1st. 412 00:29:04.280 --> 00:29:06.360 You're one of them who's moving around that time, 413 00:29:06.360 --> 00:29:08.280 so I'm sure there's others. 414 00:29:08.280 --> 00:29:10.560 Unless you're in Quebec and you got that weird- 415 00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:13.280 no offense, Quebec, but that whole move in, move out 416 00:29:13.280 --> 00:29:14.440 date is ridiculous. 417 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:19.240 The US, a lot of Canadians, some Canadians in the US, 418 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:22.320 people may not know what I'm talking about, but- 419 00:29:22.320 --> 00:29:23.280 We got one minute. 420 00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:24.280 Quick, tell us. 421 00:29:24.280 --> 00:29:29.520 In Quebec, I don't know what the percentage is, 422 00:29:29.520 --> 00:29:30.560 but it's very high. 423 00:29:30.560 --> 00:29:34.040 Everybody moves on July 1st, which is nuts. 424 00:29:34.040 --> 00:29:35.200 So just think about that. 425 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:39.160 That is actually the most popular moving date in Canada 426 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:40.680 that I'm aware of is July 1st. 427 00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:41.760 You want to book a truck? 428 00:29:41.760 --> 00:29:44.360 100%, you can't get one in Quebec. 429 00:29:45.120 --> 00:29:47.720 I've heard in Montreal, it's everybody's moving, 430 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:48.560 it's a thing. 431 00:29:48.560 --> 00:29:50.400 There's historic ties to that. 432 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:51.240 I'm not going to get into it. 433 00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:55.040 I can't remember exactly why it goes back to schools 434 00:29:55.040 --> 00:29:56.640 in the 70s or something. 435 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:58.960 I don't remember, but what an insane- 436 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.000 Just imagine it. 437 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.720 If you're in somewhere in the U.S. where the whole entire state of, I don't know, California 438 00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:08.320 or Texas moves on the same day. 439 00:30:08.320 --> 00:30:10.560 Go ahead and try and grasp that for a minute. 440 00:30:10.560 --> 00:30:11.560 Anyways. 441 00:30:11.560 --> 00:30:12.560 You'd have to book your truck a year in advance. 442 00:30:12.560 --> 00:30:13.560 Oh, a year in advance. 443 00:30:13.560 --> 00:30:18.000 I'm moving actually just at the beginning of July, but I booked it for Friday, June 444 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.580 27th for that exact reason. 445 00:30:20.580 --> 00:30:24.480 And I had to book about three months in advance just to secure a truck. 446 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:26.400 So that's a real thing. 447 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:29.000 Well, thank you again for joining us, Jason. 448 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:32.160 Thank you everyone in the community for joining us. 449 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:33.280 So lovely to see all you. 450 00:30:33.280 --> 00:30:42.120 I have noticed all your comments in the chat and iPhone Phillips says, get her done, Jason. 451 00:30:42.120 --> 00:30:43.120 I'm with you. 452 00:30:43.120 --> 00:30:45.040 Thank you all for joining us. 453 00:30:45.040 --> 00:30:48.120 I hope you guys all have a fantastic and productive week. 454 00:30:48.120 --> 00:30:48.400 Take care.