Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: If you're looking for the skills and tools to succeed in real estate investing, you've come to the right place.
This show is about breaking through barriers, breaking through limiting beliefs, and breaking through.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: To the life that you want to.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Live through the power of real estate investing. You're listening to the Breakthrough Real Estate Investing Podcast. And now, here are your hosts, Rob Brake and Quinton d' Souza.
Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for joining us again. We're going to have an exciting show today. I'm really looking forward to it. And as usual, Quentin d' Souz is here with me. Quentin, how are you?
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Hey. Very good. I'm doing well. I came back from doing the Three Peaks in the UK and I'm leaving for Peru on Saturday.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was gonna ask you, Manny was saying when you were late, we were like, oh, he's probably off, you know, on an excursion somewhere.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: I got some packing to do.
I'm ready for, for Saturday. But I was actually just underwriting some apartment buildings. I got some off market, like large apartment buildings, you know, between 40 and 60 units. And I'm, you know, there's a lot of time that has to be spent in the underwriting part and going back and forth trying to get some details and hopefully put an offer in on, you know, one of those buildings. But, you know, it just depends on how well I can get the price and, you know, if the underwriting makes sense. Right. So it's, you know, it takes time to. Time to do, but yeah. So in between getting ready for, you know, trips.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: In between getting ready for trips. Well, that's the whole point, right? Isn't it? Like, isn't this to fund our lifestyles? That's the whole idea, right?
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Like, I've got some. I've been bank meetings and all that stuff. Right. And, you know, there's so many changes that are going on all the time with, you know, different rule changes, you know, different governments. There's always something that, that changes. And, you know, we have to keep on top of all of those things.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: And I don't think anything's changed in that department, but. Okay.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: I don't know. Like, there's a bill changed, bill C10, which is. I think it's like 10, which is supposed to be, you know, pushing some of the problems that tenants may cause onto landlords in Ontario.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Feasible. I. I just don't understand that at all. How. How can that possibly make sense?
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I've seen that.
That's just totally stupid. It makes no sense at all.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
Welcome to government. Eh?
[00:02:47] Speaker C: Another reason for a lot of small landlords are saying, I'm done with it.
I see that more and more.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Well, Quentin, before you were flexing your business muscle there, you were flexing your. Yeah, there you go. I was just hoping you'd do that for the people there.
Anyone watching Quentin's flexing.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: I won't. I won't flex. So.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: We can't let Rob. We can't let Rob Frank flex because, you know, he. He benches like he does 85 pound dumbbells, right?
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Those were 95 pound dumbbells.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: I can do the hundreds. I can do the hundreds now too.
And that's the biggest ones we have at our gym. So anyway, everyone listening, go over to Breakthrough reipodcast ca. You can listen to all the old shows there. You can listen to them on itunes too. And we'd really appreciate it if you would leave us a rating and review. It helps the show a lot get out there to people who might need this information.
Oh, and if. If people are curious about Costa Rica, like, don't be afraid to give me a call and ask any dumb questions. If you have just any curiosity whatsoever and you want to learn about Costa Rica, the process of buying here, then give me a call. Give me an email. Robusterbreakthrough ca.
You can find us also at Point Break Homes Costa Rica on Facebook.
So that would be great if, like, don't think that you're wasting my time or asking stupid questions or anything like that. You know, I'm, I'm here to help. I'm here to just sort of satisfy your curiosities. If you have any.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Awesome. And don't contact me. Don't contact me.
I'm gone. I'm out of here. You can contact me in a couple weeks.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Well, you can still do that. You're. You're still gonna. At the end, you usually let say.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: You schedule the free, the free call with Quentin, right?
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: You just blocked off that section.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Contact you anyway a couple weeks and.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Then maybe a month or two, a little bit later. I don't know.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: We'll see, man. I mean, if anyone's a. If anyone's a Durham REI member and listening to this, they've had enough of you all, like, by now.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Well, awesome. But we, we have Manny on and yes. So Manny is a real estate investor. He's a renovation Expert with over 35 years of construction experience and a background as a skilled carpenter.
He has built a thriving house flipping Business focused on transforming undervalued properties into high return investments. Drawing on decades of hands on expertise, he's mastered the art of finding opportunities even in uncertain markets. He believes that even in challenging times, there's always a market within a market. And he's here to share how smart strategy, timing and market awareness can lead to lasting success in real estate. I like that.
So Manny, maybe you can just kind of tell us a little bit of how you got started and it's Manny Cabral, or do you prefer Emmanuel or.
[00:06:03] Speaker C: Yeah, man, he's fine.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah, so have I, unfortunately.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's like I, I mentioned, I was, I've, I've been in construction business most of my adult life. You know, went through an apprenticeship, worked for major construction company in Toronto.
You know, I started as a laborer and then I was taking my apprenticeship, got into carpentry, then got into project management and from there created, I left with a partner from the same company and we actually created a company called STM Systems, which we sold many years ago and we specialize in computer room design and construction. Believe it, you know, or not, when you have those big, giant, massive computers back then and all that raised flooring, so we did a lot of work. I've done work for, for Toronto Dominion and a bunch of big corporations.
Anyway, moving on through that, I've had a few different bumps in my career, getting in the cars and everything else, which I sort of got into the car business by mistake, having a pretty bad back which I don't know how the hell I got. But I ended up being at home for a year and a half and I've been able to walk at that point. I sold my business out to my partner who bought me out and ended up in the car business because I knew a bunch of people in it and you know, started managing a couple of gym stores and onto the Honda store. But I was still doing something in construction. I had started a Primo rent out in Hamilton, got a, you know, got to know a bunch of contacts out there and, and became pretty thriving in creating second suite conversions out there.
I guess I, I would say it was probably one of the busiest construction companies out there doing that.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: When was that? Because I remember Primo before.
I think I heard about you through Rockstar or.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Yeah, some people out there, Rockstar and all that stuff. Yeah, it's quite a few years, but it's, I don't know, got a black 10 years or something.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I was gonna say, I don't know if you remember this. But I came out and we did a podcast. With you.
Yeah, yeah, we. I just rode around with Manny. I brought a recorder with me, and we did a podcast. That was the only one that we've done like that. It was pretty interesting. So we went to a couple of different sites that you had going on at the time, and that was in, I think, June of 2018.
So, like over seven years ago.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
So what happened in the meantime is. Yeah, I was. I was pretty busy out there, but I was. I was also looking at buying the odd flip.
You know, I started looking at the stress properties and stuff like that, and I ended up doing that. I did a couple out in. In. In Hamilton at the time, but it got to the point where I was very busy, getting very busy to do that. And what was happening is my, My properties were lagging because my guys are working on these income suites for other clients, and, and my own properties were getting left behind and taken longer, and I had to sit down and say, well, does this make sense? And it didn't make sense to me.
So I fully went into the 100 home flipping, and I says, you know what? Now I got to bring it close to home.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: When was this, Manny? When did you switch to 100%?
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Gotta be probably five years ago. I'm guessing 2020.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Just before COVID Yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: Yeah, because I went. I, I. We were very busy through Covet. It was a crazy busy. Yeah, it was before COVID so maybe it's. Yeah, it was co. Was what, 2020. Right. So five, six years. Yeah. Yeah, I remember because I was busy at the time when Covet hit and I started to get worried about, you know, I haven't had guys at home and properties being shut down, but.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: Fortunately, it didn't affect us that way. It did affect us in the way of, obviously pricing for materials.
You know, a lot of that stuff happened, but it got busy to the point, and I said, you know what? If I'm going to do this, I have to plan it out. I'm not going to be all over the place, and there's a lot of flippers out there. So I strategically plan to specialize in Simcoe County.
You know, I, I get calls from all over the place, and I don't. I don't do them. I try to keep my Google advertising within Simcoe. It's. It's a big enough area for me, you know, and I go all the way up into Bracebridge and stuff like that. I try not to, but I do sometimes. We just did Some land development up there and we did well up there.
So I strategically plan to stay in an area that I understood. So if I'm going to do this successfully, I got to understand the markets. So like Barry area, like Barry Bradford, Innisfil, Aurelia, Midland, all these areas, all of Simcoe.
So it, it's easier when you know your actual market than trying to flip flop from market to markets. You know, you go on about the housing market, how it's down, how's this up, but it's different everywhere, right?
There's always that market within a market. And if you know what's selling, you'll know what you're trying to buy.
I'm very strategic on what I buy and I always look at the worst case scenario. I've known a lot of flippers. Oh, I'm going to buy that property and make 40 grand. So how do you get to that? Well, this. Okay, well what happens if this happens? Well, it's not going to happen. I always look at my worst, worst case scenario, the market's going to crash, it's going to go down 15 or 20% or whatever this is going to happen to the house. What am I going to be able to sell this house with if like, if I, you know, the world ends and you know, some people say I'm crazy, but I've done very well doing that because I've never run into a problem where it's crashed on me, where I've lost actual money on a property. So knock on wood. So always look at those worst case scenarios. I won't buy anything if I don't see the margins in them. Because let's face it, there's stuff that's happened that's beyond our control that you got to be very careful with that.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: What's your margin? Because like that's, that's so subjective.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Are you looking to say that is that must be how you calculate it, right?
[00:11:55] Speaker C: Yeah. So I mean my average, my average purchase price is around 450.
That's my average. I've had some stuff lower, some stuff higher. My average selling price is in that 750 range.
So that, that's, that's what I'm buying, what I'm averaging. You know, my average time frame to get in a house, get it sold, and, and, and gone is, is about six months.
A lot of the stuff I buy needs work. Not to say that I haven't bought stuff that doesn't need work. I did. I bought a gorgeous waterfront property in Barry that I Ended up keeping for a year Airbury and beat it and then I sold it and made crazy money.
But most of the stuff I buy is, is run down. It needs work and that's the stuff that I love buying.
I just bought a house for the bank, locked the guy out up in North Barry. So we're working on that now.
I've got six flips on the go right now.
One just went for sale, one is almost done, but we've got it sold, believe it or not.
And the other four we're currently working on.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: So it sounds to me like you can be choosy and you know, only take the deals that you want if you've got six on the go.
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Yes, yes.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: You don't need to be taking the ones that don't fit into your.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: No, I, and I don't, and I don't like to get into small margins because you can easily make a mistake and I'm not going to do that if I don't see the margin in it where, hey, if I make a mistake of X amount of dollars, no big deal, I'm selling the property, I'm getting out. I don't want to lose. Selling the property. Because the whole idea is keep your money. Right.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: So when you do these crazy calculations, your world ending crazy calculations, what kind of a profit do you need to see in that case? In that scenario?
[00:13:37] Speaker B: The worst case, right?
[00:13:38] Speaker C: Yeah, in, in the worst, in the worst case scenario. I mean, I, I always plan. My worst case scenario is making no money.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:13:47] Speaker C: That's my worst case scenario. And, and that's never happened because there's a big margin between making no money and, and what I look at on a profit margin on a property.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: Okay, but what's the worst case scenario that you've encountered? Like what's the lease that you've made on a project?
[00:14:04] Speaker C: Probably the worst case scenario I encountered was coming out of a property making 30 grand.
Okay. And that was my worst case scenario, which is probably not bad for, you know. Yeah.
20 houses a year. So I'm very happy.
Well, you get guys who say I'm flipping this and I'm flipping that and you know what. And then afterwards you find out they're not in business anymore because they're looking at very, very small margins. Right?
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah. They try to make it up in volume and they end up, you know.
[00:14:32] Speaker C: And I know a couple of them that you probably know. And I'm not gonna, but I know I can't. I, I don't do that if I don't If I don't see a worst case scenario as me losing no money, I walk away from the property. I'm not going to touch it. There's always something else. I got a ton of leads and I can pick and choose what I get. I mean, mind you, a lot of the leads I get right now is my house is for sale and I can't sell it. Well, most of the time I can't help you.
Right. But some of those leads do end up coming back. Right. I bought one in North Barry, a beautiful house where I went there, gave him a number, they didn't want it, it wasn't enough. As you know what, here's the deal. Put it on mls. It needed a lot of work. Put on mls, See? See what happens. And if nothing happens, you want to reach out to me, great. So they did reach out to me three weeks later. So we're. They were nervous, the house was empty, they already had moved and I ended up buying the house for what I wanted to buy the house for. So I do get those as well. But you know what, I always like to educate people. I'm not the type of guy who tries to go in and, you know, take that property from somebody. I always educate people and they're very appreciative to that. And I get a lot of comments on that where I try to find out why do you need to sell your house? Like what's the situation?
Do you need to get out quickly? Like do you need to sell to a flipper like myself and lose a ton of money? Because I go through the numbers on what it actually costs. Cause some of them will say, hey, if I can save the commissions, I'll sell you the house. Well, that's not going to help me because I'm paying those commissions when I sell it. You got closing costs and borrowing costs and carrying costs and blah, blah. So I try to educate them on that, but a lot of them, I convinced them to actually list the house themselves. You know, a lot of them are nice houses, there's nothing wrong with them. They just, you know, I got to get out of it and I just want to sell the house. And I try to convince them and always tell people that if you've got time, if you got a good looking house or if you got some money you can spend on it to make it ready. MLS is always the way to go because you're going to expose it to market, you're going to sell it to an end user. I'm not that end user. Right. So I always try to educate people at first, right. And then they'll say no, I don't want to do that. So when I know that I want to do that now we can get in the negotiation process. But I always like to tell people that I'm not the only way out. And you know, if you got time and you're not in a drastic situation, you need money tomorrow. Why do you want to sell to me? I try to get all those, you know, answers out of people which a lot of them are very happy that I do that and some of them still sell to me and some of them put it on the market and sell and later on will send me an email saying, you know, thanks for, you know, advising me to, you know, to do what I did.
But yeah, those, those are, that was my worst case scenario and I always got three or four flips on at the same time. Right now I got six with another closing the end of this month.
So yeah, we are busy and I'm buying stuff that, you know, I don't like to get over the million mark. I, I like to buy stuff actually that we're selling for under 800 grand up here.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: And you find that you transact more. Is that what it is or why?
[00:17:23] Speaker C: Absolutely. It's kind of an odd market where I find the lower price stuff. Yes, it still takes longer to sell, a little bit longer on the market unless you get lucky. But there's that market where certain price, lower price homes are moving and then you get to that, you know, over 901.1, 1.2, they're not moving and all of a sudden you get into these, you know, 2, 2.325 custom homes and all of a sudden those move pretty quickly. So I, I think it's just a different buyer. The person buying that two and dollar house has already got the money or the market's not affecting them or they've sold a property where they got money from. And, and those people trying to get in that one million dollar house are the ones that probably should be looking at, you know, the six, seven, eight hundred thousand dollar properties because they can't get approved on those. So I find that going on a little bit, but nothing surprises me anymore, not in this market.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: And, and you with having six projects going on at a time, the financing piece is going to be a lot more complex. Right. I was, you know, back in 2013, I, I know that I'm kind of dating myself now. I flipped like a dozen houses after I quit my job As a, as a teacher and you know, I, I can relate. Like we were making six figure profits on those projects and you know, but at one time I had two or three projects going on and like I was floating, you know, my, my credit lines to the max and doing all this stuff and it can be, it can be pretty stressful.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: Right. I still do that. I have a lot of money in the game. I have. So I've built up relationships over the years with private individuals who have a little bit of money aside or have bigger lines of credit. And these are a lot of the people that I'm dealing with. You know, I'll call them up and say, hey, so and so I'm buying a property, it's 500k, do you want to mortgage that property? And yes. So. And there's no questions asked, there's no I got appraiser or anything else. So. But this takes years of, of building these relationships. So I got a lot of private individuals that loan me money at a minute's notice with no questions asked. And what kind of rates I'm paying them 11%.
I guarantee six months minimum.
So if I'm in and out quickly in a property in three or four months, they're still getting six. So there's a minimum of six months that they're going to get paid for regardless if, whether I get out early.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Or not and are with those private individuals. Are you.
Because, because of what you're asking. Do you just deal with people who have non registered funds or people who have registered funds? Because it can affect the speed that, which you can get things done, right?
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So most of the people that I deal with, they already have the funds sitting. They've either got a massive line of credit or they got money put aside.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:20:12] Speaker C: None of that stuff's on a promissory note. I do everything.
I, I get them to act as with the bank, they've got their own lawyer, they put, you know, mortgage on the property and basically I'm using them as the bank.
But yeah, most of the people I deal with, it's at a moment's notice where I can call and you know, in 24 hours my lawyer's got the funds rights, but that's all, that's a big trust game, you know, it takes years to build that. Yep.
And I also deal, I do deal with Calvert as well.
I've got two properties with Calvert right now.
They've been pretty good. I haven't had any issues with them.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: The rates are higher, but it's Better than a joint venture partner.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: Yeah, they're, they're the race. Yeah, I don't have joint venture partners. It's all just the act as a bank. But their rates are higher if you don't put. So when I use Calvert, I put enough down to get their rate down. So I got one right now, 9.9 with Calvert because, because I put 25 down on my own money.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: Well, if you doubt then you're, you're getting into that, you know, 17, you know, rates with Calvert. Right. But I've done pretty good with them.
One thing with Calvert is if you can get in and out quickly on a property like I've got one in Barry with Calfra, that we're probably going to be from the time of purchase, that I'm hoping to be out of it in, you know, 90 days.
And that's where you sometimes gain a little bit because there's no penalties for prepayment. You're only paying your three months and that's it.
So I use them strategically when I need them and for the most part I use my private individuals that I've built relationships with and I've got other people as well that'll come in and say, hey, I've got 100k, can I loan that to you for your renovation on that house type thing. So we do those as well at 12%.
Right. But. And everyone's been happy so far. Like I say, I don't, I don't buy any risky. I mean, unless we get a nuclear war, I think I'm pretty safe on the stuff I buy and, and, and how I buy it. And some people wonder how I even bought that. But that's the properties I buy. Like I said, I, I will not risk having a very small margin or looking at a house saying, well, once I sell this house, I'm going to make 50 grand. I'm not buying a house that I think I can make 50 grand on it. Yeah, I've seen, yeah, I'm buying a house that, oh, if I made 50 grand, something went wrong on it. Right. So buy it for to, to have to only make 50 grand. Right.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: So, I mean, I've been seeing some of these wholesalers and flippers who are trying to just do volume instead of margin and. Yeah. And I, I've seen again and again them to get it getting into problems and then having to, you know, promissory notes and, you know, extra loans and then they're in big trouble.
[00:22:58] Speaker C: And I don't do a lot of wholesale like this year I've done three. And my average wholesale that I've made is 70 grand.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:07] Speaker A: That's your average.
[00:23:08] Speaker C: That was my average.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Switch to that.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I, I know that I can make 150. I got a house in Barry right now where I'm projecting to make $200,000 on. So I'm not going to wholesale that. Right. And plus I strategically plan well. I've got these on the go, and I've got that one, should I close on it or should I try to wholesale? Like, which one makes more sense to keep in wholesale? So I'll do you know what, that one's an hour away.
My guys are better, you know, for me to use them here. So let me see if I can wholesale that.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: And so let's just break this down for people because.
Because what you're saying is you do a lot of your own marketing, right? That's how you get calls. So these are not, these are not houses on mls. You'll do your own marketing people, will you? And it. And so if, if it's like sort of just under what you think, you know, fits your strategy, then you might say, maybe I'll, I'll lock it up. So you'll, you'll, you'll sign an agreement to buy it, and then you go to other people that do the same thing as you flip houses and you'll offer it to them for, For a markup.
[00:24:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I will always buy a house firm because I always advertise that way that there's no. I don't have any conditions.
I'm not going to tie it up. I get calls from people saying, oh, my house was tied up, you know, for 10 days by this other buyer, but he didn't buy. I'm like, well, he's not buying it. He was wholesaling it. So I will always look at a property where if I got a close on it, I'm making money on this property, right. So I'm not going to worry about, oh, my God, I got a clothes on and I was just going to sign it for five grand. Now I'm screwed, right? So I don't do those. So a lot of them that I go into before I, I do assign it, is this a property that I would close on? Is this a property that I would work on? And 99% of them, they are, right? So Darren actually helps me with the wholesale side because I'm busy doing a bunch of other things.
And he'll do all the marketing for that.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Your son Darren We've had him on the show too.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Yeah. So he's doing very well. He's with Century 21 right now, but he's doing a lot of stuff. He actually just bought a church up in Aurelia, an older church, but he helps me with all of that in the marketing side. But most of our marketing is Google. Like, I got a couple of signs, billboards around town.
I don't do the, the flyer thing. I used to when I started.
You know, I'd end up going to one of my houses and there'd be six other flyers there from other buyers. I'm like, this stuff's ending up in the garbage. Right. So it's all 99 is Google advertising. People reaching out to me on our website, you know, wanting to know more about our process or, you know, or their dire straight situation. They need to get out in two weeks.
So that's where most of our leads come in is, is through our, our Google advertising. That's where I spend most money.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: And do you, would you be, would you be okay with saying, like, ballpark what you spend in advertising, like, on a given month?
[00:26:05] Speaker C: I'm spending less now than, than I was only because I, I.
You get to a point where, how many leads do I need right now and how busy am I right now? So I don't want to waste.
I spend right now in Google probably six grand a month.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:22] Speaker C: That's what my Google bill is.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: And then like, how many leads would that give you? Let's say.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: Oh, we're probably looking at an average of, let's say, a day. I probably get at least two leads a day. Two to three leads a day.
Sometimes I might skip a day, and the next day I might have five leads, you know, and a lot of them are not great leads. I mean, I, I know just by reading them, whether it's gonna. I'm pretty good at reading. You know, once I, I go through the leads and I try to call everybody back anyway, regardless, because, you know, sometimes they'll call me back because it didn't work or, or they'll refer me to somebody else, which I've had that happen. So I do like to get in touch with everybody and at least have a conversation with them and get back to them.
But yeah, most of my leads are Google. A few billboards around town. I get the odd call on that. Not a lot, but it's just it.
Visibility.
I do some rock 95 radio and very off and on.
Yeah. You know, the funny thing is I find that radio Actually has a bigger, longer lasting effect even after you're off of it. You know, I've gone on and all of a sudden I'm off for six weeks and someone will say, I hear you every day on Rock 95. Well, I haven't been on there for six weeks, but that's good. You still hear me.
So I do that off and on.
So I tried to do a little bit of everything, but, But Google is, is, is my number one marketing strategy where I get all these leads and.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Do you have like a, like a person that you've hired to do that for you or do you do your all your own advertising?
[00:27:50] Speaker C: I do my own.
Well, Darren does. I, I hand my advertising strategy to my son who looks after that.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:27:59] Speaker C: I know he's busy with his own thing, but I'm like, I'm your dad and this is what you got to do.
[00:28:05] Speaker A: That's easy for him. He plays in it. So that's, that's the kind of person you need. Right.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: He works very hard, especially having two young children right now. And he does crazy hours, but he's done very well. I mean, I bought a property in Bracebridge where I bought a 5 acre property and then she also owned a 20 acre property beside her property. I bought both.
And so we renovated one, we decided to develop the second one. But I was kind of very busy and Darren wanted to go to the development process. I handed everything off to him. So here's the property. You develop it, you market it, you figure out how to sell it it. And he did. He did an awesome job. We sold it to a small builder. You had it all builder ready, plans ready for a house, everything. So he's done very well. So now he's gone through his planning process. He's. He's worked on that now he's bought a church where he's gonna, he's trying to figure out. He's got somebody who wants it as a daycare. So they're going through the process for that.
But he works very hard at it. But he's been very helpful in my side of the business because there's stuff that he understands that I just don't.
And for a young guy, he understands a lot of that stuff. I don't know where he gets all his knowledge, but he's pretty knowledgeable and he's, he's amazing at marketing. I mean, he built a marketing company from ground up and was able to actually create a sellable business which he sold, which is, which is crazy. But he's Helped me in that end of it. So there's certain things I'll say, hey, can you take care of this? My older guy looks after the construction side, so he's on project management, looking after the guys and coordinating and stuff like that. So he works in the company full time and I'm there trying to, you know, overlook the properties, watch the money, go over the leads, meet people, stuff like that, which I enjoy doing. But then I get in my rounds because it's like in my senses, why don't you just don't do that. Like, why are you going up there? I don't need you up here. But I like to check everything out hands on purpose. And I, I was at four properties today before I came back here.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: On the podcast, you can make all your sell lead calls on the way up to Bracebridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You're still working.
[00:30:02] Speaker C: Yeah, but I, I enjoy doing what I'm doing. So it's not just I'm flipping it to, to make that income, make the money. It's. I actually enjoy the whole process. And I think you got to do that to be successful. You got to enjoy what you do. Because if you don't, I mean, I don't want it to be a job. I still manage my own time. You know, I can go home at 3 or 2 if I want or do something or pick up my wife and say, hey, tomorrow, let's go over here. And I can still do a lot of work on the phone. So I got, you know, my older guy running things and Darren's there to help and, you know, whenever I need him.
So I manage my own time. But I, I love to get involved and I actually love this business and I, I love, I love me. Yesterday I was at one of my properties with a drill pulling screws out from the wall and the guy's like, what the hell are you doing.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: As well?
[00:30:47] Speaker C: So just let me feel good for the next 30 minutes while I'm here.
But I love doing that type of stuff. It's just, I don't know, it's. It's in my blood, I guess, but I really enjoy it and I think you got to enjoy it to, to be successful. I think that.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: Anyway, question about your crews.
You've got six flips on the go. Do you have six crews or.
[00:31:07] Speaker C: No, I got four full time staff guys, you know, carpenters, stuff like that, that work in the projects and I have a great crew of sub trades that have been working for years.
Right. So I've got guys to do flooring and trim and everything and everything in between, from painting to roofing. So these guys are constantly doing work for me, you know, and I've built relationships where I'm not calling someone and saying, yeah, I'll be at your house in three weeks.
They know when I need them, they're there. They're moving things around to accommodate me. And, and an important thing about that is pay your guys on time, Right? I hear the stories about this job for that guy. I haven't paid in, you know, in a month or five weeks and, and I got, I make sure that as soon as my guys invoice me, they're paid like immediately. I don't have any 30 day policies or any of that stuff. I want them to get paid. They got families and I want them to come back when I need them. So I got a bunch of sub trades that are spectacular in doing that, from electrician, the plumbers to flooring guys. And we do all that stuff as well as far as flooring and all that stuff, but we can't do them all. So we strategically plan. You guys are on this job, you guys are on that job. Our contractors, our subcontractors, because we're the contractor, we'll be on that job and that job. So we try to manage everything.
Great. We got a great, you know, couple of great kitchen suppliers that do everything for us in a timely manner.
Great window company that does it. So you got to build these things over years, right?
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you have like a software or something that helps you to manage all of that?
[00:32:33] Speaker C: I was using, I was using Build a Trend software to manage everything and I, I just found that some of the sub trades weren't using it and then some would use it and some would and use it. But we've gotten pretty good at managing things, you know, by using just, just Excel sheets, by me overlooking everything every day and going through every project and say, where are we at this, where are we that?
You know, we keep the board up in the office where everything is at and who's that? What? So we've gotten pretty good at managing without using the software. The software is helpful for some things and it wasn't for others. So it was, it was kind of annoying where if everybody's not using it, you know, properly, it just didn't make sense. So we went back to just the old Excel sheets and try to manage guys as best we can. And it's, it's worked well for us.
So I don't feel a need to change. Maybe That'll happen in the future. But right now, with the properties that we're doing, we've managed to manage that very nicely.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: So, so what, what's your goal with all of this, Manny? Like, are you trying to, like, are you trying to create like enough income from yourself for this? Are you, is it a net worth goal? Like, why, why are you doing this?
[00:33:46] Speaker C: It's incoming and what you do with that income. So, you know, I, I use that income for other investments and stocks and everything else and because of course, if you're just going to put it in bank, all you're doing is while you're losing money. Right. If you keep your money in the bank. So I do other things with that money, just not investing in properties, which I did. I sold all my properties off and sold my last one closed last week in Pentatanguishi in a triplex. And, and, and for me, I'm sort of done with that with the rent rental business. I just don't want to do it anymore, you know, And I like to enjoy myself too. I mean, I'm, I'm 61. I'm not a young guy anymore. Right. So it's, you know, I like to do things and I have a lot of crazy hobbies that take up a lot of my time, you know, which I enjoy as well.
So it's all about. Yeah, it's making me income. Sure. It's making the income. You know, do I need, I can do anything to, to make that type of income. You know, I'm, I'm doing well, you know, for being 61 years old. I don't mean I could retire tomorrow if I wanted to. I don't, but I enjoy it. But yeah, you know, you got to figure out what you're going to do with some of that income. And I've, I've got other investments and stuff that I use that income for, to build back. Right, right.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're taking the funds that you get from your, from your, your active flip projects and they're using that to, to put it into like crypto and.
[00:35:08] Speaker C: Stocks and like a bunch of other.
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Investments, like private equity. Like, would you, like, what would you do with it?
[00:35:16] Speaker C: I got a bunch of diversified stuff. I mean, I got an insurance policy that I put a lot of money into every year. Just different things that I know is going to create income down the years because obviously if you don't do that, you're not really an investor. Right. I mean, it's active income, so it's what you do with your active income, that counts. The active income is, you know, it's. It's keeping people employed. It's. It's giving us salaries. You know, it's giving us a great life. But then, okay, so I've got this left. What I do with that? Well, I gotta. We don't make that money work for itself. So whatever I think is going to work best at the time, you know, and what I'm investing in. But, yeah, it's about diversifying. Of course. You got to put that money somewhere. It's not just about active income. Like, I could do that doing a bunch of other things.
But like I say, I. I do enjoy what I'm doing.
My motto is, always keep telling my wife, man. I. I got too many things I want to do and. And not enough time during the day.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: So. What are some of those hobbies that you have?
[00:36:11] Speaker C: Oh, my God, I love cars. Number one.
You know, I've gotten rid of a couple because it just got a little bit out of hand. So I. You know, I've kept my two favorite cars.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: What are their two favorite ones?
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Well, I have. I have a Z06 convertible. It's an 06, but it's very rare because it's. It's the color. It's got every single option ever made for it. You probably won't find another triple black Z06 convertible with, you know, 10K on it, you know, with those options. My favorite car that I love right now, and I don't drive it enough, is I bought a new 911 Chris arrest a year ago. A year and a half ago. And I'm still trying to break a thousand kilometers.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: So what do you do with it? You just look at it like. Yeah. You feel like you polish it.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: He said he just bought it. Quinton, cut him a break.
You'll get it in. It's. Summer's coming.
[00:37:04] Speaker C: Yeah. I get out this morning from the house and I go, hey, I'll drive the 911 rounds. God, no. I gotta go to.
I gotta go to Midland and I gotta check property out there. And I'm gonna go over here, and I'm gonna go over there and what. What if I need a screwdriver or something? So I throw my stuff in the back of the car and take off in my truck. But, yeah, I do that. And. And I. I fly model aircraft, believe it or not. Some big stuff. That's another hobby of mine and my other hobby that does take a little. It's a hobby, but I make money on it, it does take some time. Is, is I play in a tribute to, to Elvis Music Band which is, which keeps me pretty busy. You know, I did two shows in the last week, so that's another thing.
I don't dress up like Alpha, so don't look at me like that. We are, we are the only act. We are the only act like that in North America that doesn't dress up like Elvis. And, and we get rave reviews. I mean I just played to 600 people last Friday.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Sounds like fun.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome.
[00:38:05] Speaker C: It's a lot of fun. So we got multimedia show going behind us. We tell all the stories behind the songs before we perform them and, and it's gotten a lot of, a lot of great reviews. We've actually been invited now, which I can't go. I told them it's just too much for us right now. They wanted to just do a show out in Australia in October.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Really?
[00:38:24] Speaker C: I had to turn it down. It's just, I don't have time.
It's, it's enough doing it here. I mean I do a show in North Bay last week and I mean I'm gone, you know, it's a far drive, you know, by the time you're done, I mean I'm gone for, for, for the day and got to sleep overnight. And it's, it's a lot of work.
You know, you're traveling with it with a tech crew and everything else. It's a pretty big production.
So I do that, believe it or not. So.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Wow, that's so cool. It's like you have like a secret life. It's like Manny the Flipper and then Manny and Elvis. Rock star. Like rock star. That's so cool.
[00:38:58] Speaker C: Funny. But yeah, Elvis has probably been my biggest. It's not the only type of music I like, of course, but probably my, my biggest influence in music was Elvis.
So. And I decided to start this project two and a half years ago. It started off as a simple little four man band. We're going to do this, we're going to do that. And escalated to, you know, a 12 person crew band that's traveling all over the place. And I mean I'm turning down shows that, that we can't do.
A lot of the shows I book and risk myself. So I act as my own booking agent.
I've got booking agents reaching out, but I don't, I'd rather not. I enjoy actually being my own booking agent. So I enjoy doing too many things.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Right. A lot of booking agents not going to Feel like they're doing enough unless you're booked solid.
[00:39:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: Well, what's the name of the band?
[00:39:49] Speaker C: It's called the, the Blue Suede Band. So if you go on to bluesuedeband.com you'll see our website.
[00:39:56] Speaker B: That's cool. We'll have to put that in the show notes.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll put that in the show notes too.
[00:40:01] Speaker B: That'd be awesome.
[00:40:02] Speaker C: So he's either buying a house or he's, he's outperforming.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: Cool.
What, what, what would you say would be like your biggest piece of advice for someone that's starting out wanting to flip houses?
[00:40:18] Speaker B: And everybody watches these TV shows and, and they, they, they come out with this conception of what they think flipping is. And then when you talk to somebody who's in the business, it's often very different.
[00:40:32] Speaker C: Let me put it this way, it's not very glamorous. Educate yourself.
Make sure it's something you enjoy doing and that's something you want to do because you've watched a 30 minute show on HGTV and the house is all done and everything's perfect. Nothing's ever perfect. You're always going to deal with stuff. You got to know how to deal with that. You got to know how to deal with city, with inspectors, everything else. So there's a lot to know there. Like don't get into it if you're not very well experienced. For me it was, it was an easier transition because I've already was really experienced in the construction industry. So I already knew it. So it's not like I had to learn it, you know, and, and don't just do it for the sake of doing it because you think it's glamorous. It's not because you can get burned, you can lose a lot of money. And I've known people who've lost their own house becoming a flipper. So you got to be very, very careful, understand your market.
Right. I know people who've been buying houses on mls. Oh, this is a great house. It needs some work. That's not the place to buy house in mls. Everyone's seeing that house is exposed to the market. So you have to have a good marketing strategy. I think you have to really enjoy what you're doing.
And if you're not knowledgeable in construction, you don't have to be. You can educate yourself, go to as many, you know, real estate investment, you know, seminars or what that you can, you know, locally, you know, maybe flipping seminars. Because there's a lot of Flipping stuff out there as well, that makes it look very glamorous. You know, pay this amount of money, all of a sudden you're a professional flipper. It does not happen that way.
[00:41:54] Speaker B: No.
[00:41:55] Speaker C: So like I say, number one, figure out if it's something you enjoy doing, don't do it just for the sake of well, I want to do it because I think I can make 80 grand that house. That's not the proper way of doing it. Right. So get it or talk to people who are doing it. Right.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Would you say someone could do well if they were to buy a property and then have like just hire a general contractor to do everything?
[00:42:22] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. But again, you got to know your price and you got to know your general contractor. You got to have relationship with your general contract and make sure a reliable one.
And you know what, maybe you want to have them come around. Some of the properties you might look at. If you're, if you're looking, if you got an appointment in a property where you think you're going to buy and you meeting a homeowner, you can bring your contractor with you. Right. And at that point, you know, if you can tell them your vision, at least when you're walking away you've got some type of idea on cost. And anytime you do that, you just got to up it from there because there's always stuff that goes wrong because.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: I mean that would be the least barrier of entry, right. For someone that wanted to do it would be to hire a general contractor. But they're taking what, what's their cut?
[00:43:04] Speaker C: I, I, you know what, I don't know exactly. I mean I'm my own general contractors, I only have, Right, but so that.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: Would be the goal.
[00:43:11] Speaker C: It's always going to be more. Yes, it's either going to, well, it's.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: Usually 20 or something like that. Right?
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Well, it's going to be 20 easily and that, that could eat up quite a bit of your profit.
The other thing is to get to know, is to train yourself maybe to, to be a contractor. Because I mean as a contractor you don't have to be a hands on licensed carpenter, but you got to be knowledgeable in, in, in the process of the construction. I mean there's different stages that you got to do in a house to make it flow properly. Right. But get to know electricians and get to know you can, you can ballpark a lot of that stuff. But there's nothing wrong with getting, making a relationship with a contractor that you think you can trust and you know, and figure out those numbers with them and figure out is, am I paying this guy too much? Is the numbers too high? But you can get an idea at least. You know, if you're walking in there and the guy's, you know, if you think he's got 20 or 30, you know, percent on there, it may be a good thing because you can walk away and even bump that angle a little higher, maybe find someone else.
Like I say, it's, it's difficult for me to really pinpoint that because I've been acting as a contractor myself for so many years, right. That I don't rely on that. I mean I, I go to, I, I basically. So I'm at the point where I don't take any sub trades with me when I visit the property myself.
And a lot of times I don't even take a lot of pictures. I'll walk through a property in five minutes and walk out. And I already know what my numbers are going to be and what, you know, my offer is going to be because I've done so many of them, you know, from smaller homes to bigger homes that when I do a walk through in a property, my head's already calculating, you know, paint flooring, demo kitchens, electrical, this, that. So when I walk out of there, I already got a good idea of what the numbers are without even visiting some of my contractors. And I'm always pretty damn close to what that house is going to be, what I think it is. Always add a little bit more obviously, because you don't know what's going to happen. But I mean you're going to do better if you understand the business.
And, and maybe it's hanging out with maybe a flipper that, you know, that doesn't mind you tagging along with them and looking at projects and, you know, learning the ropes that way. Like, just don't go and buy a house because you want to be a flipper tomorrow because you're gonna.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: The first flip I did, I, I hired a guy, gave him some money and then of course his truck broke down quotes and, and didn't end up showing up. And so I, I called the only, well, one of the only guys that I knew that that was flipping houses and I'm just, and he's just like, well you better step up, man. Like, here's what you do next. And he let, like basically just guided me through the whole thing, you know, and so that was kind of interesting. But yeah, and, and, and funny enough, I think that that was probably the best experience ever. Like, probably the Best thing that happened to force me to learn how to do everything.
[00:46:03] Speaker C: They usually are. But getting a relationship with great subcontractors for me was very important because I see these guys so often, it's almost like they're my employees when they're not. But that's really, really important. I've been lucky over the years to have that where I'm not worried. Is my electrician going to show up? Is my plumber going to show up? Is something going to be wrong?
So I've gotten to the point where I don't worry about that stuff because I've been working with these guys for so many years.
I know who they are, I know their work.
So that makes it easier for us.
[00:46:36] Speaker A: A little less stressful.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: Less stressful because I know I can leave my house and if. And if it got an issue, they'll come back and fix it and whatnot. So I don't have any issues that way. I mean, we probably got the greatest electrician and the greatest plumber and the greatest painters.
You know, I've got relationships with all of them. They're all. They're all a bunch of great people. So I've gotten lucky that way, and I keep them constant.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: I don't think it's luck. Right. You said you've built these relationships, you've cultivated them and you pay them on time and all that kind of stuff.
[00:47:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: So not necessarily. Luckily. I'd say more just relationship building and respect.
[00:47:11] Speaker C: Yeah, it's relationship building. Like I said, I can't stress enough pay on time. Because those are the ones where, you know, you lag. You don't pay that guy. And you. The next time to say, well, that guy took a long time to pay me, so maybe I, you know, I'm busy right now, or I'm, you know, I'm gonna.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll put them. I'll go next week.
[00:47:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, my guys are. I need them. They're there. They do the work. You know, they're busy. Con. Subcontract directors as well. But yeah, paying your people on time is very important.
You know, everyone's got bills to pay. Everyone's got a family to raise and food to put it on a table. And it doesn't help you if you. If you stall them. And I've seen a lot of that happen, and I think it's dumb to do. And you're hurting yourself in the business if you're doing that.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: You know what? I think I realized that you've been talking to some of My friends and then inspiring them to do flips.
Have you talked to, like, Susan?
Alex Finkelston, Susan White Livermore, Andrew Brennan.
[00:48:08] Speaker C: Yeah, Susan's up here in Barry. I've had lunch.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're. I think you're infectious, Manny.
In a good way. In a good way.
[00:48:22] Speaker C: But, no, I get people sometimes reaching out to me that. That want to do. Want to do something or asking some questions or whatnot, and I don't mind helping people where I can.
[00:48:32] Speaker B: No, that's good. It's a. I mean, when you're successful at what you do, it's easier to pull people up. That's what I found. That it's. It's. You know, I. I enjoy helping people, too, but I enjoy it more when they actually listen to what I say instead of just ask me questions and questions and questions. So when I find people are, like, using it, then I. I feel like, you know, I want to help you more.
[00:48:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: So it's also very freeing to share the knowledge and not, like. Not feel like you need to guard it, you know, Because I think when you first start, there's like a. There's an element of. Well, you think that there's only one house out there that needs to be flipped, and if I tell them about how to do it, then they're going to take it from me. That's just not the way it works.
[00:49:23] Speaker C: No, no, it's. It's a big enough market for. For everybody.
I'm not like that. I mean, I don't care who I try to help. If someone needs help, I'm glad to do it. You know, I've had help in years for other things, and I appreciate that.
So. I'm not that type of person, but, yeah, it's. It's a big world. And, yeah, you can't think that way because in the end, you're just gonna hurt yourself anyway. Right. Because it goes both ways.
[00:49:48] Speaker A: Well, we really appreciate you sharing all this. This has been fun.
[00:49:51] Speaker C: Well, you're welcome. And it was fun being on here. It's been a while since our last tour in Hamilton. Seven years ago.
[00:49:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. It was episode 69, if anyone wants to go listen to it.
That was a fun one, too.
How can people reach out to you?
[00:50:06] Speaker C: They can reach out on my. Through my email. I got info@simcoe housebuyers.com ca sorry.
And I answer every email that comes through there, so.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Simcoe Housebuyers. Ca.
[00:50:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: Okay. And that's the website, too.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: That's the website. So simcoehousebuyers.com is the, is the.
Is the website. But sorry, infoimcohousebuyers.ca is the email.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Okay, gotcha. We're gonna put that in the show notes. Also check out Blue Suede band.
[00:50:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:38] Speaker A: And that, that link will be in there too.
[00:50:41] Speaker B: So that's so awesome.
[00:50:43] Speaker A: And yeah, absolutely. Quinton, how can people get in touch with you but not when you're in Peru?
[00:50:49] Speaker B: Yeah, not when I'm traveling. Yeah, definitely. You can go to quinted souza.com and book a 15 minute call. We can chat on. I focus on multi family real estate purchasing apartment buildings is what I do, but I've done a lot of different stuff over the last 20 plus years.
[00:51:10] Speaker C: So.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: How about you, Rob? How can people get in touch with you?
[00:51:14] Speaker A: Just rob@mrbreakthrough ca. If you want to talk about the Ontario rental market or, or investment properties in Ontario, we can do that. If you want to talk about Costa Rica, you can do that. Just reach out. I'm always here and. Well, with that, I guess we're done. We've done another episode, Quinton, appreciate it and thanks all for listening. We'll see you next time.
[00:51:38] Speaker C: All right, guys, see you.
