Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

Creative Financing

What if funding is your least limiting factor?

Whether you’re scaling your real estate portfolio or landing your first investment, creative financing puts you in full control, unlocking opportunities uneducated investors would not identify. This advanced course is designed for real estate investors ready to add more tools in your investor toolbox beyond traditional lending and to tap into powerful alternative financing strategies that open doors to endless opportunities. No more barriers—only investment growth.

You will gain insider knowledge and hands-on tools to structure deals that work for YOU—even when traditional lenders say no. You’ll have the confidence to keep investing and scaling, regardless of the market going up down or sideways. Master creative financing and outpace the competition. Take your real estate investment to the next level.

This course is led by Brooke Shang, an award-winning investor, coach, and author of Financial Freedom: The Royal Way. Brooke replaced her consulting income with cash flow from her real estate portfolio in less than 4 years while balancing work, family, and travel. With an MBA from Schulich School of Business and a BA in Economics & Environmental Studies, she combines strong academics with real-world experience. Brooke’s portfolio spans Canada, the US and China using strategies like lease options, income properties, wholesale, multi-family residential, service accommodation and private lending.

Why Creative Financing?

 Secure properties with little to no money down
Tap into private capital for rapid deal-making
Structure win-win partnerships for long-term wealth

 Discover the resources you did not know you had
Scale your portfolio when you think all resources are maxed out

What Sets This Course Apart?

Good deals are found. Amazing deals are created. The most successful investors know how to leverage alternative financing—hard money, joint ventures, vendor take-back (VTB), RRSP and more—to scale quickly, reduce risk, and close deals others cannot. Learn how one or multiple financing tools could work together to maximize your cash flow and ROI (return on investment)

In this course, you’ll master the art of problem solving utilizing creative financing—tapping into unconventional funding sources and structuring deals that maximize your returns. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Private Lending & Hard Money – Access quick capital by leveraging private lenders and structuring loan agreements that fuel rapid growth.
• Registered Funds as Mortgage Investments – Transform registered funds into powerful financing tools.
• Joint Ventures – Build strategic partnerships that multiply your buying power.
• Vendor Take-Back (VTB) Financing – Spot VTB opportunities and negotiate winning deals.
• Agreement for Sale (AFS) – Use AFS to secure properties without large upfront capital, minimizing risk while maximizing control.
• Lease Options – Leverage lease options as both an acquisition and exit strategy to optimize your returns.

More Than Just Theory—A Blueprint for Action

Beyond learning new concepts, it is about real-world application. We’ll show you exactly how to break free from traditional lending and discover smarter ways to finance your deals. It’s an absolute game changer.  

By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with:
A creative financing toolkit for any market
A step-by-step framework for structuring win-win agreements
The confidence to scale your portfolio

Do not let funding hold you back. Take control of your financing, scale on your own terms, and turn every deal into a success.

Download Zoom

August 9, 2022

(WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE)

The aspiration to be a professional real estate investor at the age 28 put me in a world of in-betweens:

• Had higher living standards compared to my student days from a good paying job yet lack actual resources to create momentum at building a real estate portfolio
• Acted like a professional but still looked young-ish and was often taken less seriously when raising capital and seeking joint venture partners
• Acquired the knowledge and yet was shy about asking people for any sort of real money (in the beginning)

This led me down a path that was challenging and yet incredibly rewarding later on. The path was short and filled with skills and experiences that continued to serve my journey as an investor today. That path is creative financing.

Thank you to your feedback and suggestions — this is the first ‘interactive’ topic that I’m taking on. Gladly 😃

Creative financing was one of the things that really put a smile on my face during my initial real estate investing Bootcamp back in 2010. Like many, one of my biggest worries was asking people for money. Better yet, it was “appearing like I was begging for money”. Let’s just call a spade a spade now first — the former worry is from lack of confidence, lack of experience and lack of data; the latter is just ego.

Today, I focus on helping the students at Trust Your Talent understand the essence of “money will follow good deals”. This means that, as professional real estate investors, our purpose is to find opportunities, analyze them, determine whether they are good and viable deals, and structure them into win-win situations (some strategies such as Lease Options can create win-win-win-win-win situations!).

Before going any further, I want to kick start by building some context and foundation for understanding:

• “Your exit strategies determine how you make money and how much money you make.” Every deal would typically involve 3 main phases — acquisition, holding and exit. The acquisition phase includes obtaining financing. This means, more frequently, seller financing happens at this stage more than any others.
• Seller financing is great and can be flexible when executed properly. This comes from knowing what it is and the different ways to leverage seller financing.
• Seller financing is also commonly known as vendor-take-back or VTB, or owner financing. They will be used interchangeable throughout to help you absorb and comprehend them better.

Seller financing is an umbrella term that includes several different types of “legal paperwork” to facilitate depending on the mutual solution the seller and buyer agree on:

• traditional (or some would call it typical) mortgage documents,
• option contracts,
• agreement for sale, etc.

To me, these are the 3 most commonly heard and used ways to leverage seller financing. The rest will simply be the different “instruments” or, as mentioned before, “legal paperwork” (I would be using air quotes if you could hear me talk about this in person) that you will use depending on the suggestions of your lawyer and/or the different names certain government authorities name them. For example, in parts of the US, VTB is facilitated as a “land contract sale”.

While the idea of leveraging seller financing is very exciting, it truly is not built for everyone. More importantly, it’s not built for every deal. As much as we all like the sound of putting little to no money down to acquire properties, keep in mind that professional investors are performance based investors still. If taking on a VTB is going to hurt the performance of your property tremendously, don’t do it. In Part 1 of the Cashflow Management articles, you’ll remember that seller financing will fall under the debt servicing portion of the equation — either adding to the primary cost of borrowing or be a complete replacement. Regardless, it’s debt.

Also, often times, seller financing tends to be pricier money than other sources of debt we can leverage. Note that I did say “often times” — meaning that there will be situations where it could be the opposite. We will look into that as this series continues.

Today, I simply want to provide some food for thought here between the pros and cons of seller financing. However, I do want to stress this first: this list is my opinion and is formed based on honest transactions. Malicious and ill-intentioned seller-financing scenarios will be addressed later on during story time (sad, I know…but good learning lessons!).

Pros for Seller—

• Potential tax advantages
• Quicker closing time
• Cashflow from debt repayment
• Flexible negotiation

Pros for Buyer —

• Little or no money in the deal initially — this means that if you have some money, you can potentially acquire more properties with the same pot of cash (SCALE!)
• Anyone can leverage it regardless of income, credit, downpayment and any other common and self-imposed limiting beliefs like experience, age, market, etc.
• Quicker closing time — avoid the lengthy application and assessment periods with institutional lenders (especially these days) who seem to want your first born as collateral
• Flexible terms — it’s all about the buyers and sellers aligning on each other needs and financial goals on these transactions

Cons for Seller —

• May cash out less or nothing at all upon the initial closing of the deal/transaction
• Less flexibility to exit the agreement should life circumstances change after the agreement has been executed by both parties

Cons for Buyer —

• Higher cost of borrowing as mentioned before — we often say that “we buy houses — cash or terms”. Seller financing falls under terms and can sometimes weakens the Buyer’s position to negotiate.
• May end up taking more time educating the seller on the benefits of VTB than going the traditional financing route (but it’s still worth it in the end most of the time I’ll say)
• Potentially higher closing costs especially on legal fees to structure it properly for both parties as buyers tend to be the one fronting the legal bills other than paying for the seller’s independent legal advice

Acouple of quick tips here for my fellow investors on using VTB:

• Whenever possible, offer VTB when you sell — unbelievable tax saving potential and cashflow. My perspective is this: I’ve put in the work to build, renovate, and maintain all my properties to a quality standard. When I’m selling, I’d like to continue to make money from it as much as possible because I’m not putting garbage properties on the market to sell. In other words, I back my own products. Plus, cashflow!
• Ask for a VTB with every offer. Yes, EVERY OFFER. It doesn’t matter how big or small the property or price tag is. This will often times provide some insight as to how motivated the seller is. If for nothing else, it plants the seed at the beginning of the negotiation process that may come in handy later. (Side note: I frankly call this an alignment process. The word ‘negotiation’ tends to have a yucky negative connotation attached to it.)

I’m wanting to share this because I’m seeing many amateurs getting half-ass trained on the idea of seller financing especially when the ‘downturn is happening’. The result is often the sellers getting hurt and us “investors” getting a bad reputation. Listen — no deals are perfect at all times. However, amateurs f*cking sellers over intentionally and accidentally are equally bad in my opinion.

Excited to continue with this series with everyone and I hope to continue to add value and get feedback from you!

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

If you prefer the live interaction and delivery to help you build some foundation, our next live in-person real estate investing Bootcamp is on September 24 and 25 in Toronto. Go ahead and speak to a Strategy Coach on how you can attend.

Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your continuing support.

I aim to be authentic and adding value to your life.

I invest to build a life. I build business to create better life experiences.

It’s ultimately about LIFE and I appreciate you coming on this journey with me!

(Written at the Four Points Windsor Hotel in Windsor, ON)

August 30, 2022

The content in this article is likely one of the most popularly used way of a Lease Options deal in North America. I say it’s popular simply because of its street name: Rent to Own. And it’s often used to help people obtain home ownerships when they have been rejected for a mortgage by institutional lenders.

This way of Lease Options is my actual ‘baby strategy’. If you read the previous article, you’d probably already figured that the mechanisms and thought process is relatively similar. Except that, in this case, I am the seller giving my tenant(s) (or tenant-buyer) the options to purchase/renew, etc. at the end of the contract term.

My husband and I chose this as our first focused strategy when we first started for a few simple reasons:

1. Great passive income/cashflow to help us get out of the rat race faster — we needed our time and health back desperately from working demanding corporate jobs (selfish)
2. Little to no tenant and property management once the Lease Options is set up and the tenant-buyers have moved in (selfish)
3. We get to help people achieve their dreams and goals of home ownership (win-win)
4. We get to build a solid team of realtors and mortgage brokers in every market with this strategy (win-win-win)
5. It’s an average of 2–4 years process to see results for both the investors and the tenant buyers. There’s no need to stress over long-term commitments here compared to a traditional buy & hold strategies especially when working with OPM (win-win-win again)
6. This is the ONLY strategy that can feed into all 3 income buckets (GIANT win from an investor’s perspective)

When I labeled certain reasons ‘selfish’, all I’m simply doing is reminding everyone the importance of WHY — (financial) GOAL — SMP again.

We all (at least 100% I’ve come across so far) choose to get financially educated so that we can fast track our desired financial results to help us LIVE A LIFE that we want. Also, to this day, I still strongly believe in the concept that “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. It’s ok to cater to your personal situation and make it better first before you give.

Now that we’ve got those things out of the way, here’s one of the BIGGEST reasons why we stuck it out and did 36 of these deals in the first 25 months of our investing career.

As a Seller

Here’s a little background —

Picture this (yes…I recently started watching the Golden Girls as part of my ‘getting cultured’ journey as an immigrant):

• Edmonton, August 2012 (pretty much exactly 10 years ago this week)
• We’ve acquired a new property for our new tenant-buyers who are a couple in their early 50’s with 4 children
• They are the typical middle class family — hard working parents that only want to provide for their children — and paycheque to paycheque as a result
• Having attempted to get a mortgage to buy their own house many times without success, they were very hesitant about getting into a “Rent to Own Program” (understandably so as there were many people in our home market back then that did not aim to set up their tenant buyers for success — another story altogether later)
• The husband was virtually non-communicative throughout the whole application and house shopping process
• On possession day of the property, we have just finished our walkthrough and now gathered around the kitchen island to finalize some paperwork
• Midway through signing the documents, the husband’s hand started to shake. We are now thinking he’s getting last minute cold feet and might want to back out of the whole arrangement
• We asked him to put the pen down and explain what’s happening…
• To our surprise, real tears started streaming down his cheeks and he’s getting all chocked up wanting to squeeze out words to say how grateful he feels and that he never thought this was possible
• Between the sniffles and his beautiful words (now basically everyone’s crying happy tears), it became clear to us why this is such an amazing strategy and that it became the 2nd of dozens more Rent to Owns so far in our investing career

Rey and I walked away from that meeting feeling immensely empowered and jazzed. Intellectually, we knew why this strategy is great — we get great cashflow from each deal that will allow us to ‘retire’ early and get our time back. But boy…emotionally, we had no idea what was in store for us until that day.

For those of you analyticals, here’s the other side of the deal:

• They did not have enough downpayment saved up as they were paycheque to paycheque for decades
• They did do the ‘typical’ thing and put money away in RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan like the 401K, superannuation, etc.) and TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) and was able to leverage it to get into and finish the Rent to Own program
• This was a 2-year arrangement and they had 2 adult children living at home willing to pitch in on their monthly rent to own commitment
• As the investors, we were cashflowing $1,700 per month (before JV split)
• There was ZERO issue with them for the entire duration (not all of them are this great to be completely transparent) — the biggest ‘request’ they had was if they could upgrade the flooring and we said yes

Icould never forget the giant smiles on their faces when they took title of the home that they had already lived in for 2 years and treated it as their own.

And that’s just it!

As the investor in this arrangement, we are essentially extending a private mortgage to them while helping them get set up to qualify for a traditional mortgage through an institutional lender.

Most of the tenant-buyers become tenant-buyers because they’re lacking one or all of the necessary criteria demanded by the big banks: income, credit and downpayment. The perfect trifecta needs to be there before anyone can properly qualify for what’s known as the ‘cheapest money’ on mortgage — A lenders.

This is where the knowledge and experience come in: helping your tenant -buyers get to the finish line. We all know life happens and not every tenant-buyer will complete the program. However, when executed properly and with integrity, our own success rate has been over 86% to date.

These 86% include (but not limited to):

• New immigrants who have the savings but no credit or income (yet)
• Self-employed folks who have accountants who do not understand mortgage rules and are advised poorly as a result
• People with bruised history and not knowing how to fix them even though they are making a steady income and have worked hard to save up for their first home

I always advise and encourage EVERYONE to learn more Lease Options even if it’s not their first or chosen strategy simply for the fact that it can make ANYONE a better and more sophisticated investor.

For those of you who are in and close to Toronto, ON — Trust Your Talent is running a 2-day LIVE IN-PERSON Real Estate Investing Bootcamp on September 24 & 25 where you will dig into this particular strategy amongst many others. You can visit the Bootcamp Registration page or talk to a Strategy Coach from Trust Your Talent Academy to learn more.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your continuing support. I aim to be authentic and adding value to your life.

It’s ultimately about LIFE and I appreciate you coming on this journey with me!

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB)

September 6, 2022

What the A the F the S?!

Upon first glance, it seems like a new tool but it actually isn’t. Often times, when you use the acronym of AFS — Agreement for Sale — with people that are not educated nor active in the real estate transaction world, they will think it stands for a simple purchase agreement.

Well, they’s got that part right! The biggest difference is that an AFS — Agreement for Sale — (I’m just going to use AFS from now on so the word count doesn’t get fudged here) permits the Buyer to have a longer than usual closing period.

First thing first, this particular way of structuring a deal falls under the same premise that the Seller and Buyer align on a fundamental level like the ones previously discussed and illustrated: neither are in need of a quick (or standard) closing timeline. This is simply another way to obtain seller financing for buyers who may be able to leverage it to create win-win situations for both parties.

Again, I want to emphasize this: just because creative financing sounds cool and obtaining seller financing makes an investor sound smarter than usual does NOT mean seller financing is a fit in every situation and every deal.

Before going any further, I want to share this quick comparison chart to differentiate the 3 ways to leverage seller financing so far:

In the next article, we will look at the complete comparison so you can get the complete view of the differences. This way, we can just focus on AFS today.

As both a buyer and a seller in different situations, I have to admit: AFS is my least favourite form of seller financing. However, it’s not without its merits.

Let me share my very first AFS “deal” with you. Spoiler alert: I was neither the buyer nor the seller in this case!

An Unusual Compensation

Picture it: Edmonton, May 2012 (Yes…still watching the Golden Girls…). On a not particularly eventful day, I got a call from a commercial realtor that I had the chance of sharing my baby strategy (Lease Options) once at a networking event. He began to share with me that he has a client wanting to sell his 7-bay industrial property just outside of Edmonton (Alberta). This client of his also found out that one of his tenants that runs a auto body shop business wants to buy it but does not have the liquid cash to execute on it.

The realtor thought of me apparently because of how excited and passionate I was when I shared with everyone at that networking event about how creative financing is helping a 30-year old exit a 6-figure corporate job soon. And sure enough, 2 months after that, I declared Financial Freedom #1. The date was July 25, 2012. You will never forget the day you declare financial freedom.

Alright, back to the story…

This is literally how I remember parts of how that conversation went:

Realtor: Yeah…I recall you mentioning that you can help people buy properties with little to no money down?

Me: Well…yes (not knowing exactly what he was looking for yet).

Realtor: Well, I got this situation here that I’m hoping you can help with. And I don’t know how you’ll be paid but I trust you’ll figure that out.

Me: Sure. Happy to help! What’s the ‘situation’?

Look, the premise is simple here:

1. Seller wants to sell and is not in a huge rush
2. Buyer wants to buy and is lacking the financial means right now

There’s alignment! All I ended up doing is educating both the buyer and seller on VTB and figuring out which method is the best for both parties.

At the end of it all, we landed on using AFS and that was an ah-ha moment for me as well since I’ve been partial towards Lease with the Options to Purchase up to this point.

The Buyer was committed! He had a whole business plan about:

• How he was going to expand his business over the next 3 years taking up all 7 out of the 7 bays,
• How he was going to build more bays to rent it out once he takes up all 7 existing bays,
• How he had been waiting for an opportunity like this since he was a little boy and learning how to ‘tinker’ with his Dad’s Oldsmobile (THAT got to me and the Seller)

So, here’s the big ah-ha I took away and continue to apply today: when I know for sure that I want to acquire a specific property but lack the complete financial resources to satisfy traditional lending, I will use AFS. This means that — on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest) — I want this property at a level 10. Although, to be completely honest, these days I do have the privilege to gather my resources necessary to close on most deals having spent over a decade building up a reputation within the industry. Regardless, it’s a lesson that I will never lose and always share.

For those of you who are wondering exactly how this all got put together, here’s your favourite part:

• A 5-year long AFS was created by a lawyer after an initial Letter of Intent to align the Buyer and the Seller’s goals (bonus: with the option to extend another 2 years if the Seller needed it)
• The Seller agreed to a symbolic downpayment and offered a competitive interest rate for the balance
• The Seller’s main focus was the monthly cashflow (income from the Buyer’s monthly payment) as he was a retiring landlord
• The Buyer successfully grew his auto body shop business and business income as planned
• In fact, Buyer was ahead of schedule by almost 2 years but chose to continue to stay in the original agreement for the full 5-year term as a thank-you to the Seller so that the income would continue for him
• The Seller was happy with 60 payments during the AFS and happily walked away with a lump sum when the Buyer made the balloon payment at the end (did I mention the tax advantages the Seller got out of this deal? No? Well…I’ll have to share that next!)
• The Buyer paid for the Realtor’s commissions for the ‘Sale’ as part of the Agreement with the Seller

For me, the Buyer also wanted to pay me for my ‘knowledge and expertise’ and I refused. This was one of the BEST EXPERIENCES I have ever had as a real estate investor leading up this point. Little did I know that this passion to educate opened up another door for me 2 years later when I began to train and mentor others globally since 2014.

In the end, I did get a huge gift card from the Realtor. Huge enough that I could buy a brand new Dyson vacuum with it. Yes, I enjoy cleaning and love a good vacuum.

So, here you have it. While AFS is not my favourite from a technical standpoint, it has its way of making a deal work. As mentioned (and kind of like everything else in life these days), when I really want a property, I will use AFS as my acquisition strategy.

At this junction, I truly do hope that you are also starting to see the power of financial education. It has nothing to do with the ‘investment type’ or ‘asset class’ that matters. It has everything to do with your level of financial literacy.

For those of you who are in and close to Toronto, ON — Trust Your Talent is running a 2-day LIVE IN-PERSON Real Estate Investing Bootcamp on September 24 & 25 where you will dig into this particular strategy amongst many others. You can visit the Bootcamp Registration page or talk to a Strategy Coach from Trust Your Talent Academy to learn more.

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two. If so, please share a clap here!

If you’re wanting to be a part of a community of active real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.

Lastly, I just want to say thank you for your continuing support. I aim to be authentic and adding value to your life.

It’s ultimately about LIFE and I appreciate you coming on this journey with me!

(Written at home in Edmonton, AB)

September 13, 2022

Ipromised more stories from Part 1 so here is another recent one. Thank you to your constant feedback and behind the scenes interactions with me, I’m happy to share as many as I can throughout my writing journey.

From Part 2 of this series, you recall that I’ve just recently acquired 11 properties in the US using a “straight-up” VTB. I will share with you a VTB that I also proposed back in May this year (2022).

Background/Context

Wehad been shopping around for a personal winter home for about a year within North America. Frankly, our list of criteria narrowed the locations down quite quickly — Southern California, Arizona or Hawaii.

At the beginning of this year, we took a very indulgent and luxurious 5.5 weeks long trip to celebrate turning 40. One of the stays was at the Ritz-Carlton on Waikiki in Honolulu.

In 2021, we spent nearly a month in Oahu (the island Honolulu is on) and naturally explored the real estate market again to see if there are any viable strategies. It came as no surprise that very few would work on the island of Oahu other than development and Serviced Accommodations (aka STR: short-term rentals).

After some further digging in 2021, we also learned that the STR restrictions are so great that the numbers wouldn’t work. And we do not typically ‘build or develop’ from scratch in markets that we don’t have a primary focus on. So, the idea exited our mind and we were happy at the Ritz, the Four Seasons and Disney’s Aulani during our subsequent visits.

Atthe Ritz-Carlton, we learned upon check-in that there’s complimentary gelato by the pool deck everyday at 2pm. (Hello, diabetes!)

Okay…before going any further, I’m just going to make a couple of disclaimers here:

1. This is definitely not an endorsement (I wish it was…lol), and
2. This is a semi-personal/emotional buying decision unlike 99.9% of our other business-driven purchases.

Back to the story…

At2pm on the first day, we went for gelato and met this incredible couple. Through our casual chats, we learned that the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Waikiki is what they’d call a ‘condotel’ — a branded condo that can be managed by the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott group. Long story short — we could buy a unit here and have revenue coming in like a short-term rental. Because of the brand, a high level of maintenance and marketing standards are kept (and yes, the expenses do reflect in the pro forma). However, it was perfect for the lifestyle we’d like.

With that said, I will share that the biggest hold back is still the fact that it’s a ‘condo’ and we do not ‘invest’ in condos as professional investors. I will elaborate on that later. This factor was quickly removed when the main driver is to have our winter home with little to no headaches to maintain it. Then I remember saying this for years: condo living is a lifestyle choice. For personal use, it’s 100% acceptable. Just don’t call it investing.

So, the due diligence began (don’t worry, I still had a decent time there for nearly 3 weeks).

Depending on when you’re reading this, just recall for yourself what May 2022 was like since one of the largest global pandemic in human history started…the world seemed to be almost back to normal.

Honolulu/Oahu, Hawaii has relied heavily on tourism as one of their main economic drivers for decades. The pandemic wiped out 70% of SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) during the lockdowns and 50% would gone forever. Hotels were deserted. Shops were closed. Beaches were empty.

I remember driving past Waikiki Beach in February 2021, I could count the number of people on it in one hand. ONE! While the detached market was booming like it was everywhere else in North America due to lockdowns, the condo and tourism markets were completely slaughtered and depressed.

To get to the heart of the story, I’ll fast forward some facts and the share with you the different offers made based on the findings:

Seller’s motivation/situation:

• Purchased during pre-construction for USD ~$1,280.000
• Market comparables came back at ~$750,000 — $860,000 (depending on the floor it’s on)
• Seller is from Asia and bought it to ‘park’ money (which I really learned that it’s just a typical buy rent and pray)
• Seller’s parents had already planned to visit and spend a month in July 2022
• Seller wanted to sell because they were just watching the value go down

After this, here are the offers made (remember: always make 2 offers when you are working with a realtor — those who don’t want to or haven’t had the experience to are likely not someone you’ll be a successful long-term working relationship with. #truth) —

1. VTB Offer: $750,000

• Downpayment: $445,000
• VTB Loan: $305,000
• Proposed rates: 5% interest only = $1,270.83/month
• Term: 5 years
• Balance of $305,000 due after 60 months in full
• Open term for 6 months after 5 years at original rate
• No prepayment penalty after the first 2 years (or after 24 months)
• Will pay $10,000 in realtor commissions (will add to purchase price)
• Will pay seller’s legal fees (up to $2,000 — will add to purchase price)
• Will offer Quit Claim Deed for extra security (90-day clause)
• 7 nights stay per year subject to the following windows: Sept 10 — November 30 every year (US Thanksgiving weekend blackout for +/- 5 days), January 10–30, May 1–31
• For as long as the Buyer owns the property or up to 5 years
• Valued at approximately USD $6,000+/year
• No rollover or banking of nights
• Reservation must be made min 4 months or 120 days prior (subject to availability)
• Must be in 1 reservation per year
• Possession/closing date is July 10, 2022
• Buyer agrees to start paying property tax on closing date
• Seller agrees to pay maintenance fees till August 10, 2022
• Seller agrees to vacate the property (check-out) of the unit on August 10, 2022 the latest
• Sellers agrees that the 1st mortgage payment starts August 11, 2022

2. For Cash Buy –

• Offer/Purchase Price: $745,880
• Possession on/before July 1
• They can pay us $18,000 directly for the parents’ stay in July (50% based on quoted rate directly from the Ritz-Carlton website)
• All other additional offers in the VTB offer applies
• Additional nights beyond the 7-night stay in the same reservation will be billed at 35% off of Ritz’s published rate (as per website quote at the time)

Ihope to have demonstrated a few things here with everyone:

1. Those ‘seller may want’ clauses don’t always have to just be included in a VTB offer. Remember, any deal happens with conditions and needs (sometimes even wants) align.
2. “Always make money in the buy” is still Rule Number 1. As a result, I would negotiate on terms that the ‘performance’ can bear as opposed to going up in prices as much as possible during a negotiation process.
3. It’s about aligning the seller’s intentions and conditions to sell while working out internally on the numbers. Either of these offers would make this a great short-term winter home while making money during the time it’s not for personal use.

Here’s what happened: The Seller said YES…at first. Then their inexperienced realtor and traditional lawyer made them change their minds. Oh well! I moved on. 1 week later, when the reports on inflation, rising interest rates and the looming global recessions started happening, they came back and said they would take my offer again. Sorry, too late.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason. In this case, I dodged a bullet. The value dropped and tourism slowed down. While emotionally, it felt like a loss, financially and logically, it concluded the way it was supposed to. I ended up pursuing the deal shared in Part 1!

Tomy dedicated readers, I thank you for your support and feedback. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my publications, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned a thing or two.

For those of you who are in and close to Toronto, ON —Trust Your Talentis running a 2-dayLIVE IN-PERSON Real Estate Investing Bootcamp on September 24 & 25where you will dig into this particular strategy amongst many others. You can visit theBootcamp Registrationpage ortalk to a Strategy Coachfrom Trust Your Talent Academy to learn more. Take action now if you’re serious about thriving through the tough times and come out better at the end of all of this!

Ifyou’re wanting to be a part of a community of real estate investors from around the globe, here is the T.A.L.E.N.T.ed Investors Facebook Group. It’s a place where people come together to share experiences, knowledge, successes and challenges, and money making opportunities!

For those of you who prefer watching videos, here is the YouTube channel where some of my work (very raw) has been shared.