For those who know what I do, I am often asked this question:

“Is real estate a good type of investment?”

This is what I’d start with, “It depends. Are you a good real estate investor?”

My wife and I have been fortunate enough to learn and experience first hand real estate investing at a young age (before we even got married!)  That’s right!  Instead of taking my then girlfriend on lavish vacations, we’d spend most of our time and money learning about real estate!  Whether it was reading books, attending seminars, checking out different properties in person (across Canada and USA) and buying them if they made money sense, learning to handle tenants, fixing up properties, and so on … these are our dating experiences most of the time, with of course the occasional “special” dates too! 

While many other dating couples would enjoy travelling for leisure and spending on luxury items … we enjoyed building our real estate business together and with the profit and cash flow generated by our rental properties (actively and passively), we would then reward ourselves with these luxury trips since we know our assets continue to provide us with income.

Since the start of our real estate venture, both my wife and I fell in LOVE with investing in real estate and it has made our bond even stronger because together, we’d face all the ups and downs that come with investing!  So here’s my advice to you, if you want to succeed in real estate, either you invest alone or make sure your partner is as passionate about it as you are!  LOL.

I mean, where else can you find banks to lend you money up to 95% of what you need?  What other investment offers so many tax breaks?  On top of that, what other investments are as versatile as real estate?

A word of caution:  No matter how eager your bankers want to lend you money and no matter how attractive tax breaks are, these do not make real estate a great investment if you’re simply not skilled or passionate about real estate.

I have personally witnessed many great real estate investment opportunities ruined by bad investors.

So to answer those who ask whether real estate is a good investment, my final answer is YES, real estate is a GREAT investment…IF AND ONLY IF you are a great investor. What is required is not only skill, but definitely passion, experience and self-awareness of your own shortcomings. You must be brave enough to know and admit to yourself when you’re not a good fit for a certain type of investing.

If you’d like to learn more about real estate investing whether you are a beginner or experienced, we’d love to help and walk with you on your journey to success in real estate investing!