Table of Contents
Podcast Transcription
Announcer [00:02:23] 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 to the life that you want to live through the power of real estate investing. This is the Breakthrough Real Estate Investing podcast, and now here are your hosts Rob Break and Sandy MacKay.
Rob Break [00:02:55] Well, welcome back, everybody. Excited to be here again. Good to see all of you out there. Can’t really see all of you, but I know you’re there. I know you’re listening because we get lots of love and we appreciate all of it. So just wanted to say good morning to Sandy as well. Sandy How’s it going?
Sandy Mackay [00:03:14] Good morning. I’m doing amazing. Happy to see everyone including you two as well. And again, yeah, excited to be here and do another show and produce some awesome content for some great investors out there in Canada
Rob Break [00:03:30] now feeling the love in the room this morning, it was going on before the show. Now it’s going on again here. So what a great morning. What a good morning to learn about real estate. Oh, thirty-one. Go over to our website. Breakthrough our podcast Dot S.A. There you can listen to every single episode that we have ever put out over the last six years. There’s a whole bunch of them there. You can go back, and I think most of the stuff that we’ve got, you know, we tried to keep it relevant throughout the ages. So going back should be beneficial to anyone who’s just starting to listen. And I think you’ll get some good nuggets, no ladder, no matter how far you go back, so you can get our free gift there as well.
Sandy Mackay [00:04:18] Sandy the ultimate strategy for building wealth the real estate can definitely do that. Good sign up for list there, India. You’ll never miss a show. You get some free stuff right away and then hear about everything we got going on in our world with our real estate investing endeavors and property tours. All sorts of fun stuff.
Rob Break [00:04:39] Yes, and go over to iTunes as well, please, if you haven’t done that already, it would help us out a lot if you would just leave us a rating review and tell us what you think of the show. We love the positive feedback, but we also don’t mind a little bit of negative feedback or just places that we can improve on the show. That’s always helpful as well if you’ve got little tips or something that you haven’t heard us talk about. We’ve covered most topics, but somebody was just asking today for us to follow up with maybe a bookkeeper for a real estate so that I don’t know if that would be an interesting topic that people would want to hear about. Why don’t you go over to the comments right now and let us know what kind of things you’d want to hear about if you are watching this live? We do the show live on Facebook every week or so, every other week or so at 10:30 in the morning. So if you’re listening there, you can comment live. You can interact with us. If you’ve got a question for our guest, you can reach out to them in person, live real time and we can get to any of the questions that you guys have. So if you are in a position to listen to us live, then you have that opportunity to interact with us right as we record the show. And if not, you know, you’re still going to get great content and you’re not going to be able to see us. Of course you’re missing out there, but you’ll still get all of the great audio content.
Sandy Mackay [00:06:04] So, yeah, it’s been fun doing all the videos. We do that for, what, six, six, eight months almost now. Fun change. So if you’re not watching us on those channels, they should jump on to Facebook and YouTube. Go catch us. They’re joining the action.
Rob Break [00:06:19] How are you feeling today?
Sandy Mackay [00:06:23] Well, I feel an awesome way. How should I feel?
Rob Break [00:06:26] I was just going to complain a little bit like mentally, I’m feeling great, like I feel all good. But I took my kid to a to a trampoline park last night. My eight-year-old and I tried to keep up with them for like an hour and a half. And that is actually pretty rough. So I’m feeling it today. So, you know, the body’s a little bit achy, you know,
Sandy Mackay [00:06:48] perfect time to sit around and just chat.
Rob Break [00:06:51] Yeah, just relax and chat. So that’s what I’m going to normally I’m jumping around while we do the show, but today I’m just going to sit here.
Sandy Mackay [00:06:57] Okay, fair enough. I can deal with that. Let’s get into the interview there. Rob, what do you say?
Rob Break [00:07:03] Yeah. Excited to talk to Jay Wilson today. So Jay is a real estate investor. He also runs Tours Scott in carpentry, specializing in renovations, legal secondary suites, kitchens and bathrooms, helping himself and other investors force increased equity in their properties. So Jay, thanks for being here.
Jay Wilson [00:07:22] Thanks for having me, guys.
Sandy Mackay [00:07:24] Let’s start out with the kind of traditional let’s hear about your story and how you got into real estate.
Jay Wilson [00:07:30] My stepdad pushed me into it, you know, right from a teenager, and I knew that buying real estate was the only answer to really boost my wealth and eventually, hopefully someday abs and freedom. And I’ve always I’ve always taken interest in homes and renovation shows and that kind of thing. My father was a contractor, so I mean, I’ve always tinkered with woodworking and those kinds of things right from since I was a kid. So it’s kind of a natural transition for me to be doing. This guy’s got everything else.
Rob Break [00:08:02] So you said your stepdad got you into it?
Jay Wilson [00:08:05] Yup, yup. So my mom remarried when I was pretty young and he wasn’t so much an investor, but he did own a home since he was twenty-four years old. And, you know, he just he just kind of pushed me into it and made strong suggestions that the real estate’s definitely, definitely the way to go never goes down with his experience and my experience as well.
Rob Break [00:08:32] All right. So what did that first investment look like for you?
Jay Wilson [00:08:35] My first home was a townhome and in Bowmanville, just a starter home. I did minor renovations to that one and turned it over in a few years with my principal residence over in a few years. Pretty, pretty stark. Pretty basic, you know, it didn’t even really call me a real estate investor at that time or anything like that. I took what I learned from that home, and I bought a big family home in Whitby that needed a lot of a lot of renovations, and I ended up doing it live in Flip. With that was.
Rob Break [00:09:13] OK, so when you sold your the first one that were talking about was that did you do that because you were looking to buy this other one? Or did you do it strictly because you saw the equity build up or and wanted to get that out of there? Or did that become sort of the realization for what the what you could do with real estate?
Jay Wilson [00:09:34] Yeah. At that time, I was just learning that it was my first home. And what I realized, you know, if I got into a bigger home or had a better opportunity where I could renovate and force equity into a home. The amount of money that it would boost, they would get me closer to where I am now, which is living on a hobby farm.
Rob Break [00:09:56] Oh, right on. Yeah. So you’ve got some what kind of animals you got there?
Jay Wilson [00:10:02] Oh, I got I’ve got a small. These acreage you we’ve got a horse between my girlfriend, and I have a horse and a donkey. We got some birds, chickens and ducks and whatnot, and we raised some, some cows for beef and chickens for meat. And cats love the cats.
Rob Break [00:10:21] That’s not for me,
Jay Wilson [00:10:23] not for me, no.
Rob Break [00:10:27] OK, so the place that you bought that you were renovating? Tell us about. Tell us a little bit about that.
Jay Wilson [00:10:33] There was a big, big family home and it basically I just bought the biggest home, the ugliest home on the street that I could possibly afford. And I just put my hourly. I was an employee at the time. I just put my hourly wage all my overtime into renovating this house. It was just a complete make over. It was a whole new kitchen. I moved walls. I did some structural work, their bathroom makeovers, the whole the whole bit landscaping. I had to renovate the pool as well. So I’ll have some great contacts for pool renovations and those kinds of things as well. I made a lot of contact with that flip with the electricians and plumbers and those sorts of things as well, sort of slowly sort of built up my team and it’s almost become a natural transition into doing renovations for me.
Rob Break [00:11:27] You know, that is one of those things I think that deters that would deter a lot of people. First of all, investors aren’t super pumped about pools. You know, in general, I think a lot of times we fill them in just for the for the sake of the insurance and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, it’s easier. But when you’re when you’re looking at a place with a rundown pool to purchase the lemon or. Whatever those are, the kind of the ones that are a little more deterring, I think just because not many people understand a lot of what goes into renovations for a pool either.
Jay Wilson [00:12:04] Mm hmm.
Sandy Mackay [00:12:06] So what were some of the challenges there as you were getting going, and obviously you said you didn’t really have all the contacts, so how did he work it through that? And like what kind of challenges were there?
Jay Wilson [00:12:15] You just got to hit your network and all the everybody knows somebody that knows somebody. Everybody knows somebody that knows a tradesman, right? So basically, I just asked friends, ask around, ask your neighbors what type of subject they use, and he just kind of go through your contacts that way.
Rob Break [00:12:36] So did you just flip that one right away as a lead, did you? It was.
Jay Wilson [00:12:40] So I lived it for about three years. I was about three-year project. I was employed at the time, so it was like evenings and weekends was my renovation time for that one.
Sandy Mackay [00:12:53] And you did a lot of that yourself or, yeah, I get hired out a lot of the bigger stuff we hired as electricians and things, but you did a lot of the cosmetic stuff yourself. It sounds like, right?
Jay Wilson [00:13:03] Pretty much. Yeah, I did as much as renovation as I could myself and with friends, helping me in those kinds of things. But electrical, I don’t I don’t touch. I don’t like messing with that stuff. It’s best to have a professional do those kinds of things. You know, I had a panel change there. I change the electrical panel there and with moving walls in the kitchen and that I mean, your entire layout changes all your plumbing moves. I use the plumber. I’ll mess with that stuff, either, you know, if something goes wrong on. You know, it’s too much for a guy to operate. Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. Or you don’t want to make insurance claims, those kind of things. I’d rather have a proper trade come in and do the work correctly the first time. It’s well worth well worth every penny.
Rob Break [00:13:48] Water is definitely one of those things that I don’t like to mess with. You got to get the professional in there to do that because I mean, you make you make a mistake. And you know, I tried to do some plumbing repairs myself, and I was waking up at about 2:00 in the morning, one morning to some noise and wondering what the heck it was. I went down into my basement, and it was pretty much. There’s about an inch of water on the floor. We’ll just say that. So yeah, it’s one of those things you want to get done correctly, for sure. And if you can do it correctly, great. But if, if, if you’re sort of dabbling, I will say, yeah, get still in there to take care of things.
Jay Wilson [00:14:30] Yeah, I mean, I do a lot of that stuff myself at my own home. But when it comes to projects and rental properties and that I, I just can’t afford to have those kinds of mistakes, right? So it’s best to just pay those guys that do the job correctly.
Sandy Mackay [00:14:45] We want to go through some of the numbers on that on that project, perhaps that’ll be interesting
Jay Wilson [00:14:49] to hear on that clip. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, initially I wasn’t even sure that it was going to be a flip. It was just sort of a principal residence, but I knew it was way too much else just for me to live in the five-bedroom home, right? So what year was that that I bought? That would have been about twelve or thirteen point twelve thirteen? I bought that place for three eighty-eight. I put about ninety thousands of my own money into it, and I included the pool renovation and everything. And over a three-year period, I ended up selling that place for seven fifty.
Sandy Mackay [00:15:27] That’s ninety thousand that’s mostly free labor, that’s all my
Jay Wilson [00:15:31] my labor, so I mean, the majority of that is sub trades and material.
Rob Break [00:15:35] Oh, OK, so you’re so 90000 actual money put into it? Yes. Not including what you did.
Jay Wilson [00:15:41] Not including my time, though. OK, gotcha. It would be double my labor.
Sandy Mackay [00:15:48] Yeah, I would think it would have been closer to 200 range. Like we all said and done, if you were, if you were outsourcing all that.
Jay Wilson [00:15:55] Yep. Oh yeah.
Sandy Mackay [00:15:57] So you’re 388 up to while you got a little obviously advantage doing a lot of work yourself, you would have been five 50 range if you hadn’t done that, let’s say 550 to six on the high end.
Jay Wilson [00:16:09] Yeah, I think so.
Sandy Mackay [00:16:10] Obviously doing year after year at for less than four. Mm hmm. Sorry. No less than less than five thousand five and 750 on the outside and then principal residence. So you get to keep all that in this beautiful country at the no tax on that. And that’s so that’s a nice little turnaround in three years.
Jay Wilson [00:16:30] Yeah, it was great.
Sandy Mackay [00:16:32] Almost that’s. More than three years of income for the average person, so that’s pretty cool.
Rob Break [00:16:37] Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. Yep. So that they’re probably sparked another side of it as well. So I mean, like the first one, you didn’t really do much renovation, right? It was just all appreciation over the time that you lived there. The second one forced that appreciation got a little bit more money. Where does it go from there?
Jay Wilson [00:17:00] So from there, I bought this hobby farm, my principal residence now, and this house needed some renovation as well, so I did some renovation here, hold my equity. He locked out of this property and bought a bungalow in Peterborough to legalize into a duplex.
Rob Break [00:17:25] OK. OK. So tell us, tell us about that project.
Jay Wilson [00:17:29] The duplex. Yeah. Yeah, so I was doing property tours with you, Rob, and we found this this great little bungalow seemed like an easy one to convert into a duplex bungalow. So, yeah, we went for it.
Rob Break [00:17:50] Well, what were some of the things that you thought were appealing about the place, like as far as Leo goes, that kind of thing?
Jay Wilson [00:17:59] I mean, the things that that made it an easy duplex upstairs was really very minimal. Renovation was required. It was, it was. It was a well-maintained home. We added laundry upstairs, which you have to do for free legal secondary suites if you’re going to have a legal secondary suite downstairs. The entrance was easy, very easy to split. Being that raised bungalow, you’re only going downstairs six steps and then upstairs six steps. We basically just divided that hallway. The front door came right in on the stairwell landing. We divided that hallway, and that was quite easy, really inexpensive way to split the entrances. Ceiling heights were fantastic. Even all the duct work and everything. Feeling heights were great.
Rob Break [00:18:53] Yeah. So you’re saying you had to side by side doors at the front of the house or whatever at the front of the house? Yeah. And three doors, one goes up, the other goes down.
Jay Wilson [00:19:03] Yes, exactly.
Rob Break [00:19:05] All right. So let’s talk about some challenges. There must have been some challenges, whether it be mentally or with the project itself that you ran into. Let’s talk about some of those challenges.
Jay Wilson [00:19:21] Yeah, for sure. I mean, when you have to rely on some people, which could be a challenge. You know you you’re so eager to get things done like, you know, I had to wait for my drawings, you know? But then the permit was only a couple of days after. After you apply, some periods can be difficult. I actually hired a guy because I was still working full time. I hired a guy to do the bulk of the work and that, you know, some of the framework drywall painting, the time consuming, dirty work. Mindset is definitely a huge, huge challenge. If you can get over your fears and jump in and take action, that’s absolutely the best learning.
Rob Break [00:20:06] Did anything come up as far as like was there challenges that seemed super daunting at the time, but then you look back on them and real and then you look back on them, maybe put them in perspective or is there anything like that like as far as renovations go? Was there unexpected things that came up in the renovation that you weren’t planning on doing from the beginning, let’s say, or anything like that?
Jay Wilson [00:20:32] Yeah, actually, I guess one of them was the furnace. The furnace was original to the house and the chimney. It was a gas furnace, so the chimney went straight up through the house, whereas the new style furnaces don’t have a chimney like that. So I was kind of faced with an option that could rough in the new exhaust and intake for the new furnace. Or just replace the whole thing being that the furnace room utility room was central in the basement. It’s a little more difficult to do plumbing those exhaust. Of the place or not, so yeah, I guess that was kind of one of the channels, not really a big deal. I mean, the whole project for me was pretty fun. I really didn’t have any major hang ups or any daunting challenges, so to speak. You know, when the challenges come along and present just another hoop that you have to jump through, you just work your way through it. And you know, for the most part, it’s the duplexing is easy. I mean, there’s generally it’s straightforward construction, basic skills, along with a few building codes that you just have to follow. You know, different things like your fire and sounds operation, having a lock down with the home inspector prior to construction, just to make sure you’re on the same page and you’re meeting all his expectations. And there’s certain things that the designer would put on the drawings. And then when you speak with the inspector, he kind of makes suggestions as to. I’m talking about Peterborough. Inspectors are really great to work with. They’ll make suggestions for four different things you can do. Like, I was real keen on putting the sprinklers in the furnace room or under the stairs, so we ended up drywall inside of the furnace room, which is achieved a little more. Labor was cheap and easy, but that way there’s ever a false alarm. I’m not making an insurance claim for water damage, just things like that, I suppose.
Rob Break [00:22:45] And I think he spoke to a couple of good points there. But the one I wanted to mention first is, I think a lot of people are sort of afraid of the having the inspector through first right, maybe not wanting them to scrutinize or see the way that things are before the rental. But I would tend to agree. I think that you need to have them through that way. Their expectations are met and a lot of times something, even though it’s the building code on the drawings. Let’s say the inspector might want to see it a different way or, for example, one of the things that I’ve run into with inspectors. One of the big things is it seems to be fire cocking. That’s always a sort of a point of contention. One of them wants to see this specific fire cocking. Another one wants to see this specific fire caulking, and you don’t know that kind of stuff until you have the inspector. And then he goes, this is what I want to see. And so to avoid headaches and stuff in the future, yeah, just have them in and have them walk through and they’ll tell you, this is what I would like to see here. So when I come back next time, make sure it’s like this and that saves yourself a lot of headaches.
Jay Wilson [00:23:54] Absolutely.
Rob Break [00:23:55] And the other the other point is, so you decided to go with the new furnace is that I think you were saying you left it in in anticipation of the other ones, which is actually more of a foresight, I think, than a lot of people would have to begin with. It’s like, well, you know, it’s working fine now. A lot of people might not even understand that it requires a different type of exhaust with a newer furnace than the one that is in there. Yeah. Well, that’s like sort of a next level of foresight that you had there. But then I think I would agree with that too. And I’m sort of coming around when it comes to renovations and Sandy. I know that you’ve been sort of on this side of things before, but when I started, it was more like, OK, let’s see how much money I can save. So I want to walk that line of where can I? How much money can I? How little money can I put in to get the best return, but not necessarily always the best way to look at it. I think when you’re especially if you’re going to refinance a project after the renovations are done, it’s well worth your while to do as much as you can to get everything up to where it needs to be so that you can avoid repairs in the immediate future, first of all, but that the place is going to look good and it’s going to rent well, you know, so I think that that’s important, too. So having that foresight, putting in the new furnace and just doing it upfront, even though you didn’t have to, you know, might be the way to go.
Sandy Mackay [00:25:33] I think it just feels, doesn’t it just feel good to be done with it once you get there? If you’re doing a burn model or some variation of that, you get the refinance down your money out. Just be done not have to think about all this, any maintenance crap or any big expenses going forward. It’s just nice, even if it costs a bit more. If you work it all out, it’s just nice to be done right? Mm-Hmm.
Jay Wilson [00:25:52] Yeah, I mean, it’s one of those things like that when I did have to kind of ponder about it and think about it and. Having a good connection, he actually pointed that out to me, I actually had him locked down the house and we had to balance the duct work and that, so that was his suggestion. But as old as the furnace was. You know what, I may as well just pull it out or papua-new on in there. It was like a 30-year-old furnace anyways. And so I mean, it’s kind of arguably beyond its life expectancy. I don’t want to have to change the furnace after I get tenants in there. So, you know, after all, the major bulk of the dusty work was done, the drywall work and all that we did the furnace after that, after that so that you’re not blasting dust through your brand-new furnace. Mm hmm.
Rob Break [00:26:44] Yeah, that’s another thing that funny enough, I got I got a compliment on that just recently from my property manager said, oh, I noticed, like after you are done your renovations, you got the ducts cleaned and the furnace serviced and everything. I’m like, well, of course, because I mean, there’s going to be dust everywhere if you don’t do that. She said, you’d be surprised the amount of people that actually don’t do that. So another yeah, another good point. Even if you got whenever you got the new furnace, you know, get it, get it cleaned out and get the ducts clean and stuff like that after renovations.
Jay Wilson [00:27:20] Yeah, not a bad idea at all.
Rob Break [00:27:25] So where do you see your investing business going in the future?
Jay Wilson [00:27:29] Well, cottages, I would love to buy. I mean, even the cottage resort, go live, live up the cottage. My girlfriend bought a cottage and she’s we’ve done a lot of renovations there as well. And she’s done well with it this summer. I’m so proud of her for what she’s done. So cottage rental is especially depending on how long this pandemic varies, Verizon for, I mean, people can’t go for vacations, right? So the cottage rental is just gone through the roof. I’m sure you guys are experienced experiencing that as well.
Sandy Mackay [00:28:05] Yeah. What do you have now in your portfolio as you got you got this is your first duplex? They did.
Jay Wilson [00:28:10] Yeah. So this is the I guess I’m actually fairly new real estate investor, right? Like with tenants like proper rentals. So I have my principal residence, which I’m a house, divided my farmhouse. I have a tenant here and I have my duplex and Peter Rob, which is really kind of the now where I’m just coming up on one year of owning that duplex.
Sandy Mackay [00:28:34] And then add in the cottage stuff, kind of dabble in a few different areas, but the but it’s cool to see how much you can grow and just even a couple of properties, right? It can be really impactful.
Jay Wilson [00:28:44] Yeah, it’s a slow process, but you know, you stay the course. It’s like a steamroller. It’s just going to snowball. It’s going to take off, right?
Rob Break [00:28:53] So the cottage you say you’ve done lots of work on it and you’re renting it, I guess it’s short-term rental. Yeah. So another area of learning to get into, I guess. Oh yeah.
Jay Wilson [00:29:06] Yeah. I mean, she’s not even advertised advertising that one yet, really, she’s had it rented all it just through friends and family, which is which is amazing friends of friends and I mean, getting top dollar, she’s getting higher than expected rates than what she originally anticipated at a fully renovated, you know, like we had it renovated before the bathroom was even finished or we had it rent. Sorry, we had it rented for the bathroom.
Rob Break [00:29:34] And like, so what does that look like as far as the winter goes in that kind of thing? Like, is it going to stay rented over the winter, do you think? Or does it make majority of its money over the summer? How does that work?
Jay Wilson [00:29:46] I mean, she will. She will cash flow over the summer in all expenses covered and how some money for more upgrades beyond that, but currently a three season. So future upgrades are going to be well and septic and a little more insulation. And then we have a four-season cottage. It’s on a municipal road. It’s very easy access, which is which is great for renters. Directions are super simple. But yeah, we’ll be gone. We’ll be renovating that one into a four season as well, you can rent them all year round. There’s great ice fishing as well.
Rob Break [00:30:29] I should have had her on to talk about that, I guess.
Jay Wilson [00:30:31] Yeah, I’ll have to have her on next time. Do.
Sandy Mackay [00:30:34] Let’s talk about the company. That’s everybody. You know, the company has gotten up you and how you kind of transitioned into that. And I mean, ultimately, you kind of almost you’re doing that in your full-time investor, basically their kind of go hand-in-hand, right?
Jay Wilson [00:30:47] Pretty much, yeah. So of course, Gordon, it it’s just kind of happened organically, right? I was laid off. I’m a crane operator, was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic. And, you know, friends and family all know that I’ve been doing these renovations of flap and then my duplex. So, you know, people were asking me all, can you help me with? Can you help me with that diversity that? And next thing you know, it’s like, wow, like there’s definitely potential here. You know, I did a couple of apartment sized kitchens for other investors in Peterborough and for myself as well. It’s taking off, I see a demand, so I’ve hired a helper and it’s just myself and my helper just picking away mostly smaller projects. But I’d like to get into more duplexing. I’d love to help other investors out with duplexing. Or they all potentially maybe JVs. Maybe I could be an active, active partner. David do duplex Peter and Durham region.
Rob Break [00:31:53] I find this so interesting because you and I had this conversation a little while ago and crane operator, that’s no joke. As far as careers go, like, that’s a good. Well, it’s a well-paying job, but they’ve called you back and you didn’t go.
Jay Wilson [00:32:09] Yep, that’s correct.
Rob Break [00:32:10] Yeah. So this this is actually taken off for you. You’ve decided to transition right out of that and do this renovation thing full time and you’ve been doing that, you know, stance since the beginning of the year, essentially. Yep.
Jay Wilson [00:32:25] So, yeah, it’s yeah, I mean, I’ve always enjoyed this, this type of work, and, you know, if I can make a go of it, I don’t have to drive to Toronto anymore or have to be married to a crane, you know, because in crane rental, you go when your crane goes, you don’t have a choice. You show up and you’re there for the day until the job’s done. And that’s just how it is. I’m not really. I don’t really want to be married to a machine anymore. I’d much rather do this. It’s more of a challenge is more exciting for me. Working with my hands is so much more satisfying, you know, and when I build a kitchen for somebody or whether it be, you know, just in an apartment or somebody a dream kitchen, you know, it’s so satisfying because at the end of the day to see what you can create with your hands.
Rob Break [00:33:16] And I’ve seen some of your innovations, they look fantastic, too.
Jay Wilson [00:33:20] Thanks, Rob.
Rob Break [00:33:20] Say that. But did you? So like, this is a big jump, right, so. They must have been a little bit scary, I guess, to take that transition and decide to go this way.
Jay Wilson [00:33:38] Sure. Absolutely. I mean, going from a union job, a six-figure income with full benefits to, you know, working, being self-employed, yeah, being self-employed, you know, not paying into a pension, those kinds of things, it’s absolutely scary. And getting started, it’s certainly a pay cut. You know, I can’t pay myself with what my total package was as a crane operator. But I mean, this definitely has potential in the future to be become something more than that. But I mean, it’s not even really about the money, it’s about my peace of mind and enjoying what I do.
Rob Break [00:34:20] And it’s amazing like that. You can make that transition and pick a lifestyle over, you know, over just being tied to a job like you were saying. So that’s fantastic. And congratulations on that.
Sandy Mackay [00:34:33] Thank you. Congrats. It’s exciting to see people that do that, and even just probably having those few real estate experiences would, I’m sure, helps with the confidence to go forward with that and be more. You’re going to be more ingrained in the world. I think you’re going to probably even build up. You’ll probably end up building up your portfolio a lot over time, just being more in the world, right? More entrenched, you’re probably going to build up your confidence and skill, set to acquire more and build a pretty cool life. So that’s exciting. I love seeing people transition full time into this, into the real estate world. It’s always fueled some exciting accomplishments.
Rob Break [00:35:08] And I guess the duplex has got a. Somewhat, take care of you a little bit like as far as the cash flow goes, just a little bit of a back up to be there and help out a little bit every month.
Jay Wilson [00:35:22] Yeah, it’s great I’m cash flowing well on a duplex now the rates are much higher than we had actually anticipated when we bought that place. Right. The rental rates are significantly higher.
Rob Break [00:35:37] So if you do you mind us hearing what they are, what is? Well, it’s a three-bedroom upper two-bedroom lower unit. Is that right?
Jay Wilson [00:35:45] That’s correct. OK. So the upper unit, I’m getting 1750 plus hydro, OK for the three bedroom and for the for the lower unit. I’m 16, 50 plus hydro. I actually split the hydro meters, so I’m only paying gas and water and sewer.
Rob Break [00:36:04] Yeah, those are pretty good rates. All right. What else? What are we going into here? What type of systems do you use to help your business be more effective?
Jay Wilson [00:36:15] Oh man. Right now it’s just it’s kind of all in my head. I don’t really have any great systems, to be perfectly honest. I have an envelope of receipts in my truck, you know, I’ve got to employ, I’ve got to employ some systems and refine my business. You know, with quoting the more quotes I do, the easier it’s getting, you know, like to install a door is a flat rate. You know, to do so much millennial footage of trimmers is a certain rate, you know, lay flooring, those kinds of things. But I don’t know that I would really call that a system. It’s just sort of a learning curve, right?
Rob Break [00:36:56] Well, if anybody has some ideas, maybe as some systems that they can use in this new business, maybe they might not.
Sandy Mackay [00:37:05] I think it’s, you know, it’s cool. I like this interview is it’s kind of its there’s so much, you know, probably look back in a few years and be like, oh, at least I’m going, I’m doing something. I’m starting into this and take an action because I always like how many people do the opposite. They try and systematize everything first and never take action. And it’s the people that take action first are usually ahead of the game, even if it’s a bit chaotic at times to begin with.
Jay Wilson [00:37:30] They need that care. It keeps me flowing.
Rob Break [00:37:34] OK, so here’s the here’s one. Is there any resources that have helped you out as a as an investor so far?
Jay Wilson [00:37:40] Absolutely. I mean, podcasts, one hundred percent. I mean, I’ve listened to all your guys podcasts. It’s kind of surreal actually being interviewed on your podcast now. I mean, you can learn little tidbits from every single podcast. You know, if you if you learn one or two things, you might hear a lot of things over and over, but you learn a couple little things from each podcast. I spent hours listening to the podcast while I was at work. You know, a lot of standby time, and I just throw the earbuds in, listen audio, books and podcasts. You get the track, you get a podcast on property tours is very, very educational meeting. Networking with other investors. Every property through that have gone, gone on with you Rob. There is experienced investors, there’s new investors. Everybody’s got something you can learn from. And to actually be in a house and discuss how you’re going to duplex, or you know what strategy might work best for each property, whether you’re going to be student rentals or duplex or both. It’s just to be there and be hands on is absolutely the best learning that that’s what actually motivated me enough to take action and buy that bungalow. My first, my first rental property.
Rob Break [00:39:02] Yeah. You know what? I think that that’s been really one of the key things for a lot of the investors in our network has been to be able to communicate with each other right to talk about what they would do or their experiences that they’ve had. And they can really show you that you can do it right like somebody like yourself comes out. And, you know, I can’t necessarily remember who was there each time that you were there. But you know, there’s everyone from someone else who hasn’t bought anything to someone maybe five, six, 10, 15 duplexes in their portfolio. So all kinds of different levels of expertize and all kinds of different guidance and knowledge to share in that kind of situation. So I do hope that we can get back to those in-person property tours. Hopefully sometime soon they’re valuable and we’re doing them virtually now. And I know Sandy is doing them virtually too at this point, but nothing like being there in person, you know?
Jay Wilson [00:40:08] Yeah, you can analyze a property by the photos, you know, I got a pretty good vision for looking at a listing on realtor dossier, and I can kind of see what might work just from the pictures, what you what you could do. But until you actually then you go to the property and it’s totally different, you know, some things are or something worse, all those property tours or are very valuable for sure, and I’m looking forward to getting back to them as well.
Rob Break [00:40:34] I’m just looking here at the comments my cousin Laurie is watching from vacation time real estate and grabbing her. So if anybody is up that way. Pop in and maybe she can help you out with a vacation.
Sandy Mackay [00:40:49] Right, a cottage rental property, right? I think, yep.
Rob Break [00:40:55] OK, so what kind of things motivate you? Where do you get you drive from? Oh man, we got some real drive to be able to like, step out on a career, I think is something that a lot of people would like to hear more about. But what kind of things inspire you and give you a drive?
Jay Wilson [00:41:15] I mean, so much like my girlfriend is just like when we get talking about things, she’s such a motivator, she really drives me. She’s when we get talking about future investments and retirement and the traveling and those kinds of things that we want to do like, that’s my why, why, why, why do I do any of this? This is absolutely just for a better future. More freedom, more time, freedom, more experiences. That’s what our goals are.
Rob Break [00:41:49] All right, Jay. Well, I guess the last thing I want to touch on and is how people can get in touch with you if they want to talk to you about renovations, maybe talk to you about your investment, your investment experience, that kind of thing. How can people get in touch with you?
Jay Wilson [00:42:09] Yeah. So I mean, you can call me at two eight nine three five six one three five. We want to talk about duplexing or, you know, if anybody’s looking for a quote for some renovations, Peterborough or Durham region, you can check out some of my recent projects on my website at Car Scout and Carpentry on Facebook as well. Chris Gunn Country Air My personal profile. Please feel free to reach out. I’m happy to help people plan land projects and I’m always up for a good job with any real estate investor.
Sandy Mackay [00:42:46] Awesome, think that Peterborough area is booming, right? That’s crazy, and people are going that way. So I’m sure there’s lots of people that could use some services for me or just or just connect with, you know, around your experiences of what you’d be doing there, right?
Jay Wilson [00:42:58] I hope so.
Rob Break [00:42:59] And we’ll put those links in the show notes so that everyone can just click over there and see exactly how to get in touch with you. So thanks, Jim, and really appreciate you coming on today.
Jay Wilson [00:43:10] Thanks for having me. This is fantastic guys that really appreciate it.
Rob Break [00:43:15] And Sandy, how can people get in touch with you?
Sandy Mackay [00:43:19] Two eight, nine three eight nine, six, eight, four six or. My email, which if you’re watching, you can see it on screen there Sandy MacKay Reynolds network dot com.
Rob Break [00:43:27] And you can reach me at Rob at Mr. Breakthrough. Okay. Well, thanks everybody for watching and listening, and we’ll see you next time. Now.