In this episode, Lauren and Mike discuss: The benefits of real estate investing. Investing across both state and country borders. Making money while also helping people.
Good morning everybody, I am Lauren Cohen, I am a Canadian living in Florida, and functioning
as an international lawyer and cross-border expert. Welcome to Investing Across Borders, we
have a very special guest with us today, one of the preeminent investors across borders. He is
known as- and I love this and Mike, I hope you won't mind me saying this but when I was
searching up his information, way back when we first met, he was known as the “wealthiest
homeless man in Canada”, I'm sure you've heard that before. RIGHT ?
Last week was Thanksgiving in Canada and he was actually at his buddy's house, and why Mike
Wolfe, are you called the richest homeless man in Canada, usually because you’re “on the go”.
COVID put a little bit of a damper on things, because I normally travel full-time and am
nomadic, and usually bounce around, go from country to country, and that's what I love. And so
I built that lifestyle for myself and it's all built around passive income, they've paved over the
years through real estate.
So, quite often, people, will find it very ironic that this guy who owns a lot of real estate doesn't
live in any of his own real estate or hotels and Airbnb so there's a bit of irony to it, but it goes to
show you that you don't have to actually live in any one place.
So a lot of people think that you have to own real estate to be an investor and, you know, live,
in whatever real estate you own, but the truth is that the freedom of the lifestyle that Mike has
allows him to be everywhere that he needs to be at any time and have that nomadic laptop
lifestyle that so many people are searching for these days. And I think as time goes on, that's
going to become even more prevalent during and post COVID, because people are realizing you
know I've been, I get job notices from India. Not that I'm looking for a job but about, you know,
in House counsel and legal counsel. And so if I decided I could work for Amazon in Seattle or I
work for a big law firm in New York City, doesn't matter because nobody's going into the office.
Right. So true you know I think a lot of businesses. It didn't take that employee to work from
home. I now realize hey why are we paying all this money for this expensive office space
downtown. When you're rid of that that's a major expense and so we're seeing, you know a lot
of trends where people are doing things that they never, you know, we never thought we'd be
doing some of this stuff and I wish I would have bought Zoom shares. Last year because, you
know, I feel like I live on Zoom lately it’s amazing. So, a place like Amazon how we buy stuff,
everything is shifting right now. And so really the key. If you want to be successful in real estate
is to figure out what those trends are, and kind of get there before everybody else figures out
what's happening. So, that's when you have done such a great job of that. So on that note, why
don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, Mike, your background and what got you into this
crazy world of real estate.
Yeah, well I mean if we go way, way, way back to middle grade 12, I had zero idea of what I
wanted to do when I grew up, and my parents had always driven into my head that you
shouldn't doctor, lawyer doctor, lawyer that's all I ever heard growing up. And so by default. I'm
terrified of blood. The doctor was definitely out. So I thought lawyer and, you know, we're
pretty cool and TV you know they always have a fancy LA law, right, it would really get on TV,
but anyway I went got my first degree, and I'm sure you can relate to this by the end of getting
the first degree I had all these student loans, and I thought well before I go rack up worse than
the loans. I really want to get these things paid off. And so I got a job actually a buddy of mine
whose mother was a manager at the phone company, which back in those days was union and
it was government run AI, and government-owned. It's okay if you paid really well, and while I
was there, trying to pay down these student loans I bought my first residence. And then my
mortgage broker calls me up one day No wait, hold on just a backtrack you bought your first
residence when you were just finished grade 12, not just finished grade 12. This is a year I'm
sorry you said after your first my first degree. Okay, this is I hadn't had my first degree, and I got
this job with the phone company bought my first residence, and shortly after I bought it my
mortgage broker calls me up and goes hey Mike, if you want, you're making good money, your
credit is good if you want to get another mortgage so you can buy another property and go.
Why would I want it. I wish, I, I wish I got that call every day now but never called never comes
in anymore but but anyway he's he says well like you buy another property you put a tenant in
there they're paying the mortgage for you. And whatever you know whatever rent you get over
and above that is your free cash flow. And not only that, you know, 25 years now that mortgage
is done. And then it's all it's all gravy that's your retirement, you know, that kind of makes
sense. And so, back then I, you know, being a real estate investor wasn't even on my radar,
even even after I bought that house I never really thought of that as okay who's gonna be my
career I just thought this my long term. I'm gonna hold this property. I'm going to go finish
paying off my loans, I'm gonna go back to school and become a lawyer, and that was what I
thought my destiny was until probably two years after I bought that property the market took
off. And I remember thinking to myself, you know, in the last two years I need this much of the
phone company, I need this much in real estate, and I don't even know what I'm doing in real
estate, but I kind of got the bug at that point. And, you know, I thought this the first time I like
that I found something that I really like I could see myself doing this like every day. So I did what
any, any kid in their mid 20s would do and they have this all sudden big paycheck, I quit my job
told them, I'm not working here anymore. And then I went and I remember telling my parents
that I'm not going back to law school, and that didn't go over very well. So my mother was
always saying, Well, why don't you go get your law degree so you have something to fall back
on. And then you can always do real estate later, and I thought, now that being the lawyer
that's wondering, that's not my dream career it's your dream for me and so I got I got pretty
cocky and I thought I knew everything there was to know about real estate, because hey grant
in my mid 20s with, you know, all of a sudden a pretty big chunk of equity. And so, ahead of the
curve in so many ways because we're almost the same age and nobody in my world in their mid
20s, I mean everybody was in law school with me so you were way ahead of the curve, but
here's a problem you know when you have a big success at an early age, and you think you
know how to win the lottery you think you don't have to implicate it. On the one hand, it gave
me some capital to play with. On the other hand, I didn't really have any no I mean I just got
lucky that there's nothing that I did that turn that into a big paycheck. The reason is a big
paychecks my time just happened to be really really lucky. So, when you when you win the
lottery that's great but if you burn through all that money as so many people who win the
lottery do when you go through that money, you can't duplicate it because there's nothing that
you did that was still consistent right. So I had no systems. So, but I but I was just very, I guess, a
no at all you could say at that point nowadays I teach my students don't be a know it all be alert
at all. But, so I proceeded to do another real estate deal, but I realized hey I just quit my job at
the phone company so now I can't qualify for mortgage anymore. Before I quit. And then I also,
you know, I didn't really have like any skill set so I didn't really know what I was doing so I just
thought I'm gonna buy another property and I'm going to somehow figure out how, instead of
waiting two years, like I did on the first one, like every 60 or 90 days I'm gonna get another
paycheck like this right here really have have a plan on how to do it. So, to make a long story
short, I had a very humbling experience where I managed to lose a lot of money on the next
deal. And that was really a pivotal moment because, you know, whose Did you say lose. I lost I
lost I lost a pretty good chunk of money on the next deal. I didn't really know what I was doing I
just thought, you know, and you got to remember the first deal was meant to be a long term
goal doesn't have to be something that was my retirement. And then the next deal is like I all of
a sudden had all these number signs, you know, floating through my head, and all this ego they
can, you know, I'm not gonna wait 25 years I'm gonna do this like every 60 days. Why can't I
make a six-figure paycheck every 60 days that's my thought. Anyway, a lot of money and a very
humbling experience today. And the reason, the only reason that I kind of got back up and
forced myself to do more real estate would have been very easy just to say okay, you know, my
mother was right I'm going back to law school, but the only reason I did it is when you're in your
mid 20s, it's very hard for you to tell your parents that they were right. Oh yeah, so I thought I
know we're gonna figure this out so I actually hired my first mentor, and basically said hey listen
I've got stole some money left. I want to do a deal with you. And I'm willing to put up the cash.
But I want you to teach me as we go. I want you to show me exactly what you do and I'll give
you, you know, on the part of the profits from this deal. So that was the only reason why I'm
here talking about real estate today otherwise we'd be having a lawyer to lawyer chat right.
Sorry. But, and I think it's great for some people to be lawyers while I'm not in any way dissing
words I am but like the most non argumentative person ever I'm like, back, I would have made
a horrible lawyers I don't even know what my parents were thinking from I don't know Mike
because not all lawyers are not always the kid, you know, right i mean you could be that lawyer
that's writing deals and closing deals I mean I could have seen you being an M&A lawyer and
something like that which is more along the speed of what I do, is the only time I've been in
court is when I got divorced so just saying, okay, so anyway, I suspect based on what I know
about myself now that if I would have become a lawyer I probably wouldn't have hired a bunch
of people, which apparently goes up in all the work and ever I think it would have ended up in
real estate. I think that was my rank the path that I was meant to be on. So in any case, you
know, like I said the only reason I'm still in real estate going reasons that I, you know, got back
up and did my next deal, it would have been nice so easy just to say okay, maybe I don't know
what the heck I'm doing is because I couldn't tell my parents that they were right and I burnt
my bridge at the phone company I don't recommend people do that by level your first
argument, don't quit your job would have been so much easier. And I kept that at least for a
little bit longer date young fathers and mortgages and stuff so, and also have a little bit of a
cushion too Right, absolutely, was nice getting a paycheck every two weeks but like I said, you
know, that was that, that success would have happened to me, you know maybe in my 40s
instead of their 20s, I probably would have been a little bit smarter and a little bit less cocky
about the whole thing but you know mid 20s. You know, I think, you know being especially
being a guy. You know, sometimes gets the best of our ego and we just think we know it all.
And, but yeah that's kind of my really make the story of how I got into real estate, totally by
mistake it's when I get people come to me and they say, you know, you know, they say, for
example, I love to get into real estate but I've got no money it's like when I first started, I was
aspiring to get to no money, I was like negative 25,000, euros I was trying to get zero, number
one, and number two, you know, I people coming in, they have this passion and they want to
learn, but you know they say oh well i don't i don't think i could be successful and I tell them
listen I wasn't even trying to be successful real estate, and by mistake I got into this industry,
and I only became passionate about it when I got that big paycheck, that's when the passion
started, I never had. I never like back in those days. If you told somebody I'm a real estate
investor they go well what do you do for a living, right, I have a recipe dude on the side of the
money is you bought some real estate right well. So anyway, times have obviously changed
over the years, but that that is exactly how I got my start, and I wouldn't change a thing I'm glad
I had that very humbling experience at the beginning, because it caused me to go from, like I
said, we know it all to learn it all and I've learned a lot of things over these 30 years So Mike
when you when you started were you investing in Calgary Where were you Where was your
investing happen yeah well Back then, I did exactly what I tell people not to do now, and that's
invest close to home, and less, you know, home happens to be a really good market where the,
where the numbers make sense so yeah I started off in Calgary and did all my deals every single
deal i did was in and around Calgary for the first, you know, first half of my career, pretty much,
and then a buddy of mine moved down to Las Vegas, and you know he was a physiotherapist
and hard-core physical therapist, and he got a job in Las Vegas at a hospital, and I started to go
down and visit him every you know every couple of weeks. If I had got a couple of weeks so ah
yeah cuz I got a free place to stay in Vegas. I not exactly it's only two to two and a half hour
flight from Calgary so I ran home and, and I had a different addiction than most people go to
Vegas, their addiction and maybe gambling and partying and drinking my addiction back in
those days was I could not walk past or drive past an open house and not go in and look at the
house because it was just in my blood. And so every time I go visit him I noticed that the prices
kept going up and up and up and up and up and going man this is like so much easier to make a
living here than it is up in Canada. And so that was the start of my us career started to buy
properties, this is before the recession kicked in. And, you know, back in those days in dental in
a way, not a lot of stuff in my life is kind of, I don't know the universe seems to always put me
on this, on the rock calm mindset. Yeah. So anyway, so I was very grateful because this but you
know just by chance my buddy moved there and I just started to look at real estate next thing
you know a lot of people from California are moving to Las Vegas lower their cost of living and
that's happening again right now, you see a lot of people trying to get away from the high cost
of living and the high taxes in California is like it I just started flipping homes to Californians
back in those days and it was easier than trying to do this. I thought it was nuts, because only
Vegas at that time were more expensive and calories are reportable and like it is again now,
and they thought it was totally crazy but I could see like in my mind it was like just so obvious
that I need to do business there. So you fast forward the recession kicks in Vegas is the hardest
hit market drops 80% from its peak to its lowest point. And a lot of people assume that a little
off my shirt, and you know my net worth went down tremendously all the properties that I own
went way down in value, but as the US became a nation of renter's my rents actually started to
go up and I had a lot more choices to tenants. And so my cash flow actually went up my net
worth went down my cash flow went up. and that was actually probably the most. I guess
successful part of my career, because all of a sudden, like I said, these homes were on sale I was
making more capital than ever. And so I was taking that money and reinvesting it more and
more properties, knowing the markets come in to come back, I didn't know at that point I do
real estate for about 15 years I've been through a few cycles and not not quite as prevalent as
that one that was a major, major drops, but that's why I really loaded up my portfolio and
shortly after that all my friends that used to make fun of me for investing in the stage to partner
with you all said hey you know we know he's a funny but how do we do this. Right. I didn't go
you know how do I do cross -order stuff, how do I deal with taxes, how do I move my money
back and forth. I had no clue. But I didn't want to miss the opportunities I just jumped in kind of
had first figured out as I went and then you know when the recession kicked and also every
Canadian want to invest in the US. Yeah. and all my friends started to call me all my friends
friends started to call me, and then I got a call from this. I won't mention their name but a very
prominent real estate seminar company, and we couldn't get people to the events in the states
so we weren't sure they came and they want to go across Canada, and you know I got a call
saying hey Mike you know we're looking for Canadian investors in the US. For this, he can speak
for us. And I had never spoken on on a stage in my life more than I have any desire to terrified,
but because you know the person who was company called me, was one of my heroes. It was
really hard to say no, and it's the next you know touring across Canada, you know, just as a
guest speaker speaking for like 60 to 90 minutes talking about how to invest in the States as a
Canadian, and that opened up yet another, you know, portion of my career. You know, all of a
sudden as a speaker which I like I said I was terrified and it would have been so easy to say no
because I didn't really want to be in the spotlight. But, you know, as luck would have it was
pretty hard to say no to your heroes sometimes and so I did that, and then also next you know
like I became a specialist first for Canadians, but then I started to get calls from people like in
other parts of the world, like, you know, Australia and China and you name it. All these people
say hey, how do we invest in the US, we understand you're not American but you're doing it,
how do we do it. And so next thing you know, I actually stopped speaking for that company
because you come in like I said for 60 or 90 minutes, as a guest speaker then they, they fly me
in they fly me home. And I remember one time I said hey, well, why sit through the whole
weekend I love to see what you guys are teaching and I remember you know sitting through it
and thinking man I remember we used to do that 1992, that doesn't work anymore. And then
it's like, that's mortgage fraud they just taught the normal bunch of stocks and didn't really sit
very well at least so I called up you know I called them up and said, Listen, I can't really put my
name to this because I don't believe in what you're teaching I can help you redo the curriculum
and they didn't care, they're making tons and tons of money and they said okay well you don't
wanna speak for us. Go do your own thing and so I did, I basically set up some trainings back in
those days I took people to Las Vegas I take them to the actual auctions where I would
purchase, real estate, and that was the start of me know, being a mentor and coach, and then I
also realized that you know a lot of people like somebody like yourself and when we were
actually involved in real estate, there's a lot of lawyers and doctors, their passion is in real
estate but they know that they need to invest in it, wanting to lower their taxes and to create
some passive income. They're also going to have to work forever. And so, as I started to create
turnkey properties meaning I would go buy properties I fix them. We put tenants in place and
then I'd have my property management to look after them. We started to sell those to investors
around the world who wanted to be armchair investors they didn't want to learn how to go to
the auctions they don't want to learn how to, you know, knock on doors and cold call do all the
things that are involved in the day to day, real estate investing and so that's kind of the start of
how I got into you know the coaching and mentoring and teaching and then also, that that
turnkey stuff that don't happen as a result of that so. But yeah, but the amazing thing is right
now with COVID. I believe we're going to head into an even bigger opportunity than what
happened 2007 2008, I am. We're going full speed ahead and just can't shut down the global
economy and not expect some, some After Effects, oh my gosh in such a big way in the US, I'm
sure you know with the forbearance I keep talking about this because Canadian Canada it's so
different, the way that they've treated mortgage forgiveness and deferral than in the US and
these Americans, unfortunately, I think we're not aware of what the implications would be of
doing this forbearance or accepting forbearance and suddenly having this balloon afford six
payments. So, even though the banks don't want the inventory of the mortgage companies
that's what's going to start happening and suddenly the, the opportunities to really get into the
market are going to open and the truth is one of the things that you and I share and, and with
my, you know my other Canadian partners that I've met through you. Is this goal. The most
important thing. I mean granted we all want to make money. But at the end of the day you've
made your money, you're good with that you know you're you like to keep making money you
like to make an impact you like to do great things and be a philanthropist, but the reality is, why
you and I resonate with each other is because your now is to truly mentor others to emulate
what you've done and be successful in their own right. And that is bigger, the impact piece is
more important to you I believe than the financial piece, especially at this point. Correct. Well
absolutely and even if even back when, you know, when I was younger I didn't have the, you
know, obviously same resources I need today. To me it's all about helping there's somebody on
the other end of that transaction. And so to me, being a successful real estate investor isn't
finding some no little lady who doesn't know the value of her home, getting a really smoking
deal on it and next thing you know you make that home on paycheck and she's living on the
streets that's not that's not the whole. No, that's not the goal. The goal is to create a win win
rate something that, you know, back, back in 2007, one of the things that I did was I started up
a company that I called foreclosure fixers and foreclosure fixers. Basically, you know so many
people, when they were losing their home, you know, they thought that you know somebody
was going to come into their property at two in the morning. Kick them in their kids out on the
street toss all their belongings on the front lawn. And that was going to be their fate and they
had no idea that there's a legal process behind this. So I took the time to actually learn the
foreclosure laws I hired an attorney sat down and learned the foreclosure laws inside now back
in those days I would actually sit across the table from these people in trouble, and there's
usually two types of people that you probably see pricing a million of those postcards we buy
homes we buy ugly oh my god yeah so during these times is your motto. I will say predators,
you know, real estate and make a living. But I actually sent out a pamphlet saying hey we'll try it
we can help stop the foreclosure we can help negotiate with your lender we can just like came
up with solutions that were a win for those people that were going through these really tough
times. And what I found is two different types of people would call me on you know on my
fliers. The first type of person is you know sometimes bad things happen to good people. And
so maybe they got divorced they got sick they lost their job, of course right now. During COVID
times. So many people are losing their jobs or losing their businesses, nobody shows to have
COVID come and lose their jobs, and these are people quite often that you know pre COVID,
they've never missed a payment in their life they would never dream of being late on a
payment, and yet now all of a sudden due to circumstances beyond their control. They can't
make the payments and so for people like that and quite often. You know I put on my lender
account and I would go in and more than they can afford to make that now they've lost their
job and now they're working again and they can afford to make the monthly payments, but
they can't make up the arrears. And so they're, they're, you know, for all intents and purposes
going to lose their home to the bank. And so I would loan them the money pay off their arrears.
And they were making monthly payments right of course charge interest, when for them when
for me and I am a former right then you have this yeah then you have the second type of
person that second type of person. These are people that like to move beyond their means and
even if there is no COVID a very common here. There. Yes. And so people quite often have way
bigger house and what they need and you know they just want to keep up with the Joneses,
and that they're living on a very, you know, very thin ice to begin with but then you get the
mixing capacity for a pandemic and it's like a ticking time bomb and that was kind of the
impetus to just push them over the edge, yeah people like they can't loan the money because
there's gonna burn through it. Integration you're not, you're never gonna get your money back.
And so for those people I'd always try to do what I call give them a soft landing. And what I
mean by that is, you know, there'll be times where I knew I could make them such a ridiculously
lowball offer, because they were just so desperate. But instead, what I do is I always make sure
even if they had no equity I'd make sure that they had, you know, a damage deposit several
months rent money for food, and I help not only make sure they had a place to go after but I'd
help make sure that they, you know, I'd help, I help them rebuild and then eventually buy
something, they could afford or sometimes I put them to one of my other properties for rent to
own for them, but something that was affordable to them. And so, you know, for those people,
you know, like I said I could have, I could have slipped in got that homerun deal, and left them
in a really really bad spot but you know what what I find is that when you, you know, help
somebody like that well guess what if they lost their job they know 10 other people that they
used to work with lost their job. And so now instead of one paycheck now you've got 10
paychecks and so. So those are some of the things I like to teach and, you know, when I saw
that they were shutting down the global economy, as we mentioned earlier, I'm usually
traveling full time. And, you know, hanging out my grandkids or doing volunteering I don't
normally work this as hard as that work. Yeah, do all these events after event after event. Yeah,
but you know what i when i saw they were shutting down the global economy and going here
we go again there's gonna be so many people in trouble. Yeah, so I decided you know this year
I'm going to devote to training other people on how to be ethical investors how to create win
wins, and you know help other people but at the same time monetize and so you get paid
yourself and so that's what's that's what I've been doing, and you know i think i think that you
know what we're seeing right now is the tip of the iceberg, what's going to happen probably six
months down the road if not sooner. We have an election coming up very very soon. I think
after that election, no matter who wins. I don't think they're going to be just freely cutting
checks to people like they are right now trying to buy votes, etc. And so, you know, we're really
at the tip of the iceberg there's gonna be so many people unfortunately in trouble. And so
many people need our help. So recently I was thinking I would just set up my foreclosure fixers
business again and you know maybe help 50 year 100 families this year if I'm really lucky. And
then I started to think, well, what if I trained a whole bunch of other people and how to do
some of these strategies that I do and I realize a lot of people right now, don't have a lot of
money so I just want everybody to know that, like I said when I started, I had less than zero
when I bought my first two homes I had negative my net worth was negative and so I'm gonna
be teaching strategies how you can help these people even if you have little or no cash, you
have bad credit doesn't matter, because I know so many people need to reinvent themselves
right now so I'm going to, you know, teach them exactly what I would do if I if I had just lost my
job, but I knew, you know, I finally 31 years ago some of the stuff I know now there's no way I
go work for somebody else. There's nothing else I would do this just, it's, it's not get rich quick
it's not easy money but if you get the right tools and the right training and you, you know,
apply, apply the right things this is. It's recession proof because people will always need a place
to live. We're not going back to living in caves. And so, this business, when times are chaotic.
This is where you know this is where the biggest opportunities are. And so that's why I'm doing
a lot of trainings this year for people. And it's great and you've had such an amazing following
and I, I mean, it's just amazing when, when you're to give such value, and over deliver and I
think that that's what separates you from the other trainers and those that you've worked with
before. One of the things that you mentioned is about turnkey so you know I'm a turnkey
service provider, like you. And the reality is that as time goes on and people are busy trying to
manage their lives turnkey becomes that much more important What does turnkey mean for
you. Yeah, basically turnkey what it means is you know for somebody like myself, for example, I
don't really like to travel full time and so I like other people take care of my investments I don't
want to have to deal with the day to day and so like I said you know we're buying properties
we're typically buying properties from the bank in bulk, but we're also you know buying pre
foreclosures, you know, people in trouble trying to rescue them, but once you buy the property
well you still need to do something with that property so you might hold it as a rental. You
might flip it. In our case, we're mostly investing in Atlanta right now, and which is a really really
hot market. And we're buying these properties we inspect them we fix every single thing that
comes up on the inspection, we're putting tenants in place. We put a one-year warranty on the
home so once the tenants are in there they're going to find things throughout the year,
especially in Atlanta, they get real seasons not quite as bad as Canada. Luckily, but they get a
real winter and a real summer and so it gives the tenants a chance to use the AC it gives a
chance to use a furnace we we fix everything throughout the year. And by the time an investor
buys a property from us. It's already fixed, there's already somebody living their pain and our
team is already managing it, and it's just very very hands off and for somebody, it was really
built for someone who's got my lifestyle, which is kind of overkill for most people, meaning that
I don't want to have to read, I have quite a few properties, I don't want to have to remember
when to pay property taxes and when my insurance comes due. So my property management
team. Not only do they look after the tenants but they deal with all that stuff. So literally, it's
meant for somebody who is busy doesn't necessarily want to become a real estate expert but
they want the benefits of owning real estate such as, put it this way if you don't own real estate
you're paying way too much in tax that's that's a given that the richest people on the planet all
state for very good reason if you look at Warren Buffett, he didn't even make his money
originally in real estate, but he helps reduce his taxable income by underwater real estate. And
so everybody should own real estate doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a on the front
lines in the trenches real estate investor, but you definitely need to own real estate and so my
company we do both we help people who don't want to be experts, doctors, lawyers,
engineers, people that have a passion for something else besides real estate but know that they
need to own some to create the passive income to get the tax tax breaks, etc. And then there's
other people who want that they want to duplicate some of the stuff that I've done they want
to be on the front lines you want to go out there and, you know, they want that to be their
career and that's great too. And so, my company deals with both sides of that spectrum, and
sometimes in between, they get some people who don't come with me, for example, to one of
my back when I used to do live trainings before COVID head. I take people to Euston Texas I
teach them how to do something called tax deeds, buy homes for pennies on the dollar. And,
you know, one of my students picked up a single-family home was probably 90 to $100,000 got
it for 70 $200 idea of some of the deals you see at these auctions. But you know afterwards
they realize oh you know I like this there's some great deals there's a lot of work so maybe I just
want to buy some turnkey as well. When I get some people that people call you know buy
turnkey properties, and they'll call me up and say okay well I bought some turnkey properties
and the money short of my bank account what else am I supposed to do I go you're supposed
to do nothing that's that's the whole point of this you're supposed to go find find a hobby go do
something keeps you busy and they go well I think maybe I want to learn how to do some of
this real estate myself. So I guess some people do both. But basically I'm there to take care of
you know people who want to either learn how to do real estate or they want it done for them,
but they need to hurry like I said needs to be invested in real estate one way or another. Is it a
different process for your students and I know the answer for my clients, but is it a different
process because I know when you started you had some issues, and as you mentioned you just
kind of went full speed ahead you didn't get tax advice you get didn't get the right counsel, but
didn't have the right of cross border expertise, what, what was the, what were the implications
of that and how do we prevent them for your students. Yeah. Well you know what, when I first
started you know I had really two choices I could see the opportunity was there, and I knew
there was two choices. One is I could try to figure all this stuff out. And then hope the
opportunity was still there. Or I could do what I did and as I'm jumping in I'm going to take
advantage this opportunity. I know I'm probably gonna pay too much taxes which I did. I know, I
didn't know actually that my bank was going to won't say rip me off that's the wrong word, but
private property is charged a lot of fees. You know my bank whenever I convert the currency,
you're charged a lot of extra fees I didn't know there were other options so. So my expenses
were a lot higher than they should have been I still did very very well so I'm very thankful that I
did what I did, but for my for my clients now when they buy a turnkey property for me, or if
they're learning how to invest cross border, we connect them with people like yourself to, you
know, help them set up the proper entities and do things properly, so they don't have to make
the same trial and error mistakes that I did they can start off by doing things right from the get
go, as I can keep more of what they make. So if I go back to my younger self, you know, actually
know what I'm happy how I did it how I did, because, you know what, like I said it would be
really easy to learn everything there was to learn, and then this entire opportunity and I still be
investing in Canada, so I'm glad I did what I did, but for my students they don't have to go
through all that I don't have access to people like myself and other members of your team that
can help to make sure that they don't, and pave the path to success without that pain, so that's
that's the beauty and when you are investing across borders, it's much, which is the name of
the podcast, it is much more complicated than investing in your home country. And it's really
important to have guidance, both in the country in which you're investing and in your home
country, no matter what you can't just get guidance in the US, You can't just get guidance in
Canada for example is, as is our focus today. But you, you need to have the expertise on both
sides because there are considerations we know some people that have been through
American training on how to invest in real estate, and the American training doesn't train you
on how to deal with your Canadian implications on 31 exchange what does that mean for
Canadians which is the exchange in like or like kind of one property to another to defer capital
gains. So it's all about that holistic approach the turnkey holistic approach, which Mike brings to
the students and which we bring to our clients, and it's really. She's, you know, fallen into some
traps, she's been challenged, and at the end of the day, here is the success story that's training
others to follow suit. So, I have a quick question. What would you say, I know we kind of
broached on this a bit but how do you see in the next six months, what, what do you see
happening in the real estate market, particularly in the US. yeah what I see is probably the
greatest transfer of wealth in history. And when I say transfer of wealth, where there is
transfer. So, the money is not disappearing it's not disappearing into thin air, it's being
transferred and so if you take one of those snowglobes that you shake it, yeah those little
pretend snowflakes go from the top to the bottom. Well if you're if you're well positioned we
take the time right now. take a little bit of a break from Netflix, you take the time to reinvent
yourself and train yourself and educate yourself, which I know if they're watching your podcast
obviously I'm preaching to the choir, but this time instead of saying hey well let's see what
COVID brains are waiting for life to happen, that's not going to be good if you're taking this time
to reinvent yourself and figure out what you don't like wolfer oil cooling 2.0 looks like. And then
that resin 3.0 5.0 whatever those snowflakes those $400 bills you can position yourself to be
part of that transform the good side of that transfer. And if you don't take the time you're
probably going to be on the bad side of that transfer so that money like I said isn't disappearing.
But there's so much opportunity and, for example, you know the banks haven't been allowed to
foreclose on people which is good I mean I hate to see a bunch of people on the street, because
it couldn't make their mortgage payment because it's totally lost their job. That's no fault of
their own I absolutely hate to see that. So, I'm glad the banks are able to foreclose. That's not
going to last forever and once that opens up again there's going to be a lot of foreclosures
coming down the pipeline. Those auctions that I was telling you about where my place is
$27million. That auction controls for 67 months now. normally like 1000 homes change hands
every month. So now you've got a glut 7000 homes that should have checked transfer
advantage would happen. And then plus you have this whole new bunch of foreclosures coming
down the pipeline and once again, if you learn how to do this properly in your position to take
advantage of this or, even better yet, so one of the auctions. Get ahold of these people before
they lose their homes and come up with a solution for them either one, the ability to help a
whole lot of people and to have the ability to make a lot of money doing it secretly well at night
knowing that hey, I know a lot of people feel like you're taking advantage of somebody it
doesn't have to be that way to me, but my bank account is going up and up and up to me that's
just a sign that I've helped a lot of people my bank account was not helping enough people. And
so, you know, I just think there will be so many people that are going to need our help. And
that's why, like I said, even though. Normally I don't work this hard this is the first in a long time
I've done you know trainings and normally I do like one or two live events a year and they're
like four days, I take people in Texas and hop on an airplane and go to this venue or, you know,
this year I'm, I've helped hundreds of students already. And I use the word for, I'm actually
grateful for COVID in a lot of ways because it really created the bandwidth to really do the stuff
I should have done anyways and really just teach as many people as possible, because I really
want to start a movement of ethical real estate investors that are out there helping others and
getting paid well for it and that's really what we're doing, hey you've been forced to have your
boots on the ground and we had to create, you know what, those of us that are then creativity
mode we can help ourselves but created certainly I mean when, when we originally met back in
January, I wasn't as focused on the real estate market as I have been since COVID hidden I
realized that there was such a need for somebody like me with that cross border expertise that
can help people invest across borders because even though the borders may be physically
closed borders aren't close to Investment and the opportunities are starting to open, and it's
it's really important to understand that and take advantage of the opportunities and realize
that taking advantage of the opportunities does not mean something negative for the people
that are in these homes, you may be actually saving them from a huge foreclosure credit issue
all kinds of stuff there's a lot. Yeah, sometimes it's a lot more than that you don't even know
what's below the surface I have one lady called me up probably tears after I helped her I had
bought her home I gave her one of those like all soft landings and made sure she had a place to
live, and she confided in me probably two years later and I didn't even really remember her
when she called her saver I never told you this like but the day that I received your flyer in the
mail. I was actually thinking of killing myself, and so we don't know all the applications when
people are having financial problems, there's so many other things, you know beyond that, if
you were having financial problems and relationships aren't working. They're probably stressed
their health isn't working like everything is falling apart during them. It's not just money it's
their whole world is crumbling around us and we can go there and make a difference. You have
no idea. Some of the things that you do some of the good that you've done. I will never find out
about in this case I you know she happened to call me but, you know, let people have financial
problems, there's so much else but they know below the surface that you're actually helping
them with it you don't even know. And right now, there are so many people with so such
significant financial issues. And the truth is that like Mike said you don't know what's beneath
the surface and the mental health issues across North America across the world but particularly
in North America are bad and people are like, here in America with the election you know
people not being able to travel. Not being able to see their family like me. You know my family's
in Toronto, but the reality is that we are very fortunate because those of us that have come out
of this come through COVID, at the beginning as you know I was helping people get access to all
of the money that was available, and that made a big difference for me. I didn't make a lot of
money doing it but I really helped a lot of people stay in business and that was a great feeling
and just like you you're helping people. So I think that the important thing, the most important
takeaway from this is as a heart centered entrepreneur, real estate investor influencer, you
have taken this negative and turned it into a positive, with the help of some friends that we
know and we are very grateful and sometimes it just takes that little tweak to say, Oh, I could
do these online events and train lots and lots of people, you know for me it's been good
because I have, I'm a single mom and travel is not always easy for me. Well now I can be
booked on stages, all over the world, literally, without leaving my home. I was on with a, with
John Medved from OurCrowd the other day I'm sure you know of him from Israel and it was like
no big deal. He's seven hours ahead. We are on zoom doing our podcast so I think that it's all
about mindset which you teach in your course as well you even teach it in your, in your events,
and that's not a very common thing for men to do, but I think men are becoming more in touch
with the reality that mindset is as important as what's in your bank account, and if you can turn
your mindset into a success mindset, a winner mindset a win-win impact mindset, you're going
to be successful like Mike.
