Harry James
Sarah: Harry James if you guys have not heard him speak on our stage before. He's a real estate investor with 35 plus years of experience as an entrepreneur, he owns numerous businesses and has transacted more than hundred million dollars of deals. Today he's going to share his reflections for the year, focusing on immediate life enhancements, small things that you can start doing.
That will make a big impact, both in your personal and real estate investing. I'm also happy to say here he is actually my personal mentor as well. I've reached out to him and asked him to mentor me and really a few months later now we've got a few development projects on the go and an offer in one today as well in addition. Welcome, Harry, I'm excited to hear you speak today.
Harry: Thank you so much, Sarah. It's a pleasure to be here. I noticed the other speakers all look fantastic and their hair is cut. How did they do that? Because I look like Albert Einstein and here I am.
Sarah: The content is what we're in for.
Harry: Thank you. That does make me feel any better. Listen, I wanted to challenge everybody for a moment. And I'm not trying to play armchair guru or mediator or anything, but the pace that we live today and with the 24 hour news cycle, there's no question that it's noisy. Often we either have one foot in yesterday or one foot in tomorrow, or maybe both, but often we just aren't in the moment we're physically present and we aren't mentally present. And I know the presenters tonight really prepared some really good information based on their experiences, the things that they'd been through, their successes and their failures, and there's some real gold nuggets to be mine.
They won't all apply to you. They won't all resonate with you, but you have to really be present to get the gold nuggets and to apply them to your life. I really want to encourage you to be present and to really listen to what everybody has to say. There's an old saying that I'm a big believer in it. And that is that you're the same person a year from now with the exceptions of the books you've read and the people you've met. And I would add one caveat. I would say the books you've read and digest it. Most of us today just ingest and we ingest the law. But we digest very little.
In other words, she could read 32 books on how to be fit. And at the end of the 32nd book, if you haven't lost one pound, or you're not running a mile, maybe you should have stopped at the first book and actually executed on something. And I don't mean that in a derogatory condescending way, but the reality is we just there's information overload, and there's literally a paralyzing inertia with all the information we have today.
That's my kind of encouragement or advice for you to try to come away tonight with a gold nugget that you could apply? I was thinking about what I could share this evening and I'm just keeping my eye on my phone. I don't go over the 10 or 15 minutes, but I was thinking, what can I share this practical that you can apply?
This wasn't planned, but I met with a few people today. Ms. Interesting. I think most of us would agree online. One of the reasons we're involved in the RIETE club is that we enjoy real estate, is it? It is the path to true financial freedom or certainly one of the past to true financial freedom. In other words, residual income, passive income, and true financial success comes from the ability to do what you want, go where you want without having to actually earn income.
I think the key is to earn income, cut a whole pile off the top and sock it away in places that it grows. And I think many people on the line tonight think that real estate's a good place for that. And I certainly would agree wholeheartedly with that. I have a gentleman and I have been working with for a number of years. In the last couple of years, I got him into a fourplex.
I think we paid about 452 that was just appraised for 800,000. And I got him into a condo a few years ago that he paid 7584, and is now worth products, approximately 1.3 million. But he told me today that he was planning on selling it. And I thought that's interesting why you're selling it while I've made $500,000 and I can take that money out and go elsewhere.
What were you going to do? I don't know. You realize that you own a $1.3 million condo that has a thousand rooftop patios that no one in town has. And then it's a new building. It hasn't peaked yet because many people are just discovering this area and discovering the building. And if you sell it, you have to pay a 4% commission legal fees and you have to pay something called capital gains taxes.
See, when we started this journey, the key was to use other people's money to pay off an asset that was in your name over the long haul. That's how you build wealth. You're telling me today, after two years of being on the journey, you want to join out of the $1.3 million investment. Get rid of it, strictly investment, the 500,000 of cash, which frankly is not a great asset to have.
In one of the toughest markets to find value, go out shopping. Is that your strategy? I didn't quite say it that way. I think he still likes me, but the point is we get really bored doing the right things. We always think we have to do stuff. Most people in real estate don't get rich fast. They get rich and they get rich slowly by putting a strategy in place and methodically sticking to the program and avoiding the temptation to say, oh, I've made a half million dollars. I think I'll take it out and not think it through, okay. What are you going to take it out and do, what are you going to do with it?
Generally, what you're gonna do with it, is try to get back into what you probably just sold. That just costs you a lot of money too. And one of the little editorial comments I'll make tonight is one of my few regrets in real estate over the last 35 and actually closing in on 40 years now, believe it or not. I know I don't look like I'm steamrolling towards my 60th birthday, but it's true. But one of the things that I regret in my real estate journey is the things that I've sold. And that brought me to a statistic that I thought was fascinating.
The average net worth of most Canadians in 2019 was 329,000. Maybe that's because they want to get rich fast. Maybe that's because they won't stick with the program. Maybe that's because they're looking for the next new thing. Most of the stuff that we need to achieve, what we want in our life has already been taught hundreds of years ago. And it's just a case of getting the information, digesting the information and executing the top 1% of Canadians net worth $10 million. Top 2% net worth $2.5 million. I think that's sad.
I think it's a reflection that most people don't have the patience to stick in and do what they have to do to create true wealth because a million dollars today is not a million dollars of 50 years ago. To me, if you're a millionaire today, you have 10 million. You're not a millionaire. If you have a million and I'm sorry if that hurts anybody, but the reality is the average house is a million. Somebody just told me about a cottage for sale around the corner from last week that was listed for 659 sold for 959 crazy nuts I get. I don't understand it's white hot, but the reality is a million dollars is not a lot of money.
When you think about your journey, where you've been, where you are and where you want to go. The question is, what do you want to achieve and why do you talk about goals at this time of year? You know what goals often I find with most people that I interact with, they're nice to have. Not really neat to have and true goals since you are really committed to being emotionally touched to are things that you need to have, and you'll do whatever you have to do and pay the price and tolerate the pain to achieve that particular goal.
That is a true goal. And something often comes to mind is bacon in it. The chicken's involved, the pig is committed. That's the commitment to the goal all in. Failure's not an option. When you look at goals, often we get these big lofty ideas and what I'd suggest, maybe you do this year in the key areas. Your life has made me make a little tiny change that you can immediately implement over time incrementally. You're going to make a huge difference. As an example, we look at relationships. Do you truly love the person, the mirror unconditionally? This is an airy fear.
I'm telling you if you weigh yourself down, if you feel like a fraud, if you don't feel worthy, you are going to literally repel anything that you're trying to bring into your life this positive because you don't feel worthy. You have to reconcile that relationship, your inner circle. Is there something that you own an apology to? Is there somebody you haven't talked to in a while? There's a relationship we have to say, sorry, even though you maybe don't think it's your fault so you can lower the anxiety.
There's no awards in life for being right. Your spiritual journey. I'm not talking about a particular religion, I'm talking about one death per lifetime, per individual. What are you doing to make a difference to make your neighborhood a better place to help your neighbor, to help your friends, to help the world be a friendlier place.
In other words, that universal law of reciprocity, where you're giving and making a contribution instead of just making withdrawals physically, or you maybe forget that you want to lose 50 pounds, 30 pounds, like how about just take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to work if possible, instead of taking the car after dinner, do 5k or 3K walk with your friends or your family, your spouse, instead of Netflix, little changes because then you can build upon. If you go from not working at all to I want to run a marathon. That's monumental. That's to go on a mountain. Do you want to climb Mount Everest? And you haven't hiked a heel yet? Make little tiny changes that you can build upon incrementally.
And of course, finances, as I said, a moment ago, if taxes go up, you don't have a choice. You have to pay. Do the same thing with building your wealth? I have always committed myself to and made myself poor for things that go up in value. I've bought land, cottages, properties, apartment buildings that I couldn't necessarily afford and stretched myself, pretending that my taxes went up 20% one way or another. I have to figure it out.
The entrepreneurial spirit has a way of reaching down, figuring things out and solving problems when failure isn't an option.
If you look at this properly and it truly is a game, which is why I love monopoly, the worst is going to happen. The absolute worst is going to happen if you have to bring in a partner or sell the property, or take a bit of a loss. You can't play a game without losing sometimes. You can't play a game without meeting you, landing on somebody else's hotels, and you have to pay a few bucks for rent. That's just part of the game. But if you play it properly, play for the long-term. You persevere, you have a clear set of criteria. You ultimately will continue to build wealth over time and it can tend to grow exponentially.
The big thing I want to talk about with respect to these goals and your perspective. If you don't feel worthy of a $10 million net worth, a 50 million, a 1 million, if you feel like a fraud, you've got to deal with top down. You've got to deal with the neighborhood between the ears first because you will not execute. You will not get to where you want to go. Many of us, because of our upbringing, our schools, our universities, the company, we keep a DNA, financial DNA setting. That set way too late. You have to think bigger, you have to reach bigger. You have to break through that psychological ceiling, is it fear of failure?
See fear of failure. There's nothing wrong with having fear as a motivator. Replace fear of failure with fear of getting to 85 years old and looking back and realizing that you left all of your potential fully intact, that you didn't try, that you didn't go through. I would have a bigger fear of that than a falling on my face or making a fool of myself or losing money on a deal. Again, I don't mean to be morbid, but if you live with a deathbed mentality, there's a perspective you bring to it where you're actually more fully alive, fully engaged and less fearful. It is ultimately at the end of the day. Simply a game, all the stuff outside of business and outside of real estate. It's 10 times more important than transactions and money.
As you've heard me say before at the REITE club. I've never been to a funeral and seen a net worth statement, propped up on a coffin. I want to end my little chat tonight with something that I think is brilliant, and I'm gonna encourage you all to do it. Go home and watch the video on Roger Bannister, making a break in the four-minute mile in the 1950s, I think it was 1950.
Why this is so critically important. It talks about what's holding most of us back. And that's that psychology, the neighborhood between the ears, the glass ceilings that we put on every single aspect of our lives. If we don't deal with that, nothing good is going to happen in our journey. You've got to break through that psychological barrier for a thousand years, scientists and doctors said it is humanly impossible to break the four minute barrier. No human can run less a mile in less than four minutes. It will never, ever happen. They did laboratory tests, desk tech, and Bannister, who was training to be a doctor said, I can run it in 401, 402.
It doesn't make any sense. I've gotta be able to run it and do you realize Bannister, those of you that know hockey, he wasn't on the AAA running team or the AA hockey team. He was actually only 18. He wasn't that great a runner. And when he was training, he spent a lot of time on the psychology, more so than on the physical. And that's the fact when you look this up, but here's what I want to leave with you tonight. And I want you to think about this relative to your life, your barriers. Why haven't you done that first million dollar deal, $5 million deal. Why don't you have your first small apartment building? Why aren't you living the life that you want to live? Is there something there that you have to break through?
Here's what's interesting. Bannister broke the four-minute mile. Hadn't been done in a thousand years and within three years, more than 300 runners broke the four-minute mile. Banister can do it. I can do it. Now thousands of runners have done it. Our little journey in real estate. No, it's not athletics, but it is. I look at business as a sport. You've got all sorts of precedents around you on the REITE club tonight. Some of the speakers have broken the four-minute mile. They can show you the way. They can show you all of the tools and all over the resources and all the different ways that you can do it.
You just have to believe in breakthroughs, whatever psychological barrier is holding you down. So, if you'll take those little steps, have a real serious meeting with yourself. Watch that video and make a little incremental changes. Now tonight, forget about even tomorrow, even after the REITE club tonight, if there's something you haven't done that you want it to do, and you keep making excuses get out and do it, whether it's a walk, making a plan, having a vision, feeding your mind with positive stuff, whatever it is.
You have the ability right now to make 2021, the absolute best year of your life and your personal journey, as well as in your business journey. And I highly encourage you to spend the time feeding your mind, feeding your thoughts, controlling who you let into your inner circle in your head space, because that's going to make all the difference in the world. I hope that helps. And I wish all of you great health, happiness, and a tremendous year.
Sarah: Amazing. Thank you so much. Very inspirational. And let's see some ones for Harry, if you guys enjoyed the first segments of this. Yep. Awesome. Lots of great feedback guys. Harry will be sticking around for a little bit I believe. If you do have any questions for him, just make sure that you select all panelists and attendees, and you can ask your questions.
Harry, you've done pretty much every type of real estate deal or strategy that I can think of, commercial, you've got quarries, businesses, land developments, and thank you very much, you speak from experience and looking back it just makes sense. And I do agree that $1 million today is not so much what it used to be back then. 10 million is likely, the minimum threshold. Thank you so much for being on. And we'll add your contact information to the chat as well. If you guys are interested in reaching out to Harry. Thank you.
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