Axel: I'd rather do no deal than be stuck in a bad deal. And at the beginning, we are eager to make things work and to find a solution and stuff like that. Sometimes just some deals are just not meant to be, or they're just not for you. And you do have to walk away.
Sarah: Hey REITE Club nation. It's Sarah Larbi here. Before we get started, I wanted to ask you a quick question. Have you checked out the ROC yet? Well, that's our REITE Club Online Community. It's a place where you can find your real estate investing in business answers and network with like-minded people. We've got interactive forums, all the podcast episodes, hours of videos, a wide range of real estate investing, training, and education. Tons of great information. It's free to join. Be sure to come grow with us at thereiteclub.com. Now on with the podcast.
REITE Club nation. Welcome back. I'm Sarah Larbi and I'm joined by Alfonso Salemi and we are interviewing Axel Monsaingeon today. An investor making things happen in Montreal. If you wanted to know about the Montreal, Quebec market, this is going to be a great show for you. Alfonso first and foremost, what is new and exciting on your end?
Alfonso: Lots of great things going on. It's a very competitive market. It seems where we are now. I guess we're recording this towards the end of March. The market has seemed to cool a little bit. It was red hot now it's probably just a lighter shade of red hot, but yeah, definitely getting into more projects, more deals, more opportunities. We actually had an offer with a condition that was accepted. That is looking good from our standpoint.
We're bringing on more projects, bringing on more deals, helping more people get into home ownership, really excited about that. And as our team continues to grow as well some more and more projects all across the province. How about you, Sarah? What's new and exciting with you and what are you working on these days?
Sarah: Me and my business partners bought three deals, really cool deals in Hamilton. Some conversion opportunities. We are actually bringing in some joint venture partners and people that wanted to invest with us and making everybody some money along the way, making it a win-win and probably lots more to come.
And to be honest, I probably wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for these partners. But I think the three of us compliment each other really well.
One is a contractor with 30 people in house, a property management company and in-house realtor, and one is probably you guys know him, but I won't name names at this point. But a conversion expert.
The three of us together are really making deals happen and having fun along the way. But on that note, let's talk about the Montreal market and let's talk about Axel and what he's been doing. It's been fascinating. He's been scaling quickly, leaving his full-time gig to do this. And now he's even getting into some development stuff. Small multis into some bigger projects and everything in between. REITE Club nation if you haven't checked out our online platform, thereiteclub.com, check us out. We have events as well, pretty much every couple weeks, new events for different topics, different strategies and all that good stuff. So don't forget to leave a rating and review in. Alfonso, what do you say? Or should we bring Axel in?
Alfonso: Let's do it. Welcome to The REITE Club podcast. Axel's so good to have you on here today. Really looking forward to chatting. So thank you so much for joining us.
Axel: Thanks for having me, man. It's a pleasure to be here.
Alfonso: Yes. We're gonna get right into it. I know, you have a very successful podcast. You're getting into all different types of projects. Very diverse background as well, too. For all of those that are listening, give us your background a little bit about why you're on The REITE Club podcast today.
Axel: Thank you very much for the opportunity. I started as an investor a few years ago, being in the corporate world and I got tired of always trying to do always good deals for other people and being an employee and kind of being stuck in the rat race that we all know and all talk about.
My wife had started to invest. She had a little condo that we renovated one summer and she said I'm gonna renovate it. I want to get exactly this type of tenant. I'm gonna rent it for that price and it's gonna be paid by a corporate check. And I was like, yeah, okay, babe. And that's exactly what she got. And we ended up investing in real estate and then after a few years.
I actually stopped in my corporate world. I was in the supply chain management for a manufacturing company. Then I worked for a small rail company called CN. I've never been paid that much to do that little. I walked out after a year. I was just bored and went full-time into real estate. We picked up some small projects, some small multi-family and now we're in the process of scaling.
Sarah: That's very cool. You basically, I think left where a lot of people would've been scared cuz they wanna have the comfort of having a nine to five job and a steady income. What did people around you say when you're like I'm just outta here, regardless of what they pay me, I'm bored and I'm out.
Axel: It's a funny question. Some people couldn't believe it. And even at my old employer, some people said so what, just cruise along. It's easy. And I was like, I can't do that. I'm bored. I need more, I know it can contribute more for myself and for others. And I want to go. And the arrangement that we had made with my wife was that, so she was, we were both employees. She would continue. And basically like as quickly as possible, I had to do a project to supplement our income, whatever that was.
At first I actually took some small consulting contracts and that went on for a little while, but I kept doing the research, I kept educating and then it's a little bit afterwards that we picked up our first multifamily.
Sarah: Now where was this multi-family? And can you share maybe some details on how you acquired it and the price points and all that good stuff?
Axel: Sure. So it's in Montreal, it's in the Lichen. It's one of the neighborhoods and it's for those who know Montreal, it's between downtown and the airport, basically. And that's actually one of the attractions of it is because a lot of people in that neighborhood either work downtown or at the airport or in Wilson Hall, which is more manufacturing.
It was a good neighborhood. And I was looking at one to four units. I was working with an agent and I asked for the full listings for a couple of properties in that neighborhood. And then he actually emailed me and said, hey, there's also this one, but you didn't ask about it. He sent it to me and it was five units. They were asking for five, ten now that it was 2019. And it was I, so after going through the listing, I actually went on site and it was peculiar because usually in that neighborhood or in that zoning block, rather it's only duplex, triplex.
This one, it was a five unit. It was a triplex in the front with a little passage along the property line and then a duplex in the back with an inner courtyard and stuff. And I just saw so much potential. And so we went and made an offer and we actually got it. We got it down at 485. So not even a 100 K a door, which now thinking about is like a dream.
Sarah: That is pretty cool. And I'm just curious. In Ontario as an example where I'm investing, there's landlord tenant rules that are not as favorable for landlords. And I heard, and I don't know, but you can educate us much better that Montreal was also a little bit difficult with landlord tenant rules.
Axel: That's right. The laws here are very pro tenant. It's like that through the province and almost, throughout Canada. There's a lot of laws, rent increases. There's a very strict calculation. We all know what it is in Canada. But in this place, we actually, for this property, we got lucky because out of the five, one tenant had said that she was gonna leave. She lived in the semi basement that we wanted to renovate. And then in the duplex one guy had a court case against him to be evicted.
The landlord never actually enforced it. And then the one upstairs had some issues and I thought it was just a question of time. And actually within three months we got those three units. Vacated.
Alfonso: Wow. That's pretty uncommon. I guess these days it is a lot tougher, with, again, with the tough landlord tenant board here in Ontario, again in Quebec, same type of things. And you mentioned how you acquired this property was, by chance that the realtor had set this particular opportunity amongst another list of opportunities, what's changed, in terms of how you were finding properties and now to current day, how you're finding opportunities and deals for the projects that you're deciding to move forward.
Axel: Yeah, totally. Right now, we're surprisingly, like we're still finding properties listed on the market. And we acquired one in December that was listed on the market and were there at the right time, the right place and it was listed for about a week. We bought a fully vacant four unit right next to the Metro for 400 K which is really like 70 cents on the dollar and that was on the market. And then we also acquire now through just fully off market, just that we found through the network. So bird dogs are people we know and also full of prospecting where we contact owners and see if they'd like to sell.
Sarah: It's interesting that these properties, in retrospect, sound very inexpensive. And so like just looking at it, maybe somebody's in BC or somebody's in Ontario and they're like that's not even a 100 K a door. What are the rents like? I'd be curious to know are they comparable to what we're seeing here? Are they less expensive? Can you share, maybe what a one, two and three unit, and I know it's dependent on the location and stuff, but just like on average.
Axel: Sure. Okay. For the first property, the first fiveplex I was talking about, we renovated the units and we took some two bedrooms to 1150, and now they're at 1200. And then the ones that are upstairs and unrenovated if the tenants right now pay about 650, 675, and if they were to leave, we would literally double the rent.
In the new property, though, we just acquired in December, it's fully vacant. And it's a full gut, full strip and full redo at least on the ground floor. But that property will generate about $1,200 to $1,400 per unit per month. And that's for between one and two bedrooms. And we also include all appliances and wifi. I don't know how it compares to Vancouver, BC in Vancouver.
Obviously, if you're in Gastown like in a top tower, it's very different. But from Montreal prices, that's more or less what it is. And this is where I had a big reality check. It's in Laval in the neighborhood that I know a little bit less, but I have a buddy of mine shout out to him actually, when I told him about the place was like, oh my God, this is an amazing location.
He had bought a trip like over there and he's just listing it now at 1.1 million. And that's a fourplex for 400 K and we're putting about 250 into it. Like we can't go wrong. And this was found on the market. It always makes me laugh. People who say, there's no opportunities, everything's too expensive and this and that's not true.
You're not looking properly enough. And you gotta pound the phone. You gotta look, or you gotta find other people to do that work for you. But there is plenty of opportunity.
Alfonso: I guess you're absolutely right. The opportunities are there. If you're not looking in the right places or having that consistency of going out there, it's easy to maybe say that or lament and complain that you can't find those opportunities, but having the right people looking for those types of deals or knowing exactly what you're looking for.
In those certain areas as well, too. In terms like you said the rents now, you probably, I guess we didn't really touch this, but give us an overview of what the current portfolio looks like. Are you self-managing? What does that look like? How do you manage, do you have joint venture partners? What's the makeup of your current portfolio?
Axel: Sure. It's a small multi-family with five units. We have two fives, one four, We have right now, a duplex that we're turning into a five, we're at the permit level. And now we just picked up another one to build a 17 unit with 16 underground parking spots, 5,000 square feet of commercial on the ground floor and then 16 units above.
That's what I'm working on now. It's been about a month and a half, and it's taking quite a bit of juice. And really in terms of we've done some partnership, the first five units, the one in the machine we did it with a partner, 50% of the equity and that's worked out fairly well.
But it was just that after that, we were able to actually sell finance and, or we took some loans from private investors. We have another investor who's with us, for example, on for 300 K at 8% for a year. No equity. So it always depends on how the partner wants to structure it. Like some people want equity, some people just wanna return on their money. We're open to both.
And for the 17 units, we took on a partner for 25% of it. And so that's why, and now I'm looking at lands for 120 units. There's a project that I worked on last year that got into a bit of legal trouble and stuff like that, but now it's back on.
And so I'm back at it. And that is for three times 40, three buildings of 40 units. Trying to get bigger and bigger projects, cuz you guys have gone through it. Like by the time you buy a six unit or a 12, it's the same amount of work you might as well. Just pack more units onto that same roof.
Sarah: For sure. First and foremost, congratulations, cuz it sounds like you scaled very quickly in a short amount of time. As well now you're working on some cool projects. Now you're getting into development. You're getting into the building. How are you structuring these new, bigger deals?
Axel: The 17 unit is the one that we have right now. It's in a corporation. I have a partner that's coming into it in his private name. I have a holding company that owns my share in that company. And then we're both bringing cash to it. And then we are taking advantage of the new CMHC APH program, 95% of construction.
That's what we're in the process of starting now. In terms of structure, it's actually really basic, like now for the other ones, like now we have more important investors that are like, hey Axel I've been following you. I think it's cool. What you're doing. I'd love to jump in. And so now we register a new company for every project and we take those investors within that newly incorporated vehicle basically.
Sarah: Very cool. You've got lots of projects on the go. I wanna go back. You said when you were in legal trouble, what happened? Do you mind sharing?
Axel: I can. It's totally okay. And I'm not gonna go into the specifics of the location. Just imagine an hour outta Montreal, basically. A project, a big piece of land for 160 units. And the owner of the land agreed with the developer to basically sell him one quarter. And so he would develop that quarter and do the first 40 unit building.
And then he omitted to ask for a servitude between the two laws between the quarter and the three quarter, because the quarter is the one that has the street access and the three quarter was now fully enclaved. And so when we were doing our due diligence, we actually found out and we said, look like we want to close, but we can't buy an island.
Sarah: This is landlocked essentially is what it is. The property was landlocked. You'd have to go and go into somebody else's property in order to get to that property, which you can't always do.
Axel: Which you can't always do. Then I found another access, but the city really was not keen on it. There were other small pieces of land along the street. I tried to buy one of those to demolish and go through it. That didn't end up happening as well. Basically, when we brought it to the owner, he was like, oh, okay let me see. And so he ended up going to court with his old partner.
That was about a year ago. And now that situation has been resolved, which I won't go into the details how, but it is. And so now potentially there's the opportunity to go back on that piece of land and acquire it. It's just that in the last year and a bit prices have increased significantly.
There's more and more interest for that kind of development. And it's getting a little bit more competitive, but we're still going at it. And the criteria as we got it evaluated last. It was a very good deal. It's just that we'll see how far from that. We can have it back under contract and see if there's enough land left .
If there is then yes, if not, then sometimes the hardest, the best deal are the ones you don't make. And you have to have the will to walk away and be like, not for me, can't do it and then walk away. That's where we're at that stage now. We'll see.
Alfonso: Absolutely. I love what you just said. Sometimes the best deal is the deal that you don't do, or that's gonna prevent you from doing others. There's something that I think is just common amongst a lot of the people that we interview on this podcast, a lot of people that we interact with are going through those issues in legal troubles and all that kind of stuff.
In a more nonchalant way, this was that issue. We had to do our due diligence. We found that out. We tried to buy that other pro like you just basically listed off a whole list of ways to try to solve the problem. It comes to my next question of the determining factors of what makes an investor successful.
I think, in relative terms, everybody has a different definition of success, but I would consider, what you've done, what you are doing as a success. What are some of those factors? Because some people might be listening to this and be like, oh my God, that's a lot of trouble.
I'm getting a stomach ache or a headache, just even thinking about doing this, let alone actually going through it. What are some of those factors that you know, that you have to have that maybe most people wouldn't think of.
Axel: That's a big question. And it's one thing to talk about it. Like after the fact versus like when you're in it, I'm not gonna say sometimes I get stomach aches, but like sometimes, let, first of all, it's hard. We're not gonna lie to anyone here. If we make it sound easy, it's because we've done it a few times and we know how to go about it. It's a bit hard, but what is challenging is also extremely rewarding.
I'm not just talking about financially, also from a mental and psychological point of view, knowing that you're able to weather that battle and go through it now. For me, it's about being organized, having a good due diligence checklist and then it might be surprising, but it's trying to be like in a way as detached as possible.
It's a real estate transaction. You're not saving lives. We're not surgeons. We're not going to war. We're just trying to make something work. I can't get what I'm looking for, then sometimes, you just gotta walk away and say, yeah, I put 5, 10 K into this due diligence and it's not working, but I'd rather do no deal than be stuck in a bad deal. And at the beginning, we are eager to make things work and to find a solution and stuff like that.
Sometimes just some dealer just is not meant to be, or they're just not for you. And you do have to walk away. Educating yourself about what's good and what's not is absolutely key. And that's advice I would give to anyone listening. Like you wanna go buy a half million dollar property? The first thing you're gonna do is go spend 5 K or 10 K in coaching learning. Anything that you can do because you can't spend half a million on a property.
If you're not gonna spend 5 K to 10 K on yourself. That's number one, number two after education is to hang around with people who have done it before. You're not the first one. You certainly won't be the last one tag along with someone who already has gone through that process and that you can learn from. I hate the expression, pick their brain, cuz it makes it sound like a vulture. But if you can ask a question once in a while or hey, were you in that situation? How did you get out of it? What would you do? And stuff like that.
Real estate investing is actually full of people who really just want to help you. It's not just sharks. And the last thing is like in the mindset, you just have to remember why are you doing this? At least I try to remind myself that it's just a game and sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes I put a lot of time into it and it doesn't work out. Sometimes it does work out, but there's plenty of other deals. If it's not this one and it'll be another one. No worries, be detached. It's just a transaction.
Sarah: It is right. And I think ultimately, you've answered that really well. There was a ton of content to dissect there, but it is just a transaction and your mindset and your stress levels and how you treat others along the way is gonna be so much more important than a deal and sometimes you will lose a little bit of money and sometimes you'll make a little bit of money and sometimes you'll make a lot of money.
It's just a risk and reward. And especially as you're going into some of the bigger stuff, the developments, there's like you said, due diligence is not from when you go into commercial and you go into some bigger stuff and your due diligence is going to cost a few thousand dollars at least. And sometimes you walk away and you spend 10 grand or 15 grand, or if you have to do a phase one or phase two, depending on what that looks like, and you don't, it's not the same as residential.
You do have to be prepared that you might walk away having spent 20 grand for due diligence on something. And you're like, you know what it was 20 grand well spent because there's many more problems I'm not willing to take on. And that is the game at that level.
Axel: And you're absolutely right. You also have to learn how to walk away knowing that you made a bit of a loss, but like last week we're working on another deal of a five unit here in Montreal and guy calls me and he is oh, like we did the we did the evaluation, but now we had an assessment from an architect. We can go from five to eight units.
He's gonna redo the evaluation, but he wants to charge me another 500 bucks. Can you believe this? And I was on the phone. I was hey man, you're trying, you're buying a 1.1 million deal. You're gonna invest 500 K in it. And you're bitching because the evaluator is asking you 500 bucks. I'm like, this is a non-issue like, we're not having this conversation.
I heard the guy say, oh yeah, you're right. And then that was the end of that conversation. It's as you said, Sarah, like at some point you reach a certain level in the game that you're gonna have to leave a little bit on the table and it's not lost.
It's just a choice, but it's the cost of doing business. That's all and all you need to do is like one successful deal and it will erase the money, sunk into three due diligence that didn't work out. It's still worth it in the end. Do it.
Alfonso: Absolutely. It is a numbers game, right? It's you know, the doors you knock on the people that you talk to, the investment that you make, like you said, into yourself and the investment in that due diligence, it's better to lose 20,000 than 100,000 or 200,000. It's a lot easier to recoup that. And having that structure, that process, and it does sound that you do have your operations in order as a team, looking for different projects, doing different things along the way. What does that look like? To support your efforts, your investments, what does that team look like? Or what does that look like today?
Axel: I have no employees. My wife recently left her full-time employment job, and now she's come on board. We're dividing the project. She's the lead on it. And then I have some projects and I'm the lead on it, but we consult each other. We have one gentleman who approached us, really wanted to learn. And he became our partner/assistant, and he's been doing plenty of stuff for us.
We've invested in his education and now he's helping us with some of the property management. Actually, he handles the property management like tenants and stuff like that, at least for two of the properties my wife handles another one and there's actually very low demand for it. It's just that over the years, we've built a good network with real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, and then all the professionals around architect, land surveyor, appraiser.
We have one notary, we've done every single transaction with him. And he was a friend of my wife that I met at the orchestra. And like on our second deal, we're like, we need a notary. Do we know anyone? It's yeah, this guy, he played, my wife played violin and he played the bigger violin that you stand on a stick. Anyways, I forgot the name. And he's been amazing.
Sarah: Cello.
Axel: It sounds familiar as the name of the instrument. I'm just not familiar with English, but he's become a reference now and also the same thing for legal. Like we've dealt with a few lawyers. We all, they're always just a short phone call away. To go back to your question, we do some of it in I wouldn't say in house like the property management, cuz we're still just managing just about 20 units. It's still doable and stuff like that.
We have a strong link with all those professionals and as an advice to anyone out there, do I look for a notary? Like once I already have a deal, no talk to people network, first of all, go to events and always ask for people who are a little bit further than you down the investment path. Who would you recommend as a notary or as an architect, a land surveyor, and just talk to these people before you actually need them, cuz by the time you need them, it's not that it's too late. It's just that it's too late to pick and choose and assess them and all that.
It's like dating, going on a couple of dates before you invite someone out for dinner in the opera or you can go see the cello.
Sarah: Obviously, your team is super important. I always wanna point out differences and I think part of it is because I used to listen to so many American podcasts. And I thought that we could do the same thing in Canada when I was first starting out and that we could save taxes doing the 10 31 exchanges and that kind of stuff.
I guess why I'm going with this is you talked about a notary in many places, we have a real estate investing lawyer that does the transaction. Can you explain the process of how a purchase is sold, or I guess a purchase would work in Montreal or in Quebec. Cause I know there are gonna be some nuances and some differences, including the notary. If you could just touch base on that.
Axel: Same thing, I've never done a transaction in Ontario, so I'm not very familiar with the real estate lawyer, but essentially whether you're on the market or not, your notary is gonna be the central point of contact. He's gonna request all of the documentation. The accepted offer first of all and then he's gonna check the title of the company, if there's still a mortgage, if it needs to be, maybe the mortgage has been paid down, but it, the lean has never been removed.
He's also gonna be responsible in terms of the financing to prepare the transaction. Let's say you're dealing with a bank. The mortgage has been approved. The disbursement is gonna be done to him in his account where it's like his mutual account, and then he's gonna prepare all the documentation with the offer.
And then he asks for usually if there's financing, he's gonna ask for the buyer to come first, because then you sign your mortgage two, three days before the actual sale. Then he gets published and once that's done, then he asks for the buyer and the seller to join in his office, or sometimes electronically to actually sign the deed.
And really at that point is the money released and you become the new lawful owner of that property. He holds a very central role to notary, but it's also in some cases when this is like you're buying a cookie cutter house and it's extremely standardized as soon as you have a weird setup or questions with regards to land or, any servitudes or right away or anything like that. He's the reference person. It's crucial to have a good one on your team that you're familiar with.
Sarah: Thanks for mentioning that there is something I heard and this could be a rumor. That you essentially don't know if you're gonna close until you're closing. There's something then I could totally be wrong, but that, and maybe it's a myth or maybe it's just in my brain that I can't remember.
But when you have something, when you sign an agreement of purchase and sale, I think you've gotta do everything, to the best of your standard. But it doesn't mean that it's gonna go through, there's something that was different.
Axel: I've heard from him of cases where the seller didn't show up and the transaction. Sometimes it's within the same day, ideally it is a together, but in the last two years, like to avoid people congregating, it was like, oh, the seller first. And then the buyer, in the morning and the buyer in the afternoon, and you saw that you signed the same document.
We've had both instances where all of us are in the room and I find it's quite nice, cuz it's actually a little ceremonial. You do all this work for two to three months, and then finally you get there and that's actually another tip that I'm gonna share is that at most of my closings, I bring a bottle of champagne for both my notary and for the seller. If the transaction has gone well. And when I say a transaction has gone well, it doesn't mean people are nice. It just means that we're actually able to close, which in our case has been like pretty much a hundred percent of the time, but I find it's always nice to end up on a nice note.
Think about it. You do three months of work to get to that closing and you're. It's the end. No, it's actually the beginning cuz now you just own the property and you have to optimize it or do whatever you want with it. But like to end on a good note, both with the notary and the seller and also with the seller is that often as you guys know sellers, they don't just have one property.
If they like working with you on this one, then on the next one, you're like, hey, come on, let's do another one. You liked it. It was enjoyable. Sell me another one next year. And for 40 bucks you get a decent bottle. Just do it at least, it's my little advice.
Alfonso: I love that you leave a good taste in your mouth, the taste of champagne, literally. That's wonderful. That's a great tip. I love that idea. And I think it makes the deal a little bit more personal. It makes that transaction a little bit more personal being in that room. I like that concept of everybody getting in the same room. Because after going through so many different transactions, it does become a little bit like, almost an assembly line that it's just watching sprints repeat and go through that. It does put a good stamp and a good taste in their mouth as well too.
Axel: I've also used that trick on making some off market offers where I've prospected and I had the owner on the phone, hello, and then a num and in your property. And it's okay, we end up having a nice chat and it's hey I'll come by and I'll make you an offer. And I've gone with a good bottle of wine and the offer fully printed, wrapped like a message with a red bow tie. And the thing is that it doesn't change anything about the price. It is that it makes you stand out because people, they don't wanna meet people anymore.
They just wanna send an offer by email and that's it build a relationship go over there. And even like I've had meetings during COVID with fold up chairs in a park with owners, just to be able to chat for 20 minutes. And that makes you stand up because you build a relationship. And from that relationship, you can move forward in whichever direction you want.
Anyone listening takes a bit of time, makes an effort to stand out because some people did get contacted every week for their buildings. If you wanna be the guy or the girl, they remember. Offer them a bottle of wine.
Sarah: That's good. And I will say, you are known for going a little bit above and beyond. And before we started recording this podcast, we were having a conversation. And the first connection that I had with you, you had sent a handwritten card in the mail with a stamp with your picture of not only you, cuz if it was only you it'd be a different story, but I like that you had your wife and your kids there.
It was like a business type of relationship which for somebody that's a woman, you guys would appreciate that. And you're like, hey, gimme a call like you're a real estate investor. And I'm like, I have to call this guy. Like he went through the trouble of actually writing a handwritten letter, somehow found my PO box to send it to and gave me a nice picture of his family. I'm like, those are the little things that people remember.
And I remember that, and that was like, I wanna say that was like two years ago that we connected that you sent that over. But those are the little things that matter. You wanna stand out, do something. I'm not saying to send me a letter, that was the first time I ever got. We didn't know each other.
Axel: No, we didn't, we'd never spoken. Thank you for bringing up that story because you actually called, and I remember looking at the phone and it was your name. And I was like, oh, she's calling me. I can't believe this. And you're like, oh, I got your letter. Thank you so much. And I was like, floored that you took the time to call me. And then we've spoken a few times ever since then. And again, to everyone listening, do little things that make you stand out.
It's not that I was gonna say, it's not that complicated in a way. And so last year, yeah, we did. We printed a card and we sent it to everyone that we've worked with. And we ended up sending, I think about 70 some, most people we knew and there were a few like you where I was like, I'm throwing a bottle in the ocean and we'll see what happens. I'm glad I did, because as you said, you remember it.
Sarah: Absolutely. And here you are today sharing your story and you had so much success along the way. What are you looking for today? Are you looking for money partners, joint venture partners, people to invest with you in Montreal? If you could let the audience, The REITE Club nation know right now, what it is that you're looking for more deals. But if they can give back to you or reach out to you, what would it be for?
Axel: That's a really good point. I would, so you know what there's multiple things, but I'll keep it short is that obviously I'm growing and I'm looking for more good deals. I'm looking for them actively myself or through others. I also now do take partners. If anyone wants to join and do a deal together they can contact me. I was gonna say, be my guest. I'm also looking, I actually also really want to help as many people start investing in real estate because for us, it's made a big difference in our lives and real estate investing is, it is something that still has a fairly big mental barrier to entry.
A lot of people are scared and we all know people who for three years said, I wanna invest in real estate. It's like, how many offers have you made? None. Okay. There you go. And so I want to help people and give them the confidence that if I can do it and if our phone can do it, and if Sarah can do it, you can do it too.
You just need to invest in the right things. You just need to put in the hard work, but anyone can do this. It's not that difficult. And so that's also what I've tried to share with the podcast that I've started now two years ago about sharing stories about small real estate investors from Quebec. That's what it is to give others the confidence and the knowledge that they can do it too.
Alfonso: Absolutely. And I think, to how we started this conversation about finding deals on market, off market, all those types of things you have to make it happen. It's not just gonna fall on your lap. If this was easy. Everybody and their brother and their sister and their uncle would be all doing this. And there is more and more attention around this, but it's not easy.
There's gonna be challenges. There's gonna be difficulties, how you get past it, how you do it and how you bring yourself. Your authenticity to the table is really what gets it done. I've really enjoyed this conversation and yeah, we're definitely gonna have to have you on for more conversations and podcasts. But at this point of the podcast, we've reached our lightning round. So Axel, are you ready for the lightning round?
Axel: I am.
Sarah: Question number one, Axel. What is the best advice that you have ever received from another investor or at a networking event?
Axel: Done is better than perfect.
Sarah: I love that. That's awesome. I love that saying guys. Stop trying to be perfect. Get things done. And then over time you are gonna get better and better. Just start and you're gonna make plenty of mistakes and it's gonna be crappy and it's not what you wanted and this and that, but start is the biggest first step you can make.
Alfonso: And that never changes, doesn't matter how many projects, how many deals you do? Just keep starting, keep making mistakes. There is, in my opinion, no such thing as perfect. So question number two, what is your favorite resource for real estate investing?
Axel: My favorite resource. I was gonna say while now with the internet there's so much internet podcast. I've listened to hundreds of hours of bigger pockets from the US. So some of it is transferable, some of it isn't as Sarah said a bit earlier. I was gonna say the best resource is people who have done it is just that sometimes they're hard to reach and sometimes they don't necessarily wanna take the time to walk you through it. But my best resource would be, others were just a little bit further along the way.
Sarah: Great advice. And if you wanna get a hold of them, send them a personalized stamp card with a picture of your family. you got it. All right. Number three. In your opinion, what is the attribute that you have that has made you most successful?
Axel: I was gonna oh, perseverance and people skills. If you ask me to choose between the two, I'll probably persevere. It's just like it's hard, you just need to keep going at it. And eventually it will work. And then real estate is such a people's business that likes being decent. And when I say decent things like the social part of it, I find it helps. So those two traits have been rather helpful.
Alfonso: Absolutely. Last question. On a typical Sunday morning, what are you getting up to? What are you doing? What does that look like for you?
Axel: We have two young kids, two and five, and on Sundays it's French toast, crepes or pancakes, whichever they feel like. And that's pretty much the first thing we start with after that we go on with the day, but that's a family tradition that we like, and I like maple syrup. And the kids too, it's grown on them.
Sarah: Do you think that cuz I'm technically my mom's from Quebec city and we used to have crepes like on Saturdays and Sundays with the Maple syrup. Is that a French thing?
Axel: Yeah, quite it is. And so it depends how you want to eat those grapes. Do you eat them sweet? Do you eat them salty? The kids really like sweets, so I'll feed them first. And then I usually do some with ham cheese and some grated cheese. And then you close it, like at the restaurants and I'll eat about two or three of them. And then I just sit on the couch with a coffee and that's my Sunday morning start. I love it. And Sarah, or Alfonso, next time you guys are in town, come over one morning. I'll make you crepes.
Sarah: Do you guys have, okay, so one of the things I absolutely love too, my grandma used to make them and my aunt does too. You're so good with a little bit of mustard and it's like this like ground pork that you put on your toast in the morning with a little mustard. I tell you that it's a game changer.
Axel: It is, so you're absolutely right. It's quite the tradition in Quebec. I've actually, we don't really have it. I don't have it in the morning, but more like around lunch or a little snack here and there and it's a total tradition in Quebec.
Alfonso: Oh man. Listeners, I hope you've had your breakfast, lunch or dinner already because I know I'm listening to this and it's just around dinner time right now, where we're at and I'm getting my stomach's grumbling, getting hungry, listening to all these delicious things, but Axel, thank you so much for being on the show today. Any last words of advice or anything that you'd like to share with The REITE club nation?
Axel: For all the investors out there either have just started or they want to keep going at it's delayed gratification. You'll never regret it, it's a long term game. You're running a marathon, keep going at it. You'll be happy in the future. And 30 years from now, we can all be on the beach with a pina colada in our hand, because one day we started and one day we planted a seed. So go plant that seed and go water it.
Sarah: It's amazing. Axel, where can our REITE Club nation reach out and find out more?
Axel: Sure. So the very real estate effect podcast, it's available anywhere you listen, and then online@realestateeffect.ca and otherwise on Instagram or Facebook feel free to reach out. And I'm always just a dial away. If anyone has questions or chat or anything like that, it'll be a pleasure. I really mean it. When I say I want to help as many people get started in real estate investing. So reach out.
Sarah: Amazing Axel. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Axel: Thank you for having me.
What a wonderful conversation. Axel, great tips, great information, just a unique approach to the way that he approaches the whole real estate industry and some cool tips like champagne and handwritten letters, things that get deals done and, making sellers, buyers, everybody remember who you are and how do you stand out just a little bit, some really great tips. Make sure you go back and listen to some of those, but Sarah, what did you take away or what did you like about that conversation?
Sarah: Just about doing those additional small things, the bottle of champagne, I'll tell you he was memorable to me. And this was like two years ago because he sent me the card and I'll tell you sometimes it's just doing those little things that are outside the box that not everybody is doing, that makes you stand out.
What are you doing to stand out? Whether it's for a deal that you're trying to get with maybe a potential seller or something that you're doing to set yourself apart from being a landlord or anything in between. I think that is great. Done is better than perfect. One of my favorite sayings as well, but there's tons of information in this podcast. I hope that everybody enjoyed it. What about you Alfonso?
Alfonso: It was action packed, a lot of information in there and yeah, just his unique approach. I really love that, he doesn't really let anything and he's real. He's saying it is hard. There are difficulties at the moment. You're gonna get frustrated. You're gonna get some anxiety but really detaching yourself. It's just a project. That's just a deal. This is business.
If you can detach yourself and not get too emotional, I know sometimes I get really excited and emotional on different projects that we work on, but I'm getting better at detaching and saying, hey, this is just another deal that we need to work on.
We need to go through and you can't tie your emotions too into that. Great conversation, really awesome having him on and for more great conversations, great information, make sure to get onto thereiteclub.com. We have all of the podcasts, lots of our webinars, snippets, all different types of forums. Everything is on there for you to go and absorb and collect more and more information.
Keep educating yourself. It never stops. There's more and more information that you can learn and get better. Definitely check us out on thereiteclub.com. And Sarah said, leave us a rating, a review. Help more people find us, if this has been helpful, tell us what you like, what you didn't like. And maybe you got a great story that you wanna share. Reach out to us. We'd love to have you on and be part of the community of sharing all this information that we have. We're all collectively better when we do share and have that information and learn from each other.
Sarah: And on that note, don't forget along the way, make sure to customize your life REITE club nation. Thanks for tuning in.
DJ: Thanks for listening to The REITE Club podcast, where the focus is on helping all levels of real estate investors advance to the next level and help you customize your life. Be sure to tune in next week at thereiteclub.com/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you get a few seconds, please rate the podcast wherever you're listening. It helps the show get noticed by others like you, and we truly appreciate it. And don't forget to subscribe.
- Log in or register to post comments
- ARNEL-LLEMIT-1637316866's Blog