Sarah Larbi: REITE Club community, welcome back to another episode of the REITE Club podcast. I'm Sarah Larbi and joining me today is Laurel Simmons, my co-host. Hey Laurel.
Laurel Simmons: Hi Sarah, how are you?
Sarah Larbi: I'm good. Laurel let's talk about Mel and Dave, our guests for today's show. Mel and Dave have built a very successful real estate empire without using any of their own money and without joint venturing. And they've been really creative and getting vendor take backs and investors loaning out money, et cetera, to build hundreds of units. I'm excited to have them come on, but it's a great episode and I think definitely the REITE club community is in for a good treat today.
Laurel Simmons: Yeah, it's pretty amazing when you think they've done it in such a short period of time. And as you'll hear in the interview there was really a sort of a catalyst, an incident where that made them really focus and say, okay, enough is enough.
Let's really do this, put the pedal to the metal, and really move. And they did cause up to that point, they had about 12 units and now they're well over 200 and they just keep innovating and growing. You say they don't use their own money, so that's a pretty cool way to do it. And, but they do have systems because they have systems.
Sarah Larbi: Processes, a team and the will to take action and do the analysis too. And it's all encompassing. So it is really exciting. And I'm excited for this podcast and guys, if you have not left a rating in a review, please do so on Apple or Google or wherever you listen to these podcasts. It is greatly appreciated. Laurel, let's bring in Mel and Dave. Mel and Dave, welcome to the show. How are you?
Mel Dupuis: We're great.
Dave Dupuis: Thank you for having us.
Mel Dupuis: Thank you so much for having us. Great to see you both again.
Sarah Larbi: Yes, I know virtually, hopefully in person soon. One of these days.
Mel Dupuis: Yes. Fingers crossed on that one.
Sarah Larbi: You guys are so inspiring. When I think of a couple that's been investing in real estate, scale their business, helping others, you come to mind as you're out there and you're making others really successful. And you're also in my mind, known as, if you have a question about multi-family investing or investing, with your own capital or other people's money without having to JV you come to mind.
Many people may not know who you are. I would just say, reach out to Mel and Dave. They are awesome. But can you share a little bit about how you got started in real estate investing and then also where you are today? Cause it hasn't been many years. It's been a few years, but not decades long.
Mel Dupuis: Yes. Sounds great. When I met Dave, I had two properties. I guess her growth has been a lot fairly recently, but when I met Dave, I had two properties. Dave had the one, and we slowly started buying properties the traditional way, one at a time. Our growth was very slow. And we worked all the time in order to come up with that 20% or 25 % down. And then we went on a trip to Florida. We read, or we listened to the audiobook Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And it just completely made us realize that we were doing it all wrong.
We're working so hard all the time. And then that's when we realized how valuable creative financing was. And then the next year we bought 12 properties in 12 months. Using none of our own many no joint ventureship partners. And that was 56 units back then, and now we have over 200. So in departments now.
Sarah Larbi: That's amazing. Congratulations.
Dave Dupuis: Thank you. Yeah, and Mel was saying, it's been a lot more in the latter part of 2017 than in 2012, and then this past year, sorry, 2020, a 119 units somewhere starting August to October, something like that. So anyway, yeah, very exciting. And this year we're hoping to replicate that. Fun stuff.
Laurel Simmons: It's really cool that you've got so many units in a relatively short period of time, and I think one of the things that is the most interesting is that, like you said, you can't just. Get 20% financing or the 25%, whatever it is and work really hard and then get another 20 or 25%.
Obviously something changed and I'm thinking it's the systems and you get there in a repeat system, right? So tell us a little bit about the system. Cause I think people will be really interested in that. I'm interested in that. I'm always interested in systems because anything that I rinse and repeat. Yes you might make a tweak here and there. That's just part of life. But rinse and repeat. I love that term.
Mel Dupuis: Once it works, right?
Dave Dupuis: Yes. And the magic I guess thing was just the creative financing and Mel said the mindset shift with the rich dad poor dad, and then just. Changing that debt is a bad concept. And honestly the thing that really changed our lives was seller financing. That's really our go-to. And that's something I really think people just, they don't ask. They just, they think people are just gonna say, no, that doesn't work here.
Mel Dupuis: Sometimes they will.
Dave Dupuis: A lot of times they'll say no. But it works everywhere. It works anywhere. You just, you need to ask. But that's been the biggest game changer Laurel, for us was the seller financing, where as soon as we realized, oh wow, they can actually help with our down payment. The game changer.
Mel Dupuis: Realizing that it's a win-win and it's not a fit for anyone like anything else, but it is a win-win. People wanna do seller financing because it benefits them in different ways. If it's not listed with an agent, then they don't have to pay fees, and if it is listed, there's still benefits to them.
They can make interest off, you're gonna negotiate an interest rate, so they're gonna be making extra money, but this time it's possible, and also with the tax benefits as well, it's huge for sellers. So that was definitely the one that kind of helped us grow. And since then, when we do get nos, but seller financing, then we'll use various strategies such as using somebody else's RSPs or using a promissory note as well.
Laurel Simmons: The other day. And I literally, I cannot remember who I was speaking to about this, but I was really surprised it got a hundred percent, oh, I think it was one of our events.
Somebody was saying they got a hundred percent vendor take. And I was just like, almost fell on my chair. Literally, I almost held my chair. Do you ever run into that situation where you get a hundred percent?
Dave Dupuis: We've done it I think twice now. The first one is the unicorn.
Mel Dupuis: The unicorn, yes. So it does exist. It's a little bit more rare.
Dave Dupuis: The first one we did, and we did not fall into it. We bought a building off of a seller, and typically they have more than one. And when he held a second mortgage for us, so once he received the proceeds from selling the first building to us, he then took that money and paid off the other building completely.
Then that's when we negotiated a hundred percent seller financing. So that was our first one. And we thought, Katie, we just get lucky here. Is this just a one time thing? But then we've also had another one as well where it's a hundred percent financing. We had a one year term and it was just under performing.
We got the rents up, we got the expenses down and paid them out and they were happy. No, I love it that's, but again, I just don't want anyone thinking, Hey, if we're just gonna walk out and get a hundred percent finance deal, they do happen, but they are a lot rare.
Mel Dupuis: Yes, and they do happen. And just as much due diligence, if not more, needs to happen as well. So you get excited because, hey, it's a hundred percent VTB or owner finance deal. None of my own money right there. It's easy to jump on it, but you have to make sure that your ratios make sense. Most importantly, you have to have your own exit strategy.
Make sure that you know how you're gonna pay them out when the turns end. And that's where I feel that a lot of people don't spend enough time on really making sure they have that exit strategy. Even the building we're in right now, it was 80% owner finance, 20% Miss RSP. So no financial institution was involved.
That's very normal as well when you start doing creative financing deals. But you always have to not be afraid to also push back a deal if it doesn't make sense. Yes we certainly push back a lot of deals cause we're getting approached more and more as people know more and more what we do.
There are so many deals out there that they just financially don't make sense that you have to say no as well. So it's knowing the difference between the right deal and the bad deal.
Laurel Simmons: I think that's a really important point to make because there's a lot of people I think, who are, especially when you're just starting out, it's like you're more interested in getting the deal rather than actually doing the analysis around the deal and, does it work?
Does it really work? Like a deep dive into the numbers and your exit strategy? Cause I think people get so caught up and so excited. I've got a deal, like I wanna sign, and then they sign and then get into trouble.
Dave Dupuis: I agree. They get that tunnel vision. Then getting the deal is more important. Oh, I'll just deal with it later on. I'll figure it out. Laurel is a perfect example of this, and I almost did it myself, as there was a 12 plex in our city. He had gutted it. He had done all the renovations, all the rents were up to market rent, and he was offering me 90% or 95% financing, so I was gonna borrow the other five or 10% downstroke.
The building was awesome. I didn't have to do anything, but then I, and I think it was a two or three year term, but I had no exit because the building was already up to market rent. It was already renovated. There's nothing I could do to make the building worth more, so unfortunately I had to turn it away because I don't know how I'm gonna pay them back.
Maybe if I would've been a greener investor, I would've thought this is too good to pass up. And then I might've been in trouble two, three years down the road. But I agree with you. It's very hard sometimes. To not get that tunnel vision and to see the whole picture.
Mel Dupuis: Especially when you're looking at lots of deals, and you just wanna get to closing. And that's important as well, for investors to know that as well. That sometimes you might, we've gone months where we didn't buy any properties.
Dave Dupuis: Drives us bonkers.
Mel Dupuis: Drive that's crazy. But that's okay. And then we have much that where we explode, we buy a lot of properties and that's kinda, I think it's a life of a real estate investor as well, because sometimes you just, there might not be the right deal and know that it's okay as well. Don't force it.
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. It is intriguing for, myself, many listeners that look at what you've built and you've done it essentially being very creative and these VTB and you are in Ontario and you're doing these vendor take backs in Ontario.
Can you walk us through, the initial conversation and what you have, with the seller, why it's a benefit to them, and then walk us through maybe the steps that you take. So if they do say yes then what happens?
Dave Dupuis: Absolutely. And just to what we're negotiating right now cause we are looking at getting, expanding. We're currently negotiating a 14 unit seller financing deal in Saskatchewan, and we're also currently negotiating a seller financing deal for a trailer park in Florida. So again, people that say, oh, it only works everywhere, guys, so don't limit yourself.
A hundred percent usually, typically what we do is once we find someone, whether it's on market or off market, We'll approach it and we typically ask the question when I'm talking directly to them is, are you open to creative financing? And that kind of just breaks the ice. I'll see if they understand it or I, if I'm completely out of left field to them.
Mel Dupuis: They'll either say yes, nope, not at all. Or what do you mean?
Dave Dupuis: What is that? And then from there, that'll dictate sometimes with the sellers that I really love doing the creative financing, the seller financing you're with are like, oh my gosh, yes. That's actually how I got into this deal with the past owner. And as soon as you hear that, they are open to it.
They understand it and they like it because, hey, that's how I got into this deal. And I've been there, done that. So yes, I'm willing to do it as well. I've had some where we manage the buildings and I've asked that question and they go, Dave, I know that's what you do, but absolutely not.
I'm just, I don't want anything to do with it. I know it works for you. I don't want anything to do with it. I'm just selling it. Or the ones where they say, what is it? They have talked to their accountants, but are their lawyers. And then they get spooked or they find more information and see.
This is legal. But after that, after those kinds of three scenarios we dive in, right? And then that's when we really get into the terms. So let's say it's scenario number one or three we dive into the terms, right? And we make it a win-win. Some people are dead set on their closing dates, right? Let's say you're starting to negotiate September, October, and they just, it has to be next year for tax purposes.
It has to be next year. Okay, fine. Hey, we'll wait till January, we'll be late till February. Give them what they want. That's absolutely what they want. Hey, let's wait four months. Who cares? So then you just go back and forth, but it truly has to be the win-win where they're getting what their needs met.
They're selling their building, that's their succession planning, and you're giving them the closing date or the terms that they're looking for without selling the farm. But then you're getting what you want, which is a zero down asset with attractive terms. And I like going interest only payments because that keeps my cash flow high, my payments low. So it's really doing that dance back and forth. But again, both parties have to win.
Mel Dupuis: We always make sure to show them our exit strategy as well, which I think is crucial because at the end of the day, why do they wanna do this? They have to obviously like you as a person, but it has to be a numerical, logical, strategic decision for them as well.
By showing them our exit strategy, which is based on numbers, there's no motion in it. It's very strategic. That certainly helps quite often, they'll take it, they'll show their accountants and they see that it makes sense. They can actually see their exit strategy, which means that, okay, now they can actually see how you're gonna pay them back. It makes it a safe, safer investment for them as well.
Sarah Larbi: Have you found that the people that have said yes, you were giving them their sale price, were, do you ever offer more, a little bit more money up front cause you know there's gonna be an exit and it's gonna lift. So if they want a million, maybe you offer them a million 0.1, but with a VTB is that the strategy or do you have other strategies where you're just buying it below market as well?
Dave Dupuis: To be honest with you when we're gonna go, I 've never given them a bonus to do it. I've never said, Hey, you're asking a million. I'll give you 1.1. I've never done that particular one. Would I be opposed to it? It would have to make sense in the deal, but I do most of the time give them their asking price. So if they're asking a mill, am I gonna go in and haggle for 975 or nine 980? Probably not. And the whole reason. So a couple of different things.
When I'm underwriting the deal, when I'm looking at the deal, If they're asking a million dollars and I need to get that deal at 995 for it to make sense, I probably shouldn't be buying the deal anyway. If that $5,000 or $10,000 asking price, because think of that on the mortgage.
If it's razor thin I am, and I'm not saying that some people don't, but I wouldn't do it. So you want a mill, the deal makes sense in my matrix. You're willing to finance. Hey, take your purchase, your asking price. Perfect.
Then I'm gonna want something on the other end, like that interest only payment, or I'm gonna want an additional year on the term so that I can truly exit the deal, which ends up benefiting them so they know I'm gonna pay them back. Sarah in that scenario. I never really haggle on price, to be honest with you, because the deal either makes sense or doesn't.
Mel Dupuis: And this came with time because when we first started off. Before we certainly went through the whole stage that we wanna win, we wanna get the best price, we want all financing, we want low interest. Then we realize that we are also by having that kind of mindset. Are missing out on a lot of deals because we were looking at us winning and now we stopped doing that. And now we want to win. Of course we do. We wanna get in building not own money, have those good deals with appreciation and all that.
We want the other person to win as well. Because number one, we have a higher chance of getting the building by telling their friends about it. See, quite often, one landlord has a lot more than one property. If they disclose it to you or not? Many of them do, and we've had a lot of people who do repeat business or they ended up.
Going from seller financing to private lending. Pass forward a couple years as well. So just always thinking bigger picture and really truly making it a win-win was crucial for a business.
Dave Dupuis: Sarah example I'm just thinking one, we were buying a building for 2.2 million in like just 2020 we closed on October 19th. But anyway, what I'm getting at here is they were asking 2.2 million. The first mortgage came in at 55% loan to value and it was about 10% lower than I thought.
I thought they were gonna commit at 65. So I did go back and negotiate with the seller because there was a hundred percent financing for the deal. I said, Hey, we're gonna have to lower the purchase price because now I've gotta come up with an extra $200,000.
Cause that's 10% of the deal, right? Or $220,000. So I asked that and they said, you know what? I was gonna hold a 25 second mortgage. I'll now hold a 35 second mortgage. So if they still got their purchase price, I got 10% more from them in seller financing. So again, win-win, right? They got their price. I got what I wanted. A hundred percent finance deal. Sorry, that scenario just popped up in my head.
Laurel Simmons: I think you're right. It really is a mindset that when you switch over to that how can this work for everybody? Then, like you say, everybody wins, right? It's not grabbing that last nickel on the table because really say if you need that money that badly, here you have it.
I think I'm gonna go somewhere else. Cause I don't really want to deal with someone who's that narrow minded. I don't know how to describe it, but to move on to a slightly different topic, like you've got so much experience in a fairly short period of time and you're really busy with your business and that's great, but why did you decide to mentor people? Cause you're doing that all across South America. You are mentoring people, so what are you doing and why?
Mel Dupuis: Yes, and thank you. And this is not something we used to do because we used to have a completely different mindset. In fact, when we bought 12 properties in 12 months, we did not tell anyone. Not even my own mom had asked me, how are you buying all these properties?
Did you win the lottery? And not tell me? And I'm like, oh, don't worry about it, mom. And I just, I literally didn't tell anyone. And then on, in 2018, we were on our way to a real estate investing conference and that day changed our lives and our mindset forever. Essentially we were in a horrific car crash.
It was caused by a careless transport driver who got charged. He was in between lanes. He hit a vehicle that hit us and it was just before can's wonderland for those who knows, Toronto. And we literally started rolling across the highway four times. We landed upside down and our vehicle completely crashed.
We thought we were of course dying. And when they say life, what's saying life? Flash before your eyes. It really does. Like thinking about my three kids and everything else, and it was a day that forever changed our lives. We decided why we are, first of all, this is not documented anywhere.
We couldn't even pass on this knowledge to our kids. Yeah, we have the buildings, but they don't have the knowledge piece cause we didn't, we were too. We had the scarcity mindset. So that's when that same weekend we decided to still go to the conference, we decided to write a book.
It became a number one bestseller, and since then we started helping other people. And it's been, the more we help this, the more I love it. We've had people being able, since joining our, we have over 600 mentees. People have quit their jobs. People are able to help change the life of their children.
Just all these kinds of things. So I just love it. It happened, in a weird way that day as awful and horrific, and I still hate thinking about it, but sometimes things happen for a reason because it just was, our purpose to help other people get there financially.
Sarah Larbi: I'm super happy that you guys are here today with us, cause you never know when you know these horrific things happen. But it's amazing to see what you decide to do because sometimes something like that needs to happen for a path change or a perspective change.
It looks like you, like you're helping hundreds of people now. That's just amazing to see. Even, we have some people at the REITE club that work for us at the REITE club, and they're also part of your group and they have amazing things to say about what you do.
Can you share how you coach? Is it one-on-one? Is it a group? Walk us maybe through if somebody is interested in reaching out to you for coaching. What are some of the programs that you offer?
Dave Dupuis: We'll break down and I'm sure you'll help me, but we it's group learning. And I never would've thought, and people always say, Dave, I want one-on-one mentoring. And it's okay you think you want that, you think you need it? And some people might, but I just love the group learning aspect of it.
The thing I love is because someone you know, Sarah, you might be over in BC and you might ask a question and Laura's over in the East coast and you're learning from experiences that Sarah's asking questions about, or Sarah asked a question.
I know that's not where you guys live, but I'm just to give an example. Like Sarah would ask a question where Laurel would be like I never even thought of that. Now I'm, that's interesting. So that's what I love about group learning is it's not just your questions, it's not just your interaction, it's also everyone else's.
You're getting that, that broad experience and answers as well for things that you didn't ask, but now you know what the answer or how to look at it because someone else asked it. So I dunno if I explained that correctly. But that's the part I love about group learning.
Mel Dupuis: Essentially it's meant to be very flexible. When we bought a lot of properties, those 12 properties in 12 months we're both still working full-time, three kids. So time was of an essence and time management was in essence. And so we divided it into different sections, but essentially, They're gonna get over 120 laser focused.
Dave Dupuis: It's not 120 hours of content, it's well, 15, 16 hours off, do this is exactly what you say, this is what, not you say, this is our casual matrix, all those kinds of things. And the other section is where they can go in and ask us questions every single day. So we're very active.
Although it's in a group setting, we answer everybody. Questions individually, like in, on the platform. So we still answer everybody's questions. We go live with the action family once a week as well. And what I love the most is that every single Monday on our Instagram page, we feature one of our mentee Mondays, one of our success stories on our Instagram page.
That's how many success stories there are. We have people buying one property in three months, or four properties in five months, or 51 apartments in a year. And everybody's journey's gonna be different, of course. But it's seeing the results that you know that, of course they took action. But we're able to help them through their journey. And it's a lifetime access program as well.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. So it's live and it's a certain number of hours. Is it like, like ongoing just month to month and just ongoing that way?
Mel Dupuis: Yeah it's a, it's a one-time investment and then it's a lifetime access. So whether you know of course the bulk of the learning is like anything. Upfront, right? You're gonna have lots of questions and all that. The nice thing about it, we call it a journey together. So whether you have a roadblock in two months from now and two years from now, it doesn't matter.
You always have somebody who can help you through it or whole life changes. With covid, a lot of people. Okay. How are you guys handling it? What are you doing with this? Or when there were changes with CMHC C and they had somebody on speed dial, he could call it, just having a group of people to lean on all the time.
Laurel Simmons: I'm gonna ask the big question that I can feel hovering over me, which is so why are you doing this? Like, why are you mentoring people and you have more than one business, right? And you could probably just live off the proceeds of your investments. So what's driving you? Because I always find that really interesting.
Mel Dupuis: Honestly comes back to that car crash of leaving my, I wanna help as many people as I can and leaving, I guess my, leaving legacy behind. I love, I have, I just, I truly love seeing all the successes, helping other people. Achieve financial freedom through real estate investing because I know, like I was a single mom in a small two bedroom apartment, living paycheck to paycheck, not knowing how I was gonna get through.
There's certainly nothing special about Dave and I. We just, we took action and we got through roadblocks and all of that. And the fact that knowing that anybody can actually do this, there's no, nothing special. We always say you need three things. You need resources, you need knowledge, and you need to take action, right?
Once, if I can provide, if the person's ready to take action, and if in my mentoring I can help with the resources and with the knowledge piece, then they can also become limitless. And I just think it makes it a better world. And again, it's just now we have so much, we have a bonus Facebook group as well in our mentoring program where, again, everything's a win-win.
If I wanna buy a place in Florida, I know, to contact, or in Seattle or in California or in BC or Nova Scotia, I'm connected with my action family. Again, so even, and I didn't really see that coming. That was the thing about a win-win. You never know how it's gonna come back to you in different ways, but even just that alone is priceless as well.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. That's awesome. So what's next for you? Do you have plans on making any big purchases or are you currently negotiating A few things? By the time this airs, it'll be a few months later, what's the plan for 2021?
Dave Dupuis: We're already looking at, so the buildings we bought September, October, we're already starting the ball with the refinances. So paying out those investors. And then buying some other deals again.
Just like Laurel had said at Rinse and Repeat. So we're gonna be doing that as well in 2021. We wanna build a portfolio in the States as well. That's what I was saying earlier, the trailer park we're looking at, we're looking at different buildings there as well. The mentorship program, keeping that up, that's so much fun.
Again it's such a, It's a really good feeling and I didn't think it would feel that good, but it's super fun helping people. Every Wednesday when we get off I'm just on a super high and so I don't wanna stop that. But yeah that's what I see. Anyway, I don't know what email.
Mel Dupuis: I think you covered it. Just keep doing it, it's nice because we do what we love. We're able to help other people. We're able to keep buying properties, but because we have a large team, we don't do that alone. We have a very large team. We're able to have that flexibility and we've been very good this year, specifically, more than ever, is really blocking off those huge blocks.
Like in the mornings, we don't come into the office till 11 o'clock and it's just time in the morning with the kids, and then we have a bit of our time and workout. It's just that kind of thing. Just setting that time aside and just being able to have a reduced hours of that we're actually working but still doing what we love because we can rely on our amazing team.
Sarah Larbi: That's amazing. You guys are inspiring and a mobile home park sounds really interesting. Before we get into the lightning round I'm just curious, how did that one come about and can you just share what you can to this at this point with why mobile home parks are a good investment?
Dave Dupuis: I'm just so I'm always looking in the states. I love Florida, so I'm mostly looking at what has high cap rates, what has a lot of units, what's making cash flow. And I know nothing about mobile homes, right? I've never purchased one, so that excites me. I knew nothing about storage and I bought storage, and now I'm into it.
Mobile home parks, I'm doing some research, so it's just something different so then I can talk about it. Last year we bought land, so now I can talk about it. So it's just, again, just learning, having fun, and it's all to do with real estate and making money at the same time. So that's why.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. I'd be curious to see the numbers on those. Once you've got it all covered, we'll have to bring you back and maybe walk you through or walk us through that whole process and what the financials look like. Awesome. So guys, the next part of the podcast is our lightning round Laurel and I will take turns asking you four total questions.
You can answer together or you can answer each, separately if you want, whatever you want. And each answer is under 30 seconds. Are you ready to play?
Mel Dupuis: We are ready?
Sarah Larbi: All right. Question number one. What is the best advice that you have ever received from another investor or at a networking event?
Mel Dupuis: For me, it was probably to stop taking advice from people who aren't quite as highly as successful as you are in that specific field. Because I used to listen to everyone else saying, why would you wanna do this?
Isn't that enough? And you don't have time, you have kids. And one of my coaches told me, stop taking advice from people who aren't qualified to do so for this specific field. And I thought wow, that's brilliant. Makes so much sense. And now that's exactly what I choose to do.
Dave Dupuis: Mine and I'll keep it short. Mine was, and this is more as my portfolio is growing, we had a mentor tell us to picture yourself as though you're the CEO and you have to sit in front of the board every quarter and you have to say, what did you do this quarter as a CEO? Why are we paying you this much money? Why did you go to that unit and move a fridge?
We're paying you a CEO wage. So it is just, that really keeps, whenever I'm doing something, I'm like, oh, what I sit in front of my board of directors and tell 'em, as a CEO of the business, I'm doing this. Again, when you're starting out, you're gonna be everything. But as you grow your portfolio, think of what you're gonna say to the board.
Laurel Simmons: Yes. Think of your team, like your really important support team. Exactly. So question number two, what is your favorite resource for real estate investing? And that can be anything. A book training person event. What's your favorite resource?
Mel Dupuis: For me, it probably goes something that I always seem to go back to and it has to do with me, the mindset is probably the secret, the book The Secret, just because of my mindset off.
The success or the easiness of my life just doesn't seem to come. And anytime I feel or we feel that we're off a little bit or things aren't going well or we're having a hard time with whatever, then it's okay, whose fault is that? Let's think, what are we telling ourselves?
I go back to that audiobook or even watch it in the background because it's all about mindset and all that. So that's probably one of my biggest tools just to stay on track from a mental love point of view, I guess.
Dave Dupuis: I've got two things I found recently. We've gone to a lot of your different events and I like it because again, we're not joint venture people, but I hear people talking about it and I always find it neat to see what they're doing.
We've gone on a couple of your events lately and I really liked it. Something else I've been, we've been listening to is clubhouse. A lot of Americans. There not, doesn't seem like too many Canadians, but again, just picking up different tidbits of stuff in the state.
Mel Dupuis: Just being able to network just recently and connect with different people.
Sarah Larbi: I just joined Clubhouse as well. It is neat. Like you could literally, it's like a podcast slash radio show where you can participate if you want, or you can host it if you want it. It is pretty cool. Awesome. Question number three. What is the one attribute for each of you that has made you most successful?
Mel Dupuis: I'll let you go first this time.
Dave Dupuis: I think this is where we, you and I fit well if I'm a big dreamer, right? Let's go buy a trailer park in the States. Let's go buy something. And it's just, why not? You'll figure it out. So my attribute is to think big, dream big and we'll make it happen somehow.
Mel Dupuis: Minus to let's rationalize, let's analyze, let's create systems. So yes, I think together.
Dave Dupuis: Having a team where you can have both of that or all of that is very important.
Mel Dupuis: Think way bigger than I do. But then I'm able to systemize. Compared to you, you're like, we don't need a system. Yes, we do.
Laurel Simmons: Those are really complementary skill sets. And attitudes, and that work really works. Okay. Question number four and the last one. What do you typically do on a Sunday morning?
Mel Dupuis: Sunday morning is family time. So usually quite often we're at the cottage. So in the wintertime we're snow revealing. If it's nice, if it's warm enough, oh, we're gonna go spend time with the kids. In the summertime we have a pool as well, so we love just being outside with the kiddos.
Dave Dupuis: I'm trying to think, like this past Sunday was, that was answering mentee questions, right? Spending time with the kids, and then we try and go live on another source of social media platforms. But yeah, after we spend time with the three kids af anyways.
Mel Dupuis: After a couple hours, they have another blast.
Sarah Larbi: How old are your kids?
Mel Dupuis: 15, 12 and 6.
Sarah Larbi: Nice. And are they into real estate investing at this point?
Dave Dupuis: They don't know the concept, but they know that the buildings pay for everything. So even, a six year old.
Mel Dupuis: Yeah. When he was four and we'd take him to Disney, he'd be like, mom and dad didn't pay for this the buildings did.
Dave Dupuis: We'll teach him the mechanics.
Mel Dupuis: Yeah. But more and more, yeah, I think they like the lifestyle. They see the lifestyle.
Dave Dupuis: It's not just money, it's the time freedom that we have.
Mel Dupuis: Yeah. Cause especially, I think even more so for me, cause your old job, you were more flexible, your hours. But for me they're like, mom, you're just home. Like I'm home in the mornings. I'm home. When they get from home, from school, I'm just home. As opposed to arriving at, five, six o'clock type of thing.
Sarah Larbi: That's awesome. Very cool. Mel, Dave, where can our community reach out to find out more about you?
Mel Dupuis: Yes, We're on all social media platforms, literally, and it's always investors, Mel and Dave. So we have a YouTube channel, so there's lots and lots of videos there. We're on Instagram, we're on TikTok, we're on Clubhouse, we're on Facebook. Did I forget any? Anyhow, pretty much every platform always invests in Mel and Dave so they can just reach out there.
Laurel Simmons: Sounds like you can, you almost need a team to manage your social media.
Mel Dupuis: I do have a team to manage my social media.
Laurel Simmons: There you go. System, right?
Mel Dupuis: Yes. System. Yes. Dave would say, oh, we'll figure it out. I'm like, Nope. No. We definitely need a team.
Laurel Simmons: That's great. Thank you so much, both of you. And Yes, we do wanna hear about the trailer park that's just so fascinating.
Dave Dupuis: Absolutely. Whenever we end up, I have nothing.
Mel Dupuis: We'll see what exactly. It's not formed yet, so we'll see what happens. We'll see.
Dave Dupuis: If that one falls, find another one.
Mel Dupuis: It might just keep throwing balls until one of them sticks.
Sarah Larbi: There you go. Awesome. Mel, Dave, thank you for being on the show. It was a pleasure having you both on.
Mel Dupuis: Thank you so much.
Laurel Simmons: Sarah, like they're so inspiring, aren't they? What they do and it's not just what they've done. It's their attitude about it that I find so appealing. It's not just about money. You can tell they're really passionate about helping people.
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. That car crash incident, I'm so happy that they're where they are today, but sometimes that's, it takes something big like that to change the mindset and they set it too, right? They decided to give back and leave a legacy and really take it to the next level.
They are amazing. I've heard great things about them. Mentorship program and they're the real deal. They're still doing it. They're actively investing. They're actively talking and doing what they're offering other students. And they've also had lots of successful students too. So I'm really proud of them. I'm really excited for them. They're really inspiring.
Laurel Simmons: Yeah. And they're just plain easy to talk to. We could have talked, you and I could have talked to them for the next couple of hours cause they're just, they're real people. And they're easy to talk to.
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. So REITE Club community, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. And don't forget, check out thereiteclub.com and come grow with us.
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