January 21, 2025 • 24 mins
What if your background in engineering could lead you to a thriving career in real estate? Meet Layda and Valentina, two industrial engineers who turned their analytical skills into a winning formula for multifamily real estate investing.
Sponsored by: https://ekconsulting.ca/
Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lmv.properties
Book a call with us: https://calendly.com/lmv-properties
In this episode, they share:
✅ How process optimization and problem-solving skills gave them an edge.
✅ Their strategic transition from single-family homes to multifamily investments.
✅ The role of education and mentorship in navigating real estate complexities.
✅ The importance of partnerships in achieving success — likened to a marriage!
✅ Tips on risk management, from understanding tenant profiles to evaluating market locations.
Whether you’re an aspiring investor or a seasoned professional, their practical advice and inspirational stories are a must-watch. Dive in to discover how their love for numbers, spreadsheets, and meaningful relationships is shaping their real estate success.
Watch now and level up your investment game!
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more real estate insights!
#RealEstateInvesting #MultifamilyInvestments #WomenInRealEstate #EngineeringToRealEstate #InvestmentTips
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another thing was also mindset.
Yeah, mindset.
We had to shift our mindset atthe beginning.
Right, it's key.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights, one question at a time
, if you're looking to grow yourbusiness, create cash flow or
invest smarter.
(00:30):
Elizabeth Kelly is a boutiquecoach specializing in business
planning, cash flow creation andreal estate investments.
Through personalized one-on-oneonline coaching, elizabeth
meets you where you are andguides you to your next step.
With nearly 20 years ofexperience, she provides the
(00:57):
systems.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
Visit us at wwwekconsultingcato learn more.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar,and today our guests have over
30 years of industrialengineering background and they
(01:17):
transitioned to be successfulreal estate investors.
They started investing insingle-family and now they
focused on multi-familyproperties.
Welcome, leda and Valentina.
Welcome ladies.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Hello, hello, hi, mario, nice to see you.
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Not a problem.
The concept of the podcast Iask five questions about real
estate or business and we getstraight to the point.
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Ready Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Question number one as industrial engineers with
extensive experience in processoptimization, how do you apply
these principles to evaluatingand managing real estate
properties?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, the biggest thing for us is the numbers.
We love spreadsheets, sorunning numbers for the
properties and analyzing dealsfor us is a key factor.
As industrial engineers, andalways in manufacturing, we have
been always in looking atnumbers and our day-to-day is
solving problems, so it'ssomething that also we apply in
(02:25):
the real estate world.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, as you know, in real estate you always have to
be ready for things that changelast minute.
So that's part of the journeyand we both have a lot of
experience working in quality,which basically day-to-day, is
dealing with problems.
So that's one of the keyelements that we have been able
to apply in real estate.
The other one is processoptimizations right, so we work
(02:53):
directly in the assembly lines,so we try to optimize the
assembly, the quality, theoutput.
So it's very transferable toreal estate, right, because
every real estate is a project,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
The other thing is the deadlines.
We're always working withproject managers, so we know how
to lead a project, lead a team,and when you're in real estate
and you're doing, for example,retrofits, you need to have
deadlines.
You need to make sure you'realigned with everyone.
It's in, you know the team, uh,you know if you're going to
(03:29):
apply to your refi, uh, you haveto make sure you have, uh, your
papers, your deadlines, likeeverything is.
We track everything you know inpaper and you know, like, all
the spreadsheets and all that.
So that's it's.
(03:49):
It's also key and I I also havea team of 11 people, so this
helps in in the real estate whenyou have to deal with other
people managing contractorscontractors.
You know, like I have mysupervisors, so yeah, it helps.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, and one thing I'll tell you it will be
managing the people but alsoworking with other departments,
right?
I don't work in quality anymore, but I remember you had a
complaint from a client.
You have to work with the restof the team to give a solution
right, and we know that in realestate, you know we are very
(04:21):
partnerships is kind of ourheart.
Partnerships is kind of ourheart, so that helps us to work
with other people and align andat the end, find that, identify
that we are to the same endresult and we're working
together to get there.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Absolutely Well.
It seems like you haveeverything under control, from
your nine to five job inbringing it into real estate and
managing a portfolio fromrunning numbers to managing
partners, contractors and maybesome property managers is all
(05:01):
really important things thatreal estate investors have to
know how to do on their everydaylife.
It brings us to our secondquestion and I wanted to ask how
did your transition from owninga single-family home to
acquiring apartment buildingsshape, maybe, your approach to
(05:22):
multifamily investing?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
shape maybe your approach to multifamily
investing.
So for us approaching themultifamily really came
naturally right at the beginning.
So when we started getting theproper education, so we always
felt the love about real estatebut we didn't have the proper
education.
So normally when you don't knowyou just start with a single
family home, right when westarted getting the proper
education.
(05:47):
So normally when you don't knowyou, you just start with a
single on a single family homeright when we start getting the
proper education and andunderstanding that even it
sounds crazy or bigger or moremoney or more problems, it
actually is less right becauseyou are dealing with everything
in under one, one building.
So that was our first approachto move from single family to
multifamily.
So I think it was not a brainer.
(06:08):
When we started to get involvedinto the real estate and
connecting with people,networking, that we saw like,
okay, we want to be that peopleand we started relating
ourselves with the people thatwas working in multifamily.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean multifamily.
It's not like just running likea single family home.
There's different processes,there's different ways to
calculate a deal, as youapproach, as you evaluate a deal
.
So absolutely getting theproper education is a must if
you want to start playing inthat game, in that field of
(06:44):
multifamily.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, and it's key when you don't know what you
don't know right.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, as we're both engineers and we're known for
being so smart you really don'tknow what you don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And you know some people they might try to do it
on their own and it might takeyears and, and you know, do
mistakes and then have to fixthe mistakes and and and
multifamily and real estate anymistakes is it could be very
costly.
So getting the proper education, I think, is key before you get
(07:19):
started.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yes, another thing was also mindset.
Yeah, mindset, that we had toshift our mindset at the
beginning.
Right, it's key.
So you start to get yourselfsurrounded of people.
But if you don't change yourmindset, you won't move right.
So you will still stay in thesame place until you start
(07:42):
changing stay on the same placeuntil you start changing.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, that's a big one, because at the beginning,
as you said, we wanted to do italone.
Yeah, like no, we can do it all.
You know, we have thisbackground in numbers.
We are all set and then werealized there are so many
things that we had to learn andthat we were we were doing like
wrong.
We were doing wrong, like, forexample, we were not adding
vacancy, so then the numberswere not proper, even though we
(08:08):
know how to run numbers, that wewere missing stuff.
So, with the proper education,we're like okay, so now we can
scale right.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's we.
We have to get the emotions outof it and maybe humble
ourselves to say that we don'tknow everything right.
So we need to learn fromothers' mistakes.
It's less costly this way.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, and you know, leverage the risk with other
people's expertise, knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And what you just say is actually very important as
well for us the logic and reason, right.
Yeah, you leave the emotionsoutside when you are working in
a multifamily just say it'sactually very important as well
for us, that the logic andreason right.
Yeah, you leave the emotionsoutside when you are working in
a multifamily building thancompared to a single family or
even a four duplex triplex,because the mortgage obviously
is based on you and all that.
When is a multifamily?
(08:59):
Is the numbers works?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
doesn't work yeah, right, so it's logic, yeah,
become creative yeah it tiesinto um, what we talked about,
into our third question and thisquestion.
I wanted to ask what challengesdid you face from expanding
from single family homes tolarger apartment buildings?
Um, and not only whatchallenges did you face, but but
(09:25):
how did you overcome them?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, it really ties up with the experience.
We don't know everything and weare not experts on everything.
So that moment that we realizedthat there is people, other
investors that share our values,our goals, then we realized
that we can grow bigger you knowbigger faster with other people
, with other expertise, withother experts, because we all
(09:51):
have strengths, we allcomplement each other.
So that's when we decided to goahead and break this challenge
that we had at the beginning,that thinking that we knew
everything, instead of sayingyou know what, there is people
that have already done it and wecan learn from them.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, that was key for us.
And also doing your duediligence right.
So we started to be more likeopen to those partnerships to
make sure that we find peoplethat we align, as Val was saying
, that we have the same goalsbecause has always risk.
So just make your due diligenceand be comfortable with the
(10:29):
risk that you are taking.
So that was the big one for usat the beginning and from there
we are always kind of open forpartnerships, right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, so partnerships can help you also with
financing.
I don't know if that was one ofyour challenge, but for a lot
of investors, we run out ofmoney and it's something that we
have to overcome.
We need a challenge, we need toask for help or partner with
others, like you said,partnership.
(11:09):
Was that something, thatchallenge, that you faced?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
like you said, partnership, was that something
that that uh challenge that youfaced?
Yes, yeah, we, we, we.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We have multiple partners for that reason and for
the expertise, yeah, and theexpertise.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, yes, and.
But we always say partnershipsare like a marriage.
So sometimes people say, okay,would you leave the kids with
the partners?
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
It's very important to do the due diligence yeah
yeah, you don't you don'tpartner with, with anybody you,
you have to choose them wiselyyeah, yeah, you have to
complement each other, right?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
you're not going to partner with someone that has
the same experience that you, orthey are also focused on the
same as you, because we will bethe same.
You need to partner with peoplethat complement with what
you're missing.
So everyone has their ownstrengths and and we also have a
big challenge at the beginningwith the, our first multifamily,
with the financing that we wentfrom seven to ten, oh yes, to
(12:05):
seven to ten, uh units yeah,that that's a good, that's a
really good one that we alwayshave to.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
We all have to make sure that we check the numbers
often, because the market ischanging, the things are
pivoting.
In our case, we bought thisproperty and then the interest
rates started going up, so thenwe had to pivot and our partners
made the decision to changefrom 7 to 10, and we all agreed.
(12:32):
So we did a retrofit from 7units to 7 units, but at that
moment we said we're going to gofrom 7 units to 10 units to
increase the value of theproperty.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, so that's a very smart move, but, like you
said, we have to consult ourpartners because we maybe don't
know everything, and that's whywe partner with different people
, different skill sets.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yes, yeah, and in the same project.
Actually, the other change thataffected us was when CMHC
changed the rules, becauseoriginally we were planning to
go on a bridge loan for a yearand then they changed it to two
years.
So those are the things, thoseare the challenges, that
sometimes you don't really havetwo options but, say, review
(13:20):
your numbers, make sure that youare still keeping track of your
finances, the project and thetimeline right.
Sometimes the timeline changeand sometimes you can't do
anything about it.
That's why we're saying thatit's important that you know the
risk that you're taking, thatyou're comfortable with that
risk, because things change lastminute and we know that and be
(13:42):
open for that, be be receptiblethat that's going to happen.
Okay, like, what are my optionsnow?
And take those decisionsquickly so you keep moving.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Things, yeah, and and things out of our controls.
You know CMHC, who knows?
Sometimes they wake up onemorning and there's the news you
got to adapt yourself.
There's nothing you can doabout it.
So, yeah, absolutely, you haveto be ready to pivot.
I'd like to ask you my fourthquestion and this way we kind of
(14:16):
touched a little bit before onit.
You're both big on educationand mentorship.
You talked about, you know,learning before going into
multifamily.
How has mentorship played arole in your growth and what
advice do you have for findingthe right mentor in real estate?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
it has made a huge impact to have a mentor.
We can say that we already umincrease our business 10 times
because of the knowledge andexperience from our mentors.
It's the guidance and thesupport.
The support and the guidanceand sharing the experience with
(15:01):
someone that has already done it.
It has made a huge impact inour process.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, the other thing that we can say from that one
is when you get into programs,you have the community right and
you don't have to make the samemistake that someone else
already did.
That's why the community,because you can ask questions
and people will try to guide youto the best that they can and
you have the different optionsto get feedback from different
(15:29):
people and then you can make amore educated decision.
And the values, Obviously, ifit's something, feedback from
different people and then youcan make a more educated
decision.
And the values, obviously ifit's something, or the values
and the if they align with whatyou want to do, right.
So if find someone that isdoing what you want to do, so
(15:49):
you can learn from them, becauseyou know I want to do this, but
my coach is doing or my, mymentor is doing something else,
because it's not going to goingto align no, absolutely, the
values have to align and, uh,the mentorship usually comes
with, like you said, a communitywhich this is key to growth,
because you, your, your network,is your network, right?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
you, you need to talk to people.
The real estate game is is arelationship game.
So, um, absolutely, gettingmentorship, I believe as well
that it is key if you want togrow into, uh, real estate yeah,
it doesn't mean that you cannotdo it alone.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
But again, for us, we come back to the same uh
example.
Right at the beginning we'relike, no, we can do it ourselves
.
And then quickly we realizedthat why, why we have to wait
and what it's going to take usthree, four, five years.
Maybe we can do it in one, twoyears, and and and it's actually
more fun when you work withsomeone else yeah because you
have that sharing accountability.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's, it's a very, very like.
You enjoy the journey.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Sharing with someone and brainstorming back and forth
and analyzing differentperspectives gives you the
expansion so I think the key forpeople that is still on the
fence that I want to do try toidentify the people that is
doing what you want to do.
Talk to these people and thenfind which one you can align and
(17:16):
that will be your good start.
And ask questions, ask a lot ofquestions.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, it's okay to interview your mentors before
you choose them right.
It shouldn't be something thatyou're that we have to shy, to
be shy about Ask questionsbecause it's it's it can.
It's going to impact yourjourney if you align with the
right mind, mentor, or the wrongone.
(17:43):
Absolutely, I agree to ask whatrole does risk management play
in your investment decisions?
We talked a little bit about itbefore, and how do you assess
(18:04):
risk in a volatile market?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, we have to analyze the numbers in the
market.
What's changing?
Also, what else we look at withthe risk.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's what we have been also talking already.
Right, you have to bemonitoring what's going on
around the interest rates.
If you are going to be CMHC,for example, for us, we knew
when we started the project thatwe were going to go cmh, cmli,
select you have to be monitoringthe changes and what's
happening outside.
(18:40):
Right, the the economics of thecountry.
There's people that investinternational.
You have to be monitoring that.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So so you know what is the risk and if you have to
take a different approach um,yeah, and for example, if, if
you are going to start doingproperty management and you have
to see the profile of thetenants and see what type of
tenants are you getting in, uh,because that's that can reduce
the risk, yeah, yeah I agree itall goes back, sorry, to the, to
(19:12):
what makes you feel comfortable, right?
Speaker 1 (19:15):
We know that, for example, for tenants, as you
were saying, there is differenttenant profiles.
There's people that feel okaywith a B, c tenant.
There's other people that don'tfeel okay, so you will go and
look for B+, all those thingsyou have to ask at the beginning
so you can take the the rightdecision based on what is
(19:38):
suitable for you.
Yeah, it's not wrong or right,or it's what you feel
comfortable working at.
Uh, what is your risk tolerance, um, in terms of tenants?
Uh, location, location isanother one, right.
There is people that is okay,like I don't, i't care, I don't
mind, I'm okay dealing with that.
As people Like I prefer an A++neighborhood, right?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And that is okay.
It depends on your risktolerance.
Yeah, and also, for us, thepartnerships, is leveraging the
partnerships to accommodate therisk.
To accommodate the risk,because as you have more experts
, then you're reducing the riskas you get more, let's say, more
(20:20):
people working on the deal.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, the key important thing in that one is
your team right.
You want to work with thelawyer that is real estate
focused, an accountant that isreal estate focused?
And if you ended up in a workwith a lawyer that is real
estate focused, an accountantthat is real estate focused, and
if you ended up in a situationwith a problem that no one from
your partners know, ask thequestion.
Don't try to say like, oh,we're going to solve it.
(20:43):
Ask the question.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
That's how we're surrounded of a community right
To reduce the risk, to eliminatethe risk, but you need to ask I
like the fact that that, uh,you, in your risk management,
you you don't consider onlynumbers but you consider, like
you said, tenant profiles,neighborhoods of properties,
because this is all part of ofrisk management.
(21:07):
A lot of people say, okay, well, my, my spreadsheet uh gives me
the the green light, but is itonly a spreadsheet you should be
looking at, or everything elseto be successful in real estate?
So I really enjoyed yourexplanation and your answer here
.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, numbers is our reason or heart, right?
We always have to run thenumbers conservatively, but that
is more like black and white,right?
So it is or doesn't work.
Always have to run the numbersconservatively, but that is more
like a black and white right.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So like it is or doesn't work that's when it has
to become creative, because, youknow, sometimes we get so much
into the numbers, but we we haveto see other, other, other ways
.
It's it's not sometimes blackand white, but we we are like
that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, I mean, I mean I didn't, we didn't touch up
much on that, because that'skind of her right, like that's
for us, like yeah, it makessense, it doesn't make sense I
was thinking about.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You know if, if, if you have, uh, let's say, for
example, numbers, is is what youlike to look at, but you
establish a system where, okay,the numbers work, but then
what's the next thing on ourlist that we have to look at
before we make the decision?
So you go down the list.
If you build a system where youlook at your tenant profile, is
(22:26):
it in a good area or in thearea that I feel comfortable
with, risk management?
So putting a system together isdefinitely something that you
should do.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, remember we walked a property one time.
It was one of those propertiesthat you run the numbers and,
yeah, it works.
And then you walk the propertyand you see the tenants and it's
like, okay, it may work, butit's not the strategy.
But because some of those islike, you can turn them as the
tenants leave, and maybe there'speople like I'm okay, the
tenant leave in 10 years, I willturn over that unit in 10 years
(23:00):
.
But that's not what we'relooking for, right, right, but
that's that's the reason.
You're like, okay, that's how.
It's high risk for me.
We're not going to considerthat.
We didn't know at the beginning.
like the cash reserve, the cashreserve capex maintenance and
(23:23):
repairs, things like that, thateven we still own a single
family home.
We didn't know.
Now we consider that, so weeliminated the risk even in a
single family home.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, valentina and leda, thank you so much for
taking the time to speak with metoday to share your knowledge
and hopefully that our viewerscan take a piece of that
knowledge into their journeyinto real estate thank you so
much.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Thank you for having this space for us to share our
experience it's my pleasure,we'll talk to you very soon
again, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Mario.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, for sure, and see you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Thanks for tuning in to the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
Another thing was also mindset.
Yeah, mindset.
We had to shift our mindset atthe beginning.
Right, it's key.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights, one question at a time
, if you're looking to grow yourbusiness, create cash flow or
invest smarter.
(00:30):
Elizabeth Kelly is a boutiquecoach specializing in business
planning, cash flow creation andreal estate investments.
Through personalized one-on-oneonline coaching, elizabeth
meets you where you are andguides you to your next step.
With nearly 20 years ofexperience, she provides the
(00:57):
systems.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
Visit us at wwwekconsultingcato learn more.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar,and today our guests have over
30 years of industrialengineering background and they
(01:17):
transitioned to be successfulreal estate investors.
They started investing insingle-family and now they
focused on multi-familyproperties.
Welcome, leda and Valentina.
Welcome ladies.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Hello, hello, hi, mario, nice to see you.
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Not a problem.
The concept of the podcast Iask five questions about real
estate or business and we getstraight to the point.
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Ready Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Question number one as industrial engineers with
extensive experience in processoptimization, how do you apply
these principles to evaluatingand managing real estate
properties?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, the biggest thing for us is the numbers.
We love spreadsheets, sorunning numbers for the
properties and analyzing dealsfor us is a key factor.
As industrial engineers, andalways in manufacturing, we have
been always in looking atnumbers and our day-to-day is
solving problems, so it'ssomething that also we apply in
(02:25):
the real estate world.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, as you know, in real estate you always have to
be ready for things that changelast minute.
So that's part of the journeyand we both have a lot of
experience working in quality,which basically day-to-day, is
dealing with problems.
So that's one of the keyelements that we have been able
to apply in real estate.
The other one is processoptimizations right, so we work
(02:53):
directly in the assembly lines,so we try to optimize the
assembly, the quality, theoutput.
So it's very transferable toreal estate, right, because
every real estate is a project,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
The other thing is the deadlines.
We're always working withproject managers, so we know how
to lead a project, lead a team,and when you're in real estate
and you're doing, for example,retrofits, you need to have
deadlines.
You need to make sure you'realigned with everyone.
It's in, you know the team, uh,you know if you're going to
(03:29):
apply to your refi, uh, you haveto make sure you have, uh, your
papers, your deadlines, likeeverything is.
We track everything you know inpaper and you know, like, all
the spreadsheets and all that.
So that's it's.
(03:49):
It's also key and I I also havea team of 11 people, so this
helps in in the real estate whenyou have to deal with other
people managing contractorscontractors.
You know, like I have mysupervisors, so yeah, it helps.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, and one thing I'll tell you it will be
managing the people but alsoworking with other departments,
right?
I don't work in quality anymore, but I remember you had a
complaint from a client.
You have to work with the restof the team to give a solution
right, and we know that in realestate, you know we are very
(04:21):
partnerships is kind of ourheart.
Partnerships is kind of ourheart, so that helps us to work
with other people and align andat the end, find that, identify
that we are to the same endresult and we're working
together to get there.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Absolutely Well.
It seems like you haveeverything under control, from
your nine to five job inbringing it into real estate and
managing a portfolio fromrunning numbers to managing
partners, contractors and maybesome property managers is all
(05:01):
really important things thatreal estate investors have to
know how to do on their everydaylife.
It brings us to our secondquestion and I wanted to ask how
did your transition from owninga single-family home to
acquiring apartment buildingsshape, maybe, your approach to
(05:22):
multifamily investing?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
shape maybe your approach to multifamily
investing.
So for us approaching themultifamily really came
naturally right at the beginning.
So when we started getting theproper education, so we always
felt the love about real estatebut we didn't have the proper
education.
So normally when you don't knowyou just start with a single
family home, right when westarted getting the proper
education.
(05:47):
So normally when you don't knowyou, you just start with a
single on a single family homeright when we start getting the
proper education and andunderstanding that even it
sounds crazy or bigger or moremoney or more problems, it
actually is less right becauseyou are dealing with everything
in under one, one building.
So that was our first approachto move from single family to
multifamily.
So I think it was not a brainer.
(06:08):
When we started to get involvedinto the real estate and
connecting with people,networking, that we saw like,
okay, we want to be that peopleand we started relating
ourselves with the people thatwas working in multifamily.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, I mean multifamily.
It's not like just running likea single family home.
There's different processes,there's different ways to
calculate a deal, as youapproach, as you evaluate a deal
.
So absolutely getting theproper education is a must if
you want to start playing inthat game, in that field of
(06:44):
multifamily.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, and it's key when you don't know what you
don't know right.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, as we're both engineers and we're known for
being so smart you really don'tknow what you don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And you know some people they might try to do it
on their own and it might takeyears and, and you know, do
mistakes and then have to fixthe mistakes and and and
multifamily and real estate anymistakes is it could be very
costly.
So getting the proper education, I think, is key before you get
(07:19):
started.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yes, another thing was also mindset.
Yeah, mindset, that we had toshift our mindset at the
beginning.
Right, it's key.
So you start to get yourselfsurrounded of people.
But if you don't change yourmindset, you won't move right.
So you will still stay in thesame place until you start
(07:42):
changing stay on the same placeuntil you start changing.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, that's a big one, because at the beginning,
as you said, we wanted to do italone.
Yeah, like no, we can do it all.
You know, we have thisbackground in numbers.
We are all set and then werealized there are so many
things that we had to learn andthat we were we were doing like
wrong.
We were doing wrong, like, forexample, we were not adding
vacancy, so then the numberswere not proper, even though we
(08:08):
know how to run numbers, that wewere missing stuff.
So, with the proper education,we're like okay, so now we can
scale right.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's we.
We have to get the emotions outof it and maybe humble
ourselves to say that we don'tknow everything right.
So we need to learn fromothers' mistakes.
It's less costly this way.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, and you know, leverage the risk with other
people's expertise, knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
And what you just say is actually very important as
well for us the logic and reason, right.
Yeah, you leave the emotionsoutside when you are working in
a multifamily just say it'sactually very important as well
for us, that the logic andreason right.
Yeah, you leave the emotionsoutside when you are working in
a multifamily building thancompared to a single family or
even a four duplex triplex,because the mortgage obviously
is based on you and all that.
When is a multifamily?
(08:59):
Is the numbers works?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
doesn't work yeah, right, so it's logic, yeah,
become creative yeah it tiesinto um, what we talked about,
into our third question and thisquestion.
I wanted to ask what challengesdid you face from expanding
from single family homes tolarger apartment buildings?
Um, and not only whatchallenges did you face, but but
(09:25):
how did you overcome them?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah, it really ties up with the experience.
We don't know everything and weare not experts on everything.
So that moment that we realizedthat there is people, other
investors that share our values,our goals, then we realized
that we can grow bigger you knowbigger faster with other people
, with other expertise, withother experts, because we all
(09:51):
have strengths, we allcomplement each other.
So that's when we decided to goahead and break this challenge
that we had at the beginning,that thinking that we knew
everything, instead of sayingyou know what, there is people
that have already done it and wecan learn from them.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Yeah, that was key for us.
And also doing your duediligence right.
So we started to be more likeopen to those partnerships to
make sure that we find peoplethat we align, as Val was saying
, that we have the same goalsbecause has always risk.
So just make your due diligenceand be comfortable with the
(10:29):
risk that you are taking.
So that was the big one for usat the beginning and from there
we are always kind of open forpartnerships, right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, so partnerships can help you also with
financing.
I don't know if that was one ofyour challenge, but for a lot
of investors, we run out ofmoney and it's something that we
have to overcome.
We need a challenge, we need toask for help or partner with
others, like you said,partnership.
(11:09):
Was that something, thatchallenge, that you faced?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
like you said, partnership, was that something
that that uh challenge that youfaced?
Yes, yeah, we, we, we.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We have multiple partners for that reason and for
the expertise, yeah, and theexpertise.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, yes, and.
But we always say partnershipsare like a marriage.
So sometimes people say, okay,would you leave the kids with
the partners?
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
It's very important to do the due diligence yeah
yeah, you don't you don'tpartner with, with anybody you,
you have to choose them wiselyyeah, yeah, you have to
complement each other, right?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
you're not going to partner with someone that has
the same experience that you, orthey are also focused on the
same as you, because we will bethe same.
You need to partner with peoplethat complement with what
you're missing.
So everyone has their ownstrengths and and we also have a
big challenge at the beginningwith the, our first multifamily,
with the financing that we wentfrom seven to ten, oh yes, to
(12:05):
seven to ten, uh units yeah,that that's a good, that's a
really good one that we alwayshave to.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
We all have to make sure that we check the numbers
often, because the market ischanging, the things are
pivoting.
In our case, we bought thisproperty and then the interest
rates started going up, so thenwe had to pivot and our partners
made the decision to changefrom 7 to 10, and we all agreed.
(12:32):
So we did a retrofit from 7units to 7 units, but at that
moment we said we're going to gofrom 7 units to 10 units to
increase the value of theproperty.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yeah, so that's a very smart move, but, like you
said, we have to consult ourpartners because we maybe don't
know everything, and that's whywe partner with different people
, different skill sets.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yes, yeah, and in the same project.
Actually, the other change thataffected us was when CMHC
changed the rules, becauseoriginally we were planning to
go on a bridge loan for a yearand then they changed it to two
years.
So those are the things, thoseare the challenges, that
sometimes you don't really havetwo options but, say, review
(13:20):
your numbers, make sure that youare still keeping track of your
finances, the project and thetimeline right.
Sometimes the timeline changeand sometimes you can't do
anything about it.
That's why we're saying thatit's important that you know the
risk that you're taking, thatyou're comfortable with that
risk, because things change lastminute and we know that and be
(13:42):
open for that, be be receptiblethat that's going to happen.
Okay, like, what are my optionsnow?
And take those decisionsquickly so you keep moving.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Things, yeah, and and things out of our controls.
You know CMHC, who knows?
Sometimes they wake up onemorning and there's the news you
got to adapt yourself.
There's nothing you can doabout it.
So, yeah, absolutely, you haveto be ready to pivot.
I'd like to ask you my fourthquestion and this way we kind of
(14:16):
touched a little bit before onit.
You're both big on educationand mentorship.
You talked about, you know,learning before going into
multifamily.
How has mentorship played arole in your growth and what
advice do you have for findingthe right mentor in real estate?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
it has made a huge impact to have a mentor.
We can say that we already umincrease our business 10 times
because of the knowledge andexperience from our mentors.
It's the guidance and thesupport.
The support and the guidanceand sharing the experience with
(15:01):
someone that has already done it.
It has made a huge impact inour process.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, the other thing that we can say from that one
is when you get into programs,you have the community right and
you don't have to make the samemistake that someone else
already did.
That's why the community,because you can ask questions
and people will try to guide youto the best that they can and
you have the different optionsto get feedback from different
(15:29):
people and then you can make amore educated decision.
And the values, Obviously, ifit's something, feedback from
different people and then youcan make a more educated
decision.
And the values, obviously ifit's something, or the values
and the if they align with whatyou want to do, right.
So if find someone that isdoing what you want to do, so
(15:49):
you can learn from them, becauseyou know I want to do this, but
my coach is doing or my, mymentor is doing something else,
because it's not going to goingto align no, absolutely, the
values have to align and, uh,the mentorship usually comes
with, like you said, a communitywhich this is key to growth,
because you, your, your network,is your network, right?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
you, you need to talk to people.
The real estate game is is arelationship game.
So, um, absolutely, gettingmentorship, I believe as well
that it is key if you want togrow into, uh, real estate yeah,
it doesn't mean that you cannotdo it alone.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
But again, for us, we come back to the same uh
example.
Right at the beginning we'relike, no, we can do it ourselves
.
And then quickly we realizedthat why, why we have to wait
and what it's going to take usthree, four, five years.
Maybe we can do it in one, twoyears, and and and it's actually
more fun when you work withsomeone else yeah because you
have that sharing accountability.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's, it's a very, very like.
You enjoy the journey.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Sharing with someone and brainstorming back and forth
and analyzing differentperspectives gives you the
expansion so I think the key forpeople that is still on the
fence that I want to do try toidentify the people that is
doing what you want to do.
Talk to these people and thenfind which one you can align and
(17:16):
that will be your good start.
And ask questions, ask a lot ofquestions.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, it's okay to interview your mentors before
you choose them right.
It shouldn't be something thatyou're that we have to shy, to
be shy about Ask questionsbecause it's it's it can.
It's going to impact yourjourney if you align with the
right mind, mentor, or the wrongone.
(17:43):
Absolutely, I agree to ask whatrole does risk management play
in your investment decisions?
We talked a little bit about itbefore, and how do you assess
(18:04):
risk in a volatile market?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, we have to analyze the numbers in the
market.
What's changing?
Also, what else we look at withthe risk.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's what we have been also talking already.
Right, you have to bemonitoring what's going on
around the interest rates.
If you are going to be CMHC,for example, for us, we knew
when we started the project thatwe were going to go cmh, cmli,
select you have to be monitoringthe changes and what's
happening outside.
(18:40):
Right, the the economics of thecountry.
There's people that investinternational.
You have to be monitoring that.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
So so you know what is the risk and if you have to
take a different approach um,yeah, and for example, if, if
you are going to start doingproperty management and you have
to see the profile of thetenants and see what type of
tenants are you getting in, uh,because that's that can reduce
the risk, yeah, yeah I agree itall goes back, sorry, to the, to
(19:12):
what makes you feel comfortable, right?
Speaker 1 (19:15):
We know that, for example, for tenants, as you
were saying, there is differenttenant profiles.
There's people that feel okaywith a B, c tenant.
There's other people that don'tfeel okay, so you will go and
look for B+, all those thingsyou have to ask at the beginning
so you can take the the rightdecision based on what is
(19:38):
suitable for you.
Yeah, it's not wrong or right,or it's what you feel
comfortable working at.
Uh, what is your risk tolerance, um, in terms of tenants?
Uh, location, location isanother one, right.
There is people that is okay,like I don't, i't care, I don't
mind, I'm okay dealing with that.
As people Like I prefer an A++neighborhood, right?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And that is okay.
It depends on your risktolerance.
Yeah, and also, for us, thepartnerships, is leveraging the
partnerships to accommodate therisk.
To accommodate the risk,because as you have more experts
, then you're reducing the riskas you get more, let's say, more
(20:20):
people working on the deal.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, the key important thing in that one is
your team right.
You want to work with thelawyer that is real estate
focused, an accountant that isreal estate focused?
And if you ended up in a workwith a lawyer that is real
estate focused, an accountantthat is real estate focused, and
if you ended up in a situationwith a problem that no one from
your partners know, ask thequestion.
Don't try to say like, oh,we're going to solve it.
(20:43):
Ask the question.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
That's how we're surrounded of a community right
To reduce the risk, to eliminatethe risk, but you need to ask I
like the fact that that, uh,you, in your risk management,
you you don't consider onlynumbers but you consider, like
you said, tenant profiles,neighborhoods of properties,
because this is all part of ofrisk management.
(21:07):
A lot of people say, okay, well, my, my spreadsheet uh gives me
the the green light, but is itonly a spreadsheet you should be
looking at, or everything elseto be successful in real estate?
So I really enjoyed yourexplanation and your answer here
.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, numbers is our reason or heart, right?
We always have to run thenumbers conservatively, but that
is more like black and white,right?
So it is or doesn't work.
Always have to run the numbersconservatively, but that is more
like a black and white right.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So like it is or doesn't work that's when it has
to become creative, because, youknow, sometimes we get so much
into the numbers, but we we haveto see other, other, other ways
.
It's it's not sometimes blackand white, but we we are like
that.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Well, I mean, I mean I didn't, we didn't touch up
much on that, because that'skind of her right, like that's
for us, like yeah, it makessense, it doesn't make sense I
was thinking about.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You know if, if, if you have, uh, let's say, for
example, numbers, is is what youlike to look at, but you
establish a system where, okay,the numbers work, but then
what's the next thing on ourlist that we have to look at
before we make the decision?
So you go down the list.
If you build a system where youlook at your tenant profile, is
(22:26):
it in a good area or in thearea that I feel comfortable
with, risk management?
So putting a system together isdefinitely something that you
should do.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Yeah, remember we walked a property one time.
It was one of those propertiesthat you run the numbers and,
yeah, it works.
And then you walk the propertyand you see the tenants and it's
like, okay, it may work, butit's not the strategy.
But because some of those islike, you can turn them as the
tenants leave, and maybe there'speople like I'm okay, the
tenant leave in 10 years, I willturn over that unit in 10 years
(23:00):
.
But that's not what we'relooking for, right, right, but
that's that's the reason.
You're like, okay, that's how.
It's high risk for me.
We're not going to considerthat.
We didn't know at the beginning.
like the cash reserve, the cashreserve capex maintenance and
(23:23):
repairs, things like that, thateven we still own a single
family home.
We didn't know.
Now we consider that, so weeliminated the risk even in a
single family home.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Well, valentina and leda, thank you so much for
taking the time to speak with metoday to share your knowledge
and hopefully that our viewerscan take a piece of that
knowledge into their journeyinto real estate thank you so
much.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Thank you for having this space for us to share our
experience it's my pleasure,we'll talk to you very soon
again, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Mario.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, for sure, and see you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Thanks for tuning in to the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
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