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How To Attract Millennials To Your Business

How To Attract Millennials To Your Business

Yes this blog is focused on Real Estate but it can be applied to all businesses.

So Keep Reading

Millennials are buying real estate!

Really? It’s about time! If you actually think about it. Millennials…at least some of them are now in the mid to late 30’s. So hopefully they are thinking about their future already.

The real estate industry cannot stop talking about millennials. But what I hear mostly is that they can’t afford homes or they will never be able to buy. I hate the generalization that all millennials get grouped into.

Young buyers entering the market is a great thing for the real estate industry, particularly because the average age of first-time homebuyers has been increasing for years.

There is a small problem, though. The Real Estate community thinks it doesn’t know how to connect with millennials. They feel they are unaware of how to reach them and grab their attention. Well it’s truly through the smartphone and technology. Every single person these days is head down and focused on their phone. So find a way to connect with them and grab their attention.

You should get all the Social Media apps you can and start learning them. They are not going away anytime soon. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, LinkedIN, Pinterest. Get on them now…like click these links and download them now if you are missing any….NOW!!

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3 Tips for Making Money in Real Estate

3 Tips for Making Money in Real Estate

Real Estate can be scary but it doesn’t have to be.

Finding a way to get into Real Estate and the market is the key. Once you are in the marketthings become a little bit more clearer and lessfrightening. Really what you need to do is finda great Realtor (me) and start moving towards your goals. Until then do some research andget to understand what to look for.

Pre-sales – What’s nice about pre-sales is that you get to buy a property in today’s dollars but get to move in down the road. That’s when the money starts to happen. Of course you need to be able to afford the down payment. Then you can purchase a pre-sale and sit on it as it appreciates. In this market it should grow as the months go on and is still being finished. Maybe you want to assign the contract down the road before it is even finished. Odds are you will be making some money in that time.

Read my previous blog on Pre-Sales here. 

Area – knowing the area you are considering is key. When you understand the growth that’s about to happen you can find some gems out there. Ones that can make you some money. So imagine this, you buy a property near an area that’s going to be growing. You see that the growth has no choice but to come your way. There may be a good chance that a developer will come knocking on your door. They may want to buy your place or complex in the thought of building a tower on it.

Think about looking in areas that are adding more transportation like the skytrain. Also consider a property close to schools, hospitals and shopping. This is where city planners need to consider adding homes and where developments start.

Think Outside The Box – So in this market it obvious that Vancouver is going crazy. So why not think outside the box meaning look in the suburbs. Like the Tri-cities or Abbotsford. Find that 2 bedroom that allows pets and rentals. Find a place close to transportation, school, college, hospitals, or senior homes.

You will be able to buy for low and rent for high. Your tenants will pay off the mortgage. You only need to invest your down payment of 20%. Your property will appreciate in value and odds are you’ll be making a positive cash flow from your rent.

These are just some tips and ideas to help you make an educated decision along the way. Remember to always do your research but if you want some help. I’m only a text, call or email away.

Contact me here.

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3 Life Lessons That Will Change Your Life

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5 Reasons to Own Your Home

5 Reasons to Own Your Home…What Are You Doing and Why?!

It feels weird to me when I hear so much talk about how high rents are in the city. It feels so weird to me when I hear people say they will never be able to own. As I have grown up in this great city of Vancouver, there has been this shift in the minds of many that owning is impossible. That renting is acceptable.

“This is the way of life now they say.”

Let’s take a closer look at reasons to OWN YOUR HOME.

5 Reasons to Own Your Home

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Top 4 Neighbourhoods in White Rock & South Surrey

Top 4 Neighbourhoods in White Rock & South Surrey

White Rock & South Surrey are well-known for its seaside lifestyle. Laid back and ready for a great cabin like life, this is the city for you. Only 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver, yet still far enough away to feel like a retreat. Here are some of the great neighbourhoods to check out when considering buying in White Rock & South Surrey

Crescent Beach

This is the best beach in South Surrey. Far better than the busier White Rock Beach. The beachfront has a walking path and some amazing unique homes. Very quiet and relaxing during the off-season portion of the year. It is of course a busy hotspot during the summer but a great place to call home. As should these seaside communities, this is dog friendly too.

People have said that they love having this beauty just a walking distance from their home. It has a small community feel where people take the time to say hello….you dont get that anymore. Living near crescent beach affords nature enthusiasts plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy beautiful ocean views and outdoor fun.

This area honestly feels like a vacation spot, yet is an amazing place to call home.

This is the average cost of condo’s in this area. CLICK HERE

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You Can’t Choose Your Neighbour, You Can Choose Your Neighbourhood.

You can’t choose your neighbour, you can choose your neighbourhood.

This is one of the best things about Real Estate.

You are not forced to buy in any specific area or any specific town. It’s all up to you. So why not think about and consider buying in a great neighbourhood. Things to think about are the fact that the walkability of an area you live goes a long way. By that is being able to walk to some great stores or trails, maybe even to work if that’s your cup of tea. You will so much happier if you do this, trust me. There’s nothing worse than choosing to live in an area that sucks to you, to you though. Some areas are better for others…Meaning if you want to drive everywhere and you want peace and quiet great, maybe out-of-town is your vibe. If you are young and want to walk to transit, trails, breweries, water and shopping then great too. Just know what you want and trust you can find it.

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7 Must Have Apps Both Personally And Professionally

7 Must Have Apps Both Personally And Professionally

The Remote Control of Life

Your phone is your life — you use it for everything from your Social Media consumption to your Camera to your primary email outlet. But it could also be so much more than that, if only you have the proper tools in your utility belt. So be sure to add these apps to your arsenal.

If you really think about it. Your smart phone is the remote control of life nowadays. What are most people doing when they have a spare moment. If it’s in a line up at the coffee shop or when a commercial comes on their tv, and most of the time even while they are watching their favourite shows. Most people at this point are on their phones all the time.

So let’s talk about that for a second. If most people are on their phones, doesn’t it make sense that as a Realtor or Entrepreneur you should be focused on making the best of it. That’s where the world is going. Your newspaper and tv ads are marketing dollars being thrown in the garbage. It’s now time to focus on being on the go and using your phone as it’s now meant. That’s to be your computer on the go. You need it to manage your notes and draft your blogs, vlogs and marketing content.

I’ve put together a list of the most useful apps every modern Realtor, Entrepreneur and Anyone should have on their phone.

  1. Facebook – When it comes to all your personal and professional needs, Facebook is a must have. Not only can it help organize your life by keeping you updated with things like friends birthdays. It also is a must have tool for your business life. Being able for such a small amount to market to your exact target audience. Facebook is killing it in this aspect. As a Realtor you can spend hours walking door to door and dropping off flyers or you can spend minutes setting up a marketing campaign for less money. It will reach way more people too, up to thousands of people a day. Try walking to a thousands houses a day…Good Luck!
  2. Instagram – As you may know or maybe you don’t. Instagram is owned by Facebook but it is a great tool for your business. You can use all the hashtags you want to reach to the people you need. With a great flowing account you will be sure to have a great following. As a professional this is a great platform to pick up leads as you can see exactly who is liking your photos and commenting too. Plus now with Instagram stories you can add your human element to your business so that your clients and potential clients can see you grind.
  3. Evernote – This is a must have for any business professional. It’s a great place to securely keep your notes. Inspiration strikes anywhere. Evernote lets you capture, nurture, and share your ideas across any device. You can write a note or send a photo to Evernote. Then when you get home. It will be synced to your system there to pick it up without missing a step.
  4. Studio – One of favourite tools. There are so many other apps out there that are similar to this. Like Canva which is great for your computer. But when it comes to your phone and apps this is a must. I can take a picture and add some great text to it for my marketing. What’s great about Studio as well is that you can browse other people’s work. You can then use what they have created or you can edit theirs to your liking. Whats great is that it’s so easy to use and can be set up to automatically share on your social media.
  5. Flipboard – This is a great tool for any one who has specific likes. Maybe you are looking for articles on Real Estate or Technology. Well this is that app for you, it’s a personal magazine that scours the internet for specific articles you are interested in on any industry you want. Sometimes you just want to read about the city you are living in or a specific subject without have to go to google to search on it.
  6. FilmoraGo – Now when it comes to video editing. Good luck in finding an app that makes it as easy as this. For anyone who is looking to makes videos for their business. This is the place to go. You can add text and music to your videos and as an added benefit the desktop platform is so easy to use. Instead of paying top dollar for Final Cut Pro, the app is free and the desktop platform is such a good value. I recommend it for anyone looking to add an extra level to their business. Imagine being at a great event and sitting at the coffee shop to make a quick edit, add text, music and then share it to your clients. Yes Please!
  7. Magisto – Looking to put together a quick video to post to your friends on business page. This is a must, so easy that all you have to do is open the app. At this point you hit make a movie, then pick your theme, pick the photos and videos you want to add, pick your music, add a title. Maggots will do the rest for you. In as little as 1 minute you can have a great video to add to your social media platforms. Be sure to look into upgrading to the business profile. It does coast some money but at this point you can add your logo and edit even more things.

So do yourself a favour and add these tools to your utility belt. It will help you in all aspects of your life, both personally and professionally. Be sure to click on the links of the apps as that will take you directly to the apps page to download.

Stay in touch and ask me if you are looking for any other suggestions.

Contact Me Here

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How To Get Real with Your Real Estate Goals

Real Estate Goals

How To Get Real with Your Real Estate Goals

Let’s get REAL about Real Estate Goals…In today’s day and age especially in Greater Vancouver and it’s surrounding areas like Port Moody and the Tri-Cities. If you want to own a detached house it may be easier doing so in your dreams than your reality. I’m going to give you some quick tips on how to make these ‘DREAMS COME TRUE.

What is it that you actually want and can you achieve it? That’s up to you and I’m here to help. Maybe you want to own a condo or even a house but are not sure if that will ever be a possibility. I’m here to tell you it is…YES it is. Listen to yourself and stop listening to the naysayers, if you want it then go out there and get it. But how?…
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5 Reasons You Need A Mentor In Your Life

5 Reasons You Need A Mentor In Your Life!

Your life as an Entrepreneur is dependant on everything you have going on in your day-to-day business both professionally and personally. Now sometimes it’s as easy as 1 2 3 and go, you wake up and everything goes the way it should. But what do you do on those days when you are lost? Those days that are a struggle to keep going, when things don’t work out the way they should. You lose your focus and it seems that everything is harder than it was.
A Mentor will help guide you in the right direction and with minimal effort can keep you on track.

Here’s 5 Reasons You Need A Mentor In Your Life

  1. They Solve Problems
  2. They Challenge You
  3. They See In You The Things You Don’t
  4. They Give You Directions While Allowing You To Find Your Way
  5. Mentors Give You Courage To Keep Going

Let’s be honest, this is what we all want as Entrepreneurs. In any industry that you are in, especially your professional life, to be more successful would mean so much. Your Mentor should gain a certain pride in helping you become the best version of yourself. That’s why they are doing it in the first place. To be able to give back is something in Humans that feels just as good as receiving.

1. They Solve Problems

The last thing you need is to create more problems, lucky for you Mentors are great at solving them. They can ask the questions needed to help you solve even those biggest things that are holding you back. Mentors are thinkers, a huge aspect in your career as sometimes it takes looking from the outside when the inside is full already. Let them declutter those negative thoughts to help you to succeed.

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Best Seat In Port Moody

Best Seat In Port Moody

Here’s a little story all about how we found the Best Seat in Port Moody

So as it was this past weekend and the date was Sunday May 27th, 2017, something big in my life came to be. That was the day that I got engaged to my best friend Lindsay. We have been together for the past 10 years and the perfect time has come for us to enter this new chapter. It’s been such a crazy and exciting year so far full of major changes for us both. One being the biggest move for us so far. That was to enter the Real Estate Market.

You are right in wondering what the heck a Realtor is doing helping his clients buy and sell Real Estate but not owning any for himself. Well that and the fact that where we were living had to change was the big motivator. We both put our heads and money together and made the jump. This is where my career mashed together with my personal life. I had to find that balance of needs and wants. It was a weird dynamic to make this plunge but it has been the biggest and best decision so far. I’ll write more on that dynamic one day but for now let’s get back to the subject at hand.

We were living in North Vancouver’s Lynn Valley and this is an amazing area. I have so much knowledge of what it has and the lifestyle it offers. My now Fiancée is from Deep Cove and has a lifetime of experience in North Vancouver. This is the biggest reason why we fell so madly in love with Port Moody. Port Moody has the same offerings, just a little different. It has amazing trails for us to take our dog Sadie (my assistant) for a walk, run, swim and hike. Plus the neighbourhood has so much to offer and the growth of what Port Moody is going through right now. I’m telling everyone that they should enter this market. It is going through a major shift. There’s the skytrain for transportation that’s adding so much value right now. Plus the ocean is in your front yard and in fact Port Moody is also called the North Shore. The North Shore of the Tri-cities (Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam). You have to come experience it for yourself. Give me a shout and I’ll tour you around.

Okay so again back to the subject at hand. How we stumbled into the BEST SEAT IN PORT MOODY.

For the last few months we’ve been walking the Shoreline Trail and have come across this seat before. But when the magic hour happens and you time it right, which we did. You will come across one amazing moment that you’ll want to rinse and repeat regularly. That moment has to be timed perfectly cause as we noticed with the amount of people who came down to this seat and saw us then nicely moved on with their night. This seat must be a fan favourite/secret spot and I’ll probably be yelled at for exposing it. But we arrived around 30 minutes before the sunset was taking shape. It was then that we could see the tide coming in and all the mudflats getting covered. The clouds were light and taking shape for one great sunset to come. The temperature was perfect and just a whisper of wind that helped the cause.

It made for a great moment in our night as we had just gotten engaged only minutes before. We took Sadie down to the water with us and a bottle of Champagne. Had some fun with taking photos and this video in the post is the view that we were looking out into. So I again as an advocate of Port Moody ask for you to take your date, boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend, wife, husband or dog. Go see it for yourself and tell me your experience as I hope it’s as great as ours. Now. you are probably wondering well where the heck is this seat already. Well here we go as we found it. It’s really an easy spot to find but I’ll make it as easy as possible for you anyways.

On the Shoreline Trail there is an area that has a fork in the road. Three forks that is, you can go ahead towards the Old Orchard Park, or to Rocky Point or towards Newport Village and the community centre. This is where the Best Seat In Port Moody is. Hard to know where if you don’t know the area so I’ll explain it. So if you are coming from Rocky Point and you head towards Old Orchard Park (which is about 3km down the trail). You’ll go over the bridge that goes right over the mudflats and grassland area. It’s the first big boardwalk you go over and almost 1km on the trail. You will know what this board walk is as it’s such a cool experience. It’s not a huge boardwalk but still a great area of the trail. You’ll have Murray Street on your right and the ocean too your left. If you’ve gone over two board walks, as there is another, you’ve gone too far. Just remember that when you get to the fork I explained above this is where to stop. So now you’ve stop at this fork in the road. There’s a garbage can and a small little trail that heads towards the ocean and the mudflats. This is where you need to go. As you arrive you’ll see a small stair platform and bench to go and sit on. This is it!

Be sure to get there early as you will probably have some competition for that seat…but enjoy.

READ MY LAST BLOG FOR MORE INFO ON WHAT PORT MOODY HAS TO OFFER.