If you’re anything like the Facebook addict I am, you’ll remember a time before Facebook had ads. If you’re like me, you’ll remember Facebook when you had to have an email address from an approved University. This means I appreciate what an intrusion Facebook ads are. They’re like a flashing neon LED billboard in a quiet neighbourhood.

So as a digital marketing professional and now as a REALTOR®, I get a lot of questions from people looking for leads or to do more online advertising. I’m talking about FB ads, but this applies to any real estate industry member and to your FB Page.

People don’t care about it and you should stop comparing your FB ads to your search engine PPC ads.

REALTORS®, STOP PUSHING YOUR LISTINGS OUT TO FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.

If you’re using FB ads to promote listings don’t get pissed when you realize the ROI is less than search.

Search engine advertising is like being next to someone when they say “do you happen to know a good Realtor?” You’re relevant, helpful and timely.

FB Advertising is like that guy at a party who is selling insurance, or amway, or Mary Kay and needs to make a sale, ending up drunk, shouting incoherently at the potted plants.

Nobody likes that guy. Don’t be that guy.

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I’m going to be running the next all-day online marketing workshop this Sunday, June 20th at the Davies Management and Realty Offices (17842-106 Ave). The venue may change closer to the date, because I’m almost at capacity already.

It’s a full day (9am-4pm), lunch is provided and the cost is $297. Seating is limited to help keep things very intimate.

You can reserve your spot by email (chris@chrisdavies.ca), faxing in an application (please indicate which date is best for you) or by giving me a call at 780-905-7562. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you know who might benefit from some more knowledge about online marketing for their small business or real estate investing efforts.

I’ve also scheduled a tentative workshop on July 18th, so please let me know if you’re interested in that date and I’ll book an appropriate venue.

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There’s a cliche in the real estate business that you make your money when you buy. It sounds all fancy and sexy to say things like:

I bought a place 25% under value.

or

I never pay more than 75cents on the dollar.

For the rest of us in the real world, buying is only the start of a long, complex and often stressful road. Guys like Russell Westcott and Don Campbell will tell you to stop grinding down sellers, buy in the right areas and pay what something’s worth. Good property management, effective leverage and economic fundamentals will make you more money than you can shake a stick at.

Good Property Management is the new Black

The most often cited cause of stress, foreclosure or gross stupidity is failure to manage a property and tenants well. Failing to buy well only results in loss of a deal or tighter cashflow. Failing to manage well results in total loss of equity, damage to your property, lawsuits, negative cashflow, midnight moves, visits to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Board and swift consumption of your reserve fund.

Managed right you’ll have steady cashflow, reliable and respectful tenants, preventive maintenance done right and a fantastic asset for your exit strategy.

The Best Advice Around

I went shopping for condos last month in North Edmonton and stopped at a complex called Castlewood (circa 109st and 165ave, Google Map and Streetview). They’re two story complexes that are listed and seem to be 3-bedrooms. My Realtor is also very experienced property manager (he only does real estate sales now) and knew that the window in the third bedroom wouldn’t meet the safety standards. We automatically walked out of the complex because I won’t waste my time on units that don’t conform. I don’t want the risk.

Not two weeks later I saw this post on myREINspace. Here’s the important parts of the post:

We have three three-bedroom townhouses in a complex of 80 units. The owners of the Condominium received a letter stating that one of the bedrooms is not to be used for sleeping purposes. It is not safe because the window in that room is 9 feet from the ground and cannot be reached and opened from the inside without the use of tools or special knowledge.

We have contacted AHS for clarifications and for solutions that we could apply in our units immediately, since our tenants have been using that room as a bedroom. All our suggestions such as pocket door, or emergency ladder were declined….

Our plan is to work with a lawyer to file an appeal and at the same time work with the Condo Board to find a common solution. The Condo Board has not been very pro-active in this regard and transferred the problem to the owners, since “all owner occupied premises are strongly discouraged from utilizing the affected room for the purposes of sleeping.” However, the officer from [Alberta Health Services] left very clear that if they have an inspection and somebody is using that room for sleeping purposes in a rental unit, the owner and the Board will have to respond. It is a huge liability.

I don’t know if it’s the same complex, but there’s at least three others I’m familiar with that have the same problem.

And that one move earned Brent every penny of his commission.

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There’s just under 2 weeks until the first Edmonton Internet Marketing Workshop! We’ve had interest from several investors, a couple of whom want to send their assistants, marketing consultants and spouses. There’s at least one person registered who has quite a bit of experience, and is looking forward to bringing some of their knowledge to the table, giving the group a chance to learn from their mistakes.

I didn’t mention this much previously, but the content is going to be very useful for other small business owners interested in local search marketing and social media.

The $50 discount for REIN members still stands, and for multiple people. Find a friend to bring and you’ll both be able to register for the reduced rate of $249.

Signup now, and I’ll see you on the 10th!

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There’s an ad that Mike Sunley mentioned on myREINspace that’s so funny I had to share. Mike’s right, I’d like to test this style out on some of my own ads.

best of craigslist > SF bay area > Manly Bike for Sale
Originally Posted: Tue, 22 Jul 10:18 PDT
Manly Bike for Sale
Date: 2008-07-22, 10:18AM PDT

Bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don’t know, I’m not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you’re way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan’s mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying “FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME”.

The bike says Giant on the side because it’s referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that’s bad ass in itself. Those screws can be replaced with shiny new ones, but if you’re going to go to that trouble why not just punch yourself in the balls since you’re probably a dickless lizard who doesn’t like to look intimidating.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo. If you like flat seated bikes you’re going to love this thing because it doesn’t try to penetrate your ass or anything.

I’ve topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you’re just a regular man you’ll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank. The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 – Sissy Gear
Gear 2 – Less Sissy Gear
Gear 3 – Least Sissy Gear
Gear 4 – Boy Gear
Gear 5 – Pre-teen Boy Gear
Gear 6 – Manly Gear
Gear 7 – Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull’s testicles and tells people you don’t fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves “Hey asshole, touch this bike and I’ll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four”.

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don’t give me no panzy prices)

Time to go biking.

Photo Credit:

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I usually have a half-dozen projects going on at any one time, not the least of which is my real estate investing. The one thing that’s made my life easier is getting used to having a notebook handy all the time. I’m not talking about a day-planner, which has it’s uses. I’m talking about a place to capture ideas, plan things out, doodle and keep some record of what goes on each day. Now Google Calendar and my phone serve most of the planner and diary tasks, but for the rest, I love my Moleskine notebook.

Now while I’m just going to take a minute to gush about 192 pages of paper with little squares on them, this is germane to my real estate focused blog for a good reason. The next several posts are taken straight from my notebook. They’re ideas, business plans, flowcharts, procedures and marketing brainstorms. Take a look at the pictures a little closer (if you click on them they’ll open a larger version in a new window) and you’ll get a little preview of what’s to come.

These eight pictures are the eight reasons why Moleskine (or really, any good notebook) will change your life.

First, the size and the little elastic. This version of the notebook is 1.3 x 14 x 8.9 cm, which is 5.25 x 8.25″, also known as just right. I love the elastic because I can put mail in it and use the elastic to hold things together. The paper is big enough for big ideas, but small enough to come everywhere.

The ribbon marker is awesome. I love being able to always get to the last page I was on, or to a new page. I also usually use a combination of paper-clips and postit notes to mark current projects.

There’s a kangaroo pouch! Really, it’s just a little envelope thing inside the back cover. However, it’s perfect for business cards, important notes and other little things like an extra SD memory card.

But what do I do with my notebook? Where’s the real estate?

Honesty, sometimes it’s just a sketchbook. I also like making geometric shapes when I’m bored. I’m a big fan of the ‘squared’ graph paper book so I can scribble down floor plans and draft designs for all sorts of random ideas.

Real real estate! Here I needed to get some Joint Venture numbers figured out, so I whipped out the Moleskine. I’m a huge fan of knowing the numbers and systems so well you can do them by hand from memory. No shortcuts!

Then comes the wonderfuness of flowcharts. Sometimes I’ll just do a list when I’m making a procedure, but then I fell in love with flowcharts. (You should have seen my bankers reaction when I showed her this. She’s never questioned me since when I’ve asked to change payment levels). This one is a flow chart showing my procedure when my mortgage rate changes.

Here’s a pretty typical page. On the left is a bunch of notes from Arlen Dahlin’s talk on the JV Secrets CD’s. On the right is what I like to call the Big Real Estate Investing Flowchart. It’s an attempt to draft out the business of real estate investing from end-to-end.

Here’s a close up of the REI Flowchart. Want to guess where some of my future posts will come from?

I can’t say how important I think it is to have a notebook around you. It’s useful for capturing ideas as soon as they appear. It’s also important to keep a bit of a journal of your day, recording things as soon as you can. Then, once a day, cruise through your notebook and capture any important tasks you have to get done.

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I’m writing this on my iPod Touch at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Amanda and I bumped our flight up because there’s supposed to be 6-8″ of snow tonight and I want to get to Edmonton for Grandpa’s birthday dinner tomorrow night. We managed to find an earlier flight to Seattle and the nice people at the Hilton switched our reservation.

Gotta say, the staff at the Northbrook Hilton are amazing. They were super-helpful our entire stay, rooms were immaculate, their free shuttle was great and the cost was pretty reasonable. (AAAAA1! Would stay again)

We’ll see how the rest of the weekend goes. I get to hang out in Seattle Saturday morning, then go to Grandpa’s party in Edmonton, then back to Kelowna on Monday morning. After that, it’s off to Vancouver on Tuesday to go see Brad Paisley with Megan. It’s time to get some frequent flier miles going on!

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I thought you’d all enjoy this video of Habitat For Humanity setting the World Record for the fastest house build ever. It was a 3 bedroom bungalow in Alabama.

Great stuff. I personally support Habitat, as does REIN. So should you!

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I’m renovating my fiancee’s bathroom while she’s away, and it’s inspired me to share some tips. I’ve done a couple bathroom renos with my parents and as an employee at our former property management firm. Hopefully these things will make your renovations a little easier and help you add value to your properties. You can follow my work on my flickr photo stream of the renovations. I love doing stuff like this.

1. Get a bucket for all the junk. It’ll make your life a lot easier, and you’ll save bags. It’s still a good idea to use bags, but a good old fashioned 5-gallon pail (for ~$5 at Rona) will make hauling away the old tiles a much easier job.
2. Buy something like a 9 in 1 tool to help get the old tiles off. I’ve used pretty much everything under the sun, and this is still my favorite. Place the edge against the top of the tile and use a hammer to tap the blade behind the tile. Two taps and bend outwards slightly, which should slowly crack the tile. Repeat, and focus on pointy bits of tile as you go.
3. Remove junk like shower curtain rods, towel hangers, drain-clips and the taps well in advance. And truly, just toss it, or give it to a second hand store. You’re not going to use it again, and your tenants are not going to be happy if you recycle it on them. Or worse yet, someone else’s hardware on their tub.



4. It’s going to get warm. A fan is a great idea, but you’ll save yourself a lot of sweat by simply unscrewing a couple of lightbulbs.
5. Take some pictures so you’ve got something to show for your work. Renovating isn’t always easy, but stuff like the dozen or so pictures are great for showing how far you can go in just an hour or two.
6. Measure, measure, and re-measure. I’m sure I could tell you every possible measurement of Megan’s condo. Which edge of the tub is 1/4″ low….the exact dimensions of the ‘creative’ old vanity….and the dimensions of the new (standard) 48×21″ we ordered.

Hopefully that makes things easier for you guys. Here’s a quick before and after picture from tonight…what you get in an hour and a half (which included a lot of prep like removing hardware, and doing some laundry).

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I’m sad to report that Randy Prausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor who gave the world famous Last Lecture passed on this week. I’ve posted before about him and how inspiring I found his talk, and it seems like a fitting time to share it again.

May God bless your soul and comfort your family.

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