How to Double Your Money with Real Estate
by Dave Peniuk
 We double our money in real estate almost every year.
That's not really a fair statement though. MOST of our direct financial investment in our deals is limited. What we
invest in our deals is our expertise, time, tons of time actually, and my team which has taken me years and years
to build. The value I bring to the deals isn't financial. We typically put in less than $5,000 on each deal and in
most cases I get that back in the first year, if not double it. Our Joint Venture Partners, however, will have to
wait about 5 years for their money to double but they are doubling a $70,000 investment not a $5,000 and, more
importantly, their return on their time is infinite (as they only have a few hours of due diligence and writing the
cheque).
So, when a writer for Canadian Real Estate Magazine interviewed me looking for my tips on how other readers could
double their money in three to five years I found the question tough to answer. It really depends on what
ROLE YOU WANT TO PLAY.
And, to be really frank with you, Julie and I invest $30,000 to $40,000 a year into coaches, courses, networking
and mentoring and have done that consistently for several years now. We also have costs like our office space, our
office manager, office materials, websites, marketing materials, parties and other expenses that aren't directly
applicable to a specific deal but are all business expenses we incur as part of generating the income we do with
our real estate. So we don't REALLY double our money every year (although it is growing beautifully!).
Assuming you do want to be the active investor like we are, here's our formula to finding the deals that are going
to be most likely to double the initial investment required in 3 to 5 years - whether you're doing this with a
partner or on your own. We only buy properties with a CAUSE:
Convenience: Is the property near schools, hospitals, shopping, public transportation, a
university - the more convenient the location, generally the more in demand it will be both for renting and for
selling in the future. It also increases the potential rent rate and the quality of the rental pool we'll draw
from.
Attracts families: Areas that attracts families and that fit all the other CAUSE categories
tend to be the easiest to rent, with less turnover, and lower maintenance and lower risk.
Under the average price: We focus on buying homes that are 10% below the average price in
our chosen market. Why only 10% below? Because if you go much below that you tend to get into tougher
neighbourhoods and rougher houses - and just because we buy in areas that are 10% below the average house price for
our city doesn't mean the houses we buy are only 10% under - we're bargain hunting!!
| 
