MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Throughout 5 years, the house was transformed into an
Christian Kalb
Born in Thunder Bay, I moved to Germany at the age of
8. My father escaped from communist East Germany in
1964, he risked his life to find freedom in West Germany.
He ended up emigrating to Canada shortly after arriving in
‘the West’ and started working in a remote lumberjack camp
outside of Thunder Bay without speaking a word of English.
In 1988, my parents decided to move to West Germany with
a notion that change was in the air. Sure enough, on Nov 9,
1989 the wall fell.
At that time my parents made the decision to sell their
custom built dream home situated on over 180 acres and
start a new life close to the village he was born.
It took months to sell the house they built with their own hands
for many years and they actually took a significant loss.
It had always been my dream to move back to Canada.
After 18 months of working and traveling in different places
around the world, such as Disney World and Australia, I
realized my dream of moving back to Canada.
I was working in Dublin at the time and I requested a
transfer from Dublin to Toronto. In April 2006 the transfer
was approved and I got to spend 2 weeks in Dallas, TX for
training where I ended up meeting my future wife. We didn’t
waste any time and in 2007 we had our first child, Marcela.
We decided to live in my mother in law’s tiny one bedroom
basement in order to save money for a 20% down-payment
on our first home. It was a sacrifice we had to make to fulfill
our dream of owning our first house. After working full time
in an office job and part time at the airport (70 hours/week)
for one year, I was able to clear my savings accounts to
finally produce the 20% down payment on our first home.
We were determined to get a detached home but realized
quickly that it may be a better idea to start small, so we
‘downsized’ our dream and in May 2008 we purchased
a basic and small semi-detached home in Streetsville,
Words of Wisdom:
1. No pain, no gain - hustle hard and sacrifice where ever you
can with long term goals in mind.
2. The glass is half full! Don’t let fear kill your dreams.
3. Forget about being perfect. My favorite quote: “Perfectionism is the
enemy of profitability” (Mark Cuban). Focus on getting things/projects
done rather than ‘everything has to be perfect.’
4. Your tenants are your clients. Treat them that way. You cannot build a scalable
business without happy clients.
5. Be proactive and involved! Always try to be around during big projects/
jobs, be involved and ask questions. Offer your contractors water/coffee/
snacks/lunch, they will appreciate it and respect you.
Mississauga for $291,000 - a fortune at the time.
energy efficient and comfortable home by doing numerous
major upgrades and a full energy audit in 2009. We knew it
would be too small once the second child arrived.
Everything slowed down in the summer of 2010 when my
mother was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer, she
passed away in September 2010.
It was something I never thought could happen so early and
quickly, it was devastating in so many ways.
In 2013, just 2 weeks after giving birth to our second child,
we purchased our second home in Burlington, a detached
house for $435,000.
The market was very competitive, we were only able to get
the house because it was already sold twice and the deal
fell through each time. We were able to negotiate a deal and
buy the house without appliances for $15,000 less. Kijiji was
my best friend! ;)
When I started to understand the actual cost of selling a
house, I just had to find a way to keep it, so I decided to
refinance the mortgage and pull out just enough for the 20%
down payment on the next home in form of equity, not a
penny more.
The semi was rented out for $1,700/month to Scottish
immigrants - all the expenses were covered, there was even
some positive cash flow to cover any surprise expenses or
renovations down the road.
I will never forget signing 2 mortgages at the same time. It
was one of the scariest moments of my life. And the fact that
my father didn’t think it was a good idea did not help. After
gaining positive experiences with tenants and maintaining
the property in Mississauga without any major incidents, I
started to gain more confidence. It wasn’t nearly as bad as
everyone told me.
Then, just one year after the birth of our second child,
Calista, my father passed away after being diagnosed
with cancer. As the only child I had to go back and forth to
Germany to take care of things.
After spending a significant amount of time in my parents
empty dream home I realized the traditional belief system
(work, save, retire, enjoy life) did not work.
I had to do things differently. My parents worked hard for
everything that they had and made so many sacrifices over
decades, the dream of a happy and prosperous retirement
was just an illusion with low pension payments from both
countries and growing health concerns that automatically
Cash Flow: $600
Cash Flow: $972
7 Cash Flow: $350
arise with age anyway.
In 2015, I purchased the
3rd property, this time in St.
Catharines. It was the first
true investment property,
a duplex with triplex potential (3 units with 3 separate
entrances of which 1 is unfinished).
At that time, St. Catharines didn’t get much attention,
it seemed risky but the numbers made sense. Only a 40
minute drive from Burlington and to pay $244,000 for this
property that needed some work on an oversize lot seemed
like a good deal.
I was working for a software company in Downtown Toronto
and was commuting on the GoTrain every day until 2 weeks
before closing when I got into a car accident.
My car was totalled and the aftermath of the accident
made me realize that I wasn’t actually passionate about
my job. I left the company and decided to fully focus on the
triplex in St. Catharines for a while to get it up to speed.
After experiencing difficulties with contractors I started doing
more and more work myself.
A light bulb went off and I went to the Rock Star Introductory
class. Joining Rock Star Inner Circle turned out to be exactly
what I was looking for and more. Just 10 months after
purchasing the house for $244,000, I was able to refinance
at the appraised value of $320,000, which provided the 20%
down payment for the next property.
I was able to connect with the right individuals, at the right
place, at the right time and I ended up refinancing two of
my three mortgages and purchase three homes within a
short period of time without actually being employed - 5
mortgages at once.
One of them was my first joint venture.We purchased two
side-by-side semi detached homes facing Twelve Mile
Creek in St. Catharines. One of the two homes was already
a duplex and the other one was turned into a duplex. The
upstairs is a furnished short term rental and the downstairs
in a long term rental.
Currently I am renovating a duplex close to the lake. This
property was purchased for only $280,000. It was surprising
to see a house like this priced under $300k on the market
for 30 days.
When we entered the unit, we knew why. The upstairs unit
was completely dated and in rough condition. The basement
unit was also occupied by a hoarder. Once the renos are
done I am hoping to refinance at $380,000.
The mid term goal is to get to 10 properties (duplex/triplex)
as fast as possible and work on strategic joint venture
relationships. The long term goal is to live life on my terms
and travel as much as possible and continue to grow my
YouTube channel ‘Travel Guru TV.’
Cash Flow: $1,000+
Cash Flow: $900