Unearth the mystique of real estate investing with our distinguished guests, Kris Bucci and Constance Foster.
Welcome back to the “Inspired To Invest” real estate podcast!
This riveting conversation with Kris and Constance illuminates their journeys – how they embraced full-time investing and formed a lucrative partnership in Stone Hearth Properties. They generously share their wisdom on building relationships and the strategic use of private lending in their investment strategies. A guaranteed goldmine of knowledge awaits anyone interested in real estate investing.
In the quest to dig deeper into the world of real estate, we hear from Kris, who alongside his partner Sari, are two fearless investors who traded their previous careers for the thrill of the property market. Their experiences – building their first house and then moving into subdivision projects – open fascinating discussions on the opportunities in private lending.
We also have Constance, a private lender herself, elaborating the attractive returns and security of investing in real estate. One thing’s for sure, their stories make one thing clear – education and community are everything in this field. But it’s not all smooth sailing in the world of land development.
As they share our own experiences, they reveal the often overlooked challenges and invaluable lessons learned. Constance talks about dealing with cost fluctuations in long-term projects, the importance of multiple exit strategies, and being transparent with payment practices. And as your team grows, the importance of effective communication and continuous system refinement becomes paramount.
Buckle up for some hard-hitting truths and personal growth stories from our guests Kris and Constance. It’s an enlightening journey that concludes with a look into Kris and Constance’s current projects and future plans – from completed townhomes to the upcoming development of Sequoia Wind. Their passion and advice are sure to inspire – making this episode a must-listen for aspiring investors!
To connect with Kris Bucci & Constance Foster, go to @stoneheartproperties on social and shproperties.ca online.
Thank you to TruCapital Real Estate, Strategic Success Consulting & Infinite Real Estate Results for bringing us this month’s episodes of “Inspired To Invest”. To learn more about TruCapital , go to @investorcarleen on social and https://trucapitalrealestate.com online. For Strategic Success Consulting, go to @danielle.chiasson on social and for Infinite Real Estate Results, go to @korymackinnon on social or https://linktr.ee/korymackinnon.
We will be taking a break from programming on Wed., Dec. 6, but join us again on Wed., Dec. 13 for Episode Twenty-Six to hear from a couple of real estate investors who are committed to designing beautiful spaces and safe homes for their tenants.
To connect with our host, Serena Holmes, go to https://www.linktr.ee/serenaholmesrealtor.
To buy a copy of The Accidental Entrepreneur, go to https://www.linktr.ee/serenaholmesauthor.
And, for everything related to real estate and real estate investing, please make sure you’ve subscribed to @serenaholmesrealtor on YouTube & other platforms. We also have a page dedicated to this podcast on Instagram and Facebook @inspiredtoinvestpodcast where we preview guests each week, highlight their episodes, top takeaways, tips, quotes and more.
Are you a real estate investor with an inspiring story to share? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1p6SfS8dePhLl6wMmSgdPpQ7xsJuEsBUbPDTJ0vgy9h8/
Thank you for tuning in & remember, “when you invest in yourself, the sky’s the limit!”
Real Estate Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1
00:01
Welcome to the Inspired to Invest podcast, where we’re sharing stories from real estate investors and how investing has changed their lives. This episode of the Inspire to Invest podcast has been brought to you by TruCapital Real Estate, Strategic Success Consulting and Infinite Real Estate Results. Hey everybody, welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast. Today I’ve got Kris Bucci and Constance Foster here with me. They’re from Stone Hearth Properties and I’m going to tell you a little bit about their illustrious experience as real estate investors, because they definitely have so much experience that they’re going to share with us today. So, for Kris, he is a real estate developer from Victoria, bc and, with his partner, Sari Ringma, he became a full-time real estate investor with her back in 2019. After 22 years working for the Royal Canadian Navy, he was able to transfer a lot of these skills, working as a project manager on their various developments. They currently have several long and short-term rentals in Canada and also abroad, and in total, these projects encounter or encompass, I’d just say over 170 lots with a combined gross revenue of more than 120 million. So I’d say that’s pretty fabulous.
01:10
It’s been four years. I think everyone would like to make that kind of money in four years and in terms of Constance. So after being married for 20 years and then divorcing, she found herself, like many others, needing to rebuild her life and her career. She turned to real estate. So, after doing some smaller renovation and duplex projects, she learned about private spending, private lending so really speaking my language and she really found that there are so many opportunities that she could offer that was better than the banks and providing that win-win for various private lenders. So since focusing on real estate full-time, she has raised more than $35 million in capital and she has launched a mutual fund trust, which she’ll talk to us a little bit more about that give investors the opportunity to use cash along with registered funds, and she is currently focusing on a combination of single-family home builds, luxury rentals, land assemblies and also a project of 76 townhouses. So she’s busy. So thank you so much, kristin Constance, for being here today. How are you?
Speaker 2
02:09
Great, thank you. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1
02:12
Yeah, and I know, constance, you’re joining us from Curacao, so I am.
Speaker 3
02:16
So it’s a little hot over here, so, but yeah, no, thank you. Great to have the internet available so we can join the call.
Speaker 1
02:24
Yes, I know you talked about it a little bit on your bios and your intro, but can you take us back a little bit in terms of what the actual catalyst was that motivated both of you to start investing in real estate? Obviously you had kind of independent paths and now you’ve joined forces, but may you can speak to what that moment was that really motivated you to start down this new career path?
Speaker 2
02:45
Yeah, I’m happy to start. So back in 2018, Scott McGillivray was doing his road tour around VC, like many people in KeySpire, and Sari just happened to see it on Facebook or somewhere saw the ad, so he went to his little whatever three hour show thing he did, and at that point we were already had a couple rental properties, but it was just to pay the mortgage.
03:08
We weren’t planning on doing it full time or anything like that. But once we saw his, his speak, we just realized that, hey, we’re doing something right here. So we signed up for the 3D workshop and then it was history from there. We just had to go full out.
Speaker 1
03:22
How about you Constance?
Speaker 3
03:24
Yeah, for me, you know, I had as I mentioned, it was my first 20 years and worked on my homes and was rebuilding, and I was like, okay, I really liked real estate. So I also found an educational group where I was learning and I just decided I was going to dedicate myself to it full time. You know, there’s that saying if you’ve always done what you’ve, you always do. What you’ve always done, you’re always going to get you’ve always got. So I definitely just decided to give it a go and and realize, though the part, the value of partnering with other people right to really like bring about change. So I have been very lucky to align myself with some great partners, so how did you guys actually end up partnering up?
Speaker 1
04:03
I don’t think I know the story.
Speaker 2
04:06
Well, we’ve, we’ve basically known each other throughout the different communities, because Victoria is a small community, especially the real estate community. So we’ve, you know, we met through that. I think, sarah, we might have. We worked with you at some point as a realtor, but then it was during the synergy mastermind that we really we created store the properties out of synergy mastermind with other partners. But we realized we were still missing a key piece and that was the raising the funds. So we thought of somebody who was an expert in that and that’s where we found the funds.
Speaker 1
04:36
Yeah, so in terms of transitioning to this full time, obviously you guys had different backgrounds what would you say? Like, did you jump into that full time or did you kind of straddle another past position at the same time while you were getting things started?
Speaker 3
04:50
For me, I actually was focusing on multi-family and everything like my focus is everything is relationship and, you know, being involved and it’s amazing, we don’t know what we don’t know, so it’s only through conversation and interacting. And somebody pointed out to me you know, private lending wasn’t even on my radar and realized you know, if you’re working with people that like really embraced reciprocity and integrity, what you can build together is pretty phenomenal. And so for me, it was actually just being in relationship with other people and having other people like bring my attention to something else. And then I met my community right, and my partners. So that’s how it transitions for me. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2
05:31
If you know, serena, we do everything full out. We jump in full, both feet in. So we both decided we’re going to do it full time and in 2019, I left the Navy, I cashed my pension out, so I use my pension money to build our first house and then went on from there. And Sarah, she left her corporate job to become a realtor, and so we had no safety net and just jumped right in and we knew we had to make it work.
Speaker 1
05:55
So how did that look like then? From going from a single family property that you built to now you’re working on a subdivision. So how, like, what does that process look like? Like, did you guys go out thinking that’s something you wanted to do, or did just a land opportunity come up? Like me, you can walk me through thought a bit.
Speaker 2
06:12
Yeah, just again, it’s Sarah. She’s, she’s crazy at finding great opportunities and pushing me past my limit. So, yeah, we built the one house and, because the market shift, we were buying turnkey rentals. But it wasn’t making sense anymore so we thought we’d just build them. We JV, you know, build 1020 single family homes and JV and all that without our plan. But then Sarah saw this one property and saw how the numbers made sense and said if we can build two houses, why can’t we build 44? Why not? Yeah, so that’s where it went.
Speaker 1
06:46
Now and for you Constance, like, obviously we’ve worked together in the private lending space but for anyone that’s watching that maybe unfamiliar with the kinds of opportunities that exist in this capacity, can you shed a little bit of light on how that would work for someone that’s never done it before?
Speaker 3
07:01
Sure, like I think it’s really important that you get to know like the people behind the project because integrity is a very big part of it find out a lot about their reputation and how long they’ve been doing it. It’s great to have a community so that you can go out and ask the community what they know about that particular team. So I think that’s kind of the first place to start. And then it’s about education as well. So you know, I’m always happy to like walk people through some of the stuff to get them like started in the process, places to look, but it’s education and the education never stops. But if you can kind of find your community, find your people to talk to and learn about projects, then you can find out about what.
07:41
There’s different types of opportunities. There’s short term lending. There’s opportunities to do secured lending like mortgages. A lot of people don’t know that they can use cash or registered funds to actually hold a mortgage for somebody, just like the bank and be making more than what you would make at the bank. And other people don’t know that they can also take charge of their registered accounts. By putting it into a self directed account, they’re able to lend it out for things like mortgages or mutual fund units where you can participate in different projects from like land development to income producing assets. So you know I’m always happy to like help people get started on that path, lead them and like give them some resources to follow up so people can reach out to me and I can help get them started.
Speaker 1
08:35
Yeah, now I don’t know if this is something you can answer or not from a securities compliance perspective, but are you able to shed any light on what the difference in returns would look like? You know, for an average person at the bank, maybe they’re making a few percent, but if they were going to go and put their funds into an MFT, like on a land development project or on something else, or even a mortgage like, what have you typically seen in terms of those rate ranges?
Speaker 3
09:00
You’re probably looking at double digits right. So that’s something it depends on the position of your mortgage. Right now, with the way interest rates are, you’re definitely looking at double digits and another part of that is term right. So some of these projects can be five or seven years, some can be two or three. So that also plays a factor. But you’re definitely looking at something a lot more than you’re going to get at the bank and it’s being backed by real estate. So you don’t get that like crazy fluctuation you get with stocks. Real estate is a little bit more predictable.
Speaker 1
09:33
Yeah, I think that’s something where, when I’ve spoken to people and they often perceive private lending is so risky, like I’ve always liked the tangibility behind it. It’s not like you’re just walking down the street, like handing out money, like there’s almost always an asset and in most instances an appreciating asset that backs that investment. So that’s one of the reasons that I personally liked it. Now, I guess, just looking at these last few years, what would you say are some of the challenges that have come up, as you, you know, amplified your projects and diversified what you’re working on.
Speaker 2
10:02
Yeah, I’ll go into that. I mean, obviously Cost, certainly is the is the big one like we, we all. It’s one thing about land development that you know learned over the last couple years is they take a long time right when you do a single family home.
10:16
It’s your chance are. You know the costs they’re not gonna change, you know, you know the the market is not gonna change that much because it’s all within a six month period. When you’re doing a land, development takes two to five to seven years. Yeah, you know the market’s gonna shift multiple times. The costs are gonna, you know, up or down depending on what’s going on the world.
10:36
And obviously, you know COVID hit for us during the middle of our projects so it really shifted what our expected cost would be. And now, with the market downgrade, it’s obviously shifted what our expected sales would be in timelines. Yeah, so that’s been the biggest struggle. The good news is, for all our projects, we purchased the land well before COVID, before the COVID spike. Yeah, so we have the land at a great cost, which has really allowed us, as given some breathing room in all our projects, to absorb the costs increase something. There’s also been a Sales increase too since the start of it, but now for the extended timelines allowed us to absorb that and still being the positive, yeah, and how about for you Constance?
Speaker 1
11:20
do you want to add anything to that?
Speaker 3
11:23
I think I think the thing is just always, which I always teach people to, is just always make sure we have extra exits, right, like, make sure you know that if you know that you have an A, b and C we you know or even a D, you never want to go to D, but when you know that you can do D and a pinch, then that’s where you get like the Courage and the knowledge that you can do this project and move forward. So that’s something we really try to focus on and I think you know with with the way our team has worked, has gotten us through this difficult time. So, yeah, something to to look for multiple exits.
Speaker 1
11:56
Now, do you think, looking back at these last few years, Is there anything that jumps out to you as, say, the biggest lesson that you’ve learned?
Speaker 2
12:07
Well, I’ll give one example of I say it whenever I speak pretty much is one of the biggest lessons I learned in land development Is that you’re gonna do this full-time is to make sure you can pay yourself during the project. It’s the biggest thing, like it’s the biggest stressor that you, us, as a team, has learned over the last couple years. Yeah, because we all you know, anticipate that it would take one or two years max for a project, right, and we’ll pair ourselves at the end.
12:30
Well, that doesn’t work right because you have bills to pay, mortgages to pay, all that kind of stuff. So you have to structure the deal where it makes sense to you pay for the project, you know where it makes sense to you pay yourself during during it. And you know, when we started out I was worried that you know how can I use private lending money to pay myself? Right, didn’t make sense. But yeah, think about it. It’s the project, they’re lending for the project, they want the project to be whole. So in order for it to be whole, you have to be whole. So that was one of the biggest lessons I learned, I think, and yeah, it’s been a big one.
Speaker 1
13:04
So for someone that’s considering budgeting budgeting a project like that Is that embedded as a management fee or an opposition fee, like? How have you Determined that ratio, like compared to the project?
Speaker 2
13:15
Yeah, it is. You can do both Access to fees or magic fees. You kind of have to depend on how your lending structure is too, because obviously, if your lenders are in just debt financing, then it doesn’t really matter how much you pay yourself, because you’re literally taking your profit and paying yourself upfront, yeah. But if it’s equity financing, well then you know, the more you take, the less your lenders get. So you really got to work that out and be upfront with it. That’s the big thing.
Speaker 1
13:41
It just be upfront to what your plan Paying yourself, and then everyone should be happy now, can you, for anyone that doesn’t know, can you explain that difference between the debt and equity, like that?
Speaker 3
13:53
financing. That financing is kind of independent of, like, how the project’s performing. So again, equity and equity thing is that you’re actually joining in with the team to see, and so the project as well. You get the blue sky along with the team. If the project does maybe not as well, you also take that journey with them. So that’s an equity role. Investing, that is more that you’re. There’s a targeted rate of return and it’s like alone. So you’re like lending the company money and the company is obligated to to get that paid to you, and it can be structured Monthly or deferred. There’s a lot of different ways, but those are the two main differences.
Speaker 1
14:38
Okay, great, thank you. And then, in terms of lessons for you, is there anything that really stands out to you as something you know that you would want to share to someone else so that maybe they can avoid a challenge or a mistake or anything like that?
Speaker 3
14:51
Yeah, I think communication with the team like we definitely, the systems we started out with were great, but as we grow you always have to have your eyes on your system and continue to like refine them. You can’t just do it at the end of the project. It’s the continual process, you know, because a lot of us there it’s learning for all of us all the time, like that’s one thing in this space. The learning never stops, yeah, so I think it’s just continually refining your systems as you move along and grow. I think that’s really important and the communication with the team is really important as well. I think one of the strengths I love about our group is we all have a role and we all have integrity and we all show up, and that’s really important. I can’t imagine doing this project when you don’t have that Trust with your members.
Speaker 1
15:40
So that’s really important and then just keeping that communication Going yeah, no, I think that’s huge and obviously what works when there’s just a few of you would be very different Once you have like 10 of you or a hundred of you, so I can see how you may need to adapt and change as those things change with your business. Now, when you look back at you know everything you have accomplished so far. What do you feel like you’re most proud of or what you would perceive as your biggest success so far?
Speaker 2
16:06
Hmm, good question, I see it for me is just the lifestyle that we’ve been able to do for our family. It’s not necessarily the strapping lifestyle, it’s just the you know what we be able to show our kids right Like. One of the biggest you know things that made me excited is when we started building, we were hiring a lot of our son you know, he’s an athlete so they couldn’t get regular jobs. They’re too busy with sports, so we hired them during the summers, him and all his buddies. We had six hockey kids working for us all summer. Yeah, they worked for us for two summers, maybe three actually on our home builds, and now all six of them are in the trades. Yeah, they’ve all loved it. They all want to do what we were doing. So it was just that role model aspect. I guess the best thing that’s what I’m most proud of, I think, in our accomplishments is that we’ve been able to really show our kids and, you know, our, our friends what the opportunities are.
Speaker 1
17:00
Yeah, no, I think that’s really powerful and just for kids in general, I think that this is something that should be exposed to them far more often and also far younger to understand you know the purpose of assets and how you can build that wealth, whether it’s real estate or even another platform because I think right now too many people are educated and they just go get jobs and they’re living paycheck to paycheck and there’s obviously better options out there.
Speaker 3
17:25
For me it’s just the fact that you know a lot of people get strength from their partner, like if they’re married or in a partnership, and then during it, on your own, it feels like you just can’t keep up with couples or you don’t know where to start. And I think the thing I’m most proud of is realizing you can do it on your own and you, you know, because you can align yourself with other people that are aligned with you, right where your partner may or may not be and that could be a detriment. So you know you can do this on your own and you can start small and then you can start building other relationships and, and you know, build your own wealth. So I think that’s kind of a big thing for me that just step into it and you know opportunities come.
Speaker 1
18:07
Yeah, no, I love that. So, with that being said, we’re just going to take a really brief break for a word from our sponsors, and we’ll be right back.
Speaker 4
18:13
Hi, my name is Karleen Sue and I’m the CEO of True Capital Real Estate. Our mission is to help busy professionals build lasting wealth. We focus on multifamily purpose-built rentals as a strategic and accessible investment strategy. Our goal is to demystify real estate investing and be your protested partner to handle all aspects from beginning to end, because, after all, it’s not actually about real estate. It’s about having a robust and secure financial future so you can focus on the people and things that you care about the most.
Speaker 1
18:46
Thanks again for following along with this episode of Inspired to Invest. In addition to real estate investing and running my own brand experience agency for 18 years, I also published a book called the Accidental Entrepreneur in October of 2021. This is my story and it chronicles how I turned tragedy into triumph to embrace my destiny in entrepreneurship. If you’re interested in picking up a copy, you can find the link at SerenaHomesRealtorcom and you can also find my link tree with all of the retailers in the details below. Thanks again for your support.
Speaker 5
19:20
I hope you’re enjoying the podcast and we’ll get you right back to it. But I have some exciting news to share. Myself from Strategic Success and Corey McKinnon from Infinite Results have banded together so we can bring to you an amazing platform where you can learn and grow and have support on your real estate journey. We’re building a community, we’re building the help and the support, we’ve got the coaching for you. We’ve got the content. So if you want more information and see how it can help you on your journey, click the link below in the show notes or click the link in my bio for more information.
Speaker 1
19:54
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Inspired to Invest podcast. I have Chris Buce and Constant Foster here from Stonehearth Properties and Five Oaks Land Development and they’re sharing their experiences as real estate investors and how they started to build these very significant, sizable projects out in Victoria BC but also holding properties really around the country and around the world. So, with that being said, you’ve shared some of the things pertaining to your challenges and lessons, but when you look at now these last few years, what would you say is the craziest thing that’s actually happened to you as a real estate investor so far?
20:25
Hmm, I feel like it’s always a fun one. That’s a pretty interesting response.
Speaker 2
20:38
I think just how fast we’ve gone in such a short time. Actually, one example is we talked to one of the guys that works for us. He’s been excavating the excavation world for 60 years and he’s really walked us through the construction side. He basically mentored me throughout the whole process. Obviously, we pay him well, but I felt I needed I owed him more. I know he saved just probably millions of dollars in mistakes, so I really want to do something for him. So I was talking to Sarri Bush just wait just wait, see how it goes.
21:17
And then he calls me that same night, just the blue, and he said I need to thank you, Chris. The work you’ve done, the project you’ve given me is given my son his son focus, because his son became started working in the business as well at 19, but had no purpose, no alignment, and then he started working on one of our projects and he took ownership of it and he was there every day, he was working and now he’s going off on his own now, as of yesterday actually. So it was just a neat feeling, right, I know it’s not crazy outlandish, but it was just a neat feeling to see that and the power of this.
Speaker 1
21:54
Yeah, no, it’s huge.
Speaker 3
21:57
I don’t know If I’m looking for an example, it’s probably something more just like when I was first starting out and just having to have a great determination like to put in the time, because you know I wasn’t starting with a lot of resources, so I had more time than money. So it was definitely, you know, I knew I was sleeping on the floor around it but you know I knew to get somebody else’s old purpose old kitchen and repurpose it and learn how to tile and plumb and do all of that. And just honestly my mindset was you know what, like I can just give it a go and if it doesn’t work I can always hire somebody. So I would say just kind of yeah, it’s more just actually getting my hands dirty and getting down and getting things done at the beginning.
Speaker 1
22:41
Yeah Well, I think that’s the thing. It’s not unusual for a lot of investors to start out where they have the time but they don’t have the money right. So they will have these unusual circumstances or sacrifices that they’ll make, but it’s all short term pain for long term gain, of course. Now, when you look back at the education and mentoring that you have received, what would you say is the best advice that you’ve gotten in these last few years?
Speaker 2
23:05
For me, it’s just honestly to take action, right? I mean, we’ve all been taught the mechanics of everything and everything else, but until you take action, there’s really nothing gonna happen, right? We’ve all seen people that have paid tens of thousands of dollars for education but aren’t doing anything because they just don’t take action. So I think that’s the biggest takeaway I’ve always gotten from people, yeah.
Speaker 3
23:32
I agree with that. I think the one thing is is like the learning never stops, like, honestly you think, like you never think that you’re there because there’s always gonna be more to learn and you can always learn more from others, and but in doing action you know when you’re actually in it you’re learning a lot more. Like a mutual fund trust. I didn’t know what a mutual fund trust is for our purpose like a year and a half ago. Ask me about mutual fund trust. Today, I know a lot more about it and I continue to learn more.
24:02
I think it’s really important to realize, too, for people that are starting out is, sometimes you don’t need to have all the answers. Is that you just you need to have the people, though, that have the answers that can help bring it together. So, like in our mutual fund trust, we work with a securities lawyer, we work with Axiom advisors, we work with like a whole team of people that bring it all together. So if I don’t know the answer, they do. That’s their job. So I think that’s a really important piece too.
Speaker 1
24:28
Yeah, I think that’s really smart. And just going back to that, like when you are a real estate investor, there are constantly things changing, like the house and market’s very fluid, the government’s very involved in legislation and the official plan and all of these different things. So I think, even if you think you’ve got a handle on it like CMHC wants to change the rules today, so you know, there’s just all these things that are constantly happening and that’s why I think it’s also so important to be part of these communities and groups where you can share those resources, because otherwise, like you could find yourself behind or make a mistake or something like that. Now, in terms of how real estate investing has changed your life, I know, christy, like you spoke to that a little bit, but how would you kind of outline that for yourself? And what does financial freedom look to you? I know that you guys are still in the weeds a little bit with your projects, but what would you say? What will that look like when you can be like I’ve made it, I’ve arrived?
Speaker 2
25:22
I think for us it’s you know, I think we’re.
25:26
The fun part is like we’re closer than we think. It doesn’t feel like right now. It’s like you said, we’re in the weeds quite a bit right now, but for me it’s just being able to do the projects I want to do when I want to do it. Right, like we’re not going to retire. Retire, that’s just not in our blood. But do I want to be doing, you know, 170 units a year? Or you know, no, of course not. You know, I just want to find the smaller projects. You know when we want to do them, we don’t want to do them. We don’t want to do them and just travel. Right, it’s just the ability to travel. This is an amazing world and I just want to see more of it.
Speaker 3
25:59
Yeah, for me, the projects that we have are like I’m very proud of what you know, what we have in front of us, and I love the learning. Like I love learning. I think our whole team, like we’re not idle individuals. So, you know, I look forward to seeing our projects come to fruition and then I’m like, just you know, and we will always probably have something on the go, but it’ll be like more just to keep our minds active, and then we’ll have a bit more time freedom. We don’t really have that as much at the moment, but it’s coming out in the future, it’s a little bit of a tunnel.
Speaker 2
26:38
Yeah, awesome, so one of our goals for Stone Earth is to basically grow the company. So we, you know, make it a proper business right, where we’re not necessarily in the weeds every day. We hire for that right. So find our who’s and who, not how to take our roles out, and so we’d be more I’m not silent partners, but more, you know, shareholders. Just help our, give an direction and then, you know, let the company grow.
Speaker 1
27:04
Yeah, yeah, I know that makes perfect sense. Now, in terms of Stone Earth and with Five Oaks, can you talk a little bit about those projects and what kind of opportunities there could be for investors that are tuning in?
Speaker 2
27:15
Yeah, it’s actually pretty exciting right now because, as I said, land development can be a long process. Yeah, and in Stone Earth properties, we have nine townhomes right now. They’re just coming to the end. We’re probably gonna list them in the next week or two, nice, and we should be, you know, basically completed by Christmas, which is pretty exciting. It’s been a long go, but we’re there, so that one’s, you know, finishing up. And now we’re starting to refocus on Sequoia Wind, which is the project under Five Oaks.
Speaker 4
27:45
Yeah.
Speaker 2
27:46
And we’re starting to start with the Stone Earth. We’re starting with Kathy Mandakerberg on that one, so that one the land had been prepped. I had another project. We had to remove a lot of rocks, so we basically moved 4,000 dump truck loads of rocks in one project to the next. So it’s ready, prepped to go. The development permits is approved. So now we’re in discussion with the contractor right now who will probably take the lead on the build of them, and then hopefully springtime will be breaking ground. So we’re just directing our telephones.
Speaker 1
28:19
Awesome. Do you want to add anything to that in regards to your MFT?
Speaker 3
28:24
Yeah. So, as far as like, if people want to get involved with us, we always I would encourage people to reach out. We sometimes have short-term private lending opportunities and mortgages, but the biggest thing that we’re promoting right now is our mutual fund trust, and that was set up, I think I mentioned, by our securities lawyer and an accounting firm, and it takes both cash and registered funds. It’s a two-year term and it offers 15% base rate with a dip option and you get a bonus if you stand for 24 months. So the effective rate is 17.12%, which is pretty good. So if people want to learn more about that, I would encourage them to either visit our website at wwwshpropertiesca or reach out to me at constants at shpropertiesca.
Speaker 1
29:14
Now, obviously, the purpose of this podcast is inspiring other people to invest, so I always like to ask my guests what one of their favorite quotes is, and something that really motivates them.
Speaker 2
29:29
I just go back to just do it. I know it’s the Nike tagline, whatever it is, but for me it’s just we’ve always gone that way. Just go ahead and do it and you can figure it out afterwards. If you have the right team, the right support, the right people, you’ll figure it out. None of us knew anything about land development a few years ago and none of us ever knew how to build a house before I built my first house. You’ll figure it out along the way, as long as you have the support and the work ethic to do it.
Speaker 1
29:59
Yeah, awesome, thank you.
Speaker 3
30:03
Yeah, I think one of my favorite quotes is actually not real estate. You paste it out somewhere. It’s about like there’s a lot like riding a bicycle you have to keep moving forward to keep your balance. I think that’s also really important in business, because we’re always coming across challenges and we have to kind of just keep our focus on solutions and actions to keep moving forward. But I think it’s also a good quote for life.
Speaker 1
30:26
So, yeah, I think work obviously consumes so much of our lives that they’re all intertwined. So, with that being said, thank you for being here. Is there anything in particular that you would like to leave the audience with, or any pros and cons done before we wrap up?
Speaker 2
30:41
No, just I mean, like I said, if you want, just reach out, always available to talk real estate, but just get out there and do it right, Like usually the networks we have. There’s some great networks in Canada or in the US, wherever you are, yeah just join the networks and surround yourself with the right people.
Speaker 3
31:01
Yeah, and I would say, Jess, if you’re not really sure on how to get started with private lending or you want to learn more, just reach out. I’m happy to put you on a path or connect you with some ideas. You know there are a lot of great communities out there and resources and I’m definitely happy to like help shorten that path for you.
Speaker 1
31:19
Yeah, and I think that’s the main thing, like when I started out diversifying, like I think just having all of those conversations with people is so important and I’m always surprised when I talk to people and they won’t even have those conversations and like they don’t even realize the untapped potential that’s out there. And you know, there’s obviously no harm in just having some of those calls to understand it. And maybe you’re not ready right now, but maybe a year from now or two years from now you will be right. So I think, yeah, just to both of your points, just trying to learn from other people and see what’s out there and it can really change your life. So, the top of your head, thank you so much for your time today and, of course, we’re sponsoring the podcast this past month.
31:55
I very much appreciate it for anyone that has been following along. Thank you for your time and if you have liked this episode, please make sure that you like and subscribe below and you can also follow along at inspired to invest podcast on social. And, of course, don’t forget when you invest in yourself, the sky’s the limit. Thanks again. Thanks again to our sponsors true capital, real estate, strategic success, consulting and infinite real estate results for bringing you this episode of inspired to invest. The views represented on this podcast are for general information only and does not constitute investment or other professional advice or an offering of securities. The hosting guests featured on inspired to invest make no representations as to the performance of any particular investment. Should you decide to make an investment, you are responsible for conducting your own review and analysis. It is recommended that you obtain independent legal, accounting and tax advice from licensed professionals.
Speaker 1
00:01
Welcome to the Inspired to Invest podcast, where we’re sharing stories from real estate investors and how investing has changed their lives. This episode of Inspire to Invest has been brought to you by Dijon Properties. Hey everybody, welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast. I have Debora Randall here today. I promise she sounds a lot better than I do, and before we dive into our questions, I’ll read a short pile so you can get to know her, and then I’ll let her take over doing all the talking.
00:34
So Debora spent the last 19 years working in Africa. She’s in Uganda right now and her work has focused on developing commercially viable business models benefiting poor farmers, women and refugees. Her most recent work was in northern Uganda, working with 80 companies, leveraging 100 million US in sales and investments to improve the incomes of 240,000 farmers and their families. So it’s pretty impressive. She returned to Vancouver in 2021 with her daughters and she continues to leverage the power of business to benefit people in these emerging economies. Her latest venture, beyond Bounds Properties, embodies this approach and she’s tries to make real estate beneficial for investors and also for tenants. She’s currently investing in US and in Mexico. So thank you, Debora, for being here. Welcome.
Speaker 2
01:26
Thanks. Thanks so much for having me, serena. It’s great to be here, and always like such an impressive career.
Speaker 1
01:33
I guess where I really want to start is like where did your career start before real estate and business kind of came into the picture?
Speaker 2
01:42
Well, you know, I’ve always believed in the power of business to change communities and when I first started, we were looking at kind of microfinance and small loans and that was kind of like quite a new thing, a new perspective, because typically, you know, in the in emerging economies or in the development sphere, in order to respond to people who are, you know, who are impoverished or in poverty, is that we would look to give them food or give them things right, so actually to get them to work themselves and make their own monies, with kind of this unique perspective.
02:21
And then, just since then you know that was like 20 or so years ago since then it’s just evolved more and more and we see how critical business is to improve local economies, because people want to work, then they can provide for themselves and their families. So it kind of makes sense when you think about it. So how can we drive business to be a force of good, basically? So it kind of evolved from there and I just became so passionate about it because it’s so much about, you know, working with people, working with business and thinking about thinking outside the box, thinking innovatively. How do you change the way a company relates to its customers or sources you know as their suppliers, in ways that actually are positive and not negative. So it’s it’s really exciting work and we’ve seen it work, which is so great yeah.
Speaker 1
03:14
I’m sure it’s going to be like so fulfilling. Now, where did real estate come into the equation? And like, what was the catalyst to get you to start investing? And, you know, connect all of this together.
Speaker 2
03:25
Yeah, well, I decided I’ve been living and working in East Africa for 13 years my career has spanned longer than that but specifically in East Africa and then I did my. My young daughters grew up and became teenagers, my parents became more elderly and so, for a number of other reasons, I decided to go back to Vancouver, where I was originally from. And so I did that. And then, actually, because I’d been away for so long I was out of Vancouver for 23 years I just thought I wanted, I was looking at, you know, real estate, I wanted to find a home. And then the whole issue around affordability kind of struck me full in the face and I was like then it.
04:10
And then just started delving deeper into that and realizing I’d always been quite passionate about real estate and house hacking and all that kind of stuff, you know, when I was young, but I I, you know left Canada so I couldn’t do much of that.
04:26
So it just sort of piqued my interest and I was like, well, not only for myself, in terms of a home and my own financial future, for myself and my daughters, but also I started realizing, wait a minute, there’s a bigger, like huge social issue that actually is erupting here, and it’s not that dissimilar to some of the work that I’ve been doing in Africa. And so that’s how I started getting into the real estate world and also, I think, really interestingly, interestingly, I you kind of have when you’re not in the real estate sector, you kind of have this perception of real estate entrepreneurs or developers as kind of these people who are, you know, schmucks and they’re just, you know, making as much money as they can and not caring for people and everyone’s kind of these victims. And I realized that there’s actually a whole group of people out there in real estate investment and development that are not like that you actually really care for people. And I was like, wait a minute, maybe these two worlds aren’t so different. So let me actually come into this world and be part of some good things that are happening in the real estate sector.
Speaker 1
05:42
And I was like no, and that’s what I found in with this podcast. To you know, it’s ordinary people doing these really extraordinary things that just made a decision to change their life. Maybe they talked to someone or met someone that just totally changed her path, right. So I found that to be so fascinating. Now, what kind of things are you investing in yourself when it comes to real estate?
Speaker 2
06:03
There’s a couple of elements that I’m really interested in. So obviously I’m wanting to create my own financial future as well, right so, and it’s sort of this win win that we’ve been talking about. But I so I’m quite passionate. I do love like rentals, like short term rentals, and we are I’m currently investing into loom Mexico. We’re actually doing some villa builds up there with some other partners.
06:31
But also I’m really interested in the multifamily space, and mostly in the moment, because I believe that there’s a number of opportunities because the multifamilies are. They don’t quite work for what I want to do in Canada, but, you know, just trying to get and not so much this massive value add where you buy a multifamily, you renovate and you double the rents. I mean, that’s not in my, that’s not my thing. I want to really kind of work with the C class and the B class. Those are the asset classes I’m looking at. And just again, how do we make good quality, provide good quality housing for people, so that people have homes to live in right and they’re cared for? So mostly looking in the south, the southern parts of the states like Texas and Arizona, so that’s where, where we’re focused now.
Speaker 1
07:27
Now, when you look back at your career like obviously at the philanthropy, and you know the social justice aspect what would you say you feel like is your biggest success or accomplishment? It doesn’t have to necessarily be real estate focused.
Speaker 2
07:43
Okay. So I mean, I think, accomplishment. I mean, I guess, if we think of the holistic part of life, right, I am proud of the fact that I have stayed true to myself and lived and worked what I was passionate about. And it’s not easy, and it wasn’t easy for me to kind of figure out this career. It wasn’t something that actually I’d seen a lot of people do in Vancouver, where I grew up right, maybe more so in Toronto and Ottawa, where you have a lot more people who are focused on overseas work.
08:27
But Vancouver is a little bit different and so really so thankful and happy that I have been able to have the adventures that I’ve had and lived in the countries that I lived in and been part of doing something good where I’ve worked, but also, I think, coming back to Vancouver and connecting into the real estate space also, just really and maybe I haven’t done this yet, but this is sort of my focus is to also stay true to myself in that sector right and not just do what other people are doing because that works for them, but actually really did keep and find out what is it that I want to contribute in a sector right? What do I want to do what is linked in with my skills and abilities, but also my passion and my system. So just yeah, staying true to myself, it isn’t so easy to do right, and it really takes a lot of thoughtfulness and really also not just jumping into things really kind of assessing is this something that fits within who I am and what I want to do?
Speaker 1
09:40
So yeah, well, I think it’s obvious that you have a very deep sense of purpose and that really drives you, and not only your career, just all of your decisions and how you choose to live your life. Now, when it comes to challenges like, what kind of lessons do you feel like you’ve learned along the way that have helped support your path going in down this direction of, whether it’s in your career or as a real estate investor?
Speaker 2
10:06
I think well, I mean, I think that that is maybe a little bit of what I said is that in this sector, I find it’s very much there’s a lot of hype and a lot of people are like, oh, I’m not doing things, I’m not, I need to jump on this bandwagon, or I need to jump on this, I’m not doing anything.
10:25
So actually sometimes not making a decision and really grounding yourself and knowing what is it specifically that I want to do and that makes sense for me, and doing the not only just you know, to myself, but also then, does this make sense in the market? Is this going to, you know, give a financial return? Is this going to give the social return that I’m really passionate about? Right and actually really, I mean I know it’s that’s not going to work in that market or so where where broadening my scope, focusing on that, bringing like minded people together, right. So all of those things I’ve been a challenge right, especially the market that we’ve been in, but also have been something that I’m determined even more to stay focused on.
Speaker 1
11:15
So yeah, when it comes to obstacles, like I think your career is really, really interesting just in terms of the path that you’ve taken and I’m sure that working with you know not for profit and people that are in these impoverished situations like how do you overcome those obstacles to really connect with those people and, you know, make that positive change?
Speaker 2
11:35
Well, so the way that we do it and it very similar. The approach that I’m taking in some of the investments that I’m looking at is you look at the problem. What’s the problem? Right? So here I’m in northern Uganda now, where the economy is mostly agriculture based. So what are the problems? Climate change, you know. Lack of adaptive seeds, lack of links to markets, right? Climate sector are not providing the products and services to help farmers adapt and sell and make as much money as they can, right? So okay, so we know what the problems are. So now, what do we do? Now we actually have to look at the market and find out what kind of changes in the way that business is being done is going to help provide those solutions. Right, and a lot of.
12:24
Sometimes the solutions aren’t obvious, they’re not there. It can be. It has to be an innovation. How do we do things differently? It could be a whole other model, right? Like, for instance, in Kenya about 15 years ago, there was a company, a telecoms company, that started using saving money on phones, right, and then it grew into mobile money, which is something that in Africa now is a huge norm, because it reaches millions of people where banks aren’t right, because people are dispersed, so a whole different business model where it could just change or a tweak on an existing model, right.
13:07
So, for instance, using digital technology to create traceability, right or organic, you know, we know with organic or fair trade we need better traceability. It’s expensive to do that. If we use digital technology, it’s not that expensive. So it’s about having really great minds coming together and just trying to create new ideas. And that includes a lot of these companies where we’ll go and talk to them and they’re like I have a really great idea that I’ve been thinking about and maybe we could try that. And then we’re like, yeah, let’s try it. So the real estate sector and the approach that I’m taking, it’s very similar to that. What are the problems? We know the problems are affordability, but it’s not just affordability, it’s lack of connection, right?
13:54
It’s lack of needed, you know high costs of running buildings right, and those costs are only going to get greater as the you know costs for electricity and water go up. So what are some of the solutions to that? And this is again who are the innovators, who are the entrepreneurs out there who are thinking differently and are going to make those changes to their buildings or their properties to respond to those problems? So it’s really about that. It’s not one person. It really takes that collective thinking and trying and learning and sharing to kind of get that broad change that we’re looking for.
Speaker 1
14:34
Yeah, I think it’s a unique perspective and just looking at other real estate investors that I’ve met, you know, over the last five years, and I think that you’re definitely like stand apart in that sense. So I think it’s nice that you’re shining a light on this bigger picture of those issues and how we, as investors can hopefully come in and be part of that solution. We’re just going to take a really quick break from our sponsors and we’ll be right back. The Dijon vision is to add value and create beautiful spaces that make a positive impact.
Speaker 2
15:15
We transform homes and lives and believe that everyone deserves a beautiful home.
Speaker 1
15:27
Thanks again for following along with this episode of Inspired to Invest. In addition to real estate investing and running my own brand experience agency for 18 years, I also published a book called the Accidental Entrepreneur in October of 2021. This is my story and it chronicles how I turned tragedy into triumph to embrace my destiny in entrepreneurship. If you’re interested in picking up a copy, you can find the link at SerenaHomesRealtorcom and you can also find my link tree with all of the retailers in the details below. Thanks again for your support. Welcome to the Inspired to Invest podcast. We’re back here with Debra Randall and she’s talking about her interesting career, not only in philanthropy and helping out farmers in Africa, but also how that relates to her career as a real estate investor. Now, when it comes to the craziest thing that you’ve ever experienced, what would that be? And again, I know your career is really diverse, so you can talk about it in whatever context you’d like.
Speaker 2
16:31
So what’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done as a real estate investor or just a general?
Speaker 1
16:35
Yeah, I mean you can allude to both, just because I feel like you’re walking that parallel line.
Speaker 2
16:42
I mean, I remember so during COVID, right, you know, everything was locked down. I was in Kenya and not only did they lock down, they actually locked the country down. No airplanes were going in and out of the airport, nothing right. And then, slowly, things started opening up again and we were able to fly in and out regionally and so but of course, this was even before the vaccine jabs. And you, just what you do is you go in. You see what your risk are, what are my am I gonna be able to make this? And I flew Uganda actually, I was in Kenya at the time, flew to Uganda and then I had a flight.
17:22
You know, I was there for a week. We, you know, we were all masked up, we were careful, but we had to continue on with the work right, we’re also an essential service because we were in agriculture. And then we’d gone out for dinner with one of the business CEOs and my colleague actually had found out two days later that he had COVID and I was flying that night and I remember just getting in a taxi and getting to the airport as fast as I could See you out here.
17:53
All the way over here, yeah, but there’s lots of sort of crazy stuff we’ve been doing. But just recently we were actually in Mexico at a conference and we went down to Tulum and, you know, took to Tulum, mexico, which is a little bit south of Cancun, and took a look at some of the opportunities there. We loved the town there. It’s really an interesting place, very sustainably oriented a lot of sustainable, environmentally you know oriented builds, connecting with nature and the environment, and we decided to buy two lots right near the beach and we’re gonna build some kind of eco-type villas and so that I mean it’s maybe not so crazy.
18:37
I’m sure other people have done crazy stuff, but it’s really about sometimes you gotta just take risks. You don’t just jump into things like I was saying, it’s calculated right. So you know, going on a trip during COVID, I knew what I needed to do. I knew I could pretty much get back if I kind of, you know, was careful. Same with you know, some of these investments that some people look at you and say you’re absolutely crazy. But sometimes you do have to take those calculated risks that are a little bit outside the norm to be able to get that new thing that not everyone is going towards, so that’s why I’m saying that Absolutely no.
Speaker 1
19:15
When you look back, what do you think is the best advice you’ve ever been giving?
Speaker 2
19:23
I think one of the. When I first started in my real estate work, someone said to me build strong, not fast, and I felt like that was really great advice, right, just. And you hear also, you hear you know just to stay true to yourself, don’t jump into things, be certain, even if it feels like everyone is rushing by you. Make sure that your investments are sound and true to yourself and what you feel passionate about doing right. So I really did that.
Speaker 1
19:54
Yeah, someone on my recording yesterday said you know, again to that same point, like there’s always going to be another bus coming, you know, so you don’t have to worry about just rushing away if you need that time and even if it does seem sometimes just to even give yourself peace of mind, to know like this is the right path, right. So I think that’s wise.
Speaker 2
20:15
And also when we we tend in this sector to be a bit in a frenzy right, we got to hurry, we got to, you know, we got to go, we got to invest, we got to invest. The opportunity is going to go. But if we’re open to opportunities, if we’re kind of scouring the market, if we’re connected to networks, we are going to find good opportunities, good things to invest in. I mean, you and I have spoken about this there’s a lot, there’s almost too many choices about opening your mind up to that. And maybe Canadian you know, vancouver, toronto markets maybe aren’t the best, but there are so many other places the world is open to us. So it’s kind of opening our minds and thinking outside of what we normally would think about.
Speaker 1
21:01
Yeah, no, and I think that’s why these communities are so important, right? Because they expose you to all the different things that are out there. Now you talked about, you know, creating your own financial future and path. Do you have a particular freedom number in mind for you, what you’re working towards?
Speaker 2
21:17
I mean, yeah, so I have a certain amount of cashflow that I’m interested, I’m working with, you know, 30,000 a month kind of cashflow income, but also I want to be involved and this is a who knows where this will get to. This is my starting point anyways a thousand units, and I want them to be not just not affordable only, but people-centered. So whether it’s building community with it, it’s co-housing, whether it’s you know, or a portion, or affordable, but in some way they benefit people. So those are the two things that I hold on to.
Speaker 1
21:52
Yeah, no, I love that. No, is there any particular quote that really inspires or motivates you?
Speaker 2
21:59
Yeah, I’d written one down and actually it’s from the guy that co-wrote the screenplay for a space Odyssey and I think this really resounds with me. And he says the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them to the impossible. And he was a real champion of space travel. And he says where are that happened? And it’s so interesting because we think, oh, we can’t do it, we can’t do it, but actually we can, and maybe we can’t do it by ourselves. Yeah, maybe we need others around us or we need to partner with other people around us, but finding that making the impossible possible is really what I’ve found the journey in my adult life has been and believing. So often it’s our belief that stops us right. But let’s not. Let’s go beyond what we think that we can do.
Speaker 1
22:52
Yeah, no, I think that’s amazing now for anyone that’s watching. Is there anything that you would like to leave them with in closing? Any advice for them, or wisdom, or go beyond right.
Speaker 2
23:08
Bring amazing people around you that help you live your best life, and that includes real estate investment. It’s not only real estate investment. We know our lives. It’s also about people and love and connection. But have a great time doing it, too right. So live your full life and live it amazing, and, you know, reach out to who you need to to make that happen.
Speaker 1
23:35
So never anyone that wants to connect directly. How can they reach you?
Speaker 2
23:39
Yeah, you can reach me on my. I’ve got an Instagram account at Debora beyond bounds, so the name of my company is beyond bounds properties and that kind of symbolize that that whole go beyond my. My website is beyondboundsproperties.com. So reach me on there and on Instagram.
Speaker 1
23:57
Great and we’ll include that below. Thanks for being on today and, of course, for anyone that’s watching. If you like this episode, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a future guest and make sure you’re also following along at inspire to invest podcast. And remember, when you invest in yourself, this guy’s the limit. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks again to our sponsor, dijon properties, for bringing us this episode of the inspired to invest podcast. The views represented on this podcast are for general information only and does not constitute investment or other professional advice or an offering of securities. The hosting guest featured on inspire to invest make no representations as to the performance of any particular investment. Should you decide to make an investment, you are responsible for conducting your own review and analysis. It is recommended that you obtain independent legal accounting and tax advice from licensed professionals.