"Inspired to Invest" Podcast

Slow And Steady = MASSIVE Success!

• Serena Holmes • Episode 77

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Craving the secrets to real estate success?

Welcome back to episode 77 of "Inspired To Invest". To watch rather than listen, click here.

This week, Curtis Pimentel is with us. He is a seasoned investor from Burlington.

Curtis unveils the blueprint that led him to achieve his ambitious goal of owning three properties by age 25. Curtis didn't just stop there; he navigated the evolving landscape of property investment during the pandemic, proving the power of education, networking, and strategic tax planning with bear trusts.

Now fully immersed in real estate after his transition from construction, Curtis emphasizes the importance of adaptability in achieving long-term financial freedom.

Discover how his journey and insights can inspire you to refine your goals and strategies in the ever-changing world of real estate investing.

Ready to transform your real estate game? Curtis shares his journey from managing properties solo to harnessing the expertise of property management services, highlighting the critical role of continuous learning and networking.

From planning ambitious portfolio expansions with commercial properties to embracing the benefits of investing in Edmonton's favorable market conditions, Curtis's experiences offer invaluable lessons. Learn how leveraging social media, especially Instagram, can connect you with industry experts and potential partners.

Let Curtis and his story motivate you to invest in yourself and explore the boundless possibilities that await in real estate. Listen, learn, and let Curtis guide your path to unlocking financial success.

To connect with Curtis, go to @curtispimentelrealestate on social or https://pimentelhomes.ca  

“Inspired to Invest” is proud to support the Beyond Success Program, a not-for-profit financial literacy program for students, launched by More To Give & MAK Investments. Find out more at @more2give.ca.

Join us again on Jan. 22 for our next episode!

Thank you for tuning into “Inspired To Invest”, hosted by Serena Holmes & remember, "when you invest in yourself, the sky's the limit!"

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Serena Holmes:

Hey everybody, welcome to Inspired to Invest. I've got Curtis Permanentel here with us from Burlington today. He's got more than 10 years experience working as a real estate investor and he's essentially taking his passion for finance and turned it into a very successful real estate portfolio. He kicked off in construction and renovation, as well as working in as an electrician, but since then he bought his first property about 10 years ago in just his early 20s and since then he's been steadily purchasing cash flow positive properties, ranging from rentals and flips, bird projects, pre-construction and I learned a new word today deconversion. So he transformed a condo of single family units into a multifamily property. So I thought that was really interesting as well.

Serena Holmes:

Thank you for being here today, curtis. How are you? I'm doing good. Thank you for having me. So obviously you've done a whole bunch of different things and it sounds like you got started off fairly early in your 20s. Can you share a little bit more about what inspired you to get into real estate and, if somebody you know, if there was a particular catalyst or something that you put you on this path?

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, I just from just from you know parents, friends and stuff like that you know, see that a lot of people who had more freedom always had a property. Back then everybody had one, that new right. So my idea was originally you know it changes over time my original idea was, you know, if I had one property and say 25 years, that property would be paid off. And I had my house, you know, more or less would be paid off. So you know, by the age of 30, sorry, 45, 50, I can use that money to basically live. Right Over the times, you know things change a little. My goals increased. So the big goal I had was to basically have three properties before the age of 25.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

And therefore I would have three properties and I figured that rent being paid off or almost paid off because you want to have some debt in the property, yeah, what it is offset everything else about me to be totally free. So that's how I. That's my whole reason why I started.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, understood. So then how did the trajectory kind of change along the way? Like once you kind of started off with that one property, how did you then build and grow into all of these different avenues, because 10 years isn't really that long. So I'm just curious to see how that all came together for you.

Curtis Pimentel:

So basically the way I kind of shifted a little bit was just trying. When I first started I didn't know the whole network. You know, the only person I knew was, you know, the guy down the street who had one property. You know, during COVID I really started doing a lot of research on it. There's a lot of groups, network education out there. So all this stuff I did it was on my own. So basically, you know, going to banks meeting. So basically you know, going to banks meeting people who had properties, doing a lot of like that forward, trying to get information. So everything I was always doing was trying to basically how to get the next property, trying to figure it out myself. So I kind of did a lot of different things. So I did start off with room rentals, living, flips, reconstruction. So I figured out how to stack mortgages, eventually took all that capital, went back to Flips, sold some stuff off, then got into commercial.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah. So I guess, at what point did you start engaging investors on your projects?

Curtis Pimentel:

So during COVID I kind of went on an educational run. I guess. To say, right, I did a lot of research. I started really learning about taxes, corporations, stuff like that, how to qualify without T4 income, all that stuff, how to bear trust properties, all that information. So that really took me to the next level. And then from there I started going to beat ups and stuff like that and really kind of seeing what other people above me are doing, yeah, and then, as that goes apart, you kind of like my original goal has now increased, right so yeah, it kind of your goals change over time, right so.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, like, why would I buy this house? I could buy the block.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, exactly.

Serena Holmes:

Now for anyone that doesn't know, can you talk a little bit more about what a bear trust is and why that would be beneficial for a real estate investor?

Curtis Pimentel:

So bear trust is basically you buy a property in your personal name and you can trust it over to your corporation, so it takes all the losses and gains into that corp. So you hold it personally, but you get your wins and loses taxed differently. So it doesn't come on your personal name, it comes in the corporation name.

Serena Holmes:

So why wouldn't you just buy that in a corporation?

Curtis Pimentel:

You could. But if your corporation doesn't qualify or you don't want to go through like fees and privates, you want to do it personally, you can use that instead.

Serena Holmes:

Okay, okay. Yeah, I just wanted to understand that. I figured some people listening may not be familiar with what that is or what those advantages could be. Now you talked about starting off in construction and renovation. At what point did you decide that you had enough going on with your real estate portfolio that you could kind of rip off the bandaid and transition over?

Curtis Pimentel:

So I ripped off the bandaid like a month ago.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, so brand new yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

Brand new. It's still bleeding a little, yeah, so I used my active stream rate income to basically substitute my nine to five.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

And then allow me to take it rid of that. Nine to five. My active stream of income, my realtor side, things have definitely increased, so I can basically dedicate more time to it.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

You know, build a brand and business that I truly love.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. Time to it yeah, um, you know, build a brand and business that I truly love. Yeah, yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. Uh, in terms of your successes, since you have obviously done a little bit of everything, it seems like what would you say that you look at as your biggest success or something that you're most proud of?

Curtis Pimentel:

uh. So, starting back in the beginning, I think just being able to purchase property at such a young age, that was a big key point in my life. It really kind of set the tone for the rest moving forward. So, anybody listening, I highly recommend getting to a rental property as fast as possible, even to stay living at home, get that property rented out. It's going to do wonders. That's my biggest one In terms of project-wise wise. The one I'm currently working at or doing right now is really unique.

Serena Holmes:

Not that many people are doing it or know about it, so I'll probably say that is my current favorite project yeah I'm doing, but okay now in terms of challenges, like what kind of roadblocks have you hit along the way while you've been trying to figure everything out and grow?

Curtis Pimentel:

we sold time. Yeah, so juggling with time. So between my nine to five, my family, my investing side, takes a lot of tool. Yes, used to wake up at 5 am, go to bed at 11, literally work a whole entire day yeah, um you're lying in bed, my brain is still going, so time is definitely the biggest challenge for me. Yeah, um that, and basically, while you're learning steps, there's a lot of downtime. You see all these people doing all these projects and buying properties yeah that was going nice and slow and steady.

Curtis Pimentel:

So properties, yeah, now it's going nice and slow and steady. So even though it's going slow and steady, it still is going on a nice swing, right. So just looking back at that, you know you don't have to go racing out of the gates. Take your time. Build the foundation, build the building blocks.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

And then use that to elevate yeah.

Serena Holmes:

I think that's something that's really important right now, just because there are a lot of companies and people that did scale very, very, very quickly and then they have run into issues in a number of ways, and part of that could be, you know, they were falling behind on the repairs that needed to happen in order to get renters in.

Serena Holmes:

So then there was vacancy, cash flow issues and you know just one thing after another that then created liquidity and insolvency issues and stuff like that, right. So I think that you know, of course, you want to grow, but I think you need to grow at a safe pace and grow in a way that's going to kind of protect your overall net worth in the long run, rather than just getting ahead of yourself too fast. So I think that's really relevant, especially with like interest rates and the housing market. You got to grow to give yourself a bit of an offer with your equity and stuff like that as well. Now you mentioned some of the different real estate organizations and people you're learning from. What would you say are some of the lessons that you've learned, either from your own experiences or just from connecting with other real estate investors?

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, oh, it's a tough one. I'll probably say sorry. Can you repeat that one more time?

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, just in terms of the lessons, like anything.

Curtis Pimentel:

So, lessons-wise, I'd probably say, yeah, honestly, take your time slow and steady, always keep moving forward. Yeah, yeah, always keep moving forward, slow and steady. You know, look, actually one. I had a conversation with this gentleman there and I was doing a whole bunch of little projects, you know, making small profits, and he mentioned to me why do a whole bunch of little ones do one big one, take the whole year, find a project that you guarantee yourself whatever number you want.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

Minimum and dedicate the time and money into that. Dedicate time and money to find a project that you know is going to win, not find a bunch of little ones that you know you're basically backing $100,000 just to make small profits with high margins. Yeah, don't do that.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, yeah, I mean there's definitely some people that I've talked to that have felt the same way, not necessarily in terms of scaling super quickly, but you know, instead of buying five or six single family properties, like, go and buy six flex right, Cause there's a lot of things that you are duplicating efforts on If you're going through smaller projects right, They've got to qualify for financing that many times. There's not many different properties and taxes and you know it can all just be streamlined. If you consider things in that sense and, as we know, like it's easier to qualify commercially than it is to qualify on those, you know, once you've kind of hit your cap of maybe five properties, right.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, but even even on that, on that note, like if you were still want to stay in the single family home market, residential market and stuff like that, you want to do flips or burrs or conversions. Don't go pick up the property just because the numbers kind of work and you want to do a property. Now Take the time, door knock, network, find the one that really does make sense and then do it. It doesn't have to be commercial, it doesn't have to be residential. Just make sure you pick the winner. Take the year, get the winner.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, yeah, no, I like that. Now we're just going to take a really brief break for a word from our sponsors and we'll be right back. Hey everybody, welcome back to Inspired to Invest. I've got Curtis Pimentel here from Burlington today and he's talking about how he's scaled his real estate portfolio over the last 10 years and he's dabbled in a little bit of everything from rental properties and BRRRS to even conversions from single family to multifamily. So before the break we obviously talked about successes and obstacles and a bunch of different things.

Curtis Pimentel:

But one thing that I always like to ask people that's more of a bit of a fun question is what's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you as a real estate investor, personally, or tenants, either way, anything that jumps out. I've got tons of tenant stories. Tons of tenant stories yeah, like people using the hallways as bathrooms I don't know dead animals. I got a webcam girl narcolepsy. The lady had narcolepsy but she had to be really quiet because she couldn't sleep and I had to go explain to her that that's not how it works yeah yeah, I had floods taking out three floors of a.

Curtis Pimentel:

Explain to her that that's not how it works. Yeah, yeah, I had you know floods taking out three floors of a townhouse, stuff like that.

Serena Holmes:

Now, in all of these instances, were you managing these properties yourself, or do you lean on property management?

Curtis Pimentel:

So just recently, property management I'm a newest one, but everything else prior to that was by myself.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, it's all on your shoulders. So now, going back to talking about lessons and things like that, in terms of advice, what would you say that you'd want to pass along with somebody that's starting out?

Curtis Pimentel:

in terms of advice based on your experiences, Take the time, learn, educate, network, have high-level conversations with people. That would be the first takeaway. After that, pick up. There's so many different avenues you can go down. Pick an avenue and master that avenue. Don't start to hop the flopping between different styles and projects. Pick an avenue, go down that avenue until you can't do it anymore or something stops you, and then slightly pivot. That's number one Biggest takeaway Advice, I should say.

Curtis Pimentel:

And then, also, on top of that, always plan for multiple streams of income. So many times I see guys in my previous work so dedicated on that 40 hours a week aspect, salary at the end, you know, yeah, the pot at the end of the rainbow kind of thing, right yeah. And then life changes, job changes, the company changes and the next thing you know you're scrambling yeah, multiple streams of income.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, no, I can agree more with that. Um, now, since you have done a lot of different things, what would you say is next for you as you continue to to build your portfolio?

Curtis Pimentel:

so I'm going to keep picking up properties, commercial properties. I'm going to be looking for business partners. I want to be more hands-off on that aspect and help the team out. I recently moved out to Edmonton. I've been dissecting that market for probably about a year and a half. I've been in there for about a year right now. I have a whole team network available right now. My next steps, basically I'm going to start multiplying what I'm doing right now.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, kind of bring on some positive partners as well yeah, yeah, no, I know quite a few people actually that's in there, and even for me. I had a rental property in Edmonton for a while for a number of reasons like.

Serena Holmes:

One was just cost. It was a little easier to get into the market, but it's also very landlord friendly. So when there are tenant issues you can get in pretty fast with the landlord tenant board. And I did have a situation like that and I think it was a matter of two to three weeks for my property manager to get in and they actually moved out before that even happened and then we had it re-tenanted. So it is pretty favorable from an investor standpoint.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, so if you go down the long road it's four to six weeks. Typically they move out before because they already know they're going to be moved out.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, they already know the game, so they're gone 14 months here.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, three to four weeks max. Yeah, you get security deposits, which basically is your last month's rent anyway. So they don't pay, you'll already get the money there. Price per point, per door or per property whatever is definitely lower. Yeah, speeds 100 times faster, yeah, and there's some good appreciation like for for me I still made about a hundred thousand.

Serena Holmes:

So I pretty much doubled my investment during that time. So you know, put a hundred thousand down on the property and I made a hundred thousand in four years. I thought that wasn't too bad. It was kind of you know markets. Put $100,000 down on the property and I made $100,000 in four years. I thought that wasn't too bad. It was kind of. You know, markets will continue to fluctuate and stuff like that. But I know sometimes there's concern when you go to a market that's more affordable that you're not going to see that equity and that appreciation as time goes. But you know, it wasn't my personal experience.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, no equity down there right now, and then in the long term, the next, say, five plus years, I think it's going to be really good. You got a lot of pretty much everything, all the fundamentals that are here. It's actually happening there just in scale, yeah, and then your price part, like I said, your price part door property is lower, yeah, so you're going to see this.

Serena Holmes:

You're basically getting. Yeah, you have a solid team, basically yeah, now, in terms of things like financial freedom, do you have a particular dollar figure in mind or number of doors that you're aiming for?

Curtis Pimentel:

yes and no. Um, realistically, like I said before, everything's a. As you go on, your goals change plus or minus. Right, so I have a dollar figure like a net worth or I want to have. But I know real, I know in the back of my head. Realistically it's not. I'm probably going to keep going yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

I'm always going to keep buying stuff. I don't ever see myself stopping. I might see myself slow down, spend time with family more, and stuff that, but I'm always going to keep buying stuff. I don't ever see myself stopping. I might see myself slow down, spend time with family more, and stuff like that, but I'm always going to be searching for the next deal. Yeah, kind of you know, I like to win, right, I like to find those winning deals. I like to put winning deals together.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah. So I think, moving forward, like yeah, I have an end goal, but realistically speaking, I'm sure I'm going to keep going right, yeah, well, that's part of, I think, keeping motivated and having that sense of purpose is always continuing to reach for something new, because once you hit it you'll be like, okay, well now what Right so yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

And then on that too, like I think setting a goal is great, but it means you know, depending on what, your goal is right. So if your goal is to have 10 million net worth or 200,000, 200 doors, you focus all your time on that. And if you get everything in the back end, you know you're not really, you're not really living, you're just so. But you know, focus on that one goal, right. So I do have a goal. I'm just going to. Probably I'm going to get there, I know I will, but now probably I'm just gonna keep going. I don't have it.

Serena Holmes:

Well, I think that's, um, what sometimes people you know. Of course it's all connected, but it's really not so much about the money and the number of doors as it's the freedom and the time that it provides and the style that it provides, right? So if it's you know that you want to spend two months a year vacationing in unique places, you know, and you need $200,000 to do that, the way that you want to do it. Like you know, it's kind of looking at how that can open doors for you and all of those other different ways. And for some people it may not be as extravagant as that. It could just be maybe having a month off in the summer with their kids, right. But that may not be possible within the confines of a nine to five job or something like that, right?

Curtis Pimentel:

so I think it all depends on what you want and just reverse engineering, uh, to get there I think, to be honest with you, I think every single person who is able to should always have at least one separate property yeah just one, but you don't go crazy. Just by one yeah it doesn't even matter if it's a condo, just buy one.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, yeah.

Curtis Pimentel:

Super easy to manage.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, let's get your foot in the door right.

Curtis Pimentel:

Just buy something and just put it there. Then just forget about that one thing 10, 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road You're sitting there at 50 years old. Yeah, whatever.

Serena Holmes:

55, 16 years you're like oh I'm tired of this.

Curtis Pimentel:

I want to change. Well, it's right here.

Serena Holmes:

Yeah, it's there it's so simple yeah, no, agreed. And I think for some people, like for this and the gta, I know burlington might be, you know, a little less expensive than toronto or something like that, but there's also opportunities. When you consider other markets, whether that's in the states or even in the East Coast, like someone listening could be like oh so easy to buy like a million dollar house, like you know. It may not be, but just don't be limited by your backyard, right? So just keep in mind that there are things that you could get into that are far, far, far less costly in different places. Like I talked to someone that was doing midterm rentals in the Midwest and he's picking them up for about a hundred thousand of property and then renting them to insurance companies for people displaced by fire and flood for like $2,500 a month. Well, what do you think mortgage on a hundred thousand dollars is like? You're probably putting 20,000 down. Your mortgage is probably like $600 a month.

Serena Holmes:

You'd be making like $2,000 a month US on something like that. You'd be making like $2,000 a month US on something like that, right? So again, I think it can be frustrating for people here that literally can't even afford to buy their own property, let alone a rental property. But there are so many different things and you start to open your eyes and just see what's available in other places. So obviously the name of this podcast is Inspired to Invest, so I like to ask people what's a quote that motivates or inspires them?

Curtis Pimentel:

So I'm not really big on quotes and stuff like that. But one thing that's always kind of stuck with me was Kevin O'Leary mentioned. How did it go? A salary is a drug that they give you to forget your dreams, and more and more I see that when I was at work.

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, that they give you to forget your dreams and more and more I see that when I was at work, like I said before, like that, your angle, your income, the money at the end of the year, you're on that path and until it changes, it's basically more and more true. I kept seeing that.

Serena Holmes:

I thought you were going to say don't drink and vote, don't drink and vote. But on that note for anyone that does want to connect, to learn more about your opportunities. What was the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, so honestly, probably just Instagram. I have a link on my Instagram. You can book a call with me. You can shoot me a DM. You can find me on my website.

Serena Holmes:

Is it just at Curtis Pimentel?

Curtis Pimentel:

Yeah, it's Curtis Pimentel. Yes, Curtis Pimentel.

Serena Holmes:

Real Estate. Okay, perfect, so we'll include that as well below. First, thank you for spending your time with us today and for anyone that has enjoyed this episode. Please make sure that you like, comment and subscribe below. You can also follow along with us at Inspired to Invest Podcast on social media. And, of course, remember, when you invest in yourself, the sky's the limit. Thanks again. I'm just going to hit stop.