Living the Dream — the Logbook of a Former Real-Estate Investor

How would you know what your dream actually feels like without living it?
There is a difference between dreaming a dream and living it.

Eight years ago I decided that my BIG dream, the dream of my life, would be to own 50 doors! 50 doors referred to owning fifty cash positive rental units. Each of the fifty units would be a home to a tenant, my customer, who would pay monthly rent. The rent would cover all the upkeep expenses and mortgage, and I’d pocket some cash, the profit. And voilà! I’d be financially free and free to do whatever I feel like doing.

More specifically, I would not have to go to work, and instead I’d be reading non-fiction books (my favourite source of ideas). I’d also be going on long walks and spending as much time as I like with my friends and family. I’d eat good homemade food sitting at the table for as long as I please, without rushing anywhere or being rushed. I’d go dancing and watch lots of movies. So, in short, my 50 doors dream was a dream of being on a permanent vacation! Luckily, my husband Anton shares most of my dreams.

So together (with ample help from our friends, family, and super — knowledgeable — and — wise — mortgage — and — real — estate advisor Zvi Schichter) we did it! Within a few short years, we were the proud owners of 13 properties and had 23 wonderful paying customers, our tenants! If you are curious how we got there, read my previous article in Winter 2020 Investor Review. But honestly, when I dreamed the 50 doors dream, I couldn’t imagine how the real version of it would feel. And it felt every flavour of awesome! 50 Doors kept me busy all day, in a good way, working through numerous challenges.

How do I improve the mortgage rates? How do I administer rent increases yet keep all the good tenants happy? How do I go about fixing a roof or a plumbing issue but keep my annual cash flow at a decent level? How do I help two tenants in a duplex resolve a misunderstanding that’s driving them both crazy? How can I qualify for a refinance and what’s the best use of a new loan? And on and on went my to — do list. And as I was plowing through it, new items would pop up and be added on. I was truly enjoying every second of this new world — I felt important and needed. I felt accomplished. I felt like I succeeded! I had my doors and I even knew how to handle them! Our tenants were nice and appreciative. I made it. I was living the dream! Or was I? One day I realized that…. In my newly created perfect 50 Doors World, Anton was still working at his day job and we both still spent most of our evening and weekend time attending to our properties and to our tenants.

We both continued dreaming about financial freedom, a vacation without a return ticket, where we wouldn’t need to rush or be rushed; where we’d read books, hang out with friends, go to the movies and dance. The shocking realization was that our precious doors were now holding us back — instead of giving us freedom, they became our shackles.  Selling the doors was the most difficult investing decision I ever had to make: the de cision to let go of everything that I recently achieved. The decision to drop my newly acquired status of a successful real estate owner and investor. The decision to plunge into a new completely unfamiliar territory and way of living. The decision to leave our two eldest sons (21 & 19) on their own and watch them spread their wings from across the globe. The decision to set our youngest kid’s life upside down and take him away from the best in the world Canadian comfort and into a new reality of our yet to be discovered dream life. We had so many questions we kept asking ourselves. Would we figure out how to sustain ourselves financially? Would we be bored and feel miserable without a job to do? Would we lose our friends? Will our kids be okay? Will we be completely unemployable upon return, if things don’t work out? Will we nag and annoy each other if we spend all day every day together one on one?