April 17, 2024 • 35 mins
How To Make The Most Money In Real Estate
Interested in the secrets to boost profits from your real estate investments?
Welcome back to the "Inspired To Invest" podcast. To watch rather than listen, click here.
If you've been wondering how to transition from a corporate career to full time real estate investing, this episode is for you!
Meet Kory MacKinnon. He joins us with an arsenal of wisdom, chronicling his ascent from a six-plex house hack to a portfolio boasting nearly 100 doors. Discover the finesse of transferring skill sets across industries and the indispensable role of sheer determination in Kory's narrative.
Delve into the strategies he employs for future property development and gain insights into the foresight required for impressive growth in the volatile real estate sector.
Transitioning from a corporate grind to the freedom of entrepreneurship, Kory shares his formidable tale of leaving a nine-to-five to spearhead Infinite Real Estate Results Coaching. Her story is a masterclass in risk assessment, financial planning, and the transformative impact of networking within the property investment community.
Listeners seeking guidance will find Kory's blueprint an invaluable resource for navigating the complexities of real estate investment and the importance of building a supportive community.
Rounding off this episode, we peel back the curtain on the realities of property management, from emergency situations to the intricacies of tenant relations. The resilience and resourcefulness required in this field come to the fore, as does the vitality of a robust support network.
We discuss the expansion of Kory's coaching business and the exploration of new opportunities within the storage facility market. The episode closes with a reflection on the immeasurable benefits of investing in oneself, leaving you with a clear message: limitless success could be just one investment away.
To connect with Kory, go to korymackinnon on social or infiniterealestateresults.com online
Thank you to Judi Pare from Plentitude Inc. for bringing us this month’s episodes of “Inspired To Invest”. To learn more about them, go to @mamajudes on Instagram and plentitudeinc.com online.
“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 https://more2give.ca/beyond.
Tune back in on Wed., Apr. 24 to hear from an investor who has grown a company founded on plentiful abundance and affordable housing with many exciting projects on the go!
Thank you for tuning into “Inspired To Invest”, hosted by @serenaholmesrealtor & remember, “when you invest in yourself, the sky's the limit!"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast, where
we're sharing stories from realestate investors and how
investing has changed theirlives.
This episode of the Inspire toInvest podcast has been brought
to you by Plentitude Inc.
Hey everybody, welcome to theInspire to Invest podcast.
I have Corey McKinnon here withme today and, for anyone who
(00:24):
doesn't know him, he's on amission to help people struggle
less with their finances andbusiness and also real estate
investing.
He has helped hundreds ofpeople with six and seven figure
growth with their real estateand business, and he's currently
taking a message across thecountry to serve more people who
want to live their lives ontheir own terms.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us today, corey.
(00:45):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You're awesome, Serena.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So obviously I know you may be a little bit better
than some people just because weare in a mastermind together,
but for anyone who doesn't knowyou, maybe you can shed some
light on what life looked likebefore real estate came into the
picture.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
All right.
So before real estate came inthe picture, gosh, I mean, I
grew up in a duplex so I'd haveto go way, way back.
But you know, didn't reallyhave a lot growing up, came from
pretty humble beginnings and Ithink it's.
I don't think there's anythingwrong about that.
I remember one time I mentionedthat to my mom and she felt
really sad.
I'm like mom, I wouldn't be theperson I am today if it wasn't
for what we came from and whatwe had and what we had to figure
(01:25):
out and all those differentthings.
Right so, but you know, I sawmy family struggle at a young
age.
My dad went on strike a fewtimes.
My mom was always working, youknow, part-time jobs
hairdressing, delivering flyers,babysitting, you name it just
to make, you know, some extramoney.
And I made a commitment at ayoung age just to say, look,
I'll work two, three jobs, I'lldo whatever it takes.
I'll become an entrepreneur,which I did officially at the
(01:47):
age of 19, started running afranchise and did really well
and just did business and sincethen, and you know, bought my
first property when I was 30, soI didn't even get a super head
start on things, like a lot ofpeople.
I see people that are buyingproperties in their late teens
or early twenties, and hats offto them.
They got such a head start.
What a blessing.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
What kind of franchise was it Student Works
Painting?
So it wasn't a true franchise,it was more like an owner
operator.
It was like a hybrid modelwhere they sell the intellectual
property.
At the end of the year I stayedin that company and I got
promoted all the way up to VP ofoperation through Eastern
Canada.
So I was in charge of millionsof dollars worth of business and
(02:28):
it was just really great to seethis grassroots business and
working with really ambitiouspeople from the ages of 17 to 25
and just showing what'spossible.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, no, that's amazing.
So then obviously that's notlike real estate business, but
you're servicing homeowners andstuff like that.
How exactly did you make thatjump then into real estate from
an investing perspective?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, the big part of my job was actually HR, like
human resources and makingdecisions on hiring, and I think
it's highly correlatable Likewhen you're an entrepreneur,
lots of things that are going tobe highly correlatable to
owning real estate or businessor what have you right.
So for me that's always beenpretty easy to make gut
decisions on tenants, even ifI'm not the person that's
(03:13):
talking to them, like I have myassistant now they do all the
screening and we just talk aboutthe top three and I'm just
looking for that.
Where's the story?
Does the story check out?
Is there any drama?
Do they have good references?
Do they make good money?
Because it's not that difficultto make good choices and sure
anybody can kind of go off thedeep end and stop paying their
rent, I guess.
But if you do a lot of thatwork upfront, you can definitely
avoid that and just havingstrong work ethic like hey,
(03:37):
nothing in life is easy, you gotto work hard for it.
If there was an easy route, Ithink you and I would have found
it already and we have it.
You can't replace hard work.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense.
So, in terms of growing yourportfolio, can you talk about
where it started and then whereyou've grown it to today?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Sure, so my first property was a house hack and a
six plaques right, and that'smaybe one of the reasons why it
took me a while, just for, like,having to save up for the down
payment, because talking to mydad and talking to other people
are like, don't pay any CMHCfees, and back then it was 25%
to avoid all the fees, not 20%right now.
So yeah, back in 2005, I savedup like $107,000, which would
(04:18):
probably be at least double thatnow.
So that's a big chunk of moneyto save up when you're in your
20s.
And from there I didn't evenknow what the burr was Like.
The burr didn't really evenhave a terminology, but it was
just improving the building,raising the value, like
everything, except for theterminology of it.
So then I just was buyingduplexes, triplexes, five plexes
(04:39):
, that sort of thing, and Ihaven't really bought anything
really big.
But we've got close to 100doors right now and it's just
all seven plexes and below.
We're starting to sell off someof our single family type stuff
, that is, medium term rentals,but when the client leaves or if
we feel like we just can't dovery much more with that
location or that property, we'regoing to go and sell it.
(04:59):
So I'm just getting into biggerthings.
We do have some bigdevelopments on the way coming
up, which is super exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I found just by recording this podcast, a lot
of people say they wish they hadstarted bigger sooner for
another reason, like economiesof scale.
You're kind of duplicating thatwork if you had one building
with 10 doors versus fiveduplexes and things like that.
So do you think that would bemore where you'd like to take
things just going bigger?
Do you kind of like that sizeof property?
(05:24):
I don't mind it, I've done wellwith them.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I mean you do run into a different bottlenecks
with financing and things ofthat nature.
It helps when you have a highernet worth than that checks more
boxes for you as you go along.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And there just isn't a lot of inventory of the bigger
stuff.
In Canada I think we alwayslisten to the Grant Cardons of
the world and Sounds likethere's buildings everywhere.
I know right, but in Canadawe're obviously one-tenth of the
population, I'd like to say wedon't even have as many
buildings that could even dowhat they do in the States, so
(05:58):
nothing wrong with going bigger,and I think if you have the
right systems in place, though,and you have the right mix of
your buildings like a lot of mybuildings are in clusters anyway
, so the grass doesn't have totravel that far, the snow person
doesn't have to travel that far.
We have handymen on staff, wehave a deep roll of decks of
everything that we need.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So, Helen, would you say it took you to then become
an investor full-time?
Did you make that decision likethis is what you're doing when
you rip the Band-Aid off or didyou wait until you had a certain
number of doors or cash flow?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, I guess it was a chain of events that would
have happened.
So, as I started getting laterand later into my corporate
career like year 15, 16, 17, westarted having, I got married,
we started having kids, westarted to have a few health
crises in the family and thingsthat were taking some of my time
away, but I was still gettingall the same results that I used
to before.
(06:51):
Maybe I just wasn't growing orexceeding my annual quota or
whatever, and we started havingsome hard conversations with my
corporate career.
The rating was kind of on thewall that like, look, this is,
this isn't going to be foreverand they wanted to start clawing
(07:12):
back some of my positions andthings like that and wanting me
to do, you know, twice as muchwork or whatever, without as
many resources.
So I'm like, well, I'm going toreally double down, triple down
in real estate.
So we went.
I think we picked up five orsix properties that year Some of
them are Transplan Meadow ParkHome Runs, which was great and
we got the cash flow up.
I didn't totally replace myincome but I wasn't worried
(07:33):
about it just because ourmonthly expenses were pretty low
and I always recommend thatpeople here, anybody who's
listening.
Keep your monthly burn rate low, Like even when you're making
good money.
You don't have to live like apoplar.
But you know, don't startspending these money.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I love you me.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I was over in the mountains of money.
I was literally just out for awalk this morning in my
neighborhood and I see likepeople are throwing out their
garbage on garbage day.
I'm like Gucci bag you knowbags from the store and I'm just
like wow, like I don't.
I just don't feel like that'snecessary until you're at the
point where all your assets canbe spinning off more than enough
money that you can ever spend.
Then you can be buying some ofthat stuff, right, but in the
(08:10):
meantime, just keep reinvestingand leveling up over time and
you can always enjoy trips andcruises and, you know, do dads
and toys and stuff like that.
Just make sure it's in check.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, no, that makes sense and I think just you know,
just like in rich dad, portAddy talks about sacrificing and
having the assets, the assetswill pay for those things.
I think it's just a matter ofhow you line those things up Now
in terms of the year that youtalk about picking up that many
properties.
How did you do that?
Because I'm sure people arelike, well, how do you just go
and buy like five propertiesLike, were you engaging
investors at that point in time?
(08:39):
Were you taking equity fromother properties?
How did you go about that?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, I don't know if I gave that exact answer to your
last question.
So it was about six years sixto seven years I believe it was
closer to six and so what we didwas we made sure that all of
our properties were refinanced,so we had a good amount of money
in the bank like gunpowder orwhatever you want to call it to
go hunting for more deals, andit was a lot easier to get
(09:05):
lending back then.
Right, there wasn't any sort oftightening and things like that
in 2013.
So it's been about 10 yearsalmost 10 years and one month
since I retired, and we werejust letting everybody and
anybody know that we're lookingfor deals, and most of them came
through my primary realtor, butsome of them just came through
private deals or just peoplebringing them our way, and I
(09:27):
think it's so important not tolet investing or your business
or whoever's listening to this,be your dirty little secret.
You need to let the world know,obviously, in a tasteful way.
Like you can be way toooverbearing and it may get the
forefront of every singleconversation, which I don't
recommend.
But when you're in enoughconversations with people and
they ask you oh well, thanks forlistening to me, what are you
up to?
Right, and you can just plantsome seeds and let them know
(09:48):
which you're to, and it'samazing what can come from that
when you let the universe knowwhat your outcomes want to be.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense.
Now, where did the coachingbusiness come into play with the
real estate investing?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
For sure.
So, yeah, I'm the owner ofInfinite Real Estate Results
Coaching, or just InfiniteResults Coaching, because we
also coach business owners too.
So when I retired fromcorporate, there's just all
kinds of people that were comingout of the woodwork saying
Corey, how did you do this?
Like, how were you able toretire by investing in real
estate part-time for six years?
Because we like our jobs or wewant to just have that nest egg
(10:26):
building up for ourselves and,as people know, real estate is
just such a great way toaccumulate wealth over time when
you do it right.
So I started to take some peopleon and some of these people are
just reaching out to me becausethey're like Corey, you're the
only person that's ever beenable to hold me accountable or
you're the only person that Iwas inspired to grow my business
with.
So it was business coaching,accountability coaching.
(10:46):
Some people wanted real estateadvice and I was just happy to
help people, because I just havethis vision of I want to help a
tribe of people and I want tomake sure that they don't have
to struggle, because I've beenthrough that struggle when I was
a kid.
I remember just you hear yourparents talking when you're
trying to fall asleep and it'snot like they were arguing, but
they were definitely.
I could tell they were talkingabout money and just how's this
(11:07):
going to work?
How's that going to work?
I'm not working right now on mystrike or this or that or
everything else.
Right, We've got work onthrough our savings.
So that's how it evolved.
And from there I just realizedOK, if everybody's going to be
coming from a different startingpoint, different goals,
different experience, I need tomake a pantry of tools and
resources for them to be able togo do all the different real
(11:27):
estate strategies out there andall the different areas and all
different starting points andlevels.
And that's what we've done overthe past.
I'd say really we startedgetting more into it in the past
, like six years.
That's an awesome realexperience.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
An important point.
Just, you talk about retiringand I think sometimes people
think, well, when you retire,you're going to go out and it
doesn't mean you're not doingthose things like traveling and
whatever it is that you want todo.
But I think at the end of theday, I think it's still very
important to give yourself asense of purpose and I think
that's something that obviouslykeeps people going, Because a
lot of times when people retirethey just wither away If they
(12:05):
haven't given them that reasonto wake up in the morning and do
good in the world and stufflike that.
So I think that's important.
And to your point, just aboutwhen you have your business I
think that's one thing I learned, having my own business for 18
years.
I was eight years in before Igot coaching and I'm like
there's got to be things I don'tknow, like ways you can get
where you want to go fast orjust people that can look at
(12:25):
things objectively becausethey're not in the weeds with
you and stuff like that.
So I think for anyone that islistening or watching, that has
a business or they're a realestate investor, I think the
most important thing you can dois just set your foundation up
properly and get the righteducation and resources before
you move forward, Because it'llsave you money and time down the
road.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So important, that's so important and you can go
pretty far on your own.
So there's so many resourcesout there.
Like I tell people, literallythe only resources I had at the
time were the white pages,yellow pages, word of mouth and
my poems on TV, and then therewas maybe some like Rich Dad,
poor Dad or Carlton Sheets typeof stuff out there.
So, russ Whitney, like therewasn't a lot of resources.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Not compared to now, like with social media and
podcasts and everything else.
Now, looking back at this last10-ish years, what would you say
you look at as your biggestsuccess and something you're
most proud of?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Biggest success I guess would be, you know, being
able to scale the way we havewith without a whole lot of
effort, right?
And I think it just goes toshow, you know, having the right
people in your network andletting enough people know what
you're doing in a tasteful way.
Being able to use social media.
I remember, you know, I wasreally into Facebook when I
(13:40):
first came out and I just, youknow, I was kind of doing like
LinkedIn type of content onthere and just wasn't getting
very much action.
So I checked out for a while.
But I was encouraged about sixyears ago when my third child
was born, like hey, you shouldreally be back on here and using
it and I.
So that's been great.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah.
So have you changed up yourcontent strategy just because it
didn't work well the first time?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, like I was doing like long form content I
was doing, you know I justwasn't following what people
were really interested in, right.
When Facebook first came out,people just kind of wanted it as
just a way to kind of escapeand see what the friends ate for
lunch and what their pet wasdoing and different things like
that.
And some of that could just beyour audience, right.
Like, as you get a differentaudience, then they're going to
(14:23):
be into what you're talkingabout and so.
But I think it's just importantto be consistent and you know
the algorithm is always changing.
It used to be like how manypeople were in your following.
You'd pretty much always getlike 10, 15% of people seeing
your stuff, but now it's likeit's got to be relevant, right.
So it's not relevant Peoplearen't viewing it.
Yeah, it's not going to get out.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, no, I know there's a lot to keep up with
when it comes to that.
Now, I guess, on the other sideof the spectrum, when it comes
to obstacles, like you know, yousaid, obviously growing that
portfolio wasn't necessarilystrenuous, but would you say
there is anything in particularthat stands out as one of your
biggest obstacles as you havegrown your portfolio?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I wouldn't call it too much of an obstacle, but
obviously challenges would be.
You know, as things come up inlife, the ability to continue
moving forward I think is soimportant.
You know we've had our share ofchallenges in life, whether
it's losing family members myfather-in-law, my cousin, you
know like miscarriages, tornmeniscus, like just having to
(15:27):
move multiple times just to makesure that we have the family
set up in the right spot.
All these big life changingdecisions sometimes sideline
people for a long period of timeand obviously we took time to
grieve and to heal and to repair.
But you can still keep pushingthe ball down the road right.
It doesn't take that mucheffort to, even if you feel
terrible you know this painwon't last forever and keep
(15:49):
returning phone calls, keeppushing emails down the road.
I think it's important, nomatter what's going on in life,
that you know people willunderstand if you're going
through challenging times.
But you've just got to keepthings moving down the road,
because when you lose momentumand you stop and you start to go
backwards or you check it outfor six months, I mean you've
lost all your momentum.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, no, completely, and I think it's all in how you
communicate with people, right?
Like if you are having that badday, you see an email coming in
, you can always just let peopleknow that you've gotten it and
when you can get back to them.
Right, you don't just likeignore life and hope to come
back to it Exactly Now.
I guess further to that, wouldyou say, there's anything that
stands out to you as a couple ofyour biggest lessons and,
(16:27):
looking back at what that lessonwas, if you could go back, is
there anything that you wouldchange that maybe would have
brought you to a differentoutcome?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, the time machine question.
I used to say that I would wantto try this and I want to try
that, you know.
But again, like, you're on theexact path that you're on for a
reason and our lives are kind oflaid out for us anyways,
depending on what you believe in.
So, until that technologyexists, I just really want
people to understand thateverything in your life really
(16:58):
does happen for a reason andyour creator or the big person
upstairs or you know, whateveryou might believe in, they
wouldn't give you more than youcan handle and that's what does
really create your strength andyour resilience.
And it's the people that don'trealize that those are the
biggest lessons in life and thatthis is happening to you for a
reason and that you can't handlethese things.
(17:19):
This, too, shall pass.
You know I will get better atthis.
Or you know, you know, if youthink in life, lots of times you
just got to go back and in thepast re-review mirror to go like
, look, there's been very, veryfew times in my life where
something has been so persistentand so terrible that it just
never went away in it.
Right, my life like no, we getthrough things and we always
(17:40):
like the gifts that we get givenin life, but we usually like
the gifts that we want the mostright, the great things, the
A-roll stuff.
But you know, the stuff thatdoesn't make the A-roll are the
things that you also have totake and strive to, and they
make you a stronger person aswell.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and I think the most important thing is that
when you are faced with thosechallenges or less things, to
acknowledge them so that youdon't keep on repeating those
mistakes and you can obviouslycome out stronger on the other
side.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yes, You'll keep experiencing the same pain in
life until you learn the lessonis a great book that I've seen
and heard and it's very true.
Right, You'll keep until youactually learn the lesson.
You'll keep getting tripped upin the same ways and you'll keep
having the same pain.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Awesome.
So, on that note, we're justgoing to take a really brief
break from our sponsors andwe'll be right back Inspired to
invest is proud to support theBeyond Success program.
In today's complex world, it'sabsolutely crucial for our youth
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We believe that every youngperson deserves access to
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(18:41):
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(19:04):
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(20:24):
I value transparency, integrityand trust.
If you choose to work with me,you can be assured that business
will be conducted honestly andopenly.
Time is of the essence in thisindustry, so you can expect
nothing short of quick, clearcommunication from me.
I'll keep you informed everystep of the way so you feel
comfortable throughout thisentire process.
(20:45):
Our homes are where we eat,sleep, relax and play.
My client's best interests areat the heart of everything I do
and, with this said, my serviceto you doesn't end when the
transaction does.
As your realtor, I'll not onlyhelp you buy and sell your
property, I'll also educate andsupport you along the way.
I want to help you fulfill yourgoal of home ownership and
(21:08):
become your trusted real estateresource for life.
I can't wait to share mypassion for real estate with you
.
More importantly, find you theperfect house to turn into your
home.
Looking to buy, sell or investin Durham Region or Toronto?
Let's chat.
Hey everybody, welcome back tothe Inspire to Invest podcast.
I have Cori McKinnon here withme today and he's talking about
(21:29):
his career in real estate, notonly as a real estate investor,
but also a real estate investingand business coach.
So one thing I want to know iswhen you look back at the last
10 years, what's the craziestthing you'd say that's ever
happened to you as a real estateinvestor so far?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, we had a property burned down one time,
so that was kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
We're on vacation and Of course, the thing that
always happened on vacation.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's right.
Turn my phone off at night,which I recommend everybody does
, just to make sure you don'thave this thing like sending
radio signals to your head allnight long.
And I flipped it on in themorning.
There was even a time chain, soby the time I turned it on at 7
am, it was actually 9 am backhome because we're in Arizona, I
believe and the text messagesstarted rolling in.
It's like Cori, I think there'sa fire, cori, there's definitely
(22:16):
a fire, cori, everybody's gotto get out of the house, cori.
We're out of the house, cori,we're safe, all that sort of
stuff, right.
So it's like what do you do?
There's not really much of aplaybook.
I can teach someone how to burna property, but what do you do
when somebody's had a major fireor major emergency?
I only knew a couple peoplethat had properties that had
caught fire and thankfully, myinsurance agent was awesome.
(22:40):
It wasn't one of those kind ofsituations where I had to fight
tooth and nail.
If anything, they actuallywanted to just pay out the claim
really quickly.
I was like, whoa, let's slowthis down.
I actually want to go through,because their quote was like
gosh, over a hundred pages long,just like how they actually
detailed out all the losses andall the square footage and it
was amazing how detailed theywere.
(23:01):
But I caught a go up to $13,000worth of things that they forgot
.
So it's good that we actuallydid slow it down and rebuild the
house, change the layout, sonow it's kind of worth like
twice as much as it used to be.
So that's pretty crazy.
We just had an interestingsession at the LTV where you
know we won our case.
(23:21):
You know they were back.
They didn't pay for like 10months of rent.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We got our order.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
We got our hearing Sheriff came in.
Sheriff came, changed the locksand ten of broke back in.
Oh my gosh, I want to keepliving there.
So we actually did get paid forall the back rent through his
parents and gave him an extramonth to move out, get his
things together.
But I mean, all these littlethings are going to come up.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And they call it property management, but you're
not really managing the property.
It's like you're.
You're managing all the peopleand the personalities in there
as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
That's interesting.
I have a client that I've beentalking to her for a couple of
years.
That same thing like got herhearing that date that they're
supposed to move out came andwent, sheriff came and she's
actually just, I think, scaredbeing in her own home because
she thinks they're going to keepcoming back.
They actually left a lot oftheir belongings behind and you
know just, she went through alot of abuse with the tenants
and stuff like that.
(24:14):
So I think that is one of thechallenges when you do, you know
, invest in a tenant friendlyarea, but it's all part of the
process.
That being said, obviously youhave coached a lot of people.
So when you think about advice,what would you say is the best
advice that you like to passalong to your students?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Usually, I mean, we do a deep dive into their entire
situation before we startworking with somebody.
So we have a very detailedon-boarding process and usually
there's going to be some sort ofstabilization that needs to
happen.
Right, they got some fires andthis and that that they need to
go get taken care of.
Maybe they need some new powerteam members, because when
you're not working with theright people, it can be very
(24:56):
challenging.
When you're working with theright people, as you know, in
business and life and in realestate, it makes things a lot
easier, and it's already hardenough as it is, so why make it
harder on yourself?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So that's one of.
Usually one of the biggestlessons is like you need to get
some extra help on your team.
I think we're all raised to beso humble and to try to take
everything on ourselves, andit's a very old mentality.
Unless you're hanging around inyour raised by entrepreneurs
that literally you know havingthings like mannies or cleaners
around the house or just like,hey, we do that sort of stuff in
(25:27):
our business.
We can bring some of that intothe, into the home as well.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Just getting more help to free up your time so
that you actually have someextra bandwidth and you can put
the oxygen mask On.
Be the best version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah.
And I think it's that mindsetshift in the sense, like you
know, when I had my own business, you have to balance everything
.
So it's like, well, I'd have topay somebody to do this, but if
you pay someone to do that andfreeze up your time, then your
sales could go up Right.
So I think it's trying to havethat perspective, to look at
things in a certain way that youknow there's obviously a cost
and benefit to everything thatyou're doing.
So in the beginning it makessense that you're going to wear
(25:59):
all those hats, but as you growit's going to limit your growth
if you continue to try to dothat for too long.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yes, and also just teaching people about money.
Like I know, you do a lot oftransacting when it comes to
lending and things of thatnature.
People get so attached mentallyto what's in their bank account
so if they don't have, let'ssay, enough money to buy the
next property, to think that,okay, I'm just done until I need
to like I need to literally dothis the slow way, save up from
(26:25):
my paycheck and wait for bonusesand commissions and all that
sort of stuff.
It's like no money is just atool out there in the universe
that you can go on excess.
There's a lot of it out thereand there's people that want to
get a return on their money.
Even in these more challengingtimes, I'm still lending out,
I'm sure you're still lendingout.
So money is just a tool thatpeople need to transact in
business and in real estate.
So when you, when you figureout how you can actually attract
(26:48):
it, it's important and it's notlike anything else other than
like a hammer or screwdriver ordrywall or two by fours.
You need it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
It doesn't have to be your money, but yeah, that's
the thing that a lot of peopledon't realize when it comes to
real estate investing right,they don't necessarily need your
own money, so even that, Ithink, is something that the
average person can't reallyfathom before they start
educating themselves and beingpart of these communities.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Exactly, and it's no doubt it's nerve wracking the
first time you go raise money oryou.
You know you take on the riskof someone else's money.
But I mean, if you're a goodsteward of money to begin with,
you shouldn't be too worried andyou treat it like your own and
you're responsible.
And you know back in the dayhow was business done.
Business was done with ahandshake and your word.
So if you're a person of yourword and your handshake and your
(27:34):
word means something, I thinkit's super important.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, no, I agree Now .
You talked about it a littlebit at the beginning of the chat
, but what would be next for youtalked about some different
projects that are coming up, socan you speak a little bit about
those in more detail?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Sure, you know, because the last like three to
five years have just been justreally just growing our coaching
business to the point wherewe're doing more collaborations
and we're going across thecountry and we've already
service people all across Canada, which has been awesome.
But you know we've had somedeals and some developments have
just been sitting, and you knowwe're also raising four kids,
(28:10):
right.
So I kind of swore that untilmy daughter was in school and
she's four years old now she'sin the school system.
Yeah that that just frees upextra time because we're not
driving around as somewhere newevery single day of playgroup or
a drop in.
So we've got a church that webought about five years ago and
I've just been holding it.
We were, we had it at thestarting line at the beginning
of COVID and then all thepricing and things, just kind of
(28:31):
what nuts.
And you know, my partner wantedto go do something different
with his shares so I bought himout.
So that's something I'm excitedto get rolling again Now that
we're starting to get signals ofinterest rates going down.
Yeah, that's good.
And we've also got 10 acres ofland that we can develop into,
either just getting it site planapproved to the starting line
or chopping it up into lots or,you know, gcing out all the
(28:55):
builds, which I don't think Iwant to become a tarion home
builder, but there's so manydifferent ways that we can do
with that.
Getting more into storage I wasjust literally drove to a city
yesterday or two days ago to gocheck out a storage site that we
could build from scratch.
So that's something that I'vebeen getting more and more
involved in the past coupleyears and really been enjoying
it.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, we were actually.
I was just on a family holidayand we noticed how many storage
facilities there were, and oneof the things I was thinking is,
like, who's using these?
Because it feels like in thereal estate investing community
it's a very, very big thing thatpeople are always talking about
.
So maybe can you speak to youwhy it would make such a great
real estate investment.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Sure, I just had a curiosity what city were you in
for your?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
vacation, so I was in Fort Myers and Cape Coral,
florida, so obviously differentdemographic, but just it feels
like they're everywhere now,right so Well, it's definitely
one of those things that it's.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
They've been around since like the 1970s and it's
become more and more and morepopular, especially as you know
home sizes now are going tostart to become smaller, yeah,
and in that case there's alwaysgoing to be a need for it, like
estate sales or like I always.
We always used to register aunit when we were getting ready
to sell.
Our primary residents were like, okay, we do not live in a
(30:10):
staged house.
We got to thin the house out,some of the stuff's got to go
and that's just so convenientthat it's there.
It's like, oh, some of thatstuff that's in storage, we
don't really need it right now.
Like I always extend it forlike an extra six months and at
certain points it's like, okay,this is enough, I got to get our
stuff out of storage and put itback in our own.
But I think you know, as peoplecome more materialistic, people
are traveling more, becomingmore nomadic and especially if
(30:33):
you're in an area that's kind oftouristy, people might want to
store their stand up, paddleboards or just some of the big
things that they don't use allthat often, or even just like
their tires for swapping outwinter tires to regular tires,
like the garage wants to chargeyou a lot of money to do that
sort of stuff, right?
So, and for people that have abusiness, they can write this
off on the business probably too.
So it's just one of thosethings that I think people have
(30:55):
been kind of been ingrained inover time.
And you know, we're starting toget into like the second
generation of people usingstorage, and I know now with the
cost of building and home sizesshrinking, it's probably going
to be more commonplace andthere's ways to figure this out
if your area is too saturated ornot saturated enough.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And at the end of the day, it's a marketing game.
Whoever can market the best fortheir units, you'll probably
win the game anyways.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
So it's not like you're living there.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
So people don't really, they just want it safe.
Maybe obviously secure somecameras, lights, all that sort
of stuff is important.
But if you can be moreconvenient and if you're like
kind of top of the pile ofGoogle reviews and everything
else like go win the game.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, and for my business, we actually use them a
lot for storing samples andstuff.
So, for example, handed outlike 30,000 cans of tuna or
whatever it could be right,because we're going to transit
stations.
So we needed a unit that couldaccommodate the samples.
But it was safer stuff to drivein at like five in the morning,
load up securely, take thingsout.
So we would often run them forlike a couple of months at a
(31:55):
time so we'd store this stuff inadvance, everything we needed
for the program and thenwrapping it up and all of that.
So depending on where you knowacross the country like we're
doing all of this, so you knowthere's definitely a lot of
different needs.
I was just curious to see, likebecause of such a surge in
popularity, like what thegeneral masses were using them
for.
So I guess, in terms ofmotivation and inspiration,
(32:16):
obviously the name of thispodcast is inspired to invest.
So what would you say are acouple of your favorite quotes
that motivate and inspire you?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, so this one's from Gary Vee that, like all big
things start small, becausewhen you look at his first tweet
or post or whatever, I think itonly got like six likes, right.
So it's very true that youcan't expect big things to
happen overnight, but thatcompound effect over time really
does, you know, take fire andthat's sort of like the next one
(32:46):
.
That's just like the compoundeffect of like focused,
intentional action.
Right, don't mistake being busyfor actually being productive.
But when you can actually befocused and productive, it's
amazing what comes out of that.
And maybe even just an extraquote I was literally just at my
son's belt testing.
There all of our kids are intight window and he's probably
(33:06):
not going to go up a belt level,and he wasn't happy about that.
And something that wasinstilled in me a long time ago,
like a couple of decades ago,was that you know what life is
not fair and it's also not easy.
So life is not easy, it's notfair, and once you realize those
two things, life actuallybecomes a lot more easy or
understandable for you, right?
So it's very true that, hey,just there's going to be lessons
(33:30):
and there's going to be thingsthat hit you sideways all the
time.
You just have to be preparedfor that, and that's just how
life is.
Look at nature Whenever you'rein doubt.
Just look at mother nature andsee how things happen in the
wild, and it's very applicableto our lives too.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, and you just got to keep on going.
So, with that being said,what's the best way for anyone
to get in touch with you if theywant to get in contact?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, I'm probably the most active on Instagram, so
go find me on Instagram.
We also have a YouTube channel.
We're starting to post againmore, which is great, so go give
us a sub and a like there.
We appreciate that.
And just coringmikinencom orjust Google me Like.
Basically everything at CoringMcKinnon easy to find and I look
forward to you know servinganybody or answering any
questions that people might mayhave.
(34:11):
Moving forward, Happy to help.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Great.
So thanks for your time today.
We'll include your informationbelow and, of course, for anyone
that is watching right now.
If you've enjoyed this episode,make sure you like, comment,
subscribe.
You can also follow along onsocial at inspire to invest
podcast and this episode will becoming to you briefly.
But last but not least, makesure that you remember when you
invest in yourself, the sky'sthe limit.
(34:33):
Thanks again for tuning in.
Thank you to Plenitude Inc forbringing you this episode of
inspired to invest.
The views represented on thispodcast are for general
information only and does notconstitute investment or other
professional advice or anoffering of securities.
The host and guest featured oninspired to invest make no
(34:53):
representations as to theperformance of any particular
investment.
Should you decide to make aninvestment, you are responsible
for conducting your own reviewand analysis.
It is recommended that youobtain independent legal
accounting and tax advice fromlicensed professionals.
Welcome to the Inspire to Invest podcast, where
we're sharing stories from realestate investors and how
investing has changed theirlives.
This episode of the Inspire toInvest podcast has been brought
to you by Plentitude Inc.
Hey everybody, welcome to theInspire to Invest podcast.
I have Corey McKinnon here withme today and, for anyone who
(00:24):
doesn't know him, he's on amission to help people struggle
less with their finances andbusiness and also real estate
investing.
He has helped hundreds ofpeople with six and seven figure
growth with their real estateand business, and he's currently
taking a message across thecountry to serve more people who
want to live their lives ontheir own terms.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us today, corey.
(00:45):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You're awesome, Serena.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So obviously I know you may be a little bit better
than some people just because weare in a mastermind together,
but for anyone who doesn't knowyou, maybe you can shed some
light on what life looked likebefore real estate came into the
picture.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
All right.
So before real estate came inthe picture, gosh, I mean, I
grew up in a duplex so I'd haveto go way, way back.
But you know, didn't reallyhave a lot growing up, came from
pretty humble beginnings and Ithink it's.
I don't think there's anythingwrong about that.
I remember one time I mentionedthat to my mom and she felt
really sad.
I'm like mom, I wouldn't be theperson I am today if it wasn't
for what we came from and whatwe had and what we had to figure
(01:25):
out and all those differentthings.
Right so, but you know, I sawmy family struggle at a young
age.
My dad went on strike a fewtimes.
My mom was always working, youknow, part-time jobs
hairdressing, delivering flyers,babysitting, you name it just
to make, you know, some extramoney.
And I made a commitment at ayoung age just to say, look,
I'll work two, three jobs, I'lldo whatever it takes.
I'll become an entrepreneur,which I did officially at the
(01:47):
age of 19, started running afranchise and did really well
and just did business and sincethen, and you know, bought my
first property when I was 30, soI didn't even get a super head
start on things, like a lot ofpeople.
I see people that are buyingproperties in their late teens
or early twenties, and hats offto them.
They got such a head start.
What a blessing.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
What kind of franchise was it Student Works
Painting?
So it wasn't a true franchise,it was more like an owner
operator.
It was like a hybrid modelwhere they sell the intellectual
property.
At the end of the year I stayedin that company and I got
promoted all the way up to VP ofoperation through Eastern
Canada.
So I was in charge of millionsof dollars worth of business and
(02:28):
it was just really great to seethis grassroots business and
working with really ambitiouspeople from the ages of 17 to 25
and just showing what'spossible.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, no, that's amazing.
So then obviously that's notlike real estate business, but
you're servicing homeowners andstuff like that.
How exactly did you make thatjump then into real estate from
an investing perspective?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, the big part of my job was actually HR, like
human resources and makingdecisions on hiring, and I think
it's highly correlatable Likewhen you're an entrepreneur,
lots of things that are going tobe highly correlatable to
owning real estate or businessor what have you right.
So for me that's always beenpretty easy to make gut
decisions on tenants, even ifI'm not the person that's
(03:13):
talking to them, like I have myassistant now they do all the
screening and we just talk aboutthe top three and I'm just
looking for that.
Where's the story?
Does the story check out?
Is there any drama?
Do they have good references?
Do they make good money?
Because it's not that difficultto make good choices and sure
anybody can kind of go off thedeep end and stop paying their
rent, I guess.
But if you do a lot of thatwork upfront, you can definitely
avoid that and just havingstrong work ethic like hey,
(03:37):
nothing in life is easy, you gotto work hard for it.
If there was an easy route, Ithink you and I would have found
it already and we have it.
You can't replace hard work.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense.
So, in terms of growing yourportfolio, can you talk about
where it started and then whereyou've grown it to today?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Sure, so my first property was a house hack and a
six plaques right, and that'smaybe one of the reasons why it
took me a while, just for, like,having to save up for the down
payment, because talking to mydad and talking to other people
are like, don't pay any CMHCfees, and back then it was 25%
to avoid all the fees, not 20%right now.
So yeah, back in 2005, I savedup like $107,000, which would
(04:18):
probably be at least double thatnow.
So that's a big chunk of moneyto save up when you're in your
20s.
And from there I didn't evenknow what the burr was Like.
The burr didn't really evenhave a terminology, but it was
just improving the building,raising the value, like
everything, except for theterminology of it.
So then I just was buyingduplexes, triplexes, five plexes
(04:39):
, that sort of thing, and Ihaven't really bought anything
really big.
But we've got close to 100doors right now and it's just
all seven plexes and below.
We're starting to sell off someof our single family type stuff
, that is, medium term rentals,but when the client leaves or if
we feel like we just can't dovery much more with that
location or that property, we'regoing to go and sell it.
(04:59):
So I'm just getting into biggerthings.
We do have some bigdevelopments on the way coming
up, which is super exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I found just by recording this podcast, a lot
of people say they wish they hadstarted bigger sooner for
another reason, like economiesof scale.
You're kind of duplicating thatwork if you had one building
with 10 doors versus fiveduplexes and things like that.
So do you think that would bemore where you'd like to take
things just going bigger?
Do you kind of like that sizeof property?
(05:24):
I don't mind it, I've done wellwith them.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I mean you do run into a different bottlenecks
with financing and things ofthat nature.
It helps when you have a highernet worth than that checks more
boxes for you as you go along.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And there just isn't a lot of inventory of the bigger
stuff.
In Canada I think we alwayslisten to the Grant Cardons of
the world and Sounds likethere's buildings everywhere.
I know right, but in Canadawe're obviously one-tenth of the
population, I'd like to say wedon't even have as many
buildings that could even dowhat they do in the States, so
(05:58):
nothing wrong with going bigger,and I think if you have the
right systems in place, though,and you have the right mix of
your buildings like a lot of mybuildings are in clusters anyway
, so the grass doesn't have totravel that far, the snow person
doesn't have to travel that far.
We have handymen on staff, wehave a deep roll of decks of
everything that we need.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So, Helen, would you say it took you to then become
an investor full-time?
Did you make that decision likethis is what you're doing when
you rip the Band-Aid off or didyou wait until you had a certain
number of doors or cash flow?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, I guess it was a chain of events that would
have happened.
So, as I started getting laterand later into my corporate
career like year 15, 16, 17, westarted having, I got married,
we started having kids, westarted to have a few health
crises in the family and thingsthat were taking some of my time
away, but I was still gettingall the same results that I used
to before.
(06:51):
Maybe I just wasn't growing orexceeding my annual quota or
whatever, and we started havingsome hard conversations with my
corporate career.
The rating was kind of on thewall that like, look, this is,
this isn't going to be foreverand they wanted to start clawing
(07:12):
back some of my positions andthings like that and wanting me
to do, you know, twice as muchwork or whatever, without as
many resources.
So I'm like, well, I'm going toreally double down, triple down
in real estate.
So we went.
I think we picked up five orsix properties that year Some of
them are Transplan Meadow ParkHome Runs, which was great and
we got the cash flow up.
I didn't totally replace myincome but I wasn't worried
(07:33):
about it just because ourmonthly expenses were pretty low
and I always recommend thatpeople here, anybody who's
listening.
Keep your monthly burn rate low, Like even when you're making
good money.
You don't have to live like apoplar.
But you know, don't startspending these money.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I love you me.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
I was over in the mountains of money.
I was literally just out for awalk this morning in my
neighborhood and I see likepeople are throwing out their
garbage on garbage day.
I'm like Gucci bag you knowbags from the store and I'm just
like wow, like I don't.
I just don't feel like that'snecessary until you're at the
point where all your assets canbe spinning off more than enough
money that you can ever spend.
Then you can be buying some ofthat stuff, right, but in the
(08:10):
meantime, just keep reinvestingand leveling up over time and
you can always enjoy trips andcruises and, you know, do dads
and toys and stuff like that.
Just make sure it's in check.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, no, that makes sense and I think just you know,
just like in rich dad, portAddy talks about sacrificing and
having the assets, the assetswill pay for those things.
I think it's just a matter ofhow you line those things up Now
in terms of the year that youtalk about picking up that many
properties.
How did you do that?
Because I'm sure people arelike, well, how do you just go
and buy like five propertiesLike, were you engaging
investors at that point in time?
(08:39):
Were you taking equity fromother properties?
How did you go about that?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, I don't know if I gave that exact answer to your
last question.
So it was about six years sixto seven years I believe it was
closer to six and so what we didwas we made sure that all of
our properties were refinanced,so we had a good amount of money
in the bank like gunpowder orwhatever you want to call it to
go hunting for more deals, andit was a lot easier to get
(09:05):
lending back then.
Right, there wasn't any sort oftightening and things like that
in 2013.
So it's been about 10 yearsalmost 10 years and one month
since I retired, and we werejust letting everybody and
anybody know that we're lookingfor deals, and most of them came
through my primary realtor, butsome of them just came through
private deals or just peoplebringing them our way, and I
(09:27):
think it's so important not tolet investing or your business
or whoever's listening to this,be your dirty little secret.
You need to let the world know,obviously, in a tasteful way.
Like you can be way toooverbearing and it may get the
forefront of every singleconversation, which I don't
recommend.
But when you're in enoughconversations with people and
they ask you oh well, thanks forlistening to me, what are you
up to?
Right, and you can just plantsome seeds and let them know
(09:48):
which you're to, and it'samazing what can come from that
when you let the universe knowwhat your outcomes want to be.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense.
Now, where did the coachingbusiness come into play with the
real estate investing?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
For sure.
So, yeah, I'm the owner ofInfinite Real Estate Results
Coaching, or just InfiniteResults Coaching, because we
also coach business owners too.
So when I retired fromcorporate, there's just all
kinds of people that were comingout of the woodwork saying
Corey, how did you do this?
Like, how were you able toretire by investing in real
estate part-time for six years?
Because we like our jobs or wewant to just have that nest egg
(10:26):
building up for ourselves and,as people know, real estate is
just such a great way toaccumulate wealth over time when
you do it right.
So I started to take some peopleon and some of these people are
just reaching out to me becausethey're like Corey, you're the
only person that's ever beenable to hold me accountable or
you're the only person that Iwas inspired to grow my business
with.
So it was business coaching,accountability coaching.
(10:46):
Some people wanted real estateadvice and I was just happy to
help people, because I just havethis vision of I want to help a
tribe of people and I want tomake sure that they don't have
to struggle, because I've beenthrough that struggle when I was
a kid.
I remember just you hear yourparents talking when you're
trying to fall asleep and it'snot like they were arguing, but
they were definitely.
I could tell they were talkingabout money and just how's this
(11:07):
going to work?
How's that going to work?
I'm not working right now on mystrike or this or that or
everything else.
Right, We've got work onthrough our savings.
So that's how it evolved.
And from there I just realizedOK, if everybody's going to be
coming from a different startingpoint, different goals,
different experience, I need tomake a pantry of tools and
resources for them to be able togo do all the different real
(11:27):
estate strategies out there andall the different areas and all
different starting points andlevels.
And that's what we've done overthe past.
I'd say really we startedgetting more into it in the past
, like six years.
That's an awesome realexperience.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
An important point.
Just, you talk about retiringand I think sometimes people
think, well, when you retire,you're going to go out and it
doesn't mean you're not doingthose things like traveling and
whatever it is that you want todo.
But I think at the end of theday, I think it's still very
important to give yourself asense of purpose and I think
that's something that obviouslykeeps people going, Because a
lot of times when people retirethey just wither away If they
(12:05):
haven't given them that reasonto wake up in the morning and do
good in the world and stufflike that.
So I think that's important.
And to your point, just aboutwhen you have your business I
think that's one thing I learned, having my own business for 18
years.
I was eight years in before Igot coaching and I'm like
there's got to be things I don'tknow, like ways you can get
where you want to go fast orjust people that can look at
(12:25):
things objectively becausethey're not in the weeds with
you and stuff like that.
So I think for anyone that islistening or watching, that has
a business or they're a realestate investor, I think the
most important thing you can dois just set your foundation up
properly and get the righteducation and resources before
you move forward, Because it'llsave you money and time down the
road.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
So important, that's so important and you can go
pretty far on your own.
So there's so many resourcesout there.
Like I tell people, literallythe only resources I had at the
time were the white pages,yellow pages, word of mouth and
my poems on TV, and then therewas maybe some like Rich Dad,
poor Dad or Carlton Sheets typeof stuff out there.
So, russ Whitney, like therewasn't a lot of resources.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Not compared to now, like with social media and
podcasts and everything else.
Now, looking back at this last10-ish years, what would you say
you look at as your biggestsuccess and something you're
most proud of?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Biggest success I guess would be, you know, being
able to scale the way we havewith without a whole lot of
effort, right?
And I think it just goes toshow, you know, having the right
people in your network andletting enough people know what
you're doing in a tasteful way.
Being able to use social media.
I remember, you know, I wasreally into Facebook when I
(13:40):
first came out and I just, youknow, I was kind of doing like
LinkedIn type of content onthere and just wasn't getting
very much action.
So I checked out for a while.
But I was encouraged about sixyears ago when my third child
was born, like hey, you shouldreally be back on here and using
it and I.
So that's been great.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah.
So have you changed up yourcontent strategy just because it
didn't work well the first time?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, like I was doing like long form content I
was doing, you know I justwasn't following what people
were really interested in, right.
When Facebook first came out,people just kind of wanted it as
just a way to kind of escapeand see what the friends ate for
lunch and what their pet wasdoing and different things like
that.
And some of that could just beyour audience, right.
Like, as you get a differentaudience, then they're going to
(14:23):
be into what you're talkingabout and so.
But I think it's just importantto be consistent and you know
the algorithm is always changing.
It used to be like how manypeople were in your following.
You'd pretty much always getlike 10, 15% of people seeing
your stuff, but now it's likeit's got to be relevant, right.
So it's not relevant Peoplearen't viewing it.
Yeah, it's not going to get out.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, no, I know there's a lot to keep up with
when it comes to that.
Now, I guess, on the other sideof the spectrum, when it comes
to obstacles, like you know, yousaid, obviously growing that
portfolio wasn't necessarilystrenuous, but would you say
there is anything in particularthat stands out as one of your
biggest obstacles as you havegrown your portfolio?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I wouldn't call it too much of an obstacle, but
obviously challenges would be.
You know, as things come up inlife, the ability to continue
moving forward I think is soimportant.
You know we've had our share ofchallenges in life, whether
it's losing family members myfather-in-law, my cousin, you
know like miscarriages, tornmeniscus, like just having to
(15:27):
move multiple times just to makesure that we have the family
set up in the right spot.
All these big life changingdecisions sometimes sideline
people for a long period of timeand obviously we took time to
grieve and to heal and to repair.
But you can still keep pushingthe ball down the road right.
It doesn't take that mucheffort to, even if you feel
terrible you know this painwon't last forever and keep
(15:49):
returning phone calls, keeppushing emails down the road.
I think it's important, nomatter what's going on in life,
that you know people willunderstand if you're going
through challenging times.
But you've just got to keepthings moving down the road,
because when you lose momentumand you stop and you start to go
backwards or you check it outfor six months, I mean you've
lost all your momentum.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, no, completely, and I think it's all in how you
communicate with people, right?
Like if you are having that badday, you see an email coming in
, you can always just let peopleknow that you've gotten it and
when you can get back to them.
Right, you don't just likeignore life and hope to come
back to it Exactly Now.
I guess further to that, wouldyou say, there's anything that
stands out to you as a couple ofyour biggest lessons and,
(16:27):
looking back at what that lessonwas, if you could go back, is
there anything that you wouldchange that maybe would have
brought you to a differentoutcome?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, the time machine question.
I used to say that I would wantto try this and I want to try
that, you know.
But again, like, you're on theexact path that you're on for a
reason and our lives are kind oflaid out for us anyways,
depending on what you believe in.
So, until that technologyexists, I just really want
people to understand thateverything in your life really
(16:58):
does happen for a reason andyour creator or the big person
upstairs or you know, whateveryou might believe in, they
wouldn't give you more than youcan handle and that's what does
really create your strength andyour resilience.
And it's the people that don'trealize that those are the
biggest lessons in life and thatthis is happening to you for a
reason and that you can't handlethese things.
(17:19):
This, too, shall pass.
You know I will get better atthis.
Or you know, you know, if youthink in life, lots of times you
just got to go back and in thepast re-review mirror to go like
, look, there's been very, veryfew times in my life where
something has been so persistentand so terrible that it just
never went away in it.
Right, my life like no, we getthrough things and we always
(17:40):
like the gifts that we get givenin life, but we usually like
the gifts that we want the mostright, the great things, the
A-roll stuff.
But you know, the stuff thatdoesn't make the A-roll are the
things that you also have totake and strive to, and they
make you a stronger person aswell.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and I think the most important thing is that
when you are faced with thosechallenges or less things, to
acknowledge them so that youdon't keep on repeating those
mistakes and you can obviouslycome out stronger on the other
side.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yes, You'll keep experiencing the same pain in
life until you learn the lessonis a great book that I've seen
and heard and it's very true.
Right, You'll keep until youactually learn the lesson.
You'll keep getting tripped upin the same ways and you'll keep
having the same pain.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Awesome.
So, on that note, we're justgoing to take a really brief
break from our sponsors andwe'll be right back Inspired to
invest is proud to support theBeyond Success program.
In today's complex world, it'sabsolutely crucial for our youth
to learn how to take charge oftheir financial future.
We believe that every youngperson deserves access to
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I value transparency, integrityand trust.
If you choose to work with me,you can be assured that business
will be conducted honestly andopenly.
Time is of the essence in thisindustry, so you can expect
nothing short of quick, clearcommunication from me.
I'll keep you informed everystep of the way so you feel
comfortable throughout thisentire process.
(20:45):
Our homes are where we eat,sleep, relax and play.
My client's best interests areat the heart of everything I do
and, with this said, my serviceto you doesn't end when the
transaction does.
As your realtor, I'll not onlyhelp you buy and sell your
property, I'll also educate andsupport you along the way.
I want to help you fulfill yourgoal of home ownership and
(21:08):
become your trusted real estateresource for life.
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Let's chat.
Hey everybody, welcome back tothe Inspire to Invest podcast.
I have Cori McKinnon here withme today and he's talking about
(21:29):
his career in real estate, notonly as a real estate investor,
but also a real estate investingand business coach.
So one thing I want to know iswhen you look back at the last
10 years, what's the craziestthing you'd say that's ever
happened to you as a real estateinvestor so far?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, we had a property burned down one time,
so that was kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
We're on vacation and Of course, the thing that
always happened on vacation.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's right.
Turn my phone off at night,which I recommend everybody does
, just to make sure you don'thave this thing like sending
radio signals to your head allnight long.
And I flipped it on in themorning.
There was even a time chain, soby the time I turned it on at 7
am, it was actually 9 am backhome because we're in Arizona, I
believe and the text messagesstarted rolling in.
It's like Cori, I think there'sa fire, cori, there's definitely
(22:16):
a fire, cori, everybody's gotto get out of the house, cori.
We're out of the house, cori,we're safe, all that sort of
stuff, right.
So it's like what do you do?
There's not really much of aplaybook.
I can teach someone how to burna property, but what do you do
when somebody's had a major fireor major emergency?
I only knew a couple peoplethat had properties that had
caught fire and thankfully, myinsurance agent was awesome.
(22:40):
It wasn't one of those kind ofsituations where I had to fight
tooth and nail.
If anything, they actuallywanted to just pay out the claim
really quickly.
I was like, whoa, let's slowthis down.
I actually want to go through,because their quote was like
gosh, over a hundred pages long,just like how they actually
detailed out all the losses andall the square footage and it
was amazing how detailed theywere.
(23:01):
But I caught a go up to $13,000worth of things that they forgot
.
So it's good that we actuallydid slow it down and rebuild the
house, change the layout, sonow it's kind of worth like
twice as much as it used to be.
So that's pretty crazy.
We just had an interestingsession at the LTV where you
know we won our case.
(23:21):
You know they were back.
They didn't pay for like 10months of rent.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
We got our order.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
We got our hearing Sheriff came in.
Sheriff came, changed the locksand ten of broke back in.
Oh my gosh, I want to keepliving there.
So we actually did get paid forall the back rent through his
parents and gave him an extramonth to move out, get his
things together.
But I mean, all these littlethings are going to come up.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
And they call it property management, but you're
not really managing the property.
It's like you're.
You're managing all the peopleand the personalities in there
as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
That's interesting.
I have a client that I've beentalking to her for a couple of
years.
That same thing like got herhearing that date that they're
supposed to move out came andwent, sheriff came and she's
actually just, I think, scaredbeing in her own home because
she thinks they're going to keepcoming back.
They actually left a lot oftheir belongings behind and you
know just, she went through alot of abuse with the tenants
and stuff like that.
(24:14):
So I think that is one of thechallenges when you do, you know
, invest in a tenant friendlyarea, but it's all part of the
process.
That being said, obviously youhave coached a lot of people.
So when you think about advice,what would you say is the best
advice that you like to passalong to your students?
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Usually, I mean, we do a deep dive into their entire
situation before we startworking with somebody.
So we have a very detailedon-boarding process and usually
there's going to be some sort ofstabilization that needs to
happen.
Right, they got some fires andthis and that that they need to
go get taken care of.
Maybe they need some new powerteam members, because when
you're not working with theright people, it can be very
(24:56):
challenging.
When you're working with theright people, as you know, in
business and life and in realestate, it makes things a lot
easier, and it's already hardenough as it is, so why make it
harder on yourself?
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So that's one of.
Usually one of the biggestlessons is like you need to get
some extra help on your team.
I think we're all raised to beso humble and to try to take
everything on ourselves, andit's a very old mentality.
Unless you're hanging around inyour raised by entrepreneurs
that literally you know havingthings like mannies or cleaners
around the house or just like,hey, we do that sort of stuff in
(25:27):
our business.
We can bring some of that intothe, into the home as well.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Just getting more help to free up your time so
that you actually have someextra bandwidth and you can put
the oxygen mask On.
Be the best version of yourself.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah.
And I think it's that mindsetshift in the sense, like you
know, when I had my own business, you have to balance everything
.
So it's like, well, I'd have topay somebody to do this, but if
you pay someone to do that andfreeze up your time, then your
sales could go up Right.
So I think it's trying to havethat perspective, to look at
things in a certain way that youknow there's obviously a cost
and benefit to everything thatyou're doing.
So in the beginning it makessense that you're going to wear
(25:59):
all those hats, but as you growit's going to limit your growth
if you continue to try to dothat for too long.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yes, and also just teaching people about money.
Like I know, you do a lot oftransacting when it comes to
lending and things of thatnature.
People get so attached mentallyto what's in their bank account
so if they don't have, let'ssay, enough money to buy the
next property, to think that,okay, I'm just done until I need
to like I need to literally dothis the slow way, save up from
(26:25):
my paycheck and wait for bonusesand commissions and all that
sort of stuff.
It's like no money is just atool out there in the universe
that you can go on excess.
There's a lot of it out thereand there's people that want to
get a return on their money.
Even in these more challengingtimes, I'm still lending out,
I'm sure you're still lendingout.
So money is just a tool thatpeople need to transact in
business and in real estate.
So when you, when you figureout how you can actually attract
(26:48):
it, it's important and it's notlike anything else other than
like a hammer or screwdriver ordrywall or two by fours.
You need it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
It doesn't have to be your money, but yeah, that's
the thing that a lot of peopledon't realize when it comes to
real estate investing right,they don't necessarily need your
own money, so even that, Ithink, is something that the
average person can't reallyfathom before they start
educating themselves and beingpart of these communities.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Exactly, and it's no doubt it's nerve wracking the
first time you go raise money oryou.
You know you take on the riskof someone else's money.
But I mean, if you're a goodsteward of money to begin with,
you shouldn't be too worried andyou treat it like your own and
you're responsible.
And you know back in the dayhow was business done.
Business was done with ahandshake and your word.
So if you're a person of yourword and your handshake and your
(27:34):
word means something, I thinkit's super important.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, no, I agree Now .
You talked about it a littlebit at the beginning of the chat
, but what would be next for youtalked about some different
projects that are coming up, socan you speak a little bit about
those in more detail?
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Sure, you know, because the last like three to
five years have just been justreally just growing our coaching
business to the point wherewe're doing more collaborations
and we're going across thecountry and we've already
service people all across Canada, which has been awesome.
But you know we've had somedeals and some developments have
just been sitting, and you knowwe're also raising four kids,
(28:10):
right.
So I kind of swore that untilmy daughter was in school and
she's four years old now she'sin the school system.
Yeah that that just frees upextra time because we're not
driving around as somewhere newevery single day of playgroup or
a drop in.
So we've got a church that webought about five years ago and
I've just been holding it.
We were, we had it at thestarting line at the beginning
of COVID and then all thepricing and things, just kind of
(28:31):
what nuts.
And you know, my partner wantedto go do something different
with his shares so I bought himout.
So that's something I'm excitedto get rolling again Now that
we're starting to get signals ofinterest rates going down.
Yeah, that's good.
And we've also got 10 acres ofland that we can develop into,
either just getting it site planapproved to the starting line
or chopping it up into lots or,you know, gcing out all the
(28:55):
builds, which I don't think Iwant to become a tarion home
builder, but there's so manydifferent ways that we can do
with that.
Getting more into storage I wasjust literally drove to a city
yesterday or two days ago to gocheck out a storage site that we
could build from scratch.
So that's something that I'vebeen getting more and more
involved in the past coupleyears and really been enjoying
it.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, we were actually.
I was just on a family holidayand we noticed how many storage
facilities there were, and oneof the things I was thinking is,
like, who's using these?
Because it feels like in thereal estate investing community
it's a very, very big thing thatpeople are always talking about
.
So maybe can you speak to youwhy it would make such a great
real estate investment.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Sure, I just had a curiosity what city were you in
for your?
Speaker 1 (29:36):
vacation, so I was in Fort Myers and Cape Coral,
florida, so obviously differentdemographic, but just it feels
like they're everywhere now,right so Well, it's definitely
one of those things that it's.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
They've been around since like the 1970s and it's
become more and more and morepopular, especially as you know
home sizes now are going tostart to become smaller, yeah,
and in that case there's alwaysgoing to be a need for it, like
estate sales or like I always.
We always used to register aunit when we were getting ready
to sell.
Our primary residents were like, okay, we do not live in a
(30:10):
staged house.
We got to thin the house out,some of the stuff's got to go
and that's just so convenientthat it's there.
It's like, oh, some of thatstuff that's in storage, we
don't really need it right now.
Like I always extend it forlike an extra six months and at
certain points it's like, okay,this is enough, I got to get our
stuff out of storage and put itback in our own.
But I think you know, as peoplecome more materialistic, people
are traveling more, becomingmore nomadic and especially if
(30:33):
you're in an area that's kind oftouristy, people might want to
store their stand up, paddleboards or just some of the big
things that they don't use allthat often, or even just like
their tires for swapping outwinter tires to regular tires,
like the garage wants to chargeyou a lot of money to do that
sort of stuff, right?
So, and for people that have abusiness, they can write this
off on the business probably too.
So it's just one of thosethings that I think people have
(30:55):
been kind of been ingrained inover time.
And you know, we're starting toget into like the second
generation of people usingstorage, and I know now with the
cost of building and home sizesshrinking, it's probably going
to be more commonplace andthere's ways to figure this out
if your area is too saturated ornot saturated enough.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And at the end of the day, it's a marketing game.
Whoever can market the best fortheir units, you'll probably
win the game anyways.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
So it's not like you're living there.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
So people don't really, they just want it safe.
Maybe obviously secure somecameras, lights, all that sort
of stuff is important.
But if you can be moreconvenient and if you're like
kind of top of the pile ofGoogle reviews and everything
else like go win the game.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, and for my business, we actually use them a
lot for storing samples andstuff.
So, for example, handed outlike 30,000 cans of tuna or
whatever it could be right,because we're going to transit
stations.
So we needed a unit that couldaccommodate the samples.
But it was safer stuff to drivein at like five in the morning,
load up securely, take thingsout.
So we would often run them forlike a couple of months at a
(31:55):
time so we'd store this stuff inadvance, everything we needed
for the program and thenwrapping it up and all of that.
So depending on where you knowacross the country like we're
doing all of this, so you knowthere's definitely a lot of
different needs.
I was just curious to see, likebecause of such a surge in
popularity, like what thegeneral masses were using them
for.
So I guess, in terms ofmotivation and inspiration,
(32:16):
obviously the name of thispodcast is inspired to invest.
So what would you say are acouple of your favorite quotes
that motivate and inspire you?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, so this one's from Gary Vee that, like all big
things start small, becausewhen you look at his first tweet
or post or whatever, I think itonly got like six likes, right.
So it's very true that youcan't expect big things to
happen overnight, but thatcompound effect over time really
does, you know, take fire andthat's sort of like the next one
(32:46):
.
That's just like the compoundeffect of like focused,
intentional action.
Right, don't mistake being busyfor actually being productive.
But when you can actually befocused and productive, it's
amazing what comes out of that.
And maybe even just an extraquote I was literally just at my
son's belt testing.
There all of our kids are intight window and he's probably
(33:06):
not going to go up a belt level,and he wasn't happy about that.
And something that wasinstilled in me a long time ago,
like a couple of decades ago,was that you know what life is
not fair and it's also not easy.
So life is not easy, it's notfair, and once you realize those
two things, life actuallybecomes a lot more easy or
understandable for you, right?
So it's very true that, hey,just there's going to be lessons
(33:30):
and there's going to be thingsthat hit you sideways all the
time.
You just have to be preparedfor that, and that's just how
life is.
Look at nature Whenever you'rein doubt.
Just look at mother nature andsee how things happen in the
wild, and it's very applicableto our lives too.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, and you just got to keep on going.
So, with that being said,what's the best way for anyone
to get in touch with you if theywant to get in contact?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yeah, I'm probably the most active on Instagram, so
go find me on Instagram.
We also have a YouTube channel.
We're starting to post againmore, which is great, so go give
us a sub and a like there.
We appreciate that.
And just coringmikinencom orjust Google me Like.
Basically everything at CoringMcKinnon easy to find and I look
forward to you know servinganybody or answering any
questions that people might mayhave.
(34:11):
Moving forward, Happy to help.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Great.
So thanks for your time today.
We'll include your informationbelow and, of course, for anyone
that is watching right now.
If you've enjoyed this episode,make sure you like, comment,
subscribe.
You can also follow along onsocial at inspire to invest
podcast and this episode will becoming to you briefly.
But last but not least, makesure that you remember when you
invest in yourself, the sky'sthe limit.
(34:33):
Thanks again for tuning in.
Thank you to Plenitude Inc forbringing you this episode of
inspired to invest.
The views represented on thispodcast are for general
information only and does notconstitute investment or other
professional advice or anoffering of securities.
The host and guest featured oninspired to invest make no
(34:53):
representations as to theperformance of any particular
investment.
Should you decide to make aninvestment, you are responsible
for conducting your own reviewand analysis.
It is recommended that youobtain independent legal
accounting and tax advice fromlicensed professionals.
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