Every month, the BrentDavies.com newsletter will include:

• Brent’s Tricks of the Trade: Stories and techniques from a lifetime in real estate, giving an old pro’s spin on common challenges.
• What is Your Favourite Neighbourhood? Every month, I will talk about a different area in Edmonton, giving a ground-up analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, and future.  Discover the money makers, the areas in transition, and the landmines to walk away from.
• Brent’s Market Analysis: A monthly update on the Alberta real estate scene, with an eye to the economic landscape and how changes in legislation will impact investors and landlords.
• What I’m Doing: A personal update on my listings, investments, and other projects.

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Come and visit actual listings and learn the secret to evaluating neighbourhoods, property selection, due diligence, cash flow analysis, budgeting for reno’s and flips, and writing/presenting offers with no fear, and no obligations. Discover the money makers to watch for and the landmines to walk away from.

Download the registration form here.

Join us to tour and discuss real properties:

July 29th, Townhouses
Aug 5th, Single Family Homes
Aug 12th, Suited Properties
Aug 19th, Multi-Family
Aug 27  REIN Edmonton Tour (members only)

Each night will follow the same format:
6:30 p.m. Meet other investors, review the property type and neighbourhoods
7:00 – 8:30 Tour selected properties
8:30-9:30 Review the properties, analyze the numbers and write an offer.

To reserve your spot, email brent@brentdavies.com, fax this form (PDF) to 780-484-3018 or call Brent at 780-297-2810.

Street View

Just renovated 3 bedroom carriage home, with fireplace and 5 appliances. Investors, this property has a current yield of  8% .  The complex is currently 50% rented. Great access to the skating rink located is the Hairsine Park to the south of the complex.

Property managers and landlords are constantly looking for quality tenants. In March 2008, we
ran some tests on Internet advertising because the response to both our newspaper and internet
rental ads in Edmonton, Alberta had decreased. We felt that this type of advertising was not cost-
effective and we were not getting a large enough number of applicants to find great tenants.
We decided to try Internet advertising because it is frequently used by out-of-town residents who
are looking to move to Edmonton. These people are usually young blue-collar tradesmen,
looking to take advantage of Edmonton’s low unemployment rate. We find these tenants are
desirable because once they find a job they usually make good long-term tenants.

In 2006 we discovered an oddity in our properties. A majority of the tenants in our higher end
rental suites and homes owned at least one computer. On the other hand, only 3 of 22 tenants in
one of our lower income buildings had computers. Home internet use was a sign of prosperity.
We felt that by using internet advertising we would be able to screen out lower income tenants
who don’t have computers and would have too low an income to be consistent tenants.
We tested our advertising in March of 2008 by placing five identical ads on different rental
websites. Each website listed a different email and phone number, allowing us to track the
effectiveness of each ad.

The sites we used were:

• Gottarent.com
• Rentedmonton.com
• Rentfaster.ca
• Albertarent.com
• Homerent.ca

Prior to this test, our marketing was based on all calls and inquiries to a central number. Inquires
were asked where they got our name, the internet as the answer. Many times they could not
remember the website.
Our questions were:

1. Was our current program of internet ads working? We were using Rentfaster.ca as our primary website.
2. Which rental websites led to the most inquiries?
3. Was there one site we could use exclusively?

Fill out the form to download the full 12 page whitepaper with the complete results:

When we took over, Fred’s rent was $100 lower than the other suites. We were told this was because he was on a fixed pension. With all the rent increases since 1990, Fred’s rent remained the lowest in his building until his death in 2007 at the age of 90.

Fred was a quiet and private man, who kept his suite neat and tidy. He typically responded with a gruff word if someone tried to offer him a cheery “good day”. He had no living relatives or friends he wished to be notified in the event of an emergency.   In fact his tenant information stated he had no family, and to call 911.  However he become friendly with Chuck, the resident manager who worked for our company for the past eight years. Chuck is a good manager and is good with people. The two became friendly, like good neighbours do.

One Sunday night in early December, 2007;  Chuck called me and said he “misplace a tenant” and didn’t know what to do. Fred always put his rent under Chuck’s door the morning of the last day of the month without fail. A few days after his rent was due, there was no word from Fred, and no answer at his door. To our knowledge Fred had never left to travel or stayed away for any length of time.  His mail was piling up.

I authorized Chuck to enter his suite to check on Fred. Landlords are allowed to enter suites in the event of emergency, and a missing 90 year man is an emergency.  Over the years, we have found several stroke victims.  The phone rang a few minutes later. No Fred. Where does a 90 year old man go? I suggest to Chuck to call the local hospitals and, sure enough, Fred was in a nearby hospital. A few days earlier, Fred had gone out on his morning walk to get a newspaper and a car hit him while he was crossing the street and broke both his legs.

Chuck visited Fred at the hospital several times over the next four weeks, bring him his shaving gear and being a friend when he needed one.

Fred passed away from a heart attack when he was still in the hospital, almost a month later.

Because Fred had no known relatives, the Public Trustee became involved. They conducted an inventory of Fred’s suite and removed valuables, but so far as they could tell, he had not left a will. The Public Trustee made arrangements for his burial and Fred’s obituary was published in the Edmonton Journal mid January, 2008.

Chuck and I were the only people who attended Fred’s funeral; the only other people in the room were the minister and two funeral home employees. Chuck an I had an opportunity to celebrate Fred’s life, from the little we know of him. It was a sobering thought for Chuck and me: how did we want our life to end? What did we want to leave behind when we die?

The biggest surprise was the $120,000 in bank accounts books hidden under his mattress, and if the Public Trustee can’t find any relatives, the money goes to the government. Every one in our office shook our heads over that, and how low we’d kept Fred’s rent over the years, but I don’t regret it; at least we were able to to provide a little kindness for a man who must have been very lonely.

Brent Davies, Property Manager

Saturdayis the LIFE Expo and starts with a panel of experts in property management. I am proud to be asked to be part of the property management panel .  The other 2 panels are Overcoming Obstacles and Raising Capital.

The cost for the Economic Summit is $199 unless you’re a REIN member. The LIFE weekend is usually $787, but if you click here you can get $200 off, and be able to bring additional guests for $387.

You can submit questions in the thread on myREINspace for the panels, and see more information and a lot of videos in this thread.

Several years ago, I observed a shift when advertising in the Edmonton Sun, a tabloid newspaper in Edmonton that caters to the “younger crowd” I was advertising lower end apartments in the paper, and was receiving calls the morning.  I was theorized that guys at the shop coffee room were reading the paper and calling the ads. Same at lunch time. Whenever I have visited a industrial plant, and look in the lunch room, there are several copies of the Edmonton sun, but no Journals. It could be the sunshine girl, and the guys just read the articles. More marketing questions.

Not enough data to make a statement, but enough to ask some very interesting questions.