91: Real Estate Investing Secrets: A No-B.S. Guide, Mel Dupuis

Welcome to win the Women Investing Network, the podcast where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs, business leaders and real estate investors who are winning in business and life. Learning from others is the fastest way to grow your skills, gain knowledge and avoid pitfalls so you can win.

Welcome everybody to this segment of the Women Investing Network podcast. I'm excited today to meet somebody new and to be able to share her and wisdom with you. Mel Dupuis, She's a real estate investor, best selling author, speaker and mentor. And you own over 100 apartments including commercial spaces, homes and 1 and 23 bedroom apartments. Co author of Real Estate Investing Secrets, a no BS guide to Creating wealth and Freedom. Welcome Mel, thank you so much for sharing your brilliance with us today.

Well, thank you so much, Erin. Very, very excited to be speaking with you today.

What I love also is that, and I think this is so important for so many people out there is you actually build this business with your husband, so your couple investing in your future and creating those passive income streams. So tell us a little bit about how you got started, Mel. The little Mel and how you got into real estate.

Right, the little Mel. Well, I kind of started off on my own. So before I met Dave, I had two properties and I met Dave and he had the one. And.

We knew that we could be successful through real estate investing. We knew the value of investing in real estate. So we decided to grow our portfolio and we started doing so very, very slowly, using our own money. And we were working all the time. Dave was a full time firefighter, I was working at our college and we were trying to work extra jobs on top of that. And we kept running out of money. It was a very slow growth. And then we were actually in Florida on a vacation listening to Rich Dad, Poor dad and our minds just blew. We realized, wow, all this time we've been doing it wrong. We've been trying to put ourselves to work and working, working, working instead of putting our money to work for us. So that year we decided to completely change our mindset. And that's the year that we purchased 12 properties in 12 months using our own money, no joint venture partners. And now we actually we bought 119 units in 2020. So we're now over 200 apartments that Dave and I own.

Well, that's fantastic. So talk a little bit about these creative and successful strategies that you do use when you're not using your own money.

Yes. So we really wanted to grow our portfolio none of our own money. And it was important to us to kind of solely Own them as well. So we do a lot of seller, financ, or owner, financing, vendor, take back. All the same words just means different terms. It means the same thing where the seller holds part of the financing. So we've done a lot of that. We use a lot of private funds as well through promissory notes, which is essentially a contractual agreement. And we also use secured funds as well, such as RRSPs or in the states that would be known as 401ks, to help fund the deal as well. So it's kind of been a combination of all three, and sometimes we literally use all three on one deal as well.

So you have outside investors, but they're basically debt investors, is that what you're saying, since you own the property?

Exactly, yeah. So they, we make it a win win because they make interest essentially on the deal, but then we, we get to keep the cash flow, appreciation and equity as well.

That's brilliant. That's wonderful. And so people that are interested, tell us a little bit about how you decided to write your first book, Real Estate Investing Secrets.

Yeah. So this was quite a journey. So we used to be so secretive on how we used to buy properties. We didn't tell anyone. My mom, I remember my mom asking me, how did you buy 12 properties in 12 months? And I'm like, don't worry about it, mom. I have my ways. And we're very, very secretive. And we were on our way to a real estate Investing Conference in 2018 and we got in a horrific car crash on the highway. It was caused by a transport driver who hit our vehicle, who we end up rolling four times across the highway. We landed upside down and our vehicle was completely crushed. And it was a day that forever changed our lives for many, many reasons. I have three kids. Of course I was thinking about them and what if we didn't survive? Fortunately, we did. And it was also the day that we decided that we didn't leave enough of a legacy behind. We want to help other people. So that's how it all started was that weekend we still ended up after the crash, still going to the conferen. We decided to write a book and to help people just get that little boost to get them started into real estate investing.

And so for people out there that are looking at the market right now and seeing that there's a shortage in properties to buy prices, it's a seller's market, but interest rates are really low. You're still finding deals, so give them a little encouragement to keep looking at real estate investing.

Yes. And the reality is there are times where you're going to have a hard time finding deals. There's been much where Dave and I, we also did not buy any properties. And it is what it is. Sometimes that happens, but the next deal might just be around the corner. And I always say use numbers to your advantage. So that means look at lots of deals, find an investor focused agent and work with them, but also look at off market deals. If I'm looking at 20 deals a week and my neighbor is only looking at two deals a week, statistically, who's going to win? I'm going to win. And I want to win. I want you guys to win as well. So it's important to find lots of off listed deals as well.

So do you specialize in a certain size of apartment complex or do you look at all of them?

In 2020, we purchased the. We purchased our cottage using other people's money. We purchased a fourplex and we bought a 50 plex and kind of everything else in between as well. So we're very big on. It's not necessarily the number of units but how much cash flow or how much of a force appreciation that I can get at the end of the day.

And how did you learn to analyze the properties, Mel?

That came with time and a lot of number crunching. So it wasn't something that happened overnight. I used to spend a lot of time analyzing and analyzing deals and then over time we developed our cash flow matrix. That's what I use now all the time to analyze all my deals because it also has my exit strategy because that should be part of your formula. If you're going to use other people's money, you should know how you're going to pay back those people as well. So now it's.

Now I can get the exit rich strategy, right?

Yes. A new book, Exit Rich. So you're going to have to make sure to check those out.

Yeah. Well that's great. So when you're looking, obviously not every deal was a perfect deal. So share a little bit about your learning opportunities.

Well, when I started off, let's take my first unit. And you're right, mistakes happen. And it's always a choice. Do I quit or do I keep going? And actually my first rental property, I thought it was a genius and I thought it was very brilliant. So I purchased this property. Super excited. This was pre Dave. I purchased the property and I thought I would convert it into a granny suite downstairs. So kind of like make it a duplex almost. And I did that renovated completely downstairs because it was a gut job. So renovated it. There's a granny suite in the basement. Everything's going well. I'm making good money every month until one day I get a knock on the door and I find out that it's illegal. And I had no idea because I truly did not know. But it was illegal. It was not zoned properly because I didn't do my due diligence. So that was a big lesson learned. And make sure never to make that mistake again. To check with the city. Right. Make sure the zoning is proper. So I actually had to sell that property. I still end up making a little bit of profit, but it wasn't ideal. I did not want to sell that property. That's not why I got into it because I do like to buy and hold all my properties. But that was one mistake that I had to learn from and keep moving along.

So tell me, what's the future for you? What do you look forward to for the next few years in your real estate empire?

Yeah. So we want to continue to grow our portfolio. We love real estate. I was able to. So in 2017 is when we bought 12 and 12 months. I was able to quit my full time job and do real estate full time and spend more time with my kids and all that. Dave quit as well. And now we want to continue to grow portfolio. We also have a mentorship program. So I want to continue to help people across North America to do what we do right. Buy properties none of their own money, no joint venture partners, because it is doable, it is scalable. There's certainly nothing special about Dave or myself. It's just, you know, yes, we made mistakes and we just got through all these roadblocks.

And so you're. When someone's investing, I noticed on your website you said something about you have a guaranteed return for your investors, is that correct? Yeah.

So we predetermined an amount that they're going to be making. So X amount of interest rate and it's going to vary depending if it's a seller financing or if we're using a promissory note or Super. So it's going to depend on the charm and the amount and all that. So that rate will vary. But yes, it's predetermined. You're going to be making X amount and we predetermined with the person if it's paid up front or in the end or whatnot based on what they need as well. Like I have some lenders that lended money last Year, for example, they did not want to get paid last year for tax purposes. All right, well, let's make it a win win. So really finding out what your lenders want is really important as well.

So where is home for you and are all your properties geographically centralized or do you invest all over?

Yes, so great question. So home for us is in Ontario, Canada. We're in North Bay, Ontario, Canada currently. Yes, we're investing in the city. It's a great place to invest. The deals make a lot of sense. We cash flow from day one, even at 100% finance and all of that. But that being said, we are expanding. So we are looking. We really want to buy a place in Florida or places in Florida and expand in different areas as well. So we're building our team there as well.

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time today. And again, tell people how they can find you, Mel.

Yeah. So we are all over social media. Our handle is always investor Mel and Dave. So whether that's YouTube, we have a brand new YouTube channel. We're on TikTok, we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook. So investor Mel and Dave is how they can follow us and reach out to us.

I love that. And you have quite an Instagram following. You're going to go out there and promote my book. I appreciate that. Exitrichbook.com appreciate it.

I want everybody to understand that this is. Yeah. Give everybody that's listening a little word of encouragement. Mainly women looking to start investing in real estate or they already are looking to grow and expand. So what are your words of encouragement?

Yeah, and honestly, at one point I was a single mom living in a small two bedroom apartment, not knowing how I was going to change my life. I knew real estate was going to be the key, but I didn't know what I didn't know and how to do it and all that. And honestly, it's just believing in yourself that I can do this even if I don't know everything and just taking action and start making progress every day because it can absolutely be life changing.

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time. And you're adding your wisdom for people to understand that it's never too late to get started.

Absolutely.

The wealthiest people around the globe either hold make their wealth through real estate or hold their wealth in real estate. So again, learn, study, but get out there and start taking action because you can read a lot. A lot of people read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Since I originally released it in 1997, a lot of people read it. Very few people actually take action. And so I want to applaud you, Mel, for taking action and reading the book with your husband and literally putting it into practice in your life and creating financial independence for yourself. But also you've taken and turned that into creating financial independence for others through your mentorship program. So thank you. You're giving back and expanding the wisdom that you've achieved. So appreciate your time and I wish you the very, very best. I look forward to getting to staying in touch.

Yeah, let's keep in touch. Thanks so much, Erin. Really, really nice meeting you.

Well, nice to meet you as well. And thank you all for tuning into this episode of the Women Invested Network. And keep tuned because we're going to continue interviewing women in real estate and sharing their wisdom each and every month. Take care.

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