The Equity Builders Club Podcast

Many landlords think they're being nice by avoiding difficult conversations. They don't raise rents, they let late payments slide, they ignore lease violations, and they hope problems will resolve themselves. Unfortunately, that's usually the fastest way to create bigger problems, for themselves and for their tenants. In this episode, I explain the difference between being nice and being kind, why...

"I'll deal with it later." The problem is that "later" is often where the biggest financial losses happen. In this episode, Terrie Schauer explains why procrastination, not bad markets, interest rates, or difficult tenants, is often the most expensive mistake investors make. Through real-world examples from property management and multifamily investing, she shows how small delays quietly turn into...

Most investors think they have a deal problem. In reality, deals are rarely the thing holding them back. In this episode, I break down the five biggest bottlenecks that keep investors stuck between 1 and 10 units: financing, deal flow, capital, operations, and confidence. The key is identifying which bottleneck is actually limiting your growth right now. Once you know that, scaling becomes much si...

The real estate industry is full of advice that gets repeated so often people stop questioning it. "Never sell." "Cash flow is king." "Buy and hold forever." "You need 20% down." "Quit your job and become a full-time investor." The problem is that many of these ideas contain a grain of truth—but applied blindly, they can hold investors back for years. In this episode, I'm breaking down five pieces...

What would you do if you lost everything and had to start over? It's a question most investors never ask themselves, but it's one of the fastest ways to identify what actually matters and what doesn't. Also, when I contemplate taking big risks, knowing what I would do if a catastrophic failure wiped me out is actually a great way to be less afraid of taking bigger steps. In this episode, I walk th...

We've all heard the advice: "Just take action." But what if procrastination isn't the problem? In this episode, Terrie Schauer challenges the idea that investors are simply lazy, unmotivated, or suffering from analysis paralysis. More often than not, procrastination is a signal. It points to uncertainty, lack of knowledge, fear of making a costly mistake, or the fact that you're trying to do somet...

Most landlords and business owners think success comes from being good at solving problems. But the truth is, the people who scale the fastest usually become obsessed with avoiding problems before they explode. In this episode, Terrie breaks down why early intervention, communication, systems, and organization are some of the highest ROI skills in real estate investing. From tenant disputes that s...

Quitting your job to become a full-time real estate investor sounds like the dream. But for most people, making that move too early is one of the biggest financial mistakes they’ll ever make. In this episode, we break down what actually needs to be in place before you walk away from your paycheck. From understanding your real burn rate to how financing changes once you lose your employment income,...

Life insurance is one of the least exciting topics in business… until something goes wrong. In this episode, we sit down with two insurance experts to talk about what really happens when a real estate investor, entrepreneur, or business partner dies unexpectedly. What happens to the buildings? The debt? The mortgages? The business? The spouse who has no idea where anything is? We break down the re...

Montreal's July 1st is unlike anything else in North America. In Quebec, thousands of leases end at the same time—and as a landlord, you’re expected to turn over units, manage logistics, and get new tenants in… often within 24 hours. In this episode, we break down how July 1st actually works on the ground: When tenants really leave (and what the law vs reality looks like) How transitions happen wi...

Most real estate investors don’t stall because they lack knowledge, they stall because they hesitate at the wrong moments. In this episode, we break down the 3 biggest mistakes that stop investors from growing their portfolios: waiting for the perfect deal, trying to eliminate all risk, and attempting to time the market. These habits feel smart, but they quietly keep you stuck for years. If you’re...

A lot of Canadian investors eventually learn the truth about multifamily financing: yes, apartment buildings can qualify based on their own income. But then they run into the next wall. The down payment. In markets like Montreal, it is not unusual to need $300,000 or more just to get into a decent multifamily deal. Even in smaller markets, investors may still need $150,000 to $200,000. That is whe...

Most Canadian real estate investors never scale past a condo, duplex, or triplex because eventually they hit a financing wall. In Canada, residential properties are usually qualified based on your personal income and debt ratios. Even if your portfolio cash flows, the bank may stop lending because you no longer qualify personally. That is where multifamily financing becomes essential. In this epis...

Pets are becoming one of the biggest pressure points between landlords and tenants in Quebec. In this episode, we break down the recent TAL rulings and legal changes around pets in rental properties. Can landlords still enforce no-pet clauses? Can you refuse a tenant because they have a dog? What happens if a tenant gets an emotional support animal? And what rights do landlords still have when pet...

Most people think financial freedom comes from motivation, hustle, or luck. But in reality, success in real estate investing is much more predictable than that. In this episode, I break down the same system I’ve used to scale my own portfolio and that we now teach inside Equity Builders Club. The idea for this framework actually came from my years competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It took me ten y...

How long is it really going to take you to buy your next property? A year? Six months? Thirty days? Most investors assume those timelines are fixed. But in reality, deals don’t take that long because they have to—they take that long because that’s the time we give them. In this episode, I’m sharing a concept that’s been stuck in my head since the Income Builders Conference in Nashville: tasks expa...

How Much Is Enough? Designing Your Financial Freedom Number “Financial freedom” sounds inspiring but most investors have no idea what their number actually is. In this episode, we break down how to calculate your financial freedom number using real math, not motivation. If you’re building passive income through real estate and want to define your target clearly, this episode will help you move fro...

Scaling a rental portfolio from 1 to 20 units isn’t about finding more deals. It’s about evolving as an investor. In this episode, I break down the three phases of scaling real estate, from your first few units to managing a small multifamily portfolio, and why most small landlords stall in the middle. If you’re trying to scale your rental portfolio, this episode will help you understand what chan...

If you’re analyzing a 6 plex in Canada and opening Excel before you’ve made a basic decision, you’re wasting time. In this episode, I walk through how to analyze a 6-plex in 10 minutes or less — the exact mental framework I use when evaluating small multifamily deals in Montreal. This is practical rental property underwriting without fluff, theory, or complicated spreadsheets. We cover: – The gate...

Most small landlords don’t fail because they can’t calculate cap rates. They fail because they underestimate risk. In this episode, we break down real estate risk management for small investors and the landlord mistakes that quietly erode returns over time. From bad debt and tenant risk to regulatory crackdowns, non-conforming properties, and personal burnout, the biggest threats to your rental po...

Lease transfers — known in Quebec as cession de bail — are one of the most misunderstood parts of Quebec rental law, especially for small duplex, triplex, and plex owners in Montreal. Can a landlord refuse a lease transfer? What qualifies as a “serious reason” under Quebec law? Are you allowed to increase the rent? And what happens if you refuse for the wrong reason? In this episode, Terrie breaks...

Paying off your mortgage early is often framed as the ultimate financial win, peace of mind, freedom, and “no debt.” But from an investment and wealth-building perspective, it’s usually a bad decision . In this episode, we break the discussion into two parts. First, we explain why aggressively paying down mortgages on investment properties destroys returns. Interest is a business expense. Real est...

Vacancy rates are trending up across Canada and Québec is no exception. In today's show, we break down what the data is actually showing, what we’re seeing firsthand inside our investor group, and how Montréal and Québec landlords should be thinking about risk over the next few months. This isn’t a sky-is-falling episode, it’s a reality check and a pep talk for when the market fundamentals shift....

Episode Description Everyone wants to automate, delegate, and scale, but most people try to skip the part where they actually understand the work. In this episode, I talk about digital wisdom : why automation without understanding creates risk, not freedom, and how small business owners and real estate investors end up building fragile systems they can’t supervise, fix, or trust. We cover: Why you...

Listen Before You List: A Step-by-Step Checklist for Selling a Rental Property Selling a rental property isn’t just about putting a sign on the lawn — it’s a legal, financial, and strategic process that can cost you real money if you get it wrong. In this episode, we walk through a practical, step-by-step checklist for selling a rental or multi-unit property, starting after you’ve already decided...