Your Way Into Real Estate

Flip Files: The Starter House Lean, clean, and quick is the name of the flipping game! In this episode, Natalie shares details about her latest flip house –a detached starter family home flipped in 3 days for a substantial profit! "What is the least amount of work for the least amount of money, and the shortest amount of time that I can invest in this place to get a higher return? How much of an e...

Flip Files: How Do You Decide What to Change in a Flip? How do you decide what to renovate? What to let go? Where to spend your money? In this episode, Natalie Mitchell walks us through the best tips & tricks about renovating a flip, both big and small! "Some of the best returns I had on flips I spent almost nothing on." A big misconception with flips is that adding high amounts of money adds the...

Property Management 101 In this episode, Natalie is joined by her personal assistant Lihi Edelman to flesh out what exactly professional property managers do. There's so much that goes on in their roles and each day brings new excitement and surprises! This past month, they've had 4 dishwasher leaks, 3 washing machines die within the same week, an exploding toilet, hallway bugs, and a water tank b...

Investing is Different for Everyone Everyone has a unique story of their entrance into Real Estate. In this episode, join Natalie as she interviews investor Tamara Gehring. Tamara shares her unique story of getting into the business of real estate investing and how she's diversified her housing portfolio. Instead of selling a home when it was time for a new one, Tamara has turned all previous home...

The Funnier Side of Real Estate Real Estate is always serious. Sometimes the best stories come out of closings and working with a diverse set of clients. Join Natalie and Amy Skinner in a casual conversation of hilarious, offbeat and weird things that happen in real estate closings. "Most of the time, real estate closings go really well. One of the ten, some sort of problem happens. Frankly, money...

Building Series: Preserved Wood Foundations Let's stop the stigma around Preserved Wood Foundations. In this episode, Natalie is joined by Verlin Koch, a structural engineer for 45 years who specializes in preserved wood basements. A popular foundation technique in Calgary, you have nothing to fear when you see one in a house. So, what are Preserved Wood Foundations? They're built of engineered wo...

Building Series: After the Big Move This episode is dedicated to the end of the seemingly long journey. You've purchased your home and now it's ready! You think it's as simple as getting your key and moving in, but there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes! Natalie speaks once more with Corey Mitchell, owner of Sticks and Stones Custom Homes, about the wrap-up after a client moves into the...

Building Series: What is a Condo? In case you didn't know, condos are awesome! In this episode, Natalie demystifies the wonderful world of condo buying and condo living. From bylaws to insurance and condo specialists, all this information will help equip you for your first condo purchase.   Condos are basically a group of people with a shared style of living. It can also be the cheapest way to ent...

Building Series: Draw Mortgages We've all heard about the traditional mortgage. But are you familiar with a better option if building a new construction? In this episode, Natalie and her guests discuss new construction and draw mortgages and how they differ from the everyday side of lending.   In a draw mortgage, the dates of funding are different. Standard mortgages start funding the date you tak...

Building Series: Interior Design In this episode, Natalie is joined by LeAnne Bunnell, an established Interior Designer in Calgary, Alberta. They discuss designing a home from the ground up, renovations, furnishings, and how to make your home unique to you! "Being a designer is like being a detective. You have to get into the psychology of the client and homeowner to figure out what they're really...

Always strive to be better and proud of your work! In this episode, Natalie speaks with Corey Mitchell, owner of Sticks and Stones Custom Homes again to discuss the difference between custom and semi-custom home builds.     Fully custom homes start from ground zero and are truly customized from the ground up. Every aspect of the build is considered and this process takes two to three years to comp...

Friend or Foe? The mortgage frenzy of 2021 In this episode, Natalie is joined again by mortgage expert Wendy Goodsir. They debate the current low-interest mortgage rates and what that means for   real estate purchases and refinancing, both short-term and long-term.   There are two kinds of interest rates: fixed and variable.). With the Pandemic and current economic situation, we've been experienci...

Building Series: So You want to be a home builder?   Enjoy the friendly banter as Natalie chats with her ex-husband about his transition into real estate investing! This week, Corey Mitchell of Sticks & Stones Custom Homes shares his journey from the stock market to owning his own home-building company. Building from scratch is not a well-known submarket of the real estate industry.   Corey's days...

In this episode, Natalie shares some sad but true realities of success in investing. "Friends for a reason, friends for a season, or friends for life?"   Some friends will start to resent you for being successful. What do you do? How do you manage these stressful happenings? Be brave and surround yourself with like-minded people that will support YOU. "Even with one rental your friends will change...

The Art of Tenant Selection Happy tenants make for happy landlords. And happy landlords don't have to work as hard because happy tenants never leave! In this episode, Natalie spills her secrets on successful tenant selection and how to efficiently navigate this important part of real estate investing. "Tenant selection is the absolute most important part of your journey as a landlord. It's the dif...

In real estate, time is not your friend. It's important to keep things moving in a market that can change so fast. In this episode, Natalie Mitchell shares her biggest secrets and the formula to her success in this business. Flipping is not easy, but it is totally worth it. "It doesn't matter what the market is doing around you. What matters is what happens when you buy and what happens when you s...

Accounting Hacks for Real Estate Investors   Accountants are our saviours in helping us keep more money in our pockets by helping us make smart decisions with our revenue properties around tax time. Daniel Hershcovis from 1917 Accountants joins us to chat about taxes. If you're interested in investing, you must also learn to get excited about accounting! Plan from the beginning on how you want to...

17 - Women in Business Running a real estate investing business is not that different from any other kind of business. All businesses have ups, downs, and selling cycles. On this episode, Rachel Jones of Method Fitness YYC Calgary joins us to talk about her experience becoming a woman in business. As a new business owner, she talks about learning the process organically by surrounding herself with...

The First Rental: Getting Your Hands Dirty In this episode, Natalie chats with Alisha, a first-time rental property owner and investor. Alisha shares thoughts on tackling renovations, exit strategies, and building your tribe through the process. "Any free time essentially that we had was spent learning about the process. And I'm glad we had that background before we went out and started looking at...

Flipping is not exactly what you see on TV. There is a lot they don't show you in those episodes and it looks so simple and straightforward, on screen. In this episode, Natalie Mitchell walks us through some flipping humdingers and discusses mistakes made, to better equip you on your flip projects. "I will not buy anything to flip that I would not want to move into myself or add to my rental portf...

Flipping: Love It or List It? With guest flipper Marci Natalie always says, "The key to a profitable flip is two ingredients: buy well and do NOT go over the budget."   In this episode, Marci joins Natalie to share stories from her flipping career, which spans 17 years and 27 flips in Calgary and Ottawa. "I love being my own boss in flipping. I'm in control of my own destiny. It's freedom and it's...

Flipping is about sweat equity. It's about knowing the market and doing what you can to maximize the value of the property, with the least amount of money in the shortest period of time. In this episode, we dive into the pros and cons of flipping. I share personal experiences and tell you how to get started. Flipping is about finding a formula that makes you money and TODAY is a great day to dive...

Preparation equals profit. In this episode, Natalie Mitchell breaks down the 22 steps in the buying process for a new home. Whether you're purchasing as a first-time homeowner, rental property, or house flipper, this information is crucial for your purchasing outcome. "It's really important to understand how much you can emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially afford." This episode digs...

"Diversifying Your Investments" with Natalie Mitchell and today's guest and Senior Wealth Advisor Brad Ginet walk us through planning the entrance, exit, and growth within a business. When you're starting a business, you need to plan your entrance and exit strategy. What are you going to do when you leave? As Benjamin Franklin famously says, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Sometimes our e...

"Lawyers in Real Estate" with Natalie Mitchell and today's guest Amy Skinner dives deep into the importance of a lawyer in property purchases. From land surveys to types of ownership, so many legalities fall into a piece of property. Things go wrong about 40% of the time, don't let that happen to you! The lawyer is the last stop in the transaction and is responsible for seeing everyone's work duri...