What We Are Up To
January was a month of regrouping, planning and fun—family time, secured new investments, and we are working on some great personal goals! From an amazing flip renovation to an 8-unit infill, here’s what’s happening behind the scenes.
Edmonton
Flip Update: Everything upstairs and downstairs has been removed and we are recreating the space to flow better and be more functional for a family.
We’re transforming a basic layout into a stunning, functional home that works for modern living. We are adding a walk-in closet and ensuite to the main bedroom to elevate it, while the new kitchen layout maximizes space and we are so excited about the design. We are also taking a washer and dryer that were shoved into an unfinished corner of the basement and making an actual laundry room, complete with folding counter and cabinets, adding a bedroom and creating two perfect spaces for families to hang out together.
We are taking the time at this stage to plan the flow and layout of this home and the finishes and colours that will flow from the outside throughout the house. Setting this great foundation will make a great home even more beautiful.
Infill: Our infill project closed on time! Say what?! Does that ever happen lol. Yes, it did. The architect and engineer are working on the plans for the 8 units that will replace the small rundown bungalow on the property.
It’s hard to believe this little house will soon be home to 8 modern units! Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes updates as we bring this vision to life.
Offers:
We have submitted many offers over the last few weeks, and while we haven’t been successful, we are also not willing to overpay for properties. The numbers always come first. We continue to submit offers and know we will have more projects soon!
Curious about investing in Edmonton? Whether you want to be a passive investor or learn hands-on with us, let’s chat about how you can be part of future deals.
Investor Weekend
I was invited to spend a weekend in Victoria with a few women investors (and friends) at the home of May and Fraiser. We had a wonderful weekend of food, laughs, hikes to the beach, a spa day on a barge (so cool) and talking about investing and our plans. It was a great way to recharge and it is always valuable to hear what others are doing, problem solve together and plan for the future. One big takeaway? We all had stories to tell of partnering with the wrong people. It is so so so important to choose your partners wisely and ensure that your values align.
Snow
I know many of you have months of snow, however here in Vancouver we are lucky to get a few weeks of snow. Here we are enjoying our first snowfall ☺
What I'm listening to on Audible
Building a Second Brain
by Tiago Forte
Feeling overwhelmed with information? “Building a Second Brain” teaches you how to store and retrieve ideas effortlessly—so you can focus on growing your investments. I would say that this is another one of those books that will have a big impact on my life and Business, right up there with Who Not How and Buy Back Your Time. It was the recent book club read with Trust Your Talent, so you may have read it, if not, do it!
We are bombarded with so much coming at us all the time, that we can lose great ideas or piece of information in the volume of data. Where do you store an idea when you don’t need it right away, however don’t want to forget about it? How do you deal with the overwhelm of too many projects on the go? Tiago shows how to set up your “Second Brain” so that you can clear your brain to do the things it needs to do and be present with your family and friends.
Here are the 3 reasons I think you should read this book as a real estate investor:
Streamline Decision-Making – Organize market insights, deals, and strategies efficiently to make faster, data-driven decisions.
Leverage Knowledge for Growth – Capture and connect lessons from books, mentors, and past deals to improve future investments.
Stay Focused on High-Value Tasks – Reduce mental clutter by storing important information systematically, freeing you to focus on scaling your business.
I like the PARA system of 4 high-level folders he uses to organize the notes. I have started using this, and it is decreasing the digital clutter of folders on the computer that you aren’t working on right now however, may need later.
Useful App:
Evernote
The Second Brain System relies on some form of taking and storing notes. I evaluated and researched the top Note Taking apps such as Notabaility, One Note, Notion and Evernote. For my style of taking notes and how I wanted to work with my second brain, Evernote was the winner because it is straightforward to set up and has a great search function that can even search pdf’s and photos. If you are an Evernote user and have any tips or tricks, I’d love for you to share with me ☺
Useful Resource:
Rome2Rio
I travel a lot as I love to explore new places and see the world. Rome2Rio is a great travel companion and is a website and app I often use especially when I am in a new location. You enter the place you want to go and Rome2Rio will give you all the options to get there – by plane, bus, ferry, train, car or even walking.
I started using this on my first trip to Europe almost a decade ago. I could tell which trains would take us to where we wanted to go, the costs and times. I could tell if taking a bus was better, how long it would take us to walk to a train or bus stop or tourist attraction. We had a limited amount of days in London and I wanted to make the best use of our time so I used the Rome2Rio app and planned our whole trip before we left. I knew how much time it would take us to walk to a train, subway or bus station and how long it would take to transit to a location. This helped buying ticket times for the attractions and fit in as much as we could. As I also didn’t know the layout of London, this app also planned the best way to combine certain attractions on the same day. On another trip in Europe when there was a train strike, it helped us navigate the bus, ferry and taxi we needed to take instead to get from Paris to London.
This is definitely a handy app to have in your pocket.
If you have a useful resource, website, tip or app that I can share in a future newsletter, please send it along!
That’s it for this month! What’s one thing you’re working on in February? Hit reply—I’d love to hear from you!
We’d love to hear from you!
If making your money work harder for you by investing in real estate without all the hassles is something that interests you, or if you want to partner alongside us and learn as you participate, reach out to us at michele@correaequitypartners.com.
We can discuss your goals and see if we are a fit to work together and invest with purpose.
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