Inheritance.

by Benoit Jolin
(Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

My wife is very likely going to inherit a 12 place apartment building near the university of Edmonton.

Her grand father was a successful man who invested in many things. She wants nothing to do with it; and since we are expecting our fourth child in 4 weeks she is very busy.

She has no experience, and I have none either, at running a business. Is it even a business?

I have always wanted to invest in real estate. I have read dozens of real estate investment books. I like your book by the way. I read most of it on the computer as I could until my eyes hurt.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about running a business.

If you were in my situation what would you do? Who would be an expert on how to run such a business? If you know some good people/mentors in edmonton that would be cool.

Ben Jolin

Comments for Inheritance.

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Jan 05, 2010
 a response to Ben's question
by: Neil Uttamsingh

Ben,

I agree with Tom here.

Real Estate investing, especially at the scale of what you are looking at is definitely a business.

Take Tom's advice and get connected with a local mentor.

Another thing that you could do, if it tickles your fancy, is to sell a joint venture partnership in the building.

You can retain a portion of the ownership in the building and sell a portion of the ownership to someone local who will take care of all of the maintenance, filling vacancies, finding tenants, essentially all of the work.

I would only recommend this route if you have somewhat of an interest in real estate, and want to keep a portion of the ownership of the building

However, if you want nothing to do with it, if it is not a priority for you, and you have no interest in it, then like Tom said, you probably should sell.

Best Regards,
Neil Uttamsingh
www.firstrentalproperty.com
Jan 05, 2010
 An unexpected apartment building owner
by: Tom Karadza

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the question!

If she wants nothing to do with it then personally I would sell it.

This is definitely a business (your customers are your tenants, you'll have maintenance and expenses on the property and you have financial tasks to deal with - it's definitely a business). And if you're not engaged fully there's the opportunity to mess it up.

Now, if you you've always wanted to invest in real estate you've stumbled upon an interesting situation. Apartment buildings can produce cash flow when run well and will build up equity (or, as in your case, may have a lot of equity in it already).

You'll want a local mentor to guide you. We have commercial contacts who cover most of Canada. I'll email you directly and pass along their contact information - they may have some local contacts in Edmonton that would provide helpful.

Hope that helps a tiny bit!

Tom.

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