In this interview, John Mark shares how and why his mindset evolved beyond Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad strategies. As John learned more about property investing, and how to crunch the numbers to check a deal’s worth, he found that there are certain risks that the Rich Dad Poor Dad mindset did not totally cater for.
In this video interview, John Mark also shares several of his first property strategies:
- Buy and sell strategy
- First property strategy
- Live in first property strategy
- No debt strategy
For those with bad connections, we’ve written up the interview in note form below the video. When you have time and a stronger internet connection, we do recommend you listen to John Mark Wilderspin.
First property tactics
After starting with a Rich Dad, Poor Dad mentality, John focused on spending his cash on assets and bought a triplex (three flats) with his friend in an up and coming area. His strategy with this was to buy-and-hold and sell once the market increased.
However, he realised that he couldn’t live with his family forever. So his next step was buying a multi-family property. This enabled John to, essentially, live for free as his tenants paid the bills. In his home of Manitoba, if you actually live in the building then rent control legislation doesn’t apply. On top of this, because John was living there he only needed to put down a 10 per cent deposit on the property, whereas an investor would have to put down 20 per cent.
If you do this strategy, it may be for the best if you don’t tell your tenants that you’re the owner. Just tell them that you’re the caretaker and manager of the property. This will give you the authority you need to manage the property, without having to go through all the weird personal stuff that tenants have with the property’s owner.
When you’ve saved enough capital, invest in another property and you move into your new place. Rinse and repeat. If you are going down the route of multi-family housing, look for properties that have separate utility bills as it makes the bill paying process far less complex. Similarly, the tenant then is responsible for their consumption and will be more mindful of the utilities they use.
Anti-debt (anti-rich dad) property strategy
John’s second mindset shift was after reading about David Ramsey’s Baby Steps. David Ramsey is anti-debt, which John felt is a slower but less risky way of acquiring property compared to the rich dad poor dad philosophy taught by many. A lot of property investors will leverage their existing properties to buy more, however if you run out of steam and fall behind on payments your asset base will fall like dominoes.
You also need to look at where the curve of the market is i.e. how soon until house prices are going to fall. John recommends looking at the cap rate of a property, and net operating income. You also need to do a cash-on-cash analysis, which is how much cash you put into a deal, and how much positive cash flow you’ll get out of the deal.
Huge thanks to John for chatting with us and sharing his story. If you found John’ story useful, do Like the video and subscribe to the channel for more property and financial insights and strategy. And if you’re feeling super generous do write us a comment and share the article with your friends to help them become motivated and inspired too.
In the meantime, if you enjoy reading about people’s property success stories check out the following articles:
- Daniel Wood: Property millionaire in one year – part one
- How to turn £6250 into £1.5 million – one man’s incredible property journey
- Lessons from my first property lessons
- After a heated property conversation, you’ll never guess what happened next
Or if you are interested in the lessons from other successful people who attended the JT Foxx family reunion event check out the following articles:-
- Cerebral Palsy, Paralysed, Blind and successful
- Bleeding is part of success – Paul Kanofski
- Why your best intentions fail and how to fix it – Chris Okazaki
Finally, if you are starting on your own financial freedom journey, you may also find the following articles from our library helpful in spring-boarding you into a new chapter of your life’s dream.
- Understanding the gift of betrayal
- Stories illustrating the gifts from betrayal
- How to eliminate betrayal with PANDAS
- Why being busy is a waste of time
- Five essential habits to reach impossible dreams
