Episode 90: How to Practice Mindfulness in Real Estate with Terrie Schauer

Acquania Escarne 0:00

Hey guys, in this episode we're gonna talk about mindfulness and what the heck it has to do with investing with Terrie Schauer, the Mindful Landlord.

You are listening to the purpose of money podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life today. I am your host, Acquania Escarne.

Hey guys, welcome back to The Purpose of Money podcast today I'm super excited. We are joined by Terry who is a real estate investor with over 20 years of experience. She's also the CEO and founder of My Room, Gestion, a property management and real estate Consulting Group based in Montreal, Canada. She's the leading authority on applying mindfulness principles to real estate investing, and has written the number one best seller book on the topic, Mindful Landlord. So today, let's hop into this conversation about what the heck does mindfulness have to do with real estate investing?

Hey, Terry, welcome to The Purpose of Money Podcast, how are you doing today?

Terrie Schauer 1:13

I'm great. Thanks for having me on the show.

Acquania Escarne 1:15

Of course, this was definitely a very interesting topic for me, because I do talk about mindset when it comes to building wealth and the importance of having the right mindset when you want to create a legacy. But I never actually related mindfulness to being a landlord. Because I don't know when I think about being a landlord, I think about tenants and toilets. And I have definitely moved from that to more passive real estate investing. But I want to know, what is your take on it? What does mindful? What is mindfulness? And then what the heck does it have to do with real estate investing?

Terrie Schauer 1:53

Sure. So mindfulness is basically like a mental training system. And it comes through Buddhism, which is kind of the root of it. And so like, you can train it, you know, using meditation. But there are other ways as well to kind of get into the, into that room of mental mental training. And so basically, like, I actually have a background in combat sports, I used to kickbox, semi professionally, and I now compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and in the world of martial arts, mental training is kind of a big thing and there's this whole, also school of thought of like warrior literature, which applies the mental training of the Samurai, to anything that you're doing.

And so I became familiar through those ideas, through my sport on the one hand, and because I had panic attacks at one time in my life, and to, yeah, to get over that, I really needed to train my mind, to get good at the list of things that's associated with mindfulness. And because those tools were so powerful, and at the same time, I was building, you know, a real estate business I, the management company, and my investments. On the other hand, I realized how amazing those tools were, for succeeding at anything and because I was trying to succeed at you know, sport, and I was trying to succeed at real estate investing, those ideas just kind of came in. And I began to see how powerful they could be as tools to, you know, really succeed at anything, and then looking around at like the other investors around me or the people who are trying to get started and being like, wow, if you just optimized your mind, you would be in such a better position to take on any challenge. And it's really like a crime that in real estate coaching, people don't teach those ideas, because there's so much, you know, juice in that orange that you can squeeze of just having your mind working for you and not against you.

Acquania Escarne 3:42

That's a good point. And I think that the mind is so powerful, what we think is half of the ability of what we can do, right? There's definitely a lot of famous quotes. Theodore Roosevelt even once said, If you believe you can do it, it's true, right? Like, it's important to believe that it's possible to think positively about something and you're more likely to not only approach it with enthusiasm, but also more likely to be successful. Because you're halfway there, right? You have that energy and passion to be successful. So what are some of those specific tools that people should be using in this process?

Terrie Schauer 4:22

Okay, so I guess the first thing is really just an understanding of how the mind works. So you know, you mentioned thinking and like having positive thoughts, it's that there are actually like, different layers to consciousness. And so one layer on I would like to say it's kind of the top layer is the thinking mind and so that's that there's like this voice in your head that's constantly generating thoughts. And that's like one particular level, the one that we have the easiest access to because you always have to listen to the voice under the voice our emotions, which like I think of it as kind of like a weather system, right? Like you can be having all kinds of thoughts but like, if If there's a rain cloud that comes in, or a sunny cloud that comes in, you have this like, specific kind of light that shone on to the thoughts. And like there's a relationship between the thoughts that you have, and the weather system. But it's a loose relationship, because you can be thinking about cooking dinner, but still be in a sad mood, or you can be happy and still thinking about, you know, a conflict that you had or something.

So there's, there's been those layers. And then underneath that, there's this thing that in mindfulness training gets called up Pure Presence, or like, we call it the Watcher. And so at any time, there is this just phenomenon of consciousness that exists within me. So at any point, I can kind of tune into any of those three levels. And the point is that it's not, you know, depending on what's going on, it's going to make more sense for me to tune into one of those levels than another. And, you know, I'll give you an example first from, you know, my life is an athlete, and then we can turn it into real estate, but like, when you're about to get into the ring to have like a boxing match, right? Like you, it's a very scary moment, because you know, that like chance, you know, it's possible, one of us is going to walk out of the ring, and the other one's going to be knocked out. So like, it's pretty scary. And if you are with your thoughts at that time, you will not be in an optimal state to deal with that challenge. And so if you can learn to identify with the Watcher at that time, you're just going to be more effective, and you're going to be able to manage your level of arousal. And like level of arousal is the degree to which you're, you know, you're spinning out, or you're feeling anxious, or whatever it is. And so, like training your mind to be able to tune into each of those levels, gives you a certain amount of control of what state you then bring to things. And yeah.

Acquania Escarne 6:41

Okay, so let's kind of break that down a bit. So in the analogy that you gave us with the example you gave us, I'm about to go into the ring, so I need laser focus, not on oh my god, I might get knocked out, oh, I might not make it through this match. This person is stronger than me, whatever the negative thoughts could be, you want to be so laser focused on what's happening around you like maybe observing your environment and, and just focusing on? Is it focusing on the outcome that you want? Or is it just focusing on being in that moment on you like focusing on what you're capable of doing and what you're about to do? And not allowing negative thoughts to come in? Is that so?

Terrie Schauer 7:26

So you're still you are talking at the level of thoughts

Acquania Escarne 7:30

Okay.

Terrie Schauer 7:31

And it's not so much about what my thinking mind is doing. Because my thinking mind is always talking. Like, it can be talking positive things, it can be talking negative things, there's always a soundtrack, it's more learning to identify with the, like, you said that, you know, the aspect of presence or like being in the moment, and, you know, that means tuning into your surroundings. It means focusing more on like, what is the data coming in, as opposed to what is the data inside my head, you know, and I think that, like, how that then turns into, you know, real estate investing, is that there are moments in, you know, a landlord's life, or an investor's life where you have to make decisions under pressure. And things can get a bit hairy, especially when you're dealing with tenants. And, you know, tempers run high, or you have insurance claims. And in those stressful situations, it's very important to not allow either the emotion which is like, you know, an anger or a stress reaction to come out. And it's important also to not be like in the jabbering thoughts. Because I think it's also like, you know, when people, you know, they say, analysis paralysis, right?

Like, one of the places where a lot of people get in their way, at least in the beginning, is that they talk themselves out of doing something, because they're just analyzing, analyzing, analyzing,

Acquania Escarne 8:41

Oh, I get that

Terrie Schauer 8:43

Too much.

Acquania Escarne 8:43

Yeah, I get that.

Terrie Schauer 8:45

like, yeah, being too much in your thoughts, you know, you're at the at the level of the thinking mind. And it's that the thinking mind is like a calculator. Like, sometimes when you're making a business decision, or when you're doing something, you need to pull out the calculator, and you need to analyze the data. And then there's a time to put the calculator away, and to go out and act. And when it's time to act, it's not the thoughts that are serving you. It's the presence that will react in the most appropriate way. And you kind of have to trust like, go back to the analogy of boxing, but like, I think it's the same in anything that you train yourself for, you have to trust that like your body knows what to do. And if you've trained for years in a sport, if I put you in a situation, your body will react in the appropriate way. And I think as an investor, like, if you can take some of the noise out, and you know, you use the calculator, when it's time to use your cruncher then you have to trust that you're going to act in the appropriate way if you've done the the preparation.

Acquania Escarne 9:39

I completely agree with that. Because I do feel like you can learn skills and you can repeat them. You can create discipline around those skill sets. And the body and the brain, like you said when put in a position to utilize those skills is going to go into action mode instead of stall because you've trained for it. Like literally, so in your boxing example, you are training for the fight. But the same information that you might learn in somebody's real estate investing course, from your real estate investing coach, you're learning all this information. But at some point, you have to take action. And I know a lot of people, I call them Forever Students, not in a way, like we should always be learning because I do think you should always be learning. But when I use the term forever students, I'm talking about the people who buy course, after course, after course, but never buy the property. And I'm like, okay, so how much money have you put into courses that you could have put into a property, I think it's time to act.

So I love that, you know, you're really focusing on the mindfulness to the process, but then applying it to the situation of real estate. That's really unique perspective. But I think it's so valuable, because a lot of us are not using that. And so when we do get the insurance claim, the tenant who we have to evict, you get all stressed and overwhelmed, you do nothing, but doing nothing costs you money, right. And my dad always told me, like, because I've had tenants before, not pay the rent. And he said, You have to be strong enough to evict your own mother.

If somebody's not paying the rent, it's costing you money, somebody's gonna have to pay the mortgage, or the utilities. And the longer you let someone stay in a property rent free, the longer it's going to cost you in the long run. And that's not why you got into real estate investing. So I definitely agree with you on that. So how did you personally build your own real estate portfolio? And what is it that you focus on as your primary niche because you know, I do passive, so I do commercial real estate, for example. But a lot of other people like to do rentals or short term rentals, what's your favorite thing?

Terrie Schauer 12:01

So let's, I'll tell you what my favorite thing is today. But I'll start at the beginning of the story, which is how I started, okay, I think this is relevant. Because, you know, in today's environment, house prices are going up, I know, in like my market in Canada, it's become very expensive. And it's very difficult for people, you know, in the 25, to 30 year old age bracket, who are trying to get started, I bought my first property when I was 26. So you know, people who are trying to get started at that phase, a phase face, like really a lot of challenges, like maybe their network doesn't have a lot of money, they don't have a lot of support, they don't have a lot of borrowing power. And it's difficult to get, you know, the banks on side, and maybe they don't have the capital.

So all so I'll tell them, you know, my first business model, and then I'll move to today. So I really started in like student rentals. So when I moved out of my parents house, and I went away to university in Toronto, and from Montreal, I ended up living in this like, Student Co Op house that had no management. And like, the day after I moved in there, my housemates voted me property manager, because the house was a disaster, and like somebody needed to do something and something about my character, I was 19 years old, like, you know, marked me out as the person who should take that on. But so basically, what happened is, through that experience, I learned how to, like manage a student residence. And then fast forward five years, I, you know, wants to talk to my dad and ask for downpayment money. And I went and bought a property in like, basically the worst part of Montreal at that time. So Montreal is not, you know, it's not an American city where people have guns. And you know, there's not a lot of like, you know, crime out in the open, but it's really was not a nice place, like a not a very up, up and coming neighborhood at that point. And I actually went to live in the property, and then started renting out the rooms to other students who, because they came from out of town didn't realize what a bad area it was.

But in my defense, I really created like, kind of a community around that, which meant that foreign students who like came basically not knowing anybody to live in Montreal and go to school, had this group of 10-15 friends who lived in the house, and that that ended up you know, creating like a home away from home for them. And then, that worked so well that I owned a second year later, I bought a second property by refinancing the first one because I had a way to up the rents. And then I ran out of borrowing capacity at that time, because I didn't understand commercial lending. I was 26 years old, like what did I know? But I did understand that I had a good way for other landlords to make money. And so I basically like went around the community and spoke to other landlords who were having trouble renting their units and said, Look, I have this great upsell, give me a property management contract and I will take care of your building and I will get you twice as much money as the units turnover. And that's what I did. And then at one point I was running, you know, like 50 units that way Oh, yeah, no, it was real. Well, 50 rooms? Not not the 50 unit. No,

Acquania Escarne 15:03

but 50 people were paying you.

Terrie Schauer 15:07

Yeah, yeah. And so that was like really a creative way at that time to use the levers of real estate without necessarily being an investor that had a whole lot of I was a student, I had no, you know, I couldn't get a mortgage myself, I had to have my dad co signed the mortgage, I had that possibility.

But had I done this, without even ever closing on a building, I would have been able to set up a property management practice just based on the the business model, and serve my client landlords until eventually, maybe somebody would have partnered with me. And that's what ended up happening. Like as landlords liked what I was doing, and they looked at, it meant buying other things, then I had no access to joint venture opportunities. And it was like, Okay, well, Terry, really, I did my broker's license, like, okay, Terry really knows the neighborhood, and she's making money with this property, let me do the same thing and then I'm going to let her manage it. Right. Because that then became the other thing is that we would close on a property and I would take over the management of it and be like, I can get you this much rent. You know, let me sell you is like a turnkey thing. So like, let me sell you the building, and then I'm going to manage it and double the rents for you.

Acquania Escarne 16:10

Okay, I love that. Absolutely love that. But I want to kind of go back to what was the conversation like with your dad, when you said, Look, Dad, I want to buy a property, but I need you to cosign was he like, no, maybe? I don't know. It was like, Yeah, I've seen your work ethic. Let's do it.

Terrie Schauer 16:30

So I think my dad was like, he was on board with a business opportunity. My dad's actually in business, he has like a manufacturing company. So like, he was looking, you know, both my brother and I ended up being entrepreneurs. So like, he was looking to support the entrepreneurial spirit, but he was like, really not behind the neighborhood. And he was like, not really behind, like investing in rental property, because like, this was 20 years ago. And like, at that time, you know, rental property was a thing that like, older men with pickups did, and then you had to like go and deal with smashed toilets. And he's like, Okay, I'm gonna take you like to the Ford dealership, and we're gonna go like, look at a beat up pickup truck. Because like, you're gonna be replacing smashed toilets, you know, and, and don't call me.

But I was like, so convinced and like, you know, I'm a bit I'm a bit hard headed. So like, I was so convinced that I'm, like, looked at, I've been managing these other properties for five years. Now. I know, I can do it. And trust me, you know, I guess is also good that like Montreal, like, our ghettos are not like super dangerous. So he's like, Look, if you want to go and like live in a part of town that has a lot of like, welfare, a lot of like, social problems. It's been my guest, but like, you know, he wasn't worried about me getting shot. So.

Acquania Escarne 17:39

Okay, so he definitely saw the vision. And as your dad was, like, I'm gonna support you. But you did you have a plan B, if that didn't work out?

Terrie Schauer 17:50

No, I was, I mean, at that point, I was still studying. So like, I did a, you know, I had a, I was doing a PhD. And so like, at that point, that go ahead, and I was getting paid for, for teaching, because that's one of the ways that you can pay your way through school. So I had, you know, my living expenses taken care of by like, my job at that point, my job was, was being a graduate student, but for the property, like, you know, I swore to myself that I would not go knocking on mum and dad store for money ever to run the property.

So like, that was like, translated into a lot of sleepless nights. Because at the beginning, like, you know, I furnished the unit. So I did that, like spending, you know, my scholarship money for what was supposed to last me for the rest of the semester. And I'm like, Okay, now am I going to, you know, find people to rent it. And then things were empty for three weeks, and then the next mortgage payment is coming, how am I going to make the mortgage payment, and so like, it was very stressful. Like, I remember that, you know, first two years of being a landlord, like I, you know, had some sleepless nights. But it was really just by, you know, trusting, I guess, that, like, when I was in the situation, I would find the solutions. And, you know, we're talking about another you asked me like some other, you know, mindfulness tips, like I think part of it is, like I said, understanding how the mind works.

But like, another thing is having a real intimate relationship with fear. And, you know, one of those things of like, you know, the perpetual students, like, one of the things is that they're not able, or we're not able to sometimes get out of our own way on stuff. And it's because the fear voice is so loud. And so if you really understand and like, you know, for me when I had my phase of panic attacks, like, if you want to deal with that it's debilitating. Like, there was three months when I couldn't leave the house like I was so, you know, a slave to my own the fear in my own mind that once you intimately understand like, Okay, what's the fight or flight response? How do I defuse it? How do I work with fear? Once you understand that you're like, Okay, well, yeah, I'm gonna get into some tight spots, but like, I don't need to add fear on top of that as as something that's going to stop me. So

Acquania Escarne 19:46

Yeah, no, absolutely. And those are some really good tips, especially when people allow their fear to kind of take over but I have a saying that I really believe in which is you have to have faith over fear and it has to be stronger than your fear. Because I do think it's healthy to have a little bit of anxiety about doing something new, or something you've never done. I think that's a natural emotion that we're supposed to feel. But it doesn't have to be so strong that it stops you from doing what you're supposed to do, or completely sends you in another direction, right? That's where we have to kick in and say, Look, I've trained for this, or I'm prepared for this. Like you said, I've been managing properties for five years. It's my time to own right. So what is your business model? Now? Are you still? Do you still have that first property? Did you sell it? You know, the market has definitely changed in 20 years. So I'm curious to know, what are you doing now?

Terrie Schauer 20:45

So actually, it's funny, you ask that question. So I still do have that first property, it's on the market, it's time to sell it, I hope I hang on to it, like to the point where now it's not really, you know, doing what it needs to be doing as part of my portfolio. But I would say about 10 years ago, things, things changed. And I think, you know, I'm not gonna, you know, project that out into the into the US market as well. But I think that there's just been a generalized change in terms of the degree to which real estate investing is on people's horizon as a way to make money. And, you know, rents have appreciated incredibly, and this is true, like, across like all of North America. And so basically, what happened is, I had this great business model to go like up sell my units at a particular point. And what happened is that the rental market caught up to what I was doing. And at one point, like, you know, I looked at the amount of money that I could make just for a straight up vacant unit in a classic rental, and I looked at the amount of money I was making, you know, bending over and weird contortions to, like, serve my student population, I was like, the rents are the same.

So why would I keep running this business model, when, like, that gap has been closed, there's not this arbitrage anymore for me to do with that particular kind of rental. So I'm just gonna, plus I also, you know, I hit 35. And it was like, I've had enough of these like parties and craziness. And like, I don't want to live amongst the students anymore, you know. And so now, I just have a very, I would say, classic, you know, type of management strategy of, you know, vacant units, long term rentals. And I'm also in the kind of, like, low income space. So most of you know, that was like, not a great area at the time when I bought in the area now appreciate it. So I liquidated most of my assets there. And I've moved the portfolio into more up and coming areas.

So in Montreal, and also in like, a secondary market about two hours outside. And so that's kind of, you know, I am a long term investor, I'm not trying to like make a quick, you know, renovate, renovation, renovation kind of a thing, I just pick poorly managed properties, do the money, the management in a professional way. And with that, I'm able to add value, just because the property is like, you know, I don't tolerate late payments, I don't tolerate like a lot of other issues. And so like, cleaning up the building without evicting people, you know, like, what? Well, I mean, there are, there are obviously evictions that people don't pay. But it's not a strategy of like, you know, emptying a building of the tenants that have been there for 20 years. Like, that's not how I how I run my business.

Acquania Escarne 23:15

Yeah, and I can respect that when I first got into real estate investing, one of my goals was to provide safe and affordable housing, right. And so if someone loves where they live, I'd actually wrote the goal. Like, if they love the place enough, and they want to buy it, I'll sell them, I'll sell it to them, right, if the numbers and everything makes sense. So I totally understand that. And especially when someone doesn't want to buy not everybody wants to own where they live, some people love the convenience that may come with their apartment, or the location or just the ability to have a fixed rent that they can pay and not have to deal with some of the repairs and other things that come with home ownership. So the next question I have for you is like of the properties you have, what's the largest number of units?

Terrie Schauer 24:04

So I now invest in the like, let's say, 6 to 12 unit space. So it's like small multifamily. And I would kind of, you know, just add a little bit to what you said, you know, like for my tenants, it's actually not realistic for most of them to purchase the place that they live, they're living in, you know, low end apartments, they're not credit worthy, they don't have downpayment money and in Montreal, like you have to think it's we're a bit like New York, like New York, even beyond New York in terms of rent control.

So like, the pattern is you'll have these, you know, retirees basically working class retirees who are, you know, pushing 70 And they're paying $600 for a unit that would be worthwhile 1,200 today because of rent control. And so you'll like purchase a building like that with these like incredibly low rents and then okay, now, what are we going to do to make it profitable, but at the same time, like, leave some of those long term residents alone, right like there there are are obviously like always kind of a troublemakers. And that ends up being where I generate turnover. But like, you know, those kinds of stable, like somebody's grandparents like I don't, you know, I respect the rent control on those people and go increase by the amount that we're supposed to increase by the government and the property has to carry that.

Acquania Escarne 25:17

So I totally respect that. I think that's a good business model. So keep it up and continue to grow. What do you see in the next year happening for your company? My Room Gestion?

Terrie Schauer 25:30

Yeah. So I mean, we're in Canada, I don't know how much of our news you get, but we basically didn't have the 2008 correction. So and we're going to go through it now, like the Bank of Canada has is cranking interest rates as aggressively as the Fed. But the difference is that our I think Canadian households are indebted to like 170 times salary.

So like, we really were on the top two most indebted countries and its real estate debt. So we're looking at like, a big, you know, 20 - 25% market correction on the on the down. And it's we're in a moment when it's, it's difficult to get credit, there's like, not a lot of capital kicking around. And so, you know, in a sense, my business model is a bit recession proof, because I think if you're in low income, like you're going to find tenants and you know, non payment, if somebody doesn't pay, sadly, there's such a demand for those units that like, I'm going to just be able to turn around and rent it for, you know, the same or more money.

But in terms of, you know, growing the investment portfolio, I think, stabilizing for my clients who are maybe a little bit tighter on their, on their mortgages, I'm capitalized on most of my projects, so I'm alright, and then seeing if it's possible to grow in that situation where there are these, this kind of a crunch situation, you know, it's also an opportunity to work on operations. Because when the market is a bit slower, you know, you have a chance to sit down and be like, Okay, this met these messes, like, let me clean up the back store, if there was something that we weren't, didn't have time to deal with, when things were crazy, like now we have time to really get the the back of the ship into alignment,

Acquania Escarne 27:04

I like that. And that sets you up for better opportunities in the future. And I found as a real estate investor, that the recessions are the times when the market slows down is actually where you still will find some really good deals, right? Because there will always be that person who over leveraged themselves.

For example, the first hotel I invested in, the owner had like eight hotels and COVID happen, and that he just couldn't maintain all of the mortgages and so when he fell behind on a Hilton, we were like, here, we are waiting, we'll we'll take that off your hands, knowing we were acquiring it, in a time when people weren't traveling. But as soon as they started to travel, again, it's up from there. So I totally get it. And I like that you really emphasize the importance of operations and looking at your systems. How is the business running? What is it that we haven't addressed in a while? Can we take this opportunity to fix it?

That's really important too. And one of the other things I really liked that you said is that sometimes you're taking management over and you're being a better manager, I think a lot of real estate investors underestimate the importance of giving value to your tenants. It's not just about you getting passive income and rent every month. It's also about providing that safe space to live a place that people want to call home. So they'll stay, they'll continue to renew their leases. And they feel comfortable because you've been a reasonable person, right? Providing a safe space, making repairs in a timely fashion, addressing any concerns they may raise to you, I think those are all additional things that we're supposed to do.

You know, it's kind of like the right thing to do.

Terrie Schauer 28:50

Yeah.

Acquania Escarne 28:50

As a landlord as an investor, so that you will continue to provide your future income and opportunity to come to you but your tenants and opportunity to stay, right. And I've experienced that as well. Because in our we have one rental now because I definitely don't enjoy toilets and tenants. So I made a aggressive effort to sell properties in the past, but there's one that the tenants really happy they continue to renew the lease, even though we make the standard raises. And so it's kind of like a no brainer to just keep them. But that's kind of been my mindset, like, hey, it's working. Let's do it, and then continue to grow. So I think that's really helpful. What else do you offer? Do you also coach individuals who want to exercise mindfulness and real estate investing with you? Is that an option?

Terrie Schauer 29:45

Yeah, for sure. So I mean, I you know, I wrote the book, Mindful Landlords, so I guess that's also you know, a way to try to get those ideas out there, beyond the people that I'm able to serve, like in doing consulting, actually have a podcast as well as The Real Estate Investors club podcast, which is like it's local kind of to Montreal, but we try to incorporate some kind of mindset stuff as well, we do have, you know, some of US guests on, and then that becomes a way of trying to like extend, you know, my capacity to share those ideas beyond the coaching hours.

But yeah, I do coach I also teach with The Real Estate Investors club is actually like an education platform in the Montreal area. So I do teach for them. And I'm actually working on a second book now, which is going to be I don't know, if you're familiar with the book Evicted by Matthew Desmond. It's going to be like a Montreal take on that. With, you know, sharing stories kind of from tenants, sharing stories from property managers, and like, really, I want to shine the light on some of the contradictions that are created by the financial environment, the regulatory environment, and how like, it ends up pushing people, both landlords and tenants to act in these kind of counterproductive ways.

You know, and I think when you, as you mentioned before, like serving the tenants, you know, if you're looking at the low income or affordable housing space, like we don't, it's not a business model in there to provide bells and whistles like, those are not people who have disposable income to pay for, you know, a health club or a pool, or like those kinds of value ads. But what is a value add for them is like, No, I'm a landlord, who's actually going to maintain the property. And if you have a main maintenance issue, I'm actually going to fix it, if you have a pest control problem, I'm going to call the exterminator. Because my business model functions in a way to have the income to be able to pay for those services. Whereas like, maybe the old landlord, like wasn't able to do those things, because they didn't have the management professionalism that I do. So for me, like the value add for the remaining tenants who just want to live peacefully there, that's what it is, is that like, No, we actually, if you call me someone will come.

Acquania Escarne 31:52

People forget that. But that is so valuable, right? When I call you, you will come? Oh, my gosh, this has been a really awesome interview. Terry, thank you so much for sharing your guidance on mindfulness. And a little bit more about you and your experience as a real estate investor in Montreal, Canada. Before I let you go, I have to ask you this question. Okay. The name of the podcast is called The Purpose of Money. So I asked all my guests, what is your purpose for money?

Terrie Schauer 32:23

That's a great question. I mean, for me, I've always seen money like a little bit more as a tool, you know, we don't have my family and I we don't have a very lavish lifestyle I'm happy with, I don't want to say very little, but I'm happy with, you know, a very middle class kind of existence, like we have, you know, chickens in the yard. And, you know, like, like, like that kind of thing we have, you know, we have a dog and I don't, you know, want to want to have my son grow up in an environment with like, a lot of flashy stuff. So for me, money is really like a tool to enable being able to like experience some of those things that make life interesting. And, you know, I always say, like, I would not have been able to do what I did in sports, if I had a nine to five. And it's because I was a real estate investor, that I could spend two hours a day at the gym that was necessary to like, get to the level that I got to in my passion, which is my sport. So.

Acquania Escarne 33:14

Oh, I love that. And we didn't even dive into the freedom you have because of your real estate, business, and then being a professional athlete, but we'll have to have you back on the show, especially to talk about your second book, because that really is interesting to me. And I definitely want to hear what is it like in Canada on that side and bringing those stories together? I think that's an exciting project. That's gonna be really fun to write. So keep me posted. When the book drops, we can definitely have another run at this. Without further ado, I'd like you to just drop websites or anywhere on social media where people can find you so they can follow you. Yeah, so

Terrie Schauer 33:55

I mean, really the I'm most active on LinkedIn. And you can just use my name Terrie Schauer, I am on Instagram and Facebook as well. But LinkedIn is really where I express myself most, let's say, and then the book has a website, mindfullandlord.com. It's also available on Amazon. But the easiest thing to remember is mindfullandlord.com

Acquania Escarne 34:14

Absolutely. And don't worry, guys, I'm going to include all of that information in the show notes. So I encourage you to check it out. Terry, thank you so much for being on the show today. Guys. Until next time, keep building generational wealth. Thank you for listening to the purpose of money podcast.

For more resources and information, check out my website, the purpose of money.com and while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter so you have the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time, keep creating freedom in your life today.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai