The 5 Questions Podcast
Join us as we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
The 5 Questions Podcast
Trust, Value, and Real Estate: What You Need to Know with Natasha Phipps
Dive deep into the world of real estate investing as Natasha Phipps shares her expert insights. From marketing strategies to the importance of transparent communication, Natasha emphasizes the role of trust in building successful investments. Her approach paves the way for new investors seeking guidance and wisdom in navigating their paths.
• Importance of providing value in real estate marketing
• Building long-term relationships with clients
• Strategies for managing tenant relationships while growing an investment portfolio
• Insight into WellShare and its mission to democratize real estate investing
• Continuous learning and mentorship as keys to success
• Balancing personal investment knowledge with community growth initiatives
Sponsored by: https://podcast.lendcity.ca/
That's the best marketing I think you can find, because people remember that when you can provide them some sort of value.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Five Questions Podcast, where we unlock real estate and business insights, one question at a time.
Speaker 3:Are you looking to build wealth through real estate investing in North America? I'm Scott Dillingham and on the Wisdom Lifestyle Money Show, I'll be your guide to smart investing across Canada and the US. Each week, I break down the strategies successful investors use. From understanding cross-border financing to hearing from experts, I deliver actionable insights you won't find anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just getting started, I'll help you navigate the unique opportunities in Canada and the US real estate market. Search for the Wisdom Lifestyle Money Show on your favorite podcasting platform.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast. I am your host, mario Lamar, and our guest on today's show. She has a great marketing background and she has built a great reputation across Canada in the investing world. She is the CEO of WealthShares and a seasoned real estate investor and property manager. Welcome, natasha Phibbs. Natasha, welcome to the show today.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me Excited to be here.
Speaker 2:Natasha, the concept of the podcast is real simple Five questions, either about real estate or business, and we get straight to the point. You ready, love it All right. First questions I have for you. As mentioned in the intro, you're recognized nationally in the investment sector. What strategies helped you stand out in such a competitive field?
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So I've been doing this 17 years now as an investment specialist, realtor, a investor, and the one thing I've always kept at the top of my mind is number one give the advice that I would want to hear. So I'm always thinking long term for whoever I'm working with and really always try to do the right thing. So, as a realtor, of course we advise people all the time and what they're investing in and what they're investing their hard-earned money in, and I am not one of those realtors who will, you know, tell you just anything is a good investment. I care very much about your investment being successful and if I wouldn't invest in it, I will tell you why and maybe come up with alternatives. So it's always having that long term relationship mindset from day one. It's kind of the slower way to build, I think, up a career, but it has that longevity Because you get known for that. You get known for telling it like it is, being honest and transparent, and that resonates and builds trust with people along the way.
Speaker 2:That's. That's the difference between realtors that are just realtors and investor focused realtors, where regular realtors will will you know they need their commission to survive and an investor focused realtor also need the commission but, like you said, looks at the longterm and their investors themselves. Like you said, if you wouldn't invest in it yourself, why should they? Your clients?
Speaker 1:Exactly exactly, and I mean even just thinking as a realtor trying to earn a commission. What always boggles my mind is that if an investor gets a slam dunk, they will continue to invest because it's working for them and it will bring rewards for them. So in the long run you know, I have clients that have been buying consistently through us for, you know, almost two decades now. Like that's pretty, that's pretty incredible. So thinking long-term all the way is what served me really well.
Speaker 2:And like it did for you. Reputation takes a long time to build, but it's very quick to be decimated. So if you think of your clients first, absolutely you're going to get the results that you're getting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course, 100%. No, that's so true.
Speaker 2:So it brings us to our second question, and I want to talk about your marketing background. Second question and I want to talk about your marketing background how has your marketing background influenced?
Speaker 1:your approach into real estate investing.
Speaker 1:This is an interesting question because obviously, what was being, you know, taught in university, you know, going back when I graduated in 2006, has changed a lot.
Speaker 1:But what, what I learned, mostly honestly, in that marketing degree, other than the like basic fundamentals that you would expect, is the importance of trust in marketing and building trust through whatever you're doing, providing value, and that organic sort of growth was really what I wanted to focus on in my career. But, you know, do you need a marketing degree to do that? No, you don't. It was what I wanted to focus on, but that's kind of the type of marketing I've always done. My marketing is, you know, hosting webinars, sharing what I'm learning along the way, providing as much value back to our community here as possible here in Calgary, and that has been our absolute best tool when it comes to marketing is sharing, not gatekeeping, information, you know, and that even goes so far as starting WellShare, like I'm an open book with all of that, and that's the best marketing I think you can find, because people remember that when you can provide them some sort of value you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2:Bringing value to either a community that surround you, surround yourself with uh is is the number one, probably marketing tool you can use because people can trust you, they know you have the knowledge and guess who's going to. They want to work with the next on their next deal. The person who can they can trust and and they think they can help me out with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Holding cards tight to your chest doesn't build trust or transparency, and that's a little more apparent in the commercial world. I find, like a lot of the brokers and groups out there, they kind of hold their cards really tight and you can just feel the difference in those types of scenarios. You know everyone gets their backs up a little bit more and there's a lot more ego maybe involved, but it just it really creates a different sort of level of trust and transparency for the parties involved. So that's always my approach.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Brings us to our third question. So, as mentioned in the intro, you're a property manager and investor, right? You manage your properties. How do you balance growing a portfolio while maintaining tenant relationships, because that's a lot of work Just growing your portfolio is a lot of work by itself. How do you manage all the relationships on the outside?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a really good point. So at some point you need other people in your growth. I feel like a lot of us, as like serial entrepreneurs, have a really hard time letting stuff go, and I've kind of, as I've been growing in my career, I'm really trying to like think am I the best person for this job right now, or can someone probably even do it, you know, better, quicker, more efficient, likely? But in terms of like the direct experience with tenants, we do have full-time property managers. So I have my real estate team, fips real estate group. We have a full-time property manager there. Her name is Una and what makes that different is she's an investor herself, which is kind of hard to find on the property management side.
Speaker 1:But that tenant relationship part of it is all about the systems and processes in place. Most people just want to feel like they can talk to somebody about whatever problem they're having, and that is the number one complaint I hear from tenants, you know, outside of organization, that come to us and then they have a very easy way to communicate with us. And that is the number one thing is making it easy for them to communicate, providing multiple ways that they can communicate and then, having a, you know good relationship, take care of your properties as well, like you know, take care of your property, be proud of what you own. If you wouldn't want to live there, why should anyone else? And, and you know, really taking care of what you own will attract the right type of tenant as well, and then they will be equally appreciative and take care of it for you as well, hopefully.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you got two, two good points that I'd like to bring out from what you said is first of all, why should somebody live in an apartment if you're not willing to live there yourself? That means it's either not clean or it's outdated and the machine's not working, or whatever it is. You need to think of the other people. They're the ones who pay your mortgage every month and put money in your pocket, so treat them right. Other thing is most serial entrepreneur. If you want to grow, you need a team, and you said it right. There's nobody that grows multiple businesses at the same time without a team around them. You're just going to burn out.
Speaker 1:That's right, and you're not going to do a good job. You're going to burn out and you're going to have too many balls in the air and you will drop them. You're going to burn out and you're going to have too many balls in the air and you will drop them. So for WellShare, for example, the first two assets we were managing ourselves Like I was managing them. And how can I be the CEO of WellShare and be managing our tenants Like I? Can't be doing both of those things. I need to be focusing on the growth of the company, and so that was our first full-time hire, was investing in a full-time property manager specifically for WellShare, and that was the best money we ever spent, and she does an incredible job, and I'm freed up to do the things I should be doing Still oversee everything and make sure things are going well, and we have our meetings and updates, but that's really, really critical is being able to pass that on to someone else and give them the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Well, that brings us to our fourth question, because I want to talk about WellShare. What inspired you to create WellShare and also how does it help investors take control of their financial future?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love this question. So, as an investment specialist, realtor I've helped hundreds of people invest in real estate. But a few things constantly come up. Number one not everyone can or wants to own rental property. And the knowledge that we are so fortunate to know in our real estate investing community that seems so, you know, maybe accessible to us, to most of this country is not accessible. It's not something that's broadly known. You have to go out and learn it, and so that was one thing I wanted to provide an accessible path to invest in real estate that was easy, a low barrier to entry, and accessible path to invest in real estate that was easy, a low barrier to entry and accessible to as many Canadians as possible.
Speaker 1:So we we set the bar, I think, for a lot of trends that we're seeing out in the the marketplace. Here we have a low minimum investment of $5,000. We're not taking big risks. We're buying good assets and taking care of them Well, like we're not. We're not, you know, reinventing the wheel by any means, but we're removing that barrier. And then the second piece to that is getting people to dip a toe into real estate, or, if they're already investing, great, but then providing the value back to them in terms of the education component. So we, you know, talk a lot about, you know, registered funds or buying their own real estate, or what we're learning in the property management world because a lot of our passive investors either want to be active or already are.
Speaker 1:So it's a matter of sharing that and building that community. And then the last piece of to the why is the residential investment world is one thing. It is a whole nother beast and animal to go to the multifamily world. And even if you're very successful in the residential world, I often talk more people out of investing in the commercial multifamily space than probably convincing them to do it. Because you know, once you go over all the variables and all the on all the costs and all the unknowns and all of the timelines, it's it's really. It's really something that requires a team of people to be implementing something like this. So it's a way to invest in that asset class without having to do it on your own, without having to, you know, carry the guarantees and put up all the you know liability. We will do that for you and then allow us to do our job in terms of the management side. So that's really was kind of the reasons behind it.
Speaker 1:And going back a few years ago, the private REIT mutual fund trust space right now it's changed a lot, but three years ago no one was talking about this. Now it seems like everyone has a fund, which is great. I think we're going to see some interesting things out of that, possibly because they are a lot to manage and a lot to be compliant and a lot to take care of, but it's it's showing that sort of interest in the pooling of capital and the investment of hard assets, and Canadians are interested in that and they want to be a part of kind of the housing problem in this country, and a private reach or something to be able to put your capital to work and what you're passionate about or interested in is a really great option. So, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:I love the fact that you first of all bring offer to bring the knowledge to the general public, who wants to dip their feet, like you said, in multifamily, but they can do it as a, at a small cost, while learning, while getting the experience. I remember my first deal. I tried to do it alone and, man, it did not go good. I lost some money.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to say the amount, but I lost a lot of money and after that I went and got the education and the knowledge to really understand how you invest in multifamily. But if I would have went with a team that did it with the team and learned slowly, maybe the outcome would have been different. Another thing I love about what you're offering with WellShare the price portion that it's available to everybody. A lot of people only accept 150,000 or more because they want accredited investors, but, uh, you offer to the general public if they want to start the you know, investing in real estate. So that's really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's you know, kind of going back to the very first question, here was the reason we did that. It was a significantly more expensive in terms of startup costs because to accept non-accredited investors or eligible investors you have to have an offering memorandum this up to think about the next year, we're thinking, you know, decades down the road and what kind of impact can we have for Canadians who are interested in this space, and so that was really why we went that route. I've seen some others follow, which is great, but at the time, everyone so many people were like what, like $5,000? Like that's crazy, but it's great. Now, people who are with $5,000, they're reinvesting, they're learning, they're seeing good returns and again, it just builds trust and longevity for the relationship between us and the investors us to our last and final question.
Speaker 2:Already, natasha, you emphasize continuous learning in real estate, so there's a lot of things out there we can use to learn. What books, mentors, maybe experiences, add the biggest impact on your success?
Speaker 1:Well, like so many, you know, long ago, the first kind of book this this, you know, was the rich dad, poor dad series. But but also I started going to RAINN meetings when I was this is honestly probably too late about 10 years ago now and our of of networking with other people and I was so surprised also at how forthcoming people were to share what they were doing, what they were learning, and there were so many light bulb moments, not only from you know what we were learning at RAINN, and I mean Don Campbell, I mean everybody loves Don, and you know those are the days for sure. I'm still involved with RAINN, no-transcript. And once I wrap my head around the fact that there is no kind of bad time to invest in real estate but there is bad strategies at certain times in real estate. Yeah, and usually when you talk to people who have had a really bad experience in some way or have had serious success, that has been the pivotal thing that they have applied is the right strategy at the right time. Maybe it's sheer luck, but since I learned that especially that has helped me pivot and adapt and usually when everyone's running this way, I'm going this way because that's kind of you know what I was suggesting years ago, so keeping that in your mind is really, really important and by far the number one lesson that has stuck with me.
Speaker 1:And then in terms of mentors as well, I'm very blessed. My parents are successful business owners, have done very well for themselves and have built an incredible company here in Calgary. They do exterior finishing here in Calgary and they taught me a lot, like they taught me a lot by the time I was 18, I had learned every piece of their business from sales with a phone book. My dad would throw at me to go make calls like that was sales, call people, go get, can quote, and I'm 16, right? So uh, that the kind of push to just try what do you have to lose? Um was shown to me by my parents and something that absolutely was an incredible sort of um confidence to go out in the world and just give it a shot as well.
Speaker 2:Kudos to your parents, because a lot of people are afraid of rejection, and which, in some cases, it's normal. But you know, when you ask for something and you get a no, what's the worst that's going to happen you just move on to the next person. They exactly all are afraid. It's worse than their head, than what it actually is in reality. So 100, so, uh, if your parents pushed you at a young age and uh, you are where you are today, uh, that they need to be congratulated, um, and yes, you're're right, patrick Frenzy. He was a guest on our past show and he's a great guy, lots of knowledge, and he's a great mentor to a lot of people in the real estate field.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, that. That one always stuck with me. And and when I first started investing real estate, I was like 20. I was buying and selling. I didn't I mean, I was, I was. It was easy to get a mortgage then as well, even though you know I was probably not making that much money and I was going to university, I was still working but, I was buying and selling.
Speaker 1:No one ever said Natasha, why don't you keep this or refinance this and buy another property? Once I learned that I was upset, why did nobody tell me that?
Speaker 2:It's a game changer.
Speaker 1:A huge game changer. I just discovered that on my own. At one point I was like geez, I was almost upset at the amount of realtors and bankers and nobody told me that that's what I could have done. So I love how accessible the world is now in terms of information, but that was like a huge light bulb moment. And then Patrick one day also brought up the kind of raising capital side of things, and that was another light bulb moment and brought me doing my first joint ventures which I was very nervous about and.
Speaker 1:But to your point is like they say no or they say yes and they say say yes, and it's a great opportunity for everyone.
Speaker 2:So yeah, give it a shot natasha, it was a great conversation we had together. Um, I hope that a lot of people take a piece of what you said today your knowledge, your experience with them on their journey. Uh, because I feel like a lot of people can be helped and help them develop their journey. At the same time, I'm sure we'll cross paths again and we'll have more questions for you, maybe on another episode. For today, that's it for now. Thank you again for being on the show and we'll talk very soon.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Thanks for tuning into the the 5 Questions Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, like and hit the notification bell on our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode. Stay tuned for more insights and tips to transform your real estate and business game. See you next time.