After raising my children, I’d describe buying a rental property as my proudest accomplishment. I’d wanted to invest in real estate for years when I was married but my husband disagreed and his veto power kept me from my dream. In the years spent recovering from my divorce, I’d pick up books at Indigo in which money experts declared that wealthy people don’t keep all their equity in their primary residence (which is exactly where I held mine).
It wasn’t money that kept me from purchasing my first rental property – I had plenty of that in home equity. What stopped me were voices from influential people in my life, mainly men, who told me the marker of success was to work a steady job and pay down the mortgage. By fate, and a driving concern about my financial health as a single woman, I attended a seminar for women seeking to improve their financial well-being. It turned out to be a real estate investment seminar by Kim Kiyosaki, wife of investment guru Robert, neither of whom I had heard of before.
I discovered my fears around investing were common and tied up in my desire to avoid risk, be a good girl and not go into debt: keep myself small, in other words. At the seminar I learned not all debt is bad: mortgage debt is good if used to increase your overall wealth. I learned that mindset, not money, is the most important factor in taking care of my financial health and well-being. I began reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins and so many others in an effort to change my mindset from one of fear and risk avoidance to one of opportunity and calculated risk-taking.
Taking the leap to buying that first rental property was the scariest thing I’ve done, and the most rewarding. Learning to take care of my financial well-being has been a spiritual exercise that has started me on the path to creating the life I want. I have stopped shrinking to fit the life I was handed and begun to expand into a life I am creating.
Laura Connell
Realtor and Investor
416-903-9714
laurakimconnell@gmail.com