When in trouble, buy something

Rod Bryden, the 2nd owner of the Ottawa Senators (after me) told me this 25 years ago, “When I’m in trouble, I always buy something.”

Most people think if they get in trouble, sell!

But Rod is a financial genius, so he did the opposite.

Why?

Because if you have decent credit and credibility, you can always talk your way into a deal of some kind and each acquisition brings with it new opportunities–for growth, for refinancing, for mergers and acquisitions, things that’ll generate cash, and as everyone knows, 

CASH IS KING [OR QUEEN IF YOU PREFER].

It works in real estate too.

When I needed a lift after the Sens went bankrupt, I bought a townhouse no one else wanted with DOM, days on market over 300. How come it was on the market so long?

Because it was owned by a hoarder and, to say it didn’t show well, would be like saying the Titanic was an unsinkable ship.

I got it for $241,250 because I agreed to take it as is/where is. After it was cleaned up, it was worth about $395,000 and I could refinance it, take cash out (about $90k), et voila, I was back in business.

We use variations of this all the time–scenarios where entrepreneurs put in sweat equity and get paid for it with cash and project ownership too.

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD, Ottawa Senators founder, Real Estate Investment and Business coach, ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker,  1-613-762-8884 bruce.firestone@century21.ca twitter.com/ProfBruce profbruce.tumblr.com/archive brucemfirestone.com

MAKING IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE