Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another episode to meet up. I hope everybody's doing fantastic today I'm very excited about today's guest because he's a very successful real estate broker from Toronto Canada His name is Hamid Ahmed, I hope I pronounce it properly and he's not only commercial but also residential real estate broker and the co-founder of the 8 real estate group Hello, how are you? I'm doing excellent. Did you?
I'm good. I'm good. Listen Hamid. I'm very happy that you're here today with us I was making a quick intro by yourself, you know super successful commercial and residential real estate broker in Toronto Canada Also the co-founder of the 8 real estate group.
So tell us a little bit about yourself and what is happening that makes Toronto so exciting and a billion right now? Yeah, so my journey started in Canada in 2014 and where I started buying and flipping houses, renovating them and selling them for profit And obviously me and my real estate group the 8 we are specialized in a commercial residential and industrial sector What makes Toronto really unique is the amount of the immigration that is coming to the country And the prices are just keep going up. I remember since 2014 up to here. We never had to stop only in 2017 and 18 where the government is that they put a mandatory law where they taxed the foreign buyers 15% And they started auditing some of the mortgage companies their stock crash down and all the these fell through and so many people including me lost lost a lot of equity in the houses So the market came back in in end of 2019 like we saw the hike again in 2020 end of 2019 and until today 2020 for past two years the market are just being already insanely So for example, if you would buy a house for 800,000 In the around G That house is now around 1.5% of the money So let's say you put a 20% down of 800,000 that's 160 and now what is 1.5 making an additional like 5600,000 on your 150 So the return was a 3x or 4x I would say Yeah, which is not pretty common in other places Yeah, that's the residential sector.
Yeah, we have Do you see do you see Hamet that going up throughout this next couple years? So the thing is what happened before before we go to the COVID and I even made a story about it that Before people used to buy houses just for investments nowadays people are buying houses also to work from to exercise to spend more time with their families Since COVID hits and it's still a lot of people are getting to the fact that they don't want to go back to the office they can work remotely So they so the residence is becoming more of a more confortional use not only a place where they can you know live in it So I think that's for take that fact into consideration and also take the fact of that we have inflation The price of the wood that is coming from us is went up the labor cost went up So with everything being said we might be seeing a slowdown Like in 2008 if you look at the market everywhere in the world we had a huge inflation and the price has gone out crazy But now the situation is a bit different So I really can't comment on that but I think where I did what I studied more I think we're gonna see more increases in the prices at least for another six months before the prices become the city And then we're gonna have another job after that so so especially now with the war between Ukraine and Russia is going on Where the fuel costs are up people are slowing down for it. I can say for the past week The showings of the houses being reduced We have seen so many price changes in the market, but I think that's temporary Once once the war is because the war can't be going on forever I believe there are gonna stop anytime soon in the next seven days ten days they're gonna come from agreement And then we're gonna see a hike again and I mean Realistic is a five-year game. That's what I tell everyone.
Yeah, why today don't sell tomorrow Wait on it for activities five years because that's gonna guarantee you a good amount of return What has been one of the most challenging things that you've been encountering? I mean the For example in the month of January me and my team we have generated We're hundred and seven million dollars in offers and papers that was our activity only for the month of January this year But we had challenges getting the seller accepting those offers So the seller always wants more money for their properties that when we have the realistic buyer And we have under the six-seller. That's where the challenge comes to convince them to take the office and that happens all the time when it comes to Spaces for business and the whole commercial space in Toronto I know you've been facing a quite difficult situation where the COVID restrictions been a bit more tight and in other destinations So how has that affect the commercial space? So we saw a couple good commercial plazas during the 2020 in the middle of COVID where it was completely a shutdown where the bar is at vantage of the vacancy and Like for example the properties that can sort for 20 million for example It was at the 70 percent vacancy.
That's where we see all the coaches and really said they talking about they go for vacant commercial properties where they can increase their rent by 30 percent or 40 percent and They can they can ask for again 34 percent more than what have they paid for so the same property that I sold is now fully occupied The value is not 20 million dollar anymore the values anywhere close to 30 million 32 million dollar That's what the sir asked me so the COVID actually was an opportunity for the people who wanted to enter the commercial sector But not the residential because the residential started a very great hike versus the commercial estate Stable or in some cases we have seen not a power of say that we have seen lot of People that even the bank couldn't help them to you know stabilize the rents and they have to give up the property I understand very interesting and it makes a little sense. I'm how do you maneuver to really stay ahead of all the competition? I remember I was on Instagram since 2014. So it's like what eight years nine years now and I wasn't before I even was an Agent I was advertising properties for 50 million dollars 60 million dollars I was I was training showcasing properties for for a lot of top agents in US and UK and in the bar and he People were asking me that comment like you don't have the buyer for it Why you posting those pictures and I was saying to them that If you post that specific property it means you want to attract that kind of buyer obviously the buyer who can't afford that from the property They're not gonna they might like the property and follow you But most likely you are sending a messages out there that this is my like for example if you want to buy a high-end car a Lamborghini You won't go to a merciless Ben's show them you go to a Lamborghini show them so that's that's how it works When you start posting and differentiating yourself by more pushing by more making a story by more talking by more Attracting that kind of people like those kind of people like to follow your page because they can afford those type of I thought that's how you build your your client base And I've been doing it for the past eight nine years and I was one of the very first I believe in Toronto where I spent a lot of money on video showcasing the house professionally and Nowadays that we see a lot of people are doing it.
I was doing it back then 2016 where no one was doing it I love it now. I mean perception becomes reality So by exactly in those type of properties you were giving the perception that that was exactly the type of product that you specialized on You were understanding better the market and therefore you become a reality because people then will come to you for that specific product Yeah, exactly you build the platform and then the people will come in real estate We say you build it people will come so it applies to the social media part of it in everywhere You go build a hotel or a building in nowhere people will still buy people will come maybe it takes longer But the building will be occupied. That's how the big guys in real estate say they said we build it people will come I love it. I want to start quoting you and that one.
That's a really nice one So let me ask you this because we always ask this question to all of our guests And you've been working for many years in the luxury space, but luxury comes in so many shapes and forms and the world luxury itself It means completely different thing for so many different people. So what it is for you? Luxury is I would say You know the terms of luxury has been changed over time Luxury we can call a 50 million dollar house a luxury house. We can call it one million dollar house a luxury house At end of the day It's I would say luxury is where you have your piece in that home where you are happy with your family is where you can afford the monthly payments Is where you have no issue carrying it where where it creates a peaceful life for you?
It's not comes only to real estate It doesn't matter whether you're house in a million dollar or hundred million dollar or whatever I think when you have a piece in your life when you have a comfortable life when you have when you're making enough Income when the family is happy when we have good friends around you I think that's the luxury it comes in in different forms. I love it luxury equals Peace and nowadays we need a lot of that luxury, you know because not everybody can afford a luxury people are stressed because of the covid And you know, I think we have a very important role to help as many people as we can And I think peace peace equaled injury. I think that's a that's a new luxury having a peaceful life. That's the new luxury I think that's fantastic.
Well, listen last thing I would like to ask you because you have very upbeat positive and I know you've been going through a lot of personal challenges But you still became you know a really successful man out of those situations Is there anything that you've done throughout your career that has helped you get to where you are today? You know The people who are around me they know me that I'm extremely honest and when it comes to showing the property or commercial residential or any property I will show the negative part of their that's home to to my clients Like I don't bring them and tell them or this is a beautiful house look at the ravine Look at this and that or I go firstly on the negative side of it And I tell it I tell them that upfront like in my first call I tell them this and this is the bad side to this building But it has a lot of good potential to it. So that me being very honest and straightforward I think that's what people like about me the most and I tell them the negative side of it and then we move to a positive side of it because I don't want to drag people to let's say a commercial building on summer where the issue is You know, I don't want to tell the issue later to people. That's I think our own things to do When I wasn't an agent we had the call I had to Yeah, so when I was an agent I was when I had an agent to buy my property with before They would take me to the site and then they would tell me what's the negative things about it I don't like that I like to tell them like things the bad part first So we are clear then we can go ahead that makes the deal more easier, you know to to make the transaction happen No, I think honestly is one of the most important values nowadays.
Yeah, sometimes I lose, you know people people They think you know, that's not the true case, but I don't care I maybe you know sometimes people when you tell them the truth They think no you telling them that because you have somebody else with a property Especially when especially when they like the occasion, but I don't care if they don't believe in me if they choose me Then it means they have to believe in me. They are willing happily to work with me. If not, then I mean that's the choice I don't push anyone 100% well, listen I don't know if you want to add anything else but for those that are watching or listening Please make sure to follow him at least a magnificent person a very successful real estate broker in Toronto So anything that he's doing along with his company the eight real estate group is fantastic So please make sure to follow him and my friend I don't know if you want to add anything else. I would like to thank you for the opportunity that we came here Hopefully we can do some good transactions this year.
I'm sure there are a lot of buyers between Miami and Toronto Hopefully we can make something happen this year. I love it. Thank you for your time See you soon. Thank you.
Bye. Bye guys. And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it.
I remember embrace it's beautiful success in life My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time