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Kosta: In this episode, I’m speaking with Adnan Feroz, a realtor from Toronto. Not only is Adnan and award winning realtor, he’s also an investor, a speaker, and a Canadian and best selling author of a book titled Beyond Riches With Income Properties: The 90/90 Strategy. We’re getting into all of that and a whole lot more, and this was a very insightful conversation, a lot of value packed into this episode. I really enjoyed speaking with Adnan. So without further ado, here’s our chat.
Kosta: So Adnan, thank you so much for joining me on the Top Agent podcast. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. Amazing. So, so you, you have a pretty long list of credentials here. You’re a Canadian bestselling author of a book called Beyond Riches with Income Properties, the 90/90 Strategy, You’re a speaker you’ve done over 25 million in transactions over the last few years and award winning realtor. So definitely a lot of accomplishments and a lot, you know, I’d like to get into there, but. All right, why don’t you start things off by just telling your audience a bit about yourself, your background and how you got into real estate
Adnan: For sure. I actually grew up in Scarborough and then I moved to Ajax Pickering. So I’m, I’m, I’m local to Toronto, have grown up here. I went to U of T business school, um, and I consider myself to be a serial entrepreneur because, um, I like to get into a lot of different businesses and I think real estate was the first business that I entered and got into, um, after finishing up the school and uh, having some work experience. So, not always, it was the plan to get into business and do something to help the community, help the people that are around. Um, I have been in real estate for nine years now. I specialize in investment properties. we also teach people how to build homes to maximize their investment. Uh, of course I wrote the book on beyond versus within income properties because I felt that, um, that, that was an industry that needed to be talked about and so many people go out and do flips and do properties like that.
Adnan: So we talk about that. Uh, I talked to a lot of students who are in universities about what they should do with their finances and how they should work with that. Um, because I think that is one thing that I feel is missing from our industry. Uh, and a lot of people don’t teach the students and kids how to manage their finances. Um, so we definitely do that. Um, so I got into real estate. I’m believing in all of these things that I said that, you know, what, uh, I think I can contribute and make a difference, uh, in terms of that, um, I’m also married to a beautiful girl and she’s also my business partner now. She helps me around with that. I’m surrounded with great family and friends who are always inspiring me to do great things. And um, that’s what gives me the passion and motivation to go out and do these things.
Kosta: That’s incredible. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I totally agree with, you know, the fact that you’re right, schooling the school system does not teach financial literacy like whatsoever. I think that’s really good that you’re doing that. Let’s start with your book Beyond Riches. Richard’s with income properties. The 90/90 Strategy. Uh, congratulations on that by the way. Best selling, honestly. That’s absolutely incredible. So tell me more about the book. I like what’s it about, what’s the premise and most importantly like what is the 90, 90 strategy?
Adnan: So the book identifies a specific sector of the market where we flip properties. It is focused towards the Toronto real estate. But it can be applied to any sort of market that is densely populated. Uh, it shows you how to make $90,000 in 90 days using the flip model, we have very specific set of rules that people follow. You teach them how to go through them, what to do, um, it walks you through the whole mindset of what you should have before getting into it. It also teaches you and tackles a lot of fears that people face while they are doing flips. So, uh, before getting into that, a lot of our clients and people who are reading it have never done one. So, uh, it is very important to tackle that beforehand. So all of this falls within the mindset category. And then we go onto analyzing behaviors and trends that are common in that market.
Adnan: And then we’ll work with that where we teach you what to do and what not to do, what type of renovations should you be doing, what you should not be doing, how you should be working with numbers, what you should be evaluating. So it goes through the whole process of everything. But at the end of the day, it teaches you how to make that $90,000 in 90 days and then it tells you and shows you how to scale that and how to work on your million dollar plan where you can do multiple properties in a year to grow our business based on that.
Kosta: That’s awesome. How many success stories do you have from people or investors, I guess, who followed the 90, 90? Or is this something you’ve done yourself and you sort of, uh, you know, created this model based on experiences?
Adnan: Absolutely. I have done it myself as well and we have so many different clients that we’re working with on a regular basis on a daily thing. So regularly it keeps on working. We just had three clients last week that had started their first property and they’re working on that. We have had people who are working in the banking industry and then they started doing their first investment property. They followed the whole steps and then there is design and they quit their job and they started working on this. So, uh, but we have had so many different people that are in different industries that come onto this and then they keep on doing that. We have been doing this for almost 40 years now in terms of income properties and the regular investments we were doing it from before.
Kosta: That’s awesome. Would you say it’s a straightforward read or
Adnan: It is an easy read. It is 200 and 200 pages long, but it has a lot of information. So the information converting information into actionable things is what takes time. But absolutely, once you go through it, you’ll understand it. It’s a straightforward, right. It tells you what to do, what not to do, how to go about it, and it gives you a whole system.
Kosta: That’s great. The reason I asked because um, you know, I love the books that are just very to the point actionable without too much fillers. Yes. That’s where you get the most out of a I, I can’t wait to get into it.
Adnan: Yeah, we did not want anyone else like the filler information. We didn’t want any of that. We wanted it to be to the point and that’s it. Just more for from there.
Kosta: Yeah, that’s perfect. Tying in the book to marketing, has the success of the book helped you attract new business or build brand awareness with and you were existing clients or anything you can share in that regard?
Adnan: Absolutely. One hundred percent. There is a business model that I believe in is to sell yourself and market yourself by educating a. That is one of my number one ways to do that. Uh, I am always educating people no matter where I am, no matter what setting I’m sitting in. And that is my number one marketing tool that I use, uh, in terms of converting a then. But in today’s world what happens is everything is online and it translates into technologies and what we did is we started creating videos and contents based on educating people as well. So a hundred percent what we talk about in the book, we can work that in. It converts into marketing and converts into sales.
Kosta: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I strongly believe as well that if you can provide consistent value and education to your market or audience as you say, there’s going to be a good longterm ROI for you. I just think that most people, they might shy away from this strategy because it’s something that you might not see a return on right away, but I think the longer and more consistent you’re at it and if you can continue providing this value right, it’s truly a great, in my opinion,
Adnan: For sure. A friend of mind awareness. Basically that’s what it is that you’re working on. Um, and, and you have to make sure that you are raising awareness, you are educating people, you are talking about it or whether it is through social media, through email campaigns, video ads, sprints, whatever it is that you do, whatever you’ve worked for you, you have to do that, but you have to be in front of people. If you’re not in front of people, you’re not marketing, you’re not selling, it’s not going to come to work.
Kosta: Absolutely. Totally agree. Sticking to marketing, like what are some, some other of your most effective marketing strategies that have provided you the most ROI? I know you touched upon obviously of the book and just providing content and education to your audience. So any other tips or strategies that worked for, for you?
Adnan: I think that in terms of cutting through the noise that’s in the market, you have to use social media, a facebook advertisement as some of the most amazing things that you can target it so much. Uh, and it gives you tools to work with that. Uh, there are limitations based on the housing market. Um, but then again, there is so much that you can do email campaigns. Uh, one of the things that I feel is a missed opportunity that a lot of people don’t utilize is their own contact list. A lot of people are not selling to their own contacts or the circles that they’re in. They are your best consumers are potential clients that you can tap into. Um, any given person nowadays has over a thousand contacts in their phones or more than a thousand friends on facebook, but they’re not talking to them, they’re not educating them. So I think they should do that, that, that, that marketing always works and cap keywords and capitalize it.
Kosta: That’s so true. Uh, you know, a lot of the most successful realtors I’ve spoken to, they, they share that same, um, you know, marketing tip, like people just overlook like what’s right in front of you and not your existing network. So yeah, that’s so true. Um, you touched on social media, like do you, are you sort of active on all platforms or what’s your favorite platform?
Adnan: Yeah, definitely. I think I feel that facebook is very good, but I feel instagram is taking over and that is a very good platform to be a, especially talking and updating people about what’s happening in your daily life in terms of real estate, in terms of your market. Um, I go to a showing and instead of taking every single person to the showing, I upload a video of that on social media. Now everyone can see it and a lot of people can relate to it. There are a lot of clients that don’t know what they want to buy unless and until they see it and a lot of them are hesitant to go out and take a look at these properties, but when they see it online in the comfort of their home, they’re more likely to come out and ask you questions based on that and it, it converts, it helps out.
Kosta: Yeah, absolutely. Very good. Switching gears just a little bit, so a common trend that I’m hearing with realtors, is that sort of a tricky time with the current market conditions and interest rates, uh, you know, what would you say are some of the biggest challenges that you currently face as a realtor? Whether it’d be with external market conditions or your marketing or any other challenge you can think of?
Adnan: Uh, I think the biggest challenge in today’s market is getting a good deal, right? They always tell everyone that did the money is in the bio and you should make sure that you are getting good deal. The conflict that comes in this is sellers are not willing to sell it for lower prices then what they purchased it for or what they believed that the value was to last year, so that is a conflict that a lot of people are having of letting go of those properties and a bar and the buyers are of course lucky for buying properties at what they’re valued at today or looking for deals. So we are going through those challenges, but I’m still a majority of my business is very good in terms of clientele looking to buy investment properties. It’s the perfect time to get into it because you are getting deals, you are getting options that you want to get into and you can do a lot more in terms of adding value to those properties, especially properties that are not in good shape that need work done. From an investor perspective, the best that best of the options that you can get into are available right now.
Kosta: Yeah, for sure. And I agree with that sentiment as well. I mean, it’s so important to, you know, make money on the buy, like you said, but unfortunately with the residential side of things, you’re, you’re playing with that emotional card as well, which it’s a tough, a tough game to play for sure.
Adnan: Just, you’re dealing with two different mindsets. You’re dealing with consumer mindset and the investor mindset. So there is a balance that you need to find between the two and make the deal happen.
Kosta: Absolutely. Um, so, so you’re an award winning realtor. You’ve done $25 million in transactions over the last few years. Congratulations. By the way, men are too many realtors who can claim the same thing. That’s for sure. How many transactions are you expecting to complete this year or over the next 12 months? And if you can share those figures or maybe provide a range.
Adnan: Sure. So, um, I run a very specialized business in terms of working with clients. So we don’t work with a lot of different clienteles and a lot of different transactions, but what we do is each client as an elite client and they do two or transactions to four transactions a year. So they are our repeat clientele and then on top of that we have a consultation business where we help them if they are looking at building a house, we are consultants on the projects where we are developing those properties with them or if they are renovating those properties, we are consultants as well on them. So, uh, it’s, it’s a different model than a regular realtor would be doing, but in a year we work with 20 to 25 different clients every year. Perfect.
Kosta: Perfect big time numbers. Nonetheless,
Adnan: conversion rate is much higher on each deal than what a regular realtor, but men.
Kosta: Amazing. Um, how, how do you see technology playing a part in all this and you know, how do you see more specifically, how do you see technology changing real estate or even how realtors are conducting business and say the next five to 10 years
Adnan: technological advancements in real estate in Canada, they are coming, they’re coming fast and I think that they are going to revolutionize our industry in the next few years. I see that a redundancies, a are going to completely get automated that are happening in our industry and our companies are actually currently working on lot of solutions to modernize how transactions are done. I’m in real estate in Canada and it was completely changed how realtors and clients interact with each other. For example, there was a softer that just came out that people have been using it very regularly in real estate is docusign or electronic signing for anything. It has made life so much easier not running around to print documents, uh, or uh, the worrying about the quality of your faxes getting ruined. And by the time that you’re done negotiation, you can’t read your documents and they’re not legible or having someone follow up through a checklist of things, of documents that they need. Every time all of these things are going to get automated and people are working on this where the systems are going to be very efficient. Uh, email marketing, crm, they are all, all innovating. There are so many companies that are working on this. Your company is working on this as well. They are, they are coming up with products that are very strongly needed by the industry right now, so I feel that technology is going to be taking over very soon.
Kosta: Absolutely. You’re right in there. There’s so much room for efficiency improvements within real estate and how, you know, realtors conduct their business. Absolutely. Docusign is a great example of that, but yeah, that’s just the start of a giant tip. Exactly. Yeah. Um, any advice I’m curious to hear from you, you know, you’ve been in the real estate now nine years, any advice you would give to newer agents or even any age and really are someone listening who’s trying to level up in their business.
Adnan: Get out there. You have to talk to people, you have to educate and before educating others, you have to educate yourself. You have to be consistently learning and there is no shame in asking for help. I have had some of the best mentors that I could ever have and I surround them, surround myself with them every single day. Uh, in a year. You’re learning consistently. Venue are educated when you’re up to date with everything that’s happening in the market, you are better able to educate your, uh, that’s, that will differentiate you from every other realtor that is in the market. Find a niche, specialize in something that is very, very important. You don’t want to be just another realtor on the block, uh, you want to make sure that there is something elite you’re doing segmented. Create your pricing strategy, create your marketing strategy and follow it. Make sure you’re within that.
Adnan: Don’t just go out and do deals like whatever it is that you find, work in things that you can specialize in. Um, the other thing is if you can work with the team or you can create a team, definitely go ahead and do that. Uh, and I believe in teams. You should segment yourself into doing things a certain way. For example, if you have an agent that is focused on, uh, dealing with tenants and landlords, a dealing on rentals, perfect. Let them deal with all the rental properties. If there is an agent that is working on listings, let them work on listings. If there is an agent that is focused on the investor segment, let them work with that. They will be more productive and more efficient if they do things this way.
Kosta: That’s amazing advice. Um, I totally agree. You know, one thing that you said there, which I feel is so simple and easy, but a lot of people fail to do it. It’s like seek a mentor. I think people are usually maybe intimidated by that, but I think the more successful people I speak to usually I find like successful people, they actually like mentoring and sharing experiences and knowledge with other people. Um, so anything that’s what people fail to realize, but you’re right. Yeah, that’s, that’s some great advice for sure. So, and then I do want to be mindful of your time. Uh, I do end off each chat with what I call the top three. You ready for us? So this one might be biased, but your favorite business or real estate book?
Adnan: Same for me. It’s very difficult to identify one book. That would be my favorite book. I read so many on a regular basis, so I can only tell you what I’m reading right now. A crushing it. It’s a business book by Gary Lennard check and uh, it’s, it’s really good, really exciting. Um, and real estate wise, I think the book that is on making money in real estate by Douglas Gray, uh, it’s a very good book, very good read, especially for anyone that is dealing in real estate in Canada. It is relevant to our industry plots. It’s updated every few years. So it’s very irrelevant. I think those two boxes, what I would say
Kosta: I’m a big fan of Gary v’s content as well. And of course, uh, you know, throw, throw in a third book beyond riches with income properties or shares. Number two, your top vacation spot.
Adnan: Ooh, this is a very tough one for me. Um, I travel a lot. I’ve traveled 130 cities in 27 countries in just last years. That’s great. So, uh, and each one of them contributes a positive experience towards, uh, what I learned from them. Uh, but if it was a top a city, I would say it’s Rome, Rome, definitely rich architecture, amazing history, great food, and of course romantic setting. So, uh, it works out very well. Uh, if I, if and when I travel with my wife. So yeah, Rome would have to do.
Kosta: Yeah, that’s a great choice for sure. And last question, and then how old are you?
Adnan: Oh, I am turning 32 next week.
Kosta: Okay. I know when people have asked me, I sort of forget as well, but uh, so if you can go back 12 years, what do you wish your 20 year old self knew?
Adnan: Oh, realize the power in myself. Uh, I wish I would have realized that sooner. How my words can inspire and change someone’s life instantly. You are so powerful. Every single person has that thing where they can make such a big difference. We don’t understand that. There’s a quote that I always remember a and it goes, our deepest fear is not that we’re inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. So the day we accept this reality, uh, that’s the day you have unlocked the potential to be the best version of yourself. And I, if I realized that at 20 I would have done all of these things so much sooner.
Kosta: That’s amazing. Very insightful. Very wise. Absolutely. And if someone wanted to reach out and get a hold of you, where’s the best place they can find you?
Adnan: Absolutely. They can look up my website, Torontorealestatepro.com. Uh, and definitely type in my name, anywhere on google online. You’ll find us on facebook, instagram, any social media, twitter. I’m just type in my name Admin for us and you’ll be able to find it.
Kosta: Amazing. I’ll be sure to add that all in the show notes and then this was a true pleasure. I’m so glad we did this very insightful chat. I’m sure a lot of people are gonna find a great value from you and uh, yeah, I do appreciate it. We should definitely do this again sometime. Thanks. It was my pleasure and thank you for having me on your show anytime. Thanks so much. Take care. Thank you so much for listening to the Top Agent podcast by Web4Realty. By the way, we’re providing exclusive promos to our listeners, visit web4realty.com/topagent and get your first month on us, and that’s web4realty.com/topagent to get your first month of service completely free until next time, over and out peace.
