The American Upside

Andrew Hines
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  • Entrepreneurship
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We are both self made multi millionaires who "did it" in Canada. We made it! But we quickly realized the juice wasn't worth the squeeze to stay in Canada. 54% taxes, high regulations slowing us down and an economy that's just failing! We decided to restart our real estate investing business in the USA and build something incredible. We're going big! Bigger than we've ever done in Canada, and it's really paying off! We're now flipping many properties a month, making more money and paying way less tax - but the most important part? Better lifestyle!

  1. 14h ago

    This Canadian Did 20 Flips & Made 350K In His First 2 Years In The USA

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Can a Canadian really do deals across 10 U.S. states without ever seeing the properties? 🇺🇸 This week, Mat Piche and Andrew Hines sit down with Manni Birhanu, a Canadian member of our community. About two years ago, after one wholesale deal in Canada, Manni looked at $600K to $800K Canadian prices and decided to try the U.S. instead. He tried cold calling for one day and swore he'd NEVER do it again. So he started buying leads. Now he's done deals in 10 states, never visits the properties, and runs it all with one acquisition rep and one VA. In this episode, we break down: 📞 Why Manni buys pay-per-lead instead of cold calling, and why he's moving to county-level leads 🤝 His first deal: a San Antonio tired landlord, three months of follow-up every three weeks, and a $15K assignment split with a JV partner 🏘️ The Cleveland, Ohio deal: an expired listing, a quick skip trace and a $10K wholesale sold through Facebook Marketplace 🏔️ The Texas whale: a house on five acres plus a 2.5-acre parcel, bought for $98K, then sold for $225K and $60K 🧱 A Titusville, Pennsylvania double close: bought for $9K and sold for $25K 🏠 Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania: helping a seller facing a tax auction with an advance so she could move 🧮 A New York deal under contract at $135K, with keys before closing so the reno can start early 💡 The fire-damaged mobile home: negotiating the seller's private lender down from $50K to $15K 🚪 His top closing tip: get the contract signed while the seller is still on the phone Manni doesn't do it the way we do, and that's the point. Take imperfect action, make the offers and get creative. The deals follow. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The deal discussed in this episode was under contract at the time of recording. Profit figures are estimates, not final results. Income figures discussed are gross revenue and/or projections, not net profit. The results shared in this episode are Manni's own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  2. 14h ago

    Can Canadians Get Financing In The USA For Real Estate Investing?

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Can a Canadian with no U.S. credit and a Canadian job actually get a mortgage in America? 🇺🇸 This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines tackle one of the most common questions we get. Andrew used to work in mortgages in Canada, and Mat has bought quite a few U.S. properties with financing. Our take might surprise you: for many Canadians, getting financing in the U.S. can be EASIER than getting it at home. On Mat's latest St. Louis rental, the lender cared about three things: 30% down, where the money came from and whether the property cash flows. No Canadian job letter. No Canadian credit check. In this episode, we break down: 🏛️ Why many U.S. lenders look at the property first, not your Canadian income or credit 🏠 Mat's St. Louis rental: 30% down, two months of bank statements, and appraisals for both value and rent 🌴 How some lenders will consider Airbnb income on a rental 💡 Hedge-fund-style private lenders: why we still use them with Social Security numbers, at rates a couple of points higher 🇨🇦 Why going to the U.S. arm of your Canadian bank can mean more paperwork, not less 🤝 How thousands of competing U.S. lenders compare to Canada's handful of big banks 🧱 Fix and flip loans: borrowing around 70% of the purchase and 70% of the reno budget 🧮 How Andrew's construction draws worked in Cape Coral: an inspector checks progress and funds are released line by line 📈 Why we'll trade a slightly better rate for speed and simplicity The options in the U.S. are just wider. Know which lenders to talk to, and financing stops being the thing holding you back. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  3. 1d ago

    How Do We Get Properties 50% Off In The USA VS Canada

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Why can you find real 50-cents-on-the-dollar deals in the U.S. when Canada tops out around 80 cents? 🇺🇸 This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines break down how we find deals at real discounts in the U.S., and why it was so hard in Canada. When Mat was flipping in Ontario, he was blanketing whole neighbourhoods with flyers to find one motivated seller. In the U.S., the information is PUBLIC. We can pull a targeted list, skip trace it and call the exact people most likely to sell. In this episode, we break down: 🇨🇦 Why Mat's best Canadian deals came in at 78 to 82 cents on the dollar, not 50 💰 Spending about $30K a month on flyers and Facebook in Canada for one or two deals 🏛️ How public property records in many U.S. states show who owns a property, when they bought and often what they paid 📞 Skip tracing: matching owners to phone numbers, then scrubbing for do-not-call and litigators 🧮 Building a list by criteria: three bed, two bath, 60 days behind, at least $100K in equity 🏘️ Why Canadian homeowners rarely sell at a deep discount, and why their house is often their whole nest egg 🚀 Nine offers signed in one day, a record for our team, when three to four is a normal day 🤝 Why we prefer unemotional sellers like land owners and tired landlords over pre-foreclosures 🏠 The Atlanta-area tired landlord deal: a tenanted, cookie-cutter brick house we renovated and sold for $237K The difference isn't that it's easy in the U.S. It's access to information, a bigger market and sellers who are ready to move on. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  4. 1d ago

    This Canadian Is On Track To Do 12 Flips A Year In America

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Is it really just us, or are other Canadians actually doing deals in the U.S.? 🇺🇸 This week, Mat Piche sits down with Luke Paron, a Canadian member of our community who's been doing deals in the U.S. for about two years. Luke came from field construction and spent his downtime in Canada fixing, flipping, house hacking and running the BRRRR strategy the best he could. In the U.S., he found something he couldn't get at home: the ability to SCALE. Three land flips, a 0% seller-finance home base, a subject-to deal and two fix and flips near Tampa. His next goal: one flip a month. In this episode, we break down: 🏔️ Starting with land: three parcels flipped before moving into houses 🏠 Luke's Florida home base, picked up on 0% seller financing through his own calls 🧱 A subject-to deal with a seller-finance note attached 🌴 Two fix and flips in Bradenton and Sarasota: one from his own calls, one from a wholesaler 💰 Using hard money lenders plus his own capital for the gap, and why he wants that capital back 📞 Why he shifted from pre-foreclosures to expired listings to find motivated sellers 🤝 Why U.S. lenders and partners come looking for you, even if Canadians pay slightly steeper terms 🧭 His biggest lesson: stay on the phones instead of rushing to put all your cash into assets 🚀 The plan for the next year: a wholesale team doing two to three deals a month, plus one flip a month Luke is proof it's not just us. The fear is real, but on the other side of it is a lot more opportunity. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are Luke's own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  5. 1d ago

    Can You Start Flipping American Real Estate While Working a Full-Time Job?

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Can you build a U.S. real estate business while working a full-time job in Canada? 🇺🇸 This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines tackle the question we hear from almost everyone thinking about this: is it realistic if you still have a day job? Our starting point is 10 focused hours a week, and a TWO-YEAR plan to build something real. We still haven't set foot on a single property we've done together. That's the whole point. In this episode, we break down: 🧭 Why we recommend at least 10 focused hours a week, and a two-year timeline 📞 Where those hours should go: talking to sellers and analyzing deals, not cold calling 💰 Time or money: why paying for cold callers or leads beats doing everything yourself 🤝 Why we suggest negotiating your own first deals before you hand it off 📈 How our team signs three to five offers a day while we work on the business 🏠 How Mat stopped visiting his own Kitchener flips for two years by hiring a project manager 🧱 Andrew's first student rental, and the full-time site carpenter who bought back his time 🏛️ How double closes, transactional funding in Florida and buyer-funded closings in Georgia lower the capital you need 💡 Why trying to figure it all out with ChatGPT and Google can cost you months Nobody starts out running the business from a laptop a few hours a week. But that's the path, and it starts with doing the right things in the right order. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  6. 2d ago

    Can Canadians Buy and Sell American Real Estate Without Moving There?

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Can a Canadian actually buy U.S. real estate without a visa? 🇺🇸 This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines answer one of the questions we get most: how are two Canadians buying property across the U.S., and can you do it too? We built our business for TWO YEARS before we ever got our E-2 visas. The buying process is closer to Canada's than most people think. The traps are in what you say at the border, and what you do once you're there. In this episode, we break down: 🏠 Buying in the U.S. vs. Canada: title companies, escrow and what's actually different 🏘️ Why U.S. neighbourhoods can change street by street, and why school zones matter for your comps 🧭 Buying in your personal name vs. a company, and the privacy trade-off we've seen 🏛️ Why we didn't wait for our E-2 visas to start building the business 💡 What changed after our E-2s: a Social Security number, a Florida driver's licence and a FICO score 🚪 Andrew's first trips to Youngstown, Ohio in 2012, and what he learned about crossing the border as an investor 🧱 Why "investor" and "worker" are two very different answers, at the border and at the consulate 🤝 The tough questions we got at our visa interviews, and why being prepared mattered 🚀 Why the right team matters: a builder we know who answered one question wrong and had to reapply Owning U.S. property as a Canadian is more doable than most people think. Getting the details right, with the right professionals, is what keeps it that way. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  7. 2d ago

    How Much Money Do You REALLY Need to Start Flipping Land in America?

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Can you actually make real money flipping raw land in the U.S.? 🇺🇸 This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines open up our back office and walk through two real land deals, closing statements and all. One is closer to a typical deal for us. The other is our BIGGEST profit deal to date. A double close where we didn't buy the land until it was already sold. And a Duval County, Florida parcel we bought for $265,800 and sold at full price, $478K, 20 days later. In this episode, we break down: 🤝 The $340K double close: why we didn't buy until it sold, and the $16,455 we kept after paying our acquisition manager 🧮 How we went back to the seller and renegotiated from $310K to $290K to make the numbers work 🌴 The Duval County whale: $161K gross profit in 20 days, and $145K after commissions 💰 Why the buyer's deposit went from $47K to $97K when he asked for more time to close 🏔️ Why we target counties where land sells for at least $50K to $60K, and our smallest deal ever at about $1,300 🏛️ Why we pass on 3,000-acre parcels and most commercial land 🧭 The Chiefland, Florida listing that sat for a year, and why you can't always trust a realtor's number 🧱 The only kind of subdivide we'd do: clean frontage on a main road, no new roads or power ⚾ Why 10 deals a month at $15K beats one $1M development deal that takes two years You never know which deal turns into a whale. Take enough low-risk swings and the happy accidents come. Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing. Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you. Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://www.fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America. Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpside Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

  8. 2d ago

    US Real Estate Investing: States, Strategy, and Canada Contrast

    Want Us To Be Your Mentors? https://fruitfulinvestingacademy.com/podcast What's the best state in America for real estate investing? 🇺🇸This week, it's just us. Mat Piche and Andrew Hines put ChatGPT's list of the top five cash flow states up against the states we're actually doing deals in. Two of its picks, Alabama and Tennessee, are already on our map.Our real answer? ALL 50, if the deal makes sense. But some states make it a lot easier than others.In this episode, we break down:💡 ChatGPT's top five for cash flow: Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and where we agree🌴 Why Florida and Georgia are our one-two punch, and why we're expanding into Tennessee, Alabama and the Carolinas🏛️ Disclosure vs. non-disclosure states: why we can comp our own deals on Zillow in most states, but not Texas🤝 How our double closes work: list the property before we close, then close both sides when an offer comes in🧭 Why states that restrict wholesaling, like South Carolina, can mean less competition for flippers📈 Why $10K a month in marketing can put you near the top in the U.S., when Mat spent $30K a month on flyers and ads in Ontario🏠 Why 30-year mortgages and our 2.85% subject-to rate blow Canadian minds🇨🇦 Why Canadian homeowners rarely sell at 50 cents on the dollar, and why we'd rather buy from tired landlords and land owners🏘️ Where Canada can still make sense: multi-family programs and Andrew's glamping businessThe U.S. is a big ocean. Pick states where the data is open, the rules fit your strategy and you have a backup plan.Our mission with The American Upside is simple: To show everyday people what's possible when they start thinking bigger about money, business and investing.Whether you're Canadian or American, an experienced investor or someone who's never purchased a property, this show is for you.Explore our coaching and real estate investing programs: https://fruitfulinvestingacademy.com |Subscribe to The American Upside for conversations about real estate, entrepreneurship, money, and building a better life in America.Website: https://www.theamericanupside.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAmericanUpsideApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-upside/id6825474986 Disclaimer: The results shared in this episode are our own and are not typical. They are not a promise or guarantee that you will earn similar results. Real estate investing involves risk, including the loss of money. Nothing in this episode is legal, tax, financial or immigration advice.

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About

We are both self made multi millionaires who "did it" in Canada. We made it! But we quickly realized the juice wasn't worth the squeeze to stay in Canada. 54% taxes, high regulations slowing us down and an economy that's just failing! We decided to restart our real estate investing business in the USA and build something incredible. We're going big! Bigger than we've ever done in Canada, and it's really paying off! We're now flipping many properties a month, making more money and paying way less tax - but the most important part? Better lifestyle!

Information

  • Creator
    Andrew Hines
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Andrew Hines
  • Show Website
    The American Upside