ABOUT ANDY SANTOSO
Andy was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and moved to Canada at the early age of 5 years. He grew up in Vancouver then moved to Ontario to pursue illustration and design after completing high school. After obtaining a diploma from Sheridan College in 1994, Andy briefly returned to Vancouver before making his way back to Jakarta to work as a design consultant for clients such as Djarum International, Oriflame Cosmetics, and Matahari Department Stores.

By 1999, Andy returned to Vancouver and started his freelance design business, Holy Cow Creative Studio.

Although he enjoyed being a successful graphic artist, Andy realized that the profession would not allow him to retire. He developed a passion for real estate after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and started investing in 2003. By February 2007, Andy became a full-time real estate investor. He is actively networking and participating in investment groups and educational seminars and is committed to life-long learning on the business of real estate investing.

Andy is married to his beautiful wife Irma, and is blessed with two wonderful kids: Keira and Marcus.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
In 1999, I made a decision to move back to Canada after living in Jakarta for 5 years. The economy had collapsed in Indonesia, and the currency lost 80% of its value to the American dollar. Almost $70,000 in savings and assets I had worked hard to accumulate was worth $10,000 in a few short months. Despite my family's suggestion, I stubbornly made the move to Canada with Irma (my girlfriend at the time).

It was a bold move, since we both quit our jobs and started with very little money. Irma had never lived away from her home country for more than a month and she was hesitant. I explained that we had very little to lose, and promised that if she wasn't happy living in Canada after 5 years, then we would return to Indonesia together. She agreed. We got married, and I accepted the first job that was offered to me by a small ad agency in Vancouver. We envisioned owning our own home and starting the perfect life.

Starting that life, however, was far from perfect. In the beginning, Irma was not able to work while we waited

for her immigration papers to process. It didn't take long for my savings to dry up then we scraped by paycheck to paycheck.

At one point, we had $11 left in our checking account and we couldn't withdraw the money from an ATM machine because it only dispensed $20 bills. Owning our own home seemed more like a fantasy, and I started to doubt how I would live up to my 5-year promise to Irma. I had to come up with a plan.

By the end of our second year in Vancouver, we came across a private loan that allowed us to put a downpayment for a 1-bedroom condo in Vancouver. We bought a FSBO (for sale by owner) unit in downtown Vancouver.

It was a bad market for condos in Vancouver because of several leaky developments, and I was able to negotiate a good deal. I felt that the market for condos would recover, but I didn't anticipate the market would climb so significantly shortly after. We sold our property in 2003, and our initial downpayment generated over 200% ROI (return on investment) in 27 months.

Since then, I was hooked on real estate. I thought to myself: If I was fortunate enough to earn over 200% ROI not anticipating what I had done in two years, imagine the possibilities if I knew what I was actually doing!

I read countless books, attended seminars, filed through course materials and communicated with numerous brokers, agents, sellers, investors and lenders. I picked up any literature that would help motivate me, and I was relentless in absorbing as much information as I could about the business of real estate investing.

By 2005, I had purchased 6 properties in addition to our own residence. I sold two for profit and kept four with joint investors, all generating positive cashflow. These cashflowing properties are true assets that will continue to provide passive income for me and my joint investors as long as we continue to own them. They will also serve as leverage for future property investments and help provide security for my retirement once the mortgages are paid.

This website is part of our endeavor to share and learn the business of real estate investing, which is a continuing process. Although some of the links may not relate directly to real estate investments, they do offer products or services that inspire, educate and help align your thoughts on success and achieving financial freedom.