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Just purchased my first Canadian investment property *tips, pics, and ama*

JDE

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A few months ago I purchased a 1/2 duplex in the Edmonton area, and it is now rented and cash-flowing every month. This is my first experience with anything remotely fastlane, and having someone else pay down a mortgage for me every month regardless of whether I am studying, working, or on vacation, is pretty damn cool!

At a few points I almost dropped the idea of pursuing real estate because I heard a great deal of stories of people getting burned in Canadian property investing, so I wanted to share my experience for anyone who is considering taking the plunge, because it is absolutely doable, lots of fun, and a great learning experience.

Here's a pic of the place -

Property.jpg

Tip 1 - Read these!
-"More than Cashflow" by Julie Broad - this it the most realistic and thorough book I have found on Canadian real estate investing. Excellent resource, but almost deterred me from investing because it hits hard on every possible thing that can go wrong - my actual experience has been much more positive than that of the book.
-"Secrets of the Canadian Real Estate Cycle" by Don R Campbell - this book is excellent for figuring out where to invest to maximize potential for appreciation. Here's a link to the market analysis I did for the current area I am investing in, based on the principles of the book - Alberta real estate in a slump? (Market analysis included)

Tip 2 - Excel is your friend
-Having a realistic view of the numbers behind every property is paramount. I have attached the spreadsheet I created, including the actual numbers for the above property I own (these are not theoretical - these numbers are literally what I am receiving/paying) - note the cashflow is relatively low, but this is after conservative numbers accounting for vacancy and maintenance - the primary money you will earn on residential real estate in Canada is through mortgage pay-down (for sure) and appreciation (hopefully!).

Tip 3 - Use free local resources
-http://myreinspace.com/ - this forum is the bible for Canadian real estate investing, you do not have to be a member to access loads of great content on the public forums. I also found my property manager, lawyer, and mortgage broker off of recommendations made on the public forums.

Tip 4 - Don't worry if you feel like you don't know what you're doing
-Most single family investors (in my area anyways) are novices that generally do not know what they are doing. This was encouraging for me, as I am 25 and had never purchased or leased a property prior to this investment property. Know that if you have taken the steps to read up beforehand, have some idea of what a process even is, and put in a decent amount of effort, you will already be miles ahead of most residential real estate investors. Over half of the properties in my area are marketed with blurry sideways cell phone pictures with awful lighting and no descriptions, often at rates that are completely unrealistic.

Tip 5 - Know what your property will ACTUALLY rent for
-This step is usually the one that causes the most grief for residential real estate investors. If you look on kijiji or similar websites you will see what people want to rent their properties for in a given area. This can be misleading, because people will often try and rent their property for far more than it is worth, for example:

Posted.png

This property has been listed on the website rentfaster.ca for upwards of 6 months, because no one will pay that much for that property. This is why you must be very careful, because if you have a property similar to this one, you can't expect it will rent for $1950, or whatever else people are advertising.

So how do you know what your property will rent for? A much better way is to create a search on rentfaster for properties similar to the one you are considering buying, in your given area (ie 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1/2 duplexes in your area), and then check it every few days. Rentfaster.ca has an excellent feature that allows you to see what properties actually rented for for a few days, before taking the listing down. Keeping track of rental rates this way for a month or so in your target area will give you a much better idea of what your property will go for. For example, the following property ACTUALLY rented for $1950.

Rented.png

I hope some of these tips will be helpful for anyone considering getting into real estate, and feel free to ask me anything because there's a huge amount I haven't covered!
 
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  • Number Crunch Template.xlsx
    40.8 KB · Views: 44

MJ DeMarco

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Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 

LamboKing

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Amazing! I'm in the process of trying to do the same in the US, would love to hear any other tips, or details from your first duplex?

BTW: Thanks for the spreadsheet!
 

JDE

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Amazing! I'm in the process of trying to do the same in the US, would love to hear any other tips, or details from your first duplex?

BTW: Thanks for the spreadsheet!

Thanks man I appreciate it! As for purchasing in the US the details and financing tends to be much different than in Canada, so I don't have a great deal of specific advice, but the best resource I could recommend would be biggerpockets.com, which is a phenomenal website with lots of American real estate investors posting regularly. Also there's a lot of location specific discussion here where you can check other investors thoughts on the market in your given area, or even meet up with locals.

Personally the best part of biggerpockets that I've found is the podcast - they have hundreds of interviews with people that have made it happen in real estate and know what they're talking about. There were a few weeks for me where every time I went for a run I'd listen to another interview. It was a good mindset thing for me because since I didn't personally know anyone who went and bought houses as investments, listening to people chatting about it all the time made it seem like a more normal and attainable thing to do.
 
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Worldisyours

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A few months ago I purchased a 1/2 duplex in the Edmonton area, and it is now rented and cash-flowing every month. This is my first experience with anything remotely fastlane, and having someone else pay down a mortgage for me every month regardless of whether I am studying, working, or on vacation, is pretty damn cool!

At a few points I almost dropped the idea of pursuing real estate because I heard a great deal of stories of people getting burned in Canadian property investing, so I wanted to share my experience for anyone who is considering taking the plunge, because it is absolutely doable, lots of fun, and a great learning experience.

Here's a pic of the place -

View attachment 19526

Tip 1 - Read these!
-"More than Cashflow" by Julie Broad - this it the most realistic and thorough book I have found on Canadian real estate investing. Excellent resource, but almost deterred me from investing because it hits hard on every possible thing that can go wrong - my actual experience has been much more positive than that of the book.
-"Secrets of the Canadian Real Estate Cycle" by Don R Campbell - this book is excellent for figuring out where to invest to maximize potential for appreciation. Here's a link to the market analysis I did for the current area I am investing in, based on the principles of the book - Alberta real estate in a slump? (Market analysis included)

Tip 2 - Excel is your friend
-Having a realistic view of the numbers behind every property is paramount. I have attached the spreadsheet I created, including the actual numbers for the above property I own (these are not theoretical - these numbers are literally what I am receiving/paying) - note the cashflow is relatively low, but this is after conservative numbers accounting for vacancy and maintenance - the primary money you will earn on residential real estate in Canada is through mortgage pay-down (for sure) and appreciation (hopefully!).

Tip 3 - Use free local resources
-http://myreinspace.com/ - this forum is the bible for Canadian real estate investing, you do not have to be a member to access loads of great content on the public forums. I also found my property manager, lawyer, and mortgage broker off of recommendations made on the public forums.

Tip 4 - Don't worry if you feel like you don't know what you're doing
-Most single family investors (in my area anyways) are novices that generally do not know what they are doing. This was encouraging for me, as I am 25 and had never purchased or leased a property prior to this investment property. Know that if you have taken the steps to read up beforehand, have some idea of what a process even is, and put in a decent amount of effort, you will already be miles ahead of most residential real estate investors. Over half of the properties in my area are marketed with blurry sideways cell phone pictures with awful lighting and no descriptions, often at rates that are completely unrealistic.

Tip 5 - Know what your property will ACTUALLY rent for
-This step is usually the one that causes the most grief for residential real estate investors. If you look on kijiji or similar websites you will see what people want to rent their properties for in a given area. This can be misleading, because people will often try and rent their property for far more than it is worth, for example:

View attachment 19528

This property has been listed on the website rentfaster.ca for upwards of 6 months, because no one will pay that much for that property. This is why you must be very careful, because if you have a property similar to this one, you can't expect it will rent for $1950, or whatever else people are advertising.

So how do you know what your property will rent for? A much better way is to create a search on rentfaster for properties similar to the one you are considering buying, in your given area (ie 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1/2 duplexes in your area), and then check it every few days. Rentfaster.ca has an excellent feature that allows you to see what properties actually rented for for a few days, before taking the listing down. Keeping track of rental rates this way for a month or so in your target area will give you a much better idea of what your property will go for. For example, the following property ACTUALLY rented for $1950.

View attachment 19529

I hope some of these tips will be helpful for anyone considering getting into real estate, and feel free to ask me anything because there's a huge amount I haven't covered!

I am looking to purchase my first property in canada as a foreigner.
What do you think of the Vancouver area.
In April 2018, the changed the laws for lending, they are a bit stricter now. And unfortunately they have put a tax on foreign buyer at 20 percent. But some provinces are exempt. it used to be if you just had 35 percent. Up front, You have the lending no questions asked.
 

JDE

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I am looking to purchase my first property in canada as a foreigner.
What do you think of the Vancouver area.
In April 2018, the changed the laws for lending, they are a bit stricter now. And unfortunately they have put a tax on foreign buyer at 20 percent. But some provinces are exempt. it used to be if you just had 35 percent. Up front, You have the lending no questions asked.

Hey thanks for the question, glad you're looking at getting into the real estate game! I can't speak for the details of the economics in the Vancouver area, but like you mentioned there is a great deal of variability in the market there right now, so I would be cautious. Quick changes in house prices provide opportunity, but more risk as well.

http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-housing/TREB_REBGV_results_may2018.pdf

If this is your first property in Canada and you are a foreigner metro Vancouver will probably be one of the most difficult areas to find properties that will work as investments. This is not to say it is impossible, because there are always deals to be had, but investing in other parts of BC or even other provinces would leave you with a greater safety margin, especially early on. I assume you are living in Vancouver right now, in which case you would have to weigh the home-field advantage of knowing the local area/market against fighting an uphill battle with the additional tax, and already high prices. Also, if you are in Vancouver I would recommend checking out local meetups, as there are many to choose from and there are likely others in a similar situation, and there are always creative solutions if you are determined enough.

Real Estate Investors Meetups in Vancouver - Meetup
 

Ricoboxing

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Thanks for posting this. As I'm getting pretty close to paying off my mortgage on my primary residence, I want to start investing in another property but don't know anything about RE investing yet.
 
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Elif

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Jun 25, 2018
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Amazing! I'm in the process of trying to do the same in the US, would love to hear any other tips, or details from your first duplex?
 

Worldisyours

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Hey thanks for the question, glad you're looking at getting into the real estate game! I can't speak for the details of the economics in the Vancouver area, but like you mentioned there is a great deal of variability in the market there right now, so I would be cautious. Quick changes in house prices provide opportunity, but more risk as well.

http://www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/canadian-housing/TREB_REBGV_results_may2018.pdf

If this is your first property in Canada and you are a foreigner metro Vancouver will probably be one of the most difficult areas to find properties that will work as investments. This is not to say it is impossible, because there are always deals to be had, but investing in other parts of BC or even other provinces would leave you with a greater safety margin, especially early on. I assume you are living in Vancouver right now, in which case you would have to weigh the home-field advantage of knowing the local area/market against fighting an uphill battle with the additional tax, and already high prices. Also, if you are in Vancouver I would recommend checking out local meetups, as there are many to choose from and there are likely others in a similar situation, and there are always creative solutions if you are determined enough.

Real Estate Investors Meetups in Vancouver - Meetup

Hey just read this.. yea its tricky here. Montreal is the only place the works for me. Uve decided to get another property in Europe
 

EvanOkanagan

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A few months ago I purchased a 1/2 duplex in the Edmonton area, and it is now rented and cash-flowing every month. This is my first experience with anything remotely fastlane, and having someone else pay down a mortgage for me every month regardless of whether I am studying, working, or on vacation, is pretty damn cool!

At a few points I almost dropped the idea of pursuing real estate because I heard a great deal of stories of people getting burned in Canadian property investing, so I wanted to share my experience for anyone who is considering taking the plunge, because it is absolutely doable, lots of fun, and a great learning experience.

Here's a pic of the place -

View attachment 19526

Tip 1 - Read these!
-"More than Cashflow" by Julie Broad - this it the most realistic and thorough book I have found on Canadian real estate investing. Excellent resource, but almost deterred me from investing because it hits hard on every possible thing that can go wrong - my actual experience has been much more positive than that of the book.
-"Secrets of the Canadian Real Estate Cycle" by Don R Campbell - this book is excellent for figuring out where to invest to maximize potential for appreciation. Here's a link to the market analysis I did for the current area I am investing in, based on the principles of the book - Alberta real estate in a slump? (Market analysis included)

Tip 2 - Excel is your friend
-Having a realistic view of the numbers behind every property is paramount. I have attached the spreadsheet I created, including the actual numbers for the above property I own (these are not theoretical - these numbers are literally what I am receiving/paying) - note the cashflow is relatively low, but this is after conservative numbers accounting for vacancy and maintenance - the primary money you will earn on residential real estate in Canada is through mortgage pay-down (for sure) and appreciation (hopefully!).

Tip 3 - Use free local resources
-http://myreinspace.com/ - this forum is the bible for Canadian real estate investing, you do not have to be a member to access loads of great content on the public forums. I also found my property manager, lawyer, and mortgage broker off of recommendations made on the public forums.

Tip 4 - Don't worry if you feel like you don't know what you're doing
-Most single family investors (in my area anyways) are novices that generally do not know what they are doing. This was encouraging for me, as I am 25 and had never purchased or leased a property prior to this investment property. Know that if you have taken the steps to read up beforehand, have some idea of what a process even is, and put in a decent amount of effort, you will already be miles ahead of most residential real estate investors. Over half of the properties in my area are marketed with blurry sideways cell phone pictures with awful lighting and no descriptions, often at rates that are completely unrealistic.

Tip 5 - Know what your property will ACTUALLY rent for
-This step is usually the one that causes the most grief for residential real estate investors. If you look on kijiji or similar websites you will see what people want to rent their properties for in a given area. This can be misleading, because people will often try and rent their property for far more than it is worth, for example:

View attachment 19528

This property has been listed on the website rentfaster.ca for upwards of 6 months, because no one will pay that much for that property. This is why you must be very careful, because if you have a property similar to this one, you can't expect it will rent for $1950, or whatever else people are advertising.

So how do you know what your property will rent for? A much better way is to create a search on rentfaster for properties similar to the one you are considering buying, in your given area (ie 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1/2 duplexes in your area), and then check it every few days. Rentfaster.ca has an excellent feature that allows you to see what properties actually rented for for a few days, before taking the listing down. Keeping track of rental rates this way for a month or so in your target area will give you a much better idea of what your property will go for. For example, the following property ACTUALLY rented for $1950.

View attachment 19529

I hope some of these tips will be helpful for anyone considering getting into real estate, and feel free to ask me anything because there's a huge amount I haven't covered!

Congrats on the first purchase!

Fellow Canadian RE investor (from BC) here. Appreciate the book recommendation--it's hard to find good Canadian based Real Estate books. I just picked the book up yesterday and a good way through it.

Seems like you're on the right path with what you're reading. You're a REIN member I'm guessing? We just launched a REIN chapter in Kelowna, BC and it's an amazing resource of info.

Are you looking at picking anything else up this year?

P.S. Love the spreadsheet. Have a look at the attachment, this is the program I use for calculating returns called Property Evaluator. It's an app (only compatible with Apple products and I think it's around $70-$100). You can add all your properties in here to track the numbers and also anytime you want to quickly generate the returns on properties you can throw in the numbers and it'll generate these PDF's. I'm a Realtor and use it anytime I show clients the return on their potential purchases.
 
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Attachments

  • Thompson Duplex.pdf
    295.5 KB · Views: 21

KennyAronson

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A few months ago I purchased a 1/2 duplex in the Edmonton area, and it is now rented and cash-flowing every month. This is my first experience with anything remotely fastlane, and having someone else pay down a mortgage for me every month regardless of whether I am studying, working, or on vacation, is pretty damn cool!

At a few points I almost dropped the idea of pursuing real estate because I heard a great deal of stories of people getting burned in Canadian property investing, so I wanted to share my experience for anyone who is considering taking the plunge, because it is absolutely doable, lots of fun, and a great learning experience.

Here's a pic of the place -

View attachment 19526

Tip 1 - Read these!
-"More than Cashflow" by Julie Broad - this it the most realistic and thorough book I have found on Canadian real estate investing. Excellent resource, but almost deterred me from investing because it hits hard on every possible thing that can go wrong - my actual experience has been much more positive than that of the book.
-"Secrets of the Canadian Real Estate Cycle" by Don R Campbell - this book is excellent for figuring out where to invest to maximize potential for appreciation. Here's a link to the market analysis I did for the current area I am investing in, based on the principles of the book - Alberta real estate in a slump? (Market analysis included)

Tip 2 - Excel is your friend
-Having a realistic view of the numbers behind every property is paramount. I have attached the spreadsheet I created, including the actual numbers for the above property I own (these are not theoretical - these numbers are literally what I am receiving/paying) - note the cashflow is relatively low, but this is after conservative numbers accounting for vacancy and maintenance - the primary money you will earn on residential real estate in Canada is through mortgage pay-down (for sure) and appreciation (hopefully!).

Tip 3 - Use free local resources
-http://myreinspace.com/ - this forum is the bible for Canadian real estate investing, you do not have to be a member to access loads of great content on the public forums. I also found my property manager, lawyer, and mortgage broker off of recommendations made on the public forums.

Tip 4 - Don't worry if you feel like you don't know what you're doing
-Most single family investors (in my area anyways) are novices that generally do not know what they are doing. This was encouraging for me, as I am 25 and had never purchased or leased a property prior to this investment property. Know that if you have taken the steps to read up beforehand, have some idea of what a process even is, and put in a decent amount of effort, you will already be miles ahead of most residential real estate investors. Over half of the properties in my area are marketed with blurry sideways cell phone pictures with awful lighting and no descriptions, often at rates that are completely unrealistic.

Tip 5 - Know what your property will ACTUALLY rent for
-This step is usually the one that causes the most grief for residential real estate investors. If you look on kijiji or similar websites you will see what people want to rent their properties for in a given area. This can be misleading, because people will often try and rent their property for far more than it is worth, for example:

View attachment 19528

This property has been listed on the website rentfaster.ca for upwards of 6 months, because no one will pay that much for that property. This is why you must be very careful, because if you have a property similar to this one, you can't expect it will rent for $1950, or whatever else people are advertising.

So how do you know what your property will rent for? A much better way is to create a search on rentfaster for properties similar to the one you are considering buying, in your given area (ie 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1/2 duplexes in your area), and then check it every few days. Rentfaster.ca has an excellent feature that allows you to see what properties actually rented for for a few days, before taking the listing down. Keeping track of rental rates this way for a month or so in your target area will give you a much better idea of what your property will go for. For example, the following property ACTUALLY rented for $1950.

View attachment 19529

I hope some of these tips will be helpful for anyone considering getting into real estate, and feel free to ask me anything because there's a huge amount I haven't covered!

Thank you so much for the wonderful guidance.

My plan is to get into real estate by the end of this year.

There's so much information out there, but I can't wait to start getting my feet wet.
 

JDE

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35
156
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Congrats on the first purchase!

Fellow Canadian RE investor (from BC) here. Appreciate the book recommendation--it's hard to find good Canadian based Real Estate books. I just picked the book up yesterday and a good way through it.

Seems like you're on the right path with what you're reading. You're a REIN member I'm guessing? We just launched a REIN chapter in Kelowna, BC and it's an amazing resource of info.

Are you looking at picking anything else up this year?

P.S. Love the spreadsheet. Have a look at the attachment, this is the program I use for calculating returns called Property Evaluator. It's an app (only compatible with Apple products and I think it's around $70-$100). You can add all your properties in here to track the numbers and also anytime you want to quickly generate the returns on properties you can throw in the numbers and it'll generate these PDF's. I'm a Realtor and use it anytime I show clients the return on their potential purchases.

Thanks I really appreciate it man! Ya the fastlane material is fantastic for more big picture / mindset stuff whereas I have used REIN for more local and specific to Canada real estate information and it's great.

This year I'm looking into purchasing a mobile home park in BC so I've been on a reading and researching marathon for the last little while. While there's very little Canada specific residential investing material out there there's essentially zero Canada specific mobile home stuff so it's been uphill so far. To be optimistic it's a great entry barrier though haha and there are relatively few people involved in the space.

I appreciate the app suggestion it looks great, looks like it works for multifamily as well and keeps things streamlined which would be super helpful as I've found that my spreadsheets are getting a bit out of hand!
 

fishgodeep

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Thanks for writing this @JDE lot's of valuable information here. It's a funny coincidence how similar your story is to mine. I'm also an Edmonton resident (not my birth, an immigrant originally) and looking to buy my first rental property. Also joined myreinspace.com based on your recommendation. Enjoyed reading your thread over there as well. You clearly have an analytical thought process which seems to be the best way of going about this.

I Just got the bug recently but I'm dedicated to making this a reality. My goal is to purchase my first rental property before my Birthday (March 2020). I'm planning on purchasing a house with a finished basement so that I can live there while renting out the top floor. The end goal being living rent free while also making a profit on the place. In order to do this I'll have to put down a large down payment to reduce the cost of my mortgage. Do you mind if I PM you with some specific questions?
 
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TheProcess

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I know this might be a stupid question but, I live in Toronto and I’m wondering if you know how much money one would need realistically to invest in a property? I’m 19 so naturally I don’t have much money saved up. To add to this, any other advice for one my age looking to get in the real estate game? Thank you for this thread.
 

JDE

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Thanks @fishgodeep I appreciate it, definitely hit me with any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer. While I was very close to purchasing a basement suited property I never ended up going through with it and look forward to hearing how it goes, it's one of the only ways to make single family properties cashflow in the Edmonton area right now. I remember it was a bit of a pain to even find all the suited properties in the first place, but I used Take a Look and in their advanced search used the keyword "legal". This narrowed results down to legally suited houses or houses with the potential to be suited in the area.

@TheProcess that's a good question because it is different in Canada than the States and most reference material is from the States so it can be confusing. In Canada you have to put down 20% downpayment for a rental property. For me that was around ~$60-70 grand. You can get around this by paying 5-15% downpayment by saying it is not a rental property, living in it for a bit, and then renting it out (lower downpayment is required for non-rental properties in Canada, properties you plan on living in). As far as I know there's no 'real estate police' that make sure you have lived in the property a select number of days or months before renting it out. There are two problems with this though - first if you put that little into the downpayment then the monthly mortgage payments will be so high it will be difficult to make the property cashflow unless it's a gem anyways. Second it's a bit of a hazy ethical area, technically I believe you are supposed to live in the property for a year at least before you rent it out if you apply to get the 5-15% downpayment from the bank.

All that being said if you are determined there are creative ways to get into investing in Canada with relatively small amounts of upfront cash in both residential and commercial real estate, I found Canadian Real Estate Investor Financing: 7 Secrets to Getting All the Money You Want: Dalia Barsoum, Enza Venuto: 9780991868704: Gateway - Amazon.ca to be really helpful for the nitty gritty.

Also if you have limited money you could look into condos or mobile homes as well, I purchased a mobile home last month which I am in the process of flipping for less than the price of a car, and in Alberta financing is available so you can realistically get into that form of real estate for ~$5-10,000.

Lastly I got my rental property at 25 before I even moved out of my parents place, if anything being younger is a big advantage because real estate takes time to be effective. Thanks for the comment man!
 

TechnoGamer

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@JDE

Congrats, man! And thanks for sharing.

I am from Canada as well and I am looking to get into real estate investing. Instead of residential, however, I am interested in doing commercial real estate investing.

Why? I like the idea of long leases (5-10 years) and not having to worry about too many tenant regulations.

The ideal property would be buying retail space that already has a tenant. Ideally below or around the $100k mark. I understand that might be low but I am OK with investing in a small city and buying a place with small sqft.

Do you have any tips or advice specific to this? Thanks!
 
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JDE

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Thanks for the comment @TechnoGamer, it's good to see so many Canadian real estate investors out here. If you're willing to go small town then there's definitely a lower price point to get into commercial real estate, and you're right that the leases can be longer. One challenge that you may find with a small town is that usually the smaller the town, the tougher it is to get bank financing for. But this being said there are often small local credit unions that will work with you, and I believe if you are determined enough you can make just about anything work. Commercial is also a space that relatively few real estate investors venture into, compared with residential real estate, mostly due to perceived entry barriers. So at face value it may seem like a more intimidating asset class, but because it is not over-saturated with other investors there are still great deals to be had. I am currently looking into purchasing a mobile home park for a similar reason.

This book Amazon.com: Crushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate: How a Small Investor Can Make It Big (Audible Audio Edition): Brian H Murray, Chris Abell, Sackets Harbor Press: Gateway is my favourite for a general intro to the asset class and some good mindset stuff, and I'd recommend Brian Hennessey's books for more nitty gritty commercial real estate information Amazon.com: The Due Diligence Handbook for Commercial Real Estate: A Proven System to Save Time, Money, Headaches and Create Value When Buying Commercial Real Estate (Audible Audio Edition): Brian Hennessey, Troy W. Hudson: Gateway
 

TechnoGamer

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Thanks for the comment @TechnoGamer, it's good to see so many Canadian real estate investors out here. If you're willing to go small town then there's definitely a lower price point to get into commercial real estate, and you're right that the leases can be longer. One challenge that you may find with a small town is that usually the smaller the town, the tougher it is to get bank financing for. But this being said there are often small local credit unions that will work with you, and I believe if you are determined enough you can make just about anything work. Commercial is also a space that relatively few real estate investors venture into, compared with residential real estate, mostly due to perceived entry barriers. So at face value it may seem like a more intimidating asset class, but because it is not over-saturated with other investors there are still great deals to be had. I am currently looking into purchasing a mobile home park for a similar reason.

This book Amazon.com: Crushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate: How a Small Investor Can Make It Big (Audible Audio Edition): Brian H Murray, Chris Abell, Sackets Harbor Press: Gateway is my favourite for a general intro to the asset class and some good mindset stuff, and I'd recommend Brian Hennessey's books for more nitty gritty commercial real estate information Amazon.com: The Due Diligence Handbook for Commercial Real Estate: A Proven System to Save Time, Money, Headaches and Create Value When Buying Commercial Real Estate (Audible Audio Edition): Brian Hennessey, Troy W. Hudson: Gateway

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I will be investing with cash so I am hoping that significantly simplifies things. I have proceeds from my fast lane business that I want to invest in something that is very stable and generates cashflow and commercial real estate seems promising.

Since it's cash I'm a bit limited. The max deal size I am looking at right now is around $100-150k CAD. I hope that's enough to get me something that yields $800-1000/mo rent.

I will check out the books you've mentioned in this thread :)
 

TechnoGamer

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-http://myreinspace.com/ - this forum is the bible for Canadian real estate investing, you do not have to be a member to access loads of great content on the public forums. I also found my property manager, lawyer, and mortgage broker off of recommendations made on the public forums.

Hey @JDE,

Quick question. Just wondering if a membership is worth it from your opinion. The public forums don't seem as active and I am wondering if there's more exclusive content and/or activity in the members section.
 
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JDE

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@TechnoGamer it may be useful depending on what you are looking to get out of it. I was never a member, although my dad was for a few years so I know a bit about it indirectly.

On the one hand you could certainly get by without it, as I was able to make it work without a membership, and there were enough archived posts on the website and books out there on Canadian investing to give me more than enough information to take action. Also it is very expensive and I've heard there are a lot of up-sells etc at the events (but it's also not a scam, just pricey).

On the other hand I've heard it can be helpful in a few ways, which may or may not be relevant to you
1 - If you are interested in joint ventures (doing deals with other people) then this is a great place to start
2 - Knowledge - If you are having trouble learning everything you feel you need to know from books/internet (especially if you are investing in a niche area). For example I am currently investing in mobile home parks, and if there was a group membership for MHP investors in my area I would join up in a heartbeat, because there's almost no Canadian specific information available online or in books on how to do it, and people are the best way to learn it. But, for my residential property in this thread it was fairly cookie cutter, and I didn't need extra knowledge so I was fine without any mentoring or networking.
3 - Motivation and Mindset - Being around people that own and rent buildings will make it seem more normal and attainable. Also the more people you talk to about your investing plans the more accountable you become. Your brain will kick your a$$ and make you feel like crap if you bail out on your business/investment plans after telling half the people you know about what you were going to do and then gave up on it.
 

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