New Member in Toronto, Canada
Hey Bigger Pockets!
I've been reading the forums and listening to the podcasts for the last couple months now, so I figured I might as well introduce myself here.
I am 21 years old, from Toronto, Canada. My current area of work is in business development/sales. I am about to graduate from York University with a degree in economics.
Having had an interest in entrepreneurship for quite a while, real estate has really drawn my eye as the numbers make so much sense. And it seems like the more I learn the more interesting it becomes.
To date, I own zero real estate. However with my increased interest and excitement (and developing knowledge) about real estate, my dad has decided to partner up with me in this venture. It is the perfect combo as he has the ability to get a mortgage but no time and I don't have the credit but I have the time to learn, study and take care of business.
We are not the type to jump into things without thorough analysis, and having made our decision to become real estate investors, we have the intention to build a portfolio over time rather then looking to buy just one or two.
We have a couple key members of our team already established and we have created the corporate structure we need. We have a few real estate agents helping us pick up listings that are just hitting or have not yet reached the market.
For those unfamiliar, Toronto is an extremely pricey market. Condo development in Toronto has reached an all time high and is one of the highest in the world for $ value of condominium building permits accepted by the city. As a result most investing that takes place in Toronto is based on speculating future appreciation. Which, for the time being, actually does seem somewhat sustainable because of such high levels of immigration and high demand for residences in the city.
Even given the prospects of possible appreciation, we have decided to stick with the fundamentals and invest in areas 1-2 hours outside Toronto where the values of homes have only been slightly affected, if at all. Our strategy consists of finding undervalued properties focusing on student rentals and small multi family units (from duplexes up to 10 units). We are looking for deals where we know we are making money on the day we buy. Not that we are scared to make mistakes, simply avoid errors from learning from other people's experiences.
This has been quite a long post but I wanted to introduce myself properly and hopefully as I gain more experience I'll be able to provide value to other people deciding to take the plunge into real estate investing.