All Forum Posts by: Anthony Therrien-Bernard

I am curious on how the lending works if I have my townhouse fully rented, does my debt to income ratio go back to 0 if the rent covers all the running costs of the property?

The property has ~30% equity in it and I plan on keeping the equity in the property. I will have ~$90k for a down payment on the next property if I buy by middle of 2023.

Looking around I am hoping I can find a SFH around $500-550k. The question would be should I continue to save until I reach the 20% down payment and push my purchase out one year, put a 5% down payment for an owner occupied loan, or pull equity out of my townhouse to make up the missing down payment amount to get the 20%?

In the perfect world I would be able to qualify for a loan that is 4x my income ($460k) plus my $90k down payment allowing me to purchase a home around $550k price point.

I am looking for homes in central BC, not Vancouver BC.

Hi Erwin,

Unfortunately, your debt-to-income ratio won't go back to 0, lenders have different offsets and different ways to calculate your rental income but for most they only count 50% of the income. A mortgage broker would be able to do the calculation for you. If you would like some recommendations of investor-focused mortgage broker let me know.

0 Votes

Vancouver, British Columbia

This is something you could bring to your local real estate council, in Alberta it would be RECA. I personally feel that our contracts in Alberta are fairly simple as far as contracts go but that's my personal opinion. Legal contracts definitely need a good balance of legal strength and ease of understanding for the average person, it definitely shouldn't be only a licensed Realtor that can understand the purchase contract, most buyers/sellers should be able to understand it as well.

0 Votes

Hi Ash,

I've got a really good investor-focused mortgage broker and a property manager to recommend:

Property manager:

Stephen Bleile BA(hons.), Q.Med, Dad

Cell: 403 918 3433

Office: 587 323 8000

Web: www.parallel.ca

2 Votes

Calgary, Alberta

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:

Quote from @Jason Yong:

@Stevo Sun but you think it's possible with 2 doors then?

Does this sound accurate for a legal duplex?

"Basement suites must have a separate kitchen, living, sleeping, and bathroom areas from the main residence. However, they may share the same laundry area, backyard, parking spaces, and storage area with your main residence."

What about basement ceiling height? Is there fire door requirements? or anything else?

Hi Jason,

This is absolutely possible to rent a ~$500k property for $3000-3500 with 2 units and maybe a separate garage in Calgary right now. There are a lot of considerations with basements suites and legalizing an existing illegal suite is very different from building a new one, if you have questions about the processes you can reach out to me, I've been through the process a few times.

For your own reading you can find information about the illegal to legal conversion process here: https://www.calgary.ca/develop...

Or for a new suite here:

https://www.calgary.ca/develop... type of neighborhoods are the 500k properties that can rent for 3000 for long term rentals. Assuming with two suites (1750 + 1250) in a single detached. I can't think of a neighborhood on top of my head in Calgary that fits that bill. Is it closer to downtown or varsity area?

I feel like I'm completely missing the market/neighborhood you are describing here.

Pretty much any B and C neighborhood nice clean renovated units. These are not hypothetical, these are the numbers myself and my investor friends are actually getting. We have properties in areas like Huntington Hills, Bowness, Southwood, Airdrie etc

I will definitely keep an eye open but I didn't think rents would be that high in those neighborhood. I know a friend that rents a renovated 2br basement suite for 1150 in Bowness. I think the main floor suite is only 1450 or so. Has the market rent moved that much?

It's hard to argue with the actual rents are are getting though... You guys must be charging way under market rents. Rents have indeed increase by 25% over last year in Calgary

0 Votes

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:

Quote from @Jason Yong:

@Stevo Sun but you think it's possible with 2 doors then?

Does this sound accurate for a legal duplex?

What about basement ceiling height? Is there fire door requirements? or anything else?

Hi Jason,

For your own reading you can find information about the illegal to legal conversion process here: https://www.calgary.ca/develop...

Or for a new suite here:

I feel like I'm completely missing the market/neighborhood you are describing here.

0 Votes

Quote from @Jason Yong:

@Stevo Sun but you think it's possible with 2 doors then?

Does this sound accurate for a legal duplex?

What about basement ceiling height? Is there fire door requirements? or anything else?

Hi Jason,

For your own reading you can find information about the illegal to legal conversion process here: https://www.calgary.ca/develop...

Or for a new suite here:

https://www.calgary.ca/development/home-building/new-secondary-suite.html

1 Vote

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Jason Yong:

Thanks for that @Stevo Sun, sounds like with the interest rates, Calgary will be very hard to cashflow then? Time for me to move on to Edmonton, Halifix or the US?

@Anthony Therrien-Bernard
What would a semi-detached with a legal basement suite in a B neighborhood go for?
Does it make sense to look into ones that I can convert into a legal suite to try to get a deal?

Cashflow had always been challenging I'm Calgary I think. Some investors are willing to forgo cash flow for the first 5yrs on a property. That means they can go cashflow negatively (a bit) for a while. This means they can offer higher prices and wait for properties to turn cash flow positive (rent increase, lower leverage, etc.). This makes the market is pretty competitive. I don't know if it's super different in Edmonton.

I completely disagree with you on this, I never bought a property in Calgary that didn't cashflow in 10 years of investing here...

Fair, maybe I'm not looking hard enough haha. But I have only found 3 (2 roughly break even/bit positive and 1 pretty good) in the 5yrs I have invested.

No arguments here, you can find them furniture. But I also know some folks that are not looking for cash flowing property right out of the gate so they can afford to go higher price point than what I'm willing to pay.

Definitely need to filter out a lot of properties that don't cashflow but all my properties stayed cashflow positive even though the oil downturn and we still find them for our clients right now

1 Vote

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Jason Yong:

Thanks for that @Stevo Sun, sounds like with the interest rates, Calgary will be very hard to cashflow then? Time for me to move on to Edmonton, Halifix or the US?

I completely disagree with you on this, I never bought a property in Calgary that didn't cashflow in 10 years of investing here...

0 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Anthony Therrien-Bernard

Anthony Therrien-Bernard has started 23 posts and replied 267 times.

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