All Forum Posts by: Chris Baxter

@Robert Campbell  welcome to BP! As @Tyler Stiller mentioned, a Realtor will be able to pull up recent sales data in your market. In some provinces, assessment data is available year round and can show recent transactions. Once you get into larger MF (6 units and up) the process is much easier... the value is based on NOI and cap rate.

@Nelson Ellingham  first, each property should have its own bank account and every transaction needs to go through it. That way, there is no need to 'seperate' expenses; its already done for you.  From there, use the accounting software of your choice (or just give your property statements and bank downloads to your accountant).

@Jake Alsemgeest  There is nothing scary about investing away from where you live.  My closest property is 5,824 km from my house, and I've never owned property in the same market I live in.  While some investors find comfort in being able to drive by their assets, I derive comfort knowing that I have a team of professionals looking after my investments and I don't have the day-to-day job of property management.  

@Jake Alsemgeest  Welcome to BP!  Singles and condos won't cashflow in KW without underleveraging (i.e put a larger down payment); they used to and I had several local properties (sold the last one in July... there is no way that it would cash flow for the new owner at the sale price).  

Since nobody has touched this part of you question " Do people in these saturated markets still invest when they are cash
flow negative for the potentially higher appreciation gains?"  I'll chime in.... this strategy isn't investing, it's gambling.  Can you make money banking on appreciation? Sure... but what happens if appreciation slows or reverses? Also, your debt-ratios will be out of whack and you won't be able to float additional properties.

@Kendra Lacarte there is no standard screening form. Here is a good resource for thing you can/ can't ask: https://ontariolandlords.org/b...

Hello Brandon,

Welcome to BP!  I've been to St. John's a handful of times and it is one of my favourite cities in North America.  While I haven't invested in NL, I would be very interested to get your market outlook and thoughts on opportunities there.

@Anthony Panepinto  i can help with 2 of the three points:

2) Has anyone here ever BRRRR'd a multi-family property? (Context: I've seen mostly people talking about BRRRR'ing smaller single family homes).

Yes... I have BRRd (the last 2 Rs are refinance and repeat, going through both now) a 6 and 22 unit building. BRRR in MF adds tremendous scale as you can drive value through increasing rents and decreasing expenses, resulting in higher NOI (which is really all that matters for MF)

3) Any other optimal markets in Ontario to consider for BRRRR'ing multi-family properties?

Here is the rub with Ontario... you won't be able to increase rents just because you did some cosmetic improvements. If your tenant has to move out to facilitate the renovation, you are obligated to give them first right of refusal on the newly refurbished unit at their existing rent. That makes it pretty hard to BRRRR

@Cameron Chambers  since condos are gettig a lot of love on this thread so far, I'll give you a contrasting opinion...

1) Unless you are on the strata council / condo corp, changes can be made to your unit's costs or use without your consent.  This can be as simple as an increase in monthly fees to cover someone's pet project (let's add a pool!) to instituting bans or restrictions (no smoking, no short term rentals, no rentals at all, etc.) that impact your ability to rent effectively.

2) The pandemic is seeing a net out-migration from City centres; there will be a glut of condos on the market soon and a potential value correction

3) There is rarely an opportunity to value add to the property

4) Ontario, as a whole, can be challenging due to a skewed landlord / tenant board that heavily favours the tenant.  While condos are no different than other properties in this regard, it has been my experience that condo tenants like to stick around longer, which means stagnant rent over time

Good luck

@Dave Fairb  wow... that's quite the story. Thanks for sharing.  I've never been involved in a land assembly but I have heard of similar stories from people I know.  Have you taken you business to another lender?  Vancity is great if you are "inside the box";  I use them for my active business banking and for my holding company, but not for any lending... Perhaps a good broker can identify more options for you.