All Forum Posts by: Darryl Young

I've found that when most people say "You can't do that" what they actually mean is "I can't do that". They are filled with fear, unable to picture themselves achieving the goal you've set out for yourself. If you actually achieved the goal, they would then have to confront the reality that they could accomplish the same thing and are choosing not to. Most people are uncomfortable with this level of self examination, so it is far quicker and easier to discourage you from trying. So when someone tells me I can't do something I understand what they really mean, and I just smile.

Regarding someone giving you second hand information about someone's brother's cousin who had a rental property that they had all kinds of problems with, I give that information exactly the weight it deserves, which is none. Unless you talk directly to the person who had the supposed issues, you can't know whether the story is true or what the actual details are. Hearsay is not allowed in a court of law, and should be kept even further away from your planning and internal dialogue. 

Thankfully in most instances, people are telling you these things out of true concern for your well being.

Nice to meet you also.

Please accept the comment above in the spirit of fun in which it was intended (hence the winking ;-) )

Being as this is your first post, you are probably not aware that soliciting outside of the Marketplace is not acceptable. You must also have a Pro or Pro Plus account to post there.

"The Real Estate Marketplace is the place on BiggerPockets where you can promote or advertise your real estate business, your deals & opportunities, your financing, and your website. If you have residential or commercial real estate for sale, the marketplace is the perfect place to find buyers. It is also the only place where soliciting partners, financing, deals, leads, or referrals, is acceptable on BiggerPockets."

This is done to keep all posts of that nature in one place and to keep the other areas from being overrun with posts of all kinds of ventures.

I would suggest you start with reading items under the Learn tab at the top of the page. There is a wealth of useful information there.

Welcome!

Darryl

Darryl Young is very suspicious of people who refer to themselves in the third person... ;-)

Hi Jeff,

No basement will definitely tend to limit the potential pool of renters. Is there a high water table in that area? Are most other houses in the area built without basements? Is this in an area of mainly seasonal rentals and cottages? If you are looking at utilizing it as a seasonal or cottage rental I don't think the lack of basement will have much effect. If you are looking to rent it out as a full time residence you will be limiting your potential number of renters. You can always explore having the house raised and a full basement installed, however the cost would need to be justified by the additional rent income.

I think the best thing you could do for the layout would be to remove one or more walls (as long as they're not load bearing) to open up to the rest of the apartment.

An island or breakfast bar then gives you extra counter space and storage area. I would keep the plumbing in its current location and adjust the appliance locations around that.

Congrats Justin!

I've also been considering Student Rentals in the St. Catharines/Thorold area. Keep us posted how everything goes.

Darryl

A small graphic of destinations for US immigrants

I don't think anyone expects immigration to prevent a housing bubble, it's only another demand placed on the housing supply in addition to speculation, demand due to historically low interest rates, etc. I don't know of anyone who is saying that the housing bubble in the US burst because of demand driven by immigration. It was related to people obtaining mortgages with no reasonable means to pay them back. 

The housing demand increase due to immigration in Canada is much more concentrated than in the US. Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver take 69% of all immigrants to Canada. The top 3 US cities (New York, Miami & Los Angeles) take a total of 22% of immigrants to the US. If New York took the same % of national immigrants as Toronto does, over 400,000 new people would move there every year as opposed to 130,000 currently. What effect would this have on demand for housing and home prices?

One can decide for oneself if prices are justified based on house price ratios to rents and household incomes. Personally I believe things are overheated but this can change quickly, just ask our friends out Alberta way.

The Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) and federal Entrepreneur (EN) Program to attract high net worth individuals was eliminated due to the limited economic benefit of the program.

Here are some numbers for immigration for 2013:

Economic Class Immigrants (skilled workers as well as spouses & dependents) - 148,181

Family Class Immigrants - 81,831

Refugees - 24,049

Other - 4,892

Total: 258,953

I saw a chart somewhere recently showing that of the approximately 250,000 immigrants admitted, almost 100,000 were university educated.

Roy and Chad have touched on a number of the reasons. The other input I would like to add is immigration level and its concentration.

Canada adds approx. 0.7% population growth per year through immigration vs. 0.3% for the US. Canada's plan for 2015 is to bring in 285,000 immigrants or a population roughly the size of St. Paul, MN.

In 2006, 94.9% of Canada's foreign-born population and 97.2% of recent immigrants lived in either a census metropolitan area or a census agglomeration, i.e., urban community.

Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver attracted 68.9% (765,000) of the new immigrants who came between 2001 and 2006. Another 28.3% spread across the remaining urban areas, while only 2.8% chose to live in a rural area.

Unlike growth due to having children, this growth through immigration causes an immediate requirement for new housing.

Once again, it comes down to supply and demand. Valuations away from the big 3 metropolitan areas are much better.

At some point I do foresee a correction in these markets, however I don't anticipate a full collapse at the moment