All Forum Posts by: Elijah Williamson

@Chris Baxter

I've heard some investors buy properties with little time remaining on leaseholds then extending the leases and selling again. Is this a viable strategy? Personally I've never met anyone who's done this and have heard very little on it.

I wanted to start a discussion on leasehold properties versus freeholds. My knowledge on them is quite limited so I'm not familiar with the ins and outs or the strategies that they could use. Does anyone have any experience buying leaseholds as investments? Are you looking for anything different compared to freeholds or are you using a different strategy for them?

Leaseholds are typically cheaper then freeholds. There's a much lower cost of entry to get into a market if you buy leaseholds. Would you recommend buying them?

But how does one come up with this number? What if you save 5% for vacancy and when there's a turn over you end up waiting 2-3 months before filling that vacancy?

One reason I'm asking this is my local market (which I don't intend to invest in) often takes local landlords 2-3 months to find a new renter and most renters don't seem to stay for more then a year. My neighbor is trying to rent her property out and it's been on the market for around 6 months now. How do I know I'm not walking into the same situation when analyzing a new market? 

I'm having trouble determining vacancy rates when analyzing potential markets. How do I know if I should be saving 5%, 10%, 15% or whatever the number is? How do you go about determining what you should be saving?

I'm currently in the process of finding deals and making offers. However I'd like to be making multiple offers. I'm wondering how more experienced investors go about it. I'm investing in Alberta, Canada. Here's a list of my questions.

-As a new investor with little capital, how much earnest money should I be putting down? Does the bare minimum make me look bad to the seller? If I'm putting $5,000 earnest down every deal, I won't be able to tie up many properties.

- What options do I have to get out of a contract if multiple offers are accepted? I can currently only afford one on my own. Rich dad poor dad mentions his cat being his "business partner" and getting out of contracts that way. How do you get out contracts that you no longer have an interest in? If I can't figured out to make a deal work, what can I do to safely back out?

I'm currently looking at a couple potential deals around the 12%-20% CoCROI, typically making $100-$250 a month. Are deals like this worth going into partnerships over? I've talked to a few other investors and most have a minimum of 8% at $150 a month but as far as I know, that's not with JVs. What's your requirements for long term rentals and partnerships?

I've been going back and forth on the thought of becoming an agent the last couple weeks and decided I'm going to go ahead with it. I do have a few questions though.

1. Should I get it now? I'm Canadian and our winters usually start early October-mid November and last until April-early May. Would it be better for me to time it with next Spring or should I go ahead with it now.

2.When does the renewal fee happen? Is it one year from when I get it or at a set time for everyone?

That's all my concerns listed. Thank you for any help provided.

I'm a big listener of the BP podcasts and have read most of the books they've recommended there but they're largely American and often talk about American real estate strategies. As both a new investor and a Canadian one, it's hard to tell what relates and what doesn't.

One particular question I have relates to a common strategy that is mentioned a lot on BP. Can I buy a property at 5% down, live in it for a year, then buy and move into another one at 5% down, turn my last primary into a investment property and continue to repeat this process?

I ask because I've been told by a few friends that you only get 5% on your first property then every other property is 20%. These friends are older then I but also have no REI experience so I'm not sure whether I can trust their knowledge on the subject.

As a side question. I'm running out of books to read and would love suggestions on specifically Canadian real estate ones as I feel I'm reading to many American ones.

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*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

There's 6 foreclosed Condos in my area that have been up for several months now. They're primarily rented by lower income (C class) and military as there's a large base close by. Most are in almost turnkey condition, needing only a few minor fixes. The worst one needs a needs maybe $1000-$2000 of work. 

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*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

First, I'd like to mention that this is in Canada. This is also a turnkey fourplex. Similar fourplexes in the area have slightly higher rents. I'm hoping I could increase them a little (about another $100-$200 a month all together) but these analysis's are with current rents. I could self manage as it's only 30 minutes from me but I like to include a PM in the numbers just in case. As far as I'm aware, tenets pay utilities but I'll have to confirm.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

This is if I owner occupy it. I would move out year 2 and either use a PM or self manage.