All Forum Posts by: Ifeanyi Okafor

Congrats Chiagozie! More questions from me later on.

@Michael Montgomery,

Thanks for your reply. Your inbox should have a new mail from me very soon :)

As regards the cost of RE in calgary, i believe that this is the case with most oil and gas cities. Aberdeen, Houston, Macae etc, all have higher REI costs because of oil. That said, I read that calgary RE prices fell about 27 percent because of the oil price drama. If that is the case, is this not the time to buy? Like you rightly said, appreciation is a bonus. You make the profit when you buy and not when you sell. So now that prices are dropping, buy and hold should almost be guaranteed to give profit. Isn't it?

@Lyall,

Thanks a lot for responding. I'm actually Nigerian (not American, not Canadian). I just recently became a Canadian permanent resident. As such, I don't know if your scenarios apply to me. I know a lot of Nigerians invest in RE in Houston but I don't know if there are facilities for a non-resident alien who is not paying 100% cash (a lot of Nigerians do that in houston!).

@Cal EwingI see you're a member of the oil and gas brotherhood! I work directly with geologists in my line of duty on rigs! Small world. Huh? Anyway, I wonder what made you decide to invest in the US instead of in Canada. I'm open to both options but since I don't live in the US and I am not Canadian (i'm Nigerian), I wonder what options are available to me. Can you shed some light?

Hello RE Gurus,

Hats off to all the guys here who have given useful advice to newbies like me. This is my first post here and hopefully, I'll get some meaningful advice too! I recently got my Canadian permanent residence (Calgary). I'm looking to get my feet wet in REI. At the moment, I have an engineering job that pays me pretty well outside Canada. For this reason, I haven't really fully relocated to Canada. In the next 1 or 2 years however, I should be fully settled in Calgary. Here comes my question.

I have about 35k liquid cash on me for REI and I would like to invest now that prices are low (as i heard) due to the oil price drama. I'm kinda like total newbie (well, I've read the biggerpockets beginners guide to REI ebook if that counts . . lol). I was initially thinking of buying a condo to rent but then after all the analysis and remarks about the infamous condo fees. I decided to look more towards single family homes, duplexes, half duplexes etc. However, one major bottleneck that I have is that I don't have any credit history here in Canada. The little research that I've done seems to show that I'll need to drop 35% if I don't have a credit history. I wonder how recent immigrants get around REI if this is the case.

Anyway, I just want to get my first rental property that 

0) Will be finance-able with the money I have and the mortgage facilities available to me :)

1) Will be less prone to vacancy (always rented).

2) Will generate at least enough money to cover all expenses (all things being equal) even if it does not yet generate significant positive cash flow.

3) Will appreciate over time.

Gurus. . . any advice will be appreciated - especially relating to the Calgary real estate market.