All Forum Posts by: James Ma

It sounds like just a question of whether you want to help him out or not as a favour since he's your dad too. If thinking of a purely financial perspective - wouldnt be a bad way to build a better relationship with him and get that inheritance $$$

Chilliwack has always been better ROI than Vancouver and lower mainland. Ie. Burnaby sells a 2 bd 2 ba for $600K and rents for $1800-2300 with higher strata / prpty tax and Chilliwack you can buy a 2bd2ba for $250K that rents for $1400ish

Renters are moving out to Chilliwack more for the cheaper prices yes... a lot of tenants ive interviewed have told me they were moving there due to the lower rents or same rent for bigger place as they start a family, however its a long commute to Vancouver so mostly this is only a viable option for people living and working in Langley/Abbotsford.

Most people living in the mainland prefer to stay there if possible, but I know a lot of people are now looking at purchasing a house in Chilliwack (~500K) since its over a million in the mainland and owning a house has always been their goal for raising a family.

From BC where cashflowing is hard.  With 20% down and after factoring in 5% vacancy, $50/mo for repairs and maintenance and keeping in mind all the other expenses... I've usually been cashflowing about $50/mo but an increase in strata fees and special levies has quickly eaten into that.

Most of the ROI value is coming from the equity paydown and the expected appreciation although we are hitting a bit of a bump now with the stress test. That being said rents have been going up despite the price drops so probably a good time to pick up more

Reminds me of the Quadriga crypto scandal :(

Chilliwack, BC

Great question Eric. The fact that you're even thinking about it is ahead of most people. For me, I've always liked to save and had good impulse control so never had to resort to apps but I'm sure a quick google search can bring up some good ones.

By focusing on the end goal I think you have in mind (Accumulating wealth), I would give the following recommendations:

1) Get onto a career track with good earning potential. The more you make, the more you can save and it becomes a snowball effect. 

2) If you can put aside 10% of every pay cheque into an investment like an ETF, it will grow surprisingly over the years thanks to compound interest. The earlier you can start saving and investing, the richer you will be.

3) Use credit cards with no annual fees and cash back (annual fees are ok if the numbers make sense), and make sure you pay off the balance to avoid higher interest fees

4) For big ticket items like 50" TVs, cars, etc. Look and wait for good deals. Black friday usually will save you a ton compared to any other sale that year.

5) Keep investing in yourself and educating yourself. You are the best investment that you can ever make.

Of course real estate investors increase the price of housing and therefore rents by reducing the supply on the market.

The positive side of things is that the money stays in the city that it is invested into instead of elsewhere which would happen if the city were to apply a "no investor allowed to purchase" rule. All the REI would take their money elsewhere and increase the economy of surrounding cities.

Where I"m from RE heavily drives the economy as it fuels many construction jobs, real estate agents, trades jobs, etc. If the housing economy slows which it will eventually, the economy here will feel its effects and many will have a harder time finding work.

One of the keys that will make your journey easier to is to get a great paying job. That way you can put aside some money while still having fun and enjoying life. 

Alas, it takes money to make money *unless you're well connected* . I agree with you that it doesnt make any sense to be super frugal for many years if you are going to miserable in your prime years. At the same time though, you may not always need to buy the newest iphone, always get $5 coffees in the morning, etc. and find ways to put aside a bit of extra cash that adds up.

Pre-sales are vulnerable to the market economy and whether it will be a buyer / seller market by time of completion. Typically you are paying a premium (like buying a new car vs a used one) and you can do very well if you know the market will likely be in good demand by the time the building is completed as you can usually pick up pre-sales with a smaller % downpayment.

People in my area had been killing it with 100% returns on their downpayment after a couple of years and assigning the contract when its about done being built as it was a sellers market. Now that its a buyers market, some owners are starting to sell their places at the same as what they paid for them and made no gains and lost the opportunity cost of that downpayment being tied up for years with no ROI