All Forum Posts by: John Humphries

@Ash Sand My partner and I own our primary and another half-duplex rental property here in Courtenay. We are always actively looking in the area as I'd love to buy another locally, but the market here really heated up and it is hard to find a cash-flowing buy and hold which is what we are most interested in. We've expanded our search to a bit bigger radius on the island and are exploring some possibilities in the US as well for our next investment. Good luck in Vancouver and Richmond!

Welcome @Ash Sand! Good luck in that market. Any thoughts on your investing goals?

Hi @Elliott Russell, welcome to the forum.  I've heard of a meet up in Nanaimo, but nothing out this way in the Valley yet.  There have been a few folks that I have spoken with that are interested in a meet up out this way, but thus far, we've not gotten anything together.

It's definitely challenging to find relevant Canadian content, but there is enough that transfers over from the US that I've found this forum to be quite helpful and informative.  Also, there are quite a few intelligent Canadians that post and answer questions here so fire away.

Good luck with your investing!

Hey @Account Closed, are they looking to rent or buy a place?

@Jason Ridout I'm still looking. There hasn't been anything to speak of in the Comox Valley and funny you should mention Port Alberni as I was just putting together a list off of MLS to go check out sometime soon with my real estate agent. I haven't researched that market enough to comment on potential renters, but I think I would tend to agree with your property manager based on what I have heard. I'm still curious to check it out myself, so we'll see...

I did see that someone (looks to be the same person who purchased both properties on the same day) in P.A. managed to get two duplexes recently that did satisfy the 1% rule. From the listing pics, they did not seem like the nicest places, but I guess it goes to show that there are some deals out there.

I'll post an update in a few weeks after I've had a chance to see Port Alberni for myself.

Not sure of legalities in your particular area, but I've done this before as well.  Placed an ad on Craigslist and started collecting applications before closing. Demand for rentals is so high in my area, that many people did not even want to see the inside.  They just wanted someone to say yes.  Many of these you probably would not want to rent to, but in our case, we found perfect perspective tenants. They had seen the outside by doing a drive by and we agreed to let them walk through and back out on the day that we got the keys if the inside was not up to their standards. 

At one point, we had even talked the seller into letting us do an open house showing for renters on the weekend before we took possession. I think his real estate agent may have talked him out of though for liability reasons. Smart on their part, as the open house could potentially cause damage or any number of other legal issues!

As long it is done with full transparency and respect for all parties involved, why not?

@Rae Edwards buying a multifamily and house hacking is a great idea and a great way to jump into real estate. You've taken a tremendous first step in finding and getting involved with the BP forums.  It's an amazing resource for any questions that you will have along the way.

Specifically, I would recommend doing lots of research.  Look up the landlord/tenant laws where you are planning to buy and get really familiar with the rules. If you don't understand something, post a question on the forum. Secondly, I would figure out what kind of vacancy/demand there is for your area.  There are tons of way to do this depending on where you are.  In my area, all rentals are advertised on Craigslist.  I spent weeks sifting through every rental ad to see what prices were like and how the demand in my area was. When I was confident that there was high demand for rentals, I narrowed down areas where it was highest and looked for deals there. 

@Jacob Pereira made some great points including having all of your paperwork ready. Once you find a place to buy and have made an offer that is accepted, there's nothing to keep you from starting to advertise your new rental.  On my last purchase, we had already had tenant applications, interviewed and decided on our new tenants before we even got the keys! 

One last piece of advice, try to time your closing with a time that others might be looking to rent.  Many landlords set up leases to end during the summer months as that is when demand tends to be higher for rentals. This can be area specific so figure out when the best time to get a renter is for your area.  If you can't close in that time frame, perhaps set up a lease that just goes to that time of the year.

This article has great tips:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/08/3...

Good luck with your journey!

@Doug Woodville thanks for sharing your experience. Definitely the more research I did on buying property through the SDIRA, the more hoops, fees, and potential pitfalls came up.  Seems like a great strategy if you have a bit more money in the account though. Something else that no one seems to mention much are the fees associated with the SDIRA. Each custodian was different, but in all cases, there were tons of fees, add-ons and even reserves that you would have to maintain in cash.

Not sure if you'd be interested in sharing the details of your loan set up through the SDIRA, but I know there has been some interest here on how people have structured those as well as how you found and vetted the investors.  

@Joe Villeneuve Hey Joe, in what market are you getting those kinds of numbers without investing in C and how long have you owned them? If those are correct, they are pretty awesome.