All Forum Posts by: Karen Ng

@Chad U., I'm also researching on financing options for Canadian to invest in US property, do you mind to share mortgage brokers who specialize in the procuring loans for Canadians? Thank you!

@Curt Davis, I'm interested to learn about the financing option for Canadian as well, would appreciate if you could PM too. Thank you.

The seller will rent for 2.5 months and I'll need to start painting and try to rent it out. In my area, people usually have big moving date on July 1st. So, it's usually not easy to find tenants during the winter/spring months. That's just an worst case scenario for estimating 5 months vacancy. 

For some reason, I'm unable to tag you, Jennifer Lee. 

Thanks for your respond @Ruth Bayang. 

There are usually older houses in my area for that price range. There is another deal I'm evaluating but much older property. 

1954 Quadplex vinyl siding instead of bricks that has no immediate vacancy. Electricty/heating paid by tenants. 18 years older compared to the brick one. Gross rent mutiplier is much higher but net operating expenses / NOI is better number than the triplex.

Which would you go for?

Hi all,

I'm evaluating a Triplex with owner occupied unit in Montreal area that could potentially be vacant for 5 months (Due to usual big moving date for my area being July 1st annually). The owner agreed to rent for 2.5 months for $1500 (including heat & electricity). I'm evaluating it with $1300 as my gross rental income because I think that's probably overpriced. Plus, I would have 18.6% of vacancy from Feb - June 2017. It has a 3 years old roof and all windows have been changed for the last 3-4 years. Heat & Electricity going to cost me around $4300/year. The other two units would be bringing $1600/month (including heat & electricity), the property price is $387,000. I figured since roof & windows are new, I wouldn't have to worry much about that. If I'm able to rent it out as soon as I repaint the owner occupied unit in Feb/March latest by July 1st, I should still be okay with this deal. Am I too ambitious to take on such a property as my first rental income? I would really appreciate for your insights from fellow experienced investors! Thank you!

@Philippe Laurin Thanks for your feedback. I estimated 5% property management just to be on safe side because we plan to manage ourselves. Would 5% still be low in that case? Yes, it's true that Régie du logement is keeping rents low and makes it hard to find a good deal for fully renovated plexes. I'm hoping I would be able to find a decent rental income property (with cash flow) to start with. By the way, how much cash flow do you estimate? In Brandon Turner's webinar for plexes, he is estimating $100 cash flow for each unit. I'm thinking that's almost impossible for Montreal or even South-Shore market.

@Chris Walters, no, capex stands for Capital expenditure. It's meant to be for any expenses that could help increase the property values; such as roof, windows, bath, kitchen & etc.

I estimated 5% property management, 10% for maintenance & 10% for capital expenditure in Montreal, Quebec, Canada area; and that would makes most deals a bad deal. I'm wondering what percentage of rents do you all estimate for maintenance and capEx for plexes that are like 40-60 years old? Do you estimate lower % for newer plexes (20-40 years old)? Would really appreciate to hear from your perspective! 

Hi fellow investors in Montreal area,

Do you mind to share your typical cap rates and CoC in Montreal within island or West Island/North/South Shore based on your experience? I'm having hard time determining what is a good deal. Thanks in advance!

Is anyone familiar or had refinance their home with blended interest rate to invest in rental property? any risk? how do you calculate cap rates & CoC when mortgage principal would be on both properties? This is for Canada.