All Forum Posts by: Larry Smet

Hi everyone - I'm cancelling tomorrow's Toronto Meetup for Investors in US Real Estate for a variety of reasons... stay tuned for the March meetup, I'll try to give more notice and hopefully the weather is better!

In the meantime, please let me know if you'd like to be notified of upcoming meetups.

Thanks

Larry

@Addison McCarty

You may consider getting an appraisal (or BPO) done so you're on the same page re value - as was stated before, if it's been on the market for a year at $235k then it's not worth that, no matter how pristine it is.  If you're able to build equity over 7 years it seems to me that a likely way to reclaim your downpayment (if you haven't sold it rent-to-own) is to do a conventional refi on it.  For this deal you definitely want to download as much of the maintenance as you possibly can onto the tenant-buyers.

Good luck

This meetup is a networking event for anyone living in (or visiting!) Toronto who invests in real estate anywhere in the US. This is a regular event, on the second Wednesday of every month. There are no plans for pitching or selling, just a venue to share experiences and resources for those of us actively investing in the US. Anyone interested in learning more about investing in US real estate is also welcome, of course.

I expect it will go from 6 until about 9. The location was chosen to be easily accessed from the subway (it's just a few minutes walk from Sheppard subway stop) and close proximity to the 401.

Please confirm by responding to this post or PMing me so I can confirm with the establishment how many people would be expected. I don't have any ties to the establishment but they are running a business so I would hope that everyone showing up will show their appreciation by ordering something other than water! :)

Thanks

Larry

PS - I'm pinging several people here who attended or expressed interest - please ping any others that you think may be interested. @Glen Emery , @Robert Howell , @Linda Labbe , @Hai Loc , @Jim Chuong , @Adam Tao

PPS - I originally planned to do a Tuesday this month but that isn't working out - I will plan for an alternate night next month - probably a Monday.

$2100 for a duplex in Chicago ($1100/$1000 per unit)

Thanks @Nick Patterson - this is really interesting.  Were your 2 cold calls off for rent signs and 2 FSBOs (so 20% of your deals) from driving for dollars on purpose or did you just happen to notice them when you were in your farm area on other business?

Hi Chad

I've read that it was only a couple states that CRA decided to recognize their LLPs/LLLPs as corporations...  have you heard that they're now expanding that to all the states as of next year?

Thanks

Larry

Hi @Bate Goyko

Financing can be a real challenge for Canadians in the US.  There are some Canadian banks that have US subsidiary banks or branches (TD, RBC, BMO) where Canadians can get residential mortgages but usually there are substantial restrictions such as only servicing specific areas of the US, having to own the property in your own name rather than a company name, only applicable for 2nd homes (rather than regular rentals), not applicable for multifamily properties, etc.. You should shop around if you're looking for a residential mortgage to see what will work for you.  Also, their plans and restrictions change all the time so I wouldn't recommend relying on older posts on biggerpockets or elsewhere.

The other option is to use a US commercial lender for commercial properties, where lending is based more on the performance of the property than on the individual.  Sounds nice in theory but they still want to look at your financials, etc. and as a Canadian you'll typically find lower loan to value ratios and higher interest rates.  There are many commercial mortgage brokers on biggerpockets that may be able to help you out in that case.

Really depends on what strategy you want to use and where you plan to invest.  If you post that then some others here may chime in with options.

Please let all of us know what you find - many Canadians (me included!) are always wanting to find out the latest and greatest.

Good luck!

Hi @Alexander Chavez, like @Bob Norris mentioned, I've found a great benefit to using the same inspector for all my investments since I started investing in Chicagoland.  I use him as an inspector but (because I invest long distance) I've often used him as my "eyes" to do pre-draw inspections or simply "pop by" during the rehab to shoot some video or take some pictures to keep me updated. Please PM me if you'd like to get his contact info.

Several more investors have approached me outside of biggerpockets and plan to attend so this post is just to confirm the meet up is still on.

For anyone else considering coming you can simply click on the "Attend event" button in the header above and I can pick up the numbers from that plus the others contacting me outside BP. Please advise though if you plan to attend so I can let the place know. 

Thanks! 

Thanks @Robert Howell - last month you mentioned you had some friends that would likely come as well - do you think they will be coming too?