All Forum Posts by: Luc Boiron

The owner of the property is registered on title. You can have a title company or lawyer search title, and then have the person saying they are the owner show you ID.

Either way, at closing, the lawyer/title company will make sure they are the owner, but you want to avoid scams where someone keeps your deposit. This is one reason why deposits are usually deposited in trust to a lawyer or real estate brokerage.

Thanks Sarah! 

You're a cash flow investor, and it's good that you're sticking to that. The flipping is a way for me to generate capital now, but I do plan an getting more cash flowing properties.

Is this your fourth property that you are closing on? Congrats!

The BRRRR method might be good for you. You seem to know the market well in Brantford, and this method might help you get into the properties with less capital while still being able to cash flow.

Let me know when you decide what to do, and if you pick another market to buy in. I'm curious where you will end up.

Does anyone here invest in Woodstock?

 Jeff, if this is a more open offer, I might take you up on this. I have something in the pipeline that I may ask you about if it pans out. I'll let you know ;-)

@Matt Geerts What city is this in? Everyone does things differently, but I would get this under contract with a conditional period. During the conditional period, I would lock down everything I need to feel comfortable with the deal. Run the numbers, and you'll need to estimate what you think this would sell for. You can also estimate what it will cost to build (don't forget to account for all hard and soft costs). During the due diligence phase, speak to some builders and get prices, even rough estimates, as long as they are in the ballpark of what works for you.

Don't forget to account for development charges, all your permit application fees, inspection fees, etc.

Just because the lot is zoned R3, doesn't mean a fourplex will fit. Check setbacks, lot coverage area, height, parking requirements, and anything else that will be needed to fit this on the site. Just because it doesn't fit by a little bit doesn't mean you can't do it. You might need a minor variance though. I once had to take a city to the OMB after they rejected a minor variance application, which was a pain, but I did get it approved.

When you're comfortable that the numbers would work, call up a city planner. They can usually find some time to guide you through the process, and make sure that what you're planning is allowed.

Good luck!

I'm buying anywhere and everywhere that makes sense @Sarah Larbi!

I know it's tough because your main market of Brantford is getting a little more expensive. Keep looking for those deals! The returns on properties everywhere in southern Ontario has shrunk. To get the 1% rule now, you need to go into areas that used to get 1.50%-2%. And the rule isn't always the best...when you get into small towns in cheap old properties, your rent might be 1.5% your purchase price, but your expenses are higher in proportion to the rent, and the tenants are more of a headache to deal with.

Right now, I'm invest more actively. I just closed on a flip in Toronto, and I'm looking at other.

We've got some investors here from London, @Account Closed is an investor friendly realtor if you decide to invest in the GTA.

@Nicholas Smith Good luck with the flip! Let us know how it goes.

Quite the mansion. Good job on the energy efficiency. 

It looks huge, but somehow looks more like 6,000 than 13,000 sqft. Then again, I don't come across many 13,000 sqft homes.

It is weird that the "flip" style switches by the front door bother me? I would expect the square decora style switches for a mansion like this.

Love the castle feel of this home, and the turrets in the front are a nice touch.

I think it will depend on the area. I had a duplex with one 3/2 and one 3/1 and there was a big demand from families in the area, I rented to two families with small children.

You will also get young adults who apply and plan to share the house with roomates. I think it is best to keep a certain type of tenant consistent in the property when possible (ie: a family with young children and two young couples in the other unit wouldn't mix the best).

Are you putting an offer in?

Sounds like it was a nightmare to deal with, but you pulled through smelling like roses.

The property looks great, I'm sure you'll have happy tenants living there now.

Great work!

@Luca Mastrangelo You can put lowball offers in to several properties at the same time. If the all get accepted, you have such a good price that you can either buy them, or wholesale them to other investors. Likely though, none will be accepted, and you'll see at what price people come back to see if it's worth going forwards with.

If you're putting in low offers, you can't just wait for each person to get back to you to see if they will be reasonable and move on if they aren't. Getting good deals is a volume business. One strategy is to get many offers out, and then spend more time analyzing the ones that come back to you, if they come back at a reasonable price. Don't waste you time analyzing the minutia of every property, or you'll waste a lot of time. Even worse, you might feel like you've already spent a lot of time on the property, so you should buy it even if the price goes above what you would normally pay.

On top of this, have some sort of condition in your offer so if many are accepted, or it is accepted and then you find out it is worse than you thought, you can back out and get your deposit back. I don't like to do separate conditions (ie: inspection, financing, etc). I put in one condition, a general due diligence condition. It ends up looking much cleaner as an offer, and still gives me an out if I end up not liking the property enough.