All Forum Posts by: Marc Ramsay

@Steven Hamilton II thanks for the links. The first one is gong to provide some very dry reading for a while. The second one specifically covers US citizens or businesses doing business or investing in Canada, whereas I'm doing it the other way around. I am sure there is an equivalent document for that that states pretty much exactly the same info though.

After some bizarre credit card issues and some help from Josh I am now officially a Pro. Time to play with the new toys!

faketv.com - that is awesome! I have to buy one of those.

I think most of the easy ideas have been covered above. Blinds on the windows, lights on timers, outside motion lights, and of course a FakeTV should all discourage a wannabe thief.

I also like to have a couple of wireless security systems in my inventory. Either myself or my contractor can quickly install a system like this (Wireless Alarm System) in a few hours, and when I sell the house I remove it and use on the next rehab.

I like the idea of painting the copper to look like PEX. Most thieves are too stupid to figure that out.

I am an investor and like many of us I am tapped out with all of my equity tied up in my investments. That doesn't mean that I stop investing; it just means that I find creative ways to continue to fund new investments. I have JV partners for some of them, and private money for others. My main point in this posting was to give some of our other Canadian BP members an alternative way to invest in the US market that they maybe did not know about, and hopefully in return I could end up forming some partnerships along the way. I actually prefer to do JV's than hard money deals, but not everyone wants to set up the entities and all the accounting and legal stuff that goes along with it.

Did I mention this is why I love BP. This kind of feedback is extremely valuable for me, and proves to everyone else the quality and knowledge level of the kind of advice and information on this forum. Thanks Dion!

@Dion DePaoli Thank you for your valuable input. I had run this past my US/Cabada tax accountant and he assured me that what I had stated in my posting was correct, but now I have some doubts about the accuracy of his statement. I am going to forward your response to him and get his feedback.

I value the relationship I have with my investment partners, so I want to ensure any information I give or receive is accurate.I'll post my accountant's response once i get it.

Thanks again.

Marc

.. by being private or hard money lenders.

Are you a Canadian and want to invest in the U.S. real estate market but haven't done so yet because because of all the cross-border taxation issues, or the need to work out the best entity structure to set up?

One option is to become a private or hard money lender to another Canadian investor who is already investing in U.S. real estate and is looking for short term loans for wholesaling or flips.

Let's take a rehab and flip property as an example. As a hard money lender, you lend the Canadian investor the money he/she needs to purchase and rehab a property, and in exchange you or your Canadian company/partnership/etc register a 1st position mortgage against the property for the amount of the loan plus interest and fees. The investor buys, rehabs, then sells the property at a profit, and out of the funds from the sale, the title company pays you first as the 1st position mortgage holder registered against the property, and the investor gets the remainder of the profits.

Now here's the best part. As the Canadian originator of the loan, you get paid out by the title company, and you pay no tax in the USA for the interest and loan fees you charged, You only have to claim your profits on your Canadian tax return. You have just made a profit on a U.S. real estate deal without lifting a finger except to write the check, and you didn't have to worry about any of the entity structure issues or filing a U.S tax return. Congrats! You're brilliant!

As a hard money lender, you can negotiate a fairly high interest rate plus fees (usually called points). As an example, a recent loan I arranged for another investor was 12% annual interest plus 5 points on a $100,000 loan. The 5 points equals 5% and that is on top of the loan interest, so the private/hard money lender made $5000 on the loan before collecting any interest.

So what's the catch you say? You still have to know who you're dealing with by doing your due diligence on the investor and the property they want to borrow your money on. If the investor fails to complete the rehab, or can't sell the property, you will need to foreclose on the property and assume ownership to recover your investment, or portion thereof. One reason you will want to finance a fellow Canadian investor is so you can have them sign a personal guarantee for the loan and you can chase them personally through the Canadian courts to recoup any losses you have incurred. Like any type of investment, there are always risks involved.

If you are a Canadian and are interested in this method of investing then drop me an email and we can talk. marc @ majuraproperties dot com

Bitcoin's first ATM was installed in Vancouver, BC, Canada about a month ago. The government is still trying to figure out what to do about Bitcoin. I don't think they're smart enough to figure it out.

Last Sunday an email from BP came in listing 3 new BP members in my area. Two were south of the border and one was not far from my home. I dropped my new neighbor an colleague request and started up a conversation. It turns out that this new member has a sister that is also on BP, and the 2 of them are looking to get into real estate investing together.

A few emails led to a discussions over coffee and may now lead to an investing partnership in the near future.

I didn't get the opportunity to contact the two new members south of the border as another new member from Vancouver had introduced himself on BP and we also got together this week for coffee and a long discussion on investing in the US RE market.

Thanks BP for expanding our network and bringing a bunch of like-minded people togther!

@George Paiva Yes, that hurts. In Cleveland my evictions cost me about $500 total plus lost rents. I also get to have the movers dump all their stuff out by the dumpster and then it's a free for all with the other tenants for the good stuff. :)

Up here in British Columbia, Canada, it's a whole different story. I've heard it takes at least 6 months and even then it's not guaranteed. The law favors the tenant to the extreme here. Another reason on top of many other I don't rent units here.