All Forum Posts by: Matt Geerts

Andrew, why? Do you currently protect yourself from people growing four house plants? 

All of the media sensationalism about mold and electrical damage is from the few bad growers who don't do climate control in their 2000 plants in the basement. The same would happen with 2000 tomato plants if grown without climate control. Four of any plant won't have this problem.

100k seems not to bad for that work, but is that finished, or just foundation? Go talk to the guy and get more details, talk to the contractor that did it, and two others.

I still think there is better money in your area looking off market. Plenty of shabby houses out towards Ravenshoe and even Sunderland. That's where the 404 is headed next, right?

@Alek Lupa Your statement that most of southern Ontario is challenging is completely wrong. Most of southern ontario is not doing what the GTA is doing. You just happen to live in what I think may be the new hottest place in the province - the southern shores of Lake Simcoe. The 404 extension is a MASSIVE boon for property owners in your area and it isn't going to stop, is it?

Here's my take. If you want a 12-cap on your investment you need to make $100/mo for every $10k you spend in capital. So, if you can pull $800/mo in rent, then you have an $80k budget to dig out and finish that basement for a reasonable return. Is that possible out there? No idea. As Roy said the costs are highly variable depending on the reason why you have a crawlspace in the first place.

Living in that area, I'd much rather find a new investment property from a distressed seller than to muck around with a risky upgrade investment. Your area is at the cusp of the path of progress. Find some ancient cottages and start mail-blasting the owners.

@Joel Owens thank you for the tip! I will ask if the Director of Economic Dev has such a list available.

@Ash Patel great ideas. The home business idea was pitched to me yesterday, too. The town is so small that my involvement in their Facebook group has pretty solid coverage! 

Kijiji (I'm not sure if you have that in the US, it is like Craigslist) has generated one solid lead so far. I'm going to work with them to see if we are happy with each other and can work something out. 

My meeting with the members of Council went very well. They're working with me to generate a lot of conversations with potential leads because we all want the same thing. 

Once again, come out to Tiger Jack's at Wharncliffe and Southdale in London Ontario to meet with local investors. 

No experience is necessary. If you're reading BP you should come out!

If you have a spare book on business or investing, bring it to pass around! I know a few books were passed around a few months ago, maybe they could come back so someone else can benefit from them!

Do you have some progress to report for the past month? Do you have a plan for what you're going to achieve in the next month? Get some feedback and generate some accountability - this has been a very valuable exercise for generating discussion and taking action!

See you there!

Thanks for the tips, @Ash Patel. I'd love to hear more. I've already generated some hype and yes, the town is talking. The facebook group that I posted to has about 1/4 of the towns population in it (some may be from neighboring rural towns) and there's been a huge interest.

@Thomas S. yes, this property was a steal so I can easily carry it on res units. There's already plenty of hype about the residential and the Facebook poll is drumming up general interest in what's going on there. As for long vacancies in commercial property - I've seen how others market their property: They buy it and hand it over to a property manager that puts a sign in the window. That's IT! They are just waiting for someone to happen to want to open a business and happen to see the sign and call the number. That's a pretty sad business model!

Anyway, I'm meeting the members of Counsel that I mentioned tonight. I'll see what they have to say - hopefully they have some interest already. The top response on the poll was a gym, so I'm going to call every gym within 100km and see if someone wants to open a second location. I'll do the same with any other potential businesses.

As @Brandon mentions you could get seller financing without a bank, or you could get up to a 10% seller second mortgage.

Please PM me your email address and/or phone number and we'll discuss some options.

jonas, please add "London" to your keywords. I am going to post the next meetup in the next couple days. You can find them at www.biggerpockets.com/events

Also, I am building an email list for those that don't use BP, so PM me your email if you'd like.

Seasoning does not exist here. If your purchase is truely under market you can acquire and refi the next day, or acquire, fix up in 4 weeks and refi. PM me if you want a mortgage person that understands.

Are you sure a hard money loan to fill the gap is so bad? How short are you? 20k? 20k at 12% plus 1 point is 2600 for a whole year. If the deal can't handle that it isn't a deal.

Do you own your home? Put a HELOC on it or refinance it. That's cheap money.

How far is this deal? PM me and I will work with you if theres enough to go around. Half of a great deal is better than all of no deal.

So, they'll do what I am already doing?