All Forum Posts by: Ming Lim

Welcome @Edward Aruoture! I'm a long time Toronto investor - I love this city! Feel free to connect with me anytime. Hopefully I'll see you at one of our meetups in the near future.

Cheers,

Ming

@Birtha Wall - That's awesome! I remember my first meetup. I was nervous as I've never been very social. I found however, that most meetup, people are very friendly. Don't be afraid to walk up to someone and introduce yourself. You always have common ground - ask them if they're already invested, where and what got them started. 

The one thing to look out for at meetups, is some of them are just sales pitches. If there aren't there to educate and create community, move on. There are always other options.

Welcome @Kyle Edwards! Yes - another Canadian! BP is a great place, but it's mostly US focused. Lots of differences investing in Canada. Come hang out on the Canadian forum though. Many of us are there who can help out. Good luck!

Cheers,

Ming

Welcome @Andrea Moren! 

There's lots to unpack here. But our advise on condo rentals in Toronto would be either #1 or #3. #1 is likely going to be cash flow negative however and you'll be banking on future market rent increases. #3 has been challenging because there are limited allocations (even for 1% agents like ourselves) and per sq ft costs have been rising rapidly. 

Generally, the outskirts of Toronto, while the prices have risen in step with condos in the downtown, rents have not. Making the price to rent ratios even worse than before.

I'd be happy to speak to you in depth about this - feel free to DM me!

Cheers,

Ming

@Tabish Bhimani - Awesome! I hope you found it helpful and informative. We really do try and focus on education.

@David Steinbok - I've sent you a DM with the meetup details. Even though I'm a Pro user, I'm not firm on what the rules are for sharing meetups publicly! :)I've also posted it on the Bigger Pockets marketplace.

I completely agree! You should always invest in the fundamentals of populations growth and the factors that influence it. Good jobs, good local economy, net immigration, etc. If you're buying for the right fundamentals, your property values increase over time (again for small residential). My point being, if I was given two properties to invest in, one with a cap rate of 10% in a dying city vs 5%, but the 5% was in a growing city - I'll take the 5% cap rate any day.

Hope that clears things up! 

Cheers,

Ming

To clarify, I'm not suggesting that you buy cash flow negative or neutral properties. It's impossible to expand a portfolio that way. I am suggesting that in the long term, capital appreciation nets greater returns. This is in regards to small residential and small multifamily. This doesn't apply to investments over 5 doors.

There is an overemphasis on buying cash flowing properties without considering other factors. Local economies, tenant profiles, local laws, etc, etc. People who are new to real estate investing might look at two properties, one with a 10% cap and one with a 5% cap. They all want the 10% cap - but it's a function of risk. You don't get more return without giving up something else. The market is smarter than that. There is always a reason for higher returns and I encourage everyone to ask why. 

Welcome to BP! There are definitely a few folks on here who are investors in SWO. I believe @Matt Geerts is invested down there. Hopefully you guys can connect!

Cheers,

Ming

@Nick Vazquez - If you don't need the cash flow now, it's better off to build a large amount of capital so you're able to buy better cash flowing investments later on. Commercial, large multifamily, etc. Or even fully paid off small multifamily. These kinds of investments can have favourable rental terms (commercial) and/or take advantage of economies of scale.

As for Toronto's near future, it's tough to say. The fundamentals are there - good job market, good local economy, ever increasing immigration. However, on the macro level, Canada as a whole isn't very strong right now and there is tons of volatility. I see the downtown core remaining strong and the data that we track is showing the same (we track like for like houses, on a neighbourhood by neighbourhood basis. The suburbs however, still aren't showing signs of recovery.

That said, don't invest for the short term. It's near impossible to predict the market in the short term. Invest in the fundamentals over a long period of time and you'll always win.

@Florence Lee - We have a proper link in the market place now for our meetup! It's still using meetup.com, but it's posted here on BP as well. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/65...

@Joel Arndt and @Frankie Woods - Feel free to DM me and I can send over the slides showing the case study that we put together on Flo's property. Caveat though, the market is pretty dynamic as well as the mortgage qualification rules. We've been adapting our investment strategies as a result.