All Forum Posts by: Mimi H.

@Sean Tracey yep great points - my understanding (and possibly worth noting) is that if you're doing a backdoor ira, _all_ your iras get converted. I haven't looked into whether you can convert just one portion of an IRA (been a while since I've looked into this) and seem to remember that the answer is a big old no. :/

Also, not all employee sponsored 401k are the same - not crazy about mine which is why I'd avoid rolling things over. However, if you happen to have a great one, definitely a vehicle to take advantage of!

Something to keep in mind as you're figuring out your mix... Roth IRA is only available as a vehicle if your income is below a certain threshold. In 2016, it starts at $117k for singles and ends at $133k. For married, it starts at $184k and ends at $194k.

There are a few other methods that can be used to convert, it can get tricky.

@Roy N. no apologies needed! :) It's great to have people on here that have more knowledge of a local market than myself (I say this noshing on coffee and pastries overlooking this gorgeous city). It's more of a "I wish BP was around when I'd first gotten into this years ago". Some folks out there have made the comment that there's a price for education and let's just say that I'm paying that price in 0 cash flow. :P

Please do share and share alike - I have a lot to learn in this market for sure + anyone reading this will get a fuller picture.

My initial reason for purchase here was not for investment reasons, it was for immigration. Back then it was much easier to immigrate to Canada and it was something I was considering for the parents. So, my factors were a little different. Now, it seems challenging to come here as an older person so I'm a little "stuck" with a property. There are worst places to be stuck with real estate, for sure. :)

Being a noob back then, there were a lot of things that I didn't know that I didn't know. Much of it was sadly, a pretty lousy agent. The 2 (?) lucky things - I have a great tenant, and I'm pretty happy having a great tenant even if he's paying a little bit below market. I used to manage apartments with Section 8 tenants (this is in the US + subsidized) and unfortunately, a lot of them were very challenging to manage, very high turnover, very high on evictions (actual evictions due to negligence, etc.). The other, great appreciation so far. A lot of that is due to the high US Dollar so Canada seems like a bit of a fire sale to a lot of Americans...and Mainland Chinese who are trying to get their money out of China. Not sure how that will change as the tides turn, I typically don't bank on appreciation.

Either way, I appreciate the discussion and the education. So please tell us more, I'm just soaking it all up. :)

@matt - I was wondering more alongside of why your buddy decided to not sue. The landlord sounds sleazy as all hell. I bet s/he's likely doing the same thing to the next set of tenants. 

@Matt Geerts can your buddy sue? That seems like a horribly unlawful, not to mention unethical thing for the landlord to have done. 

@Roy N. great corrections. Since you're so knowledgeable you could have chimed in earlier! Why are you holding out on us? :) ;) Also, you seem to know everything, what are the rules for whatever the proper Canadian term is for removing a tenant? let's say the tenant is NON-negligent. In other parts of the world, this is called a buyout.

Re: taxation, I get that it depends on taxation agreements between countries. That wasn't my point. My point was simply that if you happen to be a non-resident, these are some items that one would want to consider prior to investing.

As for item 5, sure that's true in Canada but it does not always work the same way in other countries. Quite frequently there are acceleration clauses for things like buyouts in companies. So let's say that you're a new investor and not familiar with this, the main take away here is that you can become aware of the larger buckets of impact.

Lastly, for Item #6. Considering that there are no penalty annual prepayment options for up to 20% of the original mortgage, it's quite possible to pre-pay the amount done to... zero in a handful of years. Since there isn't a fee for "recouping that income" in that scenario, then it's totally possible to not have the fee. Also, mortgages outside of Canada work differently so the point is read the fine print and decide if this is the right thing.

All of these may be obvious for those who are Canadian, live in Canada, and familiar with these things. However, I assure you that this is not obvious to most people from other countries. And, you can see from some of the posts prior to yours, even to Canadians who don't happen to be landlords. 

@Luc Boiron same in BC, 90 day notice for rent increase. Sigh. The only benefit here is that there's a likelihood of moving into the unit in a handful of years, since Vancouver Real Estate is what it is, it would be a challenge to afford to buy in at this rate and so far, there's been a great tenant who's been there for years. Since he's a good $100 below market, it's unlikely that he'll move so he's essentially paying off the mortgage.

Yep great correction, it's every 12 months from the last renewal with a three month notice. Painful if you're an investor. The flip side is that Vancouver real estate appreciates nicely if you're someone that cares about that. However, if you're only going into it for cash flow, good luck! Definitely one of these learn from my mistakes moment. 

@Bryan C. sadly, I know of many tenants who just stop paying rent. It's one of the biggest challenges of being a landlord. If you're lucky, do your due diligence, you'll have great tenants. But that will be dependent on many things. As for the downturn in 2008/2009, a lot of folks lost their jobs then so it's quite real that many of them stopped paying rent.

great points @Account Closed I was in the bay area in '99 and didn't buy in then. Oh! talk about kicking myself! I owned in Portland and sold, kicked myself for that one too! Currently, I'm in Vancouver - no cash flow, decent appreciation, and expecting CoCR in a handful of years. Hoping to house hack in the Bay Area to get into the market but it's looking very frothy... Doesn't help that I'm in the heat of it in Mountain View!

@Jeremiah H. re: cash flow being better / worse in NY - NY is a big place and there is a lot of variance. BK specifically has gone bonkers in the past 5+ years. Limited land mass and lots of people wanting to live there. 

@Lesley Resnick As for people moving away from urban areas and living in the burbs, that's not been the trend at all in NY metro area, or San Francisco Bay area. Maybe this is a Florida thing? I've seen no evidence of this. And as @Will Wong said, NYC is an international market. Owning in NY is considered "bragging rights" to a lot of non-US people. 

That said... Midwood is lovely in its own right but just outside the "very desirable" area. Once you're past the park, the areas will likely not appreciate as quickly as parkside and towards Manhattan. One subway line is "ok", "very desirable" for BK is more like one or more of the following: access to 2+ subway lines, <20 minutes to midtown, vibrant restaurant scene, gentrification from people with children wanting good schools. 

Midwood is an area is unlikely to attract the "international" scene as it's too far away so you're mostly betting on appreciation in local market and people moving further out. 

For comparison... If you were in say, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Gowanus, Prospect Heights, Washington Heights, those areas are more likely to retain value / appreciate more / get higher rent over the years. Rents for 2 bedrooms in those areas can run around $4k/month and very very small 2 beds are going for $800K+.