All Forum Posts by: Nicolette Kiss

Thanks everyone for the responses. Let me sum up what I am hearing and add some follow-up questions, where appropriate:

>Better to jump in as soon as possible. There are solutions to make that happen.

>Consider house-hacking. But house hacking @ 500k could be tricky in the Vancouver market - may be out of reach without more funds or moving away from the CBD. Also, numbers in Metro Vancouver are generally not good. So also consider renting in Vancouver and investing elsewhere with better rental return numbers so that you gain a return via tenants paying down your mortgage/ building you equity and maybe some cash flow too.

>Primary goal for rentals should be cash flow? And maybe property appreciation over time?

>Can avoid vacancies via: a) effective tenant screening, b) having reserves to dip into and c) selecting markets with low rates of vacancy - such as stable cities. I would want a property manager to find and manage my properties, so I guess I would be relying on them having a solid screening process. As for reserves, is that our own savings or both that and cash flow from the property that we put aside for emergencies? Is the extra cash flow from a property generally enough to cover expenses or vacancies that come up for it? And finally, how exactly do we assess the vacancy rate of a location?

>One can use lines of credit on one property to buy another...Does that mean that we don’t have to save a full 20% for the second or following properties? What about the fact that lenders will see mortgage repayments, rent and such as a liability? Won’t that reduce our borrowing power?

>I like the idea of buying investments where the numbers make sense. But how do you go about picking such a location? Do you have to go off tips from people from here/elsewhere or is there another way about this? What is considered a good rental return? Is everyone here using the BP calculators to calculate their numbers? Do these resources work for the Canadian market too?

>Require 20% down to buy a rental property. Buying a rental in a thriving market might be a better idea than buying my own home to live in. Allegedly, Vancouver Island - Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum are good markets in terms of affordability and rental return. Possibly also Prince George and NB. Avoid condos or buy 2 bedroom instead of 1, as it is easier to rent out 2 bedroom condos. So would stand-alone houses be best? Avoid townhouses too? I see that some houses actually still have strata. Not sure how that works yet. Avoid those too?

>Don’t buy if the numbers don’t work. Factor in rising expenses and stagnating rental prices…..These numbers, are these property appreciation and cash flow?

>Some of the US advice does not work in the Canadian or Vancouver/BC market.

>With enough research, real estate investing can be learnt.

> @Theresa Harris, yes I have spoken with a broker and have a clear sense of my current and future borrowing power for property number 1.

>Some responses that I archived when posted have now disappeared from the thread - strange.

Next steps for me seem to be to figure out how to run the numbers on properties. I will dig through the site. Feel free to share anything you think might help.

Also, I am curious if the ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and US technique of buying properties under a business works here in the Canadian market? And if so, how to go about it and pros/cons. Any resources to look into for that would also be much appreciated.

Thank you so much lovely people :).

Hello,

I live in Vancouver, BC and would both like to get rid of rent by buying my own home as well as investing in rental properties, wherever it is smartest to do so. I am saving up to buy my first property and should be ready to do so around 2022/2023. Currently shooting for around the 500k mark as that’s affordable and lands me close to downtown for my preferred lifestyle, if it’s my own condo that I buy first.

What would you recommend, buy your own home first or buy a rental (an investment property?) If you buy your own home, seek to pay it off ASAP first before buying the next investment (a safe, low risk path,) or use that extra savings to put a down payment for the next rental?

I don’t want to get myself into a position where I can’t pay both my own home and my rental property mortgages if the rental becomes vacant for a long time. Yet, I don’t want to be too conservative and miss out on building a bigger real estate portfolio. People on the BP podcasts sound like they just keep buying and buying without fully paying off, but how do you safeguard against long vacancies so that you don’t end up having to foreclose?

Also, I am new to digging through this website. Please advise or link to any sources/pages that you think might be important for me to look into along this long and exciting new journey that I will embark upon. I will be searching deeply through the site.

Thank you so much for your time and help!

Kind regards,

Nicolette