All Forum Posts by: Omar Khan

@David Walkotten Going off your post (Section 8 part especially), I would keep things simple and not try to do too much. You don't want to over improve the property. 

View everything as an ROI.

- Is spending an extra $200-300 worth it in additional rents? 

- How much of an edge can you get in a competitive rental market where price is the primary driver? 

You can also "tour" the neighboring properties the old-fashioned way - pretending you want to rent and then chatting up the property manager. This will give you a "boots on the ground" look at the your market while providing you with an idea of what your competition is doing.

@Kevin Zhang Sacramento - no comparison!

If you want to manage the property yourself, I would look towards buying a duplex. This is only because most triplexes or quadplexes are not in the nicer parts of town. Duplexes give you the additional tenant while still being in nice neighborhoods.

It is even more critical to screen your tenants effectively for smaller properties as even one vacancy can create a huge headache. 

@Tyler Kastelberg Thanks for the shout out. Hope the new CRE models are available for sale soon - a must get product!

@Michael Stanley Nino See you sent a PM. Happy to answer all your questions and walk you through how these things work. 

@Peter Martin Excellent insights offered by @Lennon Lee and @Brian Burke. 

@Bjorn Ahlblad and @Mike Dymski 's responses cracked me up. 

I would build on Lennon's point by saying that a lot of this classification is also highly dependent on location. A 50 year old building on Park Avenue is always going to fetch a higher rent than a brand new property in a suburban area in the Midwest. 

Location is the biggest driving factor. 

@Ben Bymaster Excellent point raised by @Corby Goade

College is very expensive in the US. This is why it is critical to pick a high-income generating field OR follow your passion but not get into student debt (can't have it both ways). 

College education is as close as you're going to get to guaranteed upward social mobility. A lack of college education makes it harder to develop your social capital. A lack of college education might have worked 20 years ago but you will go behind (not due to a lack of intellect) without a college education as a baseline. Also, college grads consistently out-earn their peers no matter what way you slice the data.

This doesn't mean one gets into $50-100K student debt. There are always in-state/cheaper options through which one can get a quality education. The idea is to be frugal, mitigate your debt exposure while developing the necessary social and intellectual capital to propel you forward in life. 

@Shiv Jey You will either have to market within your network to see if folks will lend or go with a HML. Raising capital sounds sexy but can be a slog especially if you don't have a track record.

Unless you have a pre-existing relationships, there will be no angel investors who will shower you with cash. 

The good news is that once you establish a track record, you often have more money than you can deploy.

@Lauryn Meadows Land might be cheap for a reason. Would suggest demographic research followed by serious analysis on developing vs. rehabbing existing units. 

Property development is a very specialized, high-risk area. You can make a killing but you can also have your shirt handed to you in no time. 

I'm assuming you are familiar with BC's political landscape. The Christy Clark government instituted this "tax" based on misguided public pressure not actual facts (facts in their own reports pointed to foreign (read: Chinese) buyers being less than 10% traded volume). 

One can find faults with foreign buyers all day long but why does everyone try to sell their properties at the highest possible price? Similar to how everyone crows about the Chinese unfair trade practices but then go out and buy the ultra-cheap Chinese stuff from Walmart. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

 Why do you think that? "There is a reason why prices are inflated - because everyone wants to move there. A bit like saying a Ferrari is over-priced" The actual reason is Chinese speculators moving money out of China. These are homes not lived in. It's a little too detailed to get into here, but the reason is clearly written about in the Vancouver real estate mags if you are interested. And the video clip in the post above provides a better detail.

You can beat the Chinese drum all you like but even the BC government's survey proved (the survey that was used to put in draconian investment laws which resulted in the market slowing down) that "Chinese" buyers are less than 10% of the entire volume traded - in BC! confirmed by the ultra-socialist Christy Clark government! (not the cold-hearted Tories that everyone loves to rip on)

You don't get to have you cake and eat it too. Either you want foreign investment or you don't. Nobody was going after the Chinese when they were being sold crap houses in suburbia in the late 90s-early 2000s. One can't demonize a certain subset of investors if they are priced out of the market. 

We all want to buy a $20M house, private jet, be able to afford houses in the most desirable locations on the planet. Responsible folks don't complain about other people's success when they can do the things that we want to do. 

There is NO law compelling an investor to only purchase in Vancouver or the GTA. There are a ton of other spots. Plus buying real estate is not a God-given right. It's a privilege one earns from hard work, tenacity and bit of luck.

Simple choice: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

P.S. I moved from downtown Toronto in 2012 because I saw the soaring RE prices and the cost of living increases. I didn't begrudge folks who were in a better financial position than me for driving up RE costs. My friends who stayed put enjoyed the crazy RE gains. Why hate on that?

@Account Closed Gotta agree with your Auckland comment.If money wasn't an issue, I would love to move to NZ - nice beaches, lovely people, great hiking/outdoors, complete isolation from the world - sounds like paradise!