All Forum Posts by: Ram Srinivasan

@Tyler DeGagne - Welcome to BP. I agree, you def do have a certain skill set that you can bring to the table 

@Account Closed comments - Finder a credible flipper and loan it out for a few months. I would keep the ARV of the loan under 80% in this market. I personally do these loans in TFSA/RRSP acocunts for tax benefits.

It's a great way to earn on your money rather than it sitting stagnant in your bank account. 

Alternatively, nothing wrong with what Aaron Choi said - no harm in putting your money in that kind of account while you are looking for something.  

To me US investing is getting less attractive by the day. The opportunity now is gone - with the Dollar exchange at 0.72USD today.

@Nathan Flim - The transaction will  be anywhere from 2-4 yours. It really depends on how committed the borrower is.

The key is getting a large deposit upfront to protect your investment. You do have to buy 20% down for qualification reasons - do you have the capital to do so?

Ram

@Nathan Flim - Leduc is one area which is has several rental properties at prices 300K and below. However due to the economy, I can tell you that vacancy has gone up, and rents have decreased.

That being said, that doesn't mean there are landlords/owner occupied properties who are looking to liquidate now. I personally have two properties in the Edmonton area, one In Stoney Plain, one in northside edmonton, both properties are agreement for sale type transactions - basically I finance these transactions. Its similar to Rent to own, but I am lending at terms that are lower than hard money rates, enough to cash flow very well, lower the tenant buyer's payments and give them a chance of qualifying

Yes.. lets try to get something organized next week guys.. the coop in hamptons I found worked well.. weekend thr best time for folks?

@Graeme Cram - Let me be frank, the 1% rule (or 2% rule commonly shown on these forums) will not work.

Yes market is in a slide, but, at the same time, these are the times when dealers are available. I believe the absolute key in buying single family homes in Calgary are, buy with lower amounts of money down and/or figure out a way to minimize your downside risk while keeping your cash flows. I own three rentals (and a 4th closing) this Friday and I can tell you my cash flows are great, and I have found a way to hedge my risk.

No, its not traditional buy and hold, but the essence of it is most definitely the same.  Please feel free to get in touch, looking forward to meeting you.

P.S. we do have a bigger pockets Calgary Facebook group which helps us coordinate our meet ups. Feel free to join, hoping to meet you soon!

Ram

@Aaron Choi

I sent you a private message!

@Robert Ellis

Actually there were three separate instances

58 Unit Rhodes Commons - I was looking to purchase the property but could not secure insurance. Was well within the time to cancel my offer (still within due diligence period), and the seller would refuse to sign the cancellation so I can get my earnest money back. I had no choice or go through the courts. on a 10K deposit being out of country is not worth the time and stress.

20 Unit at Roosevelt. A fraudulent lender who was posing as a lender to my deal. This after I went through the process of going through a mortgage broker. Lost about 4K in appraisal and inspection costs. + 3K in lender fee which was never returned as it was a scam.

2 Unit  property in Bexley Ohio - Green Realty the property manager did not even secure damage deposits for the first tenant he found. The tenant stopped paying and had to be evicted after 1 month. In 1.5 years of holding the property, the property manager made $2500 and I made $200. I had no financing on the property, and yes I made a total of $200 in 1.5 years. 

I Purchased for 55,000 put 5,000 of work into it and sold it for $45,000. The realtor Kay Strait looked after her own interests rather than mine. She ended up being the realtor on commission when I bought and when I sold and arm wrestled me in giving her an extra $1000 in commission for selling it for a loss of $10,000. Not to mention, the contractor who initially did the work on the property claimed he had done work and billed us for $5K worth of work but later we found out that he did a quarter of the scope of the work that he was supposed to do. 

So YES, after 1.5 years of exploring the market, after 500+ hours in the market, I lost approx $30K US.  This is exclusive of a 100K CAD coaching program ( Steve Martel) I spent which claimed to help Canadians invest in the US... and then it turned out that the coach with bankrupt.

 So Yeah, I would say I got my teeth kicked in pretty hard. I made my share of mistakes Yes, I do feel like everything that could go wrong went wrong in my time in Columbus.

Comparatively I have made 70K NET in Canada over the last 1.5 years.

I stay soooooooooo far away from Columbus. Suffice to say, not my cup of tea.

- Got taken to lunch by my realtor, contractor, property manager, my tenants

- Got scammed by a guy who posed himself as a MF lender

- Got bullied by a real estate lawyer to sacrifice half my deposit for doing nothing wrong.

A not so warm welcome.. got out with my teeth kicked in..

That is not to say the market may not be for you!

@Mark Johnson, Your from Rimbey...... a coupe years ago had no idea that town existed, and now I visit there often.

@Sean Kollee - Not all foreclosures are good deals, be warned!

@Jett Rao - we are getting pretty old eh?