All Forum Posts by: Stevo Sun
Stevo Sun has started 12 posts and replied 319 times.
Post: Ordering books to Alberta, Canada
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Matt Goncalves:
Good morning all,
I was trying to order some books off the site to Calgary, Alberta. It says it couldn't ship to my address. I tried putting in both my different addresses in two seperate Alberta cities but neither worked. Does anyone know if shipping is available to Alberta. I know i can order them off of amazon but wanted the extra perks of ordering off of this site, such as "all the paperwork you need to flip houses" that comes with the book on estimating rehab costs.
Thank you in advance for any help.
Try Amazon, some of the books are on there. I'm in Calgary as well.
Post: Redevelopment property in Calgary, AB
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:
Quote from @Stevo Sun:
Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:
Investment Info:
Single-family residence other investment.
Purchase price: $600,000
Located in the neighbourhood of Highland Park this property was purchased as part of a land assembly. We are currently in the process of evaluating the redevelopment potential of this property.
Post: Redevelopment property in Calgary, AB
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:
Investment Info:
Single-family residence other investment.
Purchase price: $600,000
Located in the neighbourhood of Highland Park this property was purchased as part of a land assembly. We are currently in the process of evaluating the redevelopment potential of this property.
Alberta here, you for sure will want a washroom I would think at least 1 for ever 2 bedrooms. Also in basement, you should make sure the windows are large enough for egress.
Post: Anyone has a good handymen to recommend?
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Anthony Therrien-Bernard:
Anyone has a good handymen to recommend in Calgary? I am not looking for a general contractor I need someone to do smaller repair tasks. In all my years of real estate investing this Is the trade I have struggled the most to find a consistent one, over the years I found great electricians, GC, plumbers etc but keep having to find new handyman every year it seems. Anyway anyone has good recommendations?
Post: Canadian/US dual citizenship - implication for real estate
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Hi everyone,
My wife is a dual citizen US/Canada. We live in Canada, and she does not hold any investment property because we heard some horror stories about dealing with US taxation. I wondered if there were any tax implications if she started investing in rental properties in Canada. I know the TFSA doesn't work for her because it gets taxed on the state side. Are there any other tax implications or other factors we need to watch out for if she starts to invest in real estate in Canada?
Post: Half duplex as a first rental property.
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Ian Dale Ibrado:
Hi everyone, is gettinga half duplex good idea as a first investment?
Thanks
Post: No cashflow… No maintenance?
- Calgary, AB
- Posts 326
- Votes 175
Quote from @Halid Parladi:
Hello BiggerPockets family. I wish you are all doing great.
Still a young university student, I am really nervous about the purchase of my first property. I still do not have enough balance to pay the down-payment (consider the fact that the houses are so expensive in Canada); however, I want to fulfill my knowledge before I am ready.
To be honest, I do not want to take risk on my first property and, therefore, planning to agree with a company to take care of my property. I wonder if the offer that I am going to list down for a brand-new house is rational and can be applied:
- I will pay the down-payment.
- The company will take care of the house and the tenant; however, I will get my monthly loan directly from the company regardless of the vacancy.
- The company will take the cashflow ( or the buyer will only get a small amount such as $50 )
- The company will take care of the repairs.
- The agreement will not be able to get broken by the company until the amortization ends.
- The company will be a 3% shareholder of the house… for a possible sale.
I wonder if this would be an option for someone like me who does not want to take risk for his first property.
By the way, there may be other points that can be added or removed from the list. Can you please share your opinion and expertise on this issue?
Best Regards,
Halid
Sorry what company are you doing this with? Are you saying you pay the down payment (let's assume 20%) and the company will help you manage and pay your mortgage while you retain 97% of the equity of the property?
Not sure if I have heard of such a deal before. I want to caution you and anyone getting started that there is absolutely risk involved in real estate investment(and any other investment). Near risk free return would be like a savings account.
Back to your post, most people start by self management of the property. Property management company typically charge 5-10% of the rent. They are not responsible for your mortgage payment regardless of the vacancy status. They will also bill you for repairs on top that management fee. They will not have an equity stake in the property because generally the mortgage lender will not allow someone (individual or company) to have equity without that someone being on the mortgage directly. In Alberta professional property management is a licensed activity. Some individuals will offer the property management service without being licensed, but you will have to decide if that's a risk you are okay with since that's technically not allowed.
If someone has given you a proposal with terms you listed I would be very skeptical and you should proceed with caution.
Quote from @Khai Hong:
Quote from @Sam Su:
Quote from @Khai Hong:
Hi @Sam Su, you'd be better off looking just a little outside of Calgary, like Airdrie or Lethbridge, better bang for your buck. I listen to several Canadian REI podcasts, and it sounds like a lot of experienced investors have been flocking to Calgary as of late. And given the recent rate rises, with more to come, it's going to be tough to compete directly with them. If you're thinking of investing remotely anyway, then also consider the Atlantic provinces, and dig deeper into which places have the most potential business & population growth. Wherever you end up choosing, it'd be best to add some healthy repair & vacancy contingencies into your underwriting. Here's a good discussion about landlord friendly provinces
Whats the best province to Invest in real estate in canada (biggerpockets.com)
Btw, did you get any good leads from Anthony? I'm surprised he doesn't outright post all the properties that he thinks are investor-friendly. As a realtor, that should be a great way to make oneself stand out and attract clients.
Be conservative with your expectations, don't be dazzled by numbers like $1500/m - that's probably from a property that was purchased 10 years ago. Even with $300/m, a hot water tank replacement or furnace repair could wipe out a few years of income. So decide clearly if you need the rental income, or if you're building equity by having other people pay down a mortgage for you.
Also, I am actually thinking about Nova Scotia as well. But I have look into it yet. It is kind of too far from Vancouver.
Btw, as you said, you are looking in Vancouver as well. What's your target if I may ask? Flipping or rental income? To me, it just can't make the numbers to be working for rental. I know long term appreciation Vancouver is always good for sure.
HI Sam, distance is just a mindset :) It's all just a phone call away. Or if (once) you have a good system and team in place, then not even many phone calls. You could probably get 2 properties in NS for the price of one in AB, spread out your risk a little, but more time up front to set up. Another thing to consider is the likely appreciation. To my mind, the performance in NS is a nice steady climb, whereas AB is more dependent on the economy, so pick your preference. Here's a price chart (ignore 2020-21)
CREA | Try the MLS® HPI Tool
I'm currently looking in Vancouver (and Burnaby) because I want to move my family out of our condo in New West. I'm looking either to trade up to a house for $1.6M or less, or buy another condo ($600k or less) and rent out my current one. House hacking is part of the plan in both cases. The house would have to be fairly turn key with rooms for renting out, or another condo would also have to be live-in ready with the potential to add value through floor plan hacking. So, yeah, I have pretty specific requirements.
You're right about rentals not making sense anymore in Vancouver, you can only get about half of the monthly mortgage cost, unless the property was purchased more than 5 years ago. And even short term rentals don't work if you follow the 30 day limit. I don't know how strictly the city enforces that limit, but it's pretty easy to see how many nights were booked on the airbnb app. The only rental strategy that still kind of works is house hacking. Some rough numbers for you to consider: values have doubled almost exactly every 10 years in Vancouver since 1980, so if you rent out a room for $900/m on $500k property, you'd get about $100k income plus another $500k appreciation in 10 years. And in about 5 years, there should be about 200k of equity to use for investing elsewhere. No guarantees, of course, but even 75% of that would be quite good. It would be very optimistic to expect even half of that in either AB or NS. That's why I'm going to find ways to stay around Vancouver.
I disagree with managing long distant property is 'just a mind set'. I think it's about a good team that you can trust. Those are not exactly easy to come by, even locally. I think if you are just getting started or this is just a side hustle, long distance management would be hard. I would be patient and look for local opportunities to get started. It might take a while to get started but it will build over time.
If you are just counting on appreciation I would just say since the 80s the interest rate in Canada has steadily dropped. Inflation over time has also helped increase the house price. We seem to be in a rising interest rate environment for the near term so that could impact the speed of house value appreciation.
If you have reasonable access to the American market and that's the exposure you want I would go that way. The real estate rules are much better in the states. The main one I think of(and wish we had in Canada) is the 1031 exchange. IMO that rule alone puts US real estate miles ahead of Canadian equivalent.