All Forum Posts by: Theresa Harris

I agree with Gustavo-if you are going to list it with a realtor (which my guess is you will as you said you are not local, so someone will need to do showings), let them take photos.

Couple of things to be aware of:

-property taxes will be higher as you can't claim the home owner's grant on rentals

-there is a property transfer tax when buying a home

-BC is tenant friendly and there are caps on rent increases

I'm not sure if you will be able to find someone to foot the entire bill (ie 25% down payment from them, and then joint names on the mortgage-what are you putting into it?)

I can't help with where to find distressed properties, but most properties in the lower mainland and parts of Vancouver Island, Okanagan are not going to cash flow.  You will be paying to have someone live there and only possibly making money when you sell.

If you can get them to put it in writing that they don't want any of the items, then yes.  Otherwise unfortunately many places require that you pay to have it stored for a period of time.  You could rent a moving bin and store it in that on the property.  The two times I had tenants move out (instead of being evicted), they said they had moved everything out that they wanted and I tossed the rest or put it out on the curb for people to take.

 He should have an extra set of keys. All landlords have a set of keys to their property (or their PM does).  

 Phone their case worker (or the section 8 office) and ask them who to return it to (minus any expenses).

Is there a reason you haven't done the inspection and returned the balance of the deposit?  Many places have a time limit, so do that quickly and then get the keys.  If they won't return it to you, charge them to change the locks.  It could be the tenant had an issue in the past about getting their deposit back and that is why they are leary.

Make sure you have a lawyer draw up a contract outlining how the agreement will work.  Are you all splitting everything equally into 3 and doing the same for repairs and maintenance?  How are you deciding what needs to be done and what happens if one of you wants to sell?

Talk to the current landlord and see what they've been doing.  Otherwise, I'd do what Nathan suggests and pay one of the tenants $X per month for your part of their electric bill.  I'm not sure why David says that is illegal, as the landlord is paying for the electricity for the common areas, he's just paying the tenant for it rather than the electric company.

I had the same comment as Jules-how much did you buy it for and what would it sell for?  Look at the capital gains implications because if you rent it out for 5 years and then sell it, you will pay cap gains on all of the profit.