All Forum Posts by: Zorya Belanger

@Zoher Hamati

Hi Zo, I'm in Edmonton. At which university are you? That might influence things. I agree with comment above - I great way to get started is to buy a house near university, put 5% down, get a CMHC-insured mortgage, live there and rent out the other rooms. Use an investor-focused realtor. Join investor groups on Facebook. Read Canadian real estate books. If you can't buy it on your own (due to no income and/or downpayment), you can look into partnering  or joint venturing with someone. Feel free to reach out if you need help.

Hi @Justin Sheppard 

I’m from Edmonton and our market is similar in that that’s probably what I could expect for a single family home too. I would not buy a negative cashflowing property and keep looking. They need to cashflow.  We just bought 3 brand new suited townhouses for $440k each, and $2800/month rent for each. Due to commercial financing and 1.45% interest, they’ll be cashflowing about $500/month.

I’m sure there are better opportunities than that in Regina. Might be similar to Edmonton, in that single family doesn’t cash flow, but if you look at smaller properties (townhouses) or properties with more than one suite (house with basement suite or garage suite or multifamily) then they do.

Sorry I can’t comment on farmland. 

@K Shoe

My recommendation is to talk to a Canadian mortgage broker who specifically deals with real estate investors, as they can help build a plan of which lenders to use and in which order to maximize the number of mortgages you can get. Rules are always changing but its their job to be on top of it. 

For my husband and I, we maxed out at 4 mortgages, so we turned to doing joint ventures, where the JV partner qualifies for the mortgage. Then it became difficult/frustrating for our partners to qualify, so we are now investing in multifamily and getting commercial mortgages, which we can qualify for ourselves.

With commercial, the building qualifies for the loan, not you. You just have to guarantee the loan which requires a certain net worth.

It helped to build the residential portfolio first to get to a net worth that allows us to personal guarantee the commercial loans ourselves. However, that's not necessary if you bring in a high net worth partner who agrees to personal guarantee it. 

It depends. Best to talk to your lawyer and accountant. They will have better advice for your personal situation than someone on this forum can provide. If you want to learn more about it first, before paying money to talk to the professionals, I would highly recommend reading: 

- 81 Financial & Tax Tips for the Canadian Real Estate Investor, by Don Campbell & George Dube

- Legal, Tax, & Accounting Strategies for the Canadian Real Estate Investor, by George Dube and Steve Cohen

Definitely possible in Canada! Financing rules are probably the biggest difference between Canada & US, so talk to Canadian mortgage brokers, and other investors in your area to help gather your numbers.

Then start connecting with other investors in your area, like REIGS Real Estate Investors Group Saskatchewan on facebook.

@Theresa Harris is right. You can put less than 20% down and get CMHC insured financing only if your honest intention is to live there. Its a myth that as long as you live there a year, or 6 months, or X amount of time that its ok to turn it into a rental. There is no length of time rule. If you're intention was to make it your primary residence, and then circumstances change, and to need to move, and you keep it as a rental then that's different. Also I believe you can only have one cmhc insured mortgage at a time, though there are other insurers besides cmhc. 

You can get around the 20%, and get up to 85% LTV if you buy brand new multifamily with CMHC-insured commercial financing.

Or you can buy using Agreement for Sale strategy, and often can put less down at the beginning. 

I also would suggest spending some money on training and reading/listening to books (books are amazing value!!). If you don't spend some money on education, you'll probably spend it by making mistakes. Not all trainers/coaches are the same though so do you're research and get referrals. The right one will depend on what strategy you want to start with. Great first book to read is Real Estate Investing in Canada by Don R Campbell.

Where are living now?

@Jeffrey Glover, just curious - where do you live now and how did you decide to invest in the US?

Hey @Gabe Gonzalez

Sounds like you have the skills to do most of a reno project. That will help you be profitable for sure. Finding the right property at a discounted price is key. You can do your own marketing campaigns, work with a realtor, or buy one off a wholesaler. 

Investors in Edmonton that have been most successful with this when they find cheap run-down houses in nice neighborhoods, or they take a bungalow and put in a secondary basement suite, to increase the value.

I would check out the different investor networking groups and connect with people in the business already.

We're planning to do a BRRRR on a multi-family building. Currently looking for the right property.