Deciding on where to invest in Canada

[Mike Henricks]

Hi there,

I’m fairly new to real estate. I’m 21 years old and currently living in Edmonton, AB. I’m currently in the application process to get my mortgage associates license, and have been listening to the BP podcast for about a year. Until now I’ve been building cash to get started.

I’m trying to decide on where to invest in Canada. I’m interested in buy and hold rentals mostly for now. The numbers in Edmonton just don’t seem to work out to be profitable for me. I am an open book! Able to work anywhere in Canada as I work from home.

I don’t necessarily just want to hear names of locations, but more so how to decide and find where is best. So far what I’ve been doing to research is checking growth rates, as well as rent rates compared to property values and what the rate of growth for the rent is.

What do you recommend for deciding where to invest when you have no restrictions as to where?

Thanks all!

MH

[Zorya Belanger]

Hi Michael,

The way to decide where to invest is to look at the economic fundamentals, which means, where is GDP increasing, where are jobs being created, where are people moving to. The prices and the rents in an area are the results of what’s going on there economically. 

There are quite a few factors to consider. I highly suggest reading Real Estate Investing in Canada by Don Campbell. 

I think Edmonton has a bright future; lots of investors are still picking Edmonton due to cash flow. And if you have a cash flowing property now, it’ll just get better when the economy picks up again and rents increase. 

Feel free to connect if you want to talk more.