Closing deals in a hot market

[Derek Kohut]

Hey BP,

I am in Niagara, Canada and have been looking at small multi family homes to add to my real estate portfolio but am in a very competitive market. Lots of money is coming down from the Toronto area and buying up properties at way over asking. Sometimes 50-80k over! I have offered on two properties in the last month and offer over asking for both and lost both properties by 20k and 35k. I don't understand how people are paying so much for these properties when CAP rates over 3 or 4% are rare. Are there any local investors out there actually getting decent cap rates?. I have considered investing on the east coast, but not sure I am ready for that yet. I thought I had my market narrowed down to small multi family but now I am bouncing all over the place , STR, out of province, etc. I Feel like I'm lost. Who else out there is having these types of problems? Any help would be gladly welcomed. Cheers

[Rick Martin]

@Derek Kohut it is competitive (sometimes foolishly competitive) everywhere. Don't sit on the sidelines. Continue to underwrite deals and build relationships, and look for creative ways to find deals off-market. Keep sharpening your pencil, and who knows you may just find a deal with numbers that surprise you. There is still loads of money that flooded the market back in 2008 searching for yield here in the US.