Need Advice on Next Steps for my Real Estate Portfolio

[Ryan Kane]

Long time follower of BP in Canada first time poster! Don't grill me too hard.

I own three rental properties, one is my primary residence with an apartment (5 units total between 3 properties: 1 airbnb, 2 medium term healthcare leases, and 2 long-term rentals). I net about 3.5-5k a month(depending on airbnb) after all expenses including my primary residence and utilities there.

I have built up a good amount of equity in the houses due to the renos I've done mostly myself and also from buying low during covid. I think I have about 450-600k equity depending on how well the properties appraise. I have very little debt besides mortgages and have spent my own money doing renovation over the last few years. I dont really have a lot of cash on hand (due to renos) and don't have any big loans or LOC to draw from.

I have a background in civil engineering and have a good understanding of residential housing and construction. I want to work my way into anything full time because I have a decent job now but eventually i want to have real estate/construction replace my income. 

I've thought about commercial real estate and/or residential house building but dont have any knowledge on where to start. I have a very basic understanding of the financing aspect and really just stuck on what I need to do next and who I should be contacting to move forward.

Any help is welcome, thanks

[Ken Didychuk]

Sounds like you're doing just fine Ryan!

Be careful about the advice of others when it comes to your RE investing future. There are so many variables and some of the biggest misunderstandings come from regional variances on how these variables are handled (mortgages & financing especially).

I had thought progressing towards multifamily and then commercial was the obvious path to follow, but one conversation changed it all. I was made to think "if you've put this much time, money, and effort into perfecting the development of secondary suites into SFR's, why would you move your focus onto another strategy?" I have no doubt that I would learn any new avenues quickly considering my current experience, but I would still be taking a step backwards for the time being. Maybe if I was younger it would make more sense, but staying with the method I've used over the last 10 years will only become more refined and efficient. Many, many people have made huge fortunes on SFR's alone.

Speak extensively with anyone who invests in RE and do everything you can to pull out why you *shouldn't* do something. Everyone wants to brag and spout off about how well they've done and which strategy is the yellow brick road to success. The problem is they never tell about their failures, their roadblocks, their stress. Never fully trust anyone that isn't willing to share the negative aspects of all this.

As I'm sure you've experienced, this can be a very rewarding path to take and depending on your grit and determination, overcoming all the pitfalls are well worth the effort.

Cheers and drive safe!