New Member From Southern Ontario

[Owen Henry]

Hello, I'm Owen, I am a new user from the Kitchener, Ontario area and i am just beginning my journey in real estate investment with my friend and business partner Alex. We are currently both in college enrolled in the Architecture - Project and Facility Management (Bach. Applied Tech.) program which sparked our interest for the real estate investment field. We saw the opportunity to create passive income and eventually create a business for ourselves since, we have been seeking as much education in the field as we can, taking workshops, asking questions, reading books to be as ready as possible to safely take the shot. As students we don't have a lot of personal finance to get started, so since we are going to be borrowing i want to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible to explain in detail to a lender how i can make their money back and they can have confidence in my partner and I before we establish our portfolio. I was wondering if there are any "rules of thumb" or "staples" that are used in the industry to conservatively evaluate a properties expenses and other fees, I know these numbers will range depending on the deal and the region but if that's the case, what have other investors done in the past to get the best numbers, who do I reach out to? 

If anyone has any advice for me or can point me to where i can find some information that would be useful for my situation I would really appreciate it.

We are both really excited to get started on our Real Estate Investment journey! :)