Newbie from Vancouver Canada

[Alex Butz]

Hi all,

My name is Alex, living in the greater Vancouver region. After 3 years of working as an accountant, I quit my job to travel for several months with my wife. I discovered financial accounting wasn't for me, and am using this trip as a partial 'self discovery' thing (sounds sort of lame but it's true!). We are still currently traveling and will be back in the new year. We will eventually move back to BC and settle down into full careers (with real estate at least on the side). 

I currently own a condo (purchased 2012) outside of Vancouver that I'm renting to my brother. We hope we will keep that property and continue to rent it out into the future.

I've read a lot of material from bigger pockets so far, including the Ultimate guide and beyond. It is all really helpful and something I get excited about as I continue read. Buy and hold property ownership interests me the most, but my research shows that it is difficult to do in Vancouver area and beyond.

I have a quick questions for investors in high COL areas: I keep reading about the 1% rule when evaluating properties. With such high real estate prices in Vancouver its almost impossible to reach even 0.5%. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this?

Looking forward to continue participating with everyone. Thanks!

[Darren Spratt]

I'm currently living in Winnipeg.  I'm originally from Ottawa area and know the area well.  I think there are lots of possibilities in Winnipeg, but the tenancy laws are horrendous.  Definitely favour the tenant.  What I've seen with Vancouver is that it takes a lot of money to get into the market.  One of the reasons I like Winnipeg, is it takes far less money to get into the market and still relatively easy find properties around that 1% range.  Let me know if you want any info on these two areas.