Canadian New to Real Estate Investing

[Matt Czaikowski]

Hi everyone!

My name is Matt, I currently live in London Ontario. I am new to the real estate industry but have been reading lots of books on real estate investing and trying to learn as much as possible. I plan to buy my first property within the next two years, so I've been trying to gather as much knowledge as possible before then. My goal is  to buy either a duplex, triplex or fourplex and live in one of the units while renting out the others. I just graduated from University and will be taking my CPA accreditation next fall, which should assist me in evaluating properties worth and provide me with ways at which I can reduce taxes. My method for investing will be to buy and hold properties and earn passive cash flow which can then be used to purchase additional properties in the years following. I'm open to any tips or suggestions from anyone on obtaining financing, start-up or any additional resources that anyone feels would be useful to me at this point in my journey.

Regards,

Matt 

[Thomas S.]

Study the Ontario landlord and tenant regulations. They are your business bible. Ontario is extremely pro tenant and you need to be extra diligent when screening. Steer clear of any and all welfare recipients as the government has deemed them to be untouchable. When they stop paying rent the government does not allow you to collect.

Take the time to attend the LTB hearings in your area to get a feel for how the adjudicators operate and how they treat landlords. Their mandate is to prevent evictions. 99% of the tenants taken to the board by landlords are welfare or low income, 99% of the tenants that take their landlord to the board are welfare or low income. Remember that when investing in properties in Ontario.

Adjudicators will tell landlords that it is the landlords fault if they have a bad tenant for not screening better and force them to live with the tenant. Screen, screen, screen because evicting is nearly impossible.