Moving to Canada - which city should I choose?

[Gaurav Dhir]

Hi

I have just joined BiggerPockets and am amazed at the amount of information available and the way members are helping each other out. Thanks to everyone taking time out to reply to queries.

I am a recent Canadian Permanent Resident and I will be moving to Canada in a month. I have the following cities as options to move to - Calgary (AB) or Saint John (NB). I am looking at this from a strictly real estate investment point of view as I plan to get into it full time. My wife's work is location independent (online) and we have a 1-and-a-half year old.

I have the following goals:
Year 1 - Buy my first rental investment positive cash flowing property
Year 3 - Start making at least CAD 1,000 as positive cash flow from rental properties (after all expenses and reserves)
Year 5 - Start making at least CAD 5,000 as positive cash flow from rental properties (after all expenses and reserves)

I want to follow house hacking strategy to begin with. I plan to look for a duplex, triplex or a 4-plex to buy, rehab (if required), live in 1 apartment and rent out the others for positive cashflow. Post that, I want to invest in a BRRRR strategy buy buying, rehabbing and renting single family or multi family apartments.

Currently, the big question for us is whether it will be Calgary or Saint John. Saint John seems to be better priced with much better rental yields. Thus, I presume, that it will be easier to buy cash flowing properties. Am I missing anything?

It will be great if people can give their opinion/experience with these markets. Where do you suggest I should move to?

Thanks a bunch!