International Investor In Buffalo NY/ Erie County

[Andriy Makoviychuk]

Good Morning BP Community, I’m a Canadian Citizen who has been Investing in Ontario for over 5 years. I am in the process of getting my ducks in a row to purchase multi-families in Buffalo NY. My question for the BP Community is to find out if any other Canadians found success in Buffalo? And how have my US neighbours been succeeding in Buffalo? WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL:):)

[Omar Khan]

@Andriy Makoviychuk ex-pat Canadian (living in Texas) here. What kind of financing are you getting as a Canadian? If it's through the RBC/TD/BMO, you might not be getting the best rate. From my experience, international investors get the short end of the stick when it comes to financing. 

But you are doing the smart move investing out of Ontario (ex-Torontonian here... no hate for ON) as GTA, Caledon and surrounding areas have become very pricey. 

We had better luck investing in larger MFs and other commercial property. At the smaller property (sub 50 units), we (and other international investors I know) had issues with property management. You get charged for a lot of BS expenses and since you're not there, it's hard to fight that battle on an ongoing basis.

We're mostly acquiring in Texas and the Southern States because of the laws are investor friendly, you get economies of scale with bigger properties, can structure better lending and have access to better (IMO) property management with more sophisticated reports and tools.

Also, hope you know how the tax structure works for cross-border transactions. CRA treats LLCs as a Corporation. You will also face withholding taxes when repatriating money back to Canada (which you can claim on the Canadian side, due to the tax treaty). 

As an international investor, choosing the right property is only the start. You need to have the right CPA, lawyer, lender and property manager in place.