Brandon Copeland - Atlantic Canada - Longtime Listener

[Brandon Copeland]

Hey guys. Long time podcast listener, occasional forum lurker, brand new poster. 

My name is Brandon Copeland and I'm currently based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I grew up in Nova Scotia (about an hour outside of Halifax) and while I'm currently not investing there, I do visit frequently and hope to do some work in Halifax in the next few years. 

I'm 29 years old and just pulled the trigger on my second property. I graduated from University in 2012 and pursued a career in real estate development. I worked with one of the largest developers in my city until 2016 when the housing bubble burst and my company ultimately collapsed. During my time there I project managed a land portfolio valued at about $40-million, so I really began to understand development regulations, municipal approval processes, etc. Despite all this I wasn't thrilled with the types of projects that we were doing. Being in an old city, I felt there was boatloads of opportunity in urban infill and restoration projects, yet my time was spent finding sprawling acreage to build ****** subdivisions as opposed to actually exploring neat ideas in the core of the city which desperately needed investment. All in all I learned a ton but I wasn't fulfilled, so when the company collapsed I decided to start my own business. 

Since the company went under I've incorporated my own entity and began doing real estate investment consulting, project management contracting, and urban advocacy. I am very involved with my city's Board of Trade, and I make a point of exploring creative ideas for urban lifestyles. St. John's is an old city, and so we have a lot of old city problems. Poor transit, very aged downtown property, second and third floor fire-safety concerns, etc. This presents challenges for the old-school developers that like their subdivisions... but in my mind it also presents opportunity for people with a little imagination and knowledge of best-practice that has been developed elsewhere. 

Anyway, I received a startup grant to start my business with the caveat that I COULD NOT invest in my own project until the funding lapsed. My fiance and I had built our first house (with my former company) shortly before their bankruptcy. We intentionally house-hacked, and put a small Micro-Apartment (very reminiscent of a New York City Micro) at the ground level. At only 223 square feet, this unit is a deadly little AirBnB. We've been renting it for two years, and the thing prints money. The unit takes up 18% of our total floor space, yet it pays 81% of our bills (ALL bills - mortgage, electricity, WiFi, insurance, property tax). It's fantastic, and we live cheaper than ever before. We've wanted to get more units for a while... but again, my business isn't allowed to buy until the end of year 1. 

Well, the end of year 1 was July. I close on my 2nd property (first real investment property) in December. We identified a neighbourhood that has an incredibly unique character, which really doesn't have much expansion opportunity. The housing stock is what it is. Much of it is aged - we bought a fairly new property that can be rented as a full-home vacation rental or 3 small suites. I very much look forward to managing this. I might even license it and try to run it like my own small business. All this said, my real estate investing journey is just getting started and BiggerPockets has always been an exceptional resource. Hoping to be more involved with the forums than I have been. Looking forward to sharing ideas and stories with other like-minded folks. 

Cheers!