Meetups in Calgary

[Jason Connolly]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone knows of any investor meetups in Calgary, AB Canada. I'm looking to connect with some people who have done a few deals and get a bit of guidance on how to start out.

[Nicole Stratton]

@Andrew Dutcher the sellers don't need to have paid off the mortgage. In an AFS you agree to a price and contractually agree to purchase, but you don't close (and, in Alberta, title doesn't transfer) for X number of years down the road. In the meantime, you (the buyer) assume all the carrying costs and full responsibility for the property. As part of the agreement, there are checks and balances to make sure you make your payments to the seller and that seller in turn continues to pay the mortgage and property taxes. You leave the seller's mortgage in place. You are free to rent the property out, renovate, assign the contract, etc. It's easier to set these deals up when you are dealing directly with the seller, but it's not that hard to find off-market properties if you are willing to put in a little legwork and make some phone calls. I found the duplex deal on kijiji, I think - it's under contract for another two years and because I've totally taken it over, I was able to arrange to renovate and add secondary suites on the lower level. AFS is a type of seller financing, which makes it different to something like a lease with an option to buy structure where it's still a landlord-tenant type of arrangement rather than a buyer with alternative financing. (**Note for others reading this: this is how it works in Alberta - the exact mechanism and terms used vary from province to province and state to state)