Cash flow but no appreciation

[Beau Walsh]

I'm currently trying to decide what to do and would like some advice. I've sold my live in flip and it didn't go as planed. You can see my other post for more details. Now I'm looking at a different strategy. I've identified an area out side the city that is in my budget that I can cash flow on with 5% down. It's a three bed three bath townhouse. Because it's a 5% down mortgage I would live in it for the minimum amount of time I have to till I can rent it out and then move out and rent somewhere cheaper to save money. My only concern would be this area hasn't appreciated because all the new products being built.  My girlfriend purchased a townhouse in this area 8 years ago and it's worth $20k less then it was from new 8 years ago.   It seem like a lot of new product is priced at the same as the older town homes but are about 100-200 square feet smaller.  I can find other areas closer to the city that have  appreciated about 7% per year but they don't cash flow.   Do you think it's a better choice in these other areas that might appreciate a bit more because there's a new skytrain linking  the downtown core coming in 2016 but don't cash flow ? 

[Michael Seeker]

Cashflow is the name of the game, appreciation is just icing on the cake.  What can you do with an appreciation play if the real estate market experiences another correction?  Well, you'd be underwater with your 95% loan and not making anything on the rental income so why even hold onto the property at that point?

Real estate has recovered nicely since the 08 downturn and it wouldn't surprise me if we're lining up for another correction in the next few years.  Such corrections are only seen as buying opportunities if you're investing for cashflow.  But they'll kill your chances of long-term success if you're only investing for appreciation.