Need newbie Advice for poss. student rental in S. Ontario Canada

[Ralph Noack]

Good Morning BP. Excited newbie here. Looking for any advice on this project. This is in Brantford, Ontario.  A house came up, and they're asking $142,900. Its a Semi-detached home 3 bedrooms & one bathroom. It seems like there's enough room in the basement for a 4th bedroom & possibly another bathroom. It has been used as a rental. The tenant moved out yesterday. The house has only had one viewing because the tenant wouldn't let anyone in & now she's out.

"It will need work on the inside" says the listing agent. No other info given. The roof, furnace, windows, copper piping &  100 Amp service w/breakers are newer (don't know if that includes wiring throughout).

The house is about 15 minute walk to the university area. Brantford is booming as a university city. They are expecting 10,000 student increase in the next 5 years.

The listing agent expects the house to go quickly ("within days, if not hours" he says. Could just be hype, but there are NOT a lot of other houses available in Brantford & this one is very cheap!)

I can re-hab myself for the most part (I own a roofing company & know enough about construction), & I have flipped a house a few yrs. back. So, that's not the part I'm worried about. More interested in how to price this out. I would assume there's demand & this is cheap. In southern Ontario, ridiculous bidding wars are happening all the time. But if it needs that much work I don't know how to approach the pricing.

Plans could be to keep it & rent it out and thus benefit from quickly rising house values in the long term as well, or to re-hab it & sell it. 

Note: I have not run any numbers on it yet. I have not been inside yet. I'm going  to get inside this morning.

Anything is helpful. Thanks.

[Roshni Patel]

Hi!

I actually do some student rental stuff (in Hamilton). I think that at the end of the day your decision with what to so with this house should be guided by the numbers and what you feel most comfortable with.  After walking through the house, trying seeing what the houses in the area are either renting for, get a feel of the neighborhood, what other comps have been sold in the area and take it from there, see if there are a lot of students in the area or families and etc. 

Something that I have learned over the years is just because a house is "cheap" doesn't necessary means it's a good investment or deal.  Your decisions should be based on the numbers, and what you are comfortable with, for it to be a good investment.

Hope that helps!