Ottawa ON, Canada Condo Deal

[Colin Lindsay]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $222,300
Cash invested: $15,000

2bed 2bath condo in Orleans, Ontario. Originally bought as a property that I was going to live in. Job transferred back home and decided to rent the property to hold it until the Ottawa O-Train is installed 900m from the doorstep of the property. City of Ottawa is spending $4.66 billion dollars to connect the sububurbs to the downtown core. Since buying the property in late 2018 for $222k, the property has now been valued at over $310k late 2020.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

At first I had no idea that I was going to rent the full unit. I had house hacked for the time that I lived in the unit, I had rented out the second bedroom for $600, which paid for half of my mortgage.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I was working with an agent, but I ended up finding the listing on the MLS and urged may agent to set up a viewing. We offered the amount upon viewing and it was accepted.

How did you finance this deal?

Mortgage broker, 3.54%. 5% down, first time home buyers incentive. Mortgage insurance was added.

How did you add value to the deal?

I had recently replaced the carpet in the entire unit with laminate hardwood and then painted the entire unit. The paint was a huge portion of adding value, it was originally painted baby blue and burnt orange.

What was the outcome?

As of right now the property is very self sustaining as it is a condo, no lawn or driveway maintenance and yard upkeep. Unfortunately, the property is not cash flowing like I want, but this is because I did not buy with the intention of fully renting it. On the upside, this property has appreciated very well and will hopefully continue to do so, up until the installation of the mass transit system to which I will most likely sell, or guarantee that my cashflow is positive and continue to rent.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Although I did not plan to rent, I should have ran more numbers to make sure that if I ever did rent it that it would cashflow. Oh well...

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes! Please reach out if you need a broker or agent within the Ottawa area.