1% rule for Canadian Market: What's your opinion?

[Eagle Yeh]

Hi BP Canadian community,

I am researching my first property. I have been running analyses and looking at deals in Alberta and Ontario. I am mainly looking at SFR. There is one topic that truly puzzles me and I wonder what the experienced investors would say about the 1% rule. More specifically:

The purchase cost for A-class single home family is likely to be above $300k in today's market. 1% rule here requires 3k rent, which is not realistic unless we start to include a separate unit in the basement. Even then meeting 1% rule is still unlikely.

Do most Canadian investors forgo the 1% rule, put down 25%+ DP, and tweak operating costs to make positive cash flow?

Not sure if it's allowed to post property links here so I won't do that, but the cities I looked into so far are: Airdrie, Calgary, Edmonton, Cochrane, Saskatoon, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Brantford,  GTA.

Thank you!

[Chris Baxter]

Negative cash flow is never an option. Banking on appreciation is gambling