Is real estate investing for cash flow still possible in Canada?

[Lubica J.]

Hi, I am new to Bigger Pockets and would love to hear your opinion.

My partner and I would like to buy our first property for house-hacking in Canada to start our journey in real estate.

We have been researching markets in British Columbia (Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Kelowna), Ontario (mainly Ottawa) and Nova Scotia (Halifax). It doesn’t seem that any numbers work for house-hacking nor for rentals – we cannot even find a property where we would break even, which makes me wonder if real estate investing into MTR or LTR is still possible in Canada or is it working only in USA at this point?

We are considering 2 options: Our preferred option is buying a duplex, live in one part and rent the other half. There are not many multi-family properties on Zillow and other webpages, so we didn’t get much progress in researching this option.

The second option is to buy a 2 bdr apartment for us and then another separate 2 bdr apartment for MTR or LTR. Unfortunately, even in cheaper markets such as Ottawa, the cost of the 2 bdr is approximately 350k – 400k and rent seems to be around $2,300. With home association fees $500 - $1,000 monthly plus mortgage plus taxes and all expenses – the cashflow comes always negative. Even without home association fees, the calculations barely came even. We are open to move anywhere in Ontario if the numbers make sense. Ottawa was the only cheaper-ish market that we found so far.

If you are experienced realtor in Ontario, what other towns/locations would you recommend?

In British Columbia, well, real estate investing seems impossible. With the current prices being double of those in Ottawa, we would only be able to pay the downpayment for one property (for us to live in) and there would be nothing left for investing into the rental. Not to mention high crime rates in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Vancouver.

Our employer doesn’t allow relocation outside of British Columbia, where we currently live. If we want to move to Ontario, we will have to completely re-root our lives and careers. A proper market research and a belief that real estate investing in Canada still makes sense is very important to us before both of us take such fundamental steps.

Can anyone advice where would you start in this situation? What strategies do people in Canada use if cashflow is so significantly negative?

How do we find good real estate agents in Ontario and/or in BC who have access to off market opportunities or at least pre-market? (BP Agent Finder offers only US options).

We bought online courses and books on Canadian mortgages, MTR and listening to BP podcasts, but we are still quite lost since the theory from the US books and podcasts doesn’t match the financial calculations with today’s prices in Canada. And there are so many books that we haven’t read yet, that I worry I might fall in trap of reading and not taking action.

If USA is the only option to invest for cash flow, does anyone here have an experience in investing in USA while still living in Canada?

Any advice will be highly appreciated. Thank you.