Best place to invest?

Question

Where is the best place to invest in Canada? I've heard a lot about Edmonton and the oil sands areas, but I'm wondering if there aren't some other hidden gems out there that you guys could recommend?

Key Can · Answer

I think the Canadian Market is going to continue to slow until the U.S starts to rebound, however, if you are looking to invest I would start my search out East. Provinces such as Nova Scotia have been under the radar for quite some time and people are beginning to catch on.

Ken Rimney · Answer

There is no shortage of property in alberta to invest in. It depends what you are looking for.  single family homes, vacation condos, multi family or commercial.  There is lots of everything these days, and as long as the oil industry continues to "fuel" the activity, it should continue.
Over the last few years, prices have been increasing dramatically but has stabilized some lately.
I've lived in Edmonton and Calgary and have owned homes to the NE of Edmonton.  for me I like to be close to the properties I own as I look after them for the most part.
I did however buy 3 in Saskatchewan last year and feel it was a great investment.  Small town about 45 minutes from Regina and close to major recreation area.
As I'm not into big dollar places, I have to avoid most of Alberta as the prices have gotten too high for my pockets.  My own home has doubled in value the last few years. Had it been priced like that when I bought, I doubt I would have.

Dean Husarik · Answer

NE Edmonton and NE of Edmonton is suppose to be good.
Windsor, Ontario has some cheaper properties i hear.  
Some places on Vancouver Island as well.  
You can search across Canada on the Real Estate MLS website to get a better feel for what is out there.

I am looking to go south to JV with partners for Las Vegas, Phoenix and near Orlando.  Instead of renting a property to a local for $1000 a mo, you rent the same house to a vacationer for $1000 a week.  See where i am going???
Since 2005, I have purchased a mtn home that tripled in value and a Sask house that has doubled and then some.  Also did a JV with a flip cabin in Sask on the lake.  That should net between 50 and 100% of profit as well.  I think U.S. destination areas are a good place to go next.

Marco Momeni · Answer

I'll go for Toronto

Tim Ward · Answer

I would also consider looking on the east coast where prices are much much lower and there has been a boom in the energy sector. I'm in Saint John and for 2007 my little city was in the top 5 (maybe it was top 3) cities in Canada for real estate growth.

Brian Wall · Answer

Here is the updated Canadian Version.

Hope it meets the standard.  Let me know if you find a bug!

Brian Wall · Answer

Thanks for the help on this.  I got the information from a US textbook, and obviously didn’t know this fact (starting out).  I’ll make that change.

Not a matter of preference, more a matter of what was recommended to me – Flat 1.5% closing fees, however what would you recommend?

When I started, the textbook example gave a 0 year, but then half way through I started ignoring it….I’ll have to make that adjustment, so thanks for the heads up.

Thanks, I’ll check that one out.

Cool, yeah – I had used a US based example from the Net, so I’ll make that change as well!

Thanks so much for the help, Criticism, whichever it is, the bottom line is we all want to make money from real estate investing, so any improvements are just an addition to our bottom line, or decision making effecting our bottom line.  In other words, keep them coming if there is reason to change it, I want to know.

I’ll post the revised edition when its done, please anyone else, or yourself Mpfree, if there is anything else, let me know.

Mazhar Pirani · Answer

Thanks for the spreadsheet, it's a great start.   I was going to try and create something similar (currently I have a very simple one ), but I will just steal yours :P.

Couple of small observations and questions.  In Canada, you can only claim 50% of the CCA in the first year.  Also, at no time, can you use your CCA to bring your income to < 0.  It makes your formulas little more complicated if you want to take this into consideration :).

For your total purchase cost, why do you include the LTT, but not the other closing cost?  I guess it's just a matter of preference.

Does year '0' in the spreadsheet represent the end of the first year or start of the first year?  I think it has implications on the depreciation values.  You have a Dep Asset Worth = 0 in year 0, yet you are claiming a depreciation in that year in your example.  Can you please explain your reasoning?

Under you Tax (Savings) on Resale section, I noticed that you are subtracting the selling expenses from the sale price and then subracting the Adjusted Basis to calculate your capital gain.  I think (not sure) this is incorrect.  The selling expense does not count as a capital expense (please double check with CRA), so you can't use it to reduce your capital gain.

Last thing, then i'll stop criticizing  :lol: , is just FYI.  It looks like the mortgage calculation formula in excel assumes monthly compounding, but in Canada, the mortgage is compounded semi-anually.  You basically have to calculate an effective interest rate and give that to Excel to give a more accurate monthly payment calculation.  But hey, the way it is now, if the numbers work with monthly interest compounding, they will definately work more favorably with semi-annual compounding so it's not a big deal.

Great to see a 'canadian based' spreadsheet.  Thanks again for sharing.

Dick Green · Answer

Nice tool! Covers it all!

Brian Wall · Answer

Canada is a good place to invest in real estate.

For any real estate investors here, I'd love to connect.

Here is the spreadsheet I've started to use to analyize deals.  I've put it together from the texbook Real Estate Finance, Theory, and Practice by Terrence M. Clauretie, and G.Stacy Sirmans. - pg. 308, as well as a mortgage calculation formulas, and tax calculation formulas.

Check it out, let me know what you think.  If you're from the US, there are 2-3 changes you'd need to make ie. adding depreciation recapture tax, and changing the capital gains tax.