Investing in single condos

[Cameron Chambers]

Does anyone have experience with investing in single condos? And is it as effective as buying single family homes?

I have a friend here in the GTA, and due to housing costs being crazy high, he’s focused on condos and has found early success with them.

He’s now on to three condos and quit his day job based on the return he’s getting.

I am new to real estate investing and looking for some good knowledge!

Thanks

[Chris Baxter]

@Cameron Chambers  since condos are gettig a lot of love on this thread so far, I'll give you a contrasting opinion...

1) Unless you are on the strata council / condo corp, changes can be made to your unit's costs or use without your consent.  This can be as simple as an increase in monthly fees to cover someone's pet project (let's add a pool!) to instituting bans or restrictions (no smoking, no short term rentals, no rentals at all, etc.) that impact your ability to rent effectively.

2) The pandemic is seeing a net out-migration from City centres; there will be a glut of condos on the market soon and a potential value correction

3) There is rarely an opportunity to value add to the property

4) Ontario, as a whole, can be challenging due to a skewed landlord / tenant board that heavily favours the tenant.  While condos are no different than other properties in this regard, it has been my experience that condo tenants like to stick around longer, which means stagnant rent over time

Good luck