House-Hack in Abbotsford or any other suburbs of Vancouver

[Sneha Maun]

Hi,

I am a newbie in RE investment. I am currently in Vancouver. We moved here recently because of my husband's job. We are young (no kids yet but definitely have them in the future). We will have to settle in and around Vancouver as my husband has a long-term job here for which he needs to travel to the city every day. We are looking for some stability as well. As we were on a move for the last 2-3 years due to each of our careers. We both work. We are starting our journey in RE investing and we do not know which path to go:

1. Buy a house here for 700K to 800K and rent out the basement and extra room on Airbnb and long-term tenancy. The houses are crazy expensive here. The only ones that we can afford are either in Abbotsford, Langley, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack. Chilliwack is the biggest contender for us. Is it a good way to start? Are these areas good investments for renting out and future growth? High initial investment but the potential chance of positive cash flow

2. Or, we could continue living on rent in our current apartment, buy a cheaper property such as a condo for 2-3 bedrooms in Burnaby, New West area for 400k to 500k. Rent the whole apartment out and build equity on that condo. This is less risky in terms of initial investment as capital requirements would be low but I do not think we will have a positive cash flow from it.

3. Or we leave the idea of owning a house in Vancouver or BC. Should look for opportunities for investment in other states such as Alberta and build-out of state rentals. We feel we are new here and hence it will be high risk for us.

Please guide. And Thank you in Advance.