All Forum Posts by: AJ Alexander

Hi everyone,

I currently live in Newmarket, but have been considering purchasing my first rental somewhere in the Orillia area....possibly Barrie. Does anyone have any thoughts on Orillia specifically, whether it's a good market to invest in? If so, are there any areas to avoid or areas which are being developed?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie looking to get a first deal this year.  I have a question in regards to the financing portion and what others may have done:

I have a HELOC on my primary residence which I could easily use to fund my downpayment. However another option I've heard is to re-finance my principal mortgage to pull equity out and consolidate the downpayment and remaining mortgage amount. I see it as pros/cons in either scenario. Does anyone have any thoughts on which scenario would be best?

Hi everyone,

I currently live in Newmarket, but have been considering purchasing my first rental somewhere in the Orillia area....possibly Barrie.  Does anyone have any thoughts on Orillia specifically, whether it's a good market to invest in?  If so, are there any areas to avoid or areas which are being developed?

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the responses so far!  LIke I said, still in the research and education phase so every little piece of advice helps.  Hoping to get one property at some point this year depending on prices and interest rates.

@Anna Belov, if there are any upcoming meetups you know of in the GTA (preferably in the northern end), I'd love to hear of them.  I actually work in North York myself (Leslie/York Mills area).

@Omar Khan thanks for the advice!  I'll have to look more into the pooled money vehicle you mentioned, it sounds new to me.  I had thought briefly of investing south of the border but you're right it sounds like there are a lot of tax and legal implications there which no one really tends to tell you.  I'll stick to Ontario for the time being.

@Thomas S. good advice as well. I'm aware of the standard lease we have to use here in Ontario and the rules around LTB. Although I haven't done any rentals yet, I would agree that tenant selection is probably the most crucial step here. It seems 99% of the horror stories I hear from people trying to discourage the move into REI revolves around horrible tenants....don't want to prove those people right!

Hey folks,

Newbie here currently in the education stage. I'm currently working a 9-5 job in mid management, but looking to one day quit the rat race and hopefully focus on REI full time. Would like to eventually have enough $ to put towards my kids education, travel and retire early. That's my why.

Anyway, I'm sure this likely has been asked before but does anyone have any tips on investing in a higher priced market? Being a newbie I wouldn't say I'm entirely comfortable in doing anything long-distance for my first purchase. If anyone's familiar with Ontario, I've been looking in the Barrie area. A couple of advantages I have going for me are a good credit rating and access to my HELOC.

Thanks all.

Hey guys,

Newbie here, just researching and learning the ropes before I buy my first property. As most newbie investors, I don't really have much money for a downpayment, however I do have a fair bit of credit available to me from my HELOC on my primary residence. As I'm trying to figure out exactly what my ROI would be, should I be including this downpayment from my HELOC into my calculations for my ROI? Also, I'll also be needing $ for closing costs which I would also need to take from my HELOC.

In short, I'm assuming I should include every dollar I am putting into my property into my calculations for my ROI regardless if the funds are borrowed from my equity. Is this correct?

Thanks

AJ Alexander