All Forum Posts by: Andy Welmers

"Alternate" lender can also be a source. According to my mortgage broker, there are many alternate lenders which will allow 10% borrowed down payment.

There are a few more stringent factors, I wasn't able to find any alternate lenders in smaller communities, and they were not willing to lend on properties which are not readily habitable (undergoing or in the midst of construction, "refreshing" the property was fine)

Rates are also higher. With the higher rate, and the larger debt ratio, my numbers still didn't work, especially in the areas I was looking. I had to rethink my targets to slightly less expensive properties in decent areas, such as condos. But then there are other issues with that, including high HOA fees which hurt the cash flow model as well.

Still working on increasing the down payment portion of the funding.

Is the property in your own name, or is it under a corporation? If it is in a corporation, would you be able to sell shares in the LLC, without selling the property, or adding additional names onto the mortgage?

Welcome to the site. Great resources here, just keep in mind the US slant.

Let us know how the flip goes!

Welcome to BP.

House Hacking would be a great start. Talk with a mortgage broker, to determine what / how much you would need to put into the initial purchase. They can give you names of other professionals (lawyers, realtors etc).  Don't forget about closing costs / land transfer (first time home buyer discount) etc. Mortgage broker should be a great resource to discuss implications of various purchase methods.

House hack while you are young, and able to. When family and kids show up in the picture, it is a lot harder to convince the other half to move.

When you find a place, build up equity / cash flow, and re-invest this into your next purchase (an other duplex, triplex quad?) move there, as that would be 5% down again. and repeat.

You may even be able to add value to the place, renovate your side as you live in it, re-finance to pull out funds.

I've seen many people from Ottawa, Toronto, East Coast.

A decent core group from Canada which area great at answering specific Canadian questions

@Matt Geerts Is there a reason you cannot assume the mortgage? @Roy N. When mortgage goes "go to far down the road"? If lenders want the mortgage to get back in good standing, if someone were to pay the fees and penalties, and take over the mortgage ensuring payment, with good credit rating (essentially what Matt is proposing), why would the banks reject this? The lease option seems a much riskier venture to me.

Putting an "option" is not a guarantee to sell. 'Renting' and removing the home owner from the premise would seem riskier than having an other party completely take over the mortgage and remove the home owner, which defaulted, from the picture.

With assumption of the mortgage, could you bypass the 20%? as the typical mortgage in Canada would have more than 20% equity in the property (less distress) unless it was a high ratio. Defaulting after 2 years is possible in that case, but then the mortgage is insured. Is there any incentive for the banks to work with you at that point?

Welcome Jan,

Enjoy the site, there is a good group of Ontarians on the site as well if you were looking at REI more locally.

Exactly the reason I was thinking of having students pay full rent, and then I would pay them a fee for any maintenance.

@Ming Lim @Steve Potash @Debbie Gilbert

Thanks all for the input. I called up a property manager in the area I am looking to talk about what typical student rentals look like. Their input was all inclusive, including utilities, internet, yard maintenance. With units renting for $400-500 per bedroom. Adds a bit more in expenses, especially with the cost of electricity in Ontario (at least the unit I am looking at is gas heat opposed to baseboard), but the extra $300-400 roughly in expenses could easily be made up for with the extra $800-1000 in potential rent.

Have you had any experience with "contracting" out lawn maintenance to one of the student tenants? Or does this become a hassle, as a lot of the students could disappear for the summer, and leave you hanging? (I was thinking about a payment to the student, opposed to a discount on the rent. If the work is not done, stop the payment, and get it contracted out somewhere else)

On a separate note, Are you providing student rentals furnished or unfurnished? I am assuming this is also more of a local, or landlord specific topic. Leave rooms unfurnished, supply basic (kijiji quality) furniture in the common rooms?