All Forum Posts by: Ash Badry

Hi @Filipe Matos  and @Elliott Davis ,

My fiance and I buy houses in Edmonton with funding from a private mortgage company, renovate them, and then refinance them with a traditional bank. The whole process usually takes about 3 months. Since we refinance within the first year of the original purchase it's a bit more difficult for us to get the bank financing but we have been able to do the last couple through a mortgage specialist at TD. The biggest downside is that we have to put 25% down instead of 20%. The mortgage specialist works all across Canada, if you'd like her info just send me a private message.

Cheers,

Ash

@Roy N.  I can't speak for Calgary but in Edmonton it is much the same as your description except for the commercial vacancies. Edmonton is growing like gang busters, new neighbourhoods seem to be popping up almost monthly and older areas have seen a lot of redevelopment. I don't believe at this point that Edmonton is being overbuilt, everything that is new and coming on line is being gobbled up with the demand. The amount of population in-migration is ridiculous, but not really all that surprising considering that Alberta has the highest average wages, lowest taxes and lowest unemployment in the country.

The Edmonton real estate market has a history of lagging behind Calgary anywhere from 12 to 18 months but I currently don't see any signs of things slowing down as new projects are being announced all the time. Just look at the $2.5 billion dollar development downtown including the new hockey arena, it's being dubbed as the quietest $2 billion project of all time and is progressing much faster than the comparable L.A. Live district. Read about it Here.  Edmonton is definitely a hot area to be in right now with no sign of things slowing in the foreseeable future. 

Hi @Myron Dirks, welcome to the forum. I live and invest in Edmonton and I'm definitely an Oilers fan! I've got some interest in FSJ but I'm not quite ready to seek out other markets. I may have some questions for you regarding that market in the future. 

If there's ever anything I can help you with just let me know.

Ash

@Mark Perry - You're right, prices in Edmonton are quite high and Calgary's prices are even higher. I don't buy condos or townhouses so I can't comment on the numbers for those products, although I do know investors that are buying them and making them cashflow. Personally I'm buying single family homes that either have existing basement suites or they are set up for me to easily put in a suite. I can be close to $400,000 by the time I buy and renovate but I'm still able to cashflow $700+ per month on a single property with 20% down. There are no shortages of renters in Edmonton with more arriving every day and the rents have been climbing at a steady, healthy rate for the last couple years that I've been in the business. 

I live in Edmonton and started my investing career here a couple years ago. The economic fundamentals here are ridiculously strong and people are moving here in droves! Well over half of my rental applicants are people that moved here in the last 12 months. I'm interested in exploring other markets but right now I don't see a need to look outside Edmonton as it's a strong market and I know it really well. 

My long term strategy is buy and hold with the latest project being a buy, reno and hold. I'm interested in starting to wholesale properties and I have an infill project being planned as well. 

@Alexander Lafreniere that's a great tip about getting extra data from Stats Can, I'll definitely have to explore that further. 

Cheers!

You should need regular home owner's insurance and make sure the contents covers any additional appliances, furniture, etc you have in the basement suite, but not your renter's contents. Your renter should have their own renter's insurance to cover their contents.

The insurance company doesn't care whether it's a "legal suite" or not, that is only a City of Edmonton stipulation. However if the house were to burn down for example, the insurance company would only rebuild the basement kitchen if the suite was legal. That being said if I were you I would take all reasonable steps to make the suite as close to "legal" as possible including ensuring the basement bedroom windows meet the minimum size requirements, hardwiring smoke and CO detectors in both suites and common areas, etc.

I talked to the mail man in one of my target neighbourhoods last summer and he gave me two leads right away and tracked me down with another lead five minutes later as I was walking the neighbourhood. He knew the area extremely well and had some insights on different properties from seeing the mail daily.

@Roy N. I also use TVS but I'm curious as to your reasoning for using both TVS and Rent Check. Are there certain circumstances when you use one over the other or do you use both on all applicants? Would you care to elaborate?

@Dale Plant

I haven't charged an application fee but I do require a $500 rent deposit which I receive with the application. I explain that if I approve the applicant as a tenant then the $500 is credited towards first months rent, if I decline them as a tenant the money is fully refunded and if for any reason they back out and change their mind then the money is forfeited by them. This way if they back out and I can't find a new renter then I'm not completely out a month's worth of rent. It also ensures that if I go through the time and cost of screening them then they will actually rent from me when I offer them the unit, instead of them picking & choosing between their best accepted applications. My girlfriend uses this same process but actually requires the full month's rent as a deposit with the application. She has had virtually no applicants object to this process over the last few years, and has never had anyone forfeit their deposit.

I have to admit that we're using this procedure in Edmonton and vacancy has been quite low the last few years. I'm not sure if applicants would react differently when vacancy rates are higher.

I am also a member of the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN) which is a great Canadian resource for all things buy & hold. They have a free forum and a members only section, check it out.

http://myreinspace.com/

@Angela Turnbull the vast majority of Bigger Pockets members are from the USA, but don't let that deter you from the website. Unless you're asking specific legal, accounting or tenancy law type questions, the vast majority of your answers can come from anyone in North America or even the world. For example the best practices for screening tenants are universal, but the tools you use for things such as credit checks may differ. Not to mention that there are a growing number of Canadian members that I have already found to be quite helpful.

I'm from Edmonton and only found the website in the past few months but I have found it be extremely useful so far.