All Forum Posts by: Ashley Cann

@Len Ayton I haven't used them myself but Rock Solid Property Management seems good. I've had them call me for a tenant reference and they were very thorough with their questions.

Our tenants didn't even give them our info because we were evicting them. They looked us up through property records and contacted us through Facebook messenger.

Being on the opposite side of it was a little weird but I'm sure the landlord of that property was impressed with how thoroughly they vet tenants. I was impressed myself.

@Rafal Matlok I'm not currently investing in small multi-family but would like that to be the next purchase. Not sure when that will be though. Maybe a year or two from now unless I do a joint venture.

I am an investor in Sudbury as well. My husband and I own a duplex that we've been renting out for 3 years.

I agree that the Donovan and flour mill areas are a riskier bet. Our duplex is is New Sudbury.

We are hoping to get into a multi family for our next investment. Hoping for 5-8 unit that we can BRRRR.

If you can qualify right now for a mortgage and have a down payment, you can buy something to house hack. Make sure the mortgage and expenses are similar to your current housing situation so you are paying around the same amount. Then get a roommate or two or rent out the other unit(s) depending on the property type you choose. You can then put all of that rental income towards paying your student loan down starting with the highest interest debt.

You'll essentially have the same budget as you currently have, but be receiving rental income and gaining equity. Of course this route is dependent on property values in your area.

@Ryan Naylor Thanks for the response. That's a good idea to just do the cash out refi when I have the deal under contract, and have a contingency of a cash out refi for down payment on the offer. I didn't think of doing it that way.

I like the idea of I creasing the cash flow on my current duplex so now I'm leaning toward the cash out refi option.

I thought I would have to do it now as my mortgage needs to be renewed soon and figured I would just do it all at the same time. I will have to look at the cost of doing a refi so soon after renewing the mortgage to see if it's worth it. Or find a deal soon so I only do it once.

@Ryan Naylor I want the money for a down payment on my next rental property, which was unclear in my first post.

I mentioned my other debt as if I have cash available waiting to find my next deal I will be tempted to use it to pay down debt, which is a negative of the cash out refi. But a positive of the cash out refi is that I can increase it to a 30 year amortization and increase my current cash flow.

My question is which method is the better option? I'm looking for some input of which one to choose. Get other opinions and see if there is some factor I'm not thinking of.

I own a duplex with about $300,000 and owe about $200,000 on it. I would like to access the equity and would like to run my options by the BP community

Option 1: HELOC

Get a HELOC from a local credit union who will loan up to 80% LTV. Looking into this option currently.

Option 2: cash out refi

Cash out equity and change the loan to a 30 year mortgage, which would decrease the mortgage significantly and increase cash flow each month.

I don't know the Canadian tax issues with the cash out refi. And if the money sat in my account too long I might be tempted to just pay off our unsecured LOC which is $30,000 at 4.99%.

So I guess there aren't any real estate meet ups already organized.  If either of you ever want to get together to discuss real estate let me know, I'd be open to it.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Sudbury.

Purchase price: $205,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Three bedroom single family home converted to duplex with two bedroom basement unit. We lived in the upper unit while building the basement unit and continued to live there for another two years before moving out and renting out both units.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My fiance (now husband) and I wanted to house hack. We were looking for something that we could live in, and build or do a fairly significant renovation on to increase the equity. I'm not exactly sure where our interest came from - probably from watching too much HGTV and the show Income Property.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found the deal through our real estate agent. We didn't really negotiate at all. There had been a deal that had just fallen through for the buyers and we put in the same offer and got it accepted.

How did you finance this deal?

We used the Home Buyer's Plan from my fiance's RRSP for the 5% down payment on the home. We got a mortgage plus improvements mortgage that added $40,000 to the mortgage to provide us money for the renovation. We used a line of credit and 0% interest balance transfer deals for the remaining $30,000 and paid them off with the rent until we moved out.

How did you add value to the deal?

We added value to the property by creating a two bedroom apartment.

What was the outcome?

We purchased at $205,000 and it is currently appraised for $300,000.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

1) "Minor water seepage" in the spring can mean a quarter of the basement floods in the rainy fall and new weeping tile and water proofing is required.
2) Jack hammering concrete to put in plumbing is a really hard job - look for places with rough ins already or plan shorter plumbing runs.
3) Remember to centre the lights on the ceiling around bulk heads not the centre of the room, because having a light right beside a bulk head looks really weird and blocks some light.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We used TJ Herault as a realtor, from the Kuula Group. For a mortgage broker we used Joel Glaude from The Mortgage Centre - he got us a good rate and was quick to answer questions and knowledgeable.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Sudbury.

Purchase price: $205,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Three bedroom single family home converted to duplex with two bedroom basement unit. We lived in the upper unit while building the basement unit and continued to live there for another two years before moving out and renting out both units.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My fiance (now husband) and I wanted to house hack. We were looking for something that we could live in, and build or do a fairly significant renovation on to increase the equity. I'm not exactly sure where our interest came from - probably from watching too much HGTV and the show Income Property.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found the deal through our real estate agent. We didn't really negotiate at all. There had been a deal that had just fallen through for the buyers and we put in the same offer and got it accepted.

How did you finance this deal?

We used the Home Buyer's Plan from my fiance's RRSP for the 5% down payment on the home. We got a mortgage plus improvements mortgage that added $40,000 to the mortgage to provide us money for the renovation. We used a line of credit and 0% interest balance transfer deals for the remaining $30,000 and paid them off with the rent until we moved out.

How did you add value to the deal?

We added value to the property by creating a two bedroom apartment.

What was the outcome?

We purchased at $205,000 and it is currently appraised for $300,000.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

1) "Minor water seepage" in the spring can mean a quarter of the basement floods in the rainy fall and new weeping tile and water proofing is required.
2) Jack hammering concrete to put in plumbing is a really hard job - look for places with rough ins already or plan shorter plumbing runs.
3) Remember to centre the lights on the ceiling around bulk heads not the centre of the room, because having a light right beside a bulk head looks really weird and blocks some light.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We used TJ Herault as a realtor, from the Kuula Group. For a mortgage broker we used Joel Glaude from The Mortgage Centre - he got us a good rate and was quick to answer questions and knowledgeable.