All Forum Posts by: Bahar Heydari

Thanks for the information Edison, I'll join the Facebook group and attend the next meet up.

Hi Everyone,

Is there a date that works for a meet-up? Possibly end of November, beginning of December otherwise the second week of January?

@Sinisa Marovic @Victor Zhou @Charlie Yu @Vincent Lo @Josiah Harder @David Durkie @Cascade T. @Marie Tai

Hi everyone! Just checking in on this and I’m seeing some more interest in a meet-up so I’m going to organize something now! How does Friday September 14 sound for everyone? If this doesn’t work for you feel free to suggest another day. I’ll check in again in a week and set a date. Really looking forward to meeting all of you!

@Charlie Yu Hey Charlie, this is not for Kelowna at all. The hospital area in Kelowna is awesome (Pandosy as mentioned above). You should avoid he hospital area in Vernon, it’s a sketchier part of town with a higher crime rate and significantly higher turnover which means lost revenue for a rental.

@Shane H. In BC (Canada) you can report them to the credit bureau for being late on rent and when future landlords do a credit check on him they’ll see he’s a bad tenant. I use RentCheck. This may be a way to prevent future people from having the same experience you did which will give you some justice aside from the court battle. Good luck! Wishing you all the best.

@Victor Zhou sorry, I just realized I didn’t 100% answer your question. Regarding the 1% rule: no, it’s extremely challenging to find a property that meets the 1% rule but the 1% rule isn’t the be all end all. Our property that we bought doesn’t meet the 1% rule but it’s still a good investment. Regarding buy and hold: if your main goal is to buy something that will rise in value significantly, stay in Vancouver. The further you get out of city centres the slower properties gain value. A good thing to look at is average salary in areas. The higher the average salary the more potential for growth because people have more money to spend. This is a good marker for rent as well, the max rent you can charge in an area is typically 1/3 of the average salary.

Hey @Victor Zhou! I’m still fairly beginner (I have one single family home with two rental units in it) but here is my opinion. In Kelowna itself is fairly difficult to find cash flowing properties (but not impossible!). The vacancy rate is extremely low so it’s easy to find renters once you do have a property. Keep in mind that this may change in the coming years because of a combination of all of the new properties hitting the market, the speculation tax and the crack down on Airbnb’s in the area. If you do decide to invest in Kelowna despite everything I just told you (my investment property is in Kelowna so I think with the right property it’s still a great place to invest) here’s a quick breakdown of the areas: 1. Upper mission: single family homes, fairly expensive. 2. Lower mission (Pandosy): mostly carriage homes, very happening place right now but also decently more expensive than other areas. 3. Glenmore: a lot of new stuff happening here. The buses suck here so students don’t typically go for it unless they can’t find something else or have a car. 4. Downtown: mostly carriage homes again. Some pretty sketchy areas here still so be sure to visit the area first. 5. Rutland: this used to be the sketchiest part of town and many people would advise you to stay away but I think this is outdated advice. Because of its proximity to the university this area has really transformed but prices are still lower than the rest of Kelowna. Again I would make sure to come visit because not all of the areas have transformed. About a 45m-1hr drive from Kelowna is Vernon. Vernon is still developing compared to Kelowna but prices are better than Kelowna and rental rates are comparable. You need to pay more attention to the area in Vernon since there are more sketchy areas. Generally, avoid the area close to the hospital. Hope that helped!

Marie Tai Thanks for linking that site, I just signed up! I just bought my first rental property in Kelowna BC and am learning A LOT! Let me know if you have any other tips as a fellow landlord in B.C.. Thanks in advance!

Hey Cody,

I agree that a lot of the information here is more pertinent to the US. I live in BC and I've been using resources I've found via google searches. I just search for the form I need (i.e. "rental application form") followed by my province (i.e. "BC") and have found pretty good results. For BC I've found multiple sites that offer free sample forms for my Province compiled into lists of forms you need when you begin a tenancy, forms you may need during a tenancy, and forms you need when terminating a tenancy. My parents use a property manager and the forms they use are very similar (some of them identical) to the forms I've found on these sites.

I realize this is for BC but it might give you an idea for the type of forms you should be looking for:

http://smartlandlordbc.ca/rental_forms.htm

Good luck!

Bahar

Definitely file an insurance claim! They’ll take care of it for you quickly and like others have said here you’ll get a new kitchen and appliances and be able to up your rent. It won’t be that much work for you since you can hire a general contractor to do all of the renovations.