All Forum Posts by: Chris Habets

@Corbin Wafford I've "house hacked" two places now, and to me, that was my big advantage. I didn't live for free in either, but the financing advantages and the "convenience" of working on the place I was living in, plus on-site landlording, made them great deals for me. Starting out I strongly recommend house hacking, and I think it is the big advantage. One of them was done with family, and the other was done (and I still own it) with a partner.

Making the jump from house hacking to BRRR or flipping is where I'm currently stuck. Banks in my area don't like rental income - and rental income with a partner is considered at 25% of the actual income. I also went and bought a home to live in with my wife, converting my second hack into a full rental. It definitely means moving to private money for any new investments now - or hard money, but I don't think I would qualify for traditional financing even with the BRR completed!

Hey @Account Closed, I've got one Duplex (4/1) in Vanier that the 4 is rented to students. I find it to be a great market for students.

I am 90% sure they're the same - but I'm going to follow this post to be proven wrong.

Maybe posting my first post at 9:30 pm EST on a Sunday night was not the best idea - but seemed like a good idea while waiting for Game of Thrones!

Hi all!

I'm Chris Habets, from Ottawa, ON. I'm young (27), own one cash-flowing rental duplex with a partner (a friend from highschool/college), and "long-term flipped" a home with my family (2 year, buy-reno-rent-sell). Both are/were quite profitable, the flip landed just shy of $50K all said and done, and the duplex flows about $250 a month on average, plus is appreciating nicely.

I've been listening to the podcast - I found it by accident, I searched iTunes for "while I work", hoping to find something that chatted and I didn't have to pay attention to... Instead I got hooked on this.  I work full time as a Business Development Manager in the Commercial/Industrial HVAC industry, mostly focusing on energy efficiency by adiabatic cooling. I work 40-50 hour weeks, depending on the business, and I travel about 1/3 of the time, but rarely on weekends.

I think I want to buy more properties. I'm leaning towards flipping - I like getting my hands dirty (and scratched up, inevitably). I have a realtor uncle, grand-father-in-law and uncle-in-law, so I'm certainly not lacking support in that area. I also have a father who's a plumber, who works for pizza. 

Financially, I'm certainly not "tight", but I'm caught in the rat-race (Rich Dad/Poor Dad). I think I'm on the right track to get out of that mindset. My major expenses (wedding, house-to-live-in) are said and done now, and it's time to start focusing more on financial freedom.

Well, hopefully I can learn something here!