All Forum Posts by: Cindy Shen

so I have been buying up singles and convert them into duplex/legal suites in Durham (mainly Oshawa) and out west (mainly brantford). each project takes less than 250k and in theory after refinance I should only have about 120k left in the house. I assumed a 5% natural appreciation per year. with mortgage pay down and dramatic increase in rent right now it seems my return upon exit say in 5 years would be something equal to 30+% ROI annually. I know a lot of people do conversion but I haven't come across people who do it on a large scale and have many more data point to verify. I"m wondering if someone does this day in day out, what areas and pockets are the best for the balance of appreciation and cashflow, and how's the numbers really show. I have lots of friends who are interested but I don't want them to put their money into it just yet before I triple verify things even though I'm doing it...

Just completed a whole building eviction (20 units) after 97 days of closing on the building. Fastest I have done. Still wondering what ways can be creative and legal for even faster eviction, or whatever that's worked magic for multifamily building owners. Location is GTA. 

As an effort to share more, I'm sharing an update on a very interesting building in my portfolio.

This is a 14 unit Multifamily. The initial asset acquisition process was quite long and hard. The due diligence took almost 3 months with many competitors and multiple rounds of negotiations. In the end, our experience in vacating large scale problematic buildings, adding value to poor assets and completing complex construction projects landed us the building with 90k per door whereas the market is 200k per door. The expected ROI at 5 year exit for this asset was 20%+.

Currently, our architect has confirmed that we can construct at least two additional units, and can apply for a 16-18 unit permit to add even more additional units.

Right now, building measurements and architectural drawings are being done. Also, 90% of the building has been vacated. Depending on the permit result indicating how many additional units can be built, the expected ROI could be adjust upward as well.

We actually got on the news for the whole eviction process. Pretty much all done within 3 month of closing. Last stretch. 

@Taylor L. if we need complete vacancy, sometimes up to 3-4 months...

@Taylor L.

typically we can increase rent by 400-600 per door. We are expert at getting difficult tenants out - lots of stories to tell there! we were even in the news for it (good for bad...)

This is an 8 unit building. Reason for initial acquisition: in addition to our normal checklist (distressed, mismanaged, rents below market, renovation needs were high, walkable distance to new LRT, in one of our targeted areas/street etc), the added bonus feature was that our architect confirmed with 90% certainly at the time that the entire building's 1 bedrooms could be converted to 2 bedrooms, (of course) subject to permit results. Without conversion, the building alone with existing renovation plan had an expected ROI of 20%+ due to ample room for forced appreciation.

Currently, after 3 months of working with the city, we successfully obtained the permit for 100%t conversion, and every 1 bedroom will be converted to 2 bedrooms. Based on the floor plan and architectural drawings, renovation will be broken down into 2 phases, each phase renovating 1 side of the building.

Right now, 1 side of the building has already been vacated and demolition has started. Phase one is expected to be completed within 8-12 month. Upon phase 1 completion, the building will be refinanced and phase 2 (the other side of the building) will start. Phase 1 and 2 are expected to be completed within 16-18 month, upon which the building will be refinanced for the 2nd time.

I guess people noticed I buy these so I got a bit of the name out there and private deals come my way. the building purchase price really depends on how large the building is, but typically we can scoop up buildings with 110k-140k per door before we do any work. 

I like Durham as well but have a hard time sourcing. 

I only do purposely built multifamily; key is to buy distressed price and we do tons of equity value add for every building to have forced appreciation of at least 300k+ depending on building size. it's in the gage park area. it's all 1 bed room unit but we converted two of them into 2 bedroom units. 

Recently lots of people reached out and expressed interest in Multifamily and wanted to know more details and how past projects went. So, I have compiled some stats. Below is an update on an asset that's already finished and stabilized.

It's a small multifamily with 6 units in Hamilton, ON. The reason for asset acquisition at the time of purchase: distressed with deep discount off market price; grossly mis-managed; rents were significantly below market rent; right in front of a park; new LRT is within 200 meters. All of these pointed to significant forced appreciation. The ROI upon 5 year exit was estimated to be 17%+.

Original plan was doing 1 phase of renovation for every unit; Phase 1 was completed on budget and on time; however, we realized that there was an opportunity to increase cashflow even more by installing paid lockers as well as re-planning parking lots. That become phase 2 with a bit of further investment. Phase 1 and 2 were completed under 12 month, with all units rented out at higher than forecasted market rents at full capacity; Lockers and parkings were also fully rented out boosting building revenue and cashflow as well. At the first refinance after stabilization was completed, the building was appraised at $475,000 higher than acquisition price, with about 30% initial investment repaid back to investor and with 5 year expected ROI at exit increased to 23%.

This asset is already stabilized with positive cashflow. 

Interestingly enough, I'm also buying the building next door right now due to lots of reasons. And a few more buildings are WIP. I will share those as well if people are interested to know.