All Forum Posts by: Cory Graham

I'll put my 2 cents in here: I live in BC, and invest primarily in AB, but am keeping an eye on the changing landscape in BC right now, as well as the Golden Horseshoe in Ontario, with the changing market environment of rising rates. 

The "Alberta Advantage" includes the following: No property transfer tax, no Provincial Sales Tax for doing reno projects, no rent control, very easy to evict problem tenants, higher rent to purchase price ratio, lower barrier to entry for purchase (depending where you are buying), and I have found typically the cities are much quicker with permitting where I invest.  

Having said that, I factor in 1% appreciation on my  numbers, because it really is a much more cyclical and stagnant market compared to Vancouver where I currently reside.  

One of the big knocks on Alberta is the idea of it being a "1 trick pony" aka oil dependent. Although oil plays a very large role in the Alberta economy, the main cities of Calgary and Edmonton have been doing a lot of work to try and diversify their economy via attracting tech companies, the booming marijuana sector, as well as health care, post-secondary education etc. Can debate this topic all day, but at the end of the day the price to rent ratios make more sense for my goals (cash flow and scaling a portfolio) and that is why I choose Alberta.

At the end of the day, it really all depends on your strategy and what you are looking to get out of real estate. If you are looking to find historically higher appreciating markets, consider the interior BC, or even downtown Vancouver/Toronto as they are "on sale" compared to a few years ago (depending on your definition of sale lol).  If you are looking for cash flow and more landlord friendly rules, I am pro Alberta.  

Hope that helps!

My partners Kyle Green and Keaton Kirkwood from Green Mortgage Group are awesome.  They work primarily with real estate investors, and know the business inside and out.  Kyle actually just released a book Rockstar Real Estate Investing as well.  They are super creative, have their own ins for hard money, and will get your deals done. They don't mess around!

@Xuan-Thy (XT) Bui yeah price points are just a tad more attractive there!  Have a look at the Mogul Realty Group, they are a group of realtors that specialize in out of province investors.  They were a great resource for me and really know their stuff. 

@Shaidah K.

Hello!

Sorry for the late response, I ended up buying a 4 plex unit in Edmonton.  I decided if I was going to leave metro vancouver, I might as well go where the tenancy laws are super lax, prices are cheap, and there is no PST!  Haha, once the dust settles on this first purchase I will continue the hunt in BC. 

That is interesting about Campbell River, glad to hear you had some success! 

@Nina Wolf Thanks for the reply, sorry for not getting back to you! How is the process of investing down in the states? I've been looking a little bit right across the border but I get scared off by what I figure is a lot more of a complicated process.

Simple Path to Wealth. Great book! Also sound advice. Market crash = fire sale on cheap houses!

Ya his Real Estate Investing in Canada is a good start, that's the only one I've read to be honest, and I've also just tried to take what I can from the America based books and tailor it to the Canadian landscape. 

Another good finances book is by Frank Gallinelli: "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures".  This was recommended to me by a local investor friendly realtor here in Langley BC,  @Logan Crowder. Numbers heavy, but a great go to resource for all things REI finances

Hello there! 

Brandon's books here on BP about rental properties are really good, although at times again pretty America specific. 

A lot of Don Campbell's books have good resources in them, but he can get a little bit preachy towards the REIN (Real Estate Investment Network) which he tends to pitch pretty hard in his books.  Having said that, there is some good info in the books of his I have read.  Unfortunately with the market being 1/10th the size of America (population being 1/10th) there is less demand for Canadian specific content. 

Good luck!

@Robert Gunther @Edison Reis

Thanks for the info!  Always sucks to be the awkward one late to the party trying to play catch up, but the more information I can absorb right now the better.  

I have seen some of that crazy appreciation happening as well down here in Surrey/Langley.  The condo I live in has gone up ~120k since I bought in July of last year... And even then it would have been a bad cash flow investment! 

The hunt shall continue.  Thanks again for the input!

Thanks for the reply @Brad Fournier,  yes as I look more it's more and more apparent that out of town investing is the route to go.  Will be looking into the interior BC area next! Kamloops, Kelowna likely are going to be my two first cities to research more on