All Forum Posts by: Chris Baxter

@Deryk Houston  people come here to help each other out. If you have a read through my 400+ posts in the Canadian forums, you'll see that I am all about the practical. I've invested heavily in Moncton, but I got in before the market went crazy.  I'm not buying more there right now as I don't have the same vision for it's future as you do. Have you been to Moncton? What makes you feel its 'going to be real hot'? 

@Jackelyn Usi do you own the property personally? Do you manage the property yourself? Always have a separate account for REI, even if owned personally. If self-managed, what features are you looking for in PM software?

Negative cash flow is never an option. Banking on appreciation is gambling

@Eagle Yeh the 'rule' hasn't been relevant for some time in Canada.  Rents do not keep pace with increases in property values in most jurisdictions.  Do a quick search for "price to rent ratio" in Canada to get a sense of where we're at.  I can buy the house next door to mine for $1.5M, but it would likely only rent for $3,500 per month.  Huge disparity... 

@Alex Stevenson welcome to BP! I don't have any STR, but have poked around AirDNA in a few markets to get a sense of where STR investing might make sense. It seemed to have good data for the markets I explored.

This thread is in the Canadian Real Estate Forum, which generally only engages investors from Canada. You can choose which forums to follow, and ensure you get content that is relevant to you. 

@Conor Stephenson  we do not currently use OPM in our portfolio... I own some properties 100% and invest in others 50%/50% with my business partner.

@Conor Stephenson welcome to BP!   When you are forecasting your ability to buy property (one ~3 years) are you calculating your equity correctly? Investors that scale rapidly do so by leveraging every bit of equity to buy their next property. We buy 'value add' properties where we see an opportunity to raise income and decrease expenses. In the MF space, that's what drives value and allows a rapid increase which can be leveraged into new properties. The Canadian market is much different than the US, though, in that many jurisdictions have some from of rent control. We can't simply bump the rent to add value, but instead have to find strategies to re-purpose a property (add suites, storage, etc.). This comes with added cost, however, so you need to reserve part of your capital for doing these improvements.   

@Eagle Yeh welcome to BP! Invest where the numbers make sense, regardless of where you live. There is no need to live close to your investments, but I do recommend that you visit a market to build a team and to understand the local scene.  @Roy Cleeves is a great resource for KW, and there are many other investors in this Canadian forum that can help with insight on other markets.