All Forum Posts by: Chris Baxter

Out of curiosity, why limit your search to Ontario? Have you considered other markets with lower acquisition costs and a more balanced landlord / tenant relationship? 

@Kasey Luft when getting started, your partners are most likely to come from friends, family, and acquaintances. If you chose to share your deals with others, you can connect on forums (like this one) or at meetup events. Experienced JV (money) partners will want to see your track record, so you'll need to get some deals under your belt before looking for partners.

@Vemmanath Vasudevan, with what you've provided, I like @Devin Solberg's strategy to get started. 
Leverage your downpayment to buy a property that will be both your home and your first investment.  A duplex in a less expensive market will work well.  Here is a good reference for mortgage downpayment information for Canadians https://www.canada.ca/en/finan...

@Vemmanath Vasudevan what's your investing goal?  What you do needs to be aligned with your goal. Don't have a goal? That would be how to start... 

@Mark Moran we sold our last property in Ontario this year as it is nearly impossible to maintain market rents. The longer you hold a property (in an appreciating market), the better the deal the tenant is getting on their rent and they are less inclined to leave.  If you do renovations and need the tenant out, you use an N13 form.  The tenant has the right to move back in when renovations are done and you aren't allowed to increase the rent. Sounds fair, right? While we owned property in Ontario, we always increased rent by the maximum (a few piddly percent).  So, while market rents can go up by10+%, you aren't allowed to get existing tenants to pay market rent.

In our last project (not in Ontario), we spent ~150k on renovations. Some units needed nothing more than some paint, while others required redo of kitchen, bath, flooring, and paint. 

@Mark Moran Ontario's rent control makes it challenging to do renovations and increase rent. We've recently brought a 22 unit building up to market standards (and are now getting market rent) in a market that allows large increases in rent. The increase in NOI has added ~500k of value to the building and we will be refinancing to access cash for our next venture.

@Vemmanath Vasudevan

Benefits of First Time Home Buyers in Canada: see https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en... 

How to deal with mortgage? :  https://www.integratedmortgage...

As newcomers, which province will be best to buy home and settle down (We are ready to move anywhere in Canada): Canada is HUGE country (8h to fly across it).  You'll need to do you homework here and identify what's important to you

Any checklist we have to keep: not sure what you mean here...

@Chris Gillam rankings like those found on MoneySense are intersting to read, but personal experience and investing philosophy trumps rankings every time. Have a look at their methodology and metrics; is it inline with how you invest? if not, ignore the rankings. 

I personally don't invest in provinces with rent control, so not a single market in their "top 10" interest me in the slightest.

Have a re-read of what you wrote...

"He suggested doing it all in one day to prevent them from seeing it on my record"

Basically, what you are suggesting is that you dupe banks into giving you credit that you wouldn't otherwise qualify for. That's not a great way to get started in investing, where you will need lenders on your side.

Assuming that the LOCs are all unsecured (i.e. not a HELOC), you will be way over leveraged and you will have difficulty accessing a mortgage

@Navroze Pirza  I grew up in Montreal but have no investment history there. I have a good friend that owns a real estate brokerage in Montreal and he has a long history of working with investors. Send me a message if you'd like me to connect you to him.