All Forum Posts by: Chris Baxter

We have 30 units in 3 buildings, all manged professionally.  Our PM has advised on holding off on communications to tenants until after the April rent is due.  We are hopeful that we'll see 70% of rent come in on time, and will then message those that are late with a tailored letter similar to the one posted by Brandon Turner (https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/coronavirus-letter-to-tenants-from-landlord) .  Governments have told tenants that they can't be evicted for non-payment of rent, and I expect we'll have to do some education on how that doesn't equate to living rent free.  

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Originally posted by @Anthony Wick:

@Jason Allen

The bottom line is that these people are your tenants, they are your responsibility in that you provide them with housing, they rely on you, they depend on you ....

Tenants aren't my children and they aren't my responsibility.  Tenants are adults that need to learn how to make good decisions and take care of their basic needs, housing being second most important after food.  Tenants need to tap their OWN resources before I should be expected to dip into mine to help them.  This doesn't show a lack of empathy for the situation, but rather the reality of being an adult.  

@Account Closed

There are many posts admonishing landlords for being 'hard' on tenants, suggesting instead that LL need to carry the burden when times are tough. Tenants should not be absolved from taking action to ensure their biological needs are met; they should be doing everything they can to ensure they have food and shelter. If this includes dipping into retirement funds, extending CC debt, or securing government help, that's what needs to happen.  If tenants have done everything they can to make ends meet and reach out for help, we'll be there to share the pain.  I'm not, however, going to shoulder a bigger burden while tenants chose to spend money on non-essentials instead of on rent.

Originally posted by @Jay C.:

In the old days and still holds true power is in silence.

 This is the same advice provided to me by the PM for my largest MF properties. We are developing a communication plan for tenants that don't pay April rent but, for now, the best advice is to let silence guide the interaction.   I appreciate that this advice may not be the best if you have a tenant living in your basement or if you are the face of the building, but for larger properties, being conciliatory up-front will likely backfire.

A small number of interest-only mortgages may still exist in Canada (see https://www.theglobeandmail.co... ) but I don't think you'll find a lender willing to extend these to investment properties.   More importantly, principal pay-down is one of the key accelerators in wealth creation in real-estate. Why throw it away?  If cash-flow is so tight on the investment that it barely cash flows with conventional financing, you should probably look for a better investment

Who are you selling to? What kind of property?   Future homeowners that are independently scouring realtor.ca may put more stock in the description.  Investors would be far less influenced as the description is just window-dressing; property analysis is all about the numbers...   

I see you've posted this same question twice... As per my response in the other thread, I have a background in using AI/ML in municipal engineering. What large-scale data problems are you trying to solve?

I have a background in AI and sell solutions in this space for municipal systems as part of my 'day job'.  What large-scale problems are you trying to solve?

Low interest rates are meaningless if mortgage holders don't have the means to pay their bills. Recent surveys have shown that over 50% of Canada's pop lives paycheck to paycheck, with no ability to weather a financial storm.  With governments making it illegal to evict for non-payment of rent, but banks not providing mortgage relief, landlords will be left subsidizing housing for their tenants.  Unless you have a 6-12 month reserve for your portfolio, you might want to scale back on maintenance and non-essential spending.

Hello @Hanan Asor... welcome to the forum.  I'd be interested in sharing intel... we have holdings (6 and 22 units) in Moncton, but nothing in St.J. yet.