All Forum Posts by: Edwin Lau

Hi,

I read J scott's post on how not to ask for a mentor and I hope this doesn't come across as I'm asking for a mentor, more so I'd like to meet investors in my general area.  

What I have to offer in exchange for your time: I've been working as an electrician for a little over 8 years, I have experience in anything from small renovations to new builds be it custom homes or commercial work.  I'm an eager to learn and self motivated individual, I enjoy helping others and until I read a post here about why I shouldn't work for free, I sometimes worked for free just because.

What I'm looking for: to get acquainted with an active investor in the GTA either through conversations or I can help out with your properties while you talk about your investments or troubles or anything and maybe field some Q&A. 

I guess contrary to what I said earlier, I am essentially looking for an unofficial mentor but certainly not for free. 

I've been on BP for a few months now, read a lot of posts here and elsewhere and listen to the podcasts.  I'm currently saving up money for a down payment, looking to get purchase a property within the next 2 years.  

If anyone is remotely interested in speaking with me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for reading

Thanks everyone, for your input.  I think I'm just getting way over my head and too excited about getting into real estate.  I hadn't even considered whether the I would be responsible for the roof or not, along with probably dozens of other things I am not even aware of!  

It eases me a little that condo investments do positive cash flow for some people, maybe there is hope yet in my city.  I will continue to study and save in the meantime.  

Thanks again

I've been thinking a lot about buying a condo unit 2bed 1bath and using it as a rental unit but the numbers don't work and I'm left wondering what sort of investors actually make these purchases and how it makes sense to them.  Any insight would be appreciated!

A recent 2bed 1 bath condo unit came up last week for $286,000 in a good location (right by the subway station), condo fee @ $654, 925 soft.  I spoke to a mortgage specialist that said roughly my monthly payments would be ~$1000-$1200 over 25 years with 5% down.  So at minimum I would need to charge ~$1854 just to cover these costs and that's already really high for that size condo at that location, they usually go around $1600-$1700 tops.  

I would have nothing extra for when things break or anything for that matter, it would be out of pocket which doesn't seem to make sense to me if this condo is to be an investment.  Is this just a case where the numbers don't work or am I missing something big?

Hypothetical question but also a possible reality depending on whether the current owner is willing to sell.

What would happen if the current owner of apartment A passes while we're in an owner financing situation?  The current owner of the apartment has never been married, no children and to my knowledge has no extended family.  He's well into his 80s and in poor health, lives alone and has multiple units in my condominium.  I've asked if he's considered selling one of his units but I have yet to hear back from him.

I have no idea where I would find information for a scenario like this but if he agrees to sell and more so - an owner financing agreement, the above scenario is very possible and I would appreciate it very much if anyone has any insight to this short of referring me to a lawyer.  

Thanks very much

I have been thinking about triplexes as a first property and I certainly intend to fix up if need be. I'm talking to mortgage specialists now to figure out what I can afford but as I'm still new to REI, I'm more focused on reading than I am on searching out potential properties.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm going to consider that as an option, see if there are any takers.

Regarding my question, thank you all for your thoughts, I will not bargain with future landlords' rent.  

- how do we close threads? 

Yeah sorry, I just edited that part in a minute ago.  He threatened me about 2 months after I moved in and it was after we called him multiple times about the toilet.  We haven't had much contact with him since I started fixing the place myself, I only see him when he picks up the checks. 

The place is - i think - under value, but the rent goes up by whatever the law or by-law states it can be raised annually.  

I've looked up what he would need if he were ever to try to evict me and I have done nothing near what he would need to file for eviction.

Some background to my current situation which may lead to an understanding why I would ask this question.

I am an electrician.  I currently rent a 2 bdrm apartment very close to the downtown area in Toronto Ontario for just under $1600 which I believe is under market value by ~$100.  I've been renting here for close to 2 years and in that time I have caulked all the base boards, tubs & sinks, upgraded the door handles and replaced the light fixtures with nicer ones.  I also do repair the range whenever elements burn out and replace worn out window screens - all out of pocket.  

I do this primarily because my landlord threatened to evict me after the handy man he hired to fix the sink used old parts (multiple times), so we've had to call him multiple times for the same issues. On top of this, the last tenant left the unit with a broken toilet and without a toilet tank lid and it cost him "a lot of money to fix" - which he wasn't happy about and seems to have taken his frustration out on us.

Now my question is - are there landlords out there (anywhere) that would lower the rent price to have a good tenant (I feel I'm a good tenant, please correct me if I'm mistaken) that can and will maintain the property if said tenant could not afford the market value?

Would it be absurd to use my trade skills to bargain for a lower rental cost? What would run through a landlord's mind if something like this were purposed?

I'm not suggesting to bargain with my current landlord, I am wondering if this would be an even remotely decent question to ask future landlords.

Thanks, and I apologize for the not-so-easy read

Boy oh boy is my inbox flooded today!

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome! Yeah I really enjoy the podcasts, they're really informative and always captivating.  

Since joining BP a few months ago, I have been swamped with reading material.  There are just so many books (referenced in the UBG, podcasts, BP members' posts) and articles and blogs relevant to Buy & Hold that it's somewhat overwhelming. I've jotted down a big list of terms and questions that I already have and until I've searched the forum for these topics & terms I think it would be best to hold off on contributing there.  

I'm at a loss for words here but thanks again really for all your replies, I've read every one and if anyone would like to contact me, I check BP at least 3-4 times a week!

Hi,

My name is Edwin and I have no background in real estate.  I am a 5th term electrical apprentice, I started (as an apprentice) in residential re-wiring knob and tube for a year, moving onto renovating homes and now I primarily work in commercial buildings.  If interested I have a linked in account which I don't know if it counts as soliciting if I were to post here.  Would greatly appreciate it if someone could tell me if it's ok to post that - it just shows the sort of work I've done in the past.

I've wanted to be a landlord for a few years now, don't recall where the original thought came from but it wasn't until a few months ago when I clicked on a guru seminar ad on facebook, that I decided to do some research on getting into real estate.  Now I understand that this isn't a get rich quick scheme and I certainly plan to invest in real estate for the long term.  

So I went to the seminar and I was really hyped about RE afterwards and I bought the program - but I had to really convince my SO that it would be worth the $500 I paid...after a bit of googling I came upon BP.

I read a bunch of stuff on the front page, thought the Ultimate Beginner's Guide was awesome (I'm half way through and taking some notes), I'm listening to the podcasts (Just listened to #10 it told me to introduce myself and here I am). 

My goal in real estate is to supplement my income and eventually (in about 15 years) replace my day job - I love what I do but I do not want to be hurting like the old-timers I work with now.  

I was really fixed on buying and renting single family homes but after reading the beginner's guide, I will be focusing on single families as well as multi-family properties.  

Thanks everyone for taking time out of your schedule to read my introduction and I look forward to any and all replies!