All Forum Posts by: Gary McGowan

@William Wong

he Ottawa Real Estate Investors Org.

http://www.meetup.com/Ottawa-Real-Estate-Investors-Organization/

Tell Denise MacPherson that I sent you! She is a great lady and will connect you to local investors.

@Roy N. and @Simon Lloyd did a great job of answering your questions.

Simply in Canada because of privacy laws and lending laws this information is not available. Which means you have to go out and find the people that are in need of a solution. Some markets have more than others. You will find that it is a very small amount of people that are in foreclosure especially compared to the US.

In Canada as of Dec, 2013 only 0.32% of mortgages were in arears. (Mortgage arrears is three or more months)

Here is the information from the Canadian Bankers Association

http://www.cba.ca/contents/files/statistics/stat_mortgage_db050_en.pdf

Going after this market is a very difficult strategy to use in Canada.

@William Wong in Canada the best source of borrowers looking for short term money is connecting with Mortgage Brokers, Realtors and getting out to different Real Estate Investor groups. I have borrowed hard money and loaned it. It can be very rewarding.

There is a great Ottawa RE Investors group I could recommend.

What sort of terms are you looking at?

Wholesaling is the sale of the contract (assigning it to another buyer). Yes you can do that in Ontario I have done it many times when I wasn't a realtor. I can think of a few people now that do this on a regular basis. Both the seller and the buyer have to agree to the sale of the contract. Most lawyers understand this and I have never had an issue with it. If your name is the buyer on the contract you have a direct interest in the property which covers you to sell the contract. Note: Most builders will have a clause that do not allow you to assign the contract.

This is Ontario and it is classified as a power of sale. Different rules than a foreclosure. The second lender has every right to protect their investment. Yes this happens and it's within the law.

The downside to student rentals at the moment is not one lender is willing to lend on them . You have to look at Private Lenders.

Many answers to your question. The main difference is the city can shut your building down if it has an illegal unit. Yes this happened to me on a triplex. Zoning only allowed for a single family home. The Ontario government back in the early 90's past a bill that mandated all municipalities must allow a min of two units per property. A legal-non conforming unit is one that ex sisters before 1994 and has not changed use since. All municipalities have different laws on what is required. Not all areas actually allow two or three suites. In Newmarket you can legally add a second suite and in Vaughan you can not at the moment. Oshawa and Whitby yes. I would stay clear of properties that are not legal and look at areas where I can add a suite if I could not find what I'm looking for. As for cost. This can be all over the place. Fire rated separation between the units (5/8s drywall). Fire suppression in the furnace room. Fire rated doors on the furnace room, entry doors for the units. Electrical inspection. Fire inspection. Building inspection. Min ceiling height. Min parking. second egress for each unit. Just a few thoughts.

Hi Mike, Welcome to BP!

One thing to note is our market here in Oshawa is vastly different from most markets in the US. So when looking the numbers we have to add value to other aspects of the property.

For instance. Our market is much stronger... This is great although it proves to be very difficult when trying to find bargains. We need to to take into account that the property values are going to be higher. We still have an opportunity to create equity. You could buy a property that requires updating (adding value).

I own properties in the Durham area,

Send me a pm.... I'm sure I can steer you in the right direction.

Welcome fellow Canuck!!!

Best to ask the ``Canadian`` specific question.

I would suggest that most Canadian buyers look to buy for the long term. Personally I buy properties that I can add value to on day one and hold it for 5-7 years.

For most areas our markets move in a slow line up... Not always the case IE: Alberta which can move very fast in both directions.

Get to know your market and get a feel for what it does. Even looking at one city can have many different pockets to it.

@Ken Davidson Thanks for clearing up a few points!