All Forum Posts by: George W.

Rogers world elite MC. 1.75% cash back on everything made in CAD. 4% for purchases in foreign currency.

 Loyalist College. 99% of international students are from India.

This year I've noticed an explosion of international students in local colleges all across Ontario. In Belleville the college just doubled its international student intake to the point the international population equals the local student population. Room rental prices SKYROCKETED this summer (we're talking 600-700/month for a room in tiny Belleville) as there is just simply not enough housing for them. The college itself even purchased ads in the paper and on facebook to encourage people to rent out any spare bedrooms! CRAZY! Even now, 1 full week into school, we have students who are essentially homeless just couch surfing at friends places, waiting for a room.

Speaking with my international student tenants, they said its partly due to the USA with Donald Trump making it very difficult to apply for VISAs, so the people who would have normally gone to the states are coming to Canada instead. Also, the students pay a massive premium for tuition ($18k a year for college lol). Obviously greed is a factor for the colleges.

Very interesting trend. We'll see if it keeps up. I have heard rumours of the college increasing international enrollment again for next year already.

You can evict for renovation but legally you have to offer the place back to the same tenant at the same price after they are done :(

You can do N12 for personal use but you need to not rent it for 12 months. An option if it’s EXTENSIVE renovations.

Stupid RTA.

Alternatively if you haven’t made a offer already, add the condition of vacant possession and requiring a signed N11 and filed L2 to ensure they follow through with it. The seller can figure how they want to “motivate” the tenant to move out with some cash.  Add another clause saying you get a x amount discount if tenant is still there by closing (approx however much it will take to buy the tenant out, usually a few months rent).

Yeah its pretty nice. I analyzed the same property through both DealCheck and the BP calculator and the results were very close. 

The main reason why I chose DealCheck is that its available on both my computer and app on mobile. I input the info and make a preliminary analysis using the listing info on my computer before I go to the showing, and while at the showing I adjust the inputs based on what I see at the place to make a more precise analysis, so I can determine if I'm wasting my time or if I should pursue it.

I'm going to have to go against the grain and suggest the opposite of what everyone is saying here - look further EAST of the GTA. Specifically sub 250k pop small cities/towns. 

I have a natural tendency to stay away from what the majority of people talk about. If EVERYONE is talking about that one thing as the next BIG HIT, you're already too late. As you can see from posters above talking about bidding wars and going way above asking. Is that the market you want as a buyer?

Go up to a few people you know, maybe a relative, or a friend - someone who knows NOTHING about real estate and ask them where he/she thinks is the best place to invest right now. Whatever answer they give, that's the last place you want to be investing in. It's like not too long ago with bitcoin. A few months before the crash, everyone and their grandmas were telling you to invest in it. They don't even own a computer! The hype makes things too expensive to invest.

You need to choose a place that NO ONE is talking about, something not too hyped up about yet.

How do you find a good place that no one is talking about? I would pay attention to the local news of these small cities/towns. Big hotshot investors from Toronto are too short sighted to even realize these places exist. Ontario to them is just Windsor - London - GTA - Ottawa. 

Look for local news and announcements of large developments, industries moving, new transportation lines, hospital expansions, military base expansions, population growth reports, etc.

Some examples:

Belleville (my area): huge new commercial development with Costco as anchor store, over 800 new full-time jobs, costco to be done by summer 2020 with the rest following in the next few years. In a city with already a massive housing shortage. Relatively recession proof with huge military base in Trenton next door.

https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/local-news/big-day-for-belleville-costco-approved

Bowmanville: I hope by now you know about the planned GO Train extension past oshawa to bowmanville. People will be able to commute to Toronto from Bowmanville, significantly adding value.

https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/9367852-metrolinx-outlines-four-options-for-bowmanville-go-train-extension-via-oshawa/

Clarington/Durham - imagine how much valuable the place will become when the ENTIRE OPG HEADQUARTERS moves there in 2024, bringing 2000 jobs and 2000 new families to the area!

https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/9427984-opg-headquarters-moving-to-clarington-bringing-2-000-jobs/

Its not very hard to keep up with this kind of stuff. Save a few bookmarks of websites of local small city newspapers. Spend 1 hr or 2 every sunday morning just quickly skimming through it. Or even easier, use something like google alerts that send you notifications when certain selected keywords are showing up in media.

This is how you position yourself ahead of the curve. By the time the hype comes to your area, you're already postured to sell your investment and profit off the bidding wars.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 😂😂😂😂

My 4000 sqft 7 bed student rooming house from the 1860s is about 450 a month for insurance. That's about as high risk of a property in the eyes of insurance company as it goes. Not sure how a SFH is that expensive. I'm sure you can find cheaper.

Are you getting a replacement cost or ACV insurance? ACV will be a lot cheaper if you only care about getting your investment back in the event of a disaster.

Also, is there a finished basement? I used to live in Windsor not too long ago and we had a pretty bad series of floods in a very short period of time. The flood insurance is probably what’s driving it so high. Ask for a quote without flood protection if you’re comfortable with it.

It is clear and has been repeatedly proven in court that the RTA supersedes any contradicting clauses that you add to the lease agreement. They can simply give you the deposit, sign the lease, and immediately file to the LTB to get it back.

In fact, if you read some of the tenant advocacy group communities, they are actually advising people do exactly that: give deposit, sign lease, and file to get it back. All with the help of free legal aid while you pay to defend yourself.

While it’s great that your tenants either doesn’t care or are not informed about this, this should be something to consider for your own protection in the future.

I hope your tenants have poor English and are not here to study law because it is NOT legal to keep more than last month of rent as a deposit. It will land you a visit to the LTB tribunal, you'll have to pay it back plus a fine.

Prepaid rent ahead of time is a different story though. But you have to use it up at the beginning of tenancy rather than using it as a deposit at the end. And even this is a very fuzzy dangerous line to go this route. You will need very carefully written clauses to protect you.

 I don't understand how having the parents of international students co-sign will help in anyway? If the student decides to stop paying rent, destroy the property and hop on a plane back home, what are you going to do? Summon the parents in India to small claims court?