All Forum Posts by: Jamie Blair

 $50 doesn’t make or break the deal, it’s a great cash flowing property regardless. For more context though, rental units in Ontario are subject to rent control, and it typically varies between 1-2%, so $50 increase over 5 years is pretty standard, unless there’s a turn over in tenants, which is when rent can be reset. 

Also we’re definitely not keeping the current PM company, we’ve been thoroughly disappointed in all interactions with them up to this point! We self mange our other properties, so plan to do it for this one as well. 

Thank you @Sean Ross and @Roy Cleeves! That looks exactly like what I had in mind 😊

Hi All! I'm getting into the detail/documents of the most recent property that I'm in the process of purchasing (in Ontario!), and I've came across a small discrepancy. The MLS advertised rent, and the rent that was listed in the APS, was $1000 for one of the units.....the property management company that the previous owners were using took 2 weeks to send us the lease, and now that we have it, we see that it actually states the unit is renting for $950 (lease was signed in 2017). Now perhaps with rent increases, the tenants are in fact paying $1000, but there doesn't seem to be any documentation of that. Normally we would just sign a new lease with the tenants, but the mortgage company is asking for documentation of the $1000 rent.

Is there any kind "current status" form that we could request that would capture this info??

Just wanted to share a little success story! There was this great duplex listed in my target area, and as soon as it popped up, I told my partner that we needed to see it asap. It was listed at a very reasonable price and was recently renovated and vacant on one side. We set up a viewing for the next day BUT the tenant required 48hrs notice……the next day we viewed the vacant side, and then when our realtor left, we knocked on the door of the other unit any kindly offered $50 to take a quick peek. They agreed and voila! We liked what we saw and put an offer in right away. (They requested 24hr to review any offers). The next day our realtor called us and said that the seller had changed their mind and wanted to hold an open house because of all the interest, and said that they wouldn’t be viewing any offers now until a set time after the open house. This was like 2hr before our offer was set to expire….we said no, take it or leave but we won’t be offering again. Our realtor was like « oh really?? » , to be honest, we would have bid again, but I felt like he would have revealed that if we told him that….so we bluffed him too, which is not great. But with like 5minutes to spare, our deal was accepted!! Great property at an awesome price! 😎 

I totally agree when you say experience tends to be a better teacher than an actual course, I guess I feel like I don't have a ton opportunities for experienced-based learning.....and because of that the learning curve seems long and not very steep! 

Thanks for your input!

Hi All, I'm considering taking a couple online classes from the St. Lawrence College Home Inspection course, perhaps the Structural Inspection & Electrical Inspections classes to start. 

I have 2 objectives I would like to achieve:

1. Become more knowledgeable on the "important stuff" when walking through a building for this first time. I always hear "look at foundation, electrical, floor joists etc." but when I get there are look, I feel like it still doesn't tell me anything lol

2. Have the option of submitting a more competitive bid if a deal seems worth it (by leaving out the inspection condition). I know the landscape is changing and multiple bids on every property are declining, and maybe home inspection conditions are coming back, but for SFH, I feel like it will still be a while yet, so I would like to have this option in my pocket.

I'm a chemical engineer and my partner is a software developer, so although we're in technical fields, I feel like we don't have any useful transferrable skills that help us determine the quality of a building. What are your thoughts on this plan? Or home inspection courses in general? Has anyone taken other courses and felt more empowered? 

Thanks for the input Roy! The tenant actually pays (or is supposed to pay) on the 1st and 15th, so it won't take too long at all the have record of 8 late payments. 

Hi All, the rental in questions in located in Ontario. I've reviewed the Tribunals Ontario documents on reasons for eviction and persistent late rent is listed is a valid reason. What I couldn't find was the definition of "persistent".

My tenant has paid her rent late for the past few months, with this month being the worst. She said she would send it on the 20th, but then didn't, and now says she'll send it on the 31st......we'll see. But regardless, I'm doubtful she'll send Augusts rent the next day on the 1st! July was the first month that I sent her an N4 - Notice to End Tenancy for Non-Payment of Rent. I did this so I could start formally documenting the issue. 

Two Questions: 

1. Does anyone have experience with the board and their definition of "persistent"? ie. 3 months, 6 months, 1 year? Does it have to be consecutive months of late rent? 

2. For the N4 form, there are 2 individuals on the lease. The women, and her now ex-boyfriend that no longer lives there. From what a read, all persons listed on the lease need to receive a copy of the form. I handed a hard copy to her, and emailed a copy to both of them. I didn't receive acknowledgement from him that he received it, even though I requested that in my email. Do I need to receive acknowledgement? Or worse, does he need to receive a hard copy too? 

 Good point! Yes that’s my understanding as well. 

Ouff that’s rough. @Chris Baxter and @Nick Vazquez said is perfectly though.  One other option is to have a frank conversation with the tenant. You can describe that you’re loosing money on the investment and it simply doesn’t make sense, if the tenant really loves the places and wants to stay, they may voluntarily sign a new lease. (You can’t force a rent increase, but you can mutually agree to one) 

I recently visited a single family home for sale and the tenants had initiated that because they had been in the home for years and really didn’t want to be displaced. The new lease made the property attractive to investors and I think they ended up getting to stay after the sale.