All Forum Posts by: Jason Farr

I am going to be traveling to portland or on Tuesday or we'd this week and wanted to know if there are any good networking meetings this week that people would recommend.  Looking to possiable invest in the portland market. 

I am traveling by car in the Pacific Northwest and was hoping to  stay with a friend in Portland OR this Tuesday Night and Wednesday Night which fell through because his wife would like an empty house for a few days while she is practicing for a violin performance. Please note I am not typically a loud person.  If anybody has an extra room and could help an aspiring re investor let me know.  I would have some free time during Wed and Thursday and perhaps Friday (I already have a place to stay for Thursday). Would be happy to help with any RE projects you are currently working on during the days.  Let me know. I would love to learn about the Portland Market.

Couldn't you just say for the leveraged (20% down) repeat this deal on 4 more similar properties at the same terms which would be $200k x 4 = $800k.  The cash on cash return would still yield a negative return assuming the cost of capital is 15% while the investment that is not using leverage is yielding a 10% return.  

Using this example the negative leverage may not be the best example.  The only thing I can think of is depending on the appreciation of the properties when the properties are sold you could come out ahead if you have strong appreciation on those properties.

Your finding homeless people comment may not be that bad of an idea.   It was last fall when I was visiting a friend of mine who was working on a rehab and I started talking to a couple of guys working onsite for him. Turns out they were living at the homeless shelter.  There is opportunity to save on labor, but perhaps not have the most reliable workers.

I may be off base here in looking at the numbers the water/sewer may be a bit low at $600 for the year.  You may want to check if you can separate the water/sewer for each unit.  In my area of the country I am not sure it is possible. It is typically one reading for each building.  

@Brian Burke

Thanks for the reply.  After rereading it after I talked with them I kind of had that same feeling that you appear to have which is the customer would probably have to sue them to try to get the money.  It is just that they put this information right out in the middle of the homepage which makes it look like a benefit of doing business with them. 

@Brian Burke I have a question about the statement you mentioned earlier on this topic.

"You can hire a title company to do the research for you, but they will not be on the hook if they make a mistake...you will."

Have you heard of a title search company having insurance to cover their searches if they miss something like a lien? I found a online company called Protitleusa.com that states on their homepage that: "Every residential search is insured for up to $1,000,000 with our professional liability insurance." I could not find anymore information about this on their website. I did call them with a bunch of questions and talked briefly about their services and when questioned about the statement they told me if they made a mistake I will be cover for up to the $1,000,000.

The property I was interested in was an online auction and which was going to use a quit claim deed and I felt this could be a way to reduce risk. After I thought about their statement a little bit more I e-mail them and asked them for the terms and conditions of the policy. They did e-mail back, but not with the information I was looking for. The response was "Could you please advise the name of the company your represent?" Not sure why they asked for the information, but I explain my situation. Still waiting for a response.

I did not order the report because in the meantime I found that the information about the property listed on the online auction was in my opinion grossly misrepresented and very deceptive which added a lot more risk to the project that was higher than I was willing to take.

John, Thanks for the reply. I suspect there are not many members in a situation like mine.   I am most interested in finding out about how big of a tax mess this could be.  Every country had it's own tax rules so I would be interested in speaking with someone specific to Canada.  I would hope to get a little insight and possibly a referral for an accountant and lawyer.

Are there any members here or does anybody know of any people that are permanent residents living in Canada who are also US Citizens investing in the United States?  I find myself in this situation and would be interested in talking with someone in a similar situation.  

My name is Jason Farr.  I found BP on Google and joined about a week ago.  I am excited at the amount of members and information that BP has to offer. I have limited experience in real estate investing.  I did my first deal which was buying and holding a 4plex I bought in Portland Maine at the end of 2011.

Although, I have been looking for other properties in the Portland market, I have found that the inventory is very low and prices have been going up.  

Since last October I have been visiting Edmonton staying with my now wife and waiting for my permanent resident to be approved.  I sold my sign business just before I came to Canada and have been using my rental income to help pay for living expenses while I am here in Canada.

I had just started researching ways to make money investing in real estate in the United States since I am not allowed to work in Canada and did not want to mess up my immigration application.  Last Friday, I received news that my permanent resident application was approved which was 6-8 months faster than what I thought was best case scenario. My original train of thought was to invest in only the United States, but now I may be looking in Edmonton Canada as well.  

I am interested in finding out more about the feasibility of flipping houses remotely and or buying and holding for income working with property managers.