All Forum Posts by: Mike Jakobczak

I can forward you to a foreigner tax expert I deal with out of Houston. She's great. Shoot me a PM if you are interested.

Welcome @Metin Guler Always great to see other Canadians using BP. I'm out of Toronto and always thrilled to talk about real estate. I also go to a few local real estate groups that you might be interested in. You can network with some great people and learn a lot.

I think educating yourself through bigger pockets will help you out so much. Also obviously any books you can get your hands on. Where I found starting off what very key to my success was working along side active investors in your area. Some investors will be open to sharing their experiences with you and mentor you. Obviously some won't but networking is very important in real estate. I personally would stay away from all the guru seminars until you get a good understanding of which ones are even worth going to and that you understand fundamentals of different strategies.

@Victor Parag Hey Victor shoot me a pm, I may have a lawyer you can connect with in the Toronto market.

Also always looking for partners @Dominika M ;)

Hey Chris,

It's a good question. Love answering tax questions. Always have to give the disclaimer..I'm not a tax accountant, or cross border specialist and really you should regardless sit down with one and go over your particular scenario.

I can only speak from my experience as a Canadian buying in the United States. Now to answer your question, yes it can be done. As a Canadian you can buy with a Canadian company. Now depending what your goals are it may not be best. I've used a corporation for a lot of flips because it works good but for all my buy and holds I typically use Limited partnerships, since profits flow through to the partners. Also I tend to partner with various people, so it makes my set up pretty straight forward.

Most accountants will tell you it may be over-board if you are planning on buying one or two. Since corporations are expensive to open and maintain. Partnerships are good but remember general partners carry the liability. You can set up a shelf company to hold the liability.

But at the end of the day, you should sit down with someone or call them, tell them exactly what your goals are and they will direct you to what makes sense. At some point a corporation might make more sense down the road instead of right now.

I can forward a few cross-border guys if you need one. I may have one on file in your local market since I was there for the Canadian Real Estate Magazine convention last year.

Hope this helps a bit

Cheers,

Tim C. Financing is still difficult. Personally all my financing is from the private sector. This allows me to continue to purchase without any road blocks or jumping through hoops with banks.

Now if you do want to go conventionally, Canadians can get financing through Canadian banks who have US Affiliates (Example:BMO bank and Harris Bank) There are restrictions and guidelines to obtaining financing this way, but if you do manage you can get a great rate. Also down payments can range from 35-50% depending on the situation.

90% of Canadians either use Cash or leverage off Canadian properties/Line of Credits. With low interest rates it makes it appealing but remember that you will be losing a few points everytime you have to exchange dollars to pay down Canadian Debt.

I suggest not to hold in your personal name, it's a invitation to disaster with liability. I have in the pass, but strongly suggest some kind of structure. Buying in an LLC can be done if you elect the LLC just as a holding company and not an actual entity which pulls income. Usually set up with a C-corp or other entity is best. The reason for this is Canada doesn't recognize LLC and it triggers double taxation.

I normally use the structure above or some form of Partnership. Partnerships are great but general partners are subject to liability, so proper protection is still needed.

At the end of the day you should definitely sit down with a cross-border specialist. Everyone's situation and net-worth is different. I am not a accountant and any info given is just for education purposes and should not be used as legal advice**

As for withholding, there are restrictions and you may be subject to withholding. You can be exempt if the value is under 300,000 and buyer is owner occupied. But if not you will have to file a 8288-B form. If no form is filed the IRS will kindly hold onto your money until Taxes are filed. They are just that nice.

I live in Toronto. Been investing in Atlanta market for 2 plus years. I focus on flips and rentals in the Atlanta market. I handle most of my business from Toronto, but I like to make it out to Atlanta every 4-5 weeks. I like to be there on closing to oversee the rehabs.

At the moment I am trying to purchase an apartment. We'll see how it goes.

I invest in Atlanta and this quote is high. But this is usually the case when you just start investing. Specially when your foreign to the area.

I'd check the references for sure. Even get a few quotes.

Allison where are you buying in the GTA?

I'm a big fan of Hamilton

Most of my properties that I own are all overseas or in different parts of countries from which I am located. Investing overseas is a lot different from buying in your back yards and is not for everyone. Building a successful system and team is key.

A lot of prep goes into an area before buying. Learning the markets, and building your team takes time and patience. Usually takes me a few months before I start buying in a new area.