All Forum Posts by: Jean Lan

I don't believe there is such a thing in Victoria Luke. Often homeowners agree to have the property listed and sold when they are in difficulty because unlike some states, mortgage debt is not something you can walk away from here without going through bankruptcy proceedings. Also, the market is so hot here it is difficult to see why an owner in trouble would not simply sell to discharge their debts. Prices have appreciated to the point where there should be equity given that HELOCs were restricted to 65%LTV some years ago now. If you are in Victoria you might want to check out househuntvictoria for stats. As for rehabbing, if it is in Victoria, I'd check with local realtors for names of companies and individuals doing this. Jeanie

Thanks for the connection! I'm just at the beginning stages of researching the possibilities and issues. From what I see so far, the lack of access to financing is one of the biggest obstacles. I have some money to invest but the ROI declines without leverage. I would like to discuss this with you if you have time. Jean

Hi Danielle, 

My thoughts are that investing in Victoria doesn't make a lot of sense right now. Prices are too high and rents are too low and the potential for dramatic appreciation is over. If you'd like to invest on the island I'd go further North. Parksville has better ROI, as does Comox. It still is nowhere near as good as what people in the US are getting which is why I'm looking into this option!

Jean 

I ended up having my photo uploaded by the site admin.  Not sure if it is a problem that just affected me or to due with the system upgrade.

Hi there - I own eight rental units in British Columbia. I have regular rentals, student rentals and vacation rentals.  At this point, I am looking for cash flow which is tough to find in BC, or in Canada. The 1% rule does not work where I am and we've had a long run up on appreciation so investing for this probably doesn't make sense.

I'm thinking about entering the US market and trying to work out all the issues. Financing is tough to come by it seems, and taxation and estate taxes are more complicated. Then there is the potential need to set up a trust or a US corporation. And the question of where?! 

I would love to discuss this with another experienced investor from Canada or someone from the US who has worked with Canadians.  Looking for a mentor and possibly a business partner.   Oh - and I'm a lawyer by trade.

Sorry to hear about this.  I agree that Airbnb should assist.  I would email them with a link to this post on BiggerPockets and follow up with other media. This would be very bad press for AirBnb.  I have two listings with them and I would be alarmed.

I'm not sure if it is because of the new site as I'm a new user but I can't upload a profile pic.  I posted about this and others are having the same problem. 

Also, when I put in a search topic and get a list this feature is not working well for me.  I can click on, say, page 3 of the list but when I try to go back a screen to the original complete list I get an error message.  I end up having to redo the search term to get back to the original complete list.

Okay - I've emailed for helps so I'll post if I get a reply.

We do operate as a vacation rental in July and August. We lease from September-June as furnished rentals for students primarily, but sometimes other folks in different situations. It works very well and increases ROI because vacation rentals are higher value by far. You need to be in a good area with a good property for vacation rentals and be willing to take on hiring and organizing cleaning crew. Other alternative if you go furnished is airbnb in the summer. We use this for July 1-15 to fill in bookings.

I've tried to upload a profile picture, either one, to my profile and it fails each time.  Both are jpegs and I'm not sure how to fix this?  Any tips?  I can attach either here just fine.