All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Heaman

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

It really depends on where they settle.  Large numbers seem to stay in Toronto which I don't understand given the excessive costs of living there.  Small towns like Claresholm are not going to be attractive to most newcomers.  Even small cities (Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat) will attract smaller numbers than Calgary and Edmonton.  Cities in the south have small airports and the extra flights aren't that expensive (though extremely limited during covid).

I'd still look for places that appeal to large numbers of tenants and areas where you think vacancy will be the lowest.  With the oil patch going the way it has been, many towns in the north have seen a decrease in the population size.

 It may not be attractive to everyone, but I believe it prudent to consider the 5000 applicants looking to move to a community in a given year. In the same year, there was around 37000 people who immigrated to the province. 5000 seems like a relatively large number to consider.

There is many streams inside this program for new immigrants, including the for skilled workers and entrepreneurs in major cities. Is there a way you could leverage this into your business?

Quote from @Karsten Madsen:

To help our son break into the housing market, we are looking into building a small (approx 1,000 sq ft) home on our 6.4 acre lot in rural Ontario.  My curiosity is how it would effect influence of this on selling at some point in future.  The 2-house property could be marketed as having a stand-alone Granny Flat or Air bnb unit ... but that would mean a smaller pool of potential buyers.  Any thoughts about this?

Ciao,
K

 An appraisal consultation could let you know if this is worthwhile to pursue. If there is demand in your area for homes like this, it could increase your value significantly, while providing a housing alternative. The appraiser can also tell you how strong the demand has been in the area, and what your absorption rate and future vacancy rates could look like.

Quote from @Marshall Magnus:

@Jeremy Heaman

Wow first off, Great post! 5/5. Captivating and informative. This is an entire demographic that I would not have considered. I am in Edmonton and still quite green as far as real estate investing goes, so gazing out into these sort of fringe markets probably would have escaped me. I really like the way you are looking to get in front of a likely trend and especially one being initiated by the government. As a land surveyor I am constantly working with local municipal governments (the list is many and varied) and provincial government on projects. I can say that in my experience when a project moves against the grain of the government plan you can get locked in a bureaucratic labyrinth, but when your goal aligns with theirs it is smooth sailing. I don’t have much specific input on your post aside from saying I think you are in to something. 

Good luck!

 Thank you Marshall. This is reassuring. On a separate note, I like how active you are in the forums.

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Jeremy Heaman:

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Jeremy Heaman:

@Stevo Sun this is an interesting thought. I would want to know what the boundaries are for what they consider outside of Edmonton and Calgary. I invest in satellites around Edmonton such as Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan, but I would call that the greater Edmonton area as they are pretty close.

Many smaller cities such as Medicine Hat, fort McMurray and LLoyminster have larger municipal airports or small international Airports, and often take people to international hubs such as Vancouver and Calgary to be flown worldwide. Being that Edmonton often requires a connecting flight to Calgary already, I don't see a second flight to a hub as a restriction for many people.

Do you know if there is a immigration office in Calgary? And what kind of services they provide? I think connecting with them to offer new tenants routinely could drastically reduce a potential vacancy cost. In the smaller communities it may even bring more negotiation power, such as them paying for damages, but I have not tried to speak with them on the subject.

 Yea you are totally right. Me living in Calgary totally took having an international airport for granted. Yea I think Airdire, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okatoks are all kind of like satellite communities around Calgary. I actually haven't looked into the immigration route at all. I only have 4 doors at the moment so vacancy hasn't been a real issue so far.

 That is understandable. Vacancy isn't a massive concern for me at this stage either, but I plan to scale significantly in the next few years, and want to limit all possible expenses. I think having a large agency market my product for me, or possibly guarantee my candidates would be an effective measure, and be attractive to a possible future partner.

 Absolutely agree. Would love to hear more how it works out.

 If I find more information about Calgary specifically, would you want me to let you know?

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Jeremy Heaman:

@Stevo Sun this is an interesting thought. I would want to know what the boundaries are for what they consider outside of Edmonton and Calgary. I invest in satellites around Edmonton such as Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan, but I would call that the greater Edmonton area as they are pretty close.

Many smaller cities such as Medicine Hat, fort McMurray and LLoyminster have larger municipal airports or small international Airports, and often take people to international hubs such as Vancouver and Calgary to be flown worldwide. Being that Edmonton often requires a connecting flight to Calgary already, I don't see a second flight to a hub as a restriction for many people.

Do you know if there is a immigration office in Calgary? And what kind of services they provide? I think connecting with them to offer new tenants routinely could drastically reduce a potential vacancy cost. In the smaller communities it may even bring more negotiation power, such as them paying for damages, but I have not tried to speak with them on the subject.

 Yea you are totally right. Me living in Calgary totally took having an international airport for granted. Yea I think Airdire, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okatoks are all kind of like satellite communities around Calgary. I actually haven't looked into the immigration route at all. I only have 4 doors at the moment so vacancy hasn't been a real issue so far.

 That is understandable. Vacancy isn't a massive concern for me at this stage either, but I plan to scale significantly in the next few years, and want to limit all possible expenses. I think having a large agency market my product for me, or possibly guarantee my candidates would be an effective measure, and be attractive to a possible future partner.

@Stevo Sun this is an interesting thought. I would want to know what the boundaries are for what they consider outside of Edmonton and Calgary. I invest in satellites around Edmonton such as Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan, but I would call that the greater Edmonton area as they are pretty close.

Many smaller cities such as Medicine Hat, fort McMurray and LLoyminster have larger municipal airports or small international Airports, and often take people to international hubs such as Vancouver and Calgary to be flown worldwide. Being that Edmonton often requires a connecting flight to Calgary already, I don't see a second flight to a hub as a restriction for many people.

Do you know if there is a immigration office in Calgary? And what kind of services they provide? I think connecting with them to offer new tenants routinely could drastically reduce a potential vacancy cost. In the smaller communities it may even bring more negotiation power, such as them paying for damages, but I have not tried to speak with them on the subject.

I have been researching into the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, and some of the changes that were announce mid February. I would love hear other thoughts and opinions on how to leverage this, and other programs to grow rental portfolios. I am not looking for political opinions, and will not be engaging in political discussions. I have spoken about this briefly on the real estate investing morning show, and this is slightly more in depth look into the subject.

Recently, the Canadian federal Government announced a ambitious plan to bring in 1.3 million new immigrants over the next three years. This 1.3 million immigrants is broken down into 4 categories, Economic, Family, Refugee and Protected Persons, Humanitarian and Other. Between 2011- 2016 Canada has received 1.2 million new immigrants.

Economic is skilled or semi-skilled workforce that could be used to increase GDP growth. The target is 232,500 for the next year.

Family is people who have marital or blood ties to Canada, The target is for 103,500 for the next year.

Refugees and Protected Persons is on the forefront of the media as worldwide conflicts rage on. The target is 59,500 for the next year.

Humanitarian and Other is targeted for 5500 for the next year.

Quebec and Post-secondary students/graduates are not included in these targets.

The Alberta government has stated its intentions to take "more than it's fair share". And has created some more specific programs within the AAIP. There are 3 streams devoted to workers, and 4 devoted to entrepreneurs. I will be focusing on the more rural aspect as I believe there are less resources available for investors looking to invest in rural communities.

From 2011 to 2020 Alberta has received between 34,541 to 57,841 immigrants annually. This is compared to 12,499 births, and a net interprovincial immigration of 4489. This Indicates immigration as the leading reason for population increases. https://www.alberta.ca/populat...

To maintain current market share of immigrants, Alberta would be receiving just over 40,000 immigrants which is around historical norms. With a targeted increase of almost 50 percent per year, over the next three years, Alberta could expect to see almost 60,000 immigrants per year based on historical trends. 

The Rural renewal stream is designed to help revitalize communities outside of Edmonton and Calgary. Alberta currently has 7 of the 10 fastest shrinking communities in the country, which is believed to be due to increase urbanization. "The Rural Renewal Stream supports the attraction and retention of newcomers to rural Alberta through a community-driven approach that supports local economic development needs and contributes to the growth of the community. The Rural Renewal Stream empowers rural communities to recruit and retain foreign nationals to live, work and settle in their communities."
https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-ru...

"The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is an economic immigration program. Entrepreneurs who want to start a business or buy an existing business in a rural Alberta community can submit an Expression of Interest."
https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-ru...

Immigrants looking to move under these programs must stay for 18-24 months depending on the program to earn their citizenship/permanent residence status. In this timeframe I believe it likely that they would be renting instead of buying because they are new to the area, and even if with significant resources from their home countries, would likely want to maintain liquidity of capital.

Some communities such as Clairesholm and Grande Prairie have programs to target immigrants, such as the GPCN to help attract potential new residents, and help them get settled. This program also helps them get setup for school, and find housing. https://www.gpcn.ca/ 

Clairesholm is part of the rural and northern immigration pilot program. Clairesholm received 5,000 applicants in 2020 alone under the program. Only 20 of the applicants could be selected. This is in comparison to the 3,800 citizens currently residing in the community. I could not find a reason for the bottleneck of applicants under this program, although I suspect it could be due to a limitation of infrastructure and resources.

https://www.immigration.ca/rur...

I believe this, combined with the current debate of increased infrastructure by the province and Elon Musk for rural highspeed internet offer an opportunity in rural communities not historically seen. The increased use of technology such as zoom make it possible to work anywhere. 

How do you think investors could leverage this program to grow portfolio? Is there a a larger opportunity within this program I may have missed? I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Quote from @Yan Sully:

Good morning BP investors,

How do you do background check and credit check for the renter? My renter mentioned to me that he might want to move out in the next few month if this going well between him and his gf. I thought I should learn how to screen renters since we are manage the property ourselves. We just bought two one-bedroom condo this year, so everything is new for me. I just want to do my homework in advance and be prepared.

 I have come across this website, but I don’t know if it is legitimate: https://www.singlekey.com/cred...

It cost $25 plus tax to do so, I think it is reasonable to avoid the headaches in the future if the site is legitimate and actually provide useful information.

We are in Gatineau, Quebec. It is not overly friendly to landlord here, but I couldn’t afford anything cross the river. 

Many thanks in advance!

 I use singlekey as well and have great success with it.  I always get the tenant to pay for tech background check, there's a little box before checkout to ask who's paying. It works well for me in Alberta, but I do not know if you are allowed to give that cost to the tenant in Quebec.

Quote from @Elijah Williamson:

I was informed this morning of someone looking to sell their house privately this morning. I quickly set up a time to meet the owner and discuss why he wants to sell and what he's looking for. I met the owner this afternoon and after talking with him and learning his story, I'm not convinced I should buy the deal. I'm a new investor with one property and this one is a little more unorthodox than I'm used to seeing.

He owned the property for 5 months so far. Bought it for $110,000 and has $6,000 into it. It's pretty much turnkey from the initial walkthrough. Here's where it gets a little more complicated. He currently has a tenant living there with a right to purchase agreement. The tenant is paying $1100 a month with all of that going towards the downpayment. He has 12 months to get financing for the property or the owner takes 50% of the money saved thus far and the contract is extended for another 12 months. The agreement is for $125,000 and the tenant has about half of the required down payment. If he misses a payment, he's out and the owner gets all the capital saved so far.

The current owner wants to sell both because the tenant just quit his job and he's trying to get out of the REI game. He's willing to sell to me at $120,000 but he wants me to keep the right to purchase agreement with the tenant.

So there's already a buyer and if he goes through with financing I make $5000 minus the closing cost. Would I be paying closing costs twice? Transferring to my name then the tenants in 6 months? I'd be making $2000-$3000 then wouldn't I?

Am I missing something here? I've never run into a deal like this before and I'm not really on board with it currently.

I will start by saying I am not a lawyer, and suggest you speak to one before make purchases.
From my understanding, the current owner has already made an agreement to transfer his property interest. If he has made that agreement, I would question why he has changed his mind. If this is in the agreement with the "tenant" then you could likely purchase the property and have the tenants leasehold interests intact.

If the tenant has agreed to purchase the property it would be questionable if the owner could sell to you. An options contract is a method to sell the property, and he cannot sell the property twice.
It may be possible to put in a conditional offer to buy the property if the tenant does not have the money to purchase when required, as the contract could be considered frustrated and collapse. 

I personally stay away from properties that have shared ownership, especially when I don't pick the tenant in-common. Again I am not a lawyer, please check with a liscenced law professional on property rights and interests.

Hello Lorne, have you checked out the real estate investing morningshow? A well known investor in Edmonton hosts it every weekday morning at 6am. It is a great networking opportunity, and you can call in to ask questions as well. You can find it on the podbean app, or listen to the recorded version on Spotify.

There is also Mogul, who host meet up events quite frequently. It is a great opportunity to hear about alot of different strategies, and techniques for how to implement them. It also gives an idea of where the markets are, and what could be considered a good deal. This can be done in person or online.