All Forum Posts by: Joel Arndt

@Robin Valadares Where in Hamilton?

In Canada, the least amount you can put down on a property is 5%. NOW, anything under 20% has to be insured by that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), so you pay an insurance premium on top of your mortgage. There are ways to finance the down payment, or tax rebates to offset purchasing costs (land transfer tax, legal costs, appraisal, etc.)

I live in Ontario. Here's a killer list of Home Buyer Programs in Ontario:

https://showmethegreen.ca/ontario/first-time-home-buyer-grants-ontario-2018-do-you-know-these-23-free-money-programs/

@Doug Strehlow

Maybe take him on a tour of your other properties? Then take him out for lunch and after, put a contract in front of him that spells out your maintenance responsibilities (labour and financial). Does that make sense?

@Florence Lee Have you shared the story of that Toronto Triplex BRRRR anywhere? I would love to read those details, too, if that's ok!

@Kevin McGuire I wonder why that listing expired, those numbers don't look too bad.

With 20% down, the debt service (at 4.25%) is $32,903 annually.

That leaves $17,924 in actual cashflow (just under $1500 monthly).

I wonder if those numbers are legit, or if due diligence brought most people to different numbers.

Anyway, student housing is always going to cashflow better than SFH, but it's also going to require more attention. Now, there's definitely room in these numbers to hire a good property manager. So, @Edlen O., if you have the stomach for student rentals, there's some good return on your money.

Otherwise, if you want killer cashflow and enough money to invest in Toronto, it would make more sense to me to invest in commercial properties in markets surrounding the GTA (but that's just me). More control, more cashflow (most of the time), crazy appreciation, and more professional (maybe?) tenants.

@Steven Michael Thomas

Have you taken the time to set out your investing criteria yet? That will help you choose a market as well.

1. How much of a down payment do you want to make?
2. How much of a mortgage do you qualify for (or how much private money do you have access to)?
3. Do you want to flip or do you want rental income?
4. How much money do you want out of each deal (net profit on flips, or annual cash-on-cash return for rentals)?

As you define those criteria, you'll be able to dive deeper into more precise and specialized strategies (student housing, commercial properties, airbnb, basement suite conversions, luxury flips, cosmetic flips, etc.). As you get more specific, it will be clearer which markets will support your preferred strategy.

This is humbling, encouraging, and irritating at the same time, @Matt Lefebvre. First, let me say thank you for posting your story and laying it all out on the table, The Good, The bad and The ugly. And I agree that there is no get rich quick method to real estate. It all takes a lot of time and effort and fumbling. But I will make this note... You chose the path of a real estate agent to get into real estate and make a way for yourself into investing. Where guru's make wholesaling, Master leases, or seller financing to be the magic pill, as you put it, I believe they are still paths into real estate that will make way for successful investing. Granted, it all takes time, effort, and fumbling but I think it's all worth it if you find your niche and you're willing to put in the neccessary effort and energy. Congratulations on your success, and I hope you get the 4-Plex you have your eye on.

@Shawn DiMartile I don't have any experience investing out of state, but it seems to me like you risk more by giving people your credit card info. From my perspective, you could just tell the contractor that you're going to deposit money directly into his bank account. That seems pretty beneficial for the contractor to me. No fees, no hassle. If they struggle with that idea ask, ask them how they would prefer to be paid and go from there.

Depends on how much cash you have ready and how much credit or private money you have access to.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but if you don't have $200K ready right now and access to $800K in loans (traditional or private), then you'll have a hard time getting into the Toronto Market.

Hamilton is the closest, most affordable market going west ($60K down, $240k mortgage, on MLS). But I find deals for cheaper than that privately in Hamilton.

East of Toronto, I'm not familiar with those markets.

Something I want to investigate more in Toronto that I think could do really well is infill development. But you still need access to cash (yours or someone else's) to buy the properties that you're going to tear down.

Originally posted by @Gary McGowan:

The downside to AFS is that the lender has the right to call the mortgage at anytime and the seller's name stays on the mortgage meaning it could be very difficult for them to get a new mortgage on another home if they wanted to. 

 Just to clarify, the lender has to allow the AFS, at which point they have the right, at any time, to demand the seller pay the mortgage in full?