All Forum Posts by: Ko Seng

I just purchase my first property in Surrey Central. I will be turning this into my first short term rental. I will keep you guys posted on how i do. I take possession anytime now.

Nice to meet you Alex, it's hard to say how much i will make. I will be listing mainly on Airbnb, but might try out other sites like VRBO/HomeAway/Flipkey. I will be listing my place around mid October, as i need to put in new floors/paint and then furnish everything. 

First month, i will have to price about %25 less than normal to gain some feedback first. Then once i receive some feedback, i will price it accordingly. My price will be based on other listings and near by hotel/motels. I really won't know how well i will do, i would just be happy to have a bit of cash flow every month. I would need about $2000/month just to break even.

I know motels around me are priced around $100 - $150 for a one bedroom. So if i priced at $200/night... you can do the math.

Brentwood mall is a great location, kinda out of my price range. I know the developer "Concord" will be putting up 10 new buildings the next 10 years i believe. I heard it was starting around $420,000 for a one bedroom?

Keep us posted with your next property!

Cheers

I wanted to share why i picked this 4 bedroom/3bath loft penthouse as my short term rental investment in Surrey Central, BC. As many of you know, the housing prices in Vancouver has exploded the past 5-10 years that i lived here (I am originally from Toronto). Now a days, 1 million dollars will probably get you an average house in the greater Vancouver area. So i knew i had to venture else where to find any good deals.

So i googled "fasted growing cities in BC".. guess what was first on the list, "SURREY"! I never had a reason to go out to Surrey, even though it was one bridge away from my location (10-15 mins away). The more research i did, the more i realized this was the right location for me to invest. 

Here are some reasons why: 

1 - One of the fastest growing cities in BC, which means more people/more housing needed/more jobs created/prices of housing will eventually rise.

2 - It is becoming a University district. There is a big university already in place now (UBC) and in the near future they plan on adding another University and about 10,000 more students

3 - The last 2 sky train stations are located here. You will always find people and businesses flocking to sky train stations. There is a massive explosions of developers all around this area putting up new condos/commercial buildings.

4 - Central City Mall, this is just an added bonus. It has everything from walmart/TnT market/Best Buy/Trevor Linden/ etc...

Real estate in Surrey is still very affordable compared to Vancouver prices. My feeling is that everyone is slowing getting pushed out further East because of the high housing prices and rising rents out in Vancouver area. I know that for an average one bedroom place downtown Vancouver, it can cost upwards of $1700 - $2200/month.

I was able to find a 4 bedroom/3bath loft penthouse in Surrey for about the same price as you would pay for a 1 or 2 bedroom condo in Vancouver. Everything is within walking distance to the sky train/mall/University/community center/Library. 

So my point is that you can find a good investment (hopefully mine will be) anywhere, even if you are surrounded by super crazy expensive properties. You just have to do a little research and take your time finding good deals. Who knew that all i had to do was drive 10-15 mins over a bridge near my area to find good deals. You may need to drive a little further than me ;)

I also use my realtor to automatically push listing to me and a website called (www.rew.ca). Sorry, i think this might only be for Canadians. But you get the point, i am sure there are many other real estate sites that you can use to do this. Even though i don't plan on buying anything at the moment, i still look at all the listings being pushed to me every single morning, so that i can plan ahead in the near future.

Only 9 more days till i get my keys, can't wait!!

Cheers

Great advice, i will make sure to put on some knee pads when i start putting in the floors in a few weeks from now.

I recently bought a 4 bedroom/3 Bath loft unit here in Surrey, BC Canada. We take possession on Sept 30/2016. There are currently tenants in the units but they will be leaving before we get the keys. So my wife and i decided to turn this into a short term vacation home and have been very busy the last few months trying to collect furniture/new floors/smart locks/etc.. I try not to think about all the things we need to furnish this place. I just take it day by day looking for good deals on craigslist and furniture stores. You will be surprised how many things you can get on craigslist for an amazing price and pretty much new. 

When i found my first item that i wanted to pick up on craigslist, i quickly realized that i needed a bigger vehicle than my honda civic. So i tried to borrow my friends truck and quickly realized that was not possible. Reason why, his insurance would be affected if i get into an accident. So he suggested i buy a cheap van. So that's exactly what i did. I jumped on craigslist and found myself a mini van 2005 Dodge Caravan for $2200 CAD the very next day. Good thing about this van is that it's cheap and i can write this off eventually including the gas. I may even sell this for the same price after i finish furnishing the unit. You'll be surprised what you can fit in a mini van!

Funny story! I am 39 years old and decided to join my 5 year son at the skate board ramps. He loves to scooter, so i thought maybe i can join him on my roller blades that day. I was feeling pretty good and going up and down the ramps and thought this wasn't that hard. Now my wife shows up to pick us up and my son says to me "Daddy try to follow me". So i follow him going down the first hill, then i see him go over the second hill... so i follow him, but for some reason when i tried to follow him over the second hill, i kept on flying in the air next thing i knew. I was on the ground with to sprained wrists! Worst feeling ever! This just happened right after i picked up the moving van. So now when i find good deals on furniture to pick up, i would get the buyer and my wife to move things into the van, while i watch with my 2 sprained wrists. My wife is great about, she laughs about the situation all the time. It's now been over a month and it's slowing healing.

It's a little scary when i stop to think about all the money i am spending right now to furnish this place and i am not even sure if i will make any profit at the end of each month. But that's the risk i am willing to take. 

I will keep you guys update on my journey and let you know how things work out.

Cheers

Just wanted to take my first big step into this awesome forum. Hope to make a lot of friends here!