All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi Jakob! Welcome to BP. You are right, real estate is a great way to find financial stability, and the fact that you are starting to learn about it at a young age gives you such a huge advantage - I wish I'd been learning about investing at your age.

Ask lots of questions, make sure you check out the blog, and my personal favourite: listen to the podcasts. If you've got a phone or ipod, I find it really handy being able to listen while I'm walking or doing household chores - it makes that time useful beyond what you're just trying to get done! In fact, I'd say more than anything else, the podcast has had the largest impact on me, and how I've started to think about real estate. I recommend just starting at #1, and listening your way through them. Good luck to you!

We've been able to narrow down that we want to start with multi-family, somewhere between 5 - 14 units. We have a great residential realtor, and she's given me two names of commercial realtors here in Calgary. She doesn't have any personal experience with them - she gave one a phone call, and had a coffee with another to vet them before she passed their names onto us. I'm definitely going to contact both, but I'm just wondering if anyone in the area has a commercial realtor that they could highly recommend? We're looking for someone experienced, who can look at a property with an eye for business.

Glad to see another Canadian on BP! I'm on podcast #73, so I might have to leap ahead to check out what "SAVERS" is all about. It sounds like it's having a positive impact on a few people on this thread.

Hi Rob, This is an amazing website isn't it - I've learned tons too! What part of Canada are you considering moving too?

Welcome Daniel! BP is great place to learn more. If you haven't had a chance, check out the podcast. A different guest is interviewed every week - I think it's almost like having a chance to mentored by hundreds of different people. Do you know yet which area you'd like to focus on in your investing?

One thing about tile to consider is the grout. I'm not convinced a grout sealant is enough to keep out tenant grime. My experience is that it needs to be re-applied regularly to actually do the job, and that eventually, all grout eventually looks like the colour of grime and dirt.

Although, it's more money up front, I'd consider going with epoxy grout. It's a greater initial investment, but it is far more durable both in remaining stain free, and I've never seen it chip or crack. It's pretty bulletproof. If you decide to go that route, just make sure your tile setter has experience with it. It sets up much faster than regular grout, and you have to be very careful about thoroughly washing it off the tile before it sets up. It can be a real pain to remove off of poorly done work later. But it stands the test of time.

My only thoughts are that if you ever turn your home into a rental, that finish is just not going to stand the test of time with tenants. If it is just you and your family, and you can stomach the maintenance, the go for it. But if you add up all the hours of maintenance over the next few years to keep this floor looking decent, will you end up being money ahead by just replacing it in the first place?

We use Simply Accounting in our (non-real estate) business, which we chose on the recommendation of a friend who is a Chartered Management Accountant. I've used it for the past 8 years. And our CA here in Calgary who takes care of our fiscal year end loves it that we use this program because it's the industry standard, and he and all of his assistants are very, very familiar with it.

BUT, if I had a chance to do it all over again, I'd choose Quick Books. Simply Accounting had a really steep learning curve. Everyone I talk to says QB is a breeze to learn and very intuitive. Not so with Simply Accounting. I still regularly spend time on their 1 800 line trying to figure out what has gone haywire, or to get help because I can't figure out how to do something. That being said, my bookkeeping background includes one course of Accounting 101 at a university level, and then years of experience actually keeping a set of books. I think if the person using Simply Accounting had more of an accounting background than I do, the learning curve would have felt far less onerous.

You should also know that once you choose a system, that's it. You are pretty well committed to it forever. They'll tell you you can port information over if you ever feel like switching, but when you really dig deep (as I did this fall when it came to renew with Simply), you end up losing years of data, and there are a lot of hazards switching systems. I don't recommend it, mainly because of the disruption to your business, and because if you need to dig into previous years of data (and I often do) it would mean operating more than one accounting program to get the reports needed. And that's just going to be a giant pain.

And lastly, consider the payment structure. Both companies (most annoyingly) just moved to a monthly subscription service. Because we are such a small business, I find this structure to be quite a rip-off. I want to own my software outright, and wait until the last possible moment to upgrade to next version - I want my cost per year to be as low as possible. I recommend calling both companies to find out what they can offer as a subscription service, or the option to buy the software outright. You should also know that what they initially offer you is a good deal more than what can be negotiated. I'm a long time customer, and I wanted to buy the software upgrade this past fall. It retails for over $800, but for me, oh valued and long-standing customer, now only $629. I balked, this was way to much. In the end, after days of negotiation, I paid just over $400, and am now good for at least 2 years. Anyway, I guess the moral of this story is: do your research. Once you choose your accounting software, you are pretty much married to it for the life of your business. Good luck!

I think I'd go for the young couple. They sound more stable. The older couple have only been dating a year, and despite the length of the lease, and their income, I suspect if things went south with their relationship, or some of their legal difficulties, I think they'd be more likely to try and wiggle out of the 2 year lease. 

The thing is, you are going to have some turnover eventually with either couple. It seems like the young family would likely stick around longer. 

You are definitely not alone! I was chatting with my accountant this morning about what he was up to this weekend. He told me watching the big game with friends. Whaaa? Took me a minute to clue in. 

But to be totally honest, even if I had an extra 3 or 4 hours to watch TV, it's the last thing I'd do with my free time anyway. Too busy chasing after kids anyway!