All Forum Posts by: Marie Tai

Hello Griffin, 

I am happy to hear that you are interested in investing in real estate.  I would suggest that you start listening to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast which is all about money, financial independence, and early retirement.  They have lots of great tips on how to grow what little money you have to start with into financial independence, and they bring on guests that talk about how they did just that.  It is hard to start with no money and no credit, so your first step might be to start growing that zero into some workable numbers.  You can also look into free activities that help to grow your knowledge and experience in the mean time such as reading articles on Bigger Pockets, reading real estate/investing books, meeting and helping other local real estate investors, listening to the regular Bigger Pockets podcast on real estate investing, learning how to run numbers on potential real estate purchases, etc.

Take care, 

Marie

Hi Cody, 

For me I chose to invest local in the beginning.  I wanted the experience of choosing a realtor, house hunting, running numbers, buying a property, closing, working with local banks/lawyers/mortgage brokers, self-renovating a property, advertising it, screening tenants, being a landlord, etc.  I wanted these experiences and my numbers worked better for self management local so I did it.  I think if you could find a reliable property management company and could make the numbers work investing remotely, then you should do that as long as you can trust the people you are working with remotely.  It sounds like to me from the podcasts that successfully investing remotely requires someone that you trust with "boots on the ground" in the remote location.  That might mean really great reviews/track record or it might mean partnering with someone you trust that is a local.  Since BP is international, I think it would be worthwhile to connect with someone with a good track record in an area that you want to invest in before you plan any purchases, etc.

Good luck, 

Marie

Thanks for tagging me!  This is a good exercise!

My RE goals for 2018 were:

- buy my third buy and hold real estate property - I'm actively looking now so it's just a matter of time...

- Pay down my lines of credit so that I can cash flow better - I did this and raised the rent so cashflow is slowly growing

- let a professional real-estate-savvy accountant do my taxes/learn more about Canadian RE tax strategies - I got an accountant and I have to say it's soooooo much better.  I love not having to do my own taxes.  Although I still go through the trouble of putting all the data into a spreadsheet for the accountant.  That saves her time which saved me money, score!  I ended up paying only $300 for accounting for both me and my husband!

- set up better systems for managing my rental properties - Still working on this...

- research other markets outside of my area that may cash-flow better - Pitt Meadows failed my tests on this because property tax was still high while rents stayed lower than Port Coquitlam.  I'm checking out Port Moody and Victoria next.

Hi Cory, 

Welcome to BP!  There is so much good information here so I'm glad you found this site.  I'm a health care professional too and I currently invest in Port Coquitlam, BC.  I have two buy and hold condos there.  I don't like to invest in condos older than 10 years since I want to hold them for a long time without worrying about big special assessment fees so I can only cashflow in small numbers.  However, the appreciation here is huge so I was able to refinance the first property to buy the second one.  Buying a second property for almost free is an amazing feeling and it's strange to think that owning more property doesn't cost me anything since the rent pays for the all the costs associated.

Real estate is definitely a great way to build long-term wealth.  I'm not as ambitious as you in buying 1-3 per year since I don't have the resources to do so, but so far I have bought 1 per year.  Hopefully I can buy one this year too.  I'm looking at investing outside of my current area too since prices have gone up so much.  

Good luck with your RE journey!  

I'm late too, but here we go!

My RE goals for 2018 are:

- buy my third buy and hold real estate property

- Pay down my lines of credit so that I can cash flow better

- let a professional real-estate-savvy accountant do my taxes/learn more about Canadian RE tax strategies

- set up better systems for managing my rental properties

- research other markets outside of my area that may cash-flow better

Hi Ian, 

Nice to see a fellow Canadian on here!  Keep up with the learning and you'll be telling us about your deals in no time!

Good luck and happy real estate investing!

Hi Sofia, 

Probably the best thing to do is to contact a number of different mortgage brokers/banks directly.  They are able to do some rough numbers without running your credit history if you ask them to.  From there you can get a rough idea of how much you can expect to get so that you can see if 30K down payment is actually enough.  For properties over where I am, you need 25% downpayment so 30K wouldn't be enough to buy a property since there's nothing in the $120K range.  You also need to account for any costs for closing, lawyer, renovating, etc.

If you can't get a mortgage with those above listed stats, you can consider partnering with someone like a parent, partner, etc.

Good luck!

Hello and welcome.  When you say cross border, do you mean investing in the USA?  I don't cross-border invest, but I have found that it helps to locate experts/people who work in real estate in your area and to ask them for recommendations.  Get a whole bunch of recommendations and then start calling/emailing them.  Before you contact them, be sure to look up information on good questions to ask potential advisors/accountants, etc.

Good luck!

I don't think you need those expensive seminars either.  I got started with no specialized training.  I just read the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing which is free on Bigger Pockets and then read every other article on here for newbie investors and listened to the BP podcast while I did work around the house.  After a while, you get really inspired!  Then you start connecting with a local realtor that is knowledgeable with real estate investing and get pre-approved for a mortgage.  After that, it's just shopping and running numbers.  Next thing you know, you have your first deal!  You may as well save up all the money you would spend on the expensive seminars and put it towards your first downpayment.

I was reading backwards and came across people suggesting section 8, etc for your house hack. I would advise against it if your gf is going into social work. I think it would cause too much conflict of interest if she is housing people like her clients and she will feel guilty over evicting them when necessary.  Plus it's nice to leave work at work after a rough day.  It is probably better to stick to very low risk tenants with good incomes, and excellent rental and credit histories (I.e., not her typical clients).  Maybe prioritize choosing tenants that would make your first house hack experience a good one. Explain tenant screening from the point of view of who she would want to live with, have as neighbors near her future kids, and to depend upon to support her family through rent. 

Also, you mentioned that she is giving you advice from her experiences as a tenant.  Maybe validate that instead of telling her that her landlady sucked.  She's right that her experiences could be valuable.  Maybe you can assign her tenant screening and give her the info and tools to do that role. She would need to read all the articles on tenant screening and eventually come to understand why credit checking, etc is important.