All Forum Posts by: Matt Belzile

 Kai, They do meet the Canada Securities reg. and you can invest with them through your RRSP or TFSA. That gave me some confidence... 

@Omar Khan Thanks for taking the time to respond, the articles you shared were really helpful. The syndication I am looking to invest in is developing a property in Canada, building a number of townhouses and apartments over the next 24 months. So at least there won't be any cross boarder complications on this one. 

I've gone through their offering memorandum and seems pretty tight. I've googled most of the guys behind the project and all seems legitimate and seeing their experience has given me some confidence in the project. They even have completed projects in my town! 

I'm having a phone meeting with the sponsor tomorrow, I'd like to ask about worst case scenarios and if they have had projects go badly and how they managed the issues. I'm also thinking of asking them for references, but I'm not sure if passed clients would want to be put as a reference... is that kosher?

Anyone in Canada have experience putting money with a syndication? This would be my first time and I am wondering what to look for and what kind of questions I can ask to prob their legitimacy. 

Also, this is for a development project which I read are more risky and why the returns seem more attractive, so any pitfalls I should look out for would be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance! 

I'd like to bring this thread back to life! I've been investing in Gatineau and can give some insight based on my experiences in the area. 

Sam, The BC government put a 20% tax on foreign buyers plus a speculation tax on non BC residences. I think this will deter cash from overseas. 

I'd like to rejuvenate this thread as I find Vancouver RE super interesting and it's a market I would like to get into one day so I follow it very closely. It looks like 7 months has past since the last post on this thread - Has anything changed in anyones point of views?

I'd like to chime in - Last I read, sales in Vancouver were down 29% in May 17 compared to May 2016 this is the biggest drop since 2008 which was a 31% drop in sales. Like I said I follow Vancouver closely and I didn't see the prices bottom until 2011-2012 (down ~30% from their highs). I think it's very likely to see a significant price drop in the next 2-3 year much like from 2008 to 2011. 

Here's why: We have a bit of a sub-prime mortgage affect in Canada because our rates are mostly 5 year terms and from 2015 till present we've seen a buying frenzy at extremely low interest rates when these mortgage terms come to maturity there's a few things that will happen that will leave a lot of people in a bad place. 

1. interest rates will surely be higher and some people stretch them self just to get their foot in the RE door in the fear of missing out  

2. New mortgage rules will limit a lot of people from shopping a new mortgage because they will be unable to qualify under the new rules. Being forced to take whatever rate their banks offer them 

3. The foreign capital will be all gone thanks to the new taxes implemented by the NDP gov.

4. A lot of the new builds will be completed and supply will be high. 

What are your thoughts? 

I would make sure you qualify for the amount you have in mind for the property before you go through with the purchase. As far as cooling off period, I refinanced with a major bank after 3 months. Hope this helps!

It's tricky to vacate tenants in BC, if the property needs work you can vacate tenants if renovations make the property un-liveable. 

@John Humphries I wanted to revive this thread and see if there has been any updates? I've personally looked at some multi-family properties in Port-Alberni as the numbers seemed to work. But I also got deterred by talking to some locals saying that it's hard to find good tenants... 

Thanks

Matt

Last week I was told to consider having my properties in a holding company. I'm not really familiar with this, I'm guessing it's having them under a corporation to limit liability and pay lower taxes? I have 4 properties now, so wouldn't transferring the properties to a corp. trigger any capital gains tax?

Does anyone have any experience with this and can shed some light in this? 

Thanks in advance, 

Matt