All Forum Posts by: Matt Geerts

@Luc Boironplease do! We have a serious shortfall of Canadian content!

So this leaves only one way that I can think of to get below market properties - buying directly from motivated non-mortgaged people. Ideally someone who can't afford to repair a place to get full value for it - which is silly because if it is non-mortgaged they can get a HELOC, repair it an sell it.

Please please please prove me wrong.

@Samuel SedoreThanks, that's exactly what I meant by the laws here in Ontario. The bank HAS to make a serious effort to sell at full retail. 

My challenge is that I don't want to be a direct-mailer, but I can't seem to find via google anybody in London Ontario that seems to legitimately do that. I want to buy properties (soon, I'm just closing one right now) below market value but all of these American methods that I read so much about are either blocked by law or under the covers in Ontario!

Sorry if this has been a bit of a thread-jack - it is meant to be in response to the specific question about buying bank-owned.

Hey @Leo Robinson, I'd love to see this discussion fleshed out, too. I was under the impression that the "power of sale" laws that we have here in Ontario make it nearly impossible to fetch a deal from the banks. I passed over a half dozen bank-owned in my search (100% of them) because they offered nothing that the rest of the MLS didn't.

PLEASE someone prove me wrong!

@Sean Prokopec,

 All of the big banks do it here. We just call it a "Purchase plus improvements mortgage". The terms are a little different at each lender, but @Nick Thompson explained the most common. Usually you have to bring contractor quotes ahead of time, and you pay the renos yourself and get paid back as you prove each one.

Hi @Kyle Green, I am just getting rolling in Ontario myself. What's your game plan?

Thanks @Luc Boiron, @Stephen E. and @Samuel Sadore. I just signed up for LMPA. OLA has scared me away with their lack of transparency and 99/mo for REIN is just ridiculous for a guy with one door.

Thanks Luc! I was worried the OLA had dropped off the planet because they shut down their public forums and havnt responded to multiple emails in months. Can you confirm they are still alive so I don't pay for nothing? They were my go-to for everything landlord related at their public forum before it went dark.

What tenant credit/background services are you using in Ontario? I've seen some of the national ones advertising that they check things that can't be checked here in Ontario, so I need a province-specific answer.

Do you use any complete tenant screening services? 

Thanks!

Will do!

I am in Southwest London near the Home Depot plaza and the huge new high high-end development. Not that I'm banking on appreciation, but I'm certainly in the right neighbourhood.

It is untenanted but otherwise turn-key. Total top to bottom flip. It was my full intent to buy something very low-end and do my own general contracting and renovations, but sometimes you find yourself with a "business partner" (wife) that doesn't want the risk to start with. 

So, my next one will definitely be a place that I can add value to instead of paying someone else (and their GC and their REA) to improve it. I can't BRRRR without that second "R".