All Forum Posts by: Philippe S.

Not much worse than a tenant paying late?  You were lucky not to have one that doesn't pay at all and doesn't want to leave. It probably depends on your local laws and regulations, but in Québec, we are not allowed late fees and to evict a tenant it takes some paper work and often a delay of one or two months (yes that means a big loss of time and money).

I had a tenant paying late and it worked quite well for the 3 years she was here.  What is important is not to accumulate debt from one month to another, because they will never be able to catch up.

If the 1st of the month is a Monday and the tenant is getting paid every Thursdays, then you might expect getting paid on Thursday, not a big deal for me. The only thing I ask is to be warned on the 1st, and to be told exactly when they will pay. If they hold their word, they may continue like that. However, if they don't pay the day they promised, I will become very strict.

After a few months, you know if you can trust your tenant or not.

Have a perfect tenant that pays on the 1st of the month every months is preferable, butit is not always the case.

"The value of the property was $485,000 and the rent for each apartment was $640/month."

The thing in Montreal is that selling prices went up too quickly in the last 10 years, but the rents did not follow the same raise...  So the seller might have bought the property for $200000 then years ago, with $640/month rent, it might work for him.  But with the current selling price, it just doesn't cashflow unless you double the rents, which is not even possible due to our regulations.  Your only hope to make it work is to offer the amount that will make it work for you (let's say $250000) and hope the seller is desperate to sell and accepts.

It's how I see our market right now ;))

I like St-Henri area, it is not too far from down town and those areas that used to be poor around down town are getting revamped and appreciate a lot.

Repairs depend on a lot of factors, like the age of the building.

My first duplex was 100 years old, and I had old galvanized pipes (that usually need to be replaced after 50 years).  I also had old non-grounded electricity, that I replaced...  

How old is the roof and the water heaters ?  When you know after how many years things need to be replaced, it's easier to plan for it.  It's hard to put a number without knowing what is to come and what was already done.

You must have calculated that already?

Thank you for your input.  I know they are only guidelines, so I am trying to fine tune those rules to my area.   

After analyzing a few deals outside the Island (maybe not so good deals after all, but still the best I could find), my calculations lead me to think that 40% is more likely to be the amount of expenses and 60% the mortgage and cash flow. 

Anybody else has similar number?  Perhaps 50% works on the Island since city taxes are higher?

It seems impossible to me to find deals that will follow the 2% or 50% rules in the Montreal region.  Is it just me or the numbers should be different in our market ?  What are the rules that work for you?