All Forum Posts by: Ralph Noack

I'd love some input here from the BP community

I'm designing a floor plan to renovate an existing house into apartments. I'm looking for advice on how many apartments to make.  The house is reasonably close to 3 post secondary schools, so students are a good option but not the only option. 

Using a given space, I can do any of the following and make it work:

a) one apartment that has 3 generously sized bedrooms, a full bath, large kitchen & living room & a laundry room

b) 2 one bedroom units each with a full bath & kitchen/living room all generously sized. These 2 units would share a laundry room

c) a one bedroom (as above), and a 2 bedroom with all rooms much smaller than above descriptions. These 2 apts. would share laundry.

What are your opinions? I can envision each of them working in the floor space available. I'm looking for best returns (rents).  I've been told a few times, though you can get $1000 for a one bedroom, you're not getting $2000 for a 2 bedroom (at least not here, S. Ontario). Looking for what makes the most sense.

I'm renovating an old house and we're making 3 units in it. A 1 bedroom, a 2 bedroom, and a 3 bedroom. The 3 bedroom may become a 4 bedroom depending on costs and if its worth it to do the work. Each unit has 1 bathroom in it. As we are in a university city and close enough to the schools for student rentals, I figure the 3 bedroom will most likely go out out students. My question is: Is it worth it to put in a 2nd bathroom into the large unit? As in, will I fetch more rental money for the unit or per room if we can offer another full bathroom.

The house is in Southern Ontario (Brantford). 

Current rents are only $450/month with utilities included & the place is kinda dumpy. We're renovating & I would hope to get at least $550/month/room in the 3(or 4) bedroom unit, for the newly renovated place with brand new kitchen, bathroom(s) & living room. 

What are your thoughts please?

Hello BP.

I have  a property in southern Ontario, Canada, that I am in the middle of rehabbing. I'm turning a house with 2 units into 3 units. Does anyone know of a software program or app that can be helpful in selecting or screening tenants?

I purchased an old house (built in 1885) which over the years has become a rooming house. You rent out a bedroom; there is a common kitchen & common bathrooms. Its very run down & neglected. There's a 7 bedroom unit in the house & then there's a separate 1 bedroom unit which is relatively new & barely needs work.

I do not wish to continue running a rooming house. The tenants are not great. Lots of drama, filth & non-payers. Police are there all the time. So I'm partially gutting the place & converting to either a duplex or triplex. I'm wrestling with how nice to make the renovation. Many have told me that if you make it nice & rent it out to students (with parents co-signing) they'll take care of the place. Even the police in my area have said that the student houses in our town are quite easy to deal with.  There's a huge wave of students being added into the community so it won't be a problem getting students to rent it out. I want to attract a tenant that looks at the place & sees it as something to be taken care of. Along the same lines, you make it a little bit nicer than what others are offering & you can charge a reasonable amount more for it. The house is notorious in the community for being a hub of drug activity; dealing & using. So I'm trying to change it up for the neighbours as well.

The question of how nice to make it has to deal with:

a) its for students (most likely)

b) its in a neighbourhood where there are a lot of rentals, but not many nice ones. 

I obviously don't want to put more into it than what I'll get out of it for rents and/or resale value  (for when I eventually sell)

comments or otherwise?

Meghan Chomut

Everything  that I have found regarding overholding tenants is related to commercial RE. We are in a legal duplex only.

And the Sherrif wouldn't touch it without an order from the LTB tribunal. Crazy, eh?

I am from Ontario, Canada & will be in Buffalo on Friday afternoon (Sept 1/17). I'm hoping I could meet up with a local RE agent that is also an investor that could bring me up to speed on the scene in Buffalo. I'd like to get  an idea of where the up & coming areas are located & what I could expect from the area for tenants, rents, property mgrs.,  etc.

Thanks

Ralph Noack,

Hamilton, ON

I just got possession of a rental property on July 5/17. With it came a bunch of tenants. I knew of all of them in advance except when we got the house there was an extra occupant that the former owner did not permit to move in. Another tenant in the house invited his buddy to move  into the house when a tenant moved out. Didn't run it by the former owner. Here I am with a guy and no tenancy agreement & we've tried everything to get him out. Landlord Tenant Board, Landlord Self-help Centre, Police (2x), Sherrif, Superior court justice's office, Bi-law enforcement office, Building Inspector's office, Provincial Offences office, Paralegal. Nothing but a run-around. Nobody willing to step up & say "You're evicted" and enforce it. Somehow, its legal for anyone to move into an empty room & take up residence even without clearing it with the landlord in Ontario. Anyone have suggestions or similar stories with happy endings?

The latest we got from the landlord self help center today was "file forms  for unauthorized occupancy & go to hearings". That will take 2 months minimum. What a joke. Help please.

Hello BP. I am taking possession of my first rental property on Wednesday. I need to arrange for an accountant still and am looking for recommendations. I live between Hamilton & Brantford, Ontario. The house I have purchased is in Brantford. It is a legal duplex which we are hoping to make into a triplex. We paid cash for the house, by mortgaging our personal residence. It was easier to get financing for our residence than for the rental house. Everything I've read & heard on BP says to get an accountant that is personally involved in Real Estate investment properties. So that's what I'm looking for. Please respond here if you fit the description or have such an accountant that you can recommend.

Thanks.

Greetings BP. I have recently purchased a legal duplex with the following set up:  One unit is a self-contained 1 bedroom unit and the other is a 7 bedroom/2 bathroom unit.  Total of 8 bedrooms.

Firstly, in the city where the building is,  they frown upon the 7 bedroom unit. They call it a  lodging house or rooming house, and it falls under different rules & regulations than an apt. with 4 or less bedrooms. 

The house is 5 blocks from 2 universities & a community college. Combined they are planning to bring in an additional 10,000 students to their schools within the next 5 yrs.

We are considering making it a legal triplex, to fall in line with the city's desires.  If we do this we would still have the 1 bedroom unit, and then make the 7 bedroom unit into a 2 bedroom & a 4 bedroom, losing 1 bedroom to make a kitchen/living room. This gives us a total of 7 bedrooms.

However that ends up, our more important question is: should we rent by the unit (3 units if we triplex) or by the bedroom (7)?

We take possession of the house in early July.  Currently the bedrooms rent out for $450 a month. The house is in a pretty dumpy condition & will need lots of clean up at the very least.  Even if we just clean it up we should be able to get more than the $450/month. If we make it a bit nice, I could see getting perhaps $550/month/bedroom.  

There is a significant rental shortage in this city & rents are rising. Nice for me. Not uncommon to see $1500/month + utilities for a 3 bedroom.

Anyone able to offer insight?