All Forum Posts by: Sol Bergren

What area on the west side did you buy in? 

Sorry I don't have any experience with either management company.

I'm a bit unsure what to specifically ask but here are the details:

Property for sale is rented by the bed. It is a large building and has extra beds squeezed into it (2 are in attic, some rooms have 4 beds). The extra rooms have braided coil wiring for lights etc. that were not part of the original building (it's basically been converted into dorm room style). Extra bathrooms have been squeezed into the building as well, most are strange shapes and don't have proper venting.

I'm interested in the property but don't really know how to proceed. I'm concerned about liability as well as potentially having to take out the extra beds in the future if there is a problem.

Does anyone know what I should specifically check/do to make sure this is safe/not a liability to rent as it is?

No I didn't install a foam backer rod, wasn't aware of this item, thanks for the tip :)

Floor was very clean but not perfectly level as the house is over 100 years old.  From reading others comments, I think that was likely the main issue.

@Chris Shepard Thanks so much for the detailed reply, that info is really helpful.  Especially regarding releasing them from the loan after X number of consecutive payments as we need to have some sort of exit strategy in place if we go ahead with this :)

I'm looking into having a friend co-sign a loan for my rental property:

1) Are you allowed to financially compensate the cosigner for signing? (could I write that off?)

2) How do you structure it so that they can be removed from the debt obligation within a reasonable period of time (2-5 years?)

3) Any potential problems with doing this?

I'm based in Canada as well if that matters, appreciate any tips :)

@Matthew Irish-Jones I didn't redo the subfloor, there was a stained plywood floor in the unit that I put the planks over. The house is over 100 years old so everything wasn't exactly level to start, so that may have really contributed to the separating I guess.

Has anyone figured out how set a minimum 2 night stay on the weekend with VRBO (and 1 night min on other days)? 

Also side note: Very suprised to hear people prefer VRBO over Airbnb, I've had the exact opposite experience.  Had one guest stay for 2 weeks and they apparently paid with a fraudulent/stolen credit card, VRBO approved the payment and stay. Almost a year later they took the funds back from me and wouldn't honor the payment and left me on the hook for it.

Airbnb on the other hand has paid me in full for all damages and any other problems I've had.

What area of Saskatoon is this in?

Yes, the saskatoon city building department is very helpful, touch base with them.  I'm curious if this will work financially as I've seen many posts saying it doesn't usually make sense to build a new apartment building as a long term rental play.  Good luck, keep us posted on how it goes!

@Ken Steph I'd also look into knowing the tenant laws if you do decide to invest in BC, some of them are bit ridiculous (only allowed half a months rent for DD, etc..), not as landlord friendly as say Saskatchewan.  I don't know how Alberta compares but I'd assume they are more landlord friendly.