All Forum Posts by: Shaidah K.

@Mindy Jensen Thanks Mindy! 

Along with zoning, if you rezone they may take land for future roads, or some land for park, or you pay school site acquisition costs, etc... You need to start the conversation with your local municipality.  Along those lines, just because there is a road there, it may not have adequate civil utilities.  If there is no water pipe or the pipe is undersized for the proposed zone, then you may need to upgrade it. Same with sanitary and storm pipes. Also you may need to bring in hydro, gas, tel/cable lines so that can be costly as well (the existing house needs a lot less power than multi-building complex). Some things to think about.  Here are the steps I suggest you follow:

1. Go to talk the Planning Department, check the zone online (if that info is available) and see if what you want to build fits the zone. If not you may have to rezone.  See if there is a OCP (Official Community Plan) or NCP (Neighbourhood Community Plan).  If the City has endorsed a plan that allows the property to be developed to the zone you want, it will likely be easier to go through the rezoning process.  

2. Find out if they can refer any architects, if not (at my City we aren't supposed to refer one business over another)  check out recent developments and figure out who designed those buildings. Also, obtain a civil engineering firm that specializes in local land development.  Each municipality has their own rules and processes so local is key. Don't choose the cheapest as that will hold you up and cost more money up when they don't know the processes. Time is money. I see so many developers retaining one-off consultants that don't know the process and are held up by months.  

3. Have your professionals see if what is allowed to be built (with current zone or future zone) is feasible.  Run your numbers.  As @Ned Carey says, is it even worth doing? The preliminary stages listed above will cost money but you need to start somewhere.  

Good luck!!!

@Cory Zach Hi Cory! Welcome:)  If you have any questions on local land development, I work for the City of Surrey in Land Development Engineering. I am not sure if you have heard of the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast but that is another good resource for information that is local.

@Chace Fraser The local meetups posted on BP are all in the US, or I haven't figured out how to search for ones outside of the US.  Perhaps this is an update that BP can do sometime soon to allow us Canadian users to search and share meetups...  @Mindy Jensen? 

@Julie Toh

As for the HELOC, we do have one, but at prime+0.7 (currently 4.45%), it is a bit high for what I want to be paying in interest charges.

@Julie Toh

We rented the house for $1875 which was what we were asking.  We were planning for $1850 and thought we would try $1875 to see the response...  We probably could have gotten $1900 but we didn't want to come across as greedy as the house is small with 3 bed/1.5bath, 1200sqft.  We prefer to chose tenants that we think will be right for the house and for us as opposed to getting more money in rent. It also helps that most people who rent are having such a hard time finding a home that allows pets.  

I have a coworker who was telling me that his brother has a house in Chilliwack and there was also a "bidding war" on renting the house.  Right now, there are few and far between homes available for rent, and tenants are willing to pay more to end their housing search.  

@Christina L WIlliams

Without more information, its hard to say.  What is the zone of the land?  Can it be developed into five 1 acre lots several high rise towers, or a few hundred townhouses?  Is the land near a city that people want to live in? Is there a creek running through the land which will result in reduced develop-able land due to environmental setbacks? Is the land desirable a warehouse or future highway to run through?  Check with your local municipality for zone and what is permitted under the zone.  Check if the municipality is looking to densify the area and is "pro development" and you may consider going through the rezoning process.  Good luck.

@Cory Graham

Cory- Have you found any deals yet?  I just got possession on a property in Campbell River.  The numbers made sense to me and rents in that area are good.  We had 8 families show up looking to rent our house as there is such a shortage of rentals there. 2 families offered to pay more rent than we were asking. If I had more funds, and risk tolerance, I would definitely buy more rentals there. At 5 rentals, I am really trying to hold off until its time to renew my mortgages in a few years to see what interest rates are at.  

Hi @Account Closed

I noticed no one replied to your request. I am sure you have already found a mortgage broker to work with by now, but if not, I have used www.mortgagewithcindy.ca for single family residential properties.  I also know a commercial mortgage broker (we bought his house and he rented back from us for a couple years) that is also an investor if you are interested in that info.

@Nes Canada

How is your rental doing? Have you increased rent? Has the value sky rocketed for you condo?

Hi @Brett Mammel,

Welcome from Richmond BC.  I am not sure exactly what the Chilliwack market has been doing, but it is likely following the rest of the lower mainland which I am sure you know has gone up too much over the past ~3 years. I started my investing by listening to BP podcasts as well and now I am maxed out with 4 investment property mortgages. Fortunately, I got all my properties before the new mortgage rules came into effect. Another good resource is the vancouverrealestatepodcast.com that talks about local market, mortgage rules, foreign buyer tax, investment strategies, local to Vancouver and surrounding area.  The podcast did start with just talking about "Vancouver Proper" but it does expand into other areas and you can learn about investing in our country.  Definitely continue with BP podcasts because it is inspirational and their guests share valuable tips. Good luck! 

Shaidah