All Forum Posts by: Simon Lloyd

First of all Noah, welcome to BP! We are almost literally neighbours--I'm in King Township as well! (Schomberg) Great to see a local here on BP and excellent that you're looking to start in REI at such a young age.

This looks like a great deal for sure. I wouldn't wait until Sunday to go see it...one thing I've learned shopping for my next deal is to jump on good deals or they will be gone! If this $50k property is anywhere in southern Ontario it will have 15 offers by yesterday so you really have to jump on it. Also I'd recommend writing a cover letter to go with your offer saying that you are young investor looking to fix up the property to provide a family a nice place to live, yadayada...sometimes the sentimental stuff works and at the very least it could make your offer stand out amongst the dozens!

Best of luck on this deal and all your future REI endeavours! Please keep in touch!

Welcome to BP Dominika! So great to see another fellow Canadian join the community!

There's apparently a strong REI club in Durham Region, in the east end of the GTA:

www.durhamrei.ca

Please note I have no personal experience with this club nor am I in any way affiliated with it but I've heard of people making relatively long treks to attend their meetings.

I also invest in buy & hold properties, but in the GTA unfortunately it's pretty much hopeless to find cashflow-positive properties unless you want to be a slumlord! I'm looking right now outside the GTA; Barrie to the north or Oshawa to the east are probably the closest you'll get that may have some properties available but even they are getting pricey. Other markets such as Windsor, Sudbury, and the Niagara region look to me like the best cashflowing areas in Ontario right now but you'll certainly incur the extra expense of a property manager due to the distance...and if you'll be an absentee owner anyhow you might be better off in one of the many investment-friendly markets in the USA. If you choose that direction there are of course fellow BP members who would be happy to help you out and there's lots of information here on BP forums about different US markets for you to investigate.

Hope you succeed in your real estate journey and please stay in touch!

Welcome James! I'm a fellow Canadian here on Bigger Pockets. BP is an incredible tool to learn more about multifamily investing and all the intricacies of being a landlord if that's where you want to focus. And the great part is that you can be located anywhere (as you've proven!) and still take advantage of all BP has to offer.

As was recommended for me when I started, check out the great Ultimate Beginner's Guide at www.biggerpockets.com/ubg as your starting point. And Josh and Brandon's podcasts are one of my personal favorite parts of the community.

Where are you looking to purchase your first multifamily, here at home or over in Germany? Either way, it's great that you're getting started at such a young age so don't delay just do it!

Auf wiedersehen! :)

@Roy N I'm a Canadian Pro Basic member and my card seems to work fine. Then again I'm in Canada proper (aka Ontario), maybe BP just doesn't accept Newfie cards? Hahaha! Sorry! All in good fun of course. :)

It's strange my card didn't have the zip issue though. Maybe it's just for full Pro accounts. Hope you get it sorted out and become a Pro! My theory behind taking the plunge and opening my wallet is that Josh, Brandon et al won't do the podcast--let alone all the hours they put into the site--for free, so membership is a small price for each member to pay compared to the benefits we all receive.

But whether you go Pro or not I trust you'll stick around and continue with your insightful posts on behalf of and for the benefit of all us Canadians on BP!

Welcome to BP!

With your experience as a property manager I think you're selling yourself short with your claim of "limited knowledge" of the industry! I'm sure you will be an asset to those us who do not make their living in the real estate field--but aspire to--as you have. But certainly there are many highly qualified opinions ( @Roy N. above is certainly one of the greats in terms of Cdns) and information here on BP to escalate you to a whole 'nother level! It's truly an amazing place.

Btw, I love the Ottawa area! In fact I was just visiting friends there last week. Are you considering investing in that market too or are you focused solely on the US market? Do you do residential property management? Would you say there is a strong pool of renters in the Ottawa area? Gatineau has much lower prices but when we visited the area I realized that despite its close proximity there's a distinct quality difference from properties in Ottawa. Where are most of the renters, do you find?

Please keep in touch and best of luck with your real estate investing endeavours! (that's Canadian for "endeavors" so Matthew will understand) ;)

Hey @Matt McDougall ! Welcome to BP! I'm a newer member here too and a fellow Canuck. Great to see more Canadians on here.

My first rental property was actually quite near you, in Kitchener. Are you looking to invest in Cambridge or are you considering other markets too? I have a fantastic property management contact in K-W if you're considering that area.

For my next property I'm looking basically anywhere in Ontario. K-W is my preference but it's getting pricey so cap rates aren't as good. Windsor seems to be a reasonable market price-wise while still getting decent rents and a good tenant pool.

Let's keep in touch!

Hey @Peter Halley! I'm a fellow Canadian (quite a bit west of you in Ontario) and I'm just getting started like yourself. We should keep in touch, bounce ideas off each other as we progress in our REI journey! I'm also primarily interested in flipping...I have a couple rental properties now but I'm looking for some larger cashflow and flips offer a bigger payday.

As Brandon mentions, you should definitely start with the BP podcasts - they are absolutely amazing! Over the past few weeks I've listened to all 27 episodes! The Jerry Puckett show was great but I think podcast #1 with Marty Boardman was my favourite in terms of flipping--the Flipping Boxes are such a great concept!

My first step is going to be marketing---direct mail letters and postcards, some Kijiji ads, a website and maybe some tax sales (although I've discovered in Ontario they don't hold auctions, everything is put out to tender so it's a slow process). Ultimately I want to be able to bypass MLS to access some properties with workable margins.

What are you planning as your first step?

Great postcard, thanks for posting Michael!

Do you have to input the names & addresses manually or is there a mail merge program / service you would recommend?

Sorry, edit: Just noticed YOUR company does postcards!! Whoops! Do you do work in Canada or just the US?

Thanks again!