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All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Bell

Stephanie Bell has started 4 posts and replied 11 times.

Post: RE Investing in US as a Canadian

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

Hi Chris, I'm a Torontonian who got started recently with a duplex in Buffalo. Happy to chat if you'd like.

Post: Canadian interested in USA RE investing

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

Hi! I'm a fellow Ontarian and closed on my first investment property in Buffalo a few months ago. The learning curve has been step but I have lots of tips for someone trying to do something similar! Feel free to connect.

Post: Looking to grow my career/portfolio

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9
Quote from @Timothy Smith:

@Carter Trombley welcome to the community. I’m also in Buffalo and would suggest you come check out our monthly meetups, second Wednesday of the month, downtown at Pearl Street Grill. 6pm. There’s usually a post about it on here, so set your alerts to anything “Buffalo”.

I'd be happy to chat with you sometime. This sounds like the kind of thing I enjoy brainstorming over. My first thought is that you are on an awesome path already at only 19 — congrats! There are plenty of opportunities to find mentorship and funding if you know how to leverage your skills. You can get into a Joint Venture (JV) where you bring the deal and sweat equity, and your partner brings the financing. Plenty of people out there have the money for deals, but the lack the time and energy to FIND them. Filling this void has tremendous value. Keep in mind it probably won't be an equal split, because the person with the money is taking most of the risk. So don't expect it to be 50/50. But this is one idea for you. Getting your license, or learning another industry within RE — mortgages, insurance, property management, etc — will help you build a career and connections, as well.

 Building a local network is key. I'm just getting started in the area and @Timothy Smith has been a major game changer.

Post: Canadian investors - how do you collect rent?

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

A question for fellow Canadian investors with properties in the US - how do you collect rent? I can't seem to find any free options that will work for someone without a primary address in the US. 

Post: Seeking recommendations in Buffalo

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

Hello, I am looking for referrals or recommendations for trustworthy and qualified people in Buffalo for the following:

- Minor electrical work
- Eavestrough cleaning and some re-routing
- HVAC
- General handy person
- Grass cutting

Thanks in advance!

Steph

Hi! I am also a Torontonian and have just gotten started with investing in Buffalo. Closed on my first property today, in fact! I went with RBC's lending program for Canadian investors in the US. I worked with an agent from Irish Jones (see @Matthew Irish-Jones) and had a positive experience. Enjoy the process!

Post: First investment property

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Buffalo.

Purchase price: $241,000

This is a 3/3 duplex located in a B/C neighbourhood in Buffalo, NY. Almost turnkey, recently flipped by seller.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Since we're investing out of state (out of country), and it's our first deal, we were looking for something that didn't require much work up front. This means lower returns, of course, but we're not currently prepared to oversee a major reno from afar. We were also looking for a location that would attract decent tenants but still be affordable.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We worked with an investor-focused realtor and went through the usual processes for putting in an offer. There was no offer date (many of the other properties we were looking at had offer dates), but there were three offers on the table at the time that ours went in. We chose an offer price based on comparable properties in the area and offered a little bit over asking.

How did you finance this deal?

We accessed standard financing. The particulars are a little but more complex, being Canadians investing in the US for the first time. We had no credit history in the US so most typical lenders wouldn't work. We used a Canada-based lender with a presence in the US and a lending program geared towards Canadians purchasing property in the US. Put 25% down.

Post: Plan to Invest In Buffalo, New York

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9
Quote from @Timothy Smith:

Hey @Mitch, the meetups are the second Wednesdays of the month, starting around 6pm. Set an alert on here for "Buffalo meetup" and you'll get notifications.

Without knowing your entire situation, my first reaction is to recommend you house-hack. Find a triplex or 4-plex that you can live in so you only have to put 5% down. Even better, call it your personal residence but AirBnB your personal unit while you stay at home ;-) Of course, you need to find the right area that will have demand, but you'll be cash-flowing well and still have money in your pocket for reserves or the next opportunity. 

I'd be happy to chat if you are ever interested. Personally, I'm looking into starting a "newbie" consulting business and this would be an opportunity to work on structuring that, while getting valuable feedback from someone like yourself!


 Count me in when you're trialing your newbie consulting services!

Post: Tips for first time landlord in Buffalo

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9
Quote from @Matthew Irish-Jones:
Quote from @Stephanie Bell:

Hello, I'm closing on my first investment property in about a month. It's located in Buffalo in the Five Points area. I live out of state (out of country, actually), and have never lived/rented/landlorded in the US. I know a lot about standard practices where I live, but am wondering if all those things are transferrable. For example, is it standard to ask for first and last month's rent upfront? Do you usually ask tenants to sign a one year lease and then shift to month to month? Is there a standard lease template? I'm surprised at how few local resources there are for landlords or that they aren't easy to find. I've been trying to get up to speed on tenants rights in New York, which can help understand what is expected of the landlord, but would appreciate some content geared to landlords. 

 To second what @Timothy Smith said you are in violation of a few local laws already.  I normally advise people to self manage for the first part of their journey if they can so that they can get a knowledge base to become better investors.

At some point if you get to enough units self management is tough and its too costly to hire an employee so the numbers make sense hiring a property manager.

To be blunt, you are going down a risky path for an investor.  If you do not know the laws, how to properly screen a tenant, best practices for accounting, managing vendors and late night maintenance calls, you can be doomed from the start.  The cost of eviction is really high in NYS, the cost of mismanaging an asset is even higher. 

Tim is a great resource and may be able to do some consulting to bring you up to speed, but you are still going to need a small army of vendors to get the task done.

If you are set on self managing our company offers lease only services, at least that way you can get a fully screened tenant, with a lease template written by licensed attorney's and be in full compliance with renting. 

Buffalo is a great place to invest, but its easy to lose money if you put the wrong tenant in place or get a fair housing violation.  Best of luck to you!


Thanks everyone. I'm hearing your warnings about getting into self-managing without lots of local knowledge and experience and am taking into consideration. @Matthew Irish-jones - I don't think I can be in violation of local laws just yet, given that the property hasn't even closed and I haven't advertised the vacancies. So far just finalizing the purchase process and I believe I've adhered to all of the requirements thus far. I am working with your firm - Lizz is my agent and has guided me well so far. I can see that Lizz has included a leasing fee in the property analysis docs she provided, which I assume reflects the lease only service you mention. I will ask her more about that and consider it. 

@Timothy Smith - I'll be in touch.

Apologies for being slow to get back here, somehow I was not being notified of new replies.

Post: Tips for first time landlord in Buffalo

Stephanie BellPosted
  • Investor
  • Toronto, Canada
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 9

Thank you, this is helpful! I want to try self-managing to start, and while my portfolio is very small. I have a bit of experience self-managing tenants locally (albeit in a secondary suite in my own home), but if it's too much or I can't do it well I will go the property manager route.