All Forum Posts by: Stevo Sun

I'm not sure what that book is about but you have no financial backing to be investing in real estate. How do you plan on financing your purchase? Banks won't give you money without a steady income stream.

Like others have said real estate is far from passive. You need to amass a large portfolio for it to be passive (aka hiring someone to manage).

If you want to be financially independent as fast as you can then you need to do a few things.

1) get as high of an income as possible (this usually takes schooling and/or experience, think high income profession - law, medicine,etc)

2) live as frugally as possible (you will sacrifice a lot here, think of not going out with friends, live at home/save on rent, etc)

3) invest as much as possible and I mean invest not yoloing on random hot tips (you are starting young, time will be on your side)

If you do this consistently and remain highly disciplined, you will get there faster than most. A lot of people who did the sacrifice and became financially independent regretted it. I think a lot of them realized that they could have enjoyed life a bit more and still got there relatively quickly.

Good luck!

4 Votes

Dallas, Texas

Quote from @Nardin Farag:

Hi, I am Canadian and trying to find a seller finance deals in Canada or USA, but all agents I talked with they dont have any idea about it, can anyone advise on how to find these deals, connect me with an agent who does it before?

Depends on where you are. In Canada it's often called vendor take back. But they are not very popular and usually for larger properties. So you'll have to find agents who knows how this works. I think with the downturn in Ontario those have been more popular.

0 Votes

Quote from @Ehrich Roberts:

Hi Abu,

Congrats on having gotten started!... my question is specific towards obtaining a mortgage in BC Canada.

If you are looking to use rental income instead of personal income to qualify for mortgage, you'll be looking at commercial financing. So typically 5 units or above. I think some commercial brokers will do 4 units. The other thing is for commercial loans the brokers usually prefer it to be bigger.

1 Vote

Vancouver, British Columbia

Quote from @Sophia Rubinstein:

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to the community and located in Edmonton, AB. I am taking my first steps toward FI and am interested in real estate investing. Does anyone know a good financial adviser/planner that I can use in the area? Preferably someone patient who doesn't mind answering a million questions.

Thanks in advance!

Sophia

You don't need a financial advisor/ planner. Definitely not one from a bank.

Just post your questions here and people will answer.

0 Votes

Edmonton, Alberta

Quote from @Kevan Baum:

Quote from @Ryan F.:

Hello Newbie here with my first post.

My wife and I thinking of purchasing our first investment property with the plan to get a retirement income in 15 yrs from now. We currently live in BC and due to expensive market are thinking of purchasing in Alberta.

Where and what would you purchase if you had approximately 100k down. We may be able to get a attached rental with suite in Calgary or a detached rental in Edmonton. Trying to balance out appreciation and monthly cash flow.

Suggestions and advice is greatly appreciated

Ryan

Hi Ryan,

I own a few properties in Southern AB and a few in Edmonton. I mostly do condos in Edmonton because of the low downpayments and cash flow similar to a single family home without needing property management. I see 300-500 per door monthly with an investment of around 20k. If you'd like to chat, just shoot me a pm.

Kevan

There's no property management for condos? How does that work?

Are you getting appreciation at all in the Edmonton condo market? My friend has a condo and the current price is still lower than when he bought years back. He didn't buy it for investment initially but he just held it for rental still hoping he can get his money back at some point.

I'm always hesitant on condo investments in AB since there's always new supply.

0 Votes

Edmonton, Alberta

Quote from @Soumojit Sarkar:

Quote from @Stevo Sun:

Quote from @Soumojit Sarkar:

I own a condo in BC but live in the US. I had issues with renting out the place earlier, and the current rent doesn't cover even the mortgage interest, let alone other expenses like property tax, insurance etc. The current tenant is about to leave at the end of the month. I'm considering selling the unit instead of finding another tenant. But not sure about it since the market is at a low point right now. At the same time, I fear that a new tenant might stay there for ever and interfere with the sale at a future date. What do you suggest?

You basically outlined your issues and no one can help you with that.

1) The market is the market. If you are burning money each month then the question is really how bad is it for you. Can you afford to hold on till it's a better market? Does the math make sense?

2) Will a new tenant even cover your costs? Or are you still going to be cash flow negative? Tenanted properties are extremely challenging to sell and the recent change in notice period has made that worse in BC.

You are in a tough spot either way, only you know your financial situation and your numbers.

Even after renting it'll not cover even the mortgage interest, let alone other costs.

Another alternative is to never sell and keep drawing some cash out of it by refinancing when the interest rate hits a low. Any idea whether that is feasible?

I mean you can hold the property indefinitely if you can afford to. If the rent can't cover even the interest then I'm not sure cash out refi does anything for you.

0 Votes

Quote from @Soumojit Sarkar:

You basically outlined your issues and no one can help you with that.

1) The market is the market. If you are burning money each month then the question is really how bad is it for you. Can you afford to hold on till it's a better market? Does the math make sense?

You are in a tough spot either way, only you know your financial situation and your numbers.

0 Votes

Quote from @Ahmed Hafez:

Hello Everyone,

Any Canadian real estate investors here?

Any chapters or groups from Canada?

There is a group of Canadians on BP.

0 Votes

Quote from @Patrick Mooney:

Thanks @Stevo Sun, appreciate the input! With the knowledge that there's likely to be a downward pressure on rent in AB in the coming years are you looking elsewhere? Or simply playing the waiting game for now?

@Theresa Harris that was a very helpful point, thank you. I have been in touch with the mortgage broker again after your comment and should qualify for another ~$300k CAD mortgage with 20% down. That wouldn't quite cut the mustard for the area(s) I'm looking to buy in (currently living in Strathcona and would ideally like to buy close by as it's a great location). So back to the drawing board it seems!

And thank you too @Anthony Therrien-Bernard, appreciate it!

I'm taking a wait and see approach currently, once the down cycle hits the market over corrects in Calgary, so I just need to have my cash built up and ready to deploy.

But I will add that I'm bullish on the Calgary market long term, so if I wasn't already in the market at this point I would be looking hard. There will always be deals out there but you'll have to do more work right now to find them and be ready to act quickly.

2 Votes

Edmonton, Alberta

Quote from @Gustavo R.:

Hello guys! Glad to be part of this community.

I live in Toronto, Canada but I'm starting my first flip now at the end of September in Baltimore/MD, closing is September 20th. The reason why I decided on Baltimore is because my friend-partner lives there and he had done 20+ flips in the last 3-4 years. I have a few questions and need guidance from people more experienced than me.

Can I be double-taxed by the USA (IRS) and CANADA (CRA) when doing my flips or holding rental properties in the USA while living in CANADA? If yes, is there a way to avoid being double-taxed without the need to move to the US?

It seems the US has more tax benefits in Real Estate than Canada (I'm not sure) - How can I take advantage of it while residing in Canada?
Any recommendations of CPA that are familiar with that type of scenario I described above?

And last thing, my LLC has EIN but I don't have ITIN - I'll be physically in Baltimore in few days. Is it possible to open a bizz bank account without ITIN?

Thank you

Gustavo

There is a tax treaty between Canada and US, so you probably will not be paying double taxes. But you will be paying the higher tax rate, since Canada is higher usually there will be a top up.

0 Votes

Baltimore, Maryland

All Forum Posts by: Stevo Sun

Stevo Sun has started 12 posts and replied 311 times.

Post: I'm really uncomfortable with how my future will turn out.

Post: Hi, How to find seller finance deals?

Post: New to BP, seeking options in relation to financing

Post: Lookining for reccomendations for a financial adviser/planner

Post: Where Would You Invest ? Calgary, Edmonton, other ?

Post: Hold on sell

Post: Hold on sell

Post: Canadian Real Estate Investors

Post: Advice to finance my next deal - Newer investor / Canada

Post: Avoid double taxation while flipping in Baltimore but residing in Canada