All Forum Posts by: Wendell Fong

Assuming you have no support or family in Chilliwack, I would sell the condo.  I do not know your age and experience,  but I would rather take the equity and purchase a duplex in Calgary and live in the worse of the two units.  While living there, fix up the unit I was living in. (house hack etc...) For your first rental income, you want to have a very close eye on what is going on and be able to fix things, or at least know there is a problem and be able to see it first hand. 

After all that checking, you have a (almost) 2%er which is a pretty good deal.  

I do not believe your property tax value.  It must be wrong.  My brother lives in NJ and Property tax is 2.4%...

that pus the property tax much higher.   I also cant see how you get 6 rents on one property.  Have you verified the rents and taxes?

Syndication. Do you mean you want to put a deal together with other investors and be the general partner?

You should also request a Form-B.  This will identify the number of current units that are rented out.   (item L)  among the other bits of information that the form provides. 

Hi Ryan,

I am currently a Strata Manager in Vancouver.    You need a set of the Strata's bylaws to check to see how many units are allowed as rentals.   Even if there are 10 out of 100 units allowed, the Strata may already be at the limit and you are stuck.  You can sometimes get hardship exemptions but that is unlikely if this is an investment property.   You can also get stuck between a rock and a hard place if you CAN't rent due to Strata Bylaw restrictions, and then get stuck with an empty homes tax. (Local tax in BC designed to limit foreign buyers who buy and let property sit empty) Before you buy, you should request a set of documents from E-Strata Hub, .. a Depreciation report and a copy of the Strata's most recent insurance; AGM minutes to check any recent Special levy projects that have been completed or if you are due for a large project soon.  The Depreciation report should give you a good idea of when and how much money is supposed to be spent on replacing aged building components such as roof, elevator, exterior painting, HVAC/MUA, etc. and what year to expect to see that project coming up.    if you are in Surrey or surrounding area, Insurance is likely to be the largest increase in the Strata budget and will affect your Strata fees directly.  I even have Strata that are trying to reduce the number of rentals from X to X-2 or so so that they can use this to their benefit when dealing with insurance since renters are a higher insurance risk.

Personally I would keep the property and refinance to get into your next property.   You have extensive knowledge of the current property, its problems and how to fix them and who to call to fix them.  That is extremely valuable!    If there is a leak here..   go there and shut off that valve.  if there is an electrical problem.. go to the panel located here.. and check the breaker panel.   etc. 

I agree, I have never heard of a bank asking what the HELOC is being used for. I think you should just go to several banks and ask for the best rate /maximum amount of HELOC you can get on your home. If you get 500-1M in a HELOC, take a small amount out, say 100k and make the monthly payment on it. Leave the rest available until you need it. When your getting close to doing a deal, you can just pull it out and put it into cash.

Wait a month and see if it is still available.

if you are the General Partner, start small.   That's it.   First off you must either have tons of cash sitting around our you can sell ice cubes to the Eskimo.   You believe you can get a group to invest with you without any prior history... well that would be amazing. 

My greatest mistake was investing with a fix and flipper who I had a history with. He decided to form a JV and purchase a +90 unit complex. Great fix and flipper, poor manager of the +90 units. The vacancy dropped and he struggled to break even. It took three years but the JV eventually imploded.

I have made it my mission to be the General Partner on the next JV AND start with 9-20. I do not need a partner to do this but I do want to get a few cycles under my belt with small risk/small reward before I get to larger projects.

I thought about this question for a while.  My kids are older than you so if they asked me what do do the answer would be different because they have a lot of support.  

If I were on my own with no help at 17, I would start off with something hard on the body but easy on my mind so I could learn a lot in my spare time.    ie. I would most likely start off in a construction company as a drywaller or carpenter's apprentice.  After 2years I would ask to be moved to a plumber or electrician's apprentice. (my preference would be plumber) At 21 after 4 years that is when I would make my first purchase.  

You would have W2's,  (T4's in Canada) a stable income to get a mortgage and should have a few dollars saved up for that down payment.  Not sure how it is in the USA, but minor's cannot execute a contract so you would need to be 21.  In Canada that is 19.   I would try for a duplex and house hack.  I would be looking for a problem home with "plumbing issues."  I would use my knowledge and free time to fix the plumbing issues /drywall.     As a property manager,  I see these issues all the time.   Leaking pipes, causing water stains in the ceiling/wall etc. 

Well that is my 2c for how to start.