Looking to get first investment and wondering if this is a good deal for rental Purchase price $20,000Down payment $5000 (or could pay cash) but figure minimize amount cash out of pocketRental - $450/monthThis is a condo with fee of $125/month which covers exterior maintenanceTaxes $375/yrCondo is 1 BR 1 bath about 600sf Needs 2500 in repairs to get ready.ARV is $30,000Thoughts ?

Getting the home leased and getting them out of there with minimal need to do any touch-up work in the house is your number one priority.  

Chad:There are a couple of rulings from the CRA {I found 2007-0244941E5, but cannot locate the other one at the moment} which indicate the CRA, at its discretion, will interpret rent credits as an instalment sale.  

Tax records indicate it as a 3 family, and it has a green card (from the state's multiple dwelling inspection) which is only required for 3+ families.

Since this is an existing tenant and she has indicated the intention to leave I would not even consider letting her sign a year lease now.

The pre-bookings are a great indicator of activity and even if they cancel, we are guaranteed 50% of the fee.  

If there is no structure with the parking I have not heard of a setback requirement or at least no one indicated such for my driveway conversion.My driveway conversion did not require a curb cut because there is no curb anywhere.My wife did most of the leg work but I think she was expecting the contractors to be cognizant of the local rules so that the plans were unlikely to be rejected by the city.I used the term "looked into" because we got some quotes for this effort so long ago that the quotes would no longer be good and have not done the work (the quotes were much higher than I was expecting but it was a lot of hardscape). 

This type of policy has the insurance cost (and commissions) minimized so that most of your cash goes straight to the cash value. 

On the other hand, being cheap is minimizing the short term cost at any cost, without consideration of the long term benefit or cost.Lets take the example of Ramen noodles ... are they cheap?

Seller financing or creative negotiating to minimize out-of-pocket expenses.