Hello! First post!
On the weekend I purchased Don's book and I just finished it. After reading the book I was very excited to commence a solid, long-term real estate investment plan! My area of focus is condos in the Pickering-Oshawa corridor in Ontario (as this meshes with my own lifestyle goals, as per Don's suggestion). I have followed the guidelines of the ACRE system and have done the following:
- I calculated the housing affordability statistics in the cities I'm looking in. Thankfully Pickering to Oshawa housing affordability numbers are in the 35-40% range, unlike Toronto at 60%. This fits the guidelines of the ACRE system.
- Analyzed the economic fundamentals in the cities and gained an understanding of the economic drivers.
- Noted addresses of all major transportation hubs, universities, and other areas of interest.
- I created a map of all the major highrise towers from Pickering to Oshawa.
- I cross-referenced these towers with current and historical rental advertisements to get a feel for the Cash Flow Zone of each highrise tower.
- I found that from Pickering to Oshawa a two bedroom gets $1,500-$1,800 per month in rent and a 1 bedroom gets $1,100 to $1,400 in rent.
- I have reached out to several brokers to introduce myself and express what I'm looking for.
- I had a meeting with my banker to discuss my GDI and TDI ratios. Obviously I wasn't 'pre-approved' for anything but I have a solid understanding of what I could purchase without running into any "walls."
- I arranged for my home to be re-appraised to potentially give me more funds to work with.
Unfortunately my enthusiasm and excitement has all but died. After looking at dozens of buildings I found just one property that was on the border of passing the Cash Flow Zone test. Upon closer examination this property would be breaking even every month.
Is this just the reality right now? Every single property seems to have a gross yield of 4-7%. There is no way anyone (with 20% down) is making money on these properties after accounting for maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc.
Should I be switching to houses? The ongoing maintenance, surprise problems, and extra time requirement makes me a bit less enthusiastic.
Any advice for a wannabe ACRE master would be appreciated! If anyone out there is also looking in the Durham region I'd greatly appreciate any opportunity to chat about real estate.
Thanks!
On the weekend I purchased Don's book and I just finished it. After reading the book I was very excited to commence a solid, long-term real estate investment plan! My area of focus is condos in the Pickering-Oshawa corridor in Ontario (as this meshes with my own lifestyle goals, as per Don's suggestion). I have followed the guidelines of the ACRE system and have done the following:
- I calculated the housing affordability statistics in the cities I'm looking in. Thankfully Pickering to Oshawa housing affordability numbers are in the 35-40% range, unlike Toronto at 60%. This fits the guidelines of the ACRE system.
- Analyzed the economic fundamentals in the cities and gained an understanding of the economic drivers.
- Noted addresses of all major transportation hubs, universities, and other areas of interest.
- I created a map of all the major highrise towers from Pickering to Oshawa.
- I cross-referenced these towers with current and historical rental advertisements to get a feel for the Cash Flow Zone of each highrise tower.
- I found that from Pickering to Oshawa a two bedroom gets $1,500-$1,800 per month in rent and a 1 bedroom gets $1,100 to $1,400 in rent.
- I have reached out to several brokers to introduce myself and express what I'm looking for.
- I had a meeting with my banker to discuss my GDI and TDI ratios. Obviously I wasn't 'pre-approved' for anything but I have a solid understanding of what I could purchase without running into any "walls."
- I arranged for my home to be re-appraised to potentially give me more funds to work with.
Unfortunately my enthusiasm and excitement has all but died. After looking at dozens of buildings I found just one property that was on the border of passing the Cash Flow Zone test. Upon closer examination this property would be breaking even every month.
Is this just the reality right now? Every single property seems to have a gross yield of 4-7%. There is no way anyone (with 20% down) is making money on these properties after accounting for maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc.
Should I be switching to houses? The ongoing maintenance, surprise problems, and extra time requirement makes me a bit less enthusiastic.
Any advice for a wannabe ACRE master would be appreciated! If anyone out there is also looking in the Durham region I'd greatly appreciate any opportunity to chat about real estate.
Thanks!