QUOTE (Pheenix @ Oct 17 2010, 08:00 AM) Hi Terri
Im not invested in Quebec. However, I had commercial dealings with a number of small Quebec based companies years (decades!) ago and had a number of difficulties doing so. I attributed most of the issues to the underlying differences in the legal systems and the business practices/contracts/cultures that arose.
Their legal system had a massive overhaul about 10 -12 years ago. This along with increased trade across the country and globally has created a system better aligned with the experience of, and understood by, those of us without exposure to the `civil code` rather than `common law` system.
Regardless of finding an experienced investor to help, do some additional research. You would be wise to talk to a Quebec based lawyer early, maybe a couple to ensure good advice. There are a substantial number of differences in terminology, in the implications of these, and therefore differences in a number of clauses you will want in your various contracts, the execution of various documents and filings, and possibly even the way you hold title.
These difference may be subtle but important to your dealings with tenants and various authorities. This is not intended to put you off investing there but merely a caution to adjust your thought patterns and asumptions to those prevailing in the area, as you would if looking at a more distant jurisdiction.
Hopefully there will be REIN members who can offer better, and more detailed, comments and advice.
I think the only way to invest in Montreal is student housing for starters. There are many international students willing to pay higher rents for a simple room. I know because I used to be one of them. That being said, a multiplex with a lot of room and common area, kind of a luxury dorm with on-site management, you can have a lot of cash flow. I am not sure about appreciation.
Target areas should be Atwater to Parc Avenue, don`t go north Ave de Pins, south of Rene Levesque, So around Concordia and McGill.
Two disadvantages I might add. Buildings are old, they need a lot of maintenance, hard to find good labor.
And believe me, people know the law, and will use to the bottom of it.
General rule of thumb, things move slow in Quebec Bureaucracy. (No offence to my REIN fellow members)
Regards,