Western Conference Opened My Eyes!!

[wgraham]

There come times in your life that you think you know it all....been there, seen that and got the tattoo... And then life reminds you that you are still blissfully ignorant for the most part And heck, I consider myself a veteran!



Like most investors who have been around awhile this attitude may creep into your life now and again and then you attend a fantastic event like the REIN Western Conference and get your eyes opened....AGAIN Education certainly is a life long process.



For the most part I was continually reminded just how great the Calgary Investment Real Estate market truly is! I had people coming up to me stating that "Calgary is cheap!" and "The rents are very similar!" and "Where is your Land Transfer Tax?" Well if you can buy it for less, pay less tax and rent it for the same then it is a no brainer to me if you are looking for cash flow!



The tour around was a great reminder to what transportation improvements and political environments can have on our real estate! The construction in Surrey and Maple Ridge are impressive as are the towns political leadership.



I want to thank REIN for continually raising the bar! Nice work!



To all of those who came by to say "Hi", shake hands and chat about real estate I also want to say thank you! What a great bunch of people!

 

[Thomas Beyer]

[quote user=wgraham]Well if you can buy it for less, pay less tax and rent it for the same then it is a no brainer to me if you are looking for cash flow!


Well stated Wade !



Well organized tour on Friday through booming Surrey and Maple Ridge .. but it showed me that ALBERTA is indeed a far better place to invest due to:



lower prices

similar rents

far lower taxes (no PST, no land transfer taxes, lower income taxes)

lower house prices

similar in-migration / population growth

similar or better infrastructure developments (roads, bridges, LRTs, airport expansion in Calgary)

no rent control

low provincial deficit



and the most important:



1) NO PROVINCIAL DEBT

2) LOWER UNEMPLOYMENT,

3) BETTER ECONOMY AND

4) HIGHER GDP GROWTH

 

[MKBridge]

Hi Wade:



I concur with you. I took the bus trip because I have a joint venture partner looking to buy some units with me, and although my thought was to invest in Edmonton with him, I wanted to reserve judgement and go on that bus trip.

I finished the day thinking that Edmonton was a better place for the same reasons. In fact I emailed my JV yesterday saying the same things that you and Thomas brought up.

Not to say Surrey and Maple Ridge isn't the right fit for another investor, but for me I am going to continue investing in Edmonton.



Kathi

 

[ChrisDavies]

Great points Wade, and I'm sad I wasn't able to make it out there. The Toronto experience was much the same for us. By halfway through Saturday people started coming over and saying "ok, tell me about Alberta" and "how do we make this work?"



I've had a number of people taking money of the table in Ontario and coming out West to take things to the next level.

 

[wgraham]

http://www.atb.com/Economic%20Comment/Interprovincial%20migration%20report.pdf



This document from ATB says it all! Unemployment, in-migration and salaries all poised to sky rocket in Alberta. In 18 months I will be standing in front of people saying "I told you so" with a little smirk on my face

 

[bizaro86]

[quote user=wgraham]In 18 months I will be standing in front of people saying "I told you so" with a little smirk on my face





http://tinyurl.com/23sfs4f



I'm also a big believer in alberta RE (or I wouldn't keep buying it) but keeping "an eye on the downside" is also worthwhile, I think.



Regards,



Michael

 

[Thomas Beyer]

[quote user=wgraham]little smirk


make it a big one !!!