I finally bought my first property: a semi-detached house with a legal basement unit in Pickering.
The whole thing started when I moved to Canada in October 2008 with about $50 (borrowed) in my pocket.
(As Michael Ende says in my favourite fiction book: `But that is another story and shall be told another time.`)
In 2010 after reading several books on real estate, investing and personal finance, I decided to attend a free seminar in London, ON by Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad company about real estate. The seminar was promoting a package of real estate trainings on different strategies and I signed up for one of them. At the training I met Denise MacPherson who told me about Don's book and, of course, REIN.
I joined REIN in September 2011 hoping I would learn lots and lots and I was not dissappointed. I have to admit that I spent too much time feeling sorry for myself because I didn't have money or people I could reach out for funds. I kept reading and hearing stories of how someone got started in real estate with a gift from grandma, money lent by dad, equity from a primary residence or a large severance package while I was here all by myself with no savings, paying rent, no one to ask for help and no credit history.
Having very little money, I decided that my first purchase was going to be my primary residence so I could buy with 5% down and use my RRSP. It also had to have a basement apartment that was legal and needed little to no work and that was close enough to work. The search started in 2012 and I finally found what I was looking for in June 2013.
I put the offer and it was accepted right away which scared me a little bit considering the bidding wars that tend to happen around the GTA. (Why did they accept right away when they could've potentially get more if they waited a little bit? Was there something wrong that they were not disclosing?). I felt a lot better after the inspection was complete with no issues to report.
Andrew Galea from Calum Ross' team was my mortgage broker and I have to say that he did an outstanding job helping me secure financing. (Maybe the fact that I had my sophisticated investor binder ready helped too!)
I decided to live in the basement apartment (I'm a single guy with no kids) and rent the main floor where I can ask for a higher rent and have the tenants take care of a larger piece of the mortgage payments.
Right now I have a young couple that just had a baby. So far, they have paid on time, are very quiet and are taking care of the place as if it was their own. I guess I could say I got lucky but the truth is I was very thorough with the screening process thanks to all the tips and tricks I have learned from all of you during this time as a REIN member.
To not make an already long story longer, I just wanted to share with you the beginning of my success but most of all a big THANK YOU for all your insights, advice, suggestions and support.
Cheers!
Andres
P.S.: I become a Canadian citizen on January 28th! Good things just keep happening!
The whole thing started when I moved to Canada in October 2008 with about $50 (borrowed) in my pocket.
(As Michael Ende says in my favourite fiction book: `But that is another story and shall be told another time.`)
In 2010 after reading several books on real estate, investing and personal finance, I decided to attend a free seminar in London, ON by Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad company about real estate. The seminar was promoting a package of real estate trainings on different strategies and I signed up for one of them. At the training I met Denise MacPherson who told me about Don's book and, of course, REIN.
I joined REIN in September 2011 hoping I would learn lots and lots and I was not dissappointed. I have to admit that I spent too much time feeling sorry for myself because I didn't have money or people I could reach out for funds. I kept reading and hearing stories of how someone got started in real estate with a gift from grandma, money lent by dad, equity from a primary residence or a large severance package while I was here all by myself with no savings, paying rent, no one to ask for help and no credit history.
Having very little money, I decided that my first purchase was going to be my primary residence so I could buy with 5% down and use my RRSP. It also had to have a basement apartment that was legal and needed little to no work and that was close enough to work. The search started in 2012 and I finally found what I was looking for in June 2013.
I put the offer and it was accepted right away which scared me a little bit considering the bidding wars that tend to happen around the GTA. (Why did they accept right away when they could've potentially get more if they waited a little bit? Was there something wrong that they were not disclosing?). I felt a lot better after the inspection was complete with no issues to report.
Andrew Galea from Calum Ross' team was my mortgage broker and I have to say that he did an outstanding job helping me secure financing. (Maybe the fact that I had my sophisticated investor binder ready helped too!)
I decided to live in the basement apartment (I'm a single guy with no kids) and rent the main floor where I can ask for a higher rent and have the tenants take care of a larger piece of the mortgage payments.
Right now I have a young couple that just had a baby. So far, they have paid on time, are very quiet and are taking care of the place as if it was their own. I guess I could say I got lucky but the truth is I was very thorough with the screening process thanks to all the tips and tricks I have learned from all of you during this time as a REIN member.
To not make an already long story longer, I just wanted to share with you the beginning of my success but most of all a big THANK YOU for all your insights, advice, suggestions and support.
Cheers!
Andres
P.S.: I become a Canadian citizen on January 28th! Good things just keep happening!
