Finding investment property: Me or Agent?
- Thread starter Pindy4
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If you are unfamiliar with a city you should not yet invest .. or view homes yet. Once you have narrowed your investment focus to a few streets or blocks in one or max. 2 neighborhoods then you can view homes. Any persons input needs to be considered .. one of them being the agent ..
Describe to us your investment focus !
Describe to us your investment focus !
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Getting started is one of the hardest things for a new investor to do. What neighborhood, what tenant profile, what type of property, townhouse, suited house, etc. Our discovery tours were designed for the new investor in mind. If you are looking in Edmonton, keep an eye out for our fall discovery tours. Each tour will look at a specific property type, suited homes, townhouses, and multifamily.
We love working with investors, but investors who have their program in place. Money Partners lined up and qualification done with your mortgage broker.
When a new investor or an investor who is looking at new type of property, such as suited houses to multifamily, we will select an number of vacant properties to look at to help the investor get a feel for the potential investment. Then we can later get serious at quality investment property for that investor.
Call around to different realtors, ( some hate investors, other lover investors). Some will teach and willing give some time for helping their clients. I send too much time helping investors with tenant issues than selling some days. Go to open houses, and more important walkdrive the neighborhoods to look at your potential tenants. Talk to other investors and ask what they do and why.
Most important, stay away from the neighborhoods with the cheapest property prices, every city has one.
The Black Triangle of East Edmonton is a perfect example. The tenant is the real asset, not the property and buying in poor neighborhoods will shorten your real estate investment career to just a few years.
We love working with investors, but investors who have their program in place. Money Partners lined up and qualification done with your mortgage broker.
When a new investor or an investor who is looking at new type of property, such as suited houses to multifamily, we will select an number of vacant properties to look at to help the investor get a feel for the potential investment. Then we can later get serious at quality investment property for that investor.
Call around to different realtors, ( some hate investors, other lover investors). Some will teach and willing give some time for helping their clients. I send too much time helping investors with tenant issues than selling some days. Go to open houses, and more important walkdrive the neighborhoods to look at your potential tenants. Talk to other investors and ask what they do and why.
Most important, stay away from the neighborhoods with the cheapest property prices, every city has one.
The Black Triangle of East Edmonton is a perfect example. The tenant is the real asset, not the property and buying in poor neighborhoods will shorten your real estate investment career to just a few years.
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[quote user=Pindy4]I'm looking in Edmonton. Single family dwellings- currently looking at South Edm, and SE Edmonton.
FAR too big a market. With 6000 listings, or 2500+ in S Edmonton your focus has to FAR FAR narrower.
try, as an example: a 3BR house of between 1250 and 1800 sq ft, with a developed 2BR+ basement and a separate entrance to basement, in Lendrum or Malmo, no more than 450 meters from a LRT station, below $350,000.
Focus man .. focus !!
FAR too big a market. With 6000 listings, or 2500+ in S Edmonton your focus has to FAR FAR narrower.
try, as an example: a 3BR house of between 1250 and 1800 sq ft, with a developed 2BR+ basement and a separate entrance to basement, in Lendrum or Malmo, no more than 450 meters from a LRT station, below $350,000.
Focus man .. focus !!
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Here's a personal example.
I bought a single family house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bedroom basement suite with fenced back yard and double garage in Millwoods' Daly Grove neighbourhood in April 2010. On a quiet residential street but easy access to Anthony Henday and Millwoods Centre.
My realtor found it searching MLS for two suited houses under $350,000. I looked around the neighbourhood and on Google Maps. I saw a big park one block away, schools nearby, community centre nearby and a major traffic artery one or two blocks away. House and location perfect for families.
I thought about the tight economy, how I'd read families or groups of friends were sharing two suites in houses. This house was perfect for two families.
I looked online at sites like rentedmonton.com to see how many of such properties were listed and what rents were. I found rents for main three bed suites and basement two bed suites in houses but few, if any, houses for two families. An opportunity. You also could phone a few property managers to ask about rentability of the kind of house and area and you're considering.
My property manager advertised my Daly Grove house for two families mid April and two families moved in May 1.
I didn't do all the REIN analysis I should have and I haven't specialized in that area, although I owned a fourplex in Millwoods some years ago, but this two family house has generally worked out well. Analysis with some common sense work best for me. I do a lot of number crunching and ask lots of questions too.
Hope this helps,
Margaret
Mama Margaret & Friends Cooking Adventures in Italy
www.italycookingschools.com
I bought a single family house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bedroom basement suite with fenced back yard and double garage in Millwoods' Daly Grove neighbourhood in April 2010. On a quiet residential street but easy access to Anthony Henday and Millwoods Centre.
My realtor found it searching MLS for two suited houses under $350,000. I looked around the neighbourhood and on Google Maps. I saw a big park one block away, schools nearby, community centre nearby and a major traffic artery one or two blocks away. House and location perfect for families.
I thought about the tight economy, how I'd read families or groups of friends were sharing two suites in houses. This house was perfect for two families.
I looked online at sites like rentedmonton.com to see how many of such properties were listed and what rents were. I found rents for main three bed suites and basement two bed suites in houses but few, if any, houses for two families. An opportunity. You also could phone a few property managers to ask about rentability of the kind of house and area and you're considering.
My property manager advertised my Daly Grove house for two families mid April and two families moved in May 1.
I didn't do all the REIN analysis I should have and I haven't specialized in that area, although I owned a fourplex in Millwoods some years ago, but this two family house has generally worked out well. Analysis with some common sense work best for me. I do a lot of number crunching and ask lots of questions too.
Hope this helps,
Margaret
Mama Margaret & Friends Cooking Adventures in Italy
www.italycookingschools.com
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Your realtor is your biggest asset at this stage of your career. As a new investor you are going to be a lot of work as your agent is not only going to have to sell you a property they are also going to have to educate you.
Many agents do not know how to work with investors. Do not do business with an agent that does not own investment property or someone who owns less than you do. A good agent will only bring you to cashflowing properties and will greatly simplify the decision.
You are going to have to work with your agent to narrow your focus after you have your initial consultation. Much of this you can and should do on your own. Ask your agent to send you their top 50 candidates. Start with some desktop analysis and then do some drive-bys of properties that you think might be a decent fit. Several you will rule out right away due to location. The bad news is never described on MLS!
After that it's time to get into some doors. If you have some properties that you would like to see send the MLS #s to your agent and ask for their feedback. Then ask him or her for their recommendations. At that point you can make a short list of 8-10 properties and go and take a look. From there your candidates will probably be chopped in half and there will be one or two standouts and you will be ready to make some offers.
Good luck!
Many agents do not know how to work with investors. Do not do business with an agent that does not own investment property or someone who owns less than you do. A good agent will only bring you to cashflowing properties and will greatly simplify the decision.
You are going to have to work with your agent to narrow your focus after you have your initial consultation. Much of this you can and should do on your own. Ask your agent to send you their top 50 candidates. Start with some desktop analysis and then do some drive-bys of properties that you think might be a decent fit. Several you will rule out right away due to location. The bad news is never described on MLS!
After that it's time to get into some doors. If you have some properties that you would like to see send the MLS #s to your agent and ask for their feedback. Then ask him or her for their recommendations. At that point you can make a short list of 8-10 properties and go and take a look. From there your candidates will probably be chopped in half and there will be one or two standouts and you will be ready to make some offers.
Good luck!
Thanks for all the good advice. I am being very focused and have narrowed my search (price, location, size of house all that), and am driving around like crazy getting to know the areas (not from Edm), drive by all properties before I set up a viewing, and am spending lots of time looking at what places in these areas are renting for, etc. I'm on the right track, but wish my realtor would say stuff like' forget that area because.." or "let's not look at that property you selected because..." or "you didn't select this property but I think we should look at it because.." and I'm not getting any of that. Maybe I'm expecting too much - as was said on this thread, as a first time investor I'm bound to be more work; positive side is I'm learning lots on my own. Will check out Lendrum and Malmo, thanks for tip.
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Sounds like you need a better realtor. If you think you're not getting good service now it will only get worse as you move forward. You are setting yourself up to be making a big decision based on this person's advice and if the trust factor isn't there that's not good.
There are several great edmonton realtors on this forum. Do some searching and talk with a couple of them.
There are several great edmonton realtors on this forum. Do some searching and talk with a couple of them.
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Good advice here.
I remember one of our first investment purchases in a new town. They funny thing is, this is the town that I live in but had never bought an investment property there before. I new the area and new the price point I wanted to work with. I defaulted to my agent and asked for him to take the lead as he owned a large number of properties in the area we where looking. Why did I let the agent take the lead? He new the area better than anyone and got us into a great property which performed very well.
Your agent should be showing you properties that are performing and or have a upside because of.....
One question you should asking yourself is how can add value to the property? Updating, superior property managing and so on.
I remember one of our first investment purchases in a new town. They funny thing is, this is the town that I live in but had never bought an investment property there before. I new the area and new the price point I wanted to work with. I defaulted to my agent and asked for him to take the lead as he owned a large number of properties in the area we where looking. Why did I let the agent take the lead? He new the area better than anyone and got us into a great property which performed very well.
Your agent should be showing you properties that are performing and or have a upside because of.....
One question you should asking yourself is how can add value to the property? Updating, superior property managing and so on.
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- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 13,879
[quote user=Pindy4] Will check out Lendrum and Malmo, thanks for tip. This was just an example of BEING VERY SPECIFIC .. it is too late now ! The LRT opened over a year ago ! You should have bought there 2-3 years ago !
Hint: check the new line going west to WEM !!
Hint: check the new line going west to WEM !!