I’m a landlord in Waterloo and also run a property management company specializing in student housing so I think I can be of some help to you. The new builds have made it harder to rent properties that are farther out, or that are in poor condition. This is somewhat a good thing as the rental market was really tight 5 years ago – terrible places farther out (sometimes even as far as Kitchener) were renting.
You’ve made a very astute observation re Churchill and Cedarbrae. Though they are farther out and much harder to rent - I’ve rented properties on and near both streets and it can be a lot of work – you can still get them rented if priced appropriately. I don’t think sellers are as much worrying about the future as the problem is current. Some possible reasons for the amount of sales are:
1) Owners have had increased vacancies over the last few years and often once someone goes vacant for 4 or 8 months and then gets it rented again they sell.
2) Parent purchasers make up a segment of investors in Waterloo and once their child graduates they often sell the property (so it gets put up for sale every 2-3 years regardless of performance).
3) Churchill especially is a large street that’s dominated by rental properties – there are a number of townhouse complexes, and many of the semi’s have accessory apartments, lodging house licenses, or are just rented to 3 students or non-student renters – as a result your going to see a lot more investment properties sold on it than a smaller street like with some 40+ year owners like Sunview.
onto:Times New Roman-->
4) A number of recent sales you won’t see in the data – lots of places are sold exclusively, privately (be it fsbo or land assembly by developers), or residentially and not listed as an investment property (Ie the house that sold a few months ago at larch and balsam shows up as a residential sale even though it was licensed for 5)
Generally speaking you’re going to want to purchase something very close to the university to ensure a stable revenue stream. Most investors don’t appreciate them but I prefer detached houses – there a superior product with a barrier to entry – dual investment and residential salability – up side in land if you get an MR zoned property.
That being said every property is unique and needs to be evaluated on its own – If its far away, run down, and vacant, it could even be an amazing purchase if the price is discounted enough.
If you have any questions or need any help let me know.
QUOTE (KW1 @ Nov 4 2007, 06:24 PM) I`m new to the area and looking to purchase my first rental property and looking to get a read on the student market in Waterloo. There seems to be some recent re-zoning around the University that is increasing the amount of medium/high density apartments for students near the University. How much of a negative effect is this having on the lodging houses? It appears streets such as Ceaderbrae and Churchill which have student housing have had a lot of houses sold in last year or 2. Is this investors possibly selling their properties off because they forsee increased vacancies? For a longterm successful lodging house must one look now to be extremly close to the University due to new zoning? How close? Just wondering how the increased apartments are affecting and will affect the lodging housing market in Waterloo. THanks!
