Comments on: Mr. Cheap asks: Help me buy a house!

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:12 +0000

Hi Nancy: I’m curious, what sort of help are you hoping to receive?

By: Nancy Kamau

Nancy Kamau — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:03:12 +0000

Dear all,
Please can i get someone who can assist me by buying a house to avoid this stress of house rent. Thanking you in advance and God bless you.

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:54:20 +0000

DGI: My previous experiences are detailed in a series of posts collected under the title “Getting Started With Investment Real Estate” (on the sidebar).

It’s hands free just because its a condo (so the corporation handles all the outside maintenance) and I was quite careful picking tenants (and I got lucky that they actually HAVE been good tenants). I’ve never hired a property manager (and have heard enough horror stories that I’d be reluctant to do so).

I’ll be living in the property myself, so if there’s something that needs to be fixed, *I’LL* want it fixed too . I haven’t had calls to fix ANYTHING in my original condo in two years (I tried to make sure everything was in good repair when the tenants moved in).

Buying a REIT is a VERY reasonable alternative to buying real estate. I’ll probably do a post at some point detailing considerations between the two.

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Sun, 24 May 2009 10:37:36 +0000

Wow it’s a big step to get a second investment property. That’s one stream of alternative income where I lack knowledge. I do agree with you that college real-estate is somewhat recession resistant, as people are likely to go to school even if the times are tough..

I guess I would stick with REITs for now.. But I was wondering if you could point me out to any posts about your real estate ventures. How do you make your property hands-free? Do you hire a manager?

As for the new property, aren’t you afraid that the other tennants are going to constantly bother you with questions and asking you to fix stuff?

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:20:21 +0000

MLR, TStrump, ND: Thanks .

Dean: Thanks for your kind words! I’m a PhD student (not an undergrad), and I worked between my degrees, so I’m not really THAT young (early 30′s).

Have you looked into vendor financing? If you have at least 5% down, often they’ll consider financing you for larger building (since, as you’ve found, otherwise it’s tough to get financing).

You could hook up with a partner(s) and maybe qualify for a loan if there were more of you (I wouldn’t personally recommend this, but that’s a future post).

You could refinance your existing properties, then use that money to make a very large down payment on the building or buy it outright (depending on how much equity you have in your existing rentals). If you don’t have a lot, then you probably haven’t owned them for that long and I’d humbly suggest that it might be worth waiting for a while before pushing into larger buildings (which have their own challenges).

Also, you can talk to a mortgage broker (personally I deal with Canadian Mortgage Trends) and ask them what it would take for you to get financing (if they can’t do it for you themselves, I’m sure they’ll refer you to someone who can – they did this for my brother).

By: Dean Barclay

Dean Barclay — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:48:53 +0000

You really are doing well owning property at such a young age. I own several rental properties in Kenora, Ontario and would love to purchase something bigger in Winnipeg but i find it really hard to get financing for such a big project. Do you have any ideas how to finance a larger building? I have good government job with secure pension etc. If anybody knows please email me.

By: ND

ND — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:51:29 +0000

Waterloo, Ontario is one of the best places to buy an investment property in the province. I work as a mortgage specialist with a focus on helping people buy investment properties. The numbers look great there. Nice job. Looking forward to hearing more about your adventures.

By: MLR

MLR — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:12:38 +0000

Once I find out if I am staying in my current city or being moved to another location… I plan on doing something similar.

Can’t beat living in a house and having your roommates pay the mortgage

Good luck!

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:09:21 +0000

ME: That was my excuse for my first year in my program . I need to live somewhere for my time here, and I’d be willing to put the time in to find roommates while I’m here, so it seemed like something that was doable WHILE I’m studying, not something that will interfere with it (time will tell I guess). My condo is Toronto has been pretty “hands free” so I’m hoping this will be too (and that I may be able to keep running it when / if I leave town – this would definitely be harder for a student housing property, but we’ll see).

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:51:21 +0000

Pretty exciting; unfortunately I don’t have any recommendations for you (I’m sure you’ve scoured the MLS.ca site), but good to hear someone doing what my own plan is eventually. I’d be concerned, though, about taking on that much debt and responsibility while still in a graduate program (as I am). I’ve thought of doing this but it seems it would interfere with one’s studies? Isn’t there already too much to do with the PhD?:) Good on you though if you can!