Like many Canadian real estate investors, I’ve had my eyes on the USA market for about 10 years now. The two particular markets that I’ve paid the most attention to have been Phoenix, Arizona, and Dallas/ Fort Worth, Texas. Why those markets you might ask? Phoenix for its in-migration (Baby Boomers/ Snowbirds) an escapees from the mayhem of LA, immigration from Mexico, low taxes, and attractiveness to major employers (cheap land, labour, etc.) Heck, there must be a reason it’s the 6th largest metro area in the USA now? I must admit, the weather, and having an excuse to travel down there didn’t hurt, either. Add to that a 3 hour direct flight from Vancouver…bonus! Dallas/ Fort Worth for the same … Continue reading
Posted in Tales from the trenches | Tagged Arizona, Phoenix, real estate investor, rental property | Leave a commentYou buy a new residential rental property, and do your due diligence by hiring a home inspector to look over things and provide a report. Everything looks good, you remove conditions, and away you go! Well, did you know that home inspectors don’t check absolutely everything? Nothing against them, they are a critical team member to most successful real estate investors, but they’re not superhuman. What are some of the things that they don’t usually find? 1. Foundation issues. Most good inspectors can see if there is a large gaping crack in the concrete foundation, but what happens when no foundation wall is exposed? They don’t have x-ray vision like Superman, and can’t see what’s behind the drywall, nor are … Continue reading
Posted in Tips for investors | Tagged real estate investor, reas, rental property | Leave a commentImagine my surprise when I received a phone call at 7 am from my Dad, telling me that one of our rental properties had finally made the front page of the Edmonton Journal. Unfortunately he was correct, the photo below is one of our properties. I instantly recognized the house, and the people standing out front, surrounded by yellow police tape and speaking with the officer, were most certainly tenants of ours. The only fortunate thing was that our house was not the scene of the crime, only an innocent bystander in the whole unfortunate situation. A young girl had been murdered in the duplex next door during a home invasion in the middle of the night. Simply an awful situation, … Continue reading
Posted in Tales from the trenches | Tagged real estate investor, rental property | 1 CommentThis story is one of my favorites, simply because it taught me a good lesson. Hopefully you will learn from my mistake and not make the same one. My business partner and I purchased a rental property in Fairfield Island area of Chilliwack back in the spring of 2008. Typical BC box built in the 1970’s, 3 bedroom suite upstairs, and a two bedroom suite in the basement. My business partner went to school in Chilliwack and knew the area well, for me it was all relatively new. The numbers seemed to work, so we jumped in after having the property inspected by the pros. Within a year of owning and managing the property, the toilet and drains in the … Continue reading
Posted in Tales from the trenches | Tagged real estate investing, rental property | Leave a comment