Episode Details

Hello real estate investors!!   Welcome to another episode of the truth about real estate investing show.   Happy New Years to you all! We have many terrific guests lined up for 2018 so make sure to subscribe so you may learn their lessons to ensure you achieve your new years resolutions and I’m sure they include increased financial security and freedom!!   In case anyone is interested, the Real Estate Investment Network is hosting it’s annual weekend workshop call the Authentic Canadian Real Estate Systems (or ACRE for short) on March 2nd - 4th near Toronto Pearson Airport at the Pearson Convention Centre.  For my friends and listeners to the show, REIN has provided me a discount code and I tested it just now to save you $300 per guest.  If you’ve been to other events that are out there, the full retail price of $687 which has never gone up to my recollection, I’m a REIN member so my admission is included in my monthly fee…. but anyways, the full retail price is a fantastic deal already and my discount code of ERWINSGUEST will save you $300. Link: http://info.reincanada.com/toronto-acre-2018   If you want the full ACRE experience, I recommend you plan to attend the informal evening festivities to network with the other attendees.  To me, it’s a great time to reconnect with my out of town real estate friends who don’t make it to all the events but they make the time for ACRE because it’s such a great event.   Anyways, on to my 2017 Year in Review   The Real Estate Market: From January to May, the market rocketed up. It was near impossible to purchase a property in Hamilton as it was a regular occurrence to compete with double digit offers on the same property with limited supply and demand through the roof from Toronto folks and locals.  St. Catharines grew in popularity for us as investors as competition was still fierce but nothing like Hamilton and we were renting at rates close to Hamilton’s.  KWC was crazy hot as well and continues to be hot as multiple offers there are a regular occurrence.  After May, and after the Foreign buyer tax becoming effective, the market slowed considerably for Hamilton and St. Catharines, exactly what us investors wanted though we noted less interest from investors in Summer and Fall.  Oddly enough, that is when I purchased two properties, in the summer and fall, both as discounts from the Spring market.  Right now the market feels more balance but prices remain up around 7-8% in our target markets compared to this time last year.   The Rental Market: As a real estate investor we have two real estate markets to monitor: real estate prices as that determines the value of our portfolio and acquisition costs.  Then there is the rental market and 2017 was very good to investors.  From January to May, our investors were obtaining the highest rents we’ve ever seen in the markets we operate: mainly Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge, Hamilton, Brantford, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara Region.  In the Spring we were consistently seen rents of 1650 plus utilities for renovated three bedroom apartments and 1300+ for basement two bedrooms.  Keep in mind about five-six years ago, we rented entire three bedroom houses for 1300+.  The summer saw reduced demand as kijiji ad views and showings were way down and returned to a moderate level in the Fall.  Myself, I like to review my rental ads and prices every two weeks.  If I need to make an adjustment I will, most often to price or tweaking of the headline or ad copy.  For the property we purchased in the summer, I needed to reduce the rent 3-4 times by $25-50 increments till we found a great tenant.  For the property we closed on December 1st, knowing we were approaching the holidays and winter, the slowest market, I was ultra aggressive by advertising our rent $50 below market value.  Evaluating a $50/month discount vs. being vacant for three months, an opportunity cost of $4,800, I chose the $50 disc