Post: #1

Ok, no secret, I live in British Columbia Canada.

Occasionally I look at sites like this:

http://www.bcapartmentbuildings.com/

And wonder:

1.) As a guy making 50k with no assets, how would I ever get a loan to buy a building like this?

2.) Is it even worth it? Is there some trick to finding buildings with better ROIs than others?

3.) Does it need to be a full time job, or not?

Post: #2

Someone on the forum once posted this link to a thread on another forum, it's gold:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/30/bus...ing-99351/

It's like a beginner's whirlwind tour through real estate investing. You have to read it.

As for making money to buy the building, why not go over to the Canadian oil sands and save up some cash?

Post: #3

(10-12-2013 12:22 AM)Tytalus Wrote:  1.) As a guy making 50k with no assets, how would I ever get a loan to buy a building like this?

Ahh, the age old problem. It takes money to make money!

Post: #4

My uncle does this but he is semi retired and is not ever going to relocate.

I considered this myself but I still don't know where I want to live permanently (if anywhere) and a huge investment like this could chain you down and prevent you from having the mobility that is needed in the modern workforce.

Also, being a landlord takes the ability to know how to deal with morons and deadbeats. Trust me, these people will put more effort into figuring out how to not pay rent then they will into any other endeavor in their life. That means your gonna have to know how to screen tenants and your going to have to know the laws on how to evict them. You can't just kick down their door with and toss their butts on the streets. In some states in the US in can take as long as 6 months to evict a tenant (California) and the shortest is around 6 weeks in places like Texas.

It's basically almost like the stock market. You have to know what your doing and even then the odds will align against you and you will get fucked. If your good this will only happen once and a while and you can still profit.

It is possible to make money but your gonna have to make sure you can float a few months rent for the odd event like a non paying tenant who kicks 50 holes in the drywall and steals all the plumbing and copper.

Post: #5

I own a house rental property. My parents own a house next door, so its pretty easy logisitcs. The age old key to real estate stands true: LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. A good location will make it easy to find good tenants who will pay their rent and not tear up your place. We have a very good location.

Also, obviously get a building that is easy to maintain. If you need to build/renovate a building, make sure its in a location that will be desirable, and use a contractor with good references. There is a huge difference in bang for the buck. And lots of rip off artists.

Also, you can make good money buying into neighborhoods that are up and coming. But obviously there is some risk there. Deals might be found on the border between good neighborhoods and not-so-good. Bad neighborhoods you might make good money if you take in section 8 tenants. But I would want a building made of conrete personally, so they can only fuck so much shit up. As well as insurance out the ass. But I don't know shit about section 8...

If you find a large property (mostly empty land) that is cheap because it only has one house/building on it, it might make a lot of money as the area improves (if you sell/develop it). My parents bought just such a property in a major city 30 years ago. Just keep in mind that most areas take a decade or more to change. They lived in the one house. But now it has several large houses (one is mine) that bring in decent rental income. They could have sold the whole place for a million but we love it here too much.

Post: #6

Thanks for the advice guys. It's not easy to do. My uncle makes huge cash building the apartments and then selling them so he doesn't have to deal with the headache of dealing with tenants. His motto is "I only do business with people who do NOT sign their own cheques."