First Rental Property

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

As I am writing this article, I am thinking about to how long it has been since I have been helping people invest in real estate.

I think it has been about 12 years.

Over those years, I have talked to probably thousands of people, and have seen several hundreds of people actually pull the trigger and buy real estate.

I don’t keep the actual number of how many people I have helped, because I am not an egomaniac.  🙂

What I do keep track of though is behavioural patterns of people…

On the whole, people generally act in similar ways.

People who take the leap and buy real estate behave in a somewhat similar way to each other.

Also, people who don’t by real estate generally behave in a similar way as well.

This of course is a tremendous generalization I am making, but hear me out.

Over the past serval years, I have noticed that people who DO NOT buy real estate are making one big mistake with their thinking process

The number one underlying mistake that they are making is:

Listening To Advice From Uneducated Sources…

Okay… so let me break this down and explain to you exactly what I mean.

1. People who are interested in buying real estate, but don’t end up buying anything are afraid.
2. I should also qualify this statement by saying that people who BUY real estate as well are also somewhat fearful.

The one major difference though between the people who buy real estate and those that do not, is that the ones that DO NOT, are tuned into the wrong radio station.  

What I mean by this is that they are listening to the wrong ‘frequency’.  They are listening to the wrong ‘sources’, and they are listening to the wrong ‘people’.

So many times, I have heard people tell me….

“I don’t think buying a condo (or home) for investment is a good idea.  I am going to get calls in the middle of the night from the tenant saying that they have broken the toilet, and that I need to come and fix it.”

Excuse me, WHAT?

Who the hell is telling people this?! (sorry that I swore…I am getting FIRED up.)

I mean, seriously.

You could make hundreds of thousands of dollars owing just one rental property in The Greater Toronto Area, and you wouldn’t do this because someone may call you regarding a broken toilet?

But wait… it gets better.

The people who are instilling fear into these would-be investors, are not people who own rental properties themselves, they are people with absolutely no experience investing in real estate whatsoever!

• They have never had a tenant before.
• They have never collected a rent cheque before.
• They have limited to no experience in the world of real estate investing.
• They ARE the worst possible person to listen to for advice.   

They are generally people who look at the glass as being “half empty.”

And then… they are projecting their concerns, fears, and worries about owning real estate onto those people that are interested in investing, and that are looking for guidance.

They tell them that now is not a good time to buy real estate, and that they should wait, and wait for the ‘bubble to burst’. 

“There Is No Bubble”

Okay… If you are from the Greater Toronto Area, there is something that you should realize sooner rather than later.

THERE.    IS.    NO.   BUBBLE.  

People talk circles around me when they try to tell me that there is a Bubble in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) real estate market.

I can list for you major reasons why there is no bubble in the GTA market.  If I did here, this article would become the length of a small book and will probably become a New York Times Best Seller!

Seriously, if you think there is a bubble in the GTA real estate market and you believe this wholeheartedly, we could never be friends.  😉

Let’s Re-Cap

Uneducated sources (ie: people), tell aspiring real estate owners (ie: other people interested in buying real estate).  That:

• There is a real estate bubble that is going to burst
• They should wait and not buy real estate now
• If they buy a rental property, they are going to have to deal with tenants who are going to call them in the middle of the night regarding a  toilet that they just broke.  (Apparently this tenant will also want them to come to the rental property in the middle of the night to repair said toilet.)

Here Is The Reality…

The reality my friends is that the real estate market in the Greater Toronto area is going up at record levels.

The gains that the market is experiencing now, have never been seen before.

There are a number of factors that are causing this, but to simply put it, it is a ‘supply and demand’ issues.

People are coming from all over the world to live in the great rolex yacht master 44mm 116681 78211 herren silberton weises zifferblatt country of Canada, and a large percentage of these people are settling in the GTA.

Now is the time to buy real estate here.  Not tomorrow.

The next chapter in this real estate saga will be the Chapter that talks about all of the hundreds of thousands of people that are priced out of the market, and who cannot afford buying a property.

That time is coming, and it is coming sooner than I thought it would.

My closing remarks are:

GET INTO THE REAL ESTATE MARKET NOW.

To your success!

Neil Uttamsingh

ps: I am a Real Estate Broker and a VIP Realtor.  I specialize in pre-construction projects and residential resale in the Greater Toronto Area.  I have access to over 100 new condo projects all over the GTA.  Sign up  to receive special builder DISCOUNTS and INCENTIVES that you cannot get from going direct.  To your success

pps: If you found this article helpful, you should probably read this one as well…  How To Make Money Buying Pre-Construction Condos

ppps: Also, this one.. How To Make Money Buying Real Estate In Toronto

Hi There,

I hope your are doing well.

Today I would like to talk to you about a condo project that is being built on the Toronto Waterfront.

The name of this project is, “Vita On The Lake”.

The builder for this project is Mattamy.

If you are from The Greater Toronto Area, you know exactly who Mattamy is.

Some say that Mattamy is the biggest builder in terms of volume of units sold.

Is this true?

Probably.

I have not fact checked this, but I would not be surprised at all if they were the biggest builder.

Mattamy is HUGE.

When I actually think of this more, I ask myself…”Who is bigger than Mattamy in the Greater Toronto Area?”

I can’t think of any other builder…

Investing In Toronto Real Estate

A lot of people that I talk to are interested in buying a condo in Toronto for investment.  It is a relevant conversation that I have with people since I am a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX.

Some people that I talk to are experienced investors while others are new to this and they are looking to purchase their first rental property.

Then of course, there are people that I talk to who are interested in buying a condo in Toronto Canada for their primary use.  (To live in).

Vita On The Lake

What is Vita On The Lake?

Vita On The Lake is a project that Mattamy is building that I love.  I love this project for 3 main reasons.

A) Location

The building itself is being constructed on the Toronto Waterfront.  Units in the building have FULL and PARTIAL views of Lake Ontario.

Some of the smaller units don’t have views, and of course if your units does not face the Lake you will not have a view.

However, some of the views from this building are breathtaking.

As such, this pre-construction condo project has been extremely popular with both condo investors and people looking to buy a unit there to live.

B) The Builder

The second reason why I love this project so much is because of the builder… Mattamy.  Again if you are from The Greater Toronto Area, you know exactly who Mattamy is.  You also probably know at lease one person who has purchased a Mattamy home, Or you will know a ‘friend of a friend’ who has bought a Mattamy home.  That is how BIG they are.

Since they are a BIG builder, they know what they are doing when it comes to all aspects of new construction condos.

I find their customer service level to be very high, and they produce an excellent finished product.

C) Discount Off of Purchase Price

Good builders (Like Mattamy) always have great incentives for their purchasers.  The Incentives that they offer are often made available to the public through VIP Agents (like myself).

On this project, Vita On The Lake, Mattamy is offering 2 to 3 years of free maintenance, on select units, which equates to a discount off of the purchase price of between $10,000 to $20,000!!

This is a big deal, as Mattamy does not normally offer discounts on the purchase price of their homes and condo units.

They don’t need to because their inventory of new condos and homes always sells like…

HOT CAKES.

So to actually get a discount off the the purchase price is an amazing deal that Mattamy is offering.

Again, VIP Agents (like myself) have access to these incredible discounts through the builders.  (If you want more info on this.. send me an email)

Is Vita On The Lake A Good Investment

For years, people have been asking me about real estate.  Questions that I get are:

• Where should I invest?
• What is a good investment?
• Should I buy a condo or a house?
• How much will my property go up from the time I purchase it to the time I sell it?

And the questions go on and on…

You might have similar questions with Vita On The Lake.  I get it.  People love real estate.  They want to buy something, and they want it to go up a huge amount (in value).

Well here is the deal… properties in the area that Vita On The Lake is located have been going up in value already due to the HOT Toronto Real Estate Market.

Let’s look at a few things…

• A) The project is located on the waterfront of a major International City. (Toronto)

• B) The City (Toronto) experiences approximately 100,000 people moving into this region every year.

• C) Canada has it’s doors open to Immigrants.  Many of the immigrants settle in the Province of Ontario, and specifically within the Greater Toronto Area. A lot of these immigrants come with a lot of money to invest.

• D) Some projections have been made by the Provincial Government in Ontario, that 4 MILLION more people will be moving to the Greater Toronto Area  / Golden Horseshoe Area / Southern Ontario over the next 25 years !!!

• E)  Oh yeah… and I forgot to add the following… Ontario is running out of land to build on.  There is a lot of protected land in Ontario, called “The Green Belt”, which is restricted.  Builders cannot build on this land. As such, builders are no longer building OUT, as they once used to (by building sub-divisions of homes). They are now building UP, and have been doing this for a number of years.

To put it in simple terms, it comes down to supply and demand.

If you know even a little bit about Economics, you know that…

If supply is low, and there is demand.  Then prices go up…

The story of the Greater Toronto area, and in particular, Toronto is that there is not enough supply (of housing) to match the demand (the number of people moving into the region).

So to answer my initial questions

Is Vita On The Lake a good investment?

My answer to this is:

“Yes, Vita On The Lake is a GREAT investment”

In what other international city with BOOMING real estate market can you buy a condo on the Waterfront, with Lake or Ocean views for under $700/square foot?

The long story short is that if you are looking to buy a condo in Toronto to live in or for investment (to rent out), and if you want to be on the Toronto Waterfront…

Vita On The Lake is where you need to buy.

But here is the catch… you have to move quickly.  There are a lot of smart people in Toronto (when it comes to investment) and they have been buying already in this building.

If you don’t take action soon, this building will be sold out.

If you are interested in buying a unit, email me directly at neil@firstrentalproperty.com and then I will let you know what the next steps are.

Happy Investing!

Neil.

ps: Here are some pictures of Vita On The Lake By Mattamy…

Hi There,

A new report has just been released by The Royal Bank of Canada (a.k.a. “RBC”)

In this report, RBC states that “Toronto’s housing market is the least affordable in Canada.”

RBC, Canada’s #1 Bank is a reputable source. This leads me to believe that this report is accurate.

Having said this, it is always important to do your own due diligence and always ‘question’ the information that is presented to you by the media.

Tags: Buying a condo in Toronto, Canada  |  Buying a condo in Toronto for investment  |  Investing in Toronto Real Estate  |  Buying a condo in Toronto Canada  |  First time condo buyer in Toronto Canada.

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

In today’s blog post, I am going to walk you through how you can make a 26.1% return on your money investing in real estate.

I recently recorded a PODCAST called, 3 Reasons Why Buying A Rental Property Is Better Than Investing In The Stock Market.

In this PODCAST, I talked about 3 ways in which you can make a ‘return’ buying and holding real estate.

These 3 ways were:

Cash Flow

Mortgage Paydown

Property Appreciation

To illustrate to you how you can make this type of return on your capital, I am going to take the same example I spoke about in the PODCAST.

Let’s assume that you are a new real estate investor and you are interested in buying your first rental property.

You purchase a property for $450,000.

Let’s assume that you are purchasing a property in the Toronto or Greater Toronto Area real estate market.

As such, you provide a 20% downpayment to purchase the home, which equals ($450,000 * 20% = $90,000)

Therefore your downpayment is $90,000.  Don’t forget this number.  We will re-visit it later…

The property produces a $500/month net cash flow. (This is on the high side for Toronto, but I am using easy math to help illustrate this example)

You annualize your cash flow by multiplying $500 by 12 months.  This gives you ($500 * 12 = $6,000)

Therefore, you have $6,000 annual cash flow from the property.

Since you have provided a $90,000 downpayment, and the purchase price of the home was $450,000, this leaves you with a $360,000 mortgage.  ($450,000 – $90,000 = $360,000)

Now let’s assume that you obtain a first mortgage in the amount of $360,000 at a 2.5% interest rate and amortized over 30 years. (What is Mortgage Amortization)

Using a mortgage calculator, we can figure out that your monthly mortgage payment would be $1,422/month.

Now here is where we use some creative math.  Let’s assume that 50% of your monthly mortgage payment of $1,422 is principal, and 50% of the payment is interest.

If you use a mortgage calculator for this, you will see that the breakdown is not actually fifty-fifty.  However, I am using 50% just to make the math easy.

As such, 50% of $1,422 is $711.

This means that the mortgage amount of $360,000 is paid down by $711 each month.

We want to know how much the mortgage is paid down annually (or at least in the first year), so we take $711 and multiply it by 12 months, which gives us $8,532.  This number is also important.  We are going to re-visit it shortly.

If the property that you purchased for $450,000 appreciates at 2%, that would mean that the property would go up in value by $9,000 in the first year.  We get this number by taking $450,000 and multiplying it by 2%.

I am using 2% as an extremely conservative figure.  The real estate market in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area has far surpassed this figure over the past several years.   

So now we take our return on our capital from year one.

We have $6,000 annual cash flow

We have $8,532 annual mortgage pay down

And we have $9,000 property appreciation in year one.

Now we add up all of these numbers…

$6,000 + $8,352 + $9,000

This equals…

$23,532

We now take this amount (the total amount you have made in year one), and divide it by your initial investment of $90,000. Which gives us…

$23,532 / $90,000 = 26.1%

So as you can see from the math above, you can make a 26.1% return on your investment (in year one) by investing in real estate.

Happy Investing!

-Neil

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

Many people believe that the best place to invest their money is in the stock market.

I disagree.

Investing in real estate, and buying a rental property allows you to obtain a much better Return on Investment.

If you are someone who is looking to buy their first rental property, please take a moment and listen to my PODCAST.

In the PODCAST I talk about how you can benefit from:

A) Cash Flow

B) Mortgage Pay down, and;

C) Appreciation.  

I named the PODCAST:

3 Reasons Why Buying A Rental Property Is Better Than Investing In The Stock Market.

In the PODCAST I talk about the Toronto real estate market and Toronto Condos as well.  Having said that, this investment approach can apply to any City that is suitable to invest in.

You can listen to it by clicking on the play button below:

I hope you enjoy the PODCAST.  It is worth listening to!

Happy Investing!

-Neil

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

If you are a new real estate investor looking to buy your first rental property, it is crucial that you make smart financial decisions as you navigate the Toronto real estate market.

It is important for you to know that buying a condo in Toronto can be a REALLY bad investment.

It can be a terrible investment if you don’t know what you are doing, and if you forget to do 3 major things…

To find out the 3 reasons why buying a condo in Toronto is the worst investment you will ever make, you can listen to my PODCAST, by pressing on the “play” button below.

Happy Investing!

-Neil.

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

If you are a new real estate investor looking to buy your first rental property, there are 2 things I would recommend to you:

A) Consider purchasing a condo in Toronto.

B) Listen to my new PODAST called, HOW TO FIND A TENANT FOR YOUR TORONTO CONDO.

You can listen to this PODCAST by clicking on the “Play Button” below:

The reality is that Toronto condos are a property type in which new and experienced investors are placing their money.

The Toronto real estate market is a great place to invest.

I have personally invested here, and plan to continue investing in the City of Toronto.

I hope you enjoy the PODCAST.

Happy Investing!

-Neil.

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

I always get asked by new real estate investors where they should buy their first rental property.

There are many cities and countries you can potentially invest in.

My favourite city to invest in is Toronto.

Here is why:

A)  Lack of Supply

If you are not familiar with what is going on with the Toronto real estate market recently, let me tell you.

Prices of properties have been going up at record levels.  This is especially true of “detached homes” both in the City of Toronto, and in the Greater Toronto Area.

Due to the fact that prices are going up with Detached homes, this is now having an effect on the prices of condos in Toronto.

Fewer people can afford the price of detached homes now, so more people are gravitating toward condos.

The lack of supply with detached homes, will cause condos to increase in price as well.  There will be more and more people looking to buy condos in Toronto as the real estate market continues to rise.

Which means that a condo that you buy today will be worth more in the future.

B) People Are Coming

If you don’t know this, let me tell you.

People are coming from all around the world to live in Toronto, and the surrounding areas of Toronto.

Toronto is a beautiful and vibrant multi-cultural city.

As more people continue to come to the Toronto area, this will cause there to be more demand on the housing in Toronto.

With more demand, come increasing prices.

Which again means that if you buy a condo today, it will be worth more in the future.

C)  Toronto Has Jobs

Toronto is the financial “capital” of Canada.

Major banks, Insurance Companies, and Hospitals are big time employers in Toronto.

Not to mention, start up companies, and marketing firms…

Anyone that is familiar with Toronto knows that people commute from all over Ontario to come into Toronto to work.

People drive or take the train to enter the city.

Due the fact that there are so many jobs in Toronto, and that people travel into Toronto to work, this proves to be favourable for the real estate market.

Often people want to ‘ditch’ the commute, and live closer to their jobs.  Especially younger generations.

Lots of people don’t like spending so much time in the car, and want to have more free time.

This is the reason why people move into Toronto, to be closer to their jobs.

This in turn, increases demand for Toronto real estate, as more and more people want to live in the City.

Once again, with increased demand, prices of condos will be going up in price.

Which means that a condo that you buy today, will be worth more in the future.

What Do You Do Now?

We know that people are coming to Toronto, and there is a lack of supply of housing.

We know that this is going to cause condos in the City to rise in price.

So what do you do with this information?

You can:

a) Do nothing about it.

b) Buy a Toronto condo as your first rental property.

The choice is yours.

I know what I would do………….

Happy Investing!

Neil

Hi Folks,

I hope you are doing well.

With real estate prices rising to record levels in the Toronto area, some people are beginning to speculate that condos will soon be priced so high, they will soon be out of the reach of the average buyer.

Could this actually happen?

Seriously, could condo prices rise high enough, that the majority of people will not be able to buy one?

In my personal view… it could happen.

Daniel Tencer of the Huffington Post writes,

“Single-detached home prices in the city of Toronto jumped by 32.3 per cent in a year, and now average $1.35 million. In the surrounding 905 region, detached homes jumped 25.5 per cent and are now on the verge of hitting the $1-million mark, at $957,517.”

For those of you that are not familiar with the Toronto area, the “905 Region” consists of cities surrounding the City of Toronto.

In his article, Daniel mentions that as real estate prices continue to rise, single detached homes remain far out of the reach of most of Toronto’s first time buyers.

Further, Daniel states that:

“Prices for condos in Toronto jumped 13.5 per cent (since 2015) to $471,256.”

Not only did condo prices jump in Toronto, they also went up in price in the “905 Region”.  According to Daniel:

“…the average condo there (in the 905 Region) jumped 18.9 per cent in price in the past year, to $374,792.”

So what does this all mean?

It could mean that Toronto’s home ownership rate is going to start to drop, as some experts have predicted already.

Just take a look at this.

This is the “Average Annual Toronto Sale Price” dating back to 1970.

If prices continue to rise in this manner, as you can see in the chart above, this will result in more people becoming renters for life, unless a major correction in price occurs.

This is where the opportunity lies.

If there is one piece of advice I can give you, it is this…

BUY A CONDO IN TORONTO NOW !

Condos are still affordable and they are a great investment for new real estate investors, looking to buy their first rental property.

Or, they can be a smart investment for the veteran real estate investor, looking to purchase his/her 4th property.

The tenant profile (as long as you do your due diligence) is excellent in Toronto.

I own condos in Toronto myself, and they have been a fantastic investment.

But Remember…

Don’t delay.

Buy now and prosper.

If not, you may become a statistic.

You may be priced out of the Toronto real estate market, like so many other people who did not take action.

Happy Investing!

Neil

Hi There,

I hope you are doing well.

If you don’t know what is going on with the Toronto real estate market, it is time I should fill you in.

To simply put it…

The Toronto real estate market is on fire.

Thus far in 2016, Toronto has experienced significant demand for detached homes.  At the same time there has been a lack of inventory available.

As such this has caused a supply and demand issue, in that there are so few listings available for sale, the demand for these homes is driving prices up at record levels.

If you are from the Greater Toronto Area, or have knowledge of the real estate market there, this is NOT new news for you.

Whether you are from the Greater Toronto Area or not, this could be a great opportunity for you.

Many experts are forecasting that the supply and demand issue in Toronto is going to last for year to come.

The reason for this is because, there are approximately 100,000 new people coming to live in the Greater Toronto Area each year (according to some sources).

Forecasts indicate that the Toronto real estate market is becoming an International real estate market, similar to New York, London, and Hong Kong.

Further to that, experts forecast that over the next 25 years, 4 million new people will be coming to live in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding areas.

As this unfolds, the cost of detaches homes will continue to sky rocket.  (increase )

This is where there is opportunity for you if you are looking to invest in real estate.

Condos, especially condos in Toronto, are going to be the property type that people gravitate towards.

Condos will be the only property type that most people will be able to afford.  (Some think Toronto’s Middle Class is about to be priced out of the condo market.)

In addition, with the increase of prices, condos will increasingly become a property type that people will be looking to rent.

As a real estate investor, you should be looking to buy Toronto Condos.

I am going to go into more detail in my next blog post.

For now, it is important to remember this:

If you are looking to buy your first rental property, or if you are an experienced real estate investor looking to buy your 5th rental property, there is tremendous opportunity in buying Toronto real estate, in particular, condos in Toronto.

Happy Investing!

-Neil