Buying a Condo As an Investment?
Over the years I have help investors buy properties and one of the better investments are condo townhouses, especially for out of town buyers and those who wish to be less hands on. Here are a few ideas.
Some Smart Buyer Examples!
Over the past few months I and my associates have worked with 7 under 30's men and woman who wisely bought either a condo apartment or a townhouse in London Ontario and had help in reducing their living expenses and for two of them, earning about $200 month over their mortgage, taxes, utilities and condo fees!
How did they do it?
Not to make this article a 30 minute dissertation on my principles on investing and for brevity sakes, here is how one did it.
He works for a gaming company here in London and by his words, a 'nerd'. He had been following my blogs amd website for 8 months and finally emailed me that he was thinking about buying a house or a condo in London.
We met in my office and went over his perceived criteria, his fears , financing and his ideal property for resale because he felt headhunters would be coming after him in a year or two and wanted to ensure that if he sold his property, he could come out ahead and make some money.
After doing what I call 'Market Education' (we looked at 3 houses in various parts of London & 4 condos, 2 apartments and 2 townhouses) we then sat down again and he was much more informed of what he could afford and the style he preferred. He chose a townhouse because of the long and weird hours he was working and thought a hammer was a female hamster! (I s**t you not!)
At his work, his company is growing rapidly, people coming and going and we discussed about how he could maybe rent out a room and still have privacy, yet help in paying down his mortgage.
Well, that was a no-brainer! He had 5 co-workers who jumped at the idea. I helped him buy a 3 bedroom townhouse for a good price that offered some individual privacy and a place that was move in ready.
His mortgage payments, condo fees and taxes came to $912 per month ( he was paying $850 a month for a dinky apartment) and got a co-worker to rent a room for $500 per month and share the utilities! Also, I suggested he meet with one of the lenders I use, ( he said he was pre-approved by a morgage broker , I said he should get another opinion), which he did, and he saved .7% in interest fees, less hassles and did not have to spend 13 hours filling out forms, documents and what colour socks he wore!
Who's the nerd now?
He was so pleased in how the whole process worked, he referred me to some of his co-workers, even one of the co-founders of the company. They are happy and I am happy!
You can be too!
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