Thank's for sharing your foolproof method Mike. That is really great and super helpful.
Anyway, ovovov. You have the right idea as far as positive cash flow being the most important. That is a calculation that you can make yourself pretty easily. Marko has the right idea that the way to go is small condos. You're not going to make any money buying a penthouse to rent out. Stay small and stay cheap. Find a dozen condos and do the calculations which is pretty easy. Look on usedvic, craigslist, and padmapper to get a guage of rents for equivalent places.
Then Rent * 0.95 (to account for vacancies) - Mortgage - strata - homeowners insurance - maintenance allowance.
The standard way to compare real estate investments is via the cap rate. http://www.investope...izationrate.asp
As others have said, the best time to jump in was a couple years ago, but that doesn't mean there is no opportunity. Appreciation on condos has been about zero for 8 years now. We are still not back to levels of 2008. That is good news for potential future appreciation, because condos have gone nowhere, and lost some 10-20% once you factor in inflation. Another factor is that a number of new builds are rentals, so not quite the flood of new condos about to hit the market like we have had.
Detached houses have picked up hugely in the last couple months, but condos haven't yet been swept up. I suspect that once some people get priced out of detached homes they will move to condos. It was similar in our last correction, where detached houses started appreciating about a year before condos. However I think that window is closing. My guess is you have a couple months before condo prices start moving up more quickly.
Edited by LeoVictoria, 03 April 2016 - 07:42 AM.