It helps to have "Peeping Toms"
for
Long Distance Real Estate
Investing
by Julie Broad  Startled
by the couple wandering around the yard, and looking in
windows she decided to yell over to them and ask what they
were doing. "Excuse me, are you looking for something?"
she called as she watched the couple peak into the
basement window. My parents replied, "Um, our daughter is
considering buying this house, and she told us it was
vacant and asked us to look around. She lives in Toronto,
and needs to be sure this is a good investment".
Thankfully the neighbour believed my parents, and was kind
enough to tell them more about the area, but it could have
ended a little differently had the neighbour just called
the police on my peeping parents!
Unable to find anything that met our goals in Toronto, we
began searching for a property in Vancouver or Nanaimo to
invest in.
Vancouver turned out to be a bigger financial committment
than we were prepared to make at that time, so we eventually
focused on Nanaimo. We found a place, put in an offer,
negotiated the deal and closed on our purchase from Toronto. I
did not see the property before we bought it. In fact, we have
had it for almost a year, and I still have not seen the
property.
How did we do this? First of all, Dave grew up in Nanaimo
and knows it very well. This is the fourth property we have
bought in Nanaimo (fifth if you count the one Dave bought with
his mom many years ago), and we have a very reliable and
trustworthy real estate agent and property manager, Lindsay
Widsten. Dave kept in close contact with Lindsay, and kept his
eye on MLS listings to spot opportunities.
Second, we both have family in and around Nanaimo. Dave's
Mom did the initial walk through with Lindsay when the
opportunity arose. She sent us photos and described it to us in
detail. My parents went over on a different day, and walked
around the block and peaked in the windows.
There is not much you can't do over fax, phone and email
these days. All our negotiations were done via Lindsay over the
fax and phone. We had our lawyer here notarize our signatures
on the purchase, with another lawyer in BC acting on our behalf
for the purchase. We used the same fantastic mortgage broker in
BC, Cindy Faulkner, who has convinced many lenders to loan us
money at great rates. Finally, we had Lindsay rent it out and
manage it for us.
It helps to have the right resources, and to have some
knowledge of an area to make a purchase. It definitely makes it
more comfortable. And, if you don't need to see your investment
on a regular basis then it's definitely worth looking in other
locations to find your investments. It gives you more
flexibility, and may diversify your risk of market crashes
because those are often very geographically focused.
Published June 16,
2006
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