Written by MARLENE EISNER, The Gazette, 30 March 2013

Two factors led Jennifer Lynn Walker into real estate — a friend, and a book. It was the friend who suggested it would be fun to become brokers together. That was eight years ago and since then, the two have gone their separate ways.A couple of years later, Walker read Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad and was introduced to the world of real-estate investment. Kiyosaki’s notion of building one’s wealth with passive income through assets has stuck with Walker to this day.

“He considers real estate that gives you money as an asset, but when it takes money out of your pocket, it’s a liability,” she said.

“In the investment world, when you buy a house and a condo and rent it out, it is an investment. If you live in it, it’s a liability.”

The Montreal native, who has a background in sales and marketing, took that advice to heart. Six years ago, when she and her husband were looking to buy their first house, they chose a duplex in Lachine. The couple lived on the main level and rented out the top floor, using that income to pay the mortgage and renovate their unit. When the tenant upstairs left, they gutted the interior and renovated it as well. After the dust settled and they had two attractive, highly rentable units, they began searching for something else.

“We remortgaged to get money to buy another property,” Walker said. “I was looking for a duplex, but we decided to buy a house. The beautiful thing about this right now is that we make $2,000 a month in income from the duplex, and after our expenses, we have a profit of $1,000 a month — which pays for our house. So in a sense we have no mortgages, but we have the equity of two properties.”

Walker is so passionate about the benefits of investment properties that in 2010 she founded Montreal Real Estate Investors, a free-to-join online organization that now has approximately 220 members.

Her intention in starting the group was to share her knowledge, bring people together, and to provide herself with an opportunity to learn as well.

“In the group, people help each other,” said the 45-year-old real-estate broker.

While the social meet-ups are free, Walker organizes speakers who specialize in some aspect of real-estate investment. For these events, she charges a nominal fee to cover the cost of the room.
“Our members are bilingual, but the speakers are English, which is nice in a sense because there is a huge French investors club in Montreal, but I don’t know of any other English real-estate club in Montreal that’s my size.”

People who are interested in venturing into the real-estate investment arena should do their research, Walker said, and determine beforehand how much time they want to put into their endeavours.

“There are many types of investors and I tell beginners to set goals of where they want to be because it could be a part-time job or it could be a full-time job.

“For me, it’s a part-time job and part of my retirement portfolio. I enjoy it, but I don’t want to put tons of hours into the investing business.”

Once people have decided the amount of time they want to spend, the next step is to choose the kind of property they wish to purchase, since each one comes with its own benefits and challenges.

Commercial properties carry a higher risk, Walker said, but the return is greater than with residential units. Leases are different as well, since the commercial domain is not regulated by the Régie du logement — but there is more involvement with l awyers and notaries. For anyone thinking of investing in the new condos going up in the city, Walker recommends choosing units that are not the cookie-cutter variety — units that have a garage and are unique in some way to increase the resell potential.

But regardless the choice of property, the goal is always the same: more money coming in than going out.

“There is a lot to consider — the market, the interest-rate fluctuation — you don’t want to be strung up with each property, or choked. If there is a little fluctuation, you will be caught. If the interest rates go up significantly and you go to remortgage your property, your monthly payments will go up.”

Walker is content with her holdings — for now.

She and her husband plan to buy something else in three or four years. Investing in real estate, she said, is a solid way for her to save for retirement.

“If you’re living here, and you’re trying to build roots and a lifestyle, there’s no other way to go,” she said. “Real estate holds its ground. Even if there was a big drop in the market, eventually it will go back up.”
Written by MARLENE EISNER, The Gazette, 30 March 2013