Real Estate Blog for Buyers & Sellers
Your Lower Mainland and BC REALTOR® for home, investment & life!
The Top 3 Places to Invest in Canada for 2023
October 25, 2022 | Posted by: Michele Cummins
Warning! This is an automated transcript of the show so there will be spelling mistakes throughout. Including the spelling of Michele's name!
Curtis Pope:
Oh, here we are another Saturday morning. It's time for the Cummins Real Estate Group show of course myself Curtis Pope and the star of the show, local Rockstar realtor Michelle Cummins, who's coming to us from Quebec City. Good morning, Michelle.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Good morning class. You know, I love where we live, of course a great Fraser Valley, British Columbia, but I am really enthralled with Quebec City. It is absolutely amazing. It's my first time here and I kind of don't want to leave. I don't want to leave.
Curtis Pope:
Well, you know, I have heard that Quebec City is absolutely beautiful. A lot of great architecture, a lot of great food and a lot of great people. So you're in a good spot.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
It's true. Everyone has been so nice. And you will be proud of me. I have not tried to speak French so I haven't made a fool of myself.
Curtis Pope:
Well, that's good because I know I can tease you because you are American by birth. I speak French like an American and I suspect you probably do too.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Okay, can you say hello? How are you?
Curtis Pope:
Oh, you know all I remember from French in school is fair mela boosh and fair Mae Laporte, which means Shut your mouth and shut the door because I sat at the back of the class by the door.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Of course. I only learned Spanish, you know, growing up in Orange County, California, so I didn't get the love the language though. French is so gorgeous. On the flight here. The stewardess like saying all the rules in French is so beautiful. It's very cool. I love it. And they're so nice here. Everyone's been great. But without further ado, you know, I'm very excited to because here I've been at the REMAX conference, the great Canadian conference, and we haven't had it in years because of COVID. So excited to be back and meeting all of my colleagues and networking, my listings with them, and really growing my relationships. And there's three beautiful realtors, we have with us today that we are going to interview and I know I did a teaser, you know last show we did about that. And we chose three of the top places to invest in Canada for 2023 and the three top Realtors in their areas that know their area that help their clients invest in the right properties. And I'm so excited that they're with us today. So we have our first guest is from Lavelle, Quebec. Yes. That is one of the areas in the list for 2023. We have Catherine on the line. Hi, Catherine. Hi, Michelle. How are you? I'm very good. How are you today and thank you for joining us. Awesome. I'm really excited to be on your show. Thank you for coming. Okay. Tell us all about your city. I've never been there myself. So I lived in Laval since 1980. It is a beautiful city. I've seen the growth and the change over the years. And I have to say it's Laval is the third largest city in Quebec and it's the largest suburb of Montreal. I do not know that. Yeah. So Labatt continues to be an affordable city for Montreal errs with a 15 minute drive over the five bridges or two highways. I originally lived in Montreal, and we moved to Laval in 1980 because it was affordable. So the city has important transportation infrastructure was like I said for highways, metro stations. And we the population of Laval is over 438 residents, which has increased by 3.6%. Over the last five years. What do you think makes your area ripe for investing in 2023? Why you made the list? Well, for various reasons. The the we have amazing services, starting with downtown Lavell. A psalmody is the downtown core of lapel which is by the way where my office is. And we have attractions such as St. droplist. We've got beautiful shops restaurants. And the advantage of living in Laval versus Montreal is that parking is so accessible and often without a charge. We have charged for Laval which which is the shopping mall, one of the largest shopping malls in Quebec. We've got the Bell Center, which houses the rockets, the hockey team. We have the University of Montreal, the college and what we're finding is that we're also we have a lot of people Pull some from Montreal that instead of going downtown to, to shop or are coming to look out for the and the reason being that it's so much easier to park your car It doesn't cost you anything that makes sense. I actually stopped and had one night in Old Montreal on my way here to Quebec City. And it's just beautiful in that whole area this whole area. But Quebec city is beautiful too. I was there in June of this year. And okay, I have to ask because prices and BC in my area completely different than out here. And what are the average prices or meeting prices in your area? Yeah, so the sales of single family homes and condominiums have increased over the last five years by 75%. The median price range for a single family home is $555,000 and for condominium $385,000 Well that's affordable Hey, do you have a lot of like Airbnb ease in the area? Do they allow that in the area? What some other types of good investments? Yeah, so Airbnb ease will not be allowed in most of the condo condominium. But what we're finding is we're selling triplex four Plex five Plex where a single owner will buy and, and run an Airbnb. But in the condominium buildings, we're not allowed most and most of them are, it's something that is not permitted. It was like that for a long time in Vancouver to there was a Vancouver city bylaw against it. So now, that's an individual stratas to decide if they want to allow it or not. And I think there's only last time I heard the tally was only like 11 stratas in all of Vancouver city that would allow it. Also, Michelle, I wanted to say we have many attractions in Laval, such as natural parks, museums, golf courses, and we also have the loonie, which is there too. It's a magical attraction by Cavalleria. It is promoted in two places. One in Ontario, Mississauga Ontario, and one in Laval, Quebec. Oh, thank you for sharing that. So, Curtis, have you ever been there?
Curtis Pope:
You know, I have actually not been to Quebec yet. And it's something that I really want to do. I've I've only been as East as Ontario.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Oh, and that area is our next guest. So with that great segue. Catherine, thank you so much for coming on. And we really appreciate you sharing your insight with us and our listeners. Thank you. Thank you so much, Michelle. And if anyone in the audience is looking to relocate to abou contact a member of the topic risk to team. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too. Our next guest is Natta Covenant as she is from Cornwall, Ontario. And that is the next one actually, that I do not put in order of best places. These are just three of the top places and yes, Cornwall, Ontario made it and welcome that. So hi, guys, how are you? Good. I want to ask you a question that my first one is the same one I gave Catherine is it tell us about your city. So Cornwall is a pretty interesting location. We're an hour south of Ottawa. We're an hour from Montreal and we actually sit on the American border. So we have a lot of different opportunities with our city. And we're on the St. Lawrence River, which is really nice. So we have beautiful, beautiful views. It's a great area. And you know it's a small city. But if you want to access anything large Costco or shopping it within 45 minutes to an hour to any of those large accommodations. I love that river is so gorgeous though to us. I love it. Okay, so what do you think makes your area one of the best places to invest for next year. So myself I also invested I have 20 units in Cornwall and one of them and Airbnb. I think the reason why investors are coming to Cornwall is because the it's it's a low purchase price. So you can buy a unit between 125,000 A unit 250,000 A unit and the rent for that is a two bedroom you can get 1600 a month to you know as high as 1800 a month for certain units. So your rate of return on these investments is so Hi. We're usually about an 8% cap rate on our investment properties. Wow, that is so good. That is really good. Okay, I think we have to go on break but I wanted to come He's talking about that. Okay, great.
Curtis Pope:
All right, well, we can take a quick break here since you're giving me that not so subtle hint, Michelle, but it's time for a break. If people want more information about your listings and what you do as a realtor and all that fun stuff, where can they go? Michelle commons.ca We'll be back with more right after this. We are back with segment number two of the Cummins Real Estate Group show I'm Curtis Pope. And of course we have Michelle Cummins on location in Quebec and course we were talking about Cornwall, Ontario before went to break Michelle. And I think that's a good comparable to Abbotsford which it's like an hour south of Ottawa, the big center there. And I know it's a border town much like Abbotsford. So it's kind of a good comparable, I think,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
wish we had 8% cap rate and Abbotsford. Ah. That's why Abbotsford isn't in the top three and Canada. I think we made the list. Was it 2019? I believe if I remember? I think so. Yeah. Okay. So before the break, we were talking about the great cap rates and equity growth, right, you were saying you guys have also have really good equity growth. We do. I in the last couple of years, we've been of course dealing with COVID. And we've had, you know, 30% year over year on our properties. But on average, we're, we normally in a normal time, we're about five to 7% a value increase on our properties as well. And our population is constantly growing. I think COVID Not that it was a good thing. But it was good for Cornwall, because it got us recognized because it was such an affordable place to live and you could work remotely still hop on a train get into Toronto in under four hours. That makes sense. What okay, what are your average prices for let's say detached and scrap? Right. So we're about 430,000 for a detached bungalow in the city of Cornwall. I love that like bungalow I know. And it's super affordable. It's great family town. So we're able to have families come in that can afford the prices of our homes. versus you know, you can you can even buy. I have to say it because we are a waterfront town, you can buy a home on the water for you know, not large, but for under a million dollars. You can still get on the St. Lawrence River, which I think is super huge. That is oh my gosh, waterfront property. And so what about strata? What's your kind of average there? condo or townhouse? So condos, there isn't a ton of them. And even though we're a retirement city, there's not a ton of condos. We are still again around the 400,000 price point for them are townhouses is surprising actually, some of our townhouses are actually going for the same price as our single family homes, and they're still around the 400,000. Mark, I think just in a general sense. It's the four 450 is where we keep sticking. We've even had some of our semi detached homes sell for 500,000. But our average usually 60 from the foreign forces. So that's interesting to your retirement community, what what kind of amenities are there for that lifestyle? I think we have great bike paths, which is something we've actually been recognized for. We're one of the top cities in Ontario for bypass, which I don't think it gets, it gets recognized enough. It's slow paced, you can get across the city within 10 minutes. So if you need to go from one end to the other, you're literally there without traffic in 10 minutes. Most of its single lane because again, no traffic. It's very common when you're in the city of Cornwall. And we do have a lot of you know, we've got large super Walmart stores and everything like that. So you also have access to Costco, Costco, either in Ottawa or go droid which is between an hour and 45 minutes away. What are some of the other things that we should know that makes really it a great place to invest in or what type of investments are the best investments? I definitely think the duplexes for plexes are our best investments in To do Cornwall, all of our income properties, the rate of return is so high on them. So it's definitely your and like I said cap rates can be 8% was definitely think if you're going to invest in the city of Cornwall that you want to be investing. We also do really well with our waterfront Airbnb because you can buy them at an affordable rate, your return on them and I have one myself your return on them are so good that it's just a great area to invest in. Especially because you have families, some of them half of them are in Ottawa, half of them are in Montreal, Cardinals a central location. This is a beautiful place to visit. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you giving us that insight for your area and for you as an investor and amazing salesperson yourself. Thank you so much guys. And if you're looking to shop in Cornwall with a covenant group with REMAX affiliates, marquee suites, okay, okay, our next guest. We have is also makes it in Ontario. We have Casey here, Casey, thank you and Casey's with Whistler out of Windsor. I am yeah,
Casey Harnadek:
thank you so much for having me really continue that.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Okay, so a question I've been asking everyone, of course is, tell us about your city. Okay, Windsor, we
Casey Harnadek:
are a border town. And we also have a lot of waterfront. Park footage, I guess you could say like we are at the end of Ontario's southernmost point. And cities have water literally all around our county. So when I say I work in Windsor, I work in Windsor, Essex County, where we work the whole bottom portion of Ontario. And we're blue collar cities. So we have a lot of blue collar jobs and a lot of different. It's kind of like a melting pot, you have so many different ethnicities that kind of emigrate to our area where they come in, and
Michele Cummins - PREC:
they're big immigration growth still happening and we planned on happening. Okay, so is that what are some of the is that some of the ways obviously, that you are on the map for one of the best places to invest in but what other things do you think really bought your area?
Casey Harnadek:
Right now, I would say for 2023, we have a lot of job growth. So manufacturing tech sector. With all these blue collar jobs, we have the silhouette interest. Totally butchering right there, the battery plant coming into the hospital coming. We have a new border crossing that's being built right now. We have a new Amazon plant coming to where you have jobs, you have people needing housing. So I think that's honestly probably where we fall in the map.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Makes sense? Okay, and what are your average prices?
Casey Harnadek:
Yeah, so the average price last month was 523,000. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. pretty affordable. They're down to 1000 from March, so we dropped a little bit. And that's where our investments come in. Because they're like, Wow, your prices are really amazing right now. But like I was saying, the rental rates are so high, right? They are capitalized on, on lower prices. That's why now is such a good time to be a buyer and investor. It is such a great time to buy, not where I mean, in one of the sessions that we are including. So this is her last name she she was talking about. yourself. Yeah. So she's talking about investing. And getting buyers buyers are the key right now. And honestly, our investors have still been there. They're like, yes, now we want to get in, because he's getting more of that happening. And I can get an amazing deal. On a cash cow essentially,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
how quickly our listing selling, they're like, within navigate,
Casey Harnadek:
it probably about us, like three weeks to a month for an average listing. So gone are the days where we have listing selling, you know, hours and I in a week, you know, depending if someone puts in a pre emptive offer or not. But they're sitting a bit longer. And then it's just pricing strategy to you know, we're still kind of a mixed market where some agents are listing low, sell high, and some are listing at market value expecting to maybe negotiate a little bit. So do you
Michele Cummins - PREC:
see a lot of price reductions right now happening?
Casey Harnadek:
Or lists or they just stay in the market a little longer because those sellers have the execution of prices from a few months ago, so it just takes a little longer to get that
Michele Cummins - PREC:
result? What are the best types of investments in your area for people or think about
Casey Harnadek:
most definitely one site to have more than one. University. So our city is a little bit different than others where our university district has a lot more of your lower income, higher rentals. Not necessarily the most desired area of your city. But you can rent out the rooms you can, you know, there are different residential zoning so you have like 1.1 or 2.1 3.1 We can make it into like a residential dwellings an additional dwelling unit in the basement, that sort of thing. So you really like your your upstairs unit makes you pay your bills, and then you earn investment back and that's so great for like first time investors who are first time buyers, where they can live in it and then have some experts, you know, pay down that mortgage having somebody giving housing to people to it works for that's a great way of getting in the market. But so many people don't have that mindset. They're like, I'm a first time homebuyer, I want a single family home, I want my own home and like, Okay, you're young, you know,
Unknown:
buy this home,
Casey Harnadek:
where are you can literally live, like right mortgage free,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
have someone else pay your bill for a little while. Build up your equity in your home, sell it later, and then buy your family home later, like making smart investments is for investment. I have a couple of smart clients that have done that. And they've been really good for themselves. Yeah. Okay, what else would you like to tell us about your area? I've
Casey Harnadek:
never, I've never been there either. No. So Windsor, I was born and raised there. So partial to it. But it's it wants to be willing to live right in Windsor. But if you want like a county feel then go to maybe you make sure or ethics or analytical or TiVo and they all offer something different, whether it was the location of it, or the town itself and things they offer. So there's really something for everyone. And it's nice, during you know, summer, when there's festivals going on, you're like, Okay, there's always something happening. Emmitsburg there's like your fireworks on July 1 Or your open streets in Kingsville all throughout the summer. So they close down the streets, and all the restaurants set up on the street and they have live music and it's a great place to be so anytime that you want something happening. It's literally like what can I do this weekend? And there it is. How fun
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Hey, Curtis, why don't you just bring your roadshow out to Windsor here?
Curtis Pope:
Well, you know, I haven't been to Windsor yet myself. But I've always wanted to go because I heard Steve Perry from Journey talking one time and interview when he wrote don't stop believing. And he threw that line in there about born and raised in South Detroit. There really isn't a South Detroit. It's called Windsor. We had a
Casey Harnadek:
barn in South Detroit as well. And I mean, like we really people don't think of us being lower than Detroit. But we really are lots of like fun things to do in Detroit as well. So for it being a border city literally is barring that there's no traffic backup. You could be in Detroit in five minutes. And then you know, have access to all their sports and venues and everything like that. We have our casino we have entertainment there as well. So like definitely types of things to do. Why haven't I been there yet? I don't know.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Oh, thank you so much for coming. This has been so fantastic. So much fun. I don't want it to stop. Curtis, can we keep going? Sure. Why not? Perfect. So were we we don't have Katherine here anymore. But nada and you have anything else you want to share with our listeners before we before we go about your area or any tips. I definitely think the best thing that actually that Cassie said was as a young and I did it myself, buy a property with income. It really is honestly the best investment you'll make. I lived in a property. That was my first duplex. My husband and I lived on one side rented out the other and we'll because Cardinals so affordable, literally saved up enough money to buy our waterfront dream home because we did that we lived there for years. And it really gave us a huge opportunity. And now because of that we own so many rentals. So I think you start small you live in your own unit and you move forward that way. That's good advice. And Katie, anything else before we end our show that I totally forgot to plug my team. My lovely other ladies did.
Casey Harnadek:
If you are going to be moving to Windsor, Essex or even Chatham, Kent County. Contact me contacting Lauren from ReMax Realty and we would love to help you through that journey.
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Thank you. Well, Chris, I would normally have I have all my open houses and you know, few of my new listings coming up, but I am going to leave it in the hands of our listeners to go to my website or my social media and have a look at all the open houses happening this weekend. And I have wonderful agents hosting them for me, and I got some amazing listings and a few new ones coming up. So have a look at my website and my socials and thank you for listening.
Curtis Pope:
Okay, so people want to go to that website. Let's just remind him that address again as we do every episode, but still, top of mind awareness will tell them again, what's your website address,
Michele Cummins - PREC:
Michele comm.ca
Curtis Pope:
And join us again next week when we will talk real estate in order to unlock your real estate potential on the show where real estate is maximized. Thanks for listening
If you missed last week's episode where we talk with Corinne Janzen of Fraser Valley Essential Staging please go take a listen! It's well worth it!