Natasha Phipps: This is such a good question. First of all, I love your point on the Canadian real estate market. It's so true, even within a city, even for Calgary. I'm always talking about suburban market and downtown market too.
They're often doing two different things. And so even just reminding people of that is awesome. I love that. For Calgary in particular, people tend to be looking mostly for buy and hold opportunities. They're looking for a place to kind of put their money for the next while. Given a lot of the investors we work with are not here locally. They're looking for more turnkey properties that they don't need to go do a bunch of work to.
Sarah Larbi: REITE Club Nation, it's Sarah Larbi Here I am joined with Paul Copcutt. Hey Paul. How are you doing?
Paul Copcutt: Great, thank you Sarah.
Sarah Larbi: How are you? Good, good. I'm excited for today. I love interviewing Natasha Phipps. She's always been a great guest, continues to be a great guest, brings in tons of value insights, and if you are interested in looking and seeing what's happening and what works in Calgary in Alberta, this is going to be the show for you. But before we get into that, Paul, what's new and exciting?
Paul Copcutt: Keeping busy with, uh, with real estate projects, um, it's great to have the REITE club going back out, live again now. We've got a great event lined up, uh, which, uh, probably by the time yeah, by the time this one comes out, it may have passed.
But if you missed it, then we'll have recorded it and have on the website. But it's all about, uh, garden suites and we're actually gonna have. Garden suite in the car park on a trailer for somebody's a view, which is gonna be pretty. We did that few, do you remember We did that few years ago, Sarah, the tiny home?
Sarah Larbi: The tiny home. I remember that. That's awesome. I'm excited. I think that's November 8th, so it'll probably be past. But you guys should always be checking our calendar of events thereiteclub.com, go to the calendars page and then you can see everything that's happening. And now we are. But we're also doing some Zoom stuff, so if you are further away and you can't make it out, we are also doing some Zoom and of course our podcasts and lots of great events in between.
But yeah, no, I think it's exciting. I can't wait to see it. Sure. It'll be, uh, it'll be a hit. So on that note, guys, I hope you enjoy the podcast. Don't forget to leave a rating and a review. And, uh, again, check out the website, uh, set up your profile. You can start connecting with each other. But most importantly, you don't also attend our events, uh, at thereiteclub.com. Let's bring in Natasha.
Natasha, welcome to the show. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing? Good, good. Last time you were on was, um, around a year ago, let's just say. I can't remember exactly when. And, uh, you provide lots of great insights, so we're excited to have you back. What's, uh, what's been new in the last year since you've been on last?
Natasha Phipps: Well, there's a lot been going on. Um, it's amazing what can change in a year, obviously. Um, Covid is hopefully finally behind us and we're all getting out and about. I have been intending live conferences this fall, so that's been really exciting going through and seeing people, um, live again. And in terms of Calgary, where I am, uh, there's just so much excitement kind of building over a month here in Calgary in terms of newcomers and, um, all kinds of new industry and businesses popping up here in Calgary. It's a really exciting time here.
Paul Copcutt: Are you seeing a lot of, uh, investors from outside of Calgary stepping in?
Natasha Phipps: For the last several years, it's been a very consistent flow of investment mainly from Ontario into Alberta. I keep joking that Ontario's gonna own Alberta soon just because, just the sheer amount of people. I talk to people from Ontario almost every single day. Um, in terms of, uh, Investors, but then now also people looking to relocate as well. And the relocating conversation, I'd say is more prevalent in the last year than in, you know, the kind of two to three years before that.
Sarah Larbi: That is interesting. I have my theories, but they're not all politically correct Yeah. Of why I think this is happening. Um, however, I'd like to hear from you why all of a sudden, you know, in the last year a lot of people in Ontario were interested in potentially moving to.
Natasha Phipps: I mean, at least the people that I speak to, a lot of it comes down to affordability. Covid taught, I think us a lot of different things and people are, well, first of all, realizing they can potentially work from anywhere. So that immediately gets people's kind of like thoughts going, affordability, especially for younger people who are trying to maybe buy their first home, kind of set up roots, wanna have a family or have a young family already, um, are struggling to, to make the numbers work, uh, where they live.
And so this idea that they could live somewhere else, I think Covid, uh, kind of put all that in a lot of our minds and they are seeking affordability, um, particularly combined with inflation now interest rates, like it's really tough for, um, people to get started. Our government's, um, propaganda out there for Alberta is calling, is definitely working.
Love it or hate it, it's definitely working and it's just people seeking affordability and a different lifestyle I think.
Paul Copcutt: And so what's that doing to house prices? Cuz of course here we're seeing big drops right now and most of Canada is, but what's happening in, in Albertan and Calgary in.
Natasha Phipps: Calgary is definitely sitting in a bit, in a bit of a different position. I mean, Alberta, period. We were just coming out of the recession when, when Covid occurred. We weren't sitting at this high, high, um, like, like other major Canadian cities. And so that, um, combined with just the amount of push and excitement towards Calgary is keeping us more insulated. Uh, the last stats for September, our benchmark price had only come down a few thousand dollars.
There was a small correction, the number of sales is down over last year, but the prices aren't really changing a lot. It's sort of holding steady. Um, I expect by, by uh, Christmas we'll be in a more of a balanced market condition. Whereas right now, technically with months of supply where they're at, we're still in a seller's market.
I expect winter to be some there, you know, a good time to buy in terms of, um, less activity. But then by spring again, I do, uh, think we will be kinda headed back up again.
Sarah Larbi: That is interesting, right? Because this is why there is not like a Canadian real estate market because even, I mean, even you're looking at a province altogether, there's still all the different areas. Even in a city, there are still different areas. So, you know, there's no such thing. And I truly believe as a Canadian real estate market, where everything is the same, right? So like the news and the media are like, everyone's going down, everyone's going to be looking at a crash.
And this, it doesn't mean that it's for every single type of asset either. The prices are always different. The provinces are different. So I think it's important to really pinpoint on exactly where you're interested in investing and just seeing the trends. And you just talked about coming out of a recession and you look back at like, even, let's just call it 2015, the oil and gas, you know, industry issues that happen.
I mean, Ontario didn't really feel that, but I didn't know they did in Atlantic Canada. I know they did in, in, you know, where, where you. Yeah, so it's all different markets, which is really interesting. Um, so with that, like with your market, what you're seeing and what you're seeing, let's just call it in, in Alberta in general, um, what are like strategies that investors are now, you know, going out and doing out where you are?
Is it the birth strategies? Is it still buy in hold? Is it multifamily? Like what, what makes sense out there?
Natasha Phipps: This is such a good question. I, first of all, I love your point on the Canadian real estate market, . It's so true, even within a city. Um, even for Calgary, I'm always talking about suburban market and downtown market too.
They're, they're, they're often doing two different things. And so even, um, just reminding people of that is awesome. So I love that. Um, for Calgary in particular, people tend to be, uh, looking mostly for buy and hold, um, opportunities. They're looking, uh, for a place to kind of put their money for the next while.
Given a lot of the investors we work with are not here locally. They're looking for more turnkey, um, uh, properties that they don't need to go do a bunch of work to certainly though where the market is sitting, uh, for the first time in a very long time, we can make almost anything work here. Uh, prior to the pandemic, it was still very much, um, avoid downtown and the inner city because that was the hardest hit. That's where the highest vacancies were. It was very difficult. And so I was like, for years, like we're not, we're not investing inner city, we're not looking at downtown now. Um, that's shifting kind of right before our eyes, which is really exciting. A lot of investors are looking at like small multi-unit properties, duplex to fourplex kind of properties.
Those work really well out in the suburbs, stable kind of tenants. It's been the tried and true, you know, type of property for decades. Um, and those will continue to work well. And are really needed in our city because we are, we're very low density. Like we're, we're a young city. As soon as you leave downtown, it's just suburbs
The city is pushing for more density in these suburban markets right now. We actually just had a new bill past a couple weeks ago that's gonna allow for even more density in the suburbs. So, um, that's not going anywhere. What? Kind of newer and, and, and, um, where we're turning a corner on is that downtown and inner city sector, and this could mean condominiums, um, for the first time are actually appreciating.
In the last year we had almost seven years of negative property values in the condominium market downtown. So as you can imagine, I just was steering people away for a very long time. Uh, now it's like, okay, that's starting to turn and that's starting to make sense again with all the influx of people vacancy has.
Paul Copcutt: And is that at the condos? Is that, um, new build or is that existing condos where the opportunity might be?
Natasha Phipps: There is both, um, existing condos. There's, there's plenty to choose from out there. There is, you do need to be a little cautious with pre-construction condos here. It we're a much smaller city. It's a lot easier for things to go wrong. And I think the last kind of boom Calgary went through, uh, we got very excited about preconstruction condos and they overbuilt them. Um, there, there are some I really like that are in areas that need them. But just be careful. Again, you're being very hyper specific on where it is.
Does this area need more condos or not? And so there is some good opportunities there, but there are some also that, um, I wouldn't recommend. So be cautious there. Um, And then the kind of last piece to the downtown and, and inner city kind of recovery is multifamily. And um, that's where I'm very excited to be working as a realtor and as an investor in the next couple years here, given that we have this kind of economic recovery of our downtown and inner city, multifamily makes really good sense right now.
Sarah Larbi: Awesome. And I do wanna go back to the fact that you mentioned you're a realtor and you're also an investor, so you can, you speak on both sides essentially, right? So you help a lot of people that are, whether they're local or not local, uh, looking to invest, looking to buy, uh, but you're also actively purchasing yourself as well.
What is something recent that you purchased, and tell us a little bit about that and why you purchased it.
Natasha Phipps: This was an exciting year for us. Um, I. I'm very strategic and don't like to, uh, you know, um, buy with emotions, of course. And I had really wanted to get into the multi-family sector, um, here in Calgary. Kind of had been waiting for that, that exact property to come up. And this spring, uh, I found a new construction, multi-family building that was only two years old, that was actually under foreclosure. I don't know the whole story behind what happened with him, but, um, it was an opportunity for us.
Kind of knowing that that downtown and inner city market was just recovering, this is a perfect time, uh, for us to consider looking there. So, um, we've picked up a 21 unit building in mission, which is, um, it's a really trendy, vibrant, um, inner-city community. Predominantly renters, like over three quarter of the occupants, there are tenants.
There hadn't been a lot of new buildings developed in the last 20 years there, so ours really does stand out. Um, now we're seeing more, more, uh, development in the area. But yeah, and again walk the talk , right? Um, I like to make sure I know what I'm doing as an investor and have done that before, even before putting my clients through that.
I'm really excited to convert everything, um, that we've kind of gone through there as well into the sales side. And
Paul Copcutt: What are the rental rates like and how much flexibility do you have in Alberta? Cause I know that's different, obviously, very much from where we are here in Ontario.
Natasha Phipps: Exactly. And that is a huge opportunity when it comes to multifamily and commercial. I mean, we, we all know that in the multifamily space, raising rents will raise your property value. Um, and if, if you are feeling handcuffed because of legislation, that makes that kind of multifamily BRRRR very challenging here, what you're gonna find out there is a lot of underperforming buildings, this landlord.
Just went through recession. They're tired. They've been trying to tread and keep their head above water for however many years. And so you look at the numbers on paper, they probably will be underperforming and not look that great, which is a huge opportunity. Um, and, uh, I mean, rental rates vary, of course, a lot per area and number of bedrooms.
But our one bedrooms in that building, just for example, just a small one bedroom is 1550 to 600. Our two bedrooms are 2000 to 2150, depending on the size. If you pick up something and you've got, if that couple hundred dollars room there to raise the rents, well, like that's a massive opportunity.
And in Alberta you can raise your rents once per year as much as the market will bear. And if you're on a month to month, Tennessee. You need to give 90 days notice of rental increase. So you could buy a building, give all these month to month, you know, tendencies, 90 days notice, or stagger it out over a year later.
Sarah Larbi: I think that is like the key of like why somebody would go from like Ontario or as an example, or Vancouver, Montreal, into Alberta because of the, the rent control. Unless you're like, for example, in Ontario, unless you're rent-controlled, um, which is like essentially everything that was billed before November 15th, 2018.
Anything after that's new, build, like a new basement unit, you know? Bungalows or a kind of completely new build or new condos. Those are not subject to rent control. Again, could that change? I know a lot of people are complaining. A lot of tenants are complaining, and there's always a risk of that. Um, but you know, in Alberta, you guys have been, uh, you know, you're definitely more landlord-friendly, let's just put it that way.
There's nothing that's rent-controlled regardless of when something was built or not built. So I think it's just like you said. Um, again, pros and cons. You guys probably have a little bit more vacancy, uh, percentages than we do in most of Ontario, so you gotta factor that piece out with like how much you wanna raise the rents.
And then from there, if you wanna have a vacancy, how long's the vacancy until the new tenant you guys have potentially. A little bit more time, um, spent on finding tenants or, or vacancies. And we have, you know, we should be very, very particular cuz as soon as the tenant has the keys in Ontario, we like, you know, especially no rent control building.
If you've got a tenant that's gonna be a lifer, I mean, you're, you're increasing 2.5% as an example for, you know, all of next year still 90 days. Like you guys still, you know, once a year only. 2.5% when, when, uh, inflation is going crazy and we're at like a seven or 8%, I mean, literally every year the tenant stays in Ontario, you are losing opportunity in terms of what you could make.
You gotta weigh that versus the appreciation versus the appreciation in Alberta. I think there's pros and cons to every single city. There's nothing wrong with diversification. Um, but I wanna go back to one thing that you said too. I don't know if everybody knows how multifamily works with the cap rate and how to, you know, do the refi.
But I think it's just really important to just go back to that, just to say, okay, if you guys were listening to this and you're like, What does she mention, like when she's mentioning the burr and like increasing rates, like, um, because it's not. Like a regular residential place, right? Like, it's not like they're just gonna go off of comp.
If you could just like, take a step back and just walk us through what that means, uh, in more details and then somebody can maybe understand little better.
Natasha Phipps: Absolutely. And yes, doing a burr on a multifamily, is very different and than on residential. So in multifamily and commercial your property valuation is based off of how the business performs. So, uh, rental income and expenses, uh, and how the building is being managed is critical. Whereas in a residential home, when you go to refinance or get an appraisal done, they're just gonna look at the comps in the area and see, well, what did that house sell for?
And what did this one sell for? And then give you an average of what your home is worth based upon that. Your, um, opportunity in multi-family if you are kind of going after the two step financing. In the course of a year, let's say you're gonna, you're gonna purchase a property that's underperforming.
Maybe the rents are low, maybe there's some opportunity to add some lipstick to the building, you know, paint and floors and that kind of thing. Um, and either turn the tenants. Into new tenants that are paying more rent or you're going to provide rental increases to the existing tenants and they're gonna stay at the end of, you know, it usually takes you about a year to complete all of that.
You now should have a business that is operating, um, with a higher income than when you bought it, which will make the building appraise at a higher value and just like in a residential bur, ideally you can now change. I guess you can't really do that in residential, but, Multifamily, you have the ability to change your, even your loan to value.
At this point, if you bring in a CMHC insured, uh, product, you will change your loan-to-value ratio, um, and pull out any additional cash plus whatever change in loan-to-value. If you bought it for 25% down, maybe you can get a CMHC insured to, uh, 15% down. Now you're taking out that 10. Plus whatever appreciation or increase in value that you've, uh, forced on the building with your efforts. That's what it's all about in this two-step, multi-family plans and strategy.
Paul Copcutt: Is there anything investors should be aware of or cautious of when it comes to multi-family? In Alberta, in Calgary in particular?
Natasha Phipps: I think it's, it's for multifamily in particular, if you're coming from the residential side. It's a very different process. There's a lot of variables. There are also a lot of costs. There's a lot of fees. As soon as you start doing anything, um, you know, tan put it in a application even, um, you start paying fees. And so I think, you know, just making sure that you're, that you understand what all of those fees are and be ready to go kind of upfront.
In terms of Calgary in particular in the multi-family space and what you need to watch out for in terms of location, Um, I dive into the community's demographics pretty deeply, and the ratio between homeowners and tenants, what are they renting? Um, what's in my immediate vicinity, Who are my competitors gonna be?
Because I wanna stand out. And I also know that, um, you know, uh, like it, it is Calgary. Um, we have our history to prove what we need to be aware of. I feel much more confident this kind of time around that we are a lot more diverse. However, it is important that you have something unique. You don't want the same thing that all the other guys on the street have, right?
Think of being unique. How can you stand out, um, and make sure you are, you're assessing everything around you, not just the building, but your competition most?
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. Some great insight. What about like Airbnb or midterm rentals, executive rentals? Like is there a market for that?
Natasha Phipps: Airbnb is another one that this year suddenly we're we're very interested in again and the demand on the Airbnb side has been excellent. Another great thing about Calgary, um, Calgary specifically, not Canmore, Calgary, it does not have, legislation on Airbnb other than you just need to have an annual business.
And the demand on the Airbnb side in the last couple years has been very, very high. There's tons of people who are, you know, here for contract work, short term work, um, visiting, you know, waiting for their properties to be built or completed in between housing. New to Canada, new to Calgary, and need this in between kind of, you know, housing solution.
And with Covid everything kind of disappeared and then all of a sudden the demand was so high again. So, uh, there's a lot of investors who are pivoting to that right now. The cash flow. If, if cash flow is like number one priority, Um, absolutely going Airbnb is, is the way to go here. We actually work or partner with this really great, um, property management company for short term rentals because we don't do that.
[00:24:43] And that'smaking key to make sure that it runs like a smooth machine. You know, for short term rentals, you could get into even an Airbnb-friendly BnB friendly building for, you know, under 300,000. And, and be up and running on that thing pretty easily and quickly. So the main thing is just be careful with the buildings.
There's probably only half a dozen condo buildings in downtown Calgary that we feel like super confident will, um, continue to be super friendly with it.
Paul Copcutt: You mentioned Canmore, What are the markets to look at outside of Calgary from, for Airbnb perspective?
Natasha Phipps: Well, Canmore is always a popular one because everyone loves the mountains, and it's not going anywhere. The Canmore market just, it does its own thing. It doesn't even do, it doesn't even follow Calgary. It's in its own world over there. And rightly so. Um, it's, it's a destination year around which, which is nice, spring, winter, fall, and summer. You can always find something to do and there's plenty of tourism.
The town of Canmore is regulated. It is a lot more highly regulated and there's specific zoning, um, that's required. Um, and when you look at, there's like a zoning. It's not very much. It's like a few little sprinkles. And so, um, what we are seeing though is just outside of the town, um, limits in the counties we're seeing, purpose.
Built and zoned for short term rentals. So we actually invested in a couple of those this year as well that were waiting to be built. Um, but you do need to be a little careful in Canmore, but from a demand perspective and um, appreciation perspective, Canmore just in its own world and always has been and probably will, always will be. That's a really good market to kids there. But it's.
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. And I think that's why it's important to work with like someone like you that's local, right? If someone's interested in, in the areas that you cover, like you have that local insight, you likely have local teams. Uh, and because you're an investor too, you understand what may be a good investment for Calgary, Alberta and what might not be.
I think that's the big, that's the big key because there's lots of great realtors out there, but I wouldn't use a realtor from Ontario to try to help. Well, I wouldn't use it, I should say I wouldn't use a realtor from even Hamilton to try to help me in cottage country two hours away.
That's a whole different market on its own. Right? So then, then you go to Alberta, you definitely need somebody that, that knows what you know, depending if you're an investor and you're looking for Calgary. And so what areas do you cover?
Natasha Phipps: If I could just comment on that as well. Um, That's such a smart point. That's such a smart point. Um, but we, there is a lot of investors falling in these, in these traps where they are using Ontario realtors to buy in Alberta. And, um, I am concerned for a lot of these people, um, and how this is gonna shake out in the next few guys. Don't do that. Don't do that. I wouldn't be like, oh, go buy this in Ontario.
I have no idea. Exactly. That doesn't make sense. I have no clue. It doesn't make sense. So please, please, please find someone local. It doesn't have to be me, but. Someone local that that knows our market and knows what things are worth. Just because it looks like a good price or looks like a good deal because of where you're sitting, does not necessarily mean that it is so, and
Sarah Larbi: Here's the problem too, is that your Ontario realtor are, is not gonna have the handy person you need your plumber, your contractor leads your property managers that they likely already are using for themselves, right?
Like that's the key. That to me, that's like a huge part of working with a realtor that specializes in that area. Or like a certain market or a certain type of, you know, even commercial versus residential. Like to me that should be not necessarily the same realtors. Some of them know what they're doing and some of them just focus on their specific area. You've gotta just drill down. Um, anyways, I just wanna add that as well.
Natasha Phipps: Thank you. Yes, thanks. Uh, it's, it's something that I see all the time. I'm just like, ah, it just, it's, it's not gonna end well for everyone. And, um, I just, yeah, just use the experts, right? Use, use, who knows, um, who knows, whatever you're trying to do the most.
Absolutely. Sorry, I can't remember what you had asked me now, right before I. Mention that
Paul Copcutt: Where, where you, uh Oh yeah, the areas, what areas you
Natasha Phipps: cover. And so we do cal, we, we do Calgary in the surrounding areas, so in and around Calgary. Um, we've got Ry Cochran, Oke High River. With within, you know, 30, 40 minutes of Calgary.
That's as far as we go. Even for Canmore, I have a referral partner for Canmore. I'm not the expert for Canmore, but someone in our brokerage who lives in Canmore and is an investor himself, he's our guy. He's who we go to, because again, he knows better than I do. So, um, yeah, Calgary and the immediate areas, but anything beyond that, we'll be referring out as.
Paul Copcutt: Does that go the same for somewhere? If so, for Ontario investor looking to come into Calgary, but maybe also is interested in Edmonton? Yeah, you would par you would partner with somebody in Edmonton to help them. I
Natasha Phipps: would refer to someone at Edmonton. Exactly. Yeah. Like Ed Edmonton is several hours drive in a very different market, so I wouldn't, I mean, I'm licensed for the whole province, of course, but I'm not an expert in Edmonton.
Paul Copcutt: Where do you see things going over the next 12, 24 months as it comes to Calgary?
Natasha Phipps: Yeah. Um, I mean, obviously no one has a crystal ball, but. I mean, we're all dealing with interest rates. I don't think, um, anyone's gonna be shielded from that. But for Calgary in particular, I do think we're gonna hold reasonably well, um, through this storm.
We've been through many storms here, and I, I'm, I'm, I'm hopeful that this one will be a little bit more insulated from, I do think there will be, you know, obviously a couple more, uh, interest rate kits that we're all and all waiting for. Um, but, but, uh, just with how. , influx of business, economic activity, people.
We need housing for all of that. And so I do think, um, we will be able to balance that a little bit better here than maybe we're seeing, um, in the rest of the country, uh, from an investment standpoint, uh, for, I feel pretty confident over the next couple years that we can make almost any strategy work here.
Appraisals as interest rates go up and people get a little bit more conservative, I'm, I'm a little bit more, you know, cautious telling people, um, if they're trying to do a bur or refinance in the residential space in particular, um, that, that, you know, we need to be a little bit cautious of that because appraisers are being a little tighter right now.
That strategy is one, you know, that I might be a little bit more cautious on, but long term buy and hold, um, um, you know, short term rentals, condos, townhouses, I think all those sectors are gonna fare quite well. I also think in the last, you know, year and a half since the market has really been very exciting, we've seen a lot of appreciation in the suburbs, in the detached single family market.
Inflation continues to plague all of us in interest rates. Buyers are gonna have to start, um, looking at the more affordable options, townhouses and condos. And I think the, the kind of the appreciation recovery that we saw in the detached market is gonna start to trickle down to these higher density, um, uh, property types that haven't seen that larger jump in appreciation that we saw in the detached suburban market. So it could be a good time to kind of look ahead of that a little bit and, um, look into more affordable, dense options, even just as a regular homeowner or as an investor as well. And does,
Paul Copcutt: does Calgary have a, anything around additional dwelling units, garden suites? Is there anything that's happened? Or is it too new a city that you don't have?
Natasha Phipps: Yeah, so secondary suites have been a huge topic here for a long time. The city of Calgary in 2018, March, 2018, uh, did initiate a new program and mandate. For basement suites, so secondary suites, and they've been on a huge, um, mission to legalize existing suites and have provided landlords a, uh, a way to do that at a much cheaper cost.
That deadline is ending December, 2023, and I do believe after that the secondary suite market's gonna be shook up a little bit. So if you're looking at secondary suites, um, in a house or a semi-detached property, Make sure you know what kind of side of this, uh, track you're gonna be on and that you're following the, uh, regulations.
The city is pro density here, um, but they are not pro turning their head to illegal suites anymore like they did for many decades. So that's a big change there. Hmm. Carriage houses fall into the same, or garden suites fall into the same right now legislation as secondary suites. So anywhere you can put a secondary suite, technically you can put a carriage house.
We haven't seen as many of them popping up. I actually just found a builder who's actually building a, a couple of these right now from scratch, but, but they're very kind of sporadic and not too many of them yet. However, I do think once this amnesty period is over for the basement suite, cleanup, garden suites and carriage houses are gonna be the next thing.
Investors are kind of looking to add density and, um, create something more unique as well. So I think that's, um, in the coming years going to be an exciting topic.
Sarah Larbi: That's awesome. Some, some really great insights. Uh, thank you so much. The next part of the podcast is the lightning round. You've probably played before. Every guest gets the same questions. We are gonna ask you four questions. Areyou ready to play?
Natasha Phipps: Let's do it.
Sarah Larbi: All right. So question number one. What is the best advice that you have ever received from another investor or a networking event?
Natasha Phipps: The best advice I ever received, honestly, um, was.
To only work with people that like you genuinely like, like if you couldn't have them over at your house and have dinner, then don't do business with them. . You know, I think early on in your investing career, we're all very eager and we're excited and, and I think sometimes we, we lose sight of that. So do business with people that you like that because when things get hard, if you, if it's already a bit bit of friction between yourselves, it's only gonna be that much more difficult. You can have dinner with them. Don't do business with them.
Paul Copcutt: Sounds like good advice. , Um, do you have a favorite, uh, real store, real estate investing resource? Natasha Phipps: Favorite real estate investing resource? Um, I like the data and the numbers. So for here, the thing that I use the most for Calgary is looking at the actual economics. Calgary economic Development website is my most used resource for Calgary in particular. Uh, Stats Canada as well. But I like, I like that website and how they lay it out. So that's my most.
Sarah Larbi: All right. Very cool. Love those resources. Um, now number three, what is, in your opinion, the one attribute that has made you most successful?
Natasha Phipps: I am definitely, uh, I don't quit . I don't quit. I definitely, uh, you know, I'm, I'm okay to fail and then keep going. You know, we're all gonna fail. I think when we look out in the world of social media, it seems like no one's failing. But, um, I love, uh, you know, admitting those failures, but then we keep going, right?
I tell my kids all the time, um, you know, courage is. Is not the absence of fear, It's, it's when you keep going, that's what courage is. Right. And you are gonna have roadblocks, you are gonna have bumps. And, um, I, I do, I do stick to it, you know, like I see it through and, um, get it done no matter what it takes.
And if I have to pivot and change and adapt, I do. But I don't just kind of throw my hands in the air and walk away.
Paul Copcutt: Nice. Great. And what would we typically find you doing on a Sunday?
Natasha Phipps: Sunday morning, we almost always have brunch with the kids. Um, it's, if we're not at hockey, if we're not at the rank, uh, then we're making brunch as a family. That's our Sunday go-to.
Sarah Larbi: That was the lighting round. Thank you so much Natasha, for playing. Where can our listeners, our Wright Club Nation, reach out and find out?
Natasha Phipps: Yeah, uh, you can go to our website, FIPs group.ca. Um, you can find us there. I also have a Facebook group called Calgary Real Estate Investing.
If you wanna go check that out, you can see what we're up to and see what's going on in Calgary there. Perfect. And FIPs
Sarah Larbi: Can you pronounce it cuz it's probably not how people think.
Natasha Phipps: Phipps, P as in Peter, PHIPPS. Awesome, awesome. Like Phillips with no L's, . There you go.
Sarah Larbi: That's a great way to do it. Natasha, thank you so much for being on the show and I'm sure have you back again. You're definitely a recurring invite that we definitely wanna reach out when we wanna know more about Calgary, Alberta, uh, and everything in between. Thank you so much.
Natasha Phipps: Thank you so much for having me.
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