Ottawa-based real estate investor Francois Lanthier has decided that Ontario is not the real estate investing market it used to be so he and his partners have looked further afield.
One such place has been Alberta and Francois shares some recent deals he has secured in the province and also why it is such an attractive proposition for real estate investors.
Katherine: Francois and his wife, Jennifer are a powerhouse couple. Keep your eye on these two, they're passionate about real estate investing and with an interior design background and over 15 years as a real estate investor, a mix of flipping multi family rentals and vacation rentals. Francois, you and Jennifer really understand real estate investing.
You and Jennifer, host a podcast called wine and real estate. It's that French thing too or the Quebecois. It's all part of the culture. But also as FL homes and I know that is not Francois Lanthier, that is a Family Lanthier. You own properties and several Canadian properties in the United States. And you really started investing this past winter in Costa Rica. I know you're planning on further expansions around the globe and wherever cashflow resides. I guess basically is where it is. You have been scaling, like I mentioned your portfolio in the Alberta market. Why are you choosing Alberta?
Francois: Thank you. Investing in Alberta, it's a gorgeous province. I had never been until this winter. I bought a property sight unseen, which is what I do all the time. I love what James said earlier and Cam as well, joint ventures for me is the way to go. You can expand your reach. I hear there's some more about me, but Katherine did an awesome job. I like to have fun. My wife, Jennifer, doesn't mind posing in silly poses, but we love long distance investing.
Winnipeg has been on our radar and with what Cam said, I think that sounds great. Vancouver as well now, thanks to our government, is potentially an interesting spot because we did see this kind of curve in Ottawa and Toronto in many markets where things dipped and that's where you buy. Just like Warren Buffet says, when people are scared, I think you're greedy. Anyway, I don't get it but it's a great way of investing. Katherine already summarized this. You took my words away.
Why Alberta? The Alberta housing market is really bouncing back. It's been a bit of a boom and bust economy. But right now it's doing really well. In January, for example, 26.6% increase in sales to 5,000 units. How's prices are going up 9.9% year over year, it's still sustainable, still affordable. 443,000 for the average house that's still quite reasonable. And then detached, that's where we're seeing a really big increase, the highest one.
Semi detached townhome row homes, apartments, 6.7%. It's going up, but nothing crazy. There is still some opportunity. I'm buying a smaller multifamily. Right now, this is a new joint venture in Mundare, Alberta. I'd never heard about it, but it looks like a great cashflowing deal. Two small fourplexes. Quite well renovated. Yes, there needs to be a little bit of work, but that's where the opportunity is. It's not too far from Edmonton, so lots going on in Edmonton.
I'll share the numbers as well with you. Asking price was $640,000 for eight units and 1979. I'm still a bit younger than the buildings. I feel good about it. These buildings are solid, bi-level, wood frame but this deal is closing in a few weeks. It's brand new. There was still snow in Edmonton Monday or just a few days ago. I'm glad to be in Ottawa where we don't have snow at this time.
All kinds of good things to look for when you're buying and overall condition is good, but of course we need to put in some work to increase value and force appreciation. I'll share some numbers with you as well. Purchase price $620,000 for the two buildings, eight units. Repairs right now we're evaluating around $40,000. ARV is around $800,000 already. Even the appraisals came in higher than the purchase price. It sounds like a slam dunk, a price per unit, $77,000. I'm not sure what you would get in Ontario for that price. Mortgage amount, quite low. My JV partner was able to get quite a good mortgage rate and then you can see the cash flow there. 6.5% cash on cash.
You can also see the active partner and the beneficial owner as well. Not enormous cash flow, but I think the real value is in the forced appreciation and creating wealth, building a presence in Alberta. I'm also investing in Calgary. These properties are not sexy. I like Cam sad. Maybe Winnipeg is not sexy, but they do well, like they're cash flowing. You're providing good housing to working people. That's what I've been doing for years in New Brunswick. But now I feel the East has been very good, but the West is very good right now.
It's fine when you go down there and I'm heading there in June for The REITE Club to host two pop-up events, one in Calgary, one in Edmonton, and there's lots to see. It's a gorgeous, beautiful place that very clean cities. Awesome infrastructure. Just a bit about my other deal in Calgary. This is a BRRRR project and you can see the cash flow will go down quite a bit after refinancing to about $230.
The money is no longer in the cashflow and that's something you have to be careful of when you're doing the BRRRR. You still want cash flow but this one, the goal is to buy more properties and the rents will go up as we've seen all across Canada. Things are going up sometimes slowly, but here we have some numbers. The property was bought for $500,000 and ARV we're expecting at least $870,000. I've been told actually $950,000 for a property bought for $500,000.
We are adding two basement suites. It does change the outcome. Duplex to fourplex conversion, the building was built to be a four-plex, but for some reason, the previous owner never finished the basement. It was a duplex. I scooped it up. It was very easy to get the permits as well. Everything was in the plan. We just built it 40 years later.
That's it. For me, it's short and sweet, but do you have any questions you can find me on The REITE Club and our beautiful website, thereiteclub.com. We have chat functionality. You can check me out on Instagram, wine and real estate on YouTube as well, Tiktok, I am doing some silly stuff, not dancing, but sometimes live from the hot tub with a glass of wine. Facebook as well. I do host a few Facebook groups. If you want to learn, I love to help people grow and The REITE Club of course, awesome resource. I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for the REITE Club. Thank you everybody. I hope this gave you some insights into Alberta.
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