Montreal South Shore

Andrew Jones
 
Francois: Welcome, Andrew. I'm really excited to have you on.

Andrew: Great. I'm going to ask the typical question. You can see me right?

Francois: Yes, it's weird the layout on zoom, but if you're in gallery mode, then you can see yourself and the people.

Andrew: I apologize to everybody for this background, as you see still working that nine to five to get those mortgages qualify for it, but more than happy to speak with you this evening.

Francois: Perfect. Yeah, I think you work for FedEx. Is that on your. Well,you're delivering our parcels. We need it. It's essential. Here you go.

Andrew: I'm more than happy to talk about real estate.

Francois: Yes, really excited because you're quite young. A 25 years old, from what I understand, and you are a broker and an investor and you worked full time. And you started real estate investing in new construction projects.

Andrew: I could tell you really quickly about that. It's going to be that typical. The first one is where you learn, not where you earn a real quick story driving by seeing this piece of land for sale. I ended up for sale by the owner, ended up calling it a long story short.

I ended up getting the deal that took two years. I was the one selling, it had a little bit of money invested myself, just super thankful that I got my money back. And the learning experience I learned so much during the process. That's what everybody says, right?

Francois: Yes, that was really good. First where you learn, but where you learn very well.

Andrew: For sure and I'll be honest with you. I was able to translate that into another project. Somebody's nice about it is once you do it, once people start to believe in you. They saw you do it. You know what I want to try? Can you help me help somebody else do that? But then I realized there's a lot more money.

There's another saying that people say you build brand new for pride and you renovate for profits, something along those lines. After the first construction, I ended up waiting about two years before I got my money back. And then luckily. Everybody has an unfair advantage, no matter what it is.

I was lucky enough to have my parents co-sign on my first loan. Then that's where the snowball really started from my investing career and buying homes that need a little bit of love renovating them, renting them and refinancing them as I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with the process.

Francois: You're doing the BRRRR strategy in what areas?

Andrew: Yeah, for sure. Montreal to give you a quick idea. I break it down to three areas. You got the areas that are a little bit closer to Montreal. Really on the South Shore then a little bit, this one still is close to the out of the Montreal, but it hasn't seen the appreciation that the other areas have.

A lot of people might think I'm talking about St. Catherine's Ontario, but there was a Saint Catherine Quebec red on the other side of one of the bridges. That's definitely an area where there's a lot of development options. A lot of stuff has been up zoned. No longer are you seeing single-family homes?

Actually, the same thing is said for much of the short a lot of homes are being demolished and built into multi-families very often. I hear you guys, I'm going on a bit of a tangent, but very often I hear about people in Ontario. I believe you guys had a bylaw or some type of government ordinance that allowed you guys to put the suites in the basement.

Francois: Yes, those densifications are, yes, suites. And now there's even a third year. That will be possible in many areas.

Andrew: Actually, explaining that you bring that up because St. Catharines the place that I'm talking about on social work, they're actually starting a consultation process. I should say they're halfway through it. Talking about putting UADs like accessory dwelling units in the backyard, so I'll continue from there though. That's your first section, and then you can go a bit further. These aren't those areas that see a lot more of the typical appreciation. You still get very good rents though for what they are, but if you have a bit further out, you got cities, like Harnois, Sasha, these areas, they're more well-known for cash flow.

If you go any further than that you're looking really for a tertiary market. I wouldn't suggest that if you're asking me where I would invest in two places. Look at St. Catherine, as I said, not Ontario Quebec, because the prices are still super affordable. You can get a home. I'm going to say it's affordable. But if you asked me a year ago, I'd say it's outrageous.

You're looking at about three 50 for a single family home, your 5,000 square foot lot, you can get three to five bedrooms, two bathrooms. Look there, but if you're looking for the best of both worlds St. Hubert nestled between Brossard and Lawndale this area to give you an idea. An average sale price of a home in Brossard sells for about 650 and St. Hubert ,it's only 400,000. Yeah. And the wrench you can come at is very similar. If you don't mind me saying I will give you a bit of a renter. What I could get in Brossard compared to St. Hubert like compared to Brossard. You might shave off a couple hundred dollars a month, but you're totally going to get more money or more home for your money.

Francois: Perfect. And then how, like all these deals like tonight, our theme is teams. I'm sure you have some sort of power team to accomplish all this. Like some renovations. I know you're already working full-time and a realtor and all that. I mean at 25, I have lots of energy, but still there's a limit. I'm sure you have people on your team and the investors.

Andrew: As we all know, at least most of the time the deals are off market. You have to be careful though, because sometimes I even find myself saying it's off market. It must be a deal but then when you do the numbers, you're like, oh no, like the person still wants pretty close to retail.
I'm super lucky to have a wholesaler that I work with. Quick story, I met him through my brokerage. He ended up no longer being a broker. However, we still kept a good relationship. Thanks to him. Six homes he's been able to provide me with. And so I'm super thankful for this wholesaler.

And then secondly, mortgage broker. I couldn't do it without her. Before I even start looking for the next property, I go to her and I say, look, this is what it looks like at the moment. This is what I have to refinance. Can I go and afford another one? If somebody were to ask me, hey, Andrew, how are you getting all these loans?

It's because most of them are joint ventures. I own a total of six at the moment, hoping to get a seven. But three of them are solely owned of course. My unfair advantage, my parents co-signed for me on those three. However, the other ones and now you guys know where I work, so I'll still say it anyway. I was lucky enough to get one of my managers and one of my coworkers to buy my first two properties. At first, the two after the first one. And then just to move on from those contractors, I'll be honest with you. My two main ones are really the wholesaler and the mortgage broker, the properties that I purchased, most of this stuff just needs to paint flooring.

A lot of the stuff I learned to do myself. And then when I do need it, I'm still learning a contract. I still haven't found a great one. I have someone I can rely on, but still, always looking for that one who knows exactly what I need, but yeah, for plumbing and electricity, I go professionals, but everything else I've been lucky enough to be able to do myself.

Francois: Amazing, yet in Quebec, it's quite different in Ontario. For some tasks you can hire non-specialized people, but in Quebec for those tuning in from other areas, it's a lot more regulated. Here plumbers and electricians. Yes. But everything else. A bit more open Quebec. You need the RBQ license.

Andrew: I should be careful saying this in public. That's why, but there are very often you see a lot of Facebook groups of local investors getting fines. And even the most professional people, I know still don't exactly understand the rules that need to be followed.

Francois: It’s so important to have the right people on your team.

Andrew: Exactly. But it's a learning process. You've taken a day at a time and are definitely going further. I hope they continue to go further and grow.

Francois: Excellent. Thank you so much. And again, you've proven to us the importance of team efforts and teaming up with your parents. With my mom being my first tenant, she signed the lease, but not the deal.

Andrew: Can I add one more thing, a real takeaway that I wish people are seeing are to implement in their life pay people appropriately. I find that seems to be a very important thing. I know anybody I work with, even if the contractor is just going to give me an estimate of the work that needs to be done, I still pay him for his time. I know very often people say, get three quotes. And if I get three quotes, I will pay every single one of them for a quote, at least because I want them to know if they work with me, they'll be able to at least be compensated.

Francois: That's excellent advice. Trooping people for what they're like, what they're worth. Their time and time is money and we all know it as investors and that's how you build good relationships. Thank you so much for coming on and taking time between deliveries.

Andrew: I'm sorry. Have a good evening, everyone.

Francois: Thank you. Andrew Jones. If you want to reach out to him, his information is here.