Call the agents who listed the properties that sold so quickly. Either they already had buyers waiting in line, or they are with a very active office and office word-of-mouth had the properties sold before they were listed.

The agent who sent me the listing at 8 PM and at 11:30 said it was already sold is the listing agent. He says he will let me know when a similar property is on the market but I haven't heard from him since July. The properties were listed on MLS.

Forget MLS. That's like a formality after the property has already been sold. That was one agent. Keep talking to other listing agents.

I would keep looking if you think your mother would need to live near you. There are several things I noticed that would need to be changed. Your mother would have to live in the bottom apartment as stairs would be a problem. The bathroom doors are not wide enough to get a wheelchair/walker through easily. Some of the other doors have a similar problem. The kitchens with the island does not have enough space to maneuver around the island.

While your mother may not need a wheelchair/walker at this time if you are seriously thinking about moving her in with you a property disability things that are in place is something you should look for. Adding them can be quite expensive. Most important if you are planning on renting out the other units have you been a landlord before.

Please forget wheelchair accessibility. My mother currently lives on a 3rd floor, and though she is 81, she is 100% autonomous. She still drives her car and she does all her shopping herself. My own house could easily be converted for wheelchair accessibility, should my mother need it. My mother could easily live on her own (for now at least) but she's reluctant to leave the neighbourhood. I guess at 81 stability is a big issue for her.

I have never been a landlord myself, but two of my uncles have been landlords for a good part of their lives. I would gladly ask them for advice but sadly they left us for a better world. They however gave me a few pieces of advice when they were living, like how to choose your tenants, be prepared to go there at least once a week, keep the place well maintained, keep 5% of monthly mortgage each month in a fund to account for when the units are vacant.

You seem to be thinking I should keep looking. I guess that's what I should do.

I mean that MLS is not where you find attractive properties in hot markets. By the time it is listed, it is too late.

So Where do you find them ?

By locating listing agents in very busy offices.

There has got to be more to it than locating listing agents in very busy offices. Of the two agents that "work" for me, the one who only sends me listings of teardowns, run-as-fast-as-you-can, or houses with (mostly illegal) bachelors, works for the largest firm in town, and her photo is on about 20% of all realtor signs in the area. The other one is the lister of the two properties that sold very fast. Most of his listings are of multi-dwelling/commercial properties, so I thought he would do a good job for me.

However, a visit to city hall to inquire about selling price confirmed my feeling: the properties were sold before he sent me the listings. No wonder he sent them around 8 and at 11:30 they were sold.

While buying for cash might be good for the sellers, as far as the realtor is concerned, in my opinion, whether I pay cash or finance part of the property, as long as he gets his commission, why should he/she care?

I have a feeling that these agents have a network of investors that either commit to buy more than one property, or tip them so they have "priority".

Since the evaluation roles are available online, I am thinking about looking up the owners of properties in the sectors of interest, and sent them letters letting them know that I am interested in buying such property. If they want to sell, they will know I am interested and therefore they can skip the listing.

Which brings me to the property I linked in my previous post. Could you please let me know the reasons why you think I should not buy it? I have been looking for a triplex for almost a year, and this is the less worse option I have seen, not counting the two good ones that sold fast.

Thanks in advance

So the agent has one of more ready-to-go buyers who get first dibs. And getting a loan, despite it being cash in the long run, is a more complicated procedure, especially with multi-unit properties. Takes longer, too.

I think it needs some work, but it looks in decent shape to me. I do think you're dreaming though that the owner will take $410,000. Investment properties are valued by the income they produce as well as the comps. If Quebec is like most American counties and states the government appraised value is meaningless as a basis for determining market value.

Correct, you need to stop comparing the "City Appraisal" to the Market Value. You need to use the Income Approach to really determine if it is priced correctly.

Here a good Cap Rate is about 9.0%. This value is very regional dependent.

Cap Rate equals Annual Net Operating Income divided by the sales price. NOI subtracts out all annual expenses except for the financing note.

Thank you all for your answers. Around here we multiply income by 14. I know that city appraisal is just a ballpark, but my feeling is also that if you take two identical properties, one is top notch and the other one needs 10-15k in repairs, wouldn't the property that needs repairs be worth at least 10k less?

I also have a feeling that there is more to this property that can be shown in the listing.

The roof is in a much worse shape than on the listing photos, all the shingles are heavily cupped and some missing, the vanity counter has to be replaced, the floors on the first level have to be refinished or replaced (not shown in the listing but on his "for rent" classified), and various more minor stuff like the missing cover on the doorbell, mismatched closet doors. There are probably other issues not shown in the pictures. Like if the bottom unit is vacant, why couldn't he take pictures of it?

There also has to be a good reason why 2 out of 3 units are vacant since at least last February. Either the rent is too high, or there are other problems with the property. And the fact it is sold as-is is what makes me hesitant.

The problem may also be the only person left in the building. If the condition is as bad as you say it is the "landlord" may have refused to repair anything when there were tenants.

The length of time it takes for your mother to go from "live on any floor" to "needs full wheelchair access" is covered by the two minutes it takes to fall down when negotiating the steps into her house.

If you purchase new living space for your mother and do not plan for full accessibility, you are being very unrealistic, regardless of how well she gets along right now. You never know when it will happen, but when it does it will happen quickly, and you probably won't have time to renovate to meet an immediate need. Why not just work out a solution and plan for it ahead of time?

Bruce

Thank you Bruce. I could not believe the comment above that you referred to but having seen that happen a lot to the people who were sent to my husband's nursing home. No one can count on an older or even younger person not having a problem that effect their ability to move around in a home. Anyone that thinks otherwise needs to borrow a pair of crutches and try their daily life keeping at least one foot above the floor.

Bruce, did you read the title of my post? Is there anything referring to my mother in that title? no? Then it's because my mother has nothing to do with it. I sincerely regret having mentioned her in my post. My inquiry was about the property. Period. Yes, my mother would rather rent from me than rent from a stranger, and that is the ONLY reason why I mentioned her. But if and when she can no longer live in a regular apartment, she would move to a place that's already adapted to her condition, and I would find another tenant to take her place. But if I go by the medical history of her family, that's not very likely.

Now, back to the PROPERTY, please!

I posted for one specific reason: getting hopefully unbiased opinions about it. I have been searching for an INVESTMENT PROPERTY for over a year, and it seems that the very good properties are unobtainium for the average john doe. The property I linked seems like it could be a great opportunity once fixed-up, but the fact that it's been on the market for so long, and two out of three (66%) units have not been rented, despite being advertised in the local paper and on Kijjiji (a Canadian on line classified ad site), for close to a year, makes me think there's something else about the property that holds back buyers, and why is it not rented?

The units are probably in a worse state of disrepair than the photos show, and it could be the main reason why the units are not rented, but there could also be problems with it that are impossible to see, but are known to speculative buyers and investors, like a murder happened at the property, or the person living there making trouble to tenants visiting the units.

OP, you havequestions about this property, but why then arent you finding out the answers? It sounds like you havent even gone to see it. Theres no way we would know why units not rented or place hasnt sold - its you who would need to find that out. And then report back to us pls!

I think we can safely say the price is simply too high for what people are willing to spend. You want to do your own cost analysis though and assess what it would cost to fix whatever is wrong with it, and decide what its worth to YOU.

You as owner occupant (or mother ocupant) may choose to accept a slightly less profit margin than the typical investor, for the right house in the right location. Or not!

I haven't gone to see the property because they won't schedule a visit without an offer accepted by the sellers. I could put a clause by which I don't buy the property if i am not satisfied with what I see, but I feel that leaves too much for interpretation and could put me liable for buying that property.

Something tells me that there has to be a good reason why the property has lingered for so long without a buyer or tenants. My suspicion is that the only tenant is in fact the seller. My guts tell me to keep looking, but I wanted various opinions.