Investing in Edmonton Real Estate? Watch This First! | The Edmonton Map Tour Playbook 🏡

Thinking about investing in Edmonton real estate?

Before you buy a rental property, legal suite, duplex, infill, or apartment building, you need to understand how Edmonton works.

In Episode #22 of Real Estate in Edmonton, REALTOR®, real estate investor, and lifelong Edmonton resident Devin Gray takes you through his Edmonton Map Tour Playbook—a detailed look at the city from an investor's perspective.

Born and raised in Edmonton and investing in real estate since 2007, Devin shares the same insights he uses to help clients identify strong rental markets, emerging communities, growth corridors, and investment opportunities across the City of Champions.

In this episode you'll learn:

✅ How Edmonton is laid out and why location matters to investors

✅ The major transportation routes that influence tenant demand

✅ Which areas attract families, professionals, students, and retirees

✅ Where Edmonton's strongest rental demand exists

✅ Why Edmonton remains one of Canada's most affordable major cities

✅ The advantages of Alberta's landlord-friendly environment

✅ Why Alberta has no provincial rent control

✅ Population growth and interprovincial migration trends

✅ Where future growth and development are happening

✅ How to identify communities with strong long-term investment potential

Whether you're a first-time investor, an experienced landlord, or simply considering purchasing your next home, this episode will help you better understand Edmonton's neighbourhoods, economics, and investment opportunities.

Edmonton continues to attract investors from across Canada because of its affordability, strong rental demand, growing population, diverse economy, and investor-friendly regulations.

If you're looking for cash flow, appreciation potential, legal suites, duplex opportunities, or long-term wealth building through real estate, understanding the city is the first step.

🎙️ Real Estate in Edmonton – Where We Talk About Real Estate and Real Life.

Hosted by:

🏡 Devin Gray – REALTOR®, Investor & Edmonton Market Expert

🎤 Tracie Gray – Broadcaster, Community Advocate & Co-Host

If you enjoyed this episode, please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE with another real estate investor.

#EdmontonRealEstate #EdmontonInvestor #RealEstateInvestingCanada #AlbertaRealEstate #RentalProperties #CashFlowProperties #EdmontonLandlord #RealEstateInEdmonton #InvestInEdmonton #CanadianRealEstate

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

This is Real Estate in Edmonton, helping you navigate buying, selling, investing, and living in Edmonton, hosted by realtor Devin Gray and professional broadcaster Tracy Gray.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hi, welcome back to real estate in Edmonton, where we talk real estate and real life. I'm Tracy, and normally on this podcast, we start with Devin's real estate expertise, where he talks about the latest Edmonton market, housing prices, mortgage rates, investment opportunities, everything happening in the world of real estate. Then I get to share with you the real life side of Edmonton, the communities, the schools, the restaurants, playgrounds, festivals, arts, entertainment, all the things that make the city feel like home. But today we're flipping the script just a little bit. One of the things I love most about Devin is how passionate he is about Edmonton. He was born and raised here. He invested in real estate for years, and he's helped countless families, investors, and newcomers find the perfect place to call home. Whether someone's moving to Edmonton, one of the first things Devin does is give them what he calls the Edmonton Map Tour Playbook. Now it's an insider's guide to understanding how our city is laid out, the major roads and routes, the unique personalities of different communities, and how to figure out which areas might be the best fit for you. So whether you're moving here from another province, relocating just within the city, investing in real estate, or you're simply curious about Edmonton, today's episode is packed with valuable information. So grab a coffee, sit back in your favorite chair, and get ready to explore the city of champions together. Now here's Devin Gray, ready to dive in with his Edmonton Map Tour playbook.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

At the Mogle Realty Group, we work with investors right across Canada. Probably about 70% of our client base are investors. Obviously, the majority of them are in Western Canada. We get a lot of people investing from BC, and they don't necessarily know the Edmonton market all that well, or Alberta for that matter. And so we like to educate them in regards to what's going on with Alberta, and then also specifically to Edmonton in regards to large construction areas, areas of growth, and then also what neighborhoods ultimately they would like to look at. And each neighborhood is going to be different based on what their investing criteria is. So before we get into Edmonton specific, we do like to talk about the Alberta Advantage. So what is the Alberta Advantage? Well, it's unique opportunities and benefits that Alberta offers that nearly every other province in Canada does not offer. Probably top of the list is always going to be no provincial sales tax. Every other province in Canada has either PST or HST. We do not have a provincial sales tax. And that can save a lot of money for a lot of Albertans. The second thing, more specific to real estate, is we do not have a land transfer tax. So when you sell your property, there's no tax uh attached to that that goes to the government that can be thousands of dollars. Tracy and myself sold a property in uh Vernon a few years ago, and the land transfer tax on that property was about $9,000. So it was pretty significant. And then also specific to real estate, another huge advantage for landlords is there are no rent controls. Most other provinces have rent controls. Probably the two most telling are BC and Ontario. And interestingly enough, those ones are also two provinces that have some of the highest rents in Canada. Now, a lot of people feel that rent controls is a good thing, but it actually hurts the rental market. I do like the philosophy of the Alberta government, which is simply to have more supply to meet the demand. And that is the position, and that really is ultimately what helps to keep rents in control. When we're in a bit of a rental slump, you never hear anybody talking about rent controls. It's only when rents are in a fast uh increase, which is what we had starting in 2022 when inflation went through the roof. And so uh why were rents increasing? Well, it was basically just for small landlords and large as well, but a lot of small landlords that own two, three, six, eight properties that all of a sudden, with an increase in um interest rates, increase in insurance, increase in utilities, um all of a sudden they're running a deficit and they're just increasing rents, which most likely stayed flat for a lot of years because of um, you know, the slowdown from uh 2016 to basically right up until COVID. Nobody was increasing rents. And so this was a bit of a catch-up, and it was an opportunity for landlords just to get back to breaking even. It wasn't that there was all of a sudden this uh um uh you know bonanza of profits or anything like that. A lot of people were underwater and they were trying to catch up. I know of several investors as well that uh bought properties uh during COVID at a wonderful 1.9% interest rate. Uh, but then when it came up for renewal in you know 2024, uh 2025, um, they were having to renew at uh over 6% uh or high fives, and um suddenly their positive cash flow went to negative, and so they ended up selling the property. Um, so those are um uh uh oh, and sorry, the one other thing as well, of course I shouldn't forget about this, is um you can increase rents as much as you want uh once a year in Alberta. Now, obviously, you want to make sure that you're doing that responsibly. Um if you have great tenants, you want to encourage them to stay as long as possible. However, um, you know, inflation, the Bank of Canada shoots for inflation to be uh 2%. And so uh a lot of times most costs go up 2%. And so you should at least consider uh increasing your rents once a year by the rate of inflation, um, just to make sure that um you're not necessarily getting into a situation where all of a sudden you are now running to deficit because um you haven't kept up with the rate of inflation uh with all of your extra costs that are coming in regards to utilities and insurance and property taxes and various things like that. So those are the advantages for Alberta. Uh now we're gonna get into uh uh more of a conversation about um the city of Edmonton itself. Uh so I'm bringing up a map of uh of Al of Edmonton. It's an interactive map. Now, granted, we did create this several years ago. So there are some areas that might still show uh as dirt uh on this map that are now uh um fully fleshed out subdivisions. Um I like to start by basically saying that uh there's a conversation that uh um I had with a with uh one of our property management uh um partners who suggested that every time he's in a social setting, he would say, uh people would say, What do you do? And he says, Oh, I'm a property manager. And the very first question always came out of that person's mouth, which was, oh, where is there a great place to buy in Edmonton for a rental property? And intimately what you're looking for, um you can um you can um be in a position where you can have success no matter where you are. Now that depends on um four criteria that um if you're thinking about getting investing or you're still new to investing, uh, you need to think about what's most important to you cash flow, uh vacancy or the amount of vacancy you're gonna have, uh, market appreciation and tenant profile. Now, most people will go instantly to, well, I want cash flow. Um, and that's fine. However, um it's been long said in investing that cash flow is earned, it's not given. And what that means is basically if you're getting um good and significant cash flow, um, there usually is a trade-off in regards to um whether or not you you've purchased in maybe a less desirable neighborhood, so that the purchase price of the property is less or that it's an older property that might need a lot of maintenance. Um, usually really high demand proper uh locations, triple A areas and newer properties create less cash flow. But the trade-off is that you will have a higher quality tenant. Um, most likely that area is a leading area, uh, meaning from a market appreciation standpoint, um, and that you will have very little vacancy. You'll constantly have people that are wanting to get into that property. Um, in some of these less desirable neighborhoods, when times are good. Uh, I talked to a lot of investors that love the cash flow, but when there's uh, you know, we're we're in a market shift going from a seller's or balance balanced market into a buyer's market, uh, they find it really difficult to find tenants, they find it difficult to keep tenants, uh, their vacancies are long, and uh um it it ends up being a lot a lot of work, and invariably they end up calling us and saying, hey, you know what, uh, I don't want to own this property anymore. Um they uh they you know, good times, bad times, they they're hanging on to those properties, they've got good quality tenants and that. So it might be worthwhile. And again, it's not to say, you know, we talk to a lot of young people, uh, they just want cash, cash, cash. Um, they're ready to really work, um, and that's great. You can get into some of these less desirable neighborhoods. And uh, but as as you get older and your uh lifestyle changes, um, the situation that happens with those properties doesn't necessarily change. And then that's something something to think about. So um we're gonna talk about five different areas that are good for investing, and we're gonna talk about the pros and the cons of those areas. Um, first off, we're gonna talk about um arguably the most desirable area in town. Um let me back out a little bit first here and just kind of describe the area for those of you that aren't aware of Edmonton. Um, so this is the city of Edmonton right here. You can see this um uh 216. That's highway 216. That's actually the Anthony Henday Drive. That's our ring road that opened up in 2016. Um we talk now a lot, or the city talks a lot now in regards to you know items that are happening inside the Henday and items that are happening outside the Henday. Um we also have um um some significant um uh smaller communities uh around Edmonton. Uh to the northwest, St. Albert. You've got the Acheson Business Park, farther out west, Bruce Grove and Stony Plain. Over here, you've got the um Enoch Indigenous Reserve. You also have the town of Devon. To the south, you've got um the largest business park in Canada, Niscu. Um thousands and thousands of people work there every day. Uh you've got Leduc uh with the international airport right here. You also have the city of Beaumont. To the east, you've got um the county of Strathcona, better known as Sherwood Park. To the northeast, you have Fort Saskatchewan, and to the north you have the village of Nemeo and the um Canadian Forces base. Now, Edmonton, before we get into neighborhoods, Edmonton has uh really had a focus for the last 10 years about densification, um trying to maximize the space uh not only inside the Henday, but certainly inside the real center of the city, uh, which would be this this area here where I've got my my uh mouse circling. Um these are lots that have been around for 60, 70, 80 years. They've got old houses on them, and they're on really big lots because um space was abundant. Um there's four reasons why the city of Edmonton has really got to focus on densification. Um the first one is um to uh shrink the footprint, uh, or not shrink the footprint, but but uh um maintain the footprint. We have a very, very large, we're a we're a large city um area-wise, and it's just so easy to continue to spread out. Um we don't run into um mountains and lakes and uh oceans uh like uh Toronto and Vancouver do, where you clearly know you cannot expand in certain areas. We can go out every direction, but we have to curb that. It's we can't just keep um chewing up farmland. Um so there's an up, there's a there's a desire for the city to to focus more and focus going more up as opposed to spread out. So that's the first reason. The second reason is cost. It's really expensive to continue to push out, um, building new roads, building new schools, building new amenities, um, uh pushing out transit. Um that can be really expensive, um, especially when in the center of the city. Um, and the schools are a great example of that. In inside this real tight center of the city, you have a lot of older schools built in the 50s and 60s that are at half capacity because these um these older areas still primarily have um original owners. And uh it's you know, it's grandma and grandpa, and uh the kids and the grandkids don't live in that area anymore. Um, we're slowly starting to see um people move in, and and and the term is gentrification, where either you're seeing some infills going in, old houses being torn down, new houses being built, um, or you're seeing some of these older houses getting renovated. Um, so that's the second reason. The third reason is um now I mentioned before about how we don't run into oceans and mountains and lakes, but we do run into these smaller communities that I just mentioned. As you can see to the northwest, like we cannot, we as in Edmonton, cannot expand to the northwest. It runs into the city of St. Albert. Um out to the east, we we run into the Enoch Indigenous Reserve and the business park of Acheson. Um to the south, we have some room to grow, but uh you do have the city of Beaumont and the city of Leduc. And and keep in mind, these smaller communities, they also want to grow. Um, there was prior to COVID uh an annexation battle uh between Beaumont and Leduc and Edmonton in regards to you know who was going to gobble up this land. Uh we cannot, the city of Edmonton cannot expand immediately to the east. It runs into Sherra Park, which is um uh, or the county of Strathcona, which there's 125,000 people that live in that area. Um, the greater Edmonton area, all of this, all of these, these which we count as the greater Edmonton area, is about 1.5 million. Um, and then we do have some opportunities here to grow to the to the northeast. Um, I see that um, you know, this this has been um this was created and finished in 2016, the Anthony Henday. Um I do see now that the city has leapt over the Anthony Hendade and is starting to grow out to the north side. Um how it uh it's and it's done that for a long time in the south. So um it's it's it there's it basically it's um it's it's strapped for land. Um uh there's a lot of talk as well in regards to in the south. Uh you've got 41st Avenue Southwest. That's the south border for Edmonton. So you can see where there is some some room to grow here, uh, but everything south of 40, 41st Avenue Southwest is the county of Leduc. Um, and also I'm I'm sure part of it is Beaumont as well. And so um there's still probably another 10 years of build-outs, but eventually, you know, the city's already talking about like what do we do next? And and then the last and and most important, and the one that doesn't really get talked about as much, even though it's most important, is taxation. Um, when you are um tearing down these older homes that are 60, 70 years old that um might be worth now a rough shape property in the north or the south side, it still might be under $500,000, maybe $450,000, $475. Um, but it's on a large lot, and you're either able to build a brand new property or maybe a side-by-side duplex. Or now the big thing in Edmonton is these eightplexes. Um, you're turning that $475,000 worth of land value into $800,000, $1.5 million, possibly $2.5 million. And so that's a lot more tax revenue that the city can uh can call on, along with satisfying its desire and urge to have more people living in the center of the city, um, using a better usage of that large land and um and all the amenities that are around. Albertans love their space. Um they still love these large lots. There's you know 45 by 145, the magical 50 by 150, which allows you to subdivide or to build these eight plexes. Those are in high demand. Um, but there's a lot of people that just like to purchase those properties so that they have all this land. Um, it's it's definitely a shift, um, especially for anybody over the age of 40 in Edmonton and Alberta to be living on smaller pieces of property. And that's why a lot of people are now starting to look at moving outside the city and they're looking for um, you know, three-acre lots or five-acre lots outside the city. So that's basically the focus of the city, um, densification. Now we're going to talk about the neighborhoods. Um, the first neighborhood that um I always like to point out is um uh the U of A or University of Alberta Bonnie Dune area. Now uh here's where the University of Alberta is. Um Bonnie Dune is immediately to not immediately, but it's farther to the to the direct east. Um there's the Bonnie Dune shopping center there, which is the second oldest shopping center in Edmonton, built in the late 1950s. And uh there also is a community of Bonnie Dune, but um it's just kind of known as the Bonnie Dune area. Um, you know, what makes this so desirable? It it just has everything. It's got a great vibe. Um, there's um easy access to the river valley, of course, the University of Alberta, which I believe has close to 30,000 students going to it. So you get a huge amount of student rentals going on. It's close to downtown, easy access to the LRT or transit. Um when we have people from out of town coming to look around the city, we take them down a popular um uh street in town uh called uh White Avenue or uh 82nd Avenue. It's got lots of cool shops and bars and restaurants, and people just always go, oh wow, this is a cool area. So it's just a great vibe. A lot of people want to be in this area, and uh, and so what you're seeing is a tremendous amount of um infill going on. Again, these side-by-side duplexes with legal suites, these eightplexes, um, or just people, you know, tearing old houses down and building their dream home because they just want to live in this area. Um, so the challenge for somebody that's on an investment budget that's buying an older property, just know that you're buying a property that might need a lot of work, um, you know, small bedrooms, only one bathroom, um, lots of maintenance. Um, the trade-off is if you are buying something new, um, it's gonna be a premium. And um, it can be difficult to make um properties cash flow in this area. Um, this is definitely somebody that's looking for more turnkey, um, looking for that quality tenant profile. Be concerned about uh vacancies. Um and this is one of the areas that's gonna move for a meeting area. Um and so um, especially in certain areas where it is high quality and high desirability, like McKernan, Belgravia, and Windsor Park, um, people always kind of feel, and these are just even homeowners, um, they always kind of feel like, geez, I feel like I maybe overpaid a bit, but five years down the road, everybody's wondering how they got such a good deal because it just constantly maintains its value. So that's area one. Area two um is going to be the Mill Woods area. This is over to the southeast. Um, if I was to describe Mill Woods in one word, I would say family. Um, it's a very family-focused area. There's lots of parks. You can see all this green space here. Um, they still were building uh pretty much a school uh for every community. Um you don't necessarily see that anymore, especially outside the Henday. They're kind of more building, you know, larger district parks or schools, uh, more K to nines as opposed to kindergarten to grade six. And um this is one of these areas where um people are able to purchase these rental properties for maybe a little bit less than say the southeast southwest. So that helps out. Uh rents don't necessarily reflect uh a lower, uh a lower um you there the the rents are comparable to the southwest, uh, but the cost is a little bit less. And um as I mentioned, family. So a lot of times people come in uh um with young kids, you know, maybe uh the the dad works out in NISCU, which is again just to the south, um, or it's easy access on the hand day to get out to the uh to to Fort Saskatchewan um or uh along the um Sherwood Park uh uh the um refineries um out in in uh the county of Strathcona. Um and the kids go to school and uh and because they're young and they want to, you know, parents don't want to uproot the kids, they'll stay for a good five, six, seven, eight years. Um this uh The LRT here. This was created or opened up. Uh we're in 2026. It opened up about uh three and a half years ago. Um, there's two two or sorry, three stops there. It ends at uh Millwoods Town Center and the Greenlands Hospital, and um typical to huge and significant improvements in transportation. Um, this uh Millwoodstown Center was purchased by McLab Enterprises, which is a local significant land developer, and they are uh working on re-envision, re uh reimagining this whole area with more like um eight to 14 unit high uh high rises, um, lots more densification and turning this mall, which is interior, into more of like an exterior power center where you drive up to the malls. That's kind of the initial thought and focus. And these are the types of things that happen all the time when you have a major improvement to transportation, such as an LRT coming. You could have a whole bunch of people living in these properties that would want to take the LRT to to wherever else that they may work. Um, just uh kind of as a if I call this like, you know, the second area 2A, this area here would be 2B. It's over in the uh petroleum erminskin area. Um, this also is a great area to invest. Um, it's got the LRT coming. The the difference between this blue and this orange here is that this blue is existing. This orange is currently under construction. Um, it's going to go across the Anthony Hende and then eventually to um where there's supposed to be another uh um hospital. Um so it's wide open spaces right now. They're putting the infrastructure of the LRT there. Um the LRT might be another few years, and who knows when the hospital will be built, but it will be built. Um the challenge here, though, is that it's a little bit more expensive to purchase. So you might be a little more tapped on um cash flow, uh, but you will find good tenants in this area. Um, the third area, and again, not surprising, it's another area where an LRT is going through, is the is the central west Edmonton area, um, best known as uh kind of Metal Arc and Jasper Place. Um this orange here is now, this is fully under construction. So you can see that this leaves downtown, comes down uh what we call Stony Plain Road here, takes a turn to the south and goes down 156th Street, turns at the Metal Arc shopping mall, and then heads out to another hospital and also West Edmonton Mall, and then goes out across the Henday and ends up here in what we call Lewis Estates. Um, this already was a great area. It's a great area for flipping, um, but it also is turning into a great area or has always been a great area for rentals. Um, it's interesting about uh, you know, uh roads being amazing barriers to kind of separate uh different values of properties. Um, this area here to the east of 142nd Street, um, this is big money in Edmonton. Um, it would be you know an average house in Vancouver, but a lot of older homes in this area are $1.5, $2 million torn-down properties and rebuilt or $3,000, $4, $5 million. Um, that probably would be the equivalent of about a $10 million property in Vancouver right now. Um, you get more like one to two million dollar properties, you know, high $800,000, $900,000 properties between $142nd and $149. And then as you go farther west to the west of 149th Street, you get into more again, older homes uh renovated are going to be pushing $500,000, $550,000. Um, properties that are older and in distress are are going to be um, you know, $350, $375 is still an opportunity there. Um what you ultimately have it right now is um uh a very, very busy construction area. Why uh for Apexes? Um the properties are large, you know, lots of 150 by 150s, um, and these are going up all over the place. And the reason is because of this LRT. Again, when you have easy access to improved transportation, that's an opportunity to see an increase in real estate values, um, but also an increase in people wanting to live in that area because of this opportunity here, which is probably still another five years out, but people are getting these built now. And so great opportunity for flips um or just rentals of a current house, or also an opportunity if you wanted to be looking at doing infill. So that's the third area. The fourth area is uh up on the north side. Now, every city has as a has areas that are more expensive and less expensive. All things being equal, um, in Edmonton, um, you know, same size lot, same size house, same condition, all that stuff, um, similar kind of feel for a community. The north side is going to be less expensive than the south side. Um, so a lot of people are migrated towards that, especially investors, because they can basically pick up a good property in a good area for, you know, $20,000, $25,000 less sometimes, pretty significant in the in the north side. And so um one of the things you want to be wary of is that um um the inversion effect to say being on a park or a river. Um, you know, if you're on a park or a river, um, that's highly desirable. You've got an amazing view, you're never going to see neighbors, anything like that. Well, you have the inversion effect when you have you're up against something that is um the opposite of a park or a river. And in this case, you've got the CN Rail Yards and you've got the Yellow Head Trail. These are not going anywhere. And so people that own homes right along this area always have downward pressure and lagging market appreciation. They're always like the last to move. And so I would just be a little bit um wary of that and keep that in mind that you know, if you see properties that are uh, you know, pretty close to um big major transportation hubs that are going to cause a lot of noise and potentially uh you know a bit of the exhaust pollution, um, that there's gonna be some downward pressure. Um again, thinking about um if you, you know, the houses that are on a lake or a river or a park, when you go one or two blocks away, those values start to come down. Well, in this situation, as you start to move away from the rail yards and and the and the highway, um, those values are gonna start to move up a little bit or have a better chance of seeing market appreciation a little bit quicker. And so from that standpoint, I do like to suggest if you are looking to maybe um not look any farther south than maybe about 130th Avenue. Um, this is a great area here. Um I will say that there is a bit of a nickname where they call it investor row uh because it's long and lean. Uh Delwood, Glengarry, Roslyn, Kensington, and Wellington, um, because there's a lot of people that go and invest in there because it's just it's a real sweet spot um for also for flips, but also just uh to have uh a buy and hold strategy. Um so how do you combat that if you're up against a lot of investors? Um you have to make sure your property is one of the best uh looking. You know, um, do you have a dishwasher in your basement? Um, and if the other guy doesn't, then that tenant's gonna choose you better. Um, are you freshly painted? Uh and the other guy's looking a little bit dated, they're gonna choose you over them. Do you have a double car garage as opposed to a single car garage or no garage? Um, do you have more storage? So those are things to think about when you're walking through the property and trying to attract um the highest um tenant profile, the best of the tenant profile that's gonna come into that area. Um, and so again, this is a great area. Um it's a little less expensive. Um the competition is that there's just a lot of properties in that area. Um, the fifth area is um uh new properties. And so for the most part, and not necessarily the infills, I'm talking about, you know, in you know, the last 10 or 15 years. So especially we're looking on the south side, the west end, and now uh on the north side, um, outside the Anthony Hende. Um, I like to talk to new investors about when you're really dummy it down into what you have to be focused on. There's really only ever two things, the property and the tenant. Um, the tenant you always have to be focused on. Um once a month, you got to make sure they're paying their rents. Uh, you also want to make sure that um everything's good because everybody's lives can change, you know, um a death in the family that affects that person, uh, divorce, um, maybe they lost their job. Um, you know, there's all sorts of things that couldn't turn a good tenant into more of a suspect tenant. Um, and it's not for the fact that you, you know, you screen them and you found a good tenant and they were great. Circumstances can change. Um, so you want to always be wary of what's going on with the tenants. With the property, if you were able to take a lot of the repairs and maintenances off the table, that would be one less thing to worry about. And so there are there it is a strategy to focus on um buying new. If you buy new, it's 10 years Alberta new home warranty. Basically, uh, if everything works out okay, the first thing you have to worry about replacing is the hot water tank in 10 or 12 years. Um, so you can find those in these properties uh or in these areas outside the Anthony Hende on the south and the west. And as I said, now on the north side. Um also you can look and find new properties in any of the smaller communities, which some communities are priced less than the city of Edmonton, some are have more of a premium. Those three areas are Spruce Grove, sorry, uh Sherwood Park, St. Albert, and Beaumont. Um, if you can uh work with a builder to get a legally suited property built in, that would be even more of a benefit. Um, the the issue with that area is buying in this way is that your cash flow is usually going to be low because you are buying a brand new property, so there's going to be a premium purchasing that property. Some people focus on purchasing properties that are maybe four or five years old. So they still might be under warranty. There's nothing left to change, but the value of that property is going to perhaps have decreased a little bit. Um, the one last area that I should focus on, um, and it's just a little bit of a different uh uh focus based on that four criteria, um, would be that if cash flow is first, like cash flow is definitely the area you want to focus on, then you want to be focused on this area here, um, which is kind of the the central northeast, just off the downtown areas like Montrose, Peacin' Heights, um, Alberta Avenue. Um these, this is more of a lagging area. Um, it's kind of one of these areas that's like last to get moving. And so the benefit to that is that um you can buy uh properties for less less money. Um rents might be affected by being a little bit lower. That's what attracts a lot of tenants there. Um, but you you you might have a uh uh a lower tenant profile in these areas. Um your rents might be a little bit lower. Um and then uh because a lot of these properties are so much older, um, you might have to be focused a lot more on uh the property maintenance. And so again, this would be an area where active management would need to be in place. Um, enjoy the cash flow that comes in. However, um you just might have to be rather the kind of set it and forget it, um, you know, tenants that um um take care of the property and are in there for a long period of time, you might see a little bit more turnover with tenants. Um, you get a bit more of a transient population that comes through there. Uh, and so you're you you might be working uh more frequently in regards to um filling those tenants. So um, and that's where you that's the city of Edmonton in particular. Um, there are great opportunities in the smaller communities as well. Uh Mogul focuses on all of those communities. Um, and so um we can certainly talk about that at another time. But um for now, that's uh basically where current and successful investors are focused in Edmonton on different neighborhoods and different properties. Keep in mind that you can always change the property, you can always renovate it, but you can never change the location. So it's really important to be focused in on location first and knowing that yes, this is the area that I want to be purchasing in because this is the type of tenant profile I want. I want an area that either is going to see early market appreciation or maybe doesn't. Um, and then also again, how much vacancy will there be, and then how much cash flow will there be. So there's uh I like to call it my map tour. Uh thanks for joining me, and uh we'll catch you next time.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Thanks, Devin. That was great. And there you have it. I love it when Devin does these map tours for his clients because even though I've spent most of my life in Edmonton, and I've heard Devin do this map tour a bunch of times, I still learn something new every time, and I hope you did too. If you have any questions, make sure to reach out to us. And whether you're looking for your first home, searching for an investment property, finding a community to raise a family, planning your next chapter, Edmonton truly has something for you. So if today's episode helped you or you know someone that this episode could help out, please share it. We'd love that. And if you're looking for personalized advice on where to invest to buy your next home, Devin would be happy to help you as well. After all, helping people to find the right fit in Edmonton is what he does best. Thanks so much for spending your part of your day with us. Be sure to subscribe, follow, leave a review wherever you get your podcast. It really helps us to reach more people who are interested in the Edmonton real estate and Edmonton lifestyle. So until next time, that was Devin. I'm Tracy. This is real estate in Edmonton, where we talk real estate and real life. We'll see you next week.