Real Estate

Rental properties Hamilton vs Waterloo

  • Last Updated:
  • Jul 14th, 2020 12:08 pm
Sr. Member
Jul 9, 2014
718 posts
252 upvotes
Toronto, ON

Rental properties Hamilton vs Waterloo

Rental investment Hamilton vs Waterloo

Hi, as the title I am looking for some rental property (house semi or detached) in range 550K and below in Hamilton (near Mc Master University) and Waterloo (near UW). I am looking for either student and young professional renters. Does anyone have experience in those two areas in terms of renting? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks in advance
4 replies
Deal Addict
Nov 22, 2004
1621 posts
766 upvotes
GTA
You'll be able to find a lot on this online and I'm not sure if it'll be your first time being a landlord or you've done it before but here are some things that come to mind. Location wise, I don't know as much about Hamilton's rental population but I studied and lived in Waterloo for 5 years and work there from time to time. The covid issues aside, you won't have much issue finding tenants there because the city has grown considerably. Waterloo saw a lot of development for student housing at one point to the extent that the market was saturated. It had gotten better more recently till covid hit. More generally, thoughts on renting:

  • Renting to students generally requires a lot more active management, i.e. either you should be there locally or have someone there who can go and check the place from time to time. Students prefer to live as cheaply as possible and don't always take care of the place.
  • Also, considering they study 8 out of 12 months a year, you'll almost always deal with sublets.
  • Many landlords renovate their homes to "create" more rooms to rent to as many students as possible which is generally against building and fire codes but clearly it's a lucrative thing. If anybody complains though, could result in fines and problems from the city.
  • Professionals/families, in my experience, have made the best tenants. You can manage those remotely with far more ease. There may still be issues like appliances breaking down, some plumbing leak or something else, that you'll have to be prepared to resolve, but chances of other headaches will be much less. On the flip side, since you can't charge by the room like you can with students, you won't get as much rent as you would otherwise.

All the best
CPA. Realtor.
Sr. Member
Jul 9, 2014
718 posts
252 upvotes
Toronto, ON
Thanks, Clueless Fox,

I would prefer to rent it out to a family.
Member
Feb 2, 2018
293 posts
139 upvotes
Also thinking about purchasing a rental property. Is it a good time with COVID?

At op if you prefer to rent out to family why are you purchasing near school?
Newbie
May 6, 2019
6 posts
2 upvotes
I’ve got two rentals now in Waterloo that I manage myself. Both detached homes near good schools. I rent them out to families and have never had an issue. I’ve rented to students before and found I had to do much more work as students tend to complain for minor things whereas I found families usually can resolve minor things themselves. Minor things such as shoveling, grass cutting. Also families tend to take care of the place better as they are raising their children in the home. Students don’t care about the property. Never looked forward to cleaning the house after students rented it out. If you have any questions about Waterloo you can pm me. I went to university here, and continued to live in Waterloo as my job is in the region. It’s a growing region for sure.

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