In this solo advice segment, Chris Haroun explains that the most reliable real‑estate opportunity is simply owning your own home or apartment, highlighting tax‑gift strategies in the U.S. and urging viewers to consult accountants. He shares his personal purchase of a building near the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, arguing that proximity to universities can provide counter‑cyclical rental demand. Haroun reiterates the classic mantra of “location, location, location,” suggesting it’s better to buy a modest property in a good neighbourhood than a premium property in a poor one. He warns that real‑estate markets are highly cyclical, with liquidity challenges and high transaction fees, so investors should proceed cautiously. For newcomers, he recommends starting with a small, inexpensive condo that can be rented out to generate cash flow that exceeds the mortgage payment, creating monthly positive cash flow.
Chapters
Next question is, what opportunities in real estate do you see in the short and long term future? Thanks so much. Yeah, so I would say that the best opportunity you can have in real estate is obviously owning your own house or your own apartment, if you possibly can. In many countries, there's a lot of tax breaks as well. Like in America, for example, your mom and dad and your spouse's mom and dad can gift you money to buy a house. Okay. So that's four separate gifts and they get a tax benefit. And so do you. Please speak to an accountant though, first, before considering that I'm not really up to speed on that. And my wife and I, we bought a building recently in London, Ontario, in Canada. London, Ontario is where I was born in Canada. It's an hour and a half south of Toronto. And we bought a building there because it's right by the University of Western Ontario. And our thought process was that if you own real estate close to universities, it can be somewhat countercyclical because more people go to university when, when the economy's not that great and people still need to rent. And so my dad would always tell me, whenever you're looking to invest in real estate, the most important three factors are location, location, location. It's kind of like when you buy a house, you never want to buy the nicest house in a crappy neighborhood. You kind of want to buy the crappiest house in a nice neighborhood, so to speak. Yeah. And real estate is very, very cyclical. Just, just understand going in that there's liquidity issues, meaning it's not that easy to sell your piece of property and there's massive real estate fees you have to pay given the liquidity issues that there is with real estate. So just, I'd be careful. And if you're looking to invest in real estate, maybe start off by buying a. Just a small condo. Doesn't cost very much. And the trick is this, to see if you can get somebody to pay rent, which will more than cover that, the monthly mortgage. So you could be very cash flow rich on a monthly basis. Yeah.
