RE:Working through the warts
It all depends on how you choose to evaluate your investment. I'm a big fan of sweat equity! Saving $4500 in labour and picking up an extra month of rent? Sounds like a week in Mexico to me! Add in the 25% haircut on the property and depending on your timeline you may have some baked in capital gains. I admire anyone brave enough to take the chance in real estate that actually gets their hands dirty. I've always looked for the wartiest house on the block because polishing turds is where all the money and satisfaction lies.
I just exidited all of my real estate investments in March of this year. I'm hoping to re-enter the market when I think the true cost of high interest rates are being felt. Next time I plan on Switching from long term rentals to the short term Airbnb model. (The changing rental laws are scary for the smaller landlords who rely on the monthly income to cover the increasing cost of leverage. I know I don't want to be the bag holder... I know I was lucky that I got paid during COVID.)
However I'm very curious to see where the housing market will be in 2-3 years if the 5 year fixed rates are in the (conservative) 5-7% range... 7-10% is also realistic if inflation persists, hopefully for us caused by continuing high energy costs. My northern town was flooded with buyers from Toronto during the COVID boom driving up the cost of real estate over what the local economy can sustain. I purchased a home here 5 years ago for $155k and sold it fo $465k no conditions. I believe the smaller communities will correct and correct hard but with a built in latency effect. All of my millenial friends will be in for the shock of a lifetime having only ever seen mortgage rates go down and home prices go up, A trend I see reversing for the next 5-10 years...
Sorry for my real estate rant but I've learned everything is ties together in one way or another. Investing in any asset class has carry over into another, just new variables to learn. It's why I like this forum, it's a great exchange of information and candid first hand experience. I'm just a guy hoping to turn my oil stocks back into real estate in a few years... Or maybe just stick to the REITs HA! I think you're timing is pretty good for investing in the city. I see a bunch of people flocking back in the next few years when the golden era of working from home comes to an end and people realize snow can suck!