Pricey Windsor real estate pushes some to invest south of the border

A booming real estate market across Canada — including in Windsor-Essex in Ontario — has meant that for some investors, opportunities are drying up, and they're turning their efforts toward the United States.

As recently as five years ago, Windsor's properties were a steal. But with the average price of a home selling at a record $636,422 in the region in January — a 10 per cent jump from the month prior, and about 26 per cent more from the same time last year — investors say, thanks to bidding wars and dwindling profit margins, there are fewer opportunities to invest locally.

"When the prices are too high, they're going to be looking at the outskirts," explained Danial Malik, a broker at ReMax Preferred in Windsor 

The outskirts are not just communities in the county, but out of province, as well as south of the border. 

"These buyers are going to the states to look for more opportunities since they know that the prices are a little bit easier to access," he said.

Local entrepreneur Dan Crosby was among investors who started looking for a different means of investment.

"I started looking outside of our own backyard here, and American real estate really caught my eye," he said.

WATCH | Local investors at Coachwood Capital explain why they turned to the U.S.:

He even turned it into a business model. 

Crosby said his firm, Coachwood Capital, which launched a couple of years ago, has simplified the process to invest in larger-scale investment properties like condo buildings on the other side of the border.

In the last two years, with a team of at least 30 investors, most of whom are from southwestern Ontario, the firm invested in a building in North Miami as well as a building in Canton, Mich. Both are senior-focused rental properties.

Between a booming market and certain tax benefits in the United States, Crosby explained the cash returns are sometimes triple or quadruple that of a southwestern Ontario investment. 

For 22-year-old Humza Mirza, buying a home in Windsor-Essex at his age, fresh out of school, seemed out of reach. But through his job with Coachwood Capital, he's now part-owner of the Miami building.

Mirza said it would have a difficult accomplishment to achieve on his own locally, given the competitive Windsor real estate market.