Sunset Investments has posted a video online advertising an investment opportunity to purchase six Sackville buildings totalling 82 units. All the buildings in the video appear to be owned by local landlord Charles Estabrooks.  CHMA has reached out to Estabrooks for confirmation and have not heard back as of publication time.

This past summer the Sunset Investments terminated all the leases in a 16-unit apartment building which it purchased on King Street.

Although the text in the video mentions six buildings, there are five featured in drone footage, which appear to be 55 Salem, and four buildings on Main Street: 172A, 172B, 174, and 176.

Rogan Porter lives at one of the buildings featured. He says there were rumours over the winter that his building might be sold, but that he and his partner breathed easy in the summer when they heard it would not.

“We figured, okay, we’re off the hook. And then the video comes up out of nowhere,” says Porter, “and ruins our sense of peace, unfortunately.”

Porter recognized the investment group—Sunset Investments—from their purchase of 15 King Street this summer, and he was immediately worried.

“I was really upset with what they did to 15 King, even though it didn’t directly impact me,” says Porter. “It’s just a slap in the face to renters.”

Porter says the lack of renter protection in New Brunswick laws is part of the reason he went into “panic mode” when he saw the video.

It’s not clear if the Sunset Investments strategy at play is a BRRRRing strategy similar to the one they are using with 15 King Street. In marketing to potential investors for 15 King, Sunset Investments used BRRRRing terminology, however the investor pitch for the current six buildings does not refer to the “Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance and Repeat” strategy popularized by American real estate investment company turned how-to empire, Bigger Pockets. The new pitch promises a “high cash flow return” and more “favorable tax treatment than most private lending opportunities”.

The Sunset Investments video also tells potential investors that the buildings are ideal student housing, and that they are rented by the room. It goes so far as to list the total number of rentable rooms in the 82 units: 233. But Porter says that while many students live in the buildings, they are also home to older couples and families.

Porter says that he and his partner will likely have to move to Moncton if the sale goes through and Sunset Investments uses the same strategy they used at 15 King: extensive renovations to justify lease terminations, and then a steep increase in rents.

“We’ve already talked about it,” says Porter. “We’ve basically accepted we’d have to move to Moncton… If 82 apartments get displaced when the market is already as competitive as it is, what are we supposed to do?”

Porter contacted his landlord after seeing the video. He says Estabrooks told him the sale had not yet gone through, and that he had received assurances that Porter would not be evicted. Porter says while he has had a great relationship with his landlord, he is not placing his trust in assurances from Sunset. He’s written to town council, and contacted MLA Megan Mitton and Mount Allison management about the possible sale.

“It’s not just about me and my partner,” says Porter. “Losing our space, we’re in an okay position should that happen. We don’t have kids, we don’t have dogs. But, you know, there’s a lot of people that can’t as easily find housing. So it’s just that this is gonna keep happening in our community, and it’s something I think we should really look at seriously.”

CHMA will continue to follow this story.

If you have any information to share about the possible sale of buildings to Sunset Investment or any other real estate investment group, please contact news@chmafm.com