Just like The Joker is to Batman or Dr. Evil is to Austin Powers, Rent Control is the enemy to a Landlord. I know the claims of many renters and government representatives: “Without rent control, people couldn’t afford to rent!” I ask, what happened to the basics of economics – the law of supply and [...]
Entries from July 2008
July 29, 2008
3rd Place in MOMAR – Not bad for begginers
Well, it took us 4 hours and 41 minutes to:
kayak the 5km out and back on Shawnigan Lake,
Mountain bike through 23km of sometimes really rugged trails around Cobble HIll,
Swim across a river to get a check point and then swim with a pool noodle across a quarry for another,
And, run about 5km in the [...]
July 25, 2008
Momar Adventure Race Around the Corner
When I think there is something I would like to do, I don’t sit around talking about it for years. I rarely research it to death or waste a lot of time thinking of excuses why I can’t/won’t/shouldn’t do it. I typically think I would like to do something, then decide if I am going [...]
July 21, 2008
Trying to Become Commercial Real Estate Investors
It’s tough to find a residential property that makes sense to buy right now… and that’s been our focus for a long time. When we sat down to discuss our investing goals for 2008 we decided that it was time to venture into commercial real estate investing. It’s not a completely new place for us [...]
July 19, 2008
It doesn’t matter what you paid – what is it worth today?
I came across this little gem of an article called Sunk Cost Bias on a blog called Litemind, and I immediately thought of how applicable it is for a real estate investor. Not that long ago Dave was suffering from a sunk cost bias of his own… he’d bought a crackhouse in Niagara Falls, ON.
Year [...]
July 17, 2008
Craigslist meets Google
Before we rent out any of our units, we do research to figure out what market rent is for the property. Generally we look for comparable units within a few blocks of our unit by using:
Rentometer
Viewit
Craigslist.
Craigslist, hands down, has the most listings in it for comparison purposes but it’s a pain to find properties that [...]
July 14, 2008
Brace Yourselves – There will be NO surge in House Sales
“Federal crackdown could spark housing sales“
The real estate industry is bracing for a surge in home purchases,
betting buyers will rush to get ahead of tighter federal government
standards for the mortgage industry.The Finance Department will stop
guaranteeing 40-year and zero-down-payment mortgage loans starting
Oct. 15.
Hard to believe this is what the media and [...]
July 14, 2008
Focus your way to being rich
Last night, as our dog Bram was drooling over Dave eating crackers and cheese, my Mom said “If we all could focus on making money like dogs focus on food we’d all be millionaires by the time we’re five”.
Ok, five years old might be a stretch but my Mom is definitely onto something. When you [...]
July 11, 2008
5% Down and 35 Year Amortization Now the Max in Canada
The government of Canada is adjusting their policy on government backed mortgages based on what’s happened in the U.S. housing crisis. As of October 15, 2008 you won’t be able to get a 40 year, no money down mortgage, backed by the government anymore. Their new rules and requirements for the 35 year amortization mortgage [...]
July 10, 2008
Starbucks Broke the First Rule of Real Estate
by Julie Broad
It’s ALWAYS about location, location, location. When the real estate market is hot people often forget this golden rule of real estate. They think any piece of land or any piece of property will make them money. When the market cools, all of those decisions made without discipline come back to haunt them. [...]
