Speculators are gamblers. Plain and simple! Oh, they might disagree. They have a system they will tell you. They follow trends. They watch the market. And ten thousand gamblers at Vegas will say the same thing
February 15, 2024
When I was a kid growing up at home, I was always looking for ways to supplement my allowance. At first snowfall, I was up and out with a list of two or three homes with walks to shovel on my way to elementary school. In summer I would pick dew worms and sell them along the highway up in cottage country. I had a paper route. It was a Toronto based newspaper and so I had to cycle all over St. Catharines to service a few customers. But it was income.
January 15, 2024
There are a lot of challenges being a residential landlord these days. That’s for sure. But one of the major ones is our governing legislation, The Residential Tenancies Act. It’s there. It’s a reality. We need to understand it and work with it. But as I say, it’s a challenge.
December 15, 2023
Often things economic go in cycles. Whether we are talking the stock market, the real estate market or whatever. Things are relatively tranquil. Then a few investors sense an opportunity and buy in, then a few more, and before long it’s a stampede. I mean with so many rushing to get it, it must be the right thing to do, mustn’t it? 100,000 lemmings can’t be wrong
November 15, 2023
More and more I’m hearing people say “with the high cost of housing these days and the soaring interest rates, how are today’s young people ever going to be able to afford a house?”.
October 16, 2023
I recall speaking to a landscaper on one occasion about a new lawn and yard design he was working on. He told me that generally a complete landscaping makeover was good for about 15 years. After that, it pretty well needs to be redone. The reason? Functional obsolescence. The shrubs and trees are still in play but what was once an ornamental bush has become a tree. Trees have grown out and now crowd gardens. Grass has become thick and riddled with crab grass. The elements are still there, but they have outgrown their practical purpose and usefulness.
September 15, 2023
In our last Money Machine article, we compared multi-family residential buildings that were designed and built as such to buildings that were converted to become multi-family. And we saw that there are a lot of advantages to owning buildings that were designed and built to be exactly what they now are. Especially true in the case of small entities such as duplexes and triplexes.
August 15, 2023
I’d like to talk to you today about multi-family residential buildings. As you develop your investment portfolio, you’ll absolutely want to have some multi-family buildings in the mix. Of course, when I speak about multi-family this can encompass all the way up to high-rise apartment buildings containing hundreds of rental units. But for most of us, we are not at and likely will never be at that level of investment. However multi-family can also include your typical duplex or triplex. And that is where most of us are going to be involved. In fact, CMHC and most banks draw a line at 4 units. Anything above 4 units is considered commercial and is handled by their commercial division. Four or fewer are under the residential umbrella.
