The recent Ontario court case of Drumonde v. Spellay, 2025 ONSC 3221 highlights critical issues for families inheriting cottages. After their mother’s death, three siblings disputed the fate of a family cottage. The Will intended the property to remain in the family, allowing siblings to opt out for $5,000. The defendant sibling, who lived there year-round for 22 years and covered expenses and upkeep, opposed a sale and offered the $5,000 buyouts per the Will. The applicant siblings wanted to force the sale of the cottage under the Partition Act, arguing that the cottage should not have been converted into a principal residence for their siste
Shakespeare might have thought ‘to be or not to be’ was the ultimate question, but he wasn’t living in 2025 trying to minimize bank fees and interest charges while maximizing financial returns—and having to pay $9 for a clamshell of raspberries. This month, we’re tackling a modern dilemma: ‘Should I get a variable or fixed rate on my mortgage?’ Not as poetic, but way more practical. Let’s dive in.
June 16, 2025
Whenever an Agent, whether newly licensed or veteran, interviews with us to see what RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc. has to offer, the discussion soon reverts to culture. Every real estate firm can provide an Agent with a business card, a sign, and a phone. All an Agent really needs. But each firm has its unique claim to fame as it were. Ours is our culture. You spend a significant chunk of your life at work. We want to be sure when our Agents walk through the front door it feels like home. The atmosphere is positive, supportive and inviting. And the key to our achieving that is our amazing support staff. From the front reception, through all departments like marketing, social media, technology and management right to our back office administration, they get it! Our Agents are our clients and we’re here to serve them.
In Ontario, purchasing a home is often the largest investment you’ll ever make. Yet, even after diligent inspections, some problems-known as latent defects-may not reveal themselves until after you’ve moved in. Latent defects are hidden flaws not discoverable through a standard visual inspection. In this example we will consider electrical issues concealed behind walls, including outdated knob and tube wiring.
May 15, 2025
Whenever we sit down to review the numerical sales data, month by month and year by year, we always look to see if there are any trends evident. I speak here both in terms of number of unit sales and also average residential sale price. And then we ask ourselves the question – “Why did this happen?”. What we are trying to do, of course, is extrapolate out and thus predict what will happen in the months ahead. We primarily follow unit sales and average residential sales prices. As I’ve said before, I don’t particularly track new listings coming in, because these numbers are unreliable. They include properties that expire and are re-listed as well as listings that are re-serviced. So, while available inventory is a useful barometer, new listings are not.
May 14, 2025
Kids do it. Athletes do it. Olympians do it as well! When they have finished a challenging task. Accomplished something extraordinary. As they stand in the spotlight, they extend their arms out and wait for the applause. It’s their ‘Ta-Da’ moment. Their moment of recognition. It’s the reason movies have Oscar’s; television has Emmy’s. Olympics have gold, silver and bronze medallions. The list goes on.
Spring is one of the busiest seasons in the real estate market, with buyers eager to find their dream home before summer.
Last issue we took a look at commercial investments and saw how they stacked up compared to residential rentals. And, we saw there were a lot of advantages for the commercial landlord. Not just in removing him from the oppressive control of the Residential Tenancies Act. But also, huge advantages when it came to cash flow and return on investment. Chiefly because many, if not most commercial tenancies are what we call ‘carefree net leases for the landlord’ or TRIPLE NET LEASES. Simply put, this means that all the expenses typically associated with rentals and borne by the residential landlord are passed on to the tenant in commercial situations.
In our money machine seminars and as investors, the bulk of our attention has been focused on residential real estate investment. It’s the easiest to acquire, the easiest to finance and generally speaking the easiest to rent out and keep rented. After all, regardless of the economy we find ourselves in, people always need a roof over their heads. So, while in tough economic times, when many businesses are struggling, you might see a lot of ‘for lease’ signs on strip plazas and retail outlets, that’s not typically the case with houses and apartment units.