There are several reasons and or situations that you should be getting a land survey. Below are our top 7 reasons: Buying a new piece of land in which case banks would usually require it. Building anything new on your property such as an addition or extension. You have or believe your have access easements. An access easement is when the land belongs to one party, but another party has the legal right to use it for a specific purpose such as getting to the road. If you are

If you plan on purchasing a US residential investment property you will have less financing options than purchasing property domestically. Canadian banks will not provide financing on US properties, but there are US lenders with Canadian affiliation such as RBC Bank and TD Bank that will. These are usually the best options for Canadians, as US banks with no Canadian affiliation don’t really want to deal with foreign nationals and it’s typical for them to charge additional i

In the legal profession lawyers are prevented from acting on both sides of the profession. This is because it is not possible to do the best for one client without sacrificing the interest of the other client. Yet in real estate the same ethical standards do not apply, and a realtor is legally permitted to be the mediator rather than an advocate in a dual agency or multi-representation scenario. According to the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) real estate agents are r

Your self-dialogue can have a direct impact on your perception of the world. When you have a “set-back” in your life do you see the “set-back” as a problem, or as an opportunity for improvement? Do you take “bad news” as “bad news”, or do you take the “bad news” as a “challenge” to overcome? The difference between successful people versus unsuccessful people is often the words they select to describe such situations. The key is to select positive words that inspire you ra

A foreclosure is when a bank or lender gains ownership or control of the right to sell a property in order to pay off the mortgage as well as legal fees, commission, property taxes etc. There are no warranties with a foreclosure sale and properties are sold in “as-is” condition. In Canada financial institutions also need to protect the owner’s equity and attempt to get fair market value under the Canadian Securities Act. So buying at a huge discount typically doesn’t happen

This is not to bash home ownership. Relative to renting it’s often a better long term option and there is also an emotional component to home ownership. That said personal use property is not an investment and you should not stretch yourself financially to buy a bigger home. A home should be treated as an expense and the reason is due to carrying costs such as mortgage interest, maintenance costs, taxes, and insurance. In the long-run carrying costs are likely to meet or exc

The process of finding an Investment Realtor can be challenging. There is no such thing as the perfect Realtor like there is no such thing as the perfect spouse! While looking you may actually find there are some Realtors who are unwilling to work with investors entirely. This may not be completely rational, but there are some underhanded investors who waste the time of Realtors. If you get this response just dust yourself off and keep your Realtor search going. Below is

Capitalization rates are a key concept in the analysis of commercial real estate. It is defined as the annual net operating income divided by the cost or value of the property. Net operating income excludes external factors such financing and taxes. Capitalization Rate = annual net operating income / cost (or value) The cap rate is a useful tool most notably when looking at properties in a similar market. If a property has a significantly higher cap rate this can be an ind

Wholesaling is an effective short term strategy that can be used to create quick profits. It involves finding a property that is below market value, gaining control of the property through a purchase and sale agreement, and then finding a buyer and assigning the contract or selling them the property shortly after close. Below are three wholesaling tips: Be very specific on target properties. If you know what you are looking for in terms of; type of property, price range, l

The cosmetic renovation strategy is a common amongst investors. This means doing renovations that are visual in nature, and are like makeup for your property. This strategy involves purchasing properties below fair market value, performing simple cosmetic renovations, refinancing the property (to take out as much of what has been invested), and then holding the property for long-term cash flow and appreciation. The key to the renovations is not getting into the “guts” such

Hiring and managing contractors is a stressful part of doing home renovations. Below are some helpful tips to make the process easier: 1. Hire contractors by referral. Professionals in the real estate industry such as Home Inspectors, Appraisers, and Realtors can be helpful. Friends, relatives, and co-workers can be a secondary source of referrals. 2. Don’t choose contractor based on the cheapest price. This could indicate they use cheap materials, they are desperate, or

Maximize your chance of Real Estate success by making your investment process boring and predictable. If you’re looking for something exciting go skydiving or take a trip to a foreign country. Why do I suggest this? When you know what you’re doing there isn’t that sense of excitement that comes from jumping into the unknown. When using a proven investment system you will have predictable results and that will inevitably result in boredom. If your investing is filled with

So you hired a general contractor to do a renovation. You’re satisfied with the completed work and you pay the final invoice. Have you fulfilled your financial commitments? If the general contractor fails to pay a subcontractor can a subcontractor put a lien on your property even if you had no direct dealings? The answer in Ontario is “YES”. According to the Construction Lien Act the subcontractor has 45 days from the date of last supply and or substantial completion to r

Many investors say the key attribute of a successful investor is to make decisions based on the facts and not emotions. There is definitely some truth to this, but this does not mean to ignore your intuition completely. If used correctly your intuition can provide important clues to assist you in the due diligence process of real estate investment. A few years back when I was less experienced, I purchased a distressed property that the previous owner was trying to rehab ove

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance when doing operating cash flow analysis for residential investment properties. As a reminder it’s important to remember while doing cash flow analysis to be neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic in your estimates. If you’re too optimistic you will make critical errors and if you’re too pessimistic it will deter you from purchasing potentially good investments. Also note positive cash flow shouldn’t be the only requirem

One of the main benefits of real estate investing over stock market investing is control. For example when you purchase a stock you or your financial adviser have no control over the performance of the company. If the performance of the company deteriorates and the stock price goes down the only decision available to the average investor is to either sell or hold their shares. Meanwhile, if you have an under-performing real estate investment control allows to take actions s

The Millennial generation are people born between 1981 and 2000, and they are becoming an increasingly important demographic in the real estate market. Their importance is driven by the fact they compromise over one third of both the workforce and the Canadian population and it’s expected that within the next 15 years the Millennials will represent 75% of labour force. A key problem impacting this generation has been underemployment (i.e. temporary work and low wages) whic

Many landlords think of bookkeeping as a requirement to file their taxes. While this is true accounting also provides the information to make decisions such as buying, selling, and refinancing. You want to know which properties are profitable and which ones aren’t and then be able to project how your future decisions will impact your profitability. If you’ve hired a property manager it’s important that you manage their performance, and good bookkeeping makes this possible