I have been very tardy in posting a follow up. I was waiting to see how things played out. The province is Alberta. The criminal record check at Court of Queens Bench did work. The partner has been convicted of fraud in the past. It is going badly for my friend. There are also other money...

Hello: I was away for 10 days, hence the slow reply. According to a knowledgeable roofer at Alf's Roofing in Sherwood Park, the actual life of Certainteed Landmark shingles should be 30+ years. BP Mystique life should be about 25 years. These two are supposed to be the best shingles for low...

BIG update: 2 business days after receiving my warranty claim, BP accepted it with no excuses etc, and offered to reimburse me $5600.00 off the price of reroofing! Thanks to everyone who replied. My own first hand experience is that BP made a real lousy line of shingles - or batch of shingles...

In 1962 my parents bought a typical 10 year old home on the south side in Edmonton. They paid $12,000 which was fair market value at that time. Now, the same home is 65 years old, is still standing, and similar homes average about $375,000. This approximately matches your graph. If you do...

Update: 2 days ago, I submitted a warranty claim. When there is news one way or the other, I'll post another update.

Thank you sharon9. Everyone contemplating a reshingling should visit that site. There are 137 reviews of BP and 105 people are angry (25 and 30 year shingles last 10 years or so, and the warranty is worthless) The positive reviews are all written by roofers. They typically say "I'm a roofer...

This issue has now taken a major turn. I googled BP to confirm that their address was still the same, so that I can file a written warranty claim. The google search showed that there was a class action lawsuit resolved in 2012 regarding premature failure of many BP shingles - (my specific...

Thank you for your replies. So far, I spoke to the roofing company. They said that the warranty is from the shingle manufacturer and not from them. (Technically correct) They gave me the specific phone number to call at BP. At this time I am waiting to get a call back from BP. As far as...

Does anyone have firsthand experience with getting a roof redone under the warranty? I have 25 year BP asphalt shingles that were installed 10 years ago, on a rental home, by a large, reputable Edmonton roofing company. The roof is leaking in at least 3 places. The water is dripping through...

Thanks nubiwan for your reply. Judging by your reply and by the lack of replies to my original post, it looks like this refugee influx did not turn out to be a bonanza of tenants for real estate investors.

Two years ago now, the large influx of refugees from Syria began arriving in Canada. There were a few of threads in this column about renting to families from Syria. Now with the benefit of hindsight, how has this turned out for real estate investors? All of the refugees came with a sponsor...

What do experienced real estate investors say to a prospective tenant who wants to rent a vacant unit, but you don't want them? For example: 5 people, all 19 years old, want to rent my nice home. The non verbal cues clearly indicate "partiers". I can envision a trashed home in the short term...

".common utilities? . . . I’m guessing the cost is significantly less if it was a common system." Absolutely not less cost - much higher cost. When the utilities are common, windows will be open at -20 degrees and block heaters will be plugged in at -5. The tenant will insist that they...

"the smaller the furnace / hot water tanks the better" 40 US gal (33 imperial gal) is the standard residential Hot Water Tank. I wanted tanks as small as possible in a building where space was a big consideration. Rona sells a 30 US gallon hot water tank (Not stocked at all stores -...

Before you paint, you might want to try the Benjamin Moore website. You can see different colors and color combinations, and see what they look like in a room. Click on "Color Collections", then click on "Color Preview", then click on "See Colors". Pick any of the 1000+ colors, then click on...

Several years ago, I bought an inexpensive wireless security camera system from Best Buy. I have moved the camera from place to place as it was needed (only 2 times so far, but they were real problems). Mail missing 5 times is an example of such a problem. The next time it happens, scroll...

Is it possible to get an official criminal record check without the person's consent or knowledge? Police say that person has to come in themselves in person to get a check done. Someone I know invested in a deal. I believe that his partner has been convicted multiple times of fraud, (and...

Very, very often, investors who assign maintenance to a tenant, are not happy with the low amount of maintenance that happens. This applies even if one tenant is given a reduced rent in exchange for the maintenance work. If your 4-plex is near your home, and you take pride in it, and it is...

Someone who wants to rent unseen might be pulling the overpayment and refund scam. This exact story has happened. The scam artist sent a counterfeit check for two months rent and the damage deposit. The check was drawn on an actual account number held by a medium size company. That way the...

I have a 4 plex in Edmonton. For 25 years or so the basements were 100% dry all the time. Then water seeped in at the joint between the wall and the floor after a very heavy rain. Over a few years, the leaking steadily got worse. I tried all the easy fixes first like extending the gutter...