I know gift cards are easy and the thought counts....we (my husband and I) are thinking of going the "small town" traditional route. This Christmas we are toying with giving out hams to our tenants or clients as we actually call them ..or at least something along those lines. When we sign a...

Hi: Thanks for the post. In our first few units we did provide fire extinguishers, but we did not consider the liability issue. Carbon monoxide monitors were also installed. The last two places we have provided a fire blanket. As we were thinking `what happens if they don`t know how to...

Hi Chris: The advice you`ve had so far and your ideas sound like you are well on your way. Yes get out of the CA firm and head into industry to manage the work week hours. From my experience, you can still work 40/60/80 hour weeks in industry, so choose your new company/position wisely...

Congratulations Quentin! This first year is a roller coaster learning curve! Just think - if you stop right now with 4/5 properties (not that you are), you have secured your retirement nest egg (vs relying on RRSP/pension market). Adding more properties will just reduce those years. Isn`t...

Has anybody heard if there are any changes in store for the First Line Matrix mortgage??

Thanks a bunch! Really appreciate it as this first year has been quite the learning curve trying to hash out what kind of client relations I want to have! Regards, Susan

I like your advise Thomas and invest4profit! I`ll be working towards that attitude as I get more properties. How do you deal with a tenant that wants you to deposit their chq on the 8th of the month vs 1st..."due to payroll payments". Do you tell them learn to budget?

We had a similiar situation but it`s slowly working it`s way out. It was a little frustrating, but I think it will work out in the end. I maybe considered a soft heart, but I also saw my tenant as a long term asset. I realize I woudn`t have been so understanding if I hadn`t taken a bit of...

Just like to point out that the "Smith manoeuvre" doesn`t advocate that a person can deduct the interest on their principal residence. It is clear that that case was in violation....very creative though! The Smith manoeuvre wants you to take out a matrix mortgage (credit line attached to the...

Just thought I would add my 2 cents...for what it`s worth I attended a Cashflow event in Edmonton in March 2007 prior to attending Quickstart in June 2007. Yes there were quite a few sales pitches from "the sponsors" of the weekend. I had gone there for the real estate content but the surface...

Thanks for that wording Thomas! I`ve been wondering how to fix the wording in my contracts after I walked away from a property after the inspection showed massive water damage to the 2nd bathroom into the basement and a few other issues. The Seller wanted me to still buy it without any...

Most things have been covered with regards to labs, crates, walking etc. I`m pro animals, so all our rentals are pet friendly. Have them fill out a pet registration form. Remind them the pet has to be licenced. If you have condo regs on your townhouse, check your condo regs to ensure that a lab...

Hi all: I`ve just read through the whole thread and would like to say nice ad holymoly and best of luck Ed! I thought I would add my last experience at renting a house out. I`ve noticed it was a bit harder to rent out a house in Q4 vs our first 3 properties. We received possession of our 4th...

As it happened, I had some userid issues with Rentcheck today so I couldn`t pull their credit ratings. Their employment calls checked out, but I told them this afternoon that we would have to have a frank conversation of how they where foreclosed on with their salaries (household income of...

QUOTE (SusanPenner @ Sep 26 2008, 07:41 AM) Good Morning: Last night I had a family approach me to rent the house I have for rent. Before I mentioned that a credit check would be done, the husband confessed that the bank foreclosed their property because they couldn`t make the 3600/month...