Yesterday my business student and I sent out 107 letters to the owners of approx 120 commercial zoned lots on the main road in one of the two small towns we are using as a test case for how to grow wealth in small town real estate. We are excited as this is our first mail-out campaign. I will...

What are the best recommendations for software to transcribe video audio into text as the content base for web articles, e-books etc etc. We have tried a few services incl Google Voice Recorder listening to videos recorded and not found any very good at actually capturing accurately what was...

Each province is different in terms of subsidies and programs but i'll bet that there are programs in each provinces for hiring student graduates. In Nova Scotia there are quite a few in fact. I've attached the link for the program I used. https://novascotia.ca/programs/co-op-education-incentive/

I got gov't funding to hire a business student to work in my RE investing business. The tasks he is to do is broadly: 1 develop and place all accounting and other systems on the cloud so I can invest from anywhere in the world 2 develop a list of all owners of commercial and MF RE in my two...

Hi, I've searched through myreinspace and didn't find any discussion of the impact on investors of the new mortgage changes which just took effect to force qualification of high ratio buyers through an effective mortgage rate of 4.64 rather than the sub 3 rates prevalent. Am I missing it...

I plan to start doing some private lending on low loan to value properties in my home market for RRSP and TFSA money. A mortgage broker has brought a property to me that is currently listed for 165K and needs interior updating. The single female owner has bad credit and has an 11 % private...

Agreed, we need to run numbers and ensure it wins for all. The asset is oceanfront with its own pier and boat ramp 2 km from a major air force base front gate, all brand new units, paving etc etc, so the long-term gain is just the steady operations and mortgage pay down on 2.3 million in...

Thanks for the response - this is what we are thinking: My partner and I form Newco, which would likely be an LP and raise cash We as Oldco sell asset to NewCo (the LP) using appraisals to support price and have fair hurdle rate for investors but keep small percentage (say 20-25 %) and control...

A partner and I are just finishing a mixed apt and townhome development (18 units total) that once refinanced will have a 264 K tax loss on the corporation's books from the development phase. The development is expected to net about 2-2.5K per month net, lets say 25K per year. Using the tax...

There is a lot of press now about how we have the lowest interest rates globally in 500 years. 10 trillion dollars of central bank debt now has negative interest rates ON TEN YEAR DURATION. People are PAYING to give their money to central banks to get the same amount or less back in 3-4-5-10...

Thanks! Always a pleasure to hear from people with ++ more experience than one's own: "These two advantages do not apply to a normal market where you want to refinance at a 75% LTV level." - Thanks for the super rapid response, it happened as I was posting up the third advantage I'd found in...

The third and final advantage using CMHC insurance I found was that it allows you to explore into markets you otherwise might not in search of higher returns. CMHC's mandate is to help reduce the cost of housing to all Canadians through the single and MF housing insurance. But it also has the...

The second key aspect of CMHC MF insurance is that it protects your valuation. This is the fundamental reason why REIT's use CMHC insurance, even with very low 50-60 % LTV leverage levels. It preserves your capital. The primary risk to your capital in RE comes from the leverage; a relatively...

I wanted to post this to share two key insights that I never see mentioned in the usual discussions of CMHC MF insurance. Typically these discussions focus on a) how expensive it is and b) how CMHC rarely recognizes true market value as expressed in the closing price from an open market deal...

We had never bought RE as an investment until 6 years ago when after paying off our house mortgage in 4 1/2 years of dedicated focus we switched gears, refinanced that house and put all 180K we pulled out as equity into buying a 24 unit apt building. Although I knew nothing about apartment...

How much discount to market typically applies? You buy units at what kind of percentage lower than the probably fair market value?

The biggest problem with limited partnerships being the lack of liquidity, does anyone know of a way to market to people who already own LP units and suddenly need to get out? The Globe and Mail just had a big article on this practice at the 7 figure dollar level, about other LP's raising...

Thanks - the whole episode had me consulting your book about partnerships given the one you cite frequently in it about the agressive expansion minded guy "Dave" - I'll have to go back and flip through it again looking for the red money chapter as I only remember the (very valuable) lessons...

I'm meeting a lawyer tomorrow to start winding up a real estate partnership that's going south (I should have paid closer attention to their two divorces and another failed business partnership). One of us will buy the other out using a listing on the open market to help determine value along...

I'm renovating a single family home on a huge 9000 sq ft lot to put into my RTO holdings and the contractor has offered to build a detached garage, taxes in, for 22K if I lease it to him for 3 years until the RTO contract is executed. He will pay 450/month paying 1 year in full to start. What...