"Vacant possession remains under negotiation, thus, we are asking for longer completion date to give the seller sufficient time to notify the tenants. Hope tenants will agree. If not, are there legal remedies to force them out? " There are no legal remedies to force tenants out in Ontario...

Read what you have written. "Trust funds." Ah, no. They are held in your lawyer's account "in trust". : ) Using trust funds to finance property acquisition - or used for anything other than what they are intended for - leads to jail time in Ontario. : )

My experience has been in real estate that there are really no surprises when it comes to maintenance and repair items if you had a proper home inspection done at the time of purchase. I would be looking very closely at your home inspection report when you purchased to determine if you were...

Your insurance company will have a questionaire that will need to be filled out in order to properly assess. In Ontario, many factors can contribute to a rated premium including amount of liability coverage, presence of older, knob and tube wiring or alluminum wiring, size of electrical...

The article does not say - but I believe the property was located in Lakeshore if my memory serves me correct. You should be able to google to locate the original KW Record article. Moral of the story is: 1. Don't do stupid things. 2. Don't do stupid things and then proceed to do the...

Read the article: Multiple Convictions for Fire Code Violations in Waterloo before doing something silly like re-establishing the illegal unit that the City has already flagged. http://www.ofm.gov.on.ca/en/Fire%20Service%20Resources/Messenger/2009/August-September.asp

Tenant should cover entire cost. Toilet was provided in unclogged state. Something has happened since.

Note that damage deposits are illegal in Ontario where Sasha operates. I do not permit pets in my building - especially cats. You have relief under Residential Tenancy Act if you or someone in the building is allergic - or if the pet is causing interference to other tenants' reasonable...

You seem to be very happy in Oshawa. Both living there as well as possibly achieving your investment objectives. I am originally from Oshawa and have relatives that still live there. The University is starting to have an impact in this City. And it will hopefully bring some...

Hi Taylor; I saw the same article. I also noted another FP article day earlier regarding US defaulting on its treasury bonds in August. And now another article today with China saying the US already has. Sounds like a "World on Fire" scenario is quickly re-developing. Financial Crisis...

Put electrical items at top. As well as environmental. And fire code. These all can be huge, difficult to quantify, numbers. Everything else you can get readily get estimates for. With the three above, you never know what you might get into.

Personally, I think its a trade off. Balcony helps from a rentability perspective. On the flip side, balcony can fester unwanted liability/safety issues - like people/children falling off balconies, balconies collapsing and tenants putting barbecues on balconies. If it was me, I would...

When interest rates go up, cap goes up (price goes down). Historically, the spread between bank prime rate and prevailing cap rates is very consistent.

For sure it is starting to look interesting. I have never heard of a real estate market exhibit a "double dip." http://business.financialpost.com/2011/05/31/u-s-housing-double-dip/ Maybe, this will be the first time we will see a "triple dip" when the rest of the foresclosures hit...

Everyone is missing the big picture here. Everyone. The tenants have a RIGHT TO STAY. Just because you, as buyer, want vacant possession doesn't mean anything. Vacant possession can only be granted under very specific circumstances in Ontario. Furthermore, if you serve documents falsely...

Hi Michael; I would double check on the concept of "blend and extend" and not having to pay a penalty. My gut says that you WOULD be paying a mortgage break penalty in this scenario that would be tacked on to your amount borrowed. I don't see how a "blend and extend" would be any different...

Too funny. When people think of buying income property in Las Vegas, I think of Don's slides with the hot dog cart (REIN April meeting?). The one hot dog cart has a crowd around it. The other has no one. Which one would you rather buy? I think of Las Vegas as the latter : )

Hi Andrei; You nailed it. Bang on.

If Hamilton's Planning and Economic Development Department was super sharp, they would partner with MacMaster University and trade in some of the underutilized parking lots that proliferate downtown Hamilton for university re-development opportunities. That would do a lot more towards...

Hi Andrei; The link mentioned the conditional offer that was accepted revealed major, significant issues and, as such the buyers, "wouldn't be able to get home insurance in the home's current condition." What do you think would have happened had the sellers' accepted one of the...