I am with Michael on this one. You buy the house you need - that does not mean the most Spartan place you can find, but somethinng you live in comfortably. Use the extra money to invest. E.g. in a rental property and let the tenant(s) make the extra mortgage payments (rather than you for...

Don't worry Ed, one day reading will become easier for you :)

Yep, until next week :) Seriously, yes I do what I preach. But you have to realize that building an investment portfolio is like gardening. It takes a long time to build a good portfolio and you constantly try to weed out the mistakes and optimize towards the goals you've set. Once you reach...

Simple and... not easy to do. A lot depends on your investment savvy and current net worth. As Thomas states get something that cash flows $140,000 per year. My question would be, are you planning to spend $140,000 each year? Probably not! So you should look at your costs of living after the...

I have not been a lot on the forum lately due to my 'un-retirement' and new full time employment. Let me see if I can stir the pot and give you my outlook for the near future. Any dissident opinions? I stole this outlook from my blog, so if there are any spelling or other errors, just blame...

Hi Fraser, Super analogy for every investor. Including the remark about posting on REIN. :)

Millions you are right. Drip investing can be very profitable. I do it with a number of stocks. The profits thus earned over time will often exceed the purchase price of the original investments. If you did DRIPS on Canadian Banks over the last 10 - 15 years you would have made oodles of money...

I bought after a significant price declline in Calgary a Condo Apartment for 230K in late 2008. A few months ago I bought a similar unit in the same complex for $180K. Do I consider these brilliant purchases? No, but both properties cash flow positively and over the long term they will work...

Adam, I didn't think you ever burnt out! :) (where are those darn emoticons!) I think Neil means that ultimately the lack of cash flow drives you out of business. If you see your cashflow deteriorate you know it is time to pull up your pants and improve it. To be honest, I am a lazy...

I am not an accountant and but I do know that RRSP and TSFA content restrictions are similar. Armslength investments, as far as I know, are not allowed in either of them. Apart from that, there is an essential difference between investing in shares of a public company and a private one...

Even the smallest scrape lets some blood. That doesn't mean you're about to die! You would think that the messenger knows better than to compare minor Canadian real estate market declines with the debacle south of our border? Why such an alarmist post? Is it to kling to misguided notions...

This is the third time I am trying to put in a reply. The program malfunctions everytime I press post and responds that there is no content in the message. BTW. If it was because of the lack of content in my messages, maybe all of them should crash :) Where are the emoticons when you need...

I know that these spreadsheet numbers make your eyes water. Yet, for an investor to decide in what type of account to invest is an important decision. I did some more work on this issue and posted it on my blog. This time I looked at higher yielding investments rather than a low yielding fixed...

Hi Chris, Before I forget, What about rental vacancies in various property styles (I guess you may not have enough data for neighbourhoods)? Could that be included in your survey?

Check Chris' blog. Thanks for the work Chris. It helped me better understand Edmonton's rental market.

QUOTE (ThomasBeyer @ Dec 17 2010, 12:52 PM) business condo .. for personal use ? to live there ? or to use as your own office ? 10K first deposit and 30K 2nd seems about right .. $400/sq ft sounds pretty high. is this a concrete high rise in a primo location ? What could you rent this for if...

QUOTE (capthook @ Dec 14 2010, 05:44 PM) hello all... I need input on a real estate development matter. I own a r2 75 ft lot in Calgary, in the Ramsay/Inglewood districts which has a 105 year old tear down on one lot. My plan is to develop the empty with a 2000 sf nice house, while living in...