Buying with value increase as your only (or main) objective is speculating. Buying with steady income and long term measurable (mortgage pay down) gains is investing. Not so eloquent but that`s my measure.

If you follow the fundamentals the price of the property doesn`t matter on the short term. If you buy a house for $300,000 and it cash flows well, why care if it drops to 280,000 or even 270,000 if you are not selling. When the price escalates to 330,000 or so, again what difference does it...

I am a dog lover and usually can be convinced to break my own rules about dogs. But never a large breed less than a year old. Can a dog be raised without damage? Yes. Does it usually happen that way? No. There are so many things that a big dog can wreck. Not worth the risk.

Multi unit commercial buildings are not your regular mortgage product. Talk to some of the REIN members that buy that kind of stuff and get their recommendation on a mortgage broker. Seldom will a good residential mortgage broker also be a good commercial broker, it is a different world with a...

What would we think CNRL would say about royalty increases? Who among us happily endorses new personal taxes? The oil industry is understandably upset about more tax but labor is a problem and many projects can`t be done any way. Nice to have the Alberta government to blame for cancelling their...

Last Friday after that guy spoke from Strathcona economic development I spoke with him about the cut backs. He agreed that if they cut 50% of the announced projects we still could not do them. There is just not a big enough labor force. All is not absolutly rosey but the fundamentals are still...

Saskatchewan has a good government right now but the socialist mentality runs deep. Will they continue to elect progressive governments in the future? Only time will tell. I stiill say it`s investment in Alberta and speculation in Saskatchewan.

The actual details of the mortgage are protected by privacy laws. On the title it will show the amount of the lien and who holds it but none of the details are available without the owners permission.

Ah, the day has come. I have finally found an opportunity to disagree with Thomas. I get $1400 for a 2 bedroom 800 sq/ft 1940"s built house, and $1600-2050 for 1200 sq/ft. Please do not rent a 1250 sq/ft house for that little. We need to get rents to catch up to todays value not drop rents to 4...

The way that credit scores is calculated is a closely guarded secret. I have heard that there is over 60 factors used in making thast decision. There is a formula that they use that takes all those factors into consideration and how they correlate together. Not a specific number of any thing in...

Hi again Leanne, I am not very techno savy, so we do very little on the internet for finding our customers. Very well writen newspaper ads and signs in the window are my primary source of marketing. We start out ads with things like "Cute as a button older 2 bedroom" or "beautiful character...

I have always found Nov Dec and Januarary to be a bit difficult except in 06 and 07. I have my first vacancy in 9 years this month but it looks like I will have some one moving in in the next day or two inspite of a $200.00 per month increase and not giveing them the garage. More creativity may...

They are bad and ugly! From a financing point of view as well as a real cost point of view you can buy a real appreciating asset. Most times you do not own the land. Lot rent goes a long way toward more affordability on a house. My advise do not by trailers (under any name) on land you do not...

Right you are Chris. You have a lot of partners there. The rentalsman, Manitoba social services, and your tenant. The Government tells you how much rent you can raise your rents and if you do repairs and want to go more than that you need your tenants written permission as well as the...

I think you would still want to carry insurance. Don`t forget the liability factor.

Actually when it comes to real estate it works just the opposite. Usually if the Corporation buys property a personal guarantee is required. This ties you up more than a personally bought conventional mortgage does.

I don`t do credit checks on my customers. People are often tenants because they have bad credit. So I am most likely to get the information I already suspect. I had one tenant with me for 3 years and I finally convinced him to buy a house and build his own equity. When I pulled his bureau he had...

Please note weather you use a bank or a broker the information you get is only as good what the person giving you the information knows. When we go to the bank and ask a loans officer for some advise they can only tell us what they know. Case in point, my daughter in law just started working as...

the banks are cutting their prime rates but they have not dropped mortgage rates. Every thing is still prime plus on the variable side and still in the high fives for 5 year fixed.

The less additional problems you create the easier this business is. Start local, the closer the better for your first one or two. Then as you learn you can do more adventurous stuff. Remember that most seminars out there are American and they don`t completely apply to you. And often a lot of...