After Auto-Pact was signed in the mid 1960’s, Canada was responsible for 20% of North American car production, reaching its peak in the 1980’s. It is now down to about 13% and is expected to be declining further still. Since 2000, five Canadian manufacturing facilities have closed and only one has opened. Auto industry employment […]
I have started my real estate investment career in earnest in 1997 with rental pooled condos as it provides a turn-key operation with little management headaches, ideal for a part-time investor with a busy career or family, as elaborated further in my book “80 Lessons Learned on the Road from $80,000 to $80,000,000”. A rental […]
There are two ways to invest your money in real estate: you do it yourself, or you do it with others. Besides public market REITs with their often volatile ups and downs like any stock, private syndications in the so-called “exempt market” are becoming quite popular. Syndicating a large piece of real estate i.e. pooling […]
As you can see from this chart, 5 year mortgage bond yields are up sharply since spring. This has created upwards pressure on five year mortgage rates, thus making buying houses or condos more expensive. As shown here for the last few weeks, due to CMHC capping its insurance to lenders, and rising Government of […]
Contrary to Popular Belief CMHC does NOT Insure Home Buyers but Lenders. With this new cap in place mortgage insurance for banks will become somewhat tougher and thus mortgages will be more expensive. Apparently my 600+ co-investors, my partners, and myself, just made a BUNCH of money as this new policy will make mortgage qualification […]
As you know we have been investing in cash-flowing rental properties for 15+ years, first single unit condos and since 2000 we have transacted over $166,000,000 in apartment buildings, and still own a fair bit. This is a good investing strategy and has served us and our co-investors/limited partners very well over the years. But […]
Recently I was asked how we create value in apartment buildings, for us and our co-investors/limited partners who co-own these assets. The short answer is: by higher rents, usually due to improvements to the asset, but on occasion with little or any investments. So if the rent goes up by 3% the asset value goes […]
Edmonton City Council finally approved the arena project – a huge boost for Edmonton’s attractiveness & real estate values. Edmonton’s downtown east side and north of downtown is quite ugly today, and the new arena will spur huge investments into condos, parks, LRT, offices over the next decade or two. It will make Edmonton more […]
The recent Liberal win in BC – despite numerous predictions of an NDP sweep – will substantially improve the overall investment climate in BC and AB ! This is very good news for AB and BC real estate investors or landlords like us ! The “three ladies” Danielle Smith ( possibly the future Premier of […]
Buying an apartment building, like flying a Boeing 747, or juggling, or playing the piano, in principle is easy. However, like flying, juggling or playing the piano, it takes a few years to learn, and many more years to master ! It is a skill and time intensive activity ! Buying a building is not […]
