When starting your portfolio, the banks will look heavily at your ability as a borrower to service any loans they provide, with minimal focus on the property itself. During this critical startup phase where you remain in the spotlight, it is important to understand and manage your ratios carefully. Doing so will allow you to…
For my latest rental property purchase, I submitted a cover letter along with my offer to purchase the seller’s property. If you are unfamiliar with this strategy, you may wonder what I’m even talking about since this step is not standard practice. If you’ve used a cover letter before, you may already know just how…
Many of us only think of our RRSP or TFSA accounts only when tax time rolls around, but setting up the right accounts and considering your strategy before the tax rush is a worthwhile idea. In 2009 the Canadian government introduced the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) which is currently available in 3 general flavours: 1)…
Whether you have taken the plunge and become a full-time investor, or currently use your evenings and weekends to acquire and manage properties, as an active investor you are likely to be a busy person. If you’re a veteran investor, you may have the luxury of a little more free time by now, but in…
When it comes to making smart real estate investments, economics play a very important role in creating winning deals. There are always ways to make money in real estate, but sophisticated investors take the time to understand economic fundamentals and then swim with the tide rather than against it. The following is a list of…
Any savvy real estate investor knows that keeping units rented is the first ingredient in the recipe for strong cash flow. It’s also no secret that some units rent faster than others, but why? In a North American study, tenants ranked the importance of each of five factors in their leasing decision. Many landlords are…
This morning at Bay Street Breakfast Club, our Tipster provided an excellent tip which spurred the idea for this blog post. In keeping with the Toastmasters theme, he stated that “when speaking, a pause defies logic because you get something for nothing.” This member suggested that rather than use filler words such as uhms and…
This post was written for The Rentables Apartment Blog as the ninth part of a series entitled “Building Your Real Estate Investment Team.” In the ninth and final part of our series on Building Your Real Estate Investment Team we will take a look at how to round out your team and provide a quick…
This post was written for The Rentables Apartment Blog as the eigth part of a series entitled “Building Your Real Estate Investment Team.” Welcome to the 8th part of our series on building your real estate investment team. To round out your team you’ll need a good accountant to oversee your financial picture. Having a…
This post was written for The Rentables Apartment Blog as the seventh part of a series entitled “Building Your Real Estate Investment Team.” When starting out in real estate investment, many investors opt to manage their properties themselves. Most commonly this is done to save the expense and improve cash flow. Another reason some investors…