News

Health is Wealth. There is nothing in our life that is more valuable than good health. A person can have everything; money, success, fame and more, but without health there is no true happiness, peace or even the ability to enjoy all the blessings than life has to offer. This made us think - how much of a factor does our residential neighbourhood play in to our overall health? What kind of qualities should we be looking for during our hunt for our next home?

In a highly competitive real estate market mixed with a downturn in economy where supply tends to outstrip demand, selling a property fast doesn’t usually happen. There are obviously ways you can sell a home faster, one of which is by lowering the price but nobody wants to do that if there are other options available. Price point aside, there are plenty of creative and strategic ways you can do do enhance a home’s attractiveness and consumer appeal besides lowering the asking price ...

There is a first time for everything. Starting out in anything for the first time is always hard, and sometimes even frightening. The anxiety of not doing something right the first time can be overwhelming. The unknown is scary because we don’t know what to expect, and real estate investment is no exception to this rule.If you have been toying with the idea of making your first real estate investment, you may have heard that is the the most difficult one yet. Your first deal is always the most difficult because you don’t know enough about the ins and outs of the industry yet. This is normal. How could you possibly know if you have never done it before? As with most things in life, the hardest part is taking the first step. In the real world, most people don’t ever get started and move forward in their dream direction because they are always waiting for that sign to tell them that they are 100 percent ready to start. Frankly speaking, you can never be 100 percent ready. Nothing is going to be perfect in life, let alone your first real estate investment deal. There is an ever evolving learning curve, and it’sup to you to equip yourself with the tools to learn and progress as you go ...

Most people think that real estate investment is a source of passive income. Reality couldn’t be more untrue. There is a tremendous amount of thought and work that goes into making a successful real estate investment portfolio and it is definitely not so easy as to just calling yourself a landlord and waiting for the cash to land on your lap. The work is so varied, it can involve legal issues,paperwork, handyman tasks and more. Much, much more ...

Many people get into property investment, owning and managing rental properties because of the idea of passive income. On paper, it seems to be every person’s dream come true. The reality is quite different.l There’s more to being a landlord than just handing out keys to rental units and waiting for the money to roll in as you sit back and collect rent checks each month.Owning rental property requires a lot of hard work, patience, and meticulous planning. It’s true that owning and managing can generate sizable income, it’s important to understand that it is still a job that requires time, effort, and dedication.There are advantages and disadvantages of this job. Some of the pros that draw people in are the prospects of a monthly pay check, equity as an investment,financial and personal independence, which are all very attractive ...

Being a good real estate investor and landlord takes hard, consistent work and not everyone is cut out to be the super hands-on type. As a landlord, one of the biggest decisions you’ll make is whether you should hire a property management company or do it yourself. There’s no right or wrong way, just the way that is best suited for your personality,work habits and lifestyle. Some landlords manage properties on their own entirely, while others might enlist the help of an assistant, or resident manager type employee. Other times, landlords might decide that it makes better sense to outsource the work to a property management company so that he or she can focus on growing and scaling other areas of the business rather than focus on the menial day to day tasks.  Like we said, there’s no right or wrong way. Choosing to hire a property management company doesn’t necessarily make you a worse or better landlord, however, when done right, these resourceful property management companies can be a huge asset to a growing business, but they don’t come cheap. Property management fees vary by location and quality of service,but for a property owners who doesn’t yet have a lot of cash, property management services can quickly turn a decent investment into a negative cash-fllowing investment. There are obviously the perks of more freedom when you allow a management company to take care of a property. It can free up a great deal of your time to do higher value tasks, like strategic networking and locating more prime rental properties to add to your portfolio, but if the management fees are eating up most of your profits, then it might not be so worth it ...

Any body in the real estate field will tell you that tenant screening is critical to the success of your property portfolio and property management. Finding the right tenant for your rental is almost like dating, with tenants and landlords both trying to find the most suitable match. Having a bad tenant is like dealing with a pest infestation. No landlords wants to have problems with their tenant sand similarly vice versa. The process of finding good, quality tenants to rent your properties out to can be long and arduous. Although there are guide lines and procedures for how to screen tenants, it doesn’t ever guarantee success. It can certainly heighten your chances of eliminating the ones who are blatantly bad, but at the end of the day, nobody really knows how a landlord-tenant relationship will play out until the papers are signed and sometime has passed. Of course, there are certain behaviours that you should be aware of and further investigate ...

Is it bad to tell little white lies here and there?Does it count as a lie if you are simply withholding certain bits of information? Ignorance is bliss. Right? Young people use this phrase to emphasize on the point that sometimes it is better for you if you do not know all the facts about a situation. If you have ever kept silent on a matter instead of fessing up after doing something borderline questionable or outright unethical,you are not alone! We learn to tell little white lies from our childhood days as a coping mechanism to stay away from being punished for doing something bad.We learn that as children, sometimes confessing of our wrongdoings can land us in hot water. So, instead of learning how to deal with the consequences of our actions head on, we try to weave a web of lies to hide from it, even though our lies will usually come to surface anyhow at one point or another. Here’s a fact of life- lies don’t stay hidden,but the truth always comes out ...

Real estate investment. It’s a topic that attracts the attention of many just as often as it scares away the masses. How do you know if you are cut out for it?And is it really worth it? Let’s start off with saying this: not everyone can be areal estate investor. We aren’t trying to be harsh but that’s the real hard truth. Real property investment takes work, hard work. Real estate investment is kind of a misnomer because it’s a lot more work than most people think. People seem to think that their work ends at the investment part, but in reality, it really is running a long term proper business. The truth is that some people just are not cut out for investment in real estate just as some people are not cut out to be surgeons, military officers, lawyers and so on. To understand whether you should invest in real estate, you should first understand all the reasons why you may not want to get in to it, and why it may not be for you ...