Happy Canada Day everybody! I hope that you all enjoy this long weekend and find some time to kick back and have fun some. If you’re a soccer fan like me it doesn’t get any better than the on-going World Cup. Isn’t it great that we all live in a city where we can cheer…
This month I’d like to discuss a very important concept in real estate theory: gentrification or the process whereby an area improves over time to become attractive to new residents. I wrote on this topic a couple of years ago and got a very positive response from my readers. This suggests to me that many…
This month I’d like to talk about basic investment strategies and why we continue to put our money into real estate. Folks often have different objectives when investing their hard earned money, not just in income properties necessarily, but in any vehicle that protects their initial principal and yields a return. You would think that…
This month I’d like to present our “top ten” strategies to enhance your chances for success when purchasing an income property. This applies to both owner-occupied income properties as well as properties for investment only. The principles also work in any given real estate market or geography. By following these few simple rules you can…
This month I’d like to spend some time discussing two of the most often misunderstood facets of the income property business & fire retrofit legislation and the issue of legal duplexes/triplexes, etc. I’d like to thank Paul Schuster, one of Toronto’s leading retrofit experts, for his contributions to this month’s column. If you have any…
I’d like to start this month by thanking all of our clients and friends who came to see us at the 2006 Financial Forum. I’d all also like to welcome all the new folks that we met at the show that will be reading our monthly newsletter for the first time. This year’s show was…
I’d like to start off by wishing all of our clients, friends and family a very safe, happy and prosperous New Year. I hope that all your dreams come true in 2006 and all your hard work and efforts are well-rewarded. I am happy to announce that Gregory Elliot Laxton has joined the Plex team…
I’d like to begin this month by wishing all of our clients, friends and family a very happy and safe holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year to all of you from all of us here at Plex Realty. We would like to cordially invite you to attend the…
This month I’d like to look at how rooming houses operate in Toronto and what you should know if you are thinking of buying or selling one. Rooming houses comprise a small percentage of the residential income property market in Toronto. Although the number of new licensed rooming houses has been on the decline, we…
This month I have a few topics to discuss. The first is an interpretation of a story that ran this past week in the Star business section about the relative prices of real estate in Canada to other countries around the world. A few months ago, I chatted about how prices in Toronto relative to…
This month I’d like to start by welcoming Neil Spiegel to our Plex team of income property specialists. Neil has extensive experience in construction and property management, as well as a very strong knowledge of the residential investment market in Toronto. As both an owner and manager of several income properties over the years, Neil…
Welcome to the August edition of our monthly income property newsletter. We’re in the middle of a very hot summer that has seen the real estate market in Toronto continue to post record numbers and remain very strong and healthy. I have commented in previous newsletters about why our market continues to sustain itself, so…