Blog Magazine
My Daily Property Reviews
My Daily property reviews are back!
I review these investment properties on daily basis and used to make these videos showcasing what properties are coming into the marketplace and really diving into what these property represent for the investor that might be interested in them. I got busy and these videos fell off the way side. After long demand and finally being able to spend time every morning to do these videos due to help from my office staff, these videos are back!
These videos allow me to have two way communications with you, the reader, and allow me to grow and learn something new from you or a new way to invest that I might have not thought about before. These videos also serve as an educational tool for new investors entering the market and allow you to see what the norms are when purchasing or selling an investment property. The videos also allow me to leverage my time as I have to only make or review the properties once and it can be viewed and shared by all. So please do sign up and share the posts with others and ask them to sign up as well. I look forward to doing these for a long time 🙂
Who should sign up?
I believe these videos are perfect for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the real estate market. Anyone from a new investor just starting out to a seasoned investor who wants to see the latest tools being used to sell properties and wants to keep an eye on what properties are on the horizon. It’s important to note that these are all MLS properties. These don’t include properties that we work exclusively on. Those properties are shared with our clients first before being sent out to this list.
What to expect when you sign up?
You will be getting a daily email at 6 AM with a list of all properties that got listed the day before. There is a one day delay as whilst I try to get the videos done in the morning, sometimes it’s just not possible and I may get to making my video at night. There might also be times when I don’t do a video in which case I apologize in advance and those properties will be added into the next day.
Why do I need to subscribe?
These are all active listings on MLS and in order for me to stay compliant to the rules and regulations of advertising set forth by the governing bodies, I can’t share my opinions out loud or forever on the internet due to privacy rules and concerns hence the posts have to be password protected or controlled by user signup and only available to our subscribers.
Dealing with Contracts Electronically
As real estate professionals, our work revolves around contracts that are written and executed. From helping clients buy investment properties to renting our units for our investors, we deal with papers everyday. One of the issues you run into when dealing with negotiations is the shrinkage of documents when scanned/emailed/faxed to the other party which results in a document that is very hard to read or illegible. This can cause issues at the execution phase if the terms of the agreement aren’t clear to a party and the signed agreement isn’t legible.
This is also true for investors when they are leasing their units out. The constant back and forth can leave documents very skewed.
If you run into this issue, I highly recommend to have the final copy of the agreement copied over to the party that drafted the original agreement and have all parties sign it. If that isn’t possible, I highly recommend that you create a clarity copy and have all parties initial it and attach it with the original offer to make sure if anyone needs to reference it later, there is a clear copy available. Documents such as survey and floor plans where small measurements are posted should always be scanned and emailed to the other party along with their lawyers to make sure they all have an electronic copy of it and can zoom in on the desired section to review it. This will insure all parties have legible documents.
We have been using a new service called DocuSign under which we can sign documents electronically hence avoiding having to scan or fax documents which we found has eliminated a lot of the issues we were having in our business. This also helps us in keeping an accurate electronic paper trail of all our signed documents and let’s us track which changes are being made. The one downside to using the service is that not all users will read your contract in detail hence I would recommend having a conversation with the party signing beforehand to review the details of the contact before sending it to them for signatures. The service allows the user to sign the contacts on any smartphone, tablet or computer and avoid having to print, sign and fax/email the documents back which my clients have really appreciated.
If you don’t sign contracts regularly, the cost can be a burden rather than a tool in which case you can call a friendly REALTOR that has the service to help you out.
What are some of the tools that you’re using in your business that help you increase efficiency in your operations? Would love to hear from you.
5 reasons why plaza and apartment building investing makes sense
There are many reasons to invest in your future and investing in a proper investment grade asset can go a long way in getting you to your goal. I wanted to quickly highlight five great reasons why you should consider investing in an apartment building. If you have any questions, I’m available for consultation and can help you with your purchase. We are also always looking for listings for our clients so feel free to reach out for a free evaluation.
Leverage:
Real estate is a great way to build wealth because it offers you the option to leverage your money hence making it work for you. Leverage is defined in the dictionary as:
lev·er·age
noun
1. the exertion of force by means of a lever or an object used in the manner of a lever.
“my spade hit something solid that wouldn’t respond to leverage” synonyms: grip, purchase, hold; More
2. FINANCE
the ratio of a company’s loan capital (debt) to the value of its common stock (equity).
verb
1. use borrowed capital for (an investment), expecting the profits made to be greater than the interest payable. “a leveraged takeover bid”
2. use (something) to maximum advantage. “the organization needs to leverage its key resources”
Leverage is very important to investing because it helps you increase your purchase price and affordability to be able to take advantage of additional opportunities that may present them self. For example, if you’re looking at purchasing a sixplex in Toronto for $1,000,000; you can purchase it for as low as 20% down which means you can leverage your $200,000 to acquire a property worth 1 million dollars while the asset would pay for the loan and all its expenses.
Cash Flow
Apartment buildings have the ability to not only pay off their own debt but also generate passive income for you to support your life style. In today’s market, it’s hard to find buildings in the metropolis areas that cash flow so it’s important that you do your due diligence before hand to make sure the property you’re interested in will not only pay for its expenses but will also leave some money for you at the end of the month.
Equity
There’s a saying that money is made when you purchase the property; hence it’s very important that you pay close attention to the terms of the purchase along with what you plan to do with properties. There are a couple of different ways you can make money at the purchase
- Get the property at a discounted price
- Buying a property to renovate (fixer uppers)
- Rezoning the land to serve a better use
- Foreclosure opportunities
These opportunities usually come into play when you have a motivated seller looking to sell their property quickly and will often come out of the blue to you. These can help you buy into equity at the purchase and further increase value by renovating.
Appreciation
One of the reasons I love investing in Multiplexes is because it offers the most clean-cut way to project future value of a property based on the income the property will generate after renovations and rental increases. I call this forced appreciation where a buyer purchases a property that needs rehab and is able to renovate it to a high standard and command high market rents. Since the purchase price was lower, the buyer is able to refinance the property once the work is completed and units rented as an equity takeout and based on how much the property has appreciated can get most of their initial investment back freeing them to invest in another venture.
Monthly payment into mortgage
Every month that you own the property, its building up it’s egg via the vehicle of mortgage payments and you are getting closer to having a property that is paid off with little to no intervention. In a rising market like Toronto, this can be compounded as properties appreciate, rent rise and you would be able to make larger payments into the mortgage and pay it off faster.
There are lots of other reasons why you should be investing in real estate and they all require careful considerations and risk assessment to ensure you’re not getting in over your head and into trouble. It’s highly recommended that you work with an agent or a consultant that is familiar with the ins and outs of Apartment buildings and plazas and can help guide you through the process and be an asset to your journey.