From the category archives:

Real Estate

A Canadian Real Estate Market Doesn’t Exist in 2011, So Don’t Be Fooled

April 1, 2011

The following is a guest post by Don R. Campbell; best selling author, and President of The Real Estate Investment Network (REIN).

What does 2011 hold for Canadian Homeowners and Real Estate Investors?

Almost a quarter of the way into the new year, many people are still looking for ‘predictions’ of what 2011 will hold. That’s why you see so many pundits come out of the woodwork to share their insights. I do find this a bit strange as nothing about the market really changed from December 2010 to January 2011 and through to March 2011, other than a few new pictures on your kitchen calendar. Those who pay close attention to the underlying economic fundamentals aren’t struggling with what is coming next.

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Changing Trends

November 24, 2010

After coming across an interesting report, I recognize that marketing has changed drastically. We may all recognize this but take a look at these facts as it brings some perspective of how much it has changed in the Real Estate world:

- Approx. 1% of buyers purchase homes they see in the newspaper
- Approx. 70% of buyers purchase homes they see on the Internet
- Approx. 80% of marketing budgets are still spent on newspaper advertising

Lets stop for a second and think about this. Re-read the above, does this make sense to you? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Enough said.

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Power of Leverage

July 7, 2010

At a Real Estate investment network meeting, we were presented with a great simple worksheet on Real Estate investing and the ROI on this investment.

Referring to the example provided, if an individual purchased a home at a price of $240,000 and made a 25% down payment on the property (typically 20% is required) then a mortgage of $180,000 would be required. If you took a mortgage at 35 year amortization rate and we took an interest rate of 6% (current variable rate is approximately 2.25%) and you held the property for 10 years, your ROI is approximately 15% per year with a cumulative return of 172.5% over 10 years.

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Your Mortgage Rate

June 29, 2010

Great clip on deciding between variable mortgage rate vs. fixed mortgage rate. Don R. Campbell does the work to help explain why choosing between one over other can save you money and increase your cash flow.

BNN – Don R. Campbell

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Refinancing your Mortgage

June 20, 2010

During times of low interest rates, many home owners look to refinance their mortgage to gain some savings.

On a balance sheet, a mortgage is a liability and is used as one part in calculating a household’s net worth.
The first step in determining the impact of mortgage refinancing is looking at the payback period, which involves calculating the following:

∑ = Monthly Refinancing Savings @ lower interest rate > ∑ = Costs of Refinancing

When reviewing the numbers above, look to see what month the savings are larger then the costs of refinancing.

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Dale Carnegie

May 24, 2010

In 1937, Dale Carnegie published an amazing book. It was called “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” I was able to participate in the Dale Carnegie Program through Junior Achievement and read the book back then – the book although written back in the day, has many great tips and words of wisdom to improve your life and your business.

One of Carnegie’s statements that I really held onto was this: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

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Home Inspection – Is it necessary?

May 13, 2010

Home Inspection is a must when considering purchasing an investment property. Typically, a home inspection is completed after the offer has been accepted and a brief period has been negotiated for home inspection and financing. Find a home inspector who is familiar with the area and type of home you are purchasing and schedule approximately 3 hours to walk through the property. Many individuals believe a home inspection is not essential, however by getting one done, it is not only worth your money but it can lead to thousands of dollars of savings when any problems can be found up front.

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Launching your business

May 5, 2010

Often when we try to launch a new business or new idea but we wait….and wait…..

We wait because the business idea is not perfect, we wait because we feel we don’t have adequate knowledge, we wait because (insert)….and we wait.

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Oil and the Canadian Real Estate Market

April 20, 2010

I recently finished a book by Jeff Rubin – “Why your World is About to get a Whole Lot smaller” – it was an interesting book and highly recommendable. I understand this is one individual’s opinion on what the extreme prices of Oil can do to our society and our economy but I looked at the specific role that Oil would have on the Canadian Real Estate market.

In summary, Mr. Rubin stated:

- Soaring oil prices have caused four of the last five global recessions

- Oil prices brought down the global economy, not the subprime mortgage

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Pulling a Tiger…

April 4, 2010

Tiger Woods is making a comeback this week at the Masters Golf Tournament and not only will he be judged on his Golf but over the coming years individuals and corporations will be looking to get his trust back – his credibility.

They say that “trust” is the highest form of human motivation.

Trust in my opinion is the single most important thing that we have.

One definition of trust: When trust goes down, things take longer to do and become costlier; when trust goes up, things happen faster and at a lower cost.

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