At some point in life you’ve probably been faced with the difficult decision to rent or buy your home. In many cases the decision isn’t so clear. With owning your own home, you’re building equity instead of lining the pockets of a landlord, but at the same time you’re making a decision that’s a lot … Read more
Given all of the recent media attention on the growth of property prices in Toronto and Vancouver, it would be easy to assume that these were the top property investment markets in Canada over the last few years. The reality, however, is that most discussions of property returns overlook smaller cities and often neglect to … Read more
The key to any successful portfolio is diversification. Without getting into the details of modern day portfolio theory, it’s important to understand that by holding a combination of different asset types, an investor can achieve higher risk-adjusted returns. In other words, a portfolio of just stocks or bonds is not optimal. If the stock market crashes … Read more
1. Net Operating Income – NOI This is the one number that every income property owner should know as it’s an estimate of the annual income generated by a property. Although the formula is pretty straightforward, the devil’s in the details. NOI = Gross rent*(1 – Vacancy Rate) – Operating Expenses (such as Property Management, Maintenance, Insurance, Property Taxes, … Read more
It’s hard to resist looking through property listings without imagining which ones would provide you the best returns or finally provide you with passive income. Once you finally take the plunge and purchase a property what do you do? Here are some tips to make owning and managing your first property as painless as possible. … Read more
To make sure you get the most out of your SpendTree reports, we’ve put together this post to guide you through the report creation process, highlighting what elements are required and some best practices. Register If you haven’t done so already, go ahead and register a free account with SpendTree here. Once you have created your account, log … Read more
With interest rates at historic lows, it’s easy to forget the impact that higher rates can have on property returns. What exactly does it mean to your investment if interest rates go up or down by a fraction of a percent? It may not sound like a lot, but small changes in interest rates can … Read more
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