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Chris Spoke joins me on The Morrison Report to talk about Ontario’s Greenbelt issues, Bill 123 and housing policy changes, development charges, homeless issues in Toronto, and affordable housing.
Join me as I speak to Realtor Derek Carkner of Ryan Donner & Associates about real estate in Puerto Vallarta.
This suite at 300 Balliol Street 710 is a true one bedroom with a large den that could be used as an office or a bedroom. The renovated kitchen has ceasarstone counters & a breakfast bar. The open-concept kitchen/dining/living room space is ideal for entertaining and has a south facing balcony large enough for al fresco meals. And with DAVISVILLE SUBWAY STATION, STARBUCKS, SOBEYS & a Farmer’s Market down the street plus TIM HORTONS across the road and many restaurants a stones throw away, what more could you need? Well maybe, you could use easy access to the BELTLINE TRAIL & MOORE PARK RAVINE to get your nature fix a block away which they are. Looking for a place to call home. Looking to downsize in the area or move-up from a 1 bedroom, this could be your new home. To view MORE pictures visit www.710-300balliol.com
Listen to “Why Are Pre-Construction Condos Always Delayed” on Spreaker. Michael Siskind, Principal, Decade Group, which is building Yorkdale Village by Yorkdale Mall & Midtown Lofts in Kitchener/Waterloo Michael discusses why delays happen in the pre-construction industry such as strikes, building inspections, the registration process etc Things to know when purchasing pre-construction condos State of Toronto condo development
Why first-time home buyers should still buy real estate. Advice on how they can get more bang for their buck. The importance of having a basement apartment. Why having a real estate lawyer, mortgage broker & home inspector as part of your team is important Transcript Davelle M.: Welcome. Thanks for listening … You are listening to The Morrison Report, real estate insights for Toronto. So today what I really wanted to talk about is those first time home buyers and what a hard time they’re having in the market place right now, given the price point of where things are sitting right now in the city of Toronto. And obviously its great for current homeowners, that we’ve obviously made a great amount of money on our real estate at the moment, but it’s very difficult for first time home buyers to get in the market. So let’s go over a couple of things about what they need to know and why should they still consider getting involved in the real estate market. I mean really, maybe they should just keep renting, because renting is easier and the markets are difficult. Well, for me, it’s all about: Why buy real estate? And I would say you have to buy real estate because number one, we all know the market is changing, but the mortgage rates are at an all time low right now. When you purchase a property it really acts as a forced savings and it really helps you to build equity in the long run. You know I always say to people, “Imagine being retired 60-65 and still having to pay rent.” What I love about owning real estate, and why I think it’s really important for first time home buyers to get into the market, is because at some point when they retire this way they will own their own home, their mortgage will be paid off, and they will have a place to live rent free, which I think is really important. You know, sure, you can say it’s great to be renters, it’s very cheap right now, but for a lot of renters, they have to keep moving around because their landlords want to sell the properties that they are currently living in. So they don’t end up staying there forever and it’s this constant shifting and moving around. You never really have a place to call home. One thing I love about owning real estate is that it actually does act as a forced savings plan. I always read in the media, and people say “Oh, you know, you could just save money instead, you could pay rent and save the balance in, whatever, your RRSP, or some sort of investment account.” But that’s not really realistic for the average person. For me, and I think for most other real people, we just need the for savings. If you’ve got the mortgage payment, you know that a good chunk of that money is actually going to be going towards paying yourself first, and not paying off your landlord. The challenge with having a landlord, of course, as much as I love being a landlord myself, is that you’re paying somebody else’s mortgage. And wouldn’t it be nice to pay your mortgage off first? I think that’s one of the really important things about building a nest egg for yourself. I think also, owning real estate is one of the fastest ways to achieve wealth. My accountant always says to me, you know, he’s looked at people’s books over the last 30-40 years and he can really, truly see, that the big difference in those that are doing well and those who are not doing well is those who own real estate. And he can see, over time, that owning real estate has really helped build their portfolio. There’s no capital gains tax on primary residence, so if you do own your own home, and you choose to sell, and it’s made a quite a bit of money, as a lot of the houses have in the Toronto marketplace right now, at least you get to keep that money tax free, which is another huge advantage to owning real estate. Also, the values, as we’ve seen in the city, again, have kept increasing and increasing, you’re almost looking at people doubling the worth of their property every six or seven years. And for a lot of people in this city, I think they’re really seeing that their house actually is making more money on an annual basis than they are in their regular jobs. Where can you earn that kind of return, but in real estate? The other great thing about purchasing real estate is that you don’t have to use all of your own money, because the banks will loan you up to 95% of the value of the home. So, again, it’s a great way to get into the market because you don’t actually have to play with all of your own money to get into the market in the first place. So those are some of my reasons why I say it’s very important for first time home buyers to get into the market, and also it’s a place to call home. It’s a place where you can hang your hat, and paint, and do renovations. And a place where you can start a family, or have friends and family over. So I think it’s a really good important thing and I think it really does sort of help you to build that root base, that you know you’ve got a place to call home and a place you’re going to stay. So if we look at the average prices in Toronto, they have definitely skyrocketed over the last couple of years, and in particularly this year, for sure. We are looking at well over semi-detached houses and detached houses, for the most part, being worth over a million dollars
The recent declines in the stock markets around the world have sent many people looking at their investment portfolios with grave concern. It’s dis-heartening that investors across the world in a different country can send our own North American markets into a tail spin. Fortunately this time around many investors saw the light at the end of the tunnel and instead of selling their investments and solidifying their losses, they chose to double-down and buy some deals in the marketplace. It never makes sense to sell your stocks when the market is down because then you’ll never have the opportunity to make your money back when the market comes back up again. But wait, what if you were retired and the market stayed down for a few months and you actually needed to live off that money? Now, that decrease in your investment portfolio will affect your daily living and budgeting. But what if, you saw the writing on the wall and took some additional precautions before you retired to add one or a few investment properties to your overall portfolio so that if the stock market went down and you needed cash, you’d still have a steady stream of rental income coming in? That’s what I decided to do in 2008 when we had the last big crash, I started to think what if I had just turned 65 and the market crashed, then what. I started to build my own real estate portfolio to mitigate against any possible losses to my RRSP when I retired. I’m happy that I have my RRSP but I am also happy that I own a few investment properties. It’s like I’m hedging my bets in retirement. And I feel a house is something more in my control. I wrote about investing in real estate as a back-up plan for your retirement in the Amazon Best-Seller, Success Today with Brian Tracy. I have joined a select group of entrepreneurs from around the world to co-author, Success Today: Common Sense but Uncommon Knowledge from Today’s Leading Entrepreneurs and Professionals to Help You Lead an Extraordinary Life of Health, Wealth and Success. You can purchase the book on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/davellesbook. Please let me know what you think and if I can help you plan your own real estate retirement portfolio.
I love my debates with the financial types about the merits of investing in real estate. They only seem to have eyes for the stock market. The debate inevitably turns to, real estate is illiquid and is therefore bad. With the stock market one can sell whenever they want to, proving it’s liquidity. However there is a flaw with this logic. In 2008, when the market crashed, many people sold many of the stocks within their portfolios. This only served to realize their losses. Prior to selling their stock, the loss was strictly on paper. Once they sold, that loss was very real with no chance to recoup those losses. Now what if those same people kept their money in the market and didn’t sell? Six years later and the stock market is doing very well and most of those stocks have increased markedly. Had they not sold, they could take advantage of those profits now. The fact that the stock market is liquid made it too easy for people to sell and realize their losses. Liquidity hurts the stock market investors. If we look at real estate during the recessionary period in the early 1990’s when the real estate market was down. Some sold their homes and accepted the loss. Others held onto their homes & didn’t take the loss which was only on paper. Many years later, all of those home values have increased substantially proving that illiquidity is a good thing. If the stock market was more illiquid, it would help those who always sell too quickly, realize more profits instead of loss. So next time you hear someone tell you that the illiquidity of the real estate market is a bad thing, please tell them to think again.
