Do landlords have the right to refuse smokers?

Cigarette smoke can affect the health and enjoyment of other tenants if you have a multi-unit property. It can also get expensive for landlords when we need to prepare a unit for new tenants. Years of smoke can hang in the fibres of your flooring, it will yellow walls and ceilings, which will cost plenty to replace and paint. Many landlords feel frustration due to tenants smoking in their units, but can anything be done to curb it. 

The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) does not address smoking. You can however put a clause in your lease stating smoking is not allowed in the unit. But who’s to say that your renters will adhere to this stipulation in the lease? Certainly, scheduled visits to the unit may show signs of an indoor smoker. How do you get him or her to stop and what can you do if they won’t?

Short Sales/Simultaneous close.

A short sale allows you the investor to immediately re-sell your home to another investor for a smaller but much quicker profit. This will also be know as a simultaneous closing. Once your offer is accepted by the home seller a third party buyer is found as the purchaser from you.

There are three components you need to arrange in order to do a short sale.

1. First you need to find an urgent seller, this may be someone who has an unexpected financial obligation or perhaps isn't working for some reason. The urgent seller has fallen behind on their bills or hasn't made a few mortgage payments and has defaulted. 
2. The second component is for you the buyer, to get a reasonable offer accepted. Try to remember the seller is in a bad situation and if not helped out may likely loose the home without receiving any financial compensation.
3.  And the final component is a list of investors you will go to to sell the home at a  small profit to yourself. This buy and sell is instantaneous allowing you to avoid the usual closing costs associated with real estate purchases. 

Structuring Joint Ventures. Legal Pitfalls and Possibilities.

    Have you reached the end of your purchase power but still want to own more Real Estate?  One option to keep the asset train running is to consider a joint venture. So what does this mean?  Difinitively put, "An association of persons for the purpose of a particular commercial undertaking with a view to mutual profit with each participant usually, but not necessarily, contributing money, property or skill."* A Joint Venture Agreement ( “JVA”) creates a legal entity through a contract, and identifies the major rights, duties, liabilities and obligation of each participant in the joint venture.   More simply put - a joint venture is finding other like-minded investors to work with.  This could be the most beneficial to all.   

    One of the advantages of a joint venture is that each of it’s members maintains a distinct legal entity from the others and each will only be held responsible for it’s own personal errors against third parties. Each member of the joint venture retains ownership of his or her property.  

    What is expected of the join venture partners?  A group of people pooling together their resources can bring different contributions to the table.  Perhaps you have the cash for a down payment but are at the top of your debt to service ratio.  Finding other partners can allow you to use their under realized potential to help qualify your party to own more investment properties. Another contribution could be sweat equity.  If one or more party members don't have the time to tend to the investment another member could add their time and energy to renovate or manage the unit.  

           Rental property advertising in Ontario Canada

     If you own a rental unit and need to advertise a vacancy, there are a few low cost to free options you have available.  Before the on-line  world exploded property owners needed to spend a bit of money to advertise their home for rent. With today's technology getting easier and more accessible, putting your hone on-line makes sense. 

     The first step in this process is with the property itself.  Prospective tenants want to be able to picture themselves living in your rental unit. Have your repairs done and the place sparkling before advertising.  A good quality camera or device is required to capture your home at it's best.

Expediting Bad Tenants

         Cash for keys program

  Your rent is overdue for several months . The tenants are impossible to get a hold of. Anytime you do speak with a tenant they have a new tragic story to share. What could have gone wrong you wonder ?

Everything started out well , they gave first and last months rent.  But then they were a bit late with the rent. And you thought I could wait a bit. Rent arrives some time next month then they couldn’t pay all of it. “ Money should be coming soon” they proclaim , if you could just wait a bit  . This is the property owners nightmare. You have got a bad tenant and it’s time to deal with it!

Investing in Canadian Real Estate

Three Approaches

 Passive income is one of the most rewarding roads to travel . Investing in Canadian Real Estate is one of my key strategies to receive passive income . Some of the giants of financial literature (think; Rich Dad Poor Dad) remind us that the highest taxed income is earned income. A more favourable taxable income is passive income. Which by definition means you make your investments and sit back and watch your bank account slowly grow. Money earned from rental property income is in this classification. That said, there are many different techniques real estate investors can use to earn this and I’m going to cover a handful of them that might work for you.

  The single family home may be one of the easiest investments to start with . Quite simply, you buy a home and rent it to one individual or family. Each month you collect your rent from the tenants of your home. In return, you as the landlord must pay the Mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance. Utilities are optional to include however,my preference is to make the tenant responsible for these fluid pay per use services. The important factor in this operation is to make sure the rent covers all of the fixed costs associated with your rental unit. There are many financial calculators available to help you accurately estimate these expenses (Bank websites, realtor.ca). Enter your expenses into the box, to this number add your property taxes and insurance costs. If you’ve done your homework well, you should have a bit left over after all of your expenses are paid.

The Sharks of Buying Rental Properties

  Being a new Canadian investor can be a bit like dipping your toes into a shark tank. There are professionals and tradesmen who could take a big bite out of your wallet . When many first time investors take that plunge into the investment property game. They may be armed with little or no knowledge about the game. While you can’t learn it all right away . Asking important questions and taking a few precautions might save you injury.

When dealing with the biggest investment most of us will make,  unscrupulous mortgage brokers can put you in harms way. Realtors can lead you into making a bad decision.|These sharks can cost you and arm and a leg. A few precautionary measures can help protect you.

  When dealing with contractors I do not like to pay them until the job is done. Paying first can make you the side project . Or worse yet they start and never finish. Also it’s a good idea to get it in writing Have the two of you write down exactly what you expect from them and what they expect from you . Have it signed and dated.

Investor Pitfalls

Avoid these 3 beginner investor pitfalls

  Are you looking for homes below market value ? They aren't always a deal . When I began looking for investment properties I took it upon myself to search the MLS for deals. I would find out what a 5 plex was going for . Then find one an hour away for half the price. then I looked at a Tri-plex in a small farming community . I chased the deals all over southern Ontario. And time after time I discovered why they were listed well below market price. From a lake in the basement,  to a residency for rats to the middle of nowhere , my realtor and I drove . You get what you pay for , as the saying goes.Buying a solid investment property you don’t have to sink a ton of money into, is going to go for close to market value. If it’s at a steep discount buyer beware !

  Know what you want and go and get it . I ‘d gotten one property under my belt and was ready for another. So my Realtor Terry  and I set out looking at another single family unit. After looking at a few , I did some calculations . I figured if one unit got me a $ 150 cash flow, a duplex must be double . The same logic applied to a triplex and then a 5-plex . We drove around and looked at them all . In the end I wound up purchasing a single family home in a nice area. What a waste of time . If I only stayed focused and knew what my goal was I would have been in the game sooner. Thank goodness Terry is a very patient Realtor.

  Another lesson , Don’t get greedy !  It was 2009 when I came across a decent duplex for sale . The rents brought in $ 750 downstairs and $ 500 up . I knew that after the recent housing crash I could “low ball” this investor . After chipping away at his purchase price I got him within $2000 of the price I decided I wanted it for . Neither one of us budged after the last offer and I let it go. I still regret walking away over that . If I would have come up a bit more that duplex would be one of my better cash flowing properties. If the numbers work (and you should know those before hand) then ask yourself is this worth walking over ?

To sum up, it's very easy to get caught up in finding the best deal possible. Have a direction, at least know where it is you want to be. Ask yourself these questions “why am I doing this, and where do I want to be ? Happy house hunting .

Glenn Brown
Myrentalunit