Monthly Archives: November 2019

OK, you are a real estate investment whiz. Then see if you can answer this question about cap (capitalization) rates: THE QUESTION Let’s say you buy a duplex for $500,000 and it has a going-in NOI (net operating income) of $26,500 per year. That’s without any renos, new leases, or animations, ok? This is a […]

[Note: feature image is international symbol for human rights.] So, a city committee has voted in favor of effectively banning Airbnb and other home-sharing platforms, https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/dozens-sign-up-to-tell-councillors-what-they-think-about-proposed-crackdown-on-short-term-rentals This is a terrible decision IMHO. Three councillors voted against the ban: Stephen Blais <stephen.blais@ottawa.ca> Eli El-Chantiry <Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca> Matt Luloff 613-580-2471×26699′ <Matt.Luloff@ottawa.ca> I wrote to them (see below). I […]

I talk a lot about animation of individual properties–how to add new revenue streams to your real estate investment portfolio and boost your ROI and property value. But there is a whole other dimension to animation–how can you animate a whole neighborhood, indeed a whole town or city. If you learn something about property animation […]

Think about it—Mr Buffett has been buying stock in well-managed, top brands for many decades. These stocks (for the most part) pay dividends, which Mr Buffett used to pay down debt he took on (through his principal investing vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway) to purchase these investments in the first place, which (again, for the most part) […]

If you missed it, here’s Sean McCormick, expert mortgage broker, and Bruce M Firestone, real estate investment and business coach, on CFRA 580’s Experts on Call along with host Dave Watts… “I listened to Bruce on Experts-on-Call. I really enjoyed it. It was awesome for real estate investors just starting out. I especially liked the […]

Here’s a joke about negativity: Why are mathematicians so positive? Because the square root of -1 is an imaginary number. OK, so it’s not very original or even very funny, but you get the message (I hope). Want to know why you are not as successful as your 11-year old self hoped for? Right, look […]