Happy Valentine’s day! Valentine’s day is not just for lovers, it is for every human being to show love to others. Let’s take this opportunity to show our love to people who are important to us, and inspire us.
Its a slow start to the year, or is it? Looking at the graph for previous two years, it would appear so. If you go back another year then it is very similar to when Covid started, so in some sense, it is back to “normal” levels, which is basically what was predicted at the annual Realtors Housing Forecast.
The Bank of Canada raised interest yet again in January but not by too much this time. Bank of Canada is intentionally using interest rates to slow the economy and inflation. The goal is to reduce spending on goods and services to bring overall demand in line with supply, which will ease price pressures. They also said raising interest alone won’t help control inflation because un-employment needs to rise to get inflation back to target. If lots people do loose jobs then there may be (small) recession which is exactly what they want. In general, Canadians are in a better position to weather a housing downturn than they would have been 10 years ago as many home owners have built up an increased amount of equity.
At one of our investment properties the tenants who lived there for the last 4 years finally decided to buy a house for themselves and so they have moved out.
For the move out report there was nothing much to note as most items would be consider normal wear and tear however we did decide we should repaint the walls and upgrade the flooring to vinyl Plank so that we can command premium rent. Our contractor of choice, E. S. Services has renovated several of our investment properties as the occasion arises, and they have helped many of our clients with renovations when they want to sell. We like to recommend their services to our clients because they are very good at sticking to budget and timing, we know the quality, and of course pricing is very reasonable. Often there is a difference if you want to paint a place for rent or get it ready for sale but we have very high standards so we do it properly. As example you can see in the below photo, the top of the wall was cleaned with TSP before the ceiling was sprayed. The rest of the wall was cleaned afterwards but I did this photo to
emphasize how dirty the wall is from cooking, candles and general living in the home. It is important to realize you couldn’t see the wall was dirty until part was cleaned with TSP. Of course we could find a cheaper quote but cheap painters won’t clean, they just paint right over it and hope for the best but you need to be careful that odours or stains don’t bleed through.
Given that these tenants paid almost $100,000 in rent for past 4 years, and the property has increased in value we feel it best to pay for the right job. Keeping the property in mint condition so it not only commands premium rent but is easy to rent is key, and will help when it comes time to sell. Real Estate investing is long term so we are not in a hurry to sell this one.
What a brilliant way to read!
Inspired by one of my clients (JW) he shared how much he loves the Kindle and Kobo devices so I bought a Kindle Device last Christmas and I am so happy as it turns out one of the best investments! I read over 8 ebooks within less 2 months, and planning to read 1 book per week for the rest of the year.
I love this little device, it can store over 1000 ebooks. The Kindle is a single-purpose device – reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks, that’s help me to focus and block the reading time. Also, due to the nice screen design , it doesn’t hurt my eyes, that allows me to read for long hours. Fionna loves her Kobo too as she can request ebooks straight from Edmonton public library. I think she has already read more books than me in the same time.
Recently I received an award for being Top 10 Edmonton Realtor in 2022 by SalesInsider. This is in addition to Best In Edmonton, Coldwell Banker Presidents Circle, and the one we normally focus on, Top 5% from the Realtors Association Of Edmonton. It requires lots of hard work and due diligence to win any of these awards but I couldn’t do it without my clients support and trust giving me the opportunity to serve them. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of you, and I promise I will continue provide the best services to all my valuable clients.
This article contains the opinions of Andrew Barrett and Selena Cheung. Licensed Realtors® with COLDWELL BANKER Venture Realty.
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