Landlord relief has arrived!

November 12th, 2009 admin 1 comment

Welcome To Landlordrelief.ca

homewood

Our name says it all – our objective is to take the stress out of being a “small landlord”. Real estate is about investing.  Investments must be approached in a “business like” way. For some landlords, this means: no contact with the tenant.

We offer you a complete property management service which includes:

-          finding, screening, and interviewing tenants

-          managing repairs

-          collecting rents and paying expenses

-          preparing  relevant tax forms for both residents of Canada and non-residents of Canada as they pertain to  your property

Our objective is to provide you with the “peace of mind” that you need to make your real estate investment a success.

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An unsupportable American dream

August 25th, 2010 admin No comments

Millions of Americans face foreclosure, the value of their homes below the value of their nominal mortgages.

Getty Images

Millions of Americans face foreclosure, the value of their homes below the value of their nominal mortgages.

Terence Corcoran, Financial Post · Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010

One of the great paradoxes of the U.S. economy is how something as personal and individualistic as home ownership — a core value at the heart of the American dream — could have been turned into one of the world’s biggest socialist disasters. Read more…

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Why real estate slowdown is ‘most dramatic’ in Canada

August 11th, 2010 admin No comments

Michael Babad

Globe and Mail Update Published on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 10:09AM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 5:38PM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/why-real-estate-slowdown-is-most-dramatic-in-canada/article1667919/

Canada’s housing slowdown ‘most dramatic’
The recent slowdown in Canada’s real estate market is the “most dramatic” of a general global softening, Bank of Nova Scotia said today. While Canada and Australia led a post-recession surge as world housing markets entered 2010, activity seems to have cooled again amid softer demand and prices that came with moderating economic growth, financial market turmoil and a sluggish rebound in labour markets, economist Adrienne Warren said in a new report. Read more…

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China’s latest export: home buyers

July 15th, 2010 admin No comments

The Vancouver skyline at sunset.

30 investors taking tour of Toronto and Vancouver this summer expected to drop a half-million dollars each

Steve Ladurantaye Real Estate Reporter

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/chinas-latest-export-home-buyers/article1638953/

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2010 8:06PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 13, 2010 8:25PM EDT

Half a world away, a handful of Chinese citizens are feverishly planning a Canadian real-estate shopping excursion. Read more…

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Real estate broker enjoying the ride

July 6th, 2010 admin No comments
Real estate broker enjoying the ride

Leng Hongli (right), a real estate agent in the Wangjing area of Beijing, introduces houses on sale to a customer on Wednesday. Zhang Wei / of China Daily

Surging market pushes up housing prices as well as realtor’s income

BEIJING – Leng Hongli is riding high on the real estate express.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-04/08/content_9699735.htm

Boosted by soaring housing prices, 30-year-old Leng earned 100,000 yuan ($14,700) in commissions last month after selling seven apartments in Beijing’s Wangjing area. Read more…

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Housing Down Under just keeps going up

July 6th, 2010 admin No comments

Nichola Saminather, Bloomberg News · Tuesday, Jul. 6, 2010

Tamara Jenkins has been outbid about 20 times in her nine-month quest to buy an apartment in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

“I started with such enthusiasm,” the 36-year-old public relations director said in an interview. “I’m so frustrated with the process. I’m ready to buy, but I keep missing out.”

The source of her frustration — a shortage of 200,000 dwellings — is helping fuel Australian home prices, which are 82% higher than in the United States, and disproving investors such as Jeremy Grantham, who says they will fall 42% as interest rates rise in one of the world’s priciest home markets. Read more…

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Bedbugs a potential deal breaker for real estate transations in Toronto

July 6th, 2010 admin No comments

Business Reporter

Tony Wong – July 6, 2010

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/articlePrint/832473

It’s an occupational hazard Barry Lebow would rather do without.

Before entering a home to inspect it, the veteran real estate appraiser typically gives the butt of his jeans a quick dousing of bug spray.

“I promised myself that I wouldn’t bring home bedbugs again — that stuff is murder,” says Lebow of Lebow, Hicks Ltd. “We didn’t sleep for three weeks.” Read more…

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High-end house sitting

July 5th, 2010 admin No comments

Tim Shufelt, Financial Post · Friday, Jul. 2, 2010

Perhaps you want to upgrade your current living quarters to something slightly more palatial, but that would require your riches to be slightly less imaginary.

So you could take the dignified route and accept that fate prefers to store you in a glorified shack, or you can masquerade in a delusional fantasy of boundless wealth.

Fantasy it is. And as it turns out, there are options for those looking to dislodge from reality. Read more…

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Electricity bills in Ontario set to rise $300 a year by the end of 2011

July 3rd, 2010 admin 3 comments
AToronto Hydro windmill on the grounds of the CNE at sunrise.

More increases loom as a result of new green projects, analysts say

Karen Howlett, Whitby, Ont.

From Friday’s Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Apr. 08, 2010 12:37PM EDT Last updated on Friday, Apr. 09, 2010 5:45AM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/electricity-bills-in-ontario-set-to-rise-300-a-year-by-the-end-of-2011/article1527805/

Ontario is about to rival Prince Edward Island as the province with the highest electricity prices in Canada, and rates will, for the first time, exceed the average cost of keeping the lights on in the United States

Residential customers in Ontario will pay $300 more a year on average for electricity by the end of 2011, an increase of 25 per cent, according to energy consultants. And the rate increases won’t end there. Investments of more than $8-billion in green energy projects unveiled by the Ontario government Thursday will add another $60 a year to hydro bills by 2012. Read more…

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Bank towers continue fight for lower tax assessment=

July 1st, 2010 admin 1 comment

June 07, 2010

John Spears

http://www.thestar.com/business/bank/article/820137–bank-towers-continue-fight-for-lower-tax-assessment

A dozen years after Ontario overhauled its property assessment system, Toronto’s biggest office towers bearing the names of the Big Five banks are still fighting for lower assessed values.

The towers carried their battle to Ontario’s highest court Monday, looking for a decision that could ultimately help them win tax refunds of up to $150 million, and see their assessed value reduced by $1 billion or more. Read more…

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Ontario rent increase guideline lowest in 35 years

June 24th, 2010 admin No comments

It is hard to see this as anything but political posturing for a government that will be soon be going to the polls. Consider the following:

- interest rates are increasing (partly as a result of rising inflation);

- electricity costs are increasing in Ontario;

- the HST will increase the operating costs in apartments and condominiums;

- Landlords are unable to pass the higher HST induced costs to the tenants.

It would appear that this is an an outright declaration of war by the Ontario Government of Dalton McGuinty on Ontario’s landlords. It’s just a question of where the votes are. There are more tenants than landlords.

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“Ontario’s rent increase guideline for 2011 will be 0.7 per cent.

The provincial government says it’s the lowest guideline in the 35-year history of Ontario rent regulation.

The guideline is the maximum amount a landlord can increase the rent of most sitting tenants without seeking approval of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

The 2011 guideline applies to rent increases that occur between January 1 and December 31, 2011.

The calculation is based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index.”

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