OttawaAgent.ca
Should Blind Bidding Be Banned?
Should blind bidding be banned? The Liberal Party of Canada seems to think so. Justin Trudeau created quite a stir when he announced the party’s plan to ban “blind bidding” in real estate transactions at a campaign stop recently. When I heard the news, I thought it likely an exaggeration or other form of “fake news” because real estate transaction …
High Income Property Prices Mean Negative Cash Flow – Buy REITs Instead?
With escalating property prices across Canada (and the USA!), rental income often won’t generate positive cash flow these days. Some “gurus” suggest buying REITs as an alternative to purchasing income properties directly. Are REITs a valid option in the real estate investing game? I explore that question in this video.
Why Is Nobody Selling Their House?
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a housing inventory crisis across Canada and the United States (I haven’t looked beyond – maybe it’s another pandemic?!) In this video I look at the possible reasons not enough people are selling, and whether there are any signs of hope for house hunters. Video Outline (1:00) Stats: Number of Q1 Sales vs New …
House Price Theories & Conspiracies
House prices in Ottawa in early 2021 are going crazy! Last video we talked about the main reason. Let’s look at some other theories (and conspiracies!) about house prices. I mention a couple of media articles in this video. Here are links to those articles: Global News on Foreign Buyers The RBC Study that Global News References CTV July 2020 …
No Conveyance of Offers – Nothing Has Changed
“No conveyance of offers prior to <time of day> on <specific date>.” …or… “Offers presented at <time of day> on <specific date>; however, the seller reserves the right to review and may accept pre-emptive offers.” If you followed or participated in the real estate market in Ottawa in 2020 you will have noticed one of these two phrases appearing in …
Why Are You Looking For A Great Cap Rate?
Misunderstanding cap rate, short for capitalization rate, is a favourite pastime of many realtors and novice investors. Too often I witness a lack of understanding of investment analysis within the real estate agent community. My concern is that novice investors may be making purchase decisions with inaccurate expectations for return on their investments. This article examines the relationship between real …
Hottest Ottawa Neighbourhoods – Hype vs. Data
A CTV News piece about the Hottest Ottawa Neighbourhoods and the Ottawa real estate market in July 2020 came to my attention this week. A local Realtor provided data and insights into prevailing conditions that continue to favour sellers. Here’s a link to the piece: CTV News Article & Video Reading through the article I could not help but cringe …
Real Estate Investing: ROI vs. Appreciation
This article is the first in a series examining and illustrating the impact of various factors on the returns generated by a real estate investment. If you remember one thing, let it be that the formula is more complicated than reported in the write-ups for virtually all investment property listings. For example, the “cap rate”, or the cash flow calculated …
7 Reasons To Not Like Ottawa’s Shared Equity Mortgage
Is Ottawa’s proposed Shared Equity Mortgage “plan” a good idea? Okay, so I only know what I saw on CBC News the other night. They reported that the Canadian Government has yet to work out the details of the “plan”. We can’t fully assess it until we have those details… but the concept seems misguided to me in many ways: …
Ottawa Condo Prices – Older vs. Newer
Talking about Ottawa condo prices with one of my clients recently, I realised it’s been 6 years since I looked at the average selling price trend for older vs. newer condo apartments in Ottawa. Here’s the article from 2012: Are New or Re-Sale Condos a Better Investment? Fast forward to today; let’s take a look at the average selling price …
Bidding Wars That Aren’t
Have you read the CBC article from April 25th about Ottawa real estate’s “Perfect Storm” intensifying “Bidding Wars”? I’d like to go through this article and shed some light on a few of the pronouncements it makes. You can read the original article here: CBC Article: Bidding Wars Intensify It’s fun working in real estate because almost everybody finds it interesting …
