All Forum Posts by: Roy N.

Putting your thoughts in front of this crowd - especially that Bill Gulley character ;-) {Note: Winky} - can be apropos to sitting a thesis defence. However, the education you take away from these encounters is worth a few constructive servings of criticism.

Could you not use a bare trust in this situation? If Michael Garson were a bare trustee for his LLC, then his name would go on the mortgage and title, but the beneficial owner would be the LLC.

We do not have LLCs in Canada, so our holding company is incorporated (Equivalent to an 'S' type corporation in the US, I believe). Generally conventional financing is not an issue, but we have encountered a couple of situations where the retail mortgage group at a bank had a hard time wrapping their head around the holding company being a "person" under the law.

One such situation was the bank not allowing an individual and corporation to hold tenancy in common. Last year, we jointly purchased a property (triplex) with an individual. We initially set the deal up as a partnership between our holding company and the individual. This is where we encountered the above policy of the mortgagee. In the end we solved the impasse by establishing a bare trust with me as the trustee for the holding company's interests.

Kirk R.

I use a similar approach for smaller {residential} properties: In the spring when everyone is feeling the market, I make note of interesting properties that are listed {almost, always overpriced}. I casually keep an eye on them throughout the summer and then, around {our} Thanksgiving, will approach the owners to see if they are still motivated to sell ... just as we head into "heating & snow removal season".

Jon,

Where we have been fortunate enough to have our units (re)rented 2-4 months before they become vacant, I have been accepting cheques for security deposits at the time the lease is signed. If there is a problem, we know long before they show - with the first month's rent - looking for the keys.

That said, most of our tenants pay electronically; we only have one left paying cash and two by cheque.

@Jon Klaus

$1300/mth in Fredericton, NB will rent a 3-bdrm row-house w/ utilities on the north side of the river and a 3-bedrm apartment downtown - w/ or w/o utilities depending on the age and finish level. It would probably also get you a 4-bedroom basement apartment in the "universityville" w/o utilities.

Savannah Leigh:

I looked back at my notes from other recent renovations. We did a to-the-studs kitchen, bathroom, laundry renovation in April - the most expensive 400 sq feet of a 1200 sq ft, two story apartment - for $35/sq ft and that included a fire rated common wall, total relocation of plumbing, new floors, new windows new electrical panel and new appliances. When we go back and do the rest, the cost per sq foot will come down as a living/dining room and two bedroom will not be that expensive.

We are completing a deep retrofit of a student house this summer - the current project phase includes re-wiring of the entire house, new HVAC system, and turning an unfinished basement into 2-bdrms, common rm, bathroom, and laundry area {included in this is levelling the existing slab, moving a wall on the main floor, removing a chimney, new egress windows and window wells, and installing a new staircase}. Our projections for this engagement is also about $30 sq ft {mostly due to the foundation work and excavation}. We find the per square foot reno costs to be higher on our SFH as there are no shared systems.

Around here folks are raising stick-built multis for as low as $100 - $120 per sq foot.

Here in Canada, the Currency Act describes legal tender:

8. (1) Subject to this section, a tender of payment of money is a legal tender if it is made
(a) in coins that are current under section 7; and
(b) in notes issued by the Bank of Canada pursuant to the Bank of Canada Act intended for circulation in Canada.
Marginal note:Limitation

(2) A payment in coins referred to in subsection (1) is a legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins:
(a) forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars;
(b) twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar;
(c) ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar;
(d) five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and
(e) twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.

It would also appear that under the current interpretation of the Act, the method of payment (e.g. cash, debit or credit card) used in a transaction is a private agreement between the buyer and the seller. Each has the right to accept or refuse a bank note when accepting payment or receiving change. {This has evolved out of concerns over counterfeit bank notes}

However, official government policy is to encourage retailers/lenders to leverage the security features of Canadian bank notes as it is a more effective protection against counterfeit losses.

Some of the flippers can probably give better numbers, but we are just finishing a complete gut of an old (120 years) small multi (2000 sq ft) which has been a little more costly to us than usual (gotta love ballon framing) and we are running about $20 - $22/sq ft ... but this is Canada and things tend to cost more here.

From the advert you posted, it appears some of the demo remains to be completed and then you have an envelope to insulate and 6-12 complete units to frame, plumb, wire, ventilate, etc ... not to mention bringing everything up to current fire code. You will gain some economy of scale, but could still be looking in the range of $18 - $25/sq ft by the time it's rent ready.

I must go check on this again, but I believe we are legally required to accept cash as payment {coins excluded}.

As others have indicated, it depends on the types of recreation taking place in the park.

I am presently considering a property whose backyard opens onto a City playground. The property is in "Universityville", but they playground could make it attractive to mature students, or new lecturers/professors, with young children.