Confusing Investment Criteria with Residence Criteria
When you are buying an investment property you should focus on carrying income and potential upside, instead of being influenced by whether you personally want to live there. Yorkville can be a pleasant place to live or visit, but an ‘investment property’ in Yorkville will never come even close to carrying itself and probably has limited upside. Consider property in a neighbourhood that may have rough edges but seems in line for Renaissance.
Buying the décor
When the vendor moves out with their fancy furniture, it won’t look the same at all. Instead, steal the decorating ideas and apply them to a similar property that shows terribly and is thus being ignored by purchasers.
Regional Disparities
If you are accustomed to Toronto prices, nearly everything outside Toronto looks like deal. A 3-bedroom townhouse in Mosquito Falls listed for $99,900 may well be worth $99,900…. maybe $89,900… and may rent for $500. Local realtors love to sell properties to suckers from the Big City.
Going to too many seminars
Most seminars about “Making Big Money in Real Estate“ are more about [the seminar sponsor] making big money in giving seminars (and selling tapes and books to people looking for easy riches and overnight fortunes). Despite the ads that promise as much, there is no secret technique that can turn an unhappy wage earner into a self-employed, real estate mogul in six months. Forget the “networking potential." Most of the other people there are either realtors, mortgage brokers, or other would-be empire-builders who are also looking for other investors to put up the money. Professional realtors can tell the "seminar people" and usually drop them, as their expectations are generally unrealistic.
Harry Stinson was one of the first Toronto developers to recognize the potential for urban condominiums, to develop residential lofts, and to convert old office and warehouse buildings into residential spaces. His current project is the Stinson School Lofts, an 1894 heritage building in Hamilton, Ont., that he is converting into stylish and affordable lofts.
