Effective April 30th, 21018, Ontario landlords and tenants must use the new standard form of lease, some highlights include: Clear outline on rent and form of payment (e.g. while tenants can choose to pay via post-dated cheques or automatic payments, these means can no longer be required)  Up to 1 month's rent can be collected as rent deposit, damage deposits are not allowed, although tenants must repair/pay for damage caused by the tenant, their guests, or another person who... [read more]

My Capital Corner team is welcoming Patrick Mok to the team. Patrick Mok has been a long time client of ours, and joins our team with an operations and mergers & acquisitions consulting background. We're excited to have him onboard to accelerate growth and further our capabilities so that we can provide even more value to our investors and clients. [read more]

Tax season is upon us again! While it's a great time to celebrate the additional income your rental properties have generated for you this past year, it's also time to calculate the amount of taxes owed to CRA. Did you know that your rental properties may be eligible for capital cost allocations (CCA) to help reduce your tax liabilities: As your rental properties (including the building, furniture and equipment) wear out over time you can write off the capital costs... [read more]

Getting ready for 2018 Spring Real Estate Season!! We at MyCapitalCorner have been busy planning the year ahead and there will be much exciting news to share with you throughout the year. Bookmark us on Facebook and Instagram to stay posted on our growing team, office expansion, rebranding efforts and updates to our service offerings! We’ll also be posting more frequently to exchange insights andopinions with you on the latest real estate matters. This year we want to be able to... [read more]

Like many others, I’m sure you’ve heard the countless horror stories that have come from those unfortunate few landlords who leased their units to some bad tenants and paid the price, both literally and figuratively.  When I first began to express my interest in Real Estate Investing, it seemed like everyone had something negative to say, friends, family, everyone.  The unit got trashed, the neighbours complained of the noise, people didn’t pay rent, it took months... [read more]

Rodents, and How to Handle Them Rodents, pests, vermin, insects – the bane of many landlords’ existence. If you own or manage any type of property, for a period of time, you are bound to encounter these little buggers sooner or later.  Most of you who have dealt with them before know that it’s not uncommon to spend several hundred dollars in a matter of a few hours, only to hear from your tenant that you have the same problem a week later. So how do we best handle... [read more]

As real estate investors, everyone’s focus often remains on their bottom line. How much net income will I see this month? What is my return on investment? What is the cap rate (Capitalization Rate) on this new property?  The trap some investors fall into however is being happy with how things are and not willing to put in work, to further increase their returns. Well what if I told you there are some ways you can make sure you are always extracting the most out of your assets.... [read more]

If you follow any sort of Real Estate news you’ve likely already heard of the 15% tax Vancouver has imposed on foreign investors.  In an effort to cool the extremely hot Real Estate market in Vancouver, a new tax has been imposed upon foreign home buyers. As of August 2, 2016 any deals closing, where the purchaser is not a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant a tax of 15% will be added to the transaction. To put it into perspective, on a $2,000,000 purchase, this equates to $300,000... [read more]

Of course you should! I’ve managed property for quite a while now, in doing so I’ve talked to many different landlords and I’m still shocked every time they tell me the rents haven’t been raised in years. From large organizations, to smaller non-profit boards, and most commonly private owners. It seems as though for many tenants, if you are good to your landlord and develop a strong relationship, you’re rent will not increase for years to come.   To... [read more]

Last month we discussed a few ways to help keep some better quality tenants in your units. Now we’re going to talk about how to find the good ones in the first place. We have been managing property for quite a few years, and I’ve experienced management and leasing of many different styles of units, in different neighbourhoods and price points. What have I learned from all of this? Well of course the tips I’m about to share with you on how to screen tenants, but so much more... [read more]

As investors looking to create value in their investment properties we are often faced with tough financial decisions. Do we pay extra for that expensive hardwood, or those high end appliances in the hopes to get higher then market rents for our investment property? Or do we cheap out and buy used appliances, and leave in the worn out existing flooring? I find the key is to find the right balance between new and existing, for each individual property.   Not everyone has the same... [read more]