Real Talk!

Comparatively, the real estate market is not as risky as other investments- & the current, unpredictable state of the stock market has brought real estate back to the forefront as one of the best investments.

Property values in this province have risen continuously since the low in 1996- & Analysts predict continued growth- regardless of the bad news emanating from the United States.

Last spring, the average price of a resale home in Canada went over the $300K level for the first time. In Ontario, it was just a smidgen below $300K.

The average investor spends a great deal of time analyzing the possible return when investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. and yet, they spend money improving their homes, investing money in this tax-free opportunity, without a thought about the potential return on the expenditure. Losses are not tax-deductible.

While the ordinary Canadian can profit (and build substantial wealth) through real estate, the improvements we make may increase our enjoyment of our home but will not automatically increase the value of it.

Whether you are a seasonal real estate investor, or a first time buyer, it pays to do some research before you make changes and improvements to your property- and a Realtor ® can provide you with important information about your area, such as:

· the maximum sale price range for the neighbourhood
· a current comparative market assessment from MLS® statistics
· suggestions for cost-effective details that may make the property more desirable
· maintenance and modernizing strategies

Right now, multi-family investments are a hot commodity in the commercial sector. Investors need to consider the fact that financing for this type of property is quite different than the usual personal/residential mortgage process. Typically, lenders will advance only 65%of the appraised value of the property when it is for investment purposes. There are, however, other borrowing options that your Realtor®, accountant and lenders may advise you about.

& what’s the number one real estate must? All together now: “Location, location, location.” Always choose a good location. You want to make sure that the property provides amenities that will appeal to prospective tenants. Remember, you can ask higher rent for a desirable location.

Do a business plan. Calculate income and approximate expenses. Obvious expenses include principal mortgage payments, interest costs and property taxes. Heating and other utilities may be the responsibility of the tenant or the landlord.

A pre-purchase inspection will alert you to the various systems associated with the property and it is important to include their regular maintenance as part of your investment. Once rented, the tenants will often assume responsibility for much of the maintenance, while you may prefer to keep control yourself.

It is really important to ensure that you have good tenants- people who are prepared to care for the property and capable of paying their rent. If there are already tenants, you will want to have a list of their names and lease information and you should reserve the right to investigate their credit history.

Assessing the risks as well as the rewards of investing will result in a well-made decision. An investor should remain as free of hype and emotion as possible, optimizing earning potential, while allowing their personal preference to determine the type of property most suited for their consideration.

Dec 30th of 2007 would have been the 30th anniversary of my marriage to David John King. I say, “would have” because we were divorced in 1990. Still, you remember those dates.

I was 17 when we met- he was 18. We married too young. Dave was a lot of fun, he liked to party. We grew in different directions. I remarried (a couple of times), Dave never did. He had a girlfriend, a dog, and no children.

Last summer, my sister and brother-in-law ran into Dave at the home show in Toronto. He visited them briefly at their home in Whitby, to talk about eaves trough. They were thrilled to reconnect with Dave and it was nice to know that he was well and happily living in what had been his grandparent’s home, in Toronto.

Today, a crew of guys showed up, totally unexpected, at my sister’s place. They started tearing off her old eaves trough and when she went out to investigate they told her that Dave was dead. He had gotten up for work, gone to the bathroom and dropped dead of a heart attack, mid-December.

Shaken, she called me immediately.

“Weird”, she said… and kept saying. “Yes”, I replied.

& it’s very sad. He had just celebrated his 50th birthday in July.

Our father died suddenly one December, of a heart attack, at 50, too.

Too young. Way too young.

Just a few minutes later, my sister emailed me this obituary, she found it on the Toronto Star newspaper website:

KING, David John- Suddenly passed away on December 11, 2007. Leaving to mourn Deborah, Bullseye, Tim, father Ross, brothers Bill, and Michael, sister Linda and their families. Visitation will be on Tuesday, December 18 at the McDougall & Brown Funeral Home located at 1812 Eglinton Ave. W. from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m., followed by a Memorial Service on Wednesday, December 19 at 2 p.m. Donations will be accepted to the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Toronto Humane Society.

Founded in 1953 by an Anglican priest, the iconic, non-religious telephone counselling service known as “Samaritans” has since spread worldwide. With plenty of experience, the organization has identified this as the most depressing time of year.

Of course, Mondays have always had the distinction of being the most unloved day of the week. It is a day when most workers must face the prospects of another week of waking up to the alarm clock, fighting traffic, meeting deadlines, juggling personal life with the demands of their employer… all that fun stuff… and so on.

Today, as many of us complain about bad weather, holiday let-down, incoming holiday bills and failed resolutions, it seems that, in Britain, Samaritans look forward to close to 10,000 calls from the seriously depressed. Referring to this auspicious day, the third Monday in January, as “Blue Monday”.

I remember my grandmother using the term Blue Monday but it had to do with Monday being the traditional laundry day. I would help her pass shirts through the wringer and she would regail me with stories of how fortunate we were that we didn’t have to use washing boards and pots of boiling water any more.

Dr. Cliff Arnall, (according to reader Steve Anderson Arnall is a self-described doctor, clinical psychologist, motivator and lecturer from Cardiff University, Wales) has verfied the Samaritans’ findings, by way of a mathematical equation that uses six identifiable factors: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing our New Year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take action.

Yes, Dr Arnall’s (assuming he is a doctor) calculation reveals: Monday, January 21, 2008 is officially the worst day of the year.

Co-founder, Dr Mike Finnigan, of Advanced Performance (1996, with a mission “…to be the first choice provider in the UK and US of Corporate and Personal Development") warns that, “If you think about January 21 as ‘Blue Monday’ then the part of the brain known as the reticular deactivating system will immediately begin to focus on things that arise during the day.”

Sounds very scientific and therefore, a little scary!

Now, I’m no Einstein, but I do know that the reticular deactivating system (and the activating system, too) are connected to an individual’s memory and emotion brought about by chemical exchanges in the brain and brainstem. (Sort of a reciprocal-interaction of chemical and electrical processes.) There have been a lot of studies concerning the role of the reticular activating system in relation to the perception of external stimuli.

Combined with the diffuse thalamic projection system, the reticular formation plays a significant role in our wakefulness and our sleep. Current studies cite reticular deactivation as the physiological component of sleep. Reducing the amount of light or noise in a room is a simple example of passive reticular deactivating.

Messing with reticular systems, by way of anesthetic, for instance, does not prevent the transmission of sensory messages via the usual pathways. However, an anesthetized patient will not respond to the message in a discriminative manner- this may infer that the reticular system may be particularly important to integrate and expand upon information received, allowing us ‘perception’.

Undoubtedly, the reticular formation is implicated in orienting us and responding to stimuli. It is an important component for perception and the awakening attention and reaction to the external environment.

So, essentially, Dr. Arnall has contrived a method of calculating a cause for being blue AND Dr. Finnigan is saying that if you stop and think about being blue, you will start to feel blue….

Okay, so put away your mathematical equations and your neurological charts…it really isn’t all that scary.

In northern climates, awareness of “Seasonal Affective Disorder” or SAD began some 150 years ago. It is believed that SAD is caused by variations in seasonal light. People who work “night shifts” or in windowless offices are often affected by the disorder, blamed primarily on lack of sunlight. Treatments for SAD include, talking about it, improved nutrition and exercise. In severe cases, light therapy or medication may be suggested.

Here are my own suggestions:

Be your best version of yourself.

1/ don’t spend time thinking about depressing things
2/ go outside for a walk and look for something to smile about
3/ laugh out loud
4/ eat an apple
5/ call a friend
6/ do something nice for your self
7/ do something nice for somebody else
8/ grab every bit of sunshine that you can (sit by a window if you can’t go out)