Who is the wealthiest person you know? Almost without a doubt they will tell you that they have substantial real estate holdings inside their portfolio.
If you’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing an income property, now is the perfect time to jump in. You might be asking yourself, “Why now?” Well, because there is an opportunity in the marketplace that I have never seen in my 20+ year career and will likely never see again.
Over the last two years, the value of your home has increased, on average, 40 per cent. The market has peaked and we are having a bit of a soft landing thanks in large part to the Bank of Canada raising the overnight rate four times already this year.
How is this an opportunity?
First, we have a cohort of first-time buyers with solid incomes and the best of intentions that simply cannot break into this market. They are your new tenants. The average home in Ottawa purchased today would require a household income of $137,050, assuming you had 20 per cent down. A six-figure income is now needed to buy the average home in Ottawa!
Secondly, the new found equity in your current home could be your ticket to getting into investment real estate. You may be eligible for an up to 80 per cent loan on the current market value of your home; equaling the down payment for your first investment property.
There are so many reasons why real estate is a wealth creator, but let’s start with this: Say you buy a $1 million property with 20 per cent down—in other words you invest $200,000 to buy a $1 million investment—but which number do you earn your return on? You earn a rate of return on the value of the building, not on the value of your down payment. Your tenants pay the mortgage and expenses, and you reap the rewards!
Ottawa has an average 5.6 per cent rate of return over the past 50 years. With 20 per cent down, you have a 5x multiplier on the market rate of return on your initial investment. Your down payment has earned a 28 per cent rate of return over the last 50 years! Do you know anyone in the stock market that can say the same?
Now, this is an oversimplification. To determine your actual rate of return you have to subtract the interest cost on the mortgage you are carrying and utilities, taxes, and maintenance. Individual results will vary, but real estate is a solid winner in any case.
Reason number two that real estate is a winner: Real estate values in Ottawa rarely go down on a year-over-year basis, and when they do the losses are quite small. In fact, Ottawa has recorded a contraction in average sale price only three times in the last 50 years.* The biggest one-year drop was 2.9 per cent. The second biggest was 1.9 per cent, and the third was 0.4 per cent.
American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, Warren Buffet has famously said, “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.” Why is this so important? It’s important because it is very difficult to recover from losses.
If we return to the $1 million purchase example above: Imagine you had $1 million worth of stock and the market crashed… You probably owned Nortel stock around the 2000’s or bought Shopify at its peak recently. Your million dollars becomes $500,000 overnight. But what happens when there is a corresponding increase of 50 per cent in the marketplace? Are you back to $1 million? Unfortunately, you are not… Your $1 million crashed to 50 per cent, and when the market rebounds by 50 per cent you are left with $750,000 and a $250,000 loss. Ouch…. Now do you see the wisdom in Warren’s words?
This is merely the tip of the iceberg here, and a deeper dive into your particulars would be recommended. Reach out to a professional to help guide you through the process of starting your real estate empire one door at a time.
*According to Ottawa Real Estate Board historical trends stats.
About Sean McCann
It’s not about me. It’s about you and how your home tells your story. Far too often real estate can feel transactional. I’m not interested in transacting. My singular interest is in guiding you and your family to your best possible outcome. It’s about building meaningful connections, in an increasingly disposable world, and understanding how your home is the epicentre of your world. Let’s be honest, my family’s well-being and future success lies in the experiences I create and the advocacy that I earn with you today. I appreciate you and I intend to honour the trust that you place in our relationship. Let’s have some fun and do something special together!
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
