I'm getting ready to launch my book "Along for the Ride. Getting Your Money Working for You Through Real Estate and Stocks", which will be available as paperback and e-book. In this book, I have written some of what is covered in my video blogs, with more detailed content offering a simple, straightforward blueprint on how to create financial independence using real estate and stock investing.  These two overall methods (real estate and stock investing) are used to create a reliable stream of passive income. Or, as both my book and Warren Buffet call it, “a snowball” effect.  With Along for the Ride, learn to do the following: cultivate the right mind-set for real estate investing overcome the trader’s mentality make your first ...

The weekend edition of the Globe & Mail newspaper recently did a profile of my portfolio and investment strategy.Check it out here 

Real Estate Goes Global by James Surowiecki May 26, 2014 The most expensive housing market in North America is not where you’d think. It’s not New York City or Orange County, California, but Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, Vancouver is a beautiful city—a thriving deep-water port, a popular site for TV and movie shoots. By all accounts, it is a wonderful place to live. But nothing about its economy explains why—in a city where the median income is only around seventy grand—single-family houses now sell for close to a million dollars apiece and ordinary condos go for five or six hundred thousand dollars. “If you look at per-capita incomes, we look like Reno or Nashville,” Andy Yan, an urban planner at the Vancouver-based firm Bing Thom ...

Happy New Year! it's been another solid year for BC real estate. Most areas of the province saw a strong, stable market as both prices and sales look to surpass those of 2012, albeit only slightly. In fact, 2013 was pretty much the polar opposite of 2012 as the year started slowly before finishing strong. For most markets, the years' numbers were actually behind those of 2012 before a strong August pushed the year-to-date figures ahead of last years' pace. Interestingly, many media stories in the past few weeks have centered around the notion that the real estate market is extremely strong (See Globe & Mail story here) as "sales were up 19.2 per cent in the Toronto area last month, 37.8 per cent in Vancouver, 18 per cent in Calgary, 37 ...

December 2013 Market Update November was a good month. The sun was shining and the housing market was strong. So far this fall, it seems as though house prices and sales have moved into a healthy balanced market in most parts of the province. Well-priced product sells while overpriced product sits. It's the way a market should be. Moving into November, a few things from the past month have been interesting vis-à-vis the BC housing market. Firstly, the US government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis had a negligible effect on both the BC housing market and financial markets in general. It seems as though most people have already priced US government dysfunction into their decision-making process. So, barring a black-swan event, it see ...

Welcome to your monthly update on Greater Vancouver Real Estate. The Art of Pricing All corners of the province have experienced unbelievably good weather through the summer, but it looks like we can't escape the wet stuff forever. For the real estate market, last year's relatively sluggish summer has rebounded strongly this year. It looks like we've entered a period of relative stability, with many areas in balanced - rather than buyer or seller - market conditions. Remember though, real estate is local. It's hard to take regional stats and make inferences about a neighbourhood. Moving forward, it looks to be a relatively busy Fall market, as interest rates have begun climbing and buyers with pre-appro ...

If you’re living in a detached property in Richmond and you have not switched over from a flat fee utilities tax to a metered system, I strongly suggest you call Richmond city hall and get on it. Chances are unless you have a very large family and use a ton of water, it will save you some good money each year. It cut my water bill in half for our home. Keep in mind that there are a number of condo complexes in Richmond that have also moved to a metered system and add the metered water bill monthly to your strata fees. So instead of getting that annual water tax bill for $700 or $800 you pay it monthly built into you maintenance fees. So make sure your Realtor is asking questions regarding the maintenance fees. People sometime ...

Many people in BC don't realize that the BC Government introduced the PTT (property transfer tax) in 1987 as a wealth tax. It was meant to discourage speculation at the high end of the market. It was set at 1% on the first $200,000 and 2% on the balance. Since its introduction the average price of a lower mainland home has gone up by 500% yet the PTT has never been adjusted to account for the increased property values. In 1987 only 5% of all homes sold triggered the 2%. Today 96% of all sales trigger the hefty 2% tax rate. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver thinks it's long overdue that the BC Government adjust this tax grab and I agree. We're asking that the 2% threshold be increase to a bit more reasonable at $525,000 ...

You can't listen to talk radio or watch the local news without some Vancouver city councillor bemoaning the fact that housing in this city is unaffordable and the need to build more affordable housing. Well I have a great idea for you! Stop imposing huge fees on developers (some of the highest in N. America) because NEWS FLASH all they do is pass it onto the home buyer. Here's a shocking statistic for you - to build an 800 sq ft condo in Vancouver, City Hall adds close to $75,000 in development costs, environmental requirements and other fees that it charges the developer before he even puts a shovel in the ground. So please stop with the rhetoric, if you really wanted to help people get a toe-hold into the housing ...

People might be surprised at how affordable an older condo is right now. With rock bottom interest rates it's possible to get into a 2 bedroom renovated condo with 5% down and payments of under $800 month. I would think that's more than what most people are paying for rent right now. Sometimes I wonder if the people who are posting all the negative comments about Vancouver real estate (hoping and calling for the market to crash) on sites like the Globe&Mail.com  realize that buying your first home is in reach for most people right now. As a matter of fact it's cheaper now than it was 5 or 6 years ago. Interest rates are not going to stay at these rock bottom levels forever... so what on earth are you waiting for? If you can ...