Been a while since I did a book review so here we go.. just finished "Shoe Dog" a memoir by the creator of Nike, Phil Knight.

Ever wonder why some people seem to have all the luck? They are able to achieve great success financially while others seem to struggle and fall further behind. It boils down to their mindset and how they think about investing. There are really only 2 types... Investors and speculators. Investors simply buy and hold quality assets for long periods of time. Collecting cash flow in the form of dividends and rent checks. Speculators bet on price and tend to get in and out of positions incurring friction costs in the form of buying and selling commissions.

Time for one of my regular blogs on simply buying and holding your principal residence as opposed to being a long term renter and the principals you MUST adopt in order to guarantee success.

As often happens when you have had a market like we have had in Vancouver - where condo prices have doubled in the past 6 or 7 years. You start to see desperate buyers look for alternative and cheaper ways to get into the market. I continue to have viewers ask me about buying Strata Hotel units and leasehold land condos. Are they a good deal and is it a good investment? The answer is NO they are not. I would strongly urge you to stay away from these types of ownership.

Landlords take note on the importance of properly screening your tenants. I’m discovering that many of the illegal Airbnb’s in Vancouver are being offered by the tenant and not the owners of these units. Also now that the growth and cultivation of marijuana will be legal in October - Landlords and owners need to be aware of the importance in changing the bylaws of your strata to forbid it as well as including a clause in your tenancy agreements.

Last week I did an interview with a large US publication based in NYC. We discussed many topics regarding the current state of the Vancouver market including: - Why I seldom give interviews with the Vancouver media.. they are way too pessimistic and I’m a positive guy. Sure there are problems I would love to see fixed in this market but all the local media wants to talk about is the problems and never about the long term advantages of simply buying and holding your principal residence but that’s too easy and too boring for most of these local writers. - Are the current tax measures and mortgage tightening really going to solve the affordability problem in the long term or are they simply temporary fixes to slow the market down for a ...

It’s really a tale of 2 markets right now. The condo and townhouse market continue to be fairly strong and still favouring sellers for the most part. The detached market especially on the higher priced homes over 2.5 million it’s the opposite. These homes are selling well below there already reduced asking prices. Days on market continue to climb and buyers have gone to the sidelines for now.

An update on the class action lawsuit that is making it’s way thru the courts and has its first hearings this Summer. This all stems from the fact that the provincial government announced the tax without warning and did not exempt or grandfather the existing deals (Subjects removed / Firm deal) that were already in place.

There was an interesting panel discussing the state of downtown Toronto condos. The consensus was that in the next 20 years only millionaires would be able to afford a condo in the downtown core. I would argue that we will have the same situation in Vancouver. What little land we have left for development is expensive and developers are only building luxury units going forward. Yes, there will be good buying windows over the next 20 years but for the most part it will only be high net worth and high income earners who will be able to afford a downtown condo 20 or 25 years from now.

Here are 7 traits that most successful people possess. If you want to become financially secure you may want to start doing these things as well. They work! 1 They have multiple income streams2 They save to invest3 They surround themselves with high achieving people4 They are decisive. They make decisions quickly and change their minds slowly5 They have specific goals for their money6 They read books7 They think big and are always trying to improve themselves in a variety of ways.