I just finished reading the articles in the Saturday and Sunday “Toronto Star” written by Dale Brazao about the “Tenants from Hell” The article reveals that these tenants have been evicted from five luxury houses across the GTA and left the landlord with some $ 30,000.00 in unpaid rent and other expenses. For the full article go to the Toronto Star web site, www.TorontoStar.com.
 The lesson taken for all landlords and especially landlords who are just starting in the business is be prepared for all situations or trust your rental property to very experienced property managers. There certainly are proper ways to establish your relation ship with all new tenants.
 1) Make sure that you have a very detailed lease that has been approved by your solicitor, and that explains in detail to the tenant their responsiblities and yours ( landlord)
 2) Ask for references and check them all out yourself
 3) Ask them for the name(s) of previous landlords and check not only to their payment history but, how they left the property and buildings when they concluded their lease.
 4) If the tenants are responsable for the payment of electricty/utilities as a part of the lease agreement, you the landlord  could be responsable for the payment, if the tenant fails to pay the bill. Therefore if the tenant skips and leaves the landlord with a couple of months unpaid rent, the landlord may also be responsible for the unpaid utilities. This applies to our supplier in Peterborough, and it may apply to your supplier in your municipality.
 5) As a landlord, be very knowledgable  with the Tenant ACT and know your rights as a landlord.
 6) Join a landlord’s association. In our city of Peterborough, we have a very active association of landlords and they meet once a month.
 If you decide to delegate your landlord responsabilities to a Property Manager make sure that again,you do your due diligence as to their track record with landlords and their history with tenants and the tenant profile in the buildings that they manage.
 
 Done properly investing in multifamily or investment properties can be a very good investment with a good return on investment and usually a good increase over time in your capital investment. Interest rates are still very low, so let’s get started!

 It was just announced today on the local Peterborough Radio station CRUZ and will be probably be a news feature on CHEX News that the terrible fire deaths of the father and 12 year daughter in Toronto on Sunday could have been prevented.
 The fire marshal’s office investigation found that a pot of oil left on the stove started the fire and that the smoke detector downstairs was not operating. The marshal’s office was not able to determine if the upstairs detector was operating or not. However, the Fire Marshall stated that these 2 deaths were preventable!
 This Sunday we change our clocks an hour and Spring Forward to daylight savings time. Please check all your smoke detectors on all levels of the building to make sure they are operating. The next time you are at the hardware store or building supply store in town, pick up a small fire extinquisher. You can buy one for under $ 20.00 and it may just save your life.

 Although I am not involved with Easter Seals anymore ( I let new more energetic volunteers take my place ) their telethon is Sunday March 14th from noon to 5 PM. This year it is an all local production so tune in and please send in a donation. Ten of my Century 21 associates will be manning the phones from 4 to 5 PM.

 As a follow up to my previous blog about Energy Efficency I came across a great article in the Report on Business written by Martin Mittelsteadt. It follows up to my previous blog on Energy Efficency and cutting our Energy Expenses and saving on the HST taxes. This is about lightbulbs, specifically for a Commercial application, but it can also be applied to our residences.

 The incandescent light bulb goes back to the time when our Peterborough works GE plant was known as the Edison Electric and my great grandfather Charles Huffman was the foreman of the shop were they built electric street cars. The fluorescent bulb which has been used commercially for offices stores and plants is 1930’s technology. As the incandescent bulb has been forced off the market as an energy hog, new technology is being developed to replace the old light bulb.

 A Canadian company, CRS Electronics is betting it’s future on the latest technology the energy efficent LED ( light emitting diodes ). They are marketing now to the commercial market, however, in time they will be marketed by the Philips and General Electic’s of the world for home use. The cost benefits of the energy efficent bulbs is remarkable, especially for 24 hour a day use. CRS bulbs cut energy use by 88% and are expected to last 25 times longer, yet still having the brightness and look of standard lighting. They are energy efficent because 80% of the electricity they use is converted to light while an older incandescent bulb convert only 5% and thus produce incredable heat. Even the new compact fluorescent bulbs ( I just hate them ) are only converting 25% of the the electricity and are really not that energy efficent.

 Like I said they are not inexpensive to purchase, about $ 60.00 a bulb, especially compared to halogen, but in large commercial or institutional buildings the savings are real. Humber college purchased 1000 bulbs from CRS and estimates that over the nine year life span the school will save about $ 500.00 per bulb. Also, it saves labour costs as the school would have used 3000 halogen bulbs and they also would have been sent to landfill.

 The lighting market is similar to the computer chip market 10 years ago, so expect dramatic price reductions in halogen and LED. lighting and the energy efficency will transfere to our residences.

As noted in the business section of the Toronto Star, sales of resale homes in the GTA remained hot in February. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board,sales were up 77% over 2009 and the price average continued to climb up 19% over February 2009. On a really positive note listings finally started to improve with an increase of 24%.
 Locally in the Peterborough Real Estate market the market again showed a big improvement over February 2009.Sales increased by 42 % and sales volume was up 58 %. I do not have the average price increase, but it will also reflect the increase. Similar to Toronto, the Peterborough market had 471 new listings compared to 416 in 2009, but our inventory still remains low with 1605 active listings compared to 2092 listings in February 2009.
 As I haved previously blogged February 2009 was at the low end of the market last year, but the unit sales for 2010 still compare favourably with 2008 which was a very good sales year, especially winter and spring.
 So what does all this mean for future interest rates and the Bank of Canada’s view of inflation. The Governor, John Carney did leave the bench mark lending rate at the historic low rate of0.25% at Tuesday’s meeting. Mr. Carney also pledged last year that the Bank would leave the rate at that level until July 2010. There are signs that the economy is better and even the core inflation rate of 2% target in January came in sooner than expected. The next date for the Bank to meet is April 20 and that decision could mean the  end of very easy money. The Bank had originally estimated that the economy would not return to a full tilt until late 2011, it may in fact happen before, and rates will start to increase sooner rather than later.
 How does all of this impact our local Real Estate Market. Locally the most units sold in February were in the range of $ 200,000 to $ 220,000 followed by the price range of $ 220,000 to $ 240,000.This showes that it is still an affordable market, and with more new listings every day it is still a good time to buy and a good time to sell. it could be a more balanced market this Spring compared to the last few months. As I have previously blogged a five year fixed rate mortgage will be the best option for first time buyers or those with less than 50 % equity, but if you are in a good equity position the variable rates may never be as low, so take advantage today. For more detailed mortgage information make an appointment with our Centum Mortgage Manager Mike Jones at 705-743-4444. Check out my web site at Harry Huffman.com and link to Mortgages to see the current rates, updated evry day.

In Christina Blizzard’s comment page in the Toronto sun of Feb. 23/10 she asks the question ” How much will the new HST. cost consummers. According to the Ministry of finance the HST will ad $ 100.00 to the average electrical bill and for natural gas $ 125.00. Because of new promising discoveries in Canada and the United States it appears that Natural Gas prices should remain constant, at least for a few more years. However, as the Ontario government pushes for more solar and wind power as a source for more of our electricity,(at a subsidized rate) and our nuclear power generation has to be replaced and expanded our electricity costs will be increasing as will the subsequent HST.
 We can be proactive with our homes and investment properties. Although the Federal Government grants for renovations are not going to be renewed, there are still great programs for energy efficent upgrades and improvements including windows/doors insulation and hi-efficency furnaces. Go to my web site , log on to my blog and click on the link to CMHC and go to the consumer section. You can check out the grants from the Provincial and Federal governments. If you live in the Peterborough region check out Peterborough Greenup or the Energuy.
 Jay Leno has taken action to almost eliminate any electrical costs associated with his garage. As you may not know, Jay has one of the great auto/bike collections in North America, and all the restoration work is done in his shop. Auto garages, dealerships and body repair shops consume huge amounts of electricity and energy. By using solar power he has reduced his costs He is now having a magnetic wind turbine installed which is engineered and built by Enviro Energies of Grimsby Ontario. For a fascinating look at his collection and shop go to www.Jay Leno’s Garage.com and to see a video of this wind turbine,scroll down the right side of the Home Page to ” Green Garage ” and to the Magnetic Turbine link.
 See there are ways to save energy and beat the ” Taxman”