Politicians, Developers, & Residents Together…Walking Queen St E – Episode #80

March 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

City Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, developers, and the residents of the Beaches met at the Fire Hall on Queen St E to embark on a walk between Woodbine Ave & Lee Ave.

The purpose of this walk was to inform residents about ‘potential’ attractive development sites in this area. Developers openly discussed which areas they felt were great development projects and why.

The developers discussed 5 areas of interest:

1. Woodbine Ave – Shell Gas Station
2. Ends & Bin Store
3. Licks Restaurant
4. Beach Mall
5. TD Bank

This walk definitely sparked anger and frustration with the residents of the Beach. Some are against future development as they feel it takes away from the current character of the beach whereas others welcome future development as they feel it will revitalize the beach in a positive way.

I will keep you posted on any developments related to this story. I am sure there will be much more to come.

Filed Under: General, Investing

Going To Committee of Adjustments – Episode #79

March 26, 2012 By 4 Comments

We are back in the Trenches with Jeff Reed in this exciting renovation in the Prime Toronto Beaches! This is a continuation from Episode #47, #55, #57, #59, #65 and #75. We are almost 5 months into the project and Jeff has had to take this project to the Committee of Adjustments. The reason was because Jeff wanted to add a 3rd storey to this house and that would essentially exceed the allowable gross floor area for this property. Jeff organized a group meeting with the surrounding neighbours to show them what his plans were and to find out if anyone had issues with them. To Jeff’s surprise, many of the neighbours had issues with his plans and were against it. This would have a big impact on his project if he couldn’t build this 3rd storey, so Jeff tried to come up with creative solutions to satisfy each of his neighbour’s concerns. In the end, Jeff won the decision at the Committee of Adjustments, but only because he was proactive and made resolutions with his neighbours before hand. He made sure everyone was happy and it was a win-win situation. A BIG Congratulations goes out to Jeff and his Team for a job well done! To view the other episodes that relate to this renovation:

Episode #47 – Renovating a Prime Beach House
Episode #55 – Tales From The Trenches With Jeff Reed
Episode #57 – Exposed Brick Walls
Episode #59 – Plumbing Inspection in a Home Built in 1885
Episode #65 – Concrete Pouring Day
Episode #75 – The Roof Is Off

Filed Under: General, Investing, Renovations

High Rental Demand in The Beaches – Episode #78

March 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We are in the Upper Beaches in Toronto and this is a continuation from Episode #61 – Upper Beach Duplex Renovation. The owner Nawar Naji has completed his $100,000 renovation in creating this high end executive style duplex. This episode will show the finished product and Episode #61 will show you the before picture. This renovation project is truly a “role model example” of what many of my investor clients aim to do.

The purchase Price of this house was $525,000. Nawar stayed on budget of $100,000 in his renovation. It took exactly 3 months to complete this renovation. Furthermore, Nawar was able to rent the upstairs apartment for $2545 / month plus utilities and $1225 / month plus utilities for the basement apartment. For a total gross income of $3770 / month. The rental demand was incredible! He was able to rent the upstairs within 2 days of advertising it and 10 days for the basement apartment to qualified young professionals. After all expenses, Nawar will be cash flowing close to $1000 / month! Many people wonder who in the world would pay this much for rent when they could simply buy a place? The rental market in the Toronto Beaches and its surrounding area is in very high demand and has been for quite some time. There are always people looking to rent quality suites…especially the young executive professionals who need a couple more years until they buy their own home, but need a place to rent in the mean time.

Well done Nawar! Thank you for sharing your renovation project details with our viewers…I know this will educate and inspire others to do similar things.

Filed Under: General, Investing, Renovations

Aruba Beaches vs Toronto Beaches – Episode #77

March 20, 2012 By 2 Comments

Welcome to Aruba! Where the sun always shines and the wind always blows!

I decided to find out what investment opportunities were available in Aruba. I took a look at several Apartments, Houses, and Villas and learned that the prices start from $250,000 and climb up to $4,000,000. During the high season which is between December and April you can earn on average a 33% Return On Investment (ROI) and during the down season you are essentially breaking even. However, this analysis is based on YOU managing the property on your own, which is considerably time consuming because most investment properties are rented daily or weekly to tourists. So I asked about Property Management and the Real Estate Brokerage quoted me 40% of the Gross Income is what they charge. That basically eliminates your profit and more!

Aruba is a “One Happy Island” to vacation at, but to get a great return on your investment I’ll stick to the Toronto Beaches.

Filed Under: General, Investing

Beach Investing 1 Year Later – Episode #76

March 5, 2012 By 2 Comments

Thank you for all your support over the last year. I am really happy where this video blog is going. It’s created a lot of interest and I’ve had over 6000 views of my videos!!! This coming year will bring new and exciting video blogs with even more information for YOU guys!

SO….if you would have purchased a house in the Toronto Beaches community 1 year ago (when I first started this blog)…this is what would have happened:

In February 2011…19 houses sold and the average price on MLS in the Toronto Beaches community was $894,000 – 15 days on the market – 100.89% list to sale ratio

In February 2012…24 houses sold and the average price on MLS in the Toronto Beaches community was $913,000 – 10 days on the market – 103.54% list to sale ratio

That is approximately a 2.1% increase from last February (if we are just comparing February to February).
Here are the Market Statistics I wanted to share with you sourced from The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). This gives you a good comparison of how Toronto as a whole compares to these neighbourhoods during 2011.

Average House Price Comparison

Toronto
2010: $431,000
2011: $465,000
% Increase: 7.89%

Leslieville/Riverdale
2010: $485,000
2011: $545,000
% Increase: 12.37%

The Beach/Danforth
2010: $611,000
2011: $618,000
% Increase: 1.15%

East York
2010: $409,000
2011: $482,000
% Increase: 17.85%

Filed Under: General, Investing
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