To succeed in real estate, one must keep the expenses low while being proactive in preventing problems. A simple but very effective way to achieving this result is to conduct a regular maintenance on the heating and/or cooling systems in your properties. This often overlooked step that investors need to address can go a very long way to saving you money.

The best time to schedule a maintenance call for the heating/cooling system is on the day one takes possession of an investment property. From that point on, setup a regular maintenance schedule ranging from 2-3 years depending on your situation. Many investors do not follow through on this step and they are the ones who end up paying large invoices for an emergency service call when their furnace stops in the middle of the night. A regular maintenance schedule also lengthens the life of the furnace/cooling system and can potentially save you thousands of dollars later on. Setting up this reminder in your mobile phone as a recurring event will ensure you never forget this critical step.

If you decide to use a service from the internet, please read the Google, Yelp (or other) reviews that describe past customers experiences. Also ensure that the company you are using to conduct the work is certified.

Investing in real estate require one to be conscious of geopolitical forces that shape the environment. These can be local, regional, national or global in nature. For that reason, I wish to venture out with two predictions as to what will transpire this year for Alberta investors.

1) Russia will invade eastern Ukraine sometime in May. There is simply no other reason to have tens of thousands of troops at the border conducting military exercises. Having said that, I do occasionally go to the Pravda website as to hear their side of the story. The disintegration of the Soviet Union has left Russia in a weaker state Putin may wish to get some of that sphere of influence back. Recall that he took over Crimea in March!

2) Jim Prentice will be the leader of the Progressive conservative party come September. Although I do not believe it to be a coronation of any type, he is the front runner to be the next leader because he is not tainted with the same type of history as his opponents. A strong track record at the federal level only strengthens his case.

One of the most daunting tasks facing a first time real estate investor is dealing with the financing. Banks can very intimidating when you are dealing with their money and unless you know what you want, they will be unable to assist you. Some people advocate putting little to no money down so not to have your own money involved whereas others profess to putting 100% down to avoid the banks altogether. My approach is take a middle of the road approach with 35-40% down for Alberta properties. Here is why:

The properties which have little to no money down will usually not cashflow and hence any market downturn will have a negative impact on these investors the most such as it did in 2008. Putting 100% down is an inefficient use of capital and will result in a rapid depletion of funds which stops you from growing a portfolio.

35-40% down is a compromise between the two extremes and is a good rule of thumb. Banks will usually approve mortgages with this much down and it will most likely cashflow. This amount also takes into account the potential damage that can be brought to investors through unforeseen risks such as derivatives. There heavily leveraged unregulated financial instruments are more plentiful today compared to 5 years ago when the world nearly went into another depression. They also have less reporting restrictions compared to equities which results in more unknown risks. Because of the potential damage they can inflict upon investors, it is better to be safe than sorry when purchasing properties for long term wealth. Also, a positive cash flow portfolio is a form of insurance in the event one has a reduction in their equity position because one can immediately start rebuilding financial losses even if they have not been realized.

In any other marketplace around the world, the down payment should be enough for a property to cover all the monthly expenses (i.e. positive cash flow) and have something still left over. A positive cash flow investment will surely increase the odds of your success!! Investing for equity appreciation only is definitely not recommended.

Please note that publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Canada are known to put 50% as a down payment on their investment properties so they can declare dividends to their investors.

We have been very busy behind this scenes this past week due to substantial progress we have made on both the IT and legal fronts. Let me explain.

First of all, WordPress has released a number of patch releases in anticipation of their major update called WordPress 3.9 which is due any day now. We have been updating our systems to ensure they are fully up to date. All of this is going on without interfering in our service to you the reader. We would never use an antiquated system such as myspace or any variation of it in 2014 and neither should you if you are on the web!

Secondly, we have nearly finalized our choice of legal counsel for our corporation. Our final few candidates have offices in Calgary and are internationally renowned law firms. Once we have made our final decision, we will let it be known as they will key in us proceeding forward. This comes at a critical time as our major announcement from October is nearly ready.

The most common method of earning income from an investment property is through tenants paying rent. This is very effective for creating cashflow but it is by no means the only method available to an investor. An often used strategy is to rent out the garage. Many novices mistakenly believe that the garage automatically goes to one of the tenants but this is not necessarily true.

Garages are great because people often use them as storage facilities for long  periods of time, have little maintenance and are generally easy to rent out in any economy. Garage rents can range from $50-$600. The $600 figure is a very high end garage in a residential dwelling. If you prefer to go down this route, just remember to make the lease for at least a year term and have the renewal come up during the cold winter months as to provide a disincentive to the renter for them not to move and instead renew their lease. Garages may or may not be governed by the same set of laws regarding residential dwellings which can give the owner more flexibility in their choices as to who they choose to be their customer.

Alternatively, one could rent out the garage as a parking unit from one of the tenants or someone else who does not live at the property.

For more information, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/n3gt6mp

An important part of investing is to be presented with other people’s viewpoints and opinions.  No one individual can have access to everything and that is why having other’s knowledge and experience can be very useful in your investing journey. Later this year, we will have a number of experts from the real estate industry present their perspectives on real estate investing. We are still finalizing the list and when we are ready, they will appear in this section.

In addition, Karl will be writing several articles on businesses, investing and of course his vast knowledge of the IT world. I have often said that he is the elite in the world when it comes to his IT knowledge and experience and I will leave it for him to describe his extensive one on one experience with leaders in that sector. Even if you have never worked in the technology field, these names will be familiar to you all!!

First of all, we would like to say hello to all of the visitors from Brazil.  There has been a substantial amount of interest from your country and we wish to acknowledge that.

Whether you are managing your own properties or have a manager who does it for you, a regular visit is recommended for continued success in real estate. The only exception to this would be is if you do not live near your investment properties and it is not practical to routinely travel and do a visual inspection of your portfolio. No one will ever care about your real estate portfolio as much as you do!

In the world of paper assets such as stocks and mutual funds, a quarterly report is sent out to investors to inform them how much their portfolio has changed in the past 3 months. With this in mind, it would be advised to drive by your properties once every three months. Also ensure that when you take your trip, it is done in the middle of the day. This is to ensure enough sunlight exists such that you can see any small problems which can turn into big problems such as cracks in the foundation. Other potential problems you may wish to observe are any derelict vehicles nearby, uncut lawns, windows which need to be replaced, etc. This is yet another example of being proactive and not reactive in your investing.