Investing
Why invest? Let’s start by saying that in order for your money to grow, you have to make it work harder for you. There are lots of ways to invest – including stocks; bonds, mutual funds or real estate – and they all come with benefits and drawbacks. They all have the potential to offer a return on your money in the long-term. This return allows you to create wealth over time and increase your cash flow.
Investing allows you to put your money in vehicles that have the potential to earn strong rates of return. One vehicle that has historically been proven to be very efficient for this is the world of real estate. It also has the benefit of being a tangible investment. When you invest in property, you can see it and touch it. Real estate investments are traditionally one of the safest investments, as they’re not meant to be a short-term solution, but a stable, long-term opportunity.
Restricted & Protected Land – The Greenbelt Act
Why condos? The simple answer is that condos are the future of housing. The recent Ontario Places To Grow Act and The Growth Plan have changed our lifestyle drastically.
The government’s plan to accommodate growth strategically and protect the environment m
eans that large swaths of greenbelt throughout the province are prohibited from being developed. Instead, smaller areas closer
to urban centres are available to developers, and these centres are encouraged to grow up, instead of sprawling outwards. This means more high-rises and urban communities where you can live, work and play all within walking distance.
Condominiums are going to be the most popular type of housing. While we’re building the same amount of homes we were building 20 years ago, the style of those homes has changed dramatically. Instead of building 80% low-rise homes and 20% condominiums, we’re building about 30% low-rise homes and 70% condominiums.
People often think that they make money when they sell, but the truth is that you make money when you buy as well. So when is the right time to buy?
Right now! We advise people to buy now and hold, to maximize your return. We not only live in the best place to invest, but in one of the best places to live across the globe. In January 2017, The New York Times ranked Canada as #1 in its “52 Places to Go in 2017”.
Our country was ranked the #1 country in the world for Quality of Life and came in as the 6th happiest country in the world, according to the fourth annual World Happiness Report.
Additionally, Canada was listed as #2 for the second year in a row in the “Best Countries” survey from the U.S. News & World Report.
This is truly a great place to invest. There is so much on the horizon, including growth, new jobs, new developments and investment opportunities.
5 things to consider when investing in condominiums:
- Location. What’s the neighbourhood like?
- ROI’s. Do properties here offer optimal return on investments?
- Rental Rates. If you’re buying an income property, is it in a location where people will pay optimal rental rates?
- Jobs. Many modern tenants want to live in a neighbourhood where they can walk to work or get there easily using public transit. Is this property close to employment districts and job opportunities?
- Development growth. What’s planned for the neighbourhood? Will there be more housing opportunities? More commercial developments? Transit growth?
Buyers want a home that will suit their needs throughout various stages of life and condominiums are extremely flexible that way. These communities let people live, learn, work, shop, dine and play in the same area, and it’s a lifestyle that people are embracing fully.
Whether your goals involve sending your kids to university, retiring in cottage country, or saving money to travel the world, investing can be a way to reach those goals.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid in full and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.”
