Welcome to the Edmonton Revenue
Property Investors Monthly Newsletter
Karen
Michaelson, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, Les Michaelson
Karen and I
had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Ed Stelmach the
Conservative Premier of Alberta as well as many MLA's that
were present. We were pleasantly surprised at their cordial
and down home nature. We have a very good group of elected
individuals running our province. They understand all of the dilemmas
facing this province due to the economic boom happening and
are not about to hardship landlords by implementing rent
controls. Those requiring help will be provided for by
Government subsidies.
I also
attended 3 tenant rallies sponsored by the Liberals and the
NDP. Amazingly most of the attendees were the same for all 3
rallies. Very few had actual personal complaints of true
rental hardship. Most were complaining... if this happens, or
were commenting on what the media was portraying. A lot were
complaining that they were paying $650 a month rent and were
not happy. People with pets were complaining they couldn't
find a place to live. One guy was complaining he wanted out of
the affordable housing ghetto he was living in. People I spoke
to said they were smokers... gee $13 a pack by 31 days =
$400 a month that would be available for rent. Over all the
rallies created a lot of media attention but had very little
substance when all was said and done.
The most ridiculous
conversation I had was with a City of Edmonton Councilor. He
believed that all affordable housing should be built and run
by Government. To my amazement he thought that a landlord
should only make money when they sell their property, just
like a homeowner. A landlord should not be able to do an
equity take out and pass the cost of doing so along to a
tenant. He did not believe a landlord should receive a fair yield
on a property based on its true value. Some
politicians...especially some are so socialist that they only
know how to spend tax dollars and do not have a clue how hard
it is to run a real business.
Then a light
bulb lit up... we do not need affordable housing in Alberta.
WE NEED TENANT SUBSIDIES. Tenants do not want to live in
affordable ghettos. All they need is a helping subsidy so they
can live where they want. Landlords do not want subsidized
rental units. Landlords want everyone to occupy their rentals.
Just make sure the tenants subsidy goes directly to the
landlord ...not to booze cigarettes and dope.
More information about
landlord and tenant legislation and regulations is available
by calling 1-877-427-4088 or at: www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca
It's
time again and the
monthly association meeting of our group has arrived. For
those of you new to this e-mailing here are the particulars.
Once
a month on the second Tuesday of each month a
like-minded group of real estate investors meet on the
second floor at Rosie’s Restaurant. Located at the corner
of 105 St. and 80 Ave. Arrivals at 6:30 and the
meeting starts at 7:00 pm. You are cordially being invited to
attend. Attendees are required to pay
$10 at the door. There is no annual membership charge yet. All
attendees and visitors are asked to buy $5 worth
of food to support the use of Rosie’s Restaurant
2nd floor meeting room, and please generously tip your
server, this helps to support our free use of the meeting
room.Please
bring a few of your used real estate or self help books that
you no longer require to donate to our library or door
prizes. If you park to the east of Rosie’s in the strip mall
parking lot, please pick up a free parking pass from the bar
to put on your windshield.
Each meeting is different as we may bring in special
guest speakers for each meeting. Each speaker is uniquely
qualified in his or her own specific field of expertise.
Even a seasoned investor will be pleasantly surprised with
the knowledge gained from attending our meetings. We
encourage all attendees to participate at the meetings by
asking our speakers your pertinent questions. We need and
appreciate your input at all meetings. Like-minded investors
can and do learn and help each other to achieve success.
We really do look forward to seeing you and please bring a friend to our
next meeting. If you have a friend that you feel would
like to be put on our e-mail list send their e-mail to me.
Our guest speaker
this month will be:
Jerry D.Kiriak Barrister and Solicitor
Jerry will be speaking about landlord and tenant law as
well as real estate law.
L.L.B.
1992 University of Calgary.
Member of Toastmasters International since 1970. Instructor at
Grant McEwan Community College since 1993 in Business Law and
Commercial Law Born and raised in Edmonton.
Jerry
D. Kiriak operates a legal firm specializing in Family, Home Real Estate and
Personal Injury Law.
His offices are centrally located.
He offers FREE Parking and FREE Consultation.
Please take a moment to review the information on his web
site. Should you have any questions you can contact him by phone (780)
944-1777
We will also be talking about the real estate market, landlording,
present housing prices and trends for Edmonton real estate, and
many more topics. If you have any real estate for rent or
for sale please make up some hand outs to give to any
attendees and be prepared to stand up and tell us about your
handouts. Please network and socialize with the other
members and guests before and after the meeting. If you want
to list your forrent or for
sale real estate online please visit Rentex
HomesandBuy
Sell Rent Ads ...register and post your properties. Please visit
our approved contractors site
Bookmark this list as it is not easy to navigate to it from our
home page. If you know good contractors email me and I will
add them to the site. I am still looking for good
south side apartment and commercial buildings, if you hear
of any please contact me ASAP!!
If you have any questions at all please e-mail me at admin@rentexhomes.com
or call me at 780-433-1481 regarding any of the above.
See you all at the next meeting,
Your cordial President,Les
Michaelson
About the
Author: Les Michaelson has been an Edmonton Real
investor since 1978. His interests are in the hands on
operation of acquiring managing and selling of revenue
properties of all types.
HIGHLIGHTS
FROM OUR LAST MEETING
Edmonton
Revenue Property Investors Association
May 8, 2007
GREG
CHRISTENSON, P. ENG.
Was our guest speaker.
Greg
Christenson is President and Co-Owner with Peter Dirksen
of Christenson Developments, one of Edmonton’s leading
developers of Active Adult Communities.Greg works for the long term interests of
Canadian communities through industry associations.
We
discussed rent controls and how they would negatively
affect landlords.
LETTERS
FROM OUR MAILBAG
Hi Les,
I was just thinking, since it was
such a hot day today and I was working away at a
reno, if we should try to arrange sometime to
have a pot luck dinner one evening for all
members of our club. that is if someone would
offer their yard. Otherwise, we could
arrange to enjoy ourselves at a public park.
Do you think that's a good idea? Or we
could have a sign up sheet for those who would
like to meet once a month for a social drink or
a drink and dinner. Thoughts on that?
Also wondering if you think
there's any value in a posting or announcement
at the meeting to offer used materials. I
just tossed out a pile of things - like old
fixutres (not broken, just a little older), oak
cabinets, shelving, sinks, etc. etc. Do
you suppose anyone would want some of these
things?
Gail
Les,
We probably could use two
areas fir posting items - one for free give away's and
the another for sellable items. What do you think?
Last week I took several
shower doors to the architectural clearing house and this
along with light fixtures and all the brass door
hinges. I disposed of all the carpet and all the
baseboards. I threw out a whole box of brand new
electrical plugs and plates as they were brown, even if
they were brand new. I will probably have
a few oak kitchen cabinets left (they will be freebies)
and maybe some shelving.
I still have to go through
things and when and as I do, I may have some
electrical and plumbing material (also would be freebies).
I'll try to get a list of some of these things for next
time, but it's slow going because I'm throwing out as I
clean and right now I am busy doing two condo renovations
and I just finished painting and carpeting the office.
You know what it's all about.
Through
the roof
Edmonton Journal
(subscription) - Edmonton,Alberta,Canada Edmonton-area real estate sales through
the multiple listing service hit $1.2 billion in May and
$4.3 billion for the first five months of 2007. ...
Canada Mortgage and Housing
released their rental market report today and it contains
some pretty interesting stuff: Alberta's vacancy rate is
the lowest of all Canadian Provinces Alberta's average
monthly rent ... of '06 Edmonton's vacancy rate has
dropped from 1.3% to 1.1% since April of '06 Three cities
I think that people become
very desensitized on issue when they are not directly
involved ... when one senior citizen told us that her rent
was going to be raised by $500 dollars in a couple of
months ... . She also told us that her 40 year old son had
to start living with her in order to afford the rent
“Edmonton’s
real estate war is getting intense as a tidal wave
of Edmontonians .... “Al Holmes, president
of the Sarasota and Manatee landlord
associations, ...
