Great house in Barrie…….
Archive for July, 2013
13
Jul
13
lost a bet on this one…..
I had a client that said he was going to raise the rent for his condo tenants by $100/month. I explained about rent control…and he quite rightly came back and explained to me that rent control does not apply to rentals built after 1991.
article from The Star….
“We need action” to close condo rent control loophole, NDP says.
New Democrat Party housing critic Cheri Di Novo says the province should act quickly to close a “loophole” that donsn’t protect condo renters.
It’s a “loophole that needs to be closed.”
Politicians NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo and Toronto city councillor Adam Vaughan have come to the defence of condo tenants faced with skyrocketing rent and condo fee increases.
Responding to a Toronto Star story on Thursday morning, DiNovo said the issue of rent control loopholes has been raised in the Legislature before and she will keep pressing for change.
“We’ve raised this with the housing minister on numerous occasions,” she said. “This is a loophole that needs to be closed. We need action.”
The now-renamed Residential Tenancies Act sets out tenant protections for all rental units across Ontario, but rent control provisions only apply to buildings occupied before Nov. 1, 1991.
DiNovo, who is hearing from tenants who are “shocked” by this lack of protection, says condo renters shouldn’t be treated any differently than tenants who rent from other landlords.
“This was clearly a loophole that was overlooked by this government,” DiNovo (Parkdale-High Park) said.
McAllister was shocked last month to receive notice of an almost 10 per cent increase — $150 a month — on the downtown condo she and her boyfriend had been renting for $1,625.
Vaughan says tenants such as McAllister should have some form of protection but the issues that have emerged from the condo boom are “complex.”
“I’m advocating rental control,” he said. “I just think it needs to be modelled on the condominium market, not just cloned from the existing tenant act. It’s a unique market that needs a unique approach.”
He said the province needs to create a regulatory regime that is fair to all interests — tenants, owners, condo boards and developers.
“It’s a minefield out there. You’ve got some buildings that condominium boards want to kick all tenants out. You’ve got other buildings that want to pass all the costs on to tenants.”
Vaughan, who represents the riding of Trinity-Spadina, said that a condo study he initiated is close to being completed.
The results of that study will feed into the province’s review of the Condominium Actcurrently under way.
“The question is how do we get the right mix of legislation in place to protect the owners, protect the residents and protect the condo boards,” Vaughan said. “Finding the precise balance to protect the interests of everybody is a very tricky thing.”
Until change is enacted, he says, it’s somewhat a case of buyer beware and tenants have to know the law so they can protect their interests when they sign a lease.
“Don’t go in there assuming that the province or the government is going to protect you as a renter just because they do in multi-residential apartments,” he said.
McAllister was surprised to find out the hike — three times that allowed for most apartments under provincial rent controls — was perfectly legal.
“I thought this was wrong because we were protected under the Landlord and Tenant Act,” says McAllister, 27, who lives in a 700 sq. ft. condo near Adelaide St. and University Ave.
“I was shocked, and all my friends who live in condos were shocked, to find out that we are powerless,” said McAllister, who works for a Canadian mortgage rate comparison website.
That’s turned out to be great news for condo investors, allowing them to pass on escalating maintenance fees and other costs almost directly to their tenants.
But for a growing number of condo tenants, it’s making for an uncertain future.
Some in the hugely popular Maple Leaf Square area south of Union Station have seen rents for two-bedroom units spike from $2,000 to more than $2,500 per month in the last three years.
Downtown condo realtor Andrew la Fleur estimates condo rents in the core have jumped 10 to 15 per cent in the last year because of the perfect storm now hitting Toronto’s downtown.
Although there have been almost 32,000 new condo units built in the former City of Toronto over the last five years, it hasn’t been enough to keep up with demand from people, like McAllister, willing to pay a premium to live close to work and subway lines.
Tighter mortgage lending rules and out-of-whack house prices have forced many would-be buyers to rent longer, which is also contributing to a shortage of prime rentals.
Even the way new condo buildings come on stream is inadvertently contributing to big rent hikes.
New buildings occupy from the less desirable bottom to the top, so owners on lower floors tend to discount rents for the first year to entice tenants, says Sharon Golberg of DASH Property Management, which oversees more than 250 condo units for investors.
That can lead to a significant jump in rents when the lease is up a year later, to better reflect what’s being charged in the area. As well, maintenance fees can typically jump 50 to 80 per cent from those advertised by developers marketing the building three or four years earlier, notes Golberg.
The spike in investors’ costs — and rents they charge — can be particularly pronounced in buildings with pools as real operating costs kick in.
Katherine Paliwoda runs seminars for condo investors, who she says are generally shocked to find out the freedom they have to raise rents.
While she stresses that provincial laws are weighted in favour of tenants, she’s had condo investors ask if they can jack up rents to get rid of tenants they don’t like.
“There is no requirement (under the Act) to advise prospective tenants that their unit isn’t covered by rent controls. That is a sore spot with me,” says Paliwoda.
La Fleur calls the ability to impose rent hikes of anywhere from $50 to $5,000 a month an investor’s “secret weapon.”
“Wow. Let that sink in for a minute,” he says in a recent blog.
But that’s not quite true, says Kimberly Sears, client relationship manager at DASH, who alerted McAllister, by email and letter as required by law, that she was facing a rent hike because of increases in costs her condo owner was facing.
“We’re not trying to muscle people out of their places,” says Sears, who adds she’s had a number of tenants hand in their notice, only to revoke it two weeks later when they realize that high condo rents are now the norm downtown.
“We work very hard to keep good tenants” and are often open to negotiation, says Sears, who was, in the end, swayed to reconsider the hike by a six-point letter McAllister wrote, pleading her case.
McAllister stressed that she and her boyfriend had been among the most “calm, clean and responsible” tenants of the Boutique condos on Nelson St.
She even mentioned they were about to hire a cleaning lady.
“I could agree to $1,700 with the promise that the cleaning lady will be brought on for additional upkeep,” McAllister wrote.
Sears and the condo’s owner agreed.
“I might have to go through the same thing next year,” says McAllister, who’s now quietly hoping all those condos yet to sprout up downtown will help drive rents down.
Correction – April 25, 2013 : This article was edited from a previous version that incorrectly said almost 90,000 new condos were built in the former city of Toronto in the last five years.
Note – April 26, 2013: This article was edited form a previous version to include Kerri Lynn McAllister’s occupation.
Dear Co-investors,
We at Real Estate Rangers Inc. have often been asked how we select our investment properties and why is it that we favour multi-family buildings. For this article, we are going to include some key reasons as to why, and a glimpse of Real Estate metrics for your knowledge.
The Real Estate market is divided into several categories which include: Commercial properties, Residential properties, and so on. The Residential market is our key area of focus, which is divided into owner and tenant occupied.
As we delve into Real Estate for the purpose of investing, we are focused on tenant occupied properties, rather than owner occupied ones, as we firmly believe that it has the basis for greater returns. Although an owner occupied property can appreciate, it is affected significantly more by supply, demand, interest rates, political and economic climates, as compared to a tenant occupied property.
Simply stated, the value of a tenant occupied property has a direct correlation between the income it creates and the value of the asset itself-above and beyond the value of the building and land itself.
Every tenant occupied property that we invest in is treated strictly as a business, as we rely on the fundamentals of analysis and due diligence in our governance, rather than subjective emotions. One of the key metrics we look at is the Net Operating Income (now referred to as NOI) and Cap Rate (based on the area) for a large part of our criteria. By looking at these as key elements, we can invoke our NOI Acceleration strategies, producing returns for our investors in the “business property.”
Let us define NOI and Cap Rate for you, as a way to understand why we look to invoke our NOI acceleration strategies:
NOI is the income produced by the property after all expenses are removed; before the mortgage payment. The NOI is directly correlated to the Cap Rate, as Cap Rate is defined as the percentage return of an all cash purchase on the property. There are other fundamentals involved in a Cap rate such as sales in the immediate area, condition of the property, and other macro and micro economics; so it is very important to be in tune with the Cap Rate in the submarket where you decide to buy. We like to invest in upcoming areas that show solid and sustainable GDP growth, job growth and population growth.
To better define the function of the Cap Rate: Let’s consider an scenario in which we purchase an investment property that generates an annual NOI of $10,000 and the purchase price for this property was $100,000 (assumed all cash). Therefore, based on this purchase price, you are receiving 10% return or, in other words, the CAP rate for this purchase is 10% (Purchase price or Value of property = NOI/Cap Rate). Here is where NOI acceleration strategies play a huge part.
Please keep in mind that increasing NOI (either by increasing revenue or decreasing expenses, otherwise recognised as repositioning the asset) will directly increase the value of the investment.
At Real Estate Rangers, our goal is to maximize on the NOI acceleration strategies and here are some notables:
1. Buy the property right: For every $1,000 understated on Seller NOI, an overpayment of $10,000 will occur for the property (Value = NOI/Cap Rate). Cap Rate assumed is 10% to stay in line with the example in this article. We do see many cases where a seller will avoid adding expenses such as water heater rentals, snow/landscaping and laundry lease.
2. Invoke strategies to increase rents, while keeping vacancy low: Efficient renovations, property facelifts and amenities for tenants can play a huge role in raising the tenant profile, thus increasing rents.
3. Reduce expenses, while still managing the quality of the property: Sub-metering for hydro and water, along with utilizing energy efficiency strategies are some of the best ways that we utilize for reducing expenses and increasing NOI. Also, looking for opportunities to save on items like Realty taxes, by asking for a re-assessment can prove profitable.
Let’s look at an example for an acquisition we undertook in Barrie. We bought an underperforming/mismanaged 4–plex, in which the hydro costs were paid for by the landlord. We invested $5,000 to sub-meter the property and upon tenants turnover (attrition) we charged base rent plus hydro. The previous hydro expense paid by the seller was over $3,700/Year. Once new tenants are in, our NOI will increase by approx $3,000 net, which in turn will increase the value of the asset by a whopping $40,000!! The Cap Rate in Barrie is hovering around 7.5% i.e ($3,000/7.5%). Now combine this tactic with a few others suggested here during the hold period and you can see how you can drive the value of the asset upwards!
4. Fixing expenses: If you can fix an expense at the property level, it allows you not only to know what to expect, but also to ensure that you are paying fairly in the market for services and products. Having fixed contracts with Property Management, snow removal, landscaping and even utilities can prevent from anomalies in charges and ensure a constant NOI.
Our goal is to hold our properties for longer periods of time, normalizing, creating efficiencies and increasing the NOI. This results in wealth creation as a result of increases in equity and increased cash flow.
This is a very high level glimpse of what we do internally at The Real Estate Rangers to protect and also to create value for our co-investors. Hopefully it will have helped to better understand the high-level process that goes behind selecting and operating investments in the multi-family space.
Andy Pospiech
SVP, Business Development
Real Estate Rangers & Taft Forward Management Joint Venture
250 Davisville Ave, Toronto, ON, M4S 1H2
E-mail: andyp@realestaterangers.ca
Cell: 613-266-4446 Fax: 416-482-8010
Over 1400 Apartments under management and growing.
Fully Structured & Managed Real Estate Investments; Canada/USA
www.realestaterangers.ca
www.taft-forward.com
01
Jul
13
Happy Canada Day!!!!
agsecure 