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“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” -Abraham Lincoln

  • Land Rush: What A Rush For Investors
  • ‘Boring’ Budget Holds Few Surprises
  • Mt. Washington Resort Up For Sale
  • Truth About The Immigrant Investor Program
  • Richest Condo Buyers Could Help World’s Poorest
  • Plots Of The Week
  • Best Mortgage Rates This Week

INTERNATIONAL: Snowbirds May Face Tax Plucking

Expert Land Rush speakers told where to find cash flow investments in Phoenix, how to arrange expert property management in Las Vegas and
how to shelter your income from excessive taxation on both sides of the borders.

Bryant Andrus, vice-president of Canadian operations for KeatsConnelly, for instance noted that Arizona is especially tax-friendly for Canadian
retirees. “From a Canadian perspective Arizona is one of the better states to retire to because, despite some additional local tax, Arizona gives you double the
foreign tax credits, thus reducing your income tax lower than others states,”
he said. “I would include AZ as optimal from a Canadian retirement perspective.”

However, there is a potential U.S. travel law coming that could pluck Canadian snowbirds.

The good news is that the JOLT Act, (Jobs Originated through Launching Travel), would allow Canadian retirees to spend up toeight months, or 240 days, each year in the U.S. without a visa. That’s almost two months longer than the current 182-day annual limit. The bad news is that snowbirds who spend that long in the U.S. may be required to pay U.S. taxes.

The changes, part of a U.S. immigration reform bill are likely to become law, but it is not clear when they would take effect.

Major Point:
Under the current rules, those who spend more than 182 days out of 365 days in the calendar year, or more than 120 days per year on average over a
three-year period, may be considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes. For direct answers on this potential change, and other questions on U.S. real
estate, you can contact Bryant Andrus through bryanta@keatsconnelly.com

CANADA: Land Rush: What A Rush For Investors

With cloudy skies but a sunny outlook the Jurock Real Estate Insider LandRush Conference drew another SRO house to the 21st annual event
in downtown Vancouver. With an emphasis on financing and real estate in both Canada and the U.S. a fresh lineup of speakers faced an eager audience who
largely come for one reason: to learn when and how to make money in real estate.

They were not disappointed.

Here are some quick takeaways:

  • Buy new condos in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Haggle hard.
  • If you need / want to sell do it during the next 4-5 months – forecasting a short-term strong market locally.
  • Buy in East Vancouver, especially five blocks on either side of Main Street, for buy-and-hold. East Van this is the inevitable future direction for
    Vancouver real estate appreciation,
  • Consider strata fees when deciding on buying a condo: $600 a month in strata fees can cover payments on a $120,000 mortgage: perhaps it would be
    better to use that money to finance a detached house, which traditionally appreciate faster than strata properties.
  • Be careful buying in Las Vegas. There are 58,000 houses in the city that are not hooked up to water: this means they are part of a vacant “shadow”
    market of bank-owned properties that could be dumped on the market.
  • New condo developments in both Abbotsford and Coquitlam are offering to provide guaranteed rents on any unit purchased for up to
    two years.
  • If you are considering any rental property, divide the listed price by potential rent. If it comes to .75 or more the property likely will have
    positive cash flow: anything at .50 or less will not.
  • Mortgage paydowns can be worth 7% to 8% in returns on a rental property.

There was more, much more, which we will cover in next week’s Jurock Insider.

For a complete set of CDs with all the speakers contact Jurock’s office at 604-683-1111. For subscribers – $57 … for all others $87

‘Boring’ Budget Holds Few Surprises

As promised by the Finance Minister the B.C. provincial budget was “boring“, but, when we look around the world, we will take boring and
government budgets in the same sentence anytime. There were a couple of perks for the real estate sector, however.

1. For first-time home buyers
, the threshold for exemption of the provincial transfer tax will be increased from $425,000 to $475,000.”The tax and thresholds were set when property values were very different. No one can argue with that,” said Finace Minister Mike de Jong. Effective immediately, the measure could save homebuyers up to $7,500, according to budget documents.

While most dismiss it as too low, the average MLS price is well beneath that figure in every region of B.C. except Greater Vancouver. Even there, $475,000
is fairly healthy for a first-time home.

2. Also, the threshold
for the phase-out of the Home Owner Grant is lowered to $1.1 million.

Major Point:
The budget forecasts a budget surplus of $184 million this year with this rising to $451 million in the last year of the three-year
budget. The provincial debt for 2014-2015 is projected to be $64.7-billion. A good portion of the budget surplus comes from taxes on ever increasing real
estate values (and the land transfer tax) in Vancouver. A windfall for the government! Now imagine, we really did only have 2% inflation…How much
lower would that tax income be!

Mt. Washington Resort Up For Sale

Having faced its worse snow year in decades, Mt. Washington Ski Resort, the only ski resort on Vancouver Island, is up for sale through CBRE Commercial in Victoria, but no asking price is being revealed (unless you’re a serious buyer.)

The current owners – who established the resort in the 1970s – want to move on, said Rick Gibsons of Coast Realty in Comox, who has sold a
lot of condominiums and chalets on the popular ski hill. ” They are ready to step aside and let someone else take Mt. Washington to the next level.”

CBRE agent Chris Rust
said that the bid process is still in the works and expected to complete by April. He noted the property covers 1,500 acres, all under fee simple title and
includes 100,000 square feet of buildings and 135 acres of land for future development. When asked, Rust said, “even we don’t know what the price is until all the bids are in.”

Truth About The Immigrant Investor Program

Don’t shed any tears – or have any fears – over the recent death of Canada’s Immigrant Investor Program. We have looked it into it and it was never a good
deal for Canada or for wealthy immigrants.

Here is what we discovered about the dark side of the program, which was said to allow wealthy immigrants to “purchase” a visa by
providing the Canadian government with an $800,000 zero-interest loan for five years.

Let’s look at that $800,000. It was allocated between 6 provinces and each had to guarantee the return of the monies in five years. This basically
restricted them to investing in 5-year Government of Canada Bonds, which are paying about 1.5% per annum. So that $800K translates into about $12,000 per
year or $60,000 over the 5-year period.

But,

Citizen and Immigration Canada paid a commission of 5% on the $800,000 or $40,000 to one of 15 “facilitators” (these include Desjardins, HSBC,
ScotiaMcLeod

and other big financial houses) for help in marketing the funds,

So, the net benefit to Canada from a 5-year $800,000 Immigrant investor fund investment is $60,000 (earned in bonds) minus – $40,000 paid to the mangers
for a total of $20,000!

There is the real reason that our Finance Minister killed the program.

Rumours abound that it will be brought back with the investment ceiling raised to something over $2 million, but if the same system prevails, the only
people making money on the program will be facilitations and immigration consultants and lawyers, some of whom charged up to $80,000 to guide
immigrants through the system.

Note that the Immigrant Investor program was frozen two years ago. Since then the average house price on the West Side of Vancouver has increased 16 per
cent and sales of luxury homes – $4 million or more -have soared 35 per cent.

Major Point:
We believe Canada is considering bringing in some form of taxes, regulations or even a ban to restrict foreign buying of Canadian real estate. We also
believe it could well be as ineffective here as it has been in Australia. In 2013, according to National Australia Bank, foreign buyers –
mostly from China – bought up one in eight of all new home properties in Australia, up from one in 20 in 2011 before the ban on foreign ownership came into
effect.

Chinese immigrants are simply skirting Australia’s foreign investment rules by buying homes on behalf of friends and family in China. The same thing
would happen Canada despite any foreign buyer legislation

PLOTS OF THE WEEK:

1. Victoria, least
expensive single-family home. Price: $439,000;

2. Victoria Least expensive revenue 4- pled. Price: $474,700.

3. Lake Cowichan Least expensive building lots. Price $39,900.

4. Quesnel Least expensive quarter acre waterfront
building lot. All services. Price: $49,900;

5. Waterfront triplex 15 minutes from Qualicum Beach,
Vancouver Island Price: $429,000.

Any subscriber can send her/his “plot” suggestion for evaluation to be included. There is no charge, but there are also
no guarantees. Please look for contact info on your password protected website.

Richest Condo Buyers Could Help World’s Poorest

When Westbank’s 52-story, 400-suite “twisted tower” begins marketing March 25 in Vancouver, buyers of the ultra-luxury residences (think $1,500 plus per
square foot if Westbank’s Pacific Rim and Shangri-La projects are a guide) could be helping the world’s poorest people into a house.

Under a World Housing program rolled out at the Shangri-La on Tuesday, the homes will be built for poverty-stricken families surviving in a third-world
garbage dump.

“We cannot possibly overstate the incredible social change that is created by gifting homes to the most deserving people on ea
rth,” said Peter Dupuis, co-founder of World Housing.

“The conditions of landfill communities are the worst in the world; these people are literally surviving off of the garbage of others, spending hours a
day trying to find clean water and food for their family. Receiving a home gives a stable living environment to help create a better life.”

Under the program, when a Vancouver buyer purchases a new home in a participating project (Westbank is said to be the first) $2,900 is donated to fund the
construction of a home in a World Housing landfill community. “The $2,900 comes right out of the project’s marketing budget,” a World Housing
publicist explained.

Major Point:
Currently, World Housing is involved in three landfill communities based outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Manila, Philippines; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Now this is a buyer incentive we can really get behind.

BEST MORTGAGE RATES THIS WEEK:

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