Month: November 2023

Real Estate - ANALYSIS, Real Estate Sales, Uncategorized

Navan VS Cumberland

Despite many clients of mine seeing these neighbourhoods as being relatively similar options, there are a ton of both important and fascinating differences between them.

Here are some aspects of each village and differences between them (please excuse me as I can’t get EVERYTHING in here):

Navan

Known as one of the best communities in the City, Navan is INCREDIBLY engaged with it’s ‘villagers’. Founded in the early 1800’s, it was named after Navan Ireland (very cool) and was predominantly farming land. Since then it’s amassed some very active and beloved establishments like J.T. Bradleys and the Navan Memorial Center and Arena. Home to the renowned Navan Grads Jr.A Hockey Team and Navan Fair, this village is really a beacon for community spirit. Who hasn’t had a few drinks in the beer tent while listening to some amazing live country music? Their sense of recreation further extends to Fastball leagues, Curling and plenty of activity on the Prescott/Russel pathway.

They also pride themselves on their Navan Market, community dinners and seasonal festivals.

Another unique aspect would be that Navan has an Elementary School and many Daycares and Churches (fun fact… St. Mary’s Anglican church was named after TWO St. Mary’s churches in Ireland).

There are fewer sales per year in Navan and a slightly lower price point than Cumberland (coming in at 875K on average in 2023).

If I had to describe Navan in 1 word it would be COMMUNITY. Go Navan!

Cumberland

Known as where ‘the nice houses are in the East End’, Cumberland has a VERY cool history. While Cumberland was also formed in the early 1800’s, it was originally a fur trading and saw mill community founded by British Empire Loyalists. Fun Fact: The Grandchildren of a ‘Loyalist’ with the Dunning last name, and a renowned Fur Trader with the Foubert last name are what my Elementary School in Orleans was named after – Dunning Foubert! The village boasts a very quaint ‘downtown’ area with shops, restaurants and even a Heritage Museum and Arena within a few hundred meters.

Admittedly a ‘quieter’ community, Cumberland still has an active community association that supports it’s famous Cumberland Market, as well as having a big emphasis on local Arts and Culture.

Not to be outdone with recreation, Cumberland also has many great trails and pathways. It also has it’s own Arena, Outdoor Rinks and Curling Club, but most notably – the prestigious Camelot Golf Course (which I believe is the nicest course in the entire City).

Real Estate wise, MORE sales per year, with a slightly higher price point of around 900K on average. HOWEVER – there are homes for sale as high as 3M in Cumberland, with consistent homes listed in the high 1M’s and even 2M’s. There are certainly homes of that caliber in Navan, just not nearly as many.

If I had to describe Cumberland in one word it would be “High-End” ( I used a dash to make that one word.. it counts).

CONCLUSION

This is just my opinion – so don’t be mad.

If you are looking for more of an ACTIVE community, with a strong sense of Family and Recreation – then Navan is BY FAR your best choice.

If you are looking for a SLOWER paced community, with a strong sense of Arts and Culture – then CUMBERLAND is BY FAR your best choice.

Again, these are just generalizations. OF COURSE each community has a bit of everything.

What do you think?

What should I include in this article?

Real Estate Financing, Renters

Incentives to Build Rentals in Ottawa

Are you a builder considering, or already building rental units in Ottawa?

In the past few months, various stages of the Government have introduced incentives to help encourage more development of rental housing, and even student and long term care housing in some instances.

Here is a QUICK summary of what’s being offered:

  1. HST Scrapped

BOTH the Federal Government and the Provincial Government have agreed to scrap the total amount of HST they would have charged on the sale of new construction of Rental Housing, Student Housing and Long Term Care Housing. For Rental housing specifically, that would mean 4 or more self contained units (think fourplex and up….all the way up). These programs harmoniously apply to developments that begin construction by the end of 2030 and finish no later than the end of 2035.

What if the builder is keeping the rental for themselves and NOT selling it? Good question. The part to be careful of here is that as SOON AS the builder/developer/owner rents the units, the Government deems that the property has been sold and purchased at fair market value – kind of like you are buying the asset from yourself. This means that they want their cut – the tax. Under this new rebate they will let it slide for the time being.

2. Rental Construction Financing

For Residential Rental Construction, CMHC will loan a minimum of $1,000,000 for construction of 5 units or more (subject to other conditions) and up to ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the cost to build.

That’s right – they may finance the whole thing.

3. MORE CMHC Insurance on Financing

This one is a little more of an indirect benefit to Builders, so let me (try to) explain this.

When builders finance rental construction by other means (than self financed or by taking advantage of the above mentioned program), they require CMHC insurance on their loans. One of the ways CMHC raises funds to underwrite the insurance is by selling CMHC Mortgage Bonds, and they recently decided to UP their available bonds for sale from 40B to 60B – making 20B MORE available for sale so that they can generate MORE money and therefore underwrite MORE insurance. MORE insurance means MORE favourable financing from lenders, which means MORE builders can get MORE good financing on rental construction.

To summarize: No tax charged on the construction/sale, between 1M and 100% of value of financing available, and more favourable lending available via more and favourable insurance for lenders.

For more information on these programs please feel free to reach out, and of course – before making any drastic decisions, consult your accountant and lawyer.

Uncategorized

Landsdowne 2.0

In 2022 an Official Plan and Zoning By Law Amendment application to permit some MASSIVE changes to the already incredible venue we’ve all come to love.

Just this past October, some changes to those applications were put forth that are now seeing to add TWO additional towers up to 40 storeys high, a stand alone Event Center at the East of TD Place Stadium, and a remodeling of the North stands.

There are also significant plans to maintain/update the aging infrastructure, enhance the quality of the existing experience, and reinvent the community spaces, sport, music, art and Canal connections.

Current estimate of the cost of this project is at 420 Million.

What are your thoughts on the project?

Have a look at the new Ceremonial Entrance and storefronts in the third picture!

Real Estate Sales

Buying and Selling a Biz

It’s true, it’s true…. Realtors’ can also help people buy and sell businesses!

While the formula for doing so isn’t the same as buying or selling a business, there is still an absolute formula to follow if you want to do it right.

Here are some of the SUPER fun considerations to look at:

  1. Earnings of the Company and how that factors in to the value. Two big terms here are EBITDA and Multiples. The EBITDA is the ‘Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization’. Why does that matter? Well… because people often ‘fudge’ their earning for tax purposes, and if you can get your hands on a few years of 3rd party (or audited) financials, you can deconstruct them to identify they TRUE earnings – or EBITDA. Then, you need to figure out what multiple applies to your industry. A multiple is basically the number that is multiplied by the EBITDA which can fairly place the value of the company according to other recent sales in the industry and their multiples. So – if you’re EBITDA is 100K, and based off your research you see that common multiples for your industry are between 4.5 and 5, then your value could be between 450K and 500K.
  2. Another thing to consider is the value of any assets in the company. Here you’ll need to look at a full list and you depending how big and how complex that list is, you may want to get an appraiser or subject matter expert to determine the overall value being offered.
  3. Another thing I like to consider, that many people overlook – is the LEASE (if there is one) on the property. Not all businesses own the Real Estate they operate out of, and if that’s the case – you need to know all details about the lease. Most importantly WHEN the lease expires and what RISK that’s going to add to your business. One of my strategies when representing a Buyer for a business is the successful renegotiation of a lease to gain favourable terms and to give stability to the new owner.
  4. The last thing that is also the most overlooked – is a simple business plan. I know – hard to believe.. but a LOT of people fail to do a simple analysis of the both the industry and the business itself, the competition and the risk that it faces on a Macro and Micro level. I’ve found that a quick overview of these aspects gives my clients enough information to make the proper strategic decision.

If you’re BUYING a business – you need all this stuff.

If you’re SELLING a business – you need all this stuff AND you need to advertise it properly. You should take the proper time (often 5 years) in getting everything ready for sale. There are certain things you can do TODAY to help make your business more valuable, which I’ll talk about in another post another day 🙂

Thanks for Reading.