Real Estate Investing on the True Condos Podcast

Toronto City Council is facing a big decision this week about the future of the crumbling Gardiner East. Toronto Mayor John has come out in favour of the “hybrid” option which essentially means to keep the expressway in it’s current form.  Alex Bozikovic, architecture critic for the Globe and Mail, strongly supports the “remove” alternative which we discuss the reasons why in this episode.

Click here for show notes.

In this solo episode, Andrew la Fleur discusses some of the reasons why student rental condos are becoming so popular and why owning a student rental unit right here in downtown Toronto is a great thing to have in your portfolio.

Shamez Virani is Vice President at CentreCourt Developments. CentreCourt projects are known to sell out very quickly because they have prime locations in the core and their buildings are designed with the needs of the investor in mind. Their latest project launching in June 2015 is Grid Condos at Jarvis and Dundas and is expected to sell out in record time.

Andrew la Fleur takes a trip to New York City to check out the view from the highest penthouse in the Western hemisphere at 432 Park Avenue, New York City.

Adrian Crook lives with his partner and 5 kids in a 1000 sq ft condo in downtown Vancouver. We talked about the benefits of urban living for families, and discuss the challenges that cities like Toronto and Vancouver face in getting more families to make the shift to downtown, high rise living. Condo investors should be aware of this trend and start adding larger 2 and 3 bedroom units to their portfolios.

On this episode Andrew la Fleur sits down with Jacob Cohen of Daniels to get an update on the rapidly changing regent park neighbourhood and they talk about the latest new project in the area - The Bartholomew condos and towns

In this solo episode, Andrew la Fleur presents an oral essay on why the rental apartment boom we are seeing in Toronto is a good thing for individual condo investors. There are 5 forces at play that when taken into account indicate a bright future for the condo market.

Carl Langschmidt is a top Realtor in Toronto and has been an industry innovator for nearly a decade. In this episode, we discuss Carl’s new and powerful website Condos.ca as well as his firm’s findings about maintenance fees. Some of the results might surprise you.

Peter Norman is Chief Economist at Altus Group and General Manager of Altus Group Economic Consulting. He’s been tracking the housing market for nearly 30 years and has been a real estate investor since the 1980s. Peter has consulted with the International Monetary Fund and gives us insight into the question of “Does the IMF really believe that Canadian real estate is 30% over valued??” We also talk about the effect of immigration on the GTA housing market, oil prices and more.

Darin McLeskey is an investor, developer, and Realtor in Detroit. We talk to Darin on this episode about investing in Detroit's infamous "$500 house", learn about the risks and rewards of investing in fringe areas of the city, and Darin tells us where the smart money is going now in Detroit real estate investing.