Wit Ventures: October 2017

Saturday 21 October 2017

Income Properties: Maintenance 101.

As a landlord, it is easy to overlook minor issues. Performing regular maintenance on your property can help you catch a small problem before it turns into a large expense. Here are some property maintenance tips that can help save you money in the long run.

1. Exterminate Monthly

Even if you do not currently have a rodent or insect problem, you should exterminate monthly or bi-monthly to prevent such problems from occurring.

Do not limit the extermination to one apartment, as critters will simply travel to another part of the property. While it is possible to purchase exterminating supplies yourself, this task is usually best left to a professional.

Monthly exterminations will cost you money, but this preventative property maintenance is a much cheaper option than the cost of losing current and prospective tenants due to a pest problem. Shop around for the best price.

As an example, you can see that spending $25 a unit for a monthly extermination is a much better option than losing $1000 in rent because of a tenant vacancy. A complete infestation will also cost much more money because current tenants may have to temporarily leave the building and walls and ceilings will have to be opened up.

2. Check for Water Damage and Leaks

The best time to check for leaks is after a heavy rain storm, after ice and snow have begun to melt, or on very hot and humid days when pipes tend to sweat.

Link to the rest here.

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Electric Vehicles and Range Anxiety.

From Cathy Dobson, The Sarnia Journal.

John Ward predicts a new kind of fear will soon sweep the nation called ‘range anxiety.’

That’s what he calls the gnawing worry that sets in when electric car users aren’t sure they have enough power to make it to the next charging station.

“These are not long distance vehicles,” Ward cautioned as guest speaker at the latest Green Drinks Sarnia discussion.

“There are just not that many charge stations and, until there are more, electric vehicles are commuting vehicles,” he said.

Despite that caution, Ward is a big fan of electric and hybrid cars and predicts they will soon be commonplace in Ontario.

He’s owned one the past eight years, and 18 months ago he bought a plug-in hybrid Chevrolet VOLT. The car cost him about $4,000 more than an equivalent fuel-burning vehicle, even after government incentives that can sometimes top $14,000 for electric vehicles.

Link to the rest here.

Image Credit.

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Shirley D. Neal

Shirley has over 30 years of experience in such diverse businesses as financial planning, manufacturing, and supply. Her education includes a B.A., B.ED., M.ED., C.F.P., N.L.P. and the home inspector’s course as well as having her AZ license for five years. Her family home has given her and her husband the opportunity to do extensive renovation and repairs thereby increasing the value about $100,000 in ten years. She has been able to see firsthand how much a sensible and cost efficient renovations can add to the value of a home. Shirley has chosen joint ventures because she thinks that her experiences an help others achieve their goals and maximize the profits for both parties. In 1979, Shirley became involved in a small group of women who started a metal manufacturing company making small deep drawn metal parts for the automobile companies in Windsor. They took the company from start up to over $400,000 in sales in five years. That was a lot of parts since the parts sold for only five cents per each. In 1985 they sold the company to one of their customers. Whether it was selling mutual funds, teaching foster parents how to recruit foster parents, or working for Tony Robbins, Shirley has put more than 100 percent into every endeavour she was involved in.