Messages

1

Questions and Answers / Re: Any seminars that may be helpful for newcomer

« on: September 26, 2006, 02:38:57 AM »

Did some more checking for a friend and found Crown liens as well - be very careful.

Hi Frank,

Do you mean both properties have crown liens?  Or just one of them?

2

Property Information / One Property in Cornwall Cancelled

« on: September 16, 2006, 06:05:41 PM »

The following property is cancelled as per the City's notice:

Lot 21, Registered Plan 160
(Municipally described as 8 Fifteenth Street West, Cornwall ON)
Minimum Tender Amount: $6,412.98

3

Property Information / Re: Central Frontenac

« on: September 16, 2006, 01:42:34 AM »

Thank you, RichD.

The two lots were bought by the same guy in 1995 for the same price: $30,000.00 each.  I didn't check the title, thus do not know the details of crown lien.

4

General / Re: Other unknown costs

« on: September 15, 2006, 09:40:27 PM »

I don't think there is any property insurance you can buy before the possession as legally you are not the owner yet.  That's why in the standard Agreement of Purchase and Sale used by agents, there is an insurance clause to ask the current owner to have an insurance policy in place while the new owner should be responsible for a new insurance policy on the closing date.

Moreover, if there is a fire on that property before closing and the property is burnt out, then the buyer has an option to back out or to receive the proceed of insurance.

The best we can do is to 'inspect' the property at the latest time and pay the money ASAP if you are the winner.  Hopefully the property is vacant, otherwise you will be facing other headaches such as eviction and vandalism.

5

Property Information / Re: Central Frontenac

« on: September 15, 2006, 09:30:48 PM »

I will appreciate if you can share with me/us the waterfront property fronting on Kennebec Lake:

Roll No. 10 39 010 030 03965 0000, PIN 36171-0084(R ) Part Lot 17, Concession 3, Geographic Township of Kennebec, Now in the Township of Central Frontenac, County of Frontenac (No. 13) Designated as Parts 4, 5 & 6, Plan 13R-7158. Subject to and Together with a Right of Way as in FR628713. File No. 05-10

Thanks in advance.

6

General / Re: Other unknown costs

« on: September 14, 2006, 12:58:23 PM »

On top of your amount tendered, you have to pay the accumulated taxes (the taxes accumulated from the first day the property was advertised for tax sale until the day that you pay the balance of the amount tendered), the land transfer tax (see table below) and the GST (for commercial properties, you can exempt it, or claim it back, if you are a GST registrant).

For the construction lien, mortgage and/or crown lien, they have to register them so that you can check it out from the title search.  You should do one before submitting the tender (to see if the land is worth for your tender amount) and a second one in the morning of the tender opening day (to see if there is any new lien registered so that you may withdraw your tender).

Land Transfer Tax For Residential Properties
0.5% on the first $55,000
plus 1.0% of the amount from $55,001 to $250,000
plus 1.5% of the amount in excess of $250,001 to $400,000
plus 2.0% of the amount in excess of $400,000

Land Transfer Tax For Commercial Properties
0.5% on the first $55,000
plus 1.0% of the amount from $55,001 to $250,000
plus 1.5% of the amount in excess of $250,001

7

General / Re: Water Access

« on: September 09, 2006, 01:48:05 AM »

Hi Frank,

I also found out that the two cottage lots on Kennebec lake (assessed about $35,000 each with minimum bids of about $9,000) have crown liens attached - be very careful on these two folks. 

Do you know how much the crown lien is?

Most of the other lots that are going for about $5,000 are only assessed at about $7,000  -  this is a very low margin so you better do some research into what they are really worth first.

Yes, you mentioned in one of the topics that you earned money by purchasing properties from owners at the price around the assessed value.  That means there may be some rooms for us to flip .....

Again, we have to do our homework.

Thanks again, Frank!

8

Questions and Answers / Re: Title Search - What's there? Can we share?

« on: September 01, 2006, 02:55:19 AM »

Thank you, Patihfinder369.

I don't thing there is anyone who wish to share information with the potential competitors on the same piece of land, especially when one has to pay for it.  This just cam to my mind after I had posted the share 'request'.

9

Questions and Answers / Title Search - What's there? Can we share?

« on: August 29, 2006, 03:53:59 PM »

A friend of mine is a real estate agent and showed me an electronic land registry record (Teranet) of a property in GTA.  It showed

1. The PIN
2. Assessment roll #
3. Address (sometimes not available)
4. Area size
5. Perimeter
6. Legal description
7. The name of current owner
8. Date the owner bought, and
9. The price at that time

I did not do any title search (other than those) before, what is the format (data) you guys get?  As the record I have shows no lien nor mortgage information, I wonder if it is good enough or not.

Moreover, if any one of us bought a title search (most likely it is for the current tax sale), is it possible to share it within this group?  Will that comply the copy right issue? As we are a group, just like a team of people sharing the same report in a company, I think we can.  We can take turn to buy and borrow.  What do you think?

10

Questions and Answers / Re: Minimum Price

« on: August 28, 2006, 12:11:40 PM »

Another, is that the property was used for something else (which has now gone) which attracted a higher tax rate and assessment, and thus the current tax charge appears to be quite small by comparison.

This is the 'only' reason that I could think of.  The lands I came across were just about $500 tax per year, but the minimum prices were all over $18,000.

11

Questions and Answers / Minimum Price

« on: August 28, 2006, 03:40:58 AM »

The minimum tender amount (minimum price) should be the total tax arrears up to the moment that the municipal decided to go for tax sale, usually 3 years in arrears.  How come there were lands that the annual tax was only a few hundred dollars but the minimum price was over twenty thousand dollars?

12

Questions and Answers / Re: Capital Gains - how much do you pay????

« on: August 27, 2006, 05:30:35 PM »

Sorry, one more thing.

If you use CCA (capital cost allowance) to reduce your annual rental income (if it is a rental property), then your gain will be higher than difference of your sale price and purchase price.  The gain will be the difference of your sale price and the depreciated price on book, of course, minus all the related expenses such as agent's commission. legal fees and etc.

13

Questions and Answers / Re: Capital Gains - how much do you pay????

« on: August 27, 2006, 05:26:20 PM »

I would say 50% of your gain after all related expenses is taxable for individuals.  That is, the profit (50% of the gain) will be added to your personal income for that year.

For corporations, the gain is 100% taxable.  It is hard to say which is better (corporation or individual) since most of the cases we have to pay 25% of the TOTAL gain as tax in either case. 

For individuals, 50% of gain is taxable and if your tax bracket is in the 50% range, then it will be more or less 25% of TOTAL (50% x 50%).

For corporations, if yours is a small Canadian owned one, the tax rate is also, more or less, 25% of the gain.

For me, I like to buy lands under corporations since the liability will be limited, especially when there is an environmental concern (although in Canada we are using the 'Polluter Pays Principle').  It is easy to file the tax return yourself by using softwares such as Quick Tax.

Anyhow, it is a pleasure to pay tax -- that means you have earned some money.