Latest Macguire Podcast Episodes
Learn How to Write Agreement for Sale Paperwork in Canadian Real Estate
Tales from the Trenches - August 23, 2022 17:33 - 10 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 136: “AFS Paperwork and Education.” About four months ago, I got a call from a client who wanted to sell his property by way of Agreement for Sale (AFS). Unfortunately, he had only a skimpy notion of the AFS concept and no actual education on how to apply the strategy. This blog p...
How to Buy Property Without a Mortgage in Canada by Solving a Seller’s Problems
Tales from the Trenches - April 26, 2022 15:00 - 11 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 135: “Win-Win Real Estate Investing.” Here’s another success story from the lucrative Creative Real Estate Investing space. For would-be Canadian real estate investors, two of the biggest obstacles are building up cash for a deposit and qualifying for a mortgage. This Tale is an e...
How Much Money Can I Make Quickly in Canadian Real Estate?
Tales from the Trenches - April 07, 2022 18:02 - 15 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 134: “Wholesale Home Run!” For a change of pace, here is a positive Tale about a massive success in Canadian real estate investing. Longtime readers/listeners know that my Tales from the Trenches series is mostly about how buyers and sellers of real estate get themselves in troubl...
How Long It Takes to Buy a Foreclosed Property
Tales from the Trenches - November 10, 2021 16:00 - 16 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 133: “Foreclosure Timing Traps.” When searching for the ideal piece of real estate to buy, properties in foreclosure can be an interesting place to look. Are you an investor looking for a new rental property? Or maybe you’re a buyer looking for a dream home—or at least a property ...
Three Issues to Negotiate When Buying or Selling Real Estate: Chattels, Defects, and Stigmata
Tales from the Trenches - March 03, 2021 16:35 - 10 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 132: “(Un)attached Goods, Defects, and Stigmas.” Negotiating an Offer to Purchase for a piece of real estate is about more than just the price. In this blog post, I’ll start by looking at two key points that must be worked out between buyer and seller: unattached goods and materia...
Renovated Basements Without Permits and Inspections Come Back to Haunt Buyers
Tales from the Trenches - November 25, 2020 16:00 - 14 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 131: “Renovation Heartbreak.” Dishonest, fly-by-night, or even inexperienced renovators can leave a trail of heartbreak. Buyers happily move into their newly-purchased, freshly-renovated home, but problems often don’t show up till later. Here are three recent scenarios from my rea...
Third Preventable Flood at Alberta Home; Who Is Liable?
Tales from the Trenches - October 06, 2020 16:00 - 8 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 130: “Third Flood.” Recently, some Alberta homeowners finally ran out of patience when their property was flooded—again. They lived on the lower end of a sloped street, and water flowed down the block from the higher end when it rained. The curb had slumped in front of their home,...
Should a Buyer Accept Title Insurance in Lieu of a Real Property Report and Compliance?
Tales from the Trenches - August 12, 2020 15:00 - 19 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 129: “Home-buyer’s Dilemma.” Seems like I’m always finding examples to write about regarding real property reports (RPR) and how they fit into a real estate transaction in Alberta. Land surveys, as RPRs are also known, should be simpler than they are. The standard AREA/MLS contrac...
Real Estate Cage Fight: Restrictive Covenants vs. City Bylaws
Tales from the Trenches - July 08, 2020 15:46 - 14 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 128: “Secondary Suite Grudge Match.” Would-be Calgary Landlord Builds Legally-Approved Secondary Suite but Gets Stifled by Restrictive Covenant on Title for Neighbourhood’s Single-Family Dwellings. And now for the main event! This Real Estate Regulation League title fight is sched...
Three Examples of Real Estate Woe with Permits, Surveys, and Compliance
Tales from the Trenches - June 02, 2020 16:14 - 17 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 127: “3×3 Permits.” This is the third Tale in my recent mini-series on Real Property Reports (RPR), municipal compliance, and building/development permits. Our first two Tales dealt with the maze of bureaucracy that surrounds permits and the dangers of not getting a clean RPR with...
Rules and Regulations for Secondary Suite Permits Getting Stricter
Tales from the Trenches - March 23, 2020 20:27 - 16 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 126: “Trapped in a Permit Maze.” This Tale from the Trenches is the second in our ongoing mini-series on permits for real estate. You know, those sometimes-nasty bits of paper that towns, cities, counties, and other municipalities require before you can do certain types of work on...
You Can’t Fight City Hall on Real Property Reports and Compliance
Tales from the Trenches - February 18, 2020 17:00 - 13 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 125: “Hot Tub Trials and Tribulations.” This episode of Tales from the Trenches is shocking! A client had retained my legal services to help with purchasing her dream home in Edmonton, Alberta. The seller provided a brand-new real property report (RPR) to my client, who in turn se...
Negotiating Tax on Real Estate Deals when the Seller Is not a Resident of Canada.
Tales from the Trenches - December 11, 2019 17:00 - 14 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 124: “Non-Resident Taxes Part II.” Like all things tax related, non-resident tax is complicated when it comes to buying and selling real estate in Canada. In February, 2016, I posted a lengthy blog on non-resident tax and how it can affect buyers, sellers, and realtors. Lots of li...
Panelists Share Experiences with Creative Real Estate Investing – plus Q & A
Tales from the Trenches - May 22, 2019 17:49 - 1 hour ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 123: “Creative Real Estate Investors Panel.” Special one-hour dive into the trenches of Creative Real Estate in Canada… and Africa! Barry has gathered a panel of experts, veritable rock stars of Creative Strategies, to share their experiences and answer questions from the audience...
Protect Property Against Flooding
Tales from the Trenches - May 08, 2019 16:00 - 13 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 122: “Water Is Coming”: Climate Change Preparedness for Homeowners and Real Estate Investors. Damaging floods are on the rise, whether as sewer backups, swollen rivers and lakes, rising ocean levels, or overland flooding. As a result, water related insurance claims have been risin...
Subdividing Property to Increase Density Can Raise Issues with Mortgages on Titles
Tales from the Trenches - April 17, 2019 17:00 - 10 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 121: “Subdivision Nightmare.” Across Canada, there is an ongoing discussion about the lack of affordable housing. In some areas, developers won’t build rentals because building condos is more lucrative, because there are rent controls, or perhaps a combination of both situations. ...
How to Work with a Property Manager
Tales from the Trenches - January 23, 2019 17:00 - 8 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 120: “Property Management Nightmare.” I got an email recently from an unhappy investor about problems with his property manager in Edmonton. Real estate investing is all about relationships, and you need to be able to rely on the people in your team. Property managers are supposed...
How to Avoid Bad Real Estate Deals
Tales from the Trenches - August 07, 2018 16:00 - 26 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 119: “A Deal That Went Bad and the Lessons Learned.” This edition of the Tales from the Trenches podcast features special guest Arden Dalik, a senior advisor in the Calgary office of Global Governance Advisors. Her Tale concerns a real estate investment project in Alberta presente...
Get to Know the Real Estate Purchase Contract in Alberta
Tales from the Trenches - May 30, 2018 19:00 - 37 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 118: “Big Changes To The Standard AREA Contract.” September 2016 (with mild tweaks in July of 2017) brought numerous and meaningful changes to the existing 2014 residential purchase documentation approved by the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA). These changes affected both t...
Inheriting Property Isn’t as Simple as it Seems
Tales from the Trenches - May 22, 2018 20:00 - 9 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 117. Real estate can cause all kinds of problems when a family member passes away. This Tale is about what happened when someone inherited a piece of property and almost went into foreclosure with it.
Walk Away From a Real Estate Deal at Your Own Peril!
Tales from the Trenches - May 09, 2018 13:00 - 4 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 116. In August 2017, a buyer walked away from a real estate deal in BC and was sued by the seller when the house later sold for 28% less. Not only did the buyer lose his deposit, he was also on the hook for the difference in the sale price! Furthermore, the buyer was responsible f...
Avoid Jail-time and Make Money: Assigning Offers to Purchase Real Estate in Canada
Tales from the Trenches - April 29, 2018 20:52 - 12 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 115. In a hot real estate market, flipping properties by assigning your interest in the purchase can be lucrative. Just make sure to do it legally because the CRA is cracking down on so-called "shadow flipping" and undeclared income!
Investing with Those Closest to Us Is Fraught with Peril
Tales from the Trenches - February 20, 2018 20:22 - 3 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 114. When real estate deals with friends and family go bad, you almost never recover your position. Because, what are you going to do, sue your friend or your brother? It’s often very easy to get into deals with friends and family because you know and trust each other. Actually, ...
Flipping Properties is Risky. Here’s Why!
Tales from the Trenches - February 13, 2018 18:52 - 3 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 113. "Flipping" is when an investor gets control of a property by signing a purchase contract, but rapidly sells it to someone else for a profit. It is risky business, which a client of mine discovered the hard way...
If Disaster Strikes, Will Your Property Insurance Coverage be Enough?
Tales from the Trenches - February 06, 2018 19:18 - 2 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 112. Insurance adjusters are hired by insurance companies to make sure that any claim is covered by the claimant’s insurance policy. The reality is that the most successful insurance adjusters are those who produce the best results for their clients, the insurance companies. By be...
Don’t Lose Time and Money from Outdated Real Estate Documents!
Tales from the Trenches - January 30, 2018 20:00 - 4 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 111. My entrepreneurial client had found a 30-unit apartment building in Alberta for a very decent price, organized 15 people to put up the money, and closed on the deal. He did get a decent Joint Venture Agreement signed by all parties and then started managing. Fast-forward to s...
What to Do When Seller Doesn’t Have Leases for Tenants
Tales from the Trenches - January 15, 2018 17:13 - 2 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 110: One of the seller’s classic mistakes was to take any tenant who came along. If the proposed tenant could pay the first month’s rent and the security deposit, then the seller would rent to him. He didn’t even have an application form. That lack of training and lack of paperwor...
Creative Investing with Foreclosures: Appearing in Court and Taking Notes.
Tales from the Trenches - October 23, 2017 16:30 - 4 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 109. This Tale is about taking good notes when you appear in court as the buyer of real estate in foreclosure. My client was a creative kind of guy and he found a property in Alberta where the mortgage payments weren’t being made. The seller was still living in the home but trying...
Is Your RRSP Mortgage Legal?
Tales from the Trenches - October 15, 2017 09:24 - 5 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 108. In this post we are going to focus on the commercially reasonable requirement for RRSP mortgages in Canada. If the CRA decides to audit your RRSP, will you be onside or offside their rules?
How to Lose a Deposit: Unmet Conditions Can Sink a Real Estate Deal
Tales from the Trenches - October 08, 2017 18:52 - 2 minutes ★★★ - 2 ratingsPodcast Episode 107. The notion of doing or accomplishing your own Due Diligence is what allows you to make a buying decision. Will you buy or not buy? In this Tale, a deal falls through because of a lack of diligence regarding financing conditions.