Mark Vosylius, Barrie, Orillia-'s Blog

Another one bites the dustIn New Zealand another discount/flat fee brokerage folds under the pressure. Our initial reaction is ..."see I told you that discounting doesn't work !!...don't cut commission fees," But is that that the "right reaction?" What I mean by that is, upon analyzing the trends...

The beginning of the end for mlsThe day the mls went public onto the internet was the day it changed itself forever. There used to be a day when you had to call a real estate agent to find out what's available because they had those special books that had all the listings. For me that book was a ...

The Sub-Prime and CanadaCanada's sub prime mortgage market is between 3-5%. That means that 3-5% of all mortgage loans on homes are subprime. In the US, the subprime is 25-27% of all mortgages. There is no "sub prime mess" in Canada. Our mortgage laws are different. They prevent subprime originat...

History is repeating itself in OrilliaI always knew that Barrie and Orillia were on the move in an economic sense. Who from Toronto has not driven through there on the way to the Muskoka's and not noticed all the change over the last 20 years? Once Barrie moved across Hwy 400 about 20 years ago a...

I must say that on a personal note the 1990's for me were real learning years. I always had 2 investment properties going ( I usually lived in one) and began sourcing out and studying the economics of what drives real estate. I can remember countless weekends scanning the classifieds ( yes before...

Oh the news is so scary....I know that I have a lot to learn and that at 47 I may sound ignorant by this comment, but why do the media LOVE negative press?  I know we all can say "well it sells papers or makes the headlines"...but I want to say is that it also scares people into thinking negative...

Re-finance optionsHere is a plain, easy to read and understand guideline on refinancing your existing mortgage. Although many people normally would not consider doing it (get your mortgage and keep same terms till you sell...), it makes sense for some in a falling interest rate environment.  Whet...

Assignment or Wholesale Real Estate We just completed an assignment on 170 Nottawasaga St in Orillia. Assignments are great ways to "be" in the real estate business without having your license. Simply put, you put under contract under valued real estate properties. It's like you become a wholesal...

Development StrategiesThe recent  listing of 385 and 387 West St N, in Orillia Ontario is proof that our strategy for this property was correct. In our initial financial analysis we calculated a break-even scenario until such time ( approx. 3 years)  we would sell to a developer. We analyzed the ...

Micro EconomicsThere is a great article in the Orillia Today Friday February 15 2008. On Page 15 there is a piece on Georgian College trying to raise funds to accommodate the growth in the region. The part that I found interesting for real estate investors is the statistic that states "Since 2004...