Busy week here at MSB with posts every day. Next week will be a bit lighter since Monday is a holiday, however I will be publishing the last post from the “tenant from hell” trilogy. The last post is very much on the disgusting side and I’ve changed my mind several times about whether it is appropriate for the blog or not. It would be easy not to publish it, but on the other hand the “tenant from hell” posts are a good reminder that real estate investing is not always so “passive”.

I’ve been on a bit of a writing holiday myself, since I’m finishing up a pretty big project which I’ll be announcing near the end of September or early October.

On with the links

Sad story about a mother who is suing her kids for support even though she allegedly abandoned them. The story profiles one of the sons, and is worth reading just to see how he made out.

In Search of Salt has some very good negotiation strategies.

Michael James makes an excellent observation that equal billing plans encourage increased consumption.

Canadian Financial DIY wrote a book review on William Bernstein’s latest book the Investor’s Manifesto.  He thinks it’s good, but not great.

Squawkfox had a great idea for microwaving popcorn in a paper bag. We’ll be trying this one.

The Financial Blogger has taken over the Dividend Guy blog. I’m sad that Jeremy won’t be blogging there anymore, but hopefully the acquisition will pay dividends for Mike. You can win an iPod touch by commenting on the linked post.

Million Dollar Journey says that rental applicants have declined in quality because of looser lending standards. A very interesting idea and I tend to believe it.

Canadian Capitalist says give yourself a financial education. A great message.

Preet is giving away an iPad, a gold coin, and a spork! Not sure what a spork is? Go find out.

Larry MacDonald says that special offers from financial institutions are not worth the hassle.

Mike from the The Financial Blogger talks about improving his newsletter. Go and sign up now. I’m thinking of starting a newsletter as well.  I hope Mike signs up for it.

For any bloggers out there – learn how to create useful and positive titles that people want to read.

This post was originally published on Mr. Cheap's original blog. When he brought over all his posts, some of them didn't make it so I'm planning to publish a few of them over time. These were written almost 3 years ago in case some of the references seem dated.

I’m currently paying $500 / month for a room in a house (which I share with two other tenants).  This covers all utilities and everything.  This $500 is gone, but it’s purchasing me some of the necessities of life.

Buying vs renting

Say I bought a 1 bedroom condo in Crescent Town (one of the cheaper areas in Toronto, Keifer Sutherland grew up there – it’s pretty depressing these days).  Right off the top condo fees will run me $376, which cover utilities, ground and common area maintenance and whatnot.  This is “money down the drain” just as surely as my rent is.  I’d be paying about $70 / month in property taxes, which pays for things like schools, transit and mayor David Miller’s golf club membership.  This is money down the drain too.  Of my $683.65 monthly mortgage payment (say $110k at 5.69%), $515.51 is going to interest rather then equity (money down the drain again).

If you’re saying to yourself (“well, those condo fees are outrageous”) please keep in mind that apparently for a single family home, you’ll typically spend 2.5% of the house value on maintenance annually.  Plus you’re paying all the utilities and property taxes.

The rent advocates will talk about how you could rent, then invest the difference in the stock market, average a 10% return and be better off.  This is all true for what it is.  If someone tells you after renting for 10 years you have nothing to show for it, you can smile and show them your stock portfolio and say “this is what I have to show for it”.  Or you can show them pictures from your last 10 trips to Hawaii and say this is what you have to show for it.

The big question ultimately is where do you want to live and what are you willing to pay to live there.  If it’s going to drive you nuts having to get the landlord’s permission to paint your bedroom purple, or getting a rent increase every year, you might be better off as a homeowner.  If you like to move every 2 years or want to live in a bare-bones ultra-cheap accommodation, renting might be better for you.

For me I could live where I am for $500 / month, or I could be living in a 1 bedroom in Crescent Town for ~$950 / month (I’d have to pay more than this, but the extra would be going into equity).  Right now the flexibility and low-price makes this preferable (but if my roommates piss me off, I’d quickly switch into condo hunting mode).  It’s not as simple as saying that the condo costs $450 / month more as I’d be getting appreciation from the condo, as well as protection from rent increases (although I’d be exposing myself to increases in the condo fees and the property tax).

Just make sure not to buy into the absolute of one is better then the other, it is highly dependent on who you are and what you want.

This series of posts is about my previous tenants leaving my investment condo and getting new tenants in place.  In Part 1 I wrote about why my tenants left and the official notice to vacate.

Advertising

I’ve touched on this in previous posts, and on comments on other blogs, but I’m a big believer in free advertising when it comes to renting out apartments in Toronto (other markets may be different, but in Toronto, for apartments, you can get enough applicants on the free sites).  I recommend posting ads on Craigslist (in “apts/housing for rent“) and Kijiji (in “apartments for rent”).  Both sites have filters to prevent you from reposting the same ad in a set period of time, but they’re pretty easy to get around (just make some superficial changes to your ad).  Worst case scenario, if it matches the ads together, take down the old ad and re-post a new one every few days.  The reason why you want to repost (and fight the system to do so) is that people will just look back through a certain number of ads and you want your apartment to be in the part they look through (the first ones!  they’re ordered reverse chronologically).

Kijiji sells “priority placement” and will also sell you the ability to move your ad back to the top.  I’ve never used either of these features (if anyone has and they care to comment I’d love to hear your experience).

In terms of the ad, there aren’t any limits to space (that I know of), so there’s no reason to use the crazy newspaper short forms:  e.g. “2 br, 2 ba, part furn”).  Both sites allow pictures, so it’s well worth including some!  I can never understand why some people leave out information (like the rental price!).  I include EVERYTHING I think might be relevant:  pictures, extensive description, all amenities, map of the area, rental price, nearby stores, etc, etc, etc.

Typically I also make up a website which I can direct people to from the ad (officially you aren’t supposed to do this with Kijiji, but again it’s pretty easy to get around).  I’ll copy and past from the website when I’m re-posting ads to one of the sites.

You may feel more “bound” by the sites’ terms of service than I do, in which case feel free to only post once, don’t link to an external website, etc.

There are a number of other sites, some for pay and others that are free.  I posted on all the free ones I could find, but I still found all my leads came from Craigslist or Kijiji.  Doing a Google search on “toronto apartment rental” will probably turn up most of the other sites if you decide it’s worth advertising as broadly as (freely) possible.

Showings

When showing the unit, at first I felt a bit weird walking around, gesturing grandly and saying “now please turn your attention to the lovely Corinthian banister”.  In part, because I don’t think Corinthian banisters exist, in part because even if they do exist my unit certainly doesn’t have one and in part because that it just isn’t my style.  When I was first showing my unit, my friend suggested that I feel free to point out any nice features of the apartment, and limit my “selling” to that.  I would have a standard walk around the building pointing out amenities, then I’d show them around the unit and do the same thing there.  I learned a few set responses to common complaints / criticisms such as:

• “No, there isn’t central air conditioning, but you’re welcome to put in window air conditioning, and since you don’t pay for utilities, there won’t be any monthly fees”
• “No, there isn’t a dishwasher, but you’re welcome to hook up a portable dishwasher to the sink”
• “Yes, it is an older building.  Typically you either get a new condo with small units and fancy amenities, or older building with lots of space and fewer amenities.”
• “No, there isn’t a second bathroom” (I could never think of a better response to this one”)

I foolishly would make appointments with individual applicants when I rented the first time, and it was madness (I spent a couple weeks constantly running back and forth to the condo).  This time I set out a 6 hour block, and told people that’s when they could come.  People who couldn’t make it, I told them I’d keep their contact info and let them know if I arranged another showing.  I did it over a weekend, got a good applicant, had them fall through (more about that in a future post), then did showings over a 2nd weekend and got another good applicant that stuck.

Two Wise Acres (which sadly has become defunct) has a hilarious post “How to manage prospective tenants efficiently, effectively and without killing them“.  I think I got every one of these other than the murderer (which, if you’re going to avoid one of them, that’s the one to avoid).

One thing that is AMAZING to me is how cavalierly people will not show up for appointments, and never call to say so.  My only theory is that it’s a chance for people to “stick it” to a landlord with no fear of repercussion (or maybe people are just ruder than I believe).

Sometimes I’d get phone calls or e-mails from people with INCREDIBLY complex lives and problems, (e.g. I’m moving back to the country and don’t have any rental history, I’m in Edmonton and need you to hold the apartment for me for a week while I book a flight to come see it, I’m going to start school near Casa Loma – which is NOWHERE NEAR the condo you’re renting, but for some reason I’ve decided to move to your part of the city instead).  On other rental issues, Alexandra and Rachelle had each summarized their feelings as “that’s not your problem” when I was asking how to deal with awkward situations with tenants and applicants.  I’m not sure if these people were scam artists or genuine people in a difficult circumstance, but I only went out of my way to a certain limit to accommodate people who had a unique situation and wanted to view the unit.  I think “it’s not my problem” is a reasonable mantra when people start trying to suck you into their drama.

Thanks again to Rachelle and Alexandra ! More details in future posts…

This is a guest post by Oren from Money Mechanics – a Canadian blog run by his consulting company which was tired of seeing so many people being ripped off by their financial advisors.

Most people who work with financial advisors honestly believe that they have an “excellent” advisor and that they only have their best interests at heart. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve shown, in excruciating detail, to people how their financial advisors are skinning them alive (financially, of course) and in the end they say, “Yes you’re right, but I’ve been with my financial advisor for so long and I couldn’t bear leaving him.” That almost makes as much sense as eating a stack of double bacon cheeseburgers in order to prevent yourself from having a heart attack.

The purpose of this article is to open your eyes to how the financial industry works and to help you realize that the system is built to put the financial institution first and the clients second. Hopefully the information contained in this article will significantly help you when you are choosing a financial advisor.

Of course, there is the odd financial advisor who really does have your best interests at heart and I apologize in advance if that really is the case. As for the rest of you, here is why your financial advisor should be locked away in a small room with a large alligator for all eternity:

Financial advisors are paid by commission

Whenever you, the client, buy a product from your financial advisor your advisor receives a nice fat commission for his or her efforts. That having been said, there is a very good reason why most of your advisor’s financial plans are product-centric.

Want to retire comfortably? Invest all the money you can into mutual funds!

Don’t have enough money to invest in mutual funds to sustain that comfortable retirement? Take this loan!

Oh and what happens if something happens to you that affects the repayment of your loan? You need life and creditor insurance!

And don’t forget to add all these useless riders that you really need!

Any good financial planner knows that your first step to increase profits should be to cut your expenses as much as possible, so why do they tend to brush over most peoples’ largest expense – taxes? That’s because they earn higher commissions from selling you mutual funds than they do from tax saving and debt reduction strategies.

According to Statistics Canada, the average family paid 42.6% of their income in taxes last year. That also means that the average family spends January to March working for free. Think back to all your meetings with your financial advisor, how much time did you spend talking about eliminating taxes versus investing? I’m willing to bet a lot of money that most of the time was allocated to the latter option. If you’d like to learn more about our tax situation in Canada, please read my article here.

Of course, maybe all the blame shouldn’t lie with these lowly financial advisors. Maybe the real culprits here are the ones that trained these advisors, the ones that spent many hours and thousands of dollars developing the advisors’ minds to think the way they do today. Is it possible that the financial institutions are really the ones to blame here?

The financial institutions want your money

In an article I wrote describing why mutual funds are horrible investments, I referenced a television interview with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group (one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world). Here is what he had to say about mutual funds (the most sold product by financial advisors):

The financial system put up zero percent of the capital and took zero percent of the risk and got almost 80 percent of the return. And you, the investor in this long time period, an investment lifetime, put up 100 percent of the capital, took 100 percent of the risk, and got only a little bit over 20 percent of the return. That’s a financial system that’s failing investors because of those costs of financial advice and brokerage, some hidden, some out in plain sight, that investors face today. So the system has to be fixed.

Yes, you read that correctly. This is what thousands upon thousands of financial advisors are selling to their clients every single day.

The financial industry operates under four rules to make as much money as possible:

1. Get your money
2. Get it often
3. Keep it as long as possible
4. Give back as little as possible

Did you notice how all the financial plans offered by advisors always insist on systematic deposits? Did you notice how these plans span dozens of years into the future? And how many rules, taxes and penalties did you have to jump over in order to get your money back?
The fact of the matter is, the financial institutions want to keep your money as long as possible to keep making more and more money off of you – as the founder of Vanguard Group just told us.

Conclusion

To be completely honest – I can’t blame the financial institutions for operating this way. If I had access to a product that would have a third party absorb all the risk and provide me with the bulk of the profits, I would use every single man, woman, child and household pet at my disposal to sell as much of this product as humanly possible.

This is exactly what the financial institutions do.

There is only one difference – now you know the truth! What you decide to do with it is up to you.

So, dear readers, now that you know the terrible secrets of the financial industry, what are you going to do about it?

This post was originally published on Mr. Cheap's original blog. When he brought over all his posts, some of them didn't make it so I'm planning to publish a few of them over time. These were written almost 3 years ago in case some of the references seem dated.

I was talking to two guys in Mountain View. They start asking me trivial Java questions. These are THE WORST technical interviews (programming on a whiteboard is bad too). Its like you’re interviewing someone to be a high school geography teacher and the entire interview is asking him populations of countries around the world. At the end, he’s going to feel like shit because he doesn’t have the population of Thailand memorized and you’re not going to have any better idea whether or not he’ll make a good teacher.

There are websites listing Java interview questions, and I could just spend an afternoon, read through them all, then come across like a genius to these nimrods, but I refuse to do it because its just *SO STUPID*. This was one of their questions if you’re interested.

One of them seemed like a decent guy, but the other guy, after every question I said I didn’t know or didn’t answer exactly the way he expected (often with technical questions there are many possible answers, and the interviewer has to be bright enough to realize when an answer is correct – even if it wasn’t the answer he was looking for), he acted snooty and made disparaging comments. Some people seem to be very good at deferring to people higher up the food chain from them, and treating people they see as below them like crap.

Towards the end of the interview I’d had enough and actually stopped it (only the second time I’ve ever done this). It surprises the hell out of interviewers when you end one early (its the ultimate in taking charge!). Probably not the smartest thing to do (I may have lucked out and got offered the job), but why would I want to work for a company that assigns a jerk to interview me?

With technical work, it seems to be necessary to get treated badly by the people above you in order to get a paycheck. I’m not sure if this is because our work is mysterious to them, so they feel they have to exert their authority somehow, or if its because we’re earning big salaries and they resent having to pay them or what.

Maybe this is simply the nature of 9-5 work (and why I hate it).

Any cycling fans out there? I’ve managed to convert my wife to an avid fan.   This year’s Tour de France was quite exciting and you just can’t beat the scenery and interesting historic buildings along the route.

It looks like Contador will win this year. I am cheering for Schleck, but I always thought Contador was the favourite.

On with the links

Michael James commented on the idea that buying a house makes you more financially responsible. He shows that the evidence provided to support this theory is pretty lame.

Larry MacDonald looks at the book How to buy at maximum pessimism. I’ve tried to do this by switching some of my bond etfs to equity when the market tanks. So far it’s worked fairly well.

Preet has an infographic showing 40 years of asset class performance.

Canadian Capitalist says that Canadians don’t need to add commodities to their portfolio. I agree.

Canadian Personal Finance Blog says that interest rates are skyrocketing!!!!!

Squawkfox is giving away a free windfall planner worksheet. Now if she would just tell me how to get that windfall.

The Financial Bloggers offers everything you need to know about income trusts.

If you like reading about what bloggers talk about then check out the Financial Blogger’s guest post which discusses his blog business.

Million Dollar Journey deciphers the insurance puzzle.

I recently had my tenants give me notice and had to go through the process of finding tenants for the second time. I initially expected that it would quite straightforward, seeing as I’d gone through the process before and put quite a bit of thought into it at the time. Surprisingly, I found it quite an anxiety-producing experience: I guess I was out of practice after 3.5 years. Luckily, a couple of my favourite Money Smarts commenters, Rachelle and Alexandra, were willing (and very able) to answer questions, and I think the process went as well as could be expected.

I’ll try my best to identify which suggestions were from who. My apologies in advance if I take credit for something that was actually from one of them (I’ll grab any credit that isn’t nailed down).

Why They Left

I gave my tenants a rent increase earlier in the year, and they gave me notice less than 2 months later. Since rent increases require 90 days notice, and terminating tenancies require 60 days notice (and they paid for the last month’s rent when they moved in), they actually left before the increase took effect.

It’s a VERY debatable point with landlords: do you raise rent on good tenants? I remember one place I was living, they increased my rent from $650 to $700 / month and that was the straw that broke the camels back and I moved in with my girlfriend at the time. Their apartment sat empty for 2 months after I left, which obviously lost them a lot of money. There’s some point when tenants will leave, and the rent going up gets them closer to that point. On the other side of the coin, moving is a pain in the butt, and has a number of expenses associated with it as well. If you’re going to pay more than the increased rent over the next year on the move, are you really saving anything? Also, tenants often get distorted views of “market rent”. They think of prices in terms of what apartments cost last time they were apartment hunting, rather than what the current prices are (and are often shocked when they start hunting and everything is more expensive than they remember).

Given that I only raised my tenants’ rent by 2.1% (and this was after 3.5 years), I find it hard to believe this would have prompted them to move. They also had told me they were considering moving, as one of them was going to school in another part of town and it would have been a brutal commute. I acknowledge that this MAY have just been them being polite, and I drove them out (I’m certain that would be the interpretation of the “never raise the rent” crew).

The reasons to raise the rent is obviously a business decision. While a 2.1% increase of the gross rent may not seem like a lot, when it gets added to your bottom line it can be significantly (this would have been more than a 10% increase in my monthly cashflow).

The new tenants ended up paying the increased rental amount, so the market determined this was a fair price.

Notice to Vacate

I’ve had a very good relationship with the previous tenants, but I certainly wanted to do everything “by the book”. They just wanted to informally tell me when they would move out, but I insisted that they get me an N9 form. They were confused and bothered by the fact that, in Ontario, tenancies end on the last day of the month, but start on the first day of the month. I was sympathetic to this, and thought it was a fair question “where am I supposed to stay overnight with all my stuff?”. Both Rachelle and Alexandra had similar reactions to this and basically said “how is this the landlord’s problem?”. In the end I tried to soften it a little, while holding firm by sending them the following info:

Unfortunately, that is how it works in Ontario (that you need to vacate on the 30th). Surprisingly it isn’t a problem as often as you’d think. Often tenants won’t be in the new unit (they might leave a couple days early from the unit you’re moving into and the new landlord may let you in on the 30th), or the new tenants don’t need the old unit on the first, or the new unit has been empty (like when you first saw the unit you’re in after the renovations), etc., etc., etc. Some buildings have storage they’ll let you use overnight. I once had to move all my packed belongings to a friend’s living room over night (and then move everything again into the new unit the next day). Some people rent cube vans and use them as overnight storage as well as transportation.

They were still unhappy, but in the end, it worked out exactly as I suggested (they were able to move into their new place 1 week early). They couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t let them stay a few days into the next month, but obviously this would have cost me an entire month’s rent.

Another friend of mine who owns and rents a bunch of units says that he will leave units empty for a month for clean-up and repairs between tenants. He acknowledges that this is a big expense, and in part because of this he really looks for very long term tenancies (and has been quite successful in setting up his units with these). This was a higher expense then I was willing to take on between tenancies.

Thanks again to Alexandra and Rachelle! More details in future posts…

I recently picked up Rob Carrick’s new book “Rob Carricks’s Guide to What’s Good, Bad and Downright Awful in Canadian Investments Today“.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rob Carrick, he is the top personal finance journalist in Canada.  You can read his articles in the business section of the Globe and Mail.

This book is excellent.  It covers all the topics you need to get started in investing such as how to find a financial advisor, how to do your own investing, recommended discount brokerages, various financial products to buy or avoid and much, much more.  Rob writes with a very casual, easy to read style and explains everything in very clear terms.

I have to admit when I bought the book, I thought that:

• It was strictly for beginners.
• I wouldn’t learn anything, because I know everything already. 

While this book is perfect for someone who doesn’t know much about investing, it contains a ton of information, and I would challenge any other self-proclaimed “experts” out there to read this book and not learn at least a few things.  As it turns out, I learned quite a bit of useful information.

What kind of investor should read this book?

The book is aimed at the bookshelf of a beginner to intermediate investor.  Advanced investors will learn a few things, but might want to get the book from the library.  I am keeping my copy for future reference by the way.

What was good about this book?

• No punches pulled.  In the intro, Rob states that he doesn’t hold back and he wasn’t kidding – he has lists of the worst mutual funds and scathing criticism of the investment industry, especially the idea that advisors are acting on behalf of their clients.  I was impressed, considering that most of the companies he named, probably buy advertising in the Globe and Mail.
• Complete.  The book covers all the investing topics that are necessary for most investors.
• Uses examples.  He doesn’t just talk theory – he lists specific examples of investing products to buy and avoid ie specific mutual funds and ETFs.  Rob is clearly a big dividend stock fan and lists quite a few recommended dividend stocks.

What was bad and downright awful about this book?

The fact that Money Smarts Blog wasn’t listed in the “good investing blogs” list! 

Truth be told, MSB hasn’t been doing many investing topics lately.  This will be changing in September.

What else has Rob published?

He has also written another book called “How to Pay Less and Keep More For Yourself: The Essential Consumer Guide to Canadian Banking and Investing“.  I’ll be reading this book in the near future.  It’s a few years old, so I might just see if the library has it.

Have you read this book?  What did you think?

Most “tenant from hell” stories involve bad people who don’t pay their rent.  This one is a bit different…

This article was written by Rachelle: a real estate guru who works as a property manager and helps investors find rental properties in Toronto and surrounding areas.  She has recently started a very interesting blog called Landlord Rescue.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed here.

If you haven’t read Rachelle’s last post then check out The Stripper With Dirty Feet – A Tenant from Hell Story .  A great read.

Most tenants who can’t pay their rent are very dysfunctional.  How people act in one area of their life reflects in other areas.  It follows that the people who are being evicted are usually the same people who cause damage, break into cars, do drugs, run guns, store stolen cars in the parking garage and cause trouble.

This isn’t a story about those people, but rather an eviction I did that had a real impact on me as a person because I had to make a decision to betray a friend’s wishes for her good and ours.

Mrs. R and the Flood

Every building has a person who comes to the management office on a daily basis.  These residents break up our day, inject a bit of humour, and keep us up to date with the building news.  Usually seniors, they are on watch for every single going on.  If a dog does his business in the elevator, they’ll tell you.  Other people call them busy bodies but generally property managers like them.

In one building I worked in, we had a 96 year old lady exactly like this – let’s call her “Mrs R”.  Every day Mrs. R would read the Toronto Star and then she would bring us the paper so we could read it too.  She would tell us about her arthritis and how much it sucks to get old.

Show and Tell

One time Mrs. R showed me her bed sore, right in the management office.  She pulled down her pants and showed me her ass.  We even got the whole thing on video because the office had security cameras.

Mrs. R took a real shine to me.  I was her favourite.  After all she showed ME her bedsore!

Every two weeks, her daughter would come to see her and bring her food and take her to the doctor or hairdresser.  Mrs. R was getting really old – at 96 she was doing pretty well, but she needed a walker, and she also wasn’t very hungry. She was skinny as a rail and her daughter brought her container after container of food trying to fatten her up.

Mrs. R couldn’t eat all the food and she didn’t want to make her daughter mad.  She would come to the management office with her little containers of weird food and give them to me.  At first I politely refused. Then I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. So the edible deliveries continued the entire time I worked there until she got evicted.

How lies lead to more lies

The whole food gift thing got very complicated. Every day I would go through an elaborate charade – get the food, dump it, clean the dish, all while keeping a sharp eye out for Mrs. R.  The longer it went on the worse it was.  My subterfuge had taken on a horrible life of its’ own.  It got worse when she asked me to comment on which food I liked better or how great certain recipes were.  The other staff would snicker at my inventive replies and my awkwardness.

I really loved Mrs. R.  She was funny and witty and sharp as hell.  She never forgot to pick up one single plastic dish.  She shared her life with us.  Every one in the office liked her.  Religiously she came to see us.

Life was getting harder for Mrs. R as she aged.  Her daughter lived in the boonies and couldn’t visit very often.  Mrs. R forgot her pills or took them twice sometimes.  She was having a hard time getting around and she was getting frightfully thin.

The Fateful Event

One day we got a call from the 12th floor. Water was pouring into someone’s apartment.  The super sprung into action to find the source of the leak.  He followed the leak to the 18th floor, right into Mrs. R’s apartment.  She forgot to turn off her kitchen tap and flooded six floors.

Later Mrs. R calls down to the office.  I sent the super up to her apartment again.  He talks to her for a while and then comes directly back to see me.  Apparently Mrs. R was drying off her socks and pants in her oven and they caught on fire.  That’s what got her evicted.

The Eviction

Nobody wants to evict Mrs. R, but it’s the only way we’ll get her out of the building and into a home where she can get better care.  Her daughter’s been trying to get her into a home for years, but Mrs. R is stubborn.

The next day I gave her a form for impaired safety.  This woman who brought me food and the Toronto Star, I evicted using the same form as I used on the gunrunner and the guy who punched our accountant in the face.  I had to keep the mask intact as I told her she was being thrown out of her home of the last 32 years.  I had to wrestle my own feelings of wretchedness as I stripped away the last bastion of her independence.

Then I held her as she cried and wondered what to do.

And that’s the sad story of how I came to evict Mrs R.

I personally think kids are great and I enjoy spending time with mine. However, like everything – too much of a good thing isn’t so good. It can get tiresome after a while.

Judith Timson wrote about how parenting is no fun. She is reacting another post about parenting in New York Mag which outlines all the problems of being a parent.

Jennifer Senior wrote that NY Mag article about parenting called All Joy and No Fun. Some great quotes like “They’re a huge source of joy, but they turn every other source of joy to shit”. Couldn’t agree more. 

Garth Turner wrote an absolutely hilarious post about property virgins. I don’t agree with much of what Garth has to say, but this post was spot on.

My Wife Quit Her Job is a site that I just started reading – it is fantastic for those of us who are into online entrepreneurship. The writer Steve is one smart guy and I love reading his posts.   This post was just excellent: Starting A Business: Convincing Yourself To Take Action

Canadian Tax Resource is starting a new tax advisory service. I’m interested in the question of whether or not to incorporate.

Million Dollar Journey had an interesting post about investment loans.

The Oblivous Investor shows how to calculate real estate investment return.

The Financial Blogger reveals how we evaluate our online business.

Larry MacDonald says that retirement pensions improvements might not be necessary.

Squawkfox put together an expense tracking spreadsheet for the holidays.

Preet says that the Eco Fee is a tax.

Canadian Capitalist put together some useful used car pricing resources.

Canajun Finances wrote about pet insurance.

Carnivals

Carnival of Financial Planning

Carnival of Personal Finance

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