Podcasts Barry Mcguire: Real Estate Lawyer, Edmonton

Podcast 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 for associated costs to the seller, adding to his loss.

Podcast 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!

Podcast 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, with friends and family, you have to do more diligence than you would with third parties just to ensure you are doing enough!

Podcast 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...

Podcast 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 best results, I mean the smallest dollar claims.

Podcast 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 seven years later and it looks like it’s time to sell. Sadly, one of the investors passes away. The deceased investor’s estate is now not nearly as cooperative as the deceased investor had been...

Podcast 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 paperwork led to my client’s issue.

Podcast 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 to sell and get out from under the foreclosure. After some conversation, my client put together a creative deal that the seller and the seller's lawyer both liked.

Podcast 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?

Podcast 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.

Podcast Episode 106. Are you looking to buy a property with a secondary suite? Ideally, you want to buy properties with legal secondary suites. But guess what? A Real Property Report doesn't prove a suite's legality in Alberta.

Podcast Episode 105. For a quick review, probate is the process whereby an executor of a Will, usually through a lawyer, makes application to the Probate Court here in Alberta for what is known as a Grant of Probate. The application process involves the executor gathering in all the assets of the deceased, figuring out whether the deceased owed any money, filling out the paperwork, and then waiting for a response from the Probate Court.

Podcast Episode 104: “Sellers, Are You Guaranteeing Title?” Wow, a recent bombshell of a legal case from the Ontario Court of Appeal is causing huge ripples in the Canadian real estate world. In the Courts and in the world of precedent there is a pecking order. The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court … Continue reading Guarantees, Title Insurance, and New Legal Precedent in Canada

This is the classic low/no equity agreements for sale (AFS) deal. Essentially, the property owner took our classic AFS question and turned it around on our investor. Basically he said, “are you interested in buying my apartment building for no money down but you have to take over my mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, and all repairs and maintenance?” This strategy is particularly valuable in the current Alberta real estate market.

Podcast Episode 102: “Corporate Matters Matter.” Here at RMLO Law LLP in Edmonton, Alberta, we are the corporate registered office for many corporations. We get lots of letters addressed to those corporations because that’s part of being registered office. Anyone who wants to send something official to a corporation can send it to the registered … Continue reading Struck Corporations, Land Titles, and Tax in Alberta

Podcast Episode 101. Houses with legal suites or houses zoned for legal suites are all the rage in Alberta. Easier to do in Edmonton, though. In Calgary, secondary suites are only allowed in certain areas.

Podcast Episode 100: “A Tale of Real Estate Investing Success.” I’ve been doing Tales from the Trenches for 15 years. These are amazing stories from real estate investors, mostly from Alberta, Canada because that’s where I practice law. Tales began as a segment during meetings of the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN), which I continue to … Continue reading Success with Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing

Podcast Episode 99: “Happy Assumptions & Corporate Rollovers.“ This episode of Tales from the Trenches contains two stories about transfers: one is about transferring mortgages and the other is about transferring property. In theory, many mortgages are assumable, but in practice lenders in Alberta (and elsewhere) have been tightening up on their regulations. Some lenders … Continue reading Assuming Mortgages and Transfering Property to a Corporation

Podcast Episode 98: “Don’t Wait, It Only Gets Worse; Discharge That Caveat.“ The first part of this Tale is about an Alberta landlord with tenant problems. The renter usually paid on-time, but then the rent started coming late. The tenant’s girlfriend left him, and when our landlord went to check on the property it appeared … Continue reading Disappearing Tenants and Vanishing Buyers

Podcast Episode 97: “Mortgage Fraud.“ The simplest way to avoid committing mortgage fraud is to fully disclose everything about a deal to your lender. If they are satisfied, then you’re probably okay. But what happens if someone else is defrauding you? In Tales from the Trenches, you usually hear second-hand accounts of the trials, tribulations, … Continue reading How to Avoid Mortgage Fraud