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Originally posted by Garvo Gujarati


Following could be investment opportunities:

1. Agricultural Land
2. Cottage Houses
3. Beachfront Properties
4. Properties for Residential Development

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I do not know about agricultural land but can find out since the friend that I mentioned owns one or two.

Cottages and Beachfront properties need a lot of maintenance and one should be a handyman to be able to do that, otherwise you will pay thru your nose for it.

Properties for residential development would offer the best returns in terms of the rules etc I assume. However, like anywhere else, one should have some contact in the city office to be able to get some info privy to the builders.

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Originally posted by Garvo Gujarati
While ago, I drove thru the town of King, just north of Vaughan, and sow houses on a big lot. They were not expensive though. It means one can get a decent lot, with a good price, that should be appreicated soon. My guess. Real Estate Pundits can comment more.

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Same experience I had when I was coming back from Creemore after spending a weekend at my friend's farmhouse. I happened to see a garage sale in one of the 'mansions' and drove in (it was a filmi driveway - about 200 ft or more!). And I found the house/property was bought by a sikh family for about 650k. Oh how I would love to live in such a place (we could have a cricket field there!)

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Originally posted by Garvo Gujarati
Chandresh, On your idea about joining hands. I like the idea. One more area of interest is joining hands for buying a business. For example Hilton Inn. Depending on location they are available from 3M+. So the investment should be about 900K+ (about 30% downpayment). And those who travel knows how good this business is. Anybody interested?

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Yeah it is a good business till you get someone dedicated to run it well. Well you Gujratis are experts at it and if you are willing to invest in it, I am game too. But I think we will need anywhere from 5 to 10 members (or more?) to dish that kind of dough.

Chandresh

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Originally posted by chandresh
Properties for residential development would offer the best returns in terms of the rules etc I assume. However, like anywhere else, one should have some contact in the city office to be able to get some info privy to the builders.

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Chandresh

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Chandresh and others :
Since i work in this kind of developments, I can advise you as to how the system works.
The town/ City staff are very friendly and you can contact them on the phone or at the office , anytime for enquiries and all your enquires will be answered to. It is NOT like India. In fact , the city staff will only be too happy to help you.
The way it works is like this :
You buy a piece of land for residential development. You follow the Town's instructions for keeping it a vacant land. You may have to pay some vacant land tax (i am assuming).
Once you decide to develop it into a residential development, (or you can sell it to some one before that , if appriciation is good enough by this time), You will have to hire a surveyor and an Engineering company. These people survey the land and the engineering company proposes plot sizes, roads, plumbing, drainage etc.. as per Zoning regulations and submits it to the town for approval. Once it is approved, a set of By - laws are developed. Now you will have to give this information to a House Design company (like the one i work on) and we will propose various building models on it. We will prepare the design and the drawings. The owner of the land submits this design to the town and pays the building permit fees. In 4-8 weeks, the building permit is given and the house can be built. The owner of the land hires a builder / contractor to build the house as per design. Once the house is built, then the Town checks the building for compliance to the drawings and a ready for occupation permit is given.
There is no rocket sceience in this. Only thing, you must be prepared for any untoward situation and be very careful about the sub contractors. Rumor has it that there are so many players in the market that cheating is very prevalant.
for e.g. a case i can give you is an example of a concrete pourer. His rate was 50% lower than the next lowest price. Once contract is given to him, His work is either substandard or he decalres bankruptcy and come up with another incorp. company. So you need to be in the business to weed out these idiots.
Just my point of view.
TK A

Sidenote : Has anyone tried to acquire properties for exploration interest given the fact that Canada has a very good resource base.

Afternote : Chandresh->
The City authorities CAN NOT determine as to what land would be the best at a later date for residential development. The City office (Planner's) duty is to designate land for residential use, commercial use etc... and is made public the day the plan is formed. You can see the land use plan by logging on to the city's website.
How ever , locals (builders etc...) know by instinct and experience as to how a residential development can/ will grow. It is all killer instinct/ gut feeling. Also you may be able to guess it by means of the land use plan proposed e.g. -> a new highway line, GO stn. line, Opening of industrial estate etc... All this info. is made public.
Also if you go to the websites (e.g. Aurora), You can see what planning applications for residential developments have been submitted and those waiting for approval. In fact Aurora's website has this infomation incorporated in to its zoning / development map.
Also if a Builder/Developer wants to build a subdivision, he will see whereVacant land is available and see if it is for sale by the owner or corp.. He will decide if the price paid for land will be worth it. The CITY has NO connection to this. It is up to the developer to buy land and then propose a subdivision. We have a builder / developer (Indian) who has bought land in Fort Erie. He must have done this since there was no LAND available for SALE in the GTA. I was travelling on Major Mac. from Younge to Islington and was flabbergasted on the residential developmeny being done on both sides of the road. Yes. Lot of land was undeveloped but this must be due to speculation by landowners.