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Wednesday, September 30, 1998 — North Shore News - 17°

Consider real estate as well as stocks

“FORGE*~ mutual
funds and the stock
market. I’m going to
invest in real estate.”

Aman who runs an appli-
ance repair business made
that comment as we discussed
what's been happening in the
stock marker. Indeed, many
investors are taking another
look at revenue property as a
less volatile place to earn
income and hopefully also
capital gains.

Reader V.N. wrote:
“Please comment on having 2
home as an investment — not
only a family place but also
buying the neighbour's so
you can keep an eye on the

_teniters while they pay off the

mortgage for you.”

_Both stocks and property

offer a chance to make — or

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lose — money. You need to
put more money into the
market which feels more
comfortable and in which
you have more expertise. A
diversified portfolio should
hold both types of invest-
ments.

The best ways to make
moncy on-a principal resi-
dence are:

(1) Fix up the place to
increase its value so you can

Vancouver. For more informa-
tion call 926-3447.
aoe

North Vancouver Chamber
of Commerce’s Paul Classen
has been receiving accolades
for more than three weeks. His
recognition comes on the hecls
of having been chosen the staff
person of the year by the
Chamber of = Commerce
Executives of Canada at their
annual meeting held in New
Brunswick earlier this month.

“Paul has been an extraor-
dinary assct to the Chamber
since he joined us following his

“management of the 1996

Winter Games,” said Chamber

* president-Judi Ainsworth.

— Robert Gaister

North Shore business groups
and individuals wishing to sub-
mit items to Business Briefs can
fax thems to the attention 9
Robert Galster nt 985-2104, or
via e-mail to
robert@nsnews.com

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realize a tax-free capital gain
when vou sell.

(2) Rent out part of your
home to carn some tax-free
income (by claiming other-
wise non-deductible mainte-
nance and repair expenses).

Even if real estate values
drop, you might not lose if
you sell and put your money
into property or something
else which has gone down
even more. Revenue property
(residential, commercial,
industrial) can produce a fair-

ly stable income stream. You
can often increase rents by

improving the property, espe-

cially if you can take in more
tenants.

Fluctuating values proba-
bly won't affect your rental
income, although vacancy
rates could.

Dealing with tangible
Property appeals to some

people more than investing in

stocks. On the other hand,
stocks and bonds don’t call

you at 2.a.m. because the toi-

let is loading.

You should invest enough
time and expertise to choose
either the best real estate or
the best securities.

And even though you can
almost always sell mutual
funds, stocks and bonds more
quickly and easily than real
estate, you should plan to
leave your money in both
property and stocks for up to
10 years — to give the mar-
ket a chance to recover if it
does drop, and to recoup

your buying and selling costs.

— Copyright 1998 Mike
Grenby

Mike Grenby is a columnist
and independent personal
financial adviser; he'll answer
guestions in this column as
space allows but cannot reply
personally, Contact him at
P.O. Box 50029, South Slo
R.P.O., Burnaby, B.C. V5f
5G3; e-mail mike@grenby.com
and see previous columns at
Mike’s website,
wwmgrenby.com

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