As 2009 comes to an end it’s a good idea to review the CMHC Rental Market Report to see what’s happened for the tail end of the year. Here are the highlights.

Vacancy Rate:

• In Ocober 2009 the vacancy rate for the Saint John Area rose to 3.6% from 3.1% last year.
• In Saint John City Proper, three of the four zones had a year over year increase. The uptown core remained the same at 3.3%, West Saint John up to 2.7, North Saint John up to 3.3% and East Saint John with the highest rate up to 6.3%. The outlying areas was up to 1.9%
• Although the vacancy rate rose this year, it’s the second lowest since 2000.
• National vacancy rate increased in October 2009 (Saint John 3.6, Edmonton 4.5, Toronto 3.1, Vancouver 2.1, Calgary 5.3)

Average Rent:

• The average rent was up by 4.2%, with the average rent at $613/month
• The average rent for the popular 2 bedroom apartments was up at 4.5% at $644/month

For full details download the pdf below, or visit www.cmhc.ca and subscribe.

Download (PDF, 2.14MB)

Effective December 30, 2009 Harrity Real Estate Services will be accepting Interac® for regular rent collection and other fees. At this time we will be accepting debit payments for rent at our office on the first and last Saturday of each month, from 9am until 12noon. A convenience fee of $2 applies to all transactions.

Why do we accept debit payments?

Debit payments are often easier for tenants as not all of them have personal cheques as we no longer accept cash for rent. Furthermore this eliminates bounced cheques which end up costing everyone money.

Why do we charge a convenience fee?

The cost of our wireless debit unit cost us some money to purchase. The convenience fee helps subsidize the monthly operating cost of the unit.

Do we take debit at the door?

We only accept debit at the door for disabled tenants or during collections. If a tenant is late on their rent we will visit them to collect it at the door, however a late fee will also be charged.

Do we take credit card payments?

We do not and will not be accepting credit cards for rent paid. In the future we may accept Visa® and MasterCard® payments for management fees.

*Please note that our office will not be open for payments during hours other than listed until further notice. Our office is closed for payments during holidays.

As our company grows and evolves we often sit back and evaluate the way our business runs and the systems that are put in place to ensure things are done correctly. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been taking a look at the past year and identifying our weaknesses and the points of our business where there is an opportunity for things to go wrong.

We have identified some key tasks that require new or updated written procedure. In the next couple of weeks we will be releasing the following new policy:

• Maintenance Policy – This policy will outline how maintenance, renovations and emergency services are carried out by our sub-contractors. It will define a clear policy for payment in regards to regular maintenance, renovations and emergency services.
• Rent Policy – Our current rent policy is being revised and will now include policy related to the remittance of rent, deductions from rent as well as new policy related to our accepted methods of payment.
• Collections Policy (Tenant & Owner) – Will outline late fees and Insufficient Funds charges.

By laying out a clear policy we hope to avoid errors and misunderstandings in our day to day operations. Property owners can review our policy online at any time. Please contact us to request login information.

I recently purchased an iPhone in an attemp to become more productive and hopefully cut back on operating expenses.

Right off the bat there are some things I really like about the iPhone:
- App from Ringcentral allows me to make calls from our toll free number on my cell.
- Skype provides an app which allows me to make phone calls over a wi-fi network. I pay only $2 each month for unlimited calls to anywhere in Canada and the United States.

There are all kinds of apps that help me be productive. In fact I’m using an app on my iPhone right now to write this post.

Here are my two main dislikes with it:
- No LED message indicator.
- No centralized inbox where I can view all my different message types in one spot.

I must admit, overall I’m pretty impressed. I think it’s worth the investment and will be a lasting addition to my collection.

Although Blackberry was designed for business, it certainly has some stiff competition.

Thanks for reading and happy holidays.

I would like to wish our clients, tenants and associates a happy Christmas, Hanukkah and the very best this holiday season. This time of year is one with hustle and bustle and we’ve certainly been busy. It’s also a good time to reflect on the year past and plan for the future. Here s a video that will help you with your goal setting.