January 2013

When one looks at the history of Ponzi Schemes swindling Canadian people’s hard earned money, two names come readily to the mind. Earl Jones was the first one to commit this fraud followed by Gary Sorenson in the recent past. A small percentage of the Canadian Population got attracted by the huge returns promised by the so called investment experts like Jones and Sorenson. Even in the United States, people were unaware of this scheme till Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme came to the fore.

Some people might not be aware of this Ponzi scheme. These are schemes run by a group of people or an individual giving returns to the newer investors using the money invested by the earlier investors. When a new investor invests $ 1000, they would be given a return of 25 % that is $ 250 using the investment made by the earlier investors. In order to be on the safer side, these ponzi scheme experts tried to extend the term of the scheme to 10 or 15 years. This would give them sufficient breathing time to plan an escape route before the principle needs to be returned to all the investors. But unfortunately, the falling economy made the investors to demand their money even before the tenure ended, which led to the fall of the ponzi experts in Canada.

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Real estate has always been a popular choice for investors looking for long- term assets to add to their portfolio. Although the housing market has fluctuated over the last decade, it’s still a good area of investment for veteran agents. Beginners looking to get their feet wet in the industry must first learn the basics before they end up losing all of their cash in one place.

Investing in property usually means two things : house sales, which involves purchasing units and properties and selling them at a profit ; and house rentals, which involves purchasing units and renting them out for a monthly profit. Any of these two will require some serious research beforehand, usually months or years before the actual sale.

First, the interested investor must look at the entire neighborhood’s market price. It also wouldn’t hurt to assess the surrounding area’s market prices. When he has a particular piece of property in mind, he has to estimate the cost of renovations and upgrades. There are also legal fees which can be quite expensive depending on the area.

Once the paperwork has been done, it’s time to advertise the property. A lot of rookies quite after only a few months because they think their properties should have been sold immediately after the first marketing blitz. Real estate investors should realize that in an industry with long- term returns, the waiting times can be long- term as well.