gun owner

just a thought, the real estate companys can be a local regional, national and powerfull tool,
so my question is this. how come you guys who sell us homes business's etc. don't form a lobby group and lobby the prov. govt. for a "tax deduction on our mortgage interest payment" like they do in the usa and proposing in manitoba? man we need some kinda break from all the taxes we pay. if i'm outta line here i opoligize. just a thought.
a ,tired of paying through the nose tax paying, hunter.

You know, I like that idea. I also like the idea of no Capital gains on investment properties.
From what I understand (and I could be wrong) Down in the states you get to use your interest on a mortgage as a write off. However you end up paying capital gains on your home as it increases in value. Here in Canada your increases on your personal home are yours to keep.
As for getting a group of realtors together to form a lobby group.. I have never thought about it. I wouldn’t even know where to start.
Real-estate companies are changing. Its not about the company you work for. Its about the individual realtor. Think about it. Remax/C21/whoever has never sold your home.. It has always been Joe or Mary realtor. Agents are starting to wake up to that fact. That’s why on all my business advertising THE HUNT GROUP is in big letters and Keller Williams Realty is in small. The advertising budget for Keller Williams International is $0. The business model shows that the $$$ is better spent on high end training rather than advertising a corporate name.
Also another great idea (especially in Alberta) would be to allow tax breaks for people to develop Apartments and rental accommodation. They had a similar program back in the mid to late 70's. From what I understand it was successful. If Alberta could get that, you would see rental rates drop.

Thanks
Jamie

And you would be seeing more of us contractors putting up low cost/ affordable housing...great thread guys!!!

Ralf, you are totally correct.
Right now it makes no sense financially to build that. Even though rentals are in high demand, it doesn’t make any sense to build them. You make way more cash selling condos. I don’t even remember the last apartment building built here in south Calgary. I think it was the pinnacle over by southland drive.

Jamie