Here’s wishing an early Happy Canada Day to all!  What a great country we live in!  We have the freedom to do almost anything our heart desires (of course, I am talking about legal, ethical, harmless things!)  Greatest of all in my opinion, in terms of investing and making money, is the freedom to start our own business and own “fee simple” real estate! 

For those who are not familiar with the term “fee simple”, below is what Google defines it:

“In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is a way that real estate may be owned in common law countries, and is the highest possible ownership interest that can be held in real property.” 

The key word here is the “highest possible ownership interest”.  We Canadian might (and often do) take this for granted not knowing that there are many countries in the world where it’s quite complex to own real properties.  China is a good example where there is a 70 years land use restriction.  With that type of policy, one has to outlive his 70 years land restriction to enable to “own” it for their own personal interest or he would have to pass it down to his heirs in order to reap the rewards.  So, we have to thank our country for such liberating “fee simple” real estate ownership!

People from all over the world love Canadian real estate and that is because we live in a safe and prosperous country where investors think it’s the safest place to put their money. Even though there has been talks about our properties are being over-valued but I think value of any investment is relative.  To a local Canadian, a $1.5M 3000 sqft detached house might be an outrageous price to pay but to an investor in Hong Kong or China it might actually be considered very “cheap” and with the lower Canadian dollar, our properties are considered on sale to these wealthy investors.  On top of that, our financial system is also a lot more conservative and stable than that of our southern counterpart, the US.

Hence, looking at the entire real estate investing picture, we Canadians sure are lucky to be Canadians!  So, on this upcoming Canada Day, take a moment to enjoy this amazing country!

Wishing everyone an awesome “HAPPY CANADA DAY”!