For those that may have extra resources available (a.k.a. cash), they are often advised to invest in real estate. The concept and return on investment is mostly positive, that is until you are left dealing with an overflowing toilet at 11 o’clock at night or looking for new tenants for the same unit for the third month in a row. An investment in real estate does have many advantages, but when it comes to managing the property there are professionals who can take that job off your hands and make your life that much easier. Consider the following ways in which a property management company can add value to your investment. Depending on the size of the company, they will often have specialists or a team of people working together to complete all the required duties. A property management company can add value by having salespeople advertise and show the units, by having property managers enforce rules and follow up on late rent; by having maintenance staff attending to work orders, and having bookkeepers and accountants maintaining the financial records. After all, do you know of someone who is great at marketing, bookkeeping, responding diplomatically to tenant complaints and is handy enough to patch drywall, change out taps or clean out air exchange filters? Chances are there are few people who are great at all of these things and who have such a diverse skill set. If you do know of someone like this though, please send them my contact information (just kidding…sort of!). Property managers add value by knowing the market. When you are constantly leasing units, you have a good understanding of the value of the units in the market. If a two-bedroom apartment with in-suite laundry is worth $1,200 to most renters, you may be leaving money on the table if you are charging less for a similar unit. Property taxes, water, and building materials increase every year, sometimes faster than inflation, therefore it is important to increase the rent (if the market will bear it) in relation to those increasing costs. This helps to ensure that the return on your investment property is positive. They will have systems in place to track work orders. If a tenant reports a maintenance issue, a property manager will have it logged into a system and assigned to a maintenance team member according to priority. This helps with keeping tenants satisfied and the building maintained. Ensuring that the property is in good repair prevents tenants from being frustrated and eliminates the hassle of dealing with repeated calls or emails making the same request over and over again. It turns the investment into passive income. You can own a rental property and never have to meet or deal with the complaints of the tenants or issues like dealing with tenancy branch hearings, orders of possessions or evictions. This frees up more of your time to handle other pressing situations in other aspects of your life. Property management companies will have better screening systems. In the old days, people used to call the current landlord and/or the current employer of the prospective tenant. In many cases, the landlord wouldn’t give a good or bad reference they would only confirm if the rent was paid on time and if the place was kept tidy. With employers, it is difficult to get confirmation of employment due to privacy rules and regulations. In today’s world, many property management firms have software that does complete background checks on the prospects confirming their income and credit history, which is generally a good indication of their likelihood of pay the rent on time.  With these systems in place, screening a tenant is that much easier and reliable and takes away the element of surprise

June 13, 2018 marked the 27th anniversary of Weiming Zhao's move from China to Brandon. To help celebrate the date, he recently updated and shared his Facebook album of a collection of hundreds of plein air paintings and drawings that he has created over the last 15 years.  Plein air paintings refer to "leaving the four walls of your studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing in the landscape". Weiming has been painting almost daily for the last 15 years producing a portfolio of close to 6 thousand works of art. Most of his work is available for purchase and there are a few galleries and gift art craft stores selling his paintings in Manitoba today. Woodlands Gallery in Winnipeg is the gallery that represents his work. He mostly sells his work directly from his home studio which is 35 Balmoral Bay in Brandon. On average , Weiming spends about two hours on each painting.  His works are collected from all over Canada, United States, Russia, England and China. There are 14 pieces of his work in the Manitoba Provincial Art Collection. He has had 19 solo art shows over the past 15 years, and his paintings of Riding Mountain National Park are very popular among art collectors. Weiming tells bdnmb.ca that he started to paint daily in this way in the summer of 2003 trying to showcase the beauty of Brandon which he had called home for so many years. You can follow his work, and see more paintings of Brandon, on his Facebook page.  For more on Weiming, and his journey, please click here.

The City of Brandon's annual Canada Day Celebrations at the Riverbank Discovery Centre is quickly approaching and organizers have planned a fun-filled day for those attending.  This years the days festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. with the Canada Day Living Flag and ends with the popular fireworks show scheduled for 11:00 p.m. Throughout the day there are many activities/attractions planned including face painting, the Brandon Riverbank Duck Race, & Brandon Bouncy Castles inflatables.  Prairie Helicopters will be onsite offering scenic rides over the city.  The family stage includes shows from Sean Watson and a kids pedal tractor pull.    The 204, Full Flannel Jacket, Katie MacDoanld Duo and Jenerator are among the main stage entertainment.  A number of food vendors will also be on-site for those looking for a bite to eat.

The Westman Jamaican Community will be holding a fundraising event at the Park Community Centre with proceeds going towards the Jamaican Pavilion in the next Westman Multicultural Festival.    JamRock Summer Ed. Vol 1 will take place at Brandon's Park Community Centre on Saturday July 14, 2018.  The event aims to take you to the Caribbean with their reggae and dance-hall music featuring DJ SHORTBOSS and DJ DAGGA.  Premium tropical drinks will be for sale including Sex on the Beach, Dirty Banana and Bob Marley. Free appetizers (Jerked chicken) between 10 and 11pm. The event is 18+ and tickets are only $5. The Westman Jamaican Community is "a diverse group of individuals who are committed to creating a more unified and active Jamaican community in Western Manitoba."

A common misconception of some renters is that they don’t need to purchase their own insurance coverage. Erroneously, many believe that if something were to happen, their losses would be covered under their landlords’ policy. For others, they are not able to or just choose to not incur the additional cost. However, we’ve recently heard the downside of not having insurance coverage following the devastating fires in downtown Brandon last month. Educating yourself and investing in a policy that protects you and your property truly is well-worth the small monthly investment. Tenants’ insurance means more than just protecting the loss of your personal items; there are three key components that makeup tenant’s insurance as a whole. #1. Personal Property - This includes any personal property owned by the occupants that are listed on the policy. This could potentially cover everything from appliances and electronics to furniture, jewellery, and clothing, etc. An insurance policy would cover the loss of these items if they were damaged or stolen. #2. Temporary Living Expenses - There may be a situation where you need to vacate your apartment due to unforeseen damages as a result of a fire, water damage or something of that nature. An insurance policy will help to cover costs incurred of having to find alternative living accommodations. The third component of tenants’ insurance is likely the most interesting and the scariest! #3. Liability Coverage (including medical and legal) - Did you know that if your bathtub were to overflow causing damage to the unit (or units) below that you are liable for your neighbours’ losses? Many tenants assume they are only required to cover their own losses, medical bills, and alternate living accommodations which is why they tend to shrug off tenants’ insurance. However, should your neighbour suffer the loss of their personal items or need to vacate their unit and find alternative living accommodations, those expenses are your responsibility. This is just a minor example, in a more serious situation, what if a tenant suffers an injury because of your negligence? You would be responsible for all monetary losses and are legally required to pay (and let’s not forget about the legal fees that could arise as a result of a situation such as this). In another extreme example, you might want to consider the consequences if a fire were to start in a unit due to the negligence of a tenant (leaving food cooking unattended). If the result was a total loss of a property, did you know that the tenant who is found to be responsible for the fire is responsible for the entire loss of the building? Scary, right? So, while you may not think that your sofa or your television is worth the investment of a tenants’ insurance policy, you may want to consider the ramification of being liable for damage to your neighbour, their unit or any common area of the complex. The cost of a policy is surprisingly minimal and is sometimes as low as the price of a coffee at Starbucks. Yet, having the peace of mind that comes with proper insurance coverage is invaluable. Vionell Holdings Partnership (VHP) provides rental housing and property management for an array of residential and commercial customers, including Condominium Management. VHP currently has over 3,500 units under management in Manitoba. For more information please visit www.vhproperties.ca.