In this crazy, “unprecedented” (there’s that Oxword of the year again—by the way, Cambridge and Mirriam-Webster each chose only one word for 2020: “pandemic”--) year, who’d have thought when this started that the housing market and the prospects of home-ownership...

What will be your dominant memory of the year 2020? Each year the Oxford Dictionary people come out with a word of the year, a word (or phrase) that became extremely popular and in some ways describes the dominant theme of the past year. Last year it was “climate...

Strange, how impressions sometimes leave us with ideas that are totally wrong. Did you know that, in a typical year in America, more people are killed by hornets, bees or wasps than by terrorism? More people die by contact with hot tap water than by terrorism? More...

I don’t know about you, but the long drawn-out U.S. election really stole a lot of my time last week. For someone who likes sports—well, really all competition and challenges—what could be a more ultimate challenge than the U.S. presidential election, especially with...

In a contest some years ago to give a motto for the US in six words or less, the runner-up, and the one I'd have chosen, was "Caution! Experiment in Progress since 1776.” And I would have subtitled it "still in beta version". That “experiment” has been playing out...

“So,” my friend A says to my friend B, “if you don’t think there should be any billionaires, what about millionaires? Should there be any millionaires?” “Not sure,” says B. “What about thousandaires?” “Of course.” “So, if there are already many thousandaires, and many...

Last Friday, our professional association, CAROP (The Canadian Association of Rent to Own Professionals) held our annual Summit. It was a day to remember!   CAROP is the association I was instrumental in founding eight years ago, to establish some ethical and...

What I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving It’s that time again when we remind ourselves of the things that we are thankful for. At least, I hope that’s what it is. Did you pick up the nuance in that first sentence? It’s a lot different from saying that it’s the time of...

This fall, the banks are bracing for a lot of property foreclosures. Mortgage payments that were suspended during the coronavirus pandemic were not forgiven, they were simply deferred. Now they have to be caught up. As the expression goes, “the chickens are coming...

Despite our marketing materials, which I think makes it clear, I get rent 2 own applications from people with very little or nothing available for a deposit. I respond by explaining to them that we cannot assist people without a deposit. Often, the response is to...