Most of what I see about owning rental real estate is breathless cheerleading and come-ons for “real estate courses.”  It was a refreshing change to read John Champaign’s new short book Getting Started as a Small Scale Landlord .  At 67 pages, there isn’t any padding, and he provides solid information to help you determine if you’re suited to being a landlord and how to avoid the many pitfalls. As someone who isn’t suited to being a landlord, I saw warnings where other people might see opportunity.  “This book is about giving yourself a part-time job.”  I definitely don’t want a job, but others might welcome one.  Landlords must also be able to keep their cool and not back away from conflict.  I can do this, but I definitely don’t want to willingly bring conflict with unreasonable people into my life.  “If you can't say no to a crying, homeless woman, do not go into the business of landlording.” After the initial self-assessment to see if landlording i...

A colleague I’ll call Andy came up against a curious barrier to deducting mortgage interest on a rental property. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) likes to see a straight line between the mortgage lump sum and the purchase of the property that will generate rental income. Unfortunately, it seems that Andy cannot easily draw a line that would satisfy CRA. Andy owns a small home free and clear. He plans to move to a new larger home soon. He had hoped to rent out his old home to make some rental income. His plan had been to take out a mortgage on the old home and use this money to reduce the size of the mortgage on his new home. A side benefit Andy hoped for was using the interest on the mortgage on the old house once it becomes a rental property as a deduction against the rental income. Unfortunately, CRA won’t allow this. From CRA’s point of view, the borrowed money wouldn’t be used to purchase an investment, but would be used to buy Andy’s new home. The following Q and A on page...