In both the USA and Canada, the first week of July is quite eventful. Canadians recognize Canada Day on the 1st, and Americans celebrate their independence on the 4th. Both holidays share one popular highlight, which often punctuates a long day of delicious food, raucous parades, and infectious patriotism: the fireworks display.

There is something magical about watching a barrage of fireworks tear across the summer night sky. It’s not just the brilliant colors, the thunder and fanfare, the impossible showers of light. It’s the fact that fireworks can engage so many of your senses simultaneously. When that last bloom of fire fades, you can almost feel it deep inside you. It’s tangible.

That’s also what makes real estate such a worthwhile investment. After all, real estate is a classic example of a tangible asset.

This month, we will dedicate our newsletter to celebrating everything we can feel, touch, and see!

Defining the Tangible Asset

If it is not obvious already, a tangible asset is any asset that can be readily quantified. For example, if you own several properties, you can likely easily tell them all apart just by observing their physical qualities. You know one as the blue building, another as the quaint four-storey structure surrounded by trees. Additionally, you can personally interact with them and inhabit their space. In contrast, you can’t exactly sleep inside a bond or walk the long, narrow steps of a mutual fund.

What Makes Tangible Assets So Meaningful

We are visual creatures; naturally, then, it only makes sense that we would be drawn to what we can see. As far as investment options go, our penchant for the visual certainly helps real estate. Of course, there is also a little more to it than that.

Just as you can easily count up your properties, you can also count up their many qualities and nuances. For example, if one of your buildings is starting to show wear, you probably won’t have to conduct some complex scientific study to figure out what needs to be changed. You can tell just by looking at the paint peeling off the walls or hearing the leaky faucet drip in the upstairs bathroom.

Keep in mind, though: it’s not all negative. When you pour your money, energy, and heart into a rental property, you can see it by marveling at the freshly painted walls, the sleek tile floors, and the happy tenants as they come and go every day.

Light Up Your World With Strong Real Estate Investment Strategies

As you can see, real estate wins as an investment option that you can, well, see. Unlike a loud, cascading fireworks display, however, your properties won’t fade into an afterthought of smoke and sulphur. They’ll endure, standing tall against the sky rather than becoming part of it.

Have a wonderful July!

Leo Ganesh

A LAUGH OR TWO FOR GOOD MEASURE

HELPFUL LIFE HACK #2

WHY INVEST IN REAL ESTATE?

Depreciation

Depreciation can help investors by spreading out the purchase price of a property over a number of years and allowing them to claim deductions during each of those years. It is less of a wealth-building strategy than a means for offsetting investment losses.

The IRS does change the rules for depreciation on occasion, so it is wise to work with a qualified tax accountant when calculating depreciation to avoid inadvertently breaking the rules and negating the value of this important investment tool.