Environment upgrade part 2: Location location and location

Part of the Environment upgrade series

Two things in business: Timing and location. If business is the modern ground in which we wage war, then Sun Tzu’s “Art of war” further emphasis their importance. Timing was taken cared of in my previous post. Now, we take a look at the location.

Please take a look at the map. Red circles the area where population is increasing while the green lines are the area that the metro covers. It is rudimentary, but it shows approximately where they are to you. When I did the triangulation, I actually used a google map mashup of Montreal metro stations and superimposed that with the Thermatic map in photoshop.

Montréal is an island city, therefore the rules of real estate for Taiwan can apply more or less. Land will get scarcer as more and more people want the convenience of living closer to downtown. The problem is accentuated by the increase in car owners each year while the outdated road layout struggles to keep up. This is the first condition: on the island.

It was about two years ago when I rented my current apartment I met my landlord at his house. It was a huge mansion on top of a hill. The inside was filled with exotic artifacts that he had acquired from different parts of the world. These aren’t your flea market bargains off the side of the road.

So I asked him, what’s his secret to success. He told me: “Selling real estates.” Which I was very interested in at the time but had no money to even think about it. So I humbly requested for one tip for real estates in Montréal if that is the only tip he can give for the rest of his life. He told me:

“Buy near metro stations.”

I agree with him whole heartedly and made this is my second criteria.

Combined with the thematic map that Census Canada release, my agent and I started our 2 months journey of house hunting…