Ironstone is a real estate development company that builds townhouses and new homes in London, Ontario. Established in 2010, the company aims to develop reasonably priced and affordable homes for communities. Its management team has a combined experience of over 40 years.
Allan Drewlo and David Stimac are top executives in the business. Together, they have built hundreds of homes using their respective companies, Drewlo Holdings Inc. and Stoneridge Homes Inc. Using their experience, they have developed principles guiding Ironstone's operations. The first is building quality housing using superior building materials. The second is connecting clients with their respective homebuilders. Third, the company has a warranty program that ensures exceptional customer service. Fourth, the team includes upgraded finishes in each house's base price. Additionally, Drewlo and Stimac encourage transparency in home buying processes. The company values its customer experience, an attribute that has won several awards. In 2020, Ironstone won the Ontario Home Builders Association Award of Distinction (AoD). In 2021, it won the London, Ontario Community Votes award and The London Free Press Best of London award. Ironstone also believes in contributing to its community. Thus, it donates to various charities in the local London community. These include the Mission Services of London, Habitat for Community, Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario, and Children's Health Foundation, among others. Among its offerings, Ironstone develops ready-to-go housing for sale. Besides the townhouses and new homes it has built in London, Ontario, the company plans to build homes for more communities in the future. Indeed, it plans to expand its offerings while simplifying the home buying process for interested clients. Every ready-to-go home follows Ironstone's standard finishing specifications. These homes have standard finishes that other home developers consider upgrades. These include big maple kitchen cabinets, framed mirrors, and valence lighting. The company is comfortable providing such to its customers for free. Importantly, there are no hidden fees or charges with these free upgrades. The company also builds ready-to-go condos. A condo, short for condominium, is a private home unit inside a community of other homes. Condominium owners share common areas such as elevators, garages, hallways, gyms, and pools. It builds condos in West and North London, Summerside, and Hyde Park in London, Ontario. These are suited for clients who prefer a busy city environment and are located close to shopping centers, schools, public transit, and daycare facilities. Additionally, the company builds contemporary farmhouses in the Grove, an area located near London, Ontario's Thames River. This location allows Ironstone to build houses with spacious floors and innovative designs. These houses also sit close to shopping centers, major transportation routes, and an airport. Ironstone has two features defining its house selling operations. These are 'Ironclad Pricing' and the 'Tarion Warranty.' The Ironclad Pricing feature adds to the company's belief in making the client's home buying process simple and easy. Accordingly, this feature gives the customers what they want upfront, thereby reducing and eliminating costly and time-consuming upgrades. This way, the company delivers a quality product and passes savings to customers through discounts, resulting in a win-win situation for the buyer and seller. Every home also comes with a seven-year Tarion Warranty. Tarion is a privately-held corporation that oversees new home developments and protects new home buyer rights. The Warranties Plan Act in Ontario has several warranty protections for new homeowners. They include a 30-day, one-year, two-year, and seven-year warranty taking effect from the moment a homeowner takes occupancy. These warranties cover major defects.
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Headquartered in London, Ontario, the McCormick Care Group is a non-profit organization committed to serving the local community by providing medical and emotional care to the elderly and people with dementia and terminal diseases. For that purpose, it has established several related institutions and initiatives.
The organization’s origin dates back to 1874 and the founding of the Women’s Christian Association (WCA), which sought to bridge gaps in local care delivery. The start of the Women’s Refuge and Children’s Home, located on Greys Street, and a soup kitchen in the local Covent Garden Market marked its first endeavors. Through the years, WCA expanded the scope of its activities and, in 2016, rebranded itself to its current name. Today, led by an all-female board of directors, the McCormick Care Group continues the legacy of its founders and supervises the work of its McCormick Home, McCormick Dementia Services, and McCormick Dementia Research. An accredited, non-profit institution, McCormick Home has provided the elder in London and its neighboring areas with long-term care for over a century. It mainly serves those who need various personal and health services and find it difficult or impossible to lead a safe and independent life in their communities. Initially, the Home comprised two separate entities - the Home for Aged Men, established in 1887, and the Home for Aged Women, 1888. The two united in 1892 under the name the Aged People’s Home after Thomas J. McCormick, an innovative and progressive local manufacturer and entrepreneur, gifted a large building he completed on Richmond Street to the WCA. In 2006, McCormick Home moved to its current address on Kains Road in the western part of the city. The three-story building can accommodate 160 people, spread across five resident home areas. It features private and semi-private bedrooms and small dining rooms emulating a home-like feeling. In addition, residents can gather and see visitors in a Great Room and receive specialized care in smaller program rooms. Also housed in McCormick Home is McCormick Dementia Services, considered among the preeminent programs of this kind in Ontario. The program came into existence in 1986 as Alzheimer Outreach Services to address the critical need for Alzheimer’s care in the local community. At present, a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers, including families, caregivers, and physicians, realize the McCormick Dementia Services. These encompass a dementia day program available every day of the week, overnight respite care, and caregiver support services, such as individual or family counseling, telephone consultations, and support groups. McCormick Care Group’s interest in and participation in research activities on dementia, particularly related to identifying new ways to improve the lives of people living with this diagnosis and their caregivers, led to the establishment of McCormick Dementia Research in 2016. Its primary goal is to advance dementia care by forming strategic research partnerships and encouraging collaborations on both internal and external levels. Prioritizing knowledge transfer, McCormick Dementia Research hopes its findings can also help other organizations learn and improve the quality of provided care. Finally, the McCormick Care Group has also established the Parkwood Institute and the Wellspring London and Region. Founded in 1894 as the Home for Incurables, the first currently operates within St. Joseph’s Health Care London, a leading teaching hospital in Ontario, and provides complex care, mental health care, and rehabilitative and palliative services to seniors and veterans. The Wellspring London and Region, established in 1999, is a volunteer organization that caters to people with cancer and their caregivers. It became a separate agency in 2011. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) denote companies engaged in the ownership, operation, or financing of income-generating real estate. They resemble mutual funds in that they use pooled capital from multiple investors and thus, allow the latter to earn dividends from investments in real estate without them having to purchase or manage any themselves. A company qualifies as a REIT if real estate makes up at least three-thirds of its assets and at least three-thirds of its revenues come from activities related to real estate.
REITs can be private or public, traded or non-traded. Besides the easier-to-spot difference reflected in their name, private and publicly-traded REITs differ in other aspects, including available information, eligible investors, minimum required investment, and liquidity. Also called private placement REITs, private REITs do not require registration with an official regulator. In the United States, this is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lack of SEC regulation exempts REITs from filing annual financial statements. They also do not trade on national securities exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As a result of these characteristics, investors cannot track private REITs’ share prices because the amount of available public or independent information on their performance is very scarce or non-existent. Only investors who have already had investing experience with private REITs can receive such data from internal sources. Generally, private REITs can sell securities only to qualified institutional or accredited investors. The first are organizations that make investments in place of their members. Presumably, they possess more specialized knowledge and can safeguard themselves. Hedge funds, insurance companies, and pension funds are some examples of institutional investors. Conversely, accredited investors are individual investors with an estimated worth of a minimum of $1 million (not counting their primary residence) or an annual income of over $200,000 earned in the previous two years. REIT companies can set different upfront cost criteria, but the minimum initial investment for individual investors investing in private REITs typically starts from $10,000 to $100,000. As for liquidity, private REITs are not liquid because they do not trade on public stock markets. Investors who want to withdraw before a liquidation event must undergo a redemption process for shares that are often limited, non-existent, or expected to change. Meanwhile, registered with and regulated by the SEC, publicly-traded REITs trade on the major stock markets. Thus, investors can easily access data on the performance of their shares. The REITs company owner or independent firms that conduct financial analysis release the related data. Publicly-traded REITs must also submit their audited financial statements to the SEC, which investors can review on the regulator’s website. Any institutional and individual investor can purchase and sell shares of publicly-traded REITs against minimum investment of one share and the actual share offering price. Although modest, the minimum required initial investment varies contingent upon the company and, usually, amounts to $1,000 to about $2,500 per share. If investors opt for using the services of brokers to buy shares, they would have to pay an upfront fee, which is the same for all publicly-traded REITs. Publicly-traded REITs are highly liquid as their shares trade on the major securities exchanges. This means investors can effortlessly buy and sell their shares at a relatively low price. Furthermore, they can enter and exit the marketplace without any difficulty. Real estate is a good investment. Property investments may help you diversify your portfolio while shielding you against recessions and other economic downturns. But there isn't a single correct answer on how you should go about making a real estate investment. You must weigh the options and choose the one that will work best for you. Real estate investment may be done in various methods, each with its own set of capital requirements, risk tolerance, and investing dynamics.
One way to invest in real estate is by investing in real estate investment trusts(REITs). This form of investment is good for those who want to invest in real estate right away with as little money as feasible. REITs are publicly traded firms that earn money by selling stock and issuing bonds and then utilize the revenues to buy and lease real estate assets such as retail malls, apartment complexes, and office buildings. An advantage of real estate investment trusts (REITs) is that it takes the hassle out of real estate ownership. Management handles all ownership and rental logistics; all you have to do is sit back and receive dividends, which are typically larger than many stock-based investments. Another way is by real estate crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a relatively new method of investing in real estate that is rapidly gaining popularity. The process of crowdfunding starts when a savvy real estate investor recognizes a potential investment opportunity. One commercial real estate asset is usually included, as well as a value-adding adjustment. This might be as simple as changing the debt on the property or as complex as a complete renovation. When developers want to sell or refinance a property, they usually have a target date. Rather than paying for the entire project with their own money and bank financing, the developer gets part of the required cash from investors like you in exchange for a share of ownership in the project. Crowdfunded real estate investing has several significant advantages. First and foremost, the potential for profit is enormous. It's fairly unusual for a crowdfunded real estate project to aim for a 15 percent or higher internal rate of return (IRR). These projects frequently generate income and a lump-sum return when the property is sold. They can also help you broaden your investing approach by allowing you to benefit from the developer's experience instead of attempting such a project on your own. Further, house flipping is another common way to get into real estate investment. The term "flipping homes" refers to buying a home only for the purpose of making renovations and quickly reselling it for a profit. As a consequence of several TV shows on the issue, house flipping has become increasingly popular in recent years. There is a lot of money to be made if a flip is done well and according to plan. On the other hand, flipping homes is a full-time effort, so it's probably not for you if you're a passive investor. Flipping houses carries a tremendous risk, even for the most experienced professionals. In addition, another way to get involved in real estate investing is by purchasing a rental property. Purchasing an investment property is the most apparent approach to becoming a real estate investor. Not to be confused with house flipping, investment property refers to a residential or commercial property you intend to rent out to tenants. Rental homes are an excellent strategy to develop wealth and generate income while investing in real estate. Due to a mix of income, equity appreciation, and the ease with which debt may be used to acquire real estate, a high return is attainable. The real estate industry is one of the most expansive in the world as it offers a wide range of career paths to interested persons. As expected, the first career opportunity that comes to mind in the sector is real estate investment, as it is the most lucrative. However, as already mentioned, there are several other rewarding career paths in the industry, all offering different services to investors, buyers, renters, and leasers alike.
One career path is a real estate agency. Real estate agents are virtually indispensable in the industry as they help facilitate the purchase or sale of properties. Typically, there are two types of real estate agents, the residential real estate agent and the commercial real estate agent. The former facilitates the sale, purchase, renting, or leasing of residential properties. Usually, agents in this field specialize in specific types of properties like single-family homes, apartments, condos, vacation homes, or luxury homes. Commercial real estate agents work in the commercial sector of the industry. They help buy or lease properties for businesses. Their job is more intricate than the former as it requires sufficient knowledge of business and finance. In addition, commercial agents use data like capitalization rates, rent multipliers, and internal rates of return. Both residential and commercial real estate agents work on commission, meaning they receive a percentage of the amount of every deal they close successfully. The more deals agents close, the more money they make. Becoming a real estate agent also requires licensing and certification. Another top career path in the industry is property management. Investing in real estate can be time-consuming, meaning investors must spend substantial time managing their properties. However, plenty of passive investors cannot manage their properties either because they don’t have the expertise or cannot afford such time as they are either busy with other exploits, indisposed, or are not around. In such cases, the investor hands over the property management to someone else, a property manager. Property managers ensure the well-being of a property is intact to increase its value and maximize return on investment. They take the necessary steps to fill up the property with renters while also maintaining a good relationship with the renters by satisfying them. In addition to satisfying the tenants, property managers also ensure they accept only responsible and reliable ones by conducting a thorough background screening. Having the wrong tenants could cost the property owners many months of rent, ultimately leading to a failed investment. Becoming a property manager requires broker licensing. Property managers also need other essential qualities, chief of which is excellent customer service. Other attributes include managerial skills, marketing skills, excellent understanding of finance, facility operations, and property taxes. A home inspection is also a common career in real estate. Potential property buyers hire home inspectors to assess the property and identify faults and potential defects. These could be foundational defects, constructional problems, harmful roofing, electrical wiring, and plumbing. Home inspectors are especially beneficial to new and inexperienced investors or buyers as they can help them properly evaluate a property and avoid paying more than necessary for undesired properties. Additionally, investors also hire home inspectors to inspect their properties from time to time, making sure the properties are in good condition. A condominium, condo in short, is typically a single unit inside a multiple-unit property. Condos are found in apartment-style buildings, townhouses, or freestanding homes. High-rise buildings can have many condo units. Much smaller walk-up buildings can contain two or three condo units. While buying a condo is a great investment, several considerations are worth noting.
Compared to single-family homes, the prices of condos are often lower. In addition, many condos are equipped with most amenities, while some come with luxury facilities. A condo makes a good choice if you are at a life stage where you don’t have the ability or time to do housekeeping, as most are designed in a low-maintenance environment. On the other hand, condos come with restrictions on the use of available space and pricey monthly fees. Before putting pen to paper, understand what is included in the purchase. When buying a condo, the condo company or local homeowner’s association (HOA) will give you a copy of the covenants, conditions, restrictions, and easements (CC&Rs) applicable to your condo. CC&Rs are a piece of must-know information as they inform you about your responsibility and those of the HOA. CC&Rs also spell out any restrictions on issues such as noise levels, pets, parking, or hanging out laundry, among others. Most HOA’s rules are not optional. So be sure to read them carefully before committing yourself, as they can lead to serious legal issues when flouted. While condo amenities may be an important reason for buying, you also need to be careful about what you need, as that can drastically drive up your monthly condo maintenance fees. If, for example, you don’t swim and you get into one with this facility, be prepared for higher monthly maintenance fees, particularly as the condo ages. In new projects, condo developers are introducing unique amenities to meet the expectations of modern tenants and millennials. Such amenities include pet washing and grooming areas, lounges, outdoor TV watching, basketball courts, gardening plots, and even an outdoor observatory for stargazing. While all these are welcome features, understand their cost implications. At the bare minimum, look for a condo unit with ample visitor parking space, adequate security, 24hr concierge services, a designated locker or storage room, and possibly a barbecue area when you want to entertain on a summer day. Condos are generally found in urban settings, with many springing up in growing downtowns. Today, condos can be found in business locations near shopping outlets and grocery stores. With that convenience, however, may come congestion and more noise. If you prefer a quiet environment, check out the surrounding areas, including different day and night times to know how loud, busy, or quiet a unit is before buying. Securing a mortgage to buy a condo is usually more involving than when seeking to buy properties. Lenders and financial institutions are very careful when it comes to forwarding loans for condos, and it may be in your best interest to seek the guidance of a mortgage professional when seeking financing for your condo project. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) website maintains a list of FHA-approved condos, which can be helpful when seeking financing. Getting a conventional loan might be a big task if a prospective condo is not FHA-approved. Providing support to an organization in a well-ordered and structured manner needs the role of administrative support. The tasks that make up administrative support can differ based on the industry or size of the organization. However, the general scope of providing administrative support is office-related. For example, some popular tasks that an administrative assistant or manager frequently carries out are answering incoming calls, conversing with clients, general office management, supporting an employer, clerical work, and many other collaborative tasks. Therefore, a wide range of skills is required to become an optimal administrative assistant.
Organization is the key to providing optimal administrative support. This is because performing administrative duties means that an individual is actively alternating between different tasks at every given point in time. For example, it includes helping an employer, handling their projects, and sorting files and events. In light of these activities, there is no room for monotony or repetition. Thus, an excellent administrative assistant must build an effective system to keep everything organized. It can be a great advantage because stress is significantly reduced, and tasks are completed in due time. One trait that distinguishes an excellent administrative assistant is their ability to manage their time and their employer correctly. Due to the responsibility of deliverables and multiple projects in the organization handled by an administrative support professional, they must construe the tasks they can complete on their own time and those that require additional or external help. In addition, time management can be instrumental in preventing administrative professionals from over-exerting themselves when dealing with multiple complex tasks. A good eye for detail is needed to provide optimal administrative support. For an organization to run smoothly like a well-oiled machine, one must put efficient systems in place. For example, administrative assistants can be seen as cogs that need to properly monitor every moving part of this well-oiled machine by keeping an eye on meetings, events, clients, and projects and making sure they run their course. The ability to react quickly and promptly think outside the box must be demonstrated by optimal administrative professionals. In an organization, unforeseen circumstances, challenges, and abrupt changes will always be made during daily runs. The ability to step in and effectively control the chaos and provide efficient solutions to potential difficulties will always be in high demand. Being able to adapt rapidly to these situations is a trait that can make an individual stand out as an administrative professional. Good communication skills are also essential when providing administrative support in an organization. As an administrative professional, one must be able to appropriately interact with clients, fellow employees, and other employers. It is also essential that an administrative professional utilize different modes of communication like phones and email and can engage with other people face-to-face. Bookkeeping and management of finances can fall on an administrative professional, especially in organizations too small to have employees dedicated to these tasks. Therefore, an optimal administrative professional must be able to provide support with processing payments for clients, assembling finance reports, charging clients, creating invoices, and other similar tasks. |
AuthorStuart Hansen is a respected real estate advisor who works with a team of experienced executives with links spanning China and the Asian markets. Archives
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