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Last night, CityNews ran a story about how to convert a basement into a separate apartment for rental purposes. I've always been intrigued with basement apartments as I felt that they would be a nice option for extended family to use as guest suite. I applaud them for their recognition that it may be best to speak to an accountant or financial adviser about possible tax credits since it is always best to get advice from qualified professionals.
However, they did not mention speaking to legal professionals. Other than the permits, which they mention, there is one other issue that ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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While browsing the Internet today, I found a service called LawMail which is supposed to be an email service targeted towards lawyers with special features. I haven't tried it, so I can't really comment on the service, but it looks to be a knockoff based on GMail. If anybody is interested in giving it a try, let me know the results.
[via Download Squad] ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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Although I'm a little late to the discussion on this, but the Financial Post has published an article discussing the possibility of allowing law firms to become publicly traded entities. The author makes some very good points in this article and it's worth a read. The short version is that, with the removal of the restriction that ownership of the firm must be held by lawyers in the UK and Australia, the author views that allowing law firms to go public is generally a good thing.
I'm not as concerned about the situation cited by the author about "Wal-Mart offerring ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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I know that I haven't been posting a lot of more serious articles for the average purchaser or seller lately, and it's mostly because with the market the way it is, I haven't seen anything particularly new or interesting that dictates an article. Instead, I've been looking for inspiration elsewhere. While I patiently await to see if my last post shows any readership, I might as well post something more serious, even if it hasn't been confirmed that someone is actually out there reading it.
While awaiting the results of my last post, I began to browse the MLS listings to see ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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I remember watching this routine on Late Night with Conan O"Brien where Conan and his then sidekick Andy would just do whatever they felt like because they thought nobody was watching. Obviously, since there was a live audience, it was a scripted routine.
I've always wanted to do something like that, but was always afraid of reprecussions in the oft chance that someone actually was reading. I've heard from friends and clients that they occassionally read my blog (sometimes through Facebook). I even had one comment that said that my post had been picked up by Google News, which apparently means ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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I was looking on the Internet the other day and came across this somewhat older article about how a business was forced to close after a bridge collapse. While it is common sense to most small business owners that something could happen that would force them out of business, it seems unfair that the government does not provide support to local, small businesses, especially when the apparent cause of their loss results from a faulty bridge built by government contractors.
In a time when governments are just handing over money to large, American automakers, there should be some support ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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Belkin, a manufacturer of networking and computer products, has had to issue an apology for providing reviews of a product that were paid for by the company. A system offered by Amazon.com called the Mechanical Turk paid individuals $0.65 for each review that they posted.
Like many consumers, I was upset about the fraudulent behaviour of the company, but then I started thinking more about it. When researching products online, many people, including myself, will search the Internet for reviews. By using this Mechanical Turk system, it can skew the reviews by making a defective or substandard product look good. It ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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Even though I don't think anybody is really reading this, I've made views about Windows Vista pretty clear before. To further prove the point, CNet has installed the next version of Windows, Windows 7, on a netbook. For those who are unfamiliar, a netbook is a small computer with typically less powerful components and is focused more on Internet use. Technology-wise, the performance should be about in-line with a mainstream computer from about two years ago.
While this version of Windows is in beta, meaning that it is not completely finished, CNet, along with many of their readers, are ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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It's a simple rule that many people can't seem to follow. I've said it before that many people seem addicted to debt and expect to borrow against everything to live in the moment. Ordinarily, I see people refinancing with mortgages to consolidate their debt, but I've seen other things, such as giving up a business as security, offering to allow wages to be garnished in advance, and secured lending with an owned automobile as collateral. Why can't people just save up for things and buy them when they have enough saved?
I was playing poker with several friends who held MBAs and ... |
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| Posted by Brian Kwan at | | | |
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