Telegraph Journal March 27, 2014



FOR RENT: HAUNTED APARTMENT
APRIL CUNNINGHAM TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
   SAINT JOHN � There are some tenants who steer away from renting
apartments where eerie spirits lurk from centuries past.
   And there are others who might embrace it.
   Jason Fillmore is taking a gamble that his latest online advertisement
might lure the latter: people who aren�t afraid of sharing their digs
with a ghost or two.
   �Why not?�said Fillmore, chief operating officer and partner with 3D
Property Management. �Some people are into that.�
   In an effort to stand out from the 900 Kijiji postings for apartments
in Saint John, Fillmore posted an advertisement for a one-bedroom unit
on Clarendon Street in the north end, blatantly boasting the presence
of ghosts.
   �It�s haunted, but the rent is great!� the posting reads.
   Click on, and you find that the $600 unit features include a
security-locked entrance, laundry, a fridge, stove and a ghost
(followed by a winking emoticon).
   While Fillmore has no actual proof of the supernatural in the
apartment, he says it�s not out of the question.
   �It could be haunted. It�s an older building; maybe it is,� he said,
estimating the building owned by people who live out of the province to
be at least 100 years old.�Saint John is an old city, and there are
lots of ghost stories.�
   So far there have been no bites, but the ad has led to viewings and
rentals of other properties, he said.
   Fillmore�s creative marketing is the latest in a string of ads he has
posted � including one appealing to hypochondriacs who might want to
live near the hospital � as a way to break through the flooded rental
market.
   The ploy is not unlike one used by real estate agent Jake Palmer, who
posted a �not haunted� sign � along with many others � at a home that
had been listed on the market on nearby Douglas Avenue for several
months two years ago.
   The most recent statistics from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing
Corporation showed Saint John�s October vacancy rate at 11.4 per cent,
a number that has been steadily climbing over recent years and stands
higher than the vacancy rates in Fredericton and Moncton.
   �If you go on Kijiji, every single ad looks the same,� Fillmore said.�I
guess the whole idea was pull their attention, pull them in. Then I�ve
got them.�
   Claude Gautreau, a senior market analyst with the CMHC in Moncton, said
Saint John�s vacancy rates have been trending higher than those of
other provincial cities for a few years now, possibly because of
outmigration or lack of significant population growth.
   While high vacancy rates create a more difficult situation for property
owners trying to make a return on their investment, they make for a
renter�s market, he said.
   �If you want to live in a particular area of the city, or if you want a
particular kind of unit, you have a much better chance of finding what
you�re looking for,� he said.
   The perfect situation for both renters and landlords is a�balanced
rate,� when both sides can meet their objectives, he said. In Saint
John, such a rate dates back to 2000, when the average vacancy rate was
about six per cent.
   Gautreau said he doesn�t expect any big changes in the city�s vacancy
rate as new statistics are released in June, with only a slight
increase or decrease on the horizon.
   As for Fillmore, he�ll continue to make the most of the challenging
market.
   �It depends on how you look at it,� Fillmore said.�You could get into
what the CMHC is saying with the high vacancy, or you can just make it
work.�
   For him, it all comes down to marketing, advertising and offering good
service rather than gimmicks such as a month�s free rent that might end
only in high tenant turnover.
   The vacancy rate for units in the 45 buildings his company manages is
actually closer to eight per cent, he said.
   �So we�re doing better than average.�




Mayor Mel Norton Dropped in to meet with us. Had a great conversation about Saint John and
the opportunities on the horizon.

September 26,2013





3D Property Management receives Certificate as finalists for the Outstanding Business Awards.



August 23, 2013




3D Property Management was announced as a finalist for the Saint John Board Of Trades Outstanding Business Awards "Up and coming Entrepreneurs" category .


Telegragh Journal August 23,2013





SAINT JOHN � A local developer had nearly 40 people from out-of-town
express investment interest over the past four months.

Some came from as far as Hong Kong and the Middle East region, and five
have already inked deals of some sort.

The owner of 3D Property Management Inc., Matt Doherty, said the scale of
his operations have about doubled as a result.

The investors came amidst a summer of low housing starts, but also at the
tail of a $12-billion pipeline announcement that stakeholders say renewed
regional economic confidence.

Saint John Real Estate Board president Jason Stephen added the investment
influx is not surprising given the current housing resale market.

�I think we can expect stable growth,� he said. �I don�t think prices are
going to go through the roof or anything, but what we�re finding is that
these sort of things can lead to Saint John being a good place to invest.

The pipeline project, spearheaded by the Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.,
seeks to transport Alberta crude to refineries in Saint John and is
already promising 2,000 construction jobs.

But work has yet to start on the pipeline which is slated to be competed
in 2018. While confidence is accumulating, the current construction market
is still on the decline.

CMHC market analyst Jason Beaton said the low housing starts for July �
actual starts went down to 67 from 112 � will likely continue until at
least 2014.

�The housing market is still declining for new house,� he said. �A lot of
it is from the demand that was built up to about 2008, and as such, we�ve
seen the market continue to decline from its peak in 2008.

�We�re predicting that the market is going to continue the same trend for
2013 and 2014.�

But Doherty is optimistic about the influx of investment, at least in the
long run.

�I�m hoping that this is a longer-term trend where people do see the
possibility of Saint John, and that�s why they�re getting in right now,�
he said. �Our prices have not been inflated.

�They want to get in now in the hopes that they will see the increase over
the next couple of years.�

Doherty added the current slump will not likely remain over a long period.

�If you look at the Statistics Canada numbers, we have the highest vacancy
rates among the 35 census metropolitan areas they measure,� he said.
�Today, it�s not a good market, but if anybody has a little bit of a
foresight, if they�re looking a little down the road � there are a lot of
cool things that are going to be happening.�

PotashCorp is preparing a $1.67-billion mine near Sussex online by 2015
and the city is expecting a $100-million development deal this year.

�When you see where (the city) is today, compared to where it can be in
three, four, five years, there�s a huge upside,� said Doherty.

�You�ll get a better return on your investment on Saint John today than
you are in any other market if you�re looking at a longer term strategy.�


July 2013



3D Property Management was Nominated for the Saint John Board Of trades "Outstanding Business Awards"