Southern Ontario Home Buying Investor In The Sault

Lauri Hill knew the single-family home she had been renting on Pardee Avenue had been sold in June, but for weeks, she says she had no idea who its new owner was. Left in the dark, Hill says she and her grown son, Keith, finally found a lead after receiving a deed to the property and contacting the new owner.
“We didn’t know exactly who owned the property — I had to hunt them down,” Hill said. “I had to go to the town hall to find out who I had to pay rent to, because I didn’t know.” Within 24 hours of making contact, Hill received an email on August 4 from the property’s new owner informing her that she had received an N4 notice for non-payment of rent. She was shocked. “They threatened me with eviction because I hadn’t paid in the previous months, but they never bothered to tell me – no one,” Hill said, the frustration evident in her voice. “Apparently, a lawyer had to send me a package.” According to documents obtained by SooToday, Hill’s rental home was purchased in early June for $170,000 by a Hamilton-based company numbered: 14034686 Canada Inc. The same numbered company from southern Ontario has foreclosed on six other homes in Sault Ste. Maria, the records show. But these six qualities are only the tip of the iceberg. SooToday confirmed that the same director of 14034686 Canada Inc. — a businessman named Nels Moxness — is also a director of 24 other numbered companies that own dozens of homes in Sault Ste. Mary. In total, his companies have purchased 129 properties, most of which are in and around the downtown core. According to his LinkedIn profile, Moxness is the head of Velux Canada, an Oakville, Ont.-based supplier of skylights and skylights, as well as president of the Danish Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is also one of two directors of Crescendo Property Management (CPM), a Hamilton-based company that manages a number of residential and commercial properties across Ontario. Last fall, CPM hired a local property management company to perform work on some of the properties owned by Moxness numbered companies. Odd Job Jacks was one of the Sault contractors hired by the local property manager to do some snow removal and landscaping. Kurtis McDermid, president of Odd Job Jacks — and Ward 3 candidate in this year’s city election — says the vast majority of properties his company has worked on are in the downtown core, and some of them appear to be vacant. “Some of them have been boarded up, some of them look like they’re empty and unmaintained even before they bought them,” McDermid said. “I mean, it’s definitely on the lower end of households. They don’t buy nice properties by any means.” As SooToday recently revealed in a series of articles, a growing number of residences in Sault Ste. Marie is collected by Southern Ontario investors. While some properties are rented to tenants, others are vacant and boarded up, prompting numerous complaints to the city’s bylaws department. McDermid said he is concerned about the influx of out-of-town property owners and plans to highlight the issue during the municipal election campaign. “They’re manipulating our local market and it’s not going well for everybody,” McDermid said. “[Properties are] to be grabbed and rents are going crazy, house prices are going crazy. “These houses aren’t going to anybody, they’re just sitting there.” When SooToday reached out to Nels Moxness for comment, an attorney for St. Catharines answered for him. In his email, Josh McDougall suggested that his client is not the same Nels Moxness who owns property here. “I can state that my client is not listed on any property title in Sault Ste. Maria,” he wrote. “Given these facts, you are requested to cease and desist from contacting Mr. Moxness, his known or alleged business and personal contacts in an attempt to contact him, and not to include his name or any unsubstantiated and/or unsubstantiated statements, materials or ‘facts’ in any publication,” the email continued. SooToday has confirmed that McDougall’s client is indeed the same Nels Moxness whose numbered companies have homes in the Sault. The publicly available federal incorporation documents for both Velux and some of the numbered companies list the same Burlington address for Nels Moxness, while the incorporation documents for Crescendo Property Management and all of the numbered companies show the same registered office address: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. Although Moxness declined to comment for this article, his co-principal at Crescendo Property Management — a relative named Mathew Moxness — responded to an interview request. He told SooToday that he disagrees with McDermid’s claim that many of their properties are intentionally vacant. “We’re not looking to do that at all. I don’t think it would be beneficial at all to have vacant properties,” Mathew Moxness said. “I can only speak for us, but that is not our intention at all. We seek to provide good homes for people, and often times, affordable housing, whether it’s for newcomers, or for these agencies. “We’re certainly not looking to have empty houses,” he continued. “If anything, they create more problems by being empty.” Last year, Mathew Moxness issued a press release announcing his company’s expansion into Northern Ontario, including Sault Ste. Marie, with plans to target “aging and underperforming properties” and “revitalize” them. “We think it’s really important to preserve the unique value of the aging offering while also providing tenants with modern suites,” Moxness said in this press release. “We plan to follow suit in underperforming markets across the country.” Moxness told SooToday that CPM owns and manages a number of properties in the Sault, but would not disclose how many. When asked if there is a timeline for the properties to be fixed up and rented out, Moxness says each Sault property managed by CPM has a “different story.” “We had threatened property managers with an axe, for example. So those particular areas come with their own challenges – in a case like this where you have to wait for the landlord-tenant board and the police and so on, it could take longer,” he said. “So the ball isn’t always in our court, and we try to work with the city and the tenants as much as we can to keep things generally in a good place, but it’s often difficult depending on who they are. Like that guy with the ax was a really unique scenario — they had guns in there, they had axes in there.” At one point, Moxness says, CPM even hired a private security company to patrol the properties. “We’ve been broken into quite a few times, so we’re still trying to fix it and keep people out,” he said. “We’ve resorted to boarding things up or putting bars on the windows until we can get people in there.” Moxness adds that Crescendo is currently looking at a “couple building around town” that would fall under the affordable housing category. “We’re working with city officials to get it planned and implemented in the next short period of time,” he said. “So it won’t just be the existing stock being refurbished, it will be an enhancement with the development of new towers. It should be good for everyone in the city and help the vacancy and rent costs be at least a little bit more for people to choose from. “I think that would help, at least for people who want to rent.” Lauri Hill isn’t so convinced. Although he’s paid in full and no longer under threat of eviction, he worries about the influx of out-of-town landlords and what the trend means for the renters who call the Sault home. “I don’t know where to turn,” he said. “Someone in that mighty office downtown is supposed to be paying attention to what’s going on. People buy all these houses and don’t give a damn — about the people who live here.”

title: “Southern Ontario Home Buying Investor In The Sault Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-20” author: “Allison Buckhannon”

Lauri Hill knew the single-family home she had been renting on Pardee Avenue had been sold in June, but for weeks, she says she had no idea who its new owner was. Left in the dark, Hill says she and her grown son, Keith, finally found a lead after receiving a deed to the property and contacting the new owner.
“We didn’t know exactly who owned the property — I had to hunt them down,” Hill said. “I had to go to the town hall to find out who I had to pay rent to, because I didn’t know.” Within 24 hours of making contact, Hill received an email on August 4 from the property’s new owner informing her that she had received an N4 notice for non-payment of rent. She was shocked. “They threatened me with eviction because I hadn’t paid in the previous months, but they never bothered to tell me – no one,” Hill said, the frustration evident in her voice. “Apparently, a lawyer had to send me a package.” According to documents obtained by SooToday, Hill’s rental home was purchased in early June for $170,000 by a Hamilton-based company numbered: 14034686 Canada Inc. The same numbered company from southern Ontario has foreclosed on six other homes in Sault Ste. Maria, the records show. But these six qualities are only the tip of the iceberg. SooToday confirmed that the same director of 14034686 Canada Inc. — a businessman named Nels Moxness — is also a director of 24 other numbered companies that own dozens of homes in Sault Ste. Mary. In total, his companies have purchased 129 properties, most of which are in and around the downtown core. According to his LinkedIn profile, Moxness is the head of Velux Canada, an Oakville, Ont.-based supplier of skylights and skylights, as well as president of the Danish Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is also one of two directors of Crescendo Property Management (CPM), a Hamilton-based company that manages a number of residential and commercial properties across Ontario. Last fall, CPM hired a local property management company to perform work on some of the properties owned by Moxness numbered companies. Odd Job Jacks was one of the Sault contractors hired by the local property manager to do some snow removal and landscaping. Kurtis McDermid, president of Odd Job Jacks — and Ward 3 candidate in this year’s city election — says the vast majority of properties his company has worked on are in the downtown core, and some of them appear to be vacant. “Some of them have been boarded up, some of them look like they’re empty and unmaintained even before they bought them,” McDermid said. “I mean, it’s definitely on the lower end of households. They don’t buy nice properties by any means.” As SooToday recently revealed in a series of articles, a growing number of residences in Sault Ste. Marie is collected by Southern Ontario investors. While some properties are rented to tenants, others are vacant and boarded up, prompting numerous complaints to the city’s bylaws department. McDermid said he is concerned about the influx of out-of-town property owners and plans to highlight the issue during the municipal election campaign. “They’re manipulating our local market and it’s not going well for everybody,” McDermid said. “[Properties are] to be grabbed and rents are going crazy, house prices are going crazy. “These houses aren’t going to anybody, they’re just sitting there.” When SooToday reached out to Nels Moxness for comment, an attorney for St. Catharines answered for him. In his email, Josh McDougall suggested that his client is not the same Nels Moxness who owns property here. “I can state that my client is not listed on any property title in Sault Ste. Maria,” he wrote. “Given these facts, you are requested to cease and desist from contacting Mr. Moxness, his known or alleged business and personal contacts in an attempt to contact him, and not to include his name or any unsubstantiated and/or unsubstantiated statements, materials or ‘facts’ in any publication,” the email continued. SooToday has confirmed that McDougall’s client is indeed the same Nels Moxness whose numbered companies have homes in the Sault. The publicly available federal incorporation documents for both Velux and some of the numbered companies list the same Burlington address for Nels Moxness, while the incorporation documents for Crescendo Property Management and all of the numbered companies show the same registered office address: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. Although Moxness declined to comment for this article, his co-principal at Crescendo Property Management — a relative named Mathew Moxness — responded to an interview request. He told SooToday that he disagrees with McDermid’s claim that many of their properties are intentionally vacant. “We’re not looking to do that at all. I don’t think it would be beneficial at all to have vacant properties,” Mathew Moxness said. “I can only speak for us, but that is not our intention at all. We seek to provide good homes for people, and often times, affordable housing, whether it’s for newcomers, or for these agencies. “We’re certainly not looking to have empty houses,” he continued. “If anything, they create more problems by being empty.” Last year, Mathew Moxness issued a press release announcing his company’s expansion into Northern Ontario, including Sault Ste. Marie, with plans to target “aging and underperforming properties” and “revitalize” them. “We think it’s really important to preserve the unique value of the aging offering while also providing tenants with modern suites,” Moxness said in this press release. “We plan to follow suit in underperforming markets across the country.” Moxness told SooToday that CPM owns and manages a number of properties in the Sault, but would not disclose how many. When asked if there is a timeline for the properties to be fixed up and rented out, Moxness says each Sault property managed by CPM has a “different story.” “We had threatened property managers with an axe, for example. So those particular areas come with their own challenges – in a case like this where you have to wait for the landlord-tenant board and the police and so on, it could take longer,” he said. “So the ball isn’t always in our court, and we try to work with the city and the tenants as much as we can to keep things generally in a good place, but it’s often difficult depending on who they are. Like that guy with the ax was a really unique scenario — they had guns in there, they had axes in there.” At one point, Moxness says, CPM even hired a private security company to patrol the properties. “We’ve been broken into quite a few times, so we’re still trying to fix it and keep people out,” he said. “We’ve resorted to boarding things up or putting bars on the windows until we can get people in there.” Moxness adds that Crescendo is currently looking at a “couple building around town” that would fall under the affordable housing category. “We’re working with city officials to get it planned and implemented in the next short period of time,” he said. “So it won’t just be the existing stock being refurbished, it will be an enhancement with the development of new towers. It should be good for everyone in the city and help the vacancy and rent costs be at least a little bit more for people to choose from. “I think that would help, at least for people who want to rent.” Lauri Hill isn’t so convinced. Although he’s paid in full and no longer under threat of eviction, he worries about the influx of out-of-town landlords and what the trend means for the renters who call the Sault home. “I don’t know where to turn,” he said. “Someone in that mighty office downtown is supposed to be paying attention to what’s going on. People buy all these houses and don’t give a damn — about the people who live here.”

title: “Southern Ontario Home Buying Investor In The Sault Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-26” author: “Nellie Berry”

Lauri Hill knew the single-family home she had been renting on Pardee Avenue had been sold in June, but for weeks, she says she had no idea who its new owner was. Left in the dark, Hill says she and her grown son, Keith, finally found a lead after receiving a deed to the property and contacting the new owner.
“We didn’t know exactly who owned the property — I had to hunt them down,” Hill said. “I had to go to the town hall to find out who I had to pay rent to, because I didn’t know.” Within 24 hours of making contact, Hill received an email on August 4 from the property’s new owner informing her that she had received an N4 notice for non-payment of rent. She was shocked. “They threatened me with eviction because I hadn’t paid in the previous months, but they never bothered to tell me – no one,” Hill said, the frustration evident in her voice. “Apparently, a lawyer had to send me a package.” According to documents obtained by SooToday, Hill’s rental home was purchased in early June for $170,000 by a Hamilton-based company numbered: 14034686 Canada Inc. The same numbered company from southern Ontario has foreclosed on six other homes in Sault Ste. Maria, the records show. But these six qualities are only the tip of the iceberg. SooToday confirmed that the same director of 14034686 Canada Inc. — a businessman named Nels Moxness — is also a director of 24 other numbered companies that own dozens of homes in Sault Ste. Mary. In total, his companies have purchased 129 properties, most of which are in and around the downtown core. According to his LinkedIn profile, Moxness is the head of Velux Canada, an Oakville, Ont.-based supplier of skylights and skylights, as well as president of the Danish Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is also one of two directors of Crescendo Property Management (CPM), a Hamilton-based company that manages a number of residential and commercial properties across Ontario. Last fall, CPM hired a local property management company to perform work on some of the properties owned by Moxness numbered companies. Odd Job Jacks was one of the Sault contractors hired by the local property manager to do some snow removal and landscaping. Kurtis McDermid, president of Odd Job Jacks — and Ward 3 candidate in this year’s city election — says the vast majority of properties his company has worked on are in the downtown core, and some of them appear to be vacant. “Some of them have been boarded up, some of them look like they’re empty and unmaintained even before they bought them,” McDermid said. “I mean, it’s definitely on the lower end of households. They don’t buy nice properties by any means.” As SooToday recently revealed in a series of articles, a growing number of residences in Sault Ste. Marie is collected by Southern Ontario investors. While some properties are rented to tenants, others are vacant and boarded up, prompting numerous complaints to the city’s bylaws department. McDermid said he is concerned about the influx of out-of-town property owners and plans to highlight the issue during the municipal election campaign. “They’re manipulating our local market and it’s not going well for everybody,” McDermid said. “[Properties are] to be grabbed and rents are going crazy, house prices are going crazy. “These houses aren’t going to anybody, they’re just sitting there.” When SooToday reached out to Nels Moxness for comment, an attorney for St. Catharines answered for him. In his email, Josh McDougall suggested that his client is not the same Nels Moxness who owns property here. “I can state that my client is not listed on any property title in Sault Ste. Maria,” he wrote. “Given these facts, you are requested to cease and desist from contacting Mr. Moxness, his known or alleged business and personal contacts in an attempt to contact him, and not to include his name or any unsubstantiated and/or unsubstantiated statements, materials or ‘facts’ in any publication,” the email continued. SooToday has confirmed that McDougall’s client is indeed the same Nels Moxness whose numbered companies have homes in the Sault. The publicly available federal incorporation documents for both Velux and some of the numbered companies list the same Burlington address for Nels Moxness, while the incorporation documents for Crescendo Property Management and all of the numbered companies show the same registered office address: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. Although Moxness declined to comment for this article, his co-principal at Crescendo Property Management — a relative named Mathew Moxness — responded to an interview request. He told SooToday that he disagrees with McDermid’s claim that many of their properties are intentionally vacant. “We’re not looking to do that at all. I don’t think it would be beneficial at all to have vacant properties,” Mathew Moxness said. “I can only speak for us, but that is not our intention at all. We seek to provide good homes for people, and often times, affordable housing, whether it’s for newcomers, or for these agencies. “We’re certainly not looking to have empty houses,” he continued. “If anything, they create more problems by being empty.” Last year, Mathew Moxness issued a press release announcing his company’s expansion into Northern Ontario, including Sault Ste. Marie, with plans to target “aging and underperforming properties” and “revitalize” them. “We think it’s really important to preserve the unique value of the aging offering while also providing tenants with modern suites,” Moxness said in this press release. “We plan to follow suit in underperforming markets across the country.” Moxness told SooToday that CPM owns and manages a number of properties in the Sault, but would not disclose how many. When asked if there is a timeline for the properties to be fixed up and rented out, Moxness says each Sault property managed by CPM has a “different story.” “We had threatened property managers with an axe, for example. So those particular areas come with their own challenges – in a case like this where you have to wait for the landlord-tenant board and the police and so on, it could take longer,” he said. “So the ball isn’t always in our court, and we try to work with the city and the tenants as much as we can to keep things generally in a good place, but it’s often difficult depending on who they are. Like that guy with the ax was a really unique scenario — they had guns in there, they had axes in there.” At one point, Moxness says, CPM even hired a private security company to patrol the properties. “We’ve been broken into quite a few times, so we’re still trying to fix it and keep people out,” he said. “We’ve resorted to boarding things up or putting bars on the windows until we can get people in there.” Moxness adds that Crescendo is currently looking at a “couple building around town” that would fall under the affordable housing category. “We’re working with city officials to get it planned and implemented in the next short period of time,” he said. “So it won’t just be the existing stock being refurbished, it will be an enhancement with the development of new towers. It should be good for everyone in the city and help the vacancy and rent costs be at least a little bit more for people to choose from. “I think that would help, at least for people who want to rent.” Lauri Hill isn’t so convinced. Although he’s paid in full and no longer under threat of eviction, he worries about the influx of out-of-town landlords and what the trend means for the renters who call the Sault home. “I don’t know where to turn,” he said. “Someone in that mighty office downtown is supposed to be paying attention to what’s going on. People buy all these houses and don’t give a damn — about the people who live here.”

title: “Southern Ontario Home Buying Investor In The Sault Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-24” author: “Elsie Rothenberg”

Lauri Hill knew the single-family home she had been renting on Pardee Avenue had been sold in June, but for weeks, she says she had no idea who its new owner was. Left in the dark, Hill says she and her grown son, Keith, finally found a lead after receiving a deed to the property and contacting the new owner.
“We didn’t know exactly who owned the property — I had to hunt them down,” Hill said. “I had to go to the town hall to find out who I had to pay rent to, because I didn’t know.” Within 24 hours of making contact, Hill received an email on August 4 from the property’s new owner informing her that she had received an N4 notice for non-payment of rent. She was shocked. “They threatened me with eviction because I hadn’t paid in the previous months, but they never bothered to tell me – no one,” Hill said, the frustration evident in her voice. “Apparently, a lawyer had to send me a package.” According to documents obtained by SooToday, Hill’s rental home was purchased in early June for $170,000 by a Hamilton-based company numbered: 14034686 Canada Inc. The same numbered company from southern Ontario has foreclosed on six other homes in Sault Ste. Maria, the records show. But these six qualities are only the tip of the iceberg. SooToday confirmed that the same director of 14034686 Canada Inc. — a businessman named Nels Moxness — is also a director of 24 other numbered companies that own dozens of homes in Sault Ste. Mary. In total, his companies have purchased 129 properties, most of which are in and around the downtown core. According to his LinkedIn profile, Moxness is the head of Velux Canada, an Oakville, Ont.-based supplier of skylights and skylights, as well as president of the Danish Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He is also one of two directors of Crescendo Property Management (CPM), a Hamilton-based company that manages a number of residential and commercial properties across Ontario. Last fall, CPM hired a local property management company to perform work on some of the properties owned by Moxness numbered companies. Odd Job Jacks was one of the Sault contractors hired by the local property manager to do some snow removal and landscaping. Kurtis McDermid, president of Odd Job Jacks — and Ward 3 candidate in this year’s city election — says the vast majority of properties his company has worked on are in the downtown core, and some of them appear to be vacant. “Some of them have been boarded up, some of them look like they’re empty and unmaintained even before they bought them,” McDermid said. “I mean, it’s definitely on the lower end of households. They don’t buy nice properties by any means.” As SooToday recently revealed in a series of articles, a growing number of residences in Sault Ste. Marie is collected by Southern Ontario investors. While some properties are rented to tenants, others are vacant and boarded up, prompting numerous complaints to the city’s bylaws department. McDermid said he is concerned about the influx of out-of-town property owners and plans to highlight the issue during the municipal election campaign. “They’re manipulating our local market and it’s not going well for everybody,” McDermid said. “[Properties are] to be grabbed and rents are going crazy, house prices are going crazy. “These houses aren’t going to anybody, they’re just sitting there.” When SooToday reached out to Nels Moxness for comment, an attorney for St. Catharines answered for him. In his email, Josh McDougall suggested that his client is not the same Nels Moxness who owns property here. “I can state that my client is not listed on any property title in Sault Ste. Maria,” he wrote. “Given these facts, you are requested to cease and desist from contacting Mr. Moxness, his known or alleged business and personal contacts in an attempt to contact him, and not to include his name or any unsubstantiated and/or unsubstantiated statements, materials or ‘facts’ in any publication,” the email continued. SooToday has confirmed that McDougall’s client is indeed the same Nels Moxness whose numbered companies have homes in the Sault. The publicly available federal incorporation documents for both Velux and some of the numbered companies list the same Burlington address for Nels Moxness, while the incorporation documents for Crescendo Property Management and all of the numbered companies show the same registered office address: 1 Hunter St. E. in Hamilton. Although Moxness declined to comment for this article, his co-principal at Crescendo Property Management — a relative named Mathew Moxness — responded to an interview request. He told SooToday that he disagrees with McDermid’s claim that many of their properties are intentionally vacant. “We’re not looking to do that at all. I don’t think it would be beneficial at all to have vacant properties,” Mathew Moxness said. “I can only speak for us, but that is not our intention at all. We seek to provide good homes for people, and often times, affordable housing, whether it’s for newcomers, or for these agencies. “We’re certainly not looking to have empty houses,” he continued. “If anything, they create more problems by being empty.” Last year, Mathew Moxness issued a press release announcing his company’s expansion into Northern Ontario, including Sault Ste. Marie, with plans to target “aging and underperforming properties” and “revitalize” them. “We think it’s really important to preserve the unique value of the aging offering while also providing tenants with modern suites,” Moxness said in this press release. “We plan to follow suit in underperforming markets across the country.” Moxness told SooToday that CPM owns and manages a number of properties in the Sault, but would not disclose how many. When asked if there is a timeline for the properties to be fixed up and rented out, Moxness says each Sault property managed by CPM has a “different story.” “We had threatened property managers with an axe, for example. So those particular areas come with their own challenges – in a case like this where you have to wait for the landlord-tenant board and the police and so on, it could take longer,” he said. “So the ball isn’t always in our court, and we try to work with the city and the tenants as much as we can to keep things generally in a good place, but it’s often difficult depending on who they are. Like that guy with the ax was a really unique scenario — they had guns in there, they had axes in there.” At one point, Moxness says, CPM even hired a private security company to patrol the properties. “We’ve been broken into quite a few times, so we’re still trying to fix it and keep people out,” he said. “We’ve resorted to boarding things up or putting bars on the windows until we can get people in there.” Moxness adds that Crescendo is currently looking at a “couple building around town” that would fall under the affordable housing category. “We’re working with city officials to get it planned and implemented in the next short period of time,” he said. “So it won’t just be the existing stock being refurbished, it will be an enhancement with the development of new towers. It should be good for everyone in the city and help the vacancy and rent costs be at least a little bit more for people to choose from. “I think that would help, at least for people who want to rent.” Lauri Hill isn’t so convinced. Although he’s paid in full and no longer under threat of eviction, he worries about the influx of out-of-town landlords and what the trend means for the renters who call the Sault home. “I don’t know where to turn,” he said. “Someone in that mighty office downtown is supposed to be paying attention to what’s going on. People buy all these houses and don’t give a damn — about the people who live here.”