Congrats, you’ve made the wise decision of buying a home. Purchasing real estate offers many benefits – forced savings, a tax-sheltered long-term investment and the ability to turn your home into an income source by renting it out, to name a few. With almost 70 percent of Canadians choosing to own their homes instead of […]

Do you find that you’re always strapped for cash? I’m willing to bet that you don’t have a budget. A budget show you how much money you have coming in and going out. It can help you break bad spending habits. Not having a budget is a lot like driving a car without a fuel […]

New Year’s, it’s a time of celebration and reflection. Celebration for all that we’ve accomplished in the year. Reflection for positive changes we could make to ensure that next year is even better. A popular annual tradition is to set New Year’s Resolutions. Popular resolutions include getting in better shape, quitting smoking and better managing […]

To help keep housing affordable in the province, the B.C. government is offering an interest-free loan to first-time homebuyers. The B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program will provide property virgins with a loan of up to $37,500. This amounts a maximum five percent of the purchase price or half the down payment. The […]

It’s hard to find a story on real estate these days that doesn’t bring up housing affordability. We’re constantly reminded that the average home in Toronto and Vancouver sells for over $1 million. If I was a first-time homebuyer, I’d feel like homeownership is impossible. The good news is that couldn’t be further from the […]

Another month, another housing market change. On November 30th another new set of mortgage rules came into effect. This follows the first set of mortgage rules changes introduced October 17. The second round of mortgage rules can be a little more complicated. To better understand them, it helps to first know how non-bank (monoline) lenders […]

How would you like to meet lots of interesting people and burn your mortgage years soon? Have you ever considered being an Airbnb host? In Vancouver, where the average price of a detached home goes for over $1 million, homeowners are increasingly turning to the sharing economy to help subsidize their mortgage. A recent study […]

The Ontario government hinted last week it would offer something “small” to first-time homebuyers in its fall economic statement and it didn’t disappoint. On Monday, the Liberals announced that starting January 1, 2017, the maximum provincial land transfer tax rebate for first-time homebuyers will double from $2,000 to $4,000. If you’re buying a home in […]

Last week CBC Marketplace aired an eye-opening episode on the wild, world of Toronto real estate. In the episode entitled, “Real estate: How some agents break the rules,” the show’s journalists went undercover with hidden cameras to investigate real estate agents for wrongdoing. And what they found was downright shocking. Is the Deck Stacked Against […]

Besides the U.S. election, another popular topic of discussion at dinner parties these days is housing. There’s no easy way to put it: Canada is a country obsessed with real estate. We love spending money on home renovations – whether it’s granite counter-tops or stainless steel appliances – and we like our homes big. Canadians have […]