Blogs

Buying a former grow-opGeneral rule: never buy a stigmatized house. But there are reasons when it makes sense to consider these less-than-desirable properties.By Romana-King-Blog | Online only, 14/03/12Tags: grow op, homebuyer, mortgage, Real Estate, Romana King, stigmaThe listing looked good. A detached three-bedroom in one of Toronto’s older west-end, working class neighbourhoods. It was a ...

How to buy an income propertyTalk of a housing bubble might send chills down the spines of speculators, but seasoned real estate investors are still snapping up houses.By Bryan Borzykowski | Online only, 15/03/12Tags: housing bubble, Housing market, Real estate investing, RetirementAneta Zimnicki doesn’t fit the profile of an aspiring real estate mogul. Five years ago she was working as an en ...

The government today announced the HST/PST transitional rules on new homes.As the province transitions back to the PST, which will replace the HST effective April 1, 2013, measures to ease the HST burden on new home buyers include:The BC New Housing Rebate threshold will increase to $850,000 from $525,000, so that more than 90% of newly built homes will now be eligible for a provincial HST re ...

HST/PPT Calculator from BCREA. This is a very useful link that helps you calculate the exact amount of Property Transfer Taxes and HST (for new properties) payable in a home buying transaction.http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/sheltertaxes/resources.htm

B.C.'s real estate market may be slowing down, but there is no sign Vancouver's sky high prices are caught up in a bubble that is about to burst, according to a new report The Central 1 Credit Union report, which was issued on Thursday, forecasts the B.C. market will slow this year and total sales will drop slightly from 2010, but prices will continue to rise an estimated 6.8 per cent next ...

Today, the Provincial Government received the results of the HST referendum. The outcome was decisive, with just under 55% of voters choosing to extinguish the HST and return the province to a system of taxation using both the PST and GST.The government says no changes will occur until at least May 2013.

Bank of Canada Maintains Key Rate at 3.00%   While the Bank of Canada announced that it is keeping its key policy rate steady, it hinted that a rate hike may be on the horizon as the Canadian economy grows closer to full capacity.   In a statement the Bank indicated that it expects "growth in Canada to re-accelerate in the second half of 2011."  The Bank estimates that the Canadian e ...

If you’ve been watching rates lately, you may be wondering if you could break your mortgage to save a pile of cash too. The prime rate hit rock bottom in 2009 at 2.25% and it’s only risen slightly, to 3.0%, since then, meaning that depending on the discount you get from your lender, you can get a closed variable rate mortgage from 2.2 to 2.25%. The best available current five-year fixed rate ...

Changes to the rules for Mortgages that take effect March 18th 2011Changes to the Rules for Government Insured Mortgages Since October 2009, the Government of Canada has been systematically tightening mortgage financing regulations for all federally regulated lenders.  The changes have been made in order to ensure that Canadians are prepared for higher interest rates in the future by not taki ...

Shelter Tax calculator for BC:Calculate the amount of shelter taxes owing on a real estate transaction in BC with this tool.http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/sheltertaxes/resources.htm