Stuck between a rock and your mom’s basement

Multiple generations living under one roof isn't a new concept, but it is on the rise in North America, especially with millennials. This housing shift comes as a result of many factors, including work challenges and the rising cost of rent in most parts of the country. In fact, millennials are starting their adult lives after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. This change has been the subject of much speculation and comparison to earlier generations, so personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq stopped by to help shine some light on why Generation Y is staying put for now.

Gen Y – commonly referred to as millennials – are people born approximately between the 1980s and the mid-1990s. Increasingly

Latest government numbers show B.C. HOME Partnership program was missing targets

For the current provincial government, it was never HOME sweet HOME.

The province announced today that it will cancel HOME — formally the B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program — a government loan program that aimed to help first-time home buyers get into the B.C. housing market. HOME provides loans of up to $37,500 or five per cent of the home's purchase price (up to a maximum of $750,000) to first-time home buyers for a down payment.  .

In announcing the cancellation, the government said the program had failed to meet expectations. When it was announced in late 2016, it was expected that 42,000 British Columbians would use the program over three

Canada’s federal housing agency says new mortgage rules intended to cool hot markets are “working better than hoped.” However, housing markets remain out of balance with recent price spikes driven by large single family homes at the expense of much needed rental stock, Evan Siddall, CEO of Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp.

“I think the evidence shows that worked out a little better than we hoped,” said Siddall. “People either bought smaller houses or found another way to find a down payment and that’s okay. We were worried about the strong housing market taking money out of the productive economy – out of business investment, and I think mission accomplished.”

Siddall acknowledged the new guidelines, known as B20, are keeping many young people out

A new B.C. “dual agency” rule banning real estate agents from working with both the buyer and seller of a property are so complex and onerous it will result in frustrated consumers and a blizzard of useless paperwork when it comes into force March 15, according to real estate agents.

The Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate announced B.C.’s new real estate consumer protection rules last November, but real estate agents say there has not been enough time to understand the shifting regulations or how they will be interpreted.

“We will not even have the forms until March,” said Damian Stathonikos, director of communications and public affairs at the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA). About five per cent of residential real estate

Many consumers will soon find their debt loads heavier now that Canada’s central bank and the country’s biggest commercial lenders have raised their benchmark rates by one-quarter percentage point.

Personal finance expert Laleh Samarbakhsh shares her advice on the best ways to take advantage of the increased rates.

The country’s biggest banks raised their prime rates after the Bank of Canada hiked its overnight lending rate earlier this month by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.25 per cent.

It’s a challenge for Canadians still struggling to cope with the record amounts of consumer debt they amassed after the 2008 financial crisis because lenders use their prime rate as a benchmark for setting some other short-term rates including

A Little Knowledge Can Save You Money

While there is no substitute for the opinion of an experienced professional, having a little knowledge about what to look for will help you make an informed choice about what action to take.

No one can predict exactly when a roof will start to fail and leak, but there are signs you can look for that show it’s time to start thinking about replacement:

Missing Granules from the Asphalt

Missing granules: viewed from the ground this looks like dark patches (or lighter patches if the shingles are black). What you are looking at are patches on the shingles where the granules have fallen off.You will also notice large amounts of granules in the gutters when you clean them. The granules themselves are not

As the real estate landscape changes, renting to own may provide a win-win for both owners and tenants.

The changes to the mortgage rules last July are making it more difficult for first time buyers to get approved for a mortgage. Other buyers may have good credit but not enough of a down payment. At the same time, landlords are looking for good tenants to rent their units. Rent-to-own may provide a win-win for both owners and tenants.

Here’s how it works:

A landlord rents the home or condominium under a basic home lease. For an extra payment, the tenant receives an option to buy the home at a later date, for a set price. Let’s say the home is worth $250,000. The parties agree the tenant will have the right, but not the obligation, to buy the

Are you looking to buy your first home? Are you short on the down payment needed to qualify for a mortgage? That money you’ve been locking away into your RRSP could make the difference. The Canadian government offers borrowers The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP), which lets you borrow funds from an RRSP to make a down payment for your first home purchase.

How does it work?

• The home has to be your principal residence.
• You can borrow as much as $25,000 from your RRSP to go toward a home purchase.
• You have to live in Canada.
• If you buy with another first time buyer you can both add to make $50,000
• You can’t take contributions to an RRSP out unless those contributions have been in your account for a minimum of 90 days.
• You pay no interest

In a hot sellers market, you may feel pressure to make some concessions to win over a seller.

When you make an offer on a home, it's standard to throw in some subjects—telling the seller that if the home isn't up to snuff for a variety of reasons, you have the right to walk away from the deal—with all of your cash in hand.

That's all hunky-dory in a buyer's market but as the housing market has moved towards a sellers one buyers are getting competitive—more and more are waiving those subjects, or protections, in order to sweeten their offer and speed the deal through to closing.

You want the house, and the seller doesn't want any hiccups. So getting those pesky contingencies out of the way is a win-win, right?

Of course not!

It's riskier to

Kamloops Real Estate Sales

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Kamloops and District Real Estate Association recorded a year-over-year increase in December 2017.

According to the Association’s statistics, home sales totaled 185 units in December 2017, up 28.5% from December 2016. This marked the best December sales figure on record, breaking the previous record for the month which had stood for 28 years.

On an annual basis, home sales totaled 3,345 units for 2017, this was up 5.2% compared to 2016. This was the second highest annual level on record after 2007.

“2017 as a whole came in fewer than 50 sales below the all-time annual record set a decade earlier, and with record level momentum heading into the New Year,” said