10 Homebuyer Tips For Making The Most Out Of An Open House

The open house is one of the best resources a home buyer can take advantage of

It’s a great way to go check out a house that you might be interested, ask some questions and inspect both the interior and exterior in person without feeling any kind of pressure or obligation from the seller or their agent. The following are a few tips that will help you get the most out of an open house:

1. Use an Agent to hold the houses open exclusively to you

The best open houses are the ones you choose, based on your price, your criteria, and  a selection you have made with an agent. Instead of following open house signs that go on forever that lead you to a home way out of your price range, or not in the right school zone, or without the right number of…

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4 Questions to Ask Before Downsizing to a Condo

Downsizing to a condo in Kamloops

There’s a big trend in real estate right now, and it will continue for the foreseeable future. This trend is for empty-nesters and baby-boomers to sell the large home with the goal of downsizing to a condo. Many owners are finding themselves in 3, 4 and more bedroom homes, the kids have moved out, and they no longer have the desire to maintain a large home where they are only using a small part of.

But condo living can be a major lifestyle change, both an extremely positive change for most but can also be a huge disappointment for some. Before taking the decision on downsizing to a condo, you owe it to yourself to answer these 4 questions to see if condo living makes sense for you.

See our search box for condos…

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Renting Versus Buying: What Makes More Sense Financially?

Many first-time buyers are debating whether they should continue to rent or should they buy. It’s also a consideration for those entering retirement age that are thinking of downsizing out of their home to a condo or apartment. But what makes more sense to rent or to buy? There are some big advantages to rent in certain situations and some even bigger advantages to buy a home.

Answer these 7 questions to know for sure if you should buy or if you should rent.

 See our First Time Buyers page for more info including Government incentives for first time buyers

1. Do You Have Enough Cash Saved Up?

The first question we need to look at is the financial implications of buying or renting. In order to purchase a home or condo, the banks will generally…

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When is a house new - but it really isn't

When a Seller decides to move, the house isn’t new anymore; but to a new Buyer, the house is new.

Expectations can be different, depending on who’s the Buyer; and who’s the Seller. So how does this work in practice? Most Buyers and Sellers are cooperative, but there can be some who are more of a challenge than others. A lot of the buying/selling experience can be traced back to the attitude of the buyers and sellers. For example:

FROM THE BUYER’S PERSPECTIVE WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

• The Buyer is moving to a new location.
• The Buyer may be a new/first-time Home Buyer.
• The Buyer will tell everyone he/she bought a new house.
• To the Buyer, the experience of buying a home is new.

FROM THE SELLER’S PERSPECTIVE WITH A NEGATIVE…

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Does Owning a Cat Depreciate Your Home?

Did you know there are more cats in Canada than dogs?

According to an Ipsos Reid poll, 35% of Canadian households have a dog, whereas 38% have a cat. As with real estate in Toronto and the Hamilton real estate market, it seems like the downtown cores have gone to the dogs. However, stats show that people love their feline friends even more.

Cats offer a bunch of benefits, from warm companionship to pest control. There are studies that show that cats reduce stress and even your risk for heart attack. And there are enough YouTube videos showing cats acting strange to know how entertaining they can be.

But is owning a cat actually depreciating your home? Or will owning a cat limit your possible buyers when you go to sell?

Short answer: yes. While…

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Basement Living: Paying Off Your Mortgage Sooner by Renting Out the Main Floor of Your House

Are you looking to pay off you mortgage sooner? Buying a home with a basement apartment may be your ticket.

And while a lot of homeowners consider renting out a basement apartment, what’s stopping you from taking it a step further? What if instead of living upstairs and renting out the basement, you did the opposite: living in the basement and renting out the upstairs?

I know what you’re thinking: Why condemn myself to the basement when the main floor is available? I own this house, so why should I live downstairs?

First off, it’s a good way to subsidize your mortgage in high-priced Toronto and Vancouver housing markets. The rent from your tenants can go directly toward the mortgage, helping you burn your mortgage sooner.

3 Tips for Secondary…

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3 tips for secondary income suites

Buying a home with a secondary income suite, or with the intention of installing one, can be an effective way to offset steep mortgage costs in some of the hottest Canadian real estate markets.

And it should come as no surprise that they’ve become a widespread practice in Toronto and Vancouver, where the average price for a detached home now exceeds $1 million.
 
Considering rental vacancies are incredibly low in both cities – 1.6  per cent in Toronto, and 0.6 per cent in Vancouver – offering affordable housing seems like a guaranteed money maker. In fact, 80 per cent of rental units outside of purpose-built developments are located in private residences.
 
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recently recognized how secondary suites help…

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Mortgage Basics: Types of lenders

You have many choices when it comes time to get your mortgage.

Not only do the different types, terms, and options for the mortgage vary, but you also have options when it comes to choosing the lender for your home loan. It’s important that your lender offers you a competitive rate, but there are other things to take into consideration, such as flexibility, customer service, and the fact that not all lenders offer all types of mortgages.
 
Banks
 
The biggest players in the mortgage market by far are the commercial banks. Big banks provide the majority of home loans to consumers. The general public knows and recognizes their brands, and there’s also some brand loyalty for consumers who already make use of the bank’s other financial products. These…

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Two-thirds of B.C. residents say foreign ownership tax won’t cool real estate market: poll

Two-thirds of British Columbians don’t believe the new foreign ownership tax introduced by the B.C. government in July will help to cool down the red-hot real estate market in the province, according to a new poll.

On July 25, B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced foreign nationals who buy real estate in Metro Vancouver would pay an additional property transfer tax of 15 per cent. The additional tax means that a home selling for $2 million will amount to an additional $300,000 for a foreign buyer.

But a new poll conducted by Insights West suggests British Columbians have their doubts when it comes to the effectiveness of the tax.

Sixty-eight per cent say the new tax will be unsuccessful in “making it easier for British Columbians to afford…

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Want to buy a house in Canada? It’ll cost you 400 weeks of work

Millennials looking to get into Canada’s hot housing market don’t just have to pay more than their grandparents did, they’re having to work twice as long too.

New research from the Broadbent Institute in Ottawa on Thursday measured prices in terms of how many weeks of work are required to pay for it.

Marc Lavoie, a researcher with Broadbent Institute, found it took just over 200 weeks of work to buy the average Canadian home in 1970. That’s shot up to more than 400 weeks’ pay in 2015.

He said there are several reasons behind the dramatic rise.

“It’s much easier to get credit for mortgages now than it used to be, and the amount that can be obtained is much larger,” said Lavoie, who’s also an economics professor at the University of Ottawa.…

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