Go solar! How does solar power work?

If you’re eager to lower your carbon footprint and also save on energy bills, equipping your home for solar power is a great option.

There are several things to consider in the quest to go green:

How does solar power work?

Solar power is generated by thin silicon panels, divided into photovoltaic cells, which act as semiconductors. When sunlight hits the cells, it excites the electrons and produces a direct electrical current.  To generate power for your home, the panels are either installed on your rooftop or angle mounted on your property. Most urban users favour a rooftop set-up so they won’t have to sacrifice valuable backyard real estate, but it’s not unusual to see a freestanding panel in rural areas where properties are generally…

2837 Views, 0 Comments

Renovating without a permit can be a costly mistake

There is an important part of taking on a home renovation -- the building permit.

You may know of friends who have had their basements finished over the past few years and maybe none have obtained a building permit first. They assumed that since the renovation did not extend beyond the existing walls of their home, they were free to make any changes they wished. According to Ray Leclair, a real estate lawyer your friends have been breaking the law.

"It's a municipal by-law under building code," he says. "The impact of it is that there could be a fine for the homeowner or the municipality can say remove the structure or they'll condemn the property."

Most of us realize that major renovations such as building an addition to a home require a…

3888 Views, 0 Comments

Renovation stress builds a range of emotions

As many have said, renovations can be a lot like giving birth!

They’re painful, they make you want to scream, and cause you to ask yourself why you’re bearing the brunt of all the work. And yet, you love the result and often end up repeating the whole thing.

Houzz.com’s Remodeling & Relationships Survey of Canadian users, conducted online this past December and January, found a number of issues that caused pain, including the fact that:

• 18% made a significant design decision without telling their partner
• 8% snuck away to catch a break
• 9% neglected to mention the price of something.

Those are the little white lies of the fixer-upper set, but in a number of cases, things got even worse:

• 5% admitted to secretly throwing…

2154 Views, 0 Comments

The art of making an offer to buy a house

When buying a house, getting your offer right is both very important and very difficult.

What do you need to consider? How do you make your offer stand out? How do you get your offer accepted? And how do you ensure that you are getting the best deal? These are some of the questions that you might already be struggling with, so to help you out, we have put together some of the key things to consider.

What to consider before making the offer

Ask yourself...

• What are my long term plans?
• Will I live here for more than a few years?
• Can I commit to paying my mortgage on time every month?
• Will I like the neighbourhood?
• Am I ready for the expenses of a home?

Use our calculators page for help with affordability

Other things to…

3256 Views, 0 Comments

How to try to win a multiple offer situation with today's low inventory

The spring home-buying season is in full swing.

But there is just one problem: Low housing inventory in most price points of the market.

And no matter how much the demand is there and how much lenders are willing lend, it means little if there are no houses to buy.

As a result, the few houses left end up being fought over in multiple offers, leaving many borrowers without a house.

Here are a few tips that may help you win a multiple offer situation:

1. Offer Full Price or More. Money is a major factor in a seller’s decision, but not the only one.
2. Good sized deposit. Show the seller you are committed with a good sized deposit to stand by your “word” (purchase agreement) to buy the home.
3. Cash is King. Go in with cash if possible to…

2956 Views, 0 Comments

5 Financial Steps to Take Before You Invest in Real Estate

So you want to get started investing. Now is the best time to set yourself up for a comfortable financial future, but there are a few tasks you should tackle before putting your money to work for you. These tips apply to any investment, whether it’s in real estate, tax liens, or the stock market.

5 Financial Steps to Take Before You Invest in Real Estate

1. Fill Your Emergency Fund

Your emergency fund is a pool of savings you set aside to pay for emergencies. It’s self insurance for things you can’t insure.

Whether it’s a major car repair, unexpected medical bill, or the loss of a job, having an emergency fund can help bridge the the financial gap. Instead of turning to high interest credit cards for funding, you can turn to your emergency…

1684 Views, 0 Comments

Getting your home sale or purchase right

Getting your home purchase or the sale of your Kamloops Property right there are a few simple steps to making it as stress free as possible.

BUYING A HOME IN KAMLOOPS

A step at a time: Before seriously house hunting, have your mortgage financing in place, says Kent Browne, broker of record with Royal LePage Team Realty in Ottawa. Make sure you also have roughly two per cent of the anticipated purchase price set aside in cash for legal fees, land transfer tax and other expenses.

Preparation: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s free, downloadable 72-page guide Buying a Home walks you through the entire house-hunting and -buying process. There's also a condominium guide: http://cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/index.cfm.

Browne suggests scouting…

2004 Views, 0 Comments

Lighting return on investment in your Kamloops home

Whether lighting a single family home or the common areas of an investment property, the difference in electricity cost between LED, fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs is astounding.

It costs possibly six times as much to operate an incandescent bulb as it does the equivalent illumination (lumens) of an LED bulb. In this writer’s geographic area, a 60W incandescent lamp costs 15 cents to operate 24 hours while the equivalent LED bulb costs 2.5 cents.

You can download a detailed analysis of 30 lights left on 24 hours a day for 20 years. While that is likely not the case for a home, the cost ratio between the two lighting technologies should remain similar.

The spreadsheet with all calculations can be downloaded here. Plug in your…

1837 Views, 0 Comments

'Shadow flipping' not limited to Vancouver real estate market

This controversial real estate move is leaving some homeowners feeling scammed

Imagine your realtor sold your home for $500,000 more than the price you agreed to — but you didn't see a penny of that extra cash. That's the situation for some Vancouverites, as exposed in a Globe and Mail feature Saturday February 6th 2016.

A controversial sales technique called "shadow flipping" allows unscrupulous Realtors to score two or even three times their standard commission on a single house by reassigning the sale to different owners at ever higher prices. But it's a practice that has left the original sellers feeling scammed and justifiably so.

How does it work?

An increasing number of real estate transactions in the Vancouver region feature what's…

2114 Views, 0 Comments

BC Budget 2016: First-Time Buyers Sidelined, Local New Home Buyers Win

Province focuses affordability towards Canadian buyers of new homes, paid for by hiked luxury home tax;also promises collection of data on overseas buyers

It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time buyer or not – the province is focusing the much-needed affordability measures in its 2016 BC Budget towards buyers of newly built entry-level homes, Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced February 16.

In an unexpected move, which had been widely predicted to be a cut in Property Transfer Tax (PTT) specifically for first-time buyers, de Jong announced that buyers of new homes up to $750,000 in value will no longer have to pay PTT (although GST still applies), effective February 17. This exemption is available to Canadian citizens and permanent residents…

1763 Views, 0 Comments