Home insurance - Explained

Buying Home Insurance

As a homeowner, you need to insure your house for replacement costs so that in the event of serious damage or destruction you have adequate coverage. Be sure to keep your home insurance current by reporting material changes or upgrades.

Bricks, Mortar and So Much More

Home ownership is one of the largest financial investment decisions Canadians make. Your home may be your biggest source of equity. No matter how well built, your home is vulnerable to fire, vandalism and other types of damage and destruction.

What Is Covered

Coverage can vary from one insurer to the next, so it’s important to select a policy that suits your specific needs. Home insurance covers the dwelling, contents and personal liability of you (the…

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How Does A Rent To Own Really Work

Is rent to own for you? How does it work?

You may have seen more and more people advertising that they have a house or condo for sale, and offer to do a rent-to-own. It seems to be becoming a popular way for selling a property, but not a lot is known about exactly how it works, and to whose benefit.

When a seller advertises that he will consider doing a rent-to-own deal, he will be looking for someone to lease the house with two contracts. One contract will be a regular lease contract, and the other will deal with the purchasing part of the deal. This contract will be for a period of time that is agreeable to both the seller and the buyer, usually anywhere from one year to three years. Many people think that the seller will simply set aside…

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Kamloops and District Real Estate Association 2015 stats

The full results of the 2015 selling season have been released from Kamloops and district real estate association (KADREA)

So after a very busy year Kamloops saw 2001 sales with Brocklehurst posting the most sales just ahead of Aberdeen and Sahali.

So how did your community fare this past year?

Some facts on December sales:

Kamloops and District Median Residential Price: $348,000

Kamloops only Median Residential Price (does not include condominiums or mobiles): $375,000

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Rising home prices are keeping Canadians from starting families

It may not be official, but Canada’s most expensive cities for housing seem to have a “one-bedroom policy” and millennials are no longer buying in.

A new survey from ratesupermarket.ca finds 72.1 per cent of millennials believe their ability to start or expand their family is directly impacted by real estate prices in their region. In Toronto, young families are now facing a detached home that sells for an average price of $1 million, while in Vancouver it’s almost $1.6 million.

There is a notion that if you don’t buy the house with the nice backyard something is wrong with you

The option being rejected by millennials, and other segments of the population, is to start household formation in condominiums — 60 per cent of which are…

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A Spotlight on Kamloops

Take a look at Kamloops

Article from the hometown series from BCmag.ca

Kamloops is a city of approximately 85,000 locals who are so welcoming it has been called “The friendliest in B.C.” However, the people aren’t the only warm thing in Kamloops—this region is treated to over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, making it an ideal location for outdoor enthusiasts.

Kamloops is where the North and South Thompson Rivers meet. The water spills into a surging silver stream that runs alongside Riverside Park and North Shore. Houses, schools and churches are nestled into the upper hills. Trains snake past Kamloops Lake and rumble through the city centre. From its beginnings with the First Nations, fur traders and the construction of the Canadian…

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4 ways oil will shape your finances in 2016

The Canadian economy is tied closely to the price of oil, meaning crude will have a broad impact over the coming year.

As they say, the cure for high prices is high prices.

That’s the truth at the heart of the collapse in oil prices in 2015, a force that will shape our personal finances in the coming year. In the GTA, it’s good news. The commute is cheaper and so is the cost of heating our homes. It adds up to a tax cut as good as the one the Liberals are giving us.

In the west, where 40,000 industry-related jobs have disappeared, more pain is on the way because the energy rout may only be midstream. Even if it isn’t, more jobs will likely go. Until the price of oil stabilizes, the only thing companies can do is guess and keep…

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Choosing Your Realtor®

There are distinct advantages to having a Realtor® acting for you in buying or selling a property. With careful selection, you can benefit greatly from the skills of a knowledgeable and sincere Realtor®. There are a number of approaches to finding a good real estate agent. For example, friends, neighbors, and relatives may have the names of agents that they have dealt with and would recommend. Open houses also provide an opportunity to meet Realtors®. Newspaper ads list the names and phone numbers of agents who are active in your area. “For Sale” signs provide an agent’s name and phone number. And real estate firms in your area can be located through the Yellow Pages. Any of course, the Internet is one of the most popular methods of research…

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Four mortgage trends to watch in 2016, like more missed payments and private lending

Mortgage rates weren’t supposed to make record lows in 2015, not if you asked economists and the Bank of Canada two years ago. But they did. And despite all the chatter about the first U.S. rate hike since 2006, Canadian rates could do it again in 2016.

But interest rates won’t be all that’s changing in the coming 12 months. Here are four mortgage trends you need to watch in 2016.

More missed payments?

Seemingly every year the government throws new rules at the mortgage market, lending gets tighter and the housing market gets safer. But one thing Ottawa can’t control is world economics. Despite manufacturing gains from a cheap loonie, global growth is slowing. That and plunging oil means more Canadians could be out of work, and when people lose…

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What Happens to My Deposit if I Cannot Close My Purchase?

A buyer who fails to close on a purchase may be risking more than just the deposit - you could be looking at damages, says lawyer Richard Bell

Q: What happens to my deposit if I cannot close my purchase?

A: Whenever a buyer makes an offer for the purchase of real estate the contract provides for a deposit. The deposit is normally around 5 per cent of the purchase price and in most instances is payable within a day or two of removal of any subjects. The standard subjects are subject to financing and inspection. Where the property is strata titled there will also be subjects for satisfactory review of such items as strata minutes, engineer’s reports and depreciation reports.

The reason for a deposit is to secure the buyer’s commitment to purchase…

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Is Lowball Offering a Legitimate Buying Strategy?

Submitting a low offer is one thing, but getting the offer accepted is another thing altogether.

Vancouver agent Barry Magee explains the factors

A common topic among real estate buyers is whether or not they should offer a price that is much lower than the listed price. It's an interesting concept, but one that is not without its pitfalls. Submitting an offer is one thing, but getting the offer accepted is another thing altogether. Let's take a look at the different factors to consider:

1) Be Certain You Fully Understand Market Conditions

In a market like Vancouver and the Lower Mainland we are often faced with an inevitable reality – people really like living here. Sellers are more than aware of this, and are primed to take full advantage.

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