Canada is too friendly to shady real estate purchases
Posted by Steve Harmer on
Canada needs to do a better job cracking down on shady foreign investors, many of whom may be laundering ill-gotten cash through real estate purchases. That’s according to a new report by Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog group.
Lax standards in Canada, as well as countries like the U.S. and China, make it easy for billions of dollars of shady money to pour into cities like Vancouver, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to toughen regulations at various G20 summits, but right now finance rules are lax enough that it’s hard to determine whether foreign “money launderers and other corporate kleptocrats” are snatching up properties in Toronto and Vancouver, Transparency International Canada…
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OTTAWA, November 12, 2015 — Buying your first home is an exciting time but it also comes with many questions, concerns and in some cases, nerves. With that in mind, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released today its 2015 First-Time Homebuyers Survey (#FirstTimeBuyers) coinciding with the fifth anniversary of Financial Literacy Month (#FLM2015).
There was a time when it was rare to hear of someone having allergic reactions to typical scents such as perfume, candles, incense and air fresheners,…
Not knowing how much you can afford. It is easy to overestimate what you can afford. Before you even decide to look at houses, take a good look at your income and expenses. It is best to have a precise idea of how much you can afford for a home so you wouldn’t waste your time looking at houses not within your reach.
If you are thinking of selling you home without the help of an agent, think twice. Though FSBO ( For Sale By Owners) may lure you thinking you could save money on agent commission you have to take into consideration the challenges you’re going to face when you sell your home on your own.
When people buy a home, the fact is that 78 per cent of the decision making process has already been made prior to arrival, based on the price and location of the house. But within seconds of seeing your home, potential buyers have formed an opinion of its overall condition and will likely spend the remaining time looking for consistency with the assumptions they made when they first viewed the home on the Internet. First impressions of the property’s exterior should be “welcome home.”
An open house is the real estate world’s version of window shopping. It’s an opportunity to sneak a peak at a neighbour’s home, and a chance to size up a potential house or neighbourhood.