Understanding the BC First Time Home Buyer Incentive Program

You may have heard of the incentive programs that the federal government has created to try to entice first time home buyers into the real estate market, but how much do you really understand? Is this something for you?

The government of Canada has a couple of programs that are designed to get first time buyers on the property ladder. Read on to see if they are right for you.

1) The Home Buyers' Plan (HBP). This is a program that allows you to withdraw funds from your Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself or for a related person with a disability. The HBP allows you to pay back the withdrawn funds within a 15-year period. So what are the rules?

• Permits two first-time buyers in the same…

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Coronavirus and your finances - Tips to help

If you have questions about the coronavirus and how the current situation might impact your finances, you’re not alone.

We’ve all heard the words “unprecedented times” more than ever over the last month. While we deal with so much uncertainty around us, it’s important to recognize that there are still actions we can take to help protect ourselves.

With financial markets crashing and the loss of a number of jobs, Canadians are questioning their financial future. It is yet to be determined the real economic impact of the coronavirus as data is changing quickly with limited time to analyze. There are indications that joblessness will increase in the short term, which can be scary; however, the government and lenders are stepping up to aid households in…

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What is a good credit score?

Your credit scores are an important aspect of your financial profile.

They may be used to determine some of the most important financial factors in your life, such as whether you’ll be able to lease a vehicle, qualify for a mortgage or even land that cool new job.

And considering 71 percent of Canadian families carry debt in some form (think mortgages, car loans, lines of credit, personal loans or student debt), good credit health should be a part of your current and future plans.  High, low, positive, negative – there’s more to your scores than you might think. And depending on where your numbers fall, your lending and credit options will vary. So what is a good credit score? What about a great one? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

In a…

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How To Price Your Home To Sell

When selling a house, pricing it correctly is one of the most important steps.

If the house is priced too high, it can linger on the market for months without any chance of selling. Even worse, if the price is too low, it will certainly sell, but the seller could be leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.

As the homeowner, you play a vital role in preparing your home for the market, determining your asking price, striking the deal, and handing over the role of ownership.

There are two methods that most people use to figure out the price of their home; a comparative market analysis (CMA), and an appraisal. A CMA is prepared by a real estate agent and can come either before or after the agent is hired. An appraisal is done by a licensed…

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Snowbird Guide to Renting Out Your Canadian Residence for the Winter

If you spend most of the winter outside Canada, you may want to explore the opportunity to rent out your Canadian home while you’re away. 

Renting out your Canadian residence can have a number of benefits, including helping to cover the costs of your winters away. The extra income can be used to supplement or even offset the cost of your winter home or rental. Another benefit is that your home will be lived in and therefore you won’t have to find someone to inspect it daily or every other day, to meet your insurance requirements.  Finally, your home will be occupied, which will deter break-ins, and any damage due to non-use, such as your pipes freezing or bursting, and other risks.

However, renting out your home isn’t for everyone. You have to be…

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Cost of Selling a House in BC

Your Comprehensive Cost List for Selling

If you’re thinking about selling your home, you’ve most likely thought about the cost of selling a house in BC and what that calculates to exactly. This article helps to break down the cost of selling a home so that they can estimate what your take away profit will be after everything.

Home Preparation and Staging

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and in real estate first impressions are everything. In a hot market, like we have in BC, there are many buyers that only get to see a home once at an open house before they put an offer on it. Many buyers are seeing 10-12 homes on average per showing day, which means you have to stand out from the crowd. Sprucing up the home before you take…

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BC Real estate market news

Sharp drop in B.C. home sales should be followed by steady recovery: BCREA

Ban on open houses foreshadows short- to mid-term trouble for property sales, as COVID-19 infects all aspects of the market

As COVID-19 makes its way around the globe, it is also bulldozing its way through the economy.  While airlines and event venues were the first to be infected, many are anxious about how the virus will affect other parts of the economy, including the real estate market – which made up 17.4 per cent of B.C.’s GDP in 2018.

Earlier this month, B.C. real estate brokers cancelled all open houses. When houses aren’t shown they become more difficult to sell, and when houses aren’t selling the broader market suffers. While the outlook doesn’t look good, it is…

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Real Estate Selling Facts & Tips in Kamloops BC

Getting ready to sell your home in Kamloops?

Here are a few real estate tips to think about before you do.

Know your local Real Estate Market –  What are the driving forces in the current Kamloops real estate market? If you do not know, make sure your Realtor knows, if they do not know, find one who does. The focus in Real Estate always has and always will be local, and in order to sell your home, it is vital to know what the local trends here in Kamloops are.

There is nothing convenient about selling a home – You're going to have to get your home ready to sell. You're going to have to do some packing. Your normal living schedule will be interrupted by prospective buyers. The upfront knowledge that you are going to be inconvenienced once you have…

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B-20 Stress Test Needs Revision to Improve Housing Affordability

Vancouver, BC – March 12, 2019.

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) is calling on the federal government to revisit the B-20 stress test so that more BC families can achieve their dream of home ownership. Mortgage lending rules, known as the B-20 stress test, have eroded housing affordability by reducing the purchasing power of families by as much as 20 per cent. Introduced last year, the stress test forces even the most credit-worthy borrowers with large down payments to qualify at an interest rate that is two percentage points above the rate they negotiate with their bank.
 
“We would like to see a review and reconsideration of the current mortgage underwriting ‘stress test,’ as well as a return to 30-year amortizations for…

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Kamloops expected to experience second-largest jump in average housing price in 2019

The B.C. Real Estate Association has released its first quarter housing forecast summary and it's projecting a slight boost in the number of sales and a steady increase in the price of homes in Kamloops and across the province.

"We've seen a tremendous amount of growth the last few years, and the unemployment rate is incredibly low right now. So it certainly signals full employment in many sectors, which is certainly positive for consumers, for housing demand," noted the chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association Cameron Muir, who is predicting the growth over the next two years.

Kamloops is following the downward trend of housing sales in 2018 — down 10.8 per cent in housing transactions last year compared to 2017. But housing sales…

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