6 Ways to Build Your Home Equity (and Savings) Faster A home purchase brings together so many things under one roof: dreams, shelter, status, maybe a passport to better schools and neighborhoods. And one more thing: It gives you a forced savings account. It does that by letting you build home equity, which is the difference between your home’s market value and what you owe on it. Your equity increases with each house payment you make. When home prices rise, your equity...

How to Plan for Homeownership as a Millennial Courtesy of Realtor.ca If you’re a millennial considering buying your first home, congratulations! You’re probably excited until you remember: houses are expensive and—regardless of your current financial situation—you’ll likely need to save money to afford one.   This can be intimidating for anyone but, according to a recent survey, millennials in particular say it’s become more...

Working from home: what are the stakes? Courtesy of Actualis   With the pandemic, thousands of employers and workers have been discovering the many facets of working from home (WFH). Will telework be the way of the future? A key question for business owners. What will happen to working from home after the COVID-19 pandemic? More and more people are expecting companies to offer employees the WFH option at least part of the time. Health considerations aside, this decision will...

  A Record-Breaking Month for Canadian Housing Markets Courtesy of Realtor.ca With COVID-19 restrictions being lifted across Canada, home buyers and sellers have been busy! National home sales and new listings have continued to increase since June, with July seeing more home sales across Canada than any other month in the history of the Canadian Real Estate Association’s (CREA) database–which dates back more than 40 years!   As encouraging as the...

Over 40% of first-time home buyers in Canada can't afford a house without their parents' help, report suggests A Bank of Montreal report suggests first-time home buyers are increasingly turning to the 'Bank of Mom and Dad' Tyler Anderson/National Post TORONTO — A Bank of Montreal report suggests first-time home buyers are increasingly turning to the “Bank of Mom and Dad.” BMO’s 2015 Home Buying Report found that 42 per cent of first-time...

  Price Per Square Foot Survey 2020       Media Release     National real estate survey finds home prices holding steady, sales coming back after decline early in pandemic     Vancouver (August 24, 2020) – An annual report out from CENTURY 21 Canada today reveals house prices across Canada are maintaining their strength, while the...

  by Ryan Hyland Rotary and its GPEI partners celebrate a monumental achievement, say global eradication of wild polio is possible with the continued dedication and persistence of Rotarians The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top...

Everything You Need to Know About Bathroom Renovations REALTOR.ca Team   Struggling to find content to share on your social media pages? Stop scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. All you need is REALTOR.ca. Our consumer lifestyle blog, Living Room, offers content including home improvement, market trends, DIY projects, neighbourhood guides and profiles on unique homes. Living Room publishes exciting new content four times a week...

Real Estate Rebound: Record-Breaking Numbers for REALTOR.ca, National Home Sales What a difference a few months makes. July saw more homes trade hands in Canada than any other month in the history of CREA’s database going back more than 40 years. That coincides with REALTOR.ca visits being at an all-time high, with unique visitors increasing by more than 46% compared to the same time last year. Home sales are up 30.5% across Canada, with 62,533 units sold in July 2020...

CMHC’s New Underwriting Criteria: What Changed and What it Means for Home Buyers The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has implemented new underwriting criteria (eligibility requirements) to apply for homeowner transactional and portfolio mortgage insurance. Introduced earlier this summer, these new adjustments from CMHC come as a precaution while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact consumers in the real estate market and many other aspects of...