WHAT TO DO DURING A MARKET DOWNTURN OR RECESSION  Courtesy of Jack Lumsden   WHAT TO DO DURING A MARKET DOWNTURN OR RECESSION  With the market decline this year and a potential recession, people want to know what they should be doing with their investments and financial plans. The following are suggestions and actions you can take to help navigate a market downturn.  KEY SUGGESTIONS  Avoid doing...

  Should I Lock In To A Fixed Rate? Date Posted: May 5, 2022    From Mortgage Brokers Jason Kays  When interest rates begin to rise, we get asked this question a lot. There is no right answer and every person’s own situation is unique and could have a different answer. Typically, you would need to assess your own situation to find which answer is best for you. We’ve put together some questions and scenarios you should consider to find out what would...

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Should I buy first then sell, or vice-versa? / / /  March 4, 2022 Is it better to buy my next home before I sell my current one, or vice-versa? While it may be comforting to have someone buy your home before you search for another, it can also create some stress knowing that you need to find another place to live before you must leave the one you sold. Conversely, if you purchase first, you may feel increased pressure to sell your current home as soon as you can...

Should I buy a house with my friends? / / /  April 8, 2022   That is a very topical question. As real estate prices continue at record highs, it is becoming more and more common for buyers to explore co-owning a property to get into the housing market. While this can be an appealing idea and does have advantages, it’s a big decision that requires a lot of careful consideration. I would like to begin by clarifying that joint ownership — also known...

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Home Sales Surge in October Today the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released statistics showing national existing-home sales rose a whopping 8.6% in October, its most robust month-over-month pace since July 2020, when the first lockdown eased briefly. This was on the heels of a...

  How to choose an executor for your estate How to choose an executor for your estate - DFSIN - SFL   How to choose an executor for your estate Three key questions to consider when drawing up your will. October 28, 2021 One of the most important provisions of a will is the designation of an executor to handle the estate. This person – who can only be designated in the...

What are the benefits of working with a real estate professional when buying a home? July 23, 2021 Buying a property is a big step. It is often the biggest financial commitment people ever make. If you’re looking for a home, a real estate professional can provide valuable expertise and support to help you make informed decisions that will lead you to buying a property that best meets your needs and is within your budget. Real estate representatives are licensed professionals who...

Quarterly Forecasts Ottawa, ON June 15, 2021 – The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has updated its forecast for home sales activity via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate boards and associations. Over the past several years, record levels of international immigration (not including 2020), low interest rates, and an increasingly middle-aged Millennial cohort have...

5 Tips To Increase Your Chances Of Getting Your Mortgage Approval Date Posted: May 18, 2021 If you hare planning on buying a home, you will likely require a mortgage. With the right preparation, getting a mortgage approval can be a relatively easy process.  1. Check and work to improve your credit score Your credit score will be between 300 and 900. According to their latest report, the average credit score of Canadians in 2019 was 648, up 4 points from the...

OSFI Announces Plans To Increase The Stress Test Qualifying Rate, Effective June 1, 2021. Date Posted: May 21, 2021 Canadian officials escalated efforts to cool the nation's booming housing market, moving ahead with tighter mortgage qualification rules after the central bank issued a fresh warning against buyers taking on too much debt.   In a release Thursday, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said the new qualifying rate for an uninsured...

This Month on REAL TIME: Sandra Rinomato’s Advice for First-Time Home Buyers, and the REALTORS® who Support Them On our latest episode of REAL TIME, we speak with Sandra Rinomato, author, former TV host, and current broker/owner, as she takes us through some of the most important things to consider as a first-time home buyer. Like she outlines in her book, Home Worthy, Sandra talks about exploring personal values, priorities, and expectations surrounding purchasing...

Canadian Homeownership Building Much More Than Financial Wealth: A White Paper From CREA Canadians across the country take great pride in homeownership, and with good reason. While it’s true the financial benefits like building equity and investing are major driving factors, we continue to learn and study the social impacts being a homeowner can bring to individuals and families. Countless factors can be attributed to the satisfaction one finds in life. Things like a sense of...

Understanding How To Maintain Your Credit Score Date Posted: March 4, 2021 From Mortagebrokerscity.com According to Borrowell, a popular credit-monitoring service, the average credit score in Canada is continuously on the rise. According to their latest report, the average credit score of Canadians in 2019 was 648, up 4 points from the previous year. However, 648 falls into the category of a ‘low’ credit score. A large part of increasing...

Good Riddance to Open Floor Plans and Cabinets Galore: Top Kitchen Trends of 2021   From Realtor.com Homeowners forced by the coronavirus pandemic to hole up in their homes for much of the past year are changing a few things about their homes. For starters, COVID-19 exposed the flaws of the open floor plans touted on HGTV and other design shows—finding a quiet space to jump on that Zoom meeting with the boss while the kids are remote learning a few feet away can be a...

New Home Checklist: 6 Things Your Clients Should Do Before Settling In 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 (with unique French...

New Home Checklist: 6 Things Your Clients Should Do Before Settling In 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...

Debunking Real Estate Myths Your Clients Probably Believe Sarah Doktor There are a lot of preconceived notions home buyers in Canada might believe about the real estate industry, for example: Myth  Fact  You don’t need to depersonalize your home before an open house. Staging can help sell houses. Taking away personalized items and creating a pleasant neutral canvas allows buyers to picture themselves in the space. You may want to...

7 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Buying My Fixer-Upper by Anne Momber published Feb 1, 2019 SavePin It See More Images When my husband and I finally started looking for a home (after years of renting a barn loft that was short on insulation and long on character), our budget led us to two options: a newer home we would reluctantly call “nice,” or an older home in need of some major updating but one that we could definitely see...

5 Easy-to-Overlook Things That Can Increase the Value of Your Home by Megan Johnson published Oct 23, 2019 SavePin It See More Images   Credit: Sarah Crowley/Apartment Therapy If you were to put your home on the market tomorrow, how much would it be worth? While you hear that real estate is all about “location, location, location,” supply and demand also plays a crucial factor. The more appealing a home is on the market...

3 Reasons Why It’s Important to Price Your Home to Sell Coming up with the right price when selling your home is a balancing act. You want to ask for as much as possible, but not so much that you turn away potential buyers. You also don’t want to cheat yourself with a price that’s lower than your home’s worth. The “right” price is one that’s in tune with what similar homes are selling for in your market. It’s a figure that...

Quarterly Forecasts December 15, 2020 – The national average price is forecast to rise by 9.1% in 2021 to $620,400. Average price trends across Canada in 2021 are generally expected to resemble those in 2020. Shortages of supply, particularly in Ontario and Quebec, are expected to result in strong price growth, while Alberta and Saskatchewan are anticipated to see average prices pick up following several years of depreciation. Ottawa, ON December 15, 2020 – The Canadian...

30 Tips for Increasing Your Home's Value   Photo by: Joshua Curry; Design by Bridgett Mazer Home Improvements: Under $100   Tip 1: Spend an Hour With a Pro Invite a realtor or interior designer over to check out your home. Many realtors will do this as a courtesy, but you will probably have to pay a consultation fee to a designer. Check with several designers in your area; a standard hourly fee is normally less than $100, and in an hour they can...

Buying Your First House: Starter Home or Forever Home?   If you’re a first-time home buyer, you may be wondering: Should you purchase a small starter home to get into the market now, knowing you may grow out of it in a few years? Or, should you stretch your budget — or spend more time saving — to get a “forever home” that will take care of your long-term needs? Here are some factors to consider as you weigh whether to get a home best suited...

Home Renovations You Really Shouldn’t Do Yourself From Trendir  Home renovations are expensive, which is why many homeowners will attempt to tackle them themselves. Nonetheless, we all know that can be a risky situation as well as an expensive one if the renovations are done incorrectly. Although there are renovations that homeowners can do on their own, there are some that should just be left to a professional. In the hands of unskilled professionals, the following...

The Main Factors That Affect the Price of a Home   Median home sale prices have risen on a year-over-year basis for 52 consecutive months. In June, they reached yet another all-time high. Sure, from a macro view, we all understand that it’s a matter of supply and demand — not enough homes for sale in the major employment centers. But what about your house, or the house that you want, in the city where you live? What drives the price of a specific home in a specific...

2020 Property Assessment Notice From Mortgagebrokers.ca MPAC mails more than 875,000 notices, nearly half of which reflect changes in ownership across the province. If you recently moved, changed your school support or made changes to your property, your notice is on its way. We are continuously reviewing properties. You may have received a Notice for one of the following reasons: change to property ownership, legal description, or school support; change to the...

Bank of Canada plans to keep interest rate near zero until 2023 By CBC NEWS Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, says the country's economic recovery from COVID-19 will be uneven. (David Kawai/Bloomberg) The Bank of Canada says it has no plans to change its benchmark interest rate until inflation gets back to two per cent and stays there, something it says isn't likely to happen until 2023. The central bank said Wednesday it has decided to keep its...

These Pandemic-Related Housing and Design Trends Aren't Going Away Ana Durrani Hispanolistic/Getty Images Home trends come and go, but social distancing and staying at home have ushered in a new way of life—and some of those changes have spurred home trends that are likely to stick around well past the COVID-19 era. “The idea of what is necessary is changing,” says Camille Thomas, a real estate matchmaker and lifestyle expert in Jackson Hole,...

Price Isn’t Everything: How to Handle Multiple Offers When Selling a House   Live in a hot real estate market? If you’re selling your house, you might be lucky enough to receive more than one offer. If so, it’s a good idea to let potential buyers know. That way, they can tailor their offer with the competition in mind. You’ll then need to evaluate each offer fairly and consider advice from your real estate agent to choose the best one. Here are strategies...

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Best Smart Home Products The pros at Reviewed.com share their top product picks, including "smart" bulbs, locks, smoke detectors, and more This Old House   Best Smart Bulb   Best Overall: Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Starter Kit (Gen 3) Across the board, the Philips Hue smart bulbs topped all of our tests thanks to an easy setup, a robust suite of features, and an intuitive app. Additional support with smart assistants like Alexa,...

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Title Insurance Revisited Title insurance has now become such an essential part of a real estate transaction in Ontario. It is crucial to know what a standard policy in a purchase transaction covers; and more importantly, what it does NOT cover. What is title insurance? Title insurance protects your ownership interest (i.e. title) of your property from losses incurred as a result of unknown title defects or other covered matters that exist at the time of your purchase, but are...

Home Improvement: DIY or Hire a Pro? There’s something appealing about the idea of a do-it-yourself home improvement project. By tackling a job yourself, you can save money on labor costs and enjoy work that’s been done with your own hands. But the reality is some projects are better left to the experts. Professional contractors can handle tasks that are complicated, time-consuming or downright unpleasant. Whether you plan to spruce up your entire home or just...

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...