Maybe you're buying a home for the first time. Or maybe you're selling your old home to move up to something new. Whatever the reason, the buying and selling of a home is a big event. It's an intricate process involving many specialists. One of these specialists is a REALTOR®, whose job it is to make the transfer of property as easy as possible.
But not all licensed or registered Brokers ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on November 11, 2010
56% mistakenly believe HST applies to purchase price
Toronto, Ontario, October 27, 2010 –
An Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) and released today reveals that fully 56 percent of Ontarians mistakenly believe that the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) applies to the full purchase price of a resale home. In fact the HST is only levied on the various ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 27, 2010
(NC)—Mortgage options can be confusing for first time home buyers. Choosing what's right for you depends on a number of factors, including your comfort with interest rate risk and when you plan to sell your home.
“First time home buyers should sit down with a professional and ensure they know exactly what each mortgage option means to them,” says Chris Wisniewski, Associate Vice ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on May 12, 2010
OTTAWA — New federal measures meant to cool the red-hot housing market will make it more difficult for homebuyers to qualify for government-backed mortgages, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged this morning.
Some buyers will have to settle for less expensive houses or a bigger mortgage as a result of the rule changes brought in by the Conservatives. To give the financial industry time ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on February 16, 2010
Tax Brackets, Credits Higher
The taxable income thresholds in all four federal tax brackets were increased by 2.5 per cent in 2009 to mirror changes in the consumer-price index (CPI). All indexed non-refundable tax credits also increased by 2.5 per cent in 2009 in order to reflect the CPI adjustment.
Increases in the thresholds for the lower and middle-income tax brackets will positively affect ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on December 29, 2009
(NC)—There's nothing quite like owning your own home – getting to know your neighbours, decorating your home and creating a place that you can call your own. But owning a home is not quite as simple as finding the right home in the right neighbourhood; your financial situation can be an important factor in the type of home you can afford. For example, you will need to determine how much ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 29, 2009
Maybe you're buying a home for the first time. Or maybe you're selling your old home to move up to something new. Whatever the reason, the buying and selling of a home is a big event. It's an intricate process involving many specialists. One of these specialists is a REALTOR®, whose job it is to make the transfer of property as easy as possible.
But not ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 15, 2009
OTTAWA – October 15th, 2009 – National resale housing activity climbed to the highest level of any third quarter on record.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) home sales via the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) Systems of Canadian real estate boards totalled 135,182 units in the third quarter of 2009, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 15, 2009
(NC)—Over the last few years, designers, builders and architects have been preaching the benefits and strengths of quartz as a premium surface material and now most savvy homeowners across the country have caught up to this hot trend. Unique in combining depth and colour consistency with low maintenance and unrivaled durability, quartz has emerged as the preferred countertop material in homes ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 8, 2009
The last thing that a bank, credit union or insurer wants is to take back your house.
All the insurers have programs in place to help you keep your house during troubled times. Whether it's no payments for a period of time or reduced payments, they all want to work it out.
Most if not all financial institutions have skip-a-payment plans or can capitalize overdue payments.
Once you get behind ...
Posted by Carol Ireland
on October 3, 2009