All Blog Entries by Steve Harmer

British Columbia's NDP government will introduce tax measures designed to push down the price of housing by targeting vacant homes owned by out-of-province investors.

Finance Minister Carole James said she hopes this and other changes will cool real estate costs, but would not predict how much, or what will happen if they take a bigger bite out of housing values than intended.

"We are treading on new ground," she told reporters on Tuesday as she unveiled her first full budget.

"We will be doing the analysis as we implement them."

The $54-billion balanced budget also promises historic investments in child care to create new spaces and train more caregivers, while giving tens of thousands of families access to two new programs to subsidize

Now that the kids are grown and moved away, do you really need all that square footage in your home?

While it’s nice to have a little extra space for entertaining guests, a house that’s too big just becomes a hassle to maintain. And if you’re like most people, you probably don’t want to spend your retired years racing to keep up with chores.

That’s one of the reasons downsizing in retirement is so popular with the Baby Boomer generation. Nearly 40 percent of adults aged 50 to 69 plan to move in retirement, and of those, 54 percent of those plan to downsize into a house that’s either smaller or cheaper than their current home, or both.

Despite the appeal of a more manageable home, many seniors are scared away from moving because of the effort it

Stuck between a rock and your mom’s basement

Multiple generations living under one roof isn't a new concept, but it is on the rise in North America, especially with millennials. This housing shift comes as a result of many factors, including work challenges and the rising cost of rent in most parts of the country. In fact, millennials are starting their adult lives after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. This change has been the subject of much speculation and comparison to earlier generations, so personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq stopped by to help shine some light on why Generation Y is staying put for now.

Gen Y – commonly referred to as millennials – are people born approximately between the 1980s and the mid-1990s. Increasingly

Latest government numbers show B.C. HOME Partnership program was missing targets

For the current provincial government, it was never HOME sweet HOME.

The province announced today that it will cancel HOME — formally the B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program — a government loan program that aimed to help first-time home buyers get into the B.C. housing market. HOME provides loans of up to $37,500 or five per cent of the home's purchase price (up to a maximum of $750,000) to first-time home buyers for a down payment.  .

In announcing the cancellation, the government said the program had failed to meet expectations. When it was announced in late 2016, it was expected that 42,000 British Columbians would use the program over three

How to put your home on the market and attract buyers

So you're interested in selling? Want to know how much your home is worth?

In today's highly competitive real estate market, pricing your home right is critical. When you request your CMA, you receive a comprehensive market analysis based on comparable recently sold homes with similar features and conditions in your area. By filling out an on-line price evaluation you might not get the results you are seeking.

Everyone has heard of “comps” but what are they, exactly? A look at the sale prices of other homes in the neighborhood is just the start. There can be value differences for location within the same neighborhood. Sure, sometimes they’re subtle, but an agent who knows the area well will

As a tenant, do you know who is responsible for damage done to the property you are renting?

The BC Residential Tenancy Act says that the landlord must make sure that the property is “suitable for occupation,” while the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act similarly dictates that the unit be in “good state of repair and fit for habitation.” This means that landlords are responsible for the repair of the unit, including such things:

• Electrical systems;
• Plumbing systems;
• Heating systems;
• Door locks; and,
• Structural items such as, ceilings, floors and walls.

Landlords are also responsible to repair anything else that may be included in the rent, such as:

• Furniture;
• Appliances; and,
• Outbuildings such as garages or sheds.

Canada’s federal housing agency says new mortgage rules intended to cool hot markets are “working better than hoped.” However, housing markets remain out of balance with recent price spikes driven by large single family homes at the expense of much needed rental stock, Evan Siddall, CEO of Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp.

“I think the evidence shows that worked out a little better than we hoped,” said Siddall. “People either bought smaller houses or found another way to find a down payment and that’s okay. We were worried about the strong housing market taking money out of the productive economy – out of business investment, and I think mission accomplished.”

Siddall acknowledged the new guidelines, known as B20, are keeping many young people out

A new B.C. “dual agency” rule banning real estate agents from working with both the buyer and seller of a property are so complex and onerous it will result in frustrated consumers and a blizzard of useless paperwork when it comes into force March 15, according to real estate agents.

The Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate announced B.C.’s new real estate consumer protection rules last November, but real estate agents say there has not been enough time to understand the shifting regulations or how they will be interpreted.

“We will not even have the forms until March,” said Damian Stathonikos, director of communications and public affairs at the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA). About five per cent of residential real estate

Many consumers will soon find their debt loads heavier now that Canada’s central bank and the country’s biggest commercial lenders have raised their benchmark rates by one-quarter percentage point.

Personal finance expert Laleh Samarbakhsh shares her advice on the best ways to take advantage of the increased rates.

The country’s biggest banks raised their prime rates after the Bank of Canada hiked its overnight lending rate earlier this month by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.25 per cent.

It’s a challenge for Canadians still struggling to cope with the record amounts of consumer debt they amassed after the 2008 financial crisis because lenders use their prime rate as a benchmark for setting some other short-term rates including

Vancouver, BC – January 12, 2018. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 103,763 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) across the province in 2017, a decline of 7.5 per cent from a record 112,211 unit sales in 2016. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $709,579 in 2017, up 2.7 per cent from the previous year. Total sales dollar volume was $73.63 billion, down 5.1 per cent from 2016.

"Robust housing demand in 2017 was underpinned by a strong economy, employment growth and rising wages," said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. "Above trend migration, both international and interprovincial, also bolstered housing demand, while broader demographic fundamentals added fuel