As tax season approaches, now is the time to educate yourself on some of the lesser-known tax deductions and credits you might qualify for.

That’s especially true if you want to save some money or score a return. Here are six surprising options that could score you some major money.

Employment expenses

Many people think that only self-employed individuals can deduct work expenses on their tax returns, but that’s actually not the case. If you are salaried or commissioned and your employer requires you to pay expenses to earn your employment income, you can deduct those costs.

The following qualify and can be deducted under employment expenses on line 229 of your tax return:

• Accounting and legal fees (applies to commission income only)

For most of us, buying a home is the largest, most complex purchase we’ll ever make.

Whole industries and sub-industries have formed to help ease the understandable anxiety we endure before we sign on the dotted line to close a deal: real estate brokerages, real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, property inspectors. That’s a lot of people doing a lot of things for us, and it’s not always clear what we should expect from each.

Home inspectors might be the most interesting of the lot. Home show king Mike Holmes has been dining out on a line for years: “The home inspection industry is like the Wild West — a lot of cowboys but not a lot of sheriffs.”

In order to protect consumers, British Columbia introduced mandatory licensing of home inspectors in

Mortgage Terminology

To Understanding common Mortgage Terminology  we have to start with the basics:

What is a mortgage?

A mortgage is a word that has been in the English language since the late 1300s and comes from the French “mort,” which means “dead,” and “gage,” meaning “pledge.” Therefore, a mortgage, in the real sense of the meaning of the word, means that the security pledged to the mortgagee for the debt will be taken from him if he fails to pay the debt, and will, therefore, be “dead to him upon condition.” on the other hand, the mortgagee fulfills the obligation to pay the debt, the pledge is dead. Either way, something dies.

A dictionary definition is much simpler and tells us that a mortgage is a “temporary, conditional pledge of

The current commodities crisis has opened a new avenue of home sales, the purchasing and selling of foreclosure property.

There can be profit in dealing with undervalued foreclosure property but there are pitfalls that must be taken into consideration. If your an investor and have the ability to make repairs/updates if needed on a foreclosure then maybe this is something that you should look at.Often houses that end up in foreclosure have a lot of "baggage" with them. Sometimes it can be a house that's not finished and will need more work, permits etc. to finish and some houses are left in a condition that make them unlivable.

With low interest rates at the moment there are opportunities for people to buy a foreclosed property but an experienced

Buying or selling a home is probably one of the largest investments you will ever make. That is why it is important to choose the correct REALTOR® that will work to your benefit, to guard your equity and your future.

Which REALTOR® should you choose? Some people sign with the first REALTOR® that comes along, later, they realize they should have interviewed several people prior to signing. Not all REALTORS® are the same.

This will provide you with some selection criteria and some questions to ask. When you are choosing a lawyer, doctor or health care practitioner you would interview several people before you select an individual you are most comfortable with. The same rule applies to a real estate agent.

When it comes to your next home it makes

With the Feb. 29 deadline for registered retirement savings plan contributions looming, many Canadians are wondering whether it is better to pay off debt or add to their RRSP.

Financial advisers say that while making any contribution to an RRSP or a tax-free savings account (TSFA) is always a good thing, clearing up consumer debt should be the first priority.

“If they’re in credit card debt then forget it, all they should be focused on is paying off that debt,” said David Trahair, a chartered professional accountant in Toronto. “Forget buying a house, forget RRSPs and focus on making money and spending less so you can pay off first the credit card debt and then the student loan debt.”

Canadians with taxable earnings can contribute up to 18 per

Thinking of buying your own place? It’s normal to feel a little overwhelmed. After all, it’s the biggest purchase you can make. In an effort to remove some stress from the equation, here are a few tips from the experts.

Don't forget to read our buyers advice pages..

What to do when you’re a first-time home-buyer:

1. Get pre-approved.

Some real estate agents won’t even work with you until you’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage. This is an important first step in the home-buying process. You don’t want to start house-hunting and fall for a home you can’t afford.

Plus, there may be problems with your credit that you don’t know about.

“Sometimes people are just unaware that they may have like a Sears card that they forgot to cancel and it’s

Waning business and consumer confidence, runaway housing costs, commodities nosedive among issues eroding economic optimism

February 16th 2016, the BC government will release the new budget.

"Is the economy important to you?” the Facebook ad from the BC Liberal Party asks. “Should we stay at #1?” 

The answers are “yes” and “not sure,” and the implication is that if you want the B.C. economy to stay “#1” among Canadian provinces, you should vote for the BC Liberals and their small-c conservative strategies of keeping taxes and public expenditures low while boosting an exciting new liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry for the province.

B.C. led the country in economic growth in 2015 and is forecast to have the highest growth again in

Annual outlook foresees weak demand, increase in supply, and no change in economic situation

Fewer homes will sell this year than last and they will sell for less money, the Calgary Real Estate Board predicts in its latest annual outlook, released Wednesday.

"This is a bona fide buyer's market and I don't see that changing in this calendar year," CREB president Cliff Stevenson told reporters.

The real-estate board foresees no change on the horizon for the local economy and expects demand for housing in 2016 to be weak.

Total sales activity is projected to fall to 18,416 units, down 2.2 per cent from the already low mark set in 2015.

Home sales in Calgary last year plunged 26.3 per cent from 2014.

CREB also predicts price declines in 2016

Housing sales and prices are up over 2015 and the trend seems to be continuing into 2016

Listen to the CBC report here

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