Local Kamloops News

There are few things more exciting than buying a house with your significant other.

It shows that your relationship is strong and that you’re ready to take the next step. However, the homebuying process can be stressful, which means it can be quite a strain on a relationship if you’re not careful. Here are seven tips that will hopefully make buying a home with your partner a process that’s as stress-free as possible:

1. Get on the same page

Deciding that you want to own a home together is not the same as being on the same page. You need to sit down with your partner and figure out, then discuss, exactly what they want in a house. One of you may want to live in an urban area while the other may prefer the suburbs. Your partner may like the

Millions of immigrants come to Canada and quickly discover that getting established financially isn’t easy

Overview

Last year, Canada welcomed more than half a million newcomers to our country as immigrants, international students and temporary foreign workers. The number one source for new permanent residents is now the Philippines, followed by India, China, the U.K. and the States. Canada may be the best country in the world to live in, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to get established. People come to Canada dreaming of obtaining greater financial security and opportunities for themselves and their families, but they often spend years struggling to build up credit, find a decent job and grow their wealth.

In the pages that follow, we

Quintessentially Canadian Cottage-Life: Royal LePage finds foreign buyers account for few recreational property transactions

Retirement-bound boomers seek peaceful retreats

Toronto, ON, June 23, 2016 – Generation X buyers of cottages, cabins and chalets across Canada outnumber Baby Boomers by almost two to one, according to the Royal LePage 2016 Canadian Recreational Housing Report released today. Still, planning for retirement living is among the most common reasons potential buyers give for the purchase of a recreational property.  The annual report compiles information from a cross-Canada survey of real estate advisors who specialize in recreational property sales.

The survey found that 65 per cent of advisors polled indicated that

I often get asked how to invest in real estate and what should investors should be looking for in an income producing property.

It can be overwhelming for a first-time investor, as the real estate investment industry is riddled with various scenarios and situations that can decimate your returns. While the returns can be lucrative, proceed with caution.

Toronto realtor Matt Smith has shared with me his extensive experiences in helping investors both acquire and manage single-unit condominium investment properties. These are a very popular vehicle for investment in both Vancouver and Toronto, where both supply and demand for these units seems to be endless. In Toronto’s Downtown Bloor Yorkville area alone, there are currently eleven projects, all

There is no question that home affordability in cities like Vancouver and Toronto has become unattainable for most of us.

There is a significant supply problem which has not been adequately discussed and resolved.

With the news that foreign investors will now be taxed an additional 15% of the purchase price on residential properties in Vancouver, it looks as though a Canadian “Wall” is being built against free trade and immigration, as even the Ontario Finance Minister is suggesting that he is looking very closely at what his British Columbia counterpart has done. This is in addition to the additional taxes of current land transfer tax of 1% to 3% of the purchase price and the yet-to-be-disclosed new tax that will be applied to owners of

It may be a way to attract foreign investors away from already hot markets like Vancouver and Toronto

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union last week plunged governments worldwide into a pit of economic and political uncertainty. The ripples of the referendum will have an unmistakable impact on global economies and, by association, on global real estate markets. But only temporarily.

Interest rates will remain low

The immediate impact of the post-Brexit vote on Canada’s economy will be pressure to keep interest rates at historically low levels, explained BMO chief economist Douglas Porter and senior economist Robert Kavcic in a report last week. This is, in part, because other segments of our country’s economy would feel the impact of

When a homeowner is preparing to list their home for sale, there are many decisions that need to be made. 

When is the best time to list your Kamloops Real Estate?  What price should the home be listed for?  Who will be hired to sell the home?

These are just a few of the most common home seller questions.  Another popular question that home sellers who don’t live in their home ask is whether they should sell the home empty or staged.

Like with most things, there are PROs and CONs to selling a home empty as well as PROs and CONs to selling a home staged.  It’s important that homeowners weigh the PROs and CONs to help them decide whether they should sell their home empty or staged.

Below you will find out what the PROs and CONs are to both

A significant “negative shock” to the economy:

That’s what it’s going to take to lower interest rates again, says Canada’s most powerful banker.

And Bank of Canada head Stephen Poloz isn’t betting on that happening any time soon. Neither are bond traders, the big guns that bet billions of dollars every day on the direction of interest rates.

So let’s suppose – just for fun – that they’re right (since we all know how often markets and economists aren’t right). If we are actually near a bottom in rates for a few years, what’s the best way to play your mortgage?

Well, it just so happens that there’s an app for that. It’s called a spreadsheet and I’ve taken the liberty of putting mine through its paces and model out which mortgage term (or

When selling your home, choosing the Realtor who will represent your best interests is one of the most important and one of the first steps in the process.

 Unfortunately, many sellers do not understand how important this is or believe that to be the case.  There are specific things that you should expect from your real estate agent when selling your home.

A piece of advice if you are thinking about selling your home, do not hire a Realtor because they are just your friend or because they are a colleagues spouse.  Every Realtor is different, period.  There are many consumers who believe every Realtor is the same and they all do the same things to sell homes, which is the farthest from the truth!  Each Realtor runs their business differently,

You have decided to put your home on the market with the hope of selling quickly for top dollar.

Those are the goals of all sellers! Unfortunately, listing your home for sale is just the beginning of what could end becoming a long and unpredictable process. One of the keys of home selling that can speed up or slow down the process is the negotiation.

The negotiation is one of the most crucial steps to determine the success of the deal. It has a direct impact on how fast your property sells and how much of a return on investment (if any) you will see. Sellers need to be open-minded as their attitude towards the negotiation process will dictate whether the transaction stalls or moves forward toward closing the sale.

It is important to remember