Market news and stats

Owning your home means more financial responsibility than merely being an occupying tenant in a rental property. There are a considerable amount of additional costs that go in to purchasing a house such as Home Owners Association fees, insurance, maintenance, and repairs. In spite of the extra expenses having a place to call your own gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment as well as provides a fantastic investment opportunity as equity is built over time. 

One of the best aspects of purchasing your own residence is the ability to put a personal touch in to the decor and style. Paint colors, flooring, lighting, or total room redesigns are all just waiting for you to choose and customize. However, a home owner not only needs to keep their finger

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There is no controlling the time of year that a seller might be required to sell their real estate, but what about the busy period leading up to the holiday season?

Although listing a home too close to Christmas isn’t ideal in many cases, it can yield positive results if done properly.
 
One advantage of selling a property around the holidays is that there’s typically less competition. With fewer listings on the market at this time of year, you can take advantage of the more serious active buyers. It’s not uncommon that work schedules lighten up leading to the holidays, which may allow active buyers to focus on house hunting.

The amount of active buyers will be somewhat dictated by the condition of the local market – for instance, a seller's market

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Kamloops and the Thompson-Nicola region is facing a rental housing shortage, but compared to the rest of the country the area is not fairing too poorly.

According to the Canadian Rental Housing Index, in the region there are 53,375 renter households and of those 10,995 people are renting accommodations. That represents 21 per cent of the population as renters, with a median household income of $37,384. The average rent in the area is $835 including utilities. Of those renting, more than 48 per cent of people spend 30 per cent or more of their income for housing. Another 2,425 people spend more than 50 per cent of their income on housing needs, representing 22 per cent of all renters.

The number of renters living in overcrowded conditions represents

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Buying a home is unlike any other consumer purchase. “There are costs that just don’t exist anywhere else,” says Phil Soper president and CEO of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, Toronto. There are often costs involved in buying a home that many first time home buyers have never heard of, particularly if they didn’t do their homework or seek good advice during the transaction. That’s where a realtor can come in handy, says Elton Ash, regional vice-president of Re/Max Western Canada, Vancouver. “You’re paying a realtor for a service,” says Soper. “That service goes well beyond simply sales service. The realtor should be willing to take the novice purchaser through the entire process, including a summary of all the costs and steps necessary to…

Sometimes concepts in the finance world can be tricky. We get so caught up in trying to understand what all the offerings are that we forget to understand the simple things. When is the last time that someone said what a mortgage really is? Or explained why I can only buy a home for $350,000.00. We all have questions in the back of our minds that we don't articulate because we are just too embarrassed. Here are the top five things you are afraid to ask.

 

1. What is a mortgage?

A simple enough question but not one that people seem ready to admit to . A mortgage is a loan secured by real property, commonly referred to as real estate. In essence it is a contract that includes rights and obligations of both parties. The term actually comes from a

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Everyone wants to get as much money as possible when selling their home, maximizing the cash pocketed or equity gained from the deal and better preparing them for their next purchase.

Market supply and demand fundamentals can provide a starting point to establishing a price, but other variables such as specific characteristics of individual properties, location and a seller’s financial needs and timetable must also be factored in.

It may not be a simple exercise, but it’s a critical one. List a property at too high a price, it might languish on the market and turn away potential buyers. List it too low, you might sell it quick, but you’ll be leaving valuable dollars on the table – or in someone else’s pocket.

“Price it right, and it will sell.

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A key concern of many home owners looking to sell a home is the exposure that their home will receive, reports the Digital Journal.

In the world of real estate, the more people that see the listings of homes for sale, the better the deal will be in the end for the home sellers. However, it is vital to ensure that those who are viewing the property are actually qualified and motivated homebuyers.

MLS® listings are one of the best ways to ensure that a property get the maximum and best possible exposure. The MLS® system spans most of North American, and the majority of home sales are done through the MLS®.

It's important to note, however, that simply listing a home on the MLS® can only go so far. With that in mind, here are two ways to get the most

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Updated : Oct 2015

Houses

 

• Median price $399,900
• Monthly growth 0.52 %
• Quarterly trend
• Stock on market 1.72%

House Report

Across the country as a whole, Kamloops is in the top 20% when all of Canada’s suburbs are listed in order of real estate listing prices. The median house price listed in Kamloops this month is $399,900. If you’re looking at investment properties in Kamloops, then you’re most likely to find homes with 3 bedrooms on sale this month. From our data, it appears that neighbourhood is number 30th when comparing neighbourhoods by the number of properties available to investors across the nation, putting it in the top 10. It’s never an exact art, but to try to forecast how property is going to appreciate in

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Canada needs to do a better job cracking down on shady foreign investors, many of whom may be laundering ill-gotten cash through real estate purchases. That’s according to a new report by Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog group.

Lax standards in Canada, as well as countries like the U.S. and China, make it easy for billions of dollars of shady money to pour into cities like Vancouver, according to the Vancouver Sun.

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to toughen regulations at various G20 summits, but right now finance rules are lax enough that it’s hard to determine whether foreign “money launderers and other corporate kleptocrats” are snatching up properties in Toronto and Vancouver, Transparency International Canada

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OTTAWA, November 12, 2015 — Buying your first home is an exciting time but it also comes with many questions, concerns and in some cases, nerves. With that in mind, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released today its 2015 First-Time Homebuyers Survey (#FirstTimeBuyers) coinciding with the fifth anniversary of Financial Literacy Month (#FLM2015).

“For many Canadians, buying their first home is the single, largest purchase they have ever made.” says Nathalie Fredette, Vice-President, Client Relationship Management. “Our aim is to provide mortgage brokers, lenders and other industry professionals with valuable information and useful tools so they can better guide their clients through this major life event.”

“CMHC’s survey results

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