Before embarking on an expensive move, consider renovating instead?

Move to a larger, more suitable home in your neighbourhood or stay put and renovate what you have? Finish the basement or build an addition? And most importantly, what would each scenario cost?

There are many Canadian's faced with the choice between moving or improving to increase usable square footage. Back in 2012, Canada Post released numbers indicating that of the 850,000 people who changed addresses, 37% moved to upgrade their home for family reasons. More recently, Altus Group measured the boom in Canadian residential home renovation spending, valuing it at $68 billion in 2014, roughly $20 billion more than what was spent on new builds.

Families grow, possessions multiply,

Renting property can be a lucrative way to make money but make sure you know the rules..

In Toronto, in 2012, apartments rented for approximately $25 to $35 per square meter, and in Montreal, $21 to $28 per square meter, according to Global Property Guide. However, rental income can also be as simple as renting the spare room in your personal residence. “Even if you’re renting your basement apartment to a student, this is considered rental income, and it must be declared,” Caroline Thompson, president of Thompson Accounting and Tax Inc., explains. “However, you don’t need to charge the goods and services tax. It only applies to commercial property.”

Share of Ownership

Before you can determine how much of the rental income to declare, you need

Prices may see minimal impact due to the narrow reach of new rules

TORONTO – Homebuyers in Canada now face larger down payment requirements for properties over $500,000. The changes are intended to temper some of Canada’s heated real estate markets. Here are five things to know about the new rules:

Who’s affected: Primarily those shopping for a home in Toronto and Vancouver. First-time buyers in those cities will feel the pinch since they’ll be required to put down bigger down payments to get into the market. Those selling their homes in order to size up, especially in cities with hot housing markets, likely won’t feel the pain since they’ve built up equity in those properties.

Dollars and cents: For someone purchasing a $700,000 home — a common

You'd buy a sweater on impulse, but when it comes to buying a home it's all about calm deliberation, right?

You might be surprised.

Price, square footage, location: "All that can be trumped by the visceral reaction of seeing a home," says June Cotte, who teaches marketing at Western University's Ivey Business School.

"Smells, colours, sounds you can hear inside or from the outside - you might not be aware of them, but they can have an influence."

The layout may even subliminally remind you of the home of a former boyfriend, says Cotte. That can have a positive or negative emotional impact on how you perceive a home that's for sale.

In fact, a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research in 2002 said emotions can be twice as

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