Tagged : buyers

Buying a condo or a property in a strata?

The legal doctrine of caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) continues to apply to real estate transactions in BC today, and can have the effect of denying the buyer a remedy for defects and deficiencies discovered in the property after purchase. In general, the onus is on the buyer to determine the state and quality of the property being sold – rather than on the seller to point out any potential problems.

When purchasing into a strata building, an important part of the buyer’s due diligence process is reviewing and understanding the current bylaws of the strata corporation. A failure to review the bylaws can lead to nasty, unwanted surprises for new homeowners later down the road. 

Schedule “A” of the

What is "house poor"?

This phrase describes home buyers who've purchased property they can't easily afford—and are now paying the price, as it were.

“If you can’t spend your income the way you want to because so much of it is going to housing expenses, you’re house poor,” says Debra Neiman, a financial planner.

Translation: If you're eating rice and beans every night just so you can pay your mortgage, you probably qualify.

As a general rule of thumb, financial advisers tell people to pay no more than 30% of their pretax income on housing—so if you make $5,000 per month, you should spend no more than $1,500 on your mortgage, property tax, and other housing costs. By that benchmark, according to the State of the Nation's Housing 2017 Report from

Think of a subject in an offer as insurance.

Once you find a Kamloops home and make an offer, you hope everything will go smoothly; but in case it doesn’t, you have an opportunity to add subject clauses that allows you to back out of the contract without losing money if something untoward happens.

Most agreements already have a few key subject clauses in place to protect against the bigger things—such as a lower-than-anticipated home appraisal—but there are subjects that go beyond the norm. If you’re about to make an offer, consider all of your options.

Standard subjects

Some subject clauses are commonly used when making an offer. Some examples:

• Home inspection: This gives the buyer the right to order a professional home inspection and

KAMLOOPS - Property owners in the Thompson region can expect to get their property assessment notices in the mail within the next few days and you might find your home has appreciated in value — some significantly.

B.C. Assessment says in a news release that homeowners can expect a moderate increase, which will reflect the market value as of July 2017.

Compared to 2017, numbers for residential single detached homes in urban areas of the Thompson are up between zero and 15 per cent, while rural properties range from a decrease of five per cent to an increase of 25 per cent.

Residential strata units in urban areas vary between a five per cent decrease and 20 per cent increase compared to 2017 numbers, while properties in urban areas increased by

Buying to rent: tips from a seasoned real estate investor

Buying to rent is a way to ride out the ups and downs of the real estate market and the economy, said Ann Kaplan, president and CEO of national consumer finance company iFinance Canada. (Kaplan also appeared on The Real Housewives of Toronto, a show run by Slice, one of the brands owned by Corus Entertainment, which also owns Global Television and Global News.) Kaplan, who gradually built a portfolio of  seven residential and commercial properties in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto, has some advice for those buying investment properties as a means to enter the market:

Decide what price you want to pay and be prepared to walk away if you don’t get it. When you’re buying investment property,

Owning real estate is a privilege, and in doing so, you are committing not only to serving your own personal interest, but potentially that of your family for years to come. A success story is increasingly possible, and for many of us real estate is our single most important asset when it comes to retaining value. When managed well, the rights in land associated with the building on it, not only maintain their value while factoring in inflation, but increase in value. The key to retaining your home’s value while ensuring comfort is good maintenance and a few simple upgrades.

Outside

Gutters

If you property has, or is surrounded by trees, your gutters may need to be cleaned multiple times each year. As a good rule of thumb, it’s best to access

So you are looking to move to Kamloops.

So what are the advantages to living in Kamloops opposed to lets say Kelowna or Merrit? Kamloops is strategically located at the intersection of Western Canada’s four major highways: the Coquihalla (Highway 5), TransCanada (Highway 1), Yellowhead (Highway 5), and Highway 97; is serviced by both national railways, is the meeting location of the South and North Thompson Rivers and home to the Kamloops Airport. The city has a growing population of almost 86,000 within the city, and 128,473 including the city and regional district. Kamloops is home to Canada’s most comprehensive university, Thompson Rivers University, is Canada’s Tournament Capital and has a lifestyle like no other with 82 parks, over 200 lakes

On May 9, British Columbians cast their votes for the next provincial government.

It took a couple of weeks to get the final results, and now the elected parties—the Liberals, the NDP and the Greens—must work together to govern this diverse province.

A topic that all three elected parties agree on is the importance of housing affordability. Housing was a key election issue throughout the campaign period, and all three parties made numerous policy promises about it in their election platforms.

The parties took differing positions on some aspects of housing affordability. The Liberals highlighted financial incentives for home buyers and homeowners that they introduced in the last legislative session, proposing a gradual approach to expand these

Vancouver, BC – June 13, 2017. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 12,402 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in May, down 7.9 per cent from the same period last year. Total sales dollar volume was $9.33 billion, down 4.0 per cent from May 2017. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $752,536, a 4.2 per cent increase from the same period last year.

"Market conditions have tightened considerably this spring as an upturn in consumer demand has not been accompanied by a rise in homes listed for sale," said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. "The supply of homes for sale in the province has fallen 50 per cent over the past five years."

"The entire

In our changing mortgage market where traditional lenders shy away from risk, some buyers may have to consider the alternative

For those not familiar with mortgage lenders, alternative lending agencies – including B-lenders – have previously been thought of as the car salesmen of the lending world. They were the last resort; the place you went only when there was nowhere else to go. Today, however, they might also be the only lender willing to do business with you.

Recent changes to Canada’s mortgage regulations, coupled with the fury of Vancouver’s real estate market, has made B-lenders highly sought after, and, quite frankly, for some the only option. But are B-lenders the last hope for many BC home buyers?

The reality of today’s market is that