As we move along this flurry of blogs in the last few weeks, and discussing the important aspects of homebuying to veteran or first time buyers, we want to cover a more mathematical aspect that can help you make decisions by yourselves and potentially save you time in the mortgage acquisition process. …
It’s December! At the beginning of November, we discussed the benefits and disadvantages of the variable rate mortgage. A month later, it’s time to talk about the fixed rate mortgage (FRM). The interest rate for a fixed rate mortgage stays the same for the full term of the mortgage. Payments are set…
Last week, we discussed the mortgage pre-approval and why it is important for first time homebuyers to go through this process and the long term benefits. Fast forward a few years into home ownership, and some families may find themselves in a situation where they’d like to tweak things a little bit, for whatever financial…
Buying a new home. It’s never an easy task and is often emotionally draining. Whether alone or with family, you are making a life-changing decision, at least for the foreseeable future; so you want to get it right! Many couples and/or families go through this process a few times in their lives and often repeat…
As if moving from one province to another wasn’t difficult enough, the last thing on most people’s minds is how their family’s relocation will affect their tax return. However, the CRA offers a long list of eligible tax deductions related to moving to help offset the costs. Last year, the…
Away from the legal topics of real estate from a couple of weeks ago, we look at an issue that is much more local, our own region! It has long been a hot topic for tenants, whether university students or government employees, and anything in between. Even though salaries in Ottawa are generally good –…
Carrying on from 2 weeks ago, as promised. Q: What kind of recurring costs can I expect? As you would guess, there are monthly fees to pay. These will include the maintenance of the building and common areas, and reserve fund contributions, which will cover any major repairs or upgrades. In the event of a…
In our last blog, we touched up on ways first time homebuyers could still afford their dream place even with the new mortgage rules in place, and that parents helping out through gifting a down payment and money was one of the solutions. This week, we elaborate more on how parental help can help their…
So in late 2017, the financial world was sent into ‘chaos’ when Bitcoin surged again as a trend, which looks set to stay. Almost everybody around the world with some money to spare decided it could be a good idea to jump into the cryptocurrency bandwagon. But how does Bitcoin work exactly? Bitcoin is a…
We are now in 2018 – and the real estate market in Canada has brought fresh changes to the way we will be buying houses now and for the many years to come. And it’s not just an issue of very high prices anymore… On New Years’ Day, a new mortgage rule was approved that…
