Real Estate

These interest rate hike signals should be taken with a grain (or shaker) of salt. We’ve heard the warnings for over two years now and interest rates have barely moved.

It is helpful to ask questions so you fully understand how closing costs can impact your budget. Here’s a closer look at the 4 hidden costs of buying a house.

I got a call from our realtor who said that a conditional offer had just come in on our house.

We would like to receive a full market-value offer for our house. As with investing, this is best accomplished by maximizing value and minimizing fees.

One way to ensure that you get top dollar when selling your house is by home staging.

This morning Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will introduce new mortgage rules designed to reduce Canadians’ high household debt levels.

Personally I don’t believe that spending only 2.5 times your gross salary on a house is even close to being realistic anymore. Even 2.5 times gross salary on your mortgage seems like a stretch.

When it comes down to how much we can afford to spend on a house, the bank has a different opinion than I do. I take what the bank calculates with a grain of salt, as I don’t feel that anyone should extend themselves to the very limits of what they’ve been approved for.

A few weeks ago I met with our mortgage specialist at TD Canada Trust to discuss the process of upgrading our house. With a growing family, one of our goals is to move out of our 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house and build a larger house closer to where I work.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of my medium term goals is to upgrade our house. If you have been keeping an eye on the news, you would have noticed that this is an interesting time in the Canadian real estate market.