Where is the heart: home or neighbourhood?
Posted on Mar 20, 2022 in Buying a house
Everybody knows the most familiar real estate refrain about the three most important things about buying — or selling — a home:
Location, location, location.
But is it? If you’re a buyer, what’s most important to you: the house you want to call home, or the neighbourhood where you want to live? A home can take priority for all the obvious reasons…eno...
Question — tenancy or home ownership?
Posted on Nov 20, 2021 in Buying a house
Rent a home, or buy one?
That’s a question many people ask at some point in their adult lives, and there’s no definitive answer because everybody’s situation is different. It usually begins with finances, yet there are other considerations, too.
Buyers have often been renters before entering the real estate market. As renters, they have enjoyed the b...
Starting point in deciding on that next residence
Posted on Aug 24, 2021 in Buying a house
If you’re thinking about moving, before you start house-hunting, it’s always a good idea to visualize your ideal next residence. Your dream home, as they say, and everybody’s is different.
Sometimes, extremely different. Dream living for some urban home owners is living high up in an apartment with a view of a city or, especially in the Lower Mainla...
Buying as a hedge against inevitable inflation
Posted on Jul 24, 2021 in Buying a house
Since there’s speculation that inflation is on the horizon for Canadians, there’s also growing discussion about how to prepare for — and find ways for protection from — what seems to be inevitable one day in the foreseeable future. Buying a home can be part of it, because it can be a hedge against inflation, but inflation-prone costs can also come...
The importance of checking out neighbourhoods
Posted on Jul 11, 2021 in Buying a house
If you’re in the market for a new home, here’s an idea to keep in mind by the time you get to the 11th hour (or earlier) of negotiations…just before you sign an offer.
Drive through the neighbourhood several times, and at several times.
What you don’t want to do is make an offer, have it accepted and close the deal on a home in a neighbourhood that f...
CMHC’s incentive for first-time home buyers
Posted on May 22, 2021 in Buying a house
With all the real estate activity there is, somewhere in the mix there are likely many first-time buyers, or perhaps first-time-buyers-to-be. If you’re among them, or you know somebody who is, you might find this blog particularly interesting.
To help first-time buyers qualify for a mortgage, the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation makes it eas...