You’ve been squirreling away your bonus cheques, savings and reducing the amount of times you visit Starbucks so you can finally get into your own home to build solid equity for your future. Now that you know what you want and what you can afford, it’s time to visit your local Dominion Lending Centres mortgage specialist […]

This month, the Bank of Canada increased their lending rate for the 2nd time in as many months. The changes in the Prime Lender Rates means that those with a variable mortgage rates will have seen that their mortgages rates adjusted alongside the changes to Prime Rate. For those of you with variable rates, the […]

Rarely in life do things go as planned, especially in real estate. In a perfect world, when buying a new home, most people want to take possession of their new house before having to move out of the old one. This makes moving a lot easier and allows you time for painting or renovations prior […]

We know – more changes?! How can that be! With this ever-changing landscape, mortgages continue to get more complicated. This next round of changes is predicted to take affect this coming October 2017 (date not yet available). These new rules contain three possible changes, the most prominent being the implementation of a stress test for […]

Imagine that, a few years from now, the time has come to renew your mortgage. Several years back, you got a $350,000 at the then great rate of 2.24%. Your mortgage payments are $1522 per month. Because we are now in what the financial brainboxes call “ an escalating rate environment “ – normal people […]

Just because you are a Canadian citizen living abroad doesn’t mean that you are exempt from the rules for foreigners buying real estate in Canada. Foreign ownership applies if: • You don’t reside in Canada for more than 6 months a year (even if you are Canadian) • You don’t report your working income to […]

What prevents many potential homeowners from buying a home is the lack of a down payment. Many first-time home buyers are receiving down payment gifts from family. Unfortunately, many are not in this position and need to plan to save their own down payment. When you can visualize the benefits of owning your own home […]

For many people, saving enough for a down payment on a house is not an easy task. (You can’t rely on finding One-Eyed Willy’s treasure like they did in the Goonies movie, either!) Once you have an idea as to how much you can afford on your home, relative to your salary and monthly costs, […]

Mark John Chandler claimed “to be one of the biggest real estate developers in Canada” when he reached out to a New York money lender in 2011, according to court filings. Now, the Vancouver developer faces the prospect of being shipped to the U.S. to face charges in an alleged “fraudulent scheme” involving Los Angeles real […]

In the midst of the booming real estate market in Canada (mainly in Vancouver and Toronto), many Canadians are entertaining the idea of downsizing in order to sell their homes at a high value and purchase a smaller home or condo at a lower price. Is downsizing the way to go? What are the costs […]