Buying a home can cost more than the price of the property - read below for more information and what it can cost for your next purchase. Contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your next step! 

Original Article HERE

Buying a home is a big investment – likely the largest one you will ever make. The cost to buy a home should be carefully considered to avoid the risk of financial difficulty in the future.

Since this decision has a large impact on your wallet, we want to take some time to explore the many costs associated with buying a home. Doing your homework and knowing the average cost of these services in your neighbourhood will help you choose a home within a realistic price range.

Deposit: Depending on your location and the price of a home, you may need to put a deposit on a home as a security measure to ensure you don’t lose it to another interested buyer. If you are required to pay a deposit, it will become part of your down payment once you have purchased the home.

Down Payment: In Canada, the minimum amount you need to put down on a home is 5%. While this is realistic for most first time home buyers, having a down payment of 20% or more will help buyers avoid paying Mortgage Loan Insurance.

Land Transfer Tax: When you buy a home, you are required to pay a land transfer tax to the province upon closing. This tax is normally based on the amount paid for the land, as well as the remaining amount on any mortgage or debt assumed as part of the arrangement to buy the land. Cost will vary depending on your municipality, the size of the land and other factors.  Alberta, Saskatchewan, and parts of Nova Scotia do not have Land Transfer Tax at all, while other provinces use a tiered system.

Appraisal Fee: An appraisal will normally cost between $200 and $300 but can vary depending on your location. This will help prevent you from borrowing more than you need to, and will prevent lenders from giving you too much.

Home Inspection: A home inspection is a necessary step in your home buying process and will normally cost an average of $350 depending on the size, age, and condition of the home. This helps ensure there are no unexpected maintenance or home improvement costs upon purchasing the home.

Property Insurance: While property insurance is likely already something you have factored into your budget, it’s important to do your research and find a reasonable quote that will ensure you are covered should anything unexpected happen.

Mortgage Insurance: There is mortgage life insurance, which is designed to protect the repayment of a mortgage if anything were to happen to you. There is also mortgage loan insurance if your down payment is less than 20% of the total house cost. Premiums for this type of insurance range from 0.5% to 3% and increase if you are self employed.

Lawyer Fees: The fee you will be charged by your lawyer will vary depending on the person representing you and must be paid upon closing. Ask your real estate agent for advice as they likely have a preferred trusted lawyer they can refer you to.

Title Insurance: Title insurance is a one-time-fee that provides protection from losses related to the properties title or ownership. Learn more about what it is in this blog post.

Property Taxes: The cost for property taxes is expressed as a dollar rate for every $1,000 estimated to be the market value of your property.

Maintenance and Energy Costs: Potentially your largest ongoing homeowner expense, these costs include lawn care/ yard work, professional services, additions/upgrades and the cost of keeping the house running year-round. You can use our monthly home budget planner to help map out all of these costs.

Moving Expenses: It’s easy to forget about the small things when moving, but it’s important to remember they can add up quickly! Consider the cost for phone, electricity, and other utility installations and don’t forget about movers, a moving truck and feeding your friends who are helping out!

Now that you have a better idea of the cost to buy a home, it’s time to hit the books to find out how much these services will cost in your area. Make a list, create a budget, and get started!

Download our Hidden Costs of Home Ownership guide to find out more the cost to buy a home. Looking for information on a cost not listed above? Leave a comment & we will do the research for you!

See below for a message from the REBGV President, Jill Oudil, and what effect it can have for you! 

Original article HERE

BC’s Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate (OSRE) is overseeing changes that’ll have a profound impact on our profession. The OSRE has begun implementing the 28 recommendations that the Real Estate Council of BC's Independent Advisory Group (IAG) made last year.

To date, the OSRE has implemented recommendations to:

• raise English proficiency standards for new entrants to the profession;
• overhaul the composition of people who sit on Council; and
• increase the maximum fine to $250,000 for licensees and to $500,000 for brokerages.

The most recent announcement was a ban on limited dual agency in the province.

Beginning January 15, 2018, you’ll no longer be able to provide agency representation to two parties in the same transaction. This means you won't be able to represent a buyer and a seller in a deal, or represent two competing buyers in the same transaction.

The OSRE exempted remote areas underserved by real estate licensees. The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) advocated for this exemption and we're pleased it’s in the new rules. Double-ending will also be allowed within the rules, as will the practice of designated agency, wherewo licensees in the same brokerage represent different parties in a transaction.

Members are asking us questions about how the new rules will affect their responsibilities to clients and customers, particularly with respect to teams and commercial real estate. We're working with BCREA to surface your questions and concerns, get the answers you need and, where complexities continue to exist, forward them to the superintendent.

You can also give feedback on these changes directly to the OSRE until October 6. Click hereto do so.

(Read more about this change and the actions we’re taking in response in the week’s GR Voice article here.)

The remaining IAG recommendations will be implemented. It’s a matter of when and how.

We hosted a productive meeting with the superintendent and his team earlier this year. They expressed a willingness to maintain a regular dialogue to ensure they understand our perspective on the changes they’re making. We’ll look for every opportunity to continue these discussions in the weeks and months ahead.

We’re working with BCREA to understand the implications around each of the recommendations, identify the potential impact on our members, meet with government officials, and coordinate our advocacy efforts. Click here to read a letter BCREA sent Finance Minister Carol James on this issue.

We’re in a period of significant government intervention. National, provincial, and local politicians of all political stripes are responding to public concerns about housing affordability and a perceived lack of fairness and transparency in how the real estate transaction is conducted.

On these issues, governments at all levels have public support for change:

• Last year’s foreign buyer tax was popular, as was the City of Vancouver’s empty homes tax.
• In its bid to stave off potential mortgage debt issues, the federal government has made it harder for people to get a mortgage six times in the last nine years. They’re proposing regulation changes again, this time targeting people renewing uninsured mortgages.
• The new provincial government will spend $208 million to build 1,700 new affordable rental housing units over the next 10 years.

Our philosophy on government policy is simple: REALTORS® support measures that protect the public and strengthen accountability for those in our profession who act outside the public interest. We also support measures that improve housing affordability and build better communities in a meaningful, lasting, and sustainable way. 

We assess the merits of every proposed policy against these criteria.

We can’t be successful in our government advocacy work without your support. In this time of change, it’s important that you read our communications and give your feedback as we continue to work on your behalf.

If you have questions or comments, you can reach me at president@rebgv.org.

Sincerely,

Jill Oudil
President
Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver 

Many Canadian Cities To See Years Of Falling House Prices: Moody's

Original Article HERE

MERONN

 

 

A majority of Canada's major cities will see falling single-family home prices over the next five years, including slight price declines in once-hot Vancouver, according to a forecast from Moody's Analytics.

 

But that won't include Toronto. Despite the city's detached homes being 60 per cent overvalued, a shortage of supply and an influx of wealth into the region will mean prices in Canada's largest city will continue to grow, though at a slower pace, the risk analysis firm predicted.

 

While Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver will experience slightly falling house prices over the next five years, cities such as Edmonton, Quebec City, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg are expected to see more significant declines in single-family home prices, the forecast stated.

 

Prices will likely experience "a sharp change in momentum, especially if speculative home purchases in Toronto and Vancouver are reduced or shut down," wrote Moody's Analytics director Andres Carbacho-Burgos.

 

Interest rates have started to rise; the federal government has introduced tougher new standards for insured mortgage lending, and more tough mortgage rules may be on the way; and British Columbia and Ontario have slapped taxes on foreign homebuyers.

All this, coupled with the fact that affordability is near record lows, will keep Canada's housing market in a state of "retrenchment" for several years, Carbacho-Burgos wrote.

 

How different markets react to the new reality will differ widely, the report states.

 

Despite a steep drop in the average price since Ontario's new housing rules came into effect in April, Toronto and surrounding cities will continue to see house-price growth over the next five years, Carbacho-Burgos predicted.

 

But at an annual growth rate of 7.7 per cent, it will be considerably slower than the double-digit price growth seen in recent years.

The area has seen population growth that is faster than the national average for some years now, and housing supply has not kept up, the Moody's report noted. 

 

Carbacho-Burgos estimated that Toronto house prices are overvalued by 60 per cent compared to the long-run trend, while in Vancouver they are about 50-per-cent overvalued.

But unlike Toronto, Vancouver will see slight price declines over the next five years, falling an average of 0.3 per cent per year.

"With higher mortgage rates and restrictions on speculative purchases and foreign purchases, Vancouver's housing market can ... expect approximately level house prices over the coming five years," Carbacho-Burgos wrote.

 

Montreal will experience outright house-price declines, thanks to "slower demographics" than in other Canadian cities, the report predicted.

The forecast sees an absolute housing bust in St. John's, Nfld., predicting detached house prices there will fall by more than six per cent per year, between now and 2022.

The Market Report for August 2017 is now available via the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. 

See below for 5 year trend for Greater Vancouver. 

If you have any questions about the current trend or are curious about what your home is worth. don't hesistate to contact me! 

For the full market report, click HERE