A 23-year-old with an $80K job and no debt couldn’t get a mortgage – this is why At 23, Robin Bourbeau had a $80,000-a-year job, no debts and enough money for a 20 per cent down payment on a $400,000 home. His mortgage broker, Phil Cragg, sent him house shopping with a blessing. But when Bourbeau, whose father is a Global News employee, put a conditional offer on a house, he was told he couldn’t get a mortgage – because he didn’t have a credit card. Bourbeau was what consumer credit rating company Equifax calls a “beacon reject,” someone with no credit history, said Cragg, director and mortgage agent at Mortgage Outlet in Ottawa. Bourbeau, a nuclear operator in training at Ontario Power Generation, hadn’t touched a credit card since he was 18, when he briefly owned a PC Mastercard, quickly ran up its $500 credit limit and forgot to pay his bill. As soon as he realized he had an outstanding charge, he paid off his debt and shut down his account, he said. And he never used credit again – until he tried to apply for a mortgage. Bourbeau was eventually…
Sold your home? CRA may penalize you if you fail to report it The Canada Revenue Agency is getting tough with people who fail to comply with new rules requiring the routine sale of a home to be reported, even when there’s zero tax owing. If you don’t report the sale of a principal residence on your income tax return, you could be subject to a fine of as much as $8,000. And something else to keep in mind: Normally, CRA may reassess your tax returns going back three years; with the reporting of a sale of a home, there’s no limit on how long CRA can wait to reassess you. It sounds like CRA may go easy on applying fines for now because more stringent requirements for reporting the sale of a home are still relatively recent. But the rules for reporting the sale of a house on a tax return have definitely changed. There’s now a potentially harsh cost for not complying. Canada’s religion of home ownership is built in large part on what tax experts call the personal residence exemption, or PRE. It means you don’t have to pay tax on capital gains…
12334 Charlene Ln, Tecumseh Home Sold! My latest property listing is this outstanding executive 2 storey home in one of the best locations in all of Essex County at 12334 Charlene in Tecumseh, ON. Type: House Address: 12334 Charlene Ln. City: Tecumseh, ON Bedrooms: 4+2 Baths: 4 List Price: $568,900.00 This great home gives you room to roam and over 3,200 sq ft. of space, and this full brick gem offers 4 + 2 bedrooms, 4 baths, a spacious main floor in-law suite, oversized oak kitchen opening to a main floor family room, beautiful hardwood flooring, and spacious ensuite with whirlpool tub. This tremendous home gives you even more to enjoy with a gorgeous finished basement that’s built for entertaining, a 20x40 inground salt water sport pool with spa, concrete area used for a winter ice rink, and so much more. To get a better look at this Tecumseh 2 storey home for yourself and see more of what 12334 Charlene has to offer, look at my 3D tour below: To learn more about this great Tecumseh property for sale, call me today…
11728 Dillon Windsor Home Sold! My newest listing is this immaculate 1450 sq. ft. gem that’s located in a prime East Riverside location, just steps from the Ganatchio Trail. Type: House Address: 11728 Dillon City: Windsor, ON Bedrooms: 3+2 Baths: 3 List Price: $379,900 This home provides you with enough space for a growing family as well as to entertain, featuring 3+2 bedrooms, 3 full baths, a gorgeous remodeled open concept kitchen (2 yrs.) with island and breakfast bar, stainless steel appliances, ensuite with whirlpool tub, and a beautifully finished basement (5 yrs.). Outside, you will find a new roof with 30 yr. shingles and an oversized sundeck (2 yrs.) with storage, and this home is on a fully landscaped 150’ deep lot. This property has never experienced flooding, and is in truly move-in condition. This property is open for registration of offers, however no offers will be viewed until February 13th, 2018. This home is not expected to last long, so call me today at (519) 818-8989 or email me for more…
$750,000 Toronto Real Estate Listing Looks Like It Came Out Of A Horror Movie With how expensive housing in Toronto is, $750,000 for a house downtown sounds pretty decent, right? Well, when they say something's too good to be true, it probably is. This two-bedroom row house might sound like a good deal based on location alone — it's near Trinity Bellwoods Park and many great amenities. Houses in the neighbourhood on average go for more than $1 million. This listing's pictures speak for themselves. It doesn't look bad on the outside. Nice and red. The inside tells a different story. It needs of a lot of love, to put it lightly. "Just Needs Tlc, Renovations And Remodeling To Become Your Dream Home!" the listing reads rather optimistically. The two-storey home, which is more than 100 years old, started to gain attention on social media after journalist Lauren Pelley tweeted a link to the listing. HuffPost Canada has reached out to the listing agent to see if there's been any interest in the home. Real estate in Toronto had a volatile…
Congratulations to the WINNER of the Red Wings Ticket Giveaway! Congratulations to Tamara & Dan Hebert on being selected as the winner of two tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 7th, 2018 at Little Caesars Arena! Tamara and Dan LIKED my Facebook page and shared the post about this giveaway, and were chosen as the winner of these great tickets. They will be enjoying the game from terrific seats located directly in line with centre ice, and will be able to take advantage of all of the amenities of the West Sideline Club during the game. I am so happy to be able to give Tamara and Dan these tickets as the winners of this giveaway, and I hope they have a wonderful time at the game. Thank you to everyone who entered, and keep watching my Facebook page for your next chance to win.
New mortgage stress test rules will block 50,000 people from buying: mortgage group New rules aimed at cracking down on the mortgage market will result in 100,000 people failing a stress test of their finances, and about half of them will be blocked from buying a home. That's one of the major takeaways of a new report published Tuesday from Mortgage Professionals Canada, an industry group that represents 11,500 mortgage brokers, lenders and insurers. The federal government has moved seven times since 2008 to tighten rules surrounding the real estate market, and practically every time, the market has shrugged off tighter rules around areas like maximum debt loads and amortization periods. But new rules implemented in October could be different. Starting January, uninsured borrowers from federally regulated lenders must have their finances "stress tested" to ensure they would be able to pay off their mortgages if rates were higher than they are today. To do that, the lender must run a test assuming rates were two percentage points higher than they are right…
‘LIKE’ and ‘SHARE’ to WIN Two Tickets to the Red Wings vs. Tampa Bay I am excited to bring you your chance to WIN two tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesar’s Arena on January 7th, 2018! You can enter for your chance to win these great tickets to see the Wings against the Lightning when you ‘LIKE’ my Facebook page and ‘SHARE’ my post about this giveaway. The winner will receive two great seats for the game - Section M28, Row 3, Seats 14 & 15 - located directly in line with centre ice with an outstanding view of all the action. These are also club seats, giving you access to the West Sideline Club with its own dedicated food and drink services, helping to give you an even better night out at the game. These tickets give you tremendous seats and an amazing experience at the game to see the Red Wings against one of the best teams in the NHL, so enter for your chance to win today. The winner will be drawn before the end of December - good luck to everyone who enters, and remember, to have your chance…
5 Best Cities To Live In Where Houses Are Under $400K Fed up with high house prices in Toronto or Vancouver? Thinking of packing up and moving elsewhere? We hear ya. With the average price of a single-family home in both these cities well above $1 million, plenty of people in Canada's priciest cities are looking for alternatives. Under the federal government's new mortgage rules, the average-earning household in Canada — with a total income of $80,000 — can get a mortgage of around $380,000 today (assuming a 25-year mortgage at three per cent). That, plus the down payment, is what an average household in Canada can afford. So we combined the Bank of Montreal's labour market report card with data on house prices from the Canadian Real Estate Association to come up with a ranking of the best cities to set up shop, where an average home costs less than $400,000. Here's what we found. 5. Halifax BMO labour market ranking: 12 Average household income: $84,560 Average mortgage payment: $1,038 People outside the Maritimes rarely…
1578 Caille Ave. Lakeshore Home Sold! Lakefront living at its best! My newest property for sale is a custom built 2 story home on Lake St. Clair. Type: House Address: 1578 Caille City: Lakeshore, ON Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 3 List Price: $719,000 This beautifully-finished and quality built new home boasts a number of outstanding features, including a picturesque view of the lake, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, maple kitchen with quartz and peninsula, formal dining room, bamboo hardwood throughout, and a master bedroom with bright ensuite, fireplace, walk-in closet, and balcony. It also offers a huge second floor family room, oversized heated garage (22x35) with workshop, and so much more. This home truly must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. For further details, and to get a great look at this outstanding Lakeshore property for yourself, view my iGuide tour below: To schedule your own private viewing, or for more information on this beautiful Lakeshore home for sale, call me at (519) 818-8989 or contact me today. I would…
359 Elmgrove, Lakeshore Home Sold! Searching for an incredible luxury property? My newest listing is a majestic home for sale in Lakeshore on one of the most prestigious and desirable streets in the country. Type: Address: City: Bedrooms: Baths: List Price: House 359 Elmgrove Lakeshore, ON 4 4 $699,900.00 This home is being sold by the original owners and is custom built on a beautiful 100 ft. lot. This tremendous full brick, two storey home features hardwood floors, updated cherry kitchen, main floor family room with natural fireplace, spacious master bedroom with adjacent den/nursery, ensuite with 6’ air jet tub, newer energy efficient furnace, alarm system, central vacuum, and many more outstanding features and updates. On the exterior of the home you will find a newer roof (7 yrs.), three car garage (two tandem), sprinkler system, and a beautifully manicured landscaped and treed lot, all located in a gorgeous and extremely sought-after neighbourhood that places you close to the best that the towns of Lakeshore…
1320 Chateau Ave, Windsor Home Sold! Not yet on MLS! My newest property for sale is this truly beautiful Windsor townhouse, located in the neighbourhood of East Riverside. Type: Address: City: Bedrooms: Baths: List Price: Townhouse 1320 Chateau Ave. Windsor, ON 3 2 $299,900.00 This outstanding property, which backs onto Lakeshore Woods, features hardwood floors, oak kitchen with breakfast bar, granite throughout, two fireplaces, studio vaulted ceilings, and so much more. It offers two baths and three bedrooms, including a master bedroom with oversized ensuite with Whirlpool tub and a third bedroom in the fully finished basement. This home includes main floor laundry, new roof (2016), no Kitec plumbing, and sanitary backwater valve installed. Outside, you will find a covered patio overlooking the park as well as a gas BBQ hookup, allowing you to fully enjoy the outside of this wonderful home as much as the inside. Lawn maintenance and snow removal services are included with this property at a cost of $55/month. You will…
