Blogs

Victoria is now second only to Richmond in the number of residential real estate transactions in this province involving foreign buyers. According to data from October, 6.3% of the sales in the Capital Regional District were to non-residents. This volume is almost double the amount of September transactions.

This morning (Dec. 15, 2016) the B.C. government announced the BC HOME Partnership to assist first-time homebuyers cover part of the cost of a mortgage down payment. Here are the top 10 things you need to know about the BC Home Owner Mortgage and Equity (HOME) Partnership Loan:

For the past few years, credit has been easy to come by for most Canadians. However, for every individual who manages their credit well, there are horror stories of monster loans and mountains of debt. According to an annual report by credit agency TransUnion, individual debt among Canadians is increasing. A typical individual is currently carrying $21,686 in debt, not including their mortgage – an increase of 2.3% from the same time in 2015.

Over the past few months, your credit score may have changed – for better or for worse – without you even knowing. Canada's credit reporting agencies are moving away from the Beacon score 4 that has been the standard for 30 years, and are now using Beacon score 9. As a consumer, what does the change mean? More important, how will it affect you?

Over the past few weeks, we've heard some pretty scary terms being tossed about regarding the housing market: Canada is in a housing boom – bubble – bust; the market is softening, deflating, freefalling, crashing. The truth is that the federal government's new mortgage qualifying regulations introduced a lot of uncertainty into the market. Many folks are calling us with one question on their minds, "Should I buy now or wait?"

Just when you thought mortgage rule changes were done for now, here comes another round.  While these ones are directed at mortgage insurers (CMHC, Genworth and Canada Guaranty) rather than borrowers, there's a strong chance that consumers will suffer collateral damage from these changes.

The following story was submitted by one of our clients who has graciously given us permission to share it with you. It has been slightly edited for clarity, but otherwise contains his own words about his experience with our team.

My wife and I moved out to Victoria B.C. in June 2015 to follow a dream. We left behind our family, friends and a beautiful house to work for a medical services company that was employing me to design and implement a respite/resource centre for all functional ranges and ages. By the middle of July, we sold our house back in Winnipeg and began to search for a house around Victoria.