Blogs

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing markets are expected to remain stable for the rest of the year, and housing starts are expected to moderate in 2015 and 2016.

While the big lenders were hesitant to pass on the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cut last week, this week there’s talk of a price war, with Royal Bank of Canada being the first to take the plunge.

We’ve all felt the urge to price shop.  Maybe for you it’s clothes, maybe it’s patio furniture, or maybe it’s trying to find the cheapest plumber in town … regardless of when you bargain shop, almost everyone does it when it comes to mortgage rates.

How do I know?  Well turn on the TV, listen to the radio, read a newspaper, surf the net, talk to your neighbor (I’m not kidding, go ahead don’t text him or her, actually talk to them).  Any one of these sources will know something about what’s happening with mortgage rates.  And I’m guessing so do you!   So why are we so obsessed with them? It’s a good thing right?

-Mark Weisleder, via TheStar.com

The decision to buy a house is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. According to a Toronto Lawyer, Mark Weisleder, these are 5 key things to keep in mind:

1. What is the seller telling you about the house?

Sellers used to provide disclosure statements, telling buyers about the condition of the home and disclosing problems. These days, lawyers advise against this, because of the potential for lawsuits. Some sellers are doing home inspections before they list the property for sale and giving a copy of the report to any buyer.

This helps sellers because they can correct problems noted by the inspector and so they do not have to negotiate with the buyer later. Some sellers are also providing history reports, which can be obtained from homeverified.com or Iverify.com which indicate whether the home has been the subject of an insurance claim for water, fire, flood or sewage backup, and if the home was ever listed as a grow house or meth lab.

The more information a buyer has in advance, the more informed the purchase decision. Still, even with this information, you should do your own home inspection before committing to any purchase.