Blogs

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:

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?

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.

On Monday (October 3) federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced changes to the mortgage qualifying rules to obtain a mortgage in Canada. Specifically:

The new B.C. tax on foreign buyers' real estate purchases came into effect on August 2. With the first month of data now available, analysts have already started to see an impact on the Vancouver housing market.

Well it’s a rare occasion when a government actually gives back or agrees to take less of your money, but in BC that’s exactly what happened with the new property transfer tax exemption up to $750,000. In case you didn’t’ hear, going forward from today, if you’re purchasing a new home up to $750,000, you will be exempted from paying the property transfer tax (a savings of $13,000 on a $750,000 purchase), provided the home is new and you are either a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

No one likes change, especially future homeowners as the change relates to the mortgage rules.  Every time the rules change, they only seem to make it harder & harder for folks to qualify.  Well in my humble opinion, the latest change announced by the Finance Minister in December could have been more massive.

The Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that for properties between $500,000 and $1 million, those of you getting an insured mortgage will now need to put more down—up to an additional 2.5% of the purchase price if you max out at the 1.0 million mark.