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Mary, an 85-year-old widow, had fully paid for her townhouse but only received a limited monthly income unless she took in students each year. She wanted to travel and quit renting her property, so she came to see us. Auxilium secured a reverse mortgage for Mary. She now has $250,000 in cash that supplements her retirement income and gives her the freedom to travel.

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.

Although winter may not be the most popular time to sell a home, this doesn't mean you have to wait until the weather warms up to list your property. With the right strategy and a bit of hard work, you can make your home stand out to potential buyers in a season where competition is less fierce and certain buyers are highly motivated to purchase.

Can the mortgage process be difficult?

Absolutely.

But it can also be exciting when you aren't faced with surprises at every turn.  Let's remove some of the potential surprises and make your life a little easier.

-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.