When you purchase a residence in B.C. there are a number of closing costs that are associated with the transaction.  Here is a guide for what you may be expected to pay in addition to the purchase price:

Property Transfer Tax- Paid to the government of B.C. this is calculated at one percent of the first $200,000 of the purchase price and two percent on the remainder. There is a First Time Ho ...

Bridge Financing – Helping You Buy a New Home Before Your Existing Home Completes

If you are looking to sell your current home and use your equity as a down payment on a new home, what do you do if you have to pay for your new home before you complete on the old one?  You need a short-term loan to bridge the gap between the two transaction dates and the solution, appropriately enough, is call ...

Is the Best Mortgage Rate Always Important?

Mortgage clients constantly say to me "I want the best mortgage rate.  What rate do you offer?" 

While the client is always right and I always provide the best rate and terms according to the application, mortgage clients sometimes do need to consider the ‘extras’ when selecting the best mortgage for their unique situation.

Extras include:

- Diff ...

HST and HST Rebates 

Just thought I would pass along some (hopefully) useful information that I just received from one of the law firms that I deal with.  The material deals with the HST and HST rebates relating to the purchase of new housing.

The HST

The government of B.C. implemented the HST on July 1, 2010.  The HST consists of the combination of the 7% PST and the 5% GST.  This combined t ...

New Mortgage Insurance Rules

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance has announced adjustments to the rules for government-backed insured mortgages in an effort to support the long-term stability of Canada’s housing market.

“Canada’s well-regulated housing sector has been an important strength that allowed us to avoid the mistakes of other countries and helped protect us from the wor ...

Low Rates or Lower Prices?

If you are a potential homebuyer right now one of the big dilemmas is whether home prices are going to decrease and if so…..by how much and when?  You may also be worried about whether it is better to take advantage of todays super low interest rates or ride it out?

The answer comes down to……how much would home prices need to decrease in order to offset paying poten ...

Record low mortgage rates…..time to lock in?

As at the time of this blog we are experiencing fixed term mortgage rates that are at an all time low.  With Prime rate forecast to rise this could well be the time to lock in.

Prime rate is currently at 3.00% and there are a lot of borrowers who are very happy with their variable rate ‘Prime minus’ mortgages.  These borrowers have a rate in the ba ...

RRSP vs Mortgage

Well it’s that time of year again and one of the biggest debates around the Canadian personal finance world is the battle between contributing to your RRSP or using the money to pay down your mortgage? The answer is, as always, it depends.

Ok, so lets go through your options.

1. Pay down your mortgage first, then start contributing to your RRSP.

• There is no doubt that paying ...

The Smith Manoeuvre

Ever heard of the Smith Manoeuvre?  For those who don't know what it is, it's a Canadian wealth strategy to structure your mortgage so that it's tax deductible. There's a tax rule in Canada where if you borrow money to invest in an income producing investment (like a dividend paying stock or investment property), you can deduct the annual interest paid on the investment lo ...