Happy New Year 2017 $$$$$$$Kung Hey Fat Choi

2016 Real Estate / Mortgage Year in Review

1.  Spring in Vancouver the Government imposed a restriction on the assignment of contracts for resale properties,

2. To qualify for home owners mortgage insurance a  down payment increase for properties over $500K. 5% down payment up to $500K and 10% down payment up to $1M maximum insured by Canada Mortgage  and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

3. The introduction of a 15% foreign buyers Tax implemented in August 2016                                Amended Jan 30 2017:                     Christy Clark says levy will be lifted fo those have a work permit and pay taxes in BC.

4. Federal mortgage rule changes in October  created a stress test for buyers with less than 20% down payment. Variable rate mortgages already must qualify at the Bank of Canada interest rate. Now fixed rate mortgages must also qualify at the higher Bank of Canada rate meaning less borrowing power for the consumer.

5. In the fall, the city of Vancouver introduced the Empty Home Tax (affecting investors) Effective Jan 1 2017, subject to a tax of 1% of the property's assessed value.

6. December the BC government announced a 5% first-time buyer down payment,     interest free and payment free loan for 5 years which took effect on January 16   2017.

The BC Home Partnership program will meet the buyer's contribution up to 5% of the home's purchase price, to a maximum purchase price of $750 000.

Forecast for 2017 More regulation to follow

The government says it plans to shift some of the risk of defaults against insured mortgages to banks and other lenders.

Ottawa says it's shouldering 100 percent of the cost of a defaulted mortgage is "unique" in the world.

How the government plans to share some of the risk with lenders remains to be seen.

BC Assessments Soar 30-50% in Value

Homeowners seemed to get a huge surprise in the mail with their annual BC Property Assessments increasing dramatically over the past year.  These values are based on what was going on in the market 6-months ago. 

If you have yet to receive your BC Property Assessment in the mail, you can look it up online at BC Assessment. 

Some of you might be going, this is awesome! My house is worth so much! 

But....where this will personally affect you are your property taxes potentially increasing. 

However, many municipalities are looking at implementing measures to counteract the high tax assessments, so that your actual tax bill may only slightly increase. However, if you do want to appeal your BC Assessment, you have until January 31, 2017. You can appeal here: Appeal BC Assessment.

And if you are 55+ or know anyone who is 55+, paying more hurts hard especially if they are on a fixed income.  Please share with everyone you know that there is a special program that allows you to defer your property taxes for as long as they live in their home. Deferring Property Taxes

Assistance Program for BC 1st Time Home Buyers Interest free and payment free loan for 5 yrs

BC Introduces New Program to Help New First Home Buyers

In a move to help BC citizens and residents buy their first home, the BC government announced today that it is launching a new program to augment down payments for first-time buyers.

The B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program contributes to the amount first-time homebuyers have already saved for their down payment, providing up to $37,500, or up to 5% of the purchase price, with a 25-year loan that is interest-free and payment-free for the first five years.

Contact me to see if this is for you and how you can qualify.

Happy Holidays and Best of the Season

Merry Xmas 2016 card
Ruby & Brad Piper

Happy Holidays and all the best of the Season from my family to yours.

The  holidays mean exchanging presents, spending time with family and eating good food. Amid the bustle of finding appropriate gifts and making travel plans, it can be easy to forget that Christmas is really about family, friends and sharing together.

It's  a time where friends and family can connect, share and remember what is 

important in our lives.

BC Government 1st time Homebuyer Relief

CMBA_BC_Press_Release_Dec_15_2016 Homeowner BC Government.01

On December 15th 2016 the BC Government announced the  Home Owner Mortgage and Equity (HOME) Partnership.

This unique approach to homeownership assistance for first time buyers will get more people into homes sooner and boost the residential building starts, a key component to our economy. 

Key Eligibility Requirements:

  1.  Have been a Canadian citizen or permanent resident for at least five years

   2. Have resided in British Columbia for at least one year immediately preceeding the date of application.

   3.  Be a first-time buyer who has not owned an interest in a residence anywhere in the world at any time.

   4.  Use the property as their principal residence for the first five years.

   5.   Purchase a home that has a purchase price price of $750,000 or less (excluding taxes and fees). 

   6.  Obtain a high-ratio insured first mortgage on the property for at least 80% of the purchase price. 

    7.   Have a combined, gross household income of all individuals on title not               exceeding $150,000.

    8.   Have saved a down payment amount at least equal to the loan amount for whic the buyer applied. 

I am looking forward to making this program work for my 1st time clients. 

Contact me with any questions you may have. 

Government Page outlining the details

A Landlord's Nightmare: Tenants Kept Livestock In The House

This might be a good reason why might want to pull credit and check references for your potential tenants. 

Full story:

https://youtu.be/Owlx2_L24u8

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/landlord-tenant-board-rent-goat-kingston-1.3872415

Mexican Riviera Cruise Vacation

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Us departing cruise port
Us departing cruise port a
Us departing cruise port b

Click above and guess these port destinations

On November 5th my husband and went on a Carnival Cruise vacation from Los Angeles Long Beach on the Carnival Miracle. Previously we chose Caribbean cruises from Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Port of Canaveral.  Our favourite eastern port and easiest access is Miami. The positive aspect of choosing Long beach is that it is only a 3 hour plane ride from Vancouver. Whereas, when we flew to Miami we would fly in the night before since it took a good 12 hours or more to fly to Miami with the 1 stop since there is no direct flight from Vancouver

The Mexican Riviera Ports of call that we visited were Cabos San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto  of Vallarta  These ports have a similar feel to the Caribbean in terms of temperature and culture. We enjoyed Puerto Vallarta the most since it was more developed. We felt very safe while we were there and walked  the El Malecon Boardwalk.

Ellen's Got Real Estate Tips

She knows a thing or two about buying houses, and she's sharing some of her knowledge with you!

Watch here...

Capital gains tax strategies change under new tax rules

For most Canadians, the new requirement to report the sale of a principal residence will be nothing more than a compliance exercise—but one shadowed by the threat of unrestricted audits and sizeable penalties. To help you negotiate through the new reporting rules, please see the 8 questions you have about principal residence tax rules. But for families with more than one property as well as real estate investors, this new requirement may introduce a few wrinkles into the more common capital gains strategies used to minimize the amount of tax owed to the CRA.

To help you maximize the capital gains tax strategies under this new reporting requirement, here are eight tips and suggestions.

Tip #2: A change in use is also considered a sale

Even if you haven’t actually put your home up for sale, the CRA will deem it to be sold if you change the use of the property. Take, for example, you decide to buy a new, larger home for your growing family but want to hold onto your current property and rent it out. The CRA considers this a “deemed disposition”—you haven’t actually transferred the ownership to another person, but you have changed the primary use of the property, from your family home to a rental property. As such, the CRA will consider the home sold, for tax purposes, at the current fair market value.

Thing is, there are a number of ways to trigger a deemed disposition. The most common way is to change the use of a property—from a family home to a rental property. Another way to trigger this type of taxable disposition is to gift the property to a third party. Do this and the property is deemed to have been sold at its fair market value, at that time. One final way to trigger a deemed disposition is when the taxpayer ceases to be a resident of Canada, for tax purposes. In all cases, the owed tax can be delayed and deferred until the property is actually sold, but for specific advice always talk to a tax specialist.

Read more: Can you avoid capital gains tax »

Canadian Thanksgiving

How Canadian Thanksgiving Began

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States.

Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher. an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578.

He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

New Rules to Qualify for a Mortgage

This week, Department of Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced further regulations in the Canadian Housing market.  These changes include:

Standardizing lending criteria for high and low ratio mortgages, including a Mortgage Stress Test Closing loopholes for capital gains exemptions for non-residents Consulting industry stake holders to ensure risk is properly distributed, including possible risk sharing

The first point above is the one causing the biggest uproar in the industry this week.  Here is how it can affect you:

Mortgage Stress Test

Starting October 17th 2016, all new insured mortgages (this includes all mortgages with less than 20% downpayment) will be required to qualify for a new mortgage at the Bank of Canada Benchmark rate of 4.64% instead of the Contract Rate.

What this means, is if you were planning to buy a home with less than 20% downpayment, the mortgage amount you qualify for has just drastically reduced.  This new rule was imposed by the Department of Finance and applies to all Canadian mortgages.

Let’s take a look at what that means to an average consumer:

Example: A young couple are planning to buy their first home.  They earn $60,000 combined family income, with a $15,000 balance on their line of credit and no other debt.  The estimated property taxes of their new home are $2500 per year and Heat will cost them $100 per month on average.

Under the Old Rules, they qualify for a mortgage of $279,036.  With 5% down that’s approximately a purchase price of $285,000.  This example is calculated under the old rules and applying the Contract Rate, which today’s 5 year fixed rate is approximately 2.44%.

Under the New Rules starting October 17th 2016, they now only qualify for a mortgage of $221,219.  With 5% down that is approximately a purchase price of $225,000.  This example is calculated the government enforced Bank of Canada Benchmark Rate of 4.64% to qualify.  Although you are still only paying the contract rate of 2.44% interest, you must now qualify using a “stress test” calculation, effectively meaning average consumers now have about 21% less buying power than they did last week.

If you are currently pre-approved for a mortgage, you should aim to complete a purchase offer and have an approval in place before October 17th.  If this is not possible, you should talk to your broker or banker about what you now qualify for under the new mortgage rules as it could be less than you are pre-approved for now.

Part of the new changes also involves standardizing rules for high ratio and low ratio mortgages.  High ratios are those with less than 20% downpayment, and low ratios are mortgages with 20% downpayment or equity (in the case of refinancing).

Genworth Canada has stated that approximately 1/3 of it 2016 insured business would have difficulty qualifying under the new rules.  This is a startling number.

Genworth published a great primer on what those requirements are:
 

A loan whose purpose includes the purchase of a property or subsequent renewal of such a loan;A maximum amortization length of 25 years;A maximum property purchase price below $1,000,000 at the time the loan is approved;For variable-rate loans that allow fluctuations in the amortization period, loan payments that are recalculated at least once every five years to conform to the original amortization schedule;A minimum credit score of 600 at the time the loan is approved;A maximum Gross Debt Service ratio of 39 per cent and a maximum Total Debt Service ratio of 44 per cent at the time the loan is approved, calculated by applying the greater of the mortgage contract rate or the Bank of Canada conventional five-year fixed posted rate; and,A property that will be owner-occupied.

As a homebuyer today, brace yourself for the upcoming changes and be prepared by re-qualifying for your pre-approved mortgage as soon as possible so your dream home doesn’t slip through your hands due to the new rules.

For homeowners, be prepared for tougher rules for qualifying to refinance your home, take out equity, or buy an investment property.  Having your mortgage broker or other professional calculate the figures for you, will allow you to continue your homeownership dreams stress free.

For more information click here.

Marking The End of Summer

For Vancouverites a day at the PNE marks the end of summer. Purchasing tickets for a chance to win the PNE prize home, a car or vacation is a definitely one you can't pass on.

From the traditional lumber shows and demolition derbies which are no more to the current  dog show and free nightly music performances which are standard.

 It is a challenge  to enjoy all the different food stands which are available such as the BBQ ribs and deep fried chocolate bars. You'll still get the old fashioned favourites like candy floss, popcorn, corn dogs and those little donuts.

For those who remember the theme used to change annually, however in recent years it has come to be only the Fair.

I have included my day at the fair and  have pictures of the  PNE prize home worth 2.1 million dollars which will be re-located to Naramata Okanagan.    

Click the link below to view 

https://goo.gl/photos/MsWz7AKZDVdSbkxPA

School is IN

It's that time of year again.  Slow down through school zones or lose weight in your wallet.

 Here's a good article by Global News.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2922869/b-c-school-zones-are-like-the-wild-west-according-to-new-survey/

LAUGHTER, the best medicine!!

Laugh out loud at life. It is a good medicine for your heart and spirit. It is a way for you to say"Life ~ I am still standing with my head up high." Laughter strengthens the immune system and increases your capacity to cope. 

It has the power to heal you at a cellular level. Sometimes all you can do is laugh, even through your tears and pain.

When you are overwhelmed, laugh at your bills, your body, your kids, or at any unexpected challenge of life. This is not denying what is in your life. It is defying it!

One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4-5 hours, while one minute of laughter boosts it over 24 hours. So try this......make silly faces in the mirror, laugh from down deep and bring out the child in you!

From some popcorn, get a few family, friends together and allow yourself to really laugh. Interrupt your worries and choose to make yourself feel good in spite of it all.

You Truly Deserve it!!!!! However, don't just take my word for it. Here is some research to back it up>

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm

Guess this European Destination

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In June my husband and I went on our first European cruise on the new Carnival Vista. Usually we travel to the Caribbean for our vacation but we soon realised after this experience that Europe is unforgettable in so many ways.

The history, architecture and culture are so amazingly unique. We prefer cruising since we have the luxury of visiting eight ports in 10 days. That's 5 countries in 10 days, starting from Barcelona and ending in Athens Greece and doing a back to back from Athens back to Barcelona.

We began in Barcelona and boarded the cruise ship and cruised to Marseille then continued on our journey to  Livorno, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Crete, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Athens and then returning from Athens and  including Valleta Malta and Messina Sicily.

This vacation was not long enough, although it was 24 days.

Click and Name the Cruiseport Destinations above

Carnival Vista 2016 Cruising

This is our 14th Cruise and our first time aboard the new ship Carnival Vista.  Cruising is how we enjoy travelling since we have the luxury of accommodation, entertainment and awesome food all included in one vacation package. Most importantly we have the chance to visit several destinations in one trip. 

Stay subscribed and share in our upcoming cruise port destinations.

BC Adds 15% Property Tax to Foreign Buyers

The new 15% Property Tax to Foreign Buyers comes into effect on Tuesday, August 02, 2016. This new tax applies to all Metro Vancouver residential properties purchased by foreign nationals. The bill was passed unanimously without any proposed amendments brought forward by the Official Opposition and despite concerns expressed by many groups.

That means residential real estate transactions involving foreign buyers in the Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Communities like North Delta, Langley, Surrey and White Rock will be subject to the additional 15% PTT as of August 2. Real Estate transactions, including pre-sales, which complete on August 2 or after will be subject to the tax.

The foreign buyers who are caught in the middle of all this will have to come up with an extra $300,000 on a $2 million purchase on closing.

What really gets me is that, even those who have had signed contracts in place for weeks or months prior to this new law, will find they are in line for an unexpected 'kick in the teeth' if their completion dates are after today (Aug 2).  It wouldn't surprise me if our government will be in line for a multitude of lawsuits shortly.

Personally, I feel that is totally unfair and it puts a black mark on all Canadians.  Is it fair play to change the rules after a contract has been signed?  How would you feel if you were buying a house, had all subjects removed and were just waiting for the completion date and then found out you need to pay another 15%?

Please read the rest of the article here

Despite the concerns shared by many in the industry, the provincial government has decided to implement a tax in a way that will negatively affect our local communities' ability to attract workers, and will generate more stress and confusion in an already busy housing market and result in unexpected domino effects

The other issue which is coming up is our provincial government could be in violation of NAFTA with the implementation of this new tax. Hope fully we taxpayers don't end up paying for the government's mistake.

Read more on the NAFTA violation here as reported by Financial Post