Renos!
  
I know this doesn't look like I'm doing any renos, but that's me working and enjoying some of our recent renos (deck extension and new furniture). Given I work from home and my wife home schools our kids, we use every square inch of our 2 story home. We recently decided to make all the small changes we had talked about for a few years to make our house more practical for a family of 8, and update some of the things that hadn't been updated since we first moved in.
With the property values going up across the board in the GTA in the last few years (especially last year!), this has created a good opportunity to tap into the equity and do some much needed renovations. If you would like to have me look at your current mortgage numbers and see if it makes sense for you to use your equity for some renos, let me know and I'd be happy to help.
Investment Properties - Wealth Creators!
Take a look at these multi-family investment properties, this time in the Niagara Region. With properties prices in the GTA being as high as they are, you can sometimes find good investment opportunities not that far away.
5355 portage
5953 Empire
41 fourth street
25 fifth street
122 Hellems
5524 north street
6248 Dunn street
As always remember it is not as simple as just buying. You have to buy correctly. You must know what you are doing and you should be working with a realtor who is knowledgeable. If you aren't aware of what you need to focus on, you may end up with a "lemon", or worse yet, with a property that is not generating income and growth. So what do you need to be aware of? Here are some areas to think about when you are looking at income properties:
-Does it produce cash flow?
-What is the neighbourhood like? The quality of the neighborhood in which you buy will influence the types of tenants you attract.
-What future planning does the city have planned for that area?
-Is it close to schools?
Is the Foreign Buyers Tax coming to Toronto?
This summer, the government of British Columbia introduced a 15% tax on properties purchased by Non-Residents in Vancouver. The goal of the tax is to reduce the impact that foreign buyers have on the affordability of homes in the Greater Vancouver Area. Vancouver is the least affordable place in Canada to buy, and is becoming out of reach of the average family.
The effect of the Foreign Buyer's tax in Vancouver has been a significant drop in home sales. The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says sales fell 26 per cent compared to August 2015 and 22.8 per cent compared to July.
In Toronto, we keep on rolling ahead. The $1.2 million average cost of a Toronto detached home was 18.3 per cent higher this year compared to last. But a detached home outside Toronto with an average cost last month of $905,610, was 23.3 per cent more than August 2015.
The tax seems to be having the desired effect, with a sharp decrease in Vancouver home sales. The foreign buyer's tax is currently under review as an option to cool Toronto's red-hot market. Toronto is a distant second in affordability, but with an influx of foreign investment (or the illusion of increased foreign investment) Toronto could be up for a spike in prices, which would put the dream of homeownership to bed for many Torontonians.
On the flip side, Toronto appears to have more supply, room to grow and a steady job market that could better cushion an increase in foreign investment, which is currently ~1% of all home purchases.
The answer in Toronto may not be a tax on foreign buyers, but if home values in Toronto continue to rise by double-figures, while the rest of the country either decreases or slows, we will be in line for a Toronto-specific intervention.
If you're interested in reading more on the subject, here's a great article from the Toronto Star about it:
Toronto Real Estate as Hot as the Weather
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