Life on the Shore
  
forclosures Sept 16
Fall has arrived and with that, time to shut down the patio for another season, this summer has flown by with a vengeance, I must be getting old as the summers seem so much shorter than when we were kids.
A quick recap from a real estate standpoint for the summer, with the housing situation getting "out of control", the Liberals succumbed to the pressure of the voting public and introduced the controversial 15% foreign ownership tax, which definitely did the job the public wanted, it cooled the market down, however, housing is still unaffordable to those who wanted this tax implemented in the first place.
The feds held the overnight rate steady at .5% so interest rates are holding steady for now, more rule changes to come, stay tuned.
As a family, we ended up in Toronto this past August for our son's national sailing championships, I love Toronto in the summer! Spent 2 weeks there, we all had a blast from hanging at the sailing centre to taking a ferry ride over to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club over on Toronto Island, looking back over to the Toronto skyline it almost rivals Vancouvers' view from the water, but Vancouver and the Shore is home.
Check out Stan Stanchev's link below for some great North Shore condo deals;
http://www.stanstanchev.com/vow-mls-listings-search
And of course from Eldon Whalen this months foreclosures, click the link above.
The Real Impact of Vancouver's Foreign Buyer Tax
The hottest topic around Vancouver these days is the newly implemented 15% Foreign Buyer tax on properties in the GVRD. Nearly every conversation on real estate these days leads to the new tax and its impact on our economy.
Don Campbell from Real Estate Investment Network did a fabulous interview on BNN-TV.
Click here to read the rest of the article and Don's outline on the 6 current factors surrounding this new tax. As Don says, step "Out of the Fray" and look at the issue from practical terms.
Expect tougher mortgage rules by November
Home buyers should expect tougher mortgage rules to kick in as early as November 1 of this year.
In an announcement released Friday by the nation’s financial regulator, banks and lenders that offer mortgage financing will face stricter regulations and this will translate into tougher lending rules for home buyers.
Under the proposed new rules, OSFI will demand that banks increase how much capital they hold to cover mortgage currently in the market.
Banks and mortgage lenders will pass down the extra costs of these stricter regulations to the end user.
This is done by either increasing mortgage rates or implementing tougher lending requirements for those applying for a mortgage.
For the average Canadian home buyer then,
this could mean that as early as November, it will either be:
→ harder to get a mortgage
→ mortgage rates will start to rise (even slightly)
→ or you won’t qualify for as large a mortgage as you would’ve prior to these new rules.
Talk to your mortgage broker....... its about time!
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