Double Birthday Celebration
  
People are often shocked to learn that my wife and I share the same birthday. You can imagine what it would have been like for us on the first day we discovered that. It was the point of no return as far as the decision to get married was concerned. But...
Ssshhh don't tell her i said this....I kind of miss the days when it was just me that got celebrated on my birthday. Back then sometimes others planned the celebration while I did nothing. Now we both have to plan each other's birthdays together and their attention is shared LOL.
However I would not trade sharing the same birth date with my wife for anything. Every time I think about it, it gives me a nice feeling that this was meant to be and that it was more than mere coincidence. I am grateful to God for connecting us.
How to Pay for University Housing
For a student's first year of a long university education, there is no experience like living in a university dorm. When it comes to paying for multiple years of accommodations, it can get quite expensive.
One option available to some parents is to buy a home in the city where their child is attending university and rent out the rooms to other students. The parents' own student would act as the onsite property manager.
Upon graduation or a bit later, chances are that the home value will be greater, so the option exists to harvest some of the equity for their next down payment or to sell the property and pay for all those tuition fees/student loans. Or even keep the property and continue to lease it out as a rental property acquired with minimum down payment as opposed to the 20% down normally required for rentals.
Changes to First Time Home Buyer G.S.T. Rebate
From Tony Spagnolo - Spagnolo LLP https://bcrealestatelawyers.com/
On May 27, the Federal Government issued a press release that is very important for first time home buyers of new homes (and co-ops): a full GST rebate on homes under $1 million, and a partial rebate on homes between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Per the press release (the link to which is found at the bottom), the Excise Tax Act will be amended to provide a rebate to first time home buyers. In basic terms, it means that First Time Home Buyers will still pay the GST on the closing of a purchase of a qualifying home but will be eligible for a rebate of the full amount (up to $50,000).
The rebate is phased out in a linear manner from $1-1.5 million. So for example, a home that is $1.4 million would lose 80% of the rebate – in other words, it would still be eligible for a 20% ($10,000) rebate!
This policy will hopefully spur some activity in the pre-sale market and help first time buyers enter the market.
The full press release can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/05/gst-relief-for-first-time-home-buyers-on-new-homes-valued-up-to-15-million.html
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