Are you a homeowner considering downsizing? You’ve spent your life building your assets and working hard. Now is the time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labor and live a simpler life.

Below are just a few of the many benefits downsizing can offer.

• Less cleaning– Smaller spaces inherently mean less dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, wiping, and so on, which allows more time for relaxation.
• Less maintenance– You’ll have fewer rooms and a smaller lawn to upkeep.
• Fewer expenses– During the winter, you’ll have fewer spaces to heat; in the summer, fewer spaces to cool. Also, a smaller property means lower insurance premiums.
• Less clutter– Less space means less stuff. You won’t be hoarding the clothes you haven’t worn in two years, the books you never intend to read, the kitchen appliances and dishes you never use, and the family heirlooms you keep out of duty.
• More savings– If you own your home with equity, a sale will result in a profit, and you can reinvest into something smaller while keeping the rest in savings.
• More joy– According to HomeAdvisor, “Having fewer financial and maintenance-related responsibilities will allow you to focus more on your happiness and less on your home.” For example, you can invest in your life by going on that hard-earned vacation.

To read more about Finding the Right Home and What to Keep & What to Toss, click here: https://goo.gl/2p87Mn

You will have to apply for an exemption from the speculation tax by March 31st.

The Ministry of Finance said letters outlining the first speculation tax fees and exemption processes will begin arriving at all homes in Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna and Metro Vancouver (excluding Bowen Island and Lions Bay, but including Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack) starting this week.

It will be up to all homeowners to apply for exemptions, with a deadline of March 31. Those who don’t apply, or qualify, will be sent tax bills due to be paid by July 2. The opt-out process will become an annual event for property owners under the new speculation tax rules. People who pay mistakenly can get a rebate within six years, according to the ministry.

To read the full story click here.

Tibor Bogdan

*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

It’s Property Assessment time, and we would just like to remind everyone that if you are not satisfied with the assessment, there are steps you can take to have it re-assessed.

Act quickly If you feel you’ve been unfairly assessed in comparison to your neighbors, you’ll have to act quickly, as the deadline to appeal is Thursday, Jan. 31.

B.C. Assessment says most complaints get resolved through discussions between property owners and staff. Complainants should contact B.C. Assessment through its website, in person or by phone at 1-866-825-8322.

If your concerns still haven’t been resolved with an appraiser, the next step is to go through an appeal process. You’ll have to submit a written request to a B.C. Assessment office no later than Jan. 31, 2019.

To appeal or not to appeal? Expert advice for dealing with your new property assessment The ministry has created a video outlining how to prepare for your hearing and what evidence you will need to support your claim. Hearings are open to the public and typically lasts 30 minutes.

During that time, you will have to provide evidence that your property assessment notice is inaccurate. The panel will likely ask you questions and you are allowed to ask the panel questions.

To read the full article click here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/how-to-appeal-bc-assessment-1.4964053 If you are planning on appealing your property assessment and you would like to discuss the strategy or find comparables to back up your case, then call or email me, I can help.

Tibor Bogdan
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

Did you know that there’s rebates available to home owners in B.C? Whether you’re looking to sell, or stay in your home long term, many of these upgrades could add value to your home and save you money on electricity and gas in the long run.

If you’re thinking of upgrading or replacing items in your home, have a look at the website below to see if there’s any rebates/incentives that apply to your home improvements. https://goo.gl/iynTA5

There’s rebates for items such as heat pumps, geothermal heat, natural gas boiler & water heaters, windows, doors, appliances, insulation, and more.

The incentives offered are not solely for residential homes, there’s rebates available for new construction residential, non-profit housing and commercial structures as well.

Tibor Bogdan

*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

Are you a homeowner? Are you a senior citizen? Are you ready for a change? Do you find yourself wanting to decrease your responsibilities? Would you like to have some extra cash and less debt? If the answer is yes to any or all of these questions, then it may be time for you to consider downsizing. You’ve spent your life building your assets and working hard. Now is the time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labor and live a simpler life.

Benefits to Downsizing

Below are just a few of the many benefits downsizing can offer.

• Less cleaning – Smaller spaces inherently mean less dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, wiping, and so on, which allows more time for relaxation.
• Less maintenance – You’ll have fewer rooms and a smaller lawn to upkeep.
• Fewer expenses – During the winter, you’ll have fewer spaces to heat; in the summer, fewer spaces to cool. Also, a smaller property means lower insurance premiums.
• Less clutter – Less space means less stuff. You won’t be hoarding the clothes you haven’t worn in two years, the books you never intend to read, the kitchen appliances and dishes you never use, and the family heirlooms you keep out of duty.
• More savings – If you own your home with equity, a sale will result in a profit, and you can reinvest into something smaller while keeping the rest in savings.
• More joy – According to HomeAdvisor, “Having fewer financial and maintenance-related responsibilities will allow you to focus more on your happiness and less on your home.” For example, you can invest in your life by going on that hard-earned vacation.

Find the Right Home

After you’ve decided to downsize, the next step is finding your new home. It’s not enough to find a home with less square footage — you’ll want to make sure your new home comes with all the benefits associated with downsizing. If you’re living in a five-bedroom home in a small country town, downsizing to a one-bedroom apartment in the city probably won’t be cost-effective.

Consider the reasons for needing to downsize, such as tax considerations, smaller outdoor spaces, costs, and needs for renovations. Then, evaluate what you want, which may be things such as community, new appliances, or locality. Utilize online sources when searching for listings to narrow down your options, and then schedule tours of your favorite homes.

What to Keep and What to Toss

The moment you’ve decided to downsize to a smaller home, be proactive indecluttering. Smaller living spaces will also mean you’ll have less space to house your belongings. Start by going through your items and decide whether you want to take them, give them away, sell them, or trash them. Above all, if at all possible, avoid storage. The belongings you take with you should be either meaningful or items you use all the time.

Consider giving items to loved ones or donating gently used items to people in need. Conduct a cost-versus-value analysis when it comes to selling your belongings, and determine whether the time it takes to sell the item will outweigh the amount you can bring in. Perhaps a half-day garage sale will bring in a good amount of money, or maybe you have a few things you can sell online to bring in some extra revenue. Finally, all the items that don’t belong in any of the other categories should be trashed or recycled.

There’s no time like the present to live life to the fullest. By downsizing, you can reap the benefits that come with it. So, evaluate the benefits when searching for a home that will meet your desires and embrace the decluttering process and free yourself from excess items. Downsizing is a great way to begin a new chapter, and the best is yet to come.

Guest article written by:
Mike Longsdon
ElderFreedom.net
[email protected]

Photo Credit: Pexels

Quite often, purchasers don’t know the importance of Title Insurance.

Here are some risks that Title insurance covers:

– Unpaid strata assessments
– Work orders and/or zoning setbacks that are non-compliance
– Liens, encumbrances, or defects in the title to a property
– Property Tax Arrears
– Defects that would have been revealed by an accurate, up-to-date survey
– Governmental Authority forcing you to remove or remedy your existing structures or any part of them, other than a boundary wall or fence, because any portion of your existing structures was built without obtaining a required building permit
– Another party claiming an interest in the property
– Impersonation, forgery, fraud, duress, incompetence, incapacity
– Title is unmarketable, which allows another person to refuse to perform a contract to purchase, to lease, or to make a mortgage loan

When a property is purchased, Title insurance can be purchased for a one-time fee. Depending on the premium you pay, it can protect you and your lender, or your lender only. A title insurance company issues the policy, and the policy remains in effect for as long as you own the property.

Note that a new policy may be required if you change mortgage lenders. To obtain a quote on Title Insurance in BC, call 1-866-570-2206 or visit https://www.fct.ca/contact/ for a list of locations in all of Canada.

This information is being provided to assist in the planning of a home purchase. It is not intended to be legal advice and the information set out may not be applicable in all cases. In some situations, a purchaser may be required to pay for other additional expenses such as a second mortgage, an assignment of rents, power of attorney, or independent legal advice.

Tibor Bogdan & Associates
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

A few years ago, city officials in Vancouver began seeing a rise in special applications by commercial and residential developers asking for permission to skip any floor that contained the number four, in addition to the 13th floor.As the city continued to build up, this meant that more buildings were shooting up without a fourth floor, a 13th floor, a 14th floor, 24th floor and so on.

What began as an accommodation soon became a bureaucratic headache for city staff and a glaring safety risk for emergency personnel.

“It happened with just one or two buildings at first and then spread rather rapidly. So before we knew it, it was being applied to most new applications coming in,” said Pat Ryan, Vancouver’s chief building official.

“It was starting to spiral out of control.”

In 2015, Vancouver announced it was banning the practice of leaving out floor numbers in new condo and office tower developments.

The biggest concern, says Ryan, was that fire crews and condo owners were being put at risk by the unpredictable numbering system, noting that firefighters climbing stairs in a smoke-filled environment could easily be off by a number of floors if they’re not in sequential order.

“On a fire truck, you also put the pressure of the water hose to match the floor of the building. If you’re off by 10 stories, that could create confusion,” he said. “Basically, it just wasn’t worth the risk of continuing.”

Vancouver buildings that were already missing floors were not required to re-number, but they had to add extra signage and lighting on the floors, in the stairwells and in the elevators to assist emergency personnel.

Ryan said the city didn’t want to continue to allow the long-held practice of doing away with the 13th floor, but not allow the same practice to be applied with any floors that contained the number four, for fear of being seen as favouring one cultural group over another.

“So we put all the numbers back. It just made our lives so much simpler,” he said. “We were expecting backlash, but it just didn’t happen.”

Edmonton says it also has a similar policy in place. But just north of Toronto, which allows irregular address numbering, the town of Richmond Hill, Ont., approached this issue in a different way: it has banned outright the number 13 and four from any new housing developments. The town was getting inundated with special requests from homeowners to add suffixes, like an A or B, to addresses containing the number four because they were having difficulty selling their homes.

Richmond Hill council passed a resolution in 2013 to disallow the number four to be used in any new ground-level housing developments. ” The number 13 had already been banned from addresses for at least 20 years, said Gus Galanis, director of development planning for the town.

“What really prompted the change was the frequency in requests,” he said. “They said it was basically for cultural reasons, they didn’t want to go into details but said it was because of bad luck.”

Galanis says it came down to the council providing good “customer service” to its constituents. “We’ve been trying to work with the public to see where we can accommodate, and I think in my mind, we’ve been very flexible,” he said.

For real estate agent Tina Mak, she says cultural superstitions — whether it be a property address or the way a front door is lined up with a backdoor — can be an immediate deal breaker for her clients, and her.

“I’ve done it a million times… (I’ve told them) I don’t want you to buy this because I see that you will have a hard time selling it in the future,” she said.

“If you want to buy it, I’m not going to give you any advice because I don’t believe this is the right purchase for you.”

To read the article click here

What’s your opinion? Should the municipal governments consider requests of this kind? Please comment.

Tibor Bogdan & Associates
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

Mortgage fraud occurs when someone deliberately misrepresents information in order to obtain mortgage financing that would not have been granted if the truth had been known.

This can include:
-Misstating one’s position or inflating one’s income or length of service at their job;
-Misstating employment status (i.e. salaried/full time versus contract, part time, hourly or commission-based or self-employed);
-Misrepresenting the amount and/ or source of the down payment;
-Purchasing a rental property and misrepresenting it as owner-occupied;
-Not disclosing existing mortgage and/or debt obligations;
-Misrepresenting property details or omitting information in order to inflate the property value;
-Adding co-borrowers who will not be residing in the home and do not intend to take responsibility for the mortgage.

Another common form of fraud is when a con artist convinces someone with good credit to act as a “straw buyer.”

A straw buyer is someone who agrees to put his or her name on a mortgage application on behalf of another person. In return for their participation, straw buyers may be offered cash or promised high returns when the property is sold. Often, straw buyers are deceived into believing they will not be responsible for the mortgage payments. Borrowers who misrepresent information and straw buyers who allow a property to be purchased in their name are committing mortgage fraud and will be responsible for any financial shortfall in the event of default. They may also be held criminally responsible for their misrepresentation.

(This article was reported originally by Vancouver Sun)

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this, please contact me.

Tibor Bogdan & Associates
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

Back in the good old days – assuming you deem pre-Second World War the good old days – there was a time-honoured maxim. It went like this: “One week’s salary for one month’s mortgage payment.”

That was the measuring stick for how large of a mortgage you should get. It defined a comfortable life whereby your payment would never be big enough to cause ulcers, marriage breakups and other bad stuff.

Over the years, for reasons that follow, that measuring stick got bigger. But in 2016 and 2017, regulators put the smackdown on free-spending mortgagors, bringing us all the way back to the days when families gathered around the radio and ate dinner at the same table.

As the 1980s began, homeowners spent an average of 17 per cent of their income on mortgage payments, property taxes and heat. But as people demanded nicer homes closer to big cities, home prices climbed faster than incomes, and so did debt-servicing costs. By the fall of 2016, new home buyers were spending an average of 25.6 per cent of their income on basic housing outlays.

Most new buyers have never heard of the one-week pay rule because one week’s pay stopped buying what it used to. Today, it doesn’t get you to first base in our biggest cities. As of December, the average wage earner making $992.87 a week and putting down 20 per cent could get a $289,000 mortgage with a payment that’s 25 per cent above their weekly earnings.

As years went by, lenders and policy makers catered to home-buyer demand by allowing a bigger percentage of income to be consumed by housing costs. Whereas the old rule of thumb suggested no more than one-quarter of your income should go to housing, the industry let that number rise, up to 39 per cent (or even 50 per cent at pricey non-prime lenders).

The trouble is, not only did debt ratios and allowable amortizations go up, but interest rates went down. So people could take on more and more debt with the same payment size. That’s a concern when rates are falling. But it’s a macroeconomic danger when rates are climbing.

Until somewhat recently, the stats hadn’t been overly alarming. Most people were merely taking on the same amount of debt as they always have, relative to income. But a rising-rates environment changes everything. A significant minority of those same borrowers would find it much harder to make those payments if interest costs “normalized.”

Seemingly overnight, federal policy makers have taken us back to yesteryear.

By imposing new mortgage stress tests, they’ve required most lenders to use a two-percentage-point higher interest rate when assessing people’s debt-service capacity.

Effectively, that has pushed down the maximum mortgage payment that the average Canadian can be approved for to, you guessed it, about one week’s pay.

So, it seems what’s old is new again. Whether it was Ottawa’s intention or not, they’ve single-highhandedly brought us back to a quaint historic metric: “One week’s salary for one month’s mortgage payment.”

Article by Globe and mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/in-mortgages-whats-old-is-new-again-the-one-weeks-salary-rule/article38287522/

Tibor Bogdan & Associates
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408

Have you ever wondered what type of insurance you require when purchasing a strata unit?

Q. Recently we bought a strata unit and we were advised to get liability insurance. We understand that there is strata insurance already in place that contains liability insurance and we are wondering why we should get our own as well? – J & A

A. Hello J & A, I have asked Terry McCarthy, CIP from Payne, Travis & Associates to explain strata insurance. Terry is a Chartered Insurance Professional with 15 years experience in handling strata building claims.

Individual strata unit owners are strongly encouraged to purchase their own Condo insurance coverage which covers their contents, any tenant improvements and additional living expenses. This should also include liability coverage.

Strata Building Insurance carries deductibles as do other types of insurance. They can be quite large, typically $5,000, but some are $25,000 or more. They often have different deductibles for water losses and other types of losses such as fires. Keep in mind that strata building insurance only covers common property.

The strata act protects unit owners and tenants from action in the event of their negligence causing damage to the building. The new act, however, stipulates that if owner is found “responsible” for a loss causing building damage, they can be charged for the amount of the building deductible only. Then their condo policy will respond to the building deductible. If the damage they cause is in excess of the building deductible, then the building insurer must cover the excess. We find owners are found “responsible” if the cause of the loss occurs in their unit, for instance a pipe in the unit bursting and causing building damage. As long as the by-laws of the strata note that unit owners must pay for the building deductible then the owner’s insurance will respond. The unit owner will still pay the deductible noted on their own policy which is usually $500.

Unit owners can still be held liable for their negligence if damage is caused to contents or tenant improvements of other unit owners. This is dealt with by their liability coverage.

To conclude, I suggest that you always read the strata documents and bylaws to verify what type of insurance the Strata carries and how it will affect you if there is a claim made against you. Also, consult an insurance provider to determine whether or not you need to purchase any additional insurance to protect yourself and your contents in the result of loss or damage.

If you have more questions regarding property insurance contact:

Terry McCarthy, CIP Payne, Travis & Associates
Phone: (604) 951-3011 [email protected]

——

Tibor Bogdan & Associates
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
Sutton Showplace Realty
cell: 604-855-2521
TF: 1-877-858-2408