Montreal Real Estate Blog » Buying

Home Ownership in Canada: A Chronological List of Programs for Buyers

Deya Bautista — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:24 +0000

1954: Introduction of the Mortgage Loan Insurance- by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

1971: Principal residences were exempted from Capital Gains in The Income Tax Act

1992: There were two programs created by the federal government.
The first was the Home Buyers’ Plan (HPB) allowing buyers to withdraw up to $20,000, tax-free, from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and use it as a down payment to buy or build a home.

The second, was a test program called the First Home Loan Insurance Program (FHLIP) which decreased the down payment needed to buy a first home from 10% to 5%

1994 The federal government announces the HPB as a permanent program.

1998 The FHLIP was replaced by a permanent program. And instead of 10%, all buyers were now allowed a 5% downpayment.

2006 The CMHC launched CMHC Flex 100- (Remember the zero-downpayment mortgage?) a mortgage loan insurance product for owner-occupiers that allows them, under certain conditions, to buy a property by taking out a loan up to the total value of the property (no down payment required).

The amortization period for owner-occupiers were also extended to up to 40 years, under certain conditions.

2008 The maximum amortization period for new mortgages was reduced to 35 years and the minimum down payment increased from 0 to 5 per cent.

2009 The maximum amount that can be withdrawn as part of the HBP increased to $25,000

2011 The maximum amortization period for new mortgages was reduced to 30 years

Adapted from and Article from the Market Analysis Department of the QFREB
Sources: Government of Canada, CMHC, Industry Canada and the Department of Finance Canada.

Posted By: Deya Bautista - Real Estate Broker working as part of the McGill Immobilier team. Specializing in high end condos in downtown and Old Montreal. For buying or selling contact Deya at: 514.917.7889 http://montrealrealestateblog.com/

Pre-approval: How it can benefit you as a home buyer

Deya Bautista — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:00:17 +0000

Updated from our First Time Buyer’s Archive. Originally posted on Jun13, 2007

Imagine falling in love with a home, making and offer only to find out later that you are not eligible for such amount?

Or another scenario: Competing with other buyers over your dream home, to find out the vendor accepted the other buyer’s offer JUST because they were already pre-approved.

It does happen. Often.

Understandingly, any vendor will favor a buyer who is prepared with a letter from the bank

Continue reading: Pre-approval: How it can benefit you as a home buyer

Asking Price: Comparative Market Analysis vs Municipal Assessments

Deya Bautista — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:42:27 +0000

Image by Corbis

The asking price of a home should reflect the current market price, which is calculated quite differently from the municipal assessment. The city evaluates properties every three years (meaning they are often behind the going market values), and they base their assessments on the property itself and its neighbourhood.

To determine optimal asking price, a homeowner should get a comparative market analysis (CMA). This is done by

Continue reading: Asking Price: Comparative Market Analysis vs Municipal Assessments

Asking (Selling) Price Less Than Municipal Evaluation?

Deya Bautista — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:57:00 +0000

Sometimes you find properties that have a municipal evaluation higher than the asking price. In most cases, it’s the other way around. So as a potential buyer, you might wonder whether or not this is an error — how can it be that the person is selling for less than the municipal evaluation

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Home Buying Process: Closing Costs

Deya Bautista — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:00:19 +0000

To first-time buyers, closing costs are a mystery; most people have a slight idea of what they are, but don’t know what’s specifically involved or how much the cost will be. Many think closing costs refer to the notary fee, end of story. In reality, though, there’s more to it than that.

In addition to a down-payment on your mortgage, you (the buyer) will need to put aside a little extra for costs related to a home purchase. Here is a list of the usual costs involved

Continue reading: Home Buying Process: Closing Costs

Q & A: How Many Buying Brokers Can You Hire?

Deya Bautista — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:46:51 +0000

This is the first post of 2012. I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed a great New Year’s celebration! This video, shot last month, talks about how many agents/brokers you (the potential buyer) can employ when looking for a property.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqDSNkCPEgs

Continue reading: Q & A: How Many Buying Brokers Can You Hire?

[Video] My First Tutorial: How to use the buyer’s portal

Deya Bautista — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:34:51 +0000

So, after countless of times promising myself I would sit down and create a simple tutorial on How to Use the Client’s Portal, I finally got to it!

I found this really cool way to make video-tutorials with Screenr.com, impressively easy to use. Hey, you could impress your clients and friends too ;)

And here it is…

Useful tips on how to view, classify and organize listings by emails.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1JXl7vtLQ

If you like it, share the love.