According to a U.S. consumer research study by Architectural Digest with Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC, she survey showed some surprising findings:
85% of the participants agree that real estate continues to be one of the better investments a person can make.
72% believed their home value has either remained the same or has increased over the [...]

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Here’s some more info on the new changes to the mortgage requirements:
“There has been lots of discussion in the news about the recent changes to government guaranteed mortgages announced by the Minister of Finance.
However we believe the majority of Canadians do not understand what exactly it means to remove the “government guarantee” from some [...]

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The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has created the National “Do Not Call List” which will take effect in September 2008. What this means is that once registered, you should receive less soliciting telephone calls because at this moment, telemarkets have to keep track of their own Do Not Call Lists — and I’m [...]

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I came across an interesting article regarding home prices in Canada. Check out this article here.

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With the 40 year amortization and the 0 % down payment coming into the picture not too long ago, it’s been easier for first time home buyers to get into the real estate market quicker. Not only that, but with the real estate prices the way they are, it seems these are the only [...]

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With the housing market declining in the U.S., some real estate agents are trying to do whatever it takes to get a sale. I stumbled across an article in the Globe and Mail, Sleep on it, and in it, before buying home, that discussed some agents in Orlando are arranging for potential buyers to [...]

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40 year amortizations, which only came into affect 2 years ago, will be going bye-bye as of October 15th. Due to the housing trouble in the U.S., the federal government decided to tighten up its mortgage rules. Among capping the amortization period to 35 years, the new rules also include a mandatory 5% [...]

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The Toronto Real Estate Board came out with new statistics for June 2008, here are some highlights:
Trend towards a more balanced market with 8,600 properties changing hands.
GTA average housing price increased by 4% to $395,866. Toronto’s average price increased 3% to $433,082.
Toronto saw 3,481 transactions in June, down 18% from June 2007 which [...]

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Summertime and the livin’ is easy…but that doesn’t mean picking a mortgage is. What to do? Should one go with a variable/adjustable mortgage in the low 4% range or take the more conservative and safe choice with a fixed rate in the mid 5% range?
Decisions decisions…
While the spread between [...]

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11. Obligation to the bank
Q. My friend also bought a house and is closing around the same time but he has a better rate can I still get that rate even though I have signed the papers at my bank?
A. Absolutely - you can always shop around until it is logistically impossible for the new [...]

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