Real Estate Lawyers St. Catharines, Ontario

They are, as long as they aren’t the property’s sole use. Short-term rentals (STRs) are only allowed in your primary residence, or occupied income properties. You must rent the entire home, for not more than 28 consecutive days, and have one parking space per bedroom. A home-based business licence is required. Read this checklist before you apply.

Selling before you buy has one definite advantage: you know exactly how much you have to spend on your next home, or invest if that’s your goal. A completed sale tells you what buyers consider your home to be worth. That eliminates worrying that you offered too much for your new home, or that you were over optimistic about how soon your home would sell. 

Besides, mortgage lenders can base financing a new dwelling on having a signed agreement of purchase and sale. Without a mortgage, you may not be able to make any offer, or have to walk away, leaving your deposit behind because your home took longer to sell than you thought.

Here’s another reason to sell before you buy: you avoid carrying two mortgages if you can’t buy and sell on the same day. Even a gap of a few weeks between when your new home transaction closes, and the sale of your current home concludes, can leave you paying interest for temporary bridge financing.

A backyard, in-ground swimming pool can be the suburban dream. Beyond worrying about water safety (look for or install four-sided, self-latching, self-closing fences), they are extra, outdoor living space. Think of an outdoor pool as your summer living room.

A newer, In-ground pool in good condition adds 6% to 10% to a home’s value, according to blue2green.ca. Average cost is $20,000 to $40,000. Pools that are 30 years or older, need repairs, have plastic liner or lack a safety gate can detract from your home’s appeal. So can installing a pool in a place with cool, windy, or wet summers.

Having the only pool in the neighbourhood can also be a drawback. It’s the equivalent of owning a sprawling multi-storey on a block of modest semi-bungalows.

You’re wise to wonder how softening home prices, something the Bank of Canada aims to achieve, will impact you. Household debt is high, while housing affordability is off the map. Torontonians spend 68% of their median household incomes on housing, way over the 40% lenders consider affordable. 

CMHC considers Toronto highly vulnerable to a price correction due to price acceleration, an overheated housing market, and overvaluations. Major mortgage lenders see the “froth” churning home prices upward as slowing.    

So what could happen during an inflation? Higher interest rates for mortgages and credit cards, property taxes, and household expenses equal more financial stress for owners. More home buyers than ever have sunk their wealth into housing, and some only dodged pandemic job losses by getting CERB or EI. They may have to cut their losses if wages stay static, or higher living costs outstrip their budget. 

Consumer proposals to settle household or mortgage debts can force lenders to resell those homes at cost. While that brings more houses to market, it may put downward pressure on prices because lenders are usually impatient to sell. Better-heeled buyers can afford to outwait higher prices to net bargains from cash-strapped sellers. That may take some edge off Ontario home values. 

On the upside, government is out to tame inflation, and you could also profit. 

• Housing supply in Canada is notoriously low. Some buyers shrug off inevitable drops in value. They don’t have a crystal ball either, and “they’re not making more land.” 
• The end of pandemic-driven upsizing for home schooling and remote work offices could flatten some home prices. You win anyway if your home went up in value. Only 20% of Canadians expect to go back to working in person, and many want a mix of remote and office work.   
• A remigration to cities as the pandemic eases could take a toll (or not) on home prices in the ex-burbs, fringe burbs, and cottage country. Taking your profits while home prices are high could get you more home down the road, in a location of your choice. 
• Your mortgage drops the longer you hold. Since home prices go up over time, that alone can be a money maker.