Toronto Real Estate Blog

Lowering the costs of home ownership

From Homes Magazine

We invest a lot of time and energy in our families, our jobs and our homes – whether we rent or own. For 60 years, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has worked to improve access to home ownership – for all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast. One example of this is CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance which enables homebuyers to access mortgage financing with as little as 5% down, at a rate of interest typically reserved for borrowers with a 25% down payment or more.

In February, CMHC and First Line Mortgages announced a pilot program under which CMHC will insure mortgages for up to 30 years. Until now, 25 years has been the maximum amortization period permitted for CMHC-insured mortgages. The purpose of extended amortizations is to make it easier for Canadians to become homeowners. This 30-year amortization period complements the host of products and options CMHC already offers to Canadians who want to own their own home.

* Own your own home sooner. By using a wider range of sources for your down payment, if you have a proven track record of meeting your debt requirements and sufficient income to support mortgage loan payments, your lender may be able to provide you with CMHC’s Flex Down product. Sources for your down payment can include: borrowed funds, gifts and lender cash back incentives.

* Energy efficiency pays. Save 10% on your Mortgage Loan Insurance premium – if a CMHC-insured mortgage is used to buy an energy-efficient home, or to renovate a new or existing home with the intention of making it more energy efficient, you may also have the option of extending the amortization period for an additional 10 years.

* Found your dream home? Want to renovate it? With CMHC’s Purchase Plus Improvements, you can work with your lender to finance the cost of renovating by increasing your mortgage, up to 95% of the “as improved” value.

* CMHC’s Refinance product can open the door to a full range of financing options. Your lender may now be able to help you refinance your home for up to 90% of the market value to a maximum of $200,000 of additional funds. These funds can be used for any purpose other than
default management.

* Self-employed borrowers, through CMHC, have easier access to mortgage loan insurance than ever before, with no additional fees or premiums. This is because CMHC has improved its employment verification requirements for self-employed borrowers.

* When it comes to the purchase or refinancing of a second home, CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance can also help you. This home can be located anywhere in Canada, provided it is not an investment property, and must be suitable for and available for year-round occupancy.

* Another relatively recent option in the mortgage field is an insured homeowner line of credit. With a secured line of credit, you can draw funds up to your insured credit limit at any time and without the need to reapply.

* With an insured homeowner line of credit, you can also make interest-only payments for a period of time, plus you have the flexibility to prepay without penalties. CMHC offers mortgage loan
insurance to help homebuyers obtain homeowner lines of credit. If you’re interested in exploring this option further, contact your lender to confirm availability and qualifying criteria.

Check with your lender for the qualifying criteria and availability of these innovative products within their product offerings.

For over 60 years, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has been Canada’s national housing agency, and a source of objective, reliable housing expertise.

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The largest numbers of second homes are in areas with large populations. The most popular locations for second homes are near bodies of water and mountains and second home buyers prefer rural settings to those more urban, but in most cases, second homes are within less than a day’s drive from the primary residence.

Second homes are everywhere, but determining the best location for your second home isn’t easy. In response to the growing demand for vacation homes, resorts and the like here is a list of 10 tips to help shoppers find their second dream home.

1. Define your lifestyle interests. It’s well known that people who buy second homes are primarily looking at areas that have to do with their recreational interests.

2. Determine the ideal travel distance. Ideal traveling time is a matter of personal preference and tolerance, but it’s best to limit yourself to a few hours traveling time. If it’s too far or too expensive to reach within a few hours, you likely won’t use your second home enough to justify its cost. Before you buy, rent in the area for a season. See how often you actually manage to get to your vacation home.

3. Research locations. You may like downhill skiing, but can you really afford a home in a ski town and what happens around town when the slopes close? Okay, you’ve defined your lifestyle but what about affordability, climate, population and all those other issues?

4. Select the desired location – within the destination you have to pick the community. Do you want a new planned development? Do you want a patio home or town home for less maintenance? Do you want it inland or a beach community? Do you also want a golf community near the beach?

5. Make inquiries with locals. How many second home owners are there? Are they true home owners or renters? Too many renters and they might not be keeping the place up. You need community details often available only from the residents.

6. Contact a real estate agent. A real estate agent is your eyes and ears in distance places. You can do a lot of things without a real estate agent, but there is a point when that picture you saw and that virtual tour isn’t enough. A real estate agent can highlight areas of interest. One of the things to remember is that a resort real estate agent is very different from a regular real estate agent in a resort area. You have to rely upon someone who knows the area, rather than someone who merely sells homes.

7. Visit destinations. Most people will visit a destination two or three times before they purchase. You start finding out about the resources, what the travel time is really like if you drive or fly. The other thing is most people buy a second home have in the back of their minds that the property will be their primary residence at some time. Are you really sure this is where you will want to live?

8. Review financing options. Some places deal with high-end purchases that are almost always without loans. Can you use your equity line to buy a second home? Financing for a second home is different, and there are also different insurance criteria. The good news is you still get that mortgage write off (up to certain limits, depending upon how the property is used and its value). Involve your tax professional in the financing part of the deal.

9. Purchase through a resort specialist. People selling in a resort area know more about a particular area and typically take it very serious that business comes from the outside. Outsiders’ questions are quite different from those inside the area.

10. Enjoy the process. This isn’t your primary residence and everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Have a little fun with it.

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From New Homes & Condos Magazine

Bliss Condominiums broke the mould this month with an astounding 70% of the suites in the building selling since the launch. This latest offering is the second tower by CanAlfa to be launched in the popular Liberty Village neighbourhood just west of Strachan Avenue, south of King Street West. The company is also responsible for 476 townhomes that are completely sold and occupied.

Of those people visiting the presentation centre, many decided to make the commitment to be part of this dynamic, evolving neighbourhood. It’s not just that Bliss Condominiums is affordable, though prices start at $221,000 for a 644-sq.-ft. unit, or that it has the benefits of a smaller unit mix. It’s not even just the deluxe standard finishes like granite counters and stainless appliances. No, what’s drawing people from all over the GTA to Liberty’s doors is a community that nurtures and celebrates what’s valuable in life.

The tag line – Live in Liberty – says it all. When homeowners live close enough to work to eliminate long commute times, they have the time to enjoy life’s essentials – to live, work and play.

Built on 45 acres of historic industrial lands laid fallow when manufacturing gave way to the information and technology revolution – and unhampered by pre-existing residential neighbourhood plans – CanAlfa was free to envision a community suited to today’s needs.

Its proximity to a booming downtown that’s fast taking its place on the world stage has also helped fuel the area’s rebirth – around the corner a evolving crop of restaurants and cafés, like Susur, Lee, Maro, and a thriving graphic arts, design and film industry. A little farther you’ll find the trendy clothing stores and furniture shops of Queen West, the theatres and Thomson Hall, all part of King West. Twelve minutes by transit and you’re at work in the financial district.

There’s natural beauty just two minutes south at the lake and opportunities for sailing, strolling on the beach, relaxing bike rides or a ferry ride to the Islands. Nearby Ontario Place offers summer fun and live entertainment, celebrities perform at the Molson Amphitheatre, the Direct Energy Centre hosts a variety of international shows including the National Home Show, the One-of-a-Kind Show and the Royal Horse Show and Harbourfront regularly entertains with art, music and theatre festivals.

From its conception as an urban village, Liberty Village has been steadily growing. The streets are now bustling. What was once home to a small neighbourhood of factory labourers is now home to over 1,000 new residents – multi-pierced and tattooed hipsters, haberdashers, fashionistas, IT purveyors, artists, film-makers, Bay Street bankers, and a host of clever entrepreneurs.

The area’s transformation has been so radical, in fact, that Liberty Village was nominated for Community of the Year at the 2007 National Sales and Marketing Awards held in February.

What distinguishes it is the community spirit, the importance of friends, family, fun, even work. And Bliss Condominiums – now selling at extremely appealing prices in Liberty Village which promises to be one of the hippest neighbourhooods in Toronto – are an integral part of that.

New Homes & Condos Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new homes in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new communities across the Greater Toronto Area.

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From New Homes & Condos Magazine

The story opens with the fashionista and the stockbroker living side-by-side in bliss: not so far-fetched if you stroll around condos-for-sale/propertysearch.htm” title=”liberty village condos and lofts”>Liberty Village on any given day.

The story unfolds as stories do: these two live at Bliss, CanAlfa’s latest offering in Liberty Village, a 20-storey condominium tower on East Liberty Street. She’s in the 1,079 square foot penthouse suite – she needs room for her shoes, bags and accessories, don’t you know, while he’s opted for one of the two suites inspired by Mike Niven, the 1,107 square foot, two-storey loft, because he likes everything done, and done beautifully. She’s on her way to get her nails done at the salon down the street; he’s on his way to the gym before heading out to Dominion. It’s a Saturday, they wear jeans, they’re relaxed. Their hands reach for the elevator key pad at the same time, a lingering gaze, and they head to Balzac’s for coffee instead.

Anything is possible now.

Because unorthodox mix is what this community is all about, a mix of types from artists, to filmmakers, to computer geeks, the self-employed to the Bay Street lawyers and financiers.

A mix of architecture, from the gracious old Victorian homes nearby, brought back to original glory from former rooming house days, to the cutting-edge designs of lofts.htm” title=”toronto loft conversions”>converted warehouse loft housing with townhomes and new condo towers dotting the landscape.

A mix of styles are nearby, from the old haberdashers of Queen Street West to the culinary likes of Susur and Lee, and the fashion forward furniture shops of King West.

Residents claim they’re blessed and blissed, because nowhere else in the city is so down to earth and exciting. Run along the Martin Goodman Trail, stroll barefoot by the lake, take in the city views, window shop on Queen West, gnosh at any of the new trendy cafés, clubs and restaurants, join the throng of pedestrians out at lunch or after work, rub elbows with hot dog vendors and style mavens alike.

There are services galore, sprouting up as Liberty Village has developed into a veritable hub for grocery stores, restaurants, pet stores and banks. Greenspace leads into everything and several parks are starting to take shape; homes don’t just hold value, they’re increasing steadily.

The village is also home to a booming industry in film, graphic arts, and design, a mushrooming retail sector, and just 12 minutes by transit to financial and theatre districts. In fact, Liberty Village can support itself.

Vision is what gave birth to this whole area — when Walter Jensen looked out over desolate industrial lands south of King Street West and west of Strachan Avenue some 20 years ago, he saw a community.

But it was a vision fuelled by a century or more of Toronto history: nearby is Fort York, and on the site itself are the remains of industries which once powered the city’s industrial engine – Massey Ferguson, Inglis, A. R. Williams Machinery.

Says Jensen, “I could also clearly see what it could become.” Two decades later, his carefully planned community provides affordable, stylish housing to a broad range of people.

It’s people like our blissed-out fashionista and her stockbroker who say, as they raise a glass of bubbly, it’s a great place to live.

New Homes & Condos Magazine is an excellent source of housing information for those looking for information on new condos and lofts in Ontario, Canada. We offer the most up-to-date information on new communities across the Greater Toronto Area.

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Understanding the policies when buying your new Toronto condo

By Debbie Arnold – New Dream Homes and Condos

Congratulations! You’ve just purchased an incredible condo and are joining the elite club of Toronto condo owners! You are about to enter into a new and exciting lifestyle that is becoming increasingly popular in Southern Ontario!

Along with selecting floor plans, tile and carpet options, window treatments and furniture to compliment this new beginning, you should also consider how you can best protect your investment. Although your condo fees include building insurance, that coverage will not extend to the inside walls of your unit or anything contained therein.

All too often, in the flurry of a new property purchase, unit owners neglect to review their insurance options, if they consider them at all. Many purchasers are under the misguided impression that their monthly fees will cover their unit from loss. Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Only a personal Condominium Insurance Policy will protect the unit owner from loss or damage to their personal property.

A proper Condominium Package Policy will cover far more than just your personal property. It will provide coverage for any improvements and betterments you make to your unit, as well as protection against loss assessments and contingency coverage. Finally, it will protect against any damage you cause to others accidentally with liability insurance. All of this coverage is available at a very low cost.

Pricing for condominium package policies is primarily based on the amount of content coverage you wish to purchase. Most insurers will have a minimum amount of at least $25,000. To first-time buyers, this may seem like an outrageous amount. However, when you consider all of your furniture, clothing, dishes, pots and pans, lamps, computers, televisions, etc., you will find that to replace all of these items, that figure is not so ludicrous.

The best way to determine the actual amount of coverage required is by completing an inventory of your property while packing to move into your new unit. This will not only provide a more accurate picture of your requirements, but will also be an invaluable tool in the event of a claim. The onus is always upon the policyholder to prove their loss. Accordingly, it is also a good idea to retain any receipts for furnishings and artwork.

The next item to consider is whether you plan to make any alterations or additions to the unit you have purchased. For example, the standard unit described in the condominium corporation’s articles has ceramic tile in the master bathroom. You have decided to replace this with granite. The cost of this improvement is a few thousand dollars. Therefore, you need to be certain that your condominium policy will cover any improvement or betterment to the unit and to what extent.

Another element of your policy requiring review is Loss Assessments and Condominium Contingency Coverage. The Condominium Corporation’s Master Policy will cover damage to the outside walls of the structure and any common areas. However, if their coverage is insufficient or does not cover a particular peril, each unit owner will be assessed a portion of the loss. Furthermore, the master policy may have a high deductible, in which case, each unit owner will be responsible to pay a portion.

Finally, the package policy will protect from suits brought against you due to accidental or negligent damage you cause to others. For example, you accidentally leave the tap running in the bathroom. The sink overflows and causes a leak in your downstairs neighbour’s bathroom. This causes significant damage to the new vanity they just installed as well as the new granite flooring. Your neighbour’s insurance carrier will sue you for this damage. The liability coverage provided by your Condominium Package Policy will respond.

Now that you’re aware of how necessary this type of policy is, the next question is “where do I purchase the coverage?”

When shopping the marketplace for this type of policy, it is always best to start with the agent or broker you already have a policy with. You can usually combine this policy with your automobile insurance and receive multi-policy discounts. If you do not have an agent or broker, ask a family member, friend or co-worker who they use. Your personal insurance should be placed with a reputable company you can trust, that provides prompt and efficient service and expert advice.

Debbie Arnold is the Director of Group Personal Insurance Services with Rocca Dickson Andreis Ltd. with more than 20 years of experience in the field.  This is a first of many articles focusing on insurance needs of home and condominium owners which is brought to you by Richard E. Sist, MBA an Associate with Rocca Dickson Andreis Ltd. specializing in Group Benefits & Pensions.  www.rdainsurance.com

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