Toronto Condo and Real Estate Blog

From City News

It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make and a GTA couple is going door-to-door in their Mississauga neighbourhood to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Muriel Chudiak and her husband Bill have launched a grassroots campaign to stomp out mortgage fraud, knocking on doors to talk to seniors, who are often victims of the crime, and to collect signatures on a petition urging politicians to stiffen the laws.

The 65-year-old activist is not a victim of mortgage fraud, but after reading a number of news stories on the subject, became very concerned for seniors and other home owners in her neighbourhood.

“We’ve worked long and hard for our houses and we shouldn’t have to worry about losing them,” Muriel Chudiak said.

Chudiak delivered her petition containing over 300 signatures to Queen’s Park Thursday. Politicians have taken notice of this growing problem and there are currently two competing mortgage fraud bills that have passed second reading in the Ontario Legislature.

Here are some ways to protect your most important investment:

* Consult public real estate websites to review property listings in the community where the property is located. Compare features, size and locations to establish if the asking price seems reasonable.
* Check to make sure your representative is a licensed real estate agent.
* Beware of a real estate agent or mortgage broker who has a financial interest in the transaction.
* Ask for a copy of the land title or go to a registry office and ask them to do a historical title search.
* In the offer to purchase, include the option to have the property appraised by a designated or accredited member of the Appraisal Institute of Canada.
* Insist on a home inspection to guard against buying a home that has been cosmetically renovated or formerly used as a grow house operation. Grow operators frequently use mortgage fraud to purchase their properties.
* Ask to see receipts for recent renovations.
* When you make a deposit, ensure your money is protected by being held “in trust”.

Here are some mortgage fraud red flags:

* Someone offers you a fee to use your name and credit information to obtain a mortgage.
* You are encouraged to include false information on a loan application
* You are asked to leave signature lines or other important areas on a loan application blank
* The seller or investment advisor discourages you from seeing or inspecting the property you are offering to purchase

Title fraud has become a growing problem in the Toronto real estate market, and until recently, there weren’t many tools available to consumers to prevent it. But consumers can protect themselves by purchasing title insurance. Here’s a list of information on this protection, courtesy of First Canadian Title.

The most common cases includes instances that include:

* Someone refinances your property by forging your signature and using fake identification, running away with the funds and leaving you to pay the costs of defending your title.
* Someone transfers title out of your name and then mortgages the property without your knowledge, leaving you with the responsibility of having to repay the mortgage and reclaim your ownership.

Title fraud can result in the following repercussions for a homeowner:

* The cost of defending one’s right of ownership, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars;
* The stress and uncertainty surrounding the a resolution of title-related problems;
* The time spent waiting for resolution from the Land Titles Assurance Fund; and
* The loss associated with a fraudulent mortgage that is entitled to remain registered against the true home owner’s interest.

For more information on title insurance, contact First Canadian Title at http://www.firstcanadiantitle.com or 1-800-307-0370.

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By Michael Oliveira - Canoe.ca Money

TORONTO (Canadian Press) - Ontario homeowners will no longer have to fret over an annual mailing that threatens increased property values and higher taxes, but critics say the Liberal government’s strategy on the file simply delays the inevitable.

The Ontario budget proposes a move to “fair and predictable” property reassessments once every four years instead of annually, and homeowners will not face increased taxes based on property values until the 2009 tax year.

When property value does go up, the increase will be averaged out and phased in over the same four-year period between reassessments.

Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said a review of the practices of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation revealed a serious need for change, which he is “very proud” to deliver.

“This budget directs itself on taxation methods that are unfair,” Sorbara said.

“It just seemed clear that there were some fundamental problems with the system that couldn’t be fixed with the idea of a cap (on increases)… We said, ‘let’s wipe the slate clean and start drawing something better.’ ”

Property tax increases have long been a hot button issue, growing only more pressing after a strong Toronto real estate market saw assessments skyrocket. Some homeowners were forced to sell after they found their growing tax bills unaffordable.

The government had already responded to complaints about MPAC by freezing property tax reassessments for two years. The new four-year system will begin in 2009, based on the next reassessment to be made on Jan. 1, 2008.

That plan only delays the inevitable and would still price people out of their homes, said Conservative Leader John Tory, who favours a yearly reassessment with a cap on house values.

“The bottom line is (the Liberals) put a program forward now that says to people, ‘Since we’re going to average the increases over four years you’ve got four years to pack up and leave your house,’ ” he said.

Sorbara countered that a cap on reassessments would mostly benefit the affluent and wouldn’t be a good solution for all.

He said the government will also review another common complaint about MPAC and come up with a better appeals process that is less confusing and more efficient.

“This system is going to be more predictable, it’s going to be fairer, and it’s going to serve property-tax payers in the province very, very well,” Sorbara said.

The government also announced it is putting an end to GTA pooling, which made Greater Toronto Area municipalities pool $200 million of revenue to share the cost of social programs in the region - even though it mostly went to Toronto.

“I don’t know why it got designed that way but I know one thing for sure: it was universally thought to be - even in the City of Toronto - unfair,” Sorbara said.

The government is also cutting business education taxes by $540 million, which will affect 321 municipalities and benefit more than 500,000 businesses - without having an effect on education funding.

The shortfall from the reduced taxes - which in all contribute $3.5 billion to education - will be offset by direct transfers to school boards by the government.

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Ontarians facing rapidly rising property tax bills due to skyrocketing real estate prices will get some relief from Queen’s Park’s tax reform

By Jeff Gray

Ontarians facing rapidly rising property tax bills due to skyrocketing real estate prices will get some relief from Queen’s Park, as the provincial budget aims to reform what the Finance Minister called the province’s “unfair and unpredictable” property-tax system.

Businesses in many of the province’s towns and cities will also get a $540-million break — phased in over seven years — on the business education tax, a chunk of the property tax bill that has long been unevenly applied across the province, which rates varying by up to a factor of four.

Finance Minister Greg Sorbara and his Liberal government have faced a kind of property tax revolt, with calls from Opposition Leader John Tory for a cap, after the province’s ombudsman slammed the system and the Liberals brought in a two-year assessment freeze.

Under the changes in the budget, which come into affect with the next assessment due for 2009, property values will be assessed every four years, instead of annually. Any assessment increases will be phased in, also over four years, allowing taxpayers time to adjust to any sharp swings upward.

The changes mean that a 20% increase in assessment values, for example, would be brought in as 5% a year over the four years. Decreases would be effective immediately, however.

“Every year, property owners don’t have to worry that the assessor got it right or wrong, will I have to make an appeal, how this is going to affect my life,” Mr. Sorbara told reporters before presenting the budget to the House. “This system is going to be fairer.”

In the text of his budget speech, he said his reforms were much fairer than Mr. Tory’s proposed cap, which “would tend to favour the more affluent.”

The Progressive Conservative Leader said the plan was the product of the government “scrambling to put something together.”

Mr. Tory said Premier Dalton McGuinty was only offering a temporary reprieve to struggling homeowners, saying: “You have four years to pack up and leave your home.”

Spiralling real estate prices, especially in many Toronto neighbourhoods, have left some residents scrambling to pay property tax hikes. In some cases, seniors, or others on fixed incomes, worry they may not be able to stay in their homes.

Mr. Sorbara also pledged to reform the system by which homeowners can challenge their property tax assessments, which was criticized by the province’s ombudsman as unresponsive.

Assessment appeals to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, long criticized by many as confusing and difficult. The budget outlines changes, including “simplifying” the appeal process and ensuring that more information is shared with applicants.

Business groups and municipalities have long called for reforms to the business education tax, which has rates that discriminate against businesses in many cities and towns, charging them more than in other places.

The lost revenue for education will be replaced by Queen’s Park funding, the government says.

Businesses classified as commercial in Toronto will see their business education tax drop by 22% by 2014, saving $26-million, the budget documents say. Industrial taxpayers will see their taxes sink 19%, saving $205-million.

Others will see steeper tax cuts at least in percentage terms. Commercial property owners in Thunder Bay will see their business education tax sink by 55% by 2014, for example.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the tax cut was likely good for small business, but was being phased in much too slowly.

“It may help some businesses in six or seven years from now,” he told reporters. “But in terms of this year, not much.

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