Get pre-approved

Try not to depend on what the internet tells you or a simple pre-qualification from a lender. Instead, obtain mortgage pre-approval. You will be more confident in your buying power as you talk about your financial matters with your lender. This is vital in the event that you plan to exclude a money condition in your offer.

Recognize the seller’s necessities

Buyers frequently...

Growing from seedlings

When instead of planting your own seeds. You can easily buy them from grocery stores during late spring. Here, you are trying to avoid the errors in the seed to seedling transition such as not thinning out plants properly. Thus, it is best to begin by skipping that complicated task.

Picking the wrong varieties to begin with

It terms of the varieties, try to grow...

If you are planning to sell your home during the summer months, there are a number of things that you have to consider. Take note of the following tips in order to prepare your home for the housing market:

1. Be diligent about mowing the lawn. During summer, usually the grass grows quicker. Thus, it’s important to maintain your lawn frequently. Maybe, you can mow it twice a week if needed....

If you are planning to have painting projects during winter, it should be assigned to take on the interior of your house since the cold temperatures and moisture makes the exterior nearly impossible to work on. But there are some things that you should keep in mind when painting the interior of your home during the colder weather. Here are the following tips to consider:

Painting during this...

PAINTING TOOLS and supplies NEEDED

• To prepare painting a typical room, some of the things you might need are spackle, fine grit sandpaper, putty knife, and a damp lint-free rag. A paintable caulk and wood putty might also be needed if you will be working on the trim.
• The actual tools you will need are paint, a tool to open the paint can, stir stick, angled paint brush, small bowl (since painting straight...

The word sustainable basically means to perpetuate existence and to provide sustenance and nourishment. But it is most often associated with the environment and particularly to our yards and gardens. What do we really mean by a sustainable garden? Well, it is an organic garden that took a step further.

The main advantage with an organic gardening practice is that it will sustain soils and plants....

1)    Realize that lawn chemicals are dangerous. Find out the brand names of the lawn care product ingredients you have. Then, visit their website and see their “What Can You Do?” section. Read the content and do your own research.

2)    It is recommended to opt for eco-friendly and organic lawn care practices. Either you do it yourself...

Painting your house - getting started

Color is obviously one of the main considerations when it comes to painting a house. Deciding which color to use is largely based on two aspects. That is, the room you are planning to paint and your own personal taste. In general, neutral options such as off-white, light grey or taupe can be a good option as these provide a subtle alternative...

When you find that your old kitchen is no longer doing the job, you might be on a dilemma to renovate it or rip it all out and have a brand new kitchen. This article will discuss the pros and cons of both.

Pros and Cons of Renovating a Kitchen

Once you decided that you go for kitchen renovation, try to have a look at the condition of your existing kitchen first. If your...

Take the home out of your house.  One of the most important things to do when selling your house is to de-personalize it. The more personal stuff in your house, the less potential buyers can imagine themselves living there. Get rid most of your stuff – put it in storage. This includes family photos, memorabilia collections and other personal stuff. Consider hiring a home stager...

 Tips for Taking on Your First Home

After you've freed yourself of your college stuff  and your roommate's attempt at economy, it's time to plan for turning your empty and boring shell of a house into an inviting home. Moving into your first house is a kind of liberating in a way. Landmark life passage as it were. Here are some suggestions for achieving it:

 ...

Three Things to Consider when Making an Investment in Real Estate.

Real estate is one of the most risky things to invest to, but it could also be one of the greatest things to invest into if you were able to choose the right property and manage it well. Investing in real estate needs patience for it does not really pay off immediately, it takes time for one to build, assess, and improve a property for...

The rate of buying and selling of homes in Greater Vancouver ended with a bang, exceeding last year’s pace and slightly below the 10-year average for the month.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports that there is a 52.5% increase in domestic property sales when comparing the 1,649 residential property sales from August 2012, to August 2013, which boasts 2,515 properties...

Here's a look back on the refreshing change in selling activity in July. From the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver

July home sale activity increases in Greater Vancouver

Sunny weather did not slow the pace of home sale activity in July. Last month was the highest selling month of the year in Greater Vancouver and the highest selling July since 2009.

After you've freed yourself of your college stuff  and your roommate's attempt at economy, it's time to plan for turning your empty and boring shell of a house into an inviting home. Moving into your first house is a kind of liberating in a way. Landmark life passage as it were. Here are some suggestions for achieving it:

Clean your house at the old place. Even before you decide to...

Canadian housing starts increased 5 per cent in September to 193,627 units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR).  The trend in Canadian new home construction edged up slightly to 188,440 units SAAR over the past six months, a rate that is roughly in-line with Canadian household formations.  On a year-over-year basis, housing starts were down 11 per cent.

New home construction...

“How I can be mortgage free sooner?” All homeowners ask this all the time! Of course nobody wants to pay more for their own home. Here are some tips that can help you become mortgage free and even raise the level of equity in your home faster!

For example, let’s assume that I have a mortgage of $200,000 at a 3.99% interest rate with 25 years amortization was well as a monthly payment...

The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) rose for the second consecutive quarter, increasing 1.2 points from the first quarter of 2013.

The index is currently sitting at 113.4. On a year-over-year basis, the CLI is 0.2 per cent above the second quarter of 2012. The index reached an all-time high of 116.1 in the second quarter of 2007.

An increasing CLI in the first half of 2013 offset a sharp decline...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) released its 2013 Third Quarter Housing Forecast Update recently.

BC Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) residential sales are forecast to increase 3.9 per cent to 70,300 units this year, before increasing a further 6.1 per cent to 74,600 units in 2014.

The five-year average is 74,600 unit sales, while the ten-year average is 86,800 unit sales....

Long-term mortgage rates have burst higher by almost ¾ of a percentage point in the short time span of a couple months!

Are these hikes are sustainable? How will they affect the overall housing market?

TD Economics weighed in on these points in a report last week. Here’s a quick overview of the implications TD foresees, and some observations of our own…

Future...