Hi Michel, thanks, I'll give Shaune a call! FYI... on the RRSP Home Buyer's Plan, yes it can be used as source of a downpayment: https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/mortgages/rrsp-home-buyers-plan.html?refmenu=help What is the Home Buyers' Plan? With the federal government's Home Buyers' Plan, you...

Home buyers plan, so it is the down payment. I want a mortgage broker to do the work.

I'm looking for a mortgage broker who can help me figure out the eligible funds I have for the RRSP home buyers plan. I called Dan Heon's guys and they said go look on the internet. I want a guy who will fill out forms, investigate, and basically provide a service. If I have to fill out all the...

Increase in labour is tracked by increase in labour force...so an increase in demand-side. Supply-side can be proxied by unemployment rate, participation rate. The story behind the numbers is just as important. For example, labour force is growing in Calgary but the quality of jobs is much...

What a goober. That's like signing an exclusive agreement with an Uber driver. Lots of drivers out there. See how he does on the first deal. If you are happy with him then sign the exclusive on a short time frame for this deal only. He is protecting his commission if you go buy on your own or...

Seems like something that can be researched online for free. Tons of free books on this subject. Basically if you pay off the principal on the home you have no mortgage. The question is does the opportunity cost of the capital going to pay down your mortgage worth it for the level of risk you...

Basically hotels are pressuring the city and politicians don't understand that more supply means prices don't get driven up as high by unsatisfied demand. That and crusty old guys get their noses bent out of shape when neighbourhoods have activity and life in them. Still too many old guys in...

@Willyboy Well said on bubbly prices! On a 5-year Burnaby MF hold, I had to use 7% CAGR rental growth assumptions to hit a 5% IRR on a C-grade 4-story project. The new GAARP: Growth At "ANY" Reasonable Price haha

Thanks Thomas! As far as all calm...have you checked the S&P lately? o_O ;) The world looks like it is headed into slower times in 2019, and Canada is in worse condition than the U.S., and never had the good times the U.S. had.

It is a bit of a late-to-the-party response. In a way, I'm less opposed to rent controls than I am to inclusionary zoning. In my view, Canadians have overweighted home ownership as a society and as an investment allocation so creating some security around renting is not a bad thing. In global...

The construction industry is one of the worst/slowest innovative industries. If it takes a crisis to develop smarter building processes so be it. We are building homes virtually the exact same since the 1960s, but at a much, much lower quality. 1960s were probably the golden years for building...

The sub can register a lien against the property, and it is actually not hard at all to do. If they have been in business for very long at all they probably know all about this. The sub's claim can be removed from the title but it is a bit of work and takes time. Ultimately, the owner is...

Lots of research out there. PWC, CBRE, JLL, Avison Young, MoneySense. Starting point: https://www.moneysense.ca/spend/real-estate/top-cities-canadian-real-estate-2018/ If I was looking at a pre-sale investment, I would consider: - amount of supply approved (# units) - location characteristics...

Ya, it's done between currencies sometimes for small amounts instead of issuing a swap. What the bank proposed is dumb though. Don't invest money only to borrow at a higher rate.

@RodFlint this time is different. My take is that things can actually turn around very quickly for Alberta if the right political changes were made: 1) NDP out of office (this seems likely based on recent polls) 2) Liberals take a democratic stance on pipelines. Bill C-69 is a bit duplicitous...

Send an email to the Realtor's manager. That is totally professionally unacceptable and a breach of ethics.

@Rickson9, as you are a macro-guy... Yes, although the forecast hinges around the idea of a shift in renter profile in Calgary. There are 2500 renal units under construction right now (below), which I think is structurally fine as the renal universe has declined in Calgary from 57,500 in 1994...

Are there 10 investable towns in BC? Isn't that like saying what is the top 10 out of 11? Not really useful... I think MoneySense has a better methodology overall anyway: https://www.moneysense.ca/spend/real-estate/top-cities-canadian-real-estate-2018/ PWC does a good job of this as well...

This is super dumb.

I was offered P - 1% and P - 75 bps but I'm taking a look at fixed as well. I think there are only 2 rate hike discounts included in the variable rate for me right now. We are at 1.75% right now in Canada and the U.S. is at 2.25%. The FOMC dot plot looks like the U.S. is heading to 3% in 2019...