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March 2012 Miscellaneous Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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News artilces for March 2012.
 

Ally

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Living large in small spaces






You really want to be a grown-up urbanite?
Get a tiny condo, the tinier the better.




News has hit the papers that Toronto will soon be home to a few 270 square foot condos, and that in Vancouver a former rooming house has had its rooms converted into apartments ranging in size from 226 to 291 square feet. People are concerned. Where are we headed? What will become of us?





Read the full article here.
 

Ally

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Wary of castrophe, experts provide tips for future condo buyers




EDMONTON - Lakbir Bains is busy packing.




On Friday, one day after the 27-year-old hotel front desk supervisor signed the papers to buy a fourth-floor, two-bedroom unit in a Mill Woods condominium, he started boxing up his Westridge apartment for the move.




`It feels great,` Bains said. `Rather than paying someone else`s mortgage, I`d rather pay my own.`




Bains` confident jump into the condo market comes at the same time as owners of Leduc`s Bellavera Green condo complex attempt to determine the fate of their unsafe building, which the City of Leduc ordered them to leave by March 31.





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Ally

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Why call centres no longer ring up big job gains




From the early 1990s to the mid-2000s, Canada`s call centre industry was a significant employment growth engine for the national economy.




According to a report prepared by prepared by Statistics Canada back in 2008, telephone call centres experienced exponential growth from 1998 to 2006, rising from $424-million worth of revenue in 1998 to $2.76-billion in 2006 -- an average annual increase of 27.7 per cent. Further, more than two-thirds of this revenue growth was generated by call centres located in Ontario.





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Ally

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Mortgage fees: Understand the fine print




A mortgage is usually the largest financial commitment a person will make. The interest is far more than any other debt, yet it is troubling that many of the details involved in mortgage applications are poorly explained ` if at all ` to those applying for the loan.




Many people buying their first home do not have 20 per cent of the purchase price to use as the down payment and must take out an insured mortgage in order to get the loan. You can obtain this insurance through CMHC or Genworth Financial.





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Ally

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How to find the right real estate agent to sell your house




People spend more time shopping for a TV than for a real estate agent. This, sadly, can cost them thousands of dollars, and often does.




When house prices are surging and a modest home can cost $600,000, excitement can lead to indifference about what agents charge. But that`s a mistake under any circumstance. Homeowners who understand how the realty business works, which this little primer will attempt to explain, will be far better off.





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Ally

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Five questions to ask before selling your house



In June, 2010, when my boyfriend and I bought our first house together ` a 1940s bungalow in Mimico just steps away from Lake Ontario ` we were thrilled. Home ownership signalled our status as adults. Like many young and eager homeowners, we spent countless hours hunting the aisles of IKEA and Home Depot, as well as painting and assembling furniture. (It's likely I still have flakes of paint in my hair and Allen key calluses on my hands).





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Do you need a home inspection?





Before you buy a home, one of the things you should do is to have the home checked out by a professional home inspector. Buying a home is expensive enough as it is - why would you choose to fork over another $400 if you're not required to? In this article, we'll delve into what a home inspection can reveal and why you shouldn't forgo this optional procedure.







The Home Inspection Contingency

Your first clue that a home inspection is important is that it can be used as a contingency in your purchase offer. This contingency provides that if significant defects are revealed by a home inspection, you can back out of your offer, free of penalty, within a certain timeframe. The potential problems a home can have must be pretty serious if they could allow you to walk away from such a significant contract.







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