It feels like there are “hacks” for everything these days – and real estate has not escaped the attention of linguistic hackers. Have you ever heard of “house hacking”? It’s a Millennial catchphrase for renting out a bedroom, or a portion of your home, to help cover the cost of a mortgage. It’s especially popular…
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Navigating the process of buying a property can feel intimidating for most first homebuyers. Their biggest questions revolve around the amount required for a down payment and how to get a loan. Answers to both these challenges involve the word “depends”, which is frustrating. So, let’s try to break this down. What’s the deal with…
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Are you planning to sell your home this fall and asking whether your old kitchen is going to hold back the possibility of a good price and a quick deal? If that thought is going through your mind, then you probably know the answer already. You’re going to have to concede you must spend some…
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More homes are coming onto the market from a surprising source. A new survey has found more than half of Canadians who own a property in the United States are intending to sell up and stay behind the border to our north. The study, conducted by the Canadian real estate services provider Royal Le Page,…
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With America’s population aging, the supply of suitable accommodation for downsizers is becoming an emerging issue. Our population is aging due to the retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation and increased life expectancy. The proportion of Americans aged 65 is projected to reach 20% by 2030. Centenarians could quadruple over the next three decades.…
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With the spring sales season just around the corner, sellers will not only be planning how to maximise the value of their property but also contemplating the practicalities of moving to their next dream home. There’s a lot to think about, of course, including the physical moving of your possessions and the transfer of utilities…
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Renovations are often at the heart of an owner’s strategy to maximise the value of their home, or for investors seeking top-dollar from rental income. But which renovations really sell a property or attract a top-paying tenant? Most focus falls on bathrooms and kitchens – two areas that are expensive to upgrade because of the…
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One of the biggest contributors to the long-term value of your property is location and local infrastructure. Areas where governments are investing in trains and schools quickly begin to contribute to higher local prices. A recent survey from the industry researcher Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) outlined how buyers were paying six-figure premiums to live in suburbs…
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With mortgage rates holding stubbornly at around 6.75%, first-home buyers continue to face a tough challenge to break into the property market. Only a few weeks ago, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) called for an increase in the building of new homes for first-time buyers following its own report that revealed existing homes were…
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The challenges of the housing market were cited as one reason why the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has again decided to cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR), reducing it by 0.25% to 3%. Cheaper mortgages are now likely to further encourage the signs of green shoots that have emerged in several regions in…
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