The following question was submitted through our Contact Form and we thought the Question and Answer may help other strata condo owners.
Q: How do I get on my strata council?
A: Every owner is eligible to sit on council as long as you are the registered owner and are in good standing (have no fees owing). Council members are elected at the Annual General Meeting...
To read full article, visit www.TalkStrata.com
What wonderful luck to have found the perfect condo! The location is great, the unit I’m looking at is on the top floor, I can afford it – just barely , and I love the kitchen. Best of all though is the spectacular view of the mountains.
There is one little thing that’s troubling me...
For Full Article Details, visit: www.TalkStrata.com-
Your Resource for Strata & Condo Living
As I see it by Vancouver home Mortgage:
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007 by Paul Vieira, Financial Post
The International Monetary Fund said the global financial market turmoil and related credit crunch should be "manageable."
In recent days rates on the overnight market had climbed well above targets set by central banks.
The widespread credit crunch is the result of mounting defaults in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, where individuals with higher-risk credit ratings are able to obtain financing for home purchases. This spilled over to banks and investment funds, which had exposure to this market.
Click here to read the full report.
There are great concerns by the world financial markets that the credit sqeeze and lack of liquidity as a result of mounting U.S. subprime mortgage defaults may result in widespread economic slowdown.
The market is concerned that the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown will spread to the general economy. As reported by Newsweek Business article A Widening Credit Squeeze? is spilling over to America’s credit-card debt.
As I see it by Vancouver home mortgage:
In yesterday's Financial Post,
Reuters
Published: Thursday, August 02, 2007 reported
"Canadian, U.S. banks face limited subprime shocks"
So, it looks like the banks in the U.S. and Canada are well covered and can withstand the sub-prime mortgages meltdown.
But, Canadian home owners who bought into their homes recently will not be so lucky. The reason being that these home owners paid a lot more for their homes than those that bought a few years earlier.
In Canada, we will not be immuned to the price correction when the housing market turn south. It's not unreasonable to expect prices to correct 15% to 20% considering house prices have gone up almost 100% over the past 6 years.
In the hot housing markets in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton. there are not much up-side potential in house prices continuing to increase without a correction. The down-side risk could be devastating for many home buyers who only bought their homes in the recent months.
A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage :
With the Bank of Canada raising interest rates and Canadian Banks offering more attractive saving rates to consumers, investors will be tempted to move their real estate investments to safer savings account and GIC investments.
The Bank of Nova Scotia is advertising a 4.85%* on a 24-month GIC. The offer is only available until August 04. There are minimum deposit of $1,000 required and the GIC is non-redeemable.
ICICI Bank offers a more flexible deal, offering 4.5% on C$ deposits and 5.0% on US$ deposits on the bank’s HiSAVE Savings Account. There is no minimum deposit required and interest is calculated the daily balance and paid monthly!
The Canadian housing market is faced with:
* Rising Interest Rates
* Severe affordability problem
* Rising dollar impacting the manufacturing and resource sectors
* Softening in oil and gas prices
* Increasing new and resale home inventory
* Distinct possibility of US recession
These are negative forces that could topple the unrealistic real estate markets in Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley of BC, Calgary and Edmonton.
What are your thoughts?
A blog posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage :
The U.S. housing market has been on a downward slide for the past 1.5 years. More troubles on sub-prime mortgage problems and foreclosures are being reported every month. Each month, there are more bad news that home builders are slashing prices to unload their inventories. The housing problem in the U.S. as reported by many economists is nowhere near to hitting the bottom yet!
On the contrary, Canada real estate across all the provinces are reported to continue their upward march to new record house prices. House prices are now double what they were 5 years ago!
Why Canada so different from the U.S.? Is there a danger that the real estate prices in Canada will fall like the US?
Many people are wondering whether we are at the top or near the top of the housing market. What are your thoughts? You are welcome to post your comments here.
An article by Vancouver Home Mortgage:
In addition to CMHC 40-year mortgage, Genworth Financial has a similar program for home buyers in Canada. Sky-high house prices are making home ownership less affordable to cash-strapped home buyers. Some economists and housing analysts are arguing that longer amortization is bad for home owners.
The danger in stretching a 25-year mortgage to the CMHC 40-year mortgage is that it will hurt home buyers who in the first place cannot afford to buy their own homes. The program is a two-edged sword. Yes, the lower monthly mortgage payment enable home owners in buying their homes, but it will also likely become a huge financial burden to the home owners. Generally, home ownership under this program will hurt rather than help these home owners.
Here are the reasons and adverse consequences of a CMHC 40-year mortgage:
1) By stretching a 25-year loan to 35 or 40 years, financially weak and cash-strapped home buyers are added to the pool of existing home buyers, causing further house price escalation.
2) A home owner buying a home for example at $342,500 with 10% down payment, has to pay $6,345 (2% mortgage insurance) on a traditional 25 year loan. But, he or she has to pay $8,248.50(2.6% as an extra 0.2% is to be paid for every 5 years over 25 years), $1.903.50 more on the insurance premium required for a 40-year loan.
A web-log posting by Vancouver Home Mortgage...
As reported in Calgary’s Herald on June 23, 2007 CMHC green house incentive to home buyers. This is a good gesture by CMHC encouraging first time home buyers to buy homes meeting energy efficiency standard under the “go green program”. The savings are in the form of 10% discount on the high ratio insurance premiums and waiver of surcharge for extending the 25-year amortization period to 40 years.
In another article on the same day, "Condo living a lifestyle choice for home buyers in Calgary" the newspaper reported that condo living in the city is a preferred lifestyle choice for many new comers to Calgary.
It’s true that for many home owners, condo living is a more suitable choice beside being more affordable. There are also many other advantages of condo living especially in the city centers. In the major city centers like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary, young single and married couples are happy living in condos.
CMHC spring housing market outlook report is bullish on Vancouver's housing market, inspite of the housing slump in the U.S., recent strong run up in the Canadian dollar approaching parity with the US dollar.
The report said, "As a result of strong demand and escalating construction costs, the average price for new single detached homes climbed 16 per cent in 2006. Look for new single family home prices to grow at about half that rate over the next two years". The full CMHC spring housing market outlook report can be viewed here.
This is a tough call to made and expect Vancouver's housing market to remain strong into 2008. No where was it mentioned that Vancouver's house prices is already the "highest" in Canada. Take a look at how Vancouver's prices compared with other cities in Canada as per Brain Ripley's Housing Price Charts.
Based on April's average price for detached home, townhome and condo in Vancouver at $695,000, $430,000 and $360,000, and borrowers applying for 75% financing will have to earn $130,000, $80,000 and $68,000 respectively to qualify for the loans. With the average Greater Vancouver's family income under $70,000, home buyers cannot be approved for 75% financing for townhomes and detached houses.
Housing analysts expect the deteriorating market and the housing slump in the U.S. to continue into 2011. The tightened mortgage lending standards and more pre-owned homes being sold at reduced prices will have a lasting effect in the demand for housing in the U.S.
It was reported in the Financial Post on May 30, 2007 that due to the housing slump, many U.S. new home builders had to cut prices to move their new home inventories. A case in point was a 3150 square feet home put up for sale in February at US$799,000 had it's price reduced to US$749,000, then to US$699,000 and then to US$659,000. It was finally sold at US $649,000.
Another company in Florida was reported to have slashed the selling price of a new four-bedroom townhouse with two and half bathrooms in Naples, Florida from US $449,258 to US $344,169 in a development where about half the units have been sold.
