jericho

But interest rates are nowhere near 4.5% right now...

fletcher m

Yes.

FlyingDutchman6666

Do people really believe that these low fairy-tale interest rates will continue? The banks certainly don't seem to: 5-year fixed mortgages are currently around the 4.5% mark.

fletcher m

No. Brief and to the point!

FlyingDutchman6666

It's such a pity that there's no investment vehicle that will make money when house prices go down, and lose when they go up. Or is there...?

fletcher m

Buying repo's to let in canada. A whole batch will be along very soon.......far too much doom and gloom for one night, it must be the rain that has not stopped falling for the past 36 hours.

el_richo

Get used to it

Steve_

You'd be a muppet not to ask for a raise to cover your home heating/electricity/phone bill.

I've had this discussion here in Calgary, because I cannot for the life of me understand the point to the Bow Tower.

There's this municipal plan to increase building density around the LRT stations which to my mind is mad because it assumes everyone will continue to commute downtown. I don't think they will. I think the future is bigger houses with home offices in them.

All of these people talking about the death of the suburbs and McMansions are wrong, at least in the long-term.

And still I cannot get a straight answer out of the CRA about whether if you claim home office expenses (for example, part of your mortgage based on percentage of the area) whether that portion of your home then becomes subject to capital gains tax.

Steve_

I bought a top-of-the-line XBR and it went kaput (literally) after four years.

Steve_

Whenever this subject comes up I mention the immigration laws - skilled worker is tougher now, the number of visas for family reunification went down, the IIP is completely oversubscribed. This year you will see a dip in the number of immigrants granted PR status because of the changes in 2008 and then in 2010.

I doubt that will have much impact in Calgary on property prices but I think in Vancouver it will and probably Toronto.

One of the reasons the property market in the SW US is in such bad shape was because it was being driven in part by immigrants, not just stupid loans.

JonboyE

If the use of your home as a home office (or any other income generating activity) is incidental to its use as a residence then the part that is used as an office is not subject to CGT. See paragraph 32 http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it...tml#P200_51963.

Note that an employee can only claim a part of power and heating and some repairs. A self-employed person can also claim mortgage interest, property tax, and house insurance.

Steve_

But what does that mean exactly? This is the question I can never get an answer to. It's especially tricky if you're using a corporation because the corporate address is a house. "Ancillary" is really vague.

I've seen it in the capital gains tax guide.

Which is another really vague point. The portion of the property. What is that, because does your kitchen count partially as a breakroom? And what about if you happen to work occasionally in the living room using your laptop, or have to fix your car in your garage before going to a meeting?

So how do you divvy up for example your natural gas bill, because if you weren't there, obviously you would be using less gas, but presumably you're heating the whole house rather than just a portion of it so how much of the gas bill can you claim?

I've had it expressed to me on the basis of a business licence as well, i.e. if you are working from home and the locality you're in doesn't consider that to require a business licence, then you're okay in regards to things like CGT, but the requirements for a business licence vary widely from locality to locality.

It is truly vague.

Have a read of this as well: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it514/it514-e.pdf

"Regular and continuous basis" - has to be used exclusively for earning business income - how many home businesses can say that about their office?

And if you're using it exclusively, doesn't that mean it is no longer ancillary?

So that rules out telecommuters almost entirely, but then again, what is a "meeting" exactly, does that mean in person?

And so anyway now you see why the CRA and I are confused...

airbornesapper

You cannot get a home equity line of credit (secured on the property) for more than 80% of the equity you have in the home....based on the bank appraised value, less any outstanding mortgage.

And unsecured line of credit is an entirely different borrowing aspect.

Canada is an vast beast.....and so is the housing market...but some of the comments on this thread are just plain wrong....with regard to Canadian banks...my 2%.