OSFI will now put Stress Test to All Buyers

The government (OSFI: Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions) has decided to extend the " Stress Test" to include buyers with more than 20% down, as of January 1, 2018. What does this really mean? A small example would be that if today you qualified for a $600,000 mortgage plus your downpayment, after January 1st you would qualify for about $500,000 plus your downpayment. So if you are thinking of buying a bigger home, now is the time to do it. If you are thinking of selling your larger home and downsizing, run, now is the time to do it and you barely qualify for an area that you want to live in, run because you won't qualify after January 1, 2018. Call me for me if you have any questions or if I can help you achieve your real estate goals.

http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/Eng/osfi-bsif/med/Pages/B20_dft_nr.aspx

No need to Disclose

Recently it has been enlightened by the province that: Sellers & their representing Realtors, MUST disclose material latent defects affecting the property. But are NOT OBLIGATED to disclose STIGMAS for example: murders, suicides, grow-ops etc. So buyers must request further clarification if these stigmas are issues. As I always tell my clients, make sure that house FEELS right.

As per the Real Estate Council of Ontario:  

It is important for registrants to know that while sellers are required by law to disclose material latent defects affecting a property that are known to them (an obligation which also exists for the seller’s representative if the material latent defect is also known by the representative), there is no legislation or case law in Ontario to suggest that a seller, or his or her representative, is required to disclose the existence of stigmas to buyers