Whether you are celebrating or simply taking some time off, we wish you a very happy holiday season.

Most parents work hard to protect and help their children as they grow, and continue to do so when their children become adults. One aspect of helping is often assisting their children in buying a home, often through co-signing a mortgage. Acting as a co-signer or...

Many people are now aware of the new tax that applies to non-resident buyers looking to purchase property in Ontario. However, there still seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to non-resident sellers. If you are not a resident of Canada and you are selling a...

Being an executor is hard work. It’s a thankless job that most people take on because they love the person who left them in charge. That being said, it’s still important to do the job right, and there can be some fairly serious consequences if you don’t. Here are some...

I thought these were dead, but then I saw one on a deal the other day. A Seller Property Information Sheet is a form designed to give buyers additional information about the house. It asks sellers to list any known defects, pending work orders or tax increases,...

When Sylvia Plath died, her executor was her ex-husband’s sister. This sister was, effectively, given full authority to determine Ms. Plath’s writing legacy. Ms. Plath likely listed her as her executor at a time when she was still married; we may never know if she...

With estates, and assets, becoming increasingly complicated, it is not uncommon for it to take some time to distribute assets out to beneficiaries. Sometimes, this can take several months; sometimes, several years. If your inheritance is sitting in a bank account for...

A few weeks ago, I mentioned title insurance as a common cost on a purchase. What is title insurance? Basically, title insurance protects against things you have no control over. The big one is fraud; if someone impersonates you and puts a fake mortgage on your house,...

We hope that you have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Tax time is around the corner. In honour of that, I thought I would write about something tax-related. In Canada, when you sell real estate, you have to pay capital gains tax on a portion of the money you earned on it; the only exemption is for your principal...