Real Estate Blog - expenses

What It Means to Be House Poor – and How to Avoid It

Posted by Infinity Admin on September 27th, 2022

You’ve got your mortgage pre-approval, and you’re shopping the market for your perfect home. If you find one that’s priced too close to your limit, you run the risk of being house poor. Let’s look at what it is, what you can do to avoid it, and what to do if you are already house poor.

The Costs of Owning a Home

When you begin the process of looking for a home, you may think that the amount in your pre-approval letter and the house sale price are the only things that matter, but that’s not the case. There are several other costs associated with buying and maintaining a home that people often overlook:

Utilities – Your home needs water, electricity, and natural gas to run. You may also require utilities like internet and possibly city services…

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Property Taxes: What to Expect

Posted by Infinity Admin on July 23rd, 2022

In Canada, everyone has an opinion about property taxes. Whether city dwellers or rural folk, each side will argue that the other is not paying enough in property taxes, making for a heated and spirited discussion about levies on the residence you worked hard to purchase.

That said, aside from discussions over what the property tax rate should be, this is an important subject since many prospective homebuyers do not consider their annual tax bill as part of their ongoing expenses, whether they own a condominium or a single-family home, which could hurt their wallets in the future.

Planning for annual property tax payments is just as important as researching the rate on your mortgage or determining what your closing costs…

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Updates to the Work-from-Home Tax Credits for 2022

Posted by Infinity Admin on April 4th, 2022

As many Canadians continued to work from home in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, this year’s tax season might be more complicated than usual. In some provinces, public health guidelines mandated all employees set up offices in their homes, and in others, the company you worked for determined who could do so. 

To compensate for the home office expenses they incurred, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced a new temporary flat rate method for the 2020 tax year, but some things have changed for 2021. It’s important to know what you can and cannot claim if you worked from home last year. Here are some guidelines for turning your pandemic work-from-home experience into a tax deduction on this year’s tax return.

What’s changed for…

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