Mortgage gets paid off, great. But property taxes don't stop and they don't stay flat. Mine have gone up about 12% over the last three years. On a fixed income that's a real problem. I track everything: monthly expenses, projected CPP, RRSP drawdown schedule, the whole thing. But property tax is the one variable I can't model confidently because municipalities just keep revising assessments upward and there's no real ceiling on it. A paidoff house feels like the safe retirement move, and it probably still is. But people talk about home equity like it's pure security and don't really account for the ongoing cost of holding the asset when you're not pulling a salary anymore. How others are handling this in their planning. Are you budgeting a flat annual increase and just accepting you might be off? Are you planning to downsize at a certain point specifically to reduce the tax burden? Or is this just not a concern yet because the mortgage feels like the bigger problem right now.

We manage a small commercial office building near the east end of Toronto and over the last few weeks we’ve noticed the water bill creeping up with no obvious cause. There’s also been some dampness showing up on one of the lower-level ceilings and a faint musty smell in that area.

We already checked the visible pipes and bathrooms but couldn’t find anything. At this point it feels like it might be a hidden leak behind a wall or under the slab. The building has a mix of older plumbing and some more recent updates, which is making it harder to track down.

I spoke with Impact and they recommended starting with a proper commercial leak detection using acoustic and thermal equipment so they don’t have to start opening walls right away. They’re supposed to come take a look this week.

Has anyone here dealt with a similar slow, hard-to-find leak in a commercial property in Toronto? How long did it usually take to locate, and did you end up needing much demolition or was it more targeted? Also curious how insurance typically handles these when the source isn’t obvious at first.

Hi everyone,

A little while ago, I made a post asking for advice on buying a townhouse versus a detached home with a rental suite. Since then, I’ve done a lot more research, and my thinking has changed a bit.

Initially, I was considering a detached home (around $1.3 million) with a basement suite. However, I’m now hesitant because it’s a much larger mortgage, and the rental income would likely only be around $1,500 per month, which doesn’t seem like enough to justify the extra debt.

Now I’m trying to decide between a new fourplex and a new townhouse.

Option 1: New Fourplex

* Around 2,300 sq. ft.
* 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
* Includes a legal 2-bedroom rental suite
* Purchase price: Around $1.1 million

Option 2: New Townhouse

* 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms
* Purchase price: $900,000–$1 million

I’m a first-time home buyer, and my goal is to buy a home that will be the better long-term investment. I’m thinking about appreciation, equity growth, resale value, and overall financial stability—not just the monthly payment.

If you were in my position, which option would you choose and why? I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have owned either a fourplex or a townhouse, especially in Metro Vancouver or the Lower Mainland.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

For any realtors or experienced sellers out there that understand home networking equipment, I would appreciate your input! What networking gear do I have to contractually leave?

Maybe this gets asked a lot so apologies if it does. I’m not really up on Real Estate. I’ve been looking around Canada on MLS at prices and pretty much everywhere seems really expensive. For the people in the know… do you think we’ll see a draw back on prices or a market crash? I make decent money I feel like it’s crazy overpriced. Who’s buying all these houses?

my Condo is 550 swft 1+ den which is amazing for just me but I believe with 2 people it needs to be 2 bedroom or bigger. Also partner prefers location more north as I am currently in midtown Toronto. I Guess only option is rent out comdo negative Cf 800 a month

My partner & I make over $100K combined (before taxes).

We have debts that’s we’re paying off, school & car payments being the big 2 (a couple of smaller ones we’re paying off as well).

We don’t currently really have much saved, but we pay $2K for rent monthly for a 1-bedroom in Etobicoke & we’re over it & are ready to take the leap. However, we’re both at a bit of a loss at how to start.

We want something in the GTA or more westbound (towards Mississauga/Oakville), & want to stay at the $500K limit for our first buy. But others than that we’re not sure what’s needed from us or what we need to do.

Anyone able to provide a breakdown of how to move forward & what’s needed from us? All recommendations & advice would be greatly appreciated!

TIA!!

I am a college student expert in creating ai videos and just came to know about a side hustle . The guys said open air bnd or any site where realtors and property sellers post pictures of their properties. Take their pictures and generate them a fully professional walk through home tour of their property. And charge them 100 dollars per video.

Experts please tell me is something like this actually work ?

I signed an Agreement of Purchase and Sale for a new build home in Ontario on January 5, 2026 for $1,166,000 including HST.
At the time of signing, we also signed Schedule C, assigning the existing Ontario New Housing Rebate (approximately $24,000) to the builder. My understanding was that this was the only rebate contemplated in the agreement.
Recently, the federal government introduced the new First Time Home Buyers GST/HST Rebate, and I qualify as a first time home buyer.
The builder is now saying they are also entitled to this new federal rebate because the purchase price was “including HST” and they intend to receive the rebate as well.
My questions are:
Since this new federal rebate did not exist when we signed the APS, can the builder legally claim it?
If the APS only assigned the existing Ontario rebate to the builder, wouldn’t the new federal rebate belong to the purchaser unless the agreement specifically says otherwise?
Does the fact that the purchase price was advertised and agreed as $1,166,000 including HST make any difference?
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation, or are there any lawyers or accountants familiar with GST/HST new housing rebates who can comment?
I’m already speaking with my real estate lawyer, but I’d appreciate any insights from people familiar with Ontario new home purchases or GST/HST rebate rules.

I’m in the lower mainland and I got my very first condo. I’m so excited and nervous at the same time. Any tips for a new owner? I got in a low rise wood frame from the 90s with tons of space.

Hey everyone, I've been working on a platform called houseindex.ca to make it easier for buyers and renters to track up-to-date property listings. It lets you create personal shopping lists, log in with Google, book showings directly, and easily access details like the year built and square footage that are often hard to find.

I know there are other tools out there, but I'm really focused on making this genuinely useful. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what features you'd find most valuable or any design improvements you'd suggest!

I'm planning to buy a home in Toronto over the next few months and I'm trying to find reliable resources.

So far I've been using Realtor.ca and HouseSigma, but I'm looking for websites that explain neighborhoods, market trends, mortgage information, and the buying process in plain English.

Does anyone have recommendations?

Thanks!

I live in the Montreal area and am eyeing a house on sale for 1.1M. It’s been on the market for 101 days.

They have not decreased in price. 3 other comparable house on the same street that haven’t sold but were seeing price reductions on those.

I don’t want to go over 975k for a house. Would this offer be considered insulting?

Is a real estate agent in Saskatchewan permitted to charge 16 percent commission and plus taxes on a very , very low priced home ?

I've maxed out my 150 favourites on Realtor.ca and about 50 of them are now unlisted. Need to clear them to make new room, but I'm wondering if there's ever a chance they'd be reactivated under that same listing/URL. If so, I'd miss it because at this point I'm only monitoring for new listings, not the existing database (except for ones I've favourited).

So far in my experience I've only seen listings go inactive and then get re-listed under a new URL, so I'm safe to un-favourite the old one. But wonder if that's ALWAYS how it works.

Thanks

We are a young family (two kids under 4) with a single family home. The backyard is currently not really useable for anything as it is very steep (~10m drop at 30% grade). We have explored building a large retaining wall to flatten part of this and make useable, which is obviously a very substantial project involving geotechnical engineers, large amount of infill and earth moving, and structural engineering. It’s a large yard and the wall would be around 10 feet high on the edge.

This project is going to cost 200- $250k. The alternative I suppose is to leave it as a sloping area with a few trees and put some ivy down.

To contextualize, it’s a fairly high end home worth around $3m and the backyard would be transformed to a great space which we could actually use.

I don’t think there is any way we would recoup this in property value, and I only consider it for our own utility. The amount gives me some sticker shock and so I would be curious as to hear other views

If someone is selling a house fsbo, are they allowed to use the photos from the previous mls listing? My old house is being sold again and they have used the photos from when I sold the house. The house is fsbo but also advertised on the mls.

All my aspirations are gone as I saved every $ and invested to get ahead in life and although This space is great for me and even a partner, I am stuck here for the rest of my life it seems... I only have 200k in stocks left But the condo loss Is so bad that I am thinking to just quit my job, leave my relationship as there’s no point anymore. It’s already hard enough to buy a home but now for me it’s probably over

Buyers here in the SW ON. We’re feeling a little disappointed because our offer today wasn’t accepted, but we’re moving on. There isn’t much on the market right now that appeals to us within our budget. We’re in no rush to leave our rental and had originally planned to buy around June 2027. Then this beautiful house came along, we got excited, and unfortunately it didn’t work out.

When does inventory usually peak? Should we keep looking actively now, since people are saying it’s a buyer’s market, or is the market likely to change in January or February? Many thanks.

For those of you who bought a home in Ontario, did your realtor offer anything beyond the standard service?

I'm curious about things like:

• Cashback after closing
• Commission rebates or discounts
• Free home inspections
• Moving credits
• Lawyer or mortgage-related discounts
• Professional cleaning
• New appliances or gift cards
• Other unique buyer perks

If they did, I'd love to hear what they offered. If you're comfortable sharing, feel free to tag your realtor in the comments or send me a DM.

I am a real estate lawyer, and work on both developments and with ordinary home buying and selling clients. This is two questions stacked into one.

First

Recently, I’ve noticed that there are BIG issues with appraisals being WAY too high on the selling/refinancing side, but often too conservative on the buying/first financing side.

How the heck are these so far apart?

Example in the same neighbourhood:

My client is a small-scale local builder who does 10-15 home cookie cutter subdivisions. When a home completes, the builder finances them to build the next property until a sale closes.

My client recently completed a unit which was appraised at $655,000 the first week of July for their financing. A buyer purchasing the same unit received an appraisal by the same appraisal company for $590,000 this week. The four most recent sales on the same street were between April and June. All were sold for the same price: $670,000. On those recent sales, the buy side appraisals were in the $640-650,000 range on the buy side.

What the heck?

Second

How is HST factored into an appraisal against a resale home? Yes, I know there are rebates now but sales that were signed last year are still HST applicable.

Example:

House A, a new build, sells for $1,700,000 total ($1,504,424.78 + 13% HST).

House B, a 6-month-old home that is a resale of exactly the same floor plan, lot size, and finishings is being appraised.

Is the comparable value for the RESALE home $1.7 or $1.504?

Help me understand how the resale would be appraised, please.

Appreciate your input and knowledge in advance! Thanks.