Understand the numbers before you decide.

Buying a home

• Buying a home in Canada, step by step: a checklist
  The steps to buying a home in Canada, from your budget and down payment to preapproval, closing costs of 1.5% to 4%, the offer, and closing day, with a calculator for each step.
• First-time home buyer programs in Canada: FHSA, Home Buyers’ Plan, tax credit and GST rebate
  The four federal programs for first-time buyers: the FHSA, the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan up to $60,000, the $10,000 home buyers’ amount and the GST rebate on new homes up to $1.5 million.
• Buying a condo: the status certificate in Ontario and Form B in BC
  What a condo status certificate (Ontario) or strata Form B information certificate (BC) contains, how fast the corporation must provide it, what it can charge, and what to look for before you firm up.
• Buying a home as a newcomer to Canada: credit, down payment and the rules for non-Canadians
  What newcomers need to know before buying a home in Canada: building a credit history, the down payment and insurance, the federal ban on non-Canadian buyers and provincial foreign buyer taxes.
• Buying pre-construction in Ontario: deposits, the 10-day cooling-off period and assignment sales
  How deposits on a new home are protected in Ontario, the 10-day cooling-off period on new condos, and how GST/HST and income tax apply when you assign a pre-construction purchase.
• Buying or selling a Canadian home as a non-resident: the 2027 ban expiry and the taxes
  The federal ban on non-Canadian home buyers ends January 1, 2027 unless extended. What still applies: Ontario’s 25% and Toronto’s 10% speculation taxes, BC’s 20% tax and vacancy tax, Nova Scotia’s 10%, and the CRA withholding when a non-resident sells.
• Condo reserve funds and special assessments: Ontario, BC, Quebec and Alberta
  How condo reserve funds work in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta: the reserve fund study and how often it is renewed, minimum contributions, how special assessments are approved, who pays when a unit sells, and what to check before you buy.

Selling a home

• Selling a home in Canada, step by step: costs, price and tax
  The steps to selling a home in Canada: the costs (commission typically 2% to 6%, legal fees, discharge and penalties), setting the price, conditional offers, documents and tax.

Mortgage

• The mortgage stress test, explained
  Why lenders test your mortgage at a higher rate than the one you sign for, how the qualifying rate is chosen, and what the calculator assumes.
• Fixed or variable mortgage: how to compare them
  How fixed and variable mortgage rates work in Canada, what each means for your payment, and how the penalty and stress test differ between them.
• Open or closed mortgage: how prepayment works
  What an open and a closed mortgage allow you to prepay, how prepayment privileges limit a closed mortgage, and what it costs to go past them.
• Mortgage term vs amortization: what each one means
  The difference between a mortgage term and an amortization period, how a longer amortization lowers the payment but raises total interest, and the maximum amortization rules.
• CMHC mortgage insurance: when it applies and what it costs
  When a down payment below 20% needs mortgage insurance in Canada, how the premium rate depends on the loan-to-value ratio, and what changes with a 25-year or longer amortization.
• What it costs to break a mortgage in Canada
  How prepayment penalties are usually calculated for variable and fixed-rate mortgages, and what to ask your lender before you sell or refinance.
• Renewing your mortgage: the renewal statement, switching lenders and the stress test
  What your lender must send before your term ends, what happens if you do nothing, how to negotiate or switch lenders, and when a switch skips the stress test.
• Mortgage preapproval: what it gives you and what lenders ask for
  What a mortgage preapproval is in Canada, how long the rate is held (60 to 130 days), the documents lenders ask for, and why it is not a final approval.
• Struggling with mortgage payments? Relief options in Canada and what they cost
  The mortgage relief options lenders can offer in Canada: longer amortization, skipped or deferred payments, blend-and-extend, switching to fixed, and what each one costs over time.

Savings

• GICs in Canada: how they work and when CDIC covers them
  What a guaranteed investment certificate is, how the term and rate work, and how CDIC deposit insurance applies to a GIC.
• TFSA basics: contribution room, withdrawals and over-contributions
  How a tax-free savings account works in Canada: the yearly limits since 2009, when room starts, why a withdrawal only comes back next January, and the 1% tax on an excess.
• RRSP basics: the deduction limit, withdrawals and the Home Buyers’ Plan
  How an RRSP works in Canada: the 18% deduction limit, the $2,000 over-contribution allowance, tax withheld on withdrawals, and borrowing from it to buy a first home.

Owning and renovating

• Home renovation tax credits: accessibility and multigenerational homes
  Two federal credits for renovating a home in Canada: the home accessibility tax credit on up to $20,000 a year, and the refundable multigenerational credit on up to $50,000 for a secondary unit.
• Property assessments: how to question yours in Ontario and BC
  How property assessments set your property tax, and the steps and deadlines to question an assessment with MPAC in Ontario or BC Assessment in British Columbia.
• Vacant home taxes in Canada: Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, BC and more
  Which Canadian cities and provinces tax empty homes, the 2026 rates, who must declare and by when, the usual exemptions, and the end of the federal Underused Housing Tax for 2025 on.
• Real estate fraud in Canada: title, foreclosure and mortgage fraud
  How title fraud, foreclosure fraud and mortgage application fraud work in Canada, how to protect your home, and who to contact if it happens to you.
• Home insurance basics in Canada: what a buyer needs before closing
  The types of home, condo and tenant insurance in Canada, replacement cost versus market value, water and flood coverage, condo deductibles in Ontario, BC and Quebec, what your lender requires on closing day, how fast premiums are rising, and how to complain.
• Home energy rebates in Canada for 2026 and 2027: heat pumps, insulation and windows
  Which home energy rebates are still open: the new federal heat pump rebate for installs from November 1, 2026, Ontario’s Home Renovation Savings Program, Quebec’s LogisVert and Rénoclimat, BC, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Alberta, and the programs that have closed.

Renting

• Rental deposits by province: how much, interest and when it comes back
  The deposit a landlord may take in each Canadian province, the interest owed on it in 2026, and the deadline to return it after the tenancy ends.
• Ending or breaking a lease in Ontario and BC, and Ontario’s 2026 tenancy changes
  How much notice a tenant must give in Ontario and British Columbia, what happens if you break a fixed-term lease, assigning a lease, and the Landlord and Tenant Board changes from September 21, 2026.
• Renters’ rights by province: 2026 rent increase limits, notices, repairs and entry
  A province-by-province table of 2026 rent increase limits, the notice a landlord must give to raise the rent, move in or end a tenancy for unpaid rent, and to enter your unit, plus how to get repairs done and why you should not withhold rent.

Debt

• Credit card basics: the grace period, minimum payments and interest
  How credit card interest works in Canada: the 21-day grace period, why cash advances cost more, the minimum payment rules including Quebec’s 5%, and what paying only the minimum costs.

Property transfer tax

• Ontario land transfer tax: how it is calculated
  How Ontario land transfer tax brackets work, what the first-time buyer rebate covers, and how Toronto’s municipal tax adds to the total.
• British Columbia property transfer tax: how it is calculated
  How BC property transfer tax brackets work for residential property, a worked $500,000 example, and the extra tax on residential value above $3,000,000.
• Manitoba land transfer tax: how it is calculated
  The Manitoba land transfer tax brackets from 0% to 2%, a worked $250,000 example, and the 2027 changes the province has announced.
• Montréal and Québec transfer duties: how they are calculated
  How Québec transfer duties (droits de mutation) are calculated in Montréal, a worked $700,000 example, and why rates above $500,000 vary by municipality.