Sandy Stinson

The Cowichan Valley is a great place to invest!

Pat Duringer — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:55:00 GMT

International buyers are coming in droves from China, South Korea, India and Iran to name a few and they are bringing wealth. Low interest rates, strong immigration and our clean water and air make our area an enviable place to live.

As these people congregate in Vancouver it is also allowing many retirees to come to the Island and live the small town country lifestyle. They now have the opportunity to sell their $800,000 dollar home and come here and buy into the $400,000 market and pay off their mortgage or put some money in the bank to live comfortably.

For International buyers there are few restrictions on non-residents purchasing Canadian Real Estate. Financing is available for up to 75% of the purchase price of the property and some lenders will offer the best discounted rates to non-resident purchasers. Mortgages in Canada generally have a twenty-five year amortization period and most institutions will guarantee an interest rate for terms ranging from six months to ten years with the interest rate generally increasing the longer the term.

The financing must be done in Canada and the following is a list of the general documentation that the banks will require:

1. Bankers reference letter from your current financial institution

2. Confirmation via a three month history of bank statements

3. A personal net worth statement

3. A completed application which a mortgage broker can assist you with (see my list of Friends to find a good broker)

4. 25% down payment as well as 1.5% of the purchase price is a rule of thumb on closing costs which include Legal fees, Property Purchase Tax (BC) is 1% on the first hundred thousand and 2% on the balance Bank appraisal and insurance of the property, GST may be applicable if the property is being sold by or as a business and on new homes.

5. A Canadian bank account from which to deduct the mortgage payments. To open a Canadian Bank account you must be in the Country.

6. Lenders typically want the property to be purchased for investment purposes with the rental income covering the mortgage payment and the taxes..

7. Also please keep in mind that if you rent the property the rent monies you receive will be suject to a federal withholding tax (income tax) on the gross income. Or yhou can elect to file a Canadian Tax Return to report only the rental income earned in Canada, in which case your taxes are based on the net income from the property.

8. Seek independent legal advice, laws change and certainly tax laws change all the time.

I hope this has been helpful

Sandy

Seeds for Change Conference in Duncan, BC

Pat Duringer — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:32:00 GMT

I just returned from the Seeds for Change conference in Duncan, hosted by the Cowichan Green Community. It was well attendeded and the food was as fresh and green as you could imagine. Just Lovely. The focus was on liveable solutions for sustainable communities a vision that is embracing the valley more every day, taking on primarily the form of reducing waste, treading lightly in the first place and supporting the community by buying locally. Although I refuse at this point to give up my lemons and coffee, conference's like this one remind me to try and live by the Hundred Mile Diet as much as possible, we are so blessed here in the Valley to have a mediterrainian climate that is so condusive to growing, just a little glass goes a long way towards growing almost anything. We where honored to listen to Don Genova speak about his personal experience and this was the talk that I went home with that settled in my mind and spirit. Don is a extremelly well educated, well respected foodie who has a story that sings a familiar tune. He grew up with immigrant parents who grew all their own food, and fed their family the most wholesome fresh fare possible. When he left home and began his university years he became a self professed junk food junkie, fast foods prevailed. It took a few years but then he got Crohnes Disease, not a nice thing to cope with, after going to a multitude of doctors and trying various medications Don decided that perhaps food might be at the core of his problem. He changed his diet and viola', his health improved, just to be sure he tested it again and again, every time he indulged in a little too much fast food he became sick.

Needless to say Dan is now a flag flying 'Slow Food' proponent.

For some reason Vancouver Island has always drawn the kind of people who embrace this attidude, a slower living philosophy in general is the feeling that everyone says is predominate on the Island and especially here in the Valley. Many artists are drawn here most likely for similar reasons, art can not be rushed, good food can not be rushed (unless of course you are eating it raw!) and most Island Folk can not be rushed either. If you would like to adopt this way of life please give me a call to get on my Private Client Service, an automated system that will send you all the new listings before they hit the mls.ca, it will save you looking through everything and give you a bit of a head start. Happy to show you our beautiful Valley.

All the Best

Sandy