F.A.Q. : Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit – How Do You Qualify?

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business, economy, Real Estate

Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit

As a senior 65 years or older in Ontario, you could qualify for a tax credit to help with the cost of making your home safer and more accessible. For more information about the Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit, call:

• 1-866-ONT-TAXS (668-8297)
• 1-800-263-7776 for teletypewriter

About the credit

The Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit is a permanent, refundable personal income tax credit for seniors and family members who live with them. If you qualify, you can claim up to $10,000 worth of eligible home improvements on your tax return. The amount of money you get back for these expenses is calculated as 15 per cent of the eligible expenses you claim. For example, if you spend and then claim $10,000 worth of eligible expenses, you could get $1,500 back.

The Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit can help with the costs of improving safety and accessibility in your home. Explore the interactive house below for examples of changes you could make.

Do I qualify?

To qualify for the credit, you need to be:

• 65 years old or older by the end of the year for which you are claiming the credit; or
• living with a family member who is a senior

Your income doesn’t matter — seniors and their family members at all income levels are eligible.

Family members

If you are living with a senior relative in your home, you could qualify for a total tax credit of up to $1,500 every year, regardless of income.

Calculating my credit

Use this online calculator to see how much money you could get back

How do I get the credit?

You have to claim your total expenses on your personal income tax return. To do this, you will have to complete Schedule ON(S12) of your tax return and put the amount you spent on eligible renovations next to box 6311 on form ON479.

For the 2012 tax year: you can claim expenses related to work billed for between October 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012.

For tax years 2013 and after: each year, you can claim expenses related to work billed for in that year.

Learn more about how to file your income tax return

Maximum claim

You can claim up to $10,000 worth of eligible expenses per year.

Receipts

Save your receipts for any modifications you make. You will not have to submit them with your tax return. But you will have to keep them in case the Canada Revenue Agency asks you to verify your expenses.

Eligible renovation expenses

Not all renovation work qualifies for this tax credit. Before you start any improvements, check to see that the work qualifies so you can claim the expense.

Examples of work that qualifies:

• Non-slip flooring in the bathroom
• Installing a hand-held shower
• Door locks that are easy to operate

See what other expenses would be eligible

Examples of work that does not qualify:

Renovations or repairs that simply improve the value of a home or are recurring repairs don’t qualify, such as:

• Plumbing or electrical work
• Repairs to a roof
• Installing new windows

See what other expenses would not be eligible

Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit Brochure (PDF)

• About the credit
• Do I qualify?
• Family members
• Calculating my credit
• How do I get the credit?
• Maximum claim
• Receipts
• Eligible renovation expenses

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FAQs

What expenses qualify for the Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit?

What expenses do not qualify for the Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit?

What if I do the work myself, does it qualify?

Why are only seniors eligible for this tax credit?

How do I claim the credit for an elderly relative living with me?

What if I sell my house and buy a new one, and renovate both in the same year. Do both of these sets of expenses qualify?

Article is made available here from: http://www.ontario.ca/taxes-and-benefits/healthy-homes-renovation-tax-credit , in the best interest of public.

What is the Toronto Land Transfer Tax?

Simply put, the Toronto Land Transfer Tax is a tax on the dream of home ownership. It’s paid every time people like you purchase a home in Toronto, and it’s not small. The average home buyer in Toronto faces about $15,000 in land transfer taxes, which has to be paid in full before moving into their new home.

Land Transfer Tax Calculator

Why does it matter?

Because, together, we are building a great City, and it’s important, for all of us, that we get this right. The Toronto Land Transfer Tax is no way to build a great City, and here’s why:
It Makes Toronto Less Fair

In any given year, only about five percent of Torontonians move. These are average people, who move for different reasons: a young family with a baby on the way may need more space; aging seniors may need to change their lifestyle; a family break-up. The list goes on. It is unfair, and wrong, to expect these people to shoulder so much more burden in taxes than the other 95 percent of Torontonians, for no additional services.
It Makes Our City Services Less Reliable

Torontonians value their municipal services. To maintain those services, we need reliable and predictable funding. The Toronto Land Transfer Tax is far from reliable or predictable. The revenue it generates goes up AND down with the state of the real estate market. What will we do if real estate markets suddenly cool and Land Transfer Tax revenue drops sharply and quickly? If we want our City’s services to be truly reliable, we should end our reliance on this unpredictable tax.
It Makes Our City Less Competitive

Over the years, Toronto has succeeded largely because people want to live here. In fact, about half of all immigrants arriving in Canada choose to live in the Toronto region. Once they settle on the Toronto region, however, the choice between municipalities becomes less clear, and the Toronto Land Transfer Tax doesn’t help our City’s chances. That’s because Toronto is the ONLY City in the entire country, let alone the Greater Toronto Area, to have two land transfer taxes: the Toronto Land Transfer Tax, AND the provincial Land Transfer Tax. Choosing to live outside of Toronto means paying only once, instead of twice. Clearly, this puts our City at a competitive disadvantage for its most important resource: people.
It Risks OUR Economic Vibrancy

When people buy and sell homes, they create jobs for people. They hire movers. They have their new home painted. They renovate. They buy new furniture and appliances. The list goes on. In fact, studies have shown that about 40,000 Toronto jobs rely directly on this type of economic activity. By discouraging people from moving, the Toronto Land Transfer Tax threatens these jobs.
It Makes Our City Less Affordable

Toronto should be a City for everyone. Anyone who wants to live here should be able to. The Toronto Land Transfer Tax makes that more difficult. Even average middle-class people struggle with this tax, which adds about $6,000 to the cost of an average home in Toronto, and about $15,000 to the cost of an average detached home in Toronto. That’s money that has to be paid in full, upfront, before moving in. That’s not easy, or realistic, for many average people.
It Makes Our Government Less Accountable

As taxpayers, we all expect our hard-earned tax dollars to be spent wisely by City Hall. The Toronto Land Transfer Tax reduces City Hall’s accountability to taxpayers because it is hidden in housing transaction closing costs. It’s important, for our City’s finances, that City Council carefully considers their tax and spending decisions, and the best way to make that happen is for taxes to be out in the open so that all taxpayers know what City Council is doing.
It Makes Our City Less Green and Less Livable

We are all tired of the traffic congestion that plagues Toronto and the entire region. Not only does it affect our quality of life, but the pollution generated by automobiles is bad for our health and our environment. Reducing the amount and length of commuting between work and home is a key part of solving this problem. That means helping people to live close to their jobs. The Toronto Land Transfer Tax does the opposite by creating an incentive to live outside of the City, farther from Toronto jobs, where home buyers don’t have to pay a municipal land transfer tax.

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Instant price estimates for property. Is it impossible or possible?

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cma, comparative market analysis, Instant price estimates for property. Is it impossible or possible?, Market Evaluation, property

Instant price estimates for property. Is it impossible or possible?

 There are some online appraisal websites where if you click on the tab and enter an address it will ask a few questions and give you a value estimate. You are required re-read the cautions about the service as it does have some limitations. That being said, I have played with the tool, and it is not too scary as thought but if it is accurate? !!!

Some REALTORS do over the phone evaluations. And they claim to be exactly and precisely right. Although I will do them in certain areas that I am highly familiar with I always recommend allowing a proper market evaluation as some things you may not mention to the REALTOR may alter the value either up or down, and ultimately not seeing the property does not allow us to give you the best Market Value Evaluation. If you would like an instant price estimate look in your mail for a local & Licensed REALTOR who advertises over the phone market evaluations and call them. I however caution you that you would do yourself far better service to contact a reputable Licensed REALTOR and invite them to your home. Good Luck and have a great day.

I’ve been in the business for a time and never do estimates from my desk or home office. Sorry, I’m not Magician and a house can be from zero to a hero, I mean unpredictable on unseen. In essence, I do not offer “no service kind of service”. There is none in the world who can guess what your house is like, how much you have spent in upgrades over the home ownership period in comparison to your neighbour who still has green shag carpets from 1969 and war torn hardwood from dog nails etc. When you pay nothing, you generally get nothing. I will not sign an estimate if I do not have all the facts considered and reviewed personally.

If you do want a quick and very rough estimate of the value of your home, I would look to your assessed value for property tax purposes, the report you get every year from MPAC report. It will likely give you an idea if your property is worth $300,000 or $3 million. But if you want more insight then call a reputable realtor for a proper comparative market analysis (CMA). This analysis CMA will give you a better idea what your property would actually sell for in the current market conditions.

Many factors come into play for CMA – what is the overall real estate market like, what is the market like for your specific property, what condition is your property in and how does your property compare to similar homes currently listed right now, so it is called comparables. For example, if your neighbor with a fairly similar property accepts a low ball offer because he already bought the new home and he is anxious to sell this old one that is unfortunately going to affect the market value of your property. Most importantly this estimate is likely to be a range rather than a single number, like the estimate of price could be “from $410k to $430k”. Some properties are difficult to put an accurate price on and the sales price obtained could be within a large range. Other properties are in an area with many similar properties that have sold recently and are a little easier to put a price on within a fairly tight range agreeable to seller.

I spend a considerable amount of time on each comparative market evaluation that I do and I think my clients would agree that I provide useful information that would be difficult to obtain automatically or instantly. I think in this situation the phrase “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right” is so true. I always research properties on-line and off-line before I actually visit the property to do a market evaluation. It is getting easier to find information online but there really is no substitute for seeing a property, its setting and comparable properties in person.

Hopefully the ‘instant’ Market Evaluation that you seek will not be used to determine the price to list your home. You can probably get one or two evaluations at no expense to you anyway from your local real estate brokerages. It may not be instant, but it will be customized for your unique home and not just made up ones & instead of based on last year’s statistics for all homes in the city.

I am sure you will agree with the personal talk we had thru this article, if you like to have your property evaluated you can contact me directly on cell and arrange appointment or contact me online to set an appointment of your property.

Email: vg_remax(AT)yahoo.ca , Direct: 647.267.6338, web: www.vijaygandhi.com

Experienced and Savvy Investors Buy in December to March Winter Months

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Investors Buy in December to March Winter Months

Experienced and Savvy Investors Buy in December to March Winter Months

Why do a Large Number of Experienced and Savvy Investors Buy in December to March Winter Months?

For a few personal reasons, some people have no time limit (expiration of apartment lease, etc.)and so they really wait until they find something they love to do before purchasing like marrying, which can come at any time, including the snowy winter months as well.

Also, if a property has not sold over the busier season (spring and summer), owners as well as realtors tend to drop the asking price a little to attract more investors to the property. So sometimes, you can get a better deal on a property in the winter months as opposed to the months where the most investors are searching the housing market. Investors think that there is a possibility of better deal to be had….but, many times it is not so….you need right investor agent who can navigate thru this surfing and searching.
There is one good reason is that there are fewer sales and fewer investors in these months so some investors see that as a great time to get a deal. Some houses do not show up in the realtor search as it is in the batches on system for group of years like under 5yrs, under 10 years & so on, so those comes up as soon as the new year starts, also the possible search criteria also changed altogether.

If a seller has placed a conditional offer on a new home and theirs is still not sold by the winter, you may also have an easier time negotiating as they have deadlines to sell their home, so the Investor have an opportunity.

Each selling and purchasing decision is based on a variety of different motives. It’s often case by case and so does just like credit ratings its all depends on individuals.

Don’t be fooled though, some of the statistics I have seen have shown that December is also a good time to sell, and recent years you can verify mls.ca stats, winter months are not bad producing months as well, Because fewer inventories on the market mean less competition, and if investor is in need and do not want to wait despite realtor try to wait for new match property comes up in market. Sometimes good houses do not sell because the competition is fierce and even though they may be priced and war of price so hot, to-gather competitively, they fail to sell because if excess inventory levels. Over major portion of the houses listed in GTA last year in December sold. This made it the number: one month to sell if you want to have an edge on the market inventory if you think and plan properly and willing to take risk with good experience agent and with lots of ice over the head.

Some of my clients save up and buy this time of year. Most investors do not want to be bothered over the Christmas season but investors know that offers at this time of year are scarce at best. This is the time of year when those of us agents that represent investor investors are the busiest. Feel free to contact me if you wish to explore the investor market, there are a lot of great deals out there right now that my clients are snapping up! Would you like to wait or go depends on your choice.

Another good reason is that in winter months only serious sellers remain in the market just like serious investors and price the property accordingly well to sell and ready to make a deal before spring market competition starts. Negotiations take place well when both parties are motivated. An experienced Realtor can get you a great deal in winter.

Always hire the proper agent: www.vijaygandhi.com and save you a lot…

Scarborough RT to close between 2015 and 2019 | Scarborough TTC riders will be stuck with buses for 4 yrs.

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rapid transit, Scarborough RT, SRT, stc, TTC

Scarborough RT to close between 2015 and 2019 | Scarborough TTC riders will be stuck with buses for 4 yrs.

TTC ridership in parts of Scarborough is expected to plummet after the 2015 Pan American Games as the obsolete rapid-transit line is shut down for four years of construction, warns general manager Gary Webster.

Dozens of extra buses will be added to the route between Kennedy Station and Scarborough Town Centre while the updated light rail system is built, but Webster thinks people are likely to return to their cars until the LRT opens in 2019.

“We’re going to drive people away from transit, there’s no question,” he said, noting that a parallel bus service that’s operated for years alongside the SRT has never been embraced by riders.

Meanwhile, Webster said the full length of the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT won’t be done until 2022, although Metrolinx maintains it can be finished by 2020 and is considering a public-private partnership to speed things up.

To any constituents who are angry they’ll be stuck with buses during that time, local Councillor Chin Lee says: Be careful what you vote for.

Lee said he had an understanding with former TTC chair Adam Giambrone that the planned Sheppard LRT should be complete before the SRT — which is on its last legs — was torn down.

“He agreed with me on that,” said Lee. “Unfortunately, the subway advocates were a very vocal group and the mayor listened to them.”

The Transit City plan, which included a Sheppard LRT linking with the SRT at its northern end, was cancelled in favour of the mayor’s subway vision. And the Eglinton light rail plan, connecting seamlessly at the southern end, was moved underground, which takes significantly longer to build.

“Just be careful what you ask for and think of all the implications, not only just the short term,” Lee said.

As he finished speaking to reporters, the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, said: “I totally disagree with those comments, 100 per cent,” before returning to the budget committee meeting.

The SRT, with its cars resembling a mini subway train, opened in 1985 to much fanfare. Today, it moves up to 5,000 riders an hour at peak periods.

The TTC will put between 20 and 30 extra buses on the road to accommodate the closure, but it’s likely to take significantly longer to get from point A to point B on a bus.

Left-wing Councillor Gord Perks said the mayor has let down the people who elected him. “Scarborough voted for a transportation plan that was supposed to get them more. Now they’re finding out they’re going to get dramatically less,” he said.

source: http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/local/article/1043474–srt-to-close-between-2015-and-2019

comment
gtarealtyagent |6:23 PM | Dec 07, 2011

@ STC lots of condo get built as the commuter get way out from there to DT toronto, can you imagine…………no SRT means to them?, please discuss… Alert a moderator

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Do i need a permit to build a fence ? How to Build a Fence DIY

Do i need a permit to build a fence ?

You don’t require a permit to build a fence unless it is for a swimming pool enclosure. Be aware, however, that some restrictions do apply so contact your local buildings office before you build or view the fence bylaw online. To help resolve any disputes between property owners, the City of Toronto has established an impartial arbitration process under the Provincial Line Fences Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter L.17. You can find more information or download an application for fence viewers on the City’s Line Fence web page. Infractions of the fence bylaw can be reported to Investigation Services, Municipal Licensing & Standards.
This is to provides standards regarding the location, type and height of fences. Noted below are some examples:

• Back yard fence – cannot be more than 6 feet 6 inches in height
• Front yard fence – cannot be more than 4 feet high but the first 8 feet must be no higher than 39 inches if the material is opaque
• Pool fences – you must have a fence around a pool to prevent entry to the area where the pool is located

If you see a fence that you think is in violation of the standards, contact your City’s District Office and an Officer will investigate the complaint.

Fence Viewers, appointed by City Council under the provincial Fence Viewers Act. A Fence Viewer can be hired (an information sheet is available from the City Clerk) by a property owner if there is a dispute over a fence erected on a property line.

Building an Alternate-Board Fence

Source: http://www.toronto.ca/faq/licences_permits.htm#fence