3 Real Estate Panel Takeaways

Last week S-Drive hosted an intimate real estate panel featuring experts in every field of the home buying process, from realtors to lawyers to mortgage professionals. The panel  - featuring Toronto real estate agent and author Brian Persaud, Canadian mortgage rates website founder Alyssa Richard, real estate lawyer Garry Shapiro, and Akshay Seghal And Sundeep Bahl of the Bahl real estate team – generated a lively discussion spanning from first-time home buyer considerations to real estate investing.

Here are three of the biggest takeaways from the panel discussion.

With the increased popularity of For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sites as well as real estate listing search engines, the importance of a realtor has come into question. The panel addressed this ‘realtor-free’ trend and made a convincing argument for the prevalence of good realtors. Good realtors do a lot of research and have built extensive experience in specific types of properties and neighbourhoods. This means they know the market value of the property you are trying to buy or sell. For instance, there may be a significant difference between the asking price and the ‘real’ bottom line price of a listing to which you would not be privy to without a realtor. This also calls into question your ability and authority to negotiate, which is likely not up to snuff with the skilled agent who may be representing your opposing party.

First-time home buyer freebies and credits as well as details of the RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) were outlined by Mr. Shapiro and Ms. Richard. Land transfer tax rebates for first-time home buyers are normally processed by your lawyer, but most panel attendees and even some panelists were unaware of the first-time home buyer tax credit. The tax credit, processed in the year you purchase your first property, is essentially a line on your tax return that returns you $750.

Details of the HBP were also reviewed. The HBP allows you to withdraw up to $25,000 from your RRSP tax-free for your first home purchase. Normally, any contribution that you make to an RRSP is tax deductible at the time, but if you try to withdraw these funds before retirement, you must repay the tax credits. With the HBP, not only can you withdraw the funds tax-free for your first down payment, but when you make contributions to your RRSP prior to this, you can re-invest your tax savings every year to reach your down payment faster.

To learn more about these credits and rebates, you can visit RateHub.ca’s first-time home buyer education center.

Finally, the pressing issue of the Toronto real estate market was discussed. Many questions were raised in relation to speculation surrounding a possible property bubble, condo over-supply, and general affordability. It was acknowledged that there were less and less cash flow positive condo investments to be found throughout the city and with pre-construction projects priced above resale, the market is highly speculative. On the other hand, some condos were identified as still being good investments with Mr. Persaud even suggesting young professionals look to surrounding cities like Hamilton for less expensive properties better suited to investors with less cash. Most attendees, however, were more interested in securing a first home purchase and ensuring it was a good time to enter the market over renting.

It was clear that S-Drive young professionals are excited about getting in the real estate market. Hopefully the panel served to motivate attendees to take that next step towards homeownership.

S-drive would like to thank the panelists for their time and sharing their expertise, and to especially thank the Bahl team for sponsoring the event! We can look forward to continuing the discussion at our next event in the real estate series.