Thinking of buying a new home? You may not be alone in your thoughts.

According to the BMO Housing Confidence Report, nearly half of Canadian homeowners intend to buy a property in the next five years signalling a high level of confidence in the housing market.

Despite reports of a cooling down in market, in our eastern Ontario neighbourhood 'For Sale' signs are popping up everywhere. The houses are only staying on the market a few weeks -- if that.

It seems that everyone on our street is catching the moving bug after witnessing their next-door-neighbours packing up and heading for larger homes in desirable neighbourhoods.

When it comes to buying a new home, the majority of Canadians are sold on safe neighburhoods.

There's a lot to consider when looking for a new home besides the price and the features it has to offer.

In fact, a safe neighbourhood is the big sell for homebuyers, according to a survey by BMO Bank of Montreal.

How do you know you've found the right home? Well, it's love at first sight of course.

According to a new report by BMO Bank of Montreal, 80 per cent of prospective homebuyers are sold on a home when they first set eyes on it.

The Psychology of House Hunting report, conducted by Pollara, also found that while 80 per cent know right off the bat that it's the perfect home for them, another 68 per cent say they are willing to settle for a home that's less than perfect.

Smoking is not only bad for your health but it's also bad for your house.

According to a new survey, smoking in your home can lower it's resale value.

In fact, it can lower the property value by up to 29 per cent. And, based on an average Canadian house price of $378,532, that's a loss of over $109,000.

Is there an ideal price tag attached to the dream of home ownership?

Well, first-time homebuyers in Canada think so. In fact, they are zooming in on the $300,000 price range when looking for a new house.

And, they plan on putting down about 16 per cent ($48,000), according to a new BMO First-Time Home Buyer's Report.

While rising tuition costs grab the headlines, the bulk of the cost for sending kids off to university is actually four or five years of food and lodging.

At the University of Toronto, residence fees vary and increase every year; throw in a meal plan and an approximate average is $10,000 per year.

Instead of forking over even more cash to the university or nearby landlords, some enterprising parents prefer to buy a nearby property for their children to live in during their university years.

That's what one Kleinburg couple did the year before their oldest daughter started her second year of studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. 

"Over all, it was a very profitable experience,” they told the Globe and Mail. "We had enough rental income coming in to offset the monthly costs of the house, and at the same time we were building equity."

It seems that some cash strapped families are listing their spare rooms on rental websites like Airbnb.com or 9flats.com, which help you to rent a room in your home for short periods to make some extra cash.

Lost privacy and the possibility of choosing a noisy or messy tenant mean that taking in boarders isn't likely to be everyone's first choice. But taking in students, overnight travellers, or airline employees looking for a "crash pad" can work, particularly if you've had kids of your own.

Be careful though. As soon as you rent out part of your home, you've changed the use of that part from your primary residence to a rental property, the folks at Turbo Tax advise.

Accordingly, during the time that you own and rent out space in your home, you'll need to claim that rental income on your tax return. You'll also have to let your insurance company know that things have changed a bit.

You can claim proportional expenses — such as taxes, insurance, minor repairs and maintenance and interest expenses — incurred to earn that rental income though.

All of us carry sets of numbers in our heads that, without us realizing it, can weigh down our decisions.

One of the more common behavioral mistakes we make when it comes to investment decisions is the tendency to anchor to a certain value or price, says Carl Richards, author of The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money.

You pay $500,000 for your home, and a few years later you need to sell it. Well, you're damned sure you're going to get at least what you paid for it. Ok.

The 2012 MPAC Assessment is currently in the mail and Ontario property owners who own cottages, ski chalets and vacation homes need to be on the look out, warns Mara Sofferin, VP at CottageCountry, a popular Canadian online vacation rental site.  

With some 17,000 vacation properties available, the site is one Canada's largest source for cottage and vacation rentals, a key source of income for many vacation property owners, particularly those feeling a bit cash-strapped.

In such cases, rental revenue can help cover costs like mortgage, maintenance and increased property tax payments, or simply be a source of supplemental income.

"When the assessment arrives, likely so will the news of much higher annual property taxes, adding another expense to the already costly endeavor of owning a vacation property," she maintains. 

What's your property worth? Well, according to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp., likely a bit more than you think.

Ontario property owners can expect to start seeing MPAC assessment notices in the mail any day now, as 2013 marks the beginning of another four-year property assessment cycle.

If your home’s value has increased since the last assessment in 2008, that jump will be phased in equally over four years. If it's dropped in value, the change will be recognized immediately, however.

You can check your assessment here, at www.aboutmyproperty.ca. and compare the value of your  property to others in their neighbourhood and community.

Don't like what you see? Well, let MPAC know.