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October 29, 2021

Man discovers dead body in newly purchased France apartment

It's a surprise that we hope never happens to us.

The new owner of an apartment walked in to find the hanged body of the previous owner behind the front door when the locksmith opened up his newly purchased property. While it's odd that the body wasn't found earlier, you think the buyer would have visited the property before signing any papers, apparently the body was undisturbed for eight years, according to a local France newspaper.

Thomas Ngin, a security guard, had been fired from his previous job, dealing with court proceedings with his employer in legal court and facing debt issues.

The bank seized his property and sold it at an auction where it was bought for 415,000 euros (about $598,889) in early October. It explains why the owner never saw the property in advance, but he's likely regretting that decision now.

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October 14, 2021

Mark Zuckerberg buys his neighbours' homes for $30 million

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg came up with a unique but pricey way to ensure his privacy: buy out your surrounding neighbours for $30 million.

Thanks to his $19-billion net worth, the Facebook CEO bought four of his neighbours' homes in San Francisco, but it turns out that a mega mansion isn't in the cards. Instead, the 29-year-old will become a landlord and lease the properties to their previous owners, says the San Jose Mercury News.

It turns out that Zuckerberg only started buying the surrounding properties in December 2012, when he heard a developer was hoping to use the Facebook founders status to help sell the property. The last house was sold on October 1, where he paid $14.5 million for a 2,560-square-foot lot or $5,470 per square foot, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Whether you like it or not, the value of your home is affected by your neighbours. If you have a hoarder as a neighbour with an overgrown yard and tons of clutter, it can hurt your home's sale price by five to 10 per cent, President of the Appraisal Institute told Business Insider. This Toronto-couple built themselves a six-foot fence, but let's face it, their home's value will remain lower if their neighbour's junk stays out in the yard.

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September 30, 2021

Man told to demolish $3.3 million dream home

One home owner learned a lesson the hard way. While you can change the decor of your house any way you want, it's a different story when you try to change your home's structure.

A British businessman was told to demolish his two million pounds ($3.3 million) dream home after he made extensive changes. While city council approved him to add 45 per cent more floor space to his home and change a new roof, he went far beyond that.

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September 23, 2021

Most expensive Canadian condo sold for $40 million in Vancouver

It is not surprising that the most expensive condo sale in Canada would happen in Vancouver. A Middle Eastern royal paid a whopping $40 million for a penthouse suite and the unit underneath in the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

It's a record amount with the deluxe penthouse suite selling for $25 million and the other unit putting the total sale over the top, according to the Vancouver Sun. The condo sits in Coal Harbour, an area known for its pricey properties.

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August 14, 2021

Should you love it or list it?

A new home feels so...well, new.

But if you can't afford to move, it just makes sense to do so some home renovation projects to make it more appealing while you're living there and to add to the overall value when it does come time to sell.

According to a new survey by Moen Canada, more than 80 per cent of homeowners have undertaken the completion of at least one home improvement project in the past year.

So it's no surprise that more and more Canadians are choosing to stay put and renovate their existing homes to suit their lifestyles and their pocketbooks.

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July 26, 2021

Hosting a guest in your home may be opening the door to trouble

IStock_000000369764Medium[1]Hosting your home to strangers may be opening a whole new host of problems.

More and more Canadians are participating in home exchanges, hosting guests or even renting out rooms in their homes.

While this may give homeowners an extra little cash in their pockets or even provide an affordable vacation, it may also open the door to unexpected circumstances that are not covered by insurance.

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July 16, 2021

What constitutes full disclosure when selling a house?

Would you want to know if the house you were buying had once had human ashes buried in the back yard? I would, but no one would have to tell me it seems.

Recently, one Toronto couple bought a midtown house with plans to demolish and rebuild it. They were in the process of obtaining permits from the City of Toronto when someone alluded to the house's history.

It turned out that the widow of a previous owner had buried her husband’s ashes in the back yard even though they'd originally been stored in a cemetery vault.

After awhile, the couple found and removed them. But they were worried, since the back yard had been used temporarily as a burial ground for human remains, whether the property was 'stigmatized' -- in other words, whether they would have to fess up to future buyers.

No, they don't, explains Toronto lawyer Bob Aaron.

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July 04, 2021

Rise in interest rates expected in 2014

Buying your first home is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make.

While 31 per cent of first-time homebuyers expect interest rates to stay the same over the next five years, that just may not be the case, according to market projections.

BMO Economics reports that interest rate hikes are expected in the second half of 2014.

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June 26, 2021

Homelessness an issue in Canada

HomelessWe should all be very grateful to have a roof over our heads.

My dad said that to me once, even though it was our car that we were living in.

Believe it or not, 200,000 Canadians experience homelessness every year.

A new report, The State of Homelessness in Canada 2013, found that homelessness costs the Canadian economy over $7 billion annually including the costs of health care, the criminal justice system, social services and the use of emergency shelters.

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June 21, 2021

Real estate is a hot topic for Canadians

1302218_50183007The start of summer is officially here and the conversation quickly turns from the weather to -- well, real estate of course.

Forget hockey. A new national survey revealed that talking about real estate is becoming Canadian's new national pastime.

It is a hot topic, with 84 per cent of Canadians admitting they think about real estate on a regular basis, according to a poll by Zoocasa.

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...