Is it the right time to buy a house? Yes. If you have answers + MORE Jul 8th

The home-sharing service Airbnb is pushing back against growing concerns that it’s having a negative impact on rental vacancies in Vancouver.

Housing market is tough to get into—prices are high, but interest rates are low, so how do you know if it’s the right time to buy?
The practical answer has little to do with mortgage rates or housing prices and everything to do with with where you see yourself in five to 10 years. Do you expect to be employed in the same company? Living in the same city? What does your path look like in the next five to 10 years. If you can answer this with some confidence, then you may be ready to buy.
Then you have to look at your budget. Look beyond what you can afford, as mortgage calculators don’t factor in RRSP or RESP or TFSA contributions. MoneySense contributor, Bruce Sellery, walks us through what to consider when considering a property purchase. 
Ask Home Owner columnist Romana King your real estate question »

brightcove…

Q: My dad plans on leaving the family farm to me and my sister. She isn’t great with money, and neither of us are farmers. There is an old farmhouse that needs work and some land, but it doesn’t earn a profit—just enough to pay the taxes and house expenses. In order to keep it in the family, I’d need to take out a $500,000 mortgage to buy my sister out. What are the fair options?
—Karen Tennant, via email

A: Why is it so important to keep this farm in the family? That is the most important question you need to ask your father, says Elaine Froese, a business coach who works with farmers. You don’t have the skills to operate the farm, or the money to finance it, which will place a real burden on your shoulders and an even bigger one on the next generation. You might also have a better use for an inheritance beyond keeping it tied up in the farm. Froese argues that, “a gift is not a gift if they cannot do what they please with it.” So there is no simple answer to your question, and the notion of fairness is subjective…

A number of reports were issued Thursday about Vancouver’s red-hot real estate market. Here are some of the key findings from those reports:
— Airbnb says the average host in Vancouver makes an income of about $6,500 annually by occasionally renting out space in their home and uses at least half of what is made to pay for their rent or mortgage, or to cover the cost of household items like groceries.
— The provincial government says just over 3% of sales between June 10 and June 29 involved foreign buyers, mostly from China. Forty-seven of those transactions occurred within the city of Vancouver while 260 involved properties around Metro Vancouver.
— Sotheby’s International Realty Canada says in the first half of this year, there was a 100% increase in the sale of homes that cost more than $4 million in Vancouver, as 439 properties in that price range changed hands.
— Canada’s largest credit union warned that young workers who have long since abandoned hope of owning a home in the Vancouver area are now being priced out of the city’s rental market…

It looks like it’s going to get harder (and/or more expensive) to get approved for a mortgage—if you’re not a strong borrower, that is. The nation’s banking regulator (OSFI) put banks on notice today that it’s stepping up policing of their underwriting practices. Here’s OSFI’s official letter. “Risks associated with mortgage lending practices are, in general, adequately managed by Canadian financial institutions,” OSFI’s Annik Faucher told CMT. “…However we have identified areas that require close attention by mortgage lenders, and at the same time, increased scrutiny by OSFI. As noted in the letter released today, OSFI will continue its scrutiny in the areas of READ MORE