Credit Score

 DAY 2: CHECK YOUR CREDIT

If you plan to buy a house in the next year, checking your credit score is something you should consider doing now. Credit plays a huge role in qualifying for a mortgage. As a homebuyer, your credit score will positively or negatively affect your loan options, interest rates, mortgage terms, and how much house you can afford. Even if you aren't looking to purchase a home anytime soon, annually checking your credit score is a good financial habit to build. Doing so will allow you to:

1. Regularly dispute any errors to your credit bureau.

2. Build and maintain good credit by consistently assessing your current credit position.

3. Stop identity theft and credit card fraud early on.

4. Manage your finances and…

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Getting your finances in order

Now is the perfect time to review your finances and set yourself up for financial success in 2023. Each Wednesday for the next 3 weeks, I will be sharing a tip or task to help you reevaluate your budget, assess your spending habits and expenses, review how you manage your money, and set new goals to build a better financial future.

To kick off our "3 Days To Getting Your Finances In Order For 2023" Challenge, let's start with day 1!

DAY 1: SET A SAVINGS GOAL 

We all know that saving money is important, yet very few of us put money into our monthly savings accounts. If saving money has been a challenge for you in the past, here is my suggestion. Make a realistic savings goal for 2023. Your savings goal needs to be specific, measurable,…

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Edmonton

Moving to a new city is a big deal, and deciding where to pick can be tricky. A Redditor asked Edmontonians that chose the city over Calgary for their reasons why and people didn't hold back.

The Reddit post asked people to share why they preferred Edmonton over Calgary as a person that had visited both cities didn't see much of a difference.

"Calgary downtown is nicer, but otherwise, both cities are very similar," the post said. "I feel more at home in Edmonton because it’s not trying to be Toronto."

People on Reddit were pretty vocal about their decision to move to Alberta's capital, Edmonton, over Calgary, and the debate got heated.

For many people, moving to Edmonton over Calgary was mainly a financial decision as housing in the city…

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Canadian Housing Market 2023

On Thursday, December 15, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released its national housing statistics for the month of November. Below, CREA’s Senior Economist Shaun Cathcart provides an update on the current state of housing markets in Canada and explains what the data means for REALTORS®:

Just as one car does not make a parade (at least not a very good one), one month of data does not make a trend. To wit, it looks like that little sales increase we saw in October was something of a head fake, because activity started trending back down again in November.

Sales in November were down 3.3% on a month-over-month basis, rejoining the trend of moderating sales that began back in February.

The Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index…

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 Home Inspection

Usually, a home inspection is done after an offer is made to buy a home. The offer will typically include a condition that the property must pass such an inspection. The buyer then hires the inspector, who goes through the home, top to bottom, inside and out, looking for issues.

You can also get an inspection done as the seller. In this case, you are paying for an inspector to produce a report on your home — before you sell. This is often called a pre-sale home inspection.

 Why would you do this?

A pre-sale home inspection can make your property more attractive to buyers. This is especially helpful if you’ re selling in a buyer’s market, where there are more homes like yours for sale than buyers. The report serves as an enticing feature of…

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