Will Capital Gains Tax Affect Your Investment?

Sue Wastell, Special to Postmedia News

As most of us know, the real estate market in Ontario has changed over the last few years with the arrival of more buyers and investors from outside of Canada.

Some of these buyers may split their time between living in Canada and another country or have family living in both Canada and another country, which can result in them being deemed as a non-resident for tax purposes. This status makes them subject to different taxation rules than residents.

If you’re a resident of Canada, you have to pay tax in Canada on your worldwide income — meaning any income earned either inside or outside Canada. Non-residents of Canada, however, are required to pay tax in Canada only on income that is earned from a Canadian source. Employment income, income earned from a business carried out in Canada and capital gains earned on Canadian real estate must be reported on a Canadian tax return and are subject to the payment of tax to the Canadian government.

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Image. Monster Construction.

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Design Key to Functionality.

From Sue Wastell, Special to Postmedia News


Builders invest considerable energy and funds into constructing and furnishing model homes, knowing that home buyers need to be able to see the size of rooms and traffic flow. 

Visualizing a home from a blueprint can be challenging even for experienced builders, let alone for people looking to build their dream home.

A model home with an open concept floor plan will allow you to stand at the stove and the sink, both common standing spots in real life, and see a true picture of how much you will be able to oversee behaviour in the family room — or the line of sight to the TV for your own viewing pleasure while you are busy creating gastronomic masterpieces in the kitchen.

It will also show the pattern of movement required to clean up the table afterward and load the dishwasher and even the path from the dishwasher to the appropriate cabinet.

A colleague recently confided that she missed this last point in a home she had built. She didn’t realize until too late, that the dishwasher was at the wrong end of the island; resulting in her trying to lessen trips back and forth by carrying bigger piles of heavy dishes in each trip. Functionality is truly in the details and models give you the opportunity to test drive a layout!

Model homes are also used to display a variety of finishing and decor options. Where better to see of line of pot lights in the ceiling, or types of flooring and cabinets, shelving and pull-outs, sinks, faucets and showers or countertop and backsplash options etc.

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Image. Yael Engelhart, Architectural Digest.

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Bayside Concept Revealed.

Looking west along Lochiel St., from the Bayside Mall entrance. Zach Neal photo.

Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.

Lochiel Street could stretch to Vidal in a few years’ time if everything goes according to plan for the owners of the Bayside Centre.

Seasons Retirement Communities intends to make a pedestrian walkway through the heart of the current mall, amid an ambitious, more-than-$40-million scheme to overhaul the long-half-empty structure and build a 12-storey retirement complex.

“We’re nowhere near being finalized,” said Seasons CEO Mike Lavallée, updating city council and the community on the latest Monday.

Negotiations are still pending to move the County of Lambton Shared Services Centre – housing, Ontario Works, court services and other county services – to to-be renovated mall space south of where the Lochiel Street extension would run, Lavallée said.

The retirement complex, to be built to the north atop a two-storey parking garage, so building tenants could see above the skyline and to the water, would come after, he said.

There are also plans to improve the ramp and add new lighting to the underground parking garage, and to make it accessible 24/7 with an automated entry and pay system, he said.

“I think if we are successful in our concepts and with our negotiations that we should begin construction in the fall and find ourselves with a completed and completely renovated downtown core by 2022.”

Link to the rest here.

Images. Zach Neal photos and a handout site-rendering from Seasons.

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