Cannabis Legalization and Your Home Category: First Time Buyer, Real Estate Agent, On Wednesday, October 17, Canada will legalize marijuana—becoming the second country in the world to do so. This has a host of implications for countless industries. For Canadian homeowners, it means they will be able to grow up to 4 plants per residence for personal use. But that could have its pitfalls. That’s because lenders currently HATE if a property has been used for growth of cannabis. If there is a property that has been a “grow-op” for even ONE plant, it may become blacklisted and the property becomes very difficult to mortgage. Lenders are also required to tell CMHC and the insurance companies. However, with the impending legalization, I think there are going to be some homeowners (and renters) who will take advantage of the legality of growing their own pot. So far, all lenders and insurers have come out to say that they are still against grow-ops and they have not, and are not looking to, change their policies. So, what does this mean? It’s best to not grow any cannabis yet. We’re far too early in the game to know what the effects of future financing will be and I would wait for several months before lenders change their policies.Landlords should be extra vigilant and remind their tenants not to grow cannabis! The law (Bill 30) states that any lease entered into before October 17, 2018 ALREADY prohibits growth of cannabis in a home. If someone enters into a lease AFTER October 17, 2018, the lease has to specifically state that the tenant cannot grow cannabis. Here’s a good rundown from a lawyer I saw online and from LandlordBC. If you have any questions regarding the above article or would like to speak to one of Vancouver’s top mortgage brokers, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Continue Reading: Read Article Vancouver's Duplex Rules and a New Mayor Category: First Time Buyer,Real Estate Agent, In a move to increase Vancouver’s supply of housing, City Council recently approved a new zoning policy that permits duplexes in 99% of single-family neighbourhoods. That adds up to about 67,300 of the 68,000 lots in Vancouver – or, 57% of its land mass. The policy change came after two days of public hearings in […] Read Article Read Article Insured, Insurable, and Uninsurable Mortgages Category: Renew Refinance, Mortgage Interest Rate Tiers Since we know that lenders can back-end insure our mortgages (please read our Mortgage Insurance Market and Wholesale Lenders article first), and that this specifically makes these mortgage investments more attractive to investors, what does it mean for borrowers (every day people like you and me)? To recap, any mortgage that […] Read Article