Sham Pathania www.greatgtahomes.com

The Budget presented by the provincial government on March 26, 2009 announced that the Province will be moving ahead with harmonizing the GST and PST, scheduled to take effect on July 10, 2010. Combing these taxes into a single Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) could have implications for home buyers, including:

· adding significant tax to services such as moving costs, legal fees, home inspection fees, mortgage insurance premiums, title insurance, and REALTOR® commissions; and,

· adding significant tax to the purchase price of newly constructed homes priced over $400,000.

HST - New Homes

· Newly constructed homes under $400,000 would not be subject to an additional tax burden.

· A proportional rebate will be available for buyers of new homes valued between $400,000 and $500,000.

HST - Resale Homes

· HST would not be applied on the purchase price of resale homes

• However, this Budget makes no exemption for services associated with resale home transactions. Under the proposed sales tax harmonization, costs such as legal fees, real estate commissions and home inspection fees will be subject to the harmonized sales tax at a rate of 13 per cent

Sham Pathania,Realtor, Serving Brampton, Mississauga, Toronto and surrounding area.

My Website: www.greatgtahomes.com

It was good to be part of observing one our without light. I just spent my time with my family at home

It was observed all over the world.

Earth Hour is an international event organized by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), and held on the last Saturday of March each year, which asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. Earth hour was conceived by WWF Greenwich CT and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights.^[1] Following Sydney's lead, many other cities around the world.

The provincial government has introduced legislation, Bill 150, the Green Energy Act, which, if passed, would require mandatory home energy audits prior to the sale of a home. This legislation has not yet been passed and is not yet in effect.

Under the proposed Green Energy Act, home owners would be required to provide information regarding the home's energy efficiency prior to the sale or lease of the property. Energy efficiency information about the property would have to be determined and provided by standardized methods established by the provincial government. The Province has not yet provided information on these details. The legislation, if passed, would allow the provincial government to prescribe:

· what energy efficiency information has to be provided and in what manner;

· the cost of home energy efficiency audits;

· the types of residences that these requirements would apply to; and,

• under what circumstances and at what times these requirements would be effective.

My Website: http://greatgtahomes.com/blog

The top three renovations you can do to your home with the highest rate of return are:

1. Bathrooms (75 - 100% return)
2. Kitchens (75 - 100% return)
3. Interior and exterior painting (50 - 100% return)

Other top renovations with a high rate of return are:

• Replacing roof shingles (50 - 80%)
• Replacing the furnace and heating system (50 - 80%)
• Renovating the basement (50 - 75%)
• Adding a recreation room (50 - 75%)
• Installing a fire place (50 - 75%)
• Up-grading floors (50 - 75%)
• Building a garage (50 - 75%)
• Replacing windows and doors (50 - 75%)
• Building a deck (50 - 75%)
• Installing central air conditioning (25 - 75%)

Click here if you want to avail Tax credit benifits offered by government.

Visit: www.greatgtahomes.com

Call me first, if you are thinking of sellin or buying a Real Estate property.

All statistics courtesy: Appraisal Institute of Canada's

Owning a home is an important goal for most Canadian families, and a valuable investment in their future financial security. For newcomers to the country, it's also an important step in becoming established here.

But with home prices typically several times higher than a person's annual salary, few people have the cash to purchase a home outright. To buy your home, you'll probably need a mortgage - a long-term loan that uses the home itself as security.

According to government statistics, 34% of all Canadian families currently have a mortgage (Statistics Canada December 2006) and almost all first-time home buyers will need a mortgage to make their purchase.

From where to start? To know more about mortgage and financing first time buyers can conact me.

To know more mortageg terms please visit: http://www.greatgtahomes.com/mortgageterms