http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/realestate/article/936368–renting-means-a-fit-bank-account

Paul Humeniuk, a 45-year-old personal trainer, sold his condo and moved into a Rosedale apartment and now finds he has enough money to travel and put some aside for retirement.

Renting means a fit bank account

“A year ago I asked myself, ‘do I want to be working non-stop and not taking vacations just to pay a mortgage?’ ” says Paul Humeniuk, thinking back to his past life as a condo owner. “I’m self-employed and I was working so hard that I thought, ‘am I eventually going to make myself sick?’ ”

As a personal trainer, Humeniuk, who is a fit and healthy-looking 45 year old, knew better than to allow stress to make him sick. So one day he had an epiphany. He saw himself without the burden of ownership, a weight lifting off his shoulders like the ones he pumped as a teenager that led to his passion for physical fitness and helping others get in shape.

“My plan was to get back in the market, but with no time frame attached to it,” he says. He looks around his minimally furnished, 830-square-foot one-bedroom apartment on the edge of the Rosedale Ravine, for which he pays a mere $1,225 a month, including parking.

“Then I found this and became spoiled.” Continue reading →

The resale housing market in Canada continues to defy all skeptics.

The average home price reached a record high last month and, with room yet to move, has renewed worries that a major correction looms.

For months, the predicted pullback in real estate has failed to materialize. But the market’s peak might finally be in sight, turning attention to the depth of the downside ahead.

“In the back half of this year, we’ll see the real estate market cool quite materially,” said Derek Holt, vice-president of economics at Scotia Capital.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the average price of a Canadian house rose to $357,000 last month, an increase of 3.9% over the previous month, according to figures released by the Canadian Real Estate Association. On the same basis, sales activity rose 4.5%. Continue reading →

NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park Cheri DiNovo, pictured in 2007 after winning her seat, wonders if there is enough political will to deal with the growing problems surrounding tenants’ rights in Ontario.

As she walks the streets of her riding, Cheri DiNovo wonders if there is enough political will to deal with the growing problems surrounding tenants’ rights in Ontario.

The NDP’s housing critic and MPP of Parkdale-High Park, answers complaint calls from constituents who can’t get various elements of their buildings repaired. She visits the buildings they live in and is shocked by what she sees.

“I was in an eight-storey building where one of the elevators hadn’t worked for months and there were seniors living on the eighth floor,” says DiNovo. “Many don’t know their rights and don’t have the wherewithal to fight their landlords.”

In her riding, there are 10,000 rental units privately held. Continue reading →