The Government of Canada has renewed the popular ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. From June 6, 2011, until March 31, 2012, homeowners are eligible to receive grants of up to $5,000 to make their homes more energy-efficient. Homeowners who participated in the program to date have saved 20 percent on their energy bills.

There are two important changes to the program. First, there is a requirement for participants to register directly with the program before booking their evaluation. Second, homeowners will now be required to provide receipts to their energy advisor at the time of the post-retrofit evaluation to confirm eligibility for the grant.

How to apply

The first step in the renewed ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program is to register:

If you or the previous owners have not obtained an energy evaluation of the property between April 1, 2007 and June 5, 2011, click on the following link to register:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/retrofit-register/register.cfm

For homeowners who participated in the program between April 1, 2007 and June 5, 2011, and who did not receive the maximum amount of $5,000, you can submit another application for improvements purchased and installed on or after June 6, 2011 by clicking on the link below:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/register.cfm

If you plan to apply for multiple properties, a form must be completed for each one.

If you are not sure which form to complete, follow the instructions on the registration page.

Only products purchased on or after June 6, 2011, and installed after a pre-retrofit evaluation are eligible for an ecoENERGY grant. Funds are limited and all energy retrofits and post-retrofit evaluations must be completed by March 31, 2012. The homeowner must also sign the grant application by this date.

Steps to apply for the grant

1. Registration: First, register with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and receive a registration number. If you do not have Internet access, you can call 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232).
2. Pre-retrofit evaluation: Hire a local service organization licensed by NRCan. They will send a certified energy advisor to perform a pre-retrofit energy evaluation from the attic to the foundation. If the property has already been evaluated under this program since April 2007, a new pre-retrofit evaluation is not required.
3. Retrofit with receipts: Choose, purchase and install eligible measures described in this document, and keep your receipts for three years. The more upgrades you implement, the more money you can receive, and the more energy you can save.
4. Post-retrofit evaluation: Complete your renovations and obtain a post-retrofit evaluation no later than March 31, 2012. You must show all your receipts to your energy advisor during the final evaluation to verify that you purchased and installed eligible upgrades after June 6, 2011, and after a pre-retrofit evaluation.

Most homeowners receive a grant cheque from the Government of Canada within 90 days of their post-retrofit evaluation.

You could take advantage of this great program to stay warm this winter by investing, for example, in your attic insulation. It is a relatively easy project, which will bring comfort to your budget for many years. An insulated attic will reduce the energy amount required to keep your home warm by preventing warm air leakage caused by air currents and breaches. For a 2-storey house, this could translate into savings that can reach up to 28% of your heating and air conditioning bills.

You may also choose to limit your holiday shopping to one only gift this cold season by investing in a home renovation project that will benefit the entire family. By transforming your basement into an additional living space, for example, you don’t only create an extra room, but you also offer your family a place to spend time together.

In short, use these grants to treat yourself to a cozy nest this winter while saving the rest of the year on your energy bills.

Useful links (right column):

To learn more about the type of renovations that are eligible under theecoEnergy Retrofit – Homes program, please click on the following link:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/pdf/ecoENERGY-grant-table-20110606b.pdf

To find a local service organization licensed by Natural Resources Canada that will send one of its energy advisors to your home for an assessment prior to the home improvements, please enter the first three digits of your postal code on the following web page:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/residential/personal/new-home-improvement/contact-advisors.cfm?attr=4

When pondering whether to make such a large investment, it is normal to have certain doubts and fears. Is it the right time? Can I afford to finally become a homeowner? How much would monthly mortgage payments be?  What is the difference between the monthly cost of a property mortgage as opposed to the current rent that I am paying my landlord?  How much can I afford to invest?  ? To help you, a mortgage calculator found on this website, can calculate what your borrowing capacity may be while taking into account, taxes, services, and other amounts that you would not normally pay as a tenant.

• Do you have a down payment? Your mortgage broker can explain the latest rules regarding the percentage of the purchase that you can finance. Generally, a minimum down payment of 5% is required. Does it come from your savings, a gift, or cash back on your mortgage? If you have already contributed to an RRSP, you could withdraw money – tax free – and use as a down payment with a HOP (Home ownership plan).

• Is your credit score good? Your credit score will determine whether your mortgage application will be accepted or refused.

• Have you allocated ample funds to deal with closing costs such as moving costs, legal fees, and land transfer tax (welcome tax)? You will however be happy to know that an amount of up to $ 750 could be reimbursed to you through a federal tax credit.

Finally, according to an Ipsos-Reid poll published in 2010, 91% of Canadians believe that home ownership is a good investment. More Canadians expect to purchase a home within the next two years than did in the two years previous..  Owning a home may not be for everyone, but the fact remains: More and more Canadians look forward to owning their little piece of paradise.

Headlines in the Montreal Gazette shouted “Montreal home prices climb”,

while the national trend actually indicated the contrary.

There has been a country wide decline in home prices to the tune of 4.1%,

yet in Montreal we have witnessed an increase of 3.2%. Can it be that Montreal has managed to escape the effects of this wonderful recession the rest of the country seems to be experiencing? Is Montreal recovering quicker than the rest of the country, not to mention our neighbours to the south, or are we the poster kids for PT Barnum who has been erroneously credited with saying “there is a sucker born every minute”.

The facts are that PT Barnum never said it, and Montreal is still mired in a recession which has blanketed the entire country.

At first glance the fact that properties have risen in price is an amazing feat, considering the state of our economy, but there is another side to this equation. Although it is true that the prices of homes sold in Montreal have gone up, the fact of the matter is that the total of properties sold has declined. As you can see there are many ways to look at statistics, for example, if I were to say that 20% of all car accidents are caused by drunk drivers, you could say that conversely 80% of all accidents are caused by sober drivers. Without looking at the other side of the equation you would automatically deduce that you are safer to drive while inebriated.

Getting back on topic, why has Montreal seen a rise in home prices? Possible answers could be that Montreal’s market was previously under valuated, or the rise in property taxes brought home prices along for the ride, because our informed buyers check out the city evaluations prior to any purchase. I prefer to think that our vendors and their over priced homes have proven that there is indeed a sucker born every minute.

As a mortgage broker, a phenomenon that I have been experiencing lately, has to do with the amount of people that are approaching me to help refinance their mortgage, or to procure a second mortgage and in many cases regardless of the source of these loans. Refinancing in mid term even with an “A lender” incurs major costs in penalties. Banks will charge between 3 and 6 months interest in penalties, should you decide to break your mortgage contract. Some individuals are willing to seek out the aid of a private lender who will charge upwards of 14% on a second mortgage, not including setup and application fees that would add an additional 2-5% on top of the already high rate.

Common sense would dictate that you step back and look at your financial situation with an unprejudiced eye. You need to determine whether you are better off to pay exorbitant interest rates which you most likely can’t afford to pay, (If you could afford it, you would not be in this situation in the first place) or cut your losses and sell your house now before the debt buries you, and you have to settle for a greatly reduced price out of desperation.

I am not trying to preach doom and gloom. On the contrary I want you to wake up and realize that you could live just as well, and in many cases better, in a smaller property, or even a rental. When your financial situation improves you can once again consider a bigger and better house. Life is too short to put material possessions above the needs of your family.

What has caused this drastic change? In the case of the banks, there are several institutions that were hurt by losses in the sub prime market, which in itself could cause them to tighten their purse strings. We won’t even mention the markets dropping, causing people’s portfolios to shrink by 20 – 30 % or the investment scandals that have rocked our world recently.

The above mentioned catastrophes were horrible but let’s be honest with ourselves, the average Joe was not affected by these events, particularly not in Canada. In Canada the banks when it came to handing out mortgages were infinitely more prudent than their U.S counterparts and did not use the presence of a pulse, as a primary requisite for the procurement of said loans. In fact how many average individuals do we know who have lost fortunes in the stock market? I would venture to say that there weren’t many. As the old joke goes, when a person was asked, if they were to find $1,000,000.00 on the street would they return it to its owner, and their response was, yes if it belonged to a poor person. The fact is that the average Joe does not have a great fortune to lose, and the wealthy individual, should he lose 20-30% of his $100,000,000.00 portfolio will still have what to live on.

What has really caused this apprehension in the economy? Why are we holding onto our money, not willing to spend it and thus causing the entire structure of our economy to collapse. Everything snowballs and if we don’t spend our money, the stores won’t be able to sustain themselves, and so it goes on and on. There is an old expression that goes, “Ignorance is bliss” but today, thanks to all the media, such as radio, television, newspapers, and of course the new frontier the internet, there are no more secrets, hence no more bliss. The medias are forecasting doom and gloom and with the proliferation of information we are creating a self fulfilling prophecy.

The governments have tried to lower interest rates with an end to stimulate the economy but the fear is not enabling us to open our wallets. We can liken this to the fable of the wind and the sun making a wager as to who can remove the traveler’s coat. The wind blew as hard as it could in an effort to blow the coat off, but it only intensified the man’s resolve to hold onto his coat even tighter. The sun eventually came out, and its warmth caused the traveler to remove his coat. We don’t need fear mongering coupled with the lowering of interest rates to stimulate the economy. We need the ray of sunshine and upbeat reports to cause us to remove our hands from our pockets.

In our economy we have two opposing views of the market place, the vendor and the purchaser. In the housing market you have the purchaser who eyes the situation and thinks to himself, “Great, the interest rates are going down and the sales of houses have slumped, now is the time to get a bargain”. The vendor on the other hand looks around him and says “Wow there aren’t that many houses for sale on the market, and interest rates have gone down, so I can probably ask a higher price for my house and get it”
We need everyone to meet at a common ground and realize that today it’s up to us to stimulate the economy and not some artificial external force.