Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for October 30th, 2008

Than the day I bought it about nine years ago, which is not a bad investment. I base this all on the wacky assessment notice that I got from MPAC . I don’t actually believe the evaluation as a real value that I would get if I sold my house (without taking into consideration all of the associated costs with selling a house), however it is an interesting number to start with. 

The actual evaluation will not be implemented right away, it will be gradually raised until 2012 when this value will be in place, which is more interesting, since if the housing market in Ottawa remains robust, my house may be worth even more by then? Maybe not, but it is something else to consider in this wacky equation.

Does this mean I will be paying more property taxes? Given that my evaluation has gone up about 11% from the evaluation I had in 2005, I think my property taxes will not go up that much in reference to this evaluation, however, my guess is other charges from the City of Ottawa will increase my property taxes by a fair amount this coming year. My first property tax bill arrives some time in January.

Percentage of Home Ownership

If I am to assume that this evaluation is relatively close to what the market will pay for my house, it does change how much (as a percentage) of my house that I own. Figuring out how much I still owe on my property, I actually own about 60% of my house currently, which is a reassuring feeling, however, it’s not like I can jettison 40% of the house and thus be out of debt. 

The other problem is, all other houses around me are appreciating in value as well, so the value of my house as an investment is not that great, in that it is unlikely I will move out of it and into a much cheaper house in the near future.

Gas Below 90 cents a Liter

Speaking of wacky, in Ottawa gas dropped below 90 cents a liter for a little while, which is very interesting. The Canadian Dollar has swing like a pendulum, but now with lower gas prices, suddenly traveling becomes much cheaper than it was going to be six months ago. Will gas prices stay down? Don’t know, but it’s nice to see for now, as it makes running my cars (and snow blower) much cheaper right now.

Stocks Still Dropping

The world continues to be jittery about stocks and they continue to drop in value for now. Rate cuts continue in most countries trying to stimulate spending, but a lot of folks are just worried and are going to keep their money in their wallets for now, until they are sure their jobs are safe.

More Job Cuts

Rumor has it that my former employer will soon be adding to the employment pool, by laying off another 18% of their work force (I have heard, this is unsubstantiated rumor), which will make looking for jobs in Ottawa that much harder. Not all the job losses will be in Ottawa, but their continues to be a steady flow out.