selling property

Mom Kept a Life Estate, Now the House Has to Sell — Who Actually Decides in Ontario?

It is a common move: parents deed the family home to their adult children but reserve a life estate, so the parent stays a life tenant and the children become remaindermen. Years later the house needs to sell — and suddenly neither side can decide alone. This piece walks through both layers: why the two interests have to merge and everyone has to sign to deliver a clean fee simple, and what happens when someone refuses — Ontario's still-in-force Settled Estates Act, which lets a qualifying party ask the Superior Court to approve a sale. Broker Arthur Zhao also explains why this is not co-ownership and why the Partition Act is the wrong tool.

Adjusted Cost Base & Capital Improvements: How Good Records Cut Your Tax When You Sell a Rental or Cottage

A Canadian guide to Adjusted Cost Base (ACB) and capital improvements on a rental or cottage: what ACB is, capital improvement vs current expense and CRA's tests, how a higher ACB lowers your capital gain, the capital gains inclusion rate confirmed at 50% for 2026 (the 2/3 proposal was cancelled March 2025), the CCA recapture trap, and keeping receipts for ownership + 6 years. Source: CRA (2026).

Selling an Inherited Property in Ontario: Probate, Estate Administration Tax, and the Deemed Disposition

A complete guide to selling an inherited home in Ontario: probate and the Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, the $15-per-$1,000 Estate Administration Tax, the deemed disposition at death and the stepped-up cost basis, the principal residence exemption, the timeline, and the trustee's steps to list and sell. Sources: Ontario, CRA.

Do You Really Pay No Tax When You Sell Your Home? The Principal Residence Exemption, Reporting Rule & Flipping Rule Explained

Is selling your home tax-free? According to the CRA, the Principal Residence Exemption (PRE) can fully or partly exempt the gain — but since 2016 you must report the sale at tax time (Schedule 3 + T2091) even when it's fully exempt, and late reporting carries a penalty. The 2023 Residential Property Flipping rule taxes homes held under 365 days as business income with no PRE. Here's the formula, the reporting rule, change-in-use and flipping.

Exclusive Listing vs. MLS: Two Ways to Expose Your Home for Sale

When selling, what's the difference between an exclusive listing and an MLS listing? An exclusive listing is signed with one brokerage and isn't posted to MLS or Realtor.ca, so exposure is limited; an MLS listing publishes the home to MLS and Realtor.ca, where every cooperating brokerage can bring buyers, maximizing exposure. Here's the trade-off and when each fits.

Does Your Realtor Really Know the Neighbourhood? 5 Ways to Tell

You can tell a realtor truly knows a neighbourhood not by whether they say "I've worked this area for years," but by whether they can answer specific, data-backed questions across five concrete dimensions: recent comparable sales (comps), school catchments and rankings, zoning and the development pi

How to Read (and Sanity-Check) a CMA Your Agent Gives You

Learn how a Comparative Market Analysis works, how comparables are chosen, what adjustments mean, and how to spot a CMA that has been cherry-picked. Includes the key differences between a CMA, a formal appraisal, and your MPAC assessment.

Selling an Inherited Home in Ontario: Probate, Taxes, and the Full Process

Inherited a parent's house and want to sell? Here's how it works in Ontario — probate, how the Estate Administration Tax is calculated, capital gains on inherited property, and the disputes that come up among multiple heirs.