The city of Calgary voted on February 23^rd, 2009 to introduce a Land Transfer Tax that would force potential home buyers to pay 1% of the purchase price of the property being sold. This would cost the average home buyer over $4000.

 

Thankfully, this was voted down - but only 8 to 7.

 

What the public need to realize, is this kind of tax could and will prevent some home buyers from having...

For those of you who watched the CTV news story on Friday February 13, 2009 - you saw a story about buyer's trying to pull out of pre-purchase contracts as now that they are taking possession of their units, the values have gone down significantly.  Read/Watch

 

A story like this is definitely not a surprise - though when watching the report you need to take a few things into consideration....

I am going to give you an example - perhaps you can relate!

 

A mature couple has a grown child in his early 20's, he is working full time and is unable to save up a down payment for a home as he is renting. Home buying was not on his radar whatsoever - though here is how he was able to buy his first home, fully taking advantage of the very low interest rates and the current buyer’s market.

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