Facts. :thumbs:

School me on the goodness of property tax deferral, why? I just read the paragraph on the BC gov't website and not seeing the benefit/value. If you do this, gov't put a lien on you and if you do any renos, you have to what ... get their permission? Sounds like a HUGE PIA.

From website:

The Tax Deferment program is a loans program available to eligible B.C. homeowners. It allows you to defer your current year property taxes.

When you’re approved for the property tax deferment program, the Ministry of Finance pays your property taxes on your behalf after the tax due date and places a restrictive lien on your property. This means you’re limited in the types of changes you can make to your property title while you’re in the tax deferment program. Ensure you complete any necessary changes to your property title before you submit your application.

Simple interest is charged on the deferred tax amount starting from the date your property taxes are due or the date you applied to defer, whichever is later. Find out how interest is applied to your tax deferment loan.

P.S. good morning bcrdukes

You do it if you’re poor. Yes it’s a huge pain in the ass but broke ass geezers / cheap ass geezers do it all the time.

:okay:

It's just a relatively low cost way to punt on taxes into the future - typical boomer stuff. I don't know when it started but I imagine it was designed for low income folks and now I bet a tonne of people use it (seniors). Think of it like a small reverse mortgage.

I thought interest was 1% but it's currently 3.45% so cheap but not THAT cheap.

The restrictions caused by the lien are pretty minor (and expected) - if you sell or change the title then you need to pay it back. (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/t...-title-changes)

Back of napkin if I were to start doing this when I hit 55 and do it till 85 (average avg) I'm looking at punting off $350-500k so my kid can take the hit when she inherits the house. That's no small chunk of change to defer (or have to pay back later). I would hope people who do this plan this out properly (like leave their successors with some money to pay it off).

It’s a dirt cheap loan, most people are just losers who defer and do nothing with the money. If you’re deferring you should just pump the entire amount back into investments and you’ll undoubtedly come out ahead year over year, it’s a no brainer for anyone with the slightest financial discipline.

You also can't heloc if you defer so it basically fucks you over cuz of the lien.

The program was designed for low income folks who don't have the funds to otherwise pay property taxes without selling their homes (they don't have a way to get access to other forms of equity). The other type of people who use this program are retired seniors who are withdrawing money from their investments and don't want to pay it till the house is sold.

How are these people losers? It's a dirt cheap loan against an asset that's worth way more than the loan - why wouldn't anyone take it?

Low income/high net worth? lol

How many people who defer could easily pay the taxes? You’re the one upset about it. I’m sure the vast majority of people who use it are just riding the benefits of deferment as opposed to actually NEEDING the money. It’s just the city getting the interest as opposed to a home equity loan/reverse mortgage broker

Me not liking the program doesn't mean I don't think people shouldn't take advantage of the program if it's available to them (I will probably use it).

You're dodging the question though - what makes people who use this program losers?

Who cares what people think, I'm probably going to do it when I turn 55.

Once I'm dead I won't give a shit even if I do have beneficiaries in the will, my estate can deal with it. Gov't can come pry out their fucking cash from my cold dead hands.

In the mean time, hoooooeeees and blooooooww.....

u really need to tlak to financial planner to do this. It's a lot of work which i dont' wnat to do so ...

Pretty simple, if you’ve got a multi million dollar home and legitimately can’t afford the taxes, you’re a loser.

My cousin was in town for a summer vacation (he lives overseas), and he didn't know his dad was doing this. I'm pretty tight with his family so I know their financial situation pretty well.

He got a little choked that his parents are doing this, but I told him that he'll be inheriting a $2M+ asset in the future so paying $300k in back taxes isn't a big deal. Besides, he'll have to split the house with his brother and neither of them would be able to buy each other out, so they would have to sell and split the profits anyway.

My uncle is literally a factory worker and the wife is a typical asian house wife, so not having to pay $8k in property taxes does help them with daily expenses. These loans are simple interest too, so this is the best loan terms you'll get, so you might as well do it.

My cousin doesn't even have the best relationship with his parents, but feels pretty entitled to their $2m house. I get it, we didn't get that western love that every asian wanted growing up, but our parents busted their ass and put food on the table, that's all they knew. Buddy comes home twice a year and just goes out with his friends, I haven't seen their will, but hopefully it's split evenly between him and his younger brother or he's going to go irate lol.

They should do him a real solid and re-mortgage to the casino.

Houses inflating to 2+ million dollars was part of the engineered collapse of Canada.

People like HondaRacer KNOW it is coming... Canada is NOT going to pull out of this decline.

While many of us on RevScene are either rich or have rich families to rely on... most Canadians do not.

Boomers were paid off to completely sell out... and I think on the road to 2030 we're going to see more signs that Canada is in a serious, sharp decline.

Money isn't even real.

Serious question, does tax deferment increase property values?

Because it obviously limits the amount of SFH that get into the market, and a constant trope of the unaffordability crisis is that boomers never sell their homes.

Yea when the boomers die the millennials will get the $ and flee. Buddy guy can hold the bag.

Flee to where?

Housing, like most things in Canadian society, is a fucking scam. Housing is the carrot on the stick.

For most people, housing is like 50% of their take-home income, if not more for a lot of people. The entire economy revolves around young people struggling due to insane housing costs.

Remember when we were 18-24ish? Rent was 25% of my income back then, slightly lower. My first job I had a studio apartment at 8th and main for $400 a month while I was making $1100 every 2 weeks at Thoughtshare.com working doing Q & A and junior tech support. Holy fuck I was ballin' sooooooooo hard as a 19 year old! :lol:lol:lol

Now kids get out of University with big debt, make $4000 a month, and are barely surviving when they turn 30. This is 100% by design to continue to crush birth rates and require immigration so the system can bring browns and asians in who have no clue what "freedom" actually means and will just comply like good slave cattle.

I'm sure plenty of countries will welcome you when you have a net worth of $2m+

What's legitimately can't afford the taxes?

My in-laws collect around $24/yr in CPP/OAS/GIS and get some rental income ($18k?) from their basement suite. They drive a 18 year old car, don't go on vacations, and live a generally basic life but as elderly they don't have extended health coverage so when my FIL needed dental surgery it was a $20k bill that he kept putting off till the pain was too much (and he didn't want the help of his kids for it).

Could they pay the $6k or so of annual property taxes? Yes (and they have been till last year) but that $6k can be the difference between dental surgery or one of the last vacations they may ever take. They are pretty marginal on making it work and it wouldn't take much for them to legitimately not be able to pay property taxes through their existing income.

My MIL sewed life jackets for 30+ years (minimum wage), barely speaks English, and raised 3 successful kids and somehow managed to own a home worth $1.7m - she didn't ask to be a millionaire, it just happened to her. Outside of their home they have less than $100k of assets.

If the gov't is going to offer a very low cost program that makes their lives easier why shouldn't they take the gov't up on that offer?

Sounds like both are living outside their means. But I’ll let ya write out another essay about how they aren’t.. hehe

Nowhere do I say they can't afford it (and they've been paying it up till last year) yet your conclusion is that they are living beyond their means.

You seem to live such an incredibly sad life - you hate everything about where you live, you don't find it safe, you think it's a shithole, you call others losers and can't help but putdown people who don't see this horrible country for what you think it is. You seem to live to be angry at the world.

My mom complains about how less they get and she's sitting on $2.4M east van home which could generate 4-8% = $96-192K/year in equity gains if she needed cash.

Spends < $500/month, brother pays for all housing expenses, manages to save more than me as a retiree.

Absolutely bonkers :concentrate:

Sounds like my mom worked at sewing for a chinese factory on clark + chinatown medicine stores below min wage. Had teeth issues, wanted to wait the 2-3 extra years in pain until the dental plan for seniors came out to fix it.

If she didn't have money and neither me or brother would pay for it, she should've reverse mortgage the $1.7M in equity to pay for it. Imo the dental plan should've also qualified net worth, my mom has more than enough money to pay for this but decided to save so I can have more money when I have kids lol.