The BC government's Speculation and Vacancy Tax is finally here. This tax is part of the BC government's plan to ensure that housing is affordable for all citizens of British Columbia.

Goals of the Tax

Their main goal with this new tax is to:

• Turn empty houses into affordable housing for BC residents
• Raise revenue that will go towards creating more affordable housing 
• Foreign/domestic investors who own residences in BC, but don't live in them

Exemptions

The government estimates that 99% or more British Columbians will be exempt from the tax; however, you must register in order to be qualified for exemption.

In mid-late February, keep an eye out for a letter from the provincial government with instructions on how to claim your exemption. The application (can be done online or through telephone) must be completed by March 31, 2019 in order to qualify for exemption. An application must be done by each owner of the house.

What Happens if You're Not Exempt?

If your home is left vacant for 6-months or longer since December 31, 2018, you will NOT be exempt from the Speculation and Vacancy Tax in 2019. You must pay the tax by July 2, 2019.

Tax Rates:

For properties owned on December 31, 2018, the tax rate is the same for everyone:

• 0.5% of the assessed value of your residential property on July 1, 2018 (BC owners are eligible for a tax credit of up to $2000 on secondary properties)

For 2019 and onwards, the tax rate will vary:

• 2% for foreign owners and satellite families (People who declare 50% or less of their income on Canadian income tax return)
• 0.5% for British Columbians and other Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are not members of a satellite family

So, don't forget to declare your exemption from the Speculation and Vacancy Tax! 

Resources:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/speculation-and-vacancy-tax

Vancouverites are seeing more and more of these unique looking container homes all around the city. These 207-1,380 square foot containers are being transformed into homes, offices, and other spaces. Containers provided by companies like, Container West Manufacturing are renovated with HVAC systems, solar capabilities, and other modern funishings to transform them into beautiful container homes. 

This simple concept can be the perfect solution to affordable housing in Vancouver, because all buyers need to do is puchase the container, lay down the foundation, and ensure there's proper access to water, sewage, and electricity. With these container houses, home owners have the creative freedom to customize the build, and design of the entire home from scratch, ensuring that it fits the ideals of their ultimate dream home!

Container homes could be the next big trend for Vancouver in 2019. What do you think about them? Will you live in a container home, or are they not your cup of tea? 

Resources:

https://www.straight.com/life/868906/vancouvers-dwindling-housing-market-converted-shipping-containers-may-tick-all-right

The Covenant House in Vancouver was established on September 22, 1997 to provide shelter, food, immediate crisis care, and an array of other services to homeless and runaway youth. The help that the organization has provided in the last 20 years made positive changes in our community. Their principles and goals aim at providing immediate help for struggling youth, making the place a safe haven, building strong relationships, creating foundation for a positive future, and fostering confidence for the young people to make informed decisions.

The current Covenant House building is located at 575 Drake Street and a new building across the street that is set to be finished in spring 2019. We were able to attend their open house and found out what great things will be happening in the near future. The new building will have 10 floors for 75 male and female youth. In addition, the building will have amenities such as a gym and fitness center, art room, classrooms, lounge, and library. Not only are they creating a space for youth to sleep but also a place to make friends and nurture their talents and passion which will allow them to become positive members of society. As for the current building, it will also be redeveloped with 5 floors, including a health clinic, to provide a short-term stay for youth, with 2 floors being drop-in. As youth become committed to transition into a new life, they will move to the new building. While aiming to help the homeless youth, the Covenant House has also vouched to be a responsible organization for the rest of the community as well with their “Good Neighbour Agreement”, which addresses neighbourhood concerns in regards to security and safety.

As a proud member and long-time resident of Yaletown, Aleya Bhaloo has volunteered to sleep outside, once again, to raise awareness for homeless youth on February 28^th, 2019. It takes $4,000 to take one youth off the street for the ENTIRE year to provide them with proper basic needs alongside with mental health and counselling. We are excited to be participating in such a meaningful event and hope you will pledge for Aleya.

Homelessness has many faces. It can look like a young person sleeping in a doorway or other times it might be someone asking you to spare some change. Often it shows itself as a shared glance from a broken soul. Regardless of how we are reminded of the need, a common feeling often resonates: what can I do to help make this better? Here is your chance to make a difference!

Click HERE to donate, every little bit helps.

More information about the Vancouver Covenant House can be found HERE.

Seattle or “Emerald City” is currently the home to the headquarters of big tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Tableau, Zillow, Big Fish Games, and many more. All of them concentrated within Seattle, Redmond, and Bellevue. 

Cost of living in Seattle is significantly lower than San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The median home cost carries the biggest factor in difference with Seattle being $761,800, while $1,331,100 in San Francisco. Additionally, with information provided from thebestplaces.net, it highlights that it is 54% more expensive to live in San Francisco. Despite Seattle’s median annual tech income being $15,000 less than those working in Silicon Valley, it is safe to say that higher income may not offset this imbalance in cost of living.  For young and freshly graduated tech talents, these could be deciding factors when they choose where to start their career in. As a result, startups are more likely to head in the direction of where these prospective employees will be. 

In our opinion, we think that Seattle has great potential in becoming the next “Silicon Valley” with all the benefits and incentives for tech talents. We believe that the tech scene is under development with immense opportunities for growth. Along with the headquarters of Microsoft, Amazon, etc., Seattle is also the home to office branches of Facebook, Google, Adobe, and other tech companies.

What are your thoughts? Let us know.

We have an exciting VIP presale opportunity in Seattle, sign up for our mailing list to find out more!

https://goo.gl/forms/VbzKVcbmYrk7Noof2

Source(s):

https://www.infographicsarchive.com/tech-and-gadgets/seattle-the-next-silicon-valley/

https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2018/05/25/observations-of-seattle-and-silicon-valleys-startup-scenes/

https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/seattle-wa/san-francisco-ca/115000

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/17/silicon-valley-tech-talent-fleeing-to-seattle.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-26117077/is-seattle-the-next-silicon-valley

The streets of downtown Vancouver have been the homes of breath-taking glass buildings for many years. However, earlier this week the Vancouver City Council approval the proposal of rezoning for Landa Global Properties and Asia Standrad Americas to redevelop 1469 Alberni Street. It will be the new home of two connected residential towers with 48 and 43 storeys. These buildings will be the world’s tallest passive-house buildings yet. Currently, the Bolueta twin towers development houses in Bilboa, Spain are the tallest, being 28 and 31 storeys.

There will be a grand total of 443 homes within the two towers, including 314 market strata units and 129 market rental units, which is a replacement of the existing number of rental homes on the site. Currently, the land is occupied by apartments and office towers built in the 1970s.

For those who don’t know, passive-house buildings are “voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building's ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling”. It is projected that a “superior building envelope, insulation, and a design that optimizes solar gain and shade will reduce the amount of energy required to heat and cool the towers by nearly 90%”. With these plans,the goal of the Vancouver city council’s zero emission building plan to eradicate greenhouse gas emissions in all new construction by 2030 could be successful.

The design of the buildings by New-York based Roberty AM Stern Architects and local firm MCM Partnership will resemble those in New York City and specified as “a throwback of the Formalist style, of the early-20^thcentury” as stated in the application. The addition of these architectural designs will add diversity and uniqueness to downtown Vancouver, which is currently dominated by glass style buildings. The project is designed by New York-based Robert AM Stern Architects, with local firm MCM Partnership acting as the architect of record.

Similar to the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver

What are your thoughts on these New York style condos being built in Vancouver? Do you prefer aesthetic glass or the eco-friendly alternative?

We’re so excited to see how downtown Vancouver will change with all these developments going on. Let us know if you would like more details!

Source(s):

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1400-alberni-street-landa-global-properties-passive-house-vancouver

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1468-alberni-street-vancouver-towers-renderings

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Vancouver+hotel+market+heats+American+visitors+return/11258723/story.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/worlds-tallest-passive-house-towers-vancouver-1.4317222

We’ve recently had the pleasure of co-hosting an event with Corinne Schlinder of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). We had Julie Taylor, also from RBC, as the guest speaker. It began with a 30-minute session of networking with food and beverages. We were so pleased to meet women of various professions and ages. After brief introductions, Julie began to talk about the “Seven Financial Missteps for Women to Avoid”. So many thought-provoking and stimulating questions and personal experiences were shared!

Rather than just a presentation style event, we kept the floor open for discussion the entire time. Different people will ask different questions, that’s what we love about allowing questions to be asked at any time and we definitely encouraged everyone to do so. Sometimes we learn more based on the unique questions that pop up during the conversation!

When we planned this event, we envisioned a room full of hopeful women of all ages motivated to take control of their finances. We were so thrilled and satisfied with how this event turned out. Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram for more events like this, we hope to see you at our next one!

Food was prepared by Lavish Catering, such a lovely presentation.

Check out this fun read, lots of good information on working women in Canada:

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14694-eng.htm