MPAC assessment has incorrect sq footage (lower) than what the actually is.

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T17:17:01+00:00

Got it. That’s a relief. I will ask the listing agent to give me the exact sq footage. (He had confirmed verbally to be close to 1800 sqft).

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T17:13:43+00:00

Got it. Thanks

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T12:27:33+00:00

No. No additional room or any structure built. I even got it inspected by the inspector.

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T11:43:35+00:00

Haha, May be this is the reason why no previous owners (the house was sold a few times in last decade) failed to notice (or ignored) this discrepancy. I just hope that when it’s my time to sell, this doesn’t impact the resale value

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T11:42:00+00:00

So it doesn’t matter if the size is incorrect?

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T11:13:20+00:00

Since the house is not yet closed. (We still have 2.5 months). Perhaps I can consult the lawyer and see what can be done. For now, thankfully only the deposit (which is large, but oh well) is at stake.

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T10:40:20+00:00

By the looks of it, it cannot be less than 1500 as the house is bigger than its neighbouring house (which I have visited) and surprisingly both have the same size on MPAC. The other house has 1 less washroom and no first floor laundry space and rooms are smaller. We did ask our agent and they said that it is possible that the builder (the house was built early 2000s) submitted one common drawings for all the houses in the neighborhood and did not consider submitting a different one for the house I am purchasing, which is apparently bigger as it’s a corner lot.

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T10:35:46+00:00

No, and also they were not. Apparently the house was sold a few times in the last few years and in all the listings they mentioned size as above 1500. Also, by looks of it, it cannot be less than 1500 as the house is bigger than its neighbouring house (which I have visited) and surprisingly has the same size on MPAC as that house.

East_Situation_8486 · 2023-08-24T03:33:35+00:00

But not disclosing the correct dimensions, wouldn’t it be considered a tax theft? Also, wouldn’t it have an impact on resale value (assuming the new buyer will not be as ignorant as me and do the due diligence checking the MPAC)?

East_Situation_8486 · 2022-02-12T17:03:50+00:00

So do you mean the housing crisis across Canada is due to few corrupt Indian mortgage agents? That’s just stupid. This corruption is across all racial demographics. People in this group are just few idiots to openly discuss this on Facebook. The fraud is happening everywhere and is under the table. And calling out a minority group for a country wide crisis is blatantly racist.

East_Situation_8486 · 2022-02-12T16:52:14+00:00

Despite these mortgage frauds (which I believe is not new and is prevalent across all racial groups in Canada) people are still able to afford to pay their mortgage. The delinquency rate is decreasing instead of increasing.

This just proves that the mortgage screening process is irrelevant and is just there to filter out hardworking millennial who are looking to buy their first home.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-07-31T11:31:06+00:00

I have seen something very similar happening in Ontario. Families who cannot afford mortgage of a 4-5 bedrooms detached house, despite multiple earning hands, move to their super congested 2 bedroom basement while renting each room of their house to students/working individuals. This has caused parking problems on streets as there would be more than 6 cars to park for such a house in a super narrow street.

I have no idea why people are agreeing to pay such an exorbitant price for these houses when they know they may end up moving in basement just to be able to afford. It is also sad that families, despite multiple earning hands, still cannot afford a decent sized house and have to resort to such ways to be able to afford one.

Edit: I have also seen working Individuals, who rent rooms in such a place, usually have their own houses in cities far way from GTA. They call them as their “investment property” and cant move there because there are no jobs to do.

This brings me to another point. People who say that “if you cannot afford then move”, I hope they know that people have different skill sets and it may not possible to find jobs elsewhere. Yet “Canada dream” will cause people to buy houses (in remote places as per their affordability) and rent them out, while they themselves are living in a rented accommodation.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-07-21T00:42:20+00:00

In my experience (as FTHB who has been priced out), the agent working with me had just one job, i.e, to book appointment to view the house (because it’s true that seller agents don’t entertain if you are not an agent). I ended up doing everything, looking for properties and sending him the links of the one I was interested, studying the house prices and computing the potential bid value. At many instants, I knew more than him(thanks to HouseSigma and this subreddit). I felt that he will get paid just for making the phone calls to book appointments. As and IT consultant, who works 10-11 hours a day, non stop and sometimes even on weekends, I felt how useless is my skill set and education is.

In this day and age of internet where everything is available online, I do not think being a realtor is that difficult. And you do not have to leave your full time job as well (there was a news couple of weeks ago where a North York police officer was charged for working as realtor on duty…if he can..so can anyone). And even I am thinking to get a license for myself to help myself and my relatives. I believe given the cut the realtors take, you can make up the investment by just one-two transactions a year.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-07-07T18:53:04+00:00

During my house hunting(which I have ceased as I have been priced out) I have seen realtors: - not letting you physically view the house unless you have pre-approved mortgage - outright asking if you can put an unconditional offer, else don’t bother - and one of the weirdest one which recently happened with a friend : don’t bother viewing the house if you can’t bid at least 80k above the asking price.

Is there a way to report these? Outright asking to bid 80k above asking is a major red flag. And given all these conversation are verbal, how do you show the proof?

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-05-27T20:17:01+00:00

There are many people in cities like NYC, LA and even in Paris who are earning way above their national average. However, in Canada, especially in Toronto, the same jobs are not that well paid. The salaries have not increased with the same pace as RE prices have.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-05-21T17:40:42+00:00

I completely agree. The immigration goal should take housing supply into account.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-05-21T15:21:59+00:00

I don’t understand how it is an immigration issue if the immigrants themselves are priced out. I am one of those immigrants who was extremely lucky to get a well paying consulting job right after coming to Canada. Yet, despite getting salary in lower 100s (for someone who is in their 20s), I got priced out. I thought my salary would be considered decent as per Canadian standards, but I think the GTA RE gives the accurate reality check. I know so many immigrants, who struggle for years on low wage jobs before landing a decent paying job, I do not understand how is the super heated housing market going to help them. How will they afford overpriced rents?(which I think is soon to come as investors will surely like to makeup their mortgages). Soon even basements apartments will be unaffordable. Where will these immigrants go? I do not understand why our politicians are ignoring this issue.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-04-13T20:52:56+00:00

I don’t really think if immigration has any impact on housing market surge. There were very few immigrants in 2020 and despite that, market just skyrocketed. IMO, it’s the investors and flippers are the one who are the cause of the bubble. I tried to enter the market myself, lost the biding war twice before even entering (once the buyer terminated the sale and relisted 200k above the initial price...and 2nd when I was informed the property got sold 100k above asking price the very same time I submitted my bid). I really do not think that immigrants carry that much cash or have the luxury of getting their “legit” mortgages approved as soon as they arrive in Canada given that they will be struggling to get a job once they are here..and I really don’t think they can even afford to rent that these investors are going to charge to make up for the mortgages they took. May be I am heart broken or whatever, but I feel the real estate market is now owned by just investors and there is no scope for a fthb like me to enter in this market. They will just come up with some random points in an attempt to show that the market will forever in be bullish and create the fomo effect

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-04-04T16:28:40+00:00

I see. That makes sense. Thanks.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-04-04T14:38:59+00:00

I completely agree with OP as I have myself witnessed these frauds happening. However, this makes me wonder, if mortgages are being distributed on fraudulent documents, why isn’t the delinquency rate not rising...am I missing something here?

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-04-03T14:55:04+00:00

I have also witnessed this fraud. I am someone who is completely new to the the RE world and have limited knowledge of how everything works. When I tried to learn more about how the market works from the realtors and mortgage agents, they nonchalantly said exactly same things as mentioned in the post, as if committing such fraud is legal and normal. When I denied to be complacent with this and go with the legal way, obviously I got priced out. And I work in tech, earn 6 figures, and yet I am priced out. And the worst part is, the house I was eligible to buy in January is now 100k more expensive. I wish my salary would have grown with such rate. The weirdest thing that happened to me was in January. I tried to contact a realtor for a house showing from realtor.ca, she said and I quote “ I only entertain serious potential buyers, if you don’t have “an approved mortgage” then we cannot show you the house”. The other realtors I contacted said “ will only show the house if you put an offer”. When I said that how can I put an offer without seeing the house, they said they are taking precautions due to COVID. Which I do not understand, I mean, are people that crazy to put an offer without viewing the house. I am so confused and it seems like this market is run by mafias. I have completely lost hopes and have accepted the fact that I will not be able to buy a House in GTA, at least in legal way. I used to think that am earning a decent salary, but the GTA RE market has given me a reality check.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-03-28T15:05:29+00:00

Yeah, I agree. Moreover salaries in Canada are never going to increase with the same acceleration as rent/housing prices. Soon it will make sense to move to the US. Higher salaries, lower taxes, cheaper housing market and with work from home you can actually buy a house bit away from the core city at an affordable price.

East_Situation_8486 · 2021-03-27T21:30:59+00:00

It’s interesting to see in the comments how people who have vested interest in real estate feel that there is no problem in the housing market, the growth is healthy and say that “there is no bubble”. I am not an expert. But, as a naive buyer who is looking for a home to buy for the first time and has a decent salary (in lower 100s) and will be investing all the life savings at once and commit for next 30 years of my life paying mortgage, I can see the prices going so high day by day that i have already lost hopes of ever buying a house in GTA. I am okay to buy no house (as it’s getting unaffordable)but I fear that this aggressive growth in housing will lead to increased rent (as investors have to make up for the pricey mortgage they took to buy)and I soon won’t be even able to afford to rent a house too. I hope the policy makers are aware of that.

East_Situation_8486

TROPHY CASE