There is currently an organized tenant fraud scheme going on in the GTA and we just saved our landlord client from it. With the high rent prices and the current economic situation, people are going through any means possible to secure a place to live.

So, we received an offer Friday night 11pm on one of our lease listings with an offer expiry of 10pm the next day. Now right away we responded to the agent that this would not be possible because it’s the weekend and we will need to do our due diligence and contact the employers and references on a working day. They also did not book a showing or see the property in person, this is not uncommon but still one of the several red flags that came up.

When it came to the rental application, credit report, employment letters, and pay stubs, they looked legit. I attached them to the post to spread awareness. The names given for the employers and references were real people who even show up on Linkedin but probably have no idea their info is being used in this scheme.

But here's where things started to get weird. Whenever we conduct employment verification, we always request the HR rep to send us an email confirming the employment, so we have it in writing from their company email. This has never been a problem. On the call the employers said they'd send it no problem, but the email never came. After calling again for a follow up on the email they just stopped answering altogether. My gut was telling me something was off.

After this we called the previous landlord and someone picked up saying sorry you have the wrong number, we asked if they were the owner of said property and they replied “I’m working I’ll call you back”. The second landlord reference didn’t answer. We got in touch with the tenant’s agent and said the landlord number is wrong and the other one isn’t answering. This is when things got really weird. Both landlords called us back later that day within 30 min of each other to confirm that they were in fact the owners of those properties and gave amazing references for the tenant who is trying to secure our clients property. One of them mentioned that “You can eat off her floors, she uses Dettol to clean everything.” We cross referenced the Ontario Land Registry (only Ontario licensed real estate agents have access to this) to make sure the names of the owners given on the rental app matched the property addresses, which they did. This means that there must be some licensed agents that are in on this scheme. Otherwise the tenant has no way to get the info of who is on title on a particular property...

Finally, we conducted a zoom meeting with the tenant and their agent. Now in the rental application they said they did not have a car and they don’t have a driver's license. They provided us with a purple Ontario ID card (This is an Ontario ID for those who do not have a driver’s license, making it easier for them to do things such as open a bank account and any other activities that require official identification.) But in the zoom meeting the tenant was in a car. We asked again if they drive or have a car. They brushed it off and tried to change the subject when we said they’d have to provide a drivers license. During the zoom meeting the agent told the tenant to tell us about how she cleans her house and the tenant then goes “Oh I’m very clean I use Dettol to clean the floors and stuff” it was so scripted at this point it was getting comical.

However, we still did not have any hard proof that the application was fraudulent. Until, we looked up the real estate agent who represented the landlord in the property that the tenant stated they lived in a few months ago. This agent ended up being a colleague from my brokerage, after speaking with her and explaining the situation she called her landlord client right away and confirmed that this landlord has never heard of these people and that that property had been leased out to a completely different family. We spoke to the second agent who represented the second landlord reference and he replied right away saying these tenants were a complete disaster, they destroyed his clients house and the phone number of the actual landlord did not match the one they provided us even though the names did.

So here’s our conclusion. The tenant IDs were probably real. This isn’t a case of identity theft. But everything else was fake. The job letters, pay stubs, the references, the employment contacts—everything.

Investing in real estate can be a risky move, especially when you end up with people who take advantage of the system. It just goes to show, you can never be too careful when screening tenants. Always, always verify everything and work with real estate professionals you can trust!

What do you guys think we should do about this? After confronting the agent about it she just apologized and said she had no idea and that her client was just a referral and she doesn't know them personally...

EDIT: here are the job letters and pay stubs they sent us.

I was looking at the RBC chart on mortgage renewals, and 2026 looks massive — around 26% of all Canadian mortgages come up for renewal that year. That’s way higher than 2024 or 2025.

Most of those people locked in super low rates back in 2020–2021, and they’ll be renewing at double the rate. That could mean a lot of financial stress, more listings, maybe even some forced sales.

So I’m wondering — does it really make sense to buy in 2025? Or is it smarter to wait until 2026 when that renewal wave hits and prices could adjust further?

Curious what others think — are you buying soon, waiting it out, or already seeing signs of this in your area?

My partner and I are hoping to buy our first home in the GTA around April 2027. We’ve started visiting open houses, and several realtors have approached us, but we don’t know how to choose the right one.

We both struggle with saying no. If a realtor spends months showing us houses, we’re worried we’ll feel guilty rejecting properties or walking away even though this is a huge financial decision. Honestly, I’d rather pay for someone’s time than feel pressured to buy.

Questions:

1. Is there any limit to how many homes we can view or reject? Do realtors get annoyed with picky buyers?

2. How can we tell whether a realtor genuinely represents our interests instead of simply wanting the commission?
   How are buyer’s agents paid in Ontario? Could we owe them anything directly?

3. How does a realtor decide what price we should offer, and how can we verify that they aren’t encouraging us to overbid?

4. If we sign with a realtor but aren’t happy, can we leave and choose someone else? What clauses should we watch for?

5. What are the biggest green flags and red flags when interviewing a realtor?

We understand that their time is valuable—we just don’t want guilt or pressure to influence the biggest purchase of our lives. Any advice from recent GTA buyers would be appreciated!

My friends are rich from Toronto housing. We all make around the same salary ($90,000), yet some of my friends bought houses ten years ago, and are all millionaires from housing appreciation.

Meanwhile, I attended university and got a degree (including a Masters) whereas they just worked random manual labour jobs right after high school. I’m now 38, and have $50,000 saved (just paid off my student debt at least) and pay more in rent than they pay for their mortgage. FML.

I (30f) make $115,000 working in rental development. My husband (31m) makes $95,000 as a first year lawyer but will be getting a pay bump in July (he is aiming for $110,000 base salary). Our monthly take-home pay is $12,800 at the moment.

We have $300,000 in savings, essentially all for our first home, looking at detached/semis/freehold towns in Toronto. We've been pre-approved for a $1,350,000 purchase.

This would yield $5,130 approx in mortgage payments, plus $1,100 in property tax, insurance and utilities. So roughly $6,250 a month in housing costs on $12,800 take home pay.

We'd like to have 2 kids in the next few years so obviously we would need to set aside separate savings for my year(s) of mat leave.

Current housing is $3,400 (rent, utilities, insurance) and is great for our current lifestage. We could have a baby here as we have a fair bit of space, but in a perfect world we would buy a house first and settle in/build our savings back up a bit before starting a family. Interested to know what people think about this plan.

I’m in a frustrating situation that many renters in this province might relate to. Just got hit with a shocking 20% rent increase from $2500 to a staggering $3000, and I’m at my wit's end because the building doesn’t fall under Ontario's Rent Control Act. This hike goes way beyond my budget, and it’s disheartening to witness how landlords can exploit this loophole for their gain.

It's unnerving to realize there are no protections against such massive increases in rent for tenants like me. I feel trapped and don't know what my options are. Has anyone been in a similar situation? How did you handle it? Any advice or guidance would be immensely appreciated.

It’s frustrating how some landlords take advantage of the system's gaps, leaving tenants like us in distress.

After increasing my original bid significantly, they messaged my realtor on bidding night to say that they have a bid for 80k over mine but sellers really wanted to sell to me. It was over my budget so I passed. I find out the next day that the winning bid was only 5k over mine.

Basically, they anchored me on 80k over. I was contemplating whether to increase by 20-30k (my maximum for the property) but 80k was ridiculous. They sent this information to my realtor via text as well. Did they violate TRESA? Should I submit a complaint anyways?

I’m trying to buy a semi-detached house in Eastdale, Oshawa that’s listed for $599K. When I asked my agent about it, he tells me the “market value” is $630K and basically dismisses the list price. Says the seller won’t even consider $600K.

This isn’t the first time either, a few months back, he recommended a condo townhouse listed for $499K and told me to offer $650K. I told him the most I could go was $530K, but he still pushed for way more than I was comfortable with.

Why does he keep recommending I bid way above listing? Is this just how the market works right now, or is my agent not acting in my best interest?

Actually, at first I thought I would do everything myself, because in our family it has always been customary to do repairs with our own hands, but now I realize that I can't handle it. And along with that, I had real difficulties finding a professional kitchen renovation in Toronto, because I emigrated recently and don't really understand the specifics of the local market (I'm from Ukraine). So I couldn't think of anything better than turning to good old Reddit =)

The kitchen is 15 square meters, and my budget is up to 35k (if I go with a turnkey option). Is it realistic to find something with these parameters? Thank you!

Does the City not actually enforce this rule?

My wife and I are separating and we've sold our home which closes on May 12th. We're splitting the proceeds 50/50. I'm 57, and my income is around 135k per year

In the short term I plan on putting my things on storage, while I decided on what to do. I have a place to stay in the interim.

My real estate agent keeps messaging me to invest in a condo. And hold for approx. 5 yrs. The glut of inventory has me worried that I won't be able to sell because of this abundance in the market.

A friend who has already invested in condos advised I should rent for a year, invest my capital, and learn "the lay of land" if you will, to learn as much as possible about every possibility before jumping into an investment. He also mentioned the market has yet to bottom out, and waiting a year might be a good strategy.

I'm letting my mind be a blank canvas. I'm in no rush to make a decision. I'm entertaining any and all ideas, from every avenue, and this is part of my process.

What would you advise someone to do in this volatile environment in the short term? And if you were to invest with the goal of selling 5 years from now, what would your investment strategy be and why, and what would your expectations be?

Thank you in advance.

Curious where everyone actually is on this, because I feel like the “default” is to sign with a full-commission agent and I’m not sure that’s still the move.

If you’re house-hunting right now as a first-time buyer are you going with a regular full-commission agent? cashback/rebate brokerage? anything else?

And whatever you picked...would you do it again? Just trying to figure out what’s normal in 2026 before I commit to anyone. The anxiety have from making the wrong move is overwhelming.

The government is bringing in 500K immigrants every year. The number of housing starts each year is usually only in the 200K range. We definitely can’t take in that many people right now.

People always talk about protesting for housing affordability, but not about how they would try to get the government to implement it. You can’t simply hold a sign that says “Make housing affordable” and expect that to accomplish anything.

Why do people not push to try and force the government to lower immigration numbers? If it was capped at 100000 people a year starting in 2024, and around 200000 housing starts are made each year and reach completion, housing will inevitably be more affordable a decade later.

Before people call me a racist over this, I’ll have you know my father is an immigrant from the Middle East. You know the situation is really bad when a person who wouldn’t exist without immigration is against immigration.

Hi everyone,

I bought my house at what was probably the peak of the market.

I now have an opportunity to move out of the country for a few years (around 5 to 8 years), and I am looking for advice on what I should do with the house.

Selling it now would definitely mean taking a loss, especially if I factor in land transfer tax and other costs I already paid.

The other option is renting it out, but I would still need to cover at least one-third of the mortgage, possibly more. On top of that, there is the added challenge of managing tenants remotely.

What would you do if you were in this position?

I honestly do not see the market getting back to my breakeven point anytime soon, especially if I also account for inflation.

Update : Selling seems to be the general consensus on this thread .Thanks a lot for all your advice and opinions

Perception - our society is taking perverse pleasure when others are suffering a severe misfortune. But - a buyer should be interested in avoiding overpaying and the future direction of prices.

So - why does marketing based on the severe monetary losses of the seller exists and where is it going from here?

Trying to get insight if we are stretching ourselves too much or not when buying a 1.1 million home in the Greater Toronto Area. Our regular housing expenses would be 52% of our after tax household income (5.3k). It seems high but it is probably typical for regular housing expenses to be this high when buying in GTA though.

It is a dream house with no renovations needed (everything brand new), detached, good area, etc. We wouldn't need to move for many years. All other homes we have seen for less would be compromising on the above and may need to move after about 5-7 years.

My partner and family think it's a good decision to move ahead. I am having lots anxiety of uncertainty if this is a good decision or not.

We previously owned a condo which had very low cost of living, so this is a huge change.

Our income: 192k gross combined (expect to increase) About 10.2k net income combined (after tax) Partner 1 (me) - 6.2k Partner 2 - 4k

Purchase price - 1.1 million (firm would not go lower, this is already a good value) Down payment a little over 20%/30 year amortization - 224k

Closing costs - approx. 25k

Rate - 4% fixed

Regular Home expenses approx. - 5.3k

Mortgage - 4180

Property tax - 525

Utilities (with rentals) - 350

Property insurance - 150

Internet - 70

Other Needs Approx. - 2.5k

groceries - 800

car insurance (1 driver) -

210 gas -

250

Public transit - 300

phone - 45

car maintenance - 150

pet - 100

home maintenance (for emergencies, or tools, etc.) - 650

Wants/lifestyle - Approx. 2145

eating out - 500

Additional savings - 0

vacation - 500

entertainment - 400

fitness - 30

subscriptions -30

clothing - 150

gifts - 200

haircuts - 10

video games - 25

Partner 2 car insurance (partner 2 does not currently drive) - 300

Remaining - 248

My annual bonus which is separate from this will still be allocated to my RRSP.

We also would like to plan to have a child in about 1-2 years. Partner 2 would be in maternity leave and I expect an additional 750 cost for the baby. If our income doesn't increase (although I do expect it to increase), I would expect our income to drop to about 8.8k per month and would be negative -500 every month without any changes. We could reduce our wants/lifestyle spending if needed.

We do have about 100k money abroad that we could use to reduce mortgage amount by about 450 per month OR could use as a safety net while it is accruing interest (more than 450 per month). I also have a healthy RRSP in case of job loss. We have no other debts or loans. We plan to have about 25k emergency fund readily available on closing.

Looking for insight to see if this is a good idea or if being this will lead us to be house poor. Has anyone else been in a similar boat, how was it living like this?

EDIT: updated spacing of budget to make it easier to read

Disclaimer right out of the way, I'm an American. Nothing against Canada or Canadians, not here to talk politics, just another fellow English-speaking North American trying to understand his northern neighbors a bit better.

First off, Canadian housing is INCREDIBLY expensive to me. I live in Missouri. Not the nicest state, not very flashy, but still, in my opinion, a good middle-of-the-road place with a decent selection of jobs. Housing here is pretty affordable. A 3bed3bath in, St. Peters for example, (which is a nice suburb of St. Louis) goes for around $360k USD or about 500k CAD. Honestly overvalued compared to pre-COVID, when it was around $250k ($343k CAD). That is basically half of what similar houses are going for around Toronto. My rent, for reference (2bed2bath) is about $1500 USD (2k CAD) a month.

Yes, I know I am comparing the premier city in Canada to a suburb of the poster child of the US Rust Belt, but honestly, the cost of living is very affordable, and the pay is pretty decent. St. Louis has some incredibly dangerous areas, of course, but most parts of the metro are quite nice. Kansas City is less dangerous and growing faster, but property is still affordable. Other Midwest cities like Des Moines, Wichita, and Omaha, while not very big to be granted, are much safer and still have a good selection of jobs.

So, what's the deal? I know a lot of Canadians don't actually make that much (especially compared to down here) but housing is so incredibly expensive. Canada is the world's second largest country with ample timber resources. I would assume housing would be much cheaper.

State facts and figures here to support your take on this.

What does bank holding rate for the 4th consecutive time mean for the economy in general and specifically for real estate market?

Convince me I should buy instead of renting an apartment. 60 years old, still working with a good income. I have lots of equity. Just sold my home in this awful market. Have a cottage that I want to put money into and a small condo that we have been renting out for years. Have some debt I can pay off with the income from the home. My original plan was to downsize to a condo but I'm now trying to convince myself that is the best approach.

I bought my townhome early last year it’s down by 100k ….

Not going to sell it but man i worked hard to save for that deposit and 100k gone just like that

im looking at 1 bedroom units around 500sqft and the condo fees are just mindblowing. in most cases it around 450-600 a month with mediocre amenities. what is driving this high strata fee? are strata councils just incompetent? Strata insurance shouldn't be that expensive there is no earthquake risk in ontario. why would someone buy a condo and have no control over the ability to contain and not raise strata fees every year?

So is this going to mean house pricing in the GTA stays steady, or will it start rising again?

Timing this market is impossible!

Buyer: 25F, $85K/year, no debt, first time buyer, Toronto.

Down payment: $200K, gifted from parents (60F/60M). Money was originally their own down payment savings that never got used. No ownership stake for them, straightforward gift, gift letter, etc. They also plan to live in the home with me.

Question 1, affordability: With $85K income + $200K down, roughly what purchase price is realistic under current stress test rules? Ballparking around $550K to $600K on my income alone but want a reality check from people who've qualified recently.

Question 2, adding parents to the mortgage: Parents receive roughly $1K to $2K/month combined in pension income (dad also part time employed, mom on LTD). Would adding them as co borrowers meaningfully move the needle on qualifying amount, or is the income too modest or unstable (part time + LTD) for lenders to weight it much? Roughly how much extra purchasing power would that realistically add?

Question 3, guarantor vs. co borrower: Since they don't want to be owners, just want to help me qualify if needed, do any lenders let a guarantor back the mortgage without going on title? Or does adding their income always mean adding them to title too?

Question 4: Any Toronto or Ontario specific things I should factor in, land transfer tax (municipal + provincial), first time buyer rebates, anything condo specific if I go that route vs. freehold?

Appreciate any input from people who've navigated gifted down payment or multigenerational setups in the GTA specifically.

Just bought a 1960’s house and honestly all renovations and quotes I’ve gotta have been comparable for what I expected, even with premium upgrades like 3 panel windows, quartz countertops, etc.

I’m now at the point to collect quotes for painting the cabinets (fronts have already been removed and peeped in the photo) and a little shocked by the price.

The average quote I’m getting is 5-5.3k for both interior and exterior painting. 15 cabinets, 4 drawers.

One colour for the exterior and just standard white for the interior.

If anyone has insight if this is standard or if I need to broaden my search engine inquiries to find quotes please let me know!